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- Catch up: this week's most popular posts
- Review: Palm Pre 2
- Exclusive: T-Mobile sorry for Galaxy S Android 2.2 delay
- Exclusive: T-Mobile sorry for Galaxy S Android 2.2 delay
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- Updated: Android 2.3 rumours: what you need to know
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- Updated: 30 best free iPhone games on the planet
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- BT to trial 1Gbps broadband in 2011
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| Catch up: this week's most popular posts Posted: 04 Dec 2010 12:00 AM PST  This week, Virgin Media revealed its new Tivo interface, news slipped out that the January Windows Phone 7 update is going to be a big one, and pricing for the BlackBerry PlayBook looks to be set to start at £250. Speaking of the Virgin Media Tivo box, we got hands on with the device, and we also tested the 3D capabilities of Gran Turismo 5. And if you're looking to buy a gift for a PS3 owner, then check out our best gifts for PS3 owners buying guide. Read on for this week's most popular stories on TechRadar… Top five news stories First pictures: Virgin Media's new TiVo user interface The first screen shots of Virgin Media's brand new 'powered by TiVo' interface have surfaced, with the long-awaited overhaul to the cable giant's UI bringing massive changes. The decision to partner up with US PVR maker TiVo was huge news for customers of Virgin Media, with its current user interface showing its age. The revamp is based heavily on the latest TiVo interface, boosted hugely by a more graphical look and built around finding content from any source more readily. First look at Virgin Media powered by TiVo Virgin Media's new set top box and the brand new TiVo-powered user interface have been officially unveiled, and TechRadar has all the pictures. January's Windows Phone 7 update to be 'massive' Microsoft's first update to Windows Phone 7 looks likely to be 'massive', with a number of new features omitted from the launch devices. This means copy and paste, multitasking support, turn-by-turn directions in Bing Maps and even custom ringtones. Pirate Bay founders lose court battle The co-founders of Pirate Bay have lost their appeal to have sentences against them quashed. Fredrik Nej, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstrom found out this week that they are still to be charged for running a site that advocates illegal file-sharing. BlackBerry PlayBook pricing revealed Pricing for the forthcoming BlackBerry PlayBook looks like it has been revealed - and it could be cheaper than the iPad. Mobility Insider, which was one of the first sites to get a hands on with BlackBerry's new tablet sidekick, is claiming that the prices for the new device will range from $399 (£250) to $599 (£380), depending on storage size. Top five in-depth articles iPhone 5 rumours: what you need to know iPhone 5 (or the iPhone 5G, as some are calling it) rumours are flying thick and fast already. Will there be a rush release to erase memories of the iPhone 4's antenna problems? Will the 5th generation iPhone deliver ultra-fast mobile internet? Will it ever end up on Verizon in the US? Nothing pleases gamers more than being given something to help them get more from their plastic pride and joy. To help out with what to pick, we've rounded up 12 of the best PS3 gifts that are guarantee to be warmly received. 3D console gaming test: Gran Turismo 5 3D A couple of weeks ago we checked out Call Of Duty: Black Ops in 3D, to see how the biggest game of all time furthered the nascent cause of domestic 3D playback. And we came away feeling less than impressed. On paper, though, new PS3 racing blockbuster Gran Turismo 5 has a much better chance of delivering the 3D goods. For instance, unlike Black Ops, GT5 has been developed right from the start for just one console, meaning it has a greater chance of eking out every last drop of performance potential from its native PS3 home. Hands on: Virgin Media TiVo box review TechRadar has had some time with the hottest new set-top box in the UK, with the Virgin Media TV powered by Tivo just weeks away from launch. 10 mistakes every programmer makes When you start programming, you get disillusioned quickly. No longer is the computer the allinfallible perfect machine – "do as I mean, not as I say" becomes a frequent cry. At night, when the blasted hobgoblins finally go to bed, you lie there and ruminate on the errors you made that day, and they're worse than any horror movie. Top five reviews Microsoft's motion controller may disappoint the hardcore, but it's perfect for casual gamers and it's certainly one impressive bit of kit. This Android 2.2 tablet is a decent effort at a very attractive price. But anyone looking for a fully fledged Android tablet should look elsewhere or risk disappointment. Sporting Moto's love-it-or-hate-it MotoBlur social networking system as seen first on the Dext, the Defy adds an extra we've not seen with Android before: ruggedness. The MinoHD is a decent little camcorder, but it comes at a price. It's too expensive in our book, and just isn't worth the extra cash over its big sister. This elegant edge LED-lit UE40C8000 is Samsung's skinniest TV ever. But its 24mm profile is just one of its many attributes, with 3D capability, DLNA networking, USB recording and internet TV among the auxiliary features that complement those jaw-dropping looks. Also reviewed this week Asus Eee PC Seashell 1015PE review Dell Inspiron Mini 1018 review PC Nextday ZooStorm 3389-9209/B review Acer Aspire 5745DG-374G32Mnks review 
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| Posted: 03 Dec 2010 12:00 PM PST  The Palm Pre 2's history starts, unsurprisingly, with the original Palm Pre. When it launched, many had high hopes for it to be the device that rivalled the iPhone for slickness and ease of use. Unfortunately, sales never really bore this out, but the webOS-powered phone received an iterative update in the Palm Pre Plus. Now we have the Palm Pre 2. The HP webOS operating system has had an upgrade to version 2.0, which brings a host of new features. The addition of Flash 10.1 is one of the biggest changes, though the most obvious difference for general use will probably be the new Stacks feature, which groups multitasking cards together to make it even easier to browse your apps.
There are some handy behind-the-scenes changes, such as HP Synergy for tying apps into your Messaging, Contact and Calendars, which will enable Facebook instant messaging to be added to the unified Messaging app. Internally, the processor has been boosted to 1GHz, bringing it up to the standard of modern smartphones such as the HTC Desire HD and Samsung Galaxy S. The camera has also been upgraded, now shooting at five megapixels, rather than its predecessor's three. So will all these changes mean this latest version of the Pre is more than just the small update the Pre Plus was?
There's still all of the good old specifications knocking around too, of course. 3G data connectivity, Wi-Fi access for speedy browsing and the physical keyboard all return, along with Palm's App Catalog for expanding your software collection. The Palm Pre 2 is available unlocked for £399. It's not subsidised through networks at the time of writing. While the Palm Pre 2 looks much the same as its predecessors on the outside, there are actually a fair few differences. An all matt-black finish on the back and around the edges makes the Pre 2 easy to grip, but picks up fingerprints and smudges more than just about any other handset we've seen recently. The glass front is equally as bad for this – it really is a total nightmare to keep clean. It rarely becomes totally unusable, but it can get very annoying, very fast.
Interestingly, the glass is now totally flat. It gives the Pre 2 an odd look, since the handset on the whole is clearly designed to be curved all around – it's almost as if someone has just sheared off the very front with a meat slicer. It makes the screen nicer to use than before, though. We know that the curved back and sliding mechanism is an important part of the Pre, but we would have preferred a flat back. When you've got the phone closed laid out on a table and are using the touchscreen, it's fine. However, open it up and it becomes almost unusuable due to the level of wobbling it does on the table. Obviously, it's intended that you'll hold it in hand most of the time, but it would be nice if it didn't spin all over the place anyway.
Underneath the screen in the 320 x 480 HVGA screen. It hasn't received an upgrade since the Pre Plus, which is a real shame, since the 3.1-inch screen isn't that much smaller than something like an iPhone 4, which has a much higher resolution. We're used to seeing stunning 480 x 800 WVGA screens even at the cheaper end of smartphones, such as the HTC 7 Trophy and the Orange San Francisco. The card system in particular would do much better with a higher-res screen, because you'd be able to see each card with more clarity. However, the screen is bright and vibrant, and the resolution is still high enough for text to be perfectly readable in the nice large fonts used in webOS. Below the screen is the gesture bar, with a small light that indicates which direction you've swiped in. Slide open the handset and you'll have access to the keyboard. It's still as tiny as ever, and the edges of the slider are just as sharp, too. We'll go into what it's like to use for writing in the Messaging section, but it's incredibly solidly built. The backlit keys feel as though the whole lower part of the case is one solid piece, rather than individual buttons, and it feels like it'll last forever.
On the left side of the device is a volume rocker, while the right houses the micro-USB port for charging and connecting to a PC. On top of the Pre 2 is the on/off/sleep button, as well as a little switch for setting the phone to silent. It's also up here in the centre that you'll find the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Turn the phone over and you'll see the lens for the five-megapixel camera, along with its little flash. There's also an outlet for the loudspeaker. This rear battery plate is ready for use with Palm's Touchstone charger. To open it up, you press a little catch on the bottom, then slide your nail around the edge to pop open a catch (it's a bit like opening a car bonnet). Underneath the cover is the battery, which can be removed using a handy pull-tab. However, you don't need to pull it out the get at the SIM-card slot, which sits in the bottom-right corner.
The materials used in the Palm Pre 2 all feel nicely premium. There's a small amount of give in some of the joins, but nothing concerning, and we'd say build quality is very high overall. At 59.6 x 100.7 x 16.9mm, it not a small phone, and the 145g weight is also pretty hefty these days. The beating heart of the interface of HP webOS and the Palm Pre 2 is the card system that the original Pre was famous for. Effectively, any application you open registers in the OS as a 'card'. Each app runs fullscreen when you want to use it, but you can flick down on the gesture panel at any time to minimise the app into its card form. On the Home screen, all the different cards are laid out side to side, each displaying where you were in the app before you minimised it.
It's still right up there with the best multitasking systems on a smartphone (and is arguably the best of all), displaying information about each app in a effective way. It's been tweaked in the latest version to include a new feature called Stacks. Stacks simply means you can now group cards together. Anything you choose in one app that needs to open in another app doesn't simply close and navigate away from the first app – it now minimises the first app and opens new instance of the other app in the same stack. This means the first app is still readily available to you, represented on the Home screen, just hidden behind the new app. Because new screens open in a stack with the app that spawned them (rather than, say, moving all instances of browser windows that open into one pile), everything you do is effectively grouped by task.
It's an elegant, intelligent system that puts everything else out there to shame for a simple way to keep track of everything you're doing on your phone. Because of this, and the way cards display whatever you were doing before, but in miniature, webOS is the mobile operating system closest to using a windowed desktop OS. At the top of the Home screen is the Just Type bar. While you could always start typing on the Home screen of webOS to look up things on the handset, or start an online search, this functionality has been expanded. You can now just start typing longer parts of text in the bar, and then use the Quick Actions options to choose an app. Whatever you typed will then be in the email/SMS/memo/whatever, and you can just choose a recipient or save it.
At the bottom of the Home screen are four shortcuts to apps and a button to bring up the full Applications menu, Extras menu and System menu, which holds your settings. You can also bring this menu up by executing a swipe up from the gesture area onto the screen. The four shortcuts can be changed for whatever you used most often, but only having four can feel quite limiting, especially for those used to having every app at the fingertips on the Home screen of the iPhone 4. The persistence of the card system is supposed to make up for this, but you can only have one card or stack on screen at a time, so if you want an app that isn't in your shortcuts or on the current card, there'll be a fair bit of tapping and scrolling no matter what. What we'd really love to see HP and Palm do is crib Leap View from HTC's Sense UI, used on phones such as the HTC Desire and Desire HD. If you could pinch the Home screen to zoom out and see, say, nine cards in a square, and then flick across to the next nine if needed, we'd be in smartphone Home screen nirvana. The time and signal bar at the top of the Palm Pre 2's screen can be tapped to bring up information such as the date, battery life, Wi-Fi status, Bluetooth status and more.
At the bottom of the UI is the notifications bar. Again, this is right up there with the best on smartphones. Any new information scrolls along the little bar, while the symbols tell you if there something to look at, and in which app. Tapping the bar will bring up small widgets for each notification you haven't attended to yet. This is also how you can access quick controls for music playback. The other persistent UI element in HP webOS is a contextual menu that you'll find in the top-left corner of most apps. This is where you'll find options such as cut, copy and paste (which, while present, aren't all that useful, since they won't seem to function on a lot of text). You'll also usually find settings for an app here, as well as links to help, if you need it.
Generally, if there's anything you think you should be able to do, but can't find it in the app's layout, try this menu. It's sort of the webOS equivalent of the BlackBerry Menu key found on handsets such as the BlackBerry Bold 9780. While we're full of praise for the basic layout of the Palm Pre 2, we do have a few quibbles. We'd suggest that it's actually not as intuitive as some of its rivals. Some people we know found Windows Phone 7 handsets, such as the HTC 7 Trophy and Samsung Omnia 7, easier to get to grips with, and it's certainly behind the iPhone in terms of being newbie-proof. We also found the phone a buggy at times. While the touchscreen is normally quite responsive, there are times when it can feel slow, as can using the gesture area. We also saw moments where the Notification Bar would overlay an app for some time (rather than the app move up to accommodate it, as is supposed to happen), including in the Now Playing screen in the Music app, which caused the music controls to be hidden behind it. Another time, we couldn't get Just Type to work. The keyboard was fine in apps, and the OS was working perfectly otherwise, but typing on the Home screen just produced no results. It corrected after a restart, but was frustrating at the time. All of these, combined with some difficulties with the web browser (see the Internet section for more information), leads this version of HP webOS to feel like a 1.0 version, not the 2.0 release. We suspect webOS' development time has gone on adapting it for the other devices HP is planning to embed it in, but it leaves the Palm Pre 2 feeling light years ahead in concept, but lagging when it comes to polish. The contacts on the Palm Pre 2 are one of the showpieces of the cloud connectivity of HP webOS, just as they were on the original. You have to set up a Palm Profile when you first receive the phone, and if you have no other online accounts with contacts in, this is where your new contacts will be stored. However, if you have a Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Microsoft Exchange or Facebook accounts, you use those to bring in contacts. More should be potentially available through the webOS 2.0's Synergy feature, but pressing that option led to a dead end at the time of writing.
Add any of these accounts, and all your contacts' information will be added to your Pre 2. Duplicate contacts are easy to merge if they should appear, but folks with the same name in each of their profiles will be squished into one super profile automatically.
Now, you may be wondering what about this is a showpiece, considering that lots of other phone do this kind of thing, including those nice new Windows Phone 7 thingies we keep going on about, such as the HTC 7 Trophy or Samsung Omnia 7. Indeed, this is a stark reminder that many of the original Pre's innovations are simply ordinary these days, and done just as well by its rivals. Each contact can contain all the information you'd expect: name, job title, company, phone numbers, email and instant messaging addresses, postal addresses and websites are all options.
You can also add a reminder or a note (we're not 100 per cent sure what the difference is), as well as information such as birthday, spouse, children and nickname. Finally, you can set a ringtone and a picture (or let Facebook do the latter for you, if you like). When you look at a populated contact, you can just tap on the method of communication you want to use to set things in motion; hit the phone number to call, or the email to open a new message, for example. A new email (or message, or similar) created in this way will stack with the contacts app on the Home screen, rather than stack with your email inbox (if you have that open as a card). You can always drag it to place it with the email if you want. You can also access your contacts using the Just Type search feature. If you only type in half a name, it will come up with any close matches and you can choose from the list. If you type something specific enough, it will show almost their whole contact entry, and you can choose your method. It works beautifully.
You can use the Phone app bring up a dialpad, from which you can also type in a name to bring up contacts and their numbers.
On top of that, you've got your calling history, your favourite contacts (which can be added from each contact entry by pressing the star in the lower right, or by selecting Add Favourite in the favourites screen) and your voicemail. Signal handling wasn't superb for us. We often found that even when it appeared strong, it struggled to make a good connection. As a result, even when calling a landline, the other person's voice was flat and easily lost in any background noise. You can make people out well enough nearly all the time, so don't think that the Pre 2 is useless for calls, but there was almost always a small amount of distortion in people's voices. It's not a disaster, but not a strong feature by any means. With all those fancy contacts drawn from the cloud and a keyboard attached to the bottom of the phone, it's probably time to send some prose. The Messaging app combines your SMS conversations and instant messaging, all in one handy threaded view.
The main screen shows the different people you've been conversing with, and from here you can select which to look at.
The back and forth is much more defined than on a lot of other phones, with clear distinctions and different colours, rather than just the subtly differentiated speech bubbles you get on a lot of other phones. If you have a picture attached to the contact of the person you're chatting with, this will also appear next to their words. You can switch the conversation with someone to another number or IM account in their contact details using the button at the top right of the window. You enter text in a field at the bottom, and there's a paperclip icon should you want to attach a photo or video. Email is simple for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Exchange users – these all ready for simple setup with your username and password, and you can manually enter POP or IMAP settings for something off the menu. Your inbox is arranged by date by default, but you can sort it by sender or subject if you'd prefer.
Emails are clear and easy to read. You have the sender's name (and picture, if they have one in your contacts) at the top, and you can tap this too see their full contact details. The subject appears in a blue field, and you can use the left and right arrows on here to move between messages without going back to the inbox.
Email conversations aren't shown grouped or threaded here, which is a shame. It's something most other phones are doing these days, so it would be good see it added to HP webOS. The icons at the bottom of a message enable you to reply, reply to all, forward and delete the message.
Writing messages and emails using the keyboard is nowhere near as bad as the Pre 2's small keys would have you believe. It was a criticism of the first Pre, and though things haven't really changed, we don't think it's all that bad. Believe it or not, we actually found it easier to use than the BlackBerry Bold 9780, thanks in part to nice clear gaps between each letter. It wasn't as easy to use as a keyboard with larger keys in the first place, such as the Nokia C6 or HTC Desire Z, but we didn't make too many mistakes.
The sharp raised edges do make it feel as though you're trying to type in a shoebox or something, though. Just having a nice flat (or at least smooth) edge would have been preferable. The backlighting on the keyboard is fairly subtle, but is more than enough to let you see what you're doing in the dark. The internet experience was central to the original Pre, and HP webOS takes this up a notch with the inclusion of Flash 10.1 support.
All the old features that made the Pre the great browsing hope against the iPhone are still here, but now it has one up over its rival. Sort of. Okay, it definitely has one up in terms of features. After all, the two can go blow for blow when it comes to most features, including pinch to zoom, but Flash is firmly in the Pre's favour.
Unfortunately, features don't make the man, and the Pre 2 feels like its fallen slightly behind the iPhone and the likes of the HTC Desire HD. The browser isn't slow, but it's not as fast as the market leaders. It's generally on a par with Windows Phone 7 handsets such as the HTC 7 Trophy.
Pinch to zoom works smoothly and quickly most of the time, though it doesn't feel as precise as on Android devices or the iPhone.
You can also double-tap to zoom on part of a page or a column, which will reflow the text. Here's where things start to seriously wobble, though. The WebKit-based browser's behaviour when zoomed in using the double-tap is erratic. On one site, trying to move the browser up or down on the page resulted in it zooming in more, and moving the text around. We definitely didn't have another finger touching the screen (so we weren't accidentally pinching) – it just totally flaked out. Another day, we wanted to follow the BBC's live football text commmentary, so zoomed in on the column of text. Every time we did, we were greeted with a an unresponsive phone for a few seconds, followed by an odd beige screen of... nothing. After another few seconds of confused tapping, the browser suddenly zoomed itself out and showed the bottom of the page. Every time we tried to zoom in and read, we got the same issue. It was basically useless. Speaking of awkward and inconsistent, let's talk about Flash. We're still not convinced by its presence on mobiles, particarly in this case. We started off by visiting the 4oD website, and trying to watch something. The videos simply never loaded (though the Flash-based menu system worked well).
Next we tried iPlayer, only to be rejected because the phone isn't supported. Not to be defeated when it comes to watching TV, we visited TVCatchup. Like 4oD, the videos just never loaded.
What about other Flash videos? We visited GamesRadar to have a look at the Flash videos in their reviews. One of them just came out a distorted, unwatchable mess. We reloaded the page, and it worked much better the second time. In fact, we thought we were onto something good when the (very low-quality) advert before the video played quite smoothly. So did the first few seconds of the actual video. Then the frame rate dropped, and it became pointless. We tried another video on the page. The result was more or less the same. We naturally went around trying some other sites' videos. All were pretty much the same; many would play at low resolution at two frames per second. Seriously. One odd foible of Flash-enabled sites is that many of them would just be loading in the browser forever (well, probably, we got impatient eventually). All the content will have appeared, but the page will be unresponsive. If you hit the stop button in the bottom-right corner, the site will then work fine. As you might expect, Flash browsing causes overall performance to take a dip. Quite a steep one, in terms of RAM. We'd only loaded two videos before getting an error message telling us we had too many cards open. We only had about six open, including the browser, and they were very low-resource apps. Clearly, this message is a euphemism for running out of RAM. Similarly, just moving around sites with loaded Flash content can be very slow and bitty. Sometimes it's fine, to be fair, but often it slows things down a lot. We've done a lot of criticising here, so let's say that the browser works perfectly well 90 per cent of the time. It's snappy to respond and nice to use. But that 10 per cent, when you're watching a Flash video or it's bugging out on zoomed-in text, it's frustrating and simply doesn't do its job.
Describing the camera options of the Palm Pre 2 can be achieved in a mere three words: There are none. Okay, that's not quite true. There's geotagging of photos and you can have the flash set to Auto, On or Off. The Extended Depth of Field technology is used in the Pre 2, as it was in the Pre Plus [LINK]. This alternative to the occasionally clumsy autofocus you get in other camera phones analyses the detail in the captured image to produce a picture where nearly everything is detailed and in focus. You might think a good amount of processing power would be needed to do all this, and you'd be right. Well isn't it handy that the Pre 2 boasts a shiny 1GHz processor, then? As a result, it's capable of doing it all very quickly. The whole thing feels fairly snappy to use compared the shutter lag combined with slow processing you get on some camera phones. We're used to seeing phones full of ways to change the white balance, exposure, scene settings, but is this simple system the way to go?
Click here for full-res version EDOF: You can see the effects of EDoF well here, where no particular part of this plant is in focus compared to the rest. It's all reasonably well-defined, though there are parts that lack detail, and even look a little processed
Click here for full-res version GREY: While this was taken on a grey, cloudy morning, there was more light than this! The camera really doesn't seem to be getting enough light onto the sensor, and there's almost no detail in any of the shadowy trees as a result
Click here for full-res version INDOORS: With plenty of even light, this lion looks absolutely superb. The EDoF processor has given him perfect edges – to the point that he actually almost looks composited on, because the rest of the picture is a little blurry (those people make it look like it must have been quite a long exposure) and very noisy, especially in the background
Click here for full-res version QUICK SNAP: We took this one in an intentional hurry, to see how EDoF coped with us having little time to steady the camera. The answer is: not so well. The colours are quite heavy, and don't really pop out brightly in the way they should. Everything on the carousel is a little hazy too, though the barriers at the front are nice and crisp (shame they aren't the subject) The video recording specs on the Palm Pre 2 are modest at best, with 640 x 480 VGA recording in MP4 your only option. So how does it look?
It's very good! Notwithstanding the small resolution, we're quite impressed with what the Pre 2 has captured here, with one major caveat. What's up with the drastic change in colour temperature five seconds in? It totally changes how everything in the shot looks, and it's quite disconcerting. We know we went closer to orange artificial light from blue sunlight, but the phone didn't need to make the shift quite so severe! The 30 frames per second recording speed and 3.7Mbps bit rate combine to produce video that's actually quite detailed and smooth (don't let our jumpy movement holding the camera fool you, breaking it down frame by frame reveals a massively impressive lack of motion blur). Not only that, but the music playing from the roundabout is captured clearly, and with barely any distortion. There's wind howling over it, yes, but the audio capture is generally just as impressive as the video. It's just a shame it's only VGA, then. Let's see HD next time, Palm/HP! The Palm Pre 2 handles a lot of media playback with aplomb, though it does have a couple of oddities. There's still no official syncing client for webOS – which does seem a shame after how easy it is to use the dedicated software for phones such as the HTC HD7, Samsung Omnia 7, BlackBerry Bold 9780 and, of course, the iPhone – but Palm suggests a few options, including DoubleTwist and GoGadget if you want to be able to import playlists. We actually went for the good ol' fashioned drag-and-drop technique. We dumped a few albums and some videos onto the drive that appears when you plug the Pre 2 into your computer via the micro-USB port. When we unplugged the Pre 2, they had all appeared in their appropriate areas. Album covers and song information generally made it over unscathed, and everything played without a hitch. There's no catch-all 'Media' app, but Music, Photos and Videos are all available from the main Applications menu. Open the music player and you'll be taken to an overview of your library, including options for Artists, Albums, Songs, Genres, Playlists and Shuffle All at the top, complete with some covers from your albums.
As we said, we just chucked a load of songs on, some in AAC and some in MP3, all of which played perfectly. AMR, QCELP and WAV formats are also supported. Going to each of Artists, Albums or Songs on the Music menu will list what they contain in alphabetical order (again, complete with artwork).
In the Now Playing screen, you have the choice of an album artwork view that shows the cover of the song you're currently listening to, as well a sliver of the previous and next songs to come.
You can skip songs here either using the play/pause, forward and backward controls at the bottom of this screen, along with the shuffle and repeat options. To access the scrubbing option, tap the name of the song just beneath the artwork, which will bring up the time counter for a while (it will fade back to the name after a few seconds if you don't touch it).
The other Now Playing view is a list of the songs in the album or playlist, or it can show you the order of songs if you choose to shuffle. A blue bar scrolls across the currently playing track, indicating how far along the song is.
Handily, you can press and hold on a song to enable you to shift it around in the order, or slide to the right to delete it from the playlist.
In terms of quality, the music feels decent, but flat, even through a nice set of headphones to replace the standard ones in the box. The low- and high-end parts of songs lack drama, and this can't be helped by the equaliser, since there isn't one. However, the quality is perfectly servicable – its detailed enough, just not spectacular – and its easy and slick to use, so we're giving it good marks. The Video app enables you to choose from folders such as your Video roll and Loaded Videos. You get an information screen when you select a video that enables you to play then video or choose to do a simple trim edit and upload it to various services, such as Facebook and YouTube (you can also do these from the playback screen).
Video quality from the H.264 videos we added were good, though obviously didn't look as nice on the Pre 2's 320 x 480 screen as the the high-resolution screens on the iPhone 4 or HTC Desire HD, or an AMOLED screen such as the Samsung Galaxy S. Still, the screen is clear and colours are appealing. There's some ghosting during very fast motions, but it's not that noticeable unless the thing moving is white. Other than H.264, MPEG-4 and H.263 are also supported. The video player is easy to use, with decent quality. While we don't tend to recommend watching watching Titanic on these small screens (for any number of reasons), it should get you through a train journey. There's a YouTube app that contains pretty much all the usual options, such as Most Popular and Most Viewed browsing, or the ability to search. Footage loaded pretty quickly, and looks bright and smooth on the screen.
From the information screen, you can access the ability to check out Related Videos or more from the author, as well as share via text or email. We were a disappointed that you can't share a link to the video over other integrated services, such as Facebook. Surely sharing funny videos is one of the main points of both Facebook and YouTube? The Photos app is a nice collection of thumbnails that loads fairly quickly. You can play your images in a slideshow, or just browse through at your leisure. From here, you can forward messages over email or MMS, set them as wallpaper or assign to a contact, or upload to Facebook. The Palm Pre 2 doesn't come with much in the way of extra apps, and there's nothing like the sometimes quirky little extras we got on Windows Phone 7 handsets such as the LG Optimus 7 and HTC 7 Mozart. However, there are some standard, useful additions – and there's the App Catalog, of course. The usual productivity apps are included, such as Calendar, Memos, Tasks, Calculator and Clock. The Memos app uses the corkboard design we're used to seeing on lots of phones now, while the Calculator makes good use of the symbols on the keyboard (though the fact that the numbers on the touchscreen have '1' the bottom while the ones on the keyboard have it at the top is a bit foolish).
The tasks app has a nice leather notebook style choice going on that we like.
Clock offers a nice flip clock-style display by default (though you can switch to an analogue display instead), as well as alarm settings. Of course, no modern smartphone is complete without Google Maps these days (we'll let Windows Phone 7 off for including Bing Maps instead).
Alas, there's no turn-by-turn directions as there is on Android phones such as the HTC Desire and Motorola Defy (and, well, all the rest), making this app closer the iPhone's version in terms of functionality. However, that's hardly a bad thing. Directions are still there, even if they won't guide you live. The app is responsive to the touch, with pinch to zoom working brilliantly to get you into map detail quickly. See the Connectivity section for more about the GPS quality. We mentioned the YouTube app in the Media section, but rounding out the preloaded apps are PDF View and Quickoffice. We don't imagine it will surprise you that PDF View enables you to read PDF files, while Quickoffice is a rather handy document viewer that epitomises the cloud-based thinking behind HP webOS. It opens by offering you the choice of looking at files stored on your device or tying into an online service. The options include Google Docs, Dropbox, Box and MobileMe. Generally, viewing documents is fine, and using a Dropbox account heavily proved fast and easy. However, there are a few niggles. Maybe we shouldn't pick on it for this, but the ability to edit really would be a major plus point for the Pre 2 when it comes to out-of-the-box convenience. Also, we couldn't view RTF files, which is a real shame (though is a continuing definiciency of Quickoffice). The App Catalog has had a redesign for version 2.0 of webOS, but it's still far behind Apple's App Store (the golden standard at the moment). The fact that the first 'What's Hot' tab that's open when you start the App Catalog is totally and completely empty is a pretty demoralising start. Switch to looking at the top paid or free apps will bring more success, and it won't be long before you find the good games and tools. You also have the options of looking at the most recently released apps, and you can browse by category.
Some of the marquee apps associated with the iPhone have made it over, including NOVA and (predictably) Angry Birds. We downloaded the free Facebook app, which then enabled integration between Facebook and the contacts we'd imported from our Google account. It was as fast and easy as the integration on Windows Phone 7, and impressed us greatly. The app itself isn't as simple as most mobile Facebook apps, which tend to just open on your news feed and have several tabs along the top for different functions. While this one does offer News Feed as the default, you choose a dropdown menu in the middle to switch that feed to Status Updates, Photos, Links, Video, Notes or Groups.
Tap the tile icon in the top right to change from the News options to Photos (now meaning your photos rather than others' photos), Inbox, Profile, Events and Search (which is the only way to view your friends list).
Notifications are accessed in the top-left corner of the feed page by pressing the globe icon. Everything works, and it makes sense once you spend some time using it, but it's a bit different to most Facebook apps. There's still a lack of a preloaded Twitter app, or an official Twitter client for webOS. Most of the best ways to tweet will cost you money, but there are some free options – we went for the open source, ad-free (and oh-so-charmingly named) Spaz. It wasn't a particlarly smooth client, but it was actually fairly well thought out.
The battery on the Palm Pre 2 is rated for five hours of talk time or 350 hours of standby. Of course, with this type of phone, these two activities are probably what you're least likely to do, so how does it fare when you're constantly browsing the web, checking email and generally fiddling with it?
The answer is: not very well. From it being at 100% in the morning, we used it a fairly standard amount, sending a couple of emails, reading a few, checking Twitter every so often and some web browsing. By mid-evening, it was down to 20 per cent of battery. Now there's lots you can do to try to mitigate this, such as turning down the brightness, having it check for email less often and various other tricks, but against comparable smartphones using similar settings, the Pre 2 simply doesn't make a good account of itself. In fact, during some of the more intense testing we did, we had to be charging it constantly more or less. Connectivity Connection options on the Palm Pre 2 haven't changed much from previous iterations. Wi-Fi 802.11b/g complements 3G data connectivity for wireless internet access, and there's also Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP audio streaming support.
We found signal to be a bit up and down on the Pre 2. In some areas, 3G appeared to be fine and strong, but it was slow in practice (and wouldn't access some services at all). It wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't the strongest we've seen. The micro-USB port enables you to charge from the mains (UK and European plugs are both included in the box), or connect to a PC. As we mentioned in the Media section, there's no official PC client for loading media, so you can either drag and drop files or use a third-party solution, such as DoubleTwist. The 3.5mm headphone jack means you can connect your own headphones or a set of speakers. There's no microSD card slot for expanding the 16GB of built-in storage, but this will be enough space for most people anyway. The Pre 2's battery cover is ready to work with the optional Touchstone charger, which enables you to charge the phone wirelessly. New software features mean that the phone now knows when it's on the Touchstone, so apps can adapt what they display when the Pre is in charge mode.
It was hard to know exactly what to expect from the Palm Pre 2. The name inherently implies something more than the upgrade to the Pre Plus, and yet having nearly the same handset design with just a modest spec boost seemed to suggest otherwise. We're left to look at the HP webOS software for the changes, then. Certainly, it looks similar to what came before, but iOS has barely changed in appearance since its inception, and it has many more features now than in 2007. Sadly, the new webOS just isn't that much a boost. The 2.0 moniker feels undeserved, to be honest. It's an improvement over what came before, but only a mild one, while Android and iOS have been upgrading fervently. We liked Okay, we've just gone and called the new webOS not that much of an improvement, but it still goes in the 'Liked' column because it was so phenomenally good in concept to begin with. Even if some its cooler features have been picked up by other OSes, the card system is still just an incredible piece of UI design, and Stacks is brilliant addition to it. The Just Type features, even though it's technically very similar to what was already available, is a well thought-out addition. The phone is still easy to set up and use. We don't think it's the most intuitive around for beginners, but after a little time with it, it ends up providing powerful features in a way that's easier and simpler in the long run. The cloud integration is as good as ever, making this ideal for messaging enthusiasts and social networkers (lack of official Twitter app notwithstanding). We even think they keyboard isn't bad, despite how tiny it looks. The camera is also capable of producing some very nice shots and video, under the right circumstances. We disliked We mentioned encountering some bugs and slowness in various sections, and this was really disappointing. Fortunately, Palm has been quick off the mark with a 2.0.1 update that's touted to fix lots of bugs generally. Even with that, though, webOS 2.0 feels surprisingly raw technically in places – more like a 1.0 release. We're not convinced by the Pre 2's form factor, either. While the materials are actually nice, and we think it should last well, it's thick and heavy. Palm hasn't really moved past where it was back in 2008, which is shocking when you look at the incredible industrial design in the iPhone 4, or beautifully solid and reassuring build quality of the HTC Desire. And not having an updated screen is a huge disappointment. 320 x 480 may only be six months out of date, but we've simply moved on since then to bigger and better. The battery life is pretty poor, too. Again, every other smartphone has improved in this area, but the Pre 2 hasn't. It's also a real shame that no networks are offering the Pre 2 subsidised. While it's hard to blame Palm for it, it's fair to say having the only price for this phone being £399.99 is definitely something we dislike. Verdict At this point, the Palm Pre feels like an old friend you'd lost touch with. You're a bit surprised he dresses the same as when you last knew him, but when you get talking you remember what an awesome time you had together. But he has a few oddities about him, and the more time you spend together, the more you realise you've grown up and he hasn't – at least not enough. There's an absolutely world beating phone sitting somewhere in the Pre 2's DNA, but it hasn't revealed itself here. It simply doesn't stand up to the iPhone 4 or modern Android phones such as the HTC Desire Z. Even webOS's status as the design-conscious UI is under threat from Windows Phone 7. We like it, but it just isn't top of the pile. Related Links
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| Exclusive: T-Mobile sorry for Galaxy S Android 2.2 delay Posted: 03 Dec 2010 08:58 AM PST  T-Mobile has responded to TechRadar's request for more information on the Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.2 deployment delay, apologising for the whole episode. The network originally promised the update would land by 1 December at the latest, but failed to meet that deadline, later confirming it would happen next week. TechRadar asked T-Mobile for a reason behind this delay, and received the following: "T-Mobile apologises for any inconvenience caused by the delay in 2.2 Froyo update for the Samsung Galaxy S. "It is our priority to ensure that the update will provide our customers with the best possible experience and we are working hard to make this happen as soon as possible." Lifting the lid T-Mobile couldn't comment on a reason for the delay, but reading between the pretty wide lines it's clear the Galaxy S upgrade failed some part of the testing process at the last moment. The problem here wasn't that the upgrade has taken so long to deploy (although it has irked customers) but a missed self-imposed deadline meant that users were constantly checking for something that never arrived. We hope the Android 2.2 update lands by next Friday from T-Mobile, which we're assured it will, and we don't have to talk about this until Android 2.3 Gingerbread lands... 
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| Exclusive: T-Mobile sorry for Galaxy S Android 2.2 delay Posted: 03 Dec 2010 08:58 AM PST T-Mobile has responded to TechRadar's request for more information on the Samsung Galaxy S Android 2.2 deployment delay, apologising for the whole episode. The network originally promised the update would land by 1 December at the latest, but failed to meet that deadline, later confirming it would happen next week. TechRadar asked T-Mobile for a reason behind this delay, and received the following: "T-Mobile apologises for any inconvenience caused by the delay in 2.2 Froyo update for the Samsung Galaxy S. "It is our priority to ensure that the update will provide our customers with the best possible experience and we are working hard to make this happen as soon as possible." Lifting the lid T-Mobile couldn't comment on a reason for the delay, but reading between the pretty wide lines it's clear the Galaxy S upgrade failed some part of the testing process at the last moment. The problem here wasn't that the upgrade has taken so long to deploy (although it has irked customers) but a missed self-imposed deadline meant that users were constantly checking for something that never arrived. We hope the Android 2.2 update lands by next Friday from T-Mobile, which we're assured it will, and we don't have to talk about this until Android 2.3 Gingerbread lands... 
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| 5 awesome 3D things to do this weekend and beyond Posted: 03 Dec 2010 08:18 AM PST If you are lucky enough to be able to get out without the snow hampering your every movie, then you be pleased to hear that there's plenty of 3D treats in store for the weekend and beyond. And the best thing is, you don't have to go searching for them as 3DRadar has come to your rescue, comign up with five things to do and see that will make you fall in love with 3D... 1 Try out some mind expansion
Despicable Me may have hogged the limelight when it comes to being the first 3D movie centring on bad guys trying to outwit each other, but Megamind goes one better with super-villains and aliens. Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt lend their voices to this animated movie that Total Film gave the movie an impressive four stars, who say that the 3D does the movie justice and doesn't look like an afterthought – which means it gets 3DRadar's seal of approval. Out in cinemas now Reasons to watch:
2 Give your movie watching food for thought
Sky 3D is showing this weekend one of the first of the 'new generation' of 3D films to get released in the home, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The plot is silly: man develops a way to change weather into food, but there's many laughs to be had in the movie, even if most of them do revolve around oversized snacks falling from the sky. Sony bet big on this movie to do well and it was bundling Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs with some of its 3D TVs as a reference disc earlier in the year. Showing on Sky 3D 4 December Reasons to watch:
3 Put some boing boing into your life
West Brom V Newcastle is being shown in 3D on Sky 3D this weekend and the game should be great to watch. Both teams may be new to the Premiership this year, but they have showed the big guys how football should be played. Newcastle is currently ninth in the league and WBA a modest twelfth, but only goal difference separates the teams. You can watch the game at home on Sky 3D or at one of the many pubs that show Sky 3D games up and down the country. The action will be so close. You'll be able to see what woodland creatures Andy Carroll keeps in his stupidly long hair. Showing on Sky 3D Sunday 5 December Reasons to watch:
4 Visit Wonderland
There's not been too many 3D Blu-ray releases to hit the shelves, so when one does get released it's hard not to make a song and dance about its arrival. Alice In Wonderland may not be the best Tim Burton movie ever made, but it has all the thrills and spills you expect from the director who just gets curiouser and curiouser. Surprise, surprise long-term collaborators Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter also make an appearance, as does Danny Elfman on the soundtrack. The 3D may have been done in post, but there's enough down-the-rabbit-hole shots to make your eyes pop out. Out 6 December on 3D Blu-ray Reasons to watch:
5 Kit yourself out with pixelated camouflage
GT5 may have knocked it from the top spot but Call of Duty: Black Ops is still a 3D game that's a joy to play and one you should (heat)seek out this week. The plot is the most coherent of all the Call of Duty franchise and the addition of 3D gives you the accuracy of a sniper's bullet. And it's not just the PS3 that's offering the game in 3D, you can also get a 3D version for the PC too. Out now Reasons to play:
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| The definitive 3D Blu-ray roundup Posted: 03 Dec 2010 08:00 AM PST The first wave of full HD 3D Blu-rays to appear in the UK were all brand-exclusives; to get your mitts on Monsters Vs Aliens you had to purchase Samsung 3D hardware, while to get copies of Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Coraline and you had to shell out for Panasonic kit. Yet the situation is improving with Walt Disney and Sony Pictures both allowing titles to go straight to retailers. At present, these are Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Monster House (both Sony) and A Christmas Carol (Walt Disney).
Confusion may arise from the fact that, while Sony Pictures adamantly won't allow any of its films to be tied into hardware, the consumer electronics wing of Sony has woken up to the idea of following Samsung and Panasonic down that route, but has had to turn to Walt Disney for material. So while Walt Disney is releasing A Christmas Carol direct to shops, its films Bolt and Alice in Wonderland are being bundled with Sony 3D kit. The good news is that the exclusivity period for these titles is only 60 days, so they should be available to buy before Christmas.
In our list below, Piranha 3D is schedule for December 27. Beware that, for reasons known only to complete idiots, this is also being released as an anaglyph title in the UK, and distributor Entertainment in Video hasn't yet confirmed whether there'll be a full HD 3D version. So make sure you know exactly what you're buying if you go for it, or you might end up bitten. Full HD 3D completists should check out online auction sites such as eBay, where some people are selling on discs such as Ice Age 3. But be prepared to pay over £40 for a 3D BD…
Online retailer, Amazon has listings for a range of IMAX 3D titles distributed in the UK by a little-known company called Cornerstone Media International. Many of them are listed as coming in 2011, but three titles should be available to buy now (although, as these three have already had their release dates amended once before, we wouldn't be surprised if the situation has changed by the time you read this....). Across the pond It won't surprise many home cinema enthusiasts to know that the situation in the US is better than in the UK, with more titles available for 3D freaks to wrap their eyes around. Again, though, there are some exclusivity deals. Of most interest is the initial run of Warner 3D titles that hit stores on November 16, which included Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Clash of the Titans and The Polar Express, plus various IMAX docs. As Warner typically makes all its discs region-free, these may be worth importing (no announcements have been made for UK releases). Double-check the region code, though, before you get your credit card out.
One US 3D title that is definitely region-free is Lionsgate's My Bloody Valentine 3D, but it's only available in Best Buy stores, so you may have more trouble importing a copy. Again, eBay might be your best bet. Another region-free platter in the US is The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D. Whether or not you'd want it is another matter – it runs for only 64 minutes, is presented in 720p, and England were useless in the tournament anyway. Insatiable fans of 3D should also keep a regular eye on the German software market (poke your browser at www.amazon.de). Our European cousins often get tastier BD releases than we do, and the same appears to be true when it comes to 3D. They've been enjoying the three-dimensional fun of Clash of the Titans since August, and were able to buy Street Dance 3D before UK consumers, too (even though it's a BBC Film co-production). Put simply, there are probably more full HD 3D titles available than you may have realised, you just need to know where to look for 'em... Software stock-take A complete list of the 3D Blu-rays confirmed for release UK 3D BD: Out now…
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Panasonic Exclusive) Coraline (Panasonic Exclusive)
Bolt 3D (60-day Sony Exclusive) A Christmas Carol: Super Play (60-day Sony Exclusive) IMAX Van Gogh: Brush with Genius 3D
IMAX Dinosaurs Alive! 3D ---------- UK 3D Blu-rays: Coming soon…
Alice in Wonderland 3D (Dec 6) IMAX Volcanoes of the Deep Sea 3D (Dec 6) Piranha 3D (Dec 27)
---------- US 3D Blu-ray: Out now… Goldberg Variations Acoustica 3D (AIX Records) Samsung Presents: IMAX 3D Triple Feature: Galapagos/Into the Deep/Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs (Samsung Exclusive)
Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 3D Clash of the Titans 3D
IMAX: Under the Sea 3D The Polar Express 3D The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D ---------- US 3D Blu-ray: Coming Soon…
---------- Germany 3D Blu-ray: Out now… Clash of the Titans 3D Street Dance 3D Schock Labyrinth Dragster 3D IMAX: Wild Ocean 3D The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Film in 3D ---------- Germany 3D Blu-ray: Coming soon… Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore 3D (Dec 13) ---------- 2011 3D Blu-ray discs on the radar for next year... Tron Legacy Walt Disney's sci-fi sequel should look and sound great on 3D Blu-ray Avatar Exclusive to Panasonic at first, but someone will flog their copy on eBay Toy Story 3D Already out in 2D, we expect a 3D version to follow in 2011 Saw 3D Argggh! Splat! Shriek! Gurgle... 
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| Updated: HTC Tablet rumours: what you need to know Posted: 03 Dec 2010 07:45 AM PST  Once upon a time, Apple made a phone. Rivals tried to copy it, but the iPhone was too good and their efforts too bad. And then HTC appeared. "Look!" it said. "A smartphone!" And the HTC phones were good, and lots of people bought them. Now, though, Apple has seen similar success with its iPad – so does HTC have a tablet of its own to take on the iPad? If anyone can make a real iPad rival it's HTC, and while the HTC Tablet and specs haven't been acknowledged by HTC, the rumour mill says it's real. Here's what we know and what we'd like to see in the HTC Tablet. HTC Tablet: Chrome OS no more? We expected the first Chrome-powered tablet to come from HTC last month, but it didn't turn up. That's apparently because HTC has shifted its efforts to Android; the change of tack has put the HTC Tablet release date back, too. HTC Tablet: Android 3.0 Pocket Lint says Taiwanese component manufacturers are gossiping like fishwives, claiming that the HTC Tablet OS will be Android 3.0. The HTC Tablet features look pretty nifty If DigiTimes' sources are correct, the HTC Tablet and specs are in the capable hands of Taiwanese notebook maker Pegatron, whose name sounds fantastic if you shout it in your best Movie Trailer Man voice. Pegatron - PEGATRON! - has declined to comment, but DigiTimes says the tablet it's building runs a Tegra 2 processor, has a 1280 x 720 multi-touch panel, a 32GB solid state drive, 2GB of RAM and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The HTC Tablet features include "multimedia performance… stronger than that of iPad", Chrome Web Apps and the Android Market. Imagine an HTC Desire HD scaled up a bit and you get the idea. Sounds good to us. The HTC Tablet release date could be in early 2011 Taiwanese gossips predict a Q1 2011 release, says Pocket Lint. The HTC Tablet release date might be in Q2, not Q1 According to DigiTimes, Apple Daily says that a JP Morgan analyst says that Google is messing around with its Android support. Motorola is Google's priority for 3.0, LG will be priority for 3.5 and HTC follows on, which means the HTC Tablet won't ship before the second quarter of 2011. UPDATE: ON 2 December 2010, DigiTimes reported vice president for HTC Asia Jack Tong as saying that HTC was currently evaluating the tablet market and had yet to make a decision as to whether it would launch a tablet. We're not sure we're convinced by that statement... HTC Tablet features include something "really compelling", like a free horse or a time machine Speaking to Pocket Lint, HTC's global PR boss Eric Lin said the firm wasn't interested in me-too devices. "If we just release an Android tablet we're one of 81… whereas if we have a compelling feature, a really compelling use, anything like that, then it'll help us to stand out. It's going to take a lot of work searching for that." What could it be? A free horse? A time machine? We'll be gutted if it's just a slightly tweaked Sense UI. The HTC Tablet may be called the HTC Evo Shift 4G Engadget spotted some trademark filings where HTC was attempting to trademark the term HTC Evo Shift 4G. Another smartphone, or something even bigger? Slashgear hopes it's "a 7-inch HTC tablet with integrated 4G to take on Samsung's Galaxy Tab". Any evidence for that? Of course not. This is the internet! The HTC Tablet price may be $790 The DigiTimes report we mentioned earlier took a stab at the HTC Tablet price, and it predicts that without subsidy it'll be $789.75. The HTC Tablet price might be zero Download Squad says the HTC Tablet will launch on Verizon in the US with a price tag of zero depending on the tariff you choose. Similar deals are likely here: we've already seen Three, T-Mobile and Orange offer subsidised iPads. The HTC Tablet is being made by Pegatron PEGATRON! 
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| Review: Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type Posted: 03 Dec 2010 07:40 AM PST  The Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type is a candybar handset with a small screen and a simple numeric keypad. Like its near-namesake the BlackBerry-alike C3-00, the C3-01 Touch and Type is designed to be a low cost, easy to use messaging fan's handset. It will set you back £150 SIM free, so it isn't exactly going to break the bank, but for that kind of expense you do want a bit more than a pocket-money toy. In many ways, it's reminiscent of the Nokia 6700 Classic, which we thought was, well, a classic handset from Nokia. No touchscreen there, but it had the sane metallic candybar design and screamed premium. As its name suggests, the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type brings touchscreen sensitivity to this most basic of handset formats. If you want simple messaging, a little Facebook and Twitter action and a handset that neither weighs you down nor requires a degree in User-Interface-Onomics to get to grips with, then the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type sounds on paper as though it could be your best pal.
But that ain't necessarily so, as we'll see later. First, though, let's look at the physical design, which is really good. The use of metal in the chassis, most notably for the backplate, lends an air of solidity to the feel while also giving the innards a reasonable amount of protection against drops and knocks.
The rounded edges and curved corners help the phone feel comfy in the hand, and its overall size of 111 x 47.5 x 11mm and its weight of 100g mean it's easy to drop into all but the very smallest of pockets.
Nokia has thought carefully about side buttons and connectors, too. The bottom and left sides are completely clear. On top, there's a headset connector, micro-USB connector and the small round plug for charging the battery.
On the right side is a volume rocker, screen-lock button and camera button.
While you won't find a smartphone-like cornucopia of features here, the range is reasonably solid. There's 30MB of built-in memory and a microSD card slot under the backplate. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and 3G are on-board, but there's no GPS though and the operating system is S40 6th Edition (ie enhanced for touch).
So, we've noted that the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type runs S40 6th Edition, which is basically Series 40 enhanced for touch support. We weren't that excited when S60 got the touch support treatment with the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and it never got much better for us. Nor have we been bowled over by S60's successor, Symbian^3, seen so far in the Nokia N8 and C7. However, adding touch to S40 seems somehow to have made a positive difference to what is quite a restricted operating system by modern standards. Touch makes using something fairly basic that bit easier, and we like that. We did find that the screen sometimes registered a tap when we were really just making contact to start a sweep. The screen is resistive, which means that responsiveness in general isn't what it could be. But overall we much preferred tapping the screen to using a D-pad. The 2.4-inch screen itself delivers a relatively paltry 240 x 230 pixels and, while it is fairly sharp, it isn't going to give top-end displays a run for their money.
There are three softkeys beneath the screen. Tap the centre one to go to the main apps menu. Tap the right-hand one – Names – to get to your contacts. The left hand one – Go to – takes you to a personalised set of nine shortcuts.
You can fiddle with this so it shows the shortcuts you want, and this isn't too much of a pain to do. Hit Personalise View, tap a shortcut, then choose what you want to replace it with from the list on offer. Finally, hit OK.
You can also fiddle with the Home screen settings from this Personalise screen by choosing Home Screen Settings. You can decide what you want to display on four different horizontal panels. The top one defaults to the clock, the second is empty, the third is set for favourite contacts and the fourth is a shortcut bar. You can swap the first three for anything else in the list of options.
The shortcut bar can be swapped for another long panel, or you can set up four different shortcuts within it.
It is quite a flexible system and not too difficult to configure, but this being S40 you do only get the one home screen to play with. When it comes to fiddling around in the menu to find apps, Nokia doesn't really understand the modern convention that people tend to like one list rather than nested folders. So, the main menu screen is only the beginning.
When you tap Apps you get a list another list.
Scroll vertically through this list to see all the on-board apps. Hit Extras and there's another new section containing games and apps you've downloaded, and giving access to the contents of your microSD card. It isn't as complex as with S60 or Symbian^3, but it's still rather convoluted. Facebook and Twitter are catered for by Nokia's Communities app. This can be dropped into the Home screen and from there you can get Twitter and Facebook updates once you log in.
The user interface for both apps is a little cramped thanks to the small screen. Where Twitter is concerned, Nokia has chosen to show you a couple of lines from each new tweet rather than the whole thing to get more of them on-screen.
The tweet creation screen isn't the prettiest, but it's usable and the all-important character countdown tells you how close you are to overstepping the 140 characters mark.
The Facebook screen is similarly cramped, and you can see very little of any individual posting. It isn't our idea of Facebook fun, to be honest. If you put the Communities shortcut onto the Home screen, you can get notifications of incoming tweets and Facebook messages, which is useful. However, to see the full message and send responses you need to tap the message and then wait for Communities to log on to the internet and present you with the appropriate screen.
It seemed to take an age for Communities to load the necessary data, and sometimes it gave up entirely for no reason we could see.
You can't import Twitter and Facebook contacts into the S40 contacts app. This has to be populated the old-fashioned ways – from your SIM or manually. It works, but it certainly lacks the zing and uber-cloudy connectedness we like to see in handsets these days. With contacts in the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type, you can make calls, of course, and the good news here is that the handset performed well. Signal strength hovered around three to four bars and people we spoke to said we were loud and clear to them. They sounded clear to us, too. When it comes to email, there's a little surprise for Microsoft Exchange users: it isn't supported. You can set up ordinary third-party email such as Gmail or another service easily enough, but inbuilt email comes via Ovi, and you'll need to have an Ovi account first to take advantage. For some reason, we had a lot of trouble even signing in to our Gmail account. The Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type constantly reported a communications error regardless of whether we used the network or the built in Wi-Fi, which doesn't allow for easy email on the move. And the Ovi interface itself is sluggish to load. We actually failed to use mobile email to our own satisfaction on the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type, which is a pretty sad state of affairs. We had a lot more luck with basic SMS messaging. Creation is straightforward thanks to the predictive text system and the physical number pad is large and responsive. No complaints there.
You can get to secondary characters via an on-screen tappable key rather than repeatedly pressing the 1-0 keys, which we also liked.
There is a set of smileys at your fingertips should you want them.
There are two web browsers on the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type. Nokia provides its own and the Opera Mini browser is also here as a software add-on. The Nokia web browser leaves a bit to be desired. In particular, one of the real problems of the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type kicks in when using the Nokia web browser – its slow processor. Panning around is horribly jerky, rather than smooth. When a page opens, you don't see a great deal of detail on the small screen.
So you need to zoom. And that's a very tedious process. You can't zoom to a degree you select. Instead you have to zoom in increments fixed on the handset and wait while the processor thinks a bit and does your bidding. If the first zoom level isn't enough, you can go in again. But there is another wait. You can get a little thumbnail view that helps you decide where to zoom, but which is at least a help, but it's far from perfection.
When it comes to reading text, the screen doesn't offer a lot of space, and at times you won't get a lot more than a headline before you need to start scrolling.
Switch out to Opera Mini and things improve. Your first view is an overview page into which it is easy to zoom by tapping the screen.
And zoomed in pages deliver enough text that you can read easily without too much panning around.
Opera Mini even seems to manage to get rid of some of the jerkiness and waiting that the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type's own browser exhibits. The experience still isn't entirely smooth, but it is better. Whichever browser you choose, web browsing is limited and disappointing thanks to both the small screen and jerky panning. We wouldn't recommend it unless you're desperate, to be frank.
With a camera that shoots stills at five megapixels, things might appear to be on the up for the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type. An LED flash helps out with low-light indoor shots, and Nokia touts noise reduction as one of the camera's selling points. You can tap the screen to call up controls such as switching between stills and video shooting, which is nice.
Click here for the full-res version INDOORS: In a brightly lit railway station this photo is pretty good. Yes, it's a bit noisy, but it's passable
Click here for the full-res version DETAIL: Focus in the central area of this photo is fine, but at the edges the camera has lost the plot rather
Click here for full-res version LANDSCAPE: The wide angle on this vista is nice, but again there's some noise detracting from the overall quality of the photo
Click here for full-res version ZOOM: A full 4x digital zoom shot taken from the same place as the vista shows up very well that digital zoom should be avoided at all costs
Click here for full-res version EFFECTS: We thought we'd try out the effects on the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type. This is the standard shot
Click here for full-res version
Click here for full-res version
Click here for full-res version These are the sepia, black and white and negative effects, each of which works rather nicely.
Video is unsurprisingly (for a phone at this price point) limited to 640 x 480 resolution, and even at that size it was a little on the jerky side. But we were impressed with the amount of light the lens let in. There is both a music player and a radio on the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type. The latter needs the rather luxurious white headset in order to work. It'll automatically tune its 25 presets to as many stations as it can find.
The radio isn't the prettiest, and there's a real annoyance. To get it to play through the loudspeaker you might think you just hit an on-screen button. But no. You have to hit Options, then Settings, and only then can you choose the loudspeaker. What a palaver! Go to the trouble, though, and sound output is loud if not the highest quality. The next time you turn the radio on, it defaults back to playing through the headphones again. The music player has no problem finding the loudspeaker. Quality is iffy but loud, and you've got an equaliser to play with that gives a little nuance to the sound quality.
When it comes to video playback, the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type sticks to MP4 as a supported format. It played them well for us, and the full widescreen mode delivered a watchable image if, given the screen size, a small one. The 1050 mAh battery is woefully low in capacity for the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type. Yes, it kept the phone going for a day for us with some Wi-Fi, and some music playing in the mix, but had Nokia been able to build in a higher capacity battery the longer life might have gone some way towards mitigating against the other disappointments.
The range of on-board apps is typically S40. Apart from what we've already mentioned, there are the usual Nokia bits and pieces such as a calendar, alarm clock, calculator, voice recorder, to-do list, note app, timer and stopwatch. In some cases the design is terrible – take the calculator for example. Functional? Yes. Pretty? No.
In other cases an effort has clearly been made – the alarm looks reasonable, for example.
You can add more apps via the Ovi store if you want to bulk out what's on offer, but if you're really interested in apps, you might be better off looking lustfully at other (and sometimes cheaper) handsets.
When we first saw the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type we have to admit we were a little bit excited. We wanted to see Nokia give its solid, low-cost candybar phone a boost by adding touch, and wondered what else might be here into the bargain. In the end, though, S40 6th Edition is reminiscent of S60 5th Edition – a fair effort, but nothing special, and we reckon it's easily bettered. We liked The nice build quality is great – especially the metal parts of the chassis, which make the Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type feel comfy to hold and give it the armoury to take a few knocks. The large number pad makes for fast tapping out of SMS messages both one-handed and two-thumbed. The idea of putting a touch screen onto S40 is a clever one, because it reinvigorates that old, old Symbian platform, bringing it into the modern phone age. We disliked The processor seems challenged at times. We found it was slow to drop down the shortcuts menu from the main screen and slow to pan in web pages, in particular. Twitter and Facebook integration is rudimentary at best, and in neither app can you see enough data on screen at any one time. There's been no attempt to let you bring your online contacts into the handset contact list, either. The tedium of having to quit apps before moving on, for example the Opera web browser, just doesn't wash in these days of multitasking handsets. Nor does the lack of multitasking and app switching. Verdict The Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type is a handset which ultimately disappoints. We like the build, and admire what Nokia has tried to do in reinvigorating S40 by adding touch. But we think the Finnish manufacturer's crown may have slipped in the execution of its idea. Much as we realise some people do just want a phone for making calls and a bit of SMS, we can't help feeling that you can get a lot more phone for less money and then pick and choose the bits of it you actually want to use. Go for the Orange San Francisco, for example, on pay as you go, and you pay £99 for a phone that has a bigger screen for web browsing, GPS, capacitive touchscreen technology and the great flexibility of Android. Seems like a no-brainer to us. Related Links
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| Sony Bravia KDL-22PX300 offers built in PlayStation 2 Posted: 03 Dec 2010 07:31 AM PST  Sony has released a television with a difference – with the Bravia KDL-22PX300 offers built in PS2 functionality allowing you to play your old games. We can only imagine that Sony had a truckload of old PS2 tech to get rid of and decided to build it into a 22-inch television set. Of course, despite the television being HD ready, the games are not – meaning you will get standard def old titles. Brilliant or late? We're not sure if this is fantastic or about five years out of date, but for those who want to dig out that old copy of Gran Turismo 4 for a nostalgia kick in their second bedroom then this may be just the thing. When they build a PS3 into a Bravia 47-inch TV then we'll be at the front of the queue – unless of course it's in six years' time when the PS4 is in its pomp. The Bravia KDL-22PX300 offers 4 HDMIs, 720p resolution, a Freeview tuner and costs £199. And, truthfully, it's not the prettiest thing in the world. 
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| Updated: Android 2.3 rumours: what you need to know Posted: 03 Dec 2010 07:15 AM PST  While earlier rumours were suggesting that Gingerbread was the code name for Android 3.0, we now know that Gingerbread is Android 2.3, which makes Honeycomb Android 3.0. Android 4.0 is rumoured to be code named Ice Cream. Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed off a phone running Android 2.3 at the Web 2.0 summit on 15 November. Google had earlier hinted on 12 November that the Android 2.3 release date is close, tweeting a photo of a pile of Android gingerbread men, with the message "Our cafes are baking something sweet". Here's what we know so far about Android 2.3: Android 2.3 release date Schmidt confirmed that the Android 2.3 release date is a few weeks away, so we can expect it before the end of 2010. Android 2.3 specifications and features Confirmed Android 2.3 features include improved copy and paste and support for WebM video playback. The WebM Project confirmed that "WebM support in Android is expected in the Gingerbread release". WebM files are compressed with the VP8 video codec, which Google purchased and open-sourced earlier this year. Android 2.3 will also feature a new user interface. TechCrunch reported that "Google is focusing the bulk of its efforts on the user experience for the upcoming Gingerbread release." Phandroid went into more detail on the interface changes, noting cleaner, redesigned icons, more prominent carrier branding, and an increase in the use of the colour green. In the same post about the interface changes, Phandroid also mentions that Android 2.3 will support video chat. It has also been rumoured that Gingerbread will feature a music store in the Android Market and support for Google TV. Android 2.3 also features a new 'screen off' animation as you can see below.
. UPDATE: On 3 December 2010, we reported that an official Android 2.3 video had been shown by Google Hong Kong. The video teases with a few more close-ups of Gingerbread in action, showing the new green colour scheme.
. Android 2.3 phones The first Android 2.3 phone is looking to be the Nexus One. In a recent tweet Alvaro Vasquez of the Open Handset Alliance said: "Prepare your Nexus One (Developer version) for Android OTA update 2.3 (Gingerbread) for the next few days:-D". [Translated from original language] The Android 2.3 phone that Schmidt showed off at the Web 2.0 summit is the successor to the Nexus One, rumoured to be called the Nexus S. It features an AMOLED screen and will support NFC tech which lets you pay for goods buy pressing your phone against a reader. UPDATE: On 25 November 2010 the Nexus S surfaced again. Spec-wise, it looks to be rocking a WVGA four inch screen, 720p video recording, and a (possibly dual-core) ArmV7 CPU. We'll bring you more on Android 2.3 as we get it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sponsored: Why Windows Phone 7 apps will blow your mind ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
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| Android 2.3 Gingerbread: official Google video appears Posted: 03 Dec 2010 06:46 AM PST  Google has managed to out more details of Android 2.3, in an official Google Hong Kong video. Google has been teasing the world about Android 2.3 for some time now, even using its Twitter account to show off gingerbread Android biscuits. But other than a short look at the UI at the Web 2.0 Summit earlier this month, details about what to expect from the mobile OS have been scant. Now an official video has been released that shows off what Android 2.3 will look like. Green with envy? The video is in Chinese but shows off the new colour green and black colour scheme Google is going for. There is also a third tab in Market now, which is for related applications. The video mostly shows off cosmetic changes, which look smart enough. But we're hoping that Google has more up its sleeve for 2.3, or we'll be holding out for the bigger makeover that's sure to come from Honeycomb. 
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| Updated: 30 best free iPhone games on the planet Posted: 03 Dec 2010 06:19 AM PST  It's safe to say that Apple's given the gaming industry a square kick in the tender regions. Despite their bluster, dismissing Apple in every way possible, Sony and Nintendo are both clearly concerned by the meteoric rise of iPod touch and iPhone as handheld gaming devices. Although great games are the driving force behind the success of Apple gaming, low prices have also helped. Most 'premium' titles cost six quid or less, and many developers end up in a race to 59p, thereby providing games that'd cost 20 quid on a rival platform for the price of a Kit-Kat. But what if you've spent your last penny on your shiny Apple object of desire? Can you get great games for nothing at all, or is the 'free' section of the App Store full of the kind of games that would make a ZX81 blush? The answer is, of course, both, and the trick is finding the gems amongst the dross. What follows is our pick of the bunch - our favourite 30 free iPod touch and iPhone games. 1. Dropship This wonderful ngmoco title used to cost a few quid, but Dropship is now free and is one of the App Store's biggest bargains. The game is a modern take on Gravitar or Thrust, with your ship battling gravity and shooting gun emplacements while searching complex vector-based cave formations for marooned allies.
The 'touch anywhere' dual-thumb controls take some getting used to, but the game feels fluid and exciting once they're mastered. 2. Dr. Awesome Plus Another ngmoco game, Dr. Awesome uses a hateful forced Plus+ account sign-up, but get past that and you find a compulsive title that smashes together ancient arcade classic Qix and surgery game Trauma Centre. Dr. Awesome's gameplay centres around removing viruses by tilting your device to 'cut out' infections.
Gameplay is fast and furious and, oddly, your Address Book contacts are used for patient names, so you can always choose to sacrifice your high score and off your boss in the virtual world. 3. Flood-It! 2 Flood-It! 2 meets the rules of great puzzlers: keep things simple, but make the game so challenging that your brains start to dribble out of your ears. In Flood-It!, you tap colours to 'flood' the board from the top-left, aiming to make the entire board one colour using a limited number of taps.
This release offers additional modes over the original Flood-It! (timers, obstacles, finishing with a defined colour), and offers schemes for colour-blind players. 4. Sol Free Solitaire Although it's essentially a chunk of Solebon Solitaire (£1.19), Sol Free Solitaire is nonetheless a stunning example of a standalone solitaire game.
From the moment you first launch the game, the level of polish and attention to detail is obvious. In all of the six included games, the graphics are clean and clear, the controls are intuitive and responsive, and the built-in help is informative. 5. Cube Runner The accelerometers in Apple handhelds have driven development of myriad tilt-based racing games, but tilt controls can be finicky. Cube Runner, however, feels just right as you pilot your craft left and right through cube-littered landscapes, aiming to survive for as long as possible.
The game doesn't look like much, but it plays well, and longevity is extended by Cube Runner enabling you to create and download new levels. 6. Spider: Hornet Smash Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is an App Store classic, combining arcade adventuring and platforming action, with you playing the role of a roaming arachnid.
Hornet Smash includes a level from that game, but its main draw is the frenetic arcade minigame. Still controlling our eight-legged hero, the aim is to fend off attacks by swarms of angry hornets, while weaving webs and munching tasty lacewings for health boosts. Three environments are included in this compelling and innovative title. 7. Real Racing GTi Firemint's Real Racing is one of the best racing games for Apple handhelds, but it's also demanding, requiring a lot of time investment. Real Racing GTi dispenses with much of the depth, but retains its parent's fun gameplay, user-friendly controls and great graphics.
Three modes are on offer - time trial, quick race, and a cup championship over three tracks—ensuring this game is the best free arcade racer on the App Store. 8. MazeFinger Plus Again, the forced Plus+ account sign-up is hateful, but it's worth persevering to get to this addictive game, where you "unleash the awesome power of your finger," according to the App Store blurb.
The aim is to drag your finger from the start to the finish of each simple maze. The problem is you're against the clock and obstacles litter your path. Great graphics and 200 levels of compelling gameplay ensure you'll be glued to your screen. 9. Dactyl Almost entirely lacking in depth, Dactyl is nonetheless one of the most furiously addictive games on the App Store. A gloriously demented Whack-A-Mole-style effort, Dactyl merely tasks you with tapping red bombs to stop them exploding.
Almost immediately, though, red bombs arrive thick and fast, forcing you to keep track and tap them in order, to avoid the inevitable 'game over'. 10. Trace Trace is a sweet, inventive platform game which has you navigating hand-drawn obstacles to reach the star-shaped exit. The twist is that you can draw and erase your own platforms, to assist your progress.
With an emphasis on time-based scores rather than lives and the ability to skip levels, Trace is very much a 'casual' platform game, but it's none the worse because of it. 11. 3D Checkers
This game's title tells you most of what you need to know: it's checkers—in 3D! What it doesn't say is that 3D Checkers is a really great recreation of the popular board game, with two board types (traditional and metal), three levels of AI, and multiplayer (single-device or Bluetooth). 12. Buganoids
Buganoids resembles a NES game where the author decided to mash together random bits from various arcade classics. You patrol tiny planets, blasting 'across' them to kill nasty bugs. The gameplay's reminiscent of Gyruss and Tempest, and although the controls sometimes feel a little off, the game's always fun for a quick blast. 13. You Cruise by Mazda MX-5
This game has no right to be any good. You Cruise is essentially an advert for Mazda, and ad-oriented games are usually rubbish and play it safe. But here you get to hurtle round eight courses in a sports car, with the gameplay resembling a mini Sega Rally. It also helps that the controls—auto-acceleration, steering at each edge, and a brake pedal at each corner - are some of the best of any iOS racer. 14. Bankshot
One for pool sharks, Bankshot tasks you with sending your orb to a goal by bouncing it off of at least one wall. A few different modes are on offer in this attractive neon-style game, but the best is Blitz, a high-octane time-attack affair. 15. 10 Pin Shuffle (Bowling) Lite
A curious mix of ten-pin bowling, shuffleboard and poker, 10 Pin Shuffle proves surprisingly addictive. You get two cards for each strike and one for each spare, and whoever has the best hand at the end of the tenth frame wins. 16. Lux Touch
Quickfire Risk clone Lux Touch isn't exactly a champion in the smarts department - the AI's pretty easy to outfox - but it's perfect ten-minute fodder for Risk fanatics. The graphics are clear, the board is responsive, and the game's also universal, for if you want to install it on your iPad. 17. iCopter Classic
There are loads of one-thumb copter games on the App Store, and while this isn't the best (Super Turbo Action Pig and Pudge fight for that honour), iCopter Classic is without doubt the finest free variant. It's also fast and responsive as you go about helping your helicopter (or—in the unlockable themes—bee, submarine, spaceship or football) survive for as long as possible without smashing into something. 18. Cell Splat
So you think you're observant? Cell Splat will test that claim to the limit. The game distills 'match' games to their purest form. You get a target shape or colour, and, against the clock, must tap all matching items in the well. Quite why this frantic, great-looking, fun, addictive game is free, we don't know; we just suggest you download it immediately. 19. InvaderR
Like Cell Splat, InvaderR streamlines and hones a popular game, but this time it's Space Invaders. Like Taito's original, aliens are out to get you, but in InvaderR you have it tough. While the invaders are content to stay out of reach, it's 'game over' the second you're hit by a projectile. This turns InvaderR into a compelling and exciting score-attack game. 20. Whacksy Taxi
Although it looks like a 1980s racer, Whacksy Taxi also has much in common with platform games. You belt along absurdly straight highways, avoiding traffic by dodging or leaping it. Variety's added by power-ups, new background graphics when you reach a stage's end, and several bonus zones that also provide extra challenge. 21. Volkswagen Think Blue Challenge
Most racing games are about tearing round corners at high speed, your only concern being to not smash into things. Think Blue turns the genre on its head, providing you with limited fuel. The game becomes a unique and intriguing survival-based challenge as you try to eke out an extra few metres each go. 22. Hoggy
Hoggy resembles VVVVVV smashed into Nintendo's Kirby, combining platforming and puzzles. The game tasks you with grabbing fruit within jars that are peppered around a maze. Complete a jar and you get a key; with a certain number of keys, new maze areas open up. Although occasionally a mite frustrating, Hoggy's a great-looking, fun and innovative freebie. 23. Bam Bam Dash
Imagine Monster Dash with the cast of The Flintstones and you've got Bam Bam Dash. Your auto-running caveman has to avoid plummeting to his death and being eaten by things with sharp teeth. Nice graphics and helpful dinosaurs you can ride add extra flavour to the game. 24. Poker Race
To say Poker Race is somewhat lacking would be an understatement - it's bereft of sound, options, polish and online scores. It is, however, oddly addictive. You and 'the computer' take turns choosing a hand from cards that randomly appear; the better the hand, the further your car moves. The first to the finish line wins. 25. Minimalist Shooter
Tilt to Live took the twin-stick format pioneered by Robotron: 2084 and subverted it, removing your weapon and having you rely on colliding with contact-based explosives to destroy lethal foes. Minimalist Shooter is along the same lines, but it's free and resembles a pyrotechnic abstract art display. 26. PicoPicoGames
It's clear you'll never see Nintendo games on iOS, but PicoPicoGames is the next best thing: a collection of tiny, addictive NES-like minigames. Frankly, we'd happily pay for scrolling shooter GunDiver and the Denki Blocks-like Puzzle; that they're free and joined by several other great games is astonishing. 27. Escape from NOM
Another entry in the physics game genre, Escape from NOM differentiates itself by lacking a price-tag but nonetheless rolling in nice graphics and gameplay. The aim is to drop 'Alan' and use obstacles and bumpers to get him safely into coloured goo at the bottom of the screen. However, he must be the same colour as said goo when he reaches it and avoid hungry NOMs. 28. Need For Cheese
This tilt-based avoid 'em up has you steering clear of cats (especially red ones that home in on you), munching cheese and grabbing power-ups to smash evil cats off the screen. Need For Cheese is simple, but a first-rate quickfire highscore game that rivals Bit Pilot for best-in-class. 29. Froggy Jump
At first, Froggy Jump seems like Doodle Jump, starring a frog. That's probably because Froggy Jump pretty much is Doodle Jump, starring a frog. However, its character, unique items, themes and lack of price-tag makes it worth a download, especially if you're a fan of vertically scrolling platform games. 30. StarDunk
Another game showing that simplicity often works wonders on mobile titles, SlamDunk is a straightforward side-on basketball game. The time-attack nature of the title gives it oomph, though, and there's also the option for online competition against players worldwide.
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| Updated: 30 best free iPhone games on the planet Posted: 03 Dec 2010 06:19 AM PST It's safe to say that Apple's given the gaming industry a square kick in the tender regions. Despite their bluster, dismissing Apple in every way possible, Sony and Nintendo are both clearly concerned by the meteoric rise of iPod touch and iPhone as handheld gaming devices. Although great games are the driving force behind the success of Apple gaming, low prices have also helped. Most 'premium' titles cost six quid or less, and many developers end up in a race to 59p, thereby providing games that'd cost 20 quid on a rival platform for the price of a Kit-Kat. But what if you've spent your last penny on your shiny Apple object of desire? Can you get great games for nothing at all, or is the 'free' section of the App Store full of the kind of games that would make a ZX81 blush? The answer is, of course, both, and the trick is finding the gems amongst the dross. What follows is our pick of the bunch - our favourite 30 free iPod touch and iPhone games. 1. Dropship This wonderful ngmoco title used to cost a few quid, but Dropship is now free and is one of the App Store's biggest bargains. The game is a modern take on Gravitar or Thrust, with your ship battling gravity and shooting gun emplacements while searching complex vector-based cave formations for marooned allies.
The 'touch anywhere' dual-thumb controls take some getting used to, but the game feels fluid and exciting once they're mastered. 2. Dr. Awesome Plus Another ngmoco game, Dr. Awesome uses a hateful forced Plus+ account sign-up, but get past that and you find a compulsive title that smashes together ancient arcade classic Qix and surgery game Trauma Centre. Dr. Awesome's gameplay centres around removing viruses by tilting your device to 'cut out' infections.
Gameplay is fast and furious and, oddly, your Address Book contacts are used for patient names, so you can always choose to sacrifice your high score and off your boss in the virtual world. 3. Flood-It! 2 Flood-It! 2 meets the rules of great puzzlers: keep things simple, but make the game so challenging that your brains start to dribble out of your ears. In Flood-It!, you tap colours to 'flood' the board from the top-left, aiming to make the entire board one colour using a limited number of taps.
This release offers additional modes over the original Flood-It! (timers, obstacles, finishing with a defined colour), and offers schemes for colour-blind players. 4. Sol Free Solitaire Although it's essentially a chunk of Solebon Solitaire (£1.19), Sol Free Solitaire is nonetheless a stunning example of a standalone solitaire game.
From the moment you first launch the game, the level of polish and attention to detail is obvious. In all of the six included games, the graphics are clean and clear, the controls are intuitive and responsive, and the built-in help is informative. 5. Cube Runner The accelerometers in Apple handhelds have driven development of myriad tilt-based racing games, but tilt controls can be finicky. Cube Runner, however, feels just right as you pilot your craft left and right through cube-littered landscapes, aiming to survive for as long as possible.
The game doesn't look like much, but it plays well, and longevity is extended by Cube Runner enabling you to create and download new levels. 6. Spider: Hornet Smash Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is an App Store classic, combining arcade adventuring and platforming action, with you playing the role of a roaming arachnid.
Hornet Smash includes a level from that game, but its main draw is the frenetic arcade minigame. Still controlling our eight-legged hero, the aim is to fend off attacks by swarms of angry hornets, while weaving webs and munching tasty lacewings for health boosts. Three environments are included in this compelling and innovative title. 7. Real Racing GTi Firemint's Real Racing is one of the best racing games for Apple handhelds, but it's also demanding, requiring a lot of time investment. Real Racing GTi dispenses with much of the depth, but retains its parent's fun gameplay, user-friendly controls and great graphics.
Three modes are on offer - time trial, quick race, and a cup championship over three tracks—ensuring this game is the best free arcade racer on the App Store. 8. MazeFinger Plus Again, the forced Plus+ account sign-up is hateful, but it's worth persevering to get to this addictive game, where you "unleash the awesome power of your finger," according to the App Store blurb.
The aim is to drag your finger from the start to the finish of each simple maze. The problem is you're against the clock and obstacles litter your path. Great graphics and 200 levels of compelling gameplay ensure you'll be glued to your screen. 9. Dactyl Almost entirely lacking in depth, Dactyl is nonetheless one of the most furiously addictive games on the App Store. A gloriously demented Whack-A-Mole-style effort, Dactyl merely tasks you with tapping red bombs to stop them exploding.
Almost immediately, though, red bombs arrive thick and fast, forcing you to keep track and tap them in order, to avoid the inevitable 'game over'. 10. Trace Trace is a sweet, inventive platform game which has you navigating hand-drawn obstacles to reach the star-shaped exit. The twist is that you can draw and erase your own platforms, to assist your progress.
With an emphasis on time-based scores rather than lives and the ability to skip levels, Trace is very much a 'casual' platform game, but it's none the worse because of it. 11. 3D Checkers
This game's title tells you most of what you need to know: it's checkers—in 3D! What it doesn't say is that 3D Checkers is a really great recreation of the popular board game, with two board types (traditional and metal), three levels of AI, and multiplayer (single-device or Bluetooth). 12. Buganoids
Buganoids resembles a NES game where the author decided to mash together random bits from various arcade classics. You patrol tiny planets, blasting 'across' them to kill nasty bugs. The gameplay's reminiscent of Gyruss and Tempest, and although the controls sometimes feel a little off, the game's always fun for a quick blast. 13. You Cruise by Mazda MX-5
This game has no right to be any good. You Cruise is essentially an advert for Mazda, and ad-oriented games are usually rubbish and play it safe. But here you get to hurtle round eight courses in a sports car, with the gameplay resembling a mini Sega Rally. It also helps that the controls—auto-acceleration, steering at each edge, and a brake pedal at each corner - are some of the best of any iOS racer. 14. Bankshot
One for pool sharks, Bankshot tasks you with sending your orb to a goal by bouncing it off of at least one wall. A few different modes are on offer in this attractive neon-style game, but the best is Blitz, a high-octane time-attack affair. 15. 10 Pin Shuffle (Bowling) Lite
A curious mix of ten-pin bowling, shuffleboard and poker, 10 Pin Shuffle proves surprisingly addictive. You get two cards for each strike and one for each spare, and whoever has the best hand at the end of the tenth frame wins. 16. Lux Touch
Quickfire Risk clone Lux Touch isn't exactly a champion in the smarts department - the AI's pretty easy to outfox - but it's perfect ten-minute fodder for Risk fanatics. The graphics are clear, the board is responsive, and the game's also universal, for if you want to install it on your iPad. 17. iCopter Classic
There are loads of one-thumb copter games on the App Store, and while this isn't the best (Super Turbo Action Pig and Pudge fight for that honour), iCopter Classic is without doubt the finest free variant. It's also fast and responsive as you go about helping your helicopter (or—in the unlockable themes—bee, submarine, spaceship or football) survive for as long as possible without smashing into something. 18. Cell Splat
So you think you're observant? Cell Splat will test that claim to the limit. The game distills 'match' games to their purest form. You get a target shape or colour, and, against the clock, must tap all matching items in the well. Quite why this frantic, great-looking, fun, addictive game is free, we don't know; we just suggest you download it immediately. 19. InvaderR
Like Cell Splat, InvaderR streamlines and hones a popular game, but this time it's Space Invaders. Like Taito's original, aliens are out to get you, but in InvaderR you have it tough. While the invaders are content to stay out of reach, it's 'game over' the second you're hit by a projectile. This turns InvaderR into a compelling and exciting score-attack game. 20. Whacksy Taxi
Although it looks like a 1980s racer, Whacksy Taxi also has much in common with platform games. You belt along absurdly straight highways, avoiding traffic by dodging or leaping it. Variety's added by power-ups, new background graphics when you reach a stage's end, and several bonus zones that also provide extra challenge. 21. Volkswagen Think Blue Challenge
Most racing games are about tearing round corners at high speed, your only concern being to not smash into things. Think Blue turns the genre on its head, providing you with limited fuel. The game becomes a unique and intriguing survival-based challenge as you try to eke out an extra few metres each go. 22. Hoggy
Hoggy resembles VVVVVV smashed into Nintendo's Kirby, combining platforming and puzzles. The game tasks you with grabbing fruit within jars that are peppered around a maze. Complete a jar and you get a key; with a certain number of keys, new maze areas open up. Although occasionally a mite frustrating, Hoggy's a great-looking, fun and innovative freebie. 23. Bam Bam Dash
Imagine Monster Dash with the cast of The Flintstones and you've got Bam Bam Dash. Your auto-running caveman has to avoid plummeting to his death and being eaten by things with sharp teeth. Nice graphics and helpful dinosaurs you can ride add extra flavour to the game. 24. Poker Race
To say Poker Race is somewhat lacking would be an understatement - it's bereft of sound, options, polish and online scores. It is, however, oddly addictive. You and 'the computer' take turns choosing a hand from cards that randomly appear; the better the hand, the further your car moves. The first to the finish line wins. 25. Minimalist Shooter
Tilt to Live took the twin-stick format pioneered by Robotron: 2084 and subverted it, removing your weapon and having you rely on colliding with contact-based explosives to destroy lethal foes. Minimalist Shooter is along the same lines, but it's free and resembles a pyrotechnic abstract art display. 26. PicoPicoGames
It's clear you'll never see Nintendo games on iOS, but PicoPicoGames is the next best thing: a collection of tiny, addictive NES-like minigames. Frankly, we'd happily pay for scrolling shooter GunDiver and the Denki Blocks-like Puzzle; that they're free and joined by several other great games is astonishing. 27. Escape from NOM
Another entry in the physics game genre, Escape from NOM differentiates itself by lacking a price-tag but nonetheless rolling in nice graphics and gameplay. The aim is to drop 'Alan' and use obstacles and bumpers to get him safely into coloured goo at the bottom of the screen. However, he must be the same colour as said goo when he reaches it and avoid hungry NOMs. 28. Need For Cheese
This tilt-based avoid 'em up has you steering clear of cats (especially red ones that home in on you), munching cheese and grabbing power-ups to smash evil cats off the screen. Need For Cheese is simple, but a first-rate quickfire highscore game that rivals Bit Pilot for best-in-class. 29. Froggy Jump
At first, Froggy Jump seems like Doodle Jump, starring a frog. That's probably because Froggy Jump pretty much is Doodle Jump, starring a frog. However, its character, unique items, themes and lack of price-tag makes it worth a download, especially if you're a fan of vertically scrolling platform games. 30. StarDunk
Another game showing that simplicity often works wonders on mobile titles, SlamDunk is a straightforward side-on basketball game. The time-attack nature of the title gives it oomph, though, and there's also the option for online competition against players worldwide.
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| Sony Ericsson X10 Mini and Pro get PAYG price cut Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:59 AM PST  Play.com has revealed a new PAYG price of the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini and Mini Pro and it's got the two handsets locked in at a low price. According to Play, the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini is available from the site for just £119.99 and the Mini Pro has got a price tag of £139.99. Both of these handsets are on a PAYG basis with Vodafone. Mini adventure The two Android handsets are a refreshing update of the X10, with the main difference between the two being that the X10 Mini Pro offers a flipout QWERTY keyboard. The X10 Mini Pro is available now from Play.com, while the Mini X10 is currently out of stock. To be honest, at this price the two handset will get snapped up in no time, considering that both phones have now been given an Android 2.1 update. 
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| BT to trial 1Gbps broadband in 2011 Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:32 AM PST  BT has announced that it will trial 1Gbps broadband in Kesgrave, Suffolk – as well as rolling superfast broadband to 40 'rural market towns'. Although it has lagged behind Virgin Media in its fibre optic offering, BT is pumping money into its Infinity offering and will now look to trial broadband speeds that have previously been available only in countries like Korea. The trial will take place in Suffolk commencing in 2011, but don't expect to have 1Gbps broadband to your home for a considerable time, with BT still desperately trying to enhance the coverage of its fledgling fibre infrastructure. 40 towns The promise of rolling superfast speeds to 40 rural towns is also a major positive, although details will not be announced until the next year. "BT will…be including up to 40 rural market towns in the next phase of exchanges for fibre broadband, said BT. "These areas will be able to enjoy the benefits of the technology from late 2011/early 2012. BT plans to announce the next list of exchanges in January 2011." Push the limits Olivia Garfield, BT's director of strategy, said: "We intend to continually push the limits of our super-fast broadband programme in terms of the technology and the geography. "While everyday consumers don't require Gigabit speeds today, it's important that we test the maximum speed capabilities of our fibre broadband product to ensure that it is fully future proofed. "Furthermore, by evolving our deployment model for fibre we have been able to push the geographical boundaries of super-fast broadband. "It allows us to build a commercial case for rolling out fibre to selected towns in rural areas to satisfy the growing appetite for faster broadband speeds. "Both of these developments will further advance BT's super-fast broadband vision and will assist the Government in achieving its aim of creating the best super-fast broadband network in Europe." 
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| BT to trial 1Gbps broadband in 2011 Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:32 AM PST BT has announced that it will trial 1Gbps broadband in Kesgrave, Suffolk – as well as rolling superfast broadband to 40 'rural market towns'. Although it has lagged behind Virgin Media in its fibre optic offering, BT is pumping money into its Infinity offering and will now look to trial broadband speeds that have previously been available only in countries like Korea. The trial will take place in Suffolk commencing in 2011, but don't expect to have 1Gbps broadband to your home for a considerable time, with BT still desperately trying to enhance the coverage of its fledgling fibre infrastructure. 40 towns The promise of rolling superfast speeds to 40 rural towns is also a major positive, although details will not be announced until the next year. "BT will…be including up to 40 rural market towns in the next phase of exchanges for fibre broadband, said BT. "These areas will be able to enjoy the benefits of the technology from late 2011/early 2012. BT plans to announce the next list of exchanges in January 2011." Push the limits Olivia Garfield, BT's director of strategy, said: "We intend to continually push the limits of our super-fast broadband programme in terms of the technology and the geography. "While everyday consumers don't require Gigabit speeds today, it's important that we test the maximum speed capabilities of our fibre broadband product to ensure that it is fully future proofed. "Furthermore, by evolving our deployment model for fibre we have been able to push the geographical boundaries of super-fast broadband. "It allows us to build a commercial case for rolling out fibre to selected towns in rural areas to satisfy the growing appetite for faster broadband speeds. "Both of these developments will further advance BT's super-fast broadband vision and will assist the Government in achieving its aim of creating the best super-fast broadband network in Europe." 
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| Apple iOS 4.3 details leaked by the Guardian Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:06 AM PST  The Guardian is to drop its current iPod application in favour of a subscription-based one, with details of the change posted on the newspaper's website. On a blog, the Guardian explains: "The new app will have a new price point: £2.99 for six months and £3.99 for 12 months." This type of subscription-based app is not something that's currentlyavailable on the App Store, so it seems that it has outed a feature which will be an update to Apple iOS 4.3. Considering iOS 4.2 was only just released this month, the next iteration of iOS will probably be a rather minor update. IOS4.3 imminent? The Guardian says that this change will happen globally pre-Christmas so it seems that the UK release date of Apple iOS 4.3 is imminent. It has also announced that an iPad app is in development, saying: "We're still working through the final features but, as always, we're aiming high and hoping to steal a march on the current news-oriented iPad apps already available. "We'll reveal more details about this soon." 
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| Google Chrome 8 arrives quietly Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:01 AM PST  Chrome 8 has arrived, but the lack of fanfare from Google suggests that the company is already looking ahead to its Chrome OS launch rather than choosing to trumpet about the latest release of its browser. Chrome 8 brings a built in PDF viewer and, we think, will support the Chrome Web Store. But after the low-key announcement, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that Google are thinking about Chrome OS, rather than merely the browser, and don't want to 'over-Chrome'. Bugs The latest stable Chrome 8 browser brings a host of big fixes – more than 800 in fact. "The Chrome team is happy to announce our latest Stable release, 8.0.552.215," Google's Jason Kersey announced in its Google Chrome blog. "In addition to the over 800 bug fixes and stability improvements, Chrome 8 now contains a built in PDF viewer that is secured in Chrome's sandbox. "As always, it also contains our latest security fixes, listed below. This release will also be posted to the Beta Channel." 
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| Avatar 3D Blu-ray costs £225 on eBay UK Posted: 03 Dec 2010 03:36 AM PST Thereis clearly considerable demand for the 3D Blu-ray version of James Cameron's Avatar with copies changing hands on eBayUK for £225 and upwards this week. Thereason 3D early adopters are willing to pay so much is because Panasoniccurrently has the exclusive rights to sell the Avatar 3-D Blu-ray with its new 3D TVs.
Thereis already a handful of decent 3D Blu-ray releases available to the new 3D TVowner this Christmas season, but it is clear from the eBay prices that Avatar is the movie that many want to really show offtheir new purchase to the rest of the family this Yule. Panasonicis selling its new Viera 3D TV along with the copy of Avatar 3D and two pairs of 3D glasses in a '3D Full HD UltimatgePack' to appeal to the hardcore 3D early adopter market. At thetime of going to press, there is no word on when a stand-alone version of Avatar 3D will be made available tonon-Panasonic 3D TV owners. So if youdon't happen to have bought (or be looking at buying) a Panasonic 3-D TV in thecoming months, yet are still desperate to own Cameron's 3D blockbuster, you maywell have to dig deep to nab one of the few copies available on online auctionsites. Disneyrecently announced that it is set to release the 3D Blu-ray version of Alicein Wonderland next week, just intime for some surreal 3D fun this Christmas. 
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| 30 million unused computers in the UK, says research Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:37 AM PST  Microsoft has suggested that there are a whopping 30 million PCs and laptops lying unused around the UK, suggesting we should use the old machines to get more people online. Backing Marth Lane-Fox's vision of a Networked Nation and as part of the not-very-snappily-named GO ON: Give Someone Their First Time Online campaign (www.get-someone-online.com) Microsoft's research suggested some interesting trends. Apparently, some 30 per cent of us have a PC or laptop at home they no longer use, 15 per cent have two unused machines and 9 per cent three or more. This has led to the 30 million number being suggested, and those machines could be put to better use – according to the campaign. "Live" offline...pah! Nickie Smith, Marketing Director, Microsoft Advertising, said; "Working in the digital media industry it's very easy to forget that millions of people in the UK do live offline, and have no way of accessing the many benefits that the internet offers. "With nearly one in ten (8 per cent) people in the UK planning to buy a new PC or laptop this Christmas, there is a real opportunity for people to do some good by donating their old machines to help someone else." Martha Lane Fox added, "The 'Go On Give Someone Their First Time Online' campaign is a great opportunity for the millions of internet users in the UK to give the 9.2 million people a chance to enjoy the benefits that so many of us enjoy every day. "If every connected person helped just one friend or family member to get online, the race would already be won. "By working together we can accelerate progress towards building a more networked UK." 
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| Three dwarves Orange iPad contract pricing Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:33 AM PST  Three has announced its contract iPad prices, with the main headline the amount of data on offer. Users can only get the iPad on a £25 a month, two year deal, with varying costs up front for the device itself. The 16GB version will cost £199, the 32GB offering £249 and the largest capacity of 64GB coming in at £349. More gigs for your money However, while Orange is offering 1GB of 3G data, plus another 1GB from midnight to 4PM (its so-called 'quiet period') as well as unlimited Wi-Fi, Three has blown this out of the water by letting you nab 15GB of data a month for the same price. Users can also pick up the iPad on pay as you go tariffs, ranging from £529 to £699 depending on the storage option used. The new deals are available from today, so if you fancy a boatload of data with your Apple tablet and feel you can love it like a second child for two years, then this could be the option for you. 
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| In Depth: How to keep people on your website Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:21 AM PST  Today's consumers have more choice than ever, especially online. Competing attractions are just a click away, so it's vital to engage your audience's attention and give them a reason to stay on your site – and want to come back to it again and again. This elusive component of web design is often referred to as 'stickiness'. Stickiness is important for various reasons. "Getting a user to return frequently is more cost-effective than trying to convince new users to come to a site," points out Pod1 ecommerce strategist David Hefendehl. Once users are engaged, "adopters will help you to spread the word and promote your site," adds Abduzeedo founder and designer Fabio Sasso. The right kind of sticky It's critical that stickiness stems from positive user experience, leading to loyalty and users not wanting to leave. "When designing, never think of literally getting people stuck," says cxpartners principal consultant James Chudley. "I've heard of nasty UX where important information has been made deliberately hard to locate, 'trapping' users. Instead, focus on users' needs and serve them well. As a result, you'll get the kind of 'stickiness' you want." Also be careful who you use the phrase 'stickiness' around, adds Digitaria senior web analyst Dexter Bustarde. "It's a popular web industry term but it carries a natural negative connotation to most outside the industry," he points out. When talking to clients who don't themselves bring up the phrase 'stickiness', Bustarde suggests using the term 'essential' instead. "Having an 'essential' site is aspirational, while still capturing everything web developers and marketers think of when using the term 'sticky'." First impressions Design is integral to a site's stickiness. "People react to gut instinct," Chudley says. "If a site doesn't look professionally designed, they won't stick around – particularly if they're looking to buy something." Bluhalo's marketing and business development manager Jocelyn Kirby concurs. "Looks matter," she says. "First impressions count. Before contemplating a return visit, a user must engage with a website." In providing a user with what they're looking for, in a usable format that looks good, you're partway towards achieving stickiness. The ideal is to not make people think. "Optimise a site's design to deliver the most intuitive user experience, and deliver the desired end result to the user with little effort," continues Kirby. "This contributes to the likelihood of the user returning." Of course, good first impressions are just the starting point: you have to make them last. A strong design is one that doesn't just look pretty but guides users and encourages them to interact or share. "Visuals and branding are important, but what's important is how those visuals and branding are integrated with the structure underneath the surface layer," says Bustarde. "You can have a gorgeous looking layout, but it has to work. If a visitor clicks on what looks like a compelling button but it doesn't really do anything, you've hurt yourself twice: you've presented something that feels broken and discouraging, and you've missed out on the opportunity that was created with your great visual cue." Style and substance Underpinning visuals and structure is content, arguably the most important single component when it comes to stickiness. To get repeat visits BKWLD's director of interactive production Dan Fields suggests "putting what's most useful and compelling in the most logical, strategic position". Fields points out that once a 'visual language' is created and a user knows where to find sticky content, it's easy to train them to find it, helping to ensure they'll stick around. In the fight for eyes and hits, video is definitely worth considering. "We're constantly visually stimulated, and video often achieves engagement where text and imagery cannot," says Kirby. "Regularly updated videos maximise repeat visits from people looking for new content. "Since video hasn't seen the amount of contribution text content has, early, enthusiastic adopters will reap the benefits in natural search rankings, given the relatively low amount of existing competition compared to blogs and websites." However, video by its nature takes time to consume, and so Chudley warns that it "should be of a duration commensurate with the nature of what's being conveyed," adding that he recently saw a 25-minute video for a web service that should have been a quickfire elevator pitch. The result: zero stickiness. Social engagement Compelling content within a strong, usable design will guarantee some stickiness, then. But the relentless march of Facebook and Amazon suggests that reactive design is increasingly important.
Sites that react to users' needs can result in longer session times and encourage return visits. Customisation involves a personal investment on behalf of the user, and when someone has given time to a site, they're more likely to become loyal. "The method to choose depends on your site and audience," says Sasso. "If you can automatically provide reactive design, that's often better than making users customise things themselves, because that comes with a learning curve." With Facebook having trained people to click on 'like' buttons, a low level of active participation should be fine for most sites to increase stickiness. We Love copywriter Melissa Bennett suggests this will soon become commonplace. "Facebook plugins vary from enabling users to 'like' or recommend things to allowing users to make comments and show profile pictures of friends who've already signed up – they're essentially letting brands encourage users to explore more," she says. "And what I see when looking at a site with a Facebook login will be different to what a friend sees. In the future, sites will be completely relevant to individual users. This will make them extremely sticky: by making content relevant and contextual, catering to what we want to see, a site will create loyalty." However, Bustarde warns that anyone focusing on a similar kind of targeted content must "avoid the creepy sensation that comes with seeming to know too much about your visitors" – a problem Facebook's arguably having to deal with. Other means of social engagement can also enhance stickiness. Hefendehl cites Gurgle.com, the Mothercare-backed community for first-time parents. "It's run as a non-direct sales channel," he explains. "By identifying a need for a core target market, the site offers sticky content in the form of help for parents." Others tap into existing networks such as Flickr, YouTube and Twitter. "These are all great tools to achieve extra stickiness," says Jonathan Smiley of design company ZURB. "People come from these sites and spend incredible amounts of time on ZURB.com. Why? Because they want to learn more after viewing one of our videos or reading our tweets." The important thing is to ensure the sense of community always remains – poor management of social media can harm perception of a brand, which can wreck stickiness. With communities in place and visitors returning, it's useful to examine additional outreach possibilities, although Hefendehl says to be mindful that most people aren't techies. "RSS readers are good to push content out, but are limited to a very small percentage of people who use them and understand what they do. Newsletters and email marketing are more effective tools to get users back to your site. A carefully planned email strategy will pay for itself in no time." Even better, he says, is to find a way to enable user-generated content: "Everyone loves seeing their content published or their comments picked up by a website's owner." Getting the design and content right are key when making your site sticky, but so too are technical factors. If your site is slow to load, users might not even bother waiting, no matter how much amazing content it contains. Assuming this hurdle is overcome, ongoing speed must be maintained to hold a user's interest. "The longer people stay, the more engaged they'll become, ultimately increasing the chance of their desire to return," says Bluhalo's Steve Clarke. Strike a balance But remember that web design is a balancing act – don't get spooked and rip out or oversimplify your content in the name of stickiness. "People are willing to wait for something, within reason," points out Bustarde. "For instance, most people don't mind that Netflix's online movie player takes a minute to load, because they're expecting to be with the site for hours." However, at the other extreme, the same wait for 30 seconds of content would be a poor experience. Fields also recommends that designers resist temptation to shove 'sticky' hooks above the fold. "Thanks to long scrolling sites such as Facebook, people are no longer afraid to scroll," he says. "Sometimes, telling a story and creating pacing on a page is good. Just as stories have conflict, climax and resolution, why shouldn't a website sometimes use that same convention?"
One shouldn't underestimate users, argues Fields, and warns against confusing a short attention span with the notion that users don't want content. "The important thing is to ensure that content throughout your sites is of a high quality – that, ultimately, ensures users will be willing to wait, engage and return. Speed and pacing are especially important for mobile sites, although 'sticky' in the mobile domain rarely equates to 'more time' – instead, less is more in this space. "Keep things simple," recommends Code Computerlove founder Louis Georgiou. "Have content targeted for the device it's consumed on, remove noise and visual clutter, keep options relevant and obvious, and make things light and quick," he says. Hefendehl agrees, suggesting sites offering quick access to important information to ensure return visits. "A bad example is Transport for London's site, which loads too much content when accessed via a smartphone," he says. "By contrast, National Rail offers exactly what you need on the go, allowing easy access to train times and destinations."
Whether on the desktop or mobile, fast sites demonstrably lead to increased stickiness, which can in turn increase revenue. ZURB's Bryan Zmijewski explains that the agency has seen revenue bumps on ecommerce sites of up to 30 per cent simply by making pages load faster. Speed testing Objectively measuring a site's speed is fairly simple, thanks to modern tools. Clarke recommends Firebug, which "provides a list of how long each element takes to load, helping to identify those causing delays and enabling you to focus on improving specific content load times." Hosting provision also plays an important role in delivering good speeds. "Load testing will give you an idea of the capacity of your servers," he says. "A poor result indicates that the server needs to be optimised or that additional server capacity is needed." Sometimes, this can pay rapid dividends. For example, Hefendehl explains how Pod1 upped the number of UNIQLO UK servers for Christmas, to cope with increased demand, and the resulting site speed bump helped conversion rates rise by 50 per cent. Unsurprisingly, UNIQLO subsequently decided to retain this server setup.
Unfortunately, measuring how site speed affects visitor engagement isn't always as straightforward. "Many analytics tools recommend placing code at the bottom of a page, but on slow sites the tool may miss the fact someone's even visited," says Bustarde. "For sites you know are going to have a relatively long load time, one possibility is to let your analytics tool track when a visitor first arrives and then treat their first action on the site as a sort of mini conversion." Hefendehl also argues that measuring a site's stickiness differs depending on its business objectives. "It could be time on site; it could be returning visitors per campaign; it could be number of transactions; it could be cost per acquisition," he suggests. "There's no general rule for measuring this." To that end, don't be too reliant on time-based feedback alone: in fact, says Chudley, doing so can be dangerous. "You can get a skewed impression of site success," he points out. "A client once delighted in telling me that user visits averaged over 20 minutes. In reality, his service should have led to short visits but the site was hard to use and people were getting stuck…"
Ideally, look for a range of indicators when judging the stickiness of a website, and make them relevant to the site. If the site is designed to offer quickfire information, look for short visits with people returning regularly. If the site aims to keep people engrossed for hours, ensure that's what's happening. If you're providing interesting content for people to grab, the tracking of downloaded files in tandem with return visits and growth might be enough to indicate a site's success regarding stickiness. "This will all change from site to site, but should detail whether visitors are doing what you expect," says Bustarde. Having stickiness as your overriding goal requires the strategy of proving value. In the end, what some visitors find useless and trite, others will find essential. It's your job as a designer to aim the right content at the intended audience – and to ensure that everything sticks. 
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| Weird Tech: Rampant robots and touchy tables Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:00 AM PST  What's more wanted than the boss of Wikileaks and more fun than burning an effigy of Nick Clegg when you're supposed to be studying? That's right: this week's Weird Tech! This editions features internet shoes, touchy-feely tables, alarming adult products and strange behaviour in Germany. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who don't want Facebook on their feet and, well, crazy people. So it's good news for the latter camp: limited edition Adidas Facebook Superstars. We hoped that in honour of Facebook's privacy policy the shoes would change shape every few days, hiding features you'd become used to such as the bit you put your feet in or the bits where the laces go, but sadly Gerry McKay's clever concept isn't that satirical. Microsoft gets touchy The internet's very excited about a new Microsoft patent: a touch-screen that you can actually feel. Instead of today's featureless glass slabs, Microsoft proposes using a layer of plastic that can change shape when ultraviolet light hits it.
ERRRR: We're told that the finished version will look a bit more impressive than this Virtual keyboards could feel like real keys, products could be prodded and – you know this gag's coming – you really could poke people on Facebook. New Scientist has the details. Toys for the boys The days when vibrators had to be advertised as devices promoting "vigour, strength and beauty" are long gone, and adult toys are big business – for the girls, anyway.
INTERESTING: No, it's not a toy car. It's a toy of a very different kind. Hot Wheels eat your heart out Next step? Toys for men. AFP describes a range of new intimate products designed for the hairier sex, with highlights including the Cobra Libre. If you've ever wanted to have sex with something that looks like a toy car, now you can. Big Trak's on your back While we're on the subject of personal massagers, what could be more relaxing than having something resembling '80s robot tank Big Trak rolling around your body? Nothing, hope DreamBots, whose WheeMe's "four small wheels and the rotor finger gently press and caress providing a delightful sense of bodily pleasure". By happy coincidence, it looks as if someone took the aforementioned Cobra Libre and glued wheels to it. In any case, the models in the product videos couldn't look much less comfortable if the WheeMes were being nailed to them. The WheeMe is yours for just 49 dollars, and it ships in spring.
Germany's Google gangs To Germany, where some people take Google Street View far too seriously. Pro-Google vigilantes are throwing eggs at the homes of people whose houses have been blurred on Street View. "Google's cool," read the notes left on the unfortunate householders' mailboxes.
HAPPY EGGS: "Street View? What's Street View? The eggs would find out soon enough" [Image credit: Themonnie on Flickr] As Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch explains, while there are two separate news reports of such tomfoolery "neither gives the exact number of homes involved nor are pictures of the eggings posted." Are these a few isolated incidents, or is the entire country at it? If you're German or in Germany, do let us know. 
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| Tron 3D inspires 3D nightclub experience Posted: 03 Dec 2010 01:48 AM PST Fans of electronic music and clubbing are already getting hyped about the forthcoming release of Jeff Bridge's 3D TRON: Legacy, which features a cracking electronic music soundtrack courtesy of French house outfit Daft Punk. As such, TRON 3D Nights are sweeping across Indian nightclubs, offering the first 3D clubbing experience in the sub-continent.
Tron 3D hits the clubs Dance music promoters Submerge plan to host the Tron 3D Nights across Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, to celebrate the release of the movie and the accompanying Daft Punk soundtrack. US superstar DJ Christopher Lawrence will entertain the crowds, working with a British DJ and 3D VJ (Visual Jockey) team to create the ultimate digital-3D clubbing experience. Nikhil Chinapa, Submerge Co-Founder said, "Submerge has always been about creating a unique clubbing experiencing and we are glad to announce that The 3D: Audio Visual Experience is coming to India exclusively through Submerge. "Our association with the India Release of the path-breaking 3D movie - The Tron: Legacy is going to make this clubbing experience even more special and we are looking forward to the TRON 3D parties." 3D – better than drugs? Who needs drugs, when you've got a nightclub offering a mix of TRON, Daft Punk and mind-blowing 3D visuals all night?! Disney's new 3D TRON movie is due to release in the UK on 17 December, just in time for family trips to the flicks over the Christmas holidays. You can see the official UK site for TRON: Legacy over at http://www.disney.co.uk/tron 
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| Review: Sharkoon SATA Quickport Home Posted: 03 Dec 2010 01:30 AM PST  Hard drives docks are not exactly new, or that easy to get excited about. That said, Sharkoon's latest addition to its Quickport family, the Home edition, is offering something a little different compared to the competition. As well as offering the ability to drop in and pull out a 3.5-inch drive on the fly, this DVD player sized device allows you to have a 2.5-inch drive, USB drive and SD card all slotted in at the same time. The Quickport Home has a whole host of connectivity options and the ease with which you swap in and out drives is, for the most part, thoroughly impressive and rather useful. I say for the most part because the 2.5-inch bay wasn't as forgiving of the different drive shapes as we'd like. Both our traditional 2.5-inch laptop drives got stuck and had to be removed with pliers as the release mechanism missed part of the housing. The best part, though, is the fact that you can use an eSATA connection to attach the device to your PC. This enables much faster transfer of data from your SATA drives housed in it. With the average read speed dropping from 55MB/s to 26MB/s when you switch from eSATA to USB 2.0, the difference is obvious. Overall, £53 is rather pricey for what is essentially a hard drive caddy. Still, it's a functional device and if you're in the market for a hot-swappable caddy this won't do you too much wrong. If you're not using 2.5-inch drives that is… Related Links
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Ice Age 3D: One for all the family
Coraline 3D: Neil Gaiman's spooky fairytale
A Christmas Carol 3D: A heartwarming tale for a family get-together
Polar Express 3D: One of the first 3D Blu-rays
Monsters vs Aliens: A Samsung exclusive
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D 
Monster House 3D
IMAX Grand Canyon: River at Risk 3D
Open Season 3D (Nov 22)
Step Up 3D (Nov 29)
Resident Evil: Afterlife (Jan 10) 
My Bloody Valentine 3D (Best Buy Exclusive)
IMAX: Deep Sea 3D
IMAX: Space Station 3D
Despicable Me 3D Combo Pack (Dec 14) 
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