Motorola Xoom 2

Motorola Xoom 2

The original Motorola Xoom was the first Android tablet to get an official stamp of approval from Google. But its early headline-grabbing promise was fairly soon washed away by the ultra-thin Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the ultra-pricedropped HP Touchpad, the ultra-Apple iPad 2 and, of course, our tablet of 2011 the Asus Transformer. The Xoom 2 is Motorola's second attempt at a 10.1in tablet. It's thinner, it's lighter and it's faster than its forebear. But will it convince the masses to shell out just under £400, when its predecessor largely failed?

The second generation of 10.1 Android Honeycomb tablets has predictably seen several manufacturers follow the pattern set by Apple in its transition from the iPad to the iPad 2, in cutting down weight and thickness significantly. Motorola is among them. The original Xoom's 12.9mm body and 730g weight have been shrunk to 8.8mm and 599g (601g according to our scales). That's exactly the same thickness, and within a gram or two of the iPad 2. Coincidence? Of course it's bloomin' not.

Not that we're accusing Motorola of copying Apple's homework, as the design is actually fairly different. Like most Android tablets, it's widescreen (16:10), with a 10.1in 1,280x800 pixel display as opposed to the iPad's 4:3 aspect, 1,024 x 768 pixel panel. The back is also made up of three slabs rather than a single seamless field of anodised metal. Rather like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, part of it has a soft touch finish. The edges - when held horizontally - use this finish, avoiding the cold, hard touch of metal.

Most of the back is covered in metal, mind, bringing the high-end premium feel that's a must-have for any tablet costing hundreds of pounds. Motorola has taken the easy engineering route for the tablet's connections though, carving them into the black plastic sides and the grey plastic top section rather than into aluminium. This top grey part is meant to look mostly like a continuation of the metal plate below, but on close inspection the finish is a little different, which is a shame. 

Asus Eee Pad Transformer

Design and Spec

Android tablets have thus far often filled us with a special sort of dread. They've tended to achieve a batting average well below what Apple's iPad series has mustered, and an honest reporting of their various failures has occasionally led to claims of fanboy-ism, money hats and the sipping of elaborate cocktails served around Steve Jobs's Cupertino hot tub. None of which are remotely true, sadly. Thankfully, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer is here to clean the slate.

Removed from the keyboard dock, the tablet bears a face similar to many of the top new-wave Android Honeycomb tablets. It's glossy, black and rather iPad-like. Surrounding the black bezel is a strip of bronzed metal, lending the Eee Pad Transformer an impressive sense of quality that we missed in the all-plastic Samsung Galaxy Tab - last year's top Android tablet. The back continues the bronze-brown colour theme, but is made from embossed plastic rather than metal. This texturing improves grip hugely, but falls some way behind the feel of the iPad 2's anodised aluminium back in the quality stakes.

It's a classy product though, more so than we initially expected from Asus after encountering Motorola's and Samsung's rival tablets at January 2011's CES conference. Build quality is great, and the sides of its body are tastefully minimal, in contrast to the rather laden (but feature-packed) swiss army knife-style Archos 101. On the right edge are the 3.5mm headphone jack, miniHDMI slot, microSD slot and a very low-key speaker grille. The big surprise about this tablet is that there's no standard USB on the tablet itself. Instead there's a proprietary connector that doubles as both power point and USB connector. This sits on the bottom edge of the tablet. Some will hate the merging of power and data transfer duties into a single proprietary connector (indeed we err towards this ourselves), but it does give the Eee Pad Transformer a hint of that Apple flavour - that taste of simplicity.

Samsung Galaxy W

Design and screen

Samsung's Galaxy S2 may be the most desirable Android handset on the market at the moment thanks to its massive screen and ferocious dual core performance, but those features demand a high price that not everyone can afford. This is partly why Samsung has created the Galaxy W. It has a more standard-sized 3.7inch screen and a relatively modest single core processor, but it's also much more affordable as you can pick it up for around £228 SIM free and for free on a £22 a month contract from Three, who supplied our test handset.

Samsung's Android phones have never looked particularly beautifully – even the styling of the S2 is a little bit ho-hum in our opinion and sadly the Galaxy W doesn't do anything to change this.

 

Overall, while we wouldn’t describe it as flimsy, the phone feels very light to hold. This of course has its advantages but it doesn't give the phone the solid feel of many of HTC's Android offerings for instance. The battery cover, in particular, feels quite plasticky. It is comfortable to use, though, as the smaller screen means it's not as wide or tall as the S2 and the curved edges add to that comfort factor.

Rather than the Super AMOLED technology used for the S2's screen, the Galaxy W makes do with a standard LCD display. However, it's still an excellent screen and one of the phone's stronger points. Its resolution of 480x800 pixels means that pixel density is average but still good for a 3.7inch screen and as a result text looks sharp. It's bright too and its colours are warm, helping to give pictures graphics and videos a pleasingly natural look. Whites really do look white, rather than taking on the blue-ish tinge that you see on AMOLED displays, including those used on the S2 and Nokia Lumia 800.

HTC Sensation

HTC Sensation XL Overview


When the HTC Sensation arrived, HTC made it clear that it considered it a high-end flagship product. It packed specs to make the Samsung Galaxy S2 look nervously over its shoulder at number one in our list of the best mobile phones, mixed with that ol' HTC software magic.

Only a few months later, we've got two new Sensation handsets. The HTC Sensation XE, which beefed up the processor even further and added Beats Audio. The HTC Sensation XL (try to keep up) instead offers a larger screen than the original Sensation, but with a 1.5GHz single-core processor, 16GB of built-in memory, and Beats Audio (like the XE).

Though the Sensation XL's screen has been increased to 4.7 inches from the Sensation's 4.3 inches, the resolution is actually lower.

The HTC Sensation XL's 16GB of onboard storage is slightly unusual for HTC, who's default is usually to stick in just enough for the operating system and to let you add whatever else you want with a microSD memory card. Except the HTC Sensation XL has no microSD card slot.

And the thing is, the Sensation can be had on contract for free at around £20 per month. The HTC Sensation XE will only set you back a couple more quid. The XL, though, starts at around £31. Ouch.

Like the HTC Titan, it's a big phone, but it feels smaller than you might think in the hand. There's barely any gap between the screen and the side of the handset, so width has been kept to a minimum. Despite that, it's still fairly wide by necessity, so will inevitably not suit everyone.

Samsung Galaxy Note

For me it is neither a smartphone nor a tablet and sits right in the middle of these two devices. The Samsung Galaxy Note uses Android technology, feels light to hold, and has a 5.3” screen size. It is worth stressing that it is very light to hold and weighs much less than a standard tablet. On first look the screen is bright and very easy to see.

It is also thin with an 8 Mp camera and comes with its own stylus. It probably seems strange that Samsung have introduced the stylus again, but it works well and is accurate to work with. It is perfect for those who like a big screen and with the stylus feature it makes taking notes, writing shopping lists etc a very easy thing to do.

The Samsung Galaxy Note doubles as both a tablet and a smartphone meaning you only have to carry a single device. That is great news for those of us who don’t want to be paying for two SIM cards. The built in browser supports Flash which is also great news. It is available in 16 Gb or 32 Gb and the option to increase memory with the addition of an SD card.

One thing worth mentioning in this Samsung Galaxy Note review is that if your have big hands like me, and then this is the perfect smartphone for you. It is also ideal for anyone with fat fingers. You could be missing out on ease of use if you fail to pick up one of these and this makes it unique in the market place.

iPad 2

Just under one year ago, Apple shocked the computing world with a 9.7-inch touchscreen tablet that few truly expected.

Some called the original Apple iPad a large-format iPhone. Others berated the name and made jokes that were not remotely funny.

Now, 60,000 apps later (according to Apple, who counts every conceivable option) and just a few weeks after the first real Android 3.0 tablet contender hit the streets (Motorola Xoom), the iPad 2 has sauntered onto the playing field.

You can check out TechRadar's iPad 2 review video below:

Some expected pure gold: a tablet that runs as fast as a laptop and weighs less than a newspaper

Yet, the reality with the iPad 2 is that Apple has taken an iterative approach. In many ways, the iPad 2 is a crowd pleaser because it does not rock the boat.

At 241mm tall, 186mm wide, and 8.6mm thick, the iPad 2 is just a hair smaller than the original iPad and it's thinner than the iPhone 4. It has a curved edge that makes it look a bit more 'space age' and, surprisingly, easier to grasp because you can curve your fingers more easily around the bezel.

The most dramatic change is the weight. At 680 grams, the iPad 2 is 80g lighter than the first iPad. That is about the same weight as a juicy red apple (curious, eh?). Yet, in using the device, it feels strangely lighter than it really is.

Apple has made a second-gen iPad that feels lighter and more nimble, and its newfound mobility means it has lost the annoying heft of the original model.

Meanwhile, the Motorola Xoom, at 730 grams, now feels like the tank that it is. (More about that later, because we do prefer the speedy processor on the Xoom that handles 3D maps and games.)

Overall, the design is a stunner – it's brilliant. The aesthetics are much improved, although not everything about the iPad 2 is so equally impressive

iPhone 4S

The iPhone 4S caught many by surprise, with Apple expected to release the iPhone 5 - but instead we got an iPhone 4 with overhauled innards.

While the masses were initially disappointed, the iPhone 4S features a glut of top-end tech that is designed to put it on a par with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2 - but does it manage to do that?

The changes to the iPhone 4S are easy to document - the camera has been upgraded to 8MP (with an improved aperture ratio), the CPU is now the same dual-core A5 processor as seen in the iPad 2, and a seven time increase in graphical processing power.

Check out our video of the iPhone 4S in action - is it the phone for you?

Also we've got Siri, Apple's voice recognition service - will this be a game changer for mobile phones or will it be nothing more than a gimmick?

As we've mentioned, the iPhone 4S is almost identical in outward design to the iPhone 4, which might irk those that like to show that they've got the most up to date device from Apple when out and about with friends.

However, the flip side of this is that things like the plethora of iPhone 4 covers on the market at the moment will still fit.

Apple has slightly changed the design of the iPhone 4S somewhat though, by changing to a dual-band aerial design, making sure it doesn't encounter an embarrassing repeat of antenna-gate we had to endure with the iPhone 4.

For all those that haven't seen the older version of the phone, we'll take you on a tour of the new handset: the top of the iPhone 4S houses the power/lock button, as well as the headphone jack, plus a microphone for noise cancellation.

The right-hand side of the phone is devoid of any buttons, but holds the slot for the micro SIM card, which pops out using the included tool (or a paperclip).

The bottom of the phone is pretty standard, with the Apple connector and dual speakers which pump out the (actually quite decent) sound.

The left-hand side of the phone sees the rounded volume keys, with the top one of these also acting as the camera shutter button to make it easy to snap with the new iPhone. We've also got the silencer switch too, which has been slightly moved upwards from the previous iteration.

As you can see, Apple has altered its antenna band technology to move the gaps that plagued the iPhone 4's reception to a less-touchable location