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Synology Launches Entry Level Four-Bay DS414j

Synology Launches Entry Level Four-Bay DS414j

Synology’s j-series NAS units have traditionally provided consumers with a very budget-friendly entry-level window into the DSM (Disk Station Manager) ecosystem. As the amount of user-generated data in the average household keeps increasing, the demand for more resilient storage keeps going up. With drive capacities on the increase, we have seen people move to 4-bay NAS units in order to take advantage of RAID-10 (despite the loss of effective storage space). This helps to avoid (to a certain extent) risk-prone rebuilds associated with RAID-5 arrays.

Entry-level 4-bay NAS units are important for any NAS vendor, evidenced in part by Western Digital’s decision to launch the 4-bay WD EX4 ahead of the 2-bay WD EX2. The ix4-300d is also a popular member of LenovoEMC’s ix-series. Synology is updating its entry in this price range market with the launch of the DS414j today, and appears to be an interesting alternative to the EX4 / ix4-300d.

Gallery: Synology DS414j

The DS414j sports the Mindspeed Comcerto C2200 dual-core communications processor. It has two Cortex-A9 cores running at 1.2 GHz. There are plenty of hardware acceleration engines in the SoC.

Mindspeed Comcerto C2200

The block diagram above doesn’t provide full details of the peripheral I/O. Fortunately, we do have some documentation (PDF) which indicate that the C2200 sports two SATA II ports, two PCIe 2.0 lanes, one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port. This looks like a good platform choice, since the two additional SATA bays should get full bandwidth through the SATA – PCIe bridge (if implemented that way on the board). A look at the gallery above shows that the unit has only one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port, pointing to the likely fact that there is no USB 3.0 – PCIe bridge in the equation. The SoC does have support for up to three GbE ports, but the 414j uses only one. Even though we have seen dual LAN ports making their way into a few ARM-based units, it looks like the j-series will tend to stress its entry-level credentials by sporting a single network interface only.

The DS414j brings in all the exciting features of DSM 5.0 (along with its acclaimed apps for quick and easy remote access, private cloud features and backups) to the entry-level market. The unit is now shipping globally with a retail MSRP of $390.

 

 

Samsung Unveils the Galaxy K Zoom with 20.7MP Camera

Samsung Unveils the Galaxy K Zoom with 20.7MP Camera

In June of last year Samsung released the Galaxy S4 Zoom. The phone was related most closely to the Galaxy Camera and the Galaxy S4 Mini. While its specifications were seen as a step down from the Galaxy Camera, it was equally as much a smartphone as it was a camera and it included support for voice calling and SMS. Today Samsung has revealed the first device in a new lineup of camera-centric smartphones. It is a successor in form but not in name; it is called the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom. Like its spiritual predecessor, there’s a big focus on the camera, with the phone packing a new 20.7MP sensor with support for 1920×1080 video recording at 60fps. The full specifications are below with the previous Galaxy S4 zoom and the Nokia Lumia 1020 alongside it for comparison as all three are devices with a heavy focus on the camera.

  Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Nokia Lumia 1020
CMOS Resolution 16.3MP 20.7MP 41.3MP
CMOS Format 1/2.3″, 1.34 micron pixels 1/2.3″, 1.12 micron pixels 1/1.5″, 1.12 micron pixels
Optical System

Focal Length: 4.3 – 43mm (35mm equiv: 24-240 mm) F/3.1-F/6.3 aperture

10x zoom + OIS

Focal Length: 4.4 – 44mm (35mm equiv: 24-240 mm) F/3.1-F/6.3 aperture

10x zoom + OIS

Focal Length: 7.2mm (35mm equiv: 25mm) F/2.2 aperture

OIS
Dimensions

125.5 x 63.5 x 15.4 mm, 208g

137.5 x 70.8 x 16.6mm (20.2mm max), 200g

130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm, 158g
Video Recording 1080p30 max 1080p60 max 1080p30 max
Display

4.3” 960 x 540 Super AMOLED

 4.8″ 1280×720 Super AMOLED 4.5″ 1280×768 Super AMOLED
SoC 1.5 GHz Exynos 4212

1.7GHz/1.3GHz Exynos 5 Hexa (5260)

 1.5 GHz MSM8960 Qualcomm Snapdragon S4
Storage

8GB + MicroSD

8GB + MicroSD

 32/64GB
Battery

2330 mAh (8.85Whr)

2430 mAh (9.23Whr)

2000 mAh (7.6 Whr)
OS Android 4.2.2 Android 4.4 Windows Phone 8
Connectivity

2G / 3G (Intel XMM6262)

802.11a/b/g/n, NFC, BT 4.0, GPS/GNSS

2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Intel XMM7160 Category 4 LTE)

802.11a/b/g/n, NFC, BT 4.0, GPS/GNSS

2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x15 Category 3 LTE)

802.11a/b/g/n, NFC, BT 4.0, GPS/GNSS

On the outside we see that the Galaxy K Zoom has a similar outer shell to the Galaxy S5. It is made of dimpled plastic that mimics the feel of leather. On the back we have a 4.8” display that matches the 1280×720 resolution of the Galaxy Camera 2, although it is an AMOLED panel while the Galaxy Camera 2 sports a Super LCD display. On the front we have the camera lens and a Xenon flash. The lens protrudes a few mm farther than Samsung has listed as the average thickness of the phone and the phone is actually 20.2mm thick at its thickest point. In comparison the Nokia Lumia 1020 is only 14.5mm at its thickest point. The device also sheds a tiny bit of weight, dropping from 208g to 200g.

On the inside we have Samsung’s Exynos 5 Hexa (5260) SoC which employs ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture and has support for HMP (Heterogeneous Multi-Processing) to take advantage of all six cores simultaneously. It sports two ARM Cortex-A15 cores with a max frequency of 1.7GHz and four Cortex-A7 cores with a max frequency of 1.3GHz. There’s also ARM’s Mali-T624 GPU and 2GB of RAM.

For the camera itself it looks like Samsung has stuck with 1/2.3” for their sensor format but has increased the resolution from 16.3MP to 20.7MP. While keeping the same sensor format as the Galaxy S4 Zoom was likely done to maintain device size and thinness, the increase in resolution results in smaller pixels and a corresponding decrease in low light sensitivity. With the rumors that Samsung would outfit the Galaxy K Zoom with a 20.7MP sensor I had hoped that they would at least increase the sensor size to maintain similar low light performance. The camera still includes OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) to reduce shake when taking photos and videos.

Like the Galaxy Beam, the Galaxy K Zoom doesn’t quite have the mass market appeal that Samsung’s flagship smartphones have. However, Samsung does not appear afraid to to take risks in entering new subcategories of smartphones and they seem confident that they will be able to market these devices. Clearly there is an appeal to camera oriented smartphones and manufacturers like HTC, Nokia, and Samsung are all going with a different approach to bring high quality photography to the smartphone form factor. For now we’ll have to wait and see how things evolve before we can decide which approach to the problem was best.

MSI Z97 Gaming Motherboards Up For Pre Order in China

MSI Z97 Gaming Motherboards Up For Pre Order in China

After our brief motherboard roundup, it was brought to our attention that some of the next generation of Intel motherboards are now up for pre-order in China. From tmall.com, it seems that motherboards described as being from MSI’s ‘Z97’ Gaming line up are on offer for pre-order from ¥999 ($160) to ¥2199 ($350). Given that these seem to be ahead of any official launch, the translated text states that these motherboards will be shipping in May. Almost ironically, the images used for these motherboards were taken from media reports on the MSI range with the chipset markings covered up.

In the sale are the:

  • MSI Z97 Gaming 3 (¥999 / $160)
  • MSI Z97 Gaming 5 (¥1399 / $225)
  • MSI Z97 Gaming 7 (¥1799 / $289)
  • MSI Z97 Gaming 9 (¥2199 / $350)
  • MSI Z97-I Gaming (¥1299 / $209)

Not many specifications are given above and beyond what we know already from the images MSI has allowed the media to publish. The seller does liberally put ‘Haswell Refresh Z97’ on most of the products. We do have the phrase ‘Expected delivery time May 30’ on each of the items as well.

The advantages of putting items up for pre-order mean that early adopters can ensure a copy and know what is coming. It happens in the video game industry, where users know what is coming months in advance, or even in mobile phones where a big press event is held a month before launch – but not in the computer hardware industry. Normally motherboard retailers should be holding back from selling until launch, however if any of them get stock you might imagine that it would be beneficial to business to sell it now (or take preorders) than keep it in their storehouse.

Source: tmall.com