Updated: Windows 8.1 release date, news and rumors

Updated: Windows 8.1 release date, news and rumors

Microsoft continues to reveal details about the update to Windows 8, now known as Windows 8.1 and formerly known as Windows Blue.

The Windows 8.1 features will be shown off at the Microsoft Build developer conference in June and the final version will be available as a free dowloadable Windows 8 update.

Microsoft also said in early May that there would be a preview version available before full release which we'll surely get at Build.

Windows 8.1 release date

The final Windows Blue release date is late 2013, while there will also be some new Windows Blue hardware.

In a post on the official Windows blog early in May, Tamy Reller, Microsoft's chief marketing office and chief financial officer, confirmed what we already knew - the update will be available "later this year", and certainly by Christmas.

Reller went on to say that the update will provide "more options for businesses, and give consumers more options for work and play". Microsoft now has more than 70,000 Metro/Windows 8-style apps in the Windoes Store.

Reller later confirmed the Windows 8.1 name during a conference call with J.P. Morgan, where plans for the operating system were discussed.

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Quite how the upcoming preview release will work in practice remains to be seen, but you might not be able to install it straight into an existing Windows 8 install.

If you happen to be one of the small number of users who have a Windows RT device like Surface RT, we're sure you'll be thrilled to know that the Windows 8.1 update will also be coming to your device.

• Microsoft: emphasi s on Start Screen shackled Windows 8

There aren't likely to be too many massive surprises from Blue, which our writer Kate Solomon says "we feel a bit guilty for passing off as a minor Windows update" now that we've seen plenty of Windows Blue screenshots.

Windows Blue is actually Windows 8.1

Windows Blue, we now know for sure that Windows Blue will not be the software's official name. Shame. Instead Windows Blue is just the internal name for the software.

Windows Blue will officia lly be deemed Windows 8.1, first revealed in early April. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet's All About Microsoft blog said the original Windows 8.1 tip came from a reliable source and screenshots of the About Windows screen also appeared on Twitter - see below.

In stores, the update will still be called simply Windows 8 - that means Microsoft isn't about to start naming its incremental OS refreshes like Apple does (like OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion). But it does indicate a new attitude to the type of software updates that it has previously called Service Packs.

One thing we definitely would say, it's unlikely that Windows Blue will mean the merging of Windows 8 and with Windows Phone 8 into a single product.

Windows 8.1 Start menu

There has been a lot of speculation over whether Windows 8.1 will actually introduce a Start Button and on May 30 we saw a preview of what the brand new button will look like, thanks to Paul Thurrott at Windows SuperSite.

However, we'd like to point out a big caveat with this screenshot - the new button shown by Thurrott looks awfully like Stardock's Start button replacement tool Start8 . Will we actually get a Start button in Windows 8.1?

Credit: Windows SuperSite

New Windows 8 apps

As well as the operating system itself, Microsoft is apparently building some new Windows 8 apps, looking at new ways to run apps side-by-side on smaller-screened devices without needing hefty black-box-level resolution. That's in addition to the March updates for standard Windows 8 apps.

Blue is also bringing in new Snap Views so you can share your screen 50:50 between different apps rather than the current 70:30, including across multiple monitors.

As expected, Microsoft is upping the Sky Drive integration, with some new treats like auto-camera uploads and more back-up options, as well as tab sync which will see your tabs mirrored across devices.

The grabs also reveal the inclusion of IE11 but not much detail on the next iteration of browser beyond that.

And for the personalisation fans, the grabs show a quick and easy menu of options for customising your desktop background and other design elements

Windows Blue desktop

Could Windows B lue enable users to boot straight to the desktop? Some rumours think so. You can't boot straight to the desktop in Windows 8, though you can resume to it.

Some coden supposedly includes an option that disables the start screen so users would jump straight to the desktop layout - known as "CanSuppressStartScreen".

Certainly there are no plans to ditch the desktop any time soon. In an interview with TechRadar, Windows Product Manager Ian Moulster was candid about the desktop's important role in Windows.

"To be honest I don't have an answer because I don't know. I'm loathe to speculate. It seems highly unlikely to me. I haven't seen anything either way. I'd be surprised, but that's my personal view ."

"I think it's a continuation of us always building on what's there. Windows 8 is built on Windows 7 and starts from where Windows 7 stops, and I don't think there will be a change to that approach. We'd be crazy to throw anything away.

"But what form that takes we'll have to wait and see I suppose. I think we have said that we'll be releasing updates more frequently, but precisely what that means I don't know. There's the apps as well, we've released plenty of updates to our apps."

Windows Blue sync

It seems that more features will be synchronized between PCs and your user account with Windows Blue. It looks like this will extend to the Start screen as well as device associations and Internet Explorer tabs.

Further Windows development

According to a February 15 job posting on the Microsoft Careers site, the software giant is s eeking an engineer to join its Windows Core Experience Team.

That part of the operation will be working on improving the centrepiece of the new Windows UI, including the start screen, application lifecycle, windowing and personalisation, according to the post.

This seems to suggest that Windows Blue will bring more than a few tweaks under the bonnet and offer tangible visual enhancements to the Windows 8 software.

Indeed, the post mentions Windows Blue by name and says the updates will look to "build on and improve Windows 8" as time goes on.

An excerpt reads: "We're looking for an excellent, experienced SDET to join the Core Experience team in Windows Sustained Engineering (WinSE). The Core Experience features are the centerpiece of the new Windows UI, representing most of what customers touch and see in the OS, including: the start screen; application lifecycle; windowing; and personalization. Windows Blue promises to build and improve upon these aspects of the OS, enhancing ease of use and the overall user experience on devices and PCs worldwide."

Windows Blue will extend to other platforms

It is also thought that Windows Blue updates will be extended to multiple Microsoft platforms, including Windows server, the mobile OS Windows Phone 8 and applications like SkyDrive and Outlook.com.

Indeed, another post on Microsoft's job site mentions Windows Phone Blue by name, so that is definitely on the horizon.

The plan from Microsoft's point of view is reportedly to move towards a more regular update pace, rather than the three year gap that separated Windows 7 and Windows 8, with little improvements in between.

Apple has enjoyed great success in this arena, gradually adding new strings to the bow of Mac OS X every year, through its feline-themed updates.

Apple may release two iPhones this year, including an iPhone Mini

Apple may release two iPhones this year, including an iPhone Mini

Apple is reportedly working on not one but two iPhone models this year, including what sounds like the long-rumored iPhone Mini, according to a report out of Taiwan this week.

The company plans to launch both an iPhone 5S and a low-cost iPhone model in the third quarter of 2013, claims industry sources who talked to the sometimes-reliable DigiTimes.

The cheaper iPhone's specs are said to be comparable to the smaller iPhone 4S model, which syncs up with what we have heard about the iPhone Mini.

While the low-cost smartphone may have a less advanced display and processor, the iPhone 5S is rumored to double its predecessor's pixel count to almost 1.5 million.

'We haven't so far'

This iPhone Mini news comes at the same time Apple CEO Tim Cook said his company decided against releasing multiple smartphones at once.

"We haven't so far," said Cook at the to All Things Digital in response to a question about why there aren't a range of new iPhon e models out every year.

"It takes a lot of work, a lot of really detailed work, to do a phone right, when you manage the hardware, software and services around it."

"We've chosen to focus our energy on getting those right. And we've made the choices in order to do that. So we haven't become defocused [by] working on multiple lines."

Cook's "so far" comment leaves the door open to Apple making multiple iPhone models simultaneously in the future, just as the company did with the iPod years ago.

All iPhones on September

The iPhone 5S and rumored iPhone Mini are expected to start mass production in June and be released in September.

Although a low-cost iPhone has been predicted before every smartphone-focused Apple press conference in recent history, 2013 may be the year the rumors actually pan out.

That's because Samsung may come out with a smaller version of its Galaxy S4 smartphone, dubbed the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, making an iPhone Mini all the more relevant.

• Between now and the new iPhone launch, read our WWDC coverage for more information on Apple's upcoming computer hardware announcements.

Review: Panasonic HX-WA3

Review: Panasonic HX-WA3

Waterproof, sand-proof and with Full HD recording, the Panasonic HX-WA3 camcorder is basically made for holidays.

You don't get a lot of these kinds of pistol-style camcorders these days, but Panasonic is persevering, having impressed us with the similar Panasonic HX-WA10 previously. Just to be confusing, the Panasonic HX-WA3 is actually an update to the WA10, despite its lower number.

There's also a new Panasonic HX-WA30 model, which offers waterproofing to a deeper level than the WA3, and is shockproof to 1.5m/5ft. It also has a more advanced sensor that's capable of recording at 120 frames per second, while the WA3 here tops out at 60fps .

But enough of the other model, what exactly do you get here in the Panasonic HX-WA3? It can record in numerous modes, including 1080p at 30 frames per second, 720p at at 60 or 30 frames per second, and at SD resolutions at 30 frames per second. It also does 1080/60i, for those into such things (or whose video editor of choice only supports such things).

The 60fps mode is particularly appealing for sports and other fast-moving subjects, partly because it means you can slow them down to half-speed when you get home without losing any smoothness or detail.

There's a 5x optical zoom, which extends to 18x with Panasonic's Intelligent Zoom, which is designed to use clever image processing on digital zooms to go beyond what the optical zoom can do without degrading quality badly - w e were thoroughly impressed with it on the Panasonic HC-V720. There's also Active Image Stabilisation, to make sure that you can see what's going on when you play back handheld video footage.

As we mentioned, it's waterproof, rated for up to 5m/16ft; it's also freeze-proof down to -10C/14F, meaning that it should do well out in the snow. It also boasts a dust-proof/sand-proof design, so should survive the beach, too.

It can take still pictures at up to 16 megapixels, and offers 180-degree and 360-degree panorama modes. It offers various scene modes, but most of the time you'll just want to use Panasonic's Intelligent Auto system, which has proven impeccable in th e past at adjusting quickly to new situations.

It boasts a bunch of effects, too, including a nice Miniature Effect mode and smart Ghost Effect mode, though we're never keen on applying these kinds of effect in-camera - much better to record clean and add them with a good video editor later. If you don't have one, though, or can't be bothered to do it that way, the options will be welcome.

Performance

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvWk4DHn4F0

The important thing is obviously video quality, and the Panasonic HX-WA3 certainly delivered some impressive moments during our time with it, but also several frustrating ones.

The best thing about this camcorder is the way it handles motion. It's brilliant, even at the 30fps 1080p mode (the 60fps 720p mode is even better, unsurprisingly). Things can move across the screen in just a frame or two, and there's almost no digital artefacts or degradation in the non-moving parts of the image. The things that are moving are still blurred, of course, but they don't leave the horrible smears across the image that you get from lower bitrate recording.

Along similar lines, the Panasonic HX-WA3's image stabilisation works really well, turning footage taken from shaky hands into fairly smooth, perfectly watchable video. It didn't seem to be quite as capable as that on the far more expensive Panasonic HC-V720, but was easily as good as we expected.

However, the image stabilisation did seem to have the side effect of sometimes spoiling the quality of the video. We took several shots where the images would blur dramatically for a few frames, then return to normal, several times in a row. The two stills below show it happening; the second one is the very next frame after the first.

Maybe it's the result of compensation for tiny hand movements, but it means that in an image that appears steady to the eye, everything gets randomly blurry, as if the focus has screwed up (it's the not focus, though - the blur issues happen at various depths in the frame).

Still, the good news is that image quality from the Panasonic HX-WA3 is good enough to be ruined - if you see what we mean. Colours are mostly good, appearing realistic, if maybe just a tad washed out in cloudy weather on the iA setting. At lower zoom levels (ie, when still in the optical zoom), you can get some lovely crisp shots of fairly close subjects, with things like hair picked out strongly, and a strong amount of detail.

As things get further away, softness creeps in quickly, likely due the size of the sensor (a 1/2.33-inch CMOS - the same as most compact cameras). Edges are still picked out sharply, but you start to lose the texture of things.

Alas, zooming in won't necessarily bring back the extra detail. The optical 5x zoom is great, but when going past that, the Intelligent Zoom feature comes in. It's designed to enable you to go past the limits of the optical zoom without a large drop in image quality, and it works to a degree - but images lose a lot of the detail still.

They aren't fuzzy, like a poor digital zoom, so the outline will be crisp, but it's like everything's been hastily airbrushed.

In lower light levels, the Panasonic HX-WA3 gives a pretty decent acco unt of itself, though we noticed colour saturation dropping, and noise starting to affect the normally sharp outlines of objects.

However, the Intelligent Auto mode that Panasonic uses does a truly excellent job of making sure that you don't have to think about modes or anything yourself. It handles going from light areas to dark ones well, tracks focus across objects without much faffing and always gave us results that we were confident were the best the camcorder had to offer.

Ergonomically, the Panasonic HX-WA3 is a bit of an odd one. The trigger handle shape is easy enough to grip, though we have pretty large hands, and smaller ones may struggle to grip it as steadily. It's also easy to stick your finger in front of the lens accidentally, but practice will solve that.

The controls for zooming are quite far up, though - to the point that reaching between them causes your hand to move, which is a bit awkward if you're recording at the time.

The menu is fairly easy to navigate, and there are plenty of options there, including the ability to switch to manual focus, though you can't then adjust the focus while recording, disappointingly.

There's also the waterproofing, of course, and this is another area where the Panasonic HX-WA3 impresses. While we couldn't test it all the way down to 5m, it survived our trip into some shallow water just fine.

Crucially, it's also capable of capturing great footage underwater, with almost no detrimental effect from being under. Colours are still fairly good, detail is evident, and the great motion han dling means that a cloud of bubbles from something moving doesn't cause lots of nasty artefacts.

And lastly, but very importantly, the battery life was excellent. During one 24-hour period where we used the camera often for a few hours, looked back over our footage later, and then occasionally grabbed it to fiddle around with, all without turning it off (we would just close the screen and leave it on standby), we only ran the battery down by around 25 per cent.

This kind of longevity is perfect for holidays. And it can be recharged through a USB cable, so a car charger or even a solar charger or USB battery pack could get it back and powered again.

Verdict

If image quality was all that mattered here, we might give the Panasonic HX-WA3 a lower score than this. But contex t is vital, and the Panasonic HX-WA3 as a holiday package really stands out.

It's capable of taking some great shots, with brilliantly captured motion, even if it can have issues with image detail at other times. But the waterproofing and sand-proofing, the solid image stabilisation and the excellent battery life mean that it's ideal for taking to the beach, up a mountain or anywhere in between.

Updated: Best Windows 8 tablets: all the Windows 8 tablets we've reviewed

Updated: Best Windows 8 tablets: all the Windows 8 tablets we've reviewed

Windows 8 tablets: reviews and hands ons

Microsoft's been pushing tablet computers for the best part of a decade, so you can imagine how happy the iPad's success makes them.

But Microsoft doesn't give up easily, and Windows 8 tablets are with us, both in the form of full-blown Windows 8 Intel-powered devices like Sony's Tap 20 and Windows RT ARM-based tab lets such as Microsoft's own Surface RT.

• Windows 8 vs Windows RT: what's the difference?

Before you dismiss Windows 8 tablets as a flash in the pan, Windows 8 tablets aren't one kind of device; we're seeing a huge variety of devices, ranging from simple iPad-style slates to fully convertible laptops including those where keyboards slide out from beneath the screen as well as those with styluses and detachable keyboards.

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The ARM-based Windows RT has received mixed reviews so far and has had moderate success in terms of sales, with only Surface RT making any impact. Many other Windows RT devices have yet to appear. All of which is music to the ears of Intel, which powers most of the Windows 8 devices on the market.

Here are all the hands ons and reviews of Windows 8 tablets we've done so far.

Acer Iconia W510 review

Acer Iconia W700 review

Asus Vivo Tab review

Asus Vivo Tab RT review

Asus VivoTab Smart ME400C review

Asus TaiChi review

Dell XPS 10 review

Dell XPS Duo 12 review

Dell Latitude 10 review

HP Envy X2 review

Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC review

Lenovo ThinkPad Helix review

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 review

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 review

Microsoft Surface Pro review

Microsoft Surface RT review

Panasonic ToughPad FZ-G1 review

Samsung ATIV Tab review

Samsung ATIV Smart PC review

Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro review

Sony Vaio Duo 11 review

Sony Vaio Tap 20 review

Toshiba Satellite P845 review