The Toshiba 40E220U

What you should know.. 
The Toshiba 40E220U is a sub-$500 television with a lot to offer the bargain-minded consumer. It has fairly deep black levels, a better selection of inputs than most competitors, and rich, vibrant colors. Image processing is quite good, with a crisp picture and very good off-axis performance.

What it offers.. 
The Toshiba 40E220U is a value-for-money television offering decent contrast and bright, vivid colors.

The benefits. 
Unlike the smaller 32C120U, the 40E220U has a full 1080p screen resolution, but there's no further added functionality beyond that TV's fairly basic feature set. If you're interested in multimedia playback, though, the Toshiba can play back JPEG images and MP3 tunes via the USB port.

The advantage: 
The Toshiba 40E220U features crisp images with a decent amount of contrast. The TV offers a good value and is one of the better units under $500. Colors are well-saturated.

The unfavorable: 
The TV shows uniformity problems and some of the colors are inaccurate. Shadow detail is lacking compared with the cheaper TCL P60.

The price:
$377.00



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The Acer Aspire 7600U

What you should know.. 
Acer deserves some credit for the look of the Aspire 7600U. The system mostly has a clean and tidy appearance, with a familiar edge-to-edge display framed in glossy black plastic. The chromed plastic trim is clean enough, and the ports on the back sit neatly under a straight-lined overhang. Even the power cable received some attention, connecting directly into the chromed kickstand.

What it offers.. 
The computing components and a dominant high-end all-in-one from Dell hurt Acer's high-end, visually compelling Aspire 7600U.
The benefits:
When you compare the Acer with the Dell. With respect to the other PCs in our charts, the Acer is the third most expensive all-in-one, behind the XPS One 27 and the $1,999 27-inch 2011 iMac, but only a middle-of-the-pack performer.

The advantage: 
Acer's new attention to look-and-feel shows in the Aspire 7600's clean appearance and responsive touch input.
The unfavorable: 
The Aspire misses on price vs. performance, and Dell's 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution XPS One 27 makes 1,920x1,080-pixel screens like this one feel pedestrian.

Comparing with other brand

	Acer Aspire 7600U	Dell XPS One 27	Apple iMac 27-inch (spring 2011)
Price (at time of review)	$1,899	$2,299	$1,999
Display size/resolution	27-inch, 1,920x1,080	27-inch, 2,560x1,440	27-inch, 2,560x1,440
CPU	2.5GHz Intel Core i5 3210M	3.1GHz Intel Core i7 3770S	3.1GHz Intel Core i5 2400
Memory	8GB 1,333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	4GB 1,333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics	768MB Nvidia Geforce GT 640M	2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 640M	1GB AMD Radeon HD 6970M
Hard drives	1TB, 5,400rpm	2TB, 7,200rpm	1TB, 7,200rpm
Operating system	Windows 8 (64-bit)	Windows 8 Pro (64-bit)	Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7

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The Sony Alpha NEX-5R

What you should know:
Little has changed the kit lens still sports the close to de-facto 18-55mm range, equivalent to 27-82.5mm on a regular 35mm camera. Maximum aperture at wide angle is F/3.5, and at full telephoto it's F/5.6, with minimum aperture ranging from F/22 to F/32 depending on the level of zoom -- a very decent range. Zooming is fully manual, although there's a powered lens if you prefer, and you can take focus in hand, too, with a manual focus ring at the front of the barrel.
The NEX-5R can act as a password-protected wireless hotspot to which you can connect an Android or iOS device to download your images directly.
What it offers:
The two most compelling features however -- Bracket Pro and Multi Frame Noise Reduction -- each cost £3.99. Bracket Pro lets you bracket photos by shutter speed, aperture, focus or flash, and Multi Frame Noise Reduction, which features on the high-end Alpha SLT cameras, lets you shoot several images in low light which are then combined to create a high sensitivity equivalent image with low noise.

The benefits. 
The NEX-5R is one of those cameras that's great fun to use, and really encourages you to head out and take more shots. Build quality is excellent, the built-in features are great.
It does have the edge on the Samsung NX210 -- just -- in terms of human interface and usability, and it boasts a wider range of native lenses, too. By the end of November there will be 11 E-mount lenses to choose from. The Samsung NX system currently comprises six lenses, plus three hoods and adaptors, the latter of which do open up access to Pentax K-mount accessories.

The price:
The NEX-5R is considerably more expensive at around £600 to £670, depending on where you shop -- a price that represents a 20 per cent hike on that of an NX210. That difference is significant, and may sway your hand when it comes to making a choice.

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The Samsung Rugby Pro

What you should know.. 
Rugby Pro works underwater as it was advertised, and with its thick seams and ridged sides, it certainly looks like it can take a pounding. At least at first. There's a hard, ridged material that rings the phone. 

What it offers.. 
The Super AMOLED material and 800x480-pixel (WVGA) resolution keep text and lines looking sharp, colorful, and smooth. Blacks look deep and rich, and in typical Samsung fashion, the default settings overload certain colors, like green. This help gives images depth and richness, but it can look a little overdone on your own photos, when the overabundance of color becomes obvious.

The benefits. 
A whole lot of pre-loaded apps come on the Rugby Pro, as they do on every smartphone with a major carrier. In addition, Qik Lite is installed for you to start in on voice chats. Standard apps include the calendar, clock, calculator, and music player. The Google Play store is your go-to for downloading free and premium apps and other content like TV shows, movies, and music.

The advantage:
Samsung's Rugby Pro possesses stellar call quality, has push-to-talk support, NFC, a speedy processor, and a decent 5-megapixel camera.The unfavorable: 
Does not look or feel all that durable, and the back panel popped open when the handset is thrown.The offer:
Samsung's Rugby Pro is a good and affordable choice for people who liked rugged smartphone.

The price:

It is only $99.99


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Design Evolution of HP Notebooks, Desktops

HP is responding to the need for innovation and development, so for before performance, they also innovate their products to fit for the present need and market demand..

Ask – and you shall receive
Consumer demand is also responsible for elevating PC design to another level. We’re pretty particular about how we use our devices and what we use them for – just one of the reasons why we have multiple devices for multiple things, like work, school, personal and more. And it’s that demand that keeps us on our toes.

We pay careful attention to your feedback in emails and on our consumer support Forums about how you use your PCs for work, school and play. That “ear to the ground” insight helps us make sure we’re offering the kind of design options that keep your needs in mind.

There’s something to be said for sleekness and innovation in design, especially when it comes to your PC. Because we know you don’t want to drag around a heavy, cumbersome, un-cool looking machine to conferences, across airports, on trains, or around campus.

So, in the spirit of good design, take a look at our top picks for notebook and desktop PCs – and see examples of both form and function with the ENVY x2 and ENVY Touchsmart Ultrabook 4and the SpectreONE all-in-one desktop. From hybrid notebook-tablets and touch-sensitive machines to all-in-one powerhouses, these designs cross the spectrum – and make everyday computing easier to compute.

The HP ENVY x2: Best of both worlds
Cake – or cake? Now there’s no reason to choose. The HP ENVY x2 lets users have their proverbial cake and eat it, too, with an elegantly simple hybrid design that is both a notebook and a tablet. The ENVY x2 offers customers even more choices in an ultrathin package, with detachable screen that becomes a full-size tablet weighing only 1.5 pounds when it’s separated from the keyboard via a seamless magnetic latch.

ENVY Touchsmart Ultrabook 4: Simplicity refined  

The ENVY Touchsmart Ultrabook 4 brings the power of touch to on-the-go computing in a tough metal design that can handle planes, trains, automobiles, and more. The design is all about simplicity, with brushed black metal, simple HP logo, and silver trim on the outside. On the inside, brushed silver metal surrounds the keyboard.

With a 14-inch multi-touch HD display, the Touchsmart is a thin (less than an inch thick) and sleek machine that also delivers powerful performance with a third-generation Intel Core i3-3217U processor, HD graphics, a 14-inch diagonal HD screen with LED-backlit display, 2GB of system memory, and a 320GB hard drive.

SpectreONE: Good things come in one package

All-in-one PCs have been around for more than 10 years, but better processors, better technology and innovation in LED screens have upped the design quotient – and the SpectreONE is a perfect example of these design-worthy desktops.

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Buying Guide for Cell Phones

What you should know:
Cell Phone Types

Smartphones
At the top of today's handset pecking order is the smartphone. These devices typically have the most power and top-notch components such as processors, memory, screens, and connections to fast wireless data. By definition they run true mobile operating systems such as Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and Microsoft's Windows Phone.

Messaging or feature phones
Instead of popular mobile operating systems, these gadgets run proprietary software crafted by hardware manufacturers -- for example, Samsung or LG. Many feature phones tend to be made primarily for text messaging and e-mail, sporting full QWERTY physical keyboards.

Basic phones
There are plenty of people who have no interest in viewing full desktop-quality Web pages or running apps on their mobile device. Simply because, they just want a phone for making, well, phone calls. 

Screen size

Large screens (4.7 to 5.5 inches) 
Some gadgets such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (5.5 inches) and LG Intuition (5 inches) push the screen real estate envelope to new heights, almost reaching a tablet level of functionality and girth. Keep in mind, however, that while devices with larger screen offers a bigger view, they are also harder to manipulate in one hand and can be uncomfortable to hold for long periods when you're making a call.

Medium screens (4 to 4.5 inches) 
Phones in this middle category typically strive to balance the high degree of engagement and entertainment a larger display brings while still remaining practical. Motorola's Droid Razr M and Apple's iPhone 5 are good examples of this approach, offering large hi-resolution screens that users can grip with one hand and whose thumbs comfortably reach all portions of the display.

Small screens (under 4 inches) 
The swelling number of gargantuan smartphones hitting store shelves, compact cell phones are a shrinking segment of the mobile handset market. Some people still place portability highest on their list of phone features. Models like the HTC One V for example, are the most pocket-friendly, yet they manage to pack the hefty capability punch that Android can throw.

Processor

It provides the computing power to churn through tasks, like opening and running applications. A fast processor also has a big impact on overall performance, like how smoothly a phone handles flipping through menus and running home screens. Traditionally, clock speed, listed in GHz, has been the quick way to judge CPU prowess. 

Camera

Though you might think that more megapixels is better, that's not always the case. You can get sharper images from a 5-megapixel camera than from an 8-megapixel shooter so it's better to concentrate on other specs.

There are other factors to keep in mind, though, such as the quality of the lens, which could aid the sensor by exposing it to more light. The sensor itself might also offer a lower pixel count, but be more sensitive to illumination, resulting in better performance under low-light conditions.

Many phones ship with fancy image processors -- such as those from HTC and Nokia -- which promise high image quality plus the horsepower to drive the camera and auto focusing systems faster. 

Battery

Manufacturers have begun to recognize the critical importance of battery life and are squeezing greater capacity batteries into their phones. Typical phone batteries range from 1,700mAh capacities and go all the way up to 3,300mAh.
Manufacturers also list battery performance in terms of talk time, standby time, or by how many hours you can expect a device to perform tasks such as playing video and music.

Wireless carriers

Choosing a wireless carrier is perhaps the most difficult aspect of shopping for a cell phone. In many cases you don't have much of a choice since you're likely locked into a two-year contract and will pay a hefty early-termination fee if you cancel before your time is up. That said, when selecting a carrier, first on your list of criteria should be coverage. You'll want carrier with decent coverage in your home, at work, and all the places in between. 

Screen technologies

LCD
LCD screens have come a long way from the alarm clocks and digital wrist watches of the 1980s. Today's smartphone LCDs offer HD resolutions of 1,280x720 pixels or higher and in sizes of up to 4.7 inches. Traditional weakness of LCD technology has been its use of an external backlight for illumination. 

Retina
Apple uses what it calls Retina Displays in its latest iPhones. Essentially this is a clever marketing phrase to say the iPhone (both the iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5) sport LCD screens with 326 pixels per inch . Of course as a way to describe screen quality, ppi isn't quite cut and dry. Samsung's Galaxy S III for example has a lower ppi of 306 but has a larger display and higher resolution (1,280x720, 4.8 inches).

AMOLED
Destined to replace LCD, active matrix organic light-emitting diode displays (AMOLED) use organic chemicals as the material to generate light. Much like neon light fixtures and plasma HDTV screens, AMOLED displays use OLEDs to create light when they're exposed to an electric current. Since they don't rely on backlights for illumination, AMOLED screens tend to have higher contrast and more-vibrant colors than LCDs.

Processors

Qualcomm Snapdragon
The current CPU smartphone king, at least for Android devices, is the Snapdragon family of processors. The 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 powers high-octane devices such asMotorola's Droid Razr Maxx HD, Sony Xperia TL, and the Samsung Galaxy S III. 

Apple A6
The A6 is Apple's latest wafer of processing silicon to grace the company's newest handset, the iPhone 5. So far all we know about the A6 is that Apple says it's twice as fast as the A5 chip that powered the iPhone 4S.

Samsung Exynos
The Exynos brand. Its most recent Exynos chip, the 1.5GHz quad-core Exynos, gives the Galaxy Note II its muscle and is one of the first phones to lean on four computing cores.

Operating system and software platform

iOS
Ever since the first iPhone, iOS has been the software powering Apple mobile devices. The current version, iOS 6, notably made waves when it dropped support for Google Maps in favor of Apple's own Map solution.

Android
Google's Android operating system has taken the lead both in terms of the number of products it powers and the number of individual users who rely on it. Android's freshest version, 4.2 Jelly Bean, only officially runs on the LG Nexus 4 but is sure to land on other phone models soon. 

Windows Phone
The company's upcoming Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system is the most compelling yet with its new support for HD screens, multicore processors, and NFC. 

BlackBerry
RIM, the makers of the once premier BlackBerry mobile communication devices, has been down on its luck lately. While many RIM owners in the U.S. have jumped ship and landed in either the Android or iPhone camp, the company hopes to reverse its fortunes with BlackBerry 10. BB10 is expected to provide a much improved interface, browsing, and application-friendly platform than RIMs aging BB7 products. 

Phone features

NFC
Short for near field communication, NFC is a technology that has found its was into most current smartphone. NFC enables fast data exchanges between devices over short distances, just by tapping handsets together. While NFC is behind solutions such as Google Wallet mobile payments and Android Beam, it's not clear if there is strong consumer demand yet for NFC. 

Quad-core processing
The CPU arms race once solely the domain of desktop and laptop computers has arrived to smartphones in earnest. First mobile processors with dual-core designs, or two dedicated processing centers on a single chip, will soon be eclipsed by silicon with four discrete cores.

Wireless charging
Wireless charging isn't a new ability. Toothbrushes and other household appliances have been able to perform this trick for years. It's been slow to catch on with phones, however, despite the greater need of constant power on the go. Hopefully the Nokia Lumia 920 will change things for the better. Not only is this Windows Phone 8 handset able to pair with accessories in a snap via Bluetooth aided by NFC, the gadget supports for inductive charging too. 

Bluetooth and hands-free audio
Bluetooth is changing with the times, though, supporting new gadgets such as wireless stereo headsets and fitness trackers like the Fitbit Zip and Fitbit One. Additionally, Bluetooth version 4 promises to greatly improve battery life in supporting wireless phone accessories.

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