By Dave Oliver
15 November 2012
The Lumia 920 is the first Nokia phone to run on the
new Windows Phone 8 operating system -- and it just
happens to be the Finns' latest hero handset, with a standout
screen, dual-core processor, eight-megapixel camera and a feast of
Nokia extras.
It's on sale now for around £495.
Full review
Price: £495
By Nate Lanxon
14 November 2012
To me, the full-size iPad is the best tablet
computer on the market for the vast majority of people; it's
in every regard the tablet that has consistently drawn me back
after testing the competition. Except that for the last few weeks
it has stayed at home, out of charge, gathering dust like a relic
of a bygone technological era.
It's a redundancy that caught me by surprise. It's also a result
of cannibalisation, because the culprit for this redundancy is the
iPad Mini, which I have been using daily for the last few
weeks.
It's on sale now for £269, and has -- in all seriousness -- made
me question the future of the ten-inch tablet form factor entirely;
it's perhaps the most enticing tablet on the market and the future
of the iPad.
I'm going to explain why. Full review
Price: £269
By Dave Oliver
12 November 2012
It seems like a long time since demand for the iPod was
overtaken by the iPhone, but there's still a place for
what is largely the same device, sans phone and high
price.
Not that it's especially cheap -- with no low-memory versions
available you'll need to shell out £249 for the 32GB model or
£329 for the big ol' 64GB.
Full review
Price: £249 (32GB), £329 (64GB)
By Dave Oliver
12 November 2012
Windows 8 is with us at last and so, not coincidentally, is
Windows Phone 8. The HTC Windows Phone 8X is the first handset
we've seen with the upgrade and it's looking very good indeed, with
a dual-core processor, vibrant screen, eigh-megapixel camera and,
who'd've thought, a few new Windows goodies.
It's on sale now for around £400.
Full review
Price: £400
By Dave Oliver
05 November 2012
We've had not one, but two tablets from Samsung in recent times.
The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet looks and behaves very similarly to
the Galaxy Note 10.1 (not to be confused with
the Galaxy Note 2 -- that's a 5.5-inch handset, dummy),
but it drops the price and the spec to deliver a more affordable
Android tablet.
It's on sale now for around £300.
Full review
Price: £300
By Mathew Honan
05 November 2012
Nobody asked me about my Surface. I tried flashing it all over
the place. But despite my best efforts, no one seemed curious.
At Victrola Coffee Roasters in Seattle, I sat in the front
window, with a hot pink Touch Cover attached, intentionally
conspicuous. Nobody mentioned it. At the airport, I broke it out at
the large open-air counter of a crowded bar. I sat in a seat at the
gate, facing the walkway, pounding away at its keys on my lap. On a
Virgin America flight, crowded with techies, I sat up front and
kept it on my tray table the entire time, swiping from app to app.
On San Francisco's Muni transit system, I tentatively typed in my
seat, afraid it may be snatched on the crowded train. But no one
said a word. Full review
Price: £399
By Dave Oliver
05 November 2012
Stepping into the slightly worn shoes of the original HTC
Desire comes the Desire X, with a flurry of improvements for
not much in the way of extra cost.
It's on sale now for around £230.
Rather like the iPhone, recent HTCs have all had a very similar
look to them, and at first glance the Desire X looks little
different to HTC's current hero handset, the One X, or indeed
the lower specced One V. Look a little closer though, and
there have been a few changes. Size-wise, it's between the two,
with a 4-inch screen compared to the One X's 4.7-inch and the One
V's 3.7-inch.
Full review
Price: £230
By Dave Oliver
05 November 2012
They're calling it the James Bond phone, but rather like the
excruciatingly obvious product placement of the James Bond Rolex
in Casino Royale, Bond seems to get what he pays
for.
In this case, 007's £400 gets him a dual-core processor, a
4.6-inch screen and a 13-megapixel camera -- handy for recording
SMERSH secrets or recording those Q tech briefings he can never be
bothered to pay attention to.
The camera, updated OS and slightly bigger screen put it a
smidgeon above Sony's last hero handset, the Xperia
S, in tech terms, but in truth, not by much.
Full review
Price: £400
By Dave Oliver
23 October 2012
The Motorola RAZR i is another in the small but growing band of
smartphones including the Orange San Diego which are powered by an
Intel chip. It also packs in an impressive looking screen and a
powerful battery.
It's on sale now for around £330. Full review
Price: £330
By Dave Oliver
18 October 2012
Top of Tosh's tablet tree, the AT300 is
an iPad alternative that delivers a spectacularly fast
quad-core processor, quality screen and much more besides -- if
you're prepared to pay the price.
It's on sale for around £330. Full review
Price: £330
By Dave Oliver
18 October 2012
Chinese manufacturer ZTE was once the secret squirrel
behind many network-branded phones (Orange's San Francisco,
T-Mobile's Affinity -- that's them) but is now moving into the
spotlight in its own right, hoping to emulate the success of
Taiwan's HTC.
Following a range of cheapish Android handsets,
the Grand X is a step up the quality ladder, with a
dual-core processor, five-megapixel camera and Android Ice Cream
Sandwich straight out of the box.
Full review
Price: £200
By Dave Oliver
16 October 2012
We're used to a sharp intake of breath when one of the big
manufacturers announces the price of its latest hero handset -- and
that's if the price is north of £500.
But TAG Heuer seems to be trying to give us all a collective
attack of the vapours with its latest branded handset -- the Night
Racer is £3,250 to you, squire.
For that you get a very nice box, charger, headphones, data
cable, and of course, a TAG Heuer-branded phone. It's actually one
of a pair, the other being the Sport Classic (a comparative bargain
at just £2,650), which is much the same phone, but with a different
casing and finish.
Full review
Price: £3,250
By Dave Oliver
15 October 2012
Samsung's original Galaxy Note looked like it couldn't make up
its mind whether it wanted to be a phone or a tablet. The latest
version offers big improvements to screen, processor, camera,
battery and operating system, and show's that your pocket pal
doesn't have to be one or the other.
It's on sale now for free with a £47 monthly contract from
Vodafone, or around £480 SIM free. Full review
Price: £480
By Dave Oliver
11 October 2012
Smartphones often like to focus on a single "killer feature".
Some claim to have screens as good as cinemas, others are the
perfect iPod music player alternative. The Samsung Galaxy Beam,
however, is really a movie projector.
It's on sale now for around £390.
Full review
Price: £390
By Benny Har-Even
05 October 2012
If there was one thing the Olympics has taught the
world, it's that when the British commit to doing something, they
do it properly. In the world of hi-fi, no one embodies that more
than Naim.
The latest product to emerge from the brand with
arguably the highest standards in the world is the Uniti 2. The
sequel to 2009's Uniti, it's designed to offer a no-compromise
audio experience in a single box.
Full review
Price: £2795