We've been big fans of OLED TV tech at Tech Digest and HDTV UK for many a year since first setting eyes upon a prototype Sony screen at CES a few shows ago. Incremental updates to the tech have wowed us at subsequent trade shows, but high prices for screens no bigger than 15 inches have made OLED televisions a ludicrous luxury for only the most demanding of AV enthusiasts.

That's all set to change this year however as LG and Samsung go head-to-head with stonking 55-inch OLED models, due in stores later this year. Tech Digest and HDTV UK were invited this week to LG's glitzy Monaco launch event for their 55-inch OLED TV offering. Make no mistakes; if you're in the market for a new TV, this is what your cash should be splashed on.

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) televisions offer some key advantages over LCD or LED screens. Faster refresh rates and wider viewing angles can be paired with deep contrast ratios and lavish colours. As OLED sets don't use backlights, this can all be achieved with far lower power consumption levels, in bezels almost invisibly thin.

LG's 55EM9600 OLED TV made its first appearance at the start of the year in January's CES 2012 show, and while little has changed with the set in the subsequent months, it's still massively exciting to see.

The latest headlining feature of LG's OLED TV detailed at this week's launch is its use of WRGB technology. Adding a white sub-pixel to the standard red, green and blue set-up, LG claim WRGB panels will "perfect" colour output and make the image displayed feel "natural and colourful to the human eye". It's a similar technique as was used by Sharp in their Quattron televisions, which added a yellow sub-pixel with impressive results.

Even without the WRGB technology, the screen would attract attention purely based upon how thin it is. At a ridiculous 4mm thin, it's half the thickness of your average smartphone, weighing just 10kgs thanks to its being built from carbon fibre reinforced plastics. Those who like to wall-mount their displays will instantly fall in love, with the LG5EM9600 sitting almost flush against the wall.

It's a real treat for the eyes, with the display delivering vibrant, bold colours. Close-up footage of rain-soaked plant petals felt crisp enough to reach into the TV and touch. If anything, LG's rainbow-like showreel ran the risk of making the screen seem overly saturated, but as with all showroom settings you'll likely be able to tone the colours down a bit for a more natural, accurate calibration.

Superb viewing angles afforded by OLED technology mean that there will be no duff seat in a home cinema that has this screen as its centrepiece. We experienced no noticeable dropout in contrast or colours no matter where we placed ourselves, whether at a wide horizontal angle or a low vertical position.
The inky blacks of the display and strong brightness levels deserve extra credit. LG's launch event was held in the Salle des Etoiles, famous for its mechanical opening roof. Halfway through the event the roof opened, bathing what had been a dimly lit hall with Mediterranean sunlight. Even with the dramatic change in ambient lighting colours remained vivid, and shadow detail bold and legible.

Though we've yet to see the display handling 3D video for ourselves, all reports so far have been incredibly positive. Indeed, our own prior experience with smaller 3D OLED displays has seen the technology deliver smooth, ghost-free 3D images of the highest quality. With 3D always working better on a larger screen, the results with the 55EM9600 would presumably be remarkable. A 0.02s response time will lead to super-smooth 3D visuals, as well as being a boon for gamers looking for a display as quick as their trigger fingers.

Pre-orders for the LG OLED sets will kick off in July, ready for a "Q4 2012" release.

So how many pennies will you have to drop in order to get one of these beauties in your home? Around the 9000 EURO mark, or roughly £7,300 if the UK pricing reflects direct exchange rates.

That is of course an astronomically priced set, but LG's OLED giant is poised to represent the very best that money can currently buy for home cinema fans. While the false promise of 3D TV left many frustrated, OLED TV sets offer genuinely luxurious 2D viewing while still delivering the very best in 3D visuals should you still be looking for eye-popping entertainment.

Local pricing is likely to be the big deciding factor as LG's flagship battles it out with Samsung's in stores. Regardless as to which proves the victor, the stage is set for one of the most exciting years for home cinema fanatics for a while, and LG are well placed to dominate.

When you're talking about the world's slimmest smartphones, which names come to mind? How about Apple's iPhone at 9.3mm thin, or the Galaxy S II at 8.45mm thin? Slimmer again is the Motorola RAZR at 7.1mm thin.

Well, they've all been given their super-slim marching orders from a manufacturer little known in the west. Introducing the Finder from Chinese brand Oppo, an Android smartphone just 6.65mm thin.

It's not just it's svelte frame set to impress either, as the Finder has a pretty nifty spec sheet too.

The Oppo Finder will be powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. A 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display sits up front with a 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video capture, and a 1.3-megapixel cam up front that records at 720p rounding off the catwalk-friendly phone.

Up for pre-order for 3,999 yuan ($632) from June 6th, it's unlikely to get a UK release. But we can hope, right?

For a side-by-side size comparison video with what appears to be (correct us if we're wrong!) the iPhone 4S, Galaxy S II and Motorola RAZR, scroll down:

DFS are looking to kill two (love)birds with one stone with the Trophy Cuddler Audio Sofa , giving your gluteus maximus a well-earned rest while also soothing your ears with a built in set of speakers, subwoofer and an iPod dock.

Picture the scene; snuggling up with your loved one, a bottle of red wine or two finished, and then this starts coming out of the bloody chair:

That, my friends, is slick.

If iPods aren't your sort of thing, the sofa also supports playback through a USB port, auxiliary port, SD card slot and wirelessly over Bluetooth.

If you're thinking of grabbing one of the sofas, now's probably the best time to do so. DFS have slashed the price in half from £1398 to £699 from now until 2nd July 2012.

For more info, click here.

Foxconn, the controversial Chinese electronics factory responsible for the manufacturing of the iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Wii and Xbox 360 amongst other high tech gadgetry, is said to be doubling the salaries of its workers as of next year.

Production line staff would see their pay jump from the current 2,200 yuan (US$346) up to 4,400 yuan (US$693) per month. The rumours come from an alleged speech CEO Terry Gou gave at the company's new Shanghai headquarters groundbreaking ceremony.

It wouldn't be the first time Foxconn workers received large pay increases. Foxconn almost doubled its China base salary in 2010 from 1,200 yuan to 2,000 yuan. That was in response to a spate of worker suicides, and with Foxconn working conditions under ever-closer scrutiny thanks to the popularity of the products it produces, this latest move is likely to appease international media detractors as much as improve the lives of the factory's live-in workers.

It's also likely to be a disruptive move for other key factories in China, who may struggle to retain workers in the light of Foxconn's pay increas.

Via: Guangzhou Daily

Dell's first Windows 8 tablet has had it's specs leaked online, and it's looking none-too shabby.

Called the Dell Latitude, it looks set to pack a 10.1 inch display at a 1366x768, running off an Intel Clover Trail Atom dual-core processor.

The 10.5mm thick device will also feature an SSD drive in configurations as large as 128GB, as well as using integrated Intel Graphics backed by 2GB of RAM.

Batteries will be hot-swappable in the tablet, and available in two variants, a 30 WHr one that will offer between 6 and 8 hours of juice, and a 60 WHr version giving life to your tablet for between 10 and 12 hours.

No launch date has been given, but with Windows 8 expected to launch in the late Autumn, a Christmas release would be a safe bet.

Via: Neowin

Apple have filed a patent for a number of potential stylus accessories to be used with iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.

The first application is for an optical stylus, using a camera embedded in its tip to track pixels and markings on screen in order to interact with iOS content.

The second focusses on haptic feedback, using a haptic actuator and short-range wireless receiver to generate vibrations from the slate device's bezel.

"An input device capable of generating haptic feedback may help a user navigate content displayed on the screen, and may further serve to enhance the content of various applications by creating a more appealing and realistic user interface," explains the filing.

Though the late Steve Jobs had begun fairly anti-stylus once the iPhone had launched, Apple had previously offered the stylus-packing Apple Newton MessagePad, and more recently in 2010 filed a patent for a pressure sensitive stylus for low-resolution touch sensitive displays.

It remains unlikely however that the next iPad or iPhone 5 will exclusively need stylus input. While it's possible that Apple may introduce their own stylus accessory in the future, this is more likely a patent land-grab in order to block out moves by the competition. The oversized Samsung Galaxy Note for instance has proved that stylus input is still welcomed by many tech consumers, and Apple may be looking to hamstring any future developments by its rivals into stylus technology.

Via: Apple Insider

Facebook have just launched a new photography and picture sharing app, and it's got more than a hint of Instagram about it.

Facebook Camera lets you browse photos from your individual Facebook friends, letting you blow them up to full-screen size or browse them through a tile-based interface. You can also browse specific albums, and for the first time with a Facebook app upload multiple photographs in one go.

The Instagram comparisons come into play when you're actually creating snaps through the app. You can edit photo's with 15 retro-looking filters, making even a novice's shots look significantly cooler.

Facebook recently acquired Instagram in a giant $1billion deal, but the final processes of the deal have been delayed as the American Federal Trade Commission investigates whether or not the partnership is anti-competitive. Perhaps when the deal goes through even more of Instgram's technologies will seep into Facebook Camera.

The app is available now for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. No word yet on the app hitting other mobile platform's, but Facebook's wide customer base would suggest that something would be in the works for Android at the very least.

Microsoft's Bing Maps service gets an update today thanks to the implementation of a few key technologies from mobile partner Nokia.

Nokia will be adding improved location data to the service through geocoding algorithms, using latitude and longitude information to pinpoint destinations and routes.

As well as the improved location accuracy, Nokia will also be introducing their live traffic information services into Bing, suggesting alternative routes should road works or accidents occur along a trip route.

The update rolls out to the following 24 countries today: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, United Kingdom, USA.

LG have officially launched their long-awaited 55-inch OLED TV screens at a glitzy launch event in Monaco this evening.

After teasing us for years with pint-sized 15 inch displays, the South Korean home cinema giants are finally ready to offer up their wall-filling OLED sets to consumers. Just 4mm thick, the vibrant, super-slim 3D screens are LG's next big home cinema venture, offering a stunningly detailed and rich image through use of new WRGB technology, which adds a white sub-pixel to the usual red, green and blue combination found in televisions.

"In the history of television, there have been very few innovations as impactful as the coming of OLED TV," said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG's Home Entertain-ment Company.

"We say THE ULTIMATE DISPLAY because LG OLED TV is truly above all expectations and beyond everyone's imagination with uncompromising picture quality and beautiful design. This year, we plan to make OLED synonymous with LG."
It was a star-studded launch event for the set, seeing Grand Prix ace Sebastian Vettel, racing legend David Coulthard, film director Jean-Jacques Annaud and model Gemma Sanderson take to the stage with Monaco the fittingly luxurious backdrop ahead of this weekend's F1 race.

Though little more than a "Q4" release date has been pencilled in for the new svelte screens, along with a roughly estimated 9000 Euro price tag (around the £7,300 mark), pre-order sales for LG's OLED tech should open by July of this summer for UK enthusiasts.

First shown off back at CES 2012, the 55EM960V set represents the first step in a massive investment for LG's AV future, with Samsung similarly throwing their hand into the potential market for OLED TVs, while struggling Sony look set to push Crystal LED televisions.

We'll be offering up our first eyes-on impressions of the set in the coming days on Tech Digest, as well as a video sneak peek, so stay tuned for more info on LG's flagship display.

As a teaser, note this; they're looking pretty bloody gorgeous.

Sonos are expanding their wireless speaker range by introducing the SUB wireless subwoofer, hitting stores in June.

Connecting to other Sonos wireless speakers through a push of a button and a simple set-up process, the subwoofer makes use of two force-cancelling speakers positioned face-to-face allowing all the sound produced to ring clear, avoiding annoying cabinet rattling.

It also means that the subwoofer sounds great no matter where it is placed in a room. According to Sonos, "SUB's unique design and smart wireless signal allows you to place it anywhere you want in the room - even lying flat under a sofa or bed - without any loss in sound or performance."

Compatible with all of Sonos's mobile applications, you can pair the subwoofer with any of Sonos's amplified kit including the CONNECT:AMP/ZonePlayer 120/ZonePlayer 100, PLAY:5 and PLAY:3.

The new Sonos Sub will be available in a high-gloss black lacquer finish for £599 from the 19th of June in the UK. A cheaper black matte finish version will also be available from October 2012 for £499.

For more info, click here.

Team GB Olympic diving hopeful Tom Daley has put his name to a nifty new iPhone/iPad game called Tom Daley Dive 2012.

A little like a swan-diving take on PaRappa the Rapper, you're tasked with racking up straight ten scores from the judges, using gesture controls to pivot and turn in mid-air before slipping into the pool below without a splash.

Or at least that's the plan; timing is key, and as anyone who has seen Tech Digest dance would know, it's something that we lack. We had our digital Daley (who worked closely with developers Chelsea Apps Factory during the game's creation) belly flopping painfully before we got a hang of things. It's an addictive little system though, and we soon had Daley cutting through the water like a knife through jelly.

"Apps are one of the best things about having a phone, and I jumped at the chance to create my own," said Daley.

"There are no good diving games out there and I love how this game has turned out: it looks great and feels very realistic - although I'm a bit nervous my own score won't make the online leader-board! If the game helps raise awareness of diving and gets people excited about the Olympics this year, I'll be really pleased."

To grab the app for iPhone and iPads, click here. It's free, with additional dives available as in-app purchases for £0.69p.

I'm about as plan-friendly as a Fern Gully logging company; put some of the green stuff in my flat and be prepared to watch it die a slow, painful death. It's not wilful negligence, I just have a tendency to prioritise feeding and watering myself over our petal-powered pals.

If like me you need a prod or too to keep your potted pretties in tip-top shape, take a look at the Koubachi. Looking a little bit like the head of a golf club, it snuggles up alongside your plants and delivers real-time information up to the cloud and back down to an iPhone app. You'll get stats such as light intensity, temperature and soil moisture, as well as alerts as to when you should be giving your plant some TLC.

"The Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor is the first device ever that enables real-time monitoring of a plant's vitality," said Philipp Bolliger, CEO and inventor of Koubachi.

"It's been very well received by the users and press since launch at CeBIT 2012 and we are happy to deliver the first pre-ordered units to our customers. With production fully lined up, the Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor is now available across Europe."

Just in time for the Chelsea Flower Show too, though I doubt Titchmarsh and co. will need any help from one of these. A bit pricey at £99, but a must have for flora and fauna lovers lacking a green finger.

Click here for more info.

We've been waiting years for Aliens: Colonial Marines to come out and after suffering so many delays we half expected to see a new slip for the long-awaited return to the sci-fi horror franchise when opening the latest press release from publishers Sega.

But thankfully, it's good news! Well, providing you count an 8 month wait as good news! Gearbox's co-op first person shooter has now been given a firm release date of February 12th 2013 for Xbox 360, PC and PS3 versions. A version planned for Nintendo's next console, the Wii U, will land at a latter date that's yet to be revealed.

Pitched as a true sequel to James Cameron's alien-blasting science fiction classic, up to four players will be able to join forces across familiar locations from the movie series, blasting varying Xenomorph foes in what would certainly be classed by Hudson as "a bug hunt".

President of Gearbox Randy Pitchford said, "I am thrilled to announce the definitive launch date for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Aliens: Colonial Marines is the culmination of a life-time of inspiration from the films and relentless passion and drive from the exceptionally talented development team behind the scenes."

We can't wait!

...or so say sources over at the Taipei Times, who state that Sony have been providing components for a next-generation mobile for Apple. Could that device be the iPhone 5?

Speaking to Stone Wu, senior analyst at IHS Displaybank, the publication is claiming that Sony has been working in partnership with Apple on in-cell touch panels, with an aim to ramp up production by May to prepare for an October launch of the sixth generation iPhone.

According to Wu, Sony will be joined by three other display manufacturers in order to meet the massive expected demand.

In-cell touch panel technology allows for thinner-frame smartphone devices, so if the rumour proves true expect to see a super-slim iPhone 5, despite whispers of a larger 4-inch screen.

Via: Apple Insider

Photo-filter app Instagram may have nailed the look of retro photography for Android and iPhone users, but what if you still yearn for a tangible ink-and-paper picture to keep a hold of?

Firebox have the answer. They launched the Instagram Prints service, turning sets of 12 or 24 of your favourite Instagram snaps into actual real-world photos. Just like ye olden times!

Printed on high-quality 260GSM semigloss paper at 11cm(H) x 9cm(W) to look like Polaroids (but are not actually Polaroids), they're the perfect gift for someone looking to make a physical scrapbook to go along with their digital online ones.

Priced at £9.99 or 12 or £14.99 for 24 prints, Firebox throw in a free mini Sharpie pen so you can tag your snaps with a witty remark.

Click here for more info.

Leap Motion have launched what they claim to be the "world's most accurate" 3D motion control device, 200 times more sensitive than the Xbox 360's Kinect controller.

Priced cheaply at $69.99 (around £44), the small 4-inch camera plugs into a USB socket on your PC and can track even tiny finger movements within its line of sight.

Accurate to 1/100th of a millimetre and shipping this winter, the Leap Motion team hope the camera will spark a greater interest in motion controlled PC interfaces, with possible applications in both the medial and gaming markets. The tracking technology is also versatile enough to one day be used in tablets, smartphones and television sets.

"One day 3-D motion control will be in just about every device we interact with, and thanks to the Leap, that day is coming sooner than anyone expected," says CEO and co-founder Michael Buckwald.

Click here for more info.

Name: HTC One X

Type: Android Smartphone

Specifications: Click here for full specs

Price as reviewed: £29 a month (with £29 upfront cost) from Three

HTC have promised a "quality over quantity" approach to their Android smartphone line-up this year, and the HTC One X represents the pick of their pile. Have HTC made good on the claim, and can the HTC One X do enough to fend off stiff competition from the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5? Read on to find out!

Design

The HTC One X continues in the fine design tradition that HTC established once they'd purchased sharp design firm One & Co. Whether in black or white, the unibody build here is a corker, if perhaps a little big for some tastes.

Measuring up at 134.36 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm and weighing 130 grams, the slightly-curved handset may be a stretch to use for those with smaller hands. But once you set eyes on the One X's gigantic screen, you'll agree it's a fair trade. A 4.7 inch 720p HD resolution display, using Super IPS LCD 2 technology, dominates the front of the smartphone, with vivid, lifelike colours and a pixel density that's a pin-sharp rival for Apple's iPhone and iPad Retina displays.

Around the edges it's a fairly sparse list of buttons and features, and all the better for it in our opinion. The front lower edge of the screen houses three touch-sensitive buttons (something we're still keen on over the Galaxy Nexus's context-sensitive software buttons), while a 1.3MP camera with 720p video calling sits at the top end of the front. A volume rocker sits on the right hand edge, with a power button and 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge. On the left is a microUSB slot which also acts as a Mobile High-Definition Link to hook up to a HDTV. The One X has had its looks previously described as "minimalist", and we'd agree with that observation.

Flip the phone over and you'll find an 8MP camera, which protrudes a fair bit from the back. It's not too much of an issue though, as the curved design of the phone helps hide the bulge somewhat. You'll also find the microSIM slot on the rear of the phone, which will cause annoyance thanks to needing a small key to access, as well as being a pain in the neck for those upgrading from a regular SIM size. It's part and parcel thought of keeping the device a trim 8.9mm thick though we suppose.

Under the hood, specs are impressive. A quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, clocked at 1.5GHz, means that even console-bothering 3D games will play smoothly, as well as high def video files. 1GB of RAM is a fair amount too, and you're unlikely to experience too much bottlenecking while multitasking with the One X.

As well as standard connectivity options like Wi-Fi and 3G, you'll also find Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC technology tucked away in here. While neither are very useful right now (Bluetooth 4.0 accessories are just coming to market, while the NFC usage is limited to just Android Beam at the moment on the One X), it's some solid future-proofing by HTC. Sadly though, there's no expandable memory over microSD. The built-in 32GB of storage is acceptable, but not expansive.

In terms of battery life, the HTC One X houses an 1800mAh battery. With that stonking screen and the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor running at full pelt, you're unlikely to get a full 9-to-5 working day's use out of the battery. This is with Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity both on, the screen at maximum brightness, and a few calls and gaming app sessions thrown in. However, a solid low-battery management system means that when the juice is running low, you'll likely be able to keep the device ticking over until you're back within reach of a charger. Standby battery drain is solid too, meaning you'll likely get two whole days with the screen off before the device conks out entirely. Those looking to get intensive use out of the HTC One X will find their hopes further hindered by a sealed battery compartment; they'll be now battery pack hot-swapping halfway through the day with this one.

Interface and apps

The HTC One X fuses the stock Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS from Google with the company's much-loved and ever-evolving HTC Sense UI, this time being version 4.0. It's a snazzy re-skinning of Android, that uses 3D designs and a rotating set of seven homescreens to house your most used widgets and apps.

While regular Sense features like the exploded "helicopter" view of homescreens (accessed with a pinch on any of the 7 main screens) returns, Sense 4.0 also tweaks some interface elements. For instance, settings are now accessed from the drag-down notifications bar instead of having a dedicated key, while notifications themselves are larger and can be individually swiped away. The apps menu now scrolls left to right rather than vertically, and the lock screen now lets you drag and unlock notifications and messages as well as quick-launching apps like the phone dialler and camera.

Slightly less successful is the dedicated multi-tasking key, which throws up a 3D scrolling list of apps currently in use. Though pretty, it's the one notable culprit for causing lag on the device, with multi-tasking likely be the time you're trying to avoid time wasting the most. Overall though Sense 4.0 is a great success, and as with any version of Android, can be easily customised to your liking by long-pressing and dragging about onscreen elements.

In terms of pre-installed apps, the HTC One X has a fine array popped in to get you started. As well as all the standard Google products (and the Google Play store for grabbing more apps), Facebook and Twitter, you get a premium version of Dropbox for cloud-syncing a giant 25GB of files and media, the superb EverNote note taking app that syncs images, text, audio and web clippings across all your EverNote-using devices, and HTC's own Note app that ties your scribbles and audio notes to appointment and calendar details. We're less keen on 7Digital as the default MP3 store, and the Movie Editor is cumbersome, but on the whole it's a strong offering.

Web browsing is mostly excellent too. While page rendering speeds are surprisingly slow considering the quad-core processor onboard, navigation and legibility are superb. The screen comes into its own when displaying image-heavy sites, and you'll happily be able to browse with the One X at length. HTC still does the best text-reflowing on mobiles, and you'll be able to zoom into a size tailored for you and see text intelligently shuffle into a readable column. A new "Reader" function, pulling out the text and key images away from the advertising and formatting chaff of websites also helps deliver a great browsing experience. Flash is onboard too, meaning that any websites using the divisive format will be displayed in full.

Calling and Messaging

Contacts integration is as strong as ever from HTC with the One X. Long have HTC been way ahead of the curve when it comes to tying in social networking pals to the address book, and HTC have fine tuned the system once again. Quickly populating the address book with details and images from your Facebook and Twitter pals, you'll instantly have all the contact information you need once you've signed into the big two social networking sites for the first time. Large contact photos make browsing the book easy too, with images prioritised automatically from the ones your contacts pick as their Facebook profile snaps.

From a contact's listing you can quickly send SMS messages, social networking updates and emails, as well as making calls, as well as offering the option to consolidate contacts that are doubled due to conflicting listings (handy for when your pals use silly Twitter handles that don't match up with their real-world personas). From the contact's listing you can see messages sent by them to you too. You can even group together contacts for quick group messages, making a widget of the gang for easy access from a homescreen. It's all intuitive and highly flexible.
Calling is well delivered too. A Smart Dialler lets you search for a contact through the dialler with both letters and numbers, and overall call quality was excellent, with a smart noise cancelling system really making a significant difference. There were a few signalling issues, but overall it's a very reliable blower.

HTC's email client is well designed too. While you get the superb stock Gmail app as part of Android (synced along with webmail and exchange accounts upon the devices initial set-up), HTC's offers threaded messages, flagged messaging and also smartly identifies web links and phone numbers. Whether you're using email, webmail, SMS, MMS, Google Talk or an IM+ app, the software QWERTY on here delivers a comfortable tap-typing experience. HTC have built a really nice sized keyboard, and when paired with a clever predictive text system, you'll quickly be tapping out lengthy messages without any fuss.

Media playback

If you intend to use the HTC One X as your primary music-playing device, you're in for a treat. Not only do you get Beats Audio sonic enhancements to practically every major music playing app on the Android market, but you've also got a really nifty stock Music Player from HTC. As well as being very visual, with high-resolution artwork supported as well as homescreen widgets, it has masterful integration with the SoundHound app, putting artist information such as lyrics, bio and gig listings just a tap away while listening to tracks. AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MID, MP3, WAV and WMA formats are all supported. There's an FM radio built in too once you're sick of your own catalogue of tunes.

It's a shame the video library isn't presented as nicely. Bunged into the Gallery app along with your photos, the only cataloguing system offered is for those that can be bothered to pop videos into folders. Otherwise, you simply get a collage of small thumbnails of videos with no descriptive data to work with. If you've got, say, a series of TV shows that all open in the same way, you'll find it tough to differentiate between them. Grab a third party app for this functionality as soon as you fire up the phone if you decide to grab one.

Actually watching videos is much better though, with crisp, high definition video delivered without a stutter. Pushing content to a big screen is easy too thanks to DLNA compatibility, but you may struggle when playing certain file types. MP4 and 3GP files play without a hitch, but we could rarely find AVI's that work, a pity considering they're among the most commonly downloaded.

Gaming, somewhat surprisingly, may prove one of the biggest draws to the HTC One X. The NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, when paired with Tegra-optimised games, delivers some of the best handheld gaming currently on the market, iPhone-be-damned. Jet Ski game RipTide for instance looked phenomenal, with nifty water effects and wave-bobbing physics. Gaming of this intensity will be a big drain on the battery, but it's great while it lasts.

Of course, when it comes to media and gaming, a large drawback of the HTC One X will be the lack of expandable storage. 32GB is a fair amount, but once you're drawn into what the phone can pull off with HD video and 3D gaming, you're going to see that space fill up very quickly indeed.

Still Camera and Video

HTC have made some great strides with the rear stills camera on the One X compared to their previous efforts. An 8MP snapper with LED flash, it's pairing enhanced optics with the souped-up NVIDIA processor to great effect.

Firstly, there's the cracking shutter speed. The One X can take as many as 10 shots per second, with often excellent results. Dial the option back a bit to the standard capture speed and you're looking at around three seconds between photos; not class-leading, but hardly a bad mark against the phone's name. There's no dedicated shutter hardware button, but when paired with the lock-screen camera launch ability, we think you'll hardly miss a key moment as a result of its absence.

Secondly, there's plenty of scene selection options and filters. From bold, colourful options to more tasteful, muted reworkings of your images, there is plenty to play about with. High Dynamic Range mode, while tending to blur more than Apple's offering does, tends to work well too, evening out contrast levels based on optimal lighting in an image. You've got a reliable Macro mode and an easy-to-use Panorama mode (with onscreen instructions) on offer here too.

Lastly, you're given a wide range of image settings to play with, giving you control over saturation, sharpness, exposure settings and more. It's a comprehensive camera delivered by HTC here, and one that will please those looking to flog their aging compact camera on eBay.

Video recording (at a maximum of 1080p Full HD resolution) offered just as impressive an amount of options. You can shoot slow motion video, take photos while recording HD video at 30fps, and even capture stills from a video you've shot and are playing back at a later date. Videos shot on the camera look great when played back on the phone's onscreen, but the results are a little patchy when blown up to a big screen, with a slight grain covering captured video and lacklustre audio clarity captured by the dual microphones.

Verdict:

The HTC One X is the best phone HTC have put out in years. Beautifully designed and powerful to boot, it has an intuitive, attractive interface, and one of the best still camera systems money can buy inside a smartphone. However, a few failings (namely battery life, video capture quality and the way HTC have presented the video library) drag things down a little. It's still probably the best smartphone on the market right now, but with the Galaxy S3 hitting stores in just a matter of days, and a new iPhone expected before the year is out, we wonder how long it can hold onto that lofty title for.

Google's Chrome web browser has overtaken Microsoft's Internet Explorer for the first time to become the world's most-used internet browser.

According to StatCounter, Google Chrome crept up the usage tables to overtake the veritable Microsoft offering for the first time last week.

Though an imprecise measurement system (based on scaling up the results of relatively small survey groups), Chrome's rise has been clear to see for some time. Though Internet Explorer and Chrome were neck and neck for most of the month of this year, the scales are now tipping in its favour at the expense of Microsoft's browser, as well as Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari and the Opera browser, which round out the top 5.
It's been a meteoric rise for Google's browser, which launched in 2008 and features handy extension tools for a more rewarding web browsing experience.

It's not just the desktop browsing scene where Google products are performing well; Android Robot is now also listed as the most popular mobile web browser, overtaking Opera as the most popular on-the-go offering as of March.

Microsoft will not take the loss lying down however. Expect to see a big web-push from the Redmond tech giant with the launch of Windows 8, which will likely also see Internet Explorer 10 released alongside it.

New evidence has come to light suggesting that Apple's FaceTime video calling app may soon work over 3G on iPhones and iPads.

FaceTime can currently only be used over a Wi-Fi connection, likely as it would put a strain on cellular networks and a user's data plan. But warning message found in iOS 5.1.1 now suggests Apple is ready to enable FaceTime calls over 3G, and likely LTE too.

The team over at Russian Blog iDevice found the possible new feature, stating that the warning message appears when trying to switch off 3G connectivity.They describe the finding as follows:

Being called by someone, although I was connected to a 3G data network, when I tried to close the 3G connection I was greeted by the message of the picture (above .ed). Normally you should not be called if I was connected to the 3G, but the call originated to me did not stop, but I just got the iPhone warning I missed a call FaceTime.

Though the feature is easily switched on if you've the guts to Jailbreak your iPhone or iPad, at the very least this shows the Apple are toying with the idea of FaceTime over 3G. It'll be a nice treat to go along with any eventual launch of an iPhone 5 device, we reckon.

The ROM for Samsung's soon-to-be-released Galaxy S3 Android wonderphone has been leaked online, meaning that those with a penchant for fiddling about under the bonnet of their Google-powered handsets can pop it into their phones and give it a test run.

Those who have rooted their Android phones can use the ROM to add new Samsung Galaxy S3 functionality like S Voice, Pop-up Play and Smart Stay on their devices.

Pop-up Play allows you to drag a floating, pop-out video across any other app you may be using simultaneously, while Smart Stay manages the auto-time out of your screen by tracking your eyes and switching off when you're not engaged with the device.

S-Voice (available as a separate download from the full ROM) is Samsung's answer to Siri. It's a voice activated personal assistant that lets you search the web, set reminders and take notes, just by speaking to the phone.

A few notes before starting though. Firstly, the full ROM download is a hefty one at 800MB, so make sure you're grabbing it over Wi-Fi with some storage space clear on your device. Secondly, you're likely going to have to wait for a custom ROM to be released for your device before getting it to work properly. Older Galaxy handsets should work fine right now, and eventually all Ice Cream Sandwich-powered Android devices should work.

For our full first impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S3, click here.

Via: Android Police