Edward Mendelson Apple OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 Still the best desktop OS you can get, Yosemite is sleek, beautiful, and brimming with conveniences and new features. It also boasts the most efficient use of screen real estate of any desktop operating system, along with deep social media and Apple ecosystem integration.
Minor inconsistencies in Continuity features. System font won't likely be to everyone's taste. Notifications can pile up.
Still the best desktop OS you can get, Yosemite is sleek, beautiful, and brimming with conveniences and new features. It also boasts the most efficient use of screen real estate of any desktop operating system, along with deep social media and Apple ecosystem integration.
OS X Yosemite—the tenth version of Apple's desktop operating system—gets its first update after a month of existence, with 10.10.1. The update addresses issues with Wi-Fi, email, Back to My Mac, and several other kinks and security concerns. Yosemite remains the most technically spectacular manifestation of Apple's desktop OS ever, and now it's better than ever. It's a free update for anyone using a Mac made in 2008 or later (and some 2007 models), but (of course) it works best with recent hardware. In our testing, Yosemite was blazingly fast on a MacBook Pro with a Retina display, and, unsurprisingly, a bit slow on a 2010 MacBook that's also sluggish with everything else.
Everything in the OS gets a consistent, cleaned-up, flattened look. New features like annotations and markup in Mail and Preview are slotted smoothly into familiar apps. Terrific Continuity features let you use your iPhone or iPad (running iOS 8.1.1 ) as an extension of your Mac. That means you can answer a phone call on your iPhone and continue the conversation using the mic and speakers on your Mac. Or you can start a mail message in OS X, then rush out the door with your iPad or iPhone and finish and send the same message from your iOS device.
Windows 8.1 is certainly no slouch as a fast, convenient desktop OS, but where Microsoft's OS struggles to jam together a tablet OS and a desktop OS into a single system—and ends up with two different browsers and other needless duplications—OS X gets it right by letting the desktop OS and the mobile OS each do what they do best, while letting them share and communicate in a completely new way.
As always with OS X upgrades, the learning curve for the new features is essentially nonexistent, but you'll need to learn one or two simple tricks to use the new Continuity features to their fullest. The visual design is, overall, a triumph of elegant efficiency—and the new look is spectacular on a Retina display—though I have mixed feelings about some aspects of the redesign and some minor doubts about a few new features. But there's no question that with Yosemite, OS X has again widened its lead over the competition as the world's best desktop operating system, and it remains our Editors' Choice.
First, the spectacular Continuity features—which, by the way, can be switched off in OS X's System Preferences and iOS's Settings if you don't want them. If your iPhone and Mac are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, and both are logged into the same iCloud account, you can answer the phone on your Mac. The phone and the Mac both ring (with the same ring tone), and a notification appears at the upper right of the OS X desktop. Click Accept to take the call, using the Mac's speakers and microphone. You can also click on a phone number in OS X (for example, in the Contacts app or on a webpage) and call it, using the Mac or your iPhone to talk and listen. A related feature lets you use your Mac to send and receive SMS text messages—the ones that appear in green on your phone because they're not part of the iCloud ecosystem.
Another Continuity feature is called Handoff. When you start writing an email message on your iPhone or iPad and it's on the same Wi-Fi network with your Mac, a Handoff icon will appear next to the OS X dock. Click on the icon, and finish the message on the Mac—it's been handed off from one device to the other.
You can also do the reverse. Start writing in OS X and a Handoff icon appears on your iOS lock screen. If you swipe the icon upward, you can continue writing the message on your iOS device. It took me a while to discover that I had to swipe the lock-screen icon upwards to make this work, but once you figure that out, you won't forget it. Handoff also works in every other OS X app where you'd expect it, including Safari (which opens to the same page you were using in other device), Contacts, Reminders, Maps, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and more.
One small limitation of Handoff is that if you start writing a text in the Messages app on one device and then switch to your other device and click the Handoff icon, the Messages app will switch to the same conversation you were in on the first device, but (unlike Handoff in Mail) the app won't display the text that you were typing on the first device.
One nifty feature for travelers is the ability to use your iPhone as an Internet hotspot. It shows up in Yosemite's list of available wireless networks like any other network—although you'll need to make sure that Bluetooth is enabled on your phone and Mac. I tested this on an iPhone with iOS 8.1 installed, and it took a couple of tries for the phone and MacBook to pair with other, but then it worked perfectly and surprisingly quickly. All the Handoff features, by the way, work only with Macs from 2012 or later (late 2013 for the MacBook Pro).
On a not-so-exciting note, HTC said it plans to increase the price of Viveport subscriptions from $6.99 to $8.99 a month on March 22.
Heads up, virtual reality enthusiasts. HTC today opened pre-orders for its Vive Pro VR headset and lowered the price of the current Vive by $100.
The Vive Pro will set you back $799 and is slated to start shipping on April 5. Those who purchase it before June 3 will get a free six-month Viveport subscription, which lets you choose up to five titles a month from a library of more than 400.
"With the Vive Pro we are delivering the best quality display and visual experience to the most discerning VR enthusiasts," HTC Vive US General Manager Daniel O'Brien said in a statement. "Our goal has always been to offer the most premium VR platform available and to drive adoption for VR."
Introduced at CES in January, the Vive Pro offers a "78 percent increase in resolution over the current Vive" as well as built-in headphones for improved audio. It should also be comfier to wear than the original, as it features a "redesigned head-strap that balances the weight of the headset more evenly," HTC said.
Meanwhile, the existing Vive full kit is now available for $499. The Vive earned an "excellent" rating in PCMag's review; we gave it props for its "immersive experience" and included accessories.
"By lowering the price of the current Vive, we are making VR more accessible while expanding the potential market for developers," O'Brien wrote. "Whether you're a VR enthusiast or new to the platform, there's never been a better time to join the most complete VR platform available."
On a not-so-exciting note, HTC said it plans to increase the price of Viveport subscriptions from $6.99 to $8.99 a month on March 22. Current subscribers and those who sign up before the increase takes effect will be locked in at $6.99 through "at least the end of the year," HTC said.
William Harrel HP Sprocket Plus An update to HP's popular Sprocket portable photo printer, the Sprocket Plus prints larger pics, and its software packs a wide range of effects. It's the most versatile model of its kind.
An update to HP's popular Sprocket portable photo printer, the Sprocket Plus prints larger pics, and its software packs a wide range of effects. It's the most versatile model of its kind.
The HP Sprocket Plus ($149.99) is an update to the HP Sprocket portable photo printer we reviewed late last year. This newer iteration prints 30 percent larger photos (they are 2.3 by 3.4 inches, versus the original's 2 by 3 inches), and the quality is better, too. The Sprocket and Sprocket Plus aren't unique; they compete with similar products from Canon, Kodak, Lifeprint, Polaroid, and a few others. While most of these pocket photo printers, in terms of print quality, speed, and running costs, are near equals, the slightly bigger prints and the new functionality in its app set the Sprocket Plus apart from the pack—enough to elevate it to our latest Editors' Choice for portable photo printers.
The Sprocket Plus comes in a pair of two-tone color schemes: all red with a silver accent around the edge, or all white with a copper-colored accent. It measures 0.7 by 5.6 by 3.5 inches (HWD) and weighs half a pound, which is slightly smaller and lighter than its predecessor, apart from a little extra width to accommodate the larger output. It's also wider than both the Lifeprint 2x3 and the Lifeprint 3x4.5. (The latter model weighs more than twice as much, though.)
Because all of these devices get their instructions from smartphones and/or tablets, they have no onboard controls to speak of. On the Sprocket Plus, you'll note a printing (or "receiving data") light on the front, just above the slit where photos emerge as they print, and on the right side is a mini USB port for charging, as well as a power status light and the power button. You can see the unit here below, up against a typical smartphone (above it) in profile...
The Sprocket Plus is designed to print fully wirelessly, running off an internal battery. The unit will charge from just about any smartphone charging adapter (none is included in the box), or from any PC or mobile-device USB port, and it comes with a 12-inch USB cable. Depending on the power-delivery capability of the USB port you use, the battery should take about an hour and a half to charge, according to HP, and should be good for about 30 prints. The prints use no ink, but do require special HP paper; the print technology is known as Zink, which we'll get to in detail later in this review.
HP's Sprocket App works with all three of the company's Sprocket-branded products: the original Sprocket, the Sprocket Plus, and the Sprocket 2-in-1 combination camera/printer. As apps for these little photo printers go, the Sprocket app is similar to the interfaces that come with its competitors. You can use the app to load, edit, and enhance photos; apply filters and special effects; and connect to various social-media and cloud sites, such as Facebook and Google…
As with most of these little printers, you connect to the app and your smartphone via Bluetooth (in this case, Bluetooth 4.0). A few, such as the Kodak Mini 2 HD Instant Photo Printer and Kodak Photo Printer Mini, support other connection types, including Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, but the Sprocket Plus does not. These protocols allow you to print much more flexibly and don't restrict you from printing on devices that don't support Bluetooth.
The Sprocket app has changed with the introduction of the Sprocket Plus. The major changes include the following:
Magic Frames. The app contains a gallery of frames that change frequently according the season. (When I tested the Sprocket Plus in June, my app showed several graduation-themed frames, for example.) When you print these and then scan them with the app, the frame content changes. (For example, stars flash and move, or objects appear and disappear.) HP referred to this functionality as "augmented reality" in my briefing about this product, but it's nothing like Lifeprint's feature of the same name, in which the actual content of the photo changes, or at least appears to.
Tiling. Like with Canon's IVY Mini Photo Printer that I reviewed just before this one, tiling allows you to print larger images and/or collages by piecing together content on the app's display, which then prints in pieces, or tiles, that you then stick back together. Of course, using a larger inkjet or color laser printer will give you much more aesthetically pleasing results (that is, without all the seams) if you're printing a larger photo.
Scan Mode. This feature is a bit closer to Lifeprint's augmented reality ("Hyperphoto") feature. In this case, though, you select a frame in a video and print the frame; when you or someone else scans the printed frame with a phone, the entire video plays on that phone. The app "remembers" where the video is—stored on your phone, or on a social-media or cloud site—making it fairly simple to share your video clips with friends and family via Sprocket prints that you hand out.
Browse the Location. With this update to the app, you can browse through your photos from social media or your phone's photo gallery, then swipe right to sort by location. You can also swipe right again to get detailed information on the area where the photo was shot, and one last swipe reveals a Google Street View of the location.
As I pointed out in my recent review of Canon's IVY Mini Photo Printer, which is another 2-by-3-inch Zink (for the brand name "Zero Ink") machine, all of the portable photo printers of this type churn out photos at similar speeds, usually within 10 to 20 seconds of each other. During my speed tests, the Sprocket Plus averaged about 58 seconds per print. That's about 16 seconds short of its 2-by-3-inch Sprocket predecessor. Given that the Sprocket Plus has about 30 percent more coverage area than its sibling, that additional 16 seconds puts these two HP machines on an even footing, speed-wise.
The Lifeprint 3x4.5, which churns out significantly larger photos, averaged 1 minute and 30 seconds per print, or almost half the time of the Sprocket Plus, while the Kodak Mini 2 (a dye-sublimation, not Zink, model with a 2.1-by-3.4-inch print area) printed at roughly 1 minute and 20 seconds per print. The Lifeprint 2x3, at 30 seconds per print, is the fastest of this bunch.
Both the Zink and the dye-sublimation technologies that power most of the portable printers in this class use a three-color (cyan, magenta, and yellow, or CMY) color model. That's in contrast to the traditional process-color model (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, or CMYK) used by almost all inkjet and color laser printers.
Beyond the black deficiency, Zink printers are very different from inkjets in how they actually print. Rather than using standard liquid ink, the Sprocket Plus and Zink models like it use dry ink crystals that are embedded on the specialty Zink paper that these printers require. Zink uses no ink cartridges. When a Zink printer prints, it activates the ink crystals on the paper via precise applications of heat, making them display on the page in specific patterns. Dye-sub printers, in contrast, use sets of special paper paired with a kind of solid ink. (The ink is on a ribbon-like sheet inside a cartridge.) These printers also place ink on the page according to heat patterns generated by data sent from the smartphone or other mobile device to the printer.
Due to the absence of black ink in these processes, many colors and tints in the output aren't as deep and as rich as they should be. And, of course, black tones themselves tend to be lacking, leading to an overall lack of depth in many of the photos. This is evident not only with the Sprocket Plus, but also its Zink and dye-sublimation competitors.
The lack of dedicated black also causes some mostly minor (but noticeable) color shifts. Deep reds, for example, come out a little pink, and deep blues are a bit washed out. This is not to say that my test photos weren't nice-looking and completely recognizable, but several of them were not of the same vibrant and highly detailed quality you'd get from a photo-centric inkjet—such as, say, the printers in HP's Envy Photo line of machines.
Given the small size of the photos printed on these little devices, their per-page cost of consumables is high. There's no getting around that, either, because this printer requires Sprocket Plus-specific Zink paper from HP.
When I wrote this in June 2018, HP offered only one paper-pack quantity for this printer: 20 pages for $12.99. That comes out to 65 cents per print, which is around 15 cents more than its predecessor, the Sprocket, as well as the Canon IVY Mini and the Lifeprint 2x3. The larger-format Lifeprint 3x4.5's running costs are about $1.25 per print, while Kodak's two dye-sub portable printers, the Photo Printer Mini and Mini 2, run 50 cents and 70 cents per print, respectively.
Note that the paper used for the Sprocket Plus has a peelable adhesive backing, making all of your prints de facto stickers. If you don't want this option on all of your prints, this is not the right printer for you.
At last count, we had tested six or so of these Zink-based portable photo printers, as well as a few dye-sublimation-based models, that work exclusively from proprietary software on mobile devices. Most of them have a distinct feature or two that sets them apart from the others. The HP Sprocket Plus is no exception.
The Sprocket Plus stands apart for printing slightly larger photos than most of its competitors, at just an additional 15 cents per sheet. In addition, HP has greatly enhanced the Sprocket app, making the overall functionality of the printer and software together more attractive and useful. The printer's list price is a little higher than some of its competitors, but not by enough to keep the HP Sprocket Plus from edging to the top of the class among portable photo printers we've tested.