Review A recent business profile of lenovo in a national newspaper made an interesting assertion. “Anyone you spot on the Tube using a ThinkPad has almost certainly obtained it from their employer,” claimed the reporter.
Well, discerning readers know this isn’t true. The build quality, devotion to no-frills heavy lifting, the aftermarket support, and ease of maintenance have long made ThinkPads a favourite. This is a machine for people who know their work, and want to buy the best tool possible to get it done. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Billed as the year of the fondleslab, 2011 has so far failed to deliver on the hype. With sales of Motorola’s Xoom sluggish at best, the BlackBerry Playbook too idiosyncratic for most and the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tantalisingly conspicuous by its absence, Asus looks to steal a march on the competition with its Eee Pad Transformer TF101.
Key feature: Asus’ Eee Pad Transformer TF101
Asus might just nibble at Apple‘s core, too, with the 16GB and 32GB versions of its dual-core, Wi-Fi-only tablet positioned at the iPad 2-busting prices of £379 and £429 respectively. But it’s the optional Eee Station keyboard which most distinguishes the Transformer from its competitors. And if you’re pondering on this, Asus helps galvanise the mind with a bundle price, which works out at around £50 more, instead of paying the £119 to buy the Eee Station separately later. Read the rest of this entry »
Review The arrival of a tablet from HTC, the company that has run the furthest and fastest since picking up the Android ball was always going to be something of a Big Deal but in some ways the new Flyer is a surprisingly odd fish.
In-flight entertainment: HTC’s Flyer
To start with it doesn’t run Honeycomb but Gingerbread. Personally, I’m inclined to think Honeycomb has been released into the wild a bit half-baked, so this may be a smart move on the company’s part. Indeed, the Android 2.3 OS is clothed in the always impressive HTC Sense overlay. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Hannspree is primarily known for its somewhat gimmicky range of TVs and monitors – if you ever need a TV embedded in the stomach of a cuddly toy then Hannspree has just the thing for you. Its move into the tablet pc market was therefore rather unexpected. However the new Hannspad actually turns out to be quite a pleasant surprise.
Surprise arrival: Hannspree’s Hannspad
The Hannspad is only available in a single configuration. Priced at £250, it has a 10.1 inch, capacitive touch-screen display – slightly larger than the 9.7in screen of the iPad, but the key difference here is that the 1024 x 600 resolution of the Hannspad gives it a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio rather than the 4:3 of the iPad. That makes it about ¾in narrower and taller than the iPad. It’s a little thicker and heavier too, but still quite comfortable to hold and carry around with you. Read the rest of this entry »
Review PC manufacturers clearly haven’t been reading the script. They were supposed to over-hype their forthcoming Android 3.0 tablets as iPad-killers (check!), miss their initial launch dates (check!) and then let us all down by delivering a hunk of poorly designed, obsolete tat (er…).
Acer’s Iconia Tab A500: lighter than a Xoom, heavier than an iPad 2
Acer has spectacularly failed in that last endeavour. Its Iconia Tab A500 is a terrific piece of kit, well-connected, respectably powerful and boasting loads of potential. My work ensures that I’m surrounded by many different tablet and touchscreen devices all the time, but I missed the Iconia Tab A500 when it was sent back. Read the rest of this entry »
