Android 5.0 Lollipop – A sweeter mobile operating system?

 

Android 5.0 Lollipop

ANDROID 5.0 is the biggest update to the mobile operating system since 2011, when Android 4.0 unified the smartphone and tablet versions. This new version is designed not only with those devices in mind but also smart watches, smart TVs and even smarter cars. That’s leaping a little too far ahead, though, as so far we’ve only tried Android 5.0 on the HTC-manufactured Nexus 9 tablet and the LG-made Nexus 5 smartphone. Not all third-party apps work perfectly yet, but Google has done sterling work on the latest version of the OS, making numerous improvements across the board.

FIRST LICK

The first new feature doesn’t take long to surface, as Android 5.0 asks if you want to restore the state of another Android device on this one. This means it can install all your apps, add your shortcuts and widgets and place them exactly where you like them on the homescreen.

The OS presents a checklist of all your apps. We cut down the 101 apps installed on our Nexus 5 to a neater and more tablet-appropriate list of 13 to be installed on the Nexus 9. Grey versions of the icons appear on the homescreen in a similar position to those on our phone, and fill with colour as they install. If you reset a device, you can also use the same feature to restore it to its last state.

Other than that, setup is as easy as ever. Just enter your Gmail address and password and you’re ready to go. Android even remembers Wi-Fi passwords from device to device, so any network details on your previous phone or tablet are passed over to the new device.

For security, Android 5.0 lets you lock and unlock your device using another device. Its support for Bluetooth and NFC devices means your Android device will unlock instantly in the presence of your chosen item. You can also use a PIN or screen lock pattern in case you lose or forget your chosen unlock device.

 MATERIAL GIRL

Major trends in graphic design don’t come along every day, so it’s no surprise to see that Google has followed Apple in making an operating system that looks flatter. Icons have been simplified rather than looking like little 3D objects. Colour is also in vogue, with colourful icons, a greater variety of colours and more unusual combinations.

The operating system still does 3D rendering, but each object – which Google calls a piece of ‘Material’ – is flat like a piece of paper. These can move up and down off the homescreen, cast shadows and be dragged over other objects, but they don’t have any depth themselves.

Google has been working on its new style for some time, so icons for Chrome, YouTube, Google+ and others look no different in version 5, but they match the new icons for things such as Calculator, Calendar, Clock and Downloads, as you can see below.

Those colours stand out against a new white background. White was once a bad idea for mobile operating systems, as all that brightness eats battery life, but such things are less critical than they were, and white looks a lot more approachable than black. The main example is the app tray, which now presents all your apps in a white window, rather than hovering over a soft-focus version of your current wallpaper.

This new white design hasn’t just appeared from nowhere – it has been in the pipeline for some time in the form of Google Now. More and more of Google’s OS is beginning to look and act like the little cards of useful information that make up the Google Now service. Notifications appear on a white background, for example, and the recent apps buttons brings up a Rolodex of cards, one for every app.

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

The Android homescreen hasn’t changed much in practical terms, but then it was always flexible compared with that of its main rival. You can still put app shortcuts wherever you want, drag them into folders and mix and match them with widgets from a huge number of apps, many of which you can resize to suit your needs.

Our Nexus 9 has a 6x5 grid on each homescreen to position these on, with six extra spots in a dock for apps you use most often. New homescreens are created to the right when required, and Google Now sits to the left. Google Now has a new two-column layout but otherwise is the same as ever, with the usual topical and seasonal header graphics.

 MENU BAR AND NOTIFICATIONS

The menu bar has the usual split of notification icons on the left and handy indicators, such as network status and battery life, on the right.

Swipe down on the screen, though, and you’ll see an all-new combined settings and notifications menu, which consists of white cards over a darkened homescreen.

You can tap each card to open it in the appropriate app, and drag down to see further details, if they exist. Some cards also have instant actions you can take, such as replying to emails or snoozing an event reminder. This works much the same as it did before, apart from its appearance and some slick animation.

Swipe down again – or swipe with two fingers – and you’ll see a handy panel with shortcuts for various settings. There’s a brightness control, although strangely the auto brightness toggle is stuck in the main settings menu, and with that turned on, the slider only seems to work intermittently. We played with it at length and couldn’t see any logic to it. We’d rather have an auto brightness control next to the slider that we could use to tweak the level selected by the sensor.

Also in the settings shortcut panel is a Wi-Fi strength indicator, which also shows the name of the current connection. You can tap to switch connections quickly. There’s a Bluetooth control, as well as buttons for Aeroplane mode and auto-rotate, a built-in flashlight, a button for turning location sharing on or off and a cast screen button that lets you connect to a Chromecast easily. You can see how much charge your battery has left and also an estimate of how long a full charge will take.

Tapping the volume control brings up a menu that lets you decide who you receive

notifications from. You can quickly set this to ‘All’ for no filtering, or limit incoming calls and email alerts to a small set of ‘Priority’ contacts – basically those starred in your contacts list. You can even turn off notifications altogether or set downtime so that, for example, you set up a rule that allows only priority notifications to come through in the evenings. It’s a little confusing at first and requires careful management of your contacts list to work well, but it’s still a welcome extra.

 BENEATH THE WRAPPER

Android hasn’t changed radically on the surface with 5.0, but it’s a very different beast under the hood. The headline feature is its support for the new 64-bit mobile chipsets, such as the Nvidia K1 chipset used in the Nexus 9 or the forthcoming 64-bit Snapdragon chipsets – most notably the 808 and 810.

Switching to 64-bit should bring significant performance gains when dealing with complex tasks, where the processor’s larger registers can handle bigger numbers. It will also raise the memory limit above the current 4GB ceiling, although that’s not really an issue for today’s mobile devices.

The operating system now runs and compiles code in a different way too, using the new Android Runtime (ART). We should see performance and battery life benefits from the new system, which compiles code to be executed on installation, not when the application launches.

Google has also taken steps to improve battery life by making numerous tweaks under the name Project Volta. This aims to reduce unnecessary battery use during basic tasks such as waking from standby and checking for emails and other updates. The operating system is more efficient in how it deals with such housekeeping tasks, and developers have been given better tools to manage their battery usage. Tests on the developer version of Android 5.0 have shown around 35 per cent improvement, and we were impressed by the 16 hours of video playback we got from our review sample of the Nexus 9.             

There’s also a battery saver mode that you can start manually or set to kick in at a certain battery level, say five per cent. This throttles performance (the SunSpider benchmark score more than doubled to a sluggish 2,156ms) and limits radio usage, so apps don’t update unless you open them. It looks handy, stretching out your last hour of battery life without the usual dance of disabling Wi-Fi and mobile internet. You know when it’s running, as the menu bars turn orange to warn you.

TEETHING ISSUES

Android 5.0 didn’t give us much trouble, but we had problems with some of our favourite apps such as iPlayer, which wouldn’t download programmes or stream them at anything more than passable quality. We couldn’t load the Amazon Instant Video player, either, although that’s a tortuous process when attempted through the main Amazon app anyway.

These issues can’t be laid at Google’s door, but it’s worth remembering that it’s early days for the OS and some app providers simply aren’t up to speed yet. If having all your apps working is more important to you than the new features, we’d recommend waiting a couple of months before upgrading.

WORTH A POP?

Android 5.0 Lollipop looks great, with a new design that’s a breath of fresh air. All the built-in apps we use regularly have had major facelifts and most have been improved in the way they work too, becoming easier to understand and with better tablet-landscape layouts.

Beneath the hood the OS is certainly much better too. Battery life looks to be excellent, although we’ll need to do before-and-after testing on a wide range of devices before we can confirm this. Support for 64-bit was a must, of course, but it’s still welcome.

It’s early days, so inevitably there are problems with some apps, but we’re happy to say that for most Android users an update to 5.0 is something to look forward to. It’s the best version yet and although the changes are incremental, it’s still an important step forward.

Mac security options everyone should know

 

Mac security options

Enable the OS X firewall

The firewall in OS X is a network filter that allows you to control which programs and services can accept incoming connections. While classic firewalls do this on a per-port basis, OS X’s can work on a per-application or per-service basis, giving you more flexibility.

To set up your firewall, go to the Security & Privacy system preferences, click on the Firewall tab, and then unlock the preference pane, after which you will be able to click the Turn On Firewall button. This basic option is the best for most purposes, but you can also click the Firewall Options button to see the specific settings for each application, as well as access some extra features, such as stealth mode and an option for blocking all connections.

The firewall is a good option to enable if you’re connected to a public Wi-Fi network, such as one at a cafe, library, or other hotspot. For home networks, you can usually rely on your router’s firewall for protection, though, enabling the OS X firewall for added security generally won’t cause additional problems.

Enable FileVault

FileVault is the full-disk encryption routine in OS X that will secure all files on the drive. To enable it, go to the FileVault tab of the Security & Privacy system preference, unlock the preference, and click Turn On FileVault. When you do this you’ll be asked to choose the user accounts that are authorized to unlock the disk. Click Continue and your Mac will begin encrypting your drive.

Full disk encryption is primarily useful for protecting a stolen Mac. When your drive is unlocked, files on it can be read. However, before it’s unlocked, all data on the drive will be scrambled. This prevents data recovery by unauthorised third parties, who might try to access it using Target Disk mode on your Mac or by removing your Mac’s hard drive and attaching it to another computer.

Password management

If you use numerous online services regularly, then you will (or should) have different credentials for each one. These may be difficult to remember. In OS X, you have a built-in alternative for managing passwords called the keychain.

The keychain is enabled by default to store your various passwords for online services, email accounts, and other authentication routines. Whenever you see a checkbox for saving your password, or in a drop-down menu when using Safari, this is OS X asking you to store these passwords in an encrypted file called the login keychain.

This can be managed using the Keychain Access utility (/Applications/ Utilities). In most cases, there’s little need to use this. Instead, use the option to save your passwords and OS X will automatically enter them when needed.

Locking and locating

A final couple of options for protecting your Mac include securing your computer and enabling remote access to it – not only to interact with it from afar, but also to track and lock it down, if needed.

You set up the first of these options in the General tab of the Security & Privacy system preference. Just enable the Require Password option and choose Immediately or five seconds from the pop-up menu and you’ll be required to enter a password to use your Mac after it’s gone to sleep or the screen saver has started. The shorter the time interval you use in this feature, the better. Just close the lid to lock the system.

For Find My Mac, if your system is ever stolen you can log into iCloud.com or use the Find My iPhone app on an iOS device to locate your device, send it a command to lock it down unless a password is supplied, have it issue a sound (also a great option for locating a misplaced iOS device), or remotely wipe the device.

Overall, while Apple can do very little to prevent your computer from being stolen, OS X does its best to protect the data it holds as well as offers a chance that you can pinpoint its location. With these options enabled, you can be sure your Mac’s data is as safe as possible, with little to no inconvenience for you. when you have to leave it unattended

Cauliflower toasts give the poached eggs something to sit on and add texture without the need for bread

Poached eggs with cauliflower toasts, kale and dukkah

Ingredients :

• 1 whole caulifower
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 2tbsp dukkah spice mix or lightly crushed cumin seeds, plus extra to serve
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• ½ medium red chilli, finely sliced (optional)
• 6–8 large kale or cavolo nero leaves, centre stalks removed
• 4 poached eggs and squeeze lemon juice, to serve

Method :

Heat the oven to 200°c/fan 180°c/gas 6 and line a baking tray with baking paper. cut the cauliflower across into 4 slices about 1.5–2cm thick, drizzle with 1tbsp of the olive oil, then sprinkle over the dukkah or crushed cumin. put the cauliflower in the prepared tray and roast for 30 min or until golden.

After 20 min, heat the remaining olive oil in a medium, lidded casserole over a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli (if using) and stir for 30 sec, then add the kale or cavolo nero, along with a few tablespoonfuls of water. cover with the lid and braise for 10 min, stirring occasionally. You may need to turn the heat down or add a little extra water if it’s cooking too furiously.

Divide the cauliflower toasts among 4 warmed plates and top each with a poached egg. serve the blanched kale or cavolo nero alongside, sprinkled with a little extra dukkah or cumin and a squeeze of lemon juice.

prep 10 min cook 30 min

SONY Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact(New)

SONY Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact

THE SONY XPERIA Z2 Tablet has long been our favourite Android tablet, thanks to its stunning thin design and superb performance. The Z3 Tablet Compact fortunately shares a lot in common with its larger predecessor.

Sony has yet to announce a 10in Z3, so it may concentrate on 8in models from now on. We find 8in models are becoming increasingly popular as a good compromise between portability and screen size, but some may still prefer the 4:3 aspect ratio of an iPad or Google Nexus 9, which makes a tablet feel more natural to use in portrait mode.

There’s no doubt the Z3 Compact looks great. It’s amazingly slim at just 6.4mm, and weighs 270g, which is 140g less than the 8in Tesco Hudl 2. The difference in weight can easily be felt: the Z3 Compact is supremely comfortable to hold in one hand thanks to its thin chassis and even weight distribution.

The Z3 Compact is waterproof and resistant to dust, so you can safely use it to take snaps in fresh water for up to 30 minutes at a time, although only to depths of 1.5m and as long as you close all the port flaps.

Impressively, Sony has done away with the need for a flap to seal the headphone connection. Forgetting to close such a flap could well be the cause for your tablet’s watery demise, as it’s so regularly used and easy to forget about. There’s also a magnetic charging dock connector on the side, which disrupts the Z3 Compact’s clean lines.

The Z3 Compact is available with 16GB (£329) or 32GB (£379) of storage. You can also buy the 16GB version with LTE (4G) for £429. Each model is available in black or white.

Like the Xperia Z2, the Z3 Compact has a display resolution of 1,920x1,200 pixels, although these are packed into a smaller 8in screen. This gives it a pixel density of 275ppi to the Z2’s 224ppi, making the pixels even less discernible and text and images incredibly sharp. Colour accuracy is one of the Z3 Compact’s strong points, with the display able to produce an astonishing 98.2 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut. This is one of the best readings we’ve seen on a tablet, eclipsing the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9’s 88.7 per cent accuracy and the Google Nexus 9’s 93.8 per cent. To our eyes, however, the Z3 Compact has a subtle blue cast that gives the screen a slightly cold colour temperature. This didn’t affect our enjoyment of the tablet, though.

Although colour accuracy is impressive,the Z3 Compact’s black levels don’t quite reach such dizzying heights. The tablet managed black levels of 0.62cd/m², which isn’t as deep as we’d like. We were similarly disappointed with its contrast ratio of 875:1, which isn’t as high as the Google Nexus 9’s. The Z3 Compact does have an exceptionally bright screen, however, with our calibrator measuring white levels at a searing 546.8cd/ m², meaning the display is easy to see even when outdoors.

Sony has yet to announce a 10in Z3, so it may concentrate on 8in models from now on. We find 8in models are becoming increasingly popular as a good compromise between portability and screen size, but some may still prefer the 4:3 aspect ratio of an iPad or Google Nexus 9, which makes a tablet feel more natural to use in portrait mode.

Although the Z3 Compact shares the same resolution screen as its predecessor, it has received a substantial performance upgrade through its quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 system-on-chip running at 2.5GHz – a 200MHz speed increase for each core. This is paired with a very generous 3GB of RAM. The tablet felt highly responsive when we were navigating around Android 4.4, with apps and menus opening in a swift manner and the tablet never stuttering under the load of image-heavy or complex websites.

Gaming performance is strong, too. The Z3 Compact maxed out our Ice Storm Extreme test and managed a respectable 18,077 in Ice Storm Unlimited, which runs at a fixed 720p resolution to help compare different chipsets. This isn’t as high as the Google Nexus 9’s or Nvidia Shield Tablet’s figures, which are the Android gaming power champions, but the Z3 Compact will certainly handle graphically complex games such as Assassin’s Creed: Pirates with high detail levels. All this power doesn’t come at the expense of battery life; in our video playback battery test, the Z3 Compact managed 16 hours, 51 minutes, which is one of the best scores we’ve seen.

The tablet’s gaming credentials don’t stop there. If you own a PlayStation 4 you can use the Z3 to play PS4 games over your network using the Remote Play service. This means you can use your PS4 controller to play games all over the house on your tablet, helping avoid arguments when the TV is in use. You’ll need both the PlayStation 4 and Xperia Z3 connected to the same wireless network.

Sony has its own Camera app for the 8-megapixel rear and 2.2-megapixel frontfacing cameras. This app has features such as Background Defocus, which replicates the background blur effect from DSLR cameras. There’s also AR Effect, which uses augmented reality to add virtual characters such as Spiderman to your shots. This is fun but probably not something you’ll use often once the novelty wears off. The Panoramic Sweep and Manual modes are much more useful.

Photo quality is only average; the camera captures a decent amount of detail in good light, but images are still grainy and lacking in sharpness, and colours are subdued. Low-light performance is also poor, with a lot of noise.

The Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is a premium tablet, and it has the price to match. Its build quality is fantastic and it’s razor thin, and the water- and dust-proofing is useful. Its performance is also top-notch, and Sony has said it will upgrade the Z3 Compact to Android 5 Lollipop early in 2015.

If you want a compact Android tablet, the choice comes down to this or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 (Shopper 320). The Galaxy Tab S has a superior higher-resolution screen, but can’t match the Sony’s build quality, 3D performance or battery life. We think the Samsung’s amazing screen makes it just pip the Z3 Compact overall, but Sony’s tablet is a better bet to use on the move. However, bear in mind that Apple’s iPad Mini 2 has dropped in price to £239, making it a strong 8in alternative to the Z3 Compact.

Specifications :

• PROCESSOR -----------  Quad-core 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801
• SCREEN SIZE -------- 8in
• SCREEN RESOLUTION ------------ 1,920x1,200
• REAR CAMERA -------------------------  8.1 megapixels
• STORAGE ---------------------------------- 16/32GB
• WIRELESS DATA ------------------- 4G +£100 (16GB model only)
• SIZE -----------------------------  213.3x6.4x123.6mm
• WEIGHT -------------------  270g
• OPERATING SYSTEM -------------------- Android 4.4
• WARRANTY -------------------- One-year RTB
• PART CODE ---------------------------- SGP621GB/W.CEK

APPLE Mac Mini (2014)

APPLE Mac Mini (2014)

THE MAC MINI has always been a popular choice for those who want to buy their first Apple Mac computer. It has typically been the cheapest desktop Mac, and remarkably the new Mac Mini we review here is even cheaper than the one it replaces.

In design terms, there’s little to separate the old and the new, as the 2014 Mac Mini uses the same chassis as its predecessor. Encased in a 36mm-thick aluminium uni-body

chassis, the Mac Mini is sleek and attractive. It’s made from a single block of aluminium, and its beautiful curved edges and the lack of joins make it look exceptionally modern and elegant. The Mac Mini isn’t as small as some compact PC systems, such as the Cyber power Fang Mini Pro (see Reviews, Shopper 320), but it’s small enough not to get in the way.

Other than an Apple logo on the top of the Mac Mini, a small white LED on the front and an infrared receiver, the Mac Mini’s front, top and sides are bare. The connection ports are all hidden away tidily at the back, which could prove inconvenient if you’ll regularly connect USB storage or use SD cards. Also at the back are four USB3 ports and two super-fast

Thunderbolt 2 ports, as well as an SDXC card reader and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The 2014 Mac Mini also benefits from built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi, although you’ll need to use it with an 802.11ac-compatible router to get the best speeds. As for graphics outputs, you can use either the HDMI port or one of the two Thunderbolt 2 ports.

The Mac Mini comes without any peripherals, so you’ll need to provide your own keyboard and mouse, as well as a monitor. You can order Apple-branded keyboards, mice and monitors if you buy the Mac Mini from Apple’s online store.

When ordering, you can configure the Mac Mini with a dual-core 1.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk for £399. At the top-end is a dual-core 2.8GHz Intel Core i5 with a 1TB fusion drive and 8GB of RAM for £799. We reviewed the mid-spec model, which has a dual-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory and a 1TB hard disk and costs £569 at the time of writing. Every system has an Intel Haswell processor, and you can configure the two higher-end models further with an SSD and more RAM if you need them

.

It’s worth noting that, unlike with previous models, the Mac Mini (2014)’s memory can’t be upgraded later, as the modules are now soldered to the motherboard. This is a shame, and means you’ll need to be sure how much memory you require at the time of purchase.

The 2.6GHz dual-core i5 processor can Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz, and the Mac Mini scored 62 overall in our PC benchmarks. That’s pretty good and shows that the MacMini is powerful enough for most desktop tasks, even basic video-editing and music production. The result compares well with that of the similarly priced Zotac ZBox EN760 Plus, which scored 47 overall. Our review sample had a 1TB hard disk, and although its boot up and shutdown speeds were decent, it’s worth upgrading to an SSD or the 1TB Fusion Drive if your budget will stretch to it.

Our usual graphics benchmarks don’t work on Mac OS X, so we used our Mac-compatible Call of Duty 4 benchmark to test the Mac Mini’s integrated Intel Iris graphics processor. With the benchmark running at a resolution of 1,920x1,080 with 4x anti-aliasing and High graphics quality, the Mac Mini managed just 20fps, which is poor. Once we’d turned off anti-aliasing, the frame rate increased to 40fps, but you’ll need to reduce the resolution to 1,280x720 to experience a very smooth 60fps. Call of Duty 4 is an old game now, so don’t expect to play the latest 3D games at high quality settings – if at all. However, you should be able to play older games and you’ll have no trouble using 2D applications.

The Mac Mini comes with OS X Yosemite, the latest version of Apple’s operating system. Some of its new features will be better appreciated by those who own other Apple devices, such as an iPhone. Continuity, for example, allows you to answer calls sent to your iPhone from your Mac, and also send and receive SMS messages. Handoff, meanwhile, lets you sync your app’s current state between your Mac and iOS device, so you can pick up where you left off. This works with most of Apple’s apps, and developers can build compatibility into their own apps.

The Mac Mini (2014) is a worthy follow up. It’s kept what made its predecessor good and reduced the price. It’s a pity you can’t upgrade the memory and other components yourself, but that’s the trade-off you make for having such a compact and fashionable PC. If you want to switch to Mac OS X but don’t want to spend a fortune, the Mac Mini is a great buy.

Specification :

• PROCESSOR -----Dual-core 2.6GHz Intel Core i5-4278U
• RAM -----8GB
• FRONT USB PORTS------ None
• REAR USB PORTS ------ 4x USB3
• TOTAL STORAGE ------ 1TB hard disk
• GRAPHICS CARD -------- Intel Iris
• DISPLAY ----------- None
• OPERATING SYSTEM ---------- Mac OS X Yosemite
• WARRANTY --------------- One-year RTB
• PART CODE ---------------- Mac Mini A1347

Five reasons you need Apple Watch

Apple Watch

Apple Watch is coming. At this point, if Apple’s ‘early 2015’ announcement is still on track, we’re probably just two months away from getting a solid release date for the fashion-focused wearable. And when it does eventually make its way into Apple stores and boutiques across the world, you can be sure that the product will be extremely difficult to get hold of for at least a few weeks. If you’re one of the people sitting on the fence when it comes to whether or not to pick one up, waiting until the day after the launch will be too late. So, to help you make your mind up, here are the five major reasons that you should throw caution to the wind, pull out your credit card and get in that queue.

Fitness

The built-in heartbeat sensors, pedometer and barometer combine to make Apple

Watch the ultimate fitness companion. The watch will feature its own built-in fitness app that will sync with the iPhone so you can track exactly how you’ve performed each day. But this isn’t just another fitness band – the software will learn from how you exercise, recommending goals for you to reach and reminding you to get moving on lazier days.

Apps, apps, apps

Now that WatchKit has been launched for developers, they’ve started working on their own third-party apps for Apple Watch – and, as we showed in last month’s issue, they’re excited about the possibilities. If the iPhone and iPad have taught us anything, it’s that third-party apps are the cornerstone of an outstanding product.

Getting personal

This is the first Apple device that you will wear on your body, making it inherently more personal than anything you’ve used before. But Apple is working hard to take it further than just wearing – the built-in Taptic engine will gently vibrate to alert you whenever new information appears. Plus, the new ways to communicate with other Apple Watch users, including sending your heartbeat or a small sketch, are much more intimate than a text message.

Apple Pay

The service may not have debuted outside of the US at the moment, but Apple Pay took just 72 hours to become more popular than all other contactless payment competitors combined. The new payment system is fast, easy to use and has the support of a huge number of banks – when it rolls out elsewhere in the world, you’re going to want to be onboard.

In control

Apple Watch is the remote you can never lose. Whether it’s controlling your iPhone by sending messages and emails without having to pull your mobile out your pocket, or controlling your home with apps like Philips Hue, Apple Watch is insanely adaptable. It might be a small device, but it crams in more features than you can shake a stick at.

Design And Features SamSung Gear S

SamSung gear S

Big in all areas: design, features and, unfortunately, price Samsung really wasn’t keen to go with the crowd with its smart-watches. The gear S doesn’t use the popular Android-based Wear software, but Samsung’s own Tizen one. its style is a bit different.

Which brings us to the style of the watch itself, which is a bit of a sci-fi-tinged eyeopener. With a giant watch face and curved glass layer atop a sharp, vivid Super AMOLED display, it’s not even trying to pose as a normal watch. it’s a big, attention-grabbing gadget of the future.

Don’t want a wrist-dominator? Walk away now. however, if you can stomach this and the price, the gear S is one of the more complete feeling watches you can buy. you see, it’s less reliant on a phone for its features, and even has a Sim slot in the back to let the watch get its own mobile data source. it really can stand on its own to an extent, where Android Wear watches can’t.

 

In true Samsung fashion, the gear S also has more sensors than you’ll know what to do with. As well as monitoring your jogs with GPS, counting your steps with an accelerometer checking your heart rate while you’re exercising, there’s even a UV sensor to tell you whether you need to slap on some sunscreen. Overkill? Probably.

For all its advanced elements, though, the gear S can feel limited. it’ll only hook up with certain Samsung phones, still needed for notifications and the like, and is unlikely to get anywhere near as much app attention as rivals in the future. Samsung may think Tizen watches are the way forward, but we’re not sure anyone else is convinced.

The battery life is better than some other colour watches at around a day and a half, but still annoyingly short. if the Samsung gear S was the same price as the competition, it’d be much easier to recommend. But at almost twice the price, it’s a tough sell.

Specification :

• SCREEN--------- 2-INCH CURVED SUPER AMOLED, 360x480
• CPU -------- DUAL-CORE 1GHz 
• STRAP -------- PLASTIC, FIXED
• CONNECTIVITY ------- HEART RATE,3G, GPS, UV, LIGHT CENSOR
• SOFTWARE ------ TIZEN
• STORAGE ------- 4GB
• BATTERY -------- 300mAh BATTERY 300mAh
• CHARGER ----- CLIP-ON DOCK

THE WITCHER 3 THE WILD HUNT (GAME)

THE WITCHER 3

There are bears in the banquet hall-shit! Just as I’m making good progress schmoozing the castellan, we’re forced to dash back to the feast hall, where a grizzly bear is busy biting the head off a guest. It shakes the corpse in its jaws and roars, its muzzle matted with blood. Most of the guests are strewn in pieces across their dinner.

No problem. I’m Geralt the monsterhunter, famous throughout the land for being able to solve problems like sudden impossible bears. The castle is built into a vast crag, and suspended a hundred feet above the sea. There’s no way three monsters waltzed up the winding pathway and talked their way past the guards. Something strange is going on here.

I draw one of my swords and equip my fire spell, Igni. A chirpier hero would make a “time for the main course” gag, but Geralt - in the mould of your typical hypermasculine RPG antihero - has never tried to be funny in his life. I lock on and circle the bear, using the dodge command to sidestep its paw-swipes. When I can, I plant a couple of flamboyant, spinning strikes on its bum until it flops over, dead. A few surviving guards are cautiously swatting at two other bears further down the hall. I help them out with my fire spell and soon those bears are dead too. And lightly roasted. Aw.

Skellige’s most influential families had gathered to get drunk and reinforce ties, but the bear incident has them pointing fingers. One barely-alive witness at least manages to solve the mystery of the magic bears before literally spilling his guts: they’re shapeshifters who snuck into the party in human form.

This is entertaining stuff. The four hours of The Witcher 3 I’ve played are full of twisty, self-contained plots that make me feel like Mulder in a medieval X-Files. There’s a bigger grand arc, of course, concerning Ciri - a woman with magic powers trained by Geralt at a young age – and the intentions of the supernatural horsemen of The Wild Hunt. That’s set against the backdrop of a war between Redania and the expansionist imperial forces of Nilfgaard, who you see charging across the border in a post-credit sequence at the end of The Witcher 2. In spite of all that grand fantasy setup, you spend a lot of time in conversation with peasants and workaday warlords, solving local problems in return for information.

The game desperately wants to be a gritty HBO drama but, while it undoubtedly has the production values, it’s slightly too silly to pull it off. The bear attack is a memorable moment, but I can’t help but chuckle at the options I’m given in the aftermath. Should I (a) go with the woman who wants to launch a forensic investigation into the massacre, or (b) saddle up with the angry man who wants to charge into the wilderness and take revenge on all bears?
Option (b) it is. I find myself investigating a decimated outpost a five-minute horse ride north of the castle. Its inhabitants have been torn apart and I don’t even need Geralt’s witcher vision to know that powerful animals are responsible. I can use witcher vision to track the culprits, though. Holding down the button highlights important environmental clues like footprints, savaged corpses and dropped trinkets - I ended up using witcher vision in almost every quest I played. My bearhating friend - the hairy Scully to my Mulder - remains close as we follow prints up a winding path to a cave entrance.


The Witcher 3’s dungeons are as detailed and atmospheric as its sweeping outdoor areas. Torchlight glistens against black rock as we plod deeper into the mountain. Sure enough, we’re confronted by a bare-chested axeman with suspiciously bear-like qualities. He charges; we fight.

Combat is the aspect of The Witcher 3 that I’ve been most worried about. Your move set is comparable to The Witcher 2, so you have heavy and light attacks, and a dodge command. Dodging now causes Geralt to dart rather than roll, though you can hold the button down to have him dive-roll a greater distance - ideal when fighting monsters with big, long arms. You can also hold a parry button to block, and tap it at the last second to parry an incoming strike and send your opponent staggering.

Geralt has the same spells as he did in The Witcher 2. He can summon a shield that negates a hit, blast enemies with a spray of embers, push them with a concussive blast and trap them in a circle of glyphs. They’re best used in combination, but the fiddly interface demands that you pause combat momentarily to flick between options. Hopefully, this problem won’t translate to mouse and keyboard setups - only controllers were available for the demo.

The combat system works quite well against humanoid enemies. Their easily parsed stabs and swipes are well matched to the speed and distance of your dodge, which makes it satisfying to hop around an attack and cleave someone in half. The system falters when you fight larger creatures. The lowest point of the demo was a fight with a griffon who seemed totally resistant to lock-on. It attacked with slashes and bodily shrugs that dealt damage at unpredictable angles. The fight was full of “bullshit!” moments symptomatic of poorly represented hitboxes. I would use my sluggish long-distance roll to avoid an attack, run back into range and swipe ineffectively at its haunches, my hits sometimes registering, sometimes not.

The protective Quen spell serves as compensation for taking the odd unexpected hit, but that replaces one frustration with another. It must be cast constantly like a nervous tick – especially in tough fights, and there are plenty of those. Geralt may be a super-mutant monster hunter but he can be cut down quite easily. I admire the punishing difficulty, because it encourages preparation through alchemy and the crafting of better equipment – a strong staple of the Witcher series – but the difficulty exaggerates the foibles of the combat system.

It’s a nagging annoyance rather than a severe problem, and some fights were great. In one area, I solved the mystery of a haunted well and drew out a spirit. I had to lure it into my magical circle trap to give it physical form, before killing it with my silver sword. The fight required plenty of preparation. I had to gather clues from the abandoned buildings near the well, and even go down the well to retrieve an amulet that could summon the spirit. As you learn more about a monster, your journal updates with precise details about the thing’s habits and weaknesses. You grow the journal over the course of the game, like a Pokédex, becoming an expert in the world’s creatures as you explore. The context, spooky locale and clever use of Geralt’s magic all contributed to the feeling that I’d really tangled with something supernatural – and that was just a side quest.

The cave is admittedly less exciting, but still hides a few surprises. I kill the bear man and press on to the heart of the cave network to find a band of cultists worshipping a forbidden bear god – naughty ultists! A brief cutscene shows a warlock performing a rite with some initiates. After a few words of power, bears emerge from the shadows and brutally kill and eat all the initiates. Letting out blood-curdling half-man, half-bear screams, they then proceed to grow human faces and transform into men. Ah, they’re not humans pretending to be bears, they’re bears pretending to be human. Is this all part of some elaborate bear coup?

The bears are easily dispatched, but the warlock causes problems. For some reason, his stick attacks can’t be parried – another frustrating combat inconsistency. A few combos and Quen barriers later, he’s dead, but a note found at the scene suggests the cult is being manipulated by a darker force hoping to destabilise the region through acts of bear terrorism. Sadly, the rest of that mystery lies beyond the limits of the demo.

Time to go exploring. I summon my horse, who materialises from nowhere at a whistle, and ride back to the castle. If you gallop on a road, your horse will automatically follow its course, which gives me ample time to admire the stunning scenery. The Witcher 3 doesn’t look quite as extraordinary as it did in early videos, but it’s going to be one of the most impressive open worlds to grace the genre.

Skellige is a cold and rugged place inspired by the Highlands of Scotland, and it responds beautifully to changing weather. Dynamic rainstorms roll over the hills, and gales set foliage blowing. Skellige is especially lovely in pale sunshine, so I meditate to speed up time and resume the game at sunrise. I walk to the base of the cliffs below the castle, where peasants are busy building ships, arguing, boozing and enthusiastically fulfilling poverty stereotypes. CD Projekt RED is good at hustle and bustle. Even this small pocket of humanity feels lively.

I talk to a few folk and find out that fishermen are being snatched at sea by reckless swarms of drowners. You can take on witcher work pro-bono if you’re feeling compassionate, but I’m only going to ply my trade for coin. You can even haggle with NPCs trying to hire you for monsterhunting business by adjusting an askingprice slider. I push it up a little bit and the worker still gladly hires me. The fish business is booming in Skellige.

I talk to some more villagers, and they give me information about deaths and drowner sightings on the coast north of the castle. Highlights appear on my map as they reveal new details. I decide to hike the distance. As I walk over the rocky moors, the sun rises behind the crag. The fields are quiet and I take the opportunity to enjoy a moment of reflection. The Witcher 3’s world is divided into large zones, but you can walk seamlessly between adjacent ones. The developers estimate that it will take around 25 minutes to travel the length of the longest stretch on foot, and the world they’ve created is easily pretty enough to make that journey worthwhile.

I reach the coast and find some human remains. It’s magic-eyes time again. Geralt examines the remains, mutters something about them being fresh, and suggests that there’s likely to be a drowner lair somewhere in the area. I try to follow the coastline and end up taking a shortcut through a forest full of spidery monsters that are a much higher level than me – The Witcher 3’s enemies don’t scale to your abilities, so it’s best to travel carefully. I manage to flee back down to the coast, where I find abandoned fishing equipment and more clues. I realise that I’m not just following an objective marker any more; the objectives are folded into the environment. I’m actually exploring.

There’s no sign of a lair on land, but near the fishing equipment I fend off a few drowners coming out of the sea. I decide to swim out a little to examine the rocks from the water. Aha! There’s a dark opening hidden away. It’s a cave full of human remains – yay!

I’m doubly pleased because every sidequest I’ve taken on during my four hours with the game has been this elaborate. I wonder if CD Projekt RED has actually managed to create an RPG free of boring filler quests. I have a feeling that many of them will rely on the overuse of Geralt’s witcher vision, which could start to get old ten or 20 hours in, but I’ll take that over dozens of mindless fetch tasks.
I’m confident that the quality of the quests and the open world can paper over The Witcher 3’s issues. Combat is merely passable, there are still glitches to iron out and horse handling needs work, but the world is exciting and rugged. I can’t bring myself to care about Geralt or The Wild Hunt either, but I love the day job. I’m going to spend hours wandering the world, filling my journal and hunting monsters in caves.

I feel satisfied as my demo time draws to a close, but there’s still one thing left to do. I study the sounds of distant drowners gibbering for a moment, then swig nightvision potion, unhook my silver sword and stride forward into the darkness.

Specification And Features Of Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

 

SAMSUNG Galaxy Note Edge

THE GALAXY NOTE Edge could be the most bizarre smartphone you’ll see all year. It’s based on Samsung’s excellent Galaxy Note 4 phablet, but the screen extends over the right side of the handset. This sloping edge adds an extra 160 pixels to its 5.6in, 2,560x1,440 display.

It’s an eye-catching design, but those hoping for a more pocket-friendly phablet will be disappointed; at a sizeable 151x82x8.3mm, reaching to the other side of the screen can be a bit of a stretch. At least the textured faux leather rear provides plenty of grip.

Swiping through the various side panels reveals a cut-down version of the app launcher, the day’s weather, stats from Samsung’s S Health app, news headlines, data usage, a Windows-esque taskbar and even a burger-stacking game, but none of them uses the curve in any meaningful way and shunting everything to one side feels cramped.

Away from the home screen you’re simply presented with a black edge, which can be customised with a bit of text. It suggests that even Samsung doesn’t know what to do with this strange display, and while the reflective screen surface masks the unused space rather effectively, the single handwritten font is tacky and detracts from the rest of the phone’s high-end design.

BEHIND THE CURVE

The curve makes taking pictures awkward, as the onscreen shutter button snakes round the top of the screen. Trying to reach it with our index finger felt cramped and reduced our grip. The 16-megapixel sensor has optical image stabilisation built in, but the shutter button is so uncomfortable we ended up tapping the screen to take pics.

Onscreen buttons aside, our outdoor shots looked great, showing bright, vibrant colours even in overcast conditions. Buildings look sharper than on the Note 4, and shadows are darker and more pronounced, giving objects a bit more pop. HDR mode also produces visibly pleasing shots. However, both phones tend to smooth over detail on HDR mode. We’d recommend sticking to Auto for more detailed shots.

The only good thing about the curved edge is the night clock, which shows the time and date when the phone’s in sleep mode. Screen brightness is just right, too, so it won’t distract you from getting to sleep.

The curve may be a bit of a botched experiment, but that doesn’t mean the Note Edge is a bad phone. The 5.6in screen is a fraction brighter than the Note 4’s at 340.1cd/m², with cleaner whites for slightly punchier visuals and more striking contrast. Text looks equally dark and defined thanks to perfect 0.00cd/m² black levels, while a pixel density of 524ppi is also higher than the Note 4’s 515ppi, though the difference is barely noticeable in practice.

KEEPING WARM

The Note Edge covers the full 100 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, although this doesn’t necessarily guarantee accurate colours; our measurement report revealed oversaturated reds and greens. Still, we prefer the extra vibrancy afforded by the warmer colours, and videos in particular look superb.

Like the Note 4, the Note Edge includes Samsung’s S Pen, which slots into the bottom of the handset when not in use. With 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity it’s a great tool for drawing, although the sloping edge doesn’t give quite as much rip as the Note 4’s flat sides. Multi Window, which lets you use two apps simultaneously, wasn’t designed with the Note Edge’s curved screen in mind. The already tiny sidebar footprint becomes even smaller here, making it difficult to swipe through the edge panels and tap icons accurately.

This is a shame, as the 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor makes the Note Edge a fast and powerful phone. It scored a fast 347ms in our SunSpider JavaScript test, so will easily handle complex websites.

Graphics performance is impressive, too, maxing out 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme and scoring a huge 19,096 (or 76.1fps) in Ice Storm Unlimited. The extra resolution didn’t affect frame rates in Epic Citadel, where it managed 48.3fps on Ultra High quality settings. That’s just one frame per second behind the Note 4.

CANDLE IN THE WIND

Sadly, the Note Edge’s 3,000mAh battery can’t hold a candle to the Note 4, lasting just 13h 30m in our continuous video playback benchmark with the screen set to 170cd/m². The Note 4 lasted 15h 36m under the same conditions.

Our biggest concern, however, is the price. At £680 SIM-free or £53.50 on contract with a £49 upfront cost, the Galaxy Note Edge is more expensive than Samsung’s superior Note 4, and the curved screen does very little to justify the extra price hike other than its role as a glorified alarm clock. If you’re looking for the best large-screen phone, the Note 4 remains our phablet of choice.

Specifictions :

• PROCESSOR Quad-core 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805
• SCREEN SIZE 5.6in
• SCREEN RESOLUTION 2,560x1,600
• REAR CAMERA 16 megapixels
• STORAGE 32GB/64GB
• WIRELESS DATA 4G
• SIZE 151x82x8.3mm
• WEIGHT 174g
• OPERATING SYSTEM Android 4.4
• WARRANTY One year RTB
• DETAILS www.samsung.com/uk
• PART CODE SM-N915G

Microsoft Lumia 635 on Vodafone

Microsoft Lumia 635

I’m not sure why Microsoft bought Nokia. Whatever the reason, its masterplan appears to have face-planted, given the share of the mobile market the pairing has managed to grab. However, if we ignore that fact, and treat the Lumia products like Nokia's previous feature phones, they suddenly seem much more attractive. This thinking would also put the Microsoft (Nokia) Lumia 635 design at the very heart of Microsoft’s mobile strategy because, having seemingly given up on 'flagship' designs that can challenge the iPhone et al, the brand has been heading to the bargain end of the market at speed.

This is a redesign of the Lumia 630 model, where the design brief appears to have been to add 4G(LTE) capability and change little else. Because of this, it shares the same 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU with Adreno 305 GPU, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of Internal storage, a 5MP Autofocus camera and an odd resolution 854 x 480 4.5” ClearBlack Display.

Or, that’s how the spec sheets read, anyway. In reality, once I saw the 630 and 635 next to each other, it became obvious that this is a much better phone in a number of critical ways. The most obvious of these improvements is the display; it's brighter and has a distinctly richer palette than its predecessor. Unfortunately, though, the downside to the display and LTE improvements is that both features impact on battery life, and therefore the 635 won’t last as long on a charge unless you tweak brightness down and disable 4G when not in use. The feature that impressed most, though (especially given some phone makers' track record in this respect), is that this design lets you insert a microSD up to 128GB in size to supplement the modest internal storage.

Vodafone, as appears to be its policy these days, have laid very gentle branding hands on the Lumia 635, with only a few apps that would differentiate this from the vanilla product. My only related complaint is that the device comes with OS version 8.10.12397.895, which was released by Microsoft way back in June 2014. There have been eight subsequent releases, adding all manner of fixes and features, none of which Vodafone has chosen to pass on. That means there are no ‘Denim’ OS enhancements, like the UK version of Cortana for example.

Networks need to realise that when people ask in their support forums when these updates will appear, telling them that they don’t discuss firmware release dates just isn’t good enough these days, and actually rather insulting. What's more, Microsoft should quickly change the way Lumia works so that it upgrade the OS directly, not the network providers, because otherwise it’ll just annoy the relatively small number of customers who use these devices.

This as akin to a curious, but generally useable, feature phone. However you slice it, though, a 4G compatible device you can buy for less than £69, or have free on a minimal monthly contract, is something of a bargain, really. If you take the plunge, and at some point Vodafone and Microsoft manage to turn it into something more than that, then that will be a bonus.

Specifications :

• Display: 4.5”
• Processor: 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
• Front Camera: No
• Resolution: 480 x 854 pixels
• RAM: 512MB
• OS: Windows Phone 8.1
• Internal storage: 8GB
• Expandable storage: MicroSD (128GB Max)
• Rear Camera: 5MP
• Flash: No
• Battery capacity: 1830mAh
• Colours: Bright Green, Bright Orange, Black, White

 

RESIDENT EVIL HD REMASTER (GAME)

 

RESIDENT EVIL

We’re used to feeling like the centre of attention in games, like the whole world revolves around us. But Resident Evil’s zombie-plagued mansion doesn’t care about you. It’s a place where death lurks around every prerendered corridor, and if you stumble into one of its sadistic traps or undead denizens, bad luck. It’s back to the main menu with you, and you better hope you saved. Resident Evil doesn’t hold your hand: it rips it off and eats it.

This is a remastered version of a remake of the original 1996 game, which was released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. It retains the fixed cameras, rendered backgrounds and tank controls of Mikami’s pioneering survival horror game, but mixes a few things up. If you know the Spencer mansion from the PlayStation game inside out, there are plenty of surprises. But if you’ve never played the original, this is the best place to start. Even though it’s 13 years old (and based on a 19-year-old game), it’s worth it.

You can play as one of two characters, each of whom has their strengths and weaknesses (see ‘His and Hers’ below). There are no respawning items in the atmospheric haunted house setting, so it becomes a game about management: knowing when to fight, when to run away and conserve ammo, and whether to use a health item now or save it for later.

Even your saves are finite. The term is regularly misused, but Resident Evil really is a survival horror game. Every wasted bullet or typewriter ribbon (which are used to save) could come back to haunt you later. Even defeated zombies can be a problem, springing back to life as more powerful ‘crimson heads’. You’ll have to devote time and resources to burning their corpses to avoid this.

Low Resi

The remastering isn’t as good as I’d hoped. I thought they might have dug the original pre-rendered backgrounds out of some dusty archive and presented them at a higher and previously unseen resolution, but it seems as if they’ve just added a filter to the existing GameCube files. As a result it doesn’t look spectacular, especially on larger monitors, but the lighting and atmosphere make up for it. Light sources in the world illuminate your character as you move past them, which does a surprisingly good job of fooling your brain into thinking these are 3D spaces rather than static backgrounds.

The mansion is a wonderfully eerie setting, and the fixed cameras, although archaic, actually add to the tension. The game uses blind corners to great effect, and you’ll often hear the groan of a zombie before you see it. This makes you play cautiously as you creep through the dingy corridors. Sometimes the camera will be peering at you through a window or floating above you, which gives you an uneasy feeling of being watched. Rather than be hamstrung by their two dimensional limitations, the developers have used them to make a really effective horror game.

With hardcore survival games frequently topping the Steam charts, Capcom couldn’t have picked a better time to revive Resident Evil. It’s a punishing, but immensely satisfying game, even if the ‘remaster’ isn’t as dramatic as the title suggests. If you can’t stomach the tank controls there’s a new analogue option that works really well with a controller, but the keyboard and mouse controls are pretty clunky. This was a game originally designed for a Nintendo console after all.

YOGA FOR A HEALTHY SPINE

HEALTHY SPINE

Many people practise yoga because of the stretching and strengthening benefits it brings to the spine. Equally, though, articles often crop up in the media linking yoga postures to neck issues and back pain, and it’s easy to get confused as to whether you should avoid or embrace certain postures.

Surely it makes sense to follow the teachings of those who founded this yoga practice we know and love? Unfortunately, it’s not that straightforward. For example, BKS Iyengar had some rather controversial instructions, such as “throw the head back” in the cobra pose and have the neck “rest well on the floor” in a shoulder stand.

Essentially, the contemporary understanding of anatomy tells us the key to a healthy cervical spine (neck) is maintaining the normal cervical curve. This curve supports us perfectly when we sit, stand, walk about, exercise or sleep. So, with that in mind, let’s look at how and why yoga can be practised to support your spine’s natural curvatures while also building strength and flexibility.

FORWARD FLEXION 

If you want to stretch the back, you need to move your spine outside the range of its neutral curves. That, I think, is the point Iyengar was trying to make. However, he may not have been accurate with his instructions to flatten the back of the neck on the floor in shoulder stand; far from it, in fact.

At 100 per cent flexion, our anatomy books tell us, the ligaments in the neck will be most likely stretched to the point of strain. These cervical ligaments are lengthened when the head tilts forward. You can feel this yourself through the central portion of the cervical spine in strong cervical flexion. Standing or sitting upright with a straight spine, tilt your head forward and place your fingers against the back of your neck: the ligament should feel slightly taut. As you tilt your head further forward, this tautness will be more prominent as the ligament is stretched further. What you’re feeling is the nuchal ligament - the strongest and largest ligament in the cervical region.

Now that you have an awareness of the nuchal ligament, what can it tell you about the flexion of your neck in shoulder stand?

Normally, the cervical spine has a range of flexion of just 60–70 degrees. So this should be your maximum flexion for shoulder stand. When you practise the posture on the floor without support, the more you align your hips above your shoulders, the greater the degree of flexion you will have in your cervical spine. With your hips directly over your shoulders, there will be a right angle in your neck - 90 degrees -stretching your ligaments to the likelihood of strain.

A good way to reduce that angle on your neck and experience the benefits of the pose safely is by supporting the shoulders on a stack of three to four folded blankets. This gives a sense of freedom in the neck and you will feel less pressure on the back of your head. It allows you to draw the weight upward, away from your neck, keeping the ligaments relaxed and at ease. Without this support, and with the neck maximally flexed against the floor, the full weight of the body is carried by the neck. This can be potentially damaging.

Iyengar embraced the use of props, and most students I’ve practised this with really enjoy the sense of support these blankets provide.

SAFE BACKBENDS

Cobra pose allows you to strengthen and open your entire back. It’s invigorating. Similarly to shoulder stand, it stimulates the sex, thymus and thyroid glands, so activating the endocrine system. Have you ever noticed how people stand and walk when they arrive at a yoga session, then how different they look on the way out -taller, leaner and with more of a spring in their step? (Presumably you can feel it in yourself but sometimes these things are more noticeable in others.)

So backbends - and here I’ll look specifically at cobra pose - bring a sense of lightness and vitality. But should you, as Iyengar counselled, throw your head back? 

Neutral Spine

If you arch your head back, all you’re doing is tilting the head on the axis at the top of the spine. Think again of the neutral spine and, from a sitting position, flex your neck so you are looking down. Now, keeping your spine straight, arch the head back as far as possible by lifting the chin. Notice how, as you arch the neck, really only the upper cervical vertebra is acting in the extension, while the lower cervical vertebrae are still in flexion. Throwing the head back or looking up, therefore, is not a true backbend.

As the neutral positioning of the cervical spine is already extended, it has a concave curve — a lordosis — to provide a more central support for the head. Throwing your head as far back as possible in cobra pose will only cause your chin to stretch outward, not deepen the extension of your spine. Instead, you should focus on extending the part of your spine that is convex in its neutral position: the thoracic spine, which extends from the top to the bottom of your ribcage.

Arching the neck is a common habit in yoga; not just because of Iyengar’s instructions but also because looking up carries the illusion of going further. Now, though, let’s look at how to practise cobra pose maintaining the normal cervical curve.

Begin lying on your belly. Bring your hands underneath your shoulders then press your hips down into the floor to activate the muscles of the lower back — that’s the key to muscular control and strengthening the back in this pose. Then, as you inhale, lift your chest off the floor.

Once in the pose, squeeze your thighs together, continuing to build the muscles of your lower back, strengthening the pelvic floor and protecting the lower back. Draw your shoulders back, keeping the elbows tucked in close to the body. You’ll need to concentrate to master the breath, pelvic floor and abdominal muscles, and this in turn will assist relaxation, even if you’re new to yoga. As you become more proficient at centring in the postures, your mind and body become fully engaged.

If you want to make sure it’s your back strength you’re using, rather than your arms, you may take the hands off the floor; this also further strengthens the back body. Keep the back of your head straight and in line with your spine, so the normal cervical curve is maintained. Keep drawing your shoulders back; your chest will get stretched and your inhalation will start to deepen. Feel the muscles of the back really strengthening as you hold the pose. And then, finally, exhale and release.

At first, move dynamically - inhaling to come up and exhaling to release with each breath - so you can warm up before holding the pose. As your back body becomes stronger and the muscles across your chest lengthen to support the lift of the spine, your back body curls like a cobra about to strike!

ASANAS FOR THE SPINE

Many of the yoga asanas work on developing a healthy spine. Yoga is a great way of experiencing flexion and extension, of reconnecting with the development of the spine and of reconnecting with a healthy spine and a healthy nervous system (our central nervous systems are located in our spines).

Most importantly of all, however, as Patanjali stated in The Yoga Sutras, the practice of yoga is a way to restrain the turbulent mind; to abide in one’s true nature. Hence his definition of a yoga pose: “a steady and comfortable seat”. In terms of exploring the range of our neutral curves, this means flexing and extending without overarching or maximally flexing, and finding this balance both on and off the yoga mat.

 A lot more research has been done into yoga, the spine and mindful movement patterns since Iyengar wrote his seminal book, Light on Yoga, and our anatomical understanding of the spine has changed. Without challenging Iyengar’s teachings, it’s interesting to explore how our understanding of movement patterns has changed over the years.

Next time you read Light on Yoga, think about it. However controversial I may find some of the instructions, particularly with regard to the cervical spine, I always laugh when I think of what my teacher told me about Iyengar’s response when anyone questioned him on it: “You think I haven’t learned anything in 50 years?”

Most importantly, when it comes to a somatic understanding of anatomy, your body is your teacher. Observe how you hold your neck in your yoga practice, keep your cervical spine neutral and see how you get on. Here’s a sequence to help you experience the benefits of yoga for your spine.

High–low push-up (chaturanga dandasana)

Start in a push-up position, arms perpendicular to the floor, belly pulled in, tailbone scooping toward heels, pelvis lifted upward, knees off floor if comfortable. Look straight down between your hands, being careful not to alter the neutral curvature of the neck. Draw in the front thighs. On a slow exhalation, lower your torso to about five inches from the floor, engaging your belly as you move. As in high push-up, keep your chin in a neutral alignment - away from your chest without compressing the back of

the neck. Keep your head and neck in line with your back; don’t let the mid-torso sag. Lower yourself gently to the floor.

Cobra pose (bhujangasana)  

Lie face down on your belly,

hands under shoulders, palms facing down, elbows tucked in close to the body. Press down into your hip bones. Inhale and raise your torso, elbows bent, palms lightly resting on the floor. Lead from your chest, neutral head positioning, hips staying down. In the beginning, keep your hands on the mat without pressing into them. Otherwise you can lift your hands off the floor, drawing the elbows in towards your lower ribs, elongating your back. Move your gaze as you lift up, so the back of your head stays in line with your spine. Stay for a few breaths. Take child’s pose or downward dog to release your back.

Bridge pose (setu bandhasana) 

Lie on your back, knees bent directly over ankles with outer edges of feet in line

with hips. On inhalation, gradually begin to peel the spine slowly up, pressing feet firmly down into the floor. For beginners, fingers can reach towards your heels. Otherwise, interlock your fingers beneath you and lift your hips as high as is comfortable. Press down firmly with your arms and lift up your chest. Take five deep breaths. Slowly roll down, vertebra

by vertebra. Rest on the floor, feeling your hips and buttocks sinking down.

Shoulder stand (sarvangasana)

Place a neatly folded stack of three to four blankets on the floor. Recline on the

blankets with your shoulders about three inches from the folded edge and your head on the mat. Lift your buttocks as in bridge pose and extend the arms. Placing your hands on your back, fingers pointing towards your buttocks, come onto your tippy toes and draw your elbows closer together. Extend one leg up in the air, keep lifting the pelvis with your hands supporting your back, and then extend the second leg. Look upward and keep the head still. Hold for 1–2 minutes then come straight into plough pose.

Plough pose (halasana) 

Lower your legs down from shoulder stand with your feet coming behind and over

your head. Keep the ankles touching, legs straight, kneecaps lifted, and look straight up. Interlock your fingers, extend your arms behind your back, lift your pelvis and spine upwards and keep straightening your legs. Breathe deeply into your back and after one minute slowly roll down.

A ways finish your asana practice lying on your back in savasana, corpse pose, closing your eyes. Lengthen your spine into the floor but allow the curvatures to take their natural form.