Hasta La Gadget!

When Samsung first released the Series 9 in 2011, it quickly became one of our favorite laptops of the year. Then, once Intel threw its marketing weight behind Ultrabooks, it became our favorite Ultra. But the Series 9 was born in the Windows 7 era, and it became harder and harder to recommend as touchscreens became the standard. Now, though, we have the ATIV Book 9 Plus, the first truly flagship-level Ultrabook Samsung has released since Windows 8 came out.

As you’d expect, it trades in the Series 9’s matte, anti-glare display for a touchscreen. What’s more, though, Samsung also cranked up the resolution, retiring that old 1,600 x 900 panel in favor of a 3,200 x 1,800 one. And, of course, it steps up to a newer Haswell processor, which promises not just faster performance, but also longer battery life (not that endurance was a problem on the original). So is it still our favorite Ultrabook? Pretty much.%Gallery-slideshow99388%

Filed under: Laptops, Samsung

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Three is the magic number. Three is lucky. Three’s a crowd. Okay, ignore that last one, but the number 3 does also apply to the latest Galaxy Note, and we’re curious to know which of those maxims might apply. What are the marquee features this time around? Well, there’s the usual bevy of specification improvements (a 5.7-inch display, quad-core Snapdragon 800 and 3GB of RAM), Android 4.3, some new S Pen features and the small matter of the Gear, that optional, polarizing companion watch.

Samsung makes a great many products, even if you just consider the mobile ones. However, since it burst into existence in 2011, the Note has been up there with the Galaxy S series on the flagship pedestal. So, it’d be fair to say that we’re expecting big things from this big phone, but with a SIM-free price in the UK of £620, it requires even deeper pockets than its predecessor did at launch (that one cost around £530). That said, if you want one, you’ll need big pockets anyway. While you check their size, we’ve scribbled, doodled and gestured the Note 3 with abandon to see if it’s worth the bounty. Read on to find out if it is.%Gallery-slideshow99481%

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Like its predecessor, the iPhone 5s is one of the best handsets you can buy. But more importantly, it’s laying the groundwork for the smartphones of tomorrow.

It’s time to set the record straight: the original Xperia Z, launched back in February, was a decent phone. A solid phone. It was as if Sony had suddenly paused its chaotic schedule of handset releases in order to take stock of what Android users actually want: things like 1080p, microSD and a premium look and feel. And yet, the Xperia Z failed to be compelling. It wasn’t just its subpar battery life that held it back. It was also the lack of a standout feature, which caused the phone to be buried amidst all the news of the GS4 and the HTC One — and also by the announcement of the Lumia 1020 Windows Phone, whose camera suddenly made Sony’s pokey, 13-megapixel module look like old technology.

That’s why today, just seven months later, we’re looking at a new flagship: the Xperia Z1 (codenamed Honami, and not to be confused with the Xperia ZL), with a far more boast-worthy camera and some other subtle-but-important enhancements. Buyers of the Xperia Z may understandably be displeased at being left behind so soon, but — as much as we feel for them — we’d hazard a guess that they don’t constitute an especially large population anyway. In contrast, the Xperia Z1 should have much greater mainstream appeal. Read on to discover why.%Gallery-slideshow84026%

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

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You could put a helicopter engine on a motorcycle and fill it with rocket fuel, but if you put a toddler behind the wheel, it’s not going anywhere. The same is true with phones; you can turbo-charge the processors and hardware, but if the software is stupid and terrible, you’ve got a stupid and terrible phone on your hands. This is that phone.

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