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Techradar |
- Review: Acer Aspire 5820T-373G32Mn
- T3 iPad app gets Apple app subscription
- Sony preps Killzone 3 PS3 bundles for launch
- Rumour: Dell to buy AMD
- MWC 2011: Phone brands in talks to throw away keyboards?
- MWC 2011: Android Honeycomb to get video editing app
- MWC 2011: Hands on: Acer Iconia Tab A500 review
- MWC 2011: Motorola boss rules out Windows Phone 7 handsets
- Motorola boss rules out Windows Phone 7 handsets
- MWC 2011: Hands on: Acer Iconia Tab A100 review
- Exclusive: LG and Sky confirm content deal for Optimus 3D
- Exclusive: LG and Sky confirm content deal for Optimus 3D
- MWC 2011: Google still open to Nokia partnership
- MWC 2011: Hands on: ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro review
- MWC 2011: Hands on: ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro review
- MWC 2011: Gingerbread and Honeycomb to combine for next-gen Android
- MWC 2011: Samsung launches Galaxy S Wi-FI 4.0 Smart Player
- MWC 2011: The best tablets at MWC 2011
- MWC 2011: HTC Desire S, HTC Wildfire S and HTC ChaCha coming to T-Mobile
- Panasonic 3D LED TV line-up: DT30 and DT35 series unveiled
- Exclusive: Sony denies it's planning to snub iTunes
- Exclusive: Sony denies it's planning to snub iTunes
- Exclusive: RIM: Nokia is wrong to underestimate us
- MWC 2011: Hands on: HTC Wildfire S review
- Apple App Store subscriptions announced
| Review: Acer Aspire 5820T-373G32Mn Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:30 AM PST  The Acer Aspire 5820T-373G32Mn is part of Acer's TimelineX consumer laptop range and promises excellent performance with no compromise to battery life. Although there are more powerful laptops around this price point, the Acer's portability is unrivalled. The bland grey chassis design lacks any significant design flourishes, but the matt finish at least prevents fingerprints from gathering. Construction is solid and the 2.4kg weight makes this a good laptop for the briefcase and light enough for the daily commute. Working away from the office is no problem, thanks to its excellent battery life, affording a fantastic 451 minutes of productivity from a single charge. This is almost three hours more than its nearest rival at this price and is the kind of mobility we would expect from a netbook. Acer has fitted a dual-core Intel Core i3 370M processor, which provides strong budget performance, backed up by 3072MB of memory. You can happily run several office applications at once without slowdown. However, several laptops around this price point feature a more powerful Intel Core i5 processor for the same price or less. Benchmarks Battery life: 451 minutes The Acer also contends with basic integrated graphics, which are suitable only for simple multimedia tasks, such as browsing photos. If you need more graphical power, the Dell XPS 15 and Samsung Q430-JS02UK are better options. The full-sized keyboard closely resembles the Packard Bell EasyNote TX86, with flat keys and a dedicated numeric keypad. The keys are firmly set and comfortable to type on, although the gaps between them are a haven for crumbs.
The touchpad is smooth and has a clearly labelled scrollbar on the right edge for quickly navigating through documents and web pages, although the mouse buttons have very little travel. This laptop also features a display with a widescreen aspect ratio, which is ideal for watching movies. The Acer's 15.6-inch display is one of the brightest, with deep blacks and strong contrast, but it lacks vibrancy, with none of the punch of the Dell XPS 15 and Toshiba Satellite L650-1GD. Ample storage The Acer's 320GB of storage is bettered here only by the Dell XPS 15, and provides plenty of space for your important files, although it could be quickly filled by a large media collection. Wireless and wired networking are strong with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet both on board, while VGA and HDMI ports can be used to connect the laptop to external monitors or projectors. The Aspire 5820T-373G32Mn may lack exciting features and settles for a stoic business design, but the excellent battery life and slim, light chassis make it a worthy travelling companion. Recommended for those who spend a lot of time on the road travelling. Related Links
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| T3 iPad app gets Apple app subscription Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:28 AM PST  T3 magazine, made by the same publishers as TechRadar, has announced that it is among the first in the world to offer a subscription service for its T3 magazine iPad edition. T3 magazine has enjoyed great success with its iPad edition, with the digital mag consistently listed as the highest grossing lifestyle app in the UK. Perfect timing T3 is no stranger to embracing new technologies. It was the first UK magazine to be available on the iPad, and it immediately became one of the best-selling UK magazines on Zinio. In October 2010 it was the first UK magazine to launch a monthly, paid-for, fully enhanced iPad edition on the Woodwing platform. Nial Ferguson, Group Publishing Director of Future's Technology portfolio said about the service: The arrival of subscriptions to the T3 iPad edition comes at the perfect time, as we have just published our 5th monthly edition. "We are now able to offer a selection of value offerings from a free trial and single issue purchase, through to 90, 180 and 360 day subscriptions." To try out the T3 iPad edition, head over to iTunes now. 
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| Sony preps Killzone 3 PS3 bundles for launch Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:55 AM PST  If you are still in the market for a Sony PlayStation 3, then you might be interested to learn that Sony is shipping these new Killzone 3 PS3 bundles to retailers in time for the game's launch on 25 February. Sony is still to officially announce the bundles, but the fact that retailers have leaked images online has pretty much confirmed their existence. Killzone 3 bundle pricing Amazon France is listing the 320GB PS3 Killzone 3 bundle already, priced 348 Euros (£292). A US version of the bundle, listed on Amazon US, also offers a 160GB PS3 bundle, priced at $299 (£185). TechRadar has contacted SCEE for further details on UK pricing and availability of the latest PS3 bundles set to arrive in stores later this very month. 
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| Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:37 AM PST  Dell is rumoured to be looking to acquire AMD. The rumour started with financial news outlet Barron's, reporting this week that AMD's shares had spiked and were up five per cent because of the possibility of a Dell acquisition being on the cards. A "far-fetched possibility" Patrick Wang, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, admitted to Bloomberg that he was also aware of Wall Street "chatter" about the possibility of Dell looking to buy AMD. However, Wang also added that such a deal was a "far-fetched possibility." Recently disposed ex-CEO of AMD Dirk Meyer did admit late last year that the company was happy to listen to any serious proposals from potential buyers that was in the interest of the shareholders. Then he was promptly fired in January of this year. Dell currently has $14.4bn in cash reserves. However, the fact that the company also does good business with Intel and doesn't like to tie itself exclusively to any particular chip manufacturer - added to the fact that AMD itself does goes business with a number of other PC vendors in addition to Dell – suggests that a mooted Dell acquisition is highly unlikely. Still, stranger things have happened in the tech industry, so let's not completely rule out the possibility until we receive an official denial from one or other party. TechRadar has contacted both Dell and AMD for further comment. 
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| MWC 2011: Phone brands in talks to throw away keyboards? Posted: 15 Feb 2011 01:28 PM PST  Virtual keyboard developer Snapkeys is in talks with a number of large manufacturers and networks over using a radically different keyboard system on future phones. The Snapkeys 2i works by working out what a user is writing by combining known keystrokes for common words with simply accurately working out which part of the keyboard was intended to be hit - like touch typing, but apparently with less mistakes. Yoni Mozeson, marketing manager for Snapkeys, told TechRadar that his company thinks keyboards take up too much room on the screen and don't even need to be there: "Other systems like Swype or similar don't solve the basic problem: the keyboard takes up too much space and doesn't need to be there." No learning curve "We're doing quality tests [with our tech] at the moment, and found people can type quickly and accurately. There's no learning curve to be overcome. "We're in talks with nearly every major network and manufacturer [to use our technology] and we hope to have some announcements very soon." While Mozeson wouldn't be drawn on the names of the companies, he did state that it could have further reaching functions, such as in gaming or on other areas like a fax machine or photocopier, where space is at a premium. We'll be testing this out in the near future to see if it really is as accurate as claimed - could Apple's iPhone Nano come without a keyboard? 
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| MWC 2011: Android Honeycomb to get video editing app Posted: 15 Feb 2011 01:17 PM PST  The big news from Eric Schmidt's MWC keynote might have been his overtures to bring Nokia to Android but the speech was full of newsworthy morsels. One of the big snippets was the unveiling of Movie Studio, a new piece of video editing software for Android Honeycomb tablets like the forthcoming Motorola XOOM. Movie Studio, which was built from scratch for Android 3.0, appears to offer simple timeline-based editing as well as HD video support, a series of effects and transitions and audio support. Naturally, it will also enable uploads straight to YouTube, which will allow more polished vids to hit the web rather than rugged footage presented as one clip. iMovie killer? The game changer for mobile video editing was Apple's mobile version of iMovie, which debuted on the iPhone 4. It's likely to be a feature for the iPad when the device is upgraded this Spring. Google will be hoping that new Android tablet owners will be able to boast similar skills when editing video with their Honeycomb devices, starting with the impressive-looking XOOM. We'd love to see this app converted for Android smartphones too and we see no reason why it couldn't be. We don't know a huge amount about Movie Studio yet, but we'll be keeping our ears to the ground for more information. 
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| MWC 2011: Hands on: Acer Iconia Tab A500 review Posted: 15 Feb 2011 12:39 PM PST  Yes, it's another Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet. But the good thing is that this one doesn't seem like it will take too long to arrive. The Acer Iconia Tab A500 UK release date is April 2011, with pricing to be fixed. And that's the key thing – we need that pricing to make a proper judgement on this tablet.
We don't think the screen is as good as that on the Motorola Xoom, for example, but then we'd hope that Acer will choose a more appealing price point than Motorola is likely to.
As is becoming the norm for Honeycomb, this tablet has an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core chip. Acer has several extra app areas on the device including Games Zone where you can find a variety of preloaded games, eReading, where you can download or read magazines and books and a Multimedia section.
The look and feel of this tablet is pretty attractive and at 13.3mm thick it's similar to the other tablets available.
It does, however, have a built-in HDMI port and 1080p output to an HDTV. The tablet has an impressively wide viewing angle. Graphics are powered by an ultra-low voltage (ULV) GeForce graphics chip with Flash 10.1 support.
There's also a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera too.
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| MWC 2011: Motorola boss rules out Windows Phone 7 handsets Posted: 15 Feb 2011 12:37 PM PST  Motorola will not be joining Nokia in manufacturing Windows Phone 7 handsets. Senior executive Christy Wyatt told journalists at Mobile World Congress that Microsoft's new mobile OS was a "closed platform" that wouldn't allow Moto to provide a unique experience for its users. "I don't envision us using Microsoft," said the company's VP of software and services product management. "I would never say never but it's not something we're entertaining now. "There were a bunch of things that we believed about Microsoft that ended up not being true, mostly about what functionality it would have in what period of time." 100% Android Wyatt says the late arrival of WP7 was also a factor in Moto committing exclusively to Android. "We're the only vendor who is 100 percent Android." Motorola will continue the Android expansion the has helped the mobile branch of the company back from the laughing stock of the industry to become a top drawer player once again. The next step for the company, says Wyatt, is a better handling of the upgrade process as users seek quick transitions to the newest versions of Google's ever-changing OS. She says: "The entire upgrade process has humbled us a bit through this past year. If you aren't thoughtful about how you designed (the upgrade process) in the first place you'll have a hard time designing and pushing out upgrades. "But we were better with Froyo then with Éclair and we'll be even better with Gingerbread," which is next on the list for Android phone owners. Source: PC World 
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| Motorola boss rules out Windows Phone 7 handsets Posted: 15 Feb 2011 12:37 PM PST Motorola will not be joining Nokia in manufacturing Windows Phone 7 handsets. Senior executive Christy Wyatt told journalists at Mobile World Congress that Microsoft's new mobile OS was a "closed platform" that wouldn't allow Moto to provide a unique experience for its users. "I don't envision us using Microsoft," said the company's VP of software and services product management. "I would never say never but it's not something we're entertaining now. "There were a bunch of things that we believed about Microsoft that ended up not being true, mostly about what functionality it would have in what period of time." 100% Android Wyatt says the late arrival of WP7 was also a factor in Moto committing exclusively to Android. "We're the only vendor who is 100 percent Android." Motorola will continue the Android expansion the has helped the mobile branch of the company back from the laughing stock of the industry to become a top drawer player once again. The next step for the company, says Wyatt, is a better handling of the upgrade process as users seek quick transitions to the newest versions of Google's ever-changing OS. She says: "The entire upgrade process has humbled us a bit through this past year. If you aren't thoughtful about how you designed (the upgrade process) in the first place you'll have a hard time designing and pushing out upgrades. "But we were better with Froyo then with Éclair and we'll be even better with Gingerbread," which is next on the list for Android phone owners. Source: PC World 
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| MWC 2011: Hands on: Acer Iconia Tab A100 review Posted: 15 Feb 2011 11:48 AM PST  Another Android 3.0 Honeycomb slate, this time it's Acer's 7-inch version, one of the few smaller-than-10-inch tablets we've seen at this year's Mobile World Congress alongside the HTC Flyer. There's the Dell Streak 7 and BlackBerry PlayBook, of course, but they were announced previously.
Pricing is still to be fixed, while the Acer Iconia Tab A100 UK release date is April 2011. Like it's bigger brother, the Acer Iconia Tab A500, this tablet has an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core chip.
Acer has several extra apps on the device including Games Zone where you can find a variety of preloaded games, eReading, where you can download or read magazines and books and a Multimedia section.
Acer's clear.fi is also preloaded, its in-home media sharing app. The tablet also has Dolby Mobile on board.
There's also a 5 megapixel auto-focus rear camera and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.
The 7-inch tablet has a rather high resolution display, with a 1024 x 600 resolution display. This matches the resolution on the BlackBerry PlayBook, which is impressive for such a compact display, as well as the newly-announced HTC Flyer.
Like the A500, the A100 has mini HDMI for 1080p output to an HDTV as well as mini USB, Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth 2.1.
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| Exclusive: LG and Sky confirm content deal for Optimus 3D Posted: 15 Feb 2011 11:06 AM PST  LG has told TechRadar that it will be working with Sky to create 3D content for use on the forthcoming Optimus 3D. The exact details have yet to be confirmed, but given Sky and LG's intent to see the reach of 3D video furthered, the tie-up makes sense: "LG will be collaborating with Sky to showcase Sky 3D content directly on the upcoming Optimus 3D handset," read the exclusive statement to TechRadar. Short form first? The deal could be pretty big - we'd anticipate short form content would be provided first as the technology beds in, before longer elements (with things like full, streamed games hopefully) coming later in the future. This would mirror the deal that Sky has with Nintendo on the 3DS for short form content - and could mean the door is open for the likes of Eurosport to offer its 3D content too. We'll have more on this story in the coming weeks - so stay tuned, as the LG Optimus 3D suddenly became a lot more attractive... 
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| Exclusive: LG and Sky confirm content deal for Optimus 3D Posted: 15 Feb 2011 11:06 AM PST LG has told TechRadar that it will be working with Sky to create 3D content for use on the forthcoming Optimus 3D. The exact details have yet to be confirmed, but given Sky and LG's intent to see the reach of 3D video furthered, the tie-up makes sense: "LG will be collaborating with Sky to showcase Sky 3D content directly on the upcoming Optimus 3D handset," read the exclusive statement to TechRadar. Short form first? The deal could be pretty big - we'd anticipate short form content would be provided first as the technology beds in, before longer elements (with things like full, streamed games hopefully) coming later in the future. This would mirror the deal that Sky has with Nintendo on the 3DS for short form content - and could mean the door is open for the likes of Eurosport to offer its 3D content too. We'll have more on this story in the coming weeks - so stay tuned, as the LG Optimus 3D suddenly became a lot more attractive... 
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| MWC 2011: Google still open to Nokia partnership Posted: 15 Feb 2011 10:47 AM PST  Google's Eric Schmidt has said that the company tried very hard to get Nokia to take Android as its primary platform, and hopes discussions aren't dead. Speaking at his MWC keynote, Schmidt said that the door wasn't closed, although wouldn't go into detail about how far discussions progressed: "We would have loved it if Nokia has chosen Android - instead they chose those other guys." Offer still good "The offer remains open to them - we [still] think it would be a good choice for Nokia." It seems Microsoft was more convincing to Nokia on the possibility of creating a new and powerful ecosystem - and it certainly didn't hurt that CEO Elop is an ex-Microsoft man. While it's impressive Nokia has bet big on Windows Phone 7, only a complete implosion of the OS would cause it to go down the Android route - although it's good that the door remains open, despite Elop laying down the gauntlet by claming it will be a 'three horse race'. 
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| MWC 2011: Hands on: ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro review Posted: 15 Feb 2011 10:34 AM PST ViewSonic's new ViewPad 10Pro tabletis exciting for one key reason: it dual boots Windows 7 and Android without having to reboot to switch between them. That's what ViewSonic's last ViewPad 10 tablet did – a beleaguered switching process makes the ability to dualboot OSes nigh on pointless. We went hands on with the new ViewPad 10Pro at Mobile World Congress, so this should keep you ticking over until our full ViewPad 10Pro review hits the stands. It's not a bad looking tablet, but it does owe quite a bit in aesthetics to Apple's iPad designers - the below image is alongside a keyboard periphery, it doesn't have a physical QWERTY. The front panel is bereft of buttons save for a round home button (sounds familiar, no?).
The back is in a matt black finish with a discreet grille on either side.
Alongside the power connector, there's a 3.5mm headphone jack, HDMI port, USB connector and SIM card slot.
An array of buttons sit on another edge of the panel – these can be used to lock the screen and for some functions like volume control.
There's also a front-facing camera for video conferencing, although it wasn't working on the product sample we used.
The new ViewPad 10Pro virtualises Android so it actually runs above Windows 7 when you tap the Android icon. Switching back to the Windows OS is as simple as hitting the Windows button on an ever-present menu bar.
Well, the painless one-touch switching process is the theory; the sample we used at Mobile World Congress, which is not a final production model so we can cut them some slack, struggled to switch, with crashes an all too frequent occurrence. When we say it was not a final version product that we spent hands on time with, we mean it was quite far off being finished; the back button wasn't yet enabled and the home key, one of few buttons available on the device, didn't work either. It certainly made getting out of applications quiet challenging. Using applications like Paint in the Windows 7 portion of the tablet worked fine, with the touchscreen proving mostly responsive enough for our liking.
Occasionally we'd hit a bit of an OS-based snafu, for example pulling the Windows Start menu up over the Android skin – but when virtualising an OS things like this are bound to happen occasionally.
What sounds like a great product on paper isn't quite there yet in the ViewPad 10Pro; if ViewSonic can get the kinks ironed out of the tablet and knock the dual-boot switching up a gear, the tablet could have some good potential. If not, it's just going to cause users frustration. We'll bring you our true verdict in our full ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro review in the coming months. 
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| MWC 2011: Hands on: ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro review Posted: 15 Feb 2011 10:34 AM PST ViewSonic's new ViewPad 10Pro tabletis exciting for one key reason: it dual boots Windows 7 and Android without having to reboot to switch between them. That's what ViewSonic's last ViewPad 10 tablet did – a beleaguered switching process makes the ability to dualboot OSes nigh on pointless. We went hands on with the new ViewPad 10Pro at Mobile World Congress, so this should keep you ticking over until our full ViewPad 10Pro review hits the stands. It's not a bad looking tablet, but it does owe quite a bit in aesthetics to Apple's iPad designers - the below image is alongside a keyboard periphery, it doesn't have a physical QWERTY. The front panel is bereft of buttons save for a round home button (sounds familiar, no?).
The back is in a matt black finish with a discreet grille on either side.
Alongside the power connector, there's a 3.5mm headphone jack, HDMI port, USB connector and SIM card slot.
An array of buttons sit on another edge of the panel – these can be used to lock the screen and for some functions like volume control.
There's also a front-facing camera for video conferencing, although it wasn't working on the product sample we used.
The new ViewPad 10Pro virtualises Android so it actually runs above Windows 7 when you tap the Android icon. Switching back to the Windows OS is as simple as hitting the Windows button on an ever-present menu bar.
Well, the painless one-touch switching process is the theory; the sample we used at Mobile World Congress, which is not a final production model so we can cut them some slack, struggled to switch, with crashes an all too frequent occurrence. When we say it was not a final version product that we spent hands on time with, we mean it was quite far off being finished; the back button wasn't yet enabled and the home key, one of few buttons available on the device, didn't work either. It certainly made getting out of applications quiet challenging. Using applications like Paint in the Windows 7 portion of the tablet worked fine, with the touchscreen proving mostly responsive enough for our liking.
Occasionally we'd hit a bit of an OS-based snafu, for example pulling the Windows Start menu up over the Android skin – but when virtualising an OS things like this are bound to happen occasionally.
What sounds like a great product on paper isn't quite there yet in the ViewPad 10Pro; if ViewSonic can get the kinks ironed out of the tablet and knock the dual-boot switching up a gear, the tablet could have some good potential. If not, it's just going to cause users frustration. We'll bring you our true verdict in our full ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro review in the coming months. 
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| MWC 2011: Gingerbread and Honeycomb to combine for next-gen Android Posted: 15 Feb 2011 10:24 AM PST Google's Eric Schmidt has lifted the lid slightly on the next version of Android, stating that it will be a combination of the current offerings. Speaking at Mobile World Congress, Schmidt said that the company was working to improve the problem of fragmentation in the industry, and hoped future releases would help mitigate the problem: "As we know, Gingerbread is for mobiles, and Honeycomb, which we previewed today, is for tablets. "So the next version will begin with an 'I' and be named after a dessert, and it will combine the capabilities of the two. 6 month cycle "We're working on the basis of a current 6 month cycle roughly for each new release." Schmidt also addressed the issue of fragmentation in the Google market, stating that they didn't want vendors to be forced to 'lock step', highlighting the power of the app market as a reason. "No operator wants to miss out on the Andoid market, so that why we have an anti-fragmentation clause [to adhere to basic specs so applications work]. "We're currently releasing Gingerbread over the next month or two which vendors are upgrading to, and that should address fragmentation concerns." 
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| MWC 2011: Samsung launches Galaxy S Wi-FI 4.0 Smart Player Posted: 15 Feb 2011 09:08 AM PST -200-200.jpg) Samsung has launched a PMP version of its popular Galaxy S smartphone, with the new Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi Smart Player unveiled at MWC 2011 in Barcelona this week. We were wondering just what the deal was with the Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi 5.0 PMP when we nabbed a hands on with the device earlier this week, and now Samsung has made the Smart Player official. The company has also explained to TechRadar that it will be coming in two sizes: 4-inch and 5-inch. Low-cost PMP Essentially, this latest device is the Samsung Galaxy S with call-making functionality removed, so you get all the benefits of Sammy's great display and audio playback fidelity, with far less of the cost. However, it should be pointed out that the display on the new Galaxy S Smart Player is an LCD screen and not the super bright AMOLED screen you will find on its smartphone big brother. Costs must. The Galaxy S Smart Player runs Android 2.2 Froyo. Plus, most importantly for many teens, if you still need to make calls via WiFi, then Skype will still be supported. Simon Stanford, Managing Director, Mobile, Samsung UK and Ireland said: "The Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.0 has all the entertainment features of the hugely popular Galaxy S handset. It's a great mobile entertainment device with apps, video, music and a top-notch screen." The Samsung Galaxy S Smart Player (both sizes) has a UK release date of late 2011. Stay tuned for updates on release dates, pricing and more as and when we get them. 
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| MWC 2011: The best tablets at MWC 2011 Posted: 15 Feb 2011 08:43 AM PST  The dust had barely settled after a chaotic stampede of tablets at CES. Now, a month on, there's more tablet action to come. At this year's Mobile World Congress, Samsung, HTC, Acer and LG all announced new tablets. Add these to devices on show from HP, RIM, ViewSonic and Motorola and you can see why 2011 is going to be the year of keyboard-less computing. Here's our round-up of the best tablets and pads on show at MWC 2011… HTC Flyer After much speculation, HTC finally revealed its Flyer tablet at Mobile World Congress. It comes with a 7-inch display, so it ducks direct comparison with the iPad and has more in common with the original Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Blackberry PlayBook. In fact, the HTC Flyer fits neatly between the two – it's better specced than Samsung's mini-tablet, yet not as high-tech as RIM's over-sized Blackberry. We like the screen, which has a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and can be used with a stylus. We also like the 5MP camera on the back and the addition of a 1.3MP lens on the front for video chat. What don't we like? The early model on show at MWC ran the Gingerbread phone OS with HTC Sense rather than the tablet-specific Android 3.0 version. The 1.5GHz single-core processor inside is also a strange choice compared to the dual-core CPUs being deployed in rival devices. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 While the HTC Flyer is a mixed technology bag, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 eliminates any niggles we had with Samsung's original 7-inch device. Rocking the Android 3.0 OS, the new Galaxy Tab speeds along courtesy of a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU and impresses with a luxurious 10.1-inch (1280 x 800 pixel) touchscreen.
On the back, Samsung has added an 8MP camera, while around the front there's a 2MP lens for video conferencing. Or for simply using the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as an expensive mirror. With Flash 10.1 and 1080p support, the overall specification just edges out the Motorola Xoom. Just. LG Optimus Pad It's difficult to pick a favourite Android tablet when the hardware specifications are so similar. Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, The LG Optimus Tab boasts a screamingly fast dual-core Tegra 2 processor (with Nvidia GeForce graphics) and Android 3.0, aka Honeycomb. See it in action here. But the Optimus Pad stands out in two respects. First, it features an 8.9-inch (1024 x 768 pixel) touch-sensitive display that might just hit a sweet spot for anybody who thinks that 7-inch screens are too small and 10.1 is too unwieldy.
Second, it features two 5 Megapixel cameras on the back, enabling it to take 3D videos and photos like the LG Optimus 3D smartphone. Whether you see this as a deal-maker or a pointless gimmick (like fingerprint recognition on a consumer laptop), it certainly differentiates the Optimus Pad from the crowd. HP TouchPad This was the TouchPad's first appearance since HP unveiled the device at its San Francisco WebOS event in early February. Like the iPad, the HP TouchPad features a 9.7-inch display and is well-built and neatly designed. The fact that it runs WebOS 3.0 and multi-tasks beautifully makes it a credible alternative to Android 3.0, the Blackberry OS and Apple's iOS 4. See it working here.
Under the hood, there's a turbo-charged Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core CPU (APQ8060), ticking along at 1.2GHz. It's also available in two configurations, with either 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. Oddly, there's no rear camera. But HP has specced a front-facing 1.3 Megapixel camera for Skyping. Acer Iconia Tab A500 While the tablet spotlight gets hogged by LG, Samsung and HTC, Acer rolled out its own Android device with hardly a 'ta-daa!' Again, here you'll find a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, a 10.1-inch (1280 x 768 pixel) display, HDMI out, plus a 5MP rear camera and a front-facing camera. Here, the Iconia Tab A500 ran Android 2.3 laced with Acer's own UI tweaks. ViewSonic ViewPads ViewSonic is making a real effort to ensure that its tablet devices stand out. Its 10-inch ViewPad 10Pro, for example, can dual-boot both Android 2.2 and Windows 7 Professional and is one of the first tablets to use Intel's Oak Trail CPU. Is this the future of tablet-kind? Blackberry Playbook RIM had already announced the Blackberry PlayBook, but its appearance at MWC was an opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the tablet.
Like the HTC Flyer, the PlayBook has a 7-inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, a 3MP camera on the front and a 5MP lens around the back. Crucially, it's powered by a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, which gives it a performance advantage over the HTC Flyer. Motorola Xoom We've already written a lot about the Motorola Xoom, the darling of CES 2011 thanks to Android 3.0, a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) display, dual-core processor, 1080p video playback and 3G/4G/Wi-Fi connectivity. But what a difference a month makes. Facing up to the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 and LG Optimus Pad, it doesn't seem quite so special. Nevertheless, the appearance of the Xoom at MWC did allow us to get some hands-on time with the Android 3.0 OS, which you can find in video form here. Which tablet have you been impressed by? Which tablet has disappointed you? Let us know in the comments below… 
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| MWC 2011: HTC Desire S, HTC Wildfire S and HTC ChaCha coming to T-Mobile Posted: 15 Feb 2011 08:37 AM PST  HTC's new Desire S (HTC Desire 2), HTC ChaCha and HTC Wildfire S have all been shown off at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, with network after announcing they will be stocking the devices. Now T-Mobile has announced that the three new HTC handsets will soon be available on its network in the UK. Smartphones for all budgets All of HTC's new handsets are also to be made available via Three in the UK, Orange and Vodafone. The new HTC Desire S features a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor first seen in the HTC Desire HD, along with a WVGA (800×480) LCD panel, a front facing camera (VGA) for video chatting and a 5MP camera all based around Android's Gingerbread OS. The HTC ChaCha is one of two Facebook-related phones released by HTC and the HTC Incredible is a handset that boasts an industrial design. Tariff information is non-existent at the moment, but we will update as soon as we are given word. 
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| Panasonic 3D LED TV line-up: DT30 and DT35 series unveiled Posted: 15 Feb 2011 08:17 AM PST  Panasonic has unveiled its 2011 line up of 3D LED TVs today, which included the DT30 and DT35 range. The TVs are made from IPS Alpha panels, which marks a major change to panel production for the company. The new panels mean that Panasonic can get scanning rates down to 2ms and cross-talk has been greatly reduced. Size matters This is the first time Panasonic has done a 3D LED TV line-up, with the company saying about the new TVs: "With the development of its new 3D IPS Alpha LCD panels that will now add mid-size models to the large-sized 3D PDPs to the Panasonic VIERA 3D TV line, Panasonic continues to lead the 3D TV market and meet the needs of customers all over the world." The line-up of sizes is as follows: there's a 37-inch (TX-L37DT30) and 32-inch (TX-L32DT30) in the DT30 range and the same again – 37-inch (TX-L37DT35) and 32-inch (TX-L32DT35) – in the DT35 range. The use of IPS Alpha LED panels is means to provide a wide viewing angle with almost no picture degradation, improved motion response and 400Hz backlight scanning. Price and UK release date for all of the models is to be confirmed. 
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| Exclusive: Sony denies it's planning to snub iTunes Posted: 15 Feb 2011 07:26 AM PST  Despite persistent rumours online this month that Sony Music may be looking to pull out of Apple's iTunes music store at some point soon, a Sony Music UK rep has vehemently denied that this is part of the company's online music strategy. A recent report from Australia's The Age this week suggested that Sony's new Music Unlimited service marks the beginning of a move away from Apple iTunes. Sony denies plans to move from iTunes Michael Ephraim, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in Australia, explained to the news outlet that it could well be time for Sony to review its partnership with Apple and iTunes. When speaking about the potential future success of Music Unlimited, Ephraim said: "Does Sony Music need to provide content to iTunes?' ''Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTunes as that's the format right now. "[But] publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold." Still, it's early days for Music Unlimited, with a spokesperson for Sony, who asked to remain anonymous, telling TechRadar this week that there was "no question of Sony Music pulling out of iTunes," adding that this story was little more than an example of the internet twisting the facts and taking a single quote from an exec out of context. 
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| Exclusive: Sony denies it's planning to snub iTunes Posted: 15 Feb 2011 07:26 AM PST Despite persistent rumours online this month that Sony Music may be looking to pull out of Apple's iTunes music store at some point soon, a Sony Music UK rep has vehemently denied that this is part of the company's online music strategy. A recent report from Australia's The Age this week suggested that Sony's new Music Unlimited service marks the beginning of a move away from Apple iTunes. Sony denies plans to move from iTunes Michael Ephraim, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in Australia, explained to the news outlet that it could well be time for Sony to review its partnership with Apple and iTunes. When speaking about the potential future success of Music Unlimited, Ephraim said: "Does Sony Music need to provide content to iTunes?' ''Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTunes as that's the format right now. "[But] publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold." Still, it's early days for Music Unlimited, with a spokesperson for Sony, who asked to remain anonymous, telling TechRadar this week that there was "no question of Sony Music pulling out of iTunes," adding that this story was little more than an example of the internet twisting the facts and taking a single quote from an exec out of context. 
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| Exclusive: RIM: Nokia is wrong to underestimate us Posted: 15 Feb 2011 07:25 AM PST  Nokia has pulled no punches over the past few days when talking ecosystems. CEO Stephen Elop has repeatedly talked about the 'three ecosystems' and how the Nokia/Microsoft deal has created a 'three horse race'. He's talking about Android, iOS and Windows Phone as the three horses in said contest; but what about RIM? Elop was dismissive of the BlackBerry maker when answering questions at the company's Mobile World Congress press conference on Friday. "We believe the work we've done with Symbian and the C3, combined with the business capabilities of Microsoft, gives us a very strong competitive position relative to everyone in the environment. The obvious and visible ecosystems are us, Android and Apple," Elop told journalists. Zing! Ouch, right? RIM is understandably unimpressed at being dismissed and omitted from Nokia's race but is taking it philosophically, as Jeff McDowell, RIM's Senior VP Business Segment Marketing & Alliances, told us: "We're the leader in the business market with the sales data to back that up, particularly in Europe and the UK. So really it's Nokia that looks bad for misunderstanding our reach. "They actually make it easier for us by not considering us a competitor. But I think they know they'll be competing with BlackBerry, even if they won't publically say so." Nokia claims to have lampooned the physical QWERTY market with its popular C3 Touch and Type handset, but entering with a low-cost handset isn't exactly a coup. BlackBerry is not keen on entering the fray, however, with McDowell admitting that he's barely thought about the Nokia/Microsoft deal because, with the imminent launch of the PlayBook, RIM has plenty of its own business to attend to. 
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| MWC 2011: Hands on: HTC Wildfire S review Posted: 15 Feb 2011 07:01 AM PST  The HTC Wildfire is one of the few well-respected low-cost Android handsets and HTC has seen fit to give it a lick of paint at Mobile World Congress 2011 in the form of the HTC Wildfire S. We've had a play with the handset and generally give it the thumbs up – although the HTC Wildfire S UK pricing hasn't yet been revealed, it's likely to follow in the Wildfire's mid-range pricing footsteps, which will mean you get quite a bang for your buck. Here follows our hands on HTC Wildfire S review, but remember; we'll be bringing you the full review of a shop-ready handset in the coming weeks.
The Wildfire S is very similar to its predecessor in design terms. The shape is practically identical, but HTC has done away with the circular optical trackpad on the new model, preferring to rely instead on the touchscreen and navigation keys.
Speaking of the screen, the resolution has more than doubled from the Wildfire's paltry QVGA to an HVGA screen, and the difference is really noticeable. Images seem sharper and colours seem brighter, although we weren't able to test out any video content on the handset. It's no Super AMOLED or anything, but it can certainly it can hold its own.
As is seemingly obligatory on any new handset these days, there's a front-facing camera to facilitate all those video calls you'll be making on Android 2.3.
It's not the slimmest handset we've ever seen – it's a darn sight thicker than the Desire S, for example – but it felt light in the hand despite its girth.
The rear-facing camera offers a 5MP sensor and a small LED flash – it's nothing new, we had an LED flash on the old Wildfire, but it's good to see it's still present. Weirdly, the flash seems to have swapped sides on the back of the handset, not that this will affect performance.
For connecting the handset to other devices, there's a micro-USB port and super-duper-fast, hot-off-the-presses Bluetooth 3.0, although we weren't able to put the speediness to the test. It's unusual to see such a new technology in a low-cost handset, though, so good on HTC for including it.
The Wildfire S is likely to be one of the first lower-cost Gingerbread-running Android phones out of the gate, and it's nice to see that a budget handset can get in there early with the high-end behemoths. The other thing that gives the Wildfire S a more premium feel is HTC's proprietary Android overlay, HTC Sense. You get a very similar experience to higher end phones, but without those off-putting price tags. The HTC Wildfire S is only rocking a 600MHz processor inside. We didn't notice too much lag, although it's not on a par with more expensive 1GHz models such as the HTC Desire S. The touchscreen is nice and responsive; perhaps not providing as smooth a movement as the iPhone 4, but not giving us any cause for complaint either. With a 3.2-inch screen, web pages got an easy overview but for anything more detailed you'll have to pinch to zoom. Forunately, this worked well and rendered quite quickly. Loading speeds over (admittedly probably quite poor trade show) Wi-Fi weren't good; TechRadar.com took over 30 seconds to load.
The regular HTC Sense keyboard is in full effect on the Wildfire S, but portrait mode is very cramped and we made many mistakes, including hitting 'enter' instead of 'delete' repeatedly, which was a real frustration when we were trying to put in a new web address.
It's far better to use the landscape keyboard, which is much better spaced and easier to use.
As is customary on Android handsets, the messaging inbox allows for threaded conversations, while favourite contacts can be saved to a handy Home screen widget thanks to the HTC Sense UI. The new downloads application that Google implemented in Android 2.3 is incorporated into the menu page, along with a frequently used applications tab and the full menu.
Switching between these is simply a matter of swiping the internal submenu, and means your downloaded apps are easy to find.
There's also a new personalisation menu, which is a one-stop hub to making the Wildfire S your own; from here you can easily take the HTC skin off, change the wallpaper and add or remove items from your Home screen. It's easily accessed from the Home screen, obscenely simple to use and such a sensible idea.
Of course, there's also Leap View, which shows you all your Home screens in miniature, as we're now accustomed to on Android handsets. There's not much new when it comes to the camera, aside from a slightly tweaked interface and the addition of the option to switch to the front-facing camera. There's no shutter button so you run the risk of slightly fuzzy shots using the onscreen button. In case you can't tell, we were pretty impressed with the little Wildfire S – HTC has certainly come a long way since the Tattoo. What we're hoping for now is a slightly lower price tag than the original Wildfire had. Call us stingy, but £25 for 24 months is not that low cost. If the price ain't right, we'd be tempted to opt for the rather more powerful handsets in the range. The HTC Wildfire S UK release date is set for Q2 this year, by which time we'll have brought you our full HTC Wildfire S review. 
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| Apple App Store subscriptions announced Posted: 15 Feb 2011 06:10 AM PST  Apple has announced a new subscription service available to all publishers of content-based apps on the App Store. Apple's new subscriptions service on the App Store effectively offers magazine and newspaper publishers and video, music and other producers a new way of making some cash from selling their content online. The subscriptions service will mean that publishers can set the price and length of subscription, then with one-click customers pick the length of subscription and are automatically charged accordingly. Essentially this means that consumers can now get digital magazines and newspapers delivered to their iPad, iPod touch or iPhone on a regular basis. This is something that was fist introduced with The Daily iPad newspaper in the US, and has now trickled through into the rest of the App Store. Innovative service Apple CEO Steve Jobs said about the new service: "We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers." The arrival of Apple's new subs service for content creators follows the recent launch of News International's The Daily iPad newspaper app. As with other app developer partnerships, Apple will get a 30 per cent cut from any publisher's content that is sold online via the iTunes App Store – although this will only be the case where Apple brings a new subscriber to the app. In the case of the content publisher bringing an existing or new subscriber to the app, then that publisher keeps 100 percent of the revenue, and Apple earns nothing – other than the value of having ever more users signed up to the iTunes App Store. It's certainly an interesting model and we will no doubt be bringing you further news of content creators and publishers choosing to develop iPad, iPod touch and iPhone friendly magazines and more in the coming months. 
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