Seidio Innocell Plus for iPhone 5/5s

Pros Thinner and shorter than competing battery cases in the 2,000mAh range. Attractive, thin design.

Cons Case doesn't offer much protection for the phone. Doesn't add as much battery life as the competition. Headphone extender not included. Bottom Line Seidio's Innocell Plus doesn't add too much bulk, but adds extra battery life to your iPhone. You can find cases that add more juice for around the same price, though.

By Antonio Villas-Boas

There isn't much variety in battery case design apart from PhoneSuit's Elite, which has a rounded bottom. For a case to stand out, it must be sleeker, slimmer, and more powerful than the others. Seidio's attractive Innocell Plus ($69.95) is generally a little smaller than battery cases in the 2,000mAh range, but it adds less battery life to your iPhone as a result, and it won't let you use headphones with connectors wider than Apple's EarPods. By no means is it an underperformer, but other battery cases offer more battery life for around the same price, like the aforementioned Elite or the Editors' Choice uNu DX, which offers excellent value.

Design and Features
Seidio's Innocell Plus is coated in a pleasing rubberized finish, and at 5.45 by 2.5 by 0.6 inches (HWD), it's slightly shorter and thinner than Mophie's Juice Pack Plus. Weighing in at 2.56 ounces, the Innocell is also a hair lighter.

On the back panel towards the bottom, you'll find a button that turns charging on and off when it's pressed for a couple seconds. When simply tapped, it indicates how much charge is remaining in the case with four blue LEDs that flank the button. At the front, also towards the bottom, there are two port holes to let sound out from your iPhone's speakers, and let sound into the microphone.

On the underside, you'll find a standard micro USB port to charge the case and phone with the included micro USB cable. Your phone will charge first, and the case will follow once your iPhone's battery is topped off. You can sync your iPhone through the micro USB connection.

Also at the bottom is a port hole for your iPhone's 3.5mm audio jack, but you can't connect most headphones with wide connectors, and you can forget about angled connectors. Most battery case manufacturers include a 3.5mm extender with their cases, but there isn't one included here. 

For review, I received the Innocell Plus Combo package, which comes with a holster for your iPhone 5/5s and lists at $79.95, and you can get the Innocell Plus without the holster for $69.95. Instead of a holster, I would rather have seen a headphone extender.

The case comprises two pieces: The back contains the battery and Lightning connector, and the front fits over and around your iPhone and snaps onto the back. The front section came off quite easily when I dropped the phone from a height of three feet during testing, so it's unlikely that it would protect your iPhone further than the initial impact.

I was pleased to find the Innocell doesn't have the lip that protects an iPhone's screen if it's placed face-down, since it adds bulk and gets in the way of tapping items on the very edges of the screen. The trade-off is less protection for the screen; it's a matter of personal preference.

Performance and Conclusion
The 2,000mAh battery added 6 hours, 45 minutes of extra talk time to a completely drained iPhone 5s with LTE enabled, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned off. (The company claims that the battery's performance will increase after five or six full charges.) Mophie's Juice Pack Plus has a slightly larger 2,100mAh battery and added 7 hours, 23 minutes of extra talk time in the same test. With a similar 2,100mAh battery, uNu's DX case lasted 7 hours, 53 minutes. But most impressively, PhoneSuit's Elite added 10 hours, 20 minutes of battery life, also with its 2,100mAh battery.

The results speak for themselves. The Innocell Plus is a good-looking, reasonably slim option. But if you're looking to maximize your iPhone's battery life, uNu's DX adds more juice for just $10 more. PhoneSuit's Elite for iPhone 5/5s is also a good choice, but it doesn't come with a headphone extender, and is slightly pricier at $99.99. If your iPhone happens to be running out of battery as well as storage space, take a look at Mophie's Space Pack, which adds more than eight hours of battery life and additional storage space for your media.

View the original article here

Sony Alpha 7S

Pros Amazing high ISO capability. Full-frame image sensor. 5fps burst shooting. Sharp, tilting rear LCD. Excellent OLED EVF. Great control layout. Compact, dust and moisture-resistant body. Vertical shooting grip available.

Cons 4K recording requires external recorder. No PC sync socket. No built-in flash. Limited native lens selection. Overactive EVF eye sensor. Bottom Line The Sony Alpha 7S full-frame mirrorless camera offers incredible performance in low light, but you'll need an external recorder to take advantage of its 4K video support.

By Jim Fisher

The Sony Alpha 7S ($2,499.99, body only) is the third camera in Sony's full-frame mirrorless family. The 12-megapixel shooter joins the 24-megapixel Alpha 7 and 36-megapixel Alpha 7R, but its resolution isn't the only differentiating factor. The 7S can be pushed all the way to ISO 409600, and although image quality suffers at that extreme setting, its capabilities at less-staggering sensitivities outpace the competition. It can also record video in 4K resolution, but you'll need to add an external recorder to do that. If shooting in dim light is a must, the Alpha 7S may be the best of the trio for you. But we still prefer the high-resolution 7R as our Editors' Choice, and recommend the Alpha 7 for shooters who require quick autofocus or want to get the best quality out of adapted lenses.

Build
The Alpha 7S is, aside from its name badge, physically identical to the Alpha 7 and 7R. It's compact when you consider that the body houses a full-frame sensor, measuring just 3.75 by 5 by 1.9 inches (HWD) and weighing in at a little over a pound without a lens. There aren't a lot of other full-frame mirrorless cameras on the market to compare, but the pricey Leica M (Typ 240) qualifies. The Leica is a little bit smaller (3.1 by 5.5 by 1.7 inches), but it's heavier at 1.5 pounds thanks to brass construction and an optical viewfinder, and the Alpha 7S is a little taller because of its integrated OLED electronic viewfinder. Like the M, the Alpha 7S is sealed against dust and moisture. I didn't experience any inclement weather during my time with the camera, but had no issues shooting the 7 and 7R in light rain. There's no o-ring gasket around the lens mount, so I would take some care using them in heavy downpours.

The Alpha 7S uses the same E-mount to attach lenses as previous Sony NEX cameras, including the Alpha 6000, which uses an APS-C image sensor. An APS-C sensor is physically smaller than the 35mm full-frame image sensor housed in the Alpha 7's svelte body. It's possible to use older lenses for NEX models that only cover an APS-C image circle; the Alpha 7S will automatically crop images to match the APS-C sensor size when these lenses are attached. Lenses designed for the full-frame Alpha family bear an FE designation.

Like the Alpha 7, the Alpha 7S's image sensor includes an optical low-pass filter. This adds a bit of blur to images captured, scrubbing away some very fine detail, but eliminating the risk of color moiré appearing in images and video. Moiré is less of an issue with high-resolution cameras like the Alpha 7R, but the filter is still a requirement for the 7S's 12-megapixel sensor.

Physical Controls, Display, Wi-Fi
The A7S puts shooting controls at your fingertips via a well-designed selection of physical controls. There are front and rear control wheels, placed at the top of the camera and accessible when holding it using the handgrip. The top plate houses a standard mode dial, the power switch and shutter release, an EV compensation dial (3 stops in either direction at 1/3-stop increments), and the customizable C1 button—by default it adjusts autofocus pattern, but when the camera is in manual focus mode, it enables quick frame magnification as a focus aid.

On the rear of the camera you'll find the Menu button to the left of the eyepiece, and the C2 button to its right; C2 is also customizable, and is used to adjust the focus mode by default. The other controls are bunched to the right of the tilting rear LCD; there's a toggle switch and button that give quick access to manual focus mode when placed in the up position, and engages exposure lock in the bottom.

A flat control dial can be spun to adjust the ISO, or pressed in a cardinal direction to adjust the drive mode, change the amount of information displayed over the Live View feed, or to adjust white balance. At its center is a button that is used to select items in menus; when shooting it enables Eye AF, which prioritizes the autofocus system to lock onto a human eye. The Delete button doubles as C3 when shooting; there's no default behavior, but you can add one via the menu. All of the rear controls are customizable, giving you near total control over how the camera functions. If a certain control is seldom used, or just isn't in the right place, you can adjust it to suit your needs.

The other control button on the rear is the Fn button. It brings up an on-screen menu that provides quick access to up to 12 camera functions. The default lineup includes the drive mode, flash mode and compensation, the focus mode and area, exposure compensation, ISO, the metering pattern, white balance and color output settings, and dynamic range optimization settings.

There's a record button to start videos; it's located on the right side of the camera. It's actually placed quite well, and is easily accessible, but unlikely to be accidentally pressed; it can't be disabled or reprogrammed, but it can be set only to work when the camera's mode dial is moved to the video setting.

The LCD is hinged so it can tilt up or down, but it's not a vari-angle display like the one found on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3, nor does it support touch input. It's 3 inches in size and packs 921k-dot resolution into that space, which is impressively sharp. There's no depth-of-field preview button on the camera; instead, the Live View feed changes to show you the focus, depth of field, and exposure as you adjust the aperture of the lens.

The EVF is an OLED panel with a 2,359k-dot resolution, similar to the one found in the APS-C Alpha NEX-7. It's one of the best you'll find in a digital camera, although we give slight preference to the LCD EVF in the Olympus OM-D E-M1. The LCD tends to give a more natural impression of a scene, while the OLED tends to produce a punchier view of the world with a bit more contrast. The EVF can lag a bit in very low light; it's not quite as smooth as the E-M1 in those conditions, but it is smoother than the EVFs in Sony cameras from previous years. One bone of contention is that the eye sensor that activates the EVF is overly sensitive. There were many situations where I'd want to use the camera at waist-level with the LCD tilted up to face me, only to find that I moved the 7S a little bit too close to my torso, which deactivated the LCD. You can turn off automatic switching via the menu, but then you'll have to dive in and manually switch between the LCD and EVF each time you want to make a change.

View the original article here

Philips Brilliance MultiView (272P4QPJKEB)

Pros Strong feature set. Wide viewing angles. Deep blacks.

Cons Expensive. Skewed color accuracy. Has trouble displaying gray-scale shades. Skittish touch buttons. Bottom Line The Philips Brilliance MultiView (272P4QPJKEB) is a pricey 27-inch WQHD monitor that uses Plane Line Switching (PLS) panel technology to deliver dark blacks and wide viewing angles. This monitor is loaded with features, but its mediocre color accuracy and gray-scale performance hold it back.

By John R. Delaney

The Philips Brilliance MultiView (272P4QPJKEB) ($799) is the latest 27-inch monitor to bring Wide, Quad High-Definition (WQHD) resolution to the desktop. It uses Plane Line Switching (PLS) panel technology to deliver sharp 2,560-by-1,440 imagery, dark blacks, and wide viewing angles. It is loaded with ports and niceties, such as a fully adjustable stand, a webcam, USB ports, and speakers. Its gray-scale performance and color accuracy could be better, and its list price of $799 is over the top. For a list price that's another $300 more, the NEC MultiSync PA271W, our Editors' Choice for big-screen, professional-grade monitors, offers much better performance and a generous feature set. For a list price that's $350 less, consider the Acer K272HUL, our Editors' Choice for midrange, big-screen monitors. You won't get as many features, but it is a solid WQHD performer with a reasonable price tag.

Design and Features
The 272P4Q's textured, black finish is stylish yet subtle. The 27-inch Plane Line Switching (PLS) panel has a non-reflective coating and is framed by ¾-inch bezels. The lower bezel sports a prominent silver Philips logo and is attached to a ¾-inch panel that holds two presence sensors, four touch-sensitive function buttons, a headphone jack, and a touch-sensitive power switch. The buttons are erratic; every so often they would fail to respond to a touch command. Moreover, they are labeled with gray lettering that is difficult to read against the black finish. The presence sensors are part of the PowerSensor feature that, when enabled, conserves energy by reducing the brightness level by up to 80 percent when no motion is detected.

The 12.6-pound cabinet can be hung on a wall using an optional mounting kit and the four VESA-compliant mounting holes on the back panel. The stand is fully ergonomic and sports an arm with a sliding mechanism that provides 5.9 inches of height and 25 degrees of tilt adjustability. It also allows you to pivot the panel 90 degrees for Portrait mode viewing (the panel will automatically change the image orientation for you). The arm swivels at the base up to 65 degrees in either direction.

At the back of the cabinet are a variety of ports, including two HDMI inputs, a dual-link DVI input, a DisplayPort input, and a DisplayPort output for daisy-chaining multiple monitors. You'll also find an audio input and the power cord jack. On the left side of the cabinet are four USB 3.0 ports, three for downstream communications and one for upstream. The 272P4Q's dual 2-watt speakers are moderately strong, but tinny sounding. Along the top bezel is a 2-megapixel webcam and microphone array that communicates with the host PC via the upstream USB connection.

Philips' SmartControl software lets you change settings using the keyboard and mouse, which is much easier than using the overly sensitive and poorly labeled touch buttons. Here you can tweak Brightness, Contrast, Black Level, White Point, and Gamma settings, enable power-saving presets, and schedule days and times when you would like the monitor to automatically power down. There are six picture presets (dubbed SmartImage), including Photo, Office, Movie, Game, Economy, and Off (Standard).

The 272P4Q is covered by a three-year warranty on parts, labor, and backlight. It ships with HDMI, DVI, USB (upstream), and audio cables, as well as a resource CD with drivers, a user manual, and the SmartControl software.

Performance
The 272P4Q's performance was a mixed bag. Colors popped from the panel's dark-black background, but their accuracy was a bit off. As shown on the chromaticity chart below, red, green, and blue (represented by the colored dots) all missed their ideal CIE coordinates (represented by the boxes), although red was relatively close. None of the colors were so far out of whack that they appeared oversaturated, but if your work requires accurate color matching you'll have to calibrate this panel.

Gray-scale performance was also sketchy. The panel couldn't correctly display all shades gray on the DisplayMate 64-step Gray-Scale test; the darkest three swatches appeared black rather than gradually progressing shades of dark gray. Light gray-scale performance was slightly better, but the two lightest swatches appeared whitewashed. The Viewsonic VP2770-LED also has some trouble with dark blacks, but its gray-scale performance was better overall. Shadow detail in my test images took a hit as a result of the panel's weak gray-scale showing.

The display's 6-millisecond (gray-to-gray) pixel response delivered fairly good gaming performance, but there was some motion blur while playing the PC version of Aliens vs. Predator. Results were similar while playing Burnout Paradise on the PS3 console.

The monitor consumed 42 watts of power during testing while set to Off (Standard) mode and only 24 watts while in Economy mode. However, the Economy mode picture was very dim. By way of comparison the ViewSonic VP2770-LED used 40 watts in Standard mode and 21 watts in Conserve mode, but the latter was also very dim.

Conclusion
The Philips Brilliance MultiView (272P4QPJKEB) is a well-equipped 27-inch WQHD monitor that offers bold colors, a sharp 2,560-by-1,440 picture, and an impressive feature set that includes three high-speed USB ports, four digital video inputs, a webcam, and a highly adjustable stand that lets you position the panel for optimal viewing. However, I expect better color accuracy and gray-scale performance from a professional-grade monitor in this price range. For another $300, the NEC MultiSync PA271W offers much better performance and a generous feature set, which is why it is our Editors' Choice for big-screen, professional-grade monitors. If that's a little too rich for your bank account, check out our Editors' Choice for midrange, big-screen monitors, the Acer K272HUL. You won't get as many features with the Acer but it is a solid WQHD performer with a reasonable price tag.

View the original article here

Skycure (for iPhone)

Security wonks and paranoids often warn about networking attacks, where bad guys can see everything you do online and take control of your browser. But most of these network attacks are subtle and go unnoticed by victims. How are you supposed to protect yourself against what you can't see? That's the problem Skycure aims to solve with its free iPhone app.

Once activated, Skycure quietly probes every wireless network to which your phone connects, searching for potentially dangerous activity. This isn't about viruses or worms infesting your phone; this is about making sure that the data you send and receive is coming from and going to the right places.

Starting Up
When you start up the app for the first time, you are prompted to enter your email address for verification purposes. We were briefly confused by the fact that you must tap a URL emailed by Skycure directly from the phone you're enrolling; you can't do it from a desktop or another mobile device. Most apps don't require that you use a specific device to respond to confirmation messages. It's a minor wrinkle; beyond that, setup is a breeze.

Once it's running, Skycure tests each wireless network with which your phone connects. Skycure compares what it sees to a massive database of known attacks, malicious networks, and suspicious behaviors. Skycure does this in real time, which means that the app generates network traffic and uses some battery power in the process. Company representatives assure us that using Skycure has significantly less impact on battery life than making a phone call. Our testing tended to bear this out; we didn't notice any drastic battery drains.

Skycure keeps it simple by packing all the important information onto a single page in the app. If you've never encountered a dangerous network, congratulations! You'll see a message that says "No Incidents." The app also shows another message, reminding you to keep Skycure running.

This might seem a little odd, since most of us are used to simply switching on our security software and then ignoring it. But the technical limitations of iOS mean that Skycure can only do its work while the app is running. Skycure does not need to be "in focus" (that is, on the screen) to operate, but if you shut it down from the task manager your protection ends. It's an unfortunate drawback, but one that I don't see changing unless iOS loosens up—which seems doubtful. Perhaps with iOS 8?

There is an additional Advanced Options page that, confusingly, includes a toggle to enable Auto Protection. This is a rather misleading vestigial feature from the enterprise version of the app, which is available for a fee and includes advanced features like mobile device management tools. Free users will not be able to activate this feature, and Skycure needs to make that clearer.

Skycure in Action
In order to simulate an attack, a representative from the company launched three separate attacks on our iPhone 5c. This included a man-in-the-middle attack, SSL stripping, and a malicious profile attack—identical to the one featured in Skycure Hacked My iPhone To Prove They Can Protect It. The first two attacks required that we connect to a malicious Wi-Fi network, while the third used a social engineering website to trick us into installing a malicious mobile device management profile. We went ahead and installed the profile to see what would happen.

This attack is a particularly nasty one. In the demonstration, Skycure's engineers were able to see our browsing activity in real time, capture our login information sent through secure apps and websites, and even redirect our browser to websites of their choosing. All that while being connected to a secure Wi-Fi network we controlled.

While the demo from Skycure was pretty impressive, we like to do things ourselves here at PCMag. First, we looked at what happens if we tricked the iOS device into connecting to a network with the same name as one it had connected to previously. The test itself was simple, as we created a second Wi-Fi network with the same name as one of our test networks. When we connected to the second network, we expected Skycure to warn us that we were not on the right hotspot. Turns out Skycure waits for actual malicious activity to occur before issuing any alerts, in order to cut down on false alarms. Fair enough. This just meant we had to attack ourselves.

Enter the PwnPad from penetration testing experts Pwnie Express. The PwnPad comes with several nifty tools to set up malicious access points, socially engineer users, and launch other network attacks. First, we created a rogue access point with the same name as our test network using the EvilAP penetration testing tool. As was the case with our earlier test, Skycure didn't display any warnings.

We then launched "SSL Strip" from the PwnPad to hijack all HTTP traffic. The victim thinks the Web session is secured by HTTPS, but SSL Strip forces the session to HTTP, which means all the information being entered (such as passwords) is now transmitted in the clear. Connecting to EvilAP didn't trigger any Skycure warnings, but as soon as we tried accessing sites while running SSL Strip on the PwnPad, Skycure detected the man-in-the-middle attack.

With each attack detected, Skycure sends a push notification, adds a badge number to the app icon, and pulls up a security warning within the app. That's the most you can expect, short of an OS-level alert. Within the app, Skycure created an entry for each of our testing threats with a brief description of what was going on. Each attack generates its own message, even attacks that originate from the same network. For example, we launched the man-in-the-middle and SSL stripping attacks simultaneously from the same network, but they appeared as two separate entries in Skycure.

This running list of all the attacks you've encountered is very handy for later reference. If you discover some stray charges on your credit card, for example, you might correlate it with the time Skycure detected suspicious activity on your coffee shop's free Wi-Fi. If you encounter the same attack on the same network, Skycure updates the date. Future attacks, and different malicious networks, are recorded separately.

To our surprise, the attack descriptions are fairly, well, descriptive. Skycure reported the type of attack, told us which network launched the attack, and offered suggestions on how to keep our phone safe. That's an impressive level of detail, but it's less clear if Skycure will be so exacting when it encounters something completely novel.

The advice the app provides is also useful and effective. When it detects a malicious profile, the app gives step-by-step directions for removing it. For our malicious network attacks, the app suggested that we disconnect from Wi-Fi and use our cellular network instead. That said, it still requires the user to take action, and that's a potential point of failure. Again, the limitations of iOS means that Skycure can't automatically disconnect you from a suspicious network, which would be more powerful protection.

Clear Skies
In our SecurityWatch posts, we often remind readers to avoid free wireless networks, but the temptation is always present. As cities begin to roll out more and more municipal Wi-Fi networks, that advice might not be practical much longer. Sure, using a VPN service would likely prevent the problem, but that's probably beyond the average user. That's why I'm very happy to see a solution like Skycure on iPhone. It gives peace of mind and unique protection for our increasingly wireless lives.

But while we really like the protection Skycure provides, we're frustrated by the technical limitations within iOS that keep Skycure from being more automated. That's a small price to pay for peace of mind, however, especially for frequent users of public, hotel, or coffee-shop Wi-Fi networks.

View the original article here

Leica Visoflex (Typ 020)

Pros Very sharp. Brings a big image to your eye. Tilting design with lock. Eye sensor. Diopter correction. Integrated GPS.

Cons Pricey. GPS can take a while to lock on. Bottom Line The Leica Visoflex (Typ 020) is one of the better add-on EVFs that you can get for a mirrorless camera system, but it's expensive.

By Jim Fisher

The Leica Visoflex (Typ 020) ($595) is the add-on EVF for the T (Typ 701) mirrorless camera. It's one of the better EVFs I've used—it packs more pixels than the Olympus VF-4—but, like most things Leica, it's expensive. If you decide to buy into the T system, it's a worthwhile add-on, as it's quite pleasant to use and also adds GPS capability to the camera.

The Visoflex, named after a classic Leica accessory that converted an M rangefinder into an SLR, connects to the T via its accessory shoe. It's an LCD finder with a staggering 3,700k-dot resolution, and it brings a very large image to your eye. I looked at it side by side with the OLED EVF Sony uses in its Alpha 7 cameras under identical conditions. The Visoflex is just a little bit bigger, noticeably sharper, and a bit brighter to my eye.

From a usability standpoint, it's excellent. There's an eye sensor that automatically switches from the rear LCD to the EVF when you bring it up to your eye. It's not overly sensitive like the one on the Sony Alpha 7, so I didn't have to struggle with my torso accidentally switching it on when using the rear LCD. The EVF locks into a straight back position, but can also tilt all the way up to 90 degrees. There's no locking at increments in that range, but the hinge is strong and holds steady in the position which you've set it. There's a -3 to +3 diopter to adjust for your vision.

The unique feature that the Visoflex brings to the table is GPS. Rather than build that functionality into the body, Leica opted to put it in the EVF. It's not the first time the company has taken that approach, as the M (Typ 240) has a multifunction handgrip accessory that adds GPS and a few additional ports. The GPS works well, accurately recording the position you were standing when a photograph was captured, but it does take a minute or two to acquire a signal. You'll want to pay attention to the satellite indicator on the camera's rear LCD (also shown in the EVF) to see if it has a signal—you'll probably have to leave the camera powered on for a couple of minutes in order to get the GPS to work when starting your day, but it locks on faster if you're staying in the same area to shoot.

If you decide to buy the T, I heartily recommend budgeting for the Visoflex (Typ 020) along with it, especially if you plan to use manual focus rangefinder lenses. It delivers a big, sharp image to your eye so you can focus with precision. It's also helpful on bright days. The T's rear display is plenty bright on its own accord, but the EVF is a lot more pleasant to use when sunlight is harsh. As an eyeglass wearer, I found myself having to cup my hand around it to really block out unwanted light, but that's the case with a lot of EVFs. Leica charges a lot for the Visoflex (Typ 020), but its quality is excellent. It's good enough that owners of other Leica cameras that use the older Visoflex EVF2 will be jealous that this new model isn't backward compatible.

View the original article here