The start of 2012 was absolutely dominated by the new iPad. Rumours, leaks, announcements, reviews – the iPad 3 fed and watered tech and mainstream media writers and readers alike for months.
But since then, it's been the Samsung Galaxy S3 that's been getting all the attention – it's probably the most hotly-anticipated Android smartphone ever, and we've been testing it all week. That's not all, either...
With the latest version of Android, a whopping 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen and a whole suite of Apple-beating features, is the new Samsung Galaxy SIII the greatest phone ever? Samsung has made a big deal about this new phone, not only choosing to launch it at a big and glitzy standalone event in London but also claiming nearly 10 million pre-orders before it's even launched.
The price is pretty palatable for a top-end phone – the likes of Three are already offering it for just £34 a month with oodles of minutes and data, which is already much, much cheaper than any iPhone would ever launch for. But let's get down to the main question – is this the phone you should be spending your hard-earned cash on before it's even launched?
Panasonic's most concerted attempt to show that it gets LCD TV just as much as it gets plasma TV is, overall, a major success. For starters, the brand has gone back to the design drawing board and made the Panasonic TX-L42WT50 easily the most attractive TV it's ever produced. The feature count is high too, thanks to the inclusion of 3D, online functionality and all manner of picture tweaks.
Plus Panasonic has also done a kitchen sink job where the TV's picture quality is concerned, integrating dual core processing and Panasonic's most advanced picture processing engine to date. The overall result is a slick, flexible and mostly high-performance TV, only let down by some minor backlight issues and one or two operational flaws.
Beneath the stylish exterior of the five-star Asus N56V, there lies a sleeping beast; a beast with a roar loader than any others that have come before it. That beast is a brand new Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.6GHz processor, one of the chip giant's third generation Ivy Bridge CPUs. Codenamed Ivy Bridge, Intel's latest offering uses 22nm technology, resulting in around 20 per cent more processor performance, while at the same time using 20 per cent less average power than its Sandy Bridge (the second-generation) equivalent. Intel has described the generation jump as its "fastest ramp ever". And, after living with the Asus N56V, we're not going to disagree.
The Toshiba 32DL933B is a fine idea, poorly executed. Toshiba's Blu-ray players are on sale for less than £80 (around $125), with 3D-ness only garnering a £40 (around $60)-or-so premium, so we don't think it's too unreasonable to expect something along those lines in place of what we have: a bog-standard DVD player.
Of course, the presence of Blu-ray would highlight the Toshiba 32DL933B's other misfire - its HD-ready screen - although even that ought to be enough to host Freeview HD programmes.
As you might expect at the price, the Leica X2 looks and feels like a lovely piece of kit. The faster autofocusing means it is more responsive and suited for use out and about.
If Leica has managed to maintain, if not better, the image quality standard of the Leica X1, then it could be a very rewarding purchase.
Amplifiers
Audio systems
Altec Lansing inAir 5000 review
Blu-ray players
Cameras
Hands on: Leica M Monochrom review
Gaming accessories
Laptops
Hands on: Sony Vaio T13 review
Mobile phones
NAS drives
Western Digital MyBook Live Duo 4TB review
Routers
Asus EA-N66 Ethernet Adaptor review
Software
Storage
Western Digital My Book Thunderbolt Duo 4TB review
Tablets
Asus Transformer Pad 300 review
Televisions
