This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar
The Olympus PEN Lite E-PL3 is a compact system camera that produces great results

The tins of Roses, pots of brandy sauce and packets anti-stress pills are starting to stack up in your local shop.

Yes, Christmas is fast approaching. And with less than 100 shopping days until Jesus' 2011th birthday, the tech market is swinging into action.

If you thought Christmas was a big thing in your life, it's even more important to manufacturers and retailers who're once again relying on the season of joy to significantly boost their bottom lines.

So what tasty treats have we been playing with this week?

Olympus pen lite e-pl3

Olympus PEN Lite E-PL3 review

The new PEN E-PL3 slots into the middle of the new Olympus PEN range, a halfway house between its older brother, the E-P3, and its smaller sibling, the E-PM1 (PEN mini). The E-PL3 uses the same 12-million pixel sensor and 35-point autofocus system as the other models in the new line-up, so the main differences come in the way of shape and a few minor tweaks in the operation and menu of the camera.

It's beautifully engineered, stylish and puts in a blisteringly quick performance, and as such we'd happily recommend it to a budding enthusiast in search of lightweight alternative to an entry-level DSLR.

BlackBerry torch 9860 review

BlackBerry Torch 9860 review

It's no secret that RIM is struggling to compete in today's ultra-competitive smartphone market. So does the launch of its first full-capacitive-touchscreen smartphone, the BlackBerry Torch 9860, herald a change in fortunes for the Canadian company?

It certainly doesn't have the premium feel of the iPhone 4 or even the touch-and-type BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900. The chassis is pure plastic, with the glossy black finish proving to be the forensic examiner's dream, what with its ability to cling on to fingerprints and smudges. It's hard to see who the BlackBerry Torch 9810 is going to appeal to. Younger users are likelier to flock towards the colourful Curve handsets, and serious users to the Bold 9900.

Samsung ue40d5520

Samsung UE40D5520 review

With its crystal finish, slender lines, distinctive colouring and attention-grabbing price, the 40-inch Samsung UE40D5520 simply oozes shelf appeal. But, happily, its appeal doesn't grind to a halt once you get the TV set home.

On the contrary, it starts to look like even better value when you actually start using it. Despite costing under £600, it combines a lovely design with a long feature count – including a terrific Smart TV system – and startlingly good picture quality that's better than that of many more expensive TVs we've seen. Provided you give the Samsung UE40D5520 a few minutes of your time when you first unbox it, your efforts will be rewarded more than handsomely.

Sony KDL-40NX723 review

The KDL-40NX723 isn't the most advanced TV Sony has to offer (the KDL-40HX723 offers MotionFlow 400) but there's a definite premium vibe about the 40-inch connected TV in everything from its super-slim Monolithic design to its extensive feature list.

Nikon Coolpix S9100 review

Priced at around £220, the Nikon Coolpix S9100 is a camera that offers good image quality and a flexible zoom range in a compact body at a very reasonable price. The ease of use will suit point-and-shoot photographers incredibly well, as will the compact dimensions. Having an 18x zoom lens included will add to the flexibility on offer, too.

Compact cameras

Samsung ST95 review

Lomography La Sardina review

Sony NEX-C3 review

Desktop PCs

PC Specialist Vortex M59 OC review

Laptops

Alienware M18X review

Alienware M14X review

Acer Aspire 5742Z review

Lenovo IdeaPad S205 review

Lenovo G770 review

Media streaming devices

Teufel MediaStation 6 review

Mice

SteelSeries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse: Legendary Edition review

Mobile phones

Orange Monte Carlo review

Samsung Galaxy Fit review

Monitors

LG D2342P Cinema 3D Monitor review

Dell U2412M review

Radio tuners

Q2 Internet Radio review

RAM

Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB DDR3 review

Routers

Edimax BR-6428nS review

Storage

OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB review

Tablets

Storage Options Scroll 7-inch Tablet review

Tablets accessories

iLuv iCK826 review

TVs

LG 42LV450U review

Panasonic TX-L42E3B review

LG 42LV450U review

Hands ons:

Cameras

Hands on: Canon PowerShot S100 review

Operating systems

Hands on: Windows 8 review

Tablets

Hands on: Fusion Garage Grid 10 review

Hands on: Windows 8 tablet review review

James Rivington

James was part of the TechRadar editorial team for eight years up until 2015 and now works in a senior position for TR's parent company Future. An experienced Content Director with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. Skilled in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-commerce Optimization, Journalism, Digital Marketing, and Social Media. James can do it all.