David Crookes looks forward to the hardware goodies set to come our way over the next 12 months
It may be a sign of ageing but, boy, hasn’t 2015 gone fast? It barely seems like yesterday when we were ushering 2014 away and yet here we are waving a big fat goodbye to 2015 and starting to roll out the red carpet for 2016. Normally, we would say the new year would be very welcome, only it doesn’t appear as if it is going to start too well for our data. The Intel Security McAfee Labs Threats Predictions Report says cyber threats, attacks on hardware and firmware and the continued flogging of stolen information are going to be solid features of the next 12 months.
It also predicts that we’re going to see a rise in ransomware and the targeting of wearables in order to open up the smartphones that manage them. On top of that, there is set to be a continued attack on exploits within cloud services and a strong possibility of rising threats to automobiles. Scary stuff, for sure.
For all of that, though – and for all of the talk of the coming year heralding the downfall of specialty hardware, with proponents saying it won’t matter what is under the hood - there is still much to look forward to. As it stands, 2016 looks set to be another bumper year for new, innovative devices and so – as is usual for this time of year – we can start by looking at the innards that will surely be catching our attention as the months roll by.
In terms of chips, we’re going to see the introduction of Intel’s new entry-level PC processors in the middle of the year as the company looks set to capitalise on the demand for gaming notebooks and mini PCs. Based on the Atom core, the Apollo Lake processors will replace Braswell, the lowest-powered chips in Intel’s lineup, and they will be 14 nanometer processors with Intel HD graphics. Able to support 4K displays and eMMC 5.0 solid state storage, they will be low-cost yet they will offer higher performance, with a choice of dual and quad-core CPUs.
At the higher end, there is also a chance, albeit an incredibly slim one, of seeing the first 10nm chips – code-named Cannonlake – shipping during 2016. We say slim because Bill Holt, executive vice president and general manager for Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing group, expects them in 2017.While we’re not holding our breath on that, we will get something to cheer.
For Kaby Lake, another 14nm architecture, is going to be released over the next 12 months. Intel CEO’s Brian Krzanich says the new chips will “build upon the foundations of the Skylake micro-architecture but with key performance enhancements”. It appears that this will mean the inclusion of support for 5K display output and more efficient use of power. Kaby Lake appears to also add native USB 3.1 support and have up to four cores as the default mainstream configuration.
The next year is set to see a battle of the graphics cards as well. Nvidia’s new Pascal GPU will be released – with high bandwidth memory generation 2 (HBM2), produced on the 16nm FinFET process – and will feature 17 billion transistors, more than twice that of the Titan X. Meanwhile, AMD is going to bring out a new GPU, which is currently going by the codename Greenland, that also has HBM2. The latter will be AMD’s next-gen flagships graphics card with a 14/16nm FinFET process and bandwidth of 1TB/s.
At the same time, Nvidia is continuing to work on a Geforce GTX 960 Ti graphics card as it looks to head off the threat of the Antigua-based Radeon R9 380X graphics card launched by AMD. It should be out around January 2016 and allow Nvidia to keep its hand in the market before it’s larger release later in the year. Both are developments that we’ll be sure to keep a keen eye on over the coming months.
Game On!
Gaming will continue to drive the PC market to a large degree over the next year. Lenovo and Razer are joining forces to cobrand Razer Editions of Lenovo’s Y series devices and the first prototype will be unveiled at the CES. According to a statement, “Lenovo will employ its system design and engineering expertise, while Razer will enhance the immersive experience for gamers. The deal should allow Razer, which is already a name in gaming circles, a wider reach – and the new computers will have some Razer features, including customisable Chroma lighting effects.
There are also going to be some exciting peripherals around in 2016, chief among them another bash at producing a new version of the humble mouse. The Tesseract controller was on display at the Play Expo in Manchester in October and it was gaining a lot of attention. Billed as an immersive and revolutionary multi-axis gaming controller, it’s due to be released next October and it works with any Windows-based PC.
With six-axis movement, gamers can configure it to emulate keypresses as well as mouse and joystick movements. The idea is that it can offer precise, sensitive controls and while it takes some getting used to – we spent a fair amount of time getting to grips with it – once it clicks in your brain, it becomes intuitive as your hands tilts the top of the mouse, your wrist moves the entire device and your fingers tap in tandem. The makers are looking to make it wireless and they are also seeking to add more programmable buttons.
Being released at around the same time (so long as the Tesseract is able to raise the £70,000 it is asking for on Kickstarter before the deadline of January 4th) is another mouse replacement called Gest, which is worn a bit like an exposed glove. It comes with a strap that wraps around the palm of your hand and four clips which are placed on the fingers. Once in place, as you move your digits the device’s sensors work out the gestures you are trying to make and translates them to the action on the screen.
It has been made for intricate work such as operating Photoshop, so it has a low latency of 40 to 60 milliseconds but it also being earmarked for use with the augmented and virtual reality devices coming to the market soon – such as Oculus Rift. Best of all it makes you look and feel as if you have just stepped out of Minority Report. If we’re honest, we can’t wait to get our hands on it. Literally.
Pi In The Sky?
We can also expect the guys and gals at the Raspberry Pi Foundation to come up with more goodies in 2016. It surprised everybody last month by unveiling the Raspberry Pi Zero – a £4 computer that was given away with thousands of copies of its official magazine, MagPi. More units are being made and it will become widely available in 2016, but we can also expect more innovations with the standard Pi – currently on its second model and likely to be on a third iteration before the coming year is out.
One thing we will definitely see is pi-topCEED, which promotes itself as the first $99 Raspberry Pi desktop. It has smashed through the $50,000 goal it set for itself on Indiegogo and it is being backed by the Raspberry Pi founder and CEO Eben Upton. Coming with a 13.3” LCD screen that can be wall mounted, it has space to fit a Pi and it is compatible with any USB keyboard and mouse. It also comes with the pi-topOS that includes Scratch, Libre Writer, Sonic Pi and Minecraft.
Taking The Tablets
There will be a fair few new tablets in 2016, as you’d imagine. As well as the expected new iPads – perhaps an enhanced iPad Pro and another iPad Air – there will be the HP Elite x2, which combines a notebook with a tablet and works with Windows 10 Pro. It includes a 5th Gen Intel Core M Processor with optional vPro. Users can make edits with the Wacom pen and there are two cameras for virtual meetings too.
Then we can expect to see many more Windows 10 tablets in 2016, with a great many of them hopefully unveiled at the CES in January. Samsung – which has replaced its mobile communications chief executive following a troubled year – is also likely to be showing off a new Galaxy tablet, although whether they are full-on brand new devices rather than updates of previous versions remains to be seen. After all, some analysts say companies may be better holding back since the user base for tablets could well shrink next year. A study by ABI Research reckons the install base has peaked at 373 million.
“Phablets are an increasing percentage of smartphone shipments and are a mobile alternative to replacing a tablet,” says ABI Research director Jeff Orr in a statement. Indeed, Huawei has unveiled its Mate 8 phablet, which will be released in the first quarter of 2016 and it will run Android Marshmallow. With a 6” display and running the Kirin 950 system on a chip, it includes a Mali T880 GPU and the Huawei i5 processor. There will also be a fingerprint sensor on the back along with a 16 megapixel camera.
Nokia will also return with a bang in 2016. It will release the C1 in the fourth quarter (it cannot release it earlier than that due to the terms of the Microsoft-Nokia acquisition deal), but it will have both Android and Windows phone versions and there will be two sizes – a 5” and a 5.5”, with up to 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The higher-end model will also have a 13MP rear camera.
Surprise, Surprise
As always, though, we should see a fair number of surprises. There is already talk, for instance, of Google Glass coming back. The technology seemed to show so much promise in 2014 before it was axed at the start of 2015, but CNBC reports that a nextgen Glass that looks like a monocle is set to replace it. The hope is that, by designing something that doesn’t make people look idiots, there will be a greater take-up.
We’re also going to see an unexpected entrant in the smartwatch space: Swatch. It has partnered with Visa to bring contactless payments to the Bellamy watch in a bid to compete with Apple Pay. Other than that, it will tell the time but it could well be that lots of other ‘traditional’ watch manufacturers follow Swatch’s lead and add similar functionality.
Finally, 2016 may be the year that Apple takes to the stage with an augmented reality projector. It has been granted a patent for an adaptive projector that is able to project images on to surfaces, allowing for instance, someone to read a blank book with the text overlaid. In the meantime, we can “make do” with the very impressive looking Microsoft Hololens. The development edition is going to be released in the first quarter of 2016 and we can’t wait to see what developers will do with it.
For those unaware, Hololens is a cordless, smart-glasses headset which allows for augmented reality applications. It overlays digital images on to the real world. Consumer units are unlikely to be released in 2016, but the momentum could gather pace pretty rapidly. We’re more likely to see it in 2017 but, as we said at the start, the years go fast so perhaps it won’t feel too far away.
Watch Out For... Sky Q
It’s not often that we get excited about a set-top box, especially in these days of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Sky Q did make us feel a bit tingly, though, primarily because it addresses a lot of problems with the existing Sky system that should have been sorted a fair while ago.
It looks like it will finally bring the Sky set-up to the cutting edge, allowing it to put some distance between itself and the major rival Virgin Media. The only problem we can foresee is price, with some pundits suggesting it will cost more than £100 each month. It may be Ultra HD ready, but that’s still a price we’d baulk at.
Still, Sky Q is packed with features. It is going to allow users to watch live or recorded shows from the Sky box on another other television or tablet. It will also let people pause the viewing on one screen and pick up where they left off in another room. For many, though, the biggie will be the ability to record four channels while watching another – throw in the availability of the +1 channels and you should never miss any show again.
For so long, Virgin has had the advantage here, with its capacity for dual recording but Q looks set to blow it out of the water. Sky Q is also going to allow users to save recordings on a tablet and take them out-and-about. This is great for those constantly on the go: there have been too many occasions when we’ve been away from home and seeking to catch-up on saved shows only to feel disappointed that the Sky apps don’t allow for it.
Those who have Sky Broadband will benefit from another major feature of Q: the ability for the Q boxes to become wi-fi hotspots, making for faster access. The boxes will connect over a home’s electrical wiring to give a solid connection and it’s a welcome bonus that would, we’d imagine, be necessary given Sky’s plans for multiroom wi-fi viewing.
Less exciting is the proposal for the remote, though. We happen to think that the current Sky Remote is pretty well perfect as it is. It’s a design classic of sorts, with the buttons in the right places and, given the time it’s been around, incredibly familiarity.
To change to a new touchpad remote could be a gamble and one which overcomplicates a winning system but we’ll reserve judgement on that when it comes. As it stands, Sky Q is going to bring a flavour of entertainment computing to the living room with music and Facebook photo streaming and access to YouTube. There will also be new apps for Android and iOS.
Watch Out For... A Bite Of The Apple
It may have its detractors but it is still very difficult to ignore Apple, and you can bet everything you own that it will have some hardware announcements to make in 2016. Most of these, we suspect, will be updates to the existing line-up of products however. The most obvious addition will be the iPhone 7. Apple follows the yearly path of a new version and then a S-enhancement of that version. We’ve just had 6S, so it doesn’t take a genius to work out what the next upgrade will be.
What it will contain is another matter entirely. A lot of the recent innovations have been on the software side, with iOS 9 becoming more open to developers but with the difference between the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6S being slight. Apple will need to pay extra attention to the hardware this time or run the risk of people becoming disappointed in its flagship product.
We should, as is tradition, see a newly designed iPhone – albeit with the same screen sizes as now. We should also see smaller casings since the smart money is on the loss of the home button at long last. Force touch would be a better option and it would mean the larger iPhones would become more pocket-friendly.
At the same time, experts are also suggesting a switch from an LCD to AMOLED screen. Apple is believed to be prototyping the technology and it could easily slip it into this generation. The indications are that it may be something Apple works on for the iPhone 8/8S instead but again, Apple keeps its cards close to its chest and it has the capacity to surprise us.
So what else? Well there is a lot of talk of the phone being waterproof – it’s not a killer feature for us but it would be welcome – and the internet has sparked with rumours that the 3.5mm headphone jack is to be ditched and replaced with a Lightning port connection. Perhaps Apple would want people to switch to wireless
but this could lead to the expense of replacing a fair few cans. The killing of traditional headphones won’t be music to many ears.
The other major hardware change we can predict is a new Apple Watch, which after a slow start (and the introduction of WatchOS 2) became a nifty bit of usable and useful kit. We’ve no way of knowing whether or not it will be finally divorced from the iPhone, but we’re guessing that you’ll still need to have one nearby.
That’s unless Apple decides to use an enhanced, more efficient chip, the likes of which have been made possible this past year. Such a move would free up space for enhancements, although we would much rather see better battery life so that we can feel more confident when using it on a day-to-day basis than we are at present.
Watch Out For... Another Life For Nintendo
It is a real shame that the Wii U has not fared as well as expected, leaving it lagging behind the PS4 and Xbox One in terms of sales just a generation after the Wii was such a runaway success. Metacritic data showed that 2015 was the worst year for Nintendo games for a decade, even though there have been some sterling efforts including Yoshi’s Wooly World, Splatoon and Super Mario Maker.
Nintendo is not dwelling on the past, though. A replacement which is codenamed NX is expected to arrive in 2016 and the Wall Street Journal has reported that development kits are already being sent out. Information is almost drip-feeding its way through, but the suggestion is that it will stick to a traditional TV console while having a mobile component. Some are predicting we’ll know for sure when it appears as early as the start of Q2 2016.
The Wii U suffered, in part, because it didn’t advance too greatly on the original Wii. It also failed to get across the message that the Wii U was actually a new console – many people, initially at least, thought it was an upgrade. It was always going to be a struggle to keep the momentum building with what was, in effect, a true mainstream console that even non-gamers were picking up. Nintendo appears to realise that, while the Wii was unique innovation, it now has to make a clean break from that success story and try to tackle its competitors head-on.
Expect to see the use of advanced chips and maybe, just maybe, the return of cartridges. There was a patent in February that suggested a move away from optical drives. It would appeal to the die-hard Nintendo fans and be great in speeding up the loading of games, something that has gotten worse in recent times. If that’s the case, then expect to see a new Zelda on cartridge and Dragon Quest XI – Square Enix is said to be earmarking that game for the NX.
Watch Out For... Sony PlayStation VR
You may remember that back in the early 1990s, VR was emerging as a very big thing but it quickly died a death, in the consumer market at least.
It has been making a major comeback, with Oculus Rift impressing gamers by providing advanced visuals and realism, and Google Cardboard proving to be a solid introduction to the VR arena that requires only a cheap cardboard kit, a suitable mobile phone and some apps to run on it.
PlayStation VR’s headset is Sony’s toe in the water. It has a full HD 1920x1080, 5.7” display with a 100° field of vision. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate, nine head-tracking LEDs and support from the PlayStation 4 – the console will need to be connected to VR in order for the headset to work, and it will also make use of the PlayStation Camera for motion tracking. As if to show that Sony isn’t wasteful, it will also utilise the Sony Move controllers, which have been around since the Playstation 3’s prime, back in 2010.
At the time of writing, there was still no specific price nor a firm release date but we can expect to see it before June. We figure it will cost around the £300 mark which would not be so bad for such an advanced piece of kit. Thankfully, those who buy it should be able to have a lot of fun since it’s already set to be supported by a whole raft of games.