Harley-Davidson Street 750

A high-tech Harley? Inside the next generation of smarter, smaller hogs

Harley-Davidson is not the first company most people think of when it comes to cutting-edge innovation in the sphere of modern motorcycling. But if you haven’t been paying attention to the bikes coming out of Milwaukee, you might be in for a shock at what’s taking place at Harley Davidson (HD).

Like a lot of motorcycle builders, Harley had a tough stretch during the Great Recession. Also, HD’s domestic competition has been growing lately. But Harley has taken a multi-point approach to these problems. And while the results are not yet in, in terms of sales, it would seem Harley’s roll of the dice might come up a winner.

Radiators on a Harley? The ‘Street’ bikes debut

In early November at the EICMA show, Harley took the wraps off two completely new bikes. When I say ‘completely new’; I mean these new bikes, called the Street line, are absolute departures for HD.

The Street line thus far consists of a 500cc V-twin and its big brother, a 750cc machine. They look nearly identical in stock form. Both bikes are blacked out and mildly cruiser-ish, but not nearly to the level of the “traditional” Harley, not even close.

HD and other bike makers are rightfully worried because young people are not getting into motorcycling like they used to. Harley isn’t helping itself either, as its smallest bike, the 883 Iron with an 883cc engine runs $8,400 for the most basic version. For a newbie rider or scooter graduate, that’s just too big, heavy and expensive.

LG G3 smartphone rumored

LG G3 smartphone, G Arch smartwatch, and G Health fitness band rumored for MWC 2014

An anonymous source speaking to the Korea Herald has revealed a little about LG’s wearable technology plans, along with some news on the LG G3 smartphone. Apparently, the LG G3 – an unofficial name for the G2’s successor – will feature a fingerprint scanner, and the firm will introduce both a smartwatch and a fitness tracker alongside it.

The fingerprint scanner won’t be the only headline feature on the G3 either, if the report is accurate. The new phone could be the firm’s first to use its Quad HD resolution screen, which provides a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution, and run Android 4.4 KitKat as standard. This all sounds reasonable, but it’s also said the G3 will be powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core processor.

This isn’t quite so likely. At the moment, there are only two octa-core processors worth mentioning, Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa, and MediaTek’s MT6592 true octa core chip. We can’t see LG deciding to put arch-rival Samsung’s processor in its flagship phone, or the budget MediaTek option either. The LG G2 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800, making the Snapdragon 805 a more logical choice for the sequel.

Moving on to LG’s wearable tech plans, the source of the rumor talks about a smartwatch called the G Arch, and a fitness tracking wristband named the G Health. Earlier this year an LG executive said the firm was working on a smartwatch, so this doesn’t come as a huge surprise, but we weren’t expecting a FuelBand-challenging fitness tracker too. We’ve recently heard Samsung could be working on something similar, tentatively known as the Galaxy Band.

We may see the LG G3 and its wearable companions introduced during Mobile World Congress in 2014, according to the Herald’s source. This would make the LG G2 little more than seven months old, and hardly in desperate need of replacing. While LG’s wearable tech may come at MWC, a late summer launch for the G3 seems more likely.

auto&tech™ ©2013

Mercedes’ AMG Vision Gran Turismo

Someone must like us after all! Mercedes’ AMG Vision Gran Turismo going into production

Mercedes-Benz AMG unveiled a life-size replica of its AMG Vision Gran Turismo concept at the 2013 LA Auto Show. The AMG wizards created the car as a virtual-only racer for the new Gran Turismo 6 video game.

Although we knew it was only a plastic model of the car, we were in awe of its beauty and hoped and prayed that someone would build the thing, as we desperately wanted to drive it.
Shockingly, our prayers have been answered – but not by Mercedes AMG. Instead, a small coachbuilder in Florida will build five of the cars with one already spoken for. Found on James Edition, the real-life Vision will be based on the 2014 SLS AMG GT but with a body made completely from carbon fiber, which, apparently, will decrease the weight of the package by 200 pounds.

In Gran Turismo, the AMG Vision is powered by a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8 that makes 577 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. The SLS GT – and now the real-life Vision – will be powered instead by a 6.3-liter that makes 583 hp and 479 lb-ft. Yes, it might be slightly less powerful than the dour AMG men originally planned. From an auditory standpoint, however, it’s a huge upgrade. The SLS’ V8 sounds like someone is trying to summon the devil with dynamite. It’s rather splendid.

Although Mercedes never said how fast the AMG Vision would go 0-60, the SLS GT will do it in 3.7 seconds. With a lighter weight body, it should do it a smidge faster.
What will the in-the-flesh AMG Vision cost you? $1.5 million. But, for that, you get wheels that are

“custom forged by world famous wheel designer ADV.1 The interior will be sightly [sic] modified to the customers color request. The car will have a chrome paint job and with have a retractable rear spoiler and custom exhaust.”

I know $1.5 million feels like a lot of money for a chromed-out AMG with a new body bolted on. Think about it this way, though. If you get one of the five AMG Visions, you’ll finally be able to get that racecar bed you’ve always wanted because your car will be so hot that women will sleep with you regardless of your nerdy bedroom furniture.

If that’s not worth $1.5 million, I don’t know what is.

auto&tech™ ©2013

Nokia Lumia 1520 review

The Nokia Lumia 1520 is just like the rest of the premium Lumia smartphones we've seen, but bigger and faster. The advanced imaging and the custom app selection by Nokia will make the difference against Android phablets, with the Snapdragon 800 making sure the Finn won't feel outgunned. Sounds like a promise for the best experience yet on Windows Phone.

A few months ago Nokia was in the headlines for what seemed the wrongest of reasons to people who fondly remembered the Finns from their glory days. Voices were rising once again above the lamenting choir, about what might have been had Nokia gone with Android instead.

Oh well, we're well past the what-ifs and should-haves. And no, it's not because Microsoft's check has already been written. Nokia's first phabet has crossed into what was, until now, a strictly Android territory. And not just average droids either, but some of the biggest, meanest species of Android we have seen.

The latest GDR3 version of Windows Phone finally has support for quad-core Krait processors and Full HD displays. There's an attempt too, to make better use of the size and resolution by adding an extra column of contents across the interface. It was about time Microsoft brought the platform back in the hardware race and we are delighted to finally meet the first Windows Phone to aim for the pole position.

Key features

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
• Quad-band 3G with 42 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
• Penta-band LTE Cat4 support, 150Mbps downlink, 50Mbps uplink
• 6.0" 16M-color ClearBlack IPS CLD capacitive touchscreen of 1920 x 1080 pixels; Corning Gorilla Glass 2; Nokia Glance
• 20MP PureView sensor (15MP effective), 1/2.5" sensor size, ZEISS lens, Optical Image Stabilization, dual-LED flash
• 1080p@30fps video recording; 2x lossless digital zoom
• 1.3MP front-facing camera
• Windows Phone 8 GDR3 OS with Nokia Black
• 2.2GHz quad-core Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset, 2GB of RAM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
• GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS support
• Free lifetime worldwide voice-guided navigation
• 32GB of inbuilt storage
• microSD card slot, up to 64GB
• Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
• Wireless charging with optional accessories
• Built-in accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port
• Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP and file transfers
• SNS integration
• Xbox Live integration and Xbox management
• NFC support
• Digital compass
• Nokia Music
• FM radio

Main disadvantages

• Screen has average sunlight legibility
• Non-user-replaceable battery
• No system-wide file manager
• No lockscreen shortcuts

At first glance the Lumia 1520 looks like a magnified Lumia 1020 - it has the same design and build, only without the camera hump. The trademark unibody is the right bit more impressive at that size, while the PureView camera has lost some of its sensor area and half of its pixels, but hopefully kept the amazing image quality.

CES 2013: Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZL hands-on

In 2012, Sony found itself behind the pace, offering its first dual-core droids just a few weeks before the competition switched to quad-core architectures. Keen to catch up, the Japanese start the year with a bang, courtesy of the quad-core Xperia Z. A near-identical alternative version, called Sony Xperia ZL, gladly doubles the fire power.

The Sony Xperia Z (previously known by its codename Yuga) is another first for Sony - the company's first 5" smartphone. The 5" LCD screen boasts 1080p resolution, which means that each inch of the screen fits 440 separate pixels. It should come as no surprise that the screen is backed by the second generation of the Sony Mobile Bravia engine for even better image quality.

auto&tech™ ©2013