Features Enhanced Performance/Reliability, Larger Capacities and 25nm Intel® NAND Flash Memory
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
* Third-generation Intel® SSD 320 Series on 25-nm NAND flash memory offers 40-, 80-, 120-, 160-GB plus higher capacity 300- and 600GB options.
* Advanced architecture enables robust, reliable SSDs with enhanced security features for desktop/notebook PCs or server data center storage.
* Performance, reliability upgrades enhance solid line of high-performing SSDs with up to $100 price drop over current Intel® X25-M SSD model.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intel Corporation announced today its highly anticipated third-generation solid-state drive (SSD) the Intel® Solid-State Drive 320 Series (Intel® SSD 320 Series). Based on its industry-leading 25-nanometer (nm) NAND flash memory, the Intel SSD 320 replaces and builds on its high-performing Intel® X25-M SATA SSD. Delivering more performance and uniquely architected reliability features, the new Intel SSD 320 offers new higher capacity models, while taking advantage of cost benefits from its 25nm process with an up to 30 percent price reduction over its current generation.
"Intel designed new quality and reliability features into our SSDs to take advantage of the latest 25nm silicon, so we could deliver cost advantages to our customers," said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for the Intel Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Solutions Group. "Intel's third generation of SSDs adds enhanced data security features, power-loss management and innovative data redundancy features to once again advance SSD technology. Whether it's a consumer or corporate IT looking to upgrade from a hard disk drive, or an enterprise seeking to deploy SSDs in their data centers, the new Intel SSD 320 Series will continue to build on our reputation of high quality and dependability over the life of the SSD."
The Intel SSD 320 is the next generation of Intel's client product line for use on desktop and notebook PCs. It is targeted for mainstream consumers, corporate IT or PC enthusiasts who would like a substantial performance boost over conventional mechanical hard disk drives (HDDs). An SSD is more rugged, uses less power and reduces the HDD bottleneck to speed PC processes such as boot up and the opening of files and favorite applications. In fact, an upgrade from an HDD to an Intel SSD can give users one of the single-best performance boosts, providing an up to 66 percent gain in overall system responsiveness.1
The Intel SSD 320 Series comes in 40 gigabyte (GB), 80GB, 120GB, 160GB and new higher capacity 300GB and 600GB versions. It uses the 3 gigabit-per-second (3gbps) SATA II interface to support an SSD upgrade for the more than 1 billion SATA II PCs installed throughout the world. Continuing to offer high-performing random read and write speeds, which most affect a user's daily computing experience, the Intel SSD 320 produces up to 39,500 input/output operations per second (IOPS) random reads and 23,000 IOPS random writes on its highest-capacity drives. In addition, the company has more than doubled sequential write speeds from its second generation to 220 megabytes-per-second (MB/s) sequential writes and still maintains one of the highest read throughputs at up to 270 MB/s sequential reads. This greatly improves a user's multitasking capabilities. For example, a user can easily play background music or download a video, while working on a document with no perceivable slow down.
Already one of the most solid-performing SSDs over time, Intel continues to raise the bar on SSD reliability in the way it has architected its third generation, using proprietary firmware and controller, to further demonstrate that not all solid-state drives are created equal. In this rendition, Intel creatively uses spare area to deploy added redundancies that will help keep user data protected, even in the event of a power loss. It also includes 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard capabilities on every drive, to help protect personal data in the event of theft or loss.
"Solid-state drives continue to be one of the hottest trends in computing," said Bernard Luthi, vice president of marketing, Web management and customer service at leading e-retailer Newegg.com. "Intel remains a top brand because of its consistent performance and extremely low return rate. We are sure customers will welcome the new higher capacity drives, and now is a great time for consumers to upgrade their PC to a fast new SSD."
Intel SSD 320 prices, based on 1,000-unit quantities, are as follows: 40GB at $89; 80GB at $159; 120GB at $209; 160GB at $289; 300GB at $529 and 600GB at $1,069. Check retailers/e-tailers for consumer pricing. All models include a limited 3-year warranty from Intel.
"With recent announcements, we have expanded our SSD product line and now offer both consumers and computer OEMs more SSD choices," said Tom Rampone, vice president and general manager, Intel NVM Solutions Group. "We see the Intel SSD 320 as a solid advancement to our SSD roadmap, and will continue to upgrade and refresh our SSD product line as we add more enterprise options for our business customers throughout the year."
Another benefit for Intel SSD purchasers is the Intel® SSD Toolbox with Intel® SSD Optimizer, a free utility which provides Microsoft Windows* users with a powerful set of management, information and diagnostic tools to help maintain the health and out-of-box performance of the drive. To help ease the installation process, all Intel SSD users can download the free Intel® Data Migration Software to help clone the entire content of a previous storage drive (SSD or HDD) to any Intel SSD.
Intel SSDs can be purchased in the United States from such retailers as Best Buy or Fry's Electronics, plus a variety of resellers, retailers or Internet e-tailers such as Newegg.com or Amazon.com worldwide. To download the multimedia press kit go to www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/ssd. A special enterprise addendum for data center customers and more information on Intel SSDs can be found at www.intel.com/go/ssd. Follow Intel SSDs on Twitter: @intelssd, Facebook: Intel Solid State Drive (Official) or communities.intel.com.
About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world's computing devices. Additional information about Intel is available at newsroom.intel.com and blogs.intel.com.
Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
1 Based on Intel research and benchmarking utilizing PCMark Vantage comparing 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor (3MB L3 Cache, 2.30 GHz) with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel® HM65 Express chipset on Lenovo* IdeaPad Z470, Graphics Intel® HD Graphics 3000 and driver 8.15.10.2246, BIOS Lenovo 4ACN16WW with default settings, Intel® INF 9.2.0.1016, Memory 4GB (2x2GB) Dual-channel Micron* MT16JSF25664HY-1G1D1 DDR3-1333, Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 10.1.0.1008, Microsoft* Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 6.1 Build 7600 with DirectX 11 on NTFS file system, Display size 14.1-inch, resolution 1366x768 (32-bit), comparing hard disk Hitachi* Travelstar HTS723232L9A360 320GB 7,200RPM SATA2 versus Intel® SSD320 SSDSA2BW300G3 300GB SATA2 FW 4PC10302.
Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel microprocessors. Performance tests, such as PCMark Vantage, are measured using specific computer systems, components, software, operations and functions. Any change to any of those factors may cause the results to vary. You should consult other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products.
Is your Motorola Droidphone hungry for some Gingerbread? Well, the lucky little guy can now get its taste with the recently released Android 2.3 builds for Droid X and Droid 2 from My Droid World. Droid Life's got all the details, including a hands-on video (provided after the break) and complete instructions for rooting your device and downloading the OS. Gingerbread brings you the new blue Blur, a customizable dock, an app management shortcut, an overhauled camera app, and super fast navigation speeds, among other things. So for you eager beavers who just can't wait for an official release, follow the source links below and feed your phone.
By now you've seen the announcement for WWDC 2011 (coming June 6th), but what you may not have heard yet is that this one is going to be a little different than some of the dev cons from years past. Namely, unlike the events in 2008 through 2010, you won't see the announcement of a new iPhone (or iPad... or anything else hardware related). We're hearing the same kind of chatter from sources that solid writers like Jim Dalrymple of The Loop and All Thing D's John Paczkowski have been reporting today -- that this WWDC is going to be all about the future of iOS and OS X.
The PlayStation Phone. We've had quite the intimate history with this gamepad-equipped slider, learning of its secretive existence way back in August and then handling a prototype unit in January, so you'll forgive us for feeling sentimental and still entertaining our pet name for it. The Sony Ericsson marketing gurus renamed it the Xperia Play when it finally went official at MWC this year, but the PlayStation connection remains as strong as ever. Aside from the D-pad, iconic game keys, and two touchpads, this device comes with a little app named PlayStation Pocket, which will be serving up dollops of classic PlayStation One gaming to all those with a taste for it. Yes, the Sony influence is strong with this one, and the Android Market will be joining the fun with Xperia Play-optimized titles from third-party developers. So all we really need to know now is whether the Android smartphone underpinning this smash-bang fusion of old and new school entertainment happens to be any good. Shall we get Started?
An Android Menu button on the bottom left is accompanied by Select and Start keys on the right (at least one of these three buttons feels perfunctory as they serve overlapping functions) and there are two shoulder buttons on the outside, where you would usually find the L1 and R1 controls on the proper console gamepad. Some among our staff have taken to calling them flippers, because they're closer to flaps or paddles in their operation than fully fledged buttons. In actual gameplay, we found them a little too sensitive, which caused us to activate them unintentionally a few times and fail almost completely when prompted by one game to press them simultaneously. We succeeded once out of every six or seven tries, such was the capriciousness of their design. 
The sliding mechanism responsible for serving up the gaming controls is pretty much flawless. It's spring-loaded, meaning you only need to slide it halfway up or down to achieve the required opening or closing action and it does the rest by itself. Movement is smooth and consistent, and one-handed operation is no problem either. What impressed us most about it, though, was its sturdiness. There's no tilt to the handset, the screen just slides straight up, and that's the way it stays -- perfectly parallel, no matter the violence of our attempts to find any structural flaws. It's clear to see that Sony Ericsson spent a lot of time refining this slider and we're happy to say it lives up to a very high standard of durability -- an absolute necessity when making a button masher's device such as this. 
Moving to the top half of the slider, we find a volume rocker, nestled craftily in between the aforementioned shoulder buttons, a power key, and the usual four Android buttons, arranged in yet another innovative formation. For whatever reason, Sony Ericsson opted to swap the Home and Menu buttons' positions up front, leaving our prototype unit looking desperately out of date and us wondering why it had to be done at all. While we've no complaints to proffer about the power and volume keys, we must express our deep discontentment with the Android set. They're quite spongy, meaning they can absorb a lot of pressure before registering a click, which tends to lead to an inconsistent and frustrating user experience. Even more troublesome is the difficulty to differentiate between them by touch alone, forcing you to look down, which is then amplified by the fact they're not backlit. So yeah, the Xperia Play will give you a whole new reason to be afraid of the dark. 
Squeaks and creaks were sadly too readily apparent with the Play, mostly owing to the poor quality of plastics used in its construction. It's a rigid device and, as already pointed out, there's little questioning its internal structure, but there's no getting around the fact that SE didn't blow the budget on procuring the most high-end of shell materials. The rear cover feels brittle, in spite of its flexibility, and the overall glossy aesthetic lends itself to picking up scuffs and scratches easily. The metallic accents aren't to our tastes, either, mostly because they're not made out of actual metal. And if you're not going to at least insert a little bit of premium material or functional utility in your design, why complicate it? Build quality is, therefore, a mixed bag. We get the feeling that after a while the Xperia Play will end up looking rather like The Terminator -- losing its soft and and pathetic outer shell, but revealing some hardcore engineering within. Maybe that'll be a good look for it. 
Allow your curiosity to drag you past the Play's rear cover and you'll be rewarded with a happy surprise -- both the SIM and MicroSD card slots are accessible without removing the battery. Not many phones make it that convenient and another rarely seen asset the Play can tout is a set of stereo speakers. They're not just two mono outputs, there's actually a tiny little sound stage created by them working in tandem. The quality of the audio they pump out isn't going to threaten a set of dedicated speakers, but it's certainly a lot more tolerable than the general mediocrity we're used to from smartphones. Considering the device's entertainment-centric reason for existence, we believe this to be a big strong point in its favor. 
We found battery life a little lacking. There's a robust 1500mAh cell inside this handset, but we could only stretch it to about 22 hours under our light use test. It was a day's worth of sporadic use, where checking up on things like Gmail, Twitter and Facebook updates was the phone's most regular exercise. For a comparison, the similarly outfitted -- MSM8255 with Adreno 205 -- Incredible S from HTC managed to squeak past the 50-hour mark in spite of having a battery with 50mAh less juice. Again, both were subjected to light workloads that are unlikely to be representative of everyone's daily routine, but the delta in endurance between the two phones was striking. Not to put too fine a point on it, but something tells us all those software bells and whistles on the Play (hello, Timescape!) are working against Sony Ericsson here. On the bright side, throwing some actual gaming action its way didn't obliterate the battery quite as badly as we feared it might. Our overall impression (from admittedly limited testing) is that this will clearly not be an endurance smartphone because of its software overhead, but Sony Ericsson's promises of five and a half hours of continuous gameplay seem well within reach. 
Another thing that's taxing the Play's battery unduly is its screen. The default brightness setting for it is at the very maximum and once you use it for a while, you realize why. It's very dim. We're not talking about it being mediocre or some way short of the best, it's so lacking in brightness that it's borderline dysfunctional. Taking the phone out for an afternoon outside, we couldn't play Crash Bandicoot even on the bus, never mind out in the direct glare of the sun. It's not an unqualified disaster, as viewing angles are pretty wide, the 854 x 480 resolution is decent, and under the right circumstances you can obtain some pleasantly vibrant images from it, but it's still one the worst screens we've seen on a review phone -- hell, review hardware of any kind. This was most apparent to us outdoors when we used it side by side with Sony Ericsson's own Xperia Arc, the latter handset giving us better contrast, saturation, and of course, brightness. Both phones lack an auto-brightness option in their settings, which is a weird omission on Sony Ericsson's part, even if in the case of the Play it'd just be kept at max anyway. 
As with the hardware section, we'll get straight to the PlayStation meat of the Xperia Play software matter. Two apps will be of foremost interest here: the not at all confusingly named Xperia Play, which serves as a showcase for Android Market games compatible with the Play's controls, and the PlayStation Pocket, which houses the hallowed PS One games that this new smartphone is so primed to enjoy. For the moment at least, we should probably narrow that down to the singular game, since the Play ships with just the one preloaded classic title, Crash Bandicoot, and the rest of the PS One library is still en route. That puts the Play's launch, coming up on April 1st across Europe, into a rather precarious position. It's supposed to be the bringer of great new entertainments to the thumb-equipped masses and yet we're staring at just one original piece of content upon its release. Bruce Lee, FIFA 10, Star Battalion HD, and The Sims 3 do come preloaded to soften the blow, but they're not exclusive to the Play, and in the particular case of The Sims, don't even benefit very much from the physical controls. Still, they're there and the means to accessing them is actually pretty swish. Opening up the slider kicks you straight into the Xperia Play app, where the games you already have on the device are split out from the list of purchasable compatible titles, meaning you're never more than a slide and a tap away from leaping into action. 
Loading times for the games aboard the Play were quite tolerable indeed -- nothing was instant, but only the most impatient of gamer would find them a nuisance. In-game performance also gave us no cause for complaint, with smooth frame rates throughout. The basics look to have been well taken care of. One drawback we should highlight, however, is the fact that most, if not all, PS One games were coded for displays with a 4:3 ratio. That means either zooming or stretching the game in order to fill the widescreen panel on the Xperia Play. Both options are available to you in the settings, but Crash was already looking pretty aliased without us zooming in for a closer inspection. Not an ideal situation, but that's where we find ourselves. At least until Sony decides it's a good idea to drop its vast catalog of PSP games atop this device, then we'll have no such worries. 
The OS underlying SE's new hero device is of course Android. Version 2.3.2 (aka Gingerbread) is shipping out on retail devices, marking this as one of the first non-Google handsets to come preloaded with Mountain View's latest and greatest. That means much-improved text manipulation thanks to the addition of new selection anchors, a general sprucing up of visuals, and a set of extra APIs with a gaming bent. Wonder why Sony Ericsson wanted to run its gaming device atop this platform, eh? Nonetheless, the company's UI designers haven't been sitting around exercising their thumbs and there's a vast amount of aesthetic tweaking done on top of Android. Almost all of it is for the better, in our opinion, as the whole UI benefits from a look of sophistication and maturity that Android has generally lacked. The phone interface is spacious and welcoming, while the contacts and messaging interfaces are extremely attractive, sensibly laid out, and utterly delicious to scroll through. Talk about optimization! The contacts section can also be navigated more rapidly just by initials and, if you have Twitter accounts associated with your buds' numbers, it shows you a snippet of their latest update, very handy. Moreover, entering individual contacts' pages shows their profile pictures nicely blended with the background, reinforcing the overarching theme of refined design. Thankfully, Sony Ericsson's alterations all look to be skin-deep, giving us some cause to believe the company's pledge that it'll be quick in responding to new Android rollouts from the Google mothership. Time will only tell. 
There are some downsides to the skinning efforts on the Play, however, as might be expected. One is the aforementioned issue of the battery seemingly running down quicker than it ought to, which you can always offset by making your own adjustments, but obviously that's no great consolation for those hoping the device would just work like it should straight out of the box. Another thing we noticed was that Timescape, albeit a mere removable widget now instead of the overwhelming leviathan it was on the Xperia X10, was still susceptible to slow performance and even the occasional freeze-up. It remains an extremely graphically demanding tool, what with all its overlays and three-dimensional animations, so that's no surprise, but we still enjoy our user experience more without it than with it. It wasn't entirely alone in showing slowdowns, we experienced a few, very minor, hangups and delays while using the Play, but couldn't find any repeatable bugs to report. It feels a mostly solid build, though it's a little disappointing that the aforementioned smoothness of operation in the customized messaging and contacts apps doesn't carry over to the rest of the UX. 
We've reached out to Sony Ericsson asking for a roadmap of when we can expect the PlayStation Suite and more PlayStation One titles to roll up on the Xperia Play bandwagon and make it worth joining. As it stands today, on the day of review and the precipice of its launch, the Play is looking out on a pretty barren gaming landscape. The Android titles up for grabs are not exclusive to the device and don't necessarily benefit all that greatly from its unique control scheme, whereas the catalog of classic PlayStation content stops after just one entry. 
The iPad 2 goes on sale Friday March 11 at 5PM. If you want one on the 11th you may want to get in line as Apple is not taking pre-orders for their second generation iPad. Which begs the question, why is Apple not taking pre-orders for one of their biggest product launches of 2011?
Today’s iPad 2 event didn’t disappoint. While there were no real surprises for people following the iPad 2 rumor mill, iPad 2 looks like a great upgrade over the original iPad. iPad 2 is thinner, lighter, and faster than the original iPad. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that it is going to be available in just 9 days.