With purse strings tightening the world over, many of us austerity-stricken gadget fans have to think twice before committing to tech-protecting extras like cases and insurance for our shiny new toys. But when the fateful day comes that you drop your phone or tablet (and believe me, it will come) we're often left scrambling around for the best way to fix it. And, according to a new poll by gadget insurers Protect Your Bubble, skint Brits have been turning to some bizarre DIY repair techniques.

Polling 1,000 gadget owners, they found a third (33%) of gadget owners had broken a smartphone or tablet, and that over half (53%) had tried to repair their devices at home.

Top of the DIY fixes was super glue, with 38% of respondents making it their go-to fixing tool, followed by sticky tape at 30%. But some stupid adventurous would-be repairmen used implements such as elastic bands (18%), Blu-Tack (12%), hair ties (9%) and even chewing gum (5%).

On the whole, men were slightly more likely to attempt a DIY repair than women (59% compared to 41%), with the high cost of professional repairs being the main reason for trying an at home fix. Many respondents (49%) also revealed that they had broken there devices within the first 6 months of owning them, highlighting the dangers of lengthy 24-month contracts.

Nokia have officially revealed the Nokia Lumia 925 handset, a new flagship Windows Phone from the Finnish mobile giants that aims at a more premium build quality than the company's current offerings.

Built with a mixture of aluminium and polycarbonate (polycarbonate covering on the back, aluminium around the edges), it's a push towards the high-end designs of the iPhone and the HTC One. Measuring just 8.5mm thick and 139 grams, it's far more svelte than the Lumia 920 (that handset sits at 10.7mm thick and 185 grams). The handset retains a little bump around the camera that pushes the thickness a tad wider at that point, but the curved-edged design is attractive nonetheless.

Under the hood, specs stay very similar to the Lumia 920. A 1.5GHz dual-core processor powers the phone, backed by 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (less than the 32GB present in the 920), with 4G connectivity onboard.

The screen is a 4.5-inch OLED with a 1280 x 768 resolution, while the company's PureView camera system is paired with an 8.7MP rear sensor and 1.2MP front facing snapper. Optical image stabilisation and a dual-LED flash are also present. A new Smart Camera shooting mode will also be added, using a new UI that allows for motion focus features and the ability to blur, alter or remove altogether background elements from photos.

A tie-in with the upcoming Man of Steel Superman flick will also see Lumia 925 owners get exclusive content relating to the movie pre-loaded on the handset. Man of Steel / aluminium body, get it?

Unlike the rest of the Lumia line, the Lumia 925 comes in just two subdued colours - grey and black. If you want a more vibrant look you'll have to grab an additional sleeve that clips onto the back of the device, coming in red, yellow black and white shades. They also add wireless charging capabilities to the handset.

Though exact worldwide pricing hasn't been revealed, from the 469 Euro asking price given for European territories, we'd put the Nokia Lumia 925 at around the £400 when it hits UK stores. Expect to see it filling mobile retailers shelves from June, with sales starting in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and China before rolling out to further territories.

As for carriers, Vodafone have announced as that they'll be exclusively carrying a 32GB variant of the handset at launch.

Tablets are the perfect kitchen companions, putting a web full of recipes and gourmet cooking apps at your fingertips. But very few are protected against the hazards of the kitchen, where ingredients fly, heat is high and steam seeps into everything. With that in mind, Archos have put together a tablet specifically for the kitchen called the ChefPad.

It's cased in a silicone covering that's totally spill-proof against water and syrupy foods, with a stand that's adjustable to the ideal reading angle for your cooking area.

The tablet also comes with an Archos-curated "Chef's Apps" selection, with everything from recipes to drink ideas, shopping list to TV cooking guides on offer.

Beyond that, the ChefPad is a pretty standard Android tablet, with access to all the regular tablet computing features you'd expect. Packing in a 9.7-inch 1024x768 capacitive touchscreen, it's powered by a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, with 8GB of internal storage (expandable over microSD), 2MP front and rear cameras, Wi-Fi and mini HDMI.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is the OS of choice, with access to the full Google Play store.

Available from June, it'll be affordably priced at $209.99 (£137) from Archos's online store.

The HTC First, the affordable Android smartphone that puts Facebook front and centre by coming pre-loaded with the Facebook Home operating system reskin, is reportedly selling so badly that AT&T are considering discontinuing sales of the handset.

Launching on April 12, the HTC First has been sold just 15,000 times as of last week, according to BGR, with AT&T supposedly now preparing to send the remaining stock back to HTC.

This is despite AT&T's best efforts, with the US network cutting the handset price to a mere $0.99 (£0.64) on two year contracts. But even that hasn't been enough to inspire a sales rush, with AT&T now just waiting until an in-store display contract on the handset expires before pulling the plug.

The HTC First is the first (and so far only - and likely it seems to stay that way) handset to come with Facebook Home pre-loaded, revealed onstage by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in April alongside the unveiling of Facebook Home.

However, despite being downloaded over 1 million times by Android users with compatible handsets, it has not proved universally popular, sitting with just a 2 out of 5 star score on the Google Play Store. Facebook Home's focus on the social network actually necessitates a drop in functionality for the Android OS, which has put off many potential users.

Robot rocking robots rock! But that's not been enough for Daft Punk to prevent the sneaky web music pirates from leaking their new album 'Random Access Memories' online a week before its official release date, despite it being one of the most closely guarded albums of recent times.

In an attempt to soften the rampant illegal downloads, Daft Punk have made the album available to stream totally free (and totally legally!) through iTunes. You can here it in all its hour-and-fifteen-minutes-odd glory by clicking here.

Featuring guest spots from The Strokes' Julian Casablancas, Pharrell, and uber-producers Giorgio Moroder and Nile Rodgers, it's expected to be a massive summer hit, following in the footsteps of lead single 'Get Lucky', currently enjoying its third week at the top of the UK charts.

Listen here.

Though EE have got a solid 4G footing in the UK, we're still waiting for the competition to heat up when other networks roll-out their super-fast mobile broadband offering here in old Blighty. The problem now however is that by the time 4G is widespread here, it'll already look like yesterday's news, as Samsung claims to have made a breakthrough in the development of next generation of 5G.

They've been working on mmWave Mobile Technology, which will allow for data transmission speeds hundreds of times faster than 4G, allowing for many gigabits per second of data to be downloaded on the go.

Ultra high definition movie downloads to a mobile in just few seconds could soon become a reality:

"Subscribers will be able to enjoy a wide range of services such as 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition (UHD) content, and remote medical services," said Samsung today.

Thankfully for EE and its rivals, the technology won't be commercially available for some time yet, with Samsung expecting the technology to go overground in 2020. Either way, it's something to look forward to, and likely something we'll need as movies, games and apps become more detailed, complex and come in larger file sizes.

"Samsung's latest innovation is expected to invigorate research into 5G cellular communications across the world," said Samsung today.

"The company believes it will trigger the creation of international alliances and the timely commercialisation of related mobile broadband services."

A host of fresh Disney titles will be coming to the Netflix UK and Ireland TV and movie streaming platform, with the service announcing the acquisition of a new batch of streaming rights from the Mouse House.

As of today, movies like Pixar's Wall-E and Ratatouille will be available through Netflix alongside classic animated flicks including Dumbo and Robin Hood and live action films like The Chronicles of Narnia and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

The deal also means that Netflix will get Disney blockbusters Avengers Assemble, John Carter, and The Muppets next year. The delay is down to Disney's current deal with Sky, having recently launched the Sky Movies Disney channel that gains exclusive rights to recent Disney movies six months after their initial theatrical run, with exclusivity lasting a year.

"We are delighted to be able to offer our members an incredible variety of fantastic family films, from recent hits like Marvel's Avengers Assemble to beloved classics like Mary Poppins," said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos.

"We aim to make Netflix better all the time and hope members enjoy the rich offering of films we are making available from the Disney studios."

Shifting setting and gameplay style from the near future to the recent past and from an isometric tactical perspective to an over-the-shoulder third-person shooter, The Bureau - XCOM Declassified is alive and kicking after a rocky few years of development.

And we've got the latest in-game screenshots to share with you! Showing off the 1960s setting, the tactical gameplay options and returning baddies the Sectoids, it's shaping up to be one of this year's more interesting shooters.

We've put together a lengthy preview of our recent hands-on session which you can check out here, but before you do, scroll down and check out these revealing new screens:

What would you get if you crossed Mass Effect with Mad Men? Something probably quite close to The Bureau - XCOM Declassified.

Yanking the XCOM universe from a turn-based near-future and moving it to an alternate-reality 1962 with third-person squad-based gameplay, it's not only a departure for the series, but a departure from the vision of the game that was first revealed back at E3 2010.

At that point, the game was merely called XCOM, and was a first person shooter. But, debuting to a somewhat muted reception and with the intervening years seeing the critical and commercially successful X-COM: Enemy Unknown released, this new title has evolved into something quite different. We went hands-on to see if it can live up to strong pedigree of its much-loved namesakes.

RELATED: GALLERY: The Bureau - XCOM Declassified battles aliens from a new perspective

The Bureau - XCOM Declassified will reveal the origins of the intergalactic peacekeeping force that has been central to the series since its debut back in 1994. The Bureau focusses around Special Agent William Carter, whose team had initially been pulled together by President Kennedy to battle the threat of invasion from communist forces. It quickly transpires however the threat is not from communism, but from the stars, and The Bureau must adapt rapidly to learn how to defend themselves and their country from alien foes.

We played a mission roughly halfway through The Bureau's campaign that saw the fedora-wearing Carter lead a three-man team into a small suburban town suffering the effects of an alien invasion, with its human inhabitants turned into sleep-walking, black-goo drooling zombies. Carter's team are tasked with finding out what's going on in the town, and to extract a fellow agent called Da Silva who has been pinned down by aggressive alien forces.Action plays out very similarly to Mass Effect's combat system. Played from a third-person perspective, all shootouts occur in real-time, but you still retain full tactical control of your squad-mates. Each is assigned a different class with different associated abilities (an engineer can lay down turrets, a commando can unleash a shockwave), with many skills picked up over the course of the game's story as The Bureau agents gain access to alien technologies.

Controlling these abilities is handled through a pop-up radial menu that lays over the onscreen action, slowing time to a crawl as you select targets for your squad and unleash abilities, as well as selecting when to fall back, regroup or precisely where they should be taking cover.

Though it can at times be a little sluggish picking out cover spots for team-mates (the game at this point tends to get snagged on sticky cover areas), the system works well, with a good mix of abilities that can be combined to great tactical effect. Taunting a powerful alien bad guy into a well-placed mine for instance is very satisfying, as is placing and then "force lifting" a turret to give it a height advantage over foes.Those alien foes will be very familiar to any who have played one of the many earlier XCOM games, from big-headed grey Sectoid grunts to Muton elites. With shielded and armoured enemies littering the battlefields (themselves offering plenty of tactical positioning options), you'll have to focus fire on weak spots to fell baddies most efficiently. Weapons range from period-accurate handguns and rifles to futuristic laser weaponry, unlocking as you progress through the game.

As with classic XCOM, your fellow agents will also become more efficient and skilful the more battle experience they gain. Dotted across levels are resupply stations that allow you to swap agents in and out, adjust yours and your teammates arsenal and select perk upgrades as squad members level up. Each squad member can be customised too. And, as with classic XCOM, death here is permanent, meaning your top-ranking officers can be wiped out for good, with you losing all their skills as a result. Our experience so far with the game suggests it's going to be a little easier than the usual XCOM bloodbaths, which may make this a somewhat moot point unless difficulty ramps up beyond the halfway point.

Though it's not a breathtakingly gorgeous game (we played on a high-end PC), The Bureau benefits from a well directed sense of time and place. The now-retro-chic of 1960s furniture and fashions is well used here, bringing to mind LA Noire and its well-realised historical location. Faces and lip syncing may be a bit rubbery, but those slim-fit suits and formica furniture ground the sci-fi shenanigans in a colourful and relate-able world not often explored in gaming. The story too looks set to be an intriguing one, and a brief conversation with Da Silva midway through our demo session suggested that there may be room to direct its outcome beyond the blasting with branching conversation trees.There are a few things that need to be ironed out ahead of release. "Roadie Running" into cover feels incredibly tank like, making it very difficult to turn while keeping your head down, and guns are lacking a bit of punch at the moment, as well as the afore-mentioned squad-cover snags. But there's a unique aesthetic here that we're very keen to see more of. The B-Movie style and "Space Race" setting have never properly been exploited in gaming, and The Bureau seems so far to have managed the marriage between real-time shooting action and XCOM's more studied tactical action well.

The Bureau - XCOM Declassified is headed to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on 23 August. We'll have a full review ahead of release, so keep checking back for our final verdict.

RELATED:
GALLERY: The Bureau - XCOM Declassified battles aliens from a new perspective

If you've ever put your back out lugging texbooks and notepads from lecture to lecture at university, you'll be wanting to give Sony a great big round of applause for their latest prototype gadget. The company are trialling a new E-Ink notepad that could potentially take the weight out of student rucksacks the world over.

Offering a Kindle-like 13.3-inch E-Ink touchscreen display and stylus, the slate is roughly the size of an A4 writing pad and far thinner and lighter at 6.8mm and 358g.

With a 1200x1600 resolution and 4GB of onboard storage, the idea is that the pad not only can be used to take handwritten notes, but could also be used to house textbooks and novels being studied, letting students add digital notes to the texts. A whole degrees worth of books and PDF notes could be carried on the lightweight device at once, with microSD expansion supported should it be needed.

Wi-Fi too is onboard, and will presumably allow for web browsing on the device and potentially the syncing of files between the slate and computers or other mobile devices.

Currently being tried out in Japanese universities, Sony plan to have the device on sale at some point before March 2014.

Google are looking to make multiplayer gaming a bigger part of the Android ecosystem, with a new service called Google Play Games uncovered by Android Police.

Part of Google Play Services (v3.1.36), the update will add in multiplayer features such as notifications, matchmaking and game invites (naturally channelled through Google+ circles, of course), as well as other features including synced game saves over the cloud to multiple Android devices, console-like achievements and finally public and Google+ circles centred leaderboards.

Said to be rolling out gradually over the coming days and weeks, it's not yet clear which games will tie into the new services, or whether it will be a global feature set for all games.

The timing however is perfect, as Android begins to establish itself as a notable gaming platform with the release of the crowd-funded Ouya games console and plug-and-play Game Stick.

It also gives Google the chance to more competently take on Apple's strong gaming credentials, with iOS's Game Center features offering similar functionality to what seems set to be present in the Android alternative.

With Google's annual I/O conference kicking off this week, expect all the details to be ironed out in the coming days.

Nokia have officially revealed the Nokia Lumia 928, their new flagship Windows Phone handset. And with it comes the first hands-on clip with smartphone, courtesy of the official Nokia Conversations channel. Hit the clip above to check it out.

Set to be an exclusive for the Verizon network in the US, it sees Nokia focussing their energies on the onboard camera system, with the phone carrying PureView branding and a a Carl Zeiss f/2.0 wide angle lens. An 8.7MP sensor features, with Nokia promising top-notch photos thanks to optical image stabilisation, even if you're capturing a busy action shot. The inclusion of a Xenon flash too will make low-light, indoor shooting far improved too.As well as still image quality being touted, Nokia are pushing video capture quality too, with full HD video captured sharply alongside distortion-free audio capture and playback.

In terms of size and screen specs, the Nokia Lumia 928 rocks a 4.5-inch AMOLED display at a 1280 x 768 resolution (15:9 aspect ratio), with a pixel density of 334ppi.

Under the hood sits a 1.5GHz Qualcomm dual-core chipset, with 1GB of RAM to aid multitasking. 32GB of storage space is included alongside 7GB of SkyDrive cloud storage space, though there's no storage expansion through microSD. A 2000 mAh battery is also in there too, as is 4G connectivity."Verizon Wireless customers, we heard you and the wait is over - we're excited to offer a Nokia flagship smartphone, specially designed and optimised for the nation's largest 4G LTE network," said Matt Rothschild, vice-president, Nokia North America.

Verizon are putting the Nokia Lumia 928 on their 4G network from 16 May for $99 (£65) following a $50 rebate on a new two-year contract. Black and white versions of the handset will both be available.

Which leaves one question: what's Nokia got planned for May 14, the date they've had tech journalists the world over pencilling into their diaries? Safe money is on it being news of the Nokia Lumia 925, a worldwide variation on the Lumia 928. We'll keep you posted on what the eventual reveal proves to be.

Following the early sales success of the BlackBerry Q10 as a Selfridges exclusive at the end of last month, a new white variant will hit UK stores Carphone Warehouse and Selfridges.

Previously only available in black, the phone features a full QWERTY keyboard as well as the new BlackBerry 10 operating system that first debuted in the touch-only BlackBerry Z10 (which is now also available in white).

The BlackBerry Q10's spec sheet includes an 8MP camera, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and storage expansion support over microSD. If you sign up with a contract from EE, you can also get the phone with superfast 4G mobile data connectivity ahead of the roll-out of the mobile network from competing operators later this year.

Carphone Warehouse have the white Q10 listed as free on £33 a month, 24 month contracts, with the phone up for grabs at £579.95 SIM-free.

For an indepth look at the BlackBerry Q10 operating system that runs on the phone, click here.

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REVIEW: BlackBerry Z10
BB10 / BlackBerry 10 OS - an in-depth look at the new operating system

Name: Samsung UE32F6400 3D Smart TV

Type: 32-inch 3D Full HD TV with web connected Smart TV features

Specifications: Click here for full specs

Price as reviewed: Around £600

We've seen the flagship 55-inch F8000 3D TV whopper from Samsung, and now we venture into more affordable territory with the 32-inch F6400. With many of the same connected Smart TV features of its big brother, can it impress in the same way? Read our full review to find out!

NOTE: We tested the 32-inch F6400 model. However, with the specifications between this model and the 40 and 46, 55 and 65-inch models almost identical, we're confident that our tests with the 32-inch model will reflect a very similar experience were you looking to pick up one of the larger televisions instead.

Design:
While not quite as dazzling as the flagship F8000 models with their slimline bezels and low-clearance stands, the F6400 Samsung TVs still look very attractive.

At 49.5mm thick, it's a fairly plump set by today's super-slim standards, but not so much to make wall mounting unsightly or impractical. With the stand attached, that depth jumps to 264.8mm, but again that's not a depth that even a smaller TV cabinet couldn't handle. A black glossy bezel of a uniform size just over a centimetre sits around the screen, with the edges finished with a clear perspex for a reserved, stylish finish.

For the F6400, Samsung have reverted back to their four-pronged chrome stand, what we at Tech Digest affectionately call the alien foot. It still looks great, and it's more stable than the curved arc stand that ships with the flagship models even with it's ability to swivel a little, though admittedly is a bit more "in your face" than the mostly hidden arc stand.

Though 3 HDMI ports, 3USB ports and the antenna are mounted on the right hand side of the rear of the screen, composite, LAN and a fourth HDMI port, along with power supple, go directly into the back of the screen, which may cause a few cable tidying headaches if using all ports when wall mounting.

Connections:

It's good to see 4 HDMI inputs on a smaller set at an affordable price, alongside an array of USB ports. Freeview HD only here though, which may rile those hoping to get a Freesat HD tuner too.

• Component In (Y / Pb / Pr) x 1
• Composite In (AV) x 1 (Common Use for Component Y)
• Digital Audio Out (Optical) x 1
• Ethernet (LAN) x 1
• HDMI x 4
• RF In (Terrestrial / Cable Input) X 1
• USB x 3
• Headphone x 1
• Scart x 1
• CI Slot x 1
• IR Out x 1
• Built-in Wi-Fi

2D Picture Quality:
The UE32F6400 has a standard 1080x1920 Full HD 1080p resolution, and performs above and beyond the picture quality we'd expect from a TV this price.

Out of the box the UE32F6400's Movie picture mode doesn't look half bad, and while it's still not at an enthusiast's level of picture perfection, ample image tweaking options (including white balance and green and red tint controls), will let you calibrate it just how you like it.

As with the F8000, Samsung's improved the backlight consistency for the F6400, and it makes a marked difference to the overall picture quality. With deep blacks and rich, detailed and accurate (once tweaked) colours, there's no problem with light leakage or image clouding with the latest models, with the blacklight and edge-lit algorithms working in tandem to really enhance the overall contrast of the image, and pull the most detail possible out of dark, shadowy scenes.

The screen's sharpness sees images really pop in high-definition, and firing up a Blu-ray disc lets the screen really let rip, offering up great detail for what these days (in the age of giant LCD living room panels) could be considered a second room or bedroom set.

Motion clarity on the presets is a little too aggressive for our liking, and you'll want to dial it back a bit with a custom setting unless you want to suffer from slightly watery movement. Once adjusted, fast action scenes move with little perceptible judder, and it's a very pleasant set to view movies and sport on as a result

As you'd expect, HD content looks the best on the F6400, but with the screen size here not gigantic, SD content looks perfectly fine too. The upscaling capabilities aren't quite as impressive as on the F8000, with some jagged edges appearing where they wouldn't on equivalent HD content. But with a screen this size a decent distance away, it's less noticeable anyway. Keep in mind that SD content on the larger F6400 models may suffer as a result.

3D Picture Quality:
The F6400 uses active shutter 3D technology, and it performs well for a TV this size. Of course, with a 3D visuals, you're looking to bag as big a screen as possible to keep the 3D effect immersively encompassing your peripheral vision, but for a 3D gamer sat up close to the screen, the effect is still pretty good.

However, the forced motion processing which impressed so much on the F8000's 3D visuals doesn't work quite as well here, introducing significant motion interpolation that can hinder the depth effect. It's possibly a processing side-effect of the low-powered F6400, using a dual-core system rather than the F8000 quad-core array. Even with the Motion Plus setting set to off, it was still present, and was only defeated by switching on the Game Mode, itself introducing a lot of judder. Which looks better is up for debate, and neither is perfect.

Two pairs of 3D glasses come with the set (the same design that's a standard across all this year's 3D models from Samsung), and they're very light and comfortable, with the watch-battery that powers them sitting in a snap-down panel over the bridge of your nose. Ideally we'd prefer bigger lenses to help us from peeking out of the immersive 3D visuals, but the ones on offer here are large enough to sit relatively comfortably over a pair of prescription glasses.

Sound:

The UE32F6400 suffers from the usual shoddy audio that the majority of flatscreen TVs seem afflicted with.

Though 3D sound options are available, the down-firing 10W stereo speakers sound hollow and tinny, lacking any real punch, though doing a good job of keeping voices to the fore.

As ever, our advice is to pair the screen up with a soundbar or home cinema surround unit, the sad price we have to pay since leaving the bulk of CRT screens behind us.

Web Connected Smart TV and EPG features:
Packing in both Wi-Fi connectivity and an Ethernet connection, the F6400 has access to many of the Smart TV bells and whistles of its pricer counterparts. Though there's no built-in webcam or mic, putting Skype video calling out of the question as well as the so-so motion controls, you can still use the microphone built into the second of the two supplied remotes to interact with the TV screen.

The F6400 shares the same radically overhauled Smart TV interface that we reviewed in the F8000, so aside from a few pertinent omissions, this next section is basically the same as when we reviewed the pricer set.

As well as connecting up with your household's other smart devices (which we'll talk about in the " Remote Controls and Smartphone Apps" section of this review), Samsung have given the interface a drastic makeover, increasing the homescreen count from one to five.

These homescreens each focus on different aspects of the TV's capabilities. The first is dedicated to live TV, offering a picture-in-picture view of the channel you're currently watching, as well as recommendations based on your viewing habits showing similar shows as thumbnails surrounding it. Access to the Guide, Timeline and Recorded TV (shows are stored on a connected USB device) sit on the bottom.

The second screen focuses on On Demand TV and movie streaming services, and again offers recommendations based on your viewing habits, improving over time. As it stands, it can be confusing figuring out which service the recommendation comes from (it's a pain to have the premium Acetrax service pop-up when we're only looking for Netflix content), and though a cool feature, it'd benefit from being able to limit the sources the Samsung guide trawls through.

A third screen offers social feeds, aggregating Twitter and Facebook accounts into one place, and giving priority to video content shared on each site that can be played back on the TV. Also present here (once you've accepted the option to install it) is a Skype app, though it's severely limited without a built-in webcam.

A fourth screen allows access to music, video and photos shared on your network or a locally connected device, displayed in all their glory on the big screen. Recorded TV shows can again be accessed from here too.

A final fifth screen offers a grid-like interface for accessing dedicated apps, covering everything from health and fitness videos to Spotify, a web browser (which is among the best we've tried on a TV), and a great selection of video services on offer including Netflix, LoveFilm, BBC iPlayer and iTV Player, as well as Samsung's own 3D channels. A surprisingly robust app store lets you add more apps to this hub, including TV-optimised versions of popular mobile apps like Angry Birds

It's an intuitive layout that can be controlled in a variety of ways, but the whole experience suffers from the use of a slower dual-core processor. While the F8000 has a quad-core processor, the F6400's dual-core means navigating the Smart TV menus (well, all menus on the screen in fact) seem a little sluggish by comparison. Without having tested the two TVs in such close proximity we perhaps wouldn't have noticed it at all, making it a minor grumble, but it's a point where the pricer set's premium value becomes clear.

Remote Controls, Voice Activated Controls and Smartphone Apps:As seems Samsung's standard this year, the UE32F6400 comes with not one, but two remote controls.

One is a standard remote with rubber buttons, including shortcut keys for accessing Smart TV features, as well as playback controls for videos and ARC-connected HDMI devices. It's comfortable and sensibly laid out, and Samsung have sensibly removed the rarely-used "Family Story" shortcut button. It's a shame that there's no dedicated button for accessing aspect ratio, leading to a lengthy trawl through menus to get to it, and the same goes for the Game Mode. Also missing is the backlight, which featured in last year's flagship set's remote, though arguably it's battery draining excess anyway.

The second remote control is smaller and more squat, and is identical to that which comes with the F8000 except that it has a black finish compared to brushed silver finish of the more expensive TV's remote. It features far less physical buttons in favour of a touch panel. It works surprisingly well, particularly when using it like a laptop trackpad for browsing the TV's web connected features. It also features a built-in microphone, meaning you can use the TV's voice-activated controls without shouting across the room, or over the volume of the set itself. However, it's not as instantly familiar an experience to use as the standard remote, and, just like last year, we still found ourselves using the regular remote more often than the touch-enabled one.

While Samsung's motion control system isn't present here, Android and iOS apps can hook up the screen for some second screen functionality. With them you can stream video from the TV tuner to a tablet or smartphone, control the TV from an app or share content from the phone to the TV. Unfortunately, there's no single all-encompassing app yet that covers all features, meaning you've got to use a handful in order to get to all the features. iOS apps are still missing a few features, but Samsung promise to add more features as time goes on. All in, the tablet/smartphone controls are more useful than the gesture and voice counterparts at this stage.

Verdict:

Samsung's 3D TV range scales nicely this year, with this inexpensive 3D Smart TV retaining many of the very cool features of its more expensive stablemates. 2D performance is excellent, and 3D performance fair. But the real star of the show here is the Smart TV platform, of an incredibly high quality and one that would have come with a massive premium just a few short years ago. If you're looking for a web-connected set that won't break the bank and let you dip into 3D thrills from time to time, this is a great value set to invest in.

Lovefilm are bringing the fight to rival movie and TV streaming service Netflix, by securing the exclusive streaming rights for hit US TV show Vikings for their Lovefilm Instant platform.

The longboat-loving warriors will hit Lovefilm's UK and German streaming services, making all nine episodes of the show available from 24 May in the UK, 15 June in Germany. It stars Travis Fimmel and Gabriel Byrne as beardy nordic warriors.

"As the first time a TV series has arrived on Lovefilm Instant before airing on traditional broadcasting platforms, this is an incredibly exciting landmark in our history," said Chris Bird, director of film strategy at Lovefilm.

"We are serious about securing the best film and TV entertainment for our members and this demonstrates how content creators view Lovefilm as an effective broadcasting medium for their high-quality and premium entertainment."

Lovefilm Instant is available for £4.99 a month through PC, Mac, iPad, Kindle Fire tablets and games consoles including the Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3.

A little-known issue with the iPad and its magnetic Smart Covers that can affect pacemakers has been brought to light by a fourteen-year old US school kid.

Gianna Chien discovered that the magnets in the tablet and its cover can inadvertently shut off the defibrillators keeping people alive.

Pacemakers use magnets as a safety measure to switch off the internal devices. Though an iPad's magnets are too small to affect a user when held at a reading distance, if the magnets get too close to the user's chest (the example being given if a user falls asleep with the tablet resting on their chest), the unit can be affected.

Chien's study found that 30% of patients that placed the iPads on their chests had problems with their pacemakers for a short time afterwards. And while most pacemakers will automatically kick back in once the magnets have been put to a distance, some need to be re-activated manually, leading to a potentially life-threatening situation.

Chien's findings didn't earn her first place at the science fair that she entered them into, but has lead to perhaps an even greater prize - she will be presenting her findings to 8,000 doctors at a meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society in Denver.

Despite bringing it to the attention of the masses, it's not quite Chien's lone discovery. Apple acknowledge in the documentation for the iPad that the magnets can have an adverse effect on pacemakers. However, it's a danger that's been more-or-less tucked under the carpet by Apple, and one that certainly needs more widespread highlighting.

You won't need to see this Stormtrooper toy's identification, as it'll be a direct replica of your own ugly mug!

Disney's Hollywood Studios is offering visitors the chance to put their own face on a 3D printed Star Wars Stormtrooper figurine for $99.95 (about £65) as part of its annual Star Wars Weekends event.

Disney uses high quality single-shot technology to create a 3D rendering of the would-be Stormtroopers head in just ten minutes. Those who take part will then receive a 7.5-inch model in the post roughly two months later.

Running during the weekends between May 17th and June 9th, Disney are also opening last year's Carbon-Freeze Me experience again, popping visitors into a carbonite casing like the one that trapped Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back. You can check it out below.

Despite no official confirmation being given, it's pretty much a given that Amazon would be planning to put out a smartphone carrying the Kindle branding, given the success of their Android-based Kindle Fire tablet line. But this latest rumour has us broadsided - Amazon may be planning to put a 3D display in their secret handset.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon are developing a high-end smartphone with a 3D screen that wouldn't require 3D glasses, much like the Nintendo 3DS. The handset would use "retina tracking" technology to shift perspective on the display, giving the impression that items are floating above the screen and allowing users to control and access content with movements of their eyes.

The report offers scant few other details on the handset (other than that it is being developed at Amazon's Lab126 facility in Cupertino, California), but they do mention a few other gadgets in development at the company.

The first is another smartphone (without the 3D display), while the second is an audio streaming device, likely tapping into Amazon's cloud service. Finally, there's rumours that Amazon are also putting together a set-top box, tapping into the company's many media channels.

Amazon wouldn't be the first company to be putting out a 3D smartphone. Back at MWC 2011 LG released the LG Optimus 3D, which used a lenticular display to present 3D graphics without glasses. You can check it out in the video below:

Number, numbers, numbers; when it comes to marketing a new tech product, the bigger the number, the better the gadget, right? PlayStation 4 > PlayStation 3, quad-core processor > dual-core processor. Got the hang of this yet?

Microsoft certainly seem to. Not content with hunting for a suitably larger number to slap on the packaging of their new Xbox, it seems that the next-gen console will not be called the Xbox 720.

Rather, it'll be called Xbox Infinity.

That's the report coming in from The International Business Times, who state:

"Sources related to development of the new Xbox have confirmed to IBTimes UK that the console... will be called Infinity."

Unsurprisingly, the article also reveals that development kits are now in the hands of developers, though we'd assume they've likely had them for many months if they're looking to get next-gen titles out in time for the holiday period.

If true, it puts many other rumoured next-gen Xbox names out to pasture, including Xbox Loop, Xbox Fusion, Xbox 720, and Xbox 8 (a reference to Windows 8) and simply just Xbox.

All will be revealed on May 21, when Microsoft lift the lid on their next console.

But it's got us thinking. What will the next next-gen console from Microsoft be called? It's all gone a bit Spinal Tap - with a number like Infinity, there's none more high!

A new mobile phone aimed specifically at children four years old and up has launched, sparking controversy among childcare experts.

Called the 1stFone, it's been developed by OwnFone and only allows children the ability to call a preset series of numbers (such as "Mum and Dad" or "Home"), with no access to the internet of text messaging capabilities.

Costing £55 on Pay As You Go and also available on contract deals, OwnFone see the handset as another way to ensure the safety of children, helping them stay contactable should they become lost without exposing them to the potential seedy dangers of the internet.

"It's up to the parent at what age they feel their child needs to be contactable, we just want to ensure when that time comes, there's a product that minimises usage and poses no threat or danger to their safety." said Thomas Sunderland, founder of OwnFone.

OwnFone are no strangers to making handsets aimed at less tech-savvy demographics, having made a handset designed for the elderly alongside Age UK.

However, many have been quick to chide the chastise OwnFone, seeing it as a cynical move to draw more money from children and introduce them to adult concepts too soon.

"The marketing of technology to very young children is just a hook to get them into techno-consumerism," said Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood and a former teacher, speaking to the Telegraph.

"It's a very tricky one. I would love to see a phone marketed for children under the age of 14 with no access to the internet. But four years old is extremely young. The point is it's once they are going out on their own.The point is to look at what's sensible, healthy and reasonable for children."

What do you think? Is it a good idea to let such young children have mobile phones, or, as Palmer sees it, an attempt to get their consumerist passions boiling at an early age? Let us know in the comments section below.