Gmail and Google Maps iOS apps

With new Gmail and Google Maps iOS apps, the iPhone 5 is acutely the best smartphone available

Now that we accept a acceptable Google Maps band-aid on the iPhone that supports voice-guided navigation, forth with a new Gmail applicant that rivals what you acquisition on Android, the best to go with an iPhone over an Android accent becomes alike clearer.


I use all adaptable operating systems because I like to analysis them out and accord them a adventitious to acquire a atom in my pocket. While I am an Exchange user in my day job, I additionally use Gmail abundantly and consistently begin the Android acquaintance best for Gmail. Alike admitting I accept approved lots of altered GPS aeronautics solutions, I consistently go aback to application Google Maps 99% of the time. These are both now accomplished applications on the iPhone. In addition, I acquisition that the iPhone beats Android in these areas:
  • Apps and casework still appear to iOS aboriginal in abounding cases and in some instances we still don't see Android apps (UP, Fuelband).
  • The iPhone's camera is amid best of all smartphones, alike after all the adorned appearance and options.
  • Updates appear from Apple and assume to brim carrier control. You can calculation on your 
  • iPhone accepting updates for a brace of years, admitting your Android buzz may never get adapted alike a distinct time.
  • It's a amusement to appointment a concrete Apple abundance rather than a carrier store.
  • The accident assurance for the iPhone is absolutely account it, IMHO.
  • The accent bazaar is vast, giving you ample choices at abundant prices.
I do like Android for widgets, ample displays, NFC, and blame the banned of technology, but if I had to aces aloof a distinct smartphone again the iPhone 5 would be my bright choice.

Top-10 Tech Gadgets

Top-10 tech gadgets of 2012 via year-end Google search data

Gadgets are a allotment of the fast affective bearing and acceptable a allegation for every organized business man to a fun admiring teen, but back we allege of a apparatus we beggarly that it should appearance the appearance such as adorable looks, able user affable interface and accomplish the activity of the user added alternate and enjoyable. Samsung, Google, Sony and Angel are the top bazaar competitors and afterwards every now and again they are advancing up with a new apparatus that entertains the bodies in a actual new way. Top Accessories of 2012 are:

Apple iPad 3

The alternation 1 mark in a tip 10 account is accomplished by a accession Angel iPad 3. firstly, let me estimation that a year 2011 has been absolutely advantageous to a Angel cast if we allege about  new account of Angel applicable a tip able buzz agent in UK in year 2011 as able-bodied as advanced Angel fabricated new annal in a 2011 Q4 sales. However, Steve Jobs Death, a above CEO of Angel Company, has acquired best damage to a brand.

The Angel iPad 3 will be launched beneath a ascendancy of new CEO Tim Cook in a year 2012. The iPad will be powered aloft a iOS 5. The new iPad 3 will be best slimmer than a above-mentioned ones as able-bodied as would accept aloft resolution, we appraisal 4 times aloft backbone than a predecessor. Angel is diminutive able-bodied accepted for a avant-garde articles as able-bodied as never fails that is because we accept placed iPad 3 in a Aberrant articles list.

Samsung Galaxy S3

Samsung Galaxy S3 that will be launched in year 2012 beneath axial name I9300, is a best attainable able phone. It was aforetime accurate to be launched during MWC 2012, however, it was annulled in serve announcement. Samsung Galaxy S3 is a almsman to a Galaxy S2 as able-bodied as Galaxy S, that will absolutely challenge with a angel products; it is abreast with 4.5 inches HD AMOLED authority adumbration adjustment as able-bodied as with a 4G LTE connectivity. It would accept Exynos Chipset as able-bodied as will accept a accompanying core/quad amount ARM processor.

Microsoft Windows 8

Microsoft Windows 8 is a ultimate accretion windows of a Microsoft that is chip into Laptops, PCs, tablets as able-bodied as alike able phones such as Nokia Windows phones. Microsoft will barrage a Windows 8 Logo in MWC 2012 during Barcelona, authority aloft nineteen February, 2012. The new Microsoft Windows is accounting aloft a basement of a busline User Interface.

Quad Amount Processors

The alternation 4 aberrant Product, that we buy is a cloister amount Processor. NVidia had advanced accurate a barrage of a Tegra3 CPU in year 2012 with cloister Amount processor abilities. Now what is cloister Core? In a advancement times, a Bifold Amount Processor accept been begin best commonly everywhere that splits a allegation in to 2 cores as able-bodied as as a aftereffect a allegation is accomplished able-bodied as able-bodied as some-more faster than a above-mentioned processors. Imagine appropriate abroad if a allegation is damaged in to 4 cores!! Yes, that's what a Qaud Amount processor will do. The different tech brands accept their eyes aloft a Snapdragon processors by Qualcomm to be launched by a Sept, 2012.

4G LTE SIM's

In year 2012, a able phones makers accept switched to barrage a 4G ‘fourth generation' upheld devices. 4G is a alpine acceleration LTE use that is best faster than a 3G services, was antecedent alien in USA by a AT&T telecom. The 4G LTE will accord 75 Mbps downlink acceleration as able-bodied as 40 Mbps uplink acceleration aloft a 4G LTE devices.

Sony PlayStation Adventures (Sony PSP Vita)

The Sony PlayStation Adventures has been launched in a Consumer Electronics Appearance 2012, that is a bigger gaming animate a Sony PlayStation Adventures equips 4.5 inches multi-touch adjustment with classical PSP controls as able-bodied as bifold six-axis analog sticks. The new additions to a Sony PlayStation adventures will be absolutely giving bigger ability for a gaming.

Ultrabooks

Ultrabooks accept been a thinner laptops with a little some-more accessories as able-bodied as specifications. If we do not own a laptop nonetheless as able-bodied as acquaint to buy it for yourself or for your children, afterwards we announce we should try Ultrabooks, as a laptops accept been additionally applicable age-old accustomed tech products. Recently, Samsung has launched a Samsung Alternation 5 Ultra books that accept been attainable for a online booking. The brands agnate to Lenovo as able-bodied as Acer accept launched their Ultrabooks during a CES 2012 that will crop we bigger accession options.

OLED Televisions

New Era LED televisions were launched during a Consumer Electronics Appearance 2012 by a blob tech brands- Samsung as able-bodied as LG. However, a OLED Televisions will bang a exchange during a accomplishment of a year 2012. The amoebic Light abounding Diodes accept been acclimated in abrade of a Light abounding diodes that crop bigger architecture abnormality with bigger contrast, dizzying birdbrained power. These televisions accept been abroad bigger than a LCD & LED Televisions.

IEEE 802.11 Lad

The IEEE 802.11 kid refers to a wireless estimation accelerate standard. This is a fastest estimation accelerate accepted that can accelerate a estimation in GB's in a brace of abnormal with a ample accelerate acceleration of 4-5 Gbps.

 
Google Nexus
 
In a year 2011, Google had paid for a Motorola shares, that has led a affiliation of a bifold tech giants for a adjustment of a Google Nexus able phones. The Google Nexus affection will be launched with a ultimate Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Operating system.

Lenovo ThinkPad S230u Twist

When PC manufacturers were assuming off their Windows 8 offerings beforehand this year, there was abundant allocution about avant-garde accouterments designs — and indeed, abounding of the touchscreen accessories that debuted at IFA and added shows offered absolutely new anatomy factors. However, Lenovo's ThinkPad Aberration isn't one of them: the basal architecture of this swivel-screen convertible anthology is about a decade old. That's not to say it isn't a appropriate ultrabook — it is a ThinkPad afterwards all, with a continued attitude of arete abaft it. But what about the details?

Design
With its matte-black rubberised accomplishment and chaste Lenovo and ThinkPad branding (including a accurate red LED dot aloft the 'i'), the ThinkPad Aberration looks as accomplished as any of its brethren. The solid-feeling axial awning articulation gives abroad the actuality that it's not as added clamshell notebooks: the awning will aberration 180 degrees clockwise to face abroad from the keyboard (useful for presentations to baby groups), and additionally bend collapsed adjoin the keyboard with the awning adverse out, for use in (fairly chunky) book mode. The articulation is additionally athletic abundant to board what Lenovo calls 'tent' mode:

We begin the screen's autorotate activity a little hit-and-miss, alike afterwards the Arrangement Amend account had allegedly bigger its achievement with a disciplinarian update. If charge be, you can toggle autorotation on and off via a button on the basal right-hand ancillary of the lid, aloof aloft the ability button.


The 12.5in. awning uses edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass, but the top and abandon attending a little bedraggled to our eyes as there's a few millimetres of artificial bounden overlaying the glass, and above that a metal-effect artificial 'bumper' that cheapens the all-embracing attending slightly. The awning itself is a glossy-finish 5-point touchscreen with a resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels: if you're blessed with the abstinent pixel body (125ppi), it delivers a sharp, bright angel with adequate examination angles acknowledgment to the IPS technology used. Some tablet-mode enthusiasts may rue the blank of stylus abutment though.

The island-style, spill-proof keyboard is as adequate as you'd apprehend from a ThinkPad, featuring large, hardly scalloped keys with arced basal edges that fit the fingers able-bodied and bear a absolute action. Aloft the cardinal row is a row of 16 keys with assorted system- or Windows 8-related functions; a dozen of these keys bifold up as F1-F12 via the Fn key.

The touchpad is a ample buttonless activity that works well, and of advance there's additionally the brand red ThinkPad TrackPoint sitting amid the G, B and H keys. This has a leash of abrasion buttons beneath the keyboard (the axial button is for scrolling, although we tended to do best of our scrolling application the touchscreen).


Port and slots are belted to the abandon of the system, with a SIM agenda aperture (not acclimated in our analysis unit), a media agenda reader, a full-size RJ-45 Ethernet port, a Mini-HDMI port, a USB 3.0 anchorage and an audio-out jack on the left-hand ancillary and the ability input, a Mini-DisplayPort connector, a additional USB 3.0 anchorage and the adamantine drive abatement aperture on the right-hand side. Neither an HDMI nor a DisplayPort adapter is provided out of the box.

On the lid there's a concrete Windows 8 button — beneath the display, in the boilerplate — with a brace of aggregate (up/down) buttons to the left. Aloft the screen, additionally in the middle, is a 720p webcam, belted by a brace of bifold arrangement noise-cancelling microphones. As mentioned earlier, the ability and autorotate buttons are on the right-hand ancillary of the lid, at the bottom.

Features
The ThinkPad Aberration can be powered by a 1.8GHz Core i3 (3217U), a 1.7-2.6GHz Intel Core i5 (3317U) or a 1.9-3.0GHz Core i7 (3517U) processor and uses the HM77 Express chipset. If you demand full-on vPro out-of-band administration (and abounding beyond businesses will), you'll be disappointed, as none of these processors abutment it. What you do get is abutment for Intel's Baby Business Advantage (packaged as Lenovo Solutions for Baby Business), which handles things like automated appointed aliment operations (disk defrag, acting book deletion, for example), aegis software monitoring, activity extenuative settings, advancement and restore, and more. Our analysis assemblage had the Core i5-3317U processor, accurate by 4GB of DDR3 RAM; added models appear with the abounding 8GB.


The capital accumulator on our ThinkPad Aberration was a 500GB SATA III (6Gbps) Hitachi Travelstar adamantine drive spinning at 7,200rpm. There's additionally a baby (24GB) mSATA SSD for cacheing. If you're able to absorb added and get beneath storage, you can specify a faster, lower-power, 128GB SSD in abode of the adamantine drive. On our analysis system, that would add addition £98.40 (inc. VAT).

Wireless connectivity is provided by Intel's Centrino Wireless-N 2230 module, which supports single-band 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Mobile broadband was not present on our analysis unit, and is not an advancement option, but models are accessible with Ericsson's H5321gw module, which supports HSPA+ at up to 21Mbps bottomward and 5.76Mbps up. Mobile broadband adds about £48 (inc. VAT) to the price.

Lenovo provides the accepted ThinkVantage software bundle, and additionally includes 5GB of chargeless Lenovo Cloud Storage.

Performance & array life
Given its bourgeois specification, it's no abruptness to acquisition that the ThinkPad Aberration is a abstinent performer. The Windows 8 adaptation of Windows Experience Index now marks out of 9.9 (rather than 7.9 beneath Windows 7). The all-embracing score, bent by the lowest-ranking subsystem (Desktop cartoon achievement in this case) is 4.3, with added array alignment amid 5.9 and 6.9:


This arrangement has abundant application for boilerplate business workloads and low-level after-hours gaming/entertainment, but the abysm amid the ThinkPad Aberration and a accurate discrete-graphics ultraportable assertive like Eurocom's Monster 1.0 is bright back we attending at the ambitious Cinebench


The ThinkPad Aberration is powered by an 8-cell Li-ion array rated at 42.4 watt-hours (Wh), for which Lenovo claims 'up to 7 hours' life. To appraisal array activity beneath assorted workloads, we abstinent the (fully charged) system's ability draw application a Voltcraft VC940 Plus multimeter and disconnected the consistent boilerplate abstracts into the array appraisement


On this basis, you can apprehend the arrangement to aftermost for amid a paltry 1.5 hours and a best of about 5.5h, depending on how adamantine you're alive it. The array is non-removable and there's no advantage to fit a additional battery, so you're larboard with what you can clasp out of the arrangement application the ability administration settings. Beneath abundant loads, the ThinkPad Aberration becomes noticeably, but not uncomfortably, warm.

Conclusions
If you anticipate of it as primarily an ultrabook, but one that can calmly about-face into a book back the break demands, again the ThinkPad Aberration has a lot to acclaim it. The body affection is actual good, and there are abundant business-friendly appearance to accomplish it adequate as a BYOD system, although the abridgement of abounding vPro abutment may avert the added locked-down enterprises. Array activity may be a added accepted affair though.

Solaris Assault Tech Game

Over a year ago it was appear that developer Piranha Games was developing a new Mechwarrior bold afterwards a aperture of several years for the sci-fi activity bold franchise. Now comes chat that addition developer, MekTek, that helped to accompany us a chargeless adaptation of Mechwarrior 4 is developing its own bold set in the aforementioned bold universe.


That game, as appear at IndieDB.com, is Solaris Assault Tech, a multiplayer-oriented bold area the 50-foot mech action anniversary added in arena-style combat. The bold is actuality developed by application Epic Games' UDK agent tools. MekTek says it is alive anon with MechWarrior's owners at Smith and Tinker on this bold for a bartering release. The flat has additionally consulted with Piranha Games, saying, "We abstruse that our activity will not baffle with bartering development as their appellation is not an Arena game." MekTek hopes Solaris Assault Tech could serve as a bartering amplification to Piranha Games' project.

Dino Storm (DS)

Character animations are a nice blow and article bodies generally booty for accepted in browser-based games. Dino Storm actually stands out in that there is a lot of bendability aural the environments based in-and-around the game. I ambition that added areas were added activating and themed differently. Additionally, action animations and sounds are congenital adequately able-bodied to accommodate for a appropriate angry experience, but it can get banausic at times. To put it simply: the all-embracing artful ambiance will, in a actual accepted way, accommodated your expectations.

Gameplay – 6/10
Because Dino Storm is so altered aural its own world, you will acquisition that your acquaintance in DinoVille is one that encompasses abounding altered qualities. Actualization conception is accurate because you get to change about benumbed your own dinosaur. Eventually, your anachronistic begins to abound in size. Additionally, you get to accept the color, appearance, gender, and a few added ancestry to become the best-looking sheriff in DinoVille.

The accomplished apriorism of the bold is to be the best sheriff in DinoVille, so you’ll acquisition a lot of the “hunter-gatherer” abstraction acclimated aural the game. The quests are adequately alternate in that there a assorted types of adventures and all abide constant with the all-embracing affair of the game. You will still acquisition that at the end of the day, questing and added missions are adequately redundant, so cutting becomes prevalent.

PvP was apparently my admired aspect of the game, abnormally aback I was with added people. Unlike what I accept been commonly acclimated to, I didn’t acquisition a above bent or single-structured system/metric to analyze who would appear out the winner. This was nice accustomed that I didn’t feel absolutely hopeless aback I absitively to put my own abilities to the test. The best allotment about the gameplay is the actuality that I get to shoot a laser gun. Unfortunately, I aloof ambition there was some blazon of end-game agreeable that fabricated me seek more.

Innovation – 8/10

I acquisition myself accepting added and added aflame about browser-based games. The acumen is not so abundant that I played absolutely a few in my beforehand years of MMO gaming, but because I feel there is so abundant allowance for them to grow. Dino Storm, in my opinion, has taken the brand to accession level. I admired seeing what the association over at Splitscreen Amateur were able to achieve with this title. The 3D ambiance abandoned is one of the best I accept apparent in a browser-based game. Sure, there may not be cutting-edge technology implemented aural the game, but I don’t apperceive abounding things acknowledgment than a cowboy with a laser gun in a aged era.

Additionally, the affair of the bold is article I aloof can’t get over. I beggarly it in a acceptable way too. Although it may not be article you seek out in the long-term, it’s absolutely aboriginal with its own spin. I absolutely feel Dino Storm is a acceptable archetype of the administration abounding browser-based amateur should be headed. By accepting such a altered feel, the acquaintance is actually one that’s memorable.

Polish – 7/10

Although the bold is in its aboriginal stages, it is accomplishing adequately able-bodied for itself. I accept not noticed annihilation above adverse my gameplay. One absorbing anticipation I had throughout my acquaintance with the bold was that it artlessly didn’t feel “complete.” Now although this is somewhat difficult to explain, it absolutely revolves about the abstraction that there wasn’t abundant breadth. What’s there is there, but it about feels apparent and limited. If the bold were a bit added all-embracing than its accepted state, it would absolutely acquiesce for a abundant added holistic and ample abject to the game. However, accustomed that it still is a bit too anon to accomplish assertive calls, one can alone achievement for the best.

Longevity – 4.5/10
One of my antecedent apropos with the bold was apropos its longevity. Accustomed its specificity apropos the all-embracing axial affair and dynamics of the game, I was not abiding as to whether or not I could see myself logging aback on in a few months. Unfortunately, afterwards delving into it for the accomplished brace weeks, I anticipate that my apropos were justified. As abundant as I adulation arena for a solid brace hours, it aloof doesn’t go above that. On a accepted akin you’ll acquisition that the bold is appealing, but that’s area it ends: it’s appealing. I don’t acquisition myself actual affianced above that. Usually I could define an barring to say whether this is all about to the amusing ambiance of the game, but alike then, I don’t see annihilation captivation one's absorption above the antecedent brace weeks with the game. You’ll accept a bang the aboriginal few times you login, but you’ll be aggressive bottomward the rocky, aged abundance afterwards that.

Social – 5/10
One of the added black aspects of the bold is the community. It’s not so abundant that I didn’t feel “welcome” into the Dino Storm community, but, rather, that there weren’t abounding others to be accustomed by. In addition, the bold does not apparatus a arrangement or ambiance that alcove out to players actuality carefully affiliated with one another. Players will acquisition themselves gluttonous out their own adventures after the abetment of others, admitting bound options that absorb added players. The way you collaborate with others is actual basic, so there is not abundant to add added than I would awful acclaim aggravating to seek ties with players as frequently as possible. Fortunately, the gameplay isn’t so acrimonious in that it armament or requires you to adventure with others, but it best actually will advice aural the all-embracing ambiance of the game. I acquainted like a lone, abnormality forester best of the time, and that’s never any fun.

Value – 7.5/10

One of the things I enjoyed the best about Dino Storm was how attainable it was. I admired the abstraction of actuality able to aces up aloof about any computer and get appropriate aback into the game. This bold embraces a chargeless association with no restrictions or banned on gameplay or trade. It’s actual adverse that nowadays aback we apprehend the appellation “Free-to-Play,” we anon anticipate that there charge be some array of catch. Dino Storm should abolish the doubts and belief because any amateur can analeptic and comedy at their convenience. My alone admonition is artlessly whether the befalling amount is too high. I absolutely feel you should accord the bold a adventitious and become exposed; about I don’t feel it is account cede added time for added titles as well.

Conclusion

Overall, I leave Dino Storm in a apricot accompaniment of mind. On one duke I am actual blessed and optimistic about the approaching of browser-based games, accustomed that they accept been frequently disregarded aural the accomplished few years. On the added hand, however, I ambition Dino Storm had been able to draw me in for a best aeon of time. Players will absolutely bethink their acquaintance with the bold and no agnosticism booty article abroad from it. In the end, however, I aloof ambition that the bold lacks constancy and abyss for a majority of its player-base. We can alone attending out for the approaching and achievement that these issues can be rectified.

Street Fighter X Mega Man

Unless you've been active beneath a rock, Street Fighter X Mega Man is a acceptable 8-bit Mega Man platfomer that replaces the Dejected Bomber's accepted assorted aggregation of Robot Masters with eight World Warriors from the Street Fighter universe. If you are attractive for any ambience as to why Mega has gone rogue and taken to hunting humans, you won't acquisition any.

Seriously, don't anguish about it.

Instead of demography the accessible avenue and accumulation aloof the combatants from Street Fighter II, the bold pulls from the absolute alternation agenda -- Ryu, Chun-Li, Blanka, Dhalsim, Rose, Rolento, Urien, and Crimson Viper. Each warrior rules over an appropriately themed domain, such as the rooftop of an age-old Japanese alcazar for Ryu or the electric eel-populated Brazilian jungles for Blanka.

 

My claimed favorites are Urien and Viper's stages. Urien holes himself abysmal in the mountains, area you accept to bisect ambiguous platforms afore they abatement and action enemies that can reflect your buster shots appropriate aback at you. Viper awaits in a S.I.N. building, attentive by insta-kill aegis corridors and a new archetypal of Sniper Joe able with massive laser cannons.

But the stages are alone preludes to the capital events. Alike admitting the administration accept been re-imagined as NES sprites, they absorb all their signature abilities. Ryu of advance break out the Hadoukens, Shoryukens, and Tatsumaki Senpukyakus; Dhalsim teleports, breathes fire, and stretches his Gumby-like appendages; Viper launches a flurry of electricity-enhanced punches and kicks; and so on. Also, I anticipate it's safe to say that Rolento's pogo stick animation was advised to adjure images of assertive rich, pants-less fowl acclamation from Glasgow.

They may not be machines, but the World Warriors will whip Mega's dejected ass 'til it turns purple. They artlessly chase predicable patterns in accurate Mega Man fashion, but as is consistently the case, artlessly alive the arrangement is no agreement of victory. You accept to acknowledge appropriately and accomplish acceptable use of the allegation shot, slide, and acquired weapons. In fact, not alike a boss' weakness is a caveat-free "instant win" card. There are consistently risks associated with the weapons that charge be taken into account, such as Chun-Li's Lightning Kick that requires absolute acquaintance with your opponent.

The added big aspect of the bold abreast from the administration is cyberbanking artist A_Rival's soundtrack, which consists of NES demakes of Street Fighter jams admitting with a Mega Man twist. You'll apprehend Ryu's affair mashed up with Flash Man's theme, Dhalsim's with Snake Man's, Rolento's with Heat Man's, and so on. Alike the allotment that plays back you baddest a bang-up is a alloy of both series' iconic "Game Start" jingles. Added advance don't anon sample Mega Man tunes booty assertive Mega Man-ish cues, best conspicuously the beating drumline out of Mega Man 2. It's actual cool, and like the abounding game, it's chargeless to download.

In addition, there a agglomeration of little nods and Easter eggs brindled throughout. Best notable is Dan Hibiki, who plays the role of punching bag as Mega tests out a anew acquired power. There is a abstruse bang-up who actively isn't that abundant of a abstruse to anybody. And admitting Guile was afar from the roster, his "goes with everything" affair song can alter any level's music with but a simple cipher punched in at the abeyance menu.

Beyond that, there are bags of little $.25 that, while annihilation cool austere on an alone basis, accord an consequence of awkward assignment back taken as a whole. Mega's jumping is hardly stiff, Mega all-overs in advanced of the activity bar rather than behind, items that spawn from defeated aerial enemies bead too quickly, the abide awning doesn't accord you the advantage to restart from the accepted level, the "Stage Clear" chime is played at a aggregate abundant lower than the blow of the audio, etc. And why does it assume as admitting a assertive bang-up was larboard out of the endgame levels?

Street Fighter X Mega Man feels like... well... it feels like it was fabricated by a distinct person. Added accurately, it was fabricated by a distinct being and rushed to accommodated a December 17th deadline.


Now, I'm not one to beating an honest-to-God affection activity by a baby aggregation -- abounding of the best amateur these accomplished few years accept been from teams of as few as one abandoned dude. I wouldn't apperception the shortcomings as abundant if this accurate bold had been appear agilely after the abetment of a massive publisher.

But back Capcom said it would broadcast Street Fighter X Mega Man, there were promises of added allotment and QA testing, I took that to beggarly the aggregation was authoritative a concerted accomplishment to accompany the bold up to the series' aerial affection standards. Sadly, it does not, and I admiration absolutely what Capcom has been accomplishing these aftermost few months. But it's still a fun game, and it absolutely does set a antecedent for publishers to booty a added effective access appear affection works from fans.

Street Fighter X Mega Man is not the best or best able Mega Man bold around, but it's solid accomplishment by a actual committed fan. I achievement it does it able-bodied abundant to argue Capcom that there is activity yet in this franchise. In the meanwhile, aloof have a good timethe crossover fun for its ability and not its missteps.

Coby MP823 4 GB Digital Media Player

Coby MP823 (4 GB) Digital Media Player


Simple, solid, asperous - the MP230 amateur is congenital to aloof work. Comfortable to authority with accessible to use 2.00" TouchScreen GUI, it's accessible to comedy all day. And not aloof music, either. Oh no, this amateur may be a crammer but that doesn't beggarly it's boring. It'll comedy Video and appearance off your photos, too.

RCA 4GB MP3 Player

I bought this for the sole purpose of alert to audio books. It formed well, the complete is acceptable but I did acquisition it adamantine to cross and the keys seemed difficult. I capital one to accord my babe for her altogether so I got a altered cast which amount a little more. Able-bodied let me acquaint you that one was difficult. I took the one aback I got my babe but had to accumulate the one I had gotten myself in the hopes I would like it better.
I begin afterwards I acclimated the RCA awhile that is was accessible abundant and the complete is actual good. I did assuredly acquisition the audio books on the additional mp3 and anybody articulate like Mickey Mouse. I absitively the RCA was the one I capital to accord my dausghter as well. I achievement she enjoys it as abundant as I am adequate abundance now that I can cross it like a kid. Yes I would recomend this amateur and advise bodies to accord it a chance. Also for those who say there is no fm radio abundance does accept it. It is the dejected button and it works well.

Flash MP3 Player Review

The band amid beam MP3 players and phones is accepting added bleared with anniversary casual day, but the finest standalone MP3 players still accept a abode of account in abounding purses and backpacks because they action such accessible admission to claimed ball collections anytime, anywhere.


These units are baby abundant to fit into a aback abridged but they authority all-inclusive amounts of advice – up to 64GB – including games, videos, music and more. We focused accurately on beam MP3 players for this lineup, so the articles in this accumulation do not accept affective genitalia like their adamantine drive MP3 amateur counterparts. That makes them absolutely durable, alike if you bead them occasionally. Retrieving advice from beam MP3 anamnesis is additionally faster than retrieving it from adamantine drives. Most beam MP3 players action automatic airheaded and aeronautics via touchscreens so you can consistently acquisition absolutely the song or cine or photo you are attractive for. Some alike action internet admission and the adeptness to accomplish calls.

Apple absolutely dominates this field, across-the-board two of our top three spots for admired MP3 players with the 64GB Apple iPod Touch and 32GB Apple iPod Touch. Other brands that are adventurous abundant to booty on Apple accept additionally fabricated some absorbing beam MP3 players in contempo history. We like the Cowon D3 Plenue especially, which anchored the additional abode atom in our rankings.

HTC One X+

HTC One X+

The HTC One X+ isn't absolutely a new handset as such, as it shares abounding similarities with its brother the HTC One X, but there are a few key upgrades in comedy here.

We were actual afflicted with the aboriginal One X aback it was appear beforehand this year, and it managed to alarm up 4.5 out of 5 in our all-embracing analysis and snaffle additional abode in our 20 best smartphones in the world, aloof accident out to the accomplished Samsung Galaxy S3. The One X+ is actuality to put the issues we accomplished with the One X, such as array activity and bound storage, to bed and possibly snatch top atom abroad from the badly accepted Galaxy S3.


You'll be able to aces up the HTC One X+ for chargeless on two year affairs starting at £33 per month, which is a agnate amount to the aboriginal One X, which can now be snaffled for £25 per ages with no upfront cost. On the central the One X+ gets an OS addition over the original, as it ships with Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, with an amend to Android 4.2 about absolutely on the cards accustomed the phone's accreditation – bringing it appealing abundant blast up to date.


The beautifully minimalist unibodied architecture has been agitated over to the One X+, and by attractive at the handset you wouldn't be able to acquaint it afar from its earlier brother, afar from the red highlights on the blow keys beneath the awning and camera beleaguer on the back, additional the tweaked Beats Audio logo. This isn't a bad affair however, as the One X and One X+ are some of the best aesthetically adorable handsets which feel solid and exceptional in the hand, and while the One X+ weighs in a adumbration added than its predecessor, a accomplished 5g at 135g, it's tit for tat.

As able-bodied as those red accents, which US barter will be accustomed with as it was the absolute colour advantage for the One X on Verizon, the HTC One X+ comes swathed in atramentous polycarbonate which has been accustomed a rubberised accomplishment to advance grip. We're not absolutely abiding if we adopt the new rubberised finished, or the ablaze anatomy on the aboriginal One X, with both adorable our award in altered ways, so we'd acclaim a acceptable fondle aback you appear beyond the One X+ in store.


The big awning of the One X has been transferred over to the HTC One X+, giving you a 4.7-inch Super LCD 2 affectation with an HD 720 x 1280 resolution, agreement it durably adjoin the Galaxy S3 and LG Optimus 4X HD aback it comes to awning size. It's still affably brittle and clear, accouterment an accomplished examination acquaintance with argument and images actualization aciculate and bright.


Size astute the One X+ keeps the aforementioned ambit from the aboriginal (134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm), which while large, abnormally for those of you attractive to barter up from a 3.5-inch or beneath device, it's not over the top massive like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Beneath the ample awning there's the three Android blow buttons – back, home and multi-tasking – antic that adorable red emphasis which glows accurately aback illuminated, while aloft the affectation you get the acceptable HTC continued earpiece barbecue and a 1.6MP camera – up from 1.3MP on the One 


The added keys, aggregate rocker on the appropriate additional the power/lock key on top are the aforementioned as on the One X, as too are the larboard ancillary army USB anchorage (which doubles as a Mobile HDL to angle up to a TV) and 3.5mm jack up top. Once afresh we'll highlight out annoyance with the USB anchorage actuality amid on the ancillary rather than the abject of the handset, as it makes the One X+ difficult to authority if acquainted in.


It does attending like HTC may be assuredly acknowledgment our call, with the Windows Buzz 8 touting HTC 8X and HTC 8S both antic the USB affiliation on their bases, it's aloof a abashment the Taiwanese close couldn't accomplish the acclimation on the One X+. Amid hardly abaft the power/lock key, but still on top of the One X+ is the microSIM slot, which requires a little HTC key, a la iPhone 5, to pop accessible – accessible abundant aback the apparatus is to hand, but a absolute affliction if you are after it.


The amid unibody anatomy does accept its drawbacks, the key one actuality that there's no admission to the 2,100mAh array abode inside, and while this has bigger on the HTC One X+ over the 1,800mAh adaptation in the One X, it's still not massive – aloof booty a attending at the Motorola Razr Maxx. HTC has addressed accumulator on the One X+, accouterment a 64GB archetypal which will be affluence for alike the best ambitious media mongrels amid you – which makes up for the abridgement of a microSD slot.


Round the aback of the One X+ is an 8MP camera, which protrudes absolutely a lot from the handset, but acknowledgment to the hardly arced attributes of the chassis, doesn't affect the buzz too abundant aback comatose on a table. The HTC One X+ keeps the aforementioned style, admeasurement and awning as it predecessor, while managing to clasp in a bigger battery, added able processor and added accumulator – so far so acceptable then.

Sony Xperia T

Like the blow of Sony's 2012 smartphones, the Sony Xperia T has a aboveboard aspect, if beneath so than its predecessors. But its angled and smoother corners and abnormally arced back, evocative of the Xperia Arc, accomplish it attending and feel abundant nicer.


The Sony Xperia T is 9.4mm at its thinnest point and 12.2mm breadth the camera lens juts out. The handset weighs a reasonable 140g. It's thicker and added than aftermost year's Xperia Arc but there is added technology arranged inside. Although we like the added ample architecture of the Sony Xperia T, the all-black appearance looks rather bland, although there is one with a silver-coloured rear – we accepted added from a buzz acclimated in a Bond film. There's not a lot activity on with this handset afar from a set of three buttons on the appropriate side. We were aghast to acquisition no metal-cutting lasers or mini rockets in the assembly version.

Sony Xperia T: Build quality
The shatter-proof and scratch-resistant bottle gives the advanced of the Sony Xperia T acceptable protection. The blow of the case is fabricated from a artificial which feels bland and helps with grip. The atramentous archetypal gets a adaptable rear, while the silver-coloured one receives a matt artificial back. We activated both, afterwards the aboriginal atramentous archetypal abruptly chock-full alive and couldn’t be active so a additional sample was tried. On either model, the rear awning doesn't accommodated the bottle advanced actual able-bodied – we could calmly abstracted the two.


This is no disposable awning though, so if you alone the handset it’s absurd to become alone so easily. The alone adaptable allotment of the Sony Xperia T is a accessory on the ancillary accoutrement the micro-SIM and microSD agenda slots.
 
Sony Xperia T: Hardware
We weren't bowled over by the Sony Xperia T's design, but things looked added able on the accouterments side. The smartphone denticulate an absorbing 1528 credibility in the Geekbench 2 analysis acknowledgment to its 1.5GHz Qualcomm Krait dual-core processor and 1GB of memory. The account isn't so far off the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III, about 150 credibility shy. Our accepted baton in this constructed criterion analysis is the Google Nexus 4 with 2009 points.


The 4.55in awning is a little abate than the antagonism at or about £400 – phones like the Google Nexus 4, HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III – but the Xperia T doesn't assume any smaller. The resolution of 720 x 1280 in this affectation after-effects in a brittle and bright pixel body of 323ppi. Accumulator central the Sony Xperia T is a middling 16GB. However, there's a microSDHC agenda aperture for abacus up to 32GB added – a ability more aberrant in smartphones. Until the end of the year, Sony is alms 50GB of chargeless billow accumulator with Box.

Although there are no connectivity appearance which will accompany attenuate all electronics in the surrounding breadth nor back your car for you, there is the accepted Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC (near-field communications). It's additionally DLNA certified for alive agreeable to a accordant TV. Or alternatively you can use HDMI with an MHL adapter.

Sony Xperia T: Cameras
Sony smartphones tend to be aloft boilerplate back it comes to photography. The Sony Xperia T has a 13Mp rear camera with an LED beam and, like best Xperia phones, has a committed camera/shutter button. It's a able proposition. Like the Sony Xperia S, which has a 12.1Mp camera, we were afflicted with the results. Aided by the Exmor R CMOS sensor, images were consistently abundant and aciculate with acceptable exposure. The camera didn't cope as able-bodied as some phones, namely the Lumia 920, in low-light situations though. We like the actuality the camera app can be bound launched at any time by acute the concrete camera key – alike if the awning is off. You can bisected columnist the key to focus afore demography a picture.


As you'd apprehend from a camera with a resolution as aerial as this, you can almanac video footage in full-HD 1920 x 1080 resolution. Video footage was boilerplate and there are bigger options on the bazaar in this breadth such as the Samsung Galaxy S III, Nokia Lumia 920 and Apple iPhone 5. The advanced 1.3Mp advanced camera can't administer 1080p but does accommodate actual acceptable video at 720p instead.

Sony Xperia T: Software
While not absolutely up to date, the Xperia T comes with the still appropriate Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). An advancement to this year’s Google Jelly Bean OS is due in January 2013, which should acquaint added appearance like Google Now. Sony hasn't afflicted abundant about its custom user interface back antecedent Xperia handsets. It's a attractive bury with affluence of abeyant for customisation acknowledgment to lots of pre-loaded themes, wallpapers and widgets. Social networking it handles decidedly able-bodied with 

Timescape.
There's an affluence of pre-loaded apps, and you'd be forgiven for cerebration you'd best up addition else’s buzz activity by the app menu. If you're not a fan of ample quantities of bloatware, the Xperia T is acceptable to offend. The big aberration in the interface is the Recent Apps multi-tasking. You can about-face amid and abutting any apps but there are a few added buttons. These accessible 'small apps' which can be abject about the homescreen or affianced to the side. As accepted you can accept from a calculator, timer, adhesive addendum and articulation recorder – accessible but not absolutely abstruse agent. We like how you can customise the keyboard to your claimed preference. You can accept a layout, add accessory key functions like numbers and punctuation and accept whether you demand articulation dictation.

Sony Xperia T: Array
The Sony Xperia T comes with a non-removable 6.8Wh battery. Sony says the handset will aftermost for 450 hours in standby, 16 hours music playback or bristles hours back watching video. We begin with a assorted acceptance we got calmly admitting a day. The ample high-res awning does sap the array so it's acceptable that you'll allegation to allegation the Xperia T every night – a accepted affair for too abounding smartphones. We could get a brace of canicule out of the device, but alone with actual ablaze usage.

Sony Xperia Acro S

Sony Xperia acro S with IP57 now accessible apart in US

It’s an badly active time in the smartphone apple appropriate now with affluence of flagship accessories either aloof appear or advancing shortly. It would be accessible to balloon then, a accessory that hasn’t accustomed absolutely as abundant publicity, the Sony Xperia acro S, alike admitting it has some actual appropriate specs and runs on the latest Android OS, 4.1 Jelly Bean. Today we can acquaint US readers that the Xperia acro S is now accessible in apart anatomy stateside.

While we’re audition so abundant about Apple’s new iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, both absorbing smartphones, it seems a abashment to discount others such as the Xperia acro S. We’ll accord you a briefing of some of the key specs and appearance so that you can see what the Xperia acro S has to offer. First off there’s the 1.5GHz dual-core processor again it additionally has a 4.3-inch affectation with resolution of 1280 x 720, 16GB of centralized anamnesis (expandable with microSD to 32GB), 12-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capture, a 1.3-megapixel front-facer, NFC, Bluetooth and of advance the 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system.

Another added that doesn’t affection on some of the best smartphones of the moment is that the Xperia acro S has IP57 certification. That agency it is waterproof up to 1 beat and 30 minutes, article that the added absent-minded amid us will appreciate, and it’s additionally dust resistant. The amount of the Sony Xperia acro S apart is $649.99, or according to Engadget it’s 64,999 Sony Points. You can analysis out added capacity at Sony actuality area it’s in banal appropriate now and accessible in two blush options Ceramic White or Black.

We’re consistently absorbed to apprehend what our readers anticipate about altered devices. Does the Sony Xperia acro S address to you abundant to accomplish it your abutting smartphone choice? Is the actuality that it’s baptize and dust-resistant cogent in your decision? Send us your comments to let us know.

Sony Xperia Ion

The attending and feel of Android accessories has been a hot affair for some time now, and which has afresh appear to a boil, in the anatomy of litigation. Abounding diehard Apple admirers challenge that Android smartphones and tablets, or at atomic assertive models, aboveboard rip off Cupertino. And accept it or not, the added ancillary sometimes shares that sentiment.

Many accept Android because they demand a breach from Apple and are never captivated whenever a new handset arrives attractive a lot like an iPhone 4S.

These bodies crave article distinct, article different, both central and out.

Thankfully, a few parties are attempting to do aloof that. And, those who absolutely demand "think different" ability demand to attending appear Sony. Accurately the Xperia Ion. It represents the actual best that Android can accessible be.

But at the aforementioned time, it still represents some of the best inherent frustrations that affliction the belvedere and that users charge still consistently cope with.


Hardware and Design
There are abounding means to call to the Xperia Ion. Its audible architecture ability not admirable to all, but it's best absolutely and acutely bold. The affair artlessly has attendance and oozes confidence. Its aciculate angles action a breach from the cool safe curves you commonly see, and is a animation of beginning air.


At 5.2 x 2.7 x 0.4 inches, the buzz is adequately large. Its ample contour is the primary acumen for its arty presence. Yet, the Ion fits calmly in one's duke after acceptable too abundant to handle. And accustomed how abundant amplitude it takes, its 5.1 ounce weight is decidedly light.

At the actual top is the 3.5mm headphone jack. On the appropriate is the ability button, the aggregate rocker, and a camera button. On the left, area one would commonly acquisition the aggregate keys, is the micro USB port, to affiliation the Ion to a PC or the AC adapter, and HDMI port, to affix the accessory to a HD television. Both blocked by a baby door. The bottom, abreast from the microphone, is absolutely bare.


The aback of the Ion is artlessly gorgeous. Its mostly brushed aluminum aback is arced and actual eye-catching, and added importantly, a joy to touch. It abominably dirties absolutely easily, but thankfully, it's ultimately absolutely durable.

A glassy backside
The aback is additionally area one will acquisition the 12 megapixel camera lens, and a flash. Again, Sony's automated designers did a abundant job spicing up what is generally a actual (needlessly) arid allotment of a phone.

Initially it appears that the aback does not accessible up, like Apple's iPhone 4s, but of the two artificial strips at the top and bottom, the one up arctic is absolutely removable. Central you'll acquisition the micro-SIM tray and micro SD slots (which is empty) in case the 16GB of centralized accumulator is not enough.


The highlight of the advanced is the ample 4.6-inch 1280-by-720-resolution display, able of 720p. Apple has the Retina Display, and Sony has the HD Reality Display.

Performance wise, it's acutely impressive, with ablaze and adventurous colors, provided if the altitude are right. Being indoors, outside, or beneath the sun makes the awning awfully adamantine read.

At the top is a cachet light, advanced adverse camera that is additionally 720p, and the AT&T logo is absurd to ignore. Android handset about consistently displays the carrier's logo, this is hardly new, but accustomed how abundant absorption to detail was accustomed to the phone, it sticks out absolutely awkwardly.


At the basal are the accepted row of home Android icons, in the anatomy of bound buttons. Beneath anniversary is an anecdotic light, which activates accessed. One has to admiration why the icons themselves are not-backlight. Seems like such a accidental quibble, but again, back appearance is acutely the name of the game, it needs to be mentioned.

Otherwise, the all-embracing attending of the buzz strikes an arresting mix of mid 80's, boxlike aesthetics and avant-garde day ability (which somewhat channels the heyday of carriageable Sony electronics, accurately the era of the Walkman. But one that, already more, becomes decrepit absolutely easily. The advanced is a feel book allurement like no added buzz afore it, or so it feels.

Sony Xperia S

When Sony apparent the Xperia S at CES 2012, abounding Android admirers in the apperceive dreamed that this ultrastylish handset could adviser a new alpha for the company's adaptable electronics.


That's why it was alike added agitative aback Sony appear that the buzz would access for auction in America. Also, clashing its watered-down cousin, the Xperia Ion on AT&T, the $559 Xperia S appearance a tricked-out cellophane bandage wrapping its abject additional an advancement to Android 4.0, article yet to adroitness the Ion. The buzz additionally connects to Sony's ample basement of movies, music, and TV shows so you can have a good timethem on the accessory or in the active room. But if you're assured a aura artefact to advice accompany aback the aureate canicule of the Walkman, you're in for a disappointment.

Design
I can't abjure that the Sony Xperia S looks striking. It comes in hues of fashion-forward white like the archetypal I tested, and a added bourgeois black. Its architecture is additionally absolute affected with the buzz affected a ellipsoidal anatomy adamant in aciculate appropriate angles.


The Xperia S' attack at aerial style, however, avalanche short. While a absolute head-turner, the boxiness of the Xperia S isn't as adequate to anchor as added acceptable egg-shaped handsets sculpted with angled curves.

Another characteristic blow yet one not accomplished able-bodied is an aflame ablaze bar active forth the phone's base. The bar contains three symbols amphibian aural its cellophane apparent that announce the capital Android functions for Back, Home, and Menu.

Unfortunately, as on its affinity on AT&T, the Xperia Ion, these symbols are not absolute buttons. You charge tap agnate dots aloft anniversary Android icon, which I begin acquisition difficult to hit, abnormally in the dark.

Measuring 5 inches alpine by 2.5 inches advanced by 0.4 inch blubbery and belief a ample 5.1 ounces, the Xperia S is a abundant phone. Still, for Android accessories these canicule that avowal massive displays, these abstracts are par for the course. For archetype the Samsung Galaxy S3 (5.4 inches by 2.8 inches by 0.35 inch, 4.7 ounces) and Samsung Galaxy Nexus (5.33 inches by 2.67 inches by 0.35 inch, 4.76 ounces) are both of commensurable dimensions.


The Xperia S has a ample 4.3-inch LCD awning with a 720p HD resolution. Aloft the affectation are a 1.3MP front-facing camera and notification light. The larboard ancillary holds a Micro-USB anchorage covered by a flap. On top are a 3.5mm headphone jack and the ability button, which I begin catchy to columnist while captivation the buzz one-handed. Placed on the aback is the phone's 12MP camera with LED flash.

Sitting on the appropriate ancillary is an HDMI port, additionally beneath a flap, forth with a trim aggregate rocker. Here too is a committed camera button which shutterbugs will appreciate.

Display
Sony is quick to acclaim the allowances of the Xperia S' screen, calling it a Reality Display. Placed head-to-head with its smartphone competitors, the Xperia's 4.3-inch 720p (1,280x720) LCD awning isn't absolute impressive. Compared with the HTC One X (AT&T) and Samsung Galaxy Nexus (unlocked), the Xperia S produced images with aerial colors, low contrast, and attenuated examination angles. In my view, the Galaxy Nexus, with its 4.65-inch 1,280x720-pixel-resolution Super AMOLED display, showed the best awning achievement of the bunch, showcasing saturated colors, abysmal blacks, and accomplished off-angle views. The HTC One X (4.7-inch 1,280x720-pixel Super LCD2) was abutting abaft with ablaze whites, advanced examination angles, and accustomed colors.



Interface
At launch, the Sony Xperia S initially ran Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Thanks to a contempo update, though, the handset now appearance the added avant-garde Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Sure, it isn't the latest Google can offer, namely Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but the Xperia's beginning beverage of software helps the buzz feel new and improved.

In accession to app shortcuts and widgets, you can actualize and add folders to any of the Xperia's bristles home screens. Near Field Communication (NFC) is additionally absolutely accurate by Android 4.0, in a affection from Google alleged Android Beam, which lets you alteration pictures and added files to accordant phones wirelessly aloof by bumping them together.

Software and apps
A dual-core 1.5GHz processor accompanying with 1GB of RAM drives the Sony Xperia S' Android 4.0 OS. The Xperia additionally provides the archetypal Android appearance such as abutment for Google casework such as Gmail, Maps, Navigation (using the handset's GPS hardware), and Google+ amusing networking.

Sony additionally has loaded its own Timescape app, which aggregates updates from your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Proving this accessory was originally meant for all-around markets, there's an Xperia Football Downloads app to accomplish your appetite for soccer-themed ringtones and wallpapers.

Other absorbing software includes a Ability Saver app advised to conserve array life, and NeoReader for scanning bar codes. If you're not annoyed with the Xperia's accepted loadout of applications, affluence added are accessible for download via the Google Play Android marketplace.

Sony Xperia P

The Sony Xperia P occupies the mid-range of Sony’s Xperia series, placed aloft the smaller-screened Sony Xperia U and beneath the highly-specified Sony Xperia S. Indeed, it lacks the 12-megapixel camera and 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and beyond 4.3in awning of the Xperia S, but its 1GHz dual-core CPU, 8-megapixel camera and 4in awning still accommodate the Xperia P with a absurd specification.

On top of that, the awning has a aerial resolution of 960x540 pixels, and Sony claims it has the brightest awning of all smartphones on the market. This is acknowledgment to its WhiteMagic display, area an added white subpixel has been added to the accepted red, blooming and dejected subpixels. This agency it can accomplish a greater akin of accuracy than agnate displays, which can be actual accessible for use on ablaze days.


The affectation looked abundant whether we were watching videos or browsing the internet, and the Xperia P is absolute if you primarily use it to watch media. The display’s aerial resolution additionally makes the Android 2.3.7 interface attending fantastic, and the Sony Xperia P absolutely feels aerial end.

This high-end feel is additionally a aftereffect of the bland and acknowledging behaviour of the Xperia P. Swipe your feel boring beyond the home awning and the Xperia P calmly moves amid screens; there’s none of the jerkiness you acquisition on some cheaper phones.
You get the accepted accumulating of aeronautics and media apps, but you additionally get MobiSystems’ OfficeSuite 5, which let us accessible and adapt all our MS Word, Excel and Power Point abstracts with ease. OfficeSuite 5 has a abundant interface and is a advantageous adaptable app if you charge to bound appearance or adapt a business certificate on the move.

Sony Xperia Sola

The Sola is a solid smartphone with a good array of features, beyond the basics. Just be sure you can't buy the better Xperia S for the same price, before you commit.

Design

In some respects, designing a mid-range handset must be harder than designing the flagship models. A mid-tier mobile needs to maintain the same "feel" as other phones in its range, but also needs its own defining elements. You'd need to keep costs down and cut a few corners, but without obviously doing so. The Xperia Sola is a pretty good example of how this is done. Compared with the Xperia S, the Sola has a smaller screen and lacks some of the features available on the flagship, but keeps enough of the Xperia offerings to hold its own.

Physically, the Sola shares many of the design cues we saw on the Xperia S; the same sharp-looking corners and the same three-button navigation panel below the screen. We like it's soft-touch plastic battery cover, which feels lovely to hold, and we like the alignment of its mechanical controls — including a dedicated camera button.

The Sola sports Sony's Reality branded LCD, like on the Xperia S, but in a smaller 3.7-inch size. With a WVGA resolution, you get far fewer pixels, per inch, on this screen than on the S, but you'd be pressed to spot the difference, in our opinion. It is, however, easier to spot the same colour banding issue we saw on the Xperia S. With colour banding, gradients of colour are represented as strips of distinct shades, rather than a smooth blend. This problem won't affect your ability to use this phone, but it does look unpleasant.

Sony also introduces an interesting new technology with the Sola, which it calls Floating touch technology. Most smartphone touchscreens use capacitive touch technology to signal where the user is pressing on a screen. The Sola uses Floating touch in unison with capacitive touch, so that the phone can also detect input when a finger hovers up to 22mm above the screen. However, this input isn't recognised as normal touch input and is only currently implemented in the web browser — even then, it can only highlight hyperlinks on pages. You can't make a selection with a hovering finger, and you can't swipe it to move around the page. It's an interesting idea, but completely useless without further application support.

Unlike some recent releases from competitor brands, Sony makes the battery of the Xperia Sola accessible and includes a micro-SD card slot for expanding the handset's 8GB of internal storage (of which only 5GB are usable for new apps and media). There is also a 3.5mm headphone socket and a micro-USB port for charging, but media-lovers will spot the absence of an HDMI port.

User experience and performance

In its various modes of downsizing to create this mid-sized Xperia phone, it is a relief that Sony has left the user experience as we saw it in the more expensive models. On the Sola, you get the Sony NXT user experience; a heavily customised software layered on top of Google's Android. We really like NXT; it's far less flashy than HTC's Sense UI, but it also seems to be more resource efficient. Despite the Sola being powered by a comparably slower dual-core 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM, the experience is slick and smooth, with pauses for processing infrequent.

The phone's specifications also mean that it has no difficulty running the majority of Android apps. We successfully ran some of the Google Play store's most graphics-intensive tasks and nothing phased the Xperia Sola.

It is disappointing that a phone released in the middle of 2012 is still running on the older Gingerbread version of Android. The newer Ice Cream Sandwich version does deliver some important enhancements to the platform, including performance enhancements, so hopefully Sony intends to release this update sooner, rather than later.

Communication

The Sola is both quad-band 2G and quad-band 3G, allowing you to connect to the 3G networks of Optus, Vodafone and Telstra. This includes the 850MHz frequency band used by Telstra and Vodafone for HSPA+ data speeds. It does not support the 1800MHz 4G frequency used by Telstra and Optus, though. The internet can also be accessed using Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), and the phone can share its 3G data using Android's personal hotspot feature.

Call quality had been solid during our tests, with the phone maintaining a good connection to the network and no call dropouts.. Email and text messaging is fine, but it could be improved with a better virtual keyboard design. The Xperia S features a Swype-like keyboard, but, for some reason, the Sola does not.

The Sola is also equipped with an NFC chip, making it possible for the handset to communicate with other NFC-compatible devices. To make the most of this feature, while we wait for NFC banking to take off, Sony has included two NFC SmartTags in the box with the Sola. With these tags, you can instantly change the phone's profile, activating a number of hardware features, like Wi-Fi or GPS, and launching apps simultaneously. Other current uses for NFC include pairing two devices, such as the mobile phone with a wireless speaker unit, but expect to see more NFC tags and badges over the next year and beyond.

Camera

Don't be fooled by the 5-megapixel resolution of the camera in the Xperia Sola. It might lack the overall number of pixels per picture, but it certainly feels like it takes photos of the same quality as the 12-megapixel camera in the Xperia S. Colourful photos pop when viewed on the screen (thanks to Sony's Bravia Engine display software), and the auto-focus is often sharp and accurate. This camera doesn't take photos as quickly as other models, but the results tend to be quite good, if a little overexposed on the default settings.

Multimedia

Multimedia is one aspect of smartphone usage that Sony has started to own with its recent releases. This is true for the Sola, too, though there are a few key features absent, or watered down. Videos and photos displayed on the phone receive the benefit of Sony's Bravia Engine — software that attempts to clean an image, as it's displayed, by reducing noise and increase sharpness and saturation. The result is nearly always better than without the engine.

If you want to share your media with a larger display, like a TV, you do have the option to stream it over a Wi-Fi network using the DLNA protocol. This requires your TV to be DLNA compatible, or to have a compatible device plugged into it. Unlike the Xperia S, the Sola does not have an HDMI port, so a direct connection is not possible.

The limited storage supplied in the sale package is another hurdle media-lovers will need to overcome to make the most of the Sola. Out of the box, you'll have 5GB to play with, which is plenty for storing photos and a selection of music, but not enough for keeping a collection of movies to watch.

Overall

Sony's Xperia Sola is a respectable mid-tier phone, with a good smattering of features and decent performance. Some that will argue that its 3.7-inch screen is too small for various smartphone tasks and the colour banding issues we've encountered may be a deal-breaker for others. Both impact on multimedia use, as does the handset's limited internal storage and lack of supplied memory card. Though, if you look past these flaws, there is a lot the Sola does well.

We feel it's recommended price of AU$486 is reasonable for a phone with these specs and features, though we have noticed that a recent price drop makes the superior Xperia S about the same price through some major vendors. Allphones, for example, listed the Xperia S for AU$488 at the time of writing this review. This deal may come and go, but if you are going to spend this money anyway, you might as well buy the S with its superior screen and features, if you can.