TechRadar: All blogs

HTC Endeavor ROM leaks with Sense 4.0 screenshots

Kate Solomon — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:13:00 GMT

The HTC Endeavor has hit the web once again, with its ROM leaking spec details left, right and centre.

The artist previously known as the HTC Edge, the Endeavor is expected to launch at MWC 2012, and data in the mobile's ROM reveals that it will come toting Ice Cream Sandwich with a Sense 4.0 overlay.

As well as confirming its quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chip, the leaked ROM also details a 720p resolution display, Dropbox integration, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

Camera-wise, the Endeavor will offer an 8MP main camera and a 1.3MP front-facing camera.

Edgy

But enough of that, what about Sense 4.0? Well, you're in for a treat! There are screen-shots galore from the ROM Utility Update, showing off a redesigned interface, with new lockscreen options, nicer looking widgets and generally a more-polished looking experience.

Image credit: Android Central

It's the last couple of weeks for new phone rumours before they all land at MWC 2012 so expect to hear more from the HTC Endeavor and HTC Ville before the month is out.

As usual, TechRadar will be hitting MWC in force so stay tuned for our hands on HTC Endeavor review, coming soon.

Is a Samsung Galaxy camera on the way?

Amy Davies — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:03:00 GMT

A filing for a Samsung Galaxy camera trademark has sparked rumours that Samsung is about to launch (or at least is working on) a new OS based camera.

The news comes just weeks after Polaroid revealed its Android "smart camera" at CES 2012.

At present, no other camera companies have models with operating systems installed, which gives the benefits of being able to download apps to customise the way the camera works.

It would make sense for companies such as Sony and Samsung to develop app based cameras, as both already have smartphones in the market.

Coming soon

Last week, Olympus told us that apps were "on the list" of things that the company is working on, but a spokesperson for the company revealed that the culture of secrecy meant that giving people the option to change and alter their cameras would be difficult.

Samsung's trademark application was filed under the "Cameras and camcorders", suggesting that it's not just another product under its existing Galaxy line-up of mobile phones.

Breaking: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 launched

Gareth Beavis — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:56:00 GMT

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 has been announced ahead of MWC 2012, with the Korean firm rebooting the chassis of its first tablet.

The new tablet features a 7-inch screen to cater for the smaller tablet lover, but more importantly is running on Ice Cream Sandwich (or Android 4.0) and may well be the first from the company to bring the next generation platform.

The rest of the technical specs are less exciting: we're looking at a 1GHz dual core processor running under the hood, with a 3MP camera on the rear.

Samsung has overlaid the Ice Cream Sandwich platform with its own TouchWiz UI too, and video calling will be supported through a VGA front-facing sensor.

Fuzzless front

The screen might not be too shabby it seems, as while it's 'only' LCD (rather than the fancy-pants Super AMOLED offerings from the Korean firm) the resolution of 1280x600 should be enough to keep users complaining of fuzzy displays.

Other key specs that don't seem to have moved things on much in a year and a half include: 1GB of RAM and the choice of up to 32GB internal memory.

Intriguingly, Samsung is referring to the device as the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) in its press materials, so it seems likely we'll be getting larger variants of the same device in the same way as the Motorola Xoom 2 has been offered.

Thomas Richter, Samsung's director of portfolio management, told TechRadar: "Since 2010 we have been bringing the Galaxy Tab range. In 2012, we believe that people want to experience more on the go."

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 UK release date has been set for March, so expect to see our full review up any time soon.

LG Miracle turns to Fantasy

John McCann — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:36:00 GMT

Images of the LG Miracle have surfaced along with a possible retail name for the phone, the Fantasy E740.

The photos appeared on a Romanian trading site and were quickly removed but not before a GSM Arena tipster was able to save them.

The handset in the pictures is a working unit running Windows Phone 7.5 and clearly has "Not for Sale" on the back – suggesting this is a prototype and not the finished product.

Image Credit: GSM Arena

Windows Phone opens its arms to NFC

Specs and a render of the proposed LG Miracle were already in the wild before these images appeared on the scene.

The Miracle/Fantasy is expected to come with a 1GHz processor, 4-inch WVGA NOVA display, rear facing 5MP camera capable of capturing 720p video and a front facing VGA snapper.

NFC (near-field communication) looks set to feature in the Miracle, but isn't currently supported by version 7.5 of the Windows Phone OS.

This may well tee us up for a joint MWC 2012 launch of the LG Miracle and Microsoft confirming support for NFC on Windows Phone.

Apple patents 3D eye-tracking interface

Patrick Goss — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:25:00 GMT

Apple has patented a 3D interface that detects and responds to the movements of your eyes to trick them into perceiving depth.

The patent – spotted by The Register – has been granted to the Cupertino outfit and deals with the use of sensors to create a false 3D effect on your device.

False 3D can be generated if the device can work out exactly what angle you are looking from, rendering an image that looks like it has depth.

It's a similar concept to the brilliant head tracking using a Wii remote that was a YouTube hit a few years ago:

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

Apple's patent talks about determining a 3D frame for the device "based on the received positional data" and it is the way in which this data is received that is the key difference it seems.

Tracking the eyes, dotting the 3Ds

"The techniques disclosed herein use a compass, MEMS accelerometer, GPS module, and MEMS gyrometer to infer a frame of reference for a hand-held device," says the patent.

"This can provide a true Frenet frame, i.e., X- and Y-vectors for the display, and also a Z-vector that points perpendicularly to the display. In fact, with various inertial clues from accelerometer, gyrometer, and other instruments that report their states in real time, it is possible to track the Frenet frame of the device in real time to provide a continuous 3D frame-of-reference.

"Once this continuous frame of reference is known, the position of a user's eyes may either be inferred or calculated directly by using a device's front-facing camera.

"With the position of the user's eyes and a continuous 3D frame-of-reference for the display, more realistic virtual 3D depictions of the objects on the device's display may be created and interacted with by the user."

It's certainly a fascinating idea – and one that definitely has some interesting potential in the way in which we use our devices.

Just don't expect it to feature in the iPhone 5 or iPad 3.

MySpace adds 1 million users since December

Kate Solomon — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:51:00 GMT

Rumours of MySpace's death have been greatly exaggerated – at least, that's what the company is expected to announce today with the news that it has signed up one million new users since December.

The reasons for the renewed interest stem from a new music player, which was launched in December and puts the site in competition with streaming services like Spotify and Last.fm.

MySpace's chief operating officer Chris Vanderhook also reckons the integration with Facebook and Twitter has helped.

What does it say about a social network that it relies on two other social networks to drive its growth? That it's not trying to be a social network, we'd wager.

Correct

The New York Times reports that this does seem to be the strategy, with Vanderhook adding that MySpace isn't out to compete with Facebook (something it has already failed at) but to "be the conduit for music and other forms of entertainment that can be shared through other networks".

Tim and Chris Vanderhook worked with Justin Timberlake to pick MySpace up for a song last year, paying News Corp $35 million for it just six years after Murdoch's empire bought the network for $580 million.

So it may not matter that MySpace tumbled out of the top social networks in December, given that it's no longer trying to be one.

In January, it emerged that the MySpace still garners more unique visitors a month than Google+ and Tumblr – it may not be time to crack out the bubbly, but it looks like there could be life in the old MySpace dog yet.

Opinion: Why AMD can be the catalyst behind cheaper Ultrabooks

Jeremy Laird — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:50:00 GMT

It's roadmap time at AMD and the big news is the promise of mobile chips that should give those snazzy new Ultrabooks powered by Intel processors a run for their money.

A little further out, AMD also hinted that ARM processor cores, currently the architecture of choice for smartphones and tablets, might find their way into its chips.

But first, Ultrabooks. A little like Intel's Centrino effort of the naughties, the Ultrabook is a simple but deceptively clever idea that has gained traction with astonishing speed. And jolly nice they are too, with their slim proportions, strong performance and excellent battery life, largely courtesy of Intel's latest Core-i-whatever mobile processors.

There's just one problem. Pricing. Intel's original pitch for Ultrabooks involved slick, super-slim computing for $1,000 or less. Just the thing to give Apple's pulchritudinous but pricey MacBook Air a beasting.

The reality for punter's wallets has been significantly less salubrious, especially in the UK. Retail stickers well above £1,000 have been common and to date only a handful have hit the shelves for under that figure.

Chip pricing to blame

Part of the problem, ironically enough, is Intel's chip pricing. AMD hasn't exactly been snapping at its heels of late. Whenever Intel's only significant competitor for PC processors falls behind, the same thing happens. Intel's prices go up and its thirst to innovate dries up.

Enter, therefore, the long awaited AMD Trinity chip. It's AMD's second performance-orientated APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) after last year's Llano model. And it looks rather promising. On the CPU side, it gets an updated version of AMD's new Bulldozer architecture, known as Piledriver.

As regular TechRadar readers will know, the Bulldozer architecture didn't deliver on the desktop. However, updated to Piledriver specification and inserted into an APU that also contains one of AMD's absolutely excellent graphics cores, now that's a different box of CPUs altogether.

We won't know for sure until we get our filthy mitts on Trinity-powered laptop PCs. But AMD recently showed off an early Trinity system developed in partnership with Compal. It's just 18mm thick and will allegedly sell for under $900.

Moreover, AMD is making some pretty startling claims for Trinity. For starters, it's said to pack double the performance per watt of the existing Llano APU along with 50 per cent better graphics performance. And Llano already has the fastest integrated graphics core of any PC chip.

But the real killer is that AMD claims Trinity will deliver all this along with better battery life than equivalent Intel mobile CPUs. What we're promised then, is a chip that goes harder and lasts longer than Intel but will also bring prices down on Ultrabooks.

Supernote, anybody?

Of course, any system powered by an AMD chip can't actually be called an Ultrabook. That's an Intel-only gig.

But if I was AMD, I'd be thinking hard for a snappy name for mouth-breathing PC shop salesmen to bandy about. Would sir prefer an Intel Ultrabook or an AMD Supernote?

Whatever, the arrival of Trinity will almost definitely be a good thing for everyone, even Ultrabook buyers. If it's any good, it'll bring down prices across the board.

But what of that tantalising prospect of an ARM-powered AMD chip? Well, AMD has been dropping bigger and better hints in recent months about its willingness to consider use ARM cores in its processors. And people have been getting excited.

In truth, there's really not much reason to do so. There's no shortage of competition and innovation in the ARM processor game. The addition of AMD to the battlefield won't make much difference. At most it'll force everyone to up their game in graphics a little. No, it's x86 why AMD can make the most impact. Fingers crossed for Trinity, folks.

Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 set for MWC 2012?

John McCann — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:28:00 GMT

Samsung is set to baptise yet another handset into its Galaxy range with the re-imagining of the Galaxy Mini, the Galaxy Mini 2.

A tipster has leaked details of the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500 to GSM Arena, apparently codenamed Jena.

The refreshed mini will pack a 3.3-inch HVGA display, a faster 800MHz processor and 3GB of internal storage which are all improvements on the original and the internal memory is impressive for a budget phone.

The Galaxy Mini 2 is also reported to feature a 3MP camera and run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) but with a small screen we reckon basic stuff like using the keyboard is going to be tricky.

Another Galaxy phone? Really!?

With shipping rumoured to start in February, we expect to see the Galaxy Mini 2 feature at MWC 2012 in Barcelona and we will see if it offers something uniquely different to Samsung's other budget devices.

Lacklustre naming regimes aside, does the Korean giant really need to plunge another device into the budget market which will see it line up in direct competition with other Samsung devices such as the Galaxy Y and Galaxy Ace? Let us know your thoughts.

Microsoft defends the Windows desktop

Patrick Goss — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:01:00 GMT

Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky has defended the Windows desktop, as the company looks ahead to a vital year for the grand old Operating System.

Speaking to TechRadar last week, Sinofsky outlined one of the key new Windows changes: the transition to work on ARM chips.

Windows on ARM (WOA) is a huge departure for Microsoft – it has previously focused on Intel's x86 platform – but the transition to new chips will not see a move away from the now familiar Windows desktop.

Touchtop?

In a blog post, Sinofsky outlined just why the Windows desktop would not be sacrificed any time soon, insisting that it was a compromise too far as touchscreen devices become widespread.

"Some have suggested we might remove the desktop from WOA in an effort to be pure, to break from the past, or to be more simplistic or expeditious in our approach," he blogged.

"To us, giving up something useful that has little cost to customers was a compromise that we didn't want to see in the evolution of PCs.

"The presence of different models is part of every platform. Whether it is to support a transition to a future programming model, to support different programming models on one platform, or to support different ways of working, the presence of multiple models represents a flexible solution that provides a true no-compromise experience on any platform."

brightcove : 1199351091001

Considering the considerable interest in Windows tablets there is clearly still a desire for a desktop, and Microsoft is aware that familiar user interfaces are as much about serving up what a consumer expects as clinging on to the past.

TechRadar's hands on: Windows 8 review discusses the difficulties in balancing a traditional desktop and the touch-friendly modern Metro UI that runs over the top of it.

And even if that transition is still a little clumsy, it seems that ditching the desktop would be a step too far for many - including the team at Microsoft.

Review: Samsung Galaxy Xcover Extreme S5690

Sandra Vogel — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:50:00 GMT

Overview, design and feel

We all know that Samsung isn't exactly a shrinking violet when it comes to smartphones. It has a wide range of handsets, spanning all price points and covering Android, Windows Phone and even its own Bada operating system.

Samsung has been in the rugged mobile phone arena before, although only with 'dumb' phones such as the Solid Extreme B2100. Now, though, Samsung seems to have finally noticed the success Motorola has had with its Defy and Defy+, and has decided to jump onto the bandwagon with a rugged handset of its own.

The result is the rather heavily named Samsung Galaxy S5690 Xcover Extreme, which you'll probably see referred to as either the Samsung Galaxy Xcover or the Samsung Galaxy Extreme. We're opting for the Samsung Galaxy Xcover for this review.

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover is IP67 certified, meaning it's able to survive under a meter of water for up to 30 minutes, and can withstand dust too. Clearly it needs to be well sealed to perform these feats. The sealing looks relatively subtle, but we'll test it later.

Both the headset slot on the top and the USB slot along the bottom are protected by hinged covers. The USB slot is also quite recessed, and we had trouble getting our usual 'one size fits all' connector to fit into the hole.

The power button on the right and the volume rocker on the left are fairly flush with the chassis, and presumably well protected underneath.

The backplate is held firm with a screw-type lock, and even when you release this you need to prise it away. There's a secondary seal around the battery for double protection. The Samsung Galaxy Xcover's screen, of course, is made from Gorilla Glass.

The handset is a somewhat chunky beast, measuring 121.5 x 65.9 x 11.95mm and weighing 135g. There is a lot of unused space above and below the screen that makes it seem a bit over-engineered, and the 3.65-inch screen looks a little lost.

Beneath the screen are three fairly large buttons for Home, Back and Menu. Yes, they're well sealed against water and dust, but this doesn't in any way affect their comfy feel under the fingers.

Look closely at the volume rocker, incidentally, and you'll see a torch icon. Hold this end of the rocker down and you can toggle the camera LED for use as a, well, as a torch.

Specs-wise, Samsung hasn't really pushed the boat out with the Galaxy Xcover. Android is version 2.3 Gingerbread. The 800MHz processor isn't what we'd call state of the art, and with just 150MB of free storage you'll need a microSD card almost immediately.

The camera is another letdown, offering just 3.1MP of shooting power.

Considering that Clove, who supplied our review sample, is selling the Samsung Galaxy Xcover for £226.80 SIM-free in the UK, then maybe these specs are to be expected. In the US, we found it priced at $385 SIM-free on Amazon.

There's also the usual GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover.

Interface

There's nothing very unusual about the way the Samsung Galaxy Xcover works. The user interface is very familiar indeed, with TouchWiz sitting on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

That means that all the home screens have four shortcut icons at the bottom, taking you to Dialler, Contacts, Messaging and Apps. When you switch into the apps menu, for example, the four shortcuts remain, but the Apps shortcut is now replaced by one for the main Home screen.

You start out with three home screens, but if you hit the Home button then choose Edit you can add more, up to a total of seven. This Android 2.3 feature means you can customise the number of home screens to your own taste.

Meanwhile Samsung provides a reasonable range of apps, including Active Applications, which shows you when system resources are getting low and gives a quick link into the Task Manager to close any you don't need.

It also includes a neat weather app that links into AccuWeather for five-day forecasting.

Meanwhile, if you pull down the notification bar on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover, you can access connection settings and even switch the sound to vibration mode and disable automatic screen rotation. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but it is all good stuff.

One user interface aspect we really like is the message notification on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover's lock screen. Just slide it to the left and the handset opens right up into the messaging area.

Contacts and calling

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover supports Samsung's SNS services, which means it can bring in your social network contacts to one place.

Setting up accounts is easy, and you can tell the Android smartphone how often to check for updates.

And you can instruct the handset precisely what updates to check for.

Once you've set up Facebook and Twitter, the contacts area is populated and you can see everyone's little photo by their name, and whether they're a Facebook or Twitter contact.

You can easily search this list using the search box, and if you click through you can see people's contact details and history.

The other way of reaching out to your contacts, of course, is via the Samsung Galaxy Xcover's smart dialler. Call this up and start tapping out a name or number and matches are displayed. There isn't much space for the display, but a little number to the right of the only match that shows tells you how many there are, and tapping it gives you the full list.

In-call services are well thought out, with easy links to hold, the speaker and mute button and to go back to the dial pad.

Call volume on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover was good, although we'd have liked a bit more volume from the speaker, which seems under-powered.

As with TouchWiz, there's nothing here that we haven't seen before, but Samsung lays all the elements out well, and the feature that any phone must get right - calling - is well handled.

Messaging

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover handles your Facebook and Twitter contacts via its Social Hub, which is where it also handles SMS messages.

Initially this looks inviting, but in fact it doesn't mean there are integrated Twitter and Facebook apps on board. Tap either option and you're taken to the mobile web versions of each social network.

Worse than that, while we were automatically logged into our Facebook, the Samsung Galaxy Xcover had the cheek to ask us to log into our Twitter again. It's hardly a fully-integrated solution.

Moreover, there are no dedicated apps for Facebook or Twitter pre-installed. You can get both from the Android Market, of course, but their absence makes the Samsung Galaxy Xcover a fairly socially unaware handset out of the box.

To add a little insult to injury, we had a bit of a problem with sessions expiring and found we had to log in again quite frequently. If this were an ongoing problem with the Samsung Galaxy Xcover we'd be pretty annoyed, since the whole point of seamless social network integration is that it is seamless.

Moving on to SMS text messaging - the other thing the Social Hub handles - this is a rather more pleasant experience. Missed calls are listed here, as well as text messages. Click through to create a new SMS, and the screen offers smart dialling in its search box.

When it comes to typing messages, the keyboard lets things down a bit. You have to pop onto a second screen for punctuation and numbers.

It slows down the rush of fingers across the screen a little.

On the other hand, the threaded message view works well and gives you a reasonably lengthy view of an SMS chat.

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover offers Swype, but you can't turn it on and off from within the keyboard settings. It's in the general settings area under Locale and Text.

This is also where you can turn on and off predictive text and different keyboard types, including old fashioned numerical style keypads and handwriting recognition in portrait mode.

Of course there's email support too, and you can set up accounts very easily by adding in the standard information. It's nice that the keyboard offers '@' and '.com' shortcuts here for quick information entry.

Internet

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover has both Wi-Fi and 7.2Mbps HSDPA, so it ought to be able to cope well with web browsing in simple terms of downloading pages.

And it did, too. It took about 12 seconds to pull down and resolve the TechRadar home page over the network, which is nice going.

The 3.65-inch screen is just about big enough for comfortable web browsing, although its resolution, at 320 x 480 pixels, is some way behind what we'd expect from a higher-end smartphone these days. Still, when we did a double-tap to zoom in, web text was readable and not blocky at all.

Text reflowing isn't what it should be, though. A double-tap to zoom into a TechRadar story we wanted to read didn't result in good news.

We only really got to read without a lot of scrolling when we flipped into landscape mode. What you experience in everyday life may vary depending on the websites you read and how they're originally formatted, but we weren't too happy with what we found.

Moving on to take a look at how the Samsung Galaxy Xcover handled Flash, there was more disappointment. Its 800Mhz processor isn't up to the job, so embedded video was a bit of a no-go area.

On the other hand, there's a nice bookmarks area, which also offers your most visited sites and browsing history, enabling you to get around fairly quickly. To add a bookmark, you just tap a little icon to the right of the search box.

Camera

The camera on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover is something of a disappointment on paper. It shoots stills at just 3.1 megapixels, making it pretty much entry-level as far as today's smartphones are concerned.

The lens is slightly recessed, so it should be able to avoid getting scratched and buffeted by all the rough and tumble the phone is designed to take, and there's a flash.

The flash doesn't work well more than a few feet from your subject, however, and even then it's not great.

Shooting modes are fairly limited, but there is a panorama mode and alongside the usual sports, indoor and night modes there's a mode for photographing text.

Camera controls sit on the edges of the Samsung Galaxy Xcover's screen, where they are easy to find by touch. Because there's no shutter button, you can assign the menu key as a camera shutter, or use the on-screen button, which is just as easy.

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WHITE SKY: You can see at a glance that the camera delivers only average quality photos. It can't cope with the sky in this photo, though the water and the bridge are OK, as is the greenery. Zoom in even a little bit and you notice the pixelation.

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PANORAMA: Panorama mode stitches together eight photos, which are taken in sequence automatically as you pan. The result is a photo 2640 pixels wide x 400 pixels high. The stitch quality isn't too bad, and the process is fairly fast.

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MODES: Moving through the standard Normal, Black and White, Sepia and Negative filters, you see again how badly the camera handles variance in light. The sky wasn't especially bright on our shooting days, either.

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INDOORS: Indoors, the camera copes fairly well with average household lighting conditions. But don't try to take pictures as it gets darker.

Video

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfG2D1iNY6E

The major problem with the Samsung Galaxy Xcover's video camera is that it is limited to shooting at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480. It captures 25.7 frames a second at this resolution.

That's really not good enough for video you want to share, although videos do display well enough on the 640 x 480 screen of the handset itself.

Media

The Music Hub icon on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover's apps list might look appealing and interesting, but in fact it's fairly bland.

The app isn't even pre-installed. It has to be downloaded from the Samsung App store via a link, and as you start the download process the Samsung Galaxy Xcover tells you that you have to change a setting first.

Now, call us churlish, but that might put the odd newbie off.

Still, if you do go ahead you get the Music Hub, which is basically an online store.

If you'd rather play music you already own then you'll need a microSD card, since there's only 150MB of internal storage for any data you might have.

The microSD card slot is under the battery, which under normal circumstances we'd grumble about because it makes hot swapping impossible. But because the Samsung Galaxy Xcover is rugged, the slot needs as much protection as possible, so we'll forgive its location in this case.

The music player is a basic rendition that does its job well enough, but without frills. It has so few frills, in fact, that it could only be bothered to find album art on our microSD card some of the time.

When tunes are playing, there's a playback controller in the notifications area. Just pull that down and whatever app you're in you can move around within a playlist.

The built-in speaker delivers quite a good volume, but there's a bit of distortion to the output at top volumes. Plug in a headset and you get the benefit of Dolby 5.1 sound, which does make a bit of difference, but there's still noticeable distortion even with quite good headphones.

An FM radio adds another facet to audio-based entertainment, and the auto scan kicks in the first time you run the app without you having to ask. That's a nice little feature, and scanning only takes a couple of seconds.

The radio has a round dialler button you can sweep to move through frequencies, or you can simply choose a channel from the presets. There is room to store four favourite stations at the bottom of the screen.

When it comes to video playback, the Samsung Galaxy Xcover isn't hugely capable. It can cope with MP4, H.264 and H.263. It played our samples without jerking, though, and colour rendition was good.

Battery life and connectivity

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover has a 1500mAh battery, which is pretty generous and should, on paper, provide a relatively long life. We've not seen an official battery life quote from Samsung, but elsewhere we've seen it quoted as good for 11 hours talktime on 3G and up to 640 hours of 3G standby.

We found the battery to live up to the usual smartphone expectation of delivering about a day's worth of life between charges, but what you get will of course very much depend on how you use the Samsung Galaxy Xcover.

When we left it on overnight just with Wi-Fi on, it lost about a tenth of its charge just ticking over. Playing music for an hour lost it about 20 per cent.

And over a two-and-a-half hour period when we used the video camera, played music continuously and sent and received emails over Wi-Fi indoors and 3G outdoors, the battery drained down to close to half of its power.

So, we reckon if you use the Samsung Galaxy Xcover on a daily commute, you ought to budget for an afternoon power boost, and another in the evening.

Connectivity options don't run to the likes of DLNA and HDMI - this isn't an expensive enough smartphone to warrant those.

But Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are of course here, HSDPA supports 7.2Mbps downloads and 5.76Mbps uploads, and those who like their location-aware services will be pleased to see A-GPS is here too.

In addition, you can use the Samsung Galaxy Xcover as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

Maps and apps

With GPS and Google Maps on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover, mapping and navigation is nicely taken care of. There are plenty of information layers available these days, such as satellite and traffic data, and Google Maps often proves itself really useful when we are out and about.

Samsung has added a few apps to the Android standard set. It's a pity the nice Notes app from the Samsung Galaxy Y isn't here, but then you can very easily find oodles of notes apps in the Android Market.

Polaris Office looks like it's installed because there's an icon present, but like the Music Hub we mentioned earlier, you have to download it from the Samsung App store.

It is free, and we suppose this ensures you have the latest version, but the download process is a bit of a pain.

Once you have it, Polaris Office enables you to create documents that are compatible with Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as edit existing documents.

There's also a books app, which gives you access to ebooks including a good few for free, although the idea is really that you buy ebooks. When we looked, there were plenty of new titles on offer.

There's also a little workout helper called Cardio Trainer, but if you are into using your phone for fitness you can find better apps in the Android Market.

With both the Android Market and Samsung Apps - Samsung's own app store - on board, you've plenty of scope for beefing up the apps content of this smartphone.

Rugged features

We've noted that the Samsung Galaxy Xcover is classed as a rugged smartphone, yet it looks quite attractive.

The USB and headset slots have protective hinged covers, the backplate is held down by a screw, and inside the back there's a seal around the edge and a second seal around the battery.

SIM and microSD card slots are under the battery. To cap it off, the screen is made from Gorilla Glass.

We subjected the Samsung Galaxy Xcover to a few tests to find out how rugged it really is. We dropped it semi-accidentally a few times, including against the edges of metal filing cabinets, onto pavements and down the stairs. There wasn't a scratch on the chassis.

We tried to scrape scratches on the screen with a knife. No joy.

We took the Samsung Galaxy Xcover on a run, stowing it in the sweaty back pocket of our training bottoms, and it weathered the storm. We even sat the handset under a running tap for 15 minutes, and it survived that too, although a little water did seep under the backplate.

Hands on gallery

Official gallery

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover is a rugged Android smartphone, and in that it has only two real competitors - the Motorola Defy and the newer Defy+, so the comparisons are inevitable.

The build doesn't feel quite as solid as that of the Defy, and the general specifications aren't as advanced either.

The Motorola Defy+ has a 3.7-inch 480 x 844 pixel screen vs a 3.65-inch 320 x 480 screen on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover.

The Defy+ camera shoots at 5MP as opposed to 3.1MP here. The Defy + processor runs at 1GHz as opposed to 800MHz on the Galaxy Xcover.

And there's no price difference to mirror that, with the Defy+ currently costing exactly the same as the Samsung Galaxy Xcover, priced at £225/$385.

We liked

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover looks neat - its bronze sides really help it stand out from the crowd.

The microSD card is under the battery, where it's best protected from water and dust.

The camera LED can be used as a torch thanks to a feature added to the volume rocker.

We disliked

The build feels a bit on the plasticy side, and there was a little water seepage under the backplate in our 'run under the tap' test.

Web browsing isn't too great, with poor text reflow and no Flash support.

The handset feels a bit big in the hand considering its screen size, and it is in particular a bit on the tall side.

Screen resolution is on the low side for a modern smartphone.

Camera resolution is quite low, at 3.1MP, and video resolution is woeful, at 640 x 480.

Final verdict

Samsung has made rugged handsets before, and not done too bad, but this is the first time the company has brought rugged features to an Android smartphone, and we aren't all that excited, because the general specifications are average rather than great.

If we were choosing a rugged smartphone right now, we'd choose the Motorola Defy+ rather than the Samsung Galaxy Xcover. Sorry, Samsung.

Review: iBooks Author

Steve Paris — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:41:00 GMT

Apple iBooks Author

Amazon's Kindle, Barnes and Noble's Nook, and even Apple's iBooks have been working on moving us away from reading physical books and embracing the digital revolution.

But until now, there was very little to convince us how good an idea this could be, since the digital versions looked very much like their real-world counterparts, right down to the page turning effect.

You'd save a lot of weight if you tended to carry a few books with you, but no title appeared to offer the limitless potential of a true digital book, something more akin to what you can achieve with apps, for instance.

All this and more is what Apple is trying to accomplish with its new content creation app, iBooks Author. Its aim is to revolutionise modern textbooks by bringing interactivity to the learning experience.

Not only can you add images to your pages, the reader can zoom in or out of them. You can insert Keynote slides or movies that can either be viewed embedded inside a page or full-screen. There's even the possibility of creating short quizzes to test your reader's knowledge retention.

You'd think that all this would require a lot of programming knowledge, but that's the beauty of iBooks Author: it's incredibly simple to use, and if you're familiar with Apple's iWork suite, you'll feel right at home within its interface.

It's a bit like a cross between the iWork apps Pages and Keynote, but you can't change the page format in any way: it's designed solely to be used on an iPad – even iPhones and iPod touches are left out.

On template

Just like other iWork programs, you start with a choice of template, six of which are offered by default, although you can create your own if you so choose.

You can write straight into iBooks Author, but it's also easy to import content from a Pages or Word document. Text is brought in seamlessly, but more complex formatting and embedded images can cause problems with the layout. The best option is to bring in the text then add the multimedia in iBooks Author.

Inserting media is child's play: you have a Media window from which you can locate photos, movies and music already stored on your Mac. Applying interactivity is done with the use of one of seven widgets, including being able to insert HTML dashcode applets, like those used to create Dashboard widgets on your Mac.

You can also preview your work as you design it: connect an iPad to your Mac, click the Toolbar's Preview icon and your book will be transferred across the USB cable for you to check. A purple 'Proof' banner will appear on the cover of your ebook and you'll be able to browse through it and interact with your widgets to make sure they all work as expected.

Once you're happy with the results, you can export your work in the iBooks format (or as a PDF or text file, but you'll obviously lose all the interactivity). That iBook can then be transferred to any iPad. It's a fantastic means of creating your own interactive documents and could do wonders in the classroom.

If you'd rather profit from your endeavour, you'll need to respect the program's licence agreement which states that you have to make your iBook available exclusively on the iBook Store (the content remains yours of course, so you're free to redesign your book using a different program and sell it elsewhere).

You'll need to acquire an ISBN number (an industry-standard code designed to catalogue all publications), and if you're not a US resident, you'll also need a unique reference number from the IRS. However, free books can be made available anywhere without such restrictions.

First iterations

Despite all the things this app allows you to do, and how it will empower teachers and even home-schoolers to design their own textbooks, it's a 1.0 product, which means it's a little rough around the edges at times.

Aside from the occasional glitches that prevent you from altering the content in any way (a quick restart of the app solves that problem – thank goodness for Lion's Autosave feature!) there are some odd inconsistencies.

For instance, the whole interface is designed around text boxes. You can link them so that your words flow seamlessly from one box to the other. However, in order for that to work, new linkable text boxes must be created with the help of a text box already present on your page. Text Boxes created from scratch by clicking on the relevant toolbar icon can't be linked to others.

Worse still is iBooks Author's draconian restrictions when it comes to video formats. Only H.264 files are tolerated, but not all H.264 files are created equal. Try dragging a video clip you shot on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and it'll be rejected, even though we all know Apple's iOS products save their footage in H.264. If you export an iMovie project on your Mac, it's the same problem (you have to use the Share command to create a kosher version).

What's worse is that files made with HandBrake, a video format conversion tool, or created with the excellent screen capture program ScreenFlow, won't work either – even though you can play back these files directly on your iPad, iBook Author refuses to. To make them work, you must open them up in QuickTime X and export them for the iPad. It seems like an unnecessary and unintuitive step to have to take.

This run-around is far from what we're used to from Apple. But despite these problems, iBooks Author is an amazing program which enables anyone to create a polished interactive ebook in little time.

If you can live with the licence agreement, you can have a lot of fun engaging with your students or customers. As long as they all own iPads, of course.

Sony planning Vita OS for mobiles and tablets

John McCann — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:37:00 GMT

Sony is looking into ways of porting its Vita OS software onto its mobile devices according to a Japanese website.

According to the Japan based site AV Watch, soon-to-be Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai has hinted in a Q&A session with reporters that Sony is exploring how its Vita OS could make its way onto devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Sony's Senior Vice President Yoshio Matsumoto went on to say: "if you're asking if we've made it [the Vita OS] in a way that's expandable, so that it's possible to apply to smartphones and tablets on top of achieving the high responsiveness we need for gaming devices — it is possible"

Gaming with a side of phone calls

Sony has already brought PlayStation gaming to a mobile device with the Xperia Play allowing us to get to grips with original PS One titles.

If Sony did bring Vita gaming to mobiles and tablets we could see the premature death of the PS Vita console if the devices offered the same display quality and gaming experience. Controls may not be as ergonomic, but users may sacrifice this for mobile phone features.

Sony is looking to get its mobile division back on track in 2012 after poor results last year saw it make a loss and lose ground in the market to the likes of Apple, Samsung and RIM.

Apple goes after US Galaxy Nexus ban

Kate Solomon — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:20:00 GMT

Apple is not pulling any punches with its latest patent attack on Samsung, seeking a ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US.

This latest move is being seen as a clear attack on Android as a whole, given that the Galaxy Nexus is the flagship Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) device and covers a number of features present in the Galaxy Nexus software.

Patent expert Florian Mueller describes the four patents that Apple is basing its case on as "the patent equivalent of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" because they all relate to patents Apple has recently been awarded or disputes that Apple has recently won against other manufacturers.

I-scream-about-patents Sandwich

The Californian court case sees Apple claim that the Galaxy Nexus infringes on patents including the ability to unlock a phone screen by sliding an image and voice-based search.

As well as the unlock and search patents, Apple is also making waves over data tapping, a patent that the company had success using over HTC (data tapping is when information from one app can be used to call up another - like when a phone number is included in an email and you have the option to call, text or save it in a different app), and a predictive text patent which the company was recently granted.

Although Apple and Google haven't come out shooting directly at each other, a Cold War situation is emerging where each takes pot-shots at the other via manufacturing partners.

Apple is also a bit narked at Google's BFF Motorola over a patent licensing dispute in which Moto is after 2.5 per cent royalties on every iPhone and iPad sold.

TechRadar Deal: Today's deal: 56% off the X-mini v1.1 Capsule Speaker

Paul Douglas — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:30:00 GMT

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Google testing own personal communication device

Jools Whitehorn — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:22:00 GMT

Google has a "next generation personal communication device" in testing, according to a document held by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Google is asking for permission from government regulators to break with convention and test its new device outside its labs.

Instead it wants to put the prototypes through their paces on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks in the homes of 102 Google employees.

The testing, which is for the purpose of assessing the "throughput and stability of the home WiFi networks that will support the device" will be done by employees in Mountain View, Los Angeles, New York and Cambridge (Massachusetts).

Google's own

The document submitted to the FCC says that Google itself is the manufacturer of the device which is "in the prototyping phase."

It may be something that never makes it into our own homes, but Google has been steadily diversifying its efforts in a way that could see it in every corner of our lives.

For instance, it has been increasingly making steps into the world of physical rather than virtual product offerings, firstly with its takeover of Morotola, but also with its futuristic AR Glasses project.

It's also expanding into the world of the ISP, laying its own fibre-optic network in Kansas City.

Acer CloudMobile set to be unveiled at MWC 2012

Patrick Goss — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:08:00 GMT

Acer will reportedly unveil the CloudMobile at MWC 2012, with the handset utilising the company's forthcoming Acer Cloud computing service.

Although we're at a loss as to how it came up with the name, Acer's cloud-accessing mobile phone, which will apparently called CloudMobile, will launch in the third quarter of 2012

According to the company the phone will bring Android 4.1, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and boast a 4.3 inch touchscreen and HSPA+ support.

Clouded judgement

Of course, the unique selling point of the phone will be it support of Acer's Acer Cloud service – which should allow you to access or stream files stored online.

Acer Cloud is due to launch in the coming months in China and North America and before Christmas in other markets - including the UK.

It remains to be seen if the Acer CloudMobile UK and US release date remains Q2, but in the case of the former the gap between the phone's arrival and the service which gives it its name seems odd.

Acer's phone offerings have yet to set the world alight, but the Taiwanese giant has kept plugging away and remains hopeful that it can begin to have as much impact in mobiles as its laptops.

Microsoft Store in India hacked, passwords released

Jools Whitehorn — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:49:00 GMT

India's online Microsoft store has been hacked, exposing the names, email addresses and passwords of its users, which were stored as plain text.

Chinese hackers Evil Shadow Team have taken credit for the hack, posting up a message saying: "Unsafe system will be baptized" and a link to the group's blog.

Microsoft Store India is not run by Microsoft, but by an Indian company called Quasar Media.

It appears that the Microsoft Store India stored user passwords as plain text, making it relatively easy for the hackers to get hold of sensitive information once they had gained access to the site.

Password refresh

The information released included the email addresses, passwords and full names of site members, so if you happen to be one of them it would be a good idea to change your password immediately.

The site's owners appear to have regained control, as the site now simply bears the message: "The Microsoft Store India is currently unavailable. Microsoft is working to restore access as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."

In Depth: Is 3D technology here to stay?

Jeremy Laird — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

How 3D works

The third dimension is taking over your local cinema. It's assimilating your HDTV. It might even be popping out of your next smartphone.

And yes, it's creeping into PC gaming, too. It's the next big thing and it's 3D.

Of course, if we're talking PC gaming, then the term 3D is a little confusing. On PC Format, we've been soaking up the 3D gaming groove for nearly two decades, but that's 3D graphics painted onto a 2D screen.

When manufacturers hit the hype button regarding 3D today, what they are really referring to is stereoscopic 3D imaging. What this means is pictures popping out of the screen and poking you in the peepers, not the relentless quest for ever more photorealistic computer graphics courtesy of a games console or highend gaming rigs.

However, whatever you think about 3D (from now on, let's assume 3D means stereopscopic 3D), one thing it definitely isn't is new. 3D images have been knocking around for nearly 200 years and the technology involved in 3D movies dates back over 100 years. That's right – like so many things – the Victorians got there first.

It all started – probably - with a device known as the stereoscope, invented in 1838. It was the first gadget that keyed into the mechanics of human stereoscopic vision.

Humans, of course, have two eyes. The consequence is that each eye views the world from a slightly different angle and receives a slightly different image. The brain takes these offset images and composites them into a single mental picture with depth and perspective. You, therefore, see the world in glorious 3D.

So, that's exactly what the stereoscope does – show each eye a still image from a slightly different angle and allow the brain to work its magic. Cue endless fairground fun and a roaring trade in early 3D pornography.

Like many technologies, good old porn helped with the early cash flow. Of course, the stereoscope had some very serious applications, too. It was used by the military to view aerial photographs, for instance.

Ongoing 3D

Fast forward to the 1890s and British inventor, William Friese-Greene patented a system for capturing and displaying motion stereoscopic pictures and 3D movies were born. Friese-Greene's technology turned out to be too unwieldy for commercial use, but the seeds were sown.

Several variations on the stereoscopic 3D movie riff were tried with the first known paying audience recorded in 1922. Further dabbling followed in the next few decades. Even the Nazis made a few propaganda flicks in 3D, but the golden age of 3D cinema was probably the 1950s.

A number of revivals have since rebooted the 3D revolution only to fade into obscurity. All of which brings us to the present day.

Indeed, after that potted history you might be tempted to disregard the latest 3D resurgence as another blip on the graph before an inevitable return to the historical flatline. This time, however, things are different.

This time, 3D is about much more than cheap cinema thrills. It's spreading into a wide range of platforms courtesy of many different technologies. That includes the promise of less unwieldy, more comfortable 3D viewing. Combine that with the interactivity of games and the result might just be the most immersive leisure experience yet. This time, 3D might be for real.

So, what are the different 3D technologies available today, how do they compare and where's it all heading?

In one sense, they're all the same. Generally, it's all about exposing each eye to a different image. Exactly how that is achieved, however, is where things get interesting.

The heyday of 3D cinema was based on so-called red-green analglyph technology. This involves a single picture containing a pair of merged, colour-shifted and spatially offset images. The viewer is required to wear colour-filtered lenses which effectively allow each eye to view a different offset image. This works pretty well in terms of creating the illusion of depth perception. It's a little more problematic when it comes to colours, however.

Inevitably, each eye is viewing the scene with radically different colours. While the brain is capable of compositing the image to generate the correct colours, it's a lot of work and perhaps contributes to the eye strain many viewers of 3D movies experience.

If coloured filters tend to be less than ideal, the most obvious alternative is polarised light. Again, the viewer is presented with a single picture frame within which two images are interleaved. The most common method is to use a pair of projectors, each with an orthogonally opposed light polarising filter. The viewer then wears glasses with similarly opposed polarising filters and Bob's your spear-poking, eye-popping uncle.

3D gaming

Smoke and spectacles

Originally, polarised 3D technology relied on linear polarisation and thus required level-headed viewing. More recently, circular polarisation has been used, allowing a degree of head-tilt without losing the 3D illusion.

However, if it's perfect colours and freedom to thrash your head about like a lunatic you desire, one solution is active shutter technology. Active-shutter 3D involves a pair of glasses, the lenses of which contain liquid crystals that can be alternated between transparent and black. At the same time, the display flips between the offset images for each eye. With a sufficiently high frame rate, the result is motion 3D.

Like polarised 3D, active-shutter 3D results in a dimmer image and along with the need for a shuttered glasses, it means active shutter requires specialised display technology supporting a higher frame rate (typically at least 100 frames per second).

However, a monitor with a higher refresh rate is cheaper and simpler than running a pair of polarised projectors. So, it's active-shutter technology that is currently the weapon of choice for PC gaming, with Nvidia's 3D Vision platform perhaps the most successful to date.

That said, what Nvidia 3D Vision long with all analgyph, polarised and active-shutter 3D tech share is the need to wear glasses. This, along with a feeling of eye strain, is probably what has so far prevented 3D from becoming a properly big deal. What we really want is 3D viewing without glasses. What we want is autostereoscopic 3D.

The trick here is to create a single display surface that can somehow send a different image to each eye. There are several different types, but they ultimately split into two groups – those that use head tracking technology to make sure each eye is seeing the correct image and those that simply kick out a different image based on the viewing angle.

Glasses-free 3D

As if chucking out silly glasses wasn't enough, autostereoscopic 3D also makes possible movement parallax. For the uninitiated, that means getting a different view of a scene or object depending on your vantage point. In other words, move your head around and you'll get a different look at things, just like in real life.

However, there is one final problem that even autostereoscopic technology can't avoid. In the real world, objects at different distances have different focal points. But a simulated 3D image is generated from a uniform distance. And that confuses the hell out of your eye muscles, eye lenses and ultimately your poor brain.

It's more problematical on a big desktop display than, say, a handheld device with a puny screen. But it's something that's not going to be going away short of using true holographic 3D technology.

In Depth: How touch will transform games on Windows

Neil Mohr — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Touch in Windows 8

Ubiquitous access to touch-enabled devices is going to mean every Windows game developer on planet earth will be looking to integrate touch features into their latest release.

So we can take a look at how touch-enabled systems will run Windows 8, enhance your gaming experience and generally make the world a better place.

There's simply no arguing that Microsoft – publisher of the single most important OS on the planet – has been utterly routed by the more nimble Apple and Google.

It may have released touch-enabled systems years ago with Windows Mobile and Windows Tablet Edition, but in its usual blinkered this-is- to-sell-more-Windows way managed to kill the market dead for these and many other innovative products. Anyone remember Microsoft Smart Display? Or project Courier?

This time around touch will be different. Microsoft doesn't have to innovate, phew, as Apple and Android has done all of that for it. We can just sit back, relax and wait for the touch-enabled, app-store-integrated, widget-brandishing, button-sliding progeny of Windows to make its appearance.

The odd thing is, it's really rather exciting. For the first time we're going to have the chance at a genuine ecosystem of Windows devices to choose from: moving from Windows phones, to Windows tablets up to netbooks and laptops and then desktop systems. All touch-enabled, all interconnected via Windows Live and all offering the same touch games and applications.

Next generation hardware is already appearing so let's take a look at how touch-devices work with Windows 8, existing and future games.

The gloss-black MSI all-in-one flares into life. The remnants of an ancient BIOS briefly shows itself – still infecting even this most modern of machines – before a Metro-style pale-blue OS boot menu presents itself. Its uber-modern fine sans-serif type couldn't be more removed from the chunky fixed-type on BIOS screens of old.

Tap the extra options and you see a selection of recovery and boot features, before going back and tapping the frame-less Windows 8 button to start it. Within seconds a widescreen HD mountain vista is displayed, the date and time boldly displayed in that stylish new Segoe typeface.

A swipe up reveals the Windows user accounts, ideally tied to Windows Live accounts they will take your preferences, avatar images, email, documents and apps with you to any device you use. Tapping one brings up the visual lock-screen – a personalised picture that requires you to motion over areas you've previously selected to gain full user access.

Security passed, the new Windows 8 Start Menu springs forth; this living breathing menu emanates life, as individual app cards update and refresh themselves. Feeds show real-time posts and games show online players stats.

The expansive, horizon-style Start Menu can be effortlessly scrolled through, with a tap here you can check your tweets, a tap there you can scroll through your latest news streams.

Media Center makes it a simple job to flick through menus of media and choose the music, photos and films you want to view. Tap the latest Windows Store, grab a game and enjoy gaming in a new way.

Hands on with Windows 8

The release of Windows 8 will simply solidify this touch journey but for now models, such as the MSI Wind Top AE2210 or the Dell Inspiron 2320 – both all-in-one models – elegantly show the touch-enabled future that awaits as they can have the Windows 8 Developer Preview installed on them.

We know the Developer Preview was really a beta version but even so, the semantics of a number of gestures were a little unnecessarily obscured. Using it you get a better idea that the demo at last year's Microsoft Build conference while live had been well practised and orchestrated.

We regularly ran into issues trying to switch between apps and the dock system seemed limited and frustrating to use. But it's hard to complain about something that hasn't even been released in an official form. Even guessing, there's no chance of a Windows 8 release until summer 2012. Microsoft has a lot to sort out before then beyond just getting a swanky touch-interface working correctly.

The Windows Store is probably the easiest, cross-device migration of settings and is another easy thing to sort via Windows Live accounts.

But it's the often overlooked elements of life where pleasure can really be taken, like reading on the toilet or removing an annoying bogey from your nose. Our old-friend Windows Media Centre is an excellent touch-enabled bit of software.

Whether that's through luck or flaw we can't say, but flicking through films, music and photos is a lovely experience. One we're sure could be made even better if a little style and thought was put into it.

The Media Center photo screensaver is still one of the worst experiences we've had besides hiding under our bed covers as children listening to our parents fight.

Windows playtime

Where our real interest lies is with gaming. Touch on mobile devices has ushered in a new way to game. While we're not expecting the same paradigm shift on the desktop, access to casual mobile games will always be a good thing, but we do expect touch elements to start drip feeding into triple-A titles.

The splendid thing is we can already try some of these features out on existing titles, that have been either knowingly or unwittingly enabled for touch gaming. The richest area of gaming for touch-aware titles is the hated casual game, you can stop making hissing noises. Some people – we imagine a few of those that have racked up over half a billion downloads of Angry Birds – actually do like what we deridingly call 'casual' games.

With many Flash-based browser games designed for easy mouse input, or more likely for touch-aware input, these are all able to work flawlessly with a touch PC. We've already mentioned the most obvious casual game: Angry Birds. This has a free PC version online at chrome.angrybirds.com that works on any HTML5-aware browser and plays beautifully on touch-screen equipped PCs and on a much larger scale than any tablet or phone could hope to manage on its own.

We did run into a few odd instances with Internet Explorer, it has its own touch-controls built in and a wrongly-placed finger can have you browsing off to other locations. Equally well-equipped are the flash-based games to be found over at www.popcap.com the likes of Bejeweled and Plants Vs Zombies, these Flash games again work perfectly on a touch-enabled PC.

It's also worth pointing out the browser add-in Swiffout.com that enables you to run embedded Flash games full screen. It's a bit hit and miss, as in it'll sometimes seem like the game isn't doing anything.

If you think there's a big selection of casual games available online now, just you wait until Windows 8 hits the streets. We'd expect most Windows Phones games to be quickly ported, that's if they're not natively supported from day one, while dedicated Windows 8 Tablet games are going to quickly appear.

If casual gaming is your thing, if nothing else children gobble them up like space-dusted cake, then expect a flood to come in from Android and iOS devices.

Touch in mainstream games

Fortunately, touch is coming to mainstream gaming too. Well, it's actually already here but it's either surreptitious or else it's accidental, but we're still claiming it's real.

The formats that are going to gain the most outside of the casual arena are adventures and strategy games. You may have spotted that both of these have the advantage that they're not necessarily the fastest paced of games.

The big issue, particularly for RTS games but can even affect adventures too, is that a quick-tap is equivalent to a left-click and a long-tap performs a right-click. This effectively eliminates the ability to do quick right-click actions.

Most dedicated touch devices have developed alternatives, such as the two-finger tap or hold one finger down and tap second. Unless a game is developed with touch in mind, you're stuck with what Windows 7 has to offer, and that's limited.

Even with these limitations many adventure games and less hectic strategy games play wonderfully on a touchscreen. If anything we love the switch you can make between active moments using the mouse and more contemplative sections using the touchscreen interface.

The same type of system goes for some RPGs as well, though many tend to lean heavily on mouse and keyboard. Non-combat areas such as inventory management, spell casting or crafting can all take advantage of touchscreen input.

One genre of gaming that we're not expecting touch to have an impact on is first person shooters. This a PC genre that is very much going to stay a realm of the mouse and keyboard. That's not to say touch systems aren't able to run them, and in a similar way to RPGs we can see room within FPS titles to add extra interactivity into the game world by using touch within environment.

Take Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which has a world littered with supposedly interactive elements from touch newspapers to hackable door locks. To make these mouse accessible the game almost has to cut away from the world so you can click on the right parts with the mouse, with a touchscreen they'd be no need and you could directly interact with the game world.

The same goes for any games with in-world elements, while touch could be used for physical game-world interaction. So picking up and manipulating items via touch to complete physics puzzles or just completing a weapon loadout.

None of this in itself is going to change the world, but it's certainly going to change how you play in your gaming worlds.

Touchy me, touchy you

Like us, many of you will be thinking 'I'm never going to lean forward and touch my screen'. You're probably right, it's a lot of effort and not entirely natural thing to do, especially when sitting down.

We're sure touchscreens will appear but direct touch could well be limited to tablets and all-in-one systems. However, Kinect and the Acer Aspire Z5xxx range, with their front-facing cameras, show a way of interacting that cuts out that bacteria filled touching business with seemingly reasonable precision.

We used the Windows 8 Developer Preview and those two up-to-date all-in-one touch panel PCs mentioned previously: the MSI Wind Top AE2210 is a lovely Intel Core i3 2100 Sandy Bridge graphics, 20-inch unit, which sells for a little over £650.

The Dell Inspiron 2310 is more up-market with an improved Intel Core i5 and Nvidia GT 525M graphics chipset. This has a little more muscle but is also a little more pricey, selling at around £799.

Interestingly both use what we suspect is the same two-point touch sensor. We suspect this is an IR-based system as they both detect finger movement before contact is made and there was vague issues with accuracy at the extreme edges of the screen.

That aside both worked flawlessly with the Windows 8 Developer Preview OS indeed they were both as fast as when used under Windows 7. Tablets and phones are going to continue to be the main focus for touch, but we're waiting to see what trickles down to the PC.

Tutorial: The beginner's guide to Linux Mint

Jonathan Roberts — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:00:00 GMT

The beginner's guide to Linux Mint

Linux Mint has just released its latversion, Mint 12, and has now become the last of the big three distributions to switch to a radically new desktop interface.

We found that it's an impressive compromise between Gnome Shell's new fangled way of doing things and the more traditional desktops of the past.

If you're intrigued by this and want to investigate for yourself, get a copy of Linux Mint 12, this guide, and see what you can do with the new Mint.

We'll begin by taking a quick tour of the default interface, and then move on to cover how you can customise it. We'll also take a look at Mint's package manager so that you know how to add and remove applications.

Choosing your desktop

Before we even begin to examine the new desktop, however, let's start by taking a look at Mint's new login screen. This screen is quite different to past Mint releases, since, along with Ubuntu, they've switched away from Gnome's default login manager to the more customisable LightDM.

At the top-right of the screen, you can find some basic controls, including some (limited) accessibility options, volume control and the option to power-off the computer. The centre-left of the screen is where you log in.

By default, one user or another will be highlighted by a grey box, with a password entry field at the ready. Other users and guest sessions can be selected by clicking on their name above or below this.

The most important thing to know about this new login screen is that you can use it to select which desktop you want to use. So, if you decide that you don't like Mint's new desktop, you can use it to switch to Mate, its port of Gnome 2, which faithfully recreates past Mint desktops.

If you want to install something entirely different, such as KDE or Xfce, you'll also be able to select those from the login screen. To do this, select your username from the list and then, before typing your password and pressing enter, click the small cog in the top right of the box.

From this menu, you can select between all available desktops. Whichever desktop you choose will remain the default until you change it again.

Meet the Shell

Now that you're familiar with the login screen, let's take a look at Mint 12's default interface. Make sure you've selected Gnome as the desktop to use and then enter your password and log in.

The first thing to note is that, unlike past Mint releases, there are two panels on the desktop – one at the top and another at the bottom. Looking at the top panel from left to right, there's:

The infinity icon, which launches the Overview mode – more on this later.

The system tray, where applications can store alerts or quick access controls.

The indicator area, where you can control the volume and select which network you want to connect to.

The clock applet, which expands to a calender when clicked.

The status menu, which lets you log out, shutdown, control your availability in chat and access system settings.

All of this, with the exception of the infinity icon, should be fairly self-explanatory.

Clicking on any of the icons to the right-hand side brings up further information and options for you to change. Clicking on the speaker icon, for instance, will allow you to adjust the volume of your computer's speakers and access the sound settings.

Of these icons, the Status menu provides the most comprehensive set of options. The only one of these that requires explanation is Notifications.

When you insert a DVD, or someone contacts you via instant messenger, Gnome Shell will usually alert you by raising a black rectangle at the bottom of the screen. These notifications are useful since they allow you to take further actions in response to the alert, but if you want to focus without any distractions they can also be annoying.

The designers of Gnome Shell recognised this, so put the Notifications option in the Status menu. This way, you can turn off all notifications when you don't want to be disturbed. Just remember to turn them on again later.

The bottom panel

Almost everything in the top panel is standard Gnome Shell; the bottom panel is all Linux Mint's doing. On the left-hand side of the bottom panel is a menu for launching applications, the spiritual successor to the Mint menu.

This menu is split in to three main columns. The left most one shows your favourite applications, which can be set in the Overview mode; the middle one shows categories of applications to make browsing easier; and the right most one shows the applications within those categories.

If you prefer a keyboard to a mouse, you can use the Search bar at the top to quickly find the application you're looking for by typing its name.

Next to the menu is the show desktop icon, which will minimise all your open windows. Next to this is the window list. If you have no windows open, it will look like a big, empty space; otherwise, it will be filled with buttons representing your open and minimised windows – it works just like the window list in Gnome 2 did.

At the other end of this panel are the desktop switcher and Mint's new notification toggle. By default, Gnome Shell creates only a single desktop, but automatically adds a second as soon as you open any applications and so on; if you remove all applications from a desktop, Gnome Shell will then remove it. Mint's switcher will immediately mirror Gnome Shell's changes to the number of desktops.

The notification icon is a clever addition. By default, after you dismiss Gnome Shell notifications without doing anything, they disappear in to a small black bar at the bottom of the screen. You would ordinarilly raise this by moving your mouse to the bottom right-hand corner, but with the new taskbar, you would often accidentally cause it to appear and interfere with what you were trying to do.

Instead, Mint has made it so that you need to click this exclamation mark to get access to the notifications.

The beginner's guide to Linux Mint

Overview mode

Phew! Our tour is nearing its end. The final thing we need to show you is the Overview mode.

Although Mint hasn't made any changes to the Overview mode, which is a key component of standard Gnome Shell, if you've never used it you'll be grateful for a quick introduction.

To access the Overview mode, you need to click the infinity icon in the top panel, or quickly through your mouse in the top-right corner; you can also use the Windows key to access it. As soon as you do this, you'll see the desktop turn grey and some new elements overlaid on it.

The large space in the centre of this screen has two functions. By default, it will display thumbnails of all your open windows. This is a convenient way to find that window you know is somewhere amongst all the clutter, but keeps evading you.

It can also be used as an application launcher, however, by clicking the Applications button above it. You can then browse applications by scrolling through the icons with your mouse. You can narrow the selection by choosing one of the categories to the right, or by typing its name or function with your keyboard.

To the right of the Overview mode is the Favourites bar. This is exactly the same as what's in the Mint menu, only from here you can adjust its contents. Right-clicking on any of the icons will give you the opportunity to remove it from the Favourites bar. To add anything to it, switch to the Applications view and then drag the application you want on to the Favourites bar.

Oddly, this Favourites bar also doubles as a dock and stores the icons of open applications as well – something the Mint menu doesn't do.

Finally, there's also a desktop switcher built in to the Overview mode. It's hidden by default, but if you move your mouse to the far right of the screen while in the Windows mode, it will appear. You can use this to drag open windows between desktops, and to switch to different desktops.

Now that you know where everything is by default, let's take a look at how you can customise it to your liking, beginning with extensions.

Installing new extensions

The Gnome team are trying to encourage the creation of an entire ecosystem of extensions for users of the Shell to enjoy. As a user of Linux Mint 12, you'll be able to install and enjoy these as developers create them.

Installation used to be a bit tricky. It involved either downloading a file archive and unzipping it to a specific directory in your home folder, or using Gnome Tweak Tool to automate some of this process. In the past month, however, the Gnome team has launched a new website, extensions.gnome.org, that lets you easily browse and install new extensions directly from within your web browser.

To install extensions using this website, launch Firefox and visit extensions.gnome.org. Once there, you can browse through the extensions displayed.

After spotting one you like the sound off, click its name. This will take you to that extension's information page, at the top of which will be an on-off toggle button. Toggling this to on will then install the extension; toggling it back to off will remove it.

We think that the Pomodoro timer extension is a great way to avoid procrastination, and the Window Navigator extension makes the window section of the Overview mode much more convenient.

Theming Gnome Shell

Most people aren't content with tweaking the way their desktop works; lots of us also want to customise the way it looks. It's not yet as easy to install new themes as it is extensions, but there are plenty of nice themes for the Shell that you can install with a bit of effort.

The first thing to do is download some new themes for the Shell. We've discovered that a great place to find them is gnome-shell.deviantart.com, so go ahead and browse their selection of shell themes and then choose one to download as a zip file. We like Faience.

Once it's downloaded and saved in your Downloads folder, open up Gnome Tweak Tool. This is available on the Favourites bar as the square icon with cogs inside – it will display Advanced Settings when you click it.

After it has launched, click the Theme entry on the left-hand side, and then click the box that says (None) next to Shell Theme. In the file browser that opens, head to the zip file of the theme you downloaded, and then select and open it. This will install the theme, and you can then select it in the drop-down menu next to (None). And that's all there is to it.

In this tutorial, we've focused on Mint's implementation of Gnome Shell, but as we've alluded to through our references to Mate and the default applications, there's a lot more to Mint than just this desktop.

Be sure to investigate the Linux Mint website and forums, where you can find lots of other avenues for exploration, including different desktops (KDE, Xfce and LXDE are all supported) and even different base distributions (the rolling release Debian edition is particularly interesting).

Most importantly, experiment and have fun.

7 Days in Cameras: CP+ photography show delivers big hitters

Amy Davies — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Week in camera news

This week has been all about the big numbers in the photography world, with Nikon unleashing a 36 million pixel DSLR, Pentax revealing a 46MP compact and staggering number of superzoom compacts.

It's been the CP+ photography show in Japan, which usually doesn't mean quite so many releases. But, with 2011 hitting Japanese manufacturers hard, it seems this year they wanted to save some of their goodies for their own home-grown show.

After weeks, months, nay years, of speculation, rumour and gossip, the headline release is the Nikon D800, the company's new semi-pro DSLR.

Also making their debut this week are new cameras from Olympus, Sigma, Pentax and Canon. Read on to find out all of this week's big camera news, each with links to the full story.

Don't forget to let us know what you think over on our Facebook page.

Nikon news

Many of the headline specs of the D800 came as no surprise as it seemed that most of the details had already been leaked online. However, it still impressed us when we went to see it at the beginning of the week.

It features a 36 million pixel sensor, 6fps shooting, 51 autofocus points and many of the same features as its bigger brother, the D4.

Read our Hands on: Nikon D800 review to get a clearer idea of what the new camera is all about. We spoke to Nikon about that huge resolution sensor, who told us it was all about 'choice.'

Some may be disappointed that the D800 doesn't have an articulating screen, but if you're a pro, according to Nikon you won't be. Do you agree that pros don't want articulating screens?

Rod Lawton, one of our friends over at N-Photo magazine, argued that the D800 could take on the might of the hugely popular Canon EOS 5D Mark II. With Canon declining to announce a 5D upgrade this week, will the D800 be a Canon 5D Mark II killer?

Olympus news

We've guessed it was coming for several weeks now, but the Olympus OM-D E-M5 was finally revealed on Wednesday. Featuring a 16 million pixel Live MOS micro four thirds sensor, it's styled after the classic OM series of film cameras.

If you're a little bit confused about the differences between the OM-D and Olympus' other highly specced camera, read our Olympus OM-D E-M5 vs Olympus PEN E-P3 comparison piece and find out which one is for you.

Does the OM-D mean the end of Olympus DSLRs? The company is refusing to rule it out, but it hasn't released a new one for years. We take a look at the likelihood of them making a comeback.

This week also saw Olympus reveal some new compact cameras, including a new 24x optical zoom model. Mark Thackara, the company's UK marketing manager believes that mobile phones will never replace compacts - what do you think?

Sigma news

Nikon wasn't the only one with big numbers this week, Sigma has also unveiled the Sigma SP1 and Sigma DP2 compact cameras which feature a whopping 46 million pixel sensor.

Fovean X3 sensors that are used in these cameras are actually constructed using three layers of 15.3 million pixels, and are shared across Sigma's other cameras, including its flagship DSLR, the Sigma SD1 which also got an update and price reduction this week.

Canon news

A lot of people will be left disappointed that Canon didn't introduce a new DSLR (or compact system camera) at the CP+ show this week.

However, they have introduced three new EF lenses, an underwater compact, a duo of stylish IXUS compacts, two new superzooms and a range of new Powershot A cameras.

Although a CSC isn't forthcoming from the company, a representative told us in an exclusive interview that compact system cameras are a good idea because they bring more people into photography.

Introduced a few weeks ago at CES, Canon's G1 X is what many believe will eventually morph into a mirrorless model, especially with its large sensor. Its biggest rival Nikon was shocked by Canon's decision to produce the camera with one spokesperson telling us the G1 X was for "fanboys" only.

Also this week...

Kodak announced it was going to stop making cameras in order to cut costs, Sony revealed it's NEX lens line-up plans and Pentax unveiled two new tough cameras.

Explained: BrowserID: what it is and why you should care

Marco Fioretti — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT

BrowserID: what it is and why you should care

BrowserID is a method, presented in July 2011, to use email addresses to prove an identity and sign in to a website quickly and safely.

The system was developed by Mozilla Labs.

It's designed to be easier and faster than the esisting method of a site sending you an email and you clicking a link to verify your true identity.

So why is it important and how will it work? We decided to find out.

Q. How would it work in practice?

A. In order to log in on a website that supports BrowserID, you would only have to click on a Sign In button and then select from a menu what email address you want to use. Your browser and the website would take care of everything else.

Q. What about logging in via Facebook, Twitter or Google? That would be even faster and simpler, wouldn't it?

A. Yes, when you're browsing while logged in to any of those portals, you don't have to do anything, since any website connected with them will immediately know who you are. And that's the problem. Outsourcing these tasks to giant private providers creates lots of lock-in and privacy protection issues.

Q. That's surely true, but wait a second! Wasn't OpenID supposed to provide (more or less) the same service?

A. Indeed it was. In practice, it looks as if OpenID failed to reach critical mass for several reasons. Probably the biggest one was the need to temporarily go to another website to gain access to the one you wanted to visit.

Unless someone really understands the value of reliable online authentication services (and cares about it) that's much more cumbersome than just telling a browser to remember all passwords, or click on the Remember Me boxes provided by most log-in web forms. BrowserID tries to provide the same level of security and trust as OpenID, but in a much more transparent way.

Q. Tell me more about privacy protection in BrowserID, please.

A. First of all, unlike other sign-in systems, BrowserID does not force the user to share or transmit online personal, sensitive data, such as date of birth. In addition to this, BrowserID is designed not to pass to any server data about which web pages you visit.

Q. Why is BrowserID based on email addresses?

A. First of all, because everybody using the web on a regular basis already has at least one email address and knows it's already used as an identity and authorisation token. Next, because email addresses are not controlled or controllable by any single organisation.

Finally, because practically all websites that require their users to log in already store their email addresses to handle direct communications, password reset requests and other services: therefore, BrowserID gives them a better way to use for authentication some user data that they have already.

Q. Would BrowserID prevent me from using my favourite nicknames on those websites?

A. Not at all. The email address is used only for the initial authentication. BrowserID doesn't limit in any way how a website lets you configure your local account.

Q. Could I have multiple BrowserID identities then?

A. Of course. The only requirement is that each of them is associated with a different email address.

Q. What about other applications, such as chat clients? Could I use BrowserID with them too, or is it a browser-only thing?

A. Yes you could, as long as those programs implement the protocol, and provide their users with an interface to log in to their identity provider to get the keys. These may then be stored in Kwallet or any other desktop-based password manager.

Q. Sorry, what protocol and keys? Is BrowserID based on some sort of proprietary technology?

A. No. Technically speaking, BrowserID is an application of the Verified Email Protocol; a decentralised authentication system based on public/private key cryptography, through which users can prove to a website that they own an email address.

Q. Does BrowserID work on all browsers?

A. BrowserID can work on every modern browser, including mobile ones. The only requirement is that those browsers be compatible with the BrowserID JavaScript API. This said, even if you were forced to use a noncompliant browser, it would still be possible to use an equivalent web-based service.

Q. What should I do to start using BrowserID?

A. You should log in the old way to the website of your identity provider. That server will then tell your browser, through a JavaScript API, to generate a public/private pair of cryptographic keys.

Right after that, the browser will send the public key to the identity provider and get back a signed identity certificate. The browser will then store the private key and certificate as it would do with traditional passwords.

Q. What would happen next, when I visit a BrowserID-compliant website?

A. That website will tell your browser to run a JavaScript function that asks you if you want to log in and with which identity – that is email address.

Q. And when I accept...

A. The browser will send to the website the identity certificate, signed with the private key. At that point, the website will download your public key from your identity provider and verify that the signature is authentic.

Q. And that's how I'll prove to that website that I really am who I say I am?

A. Yes… and no. What this procedure provides is a third-party confirmation (unlike what happens with cookies!) that the authentication request comes from a browser that has the secret key associated to the provided email address. Which means that…

Q. I should never let other people use my browser!

A. That's absolutely true. However, that's the same risk you already face with every other authentication system that doesn't force you to enter a password every time, isn't it?

Q. I suppose that's true, but this also means I won't be able to authenticate from other browsers, right?

A. It depends. That's really up to you. In and by itself, BrowserID does allow you to have one certificate for each computer or smartphone you use, including borrowed or public ones such as internet kiosks. Of course, in those cases you would have to delete the private key and certificate as soon as you're done!

Q. Let's go back to identity providers. You keep mentioning them – who are they?

A. In the simplest and most natural scenario, your BrowserID identity provider would be your email provider.

Q. What if it doesn't support the system?

A. You could still use, without problems, a trusted, secondary identity provider that offers the same services. The Mozilla Foundation, for example, has set up a website called BrowserID.org for this very purpose, in order to speed up testing and adoption of BrowserID.

Q. Ah, yes, adoption. What is the current status of BrowserID? Is anybody already using it?

A. At the time of writing this piece (late November), BrowserID is still in its infancy. Most browser developers haven't announced any official plans to integrate BrowserID support in their software. That's not the main problem, though.

Q. Really? What is it then?

A. The real open issue is if and when the major email providers and online communities, such as Facebook and Twitter, will support BrowserID – that is become identity providers. Especially when, like Facebook, they have their own in-house alternative.

Besides, all these providers would need to agree on a standard way to make public keys accessible. Luckily, none of this makes it impossible to try BrowserID or implement it on your website.

Q. That's cool. How can I try it today?

A. For the moment, the best way to see how using BrowserID looks is to visit the official demo site at Myfavoritebeer.org.

Q. What about webmasters?

A If they use popular open source software, such as WordPress or Drupal, they're lucky: BrowserID plug-ins for those content management systems already exist.

Alternatively, they'd have to follow the instructions for developers published at browserid.org. Even in that case, though, they'd be able to use BrowserID without having to write any authentication code by themselves.

Tutorial: How to get started with Apple Mail

Matthew Bolton — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:00:00 GMT

How to get started with Apple Mail

Despite the popularity of social networks, no computer is complete without a great email app to help you keep in touch with friends and loved ones.

It's no surprise, then, that all Macs come with Apple's Mail program built into OS X. It makes it easy to set up your email account and browse and sort your messages, as well as write emails to others.

You'll need to have an email account. And for many email types, including Yahoo!, AOL, Gmail and Windows Live/Hotmail, Mail can set up your account using just your email address and password.

You can set up other kinds of accounts, but you may need to know the details of your incoming and outgoing servers, which your provider should be able to supply you with.

Once your account is set up, you'll see the Mail interface, with a list of emails on the left, and a preview box on the right. There's a Show button just above the messages list that enables you to see your list of account inboxes, which is handy if you have more than one set up, have created multiple mailboxes, or if you want to browse messages you've deleted from your inbox.

From the toolbar along the top of the Mail window, you can check for new messages, compose a new email, create a new note, delete emails, mark emails as junk mail, forward and reply to messages, and flag emails for your attention later.

There's also a search bar here, which enables you to find text anywhere in any of your emails, so you can easily search for its subject, or the person who sent it, for example.

In this walkthrough, we'll talk you through the basics of using the Mail app, including getting set up, reading your emails and writing messages, but once you're more confident with Mail, you can do a lot more.

For example, you can set up Rules such as having incoming messages sorted into different inboxes depending on the sender, you can change the default font and size that messages are displayed in, and create multiple email signatures.

Of course, if all you want to do is send and receive the occasional hello from family members, you can stick with just the steps on the opposite page and enjoy the full email experience.

How to get to grips with features in Apple Mail

1. Set up your account

When you first open Mail, or when you add a new account, it will ask for your name, email address and password. For many types of email, this is all you'll need to enter, but if Mail is unable to find the information it needs automatically, it'll ask you for more details.

2. Read a message

With your account set up, and email flooding in, select one in the left-hand inbox list to display it in the window to the right. Or, you can double-click on an email to open it in a new window. From here, you can click the arrow buttons at the top to reply or forward emails.

3. File attachments

If an email sent to you has an attachment, you'll see a paperclip next to the sender's name. A file icon will be displayed beneath the email text. You can click a file's name to open it, open it with Quick Look for a brief check, and save it by right-clicking.

4. Photo attachments

Attachments, such as photos and PDF files, are handled slightly differently. They are displayed in full under the email's text. Again, they can be opened or saved, and if there are several photos, you can view them in a slideshow with Quick Look.

5. Search through emails

In the top-right of the Mail window is the search box. Mail will search all emails for anything you type in here. Results appear in the inbox pane, and below the search box. You can use this list to search for emails from certain people, or by subject line, for example.

6. Compose a message

Click the paper-and-pencil icon to create a new message. In the To field, you can enter the email address of your recipient.

If they're stored in your Address Book, you don't need to type out their email address in full – start typing their name, and Mail will offer their email address. Add a subject line and type a message in the blank space below that.

To attach a file, click the paperclip icon at the top of the windows and browse to the file you want. Clicking the icon that looks like a mountain will open a photo browser, so you can insert a photo from your iPhoto library.

To the right of this icon is a button to open the stationery pane, which enables you to send colourful emails.

This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

James Rivington — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:00:00 GMT

We published our PS Vita review this week.

The Vita has generated as much buzz over the years as any of the top smartphones, and it's easy to see why.

It's specs are top of the line, and offer a mobile gaming experience far beyond anything that's been possible up to now.

But it's not all been about the Vita this week. We've also been playing with the Nokia Lumia 710, a budget Windows Phone aiming to do battle with the likes of the HTC Radar. And the budget theme is continued with the Kogan TV we reviewed yesterday.

A 55-inch LED, Freeview HD TV for under £1000. You've got to be kidding, right?

PlayStation Vita review

We still don't know if anyone's going to buy one, but there is no doubt that the PS Vita is an absolutely fantastic piece of hardware. Combining a brilliant 5-inch touchscreen OLED display, a quad core CPU, a quad core GPU, dual analogue sticks and a touch-sensitive rear, it's the most advanced handheld gaming device the world has ever seen. We even think the price is reasonable – considering the power, quality and polish the Vita brings with it, it's still much cheaper than many mobile phones that offer inferior components. But has the world moved on from £200+ handheld gaming consoles? With smartphones offering excellent games for less than a quid, convincing the public they should buy one and then drop 40 bob on a game is a big ask.

Nokia Lumia 710 review

The Lumia 710 is a budget Windows Phone. Although we would buy it over the HTC Radar, it's overshadowed by the Nokia Lumia 800, which impressed us a lot more and makes the 710 feel more like its cheaper relative than we would have liked. We know that the phone costs less, but the cost savings feel too apparent. For the small drop in price and the expectation that both phones are to drop in price, we're left feeling that you're better off buying the 800 instead. However, based on the recent announcements from Nokia, it's likely this will remain the budget option for the foreseeable future - a little bit more of a price drop and we'll be a lot more impressed with this otherwise decent handset.

Kogan LED55 review

In a world ravaged by recession, it goes without saying that the word 'bargain' has become the marketing industry's favourite word. We know you haven't got much money, but this is awesome and cheap and you should buy it! This Kogan TV measures a hefty 55-inches, sports a Freeview HD tuner, 100Hz processing and Edge LED backlighting. And it costs just £999. That's an astonishing price for such a large TV, but would you be better off spending less on a smaller TV from a more reliable brand? Read the review to find out!

HP Envy 14 Spectre review

We're deep into the second round of Ultrabook releases by now, and we feel the HP Envy 14 Spectre sits alongside the Dell XPS 13 at the top of the heap. But these are two different machines with different focuses. The HP Envy 14 Spectre is the most media-centred Ultrabook, with a larger 14-inch screen, 1600 x 900 pixel resolution and Beats audio technology. But it won't win over fans looking for performance and portability, due to the lower spec processor and bulky Gorilla Glass chassis. If you can overcome the steep asking price then the HP Envy 14 Spectre is a well-built and stylish way to transport and enjoy your music, movies and do a spot of image editing.

This week's other reviews:

Cameras

Hands on: Nikon D800 review

Hands on: Olympus OM-D E-M5 review

Desktop PCs

Hands on: Alienware X51 review

OCUK Ultima 9450i Mosasaur MKII review

Laptops

Toshiba Qosmio F750 review

Compaq Presario CQ57-366SA review

Monitors

Philips Brilliance 241P4QPYES review

Network adaptors

GigaRunner USB remote access drive review

Storage

Plextor M3 256GB SSD review

Plextor M3 256GB SSD review review

Intel SSD 520 Series 120GB review review

Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB review review

Opinion: Is this the end of Olympus DSLRs?

Rod Lawton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:00:00 GMT

Is this the end of Olympus DSLRs?

The announcement of the Olympus OM-D will bring joy to fans of the old OM-series film SLRs, which were ground-breaking in their day for their compactness, technical sophistication and design.

But the announcement had a sting in its tail. The OM-D is not a DSLR. It's a compact system camera (CSC) in a DSLR's body, and the viewfinder is the electronic sort rather than optical.

Ask any SLR fan - even the best of today's EVFs lack the clarity and immediacy of an optical 'finder.

So does the OM-D finally spell the end for Olympus's digital SLRs?

Mark Thackara, Olympus UK's national marketing manager, won't be drawn: "They [Olympus] haven't ruled out the possibility of a new Four Thirds camera. We know there is a vocal community who would like to see another body in the Four Thirds format, so we will have to wait and see."

The facts, however, speak for themselves. The company's last DSLR was the pro-spec Olympus E-5, back in 2010, and you have to go back nearly three years, to February/March 2009 for the two before that (the Olympus E-450 and E-620).

Micro Four Thirds future

So are compact system cameras really the way forward? Were Olympus's DSLRs really so bad?

Presumably, if enough had been sold they'd still be with us. But it didn't help that endless carping over sensor sizes and pixel counts, mostly from those who'd never picked one up and used it, mean that Olympus DSLRs were often seen as the poor relation to APS-C format cameras.

This was the point; you did actually have to use them. The Olympus E-series DSLRs had a tight, light, precise feel that rival SLRs lacked then and still lack now. They were a lot better in this respect than, dare we say it, Olympus's current PEN-series cameras.

Olympus DSLRs

Take the Olympus E-400, which eventually evolved into the E-450. It had a body barely larger than a DSLR-style compact system camera, but Olympus never upgraded its primitive 10-megapixel Live MOS sensor to the later and much better 12-megapixel version.

And if the E-400 was still around now, and was fitted with the brand new 16-megapixel sensor used in the OM-D - well, would we really need the OM-D?

Olympus would be able to revive its iconic OM brand with a camera which was spiritually and physically much closer to the original.

Instead, what Olympus has launched may well prove to be an excellent camera, but it's pretending to be a DSLR when it isn't. It's a digital replica of the OM rather than a reincarnation.

Compact system camera advantages

The CSC format does have advantages. The removal of the mirror allows straightforward, fast and effective live view operation, always a difficulty for DSLRs. It means that even though the OM-D E-M5 is as broad and as tall as the old E-400, it's a lot less thick in the body. And the electronic viewfinder can display exactly the same information as the LCD display.

There are technical innovations too, like the swivelling, touch-screen display, 5-axis sensor-shift anti-shake system and FAST (Frequency Acceleration Sensor Technology) autofocus.

The OM-D E-M5 is probably going to be a very good camera, but it's not a DSLR. And will it really match the lightness, precision and feel of the DSLR cameras that Olympus used to make?

Maybe, like the song says, you don't know what you've got till it's gone?