Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display (15-inch, 2014) review:

For anyone complaining that Apple has not released any new products in the first eight months of 2014, we point you toward a series of underplayed but important updates to the Mac line of laptops and desktops.

Already this year, we've seen processor bumps and price cuts for the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air, a new lower-cost entry level 21.5-inch iMac all-in-one desktop, and now similar component upgrades and price cuts to the MacBook Pro line.

The entry-level 13-inch and 15-inch Retina models each doubled the included RAM, from 4GB to 8GB for the 13-inch, and 8GB to 16GB for the 15-inch. Both of those models also received a slightly faster CPU, with the 15-inch model reviewed here going from a 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 to a 2.2GHz Core i7, but still from the same generation of Intel Core i-series processors (newer CPUs are expected from Intel late this year).

Further, the higher-end 15-inch Retina Pro, the base model we reviewed in each of the past two years, dropped its price by $100, down to $2,499; and the lone non-Retina MacBook Pro, the positively ancient 13-inch model with an optical drive and relatively paltry 1,280x800-pixel display, also dropped its price by $100, down to $1,099.

The model we're testing here is the entry-level (to stretch the term) 15-inch Pro, which starts at $1,999 (£1,599, AU$2,499 RRP) and includes the aforementioned 2.2GHz Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage. Unlike the higher-end models we've reviewed in previous years, this Pro doesn't have a discrete Nvidia graphics card, relying instead on Intel's integrated Iris Pro graphics.

HTC desire 510

The 4.7-inch phone comes encased in polycarbonate plastic in a choice of black, white, grey or a very luxurious midnight blue. The choice of colour may depend on where you buy it, however.The Desire 510 is a Category 4 LTE phone. Cat 4 is one of the fastest current flavours of 4G, but you can only enjoy the extra speed of a Cat 4 device if you live in a country that has a Cat 4 or LTE-Advanced network.

Even if you don't live somewhere covered by LTE-Advanced signal, 4G LTE is still an order of magnitude faster than 3G, and sees you surf the Web, stream video and music and connect with apps much faster. The only caveat is that with that extra speed you will burn through your data allowance (and battery) faster, and as 4G is still relatively new in many countries, that can cost you.

Inside the 510 is a quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 410 processor with 1GB of RAM. There's 8GB of on-board memory for music, movies, and photos, with a microSD card slot for extra legroom.

While the 4G and processor speed are pretty respectable, the most disappointing specs are the 854x480-pixel screen and the cameras: the main snapper is a 5-megapixel job, with a low-resolution 640x480-pixel camera on the front for blocky video chat.

The 510 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat software, the latest version of Google's operating system. You can download more apps from the Google Play app store, including any apps you've already downloaded if you've had an Android phone before.On top of regular Android is HTC Sense, an interface only found on HTC phones, which adds extra features to the basic Android experience. The home pages also include BlinkFeed, which pulls together news and updates from your social networks to show you what's going on with the world and your friends every time you look at your phone.

Like the  HTC One M8 , HTC's flagship phone, you can check out what's going on with your 510 without opening the case. HTC's DotView case, which costs extra, covers the phone, but with teeny-tiny holes on the front through which you can see the screen, forming a cool dot matrix-style pattern.While at rest, the phone shows a display specially designed to be viewed through the small holes without opening the case. The 510 does not have the smart sensor features of the One M8's DotView case, but it does give you a choice of 18 wallpapers and themes.

We'll meet the HTC Desire 510 next week at annual technology trade show IFA in Berlin, where we'll be on hand to bring you the first photos, videos and hands-on first impressions of this and all the cool new kit heading your way before the end of the year.

LG L60 smartphone available online for Rs. 7,999

LG's latest entry-level Android smartphone L60 is now available via e-commerce site Amazon.in for Rs. 7,999. The new LG smartphone is also listed on the company's official India website, but with a higher price tag of Rs. 9,000.

The LG L60 measures 124.1 X 66.3 X 12.0 mm. It has 4.3-inch WVGA display. The smartphone runs Android 4.4 KitKat OS and is powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core processor along with 512MB of RAM. window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">

LG L60

The L60 has a 5MP rear camera with fixed focus and a VGA front-facing camera. The smartphone has 4GB internal memory, supports 32GB additional storage. For connectivity, it supports dual-SIM Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, USB. It is powered by a 1700 mAh battery. You can check out the full specifications of the smartphone here.

LG's latest smartphone is set to compete against a range of entry-level smartphones such as the Moto E and Unite 2.                                

Nikon D3300 review:

+ POINT The Nikon D3300's photo quality improves on its predecessor, and while it's not incredibly fast it performs pretty well for its price class.

- POINT The feature set remains pretty limited.

The Bottom Line Very good photo quality for its class plus decent performance make the Nikon D3300 A solid choice for a first dSLR.

NIKON DX3300

Performance

Overall, the D3300 tests faster than the D3200 and many of its competitors, but it still feels pretty slow to shoot with -- possibly because of the relatively sluggish new kit lens. It takes half a second to power on, focus, and shoot; that's not bad. Time to focus and shoot in good light runs about 0.4 second, rising to 0.6 second in dim light. It does perform quite fast when shooting two consecutive photos, 0.2 second regardless whether you're using raw or JPEG, since it doesn't attempt to refocus, rising to 0.9 second with flash enabled.

Live View performance remains terrible, taking almost 2 seconds to focus and shoot thanks to slow everything -- slow autofocus, slow mirror movement -- and two consecutive JPEG shots takes 3.7 seconds.

The camera delivers an excellent 5.1fps burst when equipped with a 95MB/sec SD card (almost 4.4fps for raw) with autofocus and with no significant slowing -- it just gets a little more variable -- for more than 30 frames. However, the autofocus can't really keep up with the frame rate so there are a lot of misses.

The annoying small, dim viewfinder hasn't changed, unsurprising since that's typical for these entry-level models. I really dislike the tiny focus points which only illuminate (and briefly) when you half-press the shutter. They're impossible to see in moderate to dim light, so if you shoot on anything other than full auto you first have to press the shutter to find the appropriate focus point (in my case, center) before you can even begin to frame the scene. The LCD hasn't changed, but it's a good size, bright and reasonably visible in bright sunlight.

Image quality

Photos are the camera's strongest suit. The D3300 improves on the image quality of the D3200, with most images appearing somewhat sharper as you'd expect from the new 24-megapixel antialiasing-filter-free sensor, and the camera fares pretty compared to competitors. Also, for example, ISO 3200 JPEGs look a lot less noisy than their counterparts from the D3200, but the raw files seem to clean up about the same, pointing mostly to the inevitable improvements in Nikon's image processing over the past two years. JPEGs look very clean through ISO 400 and display only minimal artifacts through ISO 1600. Depending upon scene content the photos are usable through ISO 6400, but above that the less-bright colors become too desaturated and the tonal ranges compress unattractively.

SAMPLE IMAGE FROM D3300

Design and features

The body looks almost identical to the D3200 (which had barely changed from the D3100 before that) except for a few tweaks. It's light and a bit plasticky with a deep, comfortable grip. On top of the grip sits the power switch and shutter button, and behind that a trio of buttons: a somewhat hard-to-feel record button, plus exposure compensation and info display.

D3300 BACK

SPECIFICATION

A programmable Fn button -- you can set it to control the image quality, ISO sensitivity, white balance, or Active D-Lighting menus -- lies under your left thumb.

The back has the same parade of buttons -- review, Menu, zoom in, zoom out and i, which brings up the frequently used settings -- down the left side. Nikon redesigned the multi-selector navigation control to allow diagonal movement, which is useful when selecting an AF point, for example.

The SD card slot is in the more accessible grip-side location, as opposed to the battery compartment, and I still like Nikon's implementation of the interactive display. The adjustment options now appear beneath the settings readout rather than around the edges of the display, which some people might prefer, since you don't have to navigate sequentially through the options.

In addition to a composite, a HDMI out, and a USB connector, plus the connector for Nikon's proprietary GPS module, D3200 adds a jack for an external mic.

COMPARISON BETWEEN D3300 AND D5300

The introduction of a collapsible kit lens seems unnecessary to me. Unlike mirror-less systems where the bodies are much smaller, the body of the D3300 is still relatively large and the new lens only shaves about a half inch in length and circumference and 2.4 ounces from the weight. It's certainly not worth the extra $50 if you're buying it standalone. Since it will coexist in the market with the traditional 18-55mm version, watch out when shopping online and make sure you're getting the lens you expect. However, I also bet that there will be cheaper versions of the kit available with the old lens.

For a complete accounting of its features and operation, download the D3300's manual.

Conclusion

If you're looking for a competent but inexpensive general-purpose first dSLR, the D3300 is a fine choice.

BUY IT HERE:-