HTC have revealed the Desire L Android smartphone, a new mid-range blower intended to bolster the company's budget-end line-up.

Popping in a 4.3-inch display, HTC have equipped the Desire L with a 5MP camera, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a 1,800mAh battery. There's a measly 4GB of storage included, but at least microSD support lets you boost that substantially if you require it.

Measuring 128 x 66.9 x 8.9mm and weighing a reasonable 118g, the Desire L runs Android Jelly Bean (4.1.2), the handset has a simple slate-like design with loudspeakers housed on the rear.

Both pink and black hues will be available at launch in Taiwan for the handset, but there's yet to be any announcement of global availability.

Which is a shame: HTC battling Samsung's Galaxy S4 with the HTC One at the top-end of the Android smartphone market, the Desire L looks capable of bringing the fight to Samsung's own mid-range Galaxy Ace line-up, as well as Nokia's competing Windows Phone 8 Lumia 720 handset.

A new malicious string of Android malware called "BadNews" may have been downloaded as many as 9 million times say mobile security experts Lookout.

Revealed in a Lookout blog posting over the weekend, the malware has sat hidden in 32 Android apps, with its creators avoiding Google's virus-tracking Bouncer software by only injecting the malware into the apps as post-launch updates.

The malware, which was hidden in downloads including games, dictionaries and wallpapers, contains code which harvests sensitive information including phone numbers and handset serials before relaying the information back to a server.

"You can't even say Google was at fault in this because Google very clearly scrutinized all these apps when they went in," said Marc Rogers, principal security researcher for Lookout, speaking to Ars Technica.

"But these guys were cunning enough to sit there for a couple of months doing absolutely nothing and then they pushed out the malware.

"This is a wakeup call for us in the industry to say: 'Bad guys are smart as well and they'll take a look at the security models we put in place and they'll find weaknesses in them. That's exactly what they've done here."

For more on the "BadNews" malware, check out Lookout Mobile Security's detailed blog posting.

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Google's Nexus 4 was one of the best Android phones available last year, putting top-specs in a cut-price handset. According to SIDHTech, it now looks as though Google are looking to give the smartphone a 2013 makeover, updating the storage and network capabilities of the sought after phone.

The original Nexus 4 came in only 8GB and 16GB sizes, but the rumoured new addition to the line will double the storage capacity up to 32GB. The Autumn launch of the handset also saw 4G LTE connectivity a bizarre omission, and that too now will be rectified in the 32GB version.

These networking upgrades will come compete with CDMA support, giving the handset compatibility with as wide a range of high-speed networks as possible.

The revised Nexus 4, which may well have been on the cards since the line's initial launch (itself beset by stock shortages), is expected to land during Google's annual I/O conference in May.

This year's I/O conference is also expected to see the unveiling of the latest build of Android, 5.0 Key Lime Pie, and it's possible that the revamped Nexus 4 could ship with the newest version of Google's mobile operating system baked in.

We loved the Google Nexus 4. Read our in-depth analysis on the top notch Android mobile by clicking here.

Pantech's latest smartphone, the hardcore-sounding Vega Iron, looks set to catch your attention with its slinky thin bezel.

Packing in a 5-inch 1,280x720 display, the screen sits in a chassis with bezel edges just 2.4mm wide on each side. To put that in perspective, that's roughly half the width of the bezel on an iPhone 5, and makes the screen account for 75.5% of the phone's front-side surface area, sitting just behind the Xperia ZL's 75.8%.

Under the hood the handset sounds just as impressive, with a 1.7 GHz Snapdragon 600 processor backed by 2GB of RAM, in-cell LCD tech in the display and Gigabit Wi-Fi.

32GB of built-in storage is the only model set to be available, with expansion via microSD, while a rear camera is set to snap 13MP shots.

Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean is the operating system baked in, with a 4.2 update planned for the near future, while 4G is also supported. Battery capacity is 2,150mAh.

No word yet on a UK or US release, but this should be hitting South Korean stores soon. With Pantech looking to expand to Western markets, this wouldn't be a bad handset to get the ball rolling with.

Samsung's galaxy looks set to extend further again following the leaked specs of a new Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 handset hitting the web.

Spotted on the GL Benchmarks site by SamMobile under the GT-S7272 codename, it looks like another mid-range Android handset set to replace the Galaxy Ace 2.

Packing in a 1GHz dual-core processor, it's running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean on an 800x480 display, backed by 1GB of RAM.

There's also a 5MP camera on the rear with 720p video recording capabilities, as well as NFC tech.

No official confirmation from Samsung yet, but it's looking quite good for what's expected to be a fairly low cost handset. It's rare to find both NFC and the latest version of Android on the budget end of the mobile scale, and it's possible that the Galaxy Ace 3 could be a real steal on contract deals.

Facebook have revealed that they are in talks with Apple to see whether their recently launched Facebook Home software could ever makes its way on to iOS devices.

Launching last week on a range of Android handsets, Facebook Home acts as an optional UI reskin, putting Facebook notifications, chat and other social interactions at the forefront of the interface, and driving all user data gathered back to Facebook in order to improve their advertising systems.

Apple have traditionally been cautious when it comes to allowing such software onto their platform; whereas Android is open, allowing for such interface overhauls, iOS is closed and does not allow for deviations from Apple's own designs. Furthermore, Apple are reluctant to share the data Facebook would be intending to mine, preferring to keep the information to furnish their own coffers.

"We've shown [Apple] what we've built and we're just in an ongoing conversation," Adam Mosseri, Facebook's director of product, told Bloomberg.

"It may or may not be Home. We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then it's not called Home, it's called something else."

COO Sheryl Sandberg echoed Mosseri's comments:

"We are going to continue to develop for both [Android and Apple]. It is true that Android is enabling us to provide a more immersive Facebook experience than we can on other operating systems. Home is based on the openness of Android. It allows users to customise in ways that Apple does not."

Facebook Home's Chat Heads have already leaked into the iPad and iPhone Facebook apps, so it's possible that what's really likely to happen is that the iOS Facebook app eventually will share the same design ethos as Facebook Home. We'd pretty much rule out a full iOS reskinning right now.

The Facebook Home marketing campaign is now in full swing, having launched officially on the Android Google Play Store for US social networking fans.

And with the launch comes this new advert promoting the service, starring none other than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He's usually a bit camera shy when away from Facebook's F8 conferences, but he's front and centre here, and comes over pretty well, even if he is upstaged by a goat.

Another tidbit of advert trivia? The supporting cast are all real members of the Facebook development team, and it's all being filmed in Facebook's real, industrial-looking HQ at Menlo Park, California.

As it stands, Facebook Home isn't available in the UK, but there are work arounds to get it working if you're keen to give the Facebook-centric Android UI a go. You'll need to be using one of the supported devices (HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, and Samsung Galaxy Note II, with the HTC One and Galaxy S4 getting support with future updates), and have the latest version of the standard Facebook app and Facebook Messenger apps installed. You'll then need to download and install the Facebook Home APK from this link, and activate Facebook Home from the standard Facebook application's settings tab.

For getting the interface on unsupported devices, check out this guide from MoDaCo.

Pre-orders on the gigantic 7-inch ASUS Fonepad phone/tablet hybrid have now opened in the UK. Carphone Warehouse, Amazon and Sainsbury's will each be selling the Fonepad, priced at £179.99, due for release on the 26th April.

First revealed back at MWC 2013, the whopping handset is the same size as some tablets despite its call-making abilities, and comes complete with an Atom Z2420 processor, Android version 4.1, 16GB of built0in memory and space for microSD expansion.

"It is ideal to have a larger screen with entertainment, social media and other online activities now playing an increasingly important part in our mobile lifestyles," said Jonney Shih, ASUS Chairman.

"The incorporation of 3G mobile data with full telephony support, makes the Fonepad the perfect combination of a tablet and phone in one single device."

We're not sure who in their right mind would want a phone this size, but at least the price hasn't scaled up with the size - £179.99 is perfectly reasonable whether you see the device as a tablet or phone. Those looking for similarly-sized handsets from Samsung should turn their attentions to the 5.8 and 6.3 Samsung Galaxy Mega handsets.

Huawei have just revealed release date and pricing information for their budget wonder, the Huawei Ascend G510.

First spotted at this year's MWC 2013 show, it'll set you back a mere £130 on PAYG, or free on £13 a month contracts from Vodafone.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that at such low prices the phone wouldn't be up to much, but it's actually packing an impressive spec sheet for the price.

With a 4.5-inch display, it's powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, running Android Jelly Bean version 4.1 and even supporting wireless NFC tech.

4GB of storage is onboard, which can be expanded by microSD cards, while there's a 5MP camera on the rear and 1,750mAh battery under the hood. It's not too shabby then, though Huawei's Android re-skinning wont be for all tastes.

Launching on April 12th, Vodafone UK are the only announced carrier so far. Expect to see the G510 go up against other budget devices including Huawei's own Ascend W1 as well as the HTC Desire C, Orange San Diego and ZTE Blade 3.

ZTE have unvieled their latest smartphone packing an Intel chipset, the ZTE GEEK.

Powered by Intel's new 32nm Atom processor platform Z2580, it's clocked at 2GHz and is backed by 1GB of RAM.

Running Android Jelly Bean, it's fronted by a 5-inch 720p display, and comes complete with an 8MP camera, 8GB of built-in storage, a 2,300 mAh battery, which also supports wireless charging. 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity are included, but no 4G.

"Our recent collaboration with Intel on the ZTE GEEK builds off of the success of the Grand Series and further enhances our competitiveness in the high-end smartphone market," said ZTE EVP and Head of the Mobile Devices Division Mr. He Shiyou.

"This partnership also will improve customer experiences by providing them with more choices in the market."

A solid sounding device then, but that name's not going to win over the masses. It's almost bad enough to make it onto our list of the top 10 worst phone names ever.

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Google have removed 60,000 spam apps from the Google Play store over the course of February, the company's largest ever app cull.

Whereas Apple's App Store has strict guidelines as to what is suitable for its software marketplace, and an approval process that vets all apps before distribution, Google's Play Store is more lax in its app approval process, leading to the need for such a cull.

Uncovered by TechCrunch via "a company in the mobile app industry which has insight into changes like this," it's thought that improvements to Google's spam-detecting algorithms are as much the reason for the higher number as any concerted effort from the company.

The move follows a redesign of the Google Play store, intended to make navigation of the store and browsing of the growing number of applications available through it simpler. It's gradually rolling out to all Android users over the coming days.

It's likely that with the launch of the new version of Android, Key Lime Pie, expected to launch before the end of the summer, Google are looking to get their house in order. Sprucing up the app store and cutting the crap will definitely help pull the operating system into fighting-fit shape ahead of the launch.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 isn't going to come cheap, with its price revealed to be hovering around the £530 mark. If that's too much of a stretch for your wallet, you may want to check out Samsung's new mid-range offering, the Samsung Galaxy Win.

Sharing similar looks to the Galaxy S4, it's packing a slightly slower quad-core processor, though is expected to come in at a significantly cheaper price.

A 4.7-inch handset, its screen runs at 720p resolution, with 8GB of built-in storage and a 5MP camera on the rear.

Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, some of the S4's impressive still camera shooting modes have trickled down to the Win, including Continuous Shot and Best Photo, as well as software features like the new Easy Mode, stripping back Android to your most used functions and apps.

There's also Motion UX gesture controls, letting you control elements of the mobile software onboard without using the usual taps and swipes.

No word on pricing or release information yet, but we'll keep you posted.

Facebook Home, the social networking giant's Android user interface takeover that was revealed last week, is set to be officially released on April 12 to the Google Play Store. But, if you're courageous, you can give it a try today!

A beta version of the mobile software has leaked online today, with MoDaCo publishing the beta APK today. Click here to grab it.
Interestingly, the software can be added to a wide range of Android handsets beyond those specified as compatible by Facebook themselves, including the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7.

All that's seemingly required is that your Android device has a maximum resolution of 1280x768.

As an unofficial beta release, there are a few features not fully working, such as the much-vaunted chat heads, as well as a number of bugs that still need ironing out. Indeed, for the time being, download and install at your own risk, or hold out until April 12 for the official release.

Acer are looking to take a bite out of the iPad Mini and Google Nexus 7's tablet market share with their new Acer Iconia A1-810 tablet, leaking today to French site Rue du Commerce.

A 7.9-inch slate, its suggested price tag of around €199 (£169) puts it in the same sort of price bracket as Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and 16GB Nexus 7.

Running at 1024 x 768 resolution, it's looking particularly nifty thanks to the inclusion of a 1.2GHz quad-core processor - not often seen at that price. 1GB of RAM is also included, with 16GB of built-in storage. Android 4.2 Jelly Bean is the operating system in use, with a 5MP camera on the rear and 0.3MP camera on the front.

If it loses out anywhere, its in its size; it's significantly chunkier than the iPad Mini at 208.7 x 145.7 x 10.5 mm and 460g, compared to the Apple tablet's 200 x 134.7 x 7.2 mm and 308g measurements.

No official release date or pricing in yet, but we're hearing whispers of a June launch.

We may have christened it the best Android phone that money can buy in our full review, but the late release of the HTC One smartphone has still lead to troubling financial postings for the smartphone company.

Revealing its first financial results for 2013, the company have posted their lowest ever profits for the period, with net income down a monumental 98%.

Much of the blame lies with the late release of the flagship handset, hitting UK stores two weeks late and still missing from US shelves and other key markets. With a timely release of the HTC One, analysts had estimated HTC's first quarter net income to have been around NT$600 million (£13 million), but the delays lead to a posting of just NT85 million (£1.84 million).

With the phone now hitting stores, it's possible that HTC's fortunes could bounce back for the second quarter, but again they face difficulties. Despite looking to be the superior phone, HTC's One now has to face the might of the Samsung Galaxy S4, a brand synonymous with Android and a go-to product for many looking for a new top-end smartphone. HTC have also lost the power of early hype and buzz surrounding the device; despite glowing reviews, the tech world moves quickly, and those holding out for the HTC One may start looking further afield for their new handset.

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Name: Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9

Type: Android tablet

Specifications: Click here for full specs

Price: £229 for 16GB model, £259 for 32GB model, direct from Amazon. These models come with advertising lockscreens - those without cost an additional £10, pushing the prices to £239 and £269 respectively.

Better late than never seems to be Amazon's tablet motto; landing in the UK a fair few months after its US launch, we've now got the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9, Amazon's biggest tablet device to date. Is this Amazon's iPad killer, or does its Amazon-centric content make such comparisons moot? Read our full review to find out.

Design and Hardware
Despite being priced low enough to be considered a "budget" tablet, there's nothing cheap about the Kindle Fire HD 8.9's construction. Measuring 239mm x 163mm x 9mm, and weighing 567g, it houses a gorgeous 8.9-inch HD display. Being slightly smaller than the Retina-packing iPad and Nexus 10 devices, it's slightly lighter, though those looking for Kindle tablet they can comfortable hold in one hand at length should turn their attentions to the 7-inch, 395g Kindle Fire HD.Keeping the standard slate-like design of pretty much every tablet, the HD 8.9 is essentially the Kindle Fire HD super-sized. It's back still has a dark grey, slightly rubberised, curved finish, making it easy to grip, with a solid black strip around the back housing the speaker grills. These speakers boast Dolby Digital Plus certification, and offer good clarity and superb stereo separation, keeping their definition even when turned up to their relatively loud max. Around the edge of the screen is a reasonably thick black bezel, and with the HD 8.9's focus on video and entertainment apps, that's a good thing, giving you something to hold without obscuring the onscreen action.And what a gorgeous screen it is. Running at a resolution of 1920x1200, it's packing a 254ppi. That's a little less than what's offered by the Retina iPad and considerably less than the Nexus 10, but in practice it's still fantastically sharp and detailed. As an IPS display, viewing angles are wide and colours are bold, while Amazon attempted to reduce glare over previous models too. Though its backlighting means it's not as comfortable as Amazon's own E Ink Kindle dedicated eReaders for long reading sessions, it's just as comfortable as rival tablets, and a joy to browse the web or watch video on.

In terms of ports and buttons, they're all housed around the edge of the tablet. They include a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microUSB charging port, a microHDMI port, a volume rocker and a standby button. Sitting flush in the chassis, it can be annoyingly difficult to find the volume and power buttons however.Under the hood there's a 1.5GHz Texas Instruments OMAP4470 dual-core chipset backed by 770MB of RAM. Though navigation of the tablet UI is swift and responsive, as the majority of in-app experiences, it's not quite as smooth as the latest iPad or quad-core Android slates. In isolation you wont notice the marginally slower load times, or the odd 3D gaming stutter, but against the competition the HD 8.9 is just a step behind the pack. However, given the tablet's focus is on books and videos, not creation tools or gaming, and given the relatively cheap price tag, its performance is fair and on the whole enjoyable.

16GB or 32GB versions of the tablet are available, and neither offer microSD storage expansion. This shouldn't be too much of concern however as the tablet focuses predominately on cloud-based content. Likewise, there's no 3G version of the tablet, let alone 4G, meaning you're going to have to be near a Wi-Fi connection to access the tablet's many online features.

Interface and Apps
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is an 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. Except it's not. Amazon have completely overhauled the stock Android interface to suit their needs, leading to an experience that's quite unique to their Kindle Fire line of tablets.

As such, the centre of the display is dominated by a large horizontally scrolling carousel of your most recently used apps, videos and books. It's handy if you only use the tablet for a handful of specific purposes, keeping the most frequently used items at the front, but can be a bit more troublesome if you're juggling a large content and app library. At the top of the screen is a search bar, which helps alleviate that problem slightly.Directly above the carousel is a smaller scrolling strip of categories, which give you access to the Amazon shop, a Games portal that tracks achievements as well as linking to the App Store, an Apps tab for Amazon's own closed app store, a Books tab for tomes bought from Amazon, a Music tab (also naturally tied to Amazon's MP3 store), a Videos tab which links in to the Amazon-owned LoveFilm streaming service, a Newsstand for magazines (again, sold by Amazon), a web browser tab, a cloud-based Photo's tab and a cloud-based Docs tab. Depending what is shown in the main carousel, you'll also find a smaller strip advertising similar items below that again.

As you can see, it's very much an Amazon experience, and one that's constantly encouraging you to spend money in the Amazon-owned stores. For the most part this is great; Amazon have access to millions of movies, books, songs, TV shows and audiobooks, and you'll rarely come across media that you can't grab in some form or other through the tablet.What's missing though is any form of customisation whatsoever and as wide an array of apps as is offered by the Google Play store. Amazon's own App Store has grown impressively, but its array of applications still pales in comparison to Google's. For instance, all the stock Android apps provided by Google, such as the superb Maps and Gmail apps are missing. Though many apps can be side-loaded onto the tablet, bypassing the store altogether, it's a clumsy process, and one that's potentially confusing for tech newbies.Some navigational controls are a little clunky too - though it's easy enough to swipe from the top of the screen to access settings, multitasking is a chore; to get to another app or piece of content, you have to tap the centre of the screen and hit the Home button that appears along the bottom each time, forcing you to regularly return to the carousel.

Content: Books and Video
Where the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 comes into its own then is with books and videos. The Kindle name has been synonymous with a great digital reading experience for many years now, and the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is no different. There are over 1.5 million Kindle books that can be downloaded to the device, many of which are free and 800,000 that cost no more than £3.99. If you've bought an eBook from the Kindle Store before on another device, logging into your Amazon account on the HD 8.9 during the setup process will see all your book purchases loaded onto the tablet, ready to be downloaded from the cloud.

It's a comprehensive reading experience on the tablet. Not only do you have control over font options including size, style, colour, line and margin spacing, there are plenty of Kindle-specific features on offer too. For instance, as well as making your own notes and highlights, you can turn on the most popular highlighted passages from the Amazon community of readers. There's text-to-speech for those with poor eye-sight, while the Kindle's X-Ray feature is a fantastic unique feature of the company's eReaders, offering themes, character sheets and regularly used terms, pulling in information from Wikipedia.

It's a similar experience with movies. If you're a LoveFilm customer, logging into your Amazon account on the tablet will unlock streaming from the Amazon-owned video provider, set as the main Video hub on the device. A wide range of TV movie content is on offer (with LoveFilm's film catalogue particularly good), with scrolling, categorised lists of recommendations.Videos get the same X-Ray treatment as books do, with information on cast, crew and other trivia provided by IMDB and popping up over the paused video. It's a great way of tracking down a tidbit of information without having to jump out of the movie-viewing experience.

X-Ray features for both books and films aren't universal however, with many books and movies still lacking the feature. It's a list that's expanding all the time though, and is a worthy unique selling point of the Kindle tablets.

Going back to the actual viewing experience once more, the HD 8.9 is a real joy to watch video content on. That screen is sharp and vibrant, and the speakers really are miles ahead of what's on offer from similarly-sized tablets.You can of course also sideload your own content onto the device from a computer over USB; this works fine for videos (which are stored in the Personal Videos app) but is a little more difficult for books. The easiest way is to check out Amazon's "Sending Personal Documents to Kindle" FAQ, or by downloading a library management app like the excellent and free Calibre.

Amazon also offer 30-days free access to their premium Amazon Prime service with the tablet, which not only offers next-day shipping on physical items bought from the Amazon store, but also access to the Kindle Owner's Lending Library. This lets you borrow one book per month (with no due dates) from a list of 300,000. In terms of the quality of the books on offer, that's up to debate based on your taste (those with a love of Mills & Boon style stuff will be overjoyed, for instance) but anyone how regularly shops on Amazon will benefit from the next-day deliveries. Once the month is over, Amazon Prime membership costs £49 a year.

Camera

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 packs in a 1.3MP front facing camera, and no rear camera. It's tucked into the horizontal landscape edge of the bezel, and is best used with the pre-loaded Skype video calling app, as it's not really up to much professional shooting.

If you're looking to get photos onto the tablet then, your best bet is to use the Photos tab on the homescreen, which offers to import any photos you've uploaded to Facebook. You've got no choice over which ones get uploaded though - it's an "all or nothing" approach.

Battery

Amazon quote battery life of 10 hours for the HD 8.9, which, based on a mixture of web browsing, video streaming, a little eBook reading and a fair few runs through JetPack Joyride, seems a fair estimate.

However, it's worth noting that the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 does not come with a wall charger, only a USB charging cable that you can hook up to a computer. It's incredibly slow to charge this way, and (if you're perhaps considering buying the tablet for someone who isn't all that tech-savvy) means it's going to require a computer to even charge up. Amazon offer a sold-separately "PowerFast charger" for £12.99, and you'd do well to budget that into the overall cost of the tablet unless you plan on twiddling your thumbs whilst the tablet charges over USB.

Verdict:

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is a great tablet, every bit as good as its Kindle Fire predecessors, and at a bargain price. It is however a unique tablet experience that's keenly focussed on the Amazon ecosystem, specialising in books and videos, something that must be taken into consideration before picking it up. If they're all the functions you want a tablet mostly for anyway, than the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is a steal. If you want a little more control over the way your tablet works however, maybe look at the more open Android alternatives on the market, and if you're after a well-stocked app store, check out any Android tablet complete with the Google Play Store or one of Apple's iPads.

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A new Kickstarter campaign is aiming to launch a family-friendly Android-based PC.

The MiiPC project is looking for $50,000 (round £33,000) of funding to launch the pint-sized $89 (circa £60) computer.

Based on a modified version of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the PC hooks up to an external monitor over HDMI and is designed to be used in a desktop scenario, playing nicely with a keyboard and mouse set-up.

Where the MiiPC gets really interesting is with its parental controls: parents will be able to set up multiple accounts on the device (tied into the Android app ecosystem) and monitor exactly how much time their children are spending on the computer, setting up limits and restricting access to inappropriate items.

A companion mobile app is also planned, allowing parents to remotely stream exactly what's being done on the MiiPC at any time and restricting access to apps and websites on the go. Interestingly, the app is showed in the launch video below running on an iPhone rather than an Android smartphone.

"MiiPC came out of my experience with my two kids," said Young Song, co-founder of eMachines and MiiPC mastermind.

"We think the Internet has opened up all sorts of possibilities and I love that my children have access to information for their classes at the tip of their fingertips. However at the same time the Internet poses significant challenges for parents. Traditional software or hardware solutions simply block kids from going to certain websites. This is inherently limiting and it also does not address what we believe is a key challenge with kids and the Internet: its addictiveness."

The full specs list is as follows:

• Processor: Marvell® ARMADA® Family Series Dual Core1.2GHz SoC / Memory: 1GB DDR System RAM


• Storage: 4GB Internal Flash (expandable via SD Slot and USB port)


• Connectivity: WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), Ethernet Port, and Bluetooth (4.0)


• Connect to TV: HDMI (1080p/720p) output


• I/O: 2 USB 2.0 Ports, Speaker & Microphone Jack


• MiiPC Companion Mobile App for iOS and Android

Click here to find out more about the MiiPC Kickstarter campaign. Early-bird backers can expect to recieve their MiiPC by July of this year.

Name: HTC One

Type: Android Smartphone

Specifications: Click here for full specs

Price as reviewed: £519.99 SIM-free for 32GB model direct from HTC

It's been a tough few months for HTC, but they're firing on all cylinders with the superb new HTC One. Find out why it's the new Android smartphone to beat in our full review!

Design
The HTC One is truly a thing of beauty. With a full aluminium unibody build (displaying no visible joins), it measures 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3mm, and weighs 143 grams. It's a solid construction that has a reassuringly weighty presence in the hand. Not that it's overly heavy; though its weight and depth are both significantly bigger than the 7.6mm, 112g iPhone 5, the curved back design of the HTC One means that even with its large 4.7-inch screen it's a comfortable smartphone to hold. The use of premium metals also gives it an edge over forthcoming rival the Samsung Galaxy S4, which by comparison is primarily made of plastics.Continuing the minimalist design ethos laid down by last year's One Series HTC handsets, this year's One sees the 4.7-inch screen bookended top and bottom by two aluminium strips, housing the HTC One's BoomSound stereo speaker system and front facing cameras. Flip the phone over and you'll see these strips wraparound with a white line detail, with the much-vaunted UltraPixel camera sitting near the top, a dark silver HTC logo in the centre and the Beats Audio logo down the bottom.HTC keep buttons and ports on the edge of the One to a minimum; there's a chrome single-button volume rocker on the left hand side, a deftly hidden SIM-card tray on the right hand side, a microUSB charging port on the bottom and a 3.5mm headphone jack alongside the power button (which doubles up as an IR blaster) on the top. There are no physical buttons beneath the screen on the front either, with HTC dropping the multi-tasking touch-sensitive button from previous smartphone generations in favour of just touch-sensitive "Back" and "Home" buttons, each flanking a small HTC logo in the centre.The HTC One's screen is breathtaking, a 4.7-inch display with a full HD 1080p resolution for a 468ppi resolution. That's significantly sharper than the iPhone 5's 326ppi, and even the forthcoming Galaxy S4's 5-inch 441ppi screen. In terms of size, it's spot-on for what we'd want from a larger handset too, avoiding the comical size of the Galaxy S4 and the overly-elongated stretch of the 4.8-inch iPhone 5. It's a remarkably vibrant, colourful screen, avoiding the muted tones of the Nexus 4 and offering brightness levels high enough for comfortable viewing in strong daylight.Running the show is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, a quad-core beast clocked at 1.7GHz and backed by 2GB of RAM. It's a really zippy processor, powering some really impressive software features which we'll detail a bit later. It also helps with the HTC One's super-quick boot times; even from a full shutdown the handset powers up again in moments.Both 4G and NFC connectivity are onboard the HTC One (necessities these days if you're pushing a top-tier phone), alongside standards such as Wi-Fi (802.11 a/ac/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with GLONASS and DLNA. Miracast is also supported, as is MHL HDMI.

Storage options come in 32GB and 64GB variants, so no 16GB "entry-level" price point with the HTC One, nor is there any expandable storage beyond Cloud-based apps. Make sure you grab a size you won't later regret.The HTC One houses a 2300mAh battery, which can't be removed or swapped out for a back-up. While larger in capacity than its HTC One X predecessor, it still struggles to last out an entire day. If you're simply pulling down emails and social networking notifications from the web it holds its charge well, but do anything more intensive, like 3D gaming or extensive use of the camera's Zoe system (more on those in a bit) and it starts to really suffer. It's far from being a deal breaker, but HTC are still a long way off from an all-day charge, let alone longer. On average use you'll see a working day out of the HTC One, but keep that charger handy.

Interface, apps and BlinkFeed
Though the HTC One is running Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2, it's almost unrecognisable thanks to the new Sense 5 overlay baked in. Though Android reskins usually cause eyebrows to raise, we've always been fans of the Sense UI, and there's plenty to make us feel that Sense 5 is HTC's best effort yet.

Offering a more minimalist interface (one that surprisingly calls to mind the LG Prada phone), you still have all the customisable bells and whistles of stock Android, with four homescreens you can populate with your choice of apps and widgets, which can be grabbed from the Google Play app store. Various lock-screens are available, specialising in everything from email to photo galleries, while long-presses on any homescreen give you the option to customise the experience. The app drawer now scrolls vertically rather than horizontally, while a static line of four app icons sits in a dock across all homescreens. These constant dock items can also be configured to your choosing. Notifications, battery life and connectivity settings can be seen at a glance from a bar along the top of the screen, which can be dragged down to tweak settings and delve deeper into the notifications you've been sent. It's simple, clean, and a joy to use.An additional homescreen is dedicated to BlinkFeed, HTCs striking new content aggregation app that pulls in everything from blog posts and social networking feeds. It sits somewhere between the Flipboard app and Windows Phone's Live Tiles, squeezing different sized boxes of information, updates and pictures into a vertically scrolling feed. It's beautifully presented, but we have a few reservations.

Firstly, there's no option for adding your own tailored sources, only the ones presented by HTC and their partners. While this covers a wide range of categories and interests, we'd still have preferred the option to import our own RSS feeds, like with Flipboard. Secondly, BlinkFeed isn't very smart; what the content providers push out is what you get, which is a shame as the interface would have been doubly useful if it grew to know your interests over time. We'd also have liked the option to cache a few hours worth of BlinkFeed updates over Wi-Fi for viewing on the go, rather than having to rely on mobile data when out and about. But we're being a little overly harsh on BlinkFeed; we found ourselves using it very often, and even took the option of switching off the lockscreen to see it immediately when waking up the phone. It's a strong USP that really sets the HTC One software apart visually from the iPhone and Galaxy lines.

Contacts, Calling and Messaging
HTC have always known how to handle contacts and address books well, and the HTC One continues in that fine tradition. Upon setting up the phone, the HTC One pulls in contact information from not only your Google account and any imported contacts from a previous phone, but also offers the option of grabbing details from social networking pals too. These are then paired with high resolution images from Facebook, instantly and simply populating your phone with all your pals' and associates' relevant details and profile pictures. Swiping right to left on a contact card also presents each individual's associated social networking updates (in a grid style similar to BlinkFeed) as well as any galleries they may have posted online. It's a comprehensive contacts set up, and again is presented with great care.

Calling is handed equally deftly. For starters, there's a Smart Dialler, letting you pull up a contact by tapping in their name or number using the T9 predictive text input, a feature that should really be standard on all smartphones these days. And call quality is outstanding too; noise reduction means that the recipient of your call can hear you even in the loudest of environments, whilst the inbuilt amp sensibly dialled up volume levels on our end when ambient noise made it necessary. Signal levels were consistently strong too, with not a single dropped call during testing.

SMS messaging is great on the HTC One thanks to the sizeable, accurate keyboard, that elsewhere intelligently adjusts itself dependant on what details are being inputted. Messages themselves are laid out again in a clean, simple interface, with text messages received boxed in white and justified to the right while messages you've sent appear to the left and in grey, all flowing in a conversation style view.Email is handled equally well, with messages on the same subject from the same contact grouped together rather than clogging your inbox up. A favourites folder can be set up to grab emails from VIPs, and a Smart Sync option intelligently pulls down emails only periodically, and when the phone is in use - great if you've got contacts who like to email you in the middle of the night and can't be bothered with hearing mail notifications at ungodly hours.

The Gmail app is also pre-installed, which is a fantastic mobile build of the desktop variant. Gmail users will be totally at home labelling and starring emails and scrolling through long chains of messages from the same recipient. There's also great search functionality built in, meaning you can easily dive into an inbox brimming with thousands of messages and pull out the one you're after.

Media Playback and HTC TV
HTC have clearly set the HTC One up as something of a media powerhouse, and it's something that you'll be made starkly aware of as soon as you hear the chimes of the HTC One intro screen. Those front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers are LOUD, delivering accurate sound at volume levels you wouldn't expect from a smartphone thanks to the nifty amp built in. While a sensible person will only use the (potentially annoying) loud speaker in moderation, that amp works wonders for boosting audio of connected headphones too.

The HTC Music app ditched SoundHound integration, but makes up for it with new visuals and lyrics pulled from the GraceNote database (providing your library of songs has accurate information tied to it). It's a nice feature, particularly if you've a penchant for karaoke. Playback controls and album artwork are presented nicely too, and it's a simple interface for ploughing through even the most vast of song libraries. There's also Google Music pre-installed, handy if you're pulling tracks from the cloud often.

Video playback is a mixed bag though, with battery drain a real killer and the default brightness setting low through the HTC Watch service. Audio had a tendency to fall out of sync too. But with a fair few codecs and formats supported (including the ubiquitous AVI), you'll be fine if you nab another player from the Android store. Once you have, it's a lovely, large screen to watch videos on. It's a shame then that the default HTC Watch service proves such a chore.

One particularly interesting addition however is the HTC TV app. It uses the power button as an IR blaster and, once you've gone through a set-up process to pair the phone with your TV or home cinema kit, allows you to control playback, change channels and more from the handset. You can also browse a guide to see what's on the TV, setting up favourites before seeing them presented as large thumbnails when they're being broadcast. We had no problem syncing the app with a wide range of home cinema kit and broadcast services. HTC have done a really good job of localising the content for the app and attaching appropriate metadata, and it's one of our favourite features on the phone.

Still Camera, Zoe videos
There's much that's been said of the HTC One camera system, and it's certainly a progressive move by HTC. For starters, it's "only" a 4MP sensor, but that's tempered against the fact that each pixel is much larger and lets in far more light, which should result in far more detailed images. Dubbed the "Ultrapixel", it performs particularly well in low-light scenarios, picking up detail that competing smartphone cameras can only dream of. The smaller 4MP images look stunning on the phone's screen, but it's worth noting that you'll see an increase in noise and a loss in detail when blowing them up on a PC screen. They're still pleasant to view however, and again the low-light performance really is marvellous. It's worth noting too that the HTC One shoots in a 16:9 ratio rather than 4.3, which won't be much of a concern to casual snappers, but is a bit at odds with the "pro" marketing of the phone's imaging system. Again, it suits the size of the phone screen though.

Loading up and firing pictures incredibly quickly, the HTC One offers all sorts of manual controls, such as ISO levels, as well as a range of scene selections, filters and shooting options running the gamut from Sweep Panorama to HDR.The Zoe shooting features are most interesting however, accessed from a icon tap whilst in the camera mode. It captures 0.6 seconds of HD footage before you press the shutter button, alongside the 3 seconds that follow a still image being captured. These then come to life in the gallery view, adding motion to the normally static scroll of images. Capture a handful of Zoe shots over the course of the day and the HTC One will pull them together automatically in a 30 second highlight reel, adding date and location data if you've got geo-tagging enabled. It all looks great, but as you need to see the feature in motion to truly understand it, check out HTC's launch vid below (Zoe is covered from the 24.15 mark):

You've little control over how these videos are presented though and Zoe shots quickly fill up the storage space on the phone. A Zoe Share Server is on offer if you want to offload some of the data to the cloud though, which is a prudent move on HTC's behalf.

Is Zoe revolutionary? No, but it's a lot of fun. Is the Ultrapixel camera revolutionary? Not quite, but it's at least a match for what's on offer from rivals, and given more time, could evolve into a real selling point for HTC phones. Even now though its performance is commendable.

Verdict:

HTC may be struggling at the moment, but the stars have really aligned with the HTC One. It's a handset built to high construction standards and brimming with fresh software ideas and imaging innovations. It carries the weight of the company on its shoulders, and has done near everything it possibly could to reverse HTC's fortunes, resulting in what's one of, if not the best Android phone on the market at present. Can it withstand the threat of the Samsung Galaxy S4? On sheer build quality, features and spec-sheet numbers we'd say it's got it trounced. Whether or not HTC can match the marketing might of Samsung to see the phone reach its true sales potential remains to be seen. Either way, we recommend the phone highly; if you're on the market for a high-end Android phone, this is the one you want.

7-inch sizes are quickly becoming the dominant form factor for the tablet market. Cheaper and more portable, the likes of Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD have been able to corner the budget end of a market where Apple's iPads (Mini included) don't dare to tread. However, if you're looking to go truly portable, you're going to want a 3G mobile data connection too, something that neither the Nexus 7 nor Kindle Fire lines offer, and only the premium 3G iPad Mini (starting at a pricey £369) has.

The new disgo 8400G tablet then is compelling on two counts. An Android 4.1.3 7.9-inch tablet, it's both aggressively priced at £149.99 and packs in a 3G connection too."There has been a massive premium on 3G models in the tablet market, sometimes upwards of £100," said Luke Noonan, purchasing director at disgo whilst we went hands on with the forthcoming tablet.

"We're half the price of an iPad, but much, much more than half the experience."

Though budget priced, the tablet has plenty of features usually missing from the bargain-basement Chinese Android tablets that clutter this price bracket of the market. As well as the 3G connection, there's full access to the Google Play Store and the full raft of Google services apps pre-installed, including Maps, Gmail and more.Further setting it apart is the inclusion of a Qualcomm Snapgradgon S4 processor, dual-core running at 1.2GHz with an Adreno 203 2D/3D graphics core. It's not a lightning fast quad-core chipset that top-tier tablets now ship with, but it's no slouch either. Though you may experience some lag when inputting text and a little judder with high-resolution videos, our short time with the tablet saw it play perfectly fine with web browsing and diving around the Android interface. If you're reading this on a first-generation iPad, it's a similar level of responsiveness.

Similarly, concessions are made with the 7.9-inch screen, but none that are deal-breakers. Running at 1024x768 resolution, its viewing angles are a little tight and its brightness levels average, but it's still offering reasonable performance given the price tag.The 3G connection also allows the tablet to be used as a telephone, with Android's stock dialler and contacts book included. Though some smirk at the idea of a 7-inch phone, the growing trend towards "phablet" devices of over 5-inches (not to mention wildcards like the ASUS FonePad) mean it's becoming increasingly acceptable to wield a giant telephone. Even conservative users could subtly hook the 8400G up to a Bluetooth headset.

Under the hood, you'll find 4GB of built-in storage (expandable via microSD cards), and a 4800mAh battery that disgo claim is good for 8 hours of average use (i.e a bit of web browsing, video playback and music listening over 3G and Wi-Fi.) GPS, A-GPS and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity options are also included, with disgo pulling in some low power elements of Bluetooth 4.0 to tempt B2B buyers in the health sector. Two cameras are included too; a 0.3MP front unit and 2MP rear-facing snapper.Measuring 205 x 140 x 9mm, the disgo 8400g offers a durable build that's solid, if not all that sexy. A wide black bezel, finished with silver edging, sits around the screen, while a textured plastic composite backing adds some grip to the back of the device.There's certainly a gap in the market for a low-priced, reliable 3G Android tablet, and though the disgo 8400g wont set pulses racing, it could prove a sturdy bargain for those looking to test the tablet waters on a tight budget. Available from this month, you'll be able to pick the slate up from Currys and PC World, as well as select online retailers.

We'll be conducting a full review of the disgo 8400g in the coming weeks, so check back soon for a our full, final verdict.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is fast. Like ridiculously fast. A new batch of Geekbench 2 results from dev Primate Labs show the new handset to have almost double the processing power of both its predecessor the Galaxy S3 and competitor iPhone 5.

As you can see from the table above, the Galaxy S4 is even significantly faster than its nearest Android rival, the HTC One, and a third more powerful than even the speedy LG Nexus 4.

Best of all? These benchmark scores come from the quad-core version of the upcoming handset, not the Octo-Core variant. Just imagine the sort of benchmarking scores that one's going to pull in.

Of course, benchmarking tests don't always mean much when it comes to real-world usage. We imagine you'd be hard-pressed to spot a notable difference in app speed across the HTC One and "faster" S4 for instance, not to mention that the Geekbench test measures only processing and memory performance, not 3D rendering. But the signs are all positive - it looks as though Samsung have a real beast on their hands here.

We'll be running a full review on the Samsung Galaxy S4 as soon as we've got our mitts on one of the handsets. We'll let you know just how fast it is for everyday use then, so keep checking back.
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