2015 Ariel Nomad review | Autocar

2015 Ariel Nomad review | Autocar
TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount Review - Phandroid
Grand Theft Auto V on PC review: Rockstar outdoes itself in world ...

Posted: 24 Apr 2015 03:30 AM PDT

What is it?:

Unusual. The Ariel Nomad is belting along an empty and well-sighted, but rough, rutted, lumpy and twisty back road at a speed that would push any hardcore or lightweight sports car off its line and well out of composure. Certainly this pace would prove too much for an Ariel Atom's suspension.

Yet the Nomad's body stays flat and its steering wheel steady, as you watch the 18in front wheels shod with moderate off-road rubber nip gracefully up and down, absorbing everything beneath them.

You're aware this road hasn't even begun to challenge the extremes of what the Nomad can do; I'm starting to think this is an extraordinarily special car. Perhaps even an extraordinarily influential one. The last time I experienced suspension control like this was from the passenger seat of a Mitsubishi Pajero rally raid car.

The Nomad is Ariel's third model – after the Atom we know so well, and the recent Ace motorcycle. Ariel's people hoped to make an all-terrain car while retaining as many Atom parts as possible.

Trouble is, they're fiddlers and perfectionists; most of them ride mountain bikes and scramblers or use serious 4x4s and they can't accept a half-baked job. So all that's actually carried over from the sports roadster is what's around the driver: instrument panel, steering wheel, column and rack, the pedal box and the floor panel. Everything else is new to the Nomad.

Owing to the mechanical layout and those few carried over parts, though, it still feels familiar. Climbing into the Nomad presents you with an Atomish driving position and environment: the exposed tubing and a Honda engine zinging to life behind you, albeit one stroked to 2.4-litres and as used in a CR-V, rather than the Atom's Civic Type-R 2.0-litre.

It still makes a respectable 235bhp at 7200rpm, mind and still drives the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. Brakes and steering remain unassisted because the Nomad's weight, although up more than 100kg over an Atom, is only 670kg.

There are double wishbones all round with dual-rate springs; softer at the beginning of the Nomad's considerable travel to absorb poor surfaces, then stiffer later on to prevent huge, unwanted body movements.

What's it like?:

Deeply impressive. It's the deftness with which those springs and dampers are set up that makes the Nomad so spectacular. That make it – whisper it – a more appealing road car even than an Atom. More appealing than most driver's cars, up to the level of, say, a Porsche 911 GT3 RS. I'm not joking.

That's also before you've even considered the off-road credentials; ones we'll discover later, when Ariel has built more than one Nomad and can lend us one it doesn't mind it getting caned and stone chipped.

I'm trying to think of another car which behaves similarly to the Nomad but conventional sports SUVs, most pushing two tonnes, are set up too harshly to bear comparison. Ditto sports cars. The Nomad at work feels and looks most like a Stadium Truck racer, or a rally car in Rally Finland spec: absorbing a lump or a bump and preparing itself for the next in one smooth impact. Not too stiff, not too soft. It has Goldilocks suspension.

This softness means there are notable body movements, of the sort that most carmakers try to banish with stiffer springs and even stiffer tyre sidewalls. Ariel embraces them but controls them: accelerate, brake or corner hard and the Nomad will pitch and yaw, but always with perfect composure, to the extent that it feels like the movements are happening in slo-mo.

Approach a corner too fast – ridiculously easy given the chassis' capability – brake firmly and the nose will dip. However, you're quickly aware that what you're doing, quite naturally, is using the transfer to push some weight onto the Yokohama Geolander front tyres, unloading the rears and preparing them all for the work you'll be asking them to do in the bend.

The weight is low and the steering fast and unassisted; as a result, the compliance in the system is not lost to squidge or inaccuracy at the steering wheel. Anything but. All it does is to help telegraph every message about what each end of the car is up to, let you feel every gram as you manipulate it from end to end, corner to corner. The car is going as quickly as you like. The messages are slow, filtered, direct, clear and manageable.

The overall handling balance is as tricky to find on the road as in most sports cars: the Nomad is as capable mid-corner as they come. You get hints of it, however. Turn-in and enter a bend on the throttle, with the front end lightly loaded, and it'll push on; so what you'll want to do is settle the nose by braking on turn-in and getting back on the power to let the rear push the car's attitude into the turn.

It's a ridiculous notion because the Nomad's not designed for it: but I'd love to try this car around the Nurburgring. My suspicion is that it would cut corners, absorb kerbs and shrug its shoulders over crests and dips in a manner that would make the world's watching chassis engineers wonder if this could be a better way. Just like the way that so many motorcycle makers and riders figure that softer, taller bikes are actually more fun and more capable than wrist breaking, plastic-clad race replicas anywhere other than on the smoothest race track.

Nurburgring aside, though, we'll settle, soon, for a long schlep around Millbrook's alpine hill route, before heading, without stopping, onto its off-road and gravel track sections, to uncover more of what this spectacular car can do.

Should I buy one?:

In an instant. Even on this acquaintance, I'm utterly blown away. Hyperbole comes easy these days. "Amazing" is a desperately devalued primetime Saturday night word, but I'm going to use it.

In 18 years of testing cars, fewer than a handful of other cars have amazed me like the Nomad. That Pajero, say. Or, for different reasons, a 997 GT3 RS, Rolls-Royce Phantom or Ferrari F40. Ariel intends to sell around 75 Nomads a year, but I wonder if its significance extends far beyond that. It feels like a landmark car. I adored it. I wanted it. It gets all the stars.

Location Somerset; On sale June; Price £36,023; Engine 4cyls, 2354cc, petrol; Power 235bhp at 7200rpm; Torque 221lb ft at 4300rpm; Gearbox 6-spd manual; Kerbweight 670kg; Top speed 125mph; 0-60mph 3.4sec; Economy 30mpg (est) Co2/tax band tbc

TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount Review - Phandroid

Posted: 25 Apr 2015 12:26 PM PDT

Charging your phone, sometimes multiple times per day, has become a burden that we're all conditioned to do as a normal task. Sure, it's not that cumbersome, but you still need to find your charger, find the cable, and then attempt to plug it in correctly the first attempt – try getting it right the first time in the dark. Wireless charging tends to make life a bit easier in this regard, because it's simple and highly convenient. All you have to do is place your phone on the charging area and watch the juices begin to flow into your device. A company by the name of TYLT, one of the more popular and higher quality wireless charging manufacturers out there, has brought wireless charging to your vehicle via a car mount. This is the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount review.

Before we get into the actual review of this phone accessory, let's take a look at how I use my Android phone in the car. My current phone is the Nexus 6. With it's ample screen real estate, I sometimes have Google Maps running in the foreground with Google Play Music streaming via Bluetooth to my car's speakers in the background. If I don't need Maps, I'll still have Google Play Music streaming, with my screen set to never turn off, so that I can easily change songs with a simple finger swipe. Recently though, I've been using the AutoMate App, which keeps the screen on as well, shows directions, the current tune playing, my current speed and heading, etc. instead. My point is, my phone is always doing something while I'm safely paying attention to the road of course, and it's always sucking away previous battery life.

I've been using the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount for a long time. In fact, this review is way overdue by a couple of months. I've been using the mount in my car as a daily charging tool with my near hour long commute to and from work and I've used it on a few long road trips, such as a three hour drive to the Big Android Meat & Greet last month in Alexandria, Virginia.

Part of the reason for the delay in my review is because this is actually my second TYLT VU car mount. The first one I was sent was a pre-production unit. The sticky suction cup, which I'll talk about in a moment, gave me a few issues and the gripping arms on the side were peeling off. That's not the best experience as you can imagine. After letting TYLT know about my issues, they said that I had a pre-production unit, they had never heard of this issue, and would promptly send out a replacement. I'm happy to say that 1) TYLT reviewed the returned unit and did state that it was in fact faulty and 2) the production charger that was sent to me is of the utmost quality and works as intended. If you happen to run into these issues yourself, though they should already be fixed in the production run, but the TYLT VU dock comes with a one year warranty just in case.

Hardware
The TYLT VU Wireless Charging Mount is a little larger and heavier than my previous, non-charging mount, but it's also a TYLT product, so that means build quality is going to be higher than competitors. And that's true. This car mount screams quality from every angle. TYLT-VU-Charger-1

Starting from the bottom, most car docks include a small puck shaped disc and double-sided tape for your mount. This provides your dock with a smooth, flat surface to grip onto and attach to your car's dash. The VU Wireless Charging Car Mount did not include one of these to my surprise. Instead, the VU came with an ultra-sticky suction cup that is supposed to stick to various surfaces and textures with ease. The dash of my wife's Jeep is much smoother and flatter than my Suzuki's dash and the VU had absolutely no problems sticking to either surface for weeks at a time before moving between vehicles. If you happen to get some dust or dirt on the suction cup, a slightly moist cloth can do the trick to get it ready for use again. Also, TYLT states that you can use the suction cup on the windshield, I didn't test that setup in either of my vehicles. And it's also worth mentioning, the above pictured shot does include a disc from a previous mount, though in my testing, I did move the mount around various places before ultimately choosing a location where I already had a disc installed. I didn't want to rip the old disc off of my dash and potentially leave a mark. I guess that's another bonus feature of the TYLT VU, there's no sticky doubled-sided tape to ruin your dash!

The base unit is fairly straight forward. On the back you'll find a lever that allows the suction cup to clamp down on the surface of whatever you're trying to place the mount onto. To release the suction, you can easily press in on the button area provided on the lower back.

As I mentioned above, the TYLT VU is a bit large. At the top of the cone shaped base, you'll find a ball joint that pivots, allowing you to rotate your soon to be attached phone in various ways for your optimal viewing pleasure. The wireless charging pad then attaches onto the ball joint, which can be tightened with a plastic triangular nut. The VU charger won't allow vertical adjustment, which is a bit of a bummer, but does allow for a reasonable amount of horizontal adjustment. I had no problems finding the perfect angle, I just wish the phone or mount wasn't so tall or included an arm to position the wireless charging pad at an equal height or lower than the base itself.

Along the sides of the wireless charging pad you find two rubberized arms for gripping your phone. To clamp down on your device, simply squeeze the arms until your device is secured. I had the most success when I squeezed the arms towards the back.

To release your phone from the mount's grips, press the included button at the top of the wireless charging pad. The arms are spring loaded and will immediately release your phone. The first time I did this my Nexus 6 fell and bounced off of my car's center console. Lesson learned. Since then, every time I press the release button with one hand, I use a second hand to hold my phone, just in case.

At the bottom of the wireless charging pad you'll find a tiny charging port for plugging in the included vehicle adapter. One nice feature about TYLT's offering? Even though the mount is taking up your vehicle's charging port (cigarette lighter socket) the adapter includes a 5V 1.3A USB port so that you can charge another device if need be. Feel free to rub it in while you charge your significant other's device like a barbarian with a cable, while you get to live in the future with Qi charging.

The TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount comes with two adjustable bottom brackets that slide into the bottom of the wireless charging pad. These brackets can be adjusted to accommodate your phone. For example, I had to position the bottom bracket just right so that the side clamp wouldn't press the volume buttons on my Nexus 6. I'm not really sure why two brackets are included as one of them comes with a notch on the side which could be for USB cable management, which really isn't needed, at least in my situation. This might be different if you chose the windshield as a mounting option.

Wireless Charging
If you're not familiar with wireless charging, the simplest explanation is that wireless charging is extremely convenient, but definitely not fastest. You actually sacrifice charging speed for ease of use, the ability to just place your phone on a charging pad and forget about it. Wireless charging generally makes your phone very hot too, which, depending on what school you're from, may not be the best choice for your battery in the long run. When we add larger batteries and rapid charging capabilities like Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0, OPPO's VOOC charging, and Samsung's new quick charging technology to the mix, the argument in favor of slow Qi charging gets a little harder.

For example, I use Qi charging with my Nexus 6 every night. If I need a quick bump during the day, I won't opt for wireless charging, I'll grab my Motorola Rapid Charger every time. What I'm trying to say is that for long, uninterrupted charging sessions, wireless charging is great, but if you need more juice and don't have a whole lot of time, a quick charger is probably going to be the better choice. However, the convenience of a high quality wireless charger in the car is enough for me to really enjoy this charger.

As for device support, TYLT uses a 3-coil Qi technology in their VU Wireless Charging Car Mount allowing for a very long compatibility list, including 6-inch phones. My Nexus 6 fits perfectly, thanks to the large 3.6" wide grip clearance. To find out if your device is supported, you'll want to head on over to the official TYLT VU compatibility guide before purchasing.

The question remains, can the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount keep my Nexus 6 charged while streaming Google Play Music, using Google Maps, and with the screen set to always-on? The VU won't keep your device topped off at 100%, but it will definitely slow down the rate of battery drain. For example, I was able to drive for 3 and a half hours with everything mentioned in use and only lose 16% of battery. That's pretty good, I'd say. During my daily commutes to and from work, I usually only drop a couple percentage points whereas before I'd drop an easy 10%. A wireless charger definitely helps.

Conclusion
The bottom line is that your phone isn't going to charge as fast as it would with a USB cable and higher amp charger. That's not really the point of wireless charging though. It's about convenience. Before, I only charged my phone in the car if I knew my battery was low or I knew I wouldn't be able to get to a charger later in the day. Picking up a USB cable off of the floor is a major first world problem, but it's one that I opted to only do in dire situations. So, for the lazy and for the convenience seekers, the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount is a very tempting choice.

You can buy the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount from directly from TYLT or head on over to Amazon and pick one up today for $79.99 in gray, blue, red, or green. TYLT stands by their high quality products and you generally get what you pay for when it comes to these types of accessories. Other, cheaper options exist on the market right now, but I'd rather take my chances with a company with a proven track record.

If you have any specific questions, let us know in the comments.

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TAGS: Reviews , TYLT , TYLT VU Wireless Charging Mount

Grand Theft Auto V on PC review: Rockstar outdoes itself in world ...

Posted: 16 Apr 2015 04:18 AM PDT

Grand Theft Auto V's characters are colourfully written and acted, but they're frequently overshadowed by their surroundings. Photograph: Rockstar

After multiple delays, Grand Theft Auto V has finally been released on PC – and it was well worth the wait. Rockstar's open-world crime epic was released for last-gen consoles in 2013, and a remastered HD version was released on PS4 and Xbox One in 2014, making this, essentially, the third version of the game. Taking advantage of modern PC hardware, it brings yet more visual improvements, as well as a suite of new features exclusive to the PC version, including the remarkable Rockstar Editor.

It's a tale of three criminals: Michael, Franklin, and Trevor. Michael is a retired bank robber living a life of luxury with his family in witness protection, but who misses the excitement of his old life. Franklin is a streetwise repo man who wants a better life for himself. Trevor is an unhinged meth dealer with a seriously broken moral compass. They're three very different characters, brought together by a shared desire to break as many laws – and make as much money – as possible.

Michael is the most interesting of the three. Grand Theft Auto games typically chart the rise of a criminal, but in Michael we see the bleak hangover of that success. He has a palatial mansion, a luxury car, and all the comforts that wealth brings, but he's also deeply unhappy, spending his days reclining by the pool, drinking whisky, and listening to Phil Collins. But a chance encounter with Franklin, whose career has only just begun, triggers an extreme midlife crisis that sees him returning to a life of crime.

The characters are colourfully written and acted, but they're frequently overshadowed by their surroundings. The game's setting is the fictional state of San Andreas, an analogue of southern California that's several times bigger than GTA IV's Liberty City. To the south lies the city of Los Santos – a satirical reimagining of Los Angeles – and to the north you'll find Blaine County, a rural expanse of desert, mountain and forest. You can traverse this vast space in a broad selection of vehicles, from muscle cars, motorcycles and eighteen-wheelers to jet skis, fighter jets, and speedboats.

It's a wonderfully varied and stunningly beautiful landscape, and the attention to detail is dizzying. Rockstar's world-building is among the best in the business, and this is their greatest work. In the poor, rundown areas of Los Santos, gangs loiter on corners and the searchlights of roving police helicopters hunt suspects through alleyways.

In Vinewood – Rockstar's version of Hollywood – expensive sports cars glint in the sun, tourists pose for pictures, and aspiring actors yap into their phones about auditions. In the countryside you'll be passed by hikers, cyclists, and dog walkers. Extras in costumes wander around movie studio lots and biker gangs roam the desert highways. The sense of place these details evoke is lightyears ahead of other open-world games. This is a product of both Rockstar's keen eye for detail and their limitless budget.

And the fact you can share it with other players makes it all the more exciting. GTA Online is a game in itself, mixing GTA's sandbox chaos with elements of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). You can take part in elaborate, multi-mission bank heists with friends, or just crash around the open-world causing trouble. It's a thrilling online playground with a compelling level progression system and hundreds of missions, including bicycle races, death matches, destruction derbies, and skydiving competitions. There are some problems with lag, but no high-profile PC game is immune from this on launch week.

A wealth of PC graphics options brings San Andreas to life in the most vivid detail yet. There's adjustable tessellation, motion blur, high resolution shadows, and pretty much every setting you would expect from a modern PC game. It has native support for 4K resolutions, although you'll need a powerful GPU to take advantage of this. But it scales impressively, running at 60fps on high-end and medium-spec rigs.

After the disappointing PC version of GTA IV, this is a welcome relief. You'll have to sacrifice some of the finer details, like the gorgeous depth of field effects and ultra high-res textures, but it's entirely possible to play and enjoy GTA V without a super powerful PC. If you have the muscle to run it at max settings, the visual fidelity is astonishing. Driving through the city at night in a storm, neon signs reflecting in the puddles and on the rain-slicked hood of your car, it almost looks photorealistic.

But the real star of the PC version is the Rockstar Editor, an amazingly powerful tool that lets you record in-game footage, edit it, and upload it to YouTube. At any time during play you can start recording. But instead of recording video, it records an in-engine snapshot of your actions, letting you go in later and move the camera, add filters, and implement dozens of other tweaks and effects. Then, using an editing tool that's like a stripped-back version of software like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut, you can string the footage together, add music and text, and then put it online.

Accompanying the editor is Director Mode, which lets you change the weather and time of day in a scene to create a specific mood, as well as selecting virtual actors from a massive list of non-player characters. This gives you total control over your scenes and, combined with the editor, allows you to make virtually any kind of film you can think of. You could create a gritty gangster drama, a horror, a nature documentary, or a David Lynch-esque arthouse film. It transforms the game world into a giant film set, and creative players will be tinkering with it long after they've completed the game.

It's been a long time coming, but Grand Theft Auto V's PC debut is a triumph. It maintains a slick 60fps on even mid-range PCs, with only a few visual compromises. It offers a large number of adjustable options to tailor the game to the strengths, or weaknesses, of your setup. The Rockstar Editor is endlessly entertaining. The online heists are, with friends, some of the most fun you can have in a multiplayer game. The single-player story is an exhilarating series of increasingly absurd missions. And it all takes place in one of the richest, densest, most atmospheric game worlds ever built.

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Sunday, 26 April 2015