A good Ultrabook, a great screen: the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A review

It's tough to begin a review of any Ultrabook without first mentioning the MacBook Air, not least because the Ultrabook spec as originally envisioned by Intel is basically a description of Apple's most portable laptop. The very first Ultrabooks were typically dead ringers for the Air, but in the months since then the Ultrabook tent has widened to the point that the term has become all-but-useless as a descriptor for anything. With the possible exception of Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon—which marries the Ultrabook spec to some of the ThinkPad's own longstanding design signatures—few Ultrabooks have been able to offer a better combination of looks, specs, size, and cost, usually opting to favor one or two of those characteristics to the detriment of the others.

The Asus Zenbook Prime is different. It shares much in common with the MacBook Air—a backlit chiclet keyboard, a large buttonless touchpad, and an all-metal enclosure that sheds the Ethernet port and full-size video outputs in favor of keeping things thin. Where the Prime differs from the Air is in its display, a 1080p IPS affair with great color and fantastic viewing angles that puts the Air's already decent LCD panel to shame. Can this display panel help the Zenbook Prime out-MacBook Air the MacBook Air?

Design and build quality

In its design, the UX31A is broadly similar to the original Zenbook that we reviewed last year: aluminum lid, top case, and bottom case with a plastic bezel. The keys on the older Zenbook were metal in a plastic keyboard tray, but the Zenbook Prime swaps those for plastic keys in a metal tray. The hinge, which is stiff enough to keep the screen from wobbling while in use, is also pliable enough to be lifted without bringing the bottom of the laptop with it.

 The UX31A, second from the top of the stack, compared to the MacBook Air (top of the stack), the Acer Aspire Timeline      Ultra M5 gaming Ultrabook (second from bottom), and my chunky old Dell Latitude E6410 (bottom).

The UX31A's webcam gets the job done for Skyping, but that's about all you'd want to do with it.

The computer's underside is relatively unadorned, sporting only a few Torx screws, rubber feet, and two small speakers. These were generally loud enough to be audible, but their sound is unsurprisingly tinny and their bass is nonexistent. Thankfully, the computer's fan also doesn't get very loud—the Zenbook is pretty quiet at idle, and even when the fan ramps up it's mostly inaudible unless you're in a quiet room. The laptop also stays cool under pressure—it's perfectly comfortable to have this laptop actually sitting on your lap, even if you're playing a game or performing other processor-intensive tasks.

The 1920x1080 matte IPS display is undoubtedly the Prime's strongest point, and it's an oasis in a desert of 1366x768 garbage dumped on the market by every PC maker in existence—other Zenbook Prime models with 1366x768 and 1600x900 panels exist, but if you stick to the UX31A series (and not the UX31E or UX32VD) you can safely avoid both the inferior display and, in the UX32VD's case, the mechanical hard drive.

I have good vision, but even I was straining my eyes a bit to read text at native resolution and scaling. Turning Windows' scaling up to 125 percent or 150 percent should alleviate the issue for most people, and that small bump doesn't introduce quite as many problems as does something like 200% scaling. Scaling or no, it can't be denied that the screen here is head and shoulders above the type of panels usually found in Ultrabooks, and it even beats out the MacBook Air in resolution and viewing angles.

 The UX31A's screen viewed from above. It does a great job of retaining its color, and the image is still clear, good news for anyone sitting behind a reclining passenger on an airplane.

Viewed from the side, the UX31A's screen fades a little, but still remains pretty accurate and easy to read.

While I wish I had nothing but unchecked, gushing praise for the Prime's screen, there was one small issue: our review unit had noticeably uneven lighting around the edge of the panel, especially at the bottom. This is really only noticeable when the panel is black or dark, but it's significant enough (and the screen is otherwise excellent enough) that it bears mentioning.

The Zenbook Prime's array of ports is neither particularly impressive nor unimpressive: two USB 3.0 ports, one on either side of the laptop, are joined by a headphone jack and a card reader on the left side of the notebook and a mini VGA and micro HDMI port on the right side. The Zenbook also includes a 100 megabit USB Ethernet adapter, a mini VGA to VGA adapter, and a small brown pouch for the accessories that matches the larger brown bag that carries the laptop itself. The power adapter is a small black square with a swappable plug—the Windows Certificate of Authenticity sticker is also stuck to the adapter so, you know, don't lose it or anything.

On the left side, a USB 3.0 port, headphone jack, and card reader.

The UX31A's hinge is strong enough the keep the screen from wobbling, but not so stiff that it lifts the bottom of the laptop up with it.

On the right side, a power indicator light, the power adapter jack, another USB 3.0 port, the micro HDMI port, and the mini VGA port. Prepare to dongle.

Keyboard and trackpad

Our biggest complaint about the original Zenbook was its trackpad, which we called (among other things) "appalling", "ham-handed", and "less predictable than a teenager." Thankfully, whether through new hardware, new software, or both, the Elantech touchpad on the UX31A is much more predictable with the latest drivers installed.

 The UX31A's trackpad is reformed and ready to re-enter society.

The trackpad is one large, smooth square of plastic with a small line at the bottom where a standard trackpad's buttons would be to show users where they can right and left click. Clicking (or tapping) with one finger anywhere else on the surface of the trackpad will left click, and clicking (or tapping) with two fingers will right-click; other gestures like pinch-to-zoom and inertial two-finger scrolling are also enabled and work without any major hitches. While two-finger scrolling, I found that some very small movements that would initiate scrolling on an Apple trackpad would instead right-click on the Zenbook's trackpad—if you're used to an Apple trackpad, you'll just need to learn to make larger movements for scrolling.

Internal specs

There's not much to say about what's on the inside of the UX31A, since it's broadly similar to just about every Ivy Bridge Ultrabook out there: a dual-core processor (a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U in our review unit, a 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U in the base unit) and Intel's HD 4000 integrated graphics processor drive most of the action—they're very zippy for most productivity tasks, and while the HD 4000 won't be able to play modern games very well at the panel's 1920x1080 resolution, Ivy Bridge's graphics are good enough that you should be able to play most things at lower settings or resolutions.

A 256GB SATA 3.0 solid-state drive from ADATA (a 128GB drive is available in the entry-level version) keeps boot times low and minimizes the time it takes to load applications—it takes about 17 seconds to cold boot Windows 7, and just five or six seconds to boot Windows 8. Dual-band wireless and Bluetooth come courtesy of Intel's Centrino 6235 adapter. Asus doesn't give an absolute battery life number, only saying that the ZenBook Prime gets "25 percent more battery life than other Ultrabooks," but in light-to-moderate usage (Web browsing and word processing, mostly) with the screen at half brightness and the wireless on we got a little over six hours out of the UX31A's battery,roughly comparable to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon and fairly typical for 13-inch Ultrabooks.

Benchmarks

For our tests, we compared the UX31A to Acer's Aspire Timeline Ultra M5-481TG gaming Ultrabook, which we also have in the orbiting HQ for review. The Acer laptop, one of the recommendations fromour back-to-school laptop guide, features a slower 1.7GHz Core i5-3317U processor than our Zenbook review unit, but also includes a dedicated graphics card in the form of NVIDIA's GeForce GT 640M LE. For the GPU benchmarks, we measured the M5's results using both the dedicated card and the integrated card—the switchable graphics on that laptop can be disabled in favor of the same Intel HD 4000 integrated GPU in the Zenbook Prime.

The Core i7's extra speed and cache give it a slight leg-up in all of the CPU benchmarks, though obviously this lead would evaporate if we were using the Core i5-toting base model. The (very) slightly faster version of the HD 4000 in the Zenbook also edged out the version in the Acer laptop, but a comparison to that laptop's midrange GPU shows the kind of boost that you can still get from a decent dedicated graphics chip.

Repairs and upgrades

iFixit gave the UX32VD version of the Zenbook high marks earlier this month when it they tore the machine down—iFixit found a removable battery, one usable RAM slot, and an upgradeable standard hard drive. The UX31A Zenbook makes fewer such concessions to repairability.

Removing the ten Torx screws from the bottom of the case is easy enough, and the laptop's battery (which is held in by three Philips head screws) and half-height mini-PCI Express wireless card are both easy enough to remove and replace, but like the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro, the UX31A's RAM is soldered to its motherboard, and its solid-state drive is a very Apple-like drive which is shaped like a pack of gum—it's the long silver rectangle in the photo above.

The Zenbook Prime is generally specced well enough that this lack of upgradability isn't a huge problem, but Asus offers no version of the laptop with more than 4GB of RAM. This is going to be fine in many cases, at least for now, but people with more demanding, RAM-hungry workloads may need to wait for a version that packs more gigabytes in the memory department.

Bundled software and Windows 8 experience

Most of Asus' bundled software can safely be ignored—the most notable programs are a couple of desktop widgets, one of which estimates the amount of standby time remaining (which also lets you choose whether the computer sleeps or hibernates with its lid closed) and another that switches between "high performance" and "power saving" power presets; a LiveUpdate program that keeps the system's drivers and bundled utilities up-to-date; a utility called SecureDelete that promises to delete files securely; and a feature called FaceLogon that adds facial recognition technology to the login screen. My experience with FaceLogon was a bit mixed—I wasn't able to get it to respond to any still pictures of my ugly mug, which is good, but it did have some trouble detecting my face when the lighting conditions and angles were different from those in the initial picture I took to set the feature up.

The other usual suspects are all here. Dangerously outdated versions of Flash and Adobe Reader, an old version of Google Chrome, a copy of Office 2010 Starter Edition that can be unlocked to the full version of Office with a product key, and Windows Live Essentials 2011 round out the package.

As for the Zenbook Prime's performance with the forthcoming Windows 8, as a modern Ivy Bridge laptop with an SSD, it has absolutely no problem running the operating system smoothly, and Windows 8's bright colors look great on its screen. Windows 8's improved startup times enable the UX31A to cold boot in just five or six seconds, which is also very impressive. Driver support for all of the system's major components—graphics, chipset, audio, networking, and the rest—is all present and accounted for. The Prime also features UEFI support—the version of Windows 7 that ships on it already boots using UEFI—which opens the door to supporting the Secure Boot feature if Asus sees fit to issue a BIOS update that enables it.

The laptop does lack touchscreen capabilities, which may hurt it in the event that touch-optimized Metro apps become the norm over Windows 8's life cycle, and its multitouch trackpad doesn't yet have the driver support it needs to support some of the trackpad gestures baked into the RTM version of the operating system. With appropriate driver support, users should be able to invoke the Charms menu, switch between running applications, and others, but even the Windows 8 trackpad driver from Asus' support site (which does, admittedly, pre-date the RTM version of Windows 8) doesn't yet support the gestures.

Conclusions

The Zenbook Prime is an attractive, well-built Ultrabook with a really great screen and pretty good "everything else." The sheer number of terrible 1366x768 displays on the market makes the screen difficult to overemphasize—in a world where a $200 tablet can sport better color and viewing angles than a $1000 laptop, screens like the UX31A's are a breath of fresh air, minor imperfections and all. Everything else about the UX31A meets the standards set by the MacBook Air (except, sadly, the 4GB RAM ceiling), but the screen is one of the all-too-rare instances where one of the PC OEMs beat Apple at its own game.

The good

• 1920x1080 matte IPS display with excellent color and viewing angles
• Solid construction
• Great keyboard with a trackpad that has largely made up for the previous Zenbook's sins
• Good performance thanks to Ivy Bridge and the included SATA 3.0 SSD

The bad

• Speaker isn't very loud and sounds pretty tinny
• Bloatware, of course
• Our review unit had some issues with uneven lighting around the edge of the screen

The ugly

• Capped at 4GB of RAM, which is OK for now but may be a limiting factor in the future

How much will a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro cost?

When it comes to the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, it’s not a matter of if it will be released, as much as when it will be released.

Apple is heavily expected to announce and likely release a 13-inch version of its high-power laptop with ultra-sharp display, complementing the current 15-inch version. The folks at Apple Bitch have done some calculations to give us an idea on how much this laptop will cost.

The price of the new 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro will lie somewhere between $1199 and $1299 for the base model (likely the higher price point),” according to the report. “The higher end of that estimation stems from the fact that there is a $300 supplement for the 15 inch Retina Display model over the standard 15 inch model and if the same were applied to the non-Retina Display 13 inch MacBook Pro ($999 base) then $1299 is the high figure. That said, the 15 inch non-Retina MacBook Pro is 50% higher in cost compared to the 13 inch non-Retina version, so if that were applied to the price of the 15 inch model, then the figure ends up being around $1199.”

The Retina MacBook Pro has been advertised as the “greatest computer” Apple has ever created.

Recently, more performance benchmarks have been popping up called “MacBook Pro10,2” which suggests a 13-inch Retina model is on the way. The blog Geekbench reports the scores on performance of laptops.

In the past, Geekbench reports have revealed upcoming Mac models, but their specifications haven’t always been accurate.

The resolution of a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display would be 2560×1600. It would also likely utilize the solid-state flash hard drives.

The 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro can currently be priced as high as $2,700.

FTC : Facebook scammed app developers

he Federal Trade Commission has accused Facebook of ripping off app developers with a bogus verification scheme. It says the company may have made almost a hundred thousand dollars without actually doing any work.

The alleged trickery came with a program by which Facebook charged developers $375 (reduced to $175 for non-profit groups) to check that an app was “secure, respectful and transparent” and generally something that users could trust.

Those apps which passed the review process were allowed to display a green tick logo and were given priority treatment in both search results and directory listings.

The FTC says all was not as it seemed however: “Facebook took no steps to verify either the security of a verified application’s website or the security the application provided for the user information it collected, beyond such steps as it may have taken regarding any other Platform Application.”

According to the FTC, that means that not only was Facebook ripping off app developers, but misled users about the supposed security of the applications.

The details of the alleged scam emerged in the final settlement documents covering a range of Facebook violations including previously reported details that it misled customers about the way privacy settings worked on the site.

Facebook has now formally agreed the settlement. As a result it will now have to make several changes to its policies, including not changing the privacy levels on user data without getting express permission. The site will undergo independent audits of its privacy policies over the next 20 years.

The way FTC settlements work mean that Facebook is making no legal admission of any wrongdoing. If any of the app developers affected by the alleged scam took civil action, they could not use the settlement as evidence of Facebook’s wrongdoing.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 makes its debut but is it worth it

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has finally appeared six months after its initial preview at Mobile World Congress (MWC).  The tablet comes complete with an included stylus and the ability to give you a split screen view.  You can watch a video on one half while taking notes on the other.  Both provide some novelty and value but is it enough to justify the $499 price tag?

According to Engadget’s review of the new device, it certainly isn’t worth the virtually $500 price tag for the 16GB version.  Yes, the Galaxy Note 10.1 has some nifty features but it also has some serious deficiencies.  Those deficiencies are enough that the price is too high.

The tablet starts out with some rather nifty specs.  It is the only tablet out at this price point with 2GB of RAM.  It has a very fast proprietary quad core Exynos 4 processor running at 1.4 GHz. The devices multitasking capability is so far unsurpassed and its split screen ability is fantastic.  The included S-Pen is a nice touch and the tablet includes several programs that make very good use of it.

In spite of these outstanding features, Samsung severely hamstrung the device with a several inferior specs.  The camera is a middling 5 megapixel rear camera that takes poor pictures. The 1280 X 800 screen resolution is not enough to compete with the same priced iPad’s retina display or the new Asus Transformer Pad TF700’s 1920 x 1200 resolution. It comes with Ice Cream Sandwich and not the latest Android OS version of Jelly Bean. To finish it off, the Galaxy Note 10.1 has a cheap plastic build with creaks and squeaks.

Meanwhile Android Authority reports that you can get the Asus Transformer Pad TF700 with its Tegra 3 quad core processor, 32 GB of memory, superior screen resolution and build quality for $499. Techradar’s review of the top of the line Asus tablet talks about its excellent build quality, aluminum back, gorilla glass, 8 megapixel camera, excellent display and overall great feature set.  Well except for the speaker which is on the back. 

For the money, at least at this moment, it looks as if ASUS has the better 10.1 inch tablet at the $499 price point.  As always, visit your local gadget store and try them both out.  Like with all devices, some of it comes down to personal preference. 

Apple “most-valuable public company,” kinda

pple has, by one measure at least, become the most-valuable publicly-traded company of all time. If you completely ignore inflation, that is. Which you cannot.

Many sites around the InterWebs are today reporting that Apple has broken the record to become the most-valuable public company that has ever existed. The claim is led by MacRumors, which states that with 937,406,000 outstanding shares at the time of its last quarterly filing, and with the share price hitting $660.73 today, Apple has a market capitalization figure of $619.17 billion.

This beats the previous record, held by Apple’s arch-rival Microsoft since 1999. At that time Microsoft had 5,160,024,593 outstanding shares when its share price hit $119.94. That resulted in a market capitalization of $618.89 billion. Et voila, Apple is now the new record holder and most-valuable company trading publicly.

Unfortunately someone forgot to add inflation into the mix, and doing so changes everything. Adjusting for inflation means Microsoft’s record from 1999 would be the equivalent of $842.5 billion in today’s money. So Apple is still more than $200 billion away from wresting the title away from Steve Ballmer and co.

This does throw up a number of different points of interest however. Firstly, I don’t remember anyone waxing lyrical about Microsoft and its potential to keep on growing in 1999 the way some people are doing about Apple now. If anything Microsoft’s fall from grace, which has seen the company lose three quarters of its market cap, should act as a warning against Apple and its supporters becoming arrogant.

Perhaps it’s more to do with the turnaround in Apple’s fortunes that has occurred more than anything. After all, it has gone from near-bankruptcy to where it is today under the guidance of the dear-departed Steve Jobs. And with a loan from Bill Gates to help set the ball rolling.

Lastly, it should be noted that there are several privately-traded companies much richer than Apple. That still doesn’t take anything away from this achievement, it’s just not quite as big an achievement as some headlines would have you believe.

Microsoft Unviels New Logo, Its First In 25 years

Microsoft has unveiled its new corporate logo, the first change made in 25 years. Most people will obviously hate it simply because it’s Microsoft, but as an exercise in branding it actually makes a lot of sense.

Microsoft has had the same corporate logo – nothing more than a stylized version of its name – since 1987. There were three logos in the 12 years leading up to that but none stuck around as long as the one most of us have grown up knowing. The next generation of computer users and tech lovers will know Microsoft in a different way thanks to the unveiling of its new branding.

The name is now presented clearly and simply in the Segoe font Microsoft owns and has used many times before. The F and the T of Microsoft are joined together just as in the last logo, but nothing else has survived the shift.

Added for the first time ever is a symbol sitting alongside the name, and it’s recognizable as the multi-colored pane that has been a part of the Windows logo through various iterations.

This also makes sense of the Windows 8 logo which many people hated upon its unveiling. Out went the four different colors, with the pale blue used on its own instead. That was clearly part of the branding process, as now Windows 8 is shown to be just one part of the Microsoft whole, alongside primarily Office and Xbox.

The bottom line is that Microsoft needs to start evolving if it’s going to not just survive but prosper in the future. Whether we have actually entered a post-PC era or not, Microsoft risks being left behind as the wants and needs of consumers change. It is taking the necessary steps in terms of products, even though some – Windows 8, anyone? – may turn out to be missteps.

This new corporate branding reflects a push into the future without abandoning or dismissing the past.

The Avengers

Marvel's The Avengers (classified under the name Marvel Avengers Assemble in the UK and Ireland) is a 2012 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is scripted and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast that includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson,Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgård and Samuel L. Jackson. In The Avengers, Nick Fury, director of the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D., recruits Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and Thor to form a team that must stop Thor's adoptive brother Loki from subjugating Earth.
Development of The Avengers began when Marvel Studios received a loan from Merrill Lynch in April 2005. After the success of the film Iron Man in May 2008, Marvel announced that The Avengers would be released in July 2011. With the signing of Johansson in March 2009, the film was pushed back for a 2012 release. Whedon was brought on board in April 2010 and rewrote the screenplay originally written by Zak Penn. Production began in April 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, in August and New York City in September. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.

The Avengers premiered on April 11, 2012, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California. The film received positive reviews from most film critics and set or tied numerous box office records, including the biggest opening weekend in North America and the fastest film to gross $1 billion worldwide. With a worldwide total gross of over $1.48 billion, The Avengers ranks as the third highest-grossing film of all time. The film is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on September 25, 2012. A sequel to be written and directed by Whedon is scheduled for release on May 1, 2015.

Plot

The Asgardian Loki encounters the Other, the leader of an extraterrestrial race known as the Chitauri. In exchange for retrieving the Tesseract, a powerful energy source of unknown potential, the Other promises Loki a Chitauri army with which he can subjugate the Earth. Nick Fury, director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and his lieutenant Agent Maria Hill arrive at a remote research facility during an evacuation, where physicist Dr. Erik Selvig is leading a research team experimenting on the Tesseract. Agent Phil Coulson explains that the object has begun radiating an unusual form of energy. The Tesseract suddenly activates and opens a portal, allowing Loki to reach Earth. Loki takes the Tesseract and uses his scepter to enslave Selvig and several agents, including Clint Barton, to aid him in his getaway.

In response to the attack, Fury reactivates the "Avengers Initiative". Agent Natasha Romanoff is sent to Calcutta, India to recruit Dr. Bruce Banner; Coulson visits Tony Stark to have him review Selvig's research; Fury approaches Steve Rogers with an assignment to retrieve the Tesseract. While Barton steals iridium needed to stabilize the Tesseract's power, Loki causes a distraction in Stuttgart, Germany, leading to a confrontation with Rogers, Stark, and Romanoff that ends with Loki's surrender. While Loki is being escorted to S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor, his adoptive brother, arrives and frees him hoping to convince him to abandon his plan and return to Asgard. After a confrontation with Stark and Rogers, Thor agrees to take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier. There Loki is imprisoned while scientists Banner and Stark attempt to locate the Tesseract.

The Avengers become divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons as a deterrent against hostile extra-terrestrials. As the group argues, Barton and Loki's other possessed agents attack the Helicarrier, disabling its engines in flight and causing Banner to transform into the Hulk. Stark and Rogers try to restart the damaged engines, and Thor attempts to stop the Hulk's rampage. Romanoff fights Barton, and knocks him unconscious, breaking Loki's mind control. Loki escapes after killing Coulson and ejecting Thor from the airship, while the Hulk falls to the ground after attacking a S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter jet. Fury uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers into working as a team. Stark and Rogers realize that simply defeating them will not be enough for Loki; he needs to overpower them publicly to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Loki uses the Tesseract, in conjunction with a device Selvig built, to open a portal above Stark Tower to the Chitauri fleet in space, launching his invasion.

The Avengers rally in defense of New York City (the location of the portal), but quickly realize they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth. Rogers, Stark, and Thor evacuate civilians with assistance from Barton, while Banner transforms back into the Hulk and goes after Loki, eventually beating him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to the portal, where Selvig, freed of Loki's control, reveals that Loki's sceptre can be used to close the portal. Meanwhile, Fury's superiors attempt to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile and takes it through the portal toward the Chitauri fleet. The missile detonates, destroying the invaders' lead ship which disables their forces on Earth. Stark's suit runs out of power and he falls back through the portal, but the Hulk saves him from crashing to the ground. Romanoff deactivates the portal to prevent further invasion. In the aftermath, Thor returns Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard. Fury notes that the Avengers will return when they are needed.

In the first of two post-credits scenes, the Other confers with his master about the attack on Earth and humanity's resistance; in the second, the Avengers eat in silence at ashawarma restaurant.

Cast

Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man:

A self-described genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist with a mechanical suit of armor of his own invention.

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America:

A World War II veteran who was enhanced to the peak of human physicality by an experimental serum.

Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner / Hulk:

A genius scientist who, because of exposure to gamma radiation, transforms into a monster when enraged or excited.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor:

The crown prince of Asgard, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name.

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow:

A highly trained spy working for S.H.I.E.L.D. About the character and her relationship with Hawkeye, Johansson said, "Our characters have a long history.

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye:

An agent with S.H.I.E.L.D. and a master archer known in the comics as the "World's Greatest Marksman."

Tom Hiddleston as Loki:

Thor's adoptive brother and nemesis, based on the deity of the same name.

Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson:

An agent with S.H.I.E.L.D. who oversees many of the division's field operations.

Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill:

An agent with S.H.I.E.L.D. who works closely with Jackson's Nick Fury.

Stellan Skarsgård as Dr. Erik Selvig:

An astrophysicist and a friend of Thor under Loki's control, who is studying the Tesseract's power.

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury:

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who was revealed in previous films to be coordinating the "Avengers Initiative".

Trailer