LEAK: New iPad releases!

According to several leaks new iPads will be released on the October 22nd.

They are said to be smaller than an iPad mini but bigger than an iPhone.

A Kettle With an Initiative!

 

The iKettle may have a terribly cliched name, but it makes up for that unoriginality with loads of novel functionality that might just be enough to justify its £99 price tag. Maybe. After all, how many kettles do you know that politely ask if you’d like a piping hot cup of tea when you get home at night?

The crux of the kettle’s capabilities is its ability to connect to your home’s Wi-Fi network. This puts it in contact with an accompanying mobile app on your smartphone that gives you complete control over all of the kettle’s functionality—including multiple temperature options for different hot beverages—from wherever you have access to your home’s wireless network.

Starting the kettle boiling before you get up and head to the kitchen is a wonderful feature, for sure. But it’s the iKettle’s ability to monitor its internal temperature and alert you when the water is ready that most coffee and tea fans will love—especially since it sends you notifications instead of an ear-piercing whistle. And last but not least, when you walk through the door at the end of the day and your smartphone rejoins your wireless network, the iKettle will even offer to start a fresh brew like your own personal butler. 

Yes, It is Finally a Curved Phone! - Samsung Galaxy Round

Galaxy Round
Samsung said the curved screen will help users navigate the phone better

Samsung Electronics, the world's best-selling smartphone maker, has launched a handset with a curved display screen.

Called the Galaxy Round, the smartphone will feature a 5.7in (14.5cm) display.

The launch comes just days after rival LG said it would begin production of curved-screen phones next year.

Digital display technology has been progressing towards curved screens. Both Samsung and LG already offer curved organic light-emitting diode (OLED) television sets.

Continue reading the main story

The South Korean firm has beaten its rival LG by at least a few months to offer a handset featuring flexible-screen tech.

LG had previously pipped its competitor to the post by being the first to sell a curved TV.

However, the question remains why consumers should want this tech.

One of the big appeals of using a flexible display is that it should be less prone to damage than the rigid version in a traditional handset.

But because the battery in the Galaxy Round remains stiff, the device has a fixed shape and it is not yet clear whether it will in fact be less vulnerable to drops or pressure.

So it may be the case that an announcement on Tuesday by LG's chemicals division could ultimately prove more significant.

It said that it had begun mass production of both curved batteries and ones that come in the form of flexible cables.

The age of the bendy phone still awaits us.

Samsung said the curved screen display would help consumers use some of the features on the phone, including those that enable users to check information such as date, time and missed calls when home screen is off, with more ease.

At the same time, users can also change music tracks on their phone, even while its display is off.

The Galaxy Round will initially be launched only in South Korea. The firm gave no indication of its plans for a global launch


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Iphone 5s + 5c review

There is one major change on the outside: the home button now sports a ring around it, marking the area for the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Input your prints a few times on set up and it’ll remember them, logging you and only you in. Thankfully, it works flawlessly and quickly: if you lock your phone with a passcode, it’s a useful option to have for convenience’s sake rather than security (after all, it still defaults to a pin when you restart the phone) and it’ll save you minutes every day when you’re unlocking to check email or browse the web. And if you don’t lock your phone? It won’t change a thing.

Whether you’re security conscious or not though, you’ll benefit from the other improvements in the iPhone 5s. Between iOS 7 (which looks and feel fresh, though isn’t without its flaws) and the new A7 processor, it absolutely blazes along, booting up quicker and making lag a thing of the past: games look glorious and they’re only going to get better. Impressively, battery life seems to have been slightly improved despite the faster silicon. With push notifications on and email pumping away at most you can get a day’s use out of it.

The camera, too, is better than ever. The eight megapixel sensor grabs impressive shots in low light, and exemplary ones in daylight. Better still, the live filters in iOS 7 let you give your snaps an Instagram-ish finish before you've even hit the shutter button - you can see how they all look in real-time while you frame your shot. It’s no Nokia Lumia 1020 camera, but with its mesmerising slo-mo video filming mode, the iPhone 5s comes very close.


If you've got an iPhone 5, the 5s will throw few surprises your way. Very few. Too few: it’s identically sized, for one thing, so the screen remains as cramped as ever. While plenty of people prefer displays you can reach across with one finger or thumb, it would be nice for Apple to get with the program and offer a larger variant to take on the new breed of Android phablets. If you were hoping for refreshed hardware that feels new, forget about it: the iOS 7 update for your iPhone 5 gives you an almost identical experience.

That’s about the only issue with the product itself, mind: the iPhone remains a masterful example of mobile engineering. It’s just a pity the iPhone 5s costs so much (£549 for the SIM-free 16GB version, stretching up to an eye-watering £709 for the 64GB).

While  the iPhone 5c is so close in price to the 5s that you might as well just stretch the extra fiver a month, the fact remains that both are exorbitantly expensive, especially if you want 4G thrown in. If all you need is a web browser and the ability to play a few games and stream music, there are much cheaper options out there, especially if you’re prepared to venture into Android territory, or even Windows Phone. If you don’t lock your phone today, you don’t need to pay for Touch ID tomorrow.

Oh, also, the gold version is even more horrible in reality than the press images would have you believe: it’s a blingtastic atrocity that looks like a discarded prop from a 2001 rap music video. Avoid at all cost.




The Apple iPhone 5s is the phone people expected, if nothing else. It’s more powerful than ever, with a better battery life, all inside the same slick design. If you’re toting an iPhone 4 at the end of its contract and a truly fantastic camera matters to you above all else, it’s a no-brainer, but if you’re tired of glass and gun metal grey and want a new experience however, the colourful 5c might be the better option.

If you’ve got an iPhone 5 or even a 4S however, it’s not clear the new goodies inside the iPhone 5s outweigh the high price. Certainly, Touch ID on its own is not a killer feature, just a useful extra, and the software is almost identical otherwise, thanks to Apple’s post-sale support. Just don’t buy the gold 5s, whatever you do.

GTA 5 Online

The online version of Grand Theft Auto V came out on Tuesday and followed the release of the console game, which won widespread critical acclaim and broke sales records.
Rockstar North, the game's makers, pre-emptively warned fans before the online game went live that "plenty of issues are bound to occur" and that huge demand will make the first few days "even more temperamental" than standard launches.
GTA V online lets up to 16 players form teams and enter the world of Los Santos to carry out crimes, take part in races, complete missions and play sports.
Rockstar will be releasing updates and fixing glitches in the coming weeks and has urged players to get in touch when problems arise.
Since hitting shelves last month the console version of the game has broken record sales, bringing in £500 million in its first 24 hours on sale and £1 billion after three days – believed to be the fastest entertainment product to reach the milestone.

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Xbox One vs PS4

The PS4 will hit store shelves in Europe on 29 November for £349, while Microsoft's Xbox One launches on 22 November for £429. Although it is £80 more expensive, Microsoft's option comes bundled with the new Kinect.

FIFA 14 will come as standard for the XBox One, with a single controller. More expensive bundles will offer standard and prestige versions of Call of Duty: Ghosts.

For the same price as a basic XBox One launch pack, Sony are offering two controllers, a camera and Killzone Shadow Fall with a 500 GB console.

Analyst firm IDC predicts that Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) bundle sales will edge out Microsoft Xbox One sales due to a variety of factors, most notably the PS4's lower price point.

However, the Xbox One platform has two key market advantages – Kinect's pervasive voice-based user interface and Xbox LIVE's impressive infrastructure and design.

A lot of you probably think that the xbox one sales would be much better if you had the option to just get the xbox one without the kinect because then it would be a lot cheaper and would be able to compete in price terms with the ps4. What will probably happen is that other secondary sites or sellers will let you just buy the xbox one with out the kinect, but this will have to be after it is released.

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Which Phone Should You Get?

Apple has revealed two new versions of the iPhone at an event in California, United States.

The iPhone 5S introduces a fingerprint sensor that lets you unlock the phone without entering a password. But a hacking group have managed to workout a specific sequence of lock-screen buttons to bypass the fingerprint system, so my advice is, if you have one, keep the fingerprint system but put a password as well.

The 5S has a new fingerprint sensor

The iPhone 5C is designed to be a 'cheaper' version and has a body made of colourful plastic, instead of metal and glass.

The cheaper iPhone could help Apple compete with less expensive handsets by companies like Samsung and Nokia.

Nokia's smartphones already come in a rainbow of colours

Apple hasn't been selling as many phones as other companies recently. More people are choosing Android smartphones that have similar features but cost less.

More than half of all smartphones sold so far this year were Android handsets - only about 28% were iPhones while 9% were BlackBerry smartphones.

But with a price tag of £469 the 'cheaper' iPhone 5C is still more than twice as expensive as the Google Nexus 4 - an Android smartphone with comparable features.

There is also the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini for people who think the S4 is too big but still want one.

Both these phones are more than adequate to compete with the rest of the phones in the market. The stats above they show how android has rocketed past all the other handsets in terms of sales and are more popular than ever. I will hopefully be doing a separate post about these two phones soon so stay tuned!

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Curved Smartphones?

Curved smartphones are on the way as tech giant Samsung says it'll be launching one next month.

The announcement came at an event for the Galaxy Note 3, but Samsung didn't give out any more secrets about the curved device.

Curved screens are just the start of an expected move towards foldable phones.

Technology firms still need to work out how to make bendable phones cheaply and come up with display panels that can be very thin and heat resistant.

Samsung revealed this prototype last year

Prototypes of curved and bendy phones have been on show at tech events already.

Samsung, the world's best-selling smartphone maker, hasn't said what October's device will look like.

Samsung also makes TVs with curved displays, but they are very expensive, costing thousands of pounds each.

Why was the BBM launch delayed?

The launch of BlackBerry Messenger on Android and iPhone has been delayed after a leaked version of the chat software caused problems.

BBM was supposed to launch on Android and iOS at the weekend but was cancelled at the last minute.

BlackBerry said over a million people downloaded an unofficial version of BBM which somebody posted on the internet.

The head of BBM said this "impacted the system in abnormal ways" and the launch would be delayed by at least a week.

The BlackBerry company is up for sale and could be sold for around £3 billion.

On Friday the smartphone giant said disappointing sales of its BlackBerry Z10 phone had cost it about £600 million.

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New Cheap Tesco Hudl Tablet - Why so cheap?

Supermarket giant Tesco has stepped into the tablet wars today, launching its new Hudl tablet computer.

It's a seven-inch device, costs £119 and runs the latest version of Android. Tesco hope the low price means it can go up against Google and Amazon tablets of a similar cost.

At the pricier end of the market, Microsoft is also expected to launch two new Surface tablets later today.

It's the latest move in the battle of the tablet computers.

Each maker is hoping for good sales leading up to Christmas.

It's just three years since Apple launched the iPad and kick-started the tablet revolution.

But soon tablet computers are expected to outsell regular desktop PCs, possibly by the end of this year. More than six million tablets were sold in the UK in the first half of 2013

Personally I would love to have PCs still leading against the tablet computers but tablet computers are are more mobile than computers and, like I just posted about there are already new accessories blowing our minds for the tablet computers  I don't have anything against tablet computers but as they're still quite fresh in the market and I think soon these will be the dominant computers/tablet computers or whatever you want to call it.

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WORLDS THINNEST KEYBOARD! ONLY 0.5mm THICK!

First off, sorry for not posting in a while. I've been really busy, and I mean REALLY busy. Now moving on to what you're here for:

The world's thinnest computer keyboard has been revealed by tech company CSR.

The keyboard is as thin as a sheet of paper and works with tablets and computers, wireless, using Bluetooth.

It's flexible and measures just 0.5mm thick.

The keyboard has a battery built into the top edge

It's hoped the keyboard could be built into tablet covers, books or desks.

It will go on display at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Germany on 6 September.

I think this could be a great new invention because you can fold or roll this keyboard up. This may need a cover depending of the price and it has a built in battery and we don't know if it's easily replaceable or not. It may not be easily replaceable, as it is so thin. Also we don't know how durable and firm it is so it may rip. My thoughts are that it will be firm to a certain point because this soon looks like it will be very popular.

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New 300gb disc

An announcement has been made by tech giants Sony and Panasonic.

They plan to develop a new optical disc that can hold at least 300 gigabytes of data - six times as much as Blu-ray discs.

The discs could be used for ultra-high-definition 4K movies which are too big to fit on Blu-ray discs.

A bright future for discs?

Discs have become less popular as people are streaming more videos online - or downloading them illegally.

179 million disc-based videos were sold in the UK in 2012, according to the British Film Institute - that's 14% fewer than in 2011.

New discs that can store more data could make the format more popular again.

Discs are much cheaper to buy than SD cards

"The cheapest way to store lots of this material long term is going to be on an optical disc rather than a solid state drive in your laptop or tablet, or on SD cards," said digital video expert Paul O'Donovan.

Discs also offer a cheaper way to send people big files which aren't always easy to send online.

Imagine trying to send a 300gb file online!

Xbox One and PS4 release date leaks

A leak on a toy shop website has revealed that two major games consoles are being released in time for Christmas.

Release dates for the new Playstation PS4 and the X BOX One were leaked by 'Toys R'Us'.

According to the toy shop, Microsoft's X Box One will be launched on the 29th of November and Sony's PS4 will follow on the 13th of December.

Neither Microsoft or Sony have confirmed these dates.

Samsungs new Galaxy Mega!

A massive smartphone has been revealed by technology giant Samsung - with a whopping 6.3inch (16cm) screen!

Smartphone screens have been steadily getting bigger, but the new Galaxy Mega has the biggest screen of any Samsung smartphone so far.

The Galaxy Mega next to an apple and a blackberry
The Galaxy Mega is bigger than any existing apple or blackberry
In 2012, the iPhone received a bigger 4inch screen whilst the new BlackBerry Z30 is expected to have a 5inch screen.

Phones with a big screen are often called "phablets" - a cross between a phone and a tablet computer.

Gadget fans will have to wait to get their hands on the enormous phone as it's not available in the UK yet.

iPhone 5s finger scanner

Apple’s big-thinkers have patented a new twist on fingerprint recognition technology, which could see future devices doing away with custom fingerprint readers in favour of having the phone’s display able to scan their owners’ prints.
The patent, which is based around biometric technology designed by Authentec — a company bought by Apple in 2012 — suggests the new sensor tech is small and thin enough to be sandwiched in between a smartphone’s usual layers of display components, meaning holding your thumb on the screen of your next iPhone (or your iPhone after that), may be enough to unlock it.

HTC One Mini

It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the HTC One Mini is real. After all, we've been seeing it for months now, and wanting it to exist for even longer. But, unlike other manufacturers (HTC itself has been guilty of this in the past) who strip away most of the top-notch features for their smaller handsets, HTC made a conscious decision to retain as much of the grunt as possible, while keeping the price (and size) down.

That does however mean that instead of a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and 2GB of RAM, as seen in the full-sized 4.7-inch One, there’s just a 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 with 1GB of RAM, which is disappointing news, but hey — could been worse? Internal storage is 16GB, and no, there’s no microSD card slot.

However, I can’t say I’m too bothered by the disappearing act of the NFC — anyone out there grumbling over that omission?

On the hardware side, the display is a 4.3-inch Super LCD screen with 720p resolution (in comparison to the One’s 1080p rez), and it measures up at 132 x 63.2 x 9.25mm, with a 122g weight. I had a brief play with a sample, and can confirm you get much the same hardware aesthetics as the One, save for the addition of a piano gloss bezel — either white or black, depending on which colour you plump for. I would’ve liked for the full look and feel of the One to be ported over, but understand HTC would’ve been looking at the bottom line where possible.

Unfortunately (and here’s where, again, the size issues came into play) the 2,300mAh battery of the One has been swapped over to a 1800mAh, which is the same capacity HTC used for last year’s One X. Funny how just a year on, we can desire so much more when it comes to batteries.

Otherwise, it’s very much the same as you’ve come to expect from HTC following its flagship One — dual front-facing speakers offer up the same BoomSound audio, and the very same Ultrapixel camera sensor is packed in.

While HTC didn't mention women or the younger users when referring to the One Mini, they did say that the colourful flip cases that will be available for this new model (see the gallery above for a view) will help draw in a new market for them, which they missed with the One. 

Availability and pricing hasn't been confirmed yet for both the black and silver models, but I’ll update you when I hear more. In the meantime, cop a load of the “glamour red” edition of the HTC One, which is now available to buy, should you want to be a little more glamorous. Some people say it’s one of the
nicest paint-jobs they’ve seen in a long time.

Windows 8 LG Smartphone

Korean tech company LG Electronics are reportedly developing a Windows smartphone using the Windows Phone 8 OS

According to a report, LG currently has a Windows 8 smartphone in the research and development stage.

LG India's Manging Director Kwon Soon spoke with Light Reading India to say, "At home (S. Korea), we are actually working on our Windows Phone 8 OS powered smartphone."

The company has not decided on a launch for the device with Kwon stating that the company is currently checking out the opportunity for it in the market to decide whether they will sell it.

LG's next-gen Optimus G Android smartphone, the Optimus G2, is expected for to launch in Q3.

Kwon has said focus will remain on Google's Android OS, "Android is the major platform globally, given its acceptance and penetration. Although, we believe that Windows will pick up going ahead, as Microsoft is pumping efforts into it,"

Nokia currently has a Windows 8 smartphone range, Samsung offer Windows OS under its ATIV portfolio, and Huawei and ZTE both offer Windows smartphones globally with HTC offering the HTC 8S and HTC 8X.

Earlier this year, The Korea Time reported LG's plans to create a number of Windows 8 phones over the course of 2013.

Archos Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad

The Archos Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad aims to do for your iOS slate what Microsoft did for its Surface tablet with its smart keyboard cover: give you a screen protector that also doubles up as a physical QWERTY keyboard and laptop-replacement. Can it rival the current favourite from Logitech? I grabbed an Apple tablet and popped it on the stand to take a look.



                 PROS
The Archos Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad is as handsome as the case is solidly designed: it clamps neatly down using magnets, and though it moves slightly, this has the advantage of stopping it coming away easily as could happen with a more brittle connection. (One thing to consider though - that aluminium backing is easy on the eye, but won't stay polished if you're going to chuck your iPad in a bag using this to protect it. If that's your concern, you're probably still better off with one of Apple's polyurethane smart covers).

Pairing with your iPad is easy, and there's a simple switch and LED light to make it clear when Bluetooth is on: when you're done, just drop your iPad in and begin typing away. Though it's only 5mm thin, there's just enough space to fit a micro USB port on the side to charge it up, and Archos has somehow managed to minimise the amount of flex while typing - an impressive feat everyone wishes laptop manufacturers could pull off on bulkier machines.

                   CONS
Archos says the stand for the iPad is adjustable: in practice, it's anything but. When it's not locked into the steep default setting - which is secure - people found it more than a little distracting to type with: the iPad bounced in its cradle depending on the surface, and even fell down on the hinge, shutting it, leaving me longing for a laptop. Combined with the tiny henpeck chiclet keys - and a space bar that's bizarrely angled downwards, forcing you to push into the lip of the cover - you're left with a thin-yet-durable add-on that's not quite as productive as it really ought to be.



                  CONCLUSION
While Archos never fails to impress with its willingness to make anything and everything, as it so often seems to, it falters slightly in the execution. This keyboard does not cope well with multiple angles, and the keys are small enough that typing on them isn' a great deal faster than on the touchscreen itself, unless you've had years of training with a netbook. If you really want to get some work done on the go, consider a Chromebook - or even the new MacBook Air.

Ouya - new gaming system!

  

Ouya. No, that's not an exclamation of alarm - it's the name of a new kind of open-source gaming system which runs Android and connects to your TV, offering the value of mobile gaming on a large screen. For just £99, it's priced well below modern consoles, but can it really be considered a challenger? Ahead of its high street release in just a few weeks time, we plugged on in to find out. Has this Kickstarter sensation been worth the wait?

                         PROS

In purely physical terms, Ouya is a hit. Famous designer Yves Bachar came up with the casing, which exudes a subtle yet appealing charm. The wireless Bluetooth controller is also decent, offering a comfortable button layout and responsive dual analogue sticks. Spin the diminutive Ouya console around, and you'll discover an impressive range of connections, including HDMI, USB, Micro USB and Ethernet. Add Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to the mix, and you've got one seriously well-connected gaming platform.

Because it's running Android, Ouya can potentially play all of the best games Google's mobile OS has to offer. Titles like Final Fantasy III, The Bard's Tale and Canabalt are available right now, and look amazing on your LCD TV. Future games like Sonic CD, Shadowgun and Dead Trigger are expected to arrive soon, and will most likely play much better on Ouya than on your phone or tablet, thanks to that effective joypad. It also runs emulators, which means you can turn it into a retro gaming monster.

For those of you sick of spending £40 on games for your Xbox 360 or PS3, Ouya's pricing structure will be of interest. Every game on the Ouya store can be downloaded and sampled for free - developers use in-app purchases to make their cash. Some will ask you to pay a flat fee to unlock the full game, while others adopt the free-to-play approach and tempt you with in-game items or currency.

                    CONS

A games console is only as good as the games available on it, and at the moment Ouya doesn't really offer anything that's likely to get hardcore gamers excited. Many of the titles on the store are shallow mobile offerings adapted to use the controller, and few will keep your attention for more than a ten minutes. Ouya needs killer software, and hopefully that will come as 2013 progresses.

Although it's priced attractively at £99, Ouya seems less appealing when you consider you can now pick up a PS3 console for just £40 more - and that has a massive library of amazing titles, including The Last of Us and Gran Turismo 5. Although I'd love to be proven wrong, it's unlikely that titles of that standard will ever appear on Ouya. Mobile prices mean mobile experiences, and they don't tend to translate very well to the big screen.

                 CONCLUSION

Ouya has plenty of potential, and it's great to see a new company entering a competitive marketplace - and getting plenty of attention in the process. However, at the moment Ouya feels like it's just putting mobile games on your TV. These games have been designed to fill a few spare minutes on the bus to work, not to keep you entertained for hours at a time.

If the console can score some notable exclusives then it could change things forever, but many developers are likely to play it safe and merely port their existing Android games to the console.

Another issue is raw power - Ouya's Tegra 3 processor is about to be surpassed by Tegra 4, and with the PS4 and Xbox One hitting store shelves this Christmas, dedicated gamers are unlikely to be satisfied with what Ouya currently offers. Having said all that, I sincerely hope that Ouya can carve itself a niche in the market: the more competition the merrier, especially with pricy new next-gen consoles around the corner.

BlackBerry Q5 review

With the BlackBerry Q5, the Canadian smartphone company is returning to its bread and butter: affordable, keyboard-equipped messaging phones for the masses. This time though, the Curve series successor packs the new BlackBerry 10 operating system and a touchscreen to boot: can it kick it with the low price Android and Nokia Windows Phones knocking around in 2013? Is it worth £20 per month?

                         PROS

Say what you will about the software, the BlackBerry Q5 packs something few rivals do these days: a physical keyboard. If you've been reared on QWERTYs and BBM, you'll be right at home here: though the isolated Curve-style keys are now in perfectly straight lines to make space for the larger screen above, they're just as easy to race along on as ever. Touchscreen keyboards have come on in leaps and bounds since the iPhone's debut in 2007, but if tactile buttons are what you're used to, the Q5 has you covered.

                  CONS

Speaking of the screen, the 3.1 inch display is crisp and clear, with roughly the same pixel per inch resolution as many other rivals with HD displays on the market. Its boxy aspect ratio means it's not ideal for watching films on, unless you've got a weird thing for letterboxing, but it's otherwise just fine for browsing the web and reading long articles. If only there were apps like Pocket to do that on BlackBerry 10.

The new OS does have its positives too however: courtesy of the 1.2GHz processor, it's zippy and easy to use, with intuitive gestures to swoop home and go back, plus access to the excellent universal inbox from anywhere in the OS - Apple could probably learn a few things from it if it really wants to fix Notification Center in iOS 7.

I hate to say it, but while the BlackBerry Q5 is being billed as the affordable way to join the BlackBerry 10 party, at £320 SIM-free, it's still not very cheap. You can get an app-packed Samsung Galaxy S3 for only £20 more these days, or a solid Android phone for as little as £50. For the money, it's just not very well built. The five megapixel camera is completely mundane, and the plastic feels creaky, and frankly, a little childish. It's a long way from the premium feel of the BlackBerry Q10 or a new Nokia, that's for sure.

Really though, the problems lie with the operating system. Dig beneath its friendly veneer and you'll find it's not that powerful, simply because it lacks the apps of Android and iOS - it's the problem Windows Phone suffers from, but multiplied. You have to watch out for the ones it does have too: you can download and run some Android apps on it, but they run like maple syrup down the side of a tree. Why put up with this when you could buy into an eco-system with more apps that work instead? It's a question BlackBerry is still struggling to answer.

               CONCLUSION

The BlackBerry Q5 is a reasonably well constructed smartphone with a productive keyboard and a sharp screen. That’s the issue though: it's only reasonably well made when you should expect excellence, and the problems with BlackBerry 10 remain, especially the dire lack of apps. That said, there are few options with a physical keyboard left these days, and BlackBerry’s fancier Q10 is eye-wateringly, wallet-empytingly expensive. Unless you really need those buttons though, the BlackBerry Q5 has little to offer

Small space exploring robot

Japan is about to take another giant leap into space exploration, by launching an exceptionally cute robot into space.

Kirobo, designed by Dentsu with Toyota and the University of Tokyo, is a voice activated, technically advanced artificial person, about a foot high.

Capable of recognising human facial emotions and body language, and responding in kind, the robot is mainly intended as an educational tool than a genuine exploration robot or AI companion. Which given the history of sci-fi, is probably for the best.

Kirobo will be taken by the Japan Space Agency on a trip to the International Space Station on 4 August., where he will hold the first human-robot conversation in space.

It is not known whether Kirobo will also hold the first robot-to-robot conversation in space, since the legless Robonaut 2 is already on the ISS helping astronauts with science experiments and other research.

It is hoped that eventually robots like Kirobo (meaning Hope Robot) will be able to keep humans company in space.

PS4 or Xbox One?

The console war is hotting up - Sony has unveiled what the PlayStation 4 looks like at the E3 tech show in LA.

The big news is price - the PS4 is going to be around £80 cheaper than its big rival, Microsoft's Xbox One.

Microsoft's Xbox One, which was unveiled in May

The PS4 will cost £349, while the Xbox One will be sold for £429.

Sony also announced there'll be no new restrictions on playing second hand games. It comes after Microsoft said they're introducing limits on who gamers can buy used titles from.

The PS4 will also not require users to regularly connect to the internet to continue playing games - something Xbox One users will have to do.

The Xbox One will be available to buy in November. There's no news on the PS4 sale date yet, but it's likely to be before Christmas.

What do you think?