The latest batch of Kindles has actually been a bit slow to filter out to the UK. We got the new £89 Kindle fast enough, but the Kindle Fire has been totally absent anywhere outside the US since its launch, and it’s only now that the Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G have arrived.

The £89 Kindle was a simplified device, losing the keyboard and 3G access to keep its size, weight and price down. The Kindle Touch is a little more flexible, even though it’s arguably simpler still. There’s only one obvious button on it now, below the screen, like the iPad, but it does come in a 3G version for £169 (which is what we have here for review), or a Wi-Fi only model for £109.

The interface is controlled entirely by touch, with new finger-friendly menus on offer. When you’re reading, different parts of the screen offer different options when you tap them – most of the screen is dedicated to turning the page forward one when you tap it, but the far left takes you back, while the top of the screen brings up the menu buttons.

Instead of tapping, you can use gestures anywhere on the screen. Swiping your finger right to left will move you onto the next page, while going the opposite way takes you back. Swiping upwards takes you to the next chapter, downwards takes you to the previous chapter.

Despite the addition of the touch interface, the screen hasn’t really changed. It’s still a six-inch, 600 x 800 E Ink display, with 16-level greyscale. It’s no Retina display, but its crisp and clear nevertheless, and is even an improvement on other models, which we’ll go into on the next page.

The Kindle Touch models come with 4GB of memory, with around 3GB of that being available for storage (Amazon says it’s good for about 3,000 books) – double what’s on offer in the £89 Kindle.

The addition of touch controls, 3G and extra storage hasn’t come without comprises, though. The Kindle Touch weighs 213g, while the 3G version weighs 220g – a good 30 per cent heavier than the 170g Kindle. They’re still very light compared to the likes of the iPad or Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, of course.

The Touch models are also thicker, coming in at 10.1mm compared to the £89 Kindle’s 8.7mm. In fact, it’s larger in every way: the Touch is also slightly wider and taller than the cheaper Kindle.

But the extra weight and size does come with one other major advantage: with wireless off, the two Kindle Touch models are rated for two months of battery life at 30 minutes of reading per day, or three weeks with wireless on. The £89 Kindle manages only one month with wireless turned off, though it matches the three weeks with wireless on.

So, a touch interface, longer battery life, optional 3G, more storage, more money, more weight and added thickness… does it balance out into a better Kindle?

Performance

Inevitably, the first thing you’ll want know about the Kindle Touch is how well the touch controls work. Amazon has used infrared technology to add its touchscreen capabilities, which avoids using any touch-sensitive layers on the E Ink screen itself that might compromise its quality.

When you combine that infrared technology with the E Ink screen, which is, shall we say, not the fastest to refresh in the world, what you get is touch technology that’s perfectly serviceable, though not exactly as responsive as the Android and iOS tablets of this world.

There’s a slight delay when you make screen selections, but it’s not too bad at all – after all, you’re not running complex apps here. The menus all offer decent size buttons to hit, and the accuracy seems spot on.

Perhaps surprisingly, there’s even some limited multitouch support. Pinching in or out on a book’s pages brings up a floating text-size indicator, and you can then either keep pinching to change the text size, or just tap on one of the sizes in this window.

Perhaps most importantly, the touch controls feel totally natural, and understandable. To highlight, you simply tap and hold on a word and then drag your finger over your selection and choose Highlight (or Add Note or Share) from the pop-up menu.

Swiping to turn the page works well (it too has an unavoidable delay while the display updates), and has the advantage of making how you use Kindle books mostly consistent across the likes of the Kindle Fire and through its apps on devices such as the iPad.

The only place where the touch interface struggles is scrolling. There aren’t many lists in the Kindle interface, but a book with a lot of chapters might give you problems. Basically, you drag to scroll, as you would expect, but the delay makes it a bit of a pain. More than that, there’s no momentum scrolling, so if there’s a very long list, and you’re not sure what to search for, you could be there for some time.

The on-screen keyboard, though, works very well. You can pretty much type at full speed, despite the delay in visual feedback, because the keys are separated well. There’s an autocorrect bar that pops up, and numbers and punctuation on a second screen.

It’s certainly several levels up in convenience from using the navigation pad on the £89 Kindle, so if you tend to search for and buy a lot of books actually on your Kindle device, it’s a big advantage.

As we said, the screen itself is pretty much the same as it has been for some time now, but in a side-by-side comparison between the Kindle Touch 3G and the £89 Kindle, the text on the Touch model is noticeably blacker than on its slimmer brother.

The difference isn’t enough for us to say that you should dismiss the £89 Kindle based on it, but having spent time using both, the Touch’s screen is definitely the better of the two, with text standing out better than ever.

Like the basic Kindle, the screen now needs to do a full refresh on black far less often. It’s able to go through several pages changing just the text before you get that ol’ black magic flashing up on the screen. It’s certainly an improvement, though every so often you might notice parts of images from the previous screen lingering post-refresh (the keyboard in particular can often be faintly seen after it’s been dismissed).

Though the screen on the Kindle Touch might be slightly nicer than the £89 Kindle, it does have one very slight downside. It’s set much further back into the body of the device, with the thicker bezel presumably housing the infrared touchscreen technology.

In the £89 Kindle, the screen sits right at the front (save for a small lip), with the text seeming to sit right on the page, like… well, a book. It helps to remove the idea that you’re looking at an electronic device instead of paper, but the set-back screen on the Touch serves to remind you that you’re holding gadgetry in your hand, not a real well-worn copy of the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Its extra size over the smaller Kindle is a bit unfortunate, but isn’t a dealbreaker. The weight difference is very small in real terms,

The wireless performance of the 3G version of the Kindle Touch was very strong, picking up signal even in areas that phones struggle with. It couldn’t perform miracles, of course, but we were impressed.

It was fast and reliable, too, letting us quickly download out archived books to start this review within a minute or two of taking it out the box when we started reviewing it. This is one area that Amazon has really nailed – the convenience of Kindle is pretty much unmatched.

Similarly, battery life lived up to our expectations. After several days of quite intense use (well beyond Amazon’s paltry half an hour per day suggestion) with its wireless capabilities turned on, the Kindle Touch had about 80% of its battery left. This is absolutely one of the killer features of dedicated ebook readers over tablets, and even the iPad’s impressive battery life, and Amazon continues to get it spot on here, too.

The Kindle Touch features all of the latest Kindle software bells and whistles, as well. X-Ray lets you see, in Amazon’s words, the “bones of a book”, so you see quickly how often certain people, words or themes come up. Text-to-speak is here in the ‘Experimental’ section, as is a web browser, though this didn’t work on our review model.

As we mentioned, highlighting and adding notes is here, as you’d expect, and is particularly easy compared to the £89 Kindle, thanks in no small part to the on-screen keyboard.

Tapping on a single world also brings up the Oxford Dictionary definition, and you can look up any word on Wikipedia in the same pop-up menu (you can also load full Wikipedia from here, but since our web browser didn’t work, this wasn’t an option for us).

All of this makes this currently the best Kindle model for academic use at the moment, we’d say. It’s easier to select and highlight text with touch than with a D-pad, and the on-screen keyboard is infinitely better to use than on the £89 Kindle’s, though perhaps not the Kindle Keyboard‘s physical keyboard. This is all supported by Whispersync, of course, sending your notes and highlights to any Kindle-supporting device.

However, there are still some downsides that persist. There’s no built-in light, so you’ll need a light source of some kind of read anything. The lack of ePub support is also still an irritation, even if you can import your own PDFs.

Final thoughts

The Amazon Kindle Touch 3G seems to present as many small advantages as it does minor disadvantages when compared to the £89 Kindle.

Like its cheaper brother, the Kindle Touch represents excellent value for money, particularly in its £109 Wi-Fi only version. Whether the 3G access is worth £60 is really up to personal preference (though do remember that, unlike most 3G-enabled devices, it requires no monthly cost).

We liked

The Kindle Touch’s interface works really well for general reading. There are weaker parts of the interface, but for the most part it’s natural and convenient.

Though it’s slightly heavier and larger than the £89 Kindle, it’s by such a small amount in real terms that it seems a fair trade-off for extra storage and larger battery life. And the slightly improved screen is great as well.

And Amazon’s suite of services that power the Kindle are rock solid – Whispersync works great, the Kindle Store is excellent and the devices themselves are brilliantly reliable.

We disliked

The Kindle Touch doesn’t really seem to offer much outright to make it worth more money than the £89 Kindle. There are useful features, certainly, but whether they’re worth the extra is another personal choice.

And there are parts of the interface that don’t work as well as a touch interface, particularly lists, and it’s a shame that the screen is set back, reducing the ‘invisible’ nature of the device.

Still, the noises coming out of Sony about the 46-inch KDL-46HX853 are all promising. There’s been much talk of ‘getting back to what Sony does best’ and ‘putting quality ahead of compromise’, along with assurances that the sort of mistakes that have riddled the past couple of generations (at least) of Sony TVs will not be allowed to happen again.

To back up these fine words, the KDL-46HX853 – which is the top-level 46-inch model from Sony’s new range – comes packing some significant heat. Its enjoyed a slinky redesign, for a start, without losing touch with the Monolithic aesthetic Sony has been following for a couple of generations.

Sony has also (thankfully) revamped the interface for its online services and added a few bits of significant new content to what was already one of the best online video platform around. But perhaps most significantly of all, pretty much every aspect of the KDL-46HX853‘s picture quality – from its video processing through to the way it controls its edge-based lighting system – has allegedly undergone a profound round of improvements.

The set also, naturally, fits perfectly into a modern multimedia household thanks to its DLNA support, integrated Wi-Fi, aforementioned video streaming capabilities, and playback of plenty of multimedia file formats via its USB ports.

Alongside the 46HX853 can be found a 55-inch version, the cunningly named KDL-55HX853, and a 40-inch version, while a step down Sony’s new range you get to the HX753 series, which we’ll hopefully be checking out soon. This comes in 32-inch, 40-inch, 46-inch and 55-inch flavours.

Given its flagship status, the most direct rivals for the KDL-46HX853 would have to be Samsung’s ES7000 and ES8000 ranges, along with LG’s LM860V series and Panasonic’s new WT50 series.

We haven’t fully tested all of these rival series yet, but we’ve seen enough to know that they each represent some pretty stiff competition for Sony’s hopes for the KDL-46HX853. So without further ado, let’s start finding out if the KDL-46HX853 really does have a shout at turning Sony’s TV fortunes around.

Features

Sony has tweaked its Monolithic design for the KDL-46HX853 to give it a slightly less masculine, slightly softer appearance, with a narrower bezel width and the addition of a little metallic outer trim along all four of its edges. The result is perhaps not as original as the previous all-black Monolithic look, but actually we prefer the less severe impact of the new design.

What’s more, the TV ships this year with an enormously attractive and extremely well built ‘bar’ table top stand that both allows you to angle the TV back slightly if you like, and also contains speakers, to take the audio burden off the TV’s slender chassis. This sort of designer stand was only available as an optional extra with last year’s Monolithic Sony sets.

The KDL-46HX853 is pretty much on the flagship money with its connections. There are four HDMIs, all built to the v1.4 specification for full support of the active 3D format. There are both LAN and integrated Wi-Fi options for adding the TV to your home DLNA computer network or for taking the TV online, while two USBs allow you to play back film, photo and music files from USB storage devices – or record from the integrated Freeview HD tuner to USB hard disk drives.

LG this year has made a concerted effort to make its TVs as compatible with Apple Macs as they are with PCs, and Sony has thankfully followed suit with the KDL-46HX853 courtesy of a new Homestream downloadable application, which does a fine job of streamlining the process of getting files off your computer – or any other ‘connected’ device – and onto the TV.

One extra excellent connectivity point to raise here is that if you’ve got a Sony tablet computer, you can stream what’s showing on the TV to the tablet for watching elsewhere in the house, or else you can easily send stuff from your tablet to the TV screen.

Inside the 46HX853′s glamorous body can be found a wealth of picture processing technology. For starters, there’s Sony’s Motionflow XR800 Hz system, which uses a combination of a blinking backlight, native 200Hz panel and frame interpolation to deliver an 800Hz-like effect.

As well as potentially having a beneficial effect on the KDL-46HX853′s motion handling, it’s also to be hoped that the XR800 Hz system – especially the native 200Hz panel refresh rate bit of it – might see Sony avoiding the nasty 3D crosstalk ghosting issues that plagued some of its 2011 sets.

Sony has provided a startlingly long list of variations on its motion processing theme, moreover, including a new ‘impulse’ setting that repeats each image frame four times and then blinks the backlight right at the end of each scanning phase. The idea behind this is to provide a blur-reduction option for video purists who can’t be doing with the more typical frame interpolation approach to combatting motion problems.

Also potentially hugely important to the 46HX853′s picture fortunes should be the brand’s X-Reality Pro technology.

This uses a dedicated new chipset to upscale standard definition and even seriously low-rent online streaming sources to high definition. This rather cleverly improves its efficiency versus rival upscaling systems by being able to automatically recognise different types of source content and then applying a series of largely predetermined processing routines to them.

The new version of X-Reality Pro works so efficiently, in fact, that the 46HX853 even lets you apply its ‘upscaling’ charms to full HD 3D pictures for the first time.

Local dimming

The edge LED lighting system on the KDL-46HX853, meanwhile, employs a new, more sophisticated local dimming system to deliver a degree of lighting flexibility across different ‘zones’ of the picture – something that should boost the screen’s contrast performance considerably. Experience also suggests, though, that such local dimming on edge LED screens can cause ‘light blocking’ issues around very bright objects, so we’ll have to be on the look out for those.

As noted when discussing the KDL-46HX853′s connections, Sony’s new set is capable of playing back 3D sources using the full HD active format.

With this in mind it’s a pity Sony doesn’t include any 3D glasses for free with the TV, as research suggests that if people can’t use a feature straight out of the box, they often never get round to using that feature at all. However, there is at least a promotion on at the time of writing whereby you can get two pairs of Sony 3D glasses for the price of one (about £60).

The glasses are worth investing in too, as they’re some of the best ones we’ve tried thanks to the way they try to stop light sneaking in around their edges. This makes them markedly more bulky than most 3D glasses, but surely it’s the quality of the 3D performance that really matters?

There’s an interesting feature related to the glasses too, for the TV provides the option to adjust the brightness of the 3D picture they produce. This matters because an offshoot of this feature is that it can become a tool for controlling crosstalk noise, with lower brightness leading to less crosstalk.

The final big feature of the KDL-46HX853 concerns its online services. Sony has recently managed to pull the various threads of its streaming world together under the Sony Entertainment Network (SEN) banner, and it’s this platform which now takes over from the previous Bravia Internet Video (BIV) one.

As with BIV, the SEN system sensibly continues to focus for the most part on providing streaming video sources rather than deluging you in piles of pointless, second-tier apps like Samsung and LG TVs are wont to do. Here’s the full list of online features we found at the time of writing (bearing in mind that services can be added or even taken away at any time):

Sony’s Video Unlimited movie streaming subscription service, Sony’s Music Unlimited movie streaming subscription service, Twitter, BBC iPlayer, Demand 5, BBC News, Sky News, Sony’s Home Theatre Control app, Skype, Facebook, LoveFilm, Netflix, MUBI, Sony Entertainment Television network, Crackle, Eurosport, Muzu.tv, Euronews, YouTube, Sony’s 3D channel, Billabong, Wired, epi, Concierge.com, Style.com, DailyMotion, UStudio, golflink.com, livestrong.com, ehow, video detective, singing fool, a podcast player, moshcam, Picasa, a Web browser, a calendar, an RSS reader, a calculator, an alarm, a world clock, Aupeo, AccuWeather, and a handful of games, including backgammon, Bubble, chess, Sudoku, and Pipemania 2.

Sony’s emphasis on video for its online services suggests that the brand agrees with us that video content is much more important to a Smart TV than smaller ‘utility’ or game apps. And this same appreciation for the differences between Smart TVs and other Smart devices also leads to the 46HX853 integrating Twitter in a much more sensibly subtle way than you get with other TVs. Basically, the default Twitter setting finds latest tweets from the people you follow appearing in a smallish area underneath the reduced-size TV picture you get on Sony’s new SEN ‘home screen’.

This is a much better approach than forcing Twitter users to take over the entire screen of what is, after all, a shared device every time they want to glance at the latest pearls of wisdom the world of tweets has to offer.

Picture quality

As noted at the start of this review, Sony has been surprisingly bullish in its claims for the picture quality of its latest TVs. But on the evidence of the KDL-46HX853 Sony has actually been too modest. For amazingly given the TV turmoil Sony gave us in 2011, the 46HX853 turns out to be probably the finest LCD TV that’s ever graced the TechRadar test benches.

The more cynical of you will already be tutting and rolling your eyes at such an admittedly bold statement. But if you choose not to believe us and go off to buy something else instead, that’s fine – just trust us when we say that it will be very much your loss.

So many things are right about the 46HX853′s pictures, in fact, that it’s initially tough to know where to start describing them. Over time, though, it becomes clear that there is one area in particular where the KDL-46HX853 pretty much rewrites the edge LED rulebook, and that’s contrast.

Contrast

The 46HX853 uses a local dimming system to adjust individually the brightness levels of different segments of the TV’s edge LED array. This it does in a bid to boost the image’s contrast levels. It’s not a new idea; most other brands use it too, in fact. But never has the technology been used as cleverly or as effectively as it is on the 46HX853.

Black colours, for starters, really do look black, which instantly makes dark scenes look massively more believable than they usually do on LCD screens. Even better, the screen’s black level abilities are constant from one corner to the other, as Sony manages to virtually eradicate the sort of grey cloud patches or corner ‘light jets’ that afflict most LCD TVs to some extent. This backlight uniformity again has a profound impact on how deeply you become invested in what you’re watching.

Then there’s the amount of shadow detail Sony manages to retain in dark scenes. Usually when an edge LED strives for really deep black levels it has to take so much light out of the picture that dark picture areas end up looking empty and flat, as there’s just not enough illumination left to pick out subtle dark detailing.

But looking at some of the darkest scenes in disturbing Clint Eastwood-directed oddity The Changeling – a film that appears on Blu-ray with an unusually extreme contrast range – the KDL-46HX853 produces pretty much every pixel of detail the disc has to offer. Even though the black colours remain exceptionally deep and natural throughout.

And there’s more. For it’s also apparent when watching The Changeling – or any scene from anything that combines deep blacks with bright whites or colours in the same frame – that the KDL-46HX853 is uniquely talented by edge LED standards when it comes to presenting bold, bright punchy colours right alongside inky blacks. And it pulls this feat off for the most part without displaying to any distracting degree the sort of rectangular or square blocks of excess light around bright objects commonly witnessed when edge LED TVs try to use local dimming.

The KDL-46HX853 – perhaps inevitably – isn’t wholly, 100 per cent immune to the light blocking effect. Under really extreme circumstances, such as when a white logo appears in the corner of an otherwise black screen, you can see a small square of light around the bright item. But in our opinion these moments are so rare during normal video viewing as to be insignificant.

Motion

The KDL-46HX853 also pushes the envelope with its motion handling. Admittedly the fancy-sounding new Impulse mode doesn’t live up to our hopes, causing too much flicker for our tastes. But even without any motion processing in play, motion-packed scenes look crisp and remarkably natural. What’s more, even if you do call in some of the other motion options, so long as you use them on one of their low-power settings they generally improve clarity even further without making the image look at all unnatural. Outstanding.

Yet another area where the KDL-46HX853 is for our money in a league of its own is its upscaling of very poor quality sources. The way X-Reality Pro is able to smooth away noise, remove jaggedness while simultaneously adding detail has to be seen to be believed at times, to the point where it makes YouTube videos a genuine watchable option rather than something you might only start streaming if you want to give yourself a headache.

It’s no surprise after this to find the KDL-46HX853 also doing a likeable job of upscaling decent standard definition sources such as DVDs and digital broadcasts. The impact of the upscaling system with these sources isn’t as marked or as ahead of the competition as the upscaling of online content, but it’s nonetheless commendable.

Colour

Yet another area of excellence for the KDL-46HX853 is its colour reproduction. There’s much more punch and dynamism to colour tones than there was on most of Sony’s 2011 output, yet crucially this extra vigour hasn’t led to a reduction in the subtlety with which colour tones are reproduced.

On the contrary, the range and finesse of the KDL-46HX853′s colour palette is little short of mesmerising, giving images a sense of precision and definition that you just don’t see very often. The set’s colour processing is sufficiently powerful, moreover, to ensure that the colour bands and stripes you see on many flat TVs in place of what should be smooth blends are completely absent on the KDL-46HX853.

Add to all of the above some exquisite portrayal of fine details and textures in HD material, and you’ve got a 2D picture from the KDL-46HX853 that doesn’t just have moments where it takes your breath away, but rather constantly has you shaking your head in wonderment.

In many ways the KDL-46HX853′s picture pleasures continue with its 3D performance, thanks again to the impact of the X-Reality Pro processing. Now usable on 3D for the first time, X-Reality Pro does a pretty remarkable job of enhancing the sharpness and apparent depth of 3D pictures – even full HD Blu-rays. Toggle the processing on and off while watching 3D Blu-rays and the effect is so pronounced that it’s hard to believe the non-processed pictures were actually HD at all!

There are downsides to the X-Reality Pro system, firstly that occasionally the edges of some 3D objects look a little stressed, and secondly that the 3D depth feels a touch more forced – a little like a series of parallax slices rather than a fluid, natural area.

These issues might persuade some people not to use X-Reality Pro on 3D. But personally we found the lure of the extra detailing and sharpness too much to resist.

It’s gratifying with the KDL-46HX853′s 3D pictures, too, that they look markedly brighter and more richly coloured than the slightly dull efforts of previous Sony 3D TVs.

Crosstalk

The only flaw with the KDL-46HX853′s 3D images, in fact, is crosstalk. You can see a little of the double-ghosting phenomenon over objects in the far distance from time to time.

This is undeniably disappointing given that the latest flagship active 3D TVs from Panasonic and Samsung have pretty much done away with crosstalk. However, since the KDL-46HX853′s crosstalk is restricted to the far background, it’s not severely damaging to your 3D experience. Plus there is that facility mentioned in the features section for reducing the brightness of the 3D glasses in return for reduced crosstalk.

The last point about the 46HX853′s pictures concerns the time the TV takes to produce an image after receiving an external source. Using the set’s Game preset, we measured a lag of around 30ms – low enough to let you play all your games without fear of the TV significantly damaging your performance.

Sound, value and ease of use

There’s good news and bad news when it comes to ease of use. On the upside, it’s a huge relief to find that Sony’s latest remote control now features a nice big ‘SEN’ button giving you fast, direct access to all of Sony’s online content.

Also a major improvement is the onscreen menu system for accessing online stuff. The TV picture continues to play on the left, with Twitter feeds scrolling along underneath, while ranged across the screen to the right are a series of different content categories: Video, Music, Apps and a Favourites section where you can position all your most-used apps.

There’s still more that could be done to make finding individual apps a little easier. But the latest online Sony TV experience remains a million times better than the fiddly menu mess you had to trudge through on 2011 Sony online TVs.

While you can now access online features more easily, however, getting to the rest of the set’s features sadly still requires you to tip-toe through Sony’s once-cool but now hopelessly cluttered and illogically organised PlayStation-style double-axis menu system.

One final negative point to make is that Sony hasn’t made any effort to offer any control alternatives to the standard handset. There’s no touchpad remote, no gesture control, no voice control, no ‘magic wand’-style remote… Perhaps surprisingly, though, we didn’t actually find ourselves missing these sort of ‘enhancements’ all that much, except for when trying to use the integrated Web browser.

Sound quality

The KDL-46HX853 is one of the best-sounding flat TVs around. The key to its success lies in that included silver ‘bar’ stand you get with the main TV. For Sony has taken advantage of the extra physical size of this bar to include a decently powerful set of forward-firing speakers, which receive their sound information courtesy of a dedicated connection cable running between the stand and the TV.

The result of using the stand for the TV’s sound is a soundstage that’s wider, richer, clearer and more powerful than anything you’ll hear from the vast majority of rival sets. Just occasionally a vocal can sound slightly dislocated from the on-screen action, but these moments are very rare, and probably won’t bother you at all from a typical viewing distance.

Value

It wouldn’t have been unreasonable for Sony to have really cranked up the price of the KDL-46HX853 given how much effort has clearly gone into improving its performance and design. But actually, at £1450, the KDL-46HX853′s price compares very favourably indeed with the prices of rival sets from the likes of Samsung, LG and Panasonic.

Final thoughts

The KDL-46HX853 arrives at a time when Sony really, really needs to start getting its TV business back on track. And right away it feels like it’s heading in the right direction, with a slimmer, sleeker variation on its Monolith design theme that suggests Sony has really started to think about what consumers want rather than just going with something they think looks distinctive.

Its feature count is impressive too in terms of the picture calibration tools on offer, the amount of video content available through the online system, and the extent of the multimedia flexibility.

Where the KDL-46HX853 really sets the world on fire, though, is with its barn-storming, cutting edge picture quality which, in 2D mode at least, is the best the LCD TV world has delivered so far.

We liked

The KDL-46HX853 takes LCD picture quality to a whole new level, particularly where contrast and motion handling are concerned. The set looks gorgeous too, and features what’s for our money the best – or at least the most sensibly focussed – online service around. Plus it’s great value for what’s on offer.

We disliked

There’s a small amount of crosstalk when watching 3D, and Sony’s main onscreen menu system is in need of an overhaul. It might be nice if Sony offered a touchpad remote – at least as an optional extra – for people who like to use the TV’s onboard web browser. And finally it’s a shame Sony can’t see its way to including even a single pair of free 3D glasses with the TV.

We can get tired of black and silver chassis designs, so a splash of colour is no bad thing. The Asus X53E is a deep shade of scarlet with a wave pattern on the lid made up of minute dots.

Inside the laptop, the blank red is offset with the black isolation-style keyboard, and the result is a real head-turning design. There’s also hardly any evidence of flex around the body of the laptop – even in the centre of the keyboard and around the DVD drive.

Subscribe and save

The keyboard itself doesn’t just look attractive, it’s also functional and comfortable to type on. There’s enough space between the keys, so it’s unlikely you’ll hit the wrong key by mistake.

You’re also given a dedicated numeric keypad for data entry and number crunching. There aren’t any dedicated hotkeys, but the dual-function keys are clearly marked and easy to use.

Above the keyboard is the Altec Lansing speaker grid. It’s perfectly serviceable for the solo user watching a film or listening to music while working.

If you want to use the Asus X53E-SX1330V as a media machine, there’s 500GB of storage space to fill with music and movies and a screen capable of 720p high-definition footage.

The screen, while not as bright as other machines, boasts a 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution and excellent viewing angles. Also, because the bezel surrounding the screen is particularly thin, it gives the impression you’re looking at a screen larger than 15.6 inches in size.

Get more

Interior power comes courtesy of a top-spec Intel Core i7-2670QM processor with integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU. You won’t find enough graphical muscle here to play the latest games, but for other resource-hungry uses – such as editing high-definition home movies or programming your own website – these specifications are up to the task.

The powerful processor and 4GB of RAM also mean that general day-to-day usage is a fast, smooth experience. You can multitask with several web pages open, while simultaneously playing music from iTunes and checking email with Microsoft Outlook, without the computer grinding to a halt.

Benchmarks

• Battery life: 197 minutes
• Cinebench: 11927
• 3DMark 2006: 3522

If you want to plug in a few accessories, there are a few ports to take advantage of. The Asus X53E-SX1330V is furnished with three USB ports, an HDMI and VGA port, as well as an Ethernet connection and the DVD RW optical drive. We would have liked to have seen a USB 3.0 port, but this configuration is standard for a laptop at this price.

This laptop doesn’t excel at battery life, though, posting only 197 minutes in our benchmarking tests, but, that’s really one of the few drawbacks in evidence here.

We’ve written much about the Nokia Lumia 900, and virtually all of it praises the hardwareWith good reason: Nokia has outdone itself with this stylish 5.03-inch tall and 2.7-inch wide slab. At only 5.6 ounces and 0.45 inches thick, it’s one of the best-looking smartphones we’ve ever seen.

The Lumia 900 features a classy, unibody frame made from polycarbonate. It’s tough and feels absolutely wonderful when held in your hand; Nokia’s industrial design work has clearly not been dulled by age. ClearBlack technology allows the screen to be used outdoors (even with polarized sunglasses at any angle), while Corning Gorilla Glass protects a vivid AMOLED display.

The front of the Lumia 900 is primarily a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. While this can be a sticking point with many critics in the age of qHDs and Retina Display, the screen is bright, colorful and pixel dense enough for all but the most discerning users.

A 1MP front-facing camera for video chat sits at upper left, while a very thin gap at top hides the earpiece; three capacitive Windows Phone buttons sit below the display for Back, Start and Search.

The left side is devoid of buttons, all of which reside on the right, with volume rocker at top, power/lock button at center and two-stage dedicated camera button below.

At first this arrangement seemed a strange choice, but when held with the left hand, our middle finger was conveniently aligned with the power/lock button, and our thumb could still reach it comfortably while held in the right hand.

Atop the Lumia 900 is a 3.5mm headphone jack, micro-USB port (for charging and data transfer) and micro-SIM card door. AT&T includes a SIM door key for popping this out, which is then pulled out completely to reveal the piggybacked card.

It’s a bit more flimsy and complicated than the SIM card tray on the iPhone 4S, but the card itself is held in place quite well. A large speaker grille resides at the bottom next to FCC and corporate information.

On the back of the Lumia 900 is an 8MP auto focus camera lens with Nokia’s customary Carl Zeiss optics next to an unobtrusive dual LED flash. While the silver band around the lens is a nice touch, we’re concerned that over time it may attract scratches from without using a case – however, we prefer the look of this flush lens to the obtrusive lenses used by manufacturers like HTC.

AT&T is offering the Nokia Lumia 900 with a modest 16GB of storage in cyan or black (a white model arrives in late April) for a wallet-friendly $99.99 with two-year agreement, but only for a limited time; existing customers can upgrade for a bit more or purchase no-commitment for $449.99.

Interface

We’ve been intrigued by Windows Phone since Microsoft debuted it nearly two years ago. While Apple’s iOS looks largely the same as it did when the original iPhone launched in 2007 and Android has borrowed liberally from that look to varying success, there’s certainly no mistaking the unique Metro style.

The Lumia 900′s lock screen displays signal levels for cellular, Wi-Fi and battery at top, with time and date more prominently at bottom. Confusingly, an HSPA+ connection will display “4G,” while AT&T’s true 4G LTE network will display “LTE” instead.

Upcoming calendar events appear below the date, along with icons for incoming email or message counts as they come in. While locked, notifications appear in a band of color at top, which varies depending on what theme you have selected.

The Lumia 900 comes preset with an eye-catching “Nokia Blue,” but others are available in Settings.

Tiles for miles

Swiping a finger from bottom unlocks the screen and reveals two columns of tiles representing apps, services or contacts.

Many of these are “live” tiles, which can display information such as missed calls, text messages, email inbox counts and more.

It’s a refreshing departure from the grid of icons we’re used to seeing from Apple and Google.

Tap the arrow at upper right or swipe left to reveal a list of installed apps, sorted alphabetically. At first, this is one continuous list, but Microsoft has cleverly enabled the ability to group apps by letter once you’ve installed 40 or so titles. To quickly jump to an app, tap any letter and choose from an A to Z grid – for example, “P” for Plex.

Pinning apps

Frequently used apps can also be pinned to the Start menu; simply tap and hold on the desired app, then select “pin to start” (the same method is used to “rate and review” or “uninstall”).

Once pinned, many apps include live, updating information like photos, weather or news in place of a dedicated notification area used by competitors.

To quickly jump between open apps, hold down the Back button for a moment, then swipe and tap to select.

Much like earlier versions of iOS, not all Windows Phone apps support running in the background yet – a plus for battery life, but the short wait required as they reopen can be a bummer when you’re in a hurry to answer an incoming IM, for example.

Some say specs are dead, and in the case of the Nokia Lumia 900, that may be a good thing. The hardware runs on a humble single-core Qualcomm APQ8055 + MDM9200 processor clocked at 1.4GHz with a mere 512MB of SDRAM, but don’t let the numbers fool you – we were able to flick, tap and swipe our way through each day without noticeable lag.

Contacts and calling

On Windows Phone 7 devices, contacts live in what’s known as the People hub. Contacts can be added from a variety of services with Windows Live and Hotmail getting preferential treatment (little surprise given this is Microsoft’s party). However, Google and social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are also well integrated here.

The People hub is capable of linking the same contacts from multiple services into one profile, a method Palm pioneered with Synergy on their late, great webOS platform.

In practice, linking creates the undesirable impact of unwanted contacts showing up in your address book – for example, Facebook friends you may not actually know in real life and have no interest in connecting with outside that service.

Filtering synced accounts

Microsoft gets around this in Windows Phone by allowing contact lists to be filtered, displaying only the services you actually care about.

In our case, we synced key contacts from our Mac Address Book to Google’s servers, then unchecked the others. It’s a brilliantly executed method, although Windows Phone does bury the option in People settings where average users may never discover them.

Tapping on the name of a contact brings up their profile, where you can call a phone number, text or chat via SMS or connected services like Facebook, send email or map addresses.

A swipe to the left displays that user’s “what’s new” activity; another swipe shows their pictures and still another, a history of your contact with that person.

Should Windows Phone mistakenly link any contacts – a problem we certainly didn’t encounter – tapping the link button allows you to link or unlink at will. Individual contacts can also be pinned as a live Start tile for one-tap access to a spouse or significant other. Once you get the hang of this approach, it’s hard to go back to the static, unconnected world of iOS or Android.

Swiping left while in People hub also shows you recent status updates from your friends and a history of contacts you’ve last interacted with. Tapping “all accounts” in blue will filter “what’s new” updates to specific services.

Calling

Calls can be made direct from a contact’s profile or through the dialer tileHere you can cycle through call history or visual voicemail (which easily matches or surpasses that on the iPhone), or tap the dialer icon to enter a new number.

Call quality on the Nokia Lumia 900 was quite good, and switching calls to the speaker were also loud and clear.

We were happy to discover the free third-party GoVoice app in the Windows Phone Marketplace – while this Google Voice client isn’t as tightly integrated as the one on its native Android, it at least duplicates the experience of making calls we’re used to with iOS.

Messaging

Messaging gets its very own tile on the Lumia 900 Start screen, and once launched, cycles between traditional SMS/MMS threads and integrated Facebook chat, which can be disabled in settings if you don’t want it.

Tap the + icon to create a new message, where you can attach a photo via MMS or record a voice memo to send instead.

Sadly, videos can’t be sent with the Lumia 900 (or any Windows Phone device), but are promised for a forthcoming update. (Receiving videos works just fine.)

The keyboard

Contacts are easily added with a tap, and the Windows Phone keyboard makes good use of the display with tall, well-spaced keys that one-up the stock Android keyboard (iOS remains comparable, if not superior, however).

We also prefer the pleasing, understated “tock tock tock” sound as we hit keys, compared to the more shrill sound used on competing mobile OS platforms.

Conversations are threaded in color boxes which echo Start screen tiles, and can be individually deleted by selecting “delete thread,” a function tucked away under three small dots in the lower right corner, which is a system-wide method used for accessing additional features.

While in People hub, linked contacts can initiate a Facebook chat, write on that user’s wall or even mention them on Twitter as well as send email to any of their connected accounts.

Adding New Accounts

New accounts are added via Settings > Email + Accounts, where you can choose from Windows Live, Outlook, Nokia Mail, YahooMail, Google, AT&T Address Book, LinkedIn or any POP/IMAP email.

AOL is a curious omission, although it’s easy to add for email only using Add an Account > Other Account. Push email only works with Microsoft and Google accounts, which our primary iCloud account was none to happy to hear about.

Linked inboxes

Initially, each email account appears on its own tile, which can get pretty messy for those of us with more than a few of them.

But Microsoft comes through again with linked inboxes – simply add all of your accounts and like magic, they’ll appear in a unified “Linked Inbox” tile.

Email is done quite elegantly here, but we stumbled across a few nagging issues, such as being unable to move an email between account folders.

IM+ messaging and Facebook

Aside from traditional SMS and Facebook chat, instant messaging is otherwise MIA on the Nokia Lumia 900. Thankfully, there are a few apps in the Marketplace to add this functionality, including the excellent (and free) IM+, which works with almost every service you can think of – from stalwarts like AOL and Yahoo, all the way down to a few you’ve probably never heard of.

While both Twitter and Facebook are well integrated into Windows Phone for casual users, power users will probably want to download the official free apps from Marketplace, or seek out one of several paid third-party options.

Microsoft’s official port of Facebook is actually one of the slickest we’ve used, which even allows users to decorate backgrounds using their own images.

Internet

The big story with AT&T’s launch of the Nokia Lumia 900 is 4G LTE, which the carrier is gradually rolling out across the United States as it tries to catch up with rival Verizon Wireless.

Unfortunately for the Lumia 900 launch, this service is limited to less than 35 cities right now – none within reasonable driving distance from us. Another dozen or so will roll out by the end of summer, including the Akron/Canton, Ohio region we tested from.

We had no problem connecting to AT&T’s other 4G network – as in, their “faux G” HSPA+ wireless capable of up to 21Mbps download speeds.

We didn’t hit anywhere near that maximum while testing with the free BandWidth app, but we did hit a respectable 7.05Mbps download (upload speeds were sadly under 1Mbps).

These are comparable to what we’ve seen on our iPhone 4S, and our testing was done using the micro-SIM from that very handset for this review.

Perhaps the weakest link on the Lumia 900 – and Windows Phone in general – is the choice of a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 for its browser. Render speeds were noticeably slower with IE9, and fonts looked downright chunky when finished.

Unimpressed with IE9

IE9 also brought poor results in our speed tests, clocking 6962.5ms on the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark (compared to our iPhone 4S at a speedy 2241.4ms) and 137 on the Peacekeeper universal browser test, well below either the Samsung Galaxy S II (255) or iPhone 4S (314).

Clearly, Microsoft has a way to go before the browser is up to snuff on Windows Phone, but a few third-party contenders are trying to get discovered in the Marketplace in the meantime.

IE9 includes a setting for selecting mobile or desktop websites by default, but the browser frequently seemed confused as to which one it should display. Unlike its desktop big brother, IE9 for Windows Phone features the absolute minimum bare essentials when it comes to settings, and like early versions of Android, suffers from no way to sync desktop bookmarks.

We were able to mostly get around the bookmarks limitation thanks to Xmarks, a free app available in the Marketplace to Premium users who pay $12 per year for the service.

Xmarks allowed us access to all of our synced bookmarks from desktop Safari, Chrome and Firefox (which are get synced to iOS via iCloud) as well as open tabs.

Not a perfect solution, but we were happy to have it at all.

To no one’s surprise, Adobe Flash is missing in action from the Windows Phone 7 platform – but fear not, Flash fans, the $4.99 FlashVideo for WP7 app promises to right that wrong, should you be so inclined.

Camera

While Nokia has delivered handsomely on industrial design and Microsoft has checked off most (but not all) of the OS boxes for us, the sky clouds up when it comes time to snap photos with the Lumia 900. On paper, the specs nearly match the reigning champ (iPhone 4S), but the end result reveals a much wider gap.

First the good news: Microsoft requires a dedicated camera button for all Windows Phone handsets, and the Nokia Lumia 900 is no exception. Better yet, this button uses a two-step mode like most point-and-shoot models – press the button halfway to lock focus and exposure, then push the rest of the way to actually take the photo.

This button can also be used to jump straight into camera mode – even when the device is locked or sleeping – by holding it down until the viewfinder appears. (Users can override this method in the Pictures + Camera settings.)

Another preference setting allows the entire screen to be used as a trigger for snapping pictures, something that confounded us as we tried tapping to adjust focus and exposure as we do with the iPhone. (Don’t bother trying – it doesn’t do anything.).  Like it or not, focus and exposure is set with the dedicated camera button.

The 8MP camera shoots 4:3 images up to 3264×2448 pixels, but options are available in settings for 7MP 16:9, 3MP 4:3 and 2MP 16:9 as well. Focus can be switched from Normal to Macro and basic effects can be applied while shooting (Black & White, Sepia, Negative or Solarize).

The camera also allows for center weighted, frame average or center spot metering while scenes, ISO and white balance can be manually or automatically adjusted.

It all sounds amazing, but unfortunately the end results don’t quite live up to the specs. Contrast and color saturation are above average in most cases, and the Lumia 900 is capable of quite decent outdoor images when the sun is cooperating. We were less enthusiastic about our results shooting indoors, and the dual LED flash didn’t seem to do us any favors, either, producing garish results and a lot of red eyes.

Windows Live and Hotmail users can set up their Lumia 900 to automatically upload photos to 25GB of free SkyDrive cloud storage, an excellent way to back up mobile images – particularly for Windows users, who will get the most utility out of it. A free SkyDrive app in Marketplace also allows you to view, upload to or delete from your account.

Considering Nokia’s reputation for excellent optics in mobile devices, the Lumia 900 camera is something of disappointment, and next to Internet Explorer 9, easily the biggest flaw in an otherwise capable handset. That said, the camera still runs circles around competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and it’s a big step up for first-time smartphone owners as well.

Video

Results are also quite mixed once you switch the Lumia 900 camera into camcorder modeWith most modern smartphones now recording 1080p HD video, Nokia’s newest flagship device appears to bring a knife to a gunfight, capable of only 720p HD at 30fps (a less-desirable secondary mode is also available for 640×480 video).

Unlike many Android smartphones, the Lumia 900 wisely shoots in the higher quality MPEG-4 format, and the video is certainly better for it. We didn’t notice much in the way of artifacts or blocking in the video we shot, although outdoors in bright sunlight, the video tended to be a little too high contrast for our liking.

Darker settings or indoors with less desirable lighting, the Lumia 900 mostly falls flat on its face. There was noticeable noise and grain once the lights went down, and the automatic white balance struggled to keep up in environments with mixed lighting.

The AMOLED display actually works against the video camera, making video look worse than it actually is while shooting – an unfortunate byproduct of this technology, making colors oversaturated. Once footage was imported back to our Mac, we were pleasantly surprised to see an improvement – but it did little for the noise and grain.

On a more positive note, the Lumia 900 video camera includes built-in stabilization, the same four effects filters as the still camera and 3x digital zoom, but don’t plan on doing any smooth zooming in or out with the latter, since it jumps from setting to setting.

The video camera also features a large time display in the lower left corner, which unobtrusively changes opacity while recording so you’ll never be left wondering how long a clip is.

Media

Lumia 900 owners also have little to worry about when it comes to media playback – Microsoft’s Zune player lives on in the heart of Windows Phone, where it is called up with a tap of the Music + Videos tile.

From here, you can play music or podcasts purchased from Marketplace or synced from your computer (the latter option also includes videos). Windows users again have the upper hand with superior Zune software on the desktop, but Microsoft offers a free Windows Phone 7 Connector application in the Mac App Store to sync iTunes media.

Files with digital rights management (DRM) protection are a no-go from iTunes, but thankfully that’s now limited to movies, TV shows and music videos.

We did notice Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac was a little slow while syncing, especially compared to the same process using iOS devices with iTunes directly. A preference option allows photos to be synced from either iPhoto or Aperture, while photos and video taken with the Lumia 900 get synced back to the same application each time you connect.

Ringtones can also be synced using Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac, but you’ll have to start from scratch if you have existing Tones in iTunes – the software will only recognize MP3 or WMA audio files under 40 seconds with a maximum 1MB file size, which will have to be imported as a regular music file with a very specific “ringtone” (no quotes, all lower case) under the Genre category.

An FM radio is also included in the Zune player, but you’ll need to plug in headphones to use it, which doubles as the antenna. The radio feature worked well, with a strong, clear signal, even indoors.

We really liked the History pane on the Zune player, which gathers recently played tracks from all music apps, including third-party titles like Spotify and iHeartRadio; there’s also a pane with convenient shortcuts to all such music-playing apps as well.

The Nokia Lumia 900 handles Apple-friendly AAC audio as well as WMA (including PlayReady DRM) from Windows; video can be played back from all key formats including WMV 9, H.264, MPEG-4 and AVI.

On the Pictures front, images are separated by camera roll and album, with the latter adding those you’ve synced as well as from connected services such as SkyDrive and Facebook. We really prefer Microsoft’s approach to the more isolated iOS approach, particularly the ability to view photos sorted by date or contact.

Photos can also be tagged as Favorites, which then appear on a screen of their ownLike the Zune player, photo-specific apps also get shortcuts, with Nokia offering a free Creative Studio app exclusively for their handsets.

This fun app lets you apply a variety of face warps, live styles, panoramic stitching and other effects or adjustments. It’s pretty capable, but isn’t likely to replace the likes of Instagram for users moving from iOS or Android.

Battery life and connectivity

Nokia has favored form over function with the Lumia 900, which includes a sealed, non-removable 1830mAh battery. This decision is likely only going to chafe Android or die-hard Nokia fans, since it’s been the norm on Apple’s iOS for five generations already.

Nokia promises up to seven hours of 2G/3G talk time and more than 12 days of standby time, but those figures will vary wildly depending on how many apps you choose to run in the background. We had no problem getting through an entire day with frequent use on both Wi-Fi b/g/n and HSPA+ networks, but your mileage will certainly vary in a 4G LTE market.

Nokia includes an “internet sharing” feature tucked away in Settings, but we weren’t able to test it since our AT&T account isn’t enabled for personal hotspot – sadly, early rumors that the Lumia 900 might come with this feature as a freebie were too good to be true.

Curiously, Nokia chose Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR for the Lumia 900; we had no problem connecting it via Microsoft SYNC to a 2011 Ford Edge, but music playback through Bluetooth Stereo at first cut in and out, finally freezing up the entire audio system.

After shutting the car off to reset SYNC, the Lumia 900 reconnected and played without a hitch after that.

We were a little disappointed to discover there’s no way to connect via Bluetooth for hands-free phone use while using the built-in speaker for turn-by-turn navigation, a task that the iPhone 4S handles quite deftly.

Finally, Microsoft, Nokia and AT&T are making sure you have plenty of ways to get your contacts into the Lumia 900.

AT&T Address Book can be added as an account and AT&T Mobile Transfer is available from Marketplace, while Nokia offers a Bluetooth-enabled Contacts Transfer app free as part of its own collection in addition to those baked into Windows Phone, such as Google, Hotmail and Windows Live.

Maps and apps

We practically jumped for joy at the discovery that apps preinstalled with the Nokia Lumia 900 can actually be deleted. Imagine thatKudos to Microsoft for this little touch, a refreshing change of pace from carrier-branded Android smartphones plagued with an ever-increasing amount of “bloatware.”

While this scourge is kept to a minimum on the Lumia 900, a handful of AT&T apps do come preinstalled, but can be deleted and easily re-downloaded from the “AT&T Featured” section of Marketplace. No need for AT&T Navigator, AT&T U-verse Mobile or AT&T Radio, all of which require a paid subscription. Tap and hold and select “uninstall” from the pop-up and they’re gone.

Surprisingly, Nokia apps are not preinstalled, but rather relegated to a prominent “Nokia Collection” section. These free apps will mostly appeal to sports fans with the likes of ESPN, but Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps and Nokia Transit are welcome alternatives to AT&T’s paid service.

It’s immediately obvious that Nokia is an international company while using Nokia Drive, since it offers a wide variety of languages and worldwide maps. While users can download maps for each country (the U.S. weighs in at 1.8GB), the app allows you to download specific states for better managing available storage space.

Nokia Drive has to be one of the most barebones navigation apps we’ve ever seen. While it performed well on the road with a clean UI and easy to understand directions, the app is incapable of looking up contacts from your device, forcing you to enter addresses by memory – an unforgivable sin in this day and age. Once entered, previous destinations remain available in your history as well.

AT&T Navigator provides the usual TeleNav-based service it offers on other platforms, with a 30-day free trial included. (A day pass can also be purchased for $1.99.) Other key players in the GPS space are notably absent from Windows Phone Marketplace: You’ll find no TomTom, no CoPilot Live and no Magellan here.

This highlights the key deficiency with Windows Phone as a platform – there are 70,000 apps in the Marketplace, but a lot of gaping holes we’d like to see filled with quality titles from known developers.

Familiar names like Amazon, Best Buy, eBay, Evernote, Flickr, Flixster, GasBuddy, Groupon, IMDb and Netflix all have a presence with free, official apps – but others like Dropbox, Hulu Plus, Instapaper or most everything from Google require third-party alternatives, where available.

Microsoft does bring one very large bat to this game, however, with the only authentic mobile version of Office. Users can view, create or edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents as well as OneNote notes on the go and access them from onboard storage, SkyDrive, Office 365 or SharePoint. The app works well, but as usual, making changes to an Excel spreadsheet even on a 4.3-inch display is an exercise in patience.

Windows Phone Marketplace does have two advantages: Apps can be purchased using carrier billing or credit card, and most paid apps feature a trial mode so you can get the hang of it before purchasing.

However, be careful: Whatever Windows Live or Hotmail account you first sign in with is the one tied to your purchases. The only way around this is to do a complete reset of the Lumia 900 to nuke its data, then start over from scratch with a different account.

Hands on gallery

Verdict

It’s not often a smartphone comes along which seduces us into parting with our iPhone 4S voluntarily (if only for a short time). The Nokia Lumia 900 not only did that, but also convinced us that Windows Phone is worthy of a much larger slice of the U.S. (nay, worldwide) smartphone market.

We Disliked

16GB of internal storage doesn’t give us much wiggle room, especially when there’s no way to insert additional SD storage.

We admit to being spoiled by our iPhone 4S, but surely six months is long enough for Nokia to realize they needed to step up their game where the camera is concerned.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Microsoft was once a leader at selling apps with Windows Mobile, long before Apple stepped into the fray – simply put, there should be more than 70,000 apps by now.

All in all, Nokia Drive is likeable enough (and who can argue with free?), but the lack of contacts integration almost makes it a deal breaker.

We get push email for Gmail, Hotmail and Windows Live, but what about iCloud and Yahoo?

We Liked

App quantity aside, what we do get is almost universally excellent; standouts include media server client Plex and music streamer Spotify.

Android could learn a thing from the nearly bloatware-free Windows Phone – and what does come preinstalled can be easily nuked in a couple taps.

We can’t take our hand off the Lumia 900 – not since the iPhone was overhauled in 2010 have we enjoyed touching an inanimate object this much.

It’s a shame the camera hardware doesn’t live up to its software – you had us at “date view,” and the rest is icing on the cake.

Before you dismiss Windows Phone 7.5 as incomplete, look at where iOS and Android were just a few years ago compared to now. Did we just blow your mind.

First things first: the HTC One S is a cracking looking device. It’s marketed this as the thinnest handset HTC has ever made. And you feel that when you take it out of the box. It’s tall at about the same height as last year’s HTC Sensation (with which it will draw a lot of comparisons) but a lot, lot sleeker.

Measurements come in at 130.9 x 65 x 7.8mm and weight wise, it’s pretty insignificant at a shade over 119g. And that’s even more impressive when you look at what’s inside. GPS, HSDPA etc – all elements we’d expect nowadays and all packed in here like sardines.

First thing you notice is that huge black, glossy display on the front. Resolution wise, it keeps the Sensation’s 4.3-inch display with a 540 x 960 resolution.

It’s clearly not as sharp as that found in the daddy of the range, the HTC One X, nor the likes of Apple’s iPhone 4S or the Sony Xperia S (and you will be able to discern pixels if you look too closely) but it puts in a very good effort.

Colours are easily as bright and vivid as the now almost year-old Samsung Galaxy S2 even though the Super AMOLED display lacks the ‘Plus’ bit that the latter handset boasts of.

In fact, if you put the phone down on a table and look at it from a couple of feet away, that screen looks even more incredible with hues just jumping out at you and finished off with the polish of the glass.

The display has been pushed even further up towards that protective glass and it really shows. This is a display HTC can be proud to push.

Although the HTC One S ships with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, it’s decided to still include three soft keys beneath the screen. They’re fully responsive and we had no issues whatsoever with them.

The design is pretty minimalist. The front also houses that VGA front snapper for video calling as well as the earpiece, which actually consists of dozens of holes individually drilled into the chassis to add to the air of class.

Up top is the power/lock button and 3.5mm headset jack, the right holds a volume rocker, the left gives us a micro USB socket and nothing at the bottom other than a tiny microphone hole. The rear has little other than holes for the speaker (again, drilled in), a couple of logos and the camera with LED flash.

Completing the minimalist look, you’ll see that at the back, you can only remove a small area, which allows you to add the (micro) SIM and do nothing else.

No accessing the battery here, thank you. It’s sealed in. Nor will you be slipping your MicroSD card in there because memory is non-expandable (don’t go there – because we plan to later in the Media section!)

The chassis is made from aluminium, which has been given a ‘micro-arc oxidisation treatment’…the same as they do with satellites.

It all sounds very swish and space age and sets the HTC One S up to take up a few extra knocks, which is handy since you’ll probably have this phone for two years. It fact, it puts us in mind of a Nexus One from back in the day a little bit. In principle, it looks great. In practice, it can cause a couple of problems.

Because this is a tall phone – and because HTC has elected to put the lock button at the top rather than at the side as some other manufacturers do – there is a certain amount of leverage to even unlock the phone.

And that’s only the beginning – the HTC One S is so uber stylish, HTC seems to have forgotten about the functionality of it. With anodized metal all over, this is one slippery customer. In the first few days of having it, we wince at recalling how many times we dropped it. Luckily only into our lap, but we can see a lot of people breaking these within the first few weeks.

The HTC One X, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to suffer this affliction thanks to the slight curve. And despite being protected with Corning Gorilla Glass, it’s not that robust.

We cared for our One S review unit like a newborn baby and still, we were dismayed to see what appears to look like a deep scratch at the bottom of the screen, which we can’t explain through normal use.

Indeed, you’ll need to wrap this baby up like a child in a case with screen protectors and protection galore. Maybe even take it to a church and get it blessed for extra protection. That does detract from the overall beauty

Interface

A few months back, HTC’s Chairwoman Cher Wang made a pretty frank admission regarding HTC Sense. She said it was too complicated. And legions of HTC fans would probably agree.

So, HTC has revamped it. There are lots of similarities to previous versions – but it just flows a lot better. Don’t forget, we are running Sense 4.0 atop Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and hats off to HTC for getting such a stable bit of tech out the door so quickly whilst other manufacturers dither about.

The Sense launcher gives you seven homescreens to play with – which can’t be expanded. On prior handsets, there was the option of spinning to the last homescreen and it would go back to the beginning like a full circle but that’s now gone for some reason.

You can quickly move to another by pinching the screen which gives a full overview. There’s little lag here and despite having a dual-core 1.5GHz processor compared to the One X’s quad-core job, there is no stutter with live wallpapers as you move through screens – which seems odd since you’d expect the one with less power to have the problem.

HTC gives you a plethora of widgets to pick from and we love the implementation of it. Tap the screen and rather than the Android menu of old, you’re treated to a whole little interface with previews of said widgets.

One thing we do love here is that you get a mini view at the top of the screen of your homescreens and as you tap on a widget, it pops up into that screen and then lets you continue to add more.

There’s none of this adding a widget and then having to go through the whole process again to add a second one, bringing up menus and boxes etc. It just works simply and gracefully.

This being Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, there are some changes that’ll take a bit of getting used to and others that stalwarts will hate. For example, HTC used to give you toggles for things like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the pulldown notification bar which was a great help. Now, you’ll have to go through the

settings menu to do this (which has been moved into the notification bar itself) unless you install a dedicated widget.

We do like the Ice Cream Sandwich addition of contact pictures in the notification bar now when said person messages us.

Also, there’s no search softkey anymore, which we found we used a lot. You’ll have to have a Google widget on your homescreen instead which restricts your option slightly.

However, you do get a new multitasking button which brings up a very elegant view of running or recently used programmes and looks very nice indeed.

Contacts and Calling

Can we just say from the start – we are big fans of the way HTC manages its contacts. It’s had this nailed since the very beginning or at least for as long as we can remember.

It seamlessly pulls in all of your Google, Facebook, Twitter peeps etc and possesses an astonishing ability to then be able to identify duplicates and suggest which ones should be matched up to each other. Not surprisingly, this is also featured on the One S too.

Contacts

Contacts are accessed through the phone shortcut which you’ll find in the dock at the bottom of the screen. You’re presented with your most recent calls at the top and a few favourites with the phone number pad also up on screen.

That supports smart dialing so if, for example, you dial 323, it’ll bring up ‘Dad.’ Pretty standard fare nowadays but the kind of thing we’d definitely miss (and moan about) should it be left out.

There are four tabs at the bottom of the screen: Phone, People, Groups and Call history. Groups syncs all of those groups you’ve created in Google Contacts which is a real Godsend if you work like this (we do) and you can actually edit them directly on the phone. You’re presented with a beautiful layout here with contacts’ images displayed as rather large thumbnails.

It all looks absolutely gorgeous and HTC has managed to identify which ones look best so pulls in the highest res contacts from your plethora of authorised social networks, rather than giving you large, pixilated, ugly things. It also ties in nicely with the widgets that you can pile onto the homescreen to take full advantage.

We love the fact that you can also block callers directly from the handset which should help until your stalker realises they should just add ’141′ to your number.

Another nice touch is being able to search for numbers using Google Voice Actions which works remarkably well.

Calling

We found making and receiving calls to be a pleasant experience on the HTC One S. We certainly had no issues with connections and this handset managed to keep hold of callers as we traveled.

If we have one criticism, it’s that the bass on the earspeaker doesn’t sound brilliant. We felt it could have done with a bit of oomph but that’s us being picky and it’s certainly not awful.

Messaging

Messaging is where the HTC One S really comes into its own. There are more messaging options available than you probably have things to say. And of course, this is Android which means you add loads and loads more depending on your needs.

On initial setup, you’re invited to sign into a number of services from the obvious Google to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Exchange. Then off you go.

Bog standard messages are easy enough and look pretty. Everything is laid out nicely as it always has been with contact pictures and speech bubbles and the like.

We like being able to search the text of messages from the very top of the application and there are loads of options including being able to back your SMS up to email which is really helpful.

We used a third party app to do this before so we had the sentimental ones safely saved but this brings it all in house. And don’t forget the rather excellent contacts integration which lets you see how you’ve communicated with a particular person from the phone section itself too.

New messages and various other IM alerts are brought to your attention by the notification bar which you can swipe down and then tap to go to each relevant app.

As for email, if you’re a Gmailer, you’re spoilt for choice. You have the new Gmail app (complete with widget) which really looks great and adds a lot more functionality (we’ve covered that in depth in our Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich review) or the HTC Mail app which also does a stellar job, and looks after your IMAP and Exchange accounts

The only thing we don’t like about HTC is the way its phones handle HTML messages.

Firstly, they don’t download images automatically (yes, we know there can be security risks but for regular senders, you should be allowed to set up a preference at least) and when they do, they’re not formatted for the screen.

Apple has nailed this since day one with the whole email laid out nicely whereas the HTC One S (and other Android handsets) zooms in on the top left and then leaves you to pan around with your fingers all over the place. It’s all very odd.

As for the keyboard, we’re sad to say that HTC has lost it a little bit. We always loved the HTC keyboard on older devices but it doesn’t seem to have the same flair here. We couldn’t quite put our finger on what it was but text input was not as easy or as fluid as in days gone by.

And one thing that really irritated us was the fact that we kept hitting the wrong button and deleting characters. We tried recalibrating the keyboard which did provide temporary respite but then it started acting up again.

One saving grace of the keyboard is that, like the Sony Xperia S, HTC has made the One S’ keyboard double up as a Swype-style affair too which means you can zip along at higher speeds.

You can also download a gazillion different third party versions and we can recommend others like Smart Keyboard Pro or Swiftkey without hesitation.

Internet

With the HTC One S being an Ice Cream Sandwich handset, there is one major plus here and that is that you can take advantage of Google Chrome which runs on ICS.

We’ve been using it for months and love the fact that it syncs your bookmarks with your desktop constantly as well as things like your history (which can be kinda embarrassing.)

But that’s no longer necessary thanks to this browser which actually lets you sign in and sync your bookmarks too! Genius. More on the bookmarks in a second.

Pages load in a jiffy using the built-in browser too – be they over 3G or Wifi and they render almost immediately. We had a couple of occasions loading text and image heavy pages where there was a minor lag but it was barely noticeable.

Our unit was on a par with both the Samsung Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S which we tested side by side. We love the fact that (and this is an Android feature) you can just type in an address or search term to the box and it differentiates between the two and knows what you’re after.

Other lovely inclusions are elements like the address bar and Android options disappearing as you scroll down a page and only reappearing when you go back to the top, thereby utilising the screen space to its full potential.

Zoomed out, pages don’t look amazing. That’s due to the resolution and because we’re comparing the screen to the HTC One X and Apple iPhone 4S.

Having said that, they don’t look bad by any stretch of the imagination and, in practice, how long do any of us stare at the whole web page before we dive in and start reading? As soon as you tap to zoom, it looks brilliant.

Pages reformat when you tap them to make them automatically fit and then you can go further by pinching outwards to make the text as large as you want.

Even when it’s completely humungous, the HTC One S will continue to reformat it so that it fits to the screen. It works so well. You get the feeling that they have really thought about their browser over the years and keep working hard to enhance the experience.

There is one slight blip in that HTC One S gives you an option to load desktop sites instead of mobile sites. It’s clear as day what it is supposed to do. Except with several sites (including TechRadar), it continued to load the mobile version, annoyingly.

Flash is supported which is always nice. We’re not so hung up on it as we were, say, 12 months ago as even Adobe seems to have conceded (probably helped a little by Apple) that it is a bit of a dead man walking.

Adobe will no longer continue to support flash on mobile devices post Ice Cream Sandwich but at least you’ll still be able to open sites that haven’t been updated rather than getting an error message.

HTC has also given us its own version of Apple’s ‘Reading List’ which loads particular pages up for you in a text-friendly mode. You can also save offline web pages through the ‘Saved’ tab in bookmarks for easier reading on the commute as well.

Bookmarks can be accessed through a widget on the homescreen or through a menu at the top. That menu has so many options for you to pick from in terms of what you want the browser to do – such as sharing through social networks or printing the web page.

It’s great for geeks like us but may be a little too much for those who are new to smartphones though we concede HTC can’t please everyone and we’re certainly happy to have lots of choice.

Media

For those friends of yours who are bound to say: “Oh well, it’s not an iPhone”, show them the media section of the HTC One S and watch their jaws drop. Or at least look a little bit intrigued that a company other than Apple has managed to make a phone with a top-notch media experience.

We should start by pointing out a large flaw: only 16GB of onboard storage and no option for expansion, and some of that space is taken up by the OS, which means serious music lovers will be left with the same amount of storage as a basic iPhone 4S.

We’re sorry – but this is less a disappointment and more disgrace. What on earth are you thinking, HTC? Are you crazy? By all means, cap the memory at 16GB but at least give us the option of expanding it ourselves if that’s the case.

Had this been an entry-level device, we’d understand. But this is a premium handset and we just don’t understand it. Yes, HTC tries to soften the blow by pointing out you get loads of space on its new friend Dropbox for the life of the handset, but it’s not an elegant or speedy solution by any means.

HTC has really shot itself in the foot because any music lovers who don’t want an iPhone and don’t want to carry around something as big as the HTC One X in their pockets have been frozen out here.

Music

HTC has arranged all of its music elements into a hub, appropriately called Music. In there, you’ll find a ‘My Phone” icon which takes you to your personal library as well as Soundhound, the excellent TuneIn Radio and 7Digital.

Any other apps that you download with a musical leaning will also appear automatically, such as Amazon MP3. The major formats all appeared to be supported in our tests.

It’s all presented well with your most recent songs also available on screen. Go into the ‘My Phone’ section and you’re given a gorgeous album art display which really shows off your tunes. And when you actually play a song, it’s all integrated with the other apps. So you can choose to look for that song on YouTube or elsewhere.

Soundhound is also integrated here and gives you some really cool options from looking up lyrics (it actually just does a Google search rather than consulting some huge database of its own) as well as letting you look for tour dates for the artist you’re listening to and go off on a tangent into other things.

You’ll definitely never get bored waiting for the bus here. It even brings up a Google Map showing you where you conducted your search from. Which will be handy if you’re in the boot of a car having been kidnapped. But we can’t see how else.

There are so many other nice touches too. You can update album art automatically. Or queue songs rather than creating playlists. HTC has done a – frankly – excellent job here.

Adding to the experience is the Beats Audio tie-in. This appears to be HTC’s pet project at the moment but, having invested something like $500m for a 51% stake in Dr Dre’s music solution, it’s safe to say Cher Wang and Co are pretty serious about it.

Firstly, the disappointment. Depending on the network you go with, you might not get a pair of Beats Audio headphones in the box. You’ll have to save up for them yourself.

But, the good news is that you still get some benefit without them. Beats Audio doesn’t work with the speaker on the back of the HTC One S but just try streaming music via Bluetooth to a car stereo (as we did) or listening with bog standard headphones and you’ll definitely notice its far superior sound.

We’ll not dress it up – it’s not like having the Black Eyed Peas singing to you in person – but it’s certainly clear and gives you a bit more bang for your buck. Oh, and you get an FM radio too! Bonus!

Video

As for video, HTC hasn’t bundled its own player and there isn’t really an all-singing all-dancing version in there, either. Yes, you can access them through the gallery but it’s hardly the same.

Google offers you a Play Movies app which ties in nicely with its own sales and rental store. You can play personal videos through this but we’d describe the experience as passable rather than remarkable.

As we stated in our original HTC One X review, it’s not designed for giving the most information if you’re watching a TV series and you’re probably best hunting out a third party market solution.

HTC Watch is also bundled in and provides an alternative to the Google store. It’s been about a year since this launched (initially on the Sensation) and whilst, it’s not bad, it’s not amazing. You’ll find something in there if you’re really bored but Lovefilm or Netflix, it aint.

However, HTC has begun something called ’5p Weekends’, allowing you to download movies for, you guessed it, 5p (around seven cents). There are some decent titles on there too, and got us actually using the service too.

At least, if you do have something worth watching, the One S will not tire out your hands due to its shape and weight. But be warned again, you’re likely to drop it. So make sure you wrap it up.

Camera and Video

Camera

You can tell HTC has decided it really needs to concentrate on its camera efforts. A recent study showed that the camera is the main selling point now for people when they buy a mobile and HTC must have figured this out.

It’s been offering up decent cameras for a while now not had bad cameras for a while (though we do wince to remember the truly awful snappers on the likes of the HTC Magic!) but HTC has obviously decided to keep on ploughing ahead.

The HTC One S comes with a powerful 8MP snapper on board. It’s a real belter here and we’d say it definitely gives the Samsung Galaxy S2 a run for its money.

HTC has made a real point of stressing how quickly it can take photos and we can verify this is not all marketing speak. You can fire this phone up from standby and have a photograph snapped in less than two seconds.

And that includes going through the unlock procedure. It really is amazing. There is a downside in that it obviously doesn’t have time to automatically focus so quickly but you can do this manually by tapping on the screen. For very quick, spontaneous pics, it’ll serve you well.

Whatsmore, when you take the photo, there’s no fancy animation of the photo slipping into the gallery before you take another picture business. It is ready to go immediately. If you’re somebody who takes photos in quick bursts, this really is a phone for you.

The only thing we’re sad to see missing is a dedicated camera shutter button which would have been the icing on the cake.

The HTC One S also has a very nifty, and very bright, LED flash. We found it achieved some pretty cool results when we used it in low light conditions…even if it did make everyone in sight squint.

HTC has given us a ton of cool filters and these – plus the treasure trove of settings – are all available easily enough from the shooter screen.

We’re not talking the basic ones you get on every phone but never use but some really impressive Instagram-esque effects that you can apply whilst taking the photo – things like Vignette, Depth of Field and Vintage.

Unfortunately, there’s no ability to apply these same effects after you’ve taken the photo so, for example, we couldn’t apply a tilt-shift to a picture which is a bit limiting.

You do get other features that you can add for post production but they’re nowhere near as exciting, although you can download the likes of Instagram to help that out.

If you indulge in this as well, you’ll be able to do some serious fun damage to your snaps.

There’s also the front camera – that snaps at VGA resolution. But unless you’re particularly vain, we can’t see that being a problem.

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Video

We’re massive fans of one of the new features which means that you can actually take a photo whilst shooting a video of the same thing. It’s such a basic idea. Such an obvious element. Yet we’ve never seen it anywhere before.

And now we have it, we don’t know how we’ll do without it when HTC makes us give them the One S back!

The video camera can shoot up to full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 but it’s set to QHD (960×540) by default. You get a ton of options in there to change from stabilisation to video recording and, despite our moans in the previous section about the Dropbox integration with music, it works to your advantage here with the option to upload your videos (and photos) automatically when on Wi-Fi so they’re always safe.

Watching videos back on the screen is an awesome experience. They look amazing. Sadly, watching them back on a computer screen wasn’t nearly as breathtaking.

They’re not bad by any stretch but there’s just no wow factor. However, despite all the bells and whistles, this is a phone camera so we’ll not be too harsh.

Battery Life and Connectivity

Battery

OK, so HTC has never been known for its amazing batteries. We know that. And we’ve read your comments in the HTC One X review too where opinion seems to shift from ‘What do you expect?’ to ‘That’s outrageous.’

So, in the interests of peacemaking let’s just chuck this into the mix: The battery life on the HTC One S is… pretty darn good.

Yep, we’re as shocked as you are. But that 1650mAh unit gives a good fight. It may not be to everybody’s tastes having a battery that is sealed in but it didn’t faze us too much. We don’t think there are that many people (geeks aside) who carry spare batteries around with them.

What people do tend to do is have a USB cable in their bag for a boost at work, a car charger in the brum-brum or one of those portable battery chargers in their bag. Let’s be honest – if you run out of juice, you’re hardly going to be out on a limb in most cases these days.

And there’s no reason you should run out of juice on the HTC One S if you’re sensible with your usage. We hammered the battery and were still very pleased with what we got out of it.

For example, one day, we took it off charge at 9am, browsed the net, sent a few tweets/emails and made about 40 minutes worth of calls. At 1pm, we fired up the FM Radio and Runkeeper Pro and went for a 90 minute run with the GPS on that whole time.

At 3pm, we were in the car with the HTC One S connected to the stereo via Bluetooth streaming music (and live radio thanks to the Car app which we’ll mention in the next section) and using Google Maps Navigation for about 90 minutes again until the battery conked out at just after 4:30pm. Bear in mind, the screen was on for that whole 90 min period too!

Now, 9am-4:30pm sounds shocking (or ‘standard’ if you owned a T-Mobile G1 – the first Android device to hit these shores) but this is running the phone very hard. In fact, we’d say it’s not even heavy usage but borders more on the sadistic end of the scale.

And it really held its own. We were really pleasantly shocked by its stamina and can confidently say that if you’re a low to medium user, you’ll definitely get a day and a bit out of this though it would probably be prudent to charge it every night.

Connectivity

As for connections, they are all here. Your obvious ones like HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth all turn up to the party. Unlike the HTC One X there’s no NFC inside, but HTC is rolling this out slowly to its handsets.

Whilst the future of NFC is pretty exciting now that the other manufacturers are getting on board at long last, there’s nothing major here just yet to get us salivating.

Bluetooth is now of the 4.0 variety which means it’s pretty futureproof with the advancements we’re about to see (check out our ‘What is Bluetooth‘ article for more on that) plus Wi-Fi b/g/n are the options for fast data usage.

As standard, you get the Wi-Fi hotspot feature which has come in extremely handy for us on past occasions. We’re not massively thrilled with the lack of Mac connectivity support as you may have gathered from the Media section but at least if you’re rocking a PC, you’re in good company here.

DLNA is supplied as standard on the One S so if you fancy hooking this up to, say, a PS3 or capable TV to blast out some tunes or video, you’re in luck.

We’re annoyed with the support for Apple users. Or, rather, the lack of it. We couldn’t sync with a Mac with the HTC Sync software only appearing to support Windows. What is this? The 90′s?

OK, so it’s easily fixable if you download an alternative like iSyncr or DoubleTwist but that really takes the shine off it when you have to start figuring this all out yourself. Especially if you’re a new HTC user.

Maps and Apps

Maps

HTC has never been one to scrimp on the apps it includes and we’re glad that it continues to be so generous. We’re not talking bloatware like some other makers here but genuinely useful and fun bits.

As standard, you’ll get all the Google offerings. And that includes the excellent Google Maps which looks amazing on the HTC One S screen. We’d expect no less on an Android phone but Google Maps on Android really does look so much better when compared side by side to an iPhone.

Although third party navigation apps are available (we have Co-Pilot loaded just in case), the seamless combination of Google Maps and Google Navigation is really a lesson in how it should be done.

It’s not flawless though – for example, sometimes listings are off as we found out last week when trying to navigate to our local Town Hall and ended up going around in circles – but on the whole it is excellent and providing you have a data signal, you’ll reap the benefits especially with real time traffic data on the go.

However, have an offline maps app (such as HTC Locations) for when abroad as it guzzles that data like Nan with the sherry at Christmas. GPS is quick to lock on. It’s not as fast as the Samsung Galaxy S2 which really did awe us when we tried it out for the first time – but only takes an extra second or two to get a fix.

HTC Locations is another ball game altogether and one that you probably won’t be using all that often. It’s mostly a sat-nav service, but one that’s far more in-depth than the Google maps Navigation offering that most will use.

There’s access to more in-depth traffic reports, speed cameras and voice guidance from a range of characters. It’s also got wide-ranging information on cash machines, petrol stations and more – and you can download the maps to enable offline viewing of practically anywhere in the world.

The only real downside is the fact you’ve got to pay for most of it – we highly doubt many will fork out £4 a month to get access to most of the features on offer here. It’s a good service, but one that’s mostly out-flanked by Google Maps.

Apps

The HTC One S links all the mapping elements above very nicely with the Car app. You can fire this up manually or set it up so that when your phone connects to the car via Bluetooth, it kicks in all by itself.

On the display, you have a clock in the centre with four key shortcuts: Phone, Google Maps Navigation, Music and Internet Radio (courtesy of TuneIn). We tried all four and they worked brilliantly. It’s a very competent effort.

Aside from that, there’s a multitude of widgets available on the One S (although most of the clocks we have seen before as they’ve been around years), Mirror (for when you want to use the VGA camera to check you still look hot), the rather addictive Teeter game and YouTube for browsing tap dancing cats and discovering the new Rebecca Black.

All these apps are presented in the standard 5×4 HTC configuration in the app drawer and you can choose to browse them by those you’ve downloaded specifically, those you’ve used the most or just look at everything together.

We would like the option of hiding some apps (things like keyboards are not really apps so heaven knows why they appear in the app drawer) but you can’t do this unless you download a third party launcher. And if you do that, you lose some of the top HTC widgets. Bah!

Final Thoughts

We thoroughly enjoyed using the HTC One S. We expected it to be a poor man’s One X but were really pleasantly surprised. Rather than being a cheaper alternative, it compliments the larger device and, in another world, this could have been the flagship handset.

It’s more of an evolution of the HTC Sensation range: slimmed down, nicer finish and far more feature rich.

We liked

HTC has clearly been watching how other manufacturers implement media and has been taking detailed notes on how to improve on them. It’s an excellent solution as is the class-leading way it looks after your contacts.

Call quality was excellent and things like being able to backup your important SMS messages go a long way. Plus, the browser is top notch and small touches like the camera taking photos at the same time as video and Beats Audio integration really put a smile on our face.

We disliked

Don’t get us wrong, the design is beautiful. But the HTC One S is just asking to be dropped and we’re not sold on the integrity of that Gorilla glass. We also couldn’t work out why Sense seems to still only give us seven homescreens now and why Mac users appear to have been frozen out.

And don’t get us started on that 16GB limited memory or we’ll end up simply losing the plot. It’s good HTC has packed this to the rafters with decent media ability, but to then mock us with so little storage (and no larger option on the horizon) really ruins a great phone.

Panasonic – inventor of the pricey though often awesome Active Shutter 3D system has rather predictably taken commercial realities onboard and fitted its 37-incher with Passive 3D tech, which Panasonic calls Easy 3D.

The differences between the two technologies is explained here, though the use of Easy 3D on the TX-L37ET5 means that four pairs of featherlight 3D glasses are included in the box. Identical to the types used in 3D cinemas, the sheer number and breakability of these polarised glasses (they only cost a few quid to replace) immediately makes 3D more appealing to families.

Only kids’ films seems to make it onto 3D Blu-ray in any number, anyway, so we’d class 3D as a tech for families, not film buffs. A wise move, then, by Panasonic, though it does mean that the LCD panel inside the Edge LED-backlit TX-L37ET5 is sourced from LG, maker of the Film Patterned Retarder screen at the heart of the (once) rival 3D tech.

Elsewhere the TX-L37ET5′s key selling point is likely to be its Smart VIERA moniker, which comprises both home networking and a burgeoning on-demand hub called VIERA Connect. Thankfully fuelled by a built-in Wi-Fi module (it’s actually clipped onto the back), VIERA Connect has added not only a number of apps to its service (namely Netflix) to join the likes of the BBC iPlayer, BBC News and YouTube, but also a web browser and a shopping dimension that covers both games and hardware.

Looks-wise the TX-L37ET5 is nothing particularly special, although its use of a transparent plastic trim around the bezel is a good-looking move. Measuring 22mm wide, that bezel isn’t particularly slim, though the TX-L37ET5′s 40mm depth is reasonably good value on an entry-level TV that’s largely about features, convenience and value rather than no-holds-barred picture quality.

Features

Despite claiming Edge LED backlighting, Full HD resolution and a Freeview HD tuner that can make recordings to USB, the headline act on the TX-L37ET5 is undoubtedly its Easy 3D system. Based around an alien panel – made by LG – this once-only replacement by Panasonic of its own active shutter 3D system isn’t quite as strange as it seems.

Easy 3D, which uses completely passive 3D glasses, is a softer experience altogether; the glasses are just £1 to replace (and there are four of them in the box already), lighter and more comfortable to wear, and there’s no need to recharge them. When compared to active shutter specs, which need syncing and even pairing with a TV if Bluetooth is used (which can get tricky, especially if you use them with multiple TVs), Easy 3D deserves its name.

Active shutter 3D tech can be disappointing on LCD panels – especially affordable types like this one – so Panasonic’s use of Easy 3D should be thought of as filling a gap in its range by speccing-up the reasonably cheap ET5 line-up.

The actual panel, which at 37-inch is perhaps a little small for truly immersive 3D, has a Panasonic GUI slapped over LG-made hardware that uses a blinking backlight to reach its 300Hz claim; this is actually a 100Hz panel.

Ins and outs include four HDMI slots – all housed in the TX-L37ET5′s side – accompanied by component video and composite video (which actually share the same input thanks to some proprietary adaptors), a D-sub 15-pin (again a ‘mini’ version) for attaching a PC, a sole Scart (via an adaptor), some phono inputs, an optical audio output (for taking Freeview audio to a home cinema), and a headphones jack.

There also an SD card slot and an impressive three USB slots, including two powered versions, which we assume is a legacy of the same chassis’s use on Panasonic’s active shutter 3D sets where the glasses need recharging via USB.

For the first time VIERA Connect includes a browser that’s compatible with graphics-heavy HTML5 sites, though not with Flash. The browser is a separate download – actually from the ‘games’ folder – amid quickly expanding Viera Marketplace, which includes a plethora of apps and accessories that can be purchased.

Set-up involves creating an account (that annoyingly needs a very long password and PIN number) and adding payment details. Games are limited to Asphalt 5 (€5.74) and some free versions of Uno, Let’s Golf and the usual chess and Sudoku, though a separate Shopping area sells games controllers and keyboards from Logitech, and Panasonic-made Skype headsets and 3D glasses.

Thankfully Wi-Fi powers all of this, and its DLNA home networking dimension, though a wired LAN option is also available.

Picture quality

Although we’re chomping at the bit to try out the TX-L37ET5′s Easy 3D system, it’s immediately obvious that this TV has a well-made LED-backlit LCD panel at its heart; there’s no light leakage from LED clusters at the extremities of the panel, though that’s tempered by a quickly fading image if you watch from the wings. Contrast suffers particularly on a set that doesn’t deliver inky tones even viewed from the centre, though black levels are the right side of acceptable.

A tight viewing angle aside, Freeview HD channels sparkle, with lots of vibrant colours and plenty of detail, but the latter takes a slight dive with our 2D Blu-ray test disc, The Rum Diary. As Kemp is egged-on by Chenault in a ‘who screams first’ contest, the speeding red Austin-Healey remains intact thanks not only to judicious braking, but also Intelligent Frame Creation, which we used on its lowest setting to banish blur and judder.

Sadly the whole scene – including close-ups – suffers from what looks like ‘jaggies’, poorly defined horizontal lines. It’s down to the make-up of the polarising filter on the front of the TV – and it’s much more of a problem on DVD and standard definition sources.

It’s perhaps the same physical attribute that takes something away from SD channels; Empire on BBC One looks noisy and lined, in complete contrast to a HD broadcast, though DVDs and a clutch of DivX files are upscaled relatively cleanly.

To see how the TX-L37ET5 handles 3D we engaged IMAX favourite Legends of Flight on 3D Blu-ray. In a bright scene (though slightly dulled by the donning of the 3D specs) of a glider swooping past the Rocky Mountains it’s obvious that this is a relatively soft 3D image. Not only is there noticeably less detail, but the horizontal lines of the picture are constantly visible.

We also spotted some double imaging, or crosstalk, both at the tips of the wings as they swing past close to the camera, and in some of the mountainous background, though it’s only a seriously distracting problem on extreme foreground objects. It’s an issue that gets more serious if you watch the image from anywhere else but dead centre.

Most importantly, the experience is never tiring, 3D depth effects are mostly impressive, and it’s all a lot more versatile than active shutter; we watched Piranha in 3D with sun streaming in through windows without any problems.

We also put the TX-L37ET5 into 3D conversion mode, and the results with The Rum Diary were rather good. Slight, perhaps, but easy to watch with inconsistencies in depth effects less obvious than on active shutter 3DTVs. In one scene as Kemp and Sala walk around a palm-fringed crescent beach the various lines of trees are separated from each other and really do standout as 3D elements. It’s a neat trick on a TV that struggles to impress us on any one aspect, but remains a great all-rounder.

Usability, sound and value

The initial set-up is a cinch; choose your country, and the TX-L37ET5 immediately goes into DVB-T2 mode, tuning-in as many digital TV channels as it can find. In our test it found the entire roster of SD and HD channels inside a few minutes, and ordered them by signal strength.

The latter is useful if you plan to use the TX-L37ET5 in a room with dodgy digital TV signals (we’ve all got one of those). The TX-L37ET5 then gives us a choice of linking to a wired or wireless network before performing a short connection test.

The success of the user interface hangs on a remote control. The one that ships with the TX-L37ET5 is a slightly smaller version than in previous years, and more like the style included with Panasonic’s Blu-ray players.

Smaller numbered buttons is the biggest change, which will make VIERA TVs instantly less appealing to those with poor sight. Ironically, the TX-L37ET5 does have an all-new Voice Description feature, which works by announcing on-screen information using synthetic speech and gives clear instructions on how to navigate around the TV menu.

Elsewhere the remote seems a little lop-sided; the usual navigational arrows and OK button are flanked by the less-than-necessary VIERA Tools shortcut, and buttons for Internet (VIERA Connect) and Guide (Freeview), while the more important Menu button is more anonymous.

The 8-day Freeview guide is strictly functional, with a spreadsheet look to it that covers two hours of scheduling for seven channels, killing both picture and sound when activated. How quaint. Selecting a programme to watch is somewhat fiddly, too, with a screen popping-up offering to set a view or set a timer to record; the latter ought to be assigned to a coloured Fastext button, though at least it flags-up the TX-L37ET5′s ability to record Freeview programmes to a docked HDD or USB thumbdrive.

VIERA Connect is the finest smart TV interface around, at least in looks. The nuanced graphics and the recessed, almost 3D look to them is really quote stunning although moving between the separate screens is a bit of a pain. It’s best to spend a bit of time customising exactly where the icons for each app go so to keep all of your favourites on the start-up screen.

From a networked PC we managed to stream AVC HD, MOV, MP4 and AVI video files, FLAC and MP3 music, and JPEG photos, while from USB it also supported MKV video.

Sound

With two 10W speakers the TX-L37ET5 is perhaps a tad more powerful than most 37-inchers, and it results in a typically (for Panasonic) impressive – that’s to say, just above average against some pretty lowly competition – audio performance.

A shortcut on the remote control for Surround toggles between ‘normal’, V-Audio and V-Audio Surround modes. The latter splices-up the soundstage but never lives up to its name; best rely on V-Audio, which provides a consistent and versatile balance that gives a fuller sound to dialogue, just enough mid-range and fake bass for the odd film to sound acceptable, and a decent stereo image.

It’s hardly a replacement for a decent soundbar or home cinema, but it’s a good all-round performance that will suit a lot of smaller living rooms. There’s also a music setting, which is more engaging for tunes.

Value

Panasonic is selling the TX-L37ET5 for a touch under £850, though a quick browse online finds it for as little as £749. That’s fair value for a nicely design TV that’s fitted not only with a family-friendly, convenient 3D system, loads of online goodies on VIERA Connect and some reasonable networking and even recordings features.

Chuck in a generous collection of ins and outs that will allow changes in set-up and situation, and we’d judge this a good value all-rounder.

Verdict

Easy 3D may not be able to match the ultimate detail of active shutter variants, but who cares? It’s err, easier to live with and, let’s face it, 3D as a format is only ever going to make an occasional appearance in the living room. Who wants to shell-out £50 on 3D specs when £1 will get you a performance that’s at least half as good? Not families, that’s for sure.

Packed with features and nothing if not good value, the TX-L37ET5 marries Easy 3D to an excellent smart TV dimension and a versatile, if occasionally flawed, treatment of myriad video sources.

We liked

Nicely designed and well built, this set features a great online hub and we like its support of MKV files, too. 3D pictures and hi-def fare well, and even the 2D-3D conversion worked relatively well in our test. Meanwhile, VIERA Connect continues to expand in a thoroughly slick manner.

We disliked

The 3D image isn’t as sharp as on active shutter 3DTVs; the horizontal structure of the image is obvious, though arguably the panel’s lack of contrast is just as much to blame for the lack of immersion. Though DVD looks OK, standard definition channels lack pizzazz.

It’s clear from the outset what HTC is trying to do with the One X: shake off the slight doom and gloom surrounding the brand’s fall in profits, and bring out a slick, powerful and, more importantly, useable handset that only costs £36 per month (about $57) on a two year deal.

With Ice Cream Sandwich running from the outset, this is the phone that really takes HTC to the next level – but is it a case of too much, too soon for a brand that’s still really just over a decade old?

Design

HTC’s phones have been slowly moving towards sleeker design ever since the purchase of One & Co (which may have had more than a little to do with the new naming strategy) and the release of the HTC Legend.

Since then, unibody designs and smooth likes have been a feature of its devices, and that principle has been evolved with the HTC One X.

However, before you read any further, a note of caution: if you’re not willing to accept a pretty large phone, then you’re better off waiting for the likes of the HTC One S – the One X is a large piece of phone estate in your hand.

But it’s that large 4.7-inch screen that is such a stunning feature of the One X – it’s a 720p HD display packed into a chassis that’s only 8.9mm thick. Plus it’s also using the Super IPS LCD 2 technology that, while it lacks the vivid colour reproduction of Samsung’s Super AMOLED range, really brings games and movies to life.

We’re not going to get into the pros and cons of OLED vs LCD – suffice to say, it’s a matter of choice whether you prefer improved contrast ratios or a more true to life colour reproduction. In our opinion, both are excellent and the One X will certainly not disappoint.

Like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it’s got a pixel density (screen sharpness) that rivals the iPhone 4S, but does it on a screen that’s over an inch larger. It’s one of those devices that you have to see to really believe, but there’s a good chance you’ll confuse it with a shop model with a static image Sellotaped onto the front.

The rest of the phone design is, again, pretty subjective. For the large size, it’s very light indeed at 130g. That’s quite a bit heavier than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2 (14g, in fact) but in reality you’ll consider it to be almost impossible to feel in the pocket.

The rest of the phone is pretty minimal in design. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, we’re offered some physical (well, touch sensitive) keys on the front of the HTC One X, meaning the display won’t need to jump up and down to show the contextual versions.

There’s an expected volume rocker switch on the right-hand side, a power button on the top (accompanied by a 3.5mm headphone jack) and a microUSB slot on the left-hand side – which also doubles a Mobile High-Definition Link to hook up to a TV.

It’s a very sparse offering on a phone that’s so expansive in its design, and leads to a very minimalist feel, which will likely appeal to many.

That effect is compounded by the microSIM slot on the back of the phone, which requires an Apple-esque device to open it up – and there’s no microSD support to be found here either, with the battery locked into the unibody design.

While the smaller SIM will be a slight annoyance to those upgrading from the full-size version, the lack of a microSD slot will be a big worry for many, especially as HD movies and large games will play very well on a phone like this.

There is 32GB of onboard storage, but that’s not going to be enough for the ilk of smartphone user that wouldn’t buy an iPhone until capacity was raised to 64GB.

The rear of the phone features the 8MP camera, which protrudes quite a lot from the handset, but thanks to the slightly curved nature of the chassis, doesn’t affect the phone too much when resting on a table.

The power button on the top of the phone can be quite hard to hit with the phone resting in the palm if you’ve not got the largest hands in the world, although the travel is such you’ll hit it pretty accurately most of the time, which is something some phones fail to manage.

The size is the main design issue we can see for most people – this sleek-looking, lightweight phone will appeal to both men and women, but those with smaller hands will struggle to use the HTC One X effectively without doubling down on their digits.

We reviewed the white version of the One X, and it’s worth noting that in a few hours it was quite dirty with fingerprint smudges and the like, so be warned you might want to fork out for a case too.

Interface

The HTC One X comes with a new overlay for the brand – it’s not a departure from the HTC Sense Android skin we’ve come to know and love, but it’s very much a stripped down version.

The same principles still apply though – a very different Android experience to that which you’ll find on most handsets running on the same OS, with a plethora of snazzy widgets and multiple homescreens to place them all over.

Now that the screen has the HD resolution and is boosted to a whopping 4.7 inches, there’s plenty of room to place the widgets left, right and centre. You’re still limited to seven scrollable home screens, but we doubt many people will want to go much higher than that.

The HTC One X also comes with a Tegra 3 quad core 1.5GHz processor, which to the uninitiated is the next level of mobile power packed into a smartphone. This is backed up by 1GB of RAM, and translates into a superbly slick action under the finger.

The same rotating, 3D design is apparent when you flick left and right through the homescreens, but HTC has done away with the ‘infinite rotation’ idea it’s been rocking for the last year… so when you go too far to the left, you can’t go any further.

If you want to access the homescreens in an exploded view, simply pinch in on the screen, where you can add or remove your homescreens with a simple long press.

Thanks to the fact the HTC One X is now using Android 4.0 (or Ice Cream Sandwich to you and me) the whole feel of the interface is much improved, with the new Roboto font making the appearance look much cleaner.

There have been some differences added in thanks to the new version of Android – for instance, the Settings are now accessed from the notifications bar (which can be called up by swiping down from the top of the screen from any application) rather than with a dedicated menu key (which has now been assimilated into the OS).

To compensate, there’s a new multitasking key on offer, making it easy to jump between applications. This is one of the first places the HTC One X actually displays a hint of slowdown, as popping open the 3D thumbnail list can cause a little bit of lag. Jumping between the open programs is a bit shifty as well; as it’s actually only a picture of the app you’re looking at, rather than the app itself.

This means a second or so of lag while you wait for the selected app to come to the fore – not really what you’d expect from a phone that’s meant to have one of the most powerful processors around. You can stop the app from running from this window though, simply by flicking the thumbnail skywards with a most satisying motion.

Plus, that’s one of the very few examples we can see of the HTC One X coming up with any kind of slowdown or lag – and the rest of the interface is simply marvellous.

For instance, thanks to the addition of Ice Cream Sandwich, all your notifications are now shown in a much larger and easy to see manner, with the option to get rid of anything you don’t want to look at with a simple left or right swipe. When you’ve got four different email accounts, missed calls and notifications from some apps, the last think you want is a clutter notifications bar, and this system means the end of that headache.

This new system does mean the days of being able to switch Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth on and off from the notification bar are gone – we’re not sure why this has happened with a simple update, but it’s likely Google has mandated it with Android 4.0.

The menu system has been changed AGAIN on an HTC phone (honestly, we don’t know how the company manages to keep doing this) with a new side-swipe action rather than the long list of apps scrolling vertically. It’s sometimes hard to keep track of which screen you’re on as the numbers at the bottom are a little small, and there’s also the confusion of the ‘Frequently Used’ and ‘Downloaded’ applications panes too, which look very similar.

However, HTC has cranked up the customisation options on the One X, meaning if you don’t like any given tab in most app you can simply hit the menu key, move the tabs around or get rid of them altogether.

Within the menu system there are a lot of new features too, with the likes of the Google Play store now included in the top right-hand area of the screen, making it easy to boost your app haul when you feel like it.

There are more changes afoot as well when it comes to the lock screen – the ‘fling a ring’ to unlock procedure is certainly becoming pretty iconic, and there’s more you can do with it now too. You’re already given four quick icons you can drag into the ring to activate upon unlocking, but now if you’ve got a missed call or a message you can suck that into the ring with a cool animation to open it as well.

You can even customise the lock screen so that you can see stock prices, weather updates, pictures or notifications whenever unlocking your phone – although be warned these can suck the battery a tad.

We mentioned the fact HTC has added a whole host of little flourishes to the One X that really float our boat, and one of the best is the fact that, even if it’s not permanently added the weather will pop up first thing in the morning to let you know how your day is going to pan out. Well, not totally – it’s not a psychic app, but it will help with the notion of whether you’ll need a jumper without the need to faff about asking your phone with your voice.

While all the above is well and good (very good, in fact) the question still remains: is it intuitive? Will the non-smartphone user be able to pick up the HTC One X and be able to use it easily? Well, the answer to that still has to be no – we’re not talking iPhone levels of simplicity or anything.

But that perceived weakness is also the phone’s strength – it’s so widget-tastic and simple to use once you’ve had a good play that it’s definitely one of the most intuitive and powerful interfaces out there. It’s just a matter of taste whether all the choices and things you can play with are really what you want on a smartphone.

Contacts

When it comes to contact management, HTC has always been at the head of the field in our opinion. It was one of the first brands to properly manage to integrate social networking into your phonebook, and has since evolved this process to be even slicker than ever.

The same is still true on the HTC One X, which manages to present a very quick and nimble view of every contact, and is helped by the greater onus placed on this feature by Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich overhaul. We’d thoroughly recommend you log into the likes of Facebook and Twitter before even firing up the phone’s contact system, as you’ll find many of your friends will already be linked, with profile pictures too, once you go in for the first time.

As we mentioned, Contacts has been upgraded with Android 4.0, and now can only be accessed through the Phone icon on the One X, and a little slide to the right to see all your chums. The layout is so much more expansive than it was too, with the list of friends easy to read and better spaced out than before.

Simply flicking the finger down the list is the easiest way to jump from one person to the next, although there’s a little slider bar that allows you to jump to the correct letter of the alphabet if you’re in more of a hurry and just HAVE to tell your sister you saw a squirrel fall into a pond.

As any HTC user will already know, social networking and HTC Sense are close bedfellows, and we’re in love with the way each person is displayed here. Little touches, like prioritising high quality Facebook profile pictures over lo-res Twitter ones, make the device look much neater – especially as we’re now given a much larger contact snap at the top of each name.

Editing your contacts is also something of a dream on the HTC One X, as you’ve got total control over which information is shown by default. This may not sound like a big deal, but if you’ve got three different profiles (say from Google, Twitter and Facebook, as well as the phone entry) you might have multiple contact names and pictures for the same person. Therefore, being able to choose the right info is really handy.

Once in the contact profile, HTC has added a mass of information to make it into a little hub for your buddy. This means not only do you have all the contact info, but any messages or email conversations you’ve had, call history and Facebook albums too. The latter is a much-improved feature from previous HTC handsets; no longer does it take minutes to download pics from your friend’s social networks, as it’s not only a few seconds to have a good ol’ stalk of people you find semi-attractive.

HTC has once again included Contact Groups, which is a really handy feature for its devices. While most other phones allow you to have this feature simply to send out group messages and the like, on the HTC One X you can create a Favourites group to display on the home screen with pictures, or a Co-workers option which you can have as a tab in the email inbox to jump straight to the important messages.

In short: HTC has nailed the Contacts integration on the One X, and long may it continue.

Calling

Calling on the HTC One X is improved once more, albeit with some slight flaws. Signal management is generally pretty good, with the bulk of the time seeing nearly full bars from the device.

However, there was more than one occasion when the handset would completely drop all connectivity, only to fire it back up again a few seconds later. It wasn’t life-threatening, but was most irksome when trying to check to see whether Portsmouth were still losing 3-1 (they weren’t – it ended 5-1 in the end).

Call quality, however, is much better. The noise reduction system worked very well in our opinion, as someone on the other end of the phone was able to hear us easily even when walking past a building site. However, the same person complained of a lot of wind in the background, despite it being an almost completely breeze-less day. We’re not sure what to make of that, other than concluding the One X has a very sensitive microphone.

Smart dialling is also included on the HTC One X, allowing you to tap into the phone’s keypad to call up the name of your intended recipient using the same system as predictive text. We really like this feature, as it saves you having to enter the Contacts app time and again – so we suggest you learn to use it as soon as you pick up the phone.

Messaging

Messaging on the HTC One X, like the Contacts app, is also top notch in our opinion. There’s the same cornucopia of messaging options: email, webmail, SMS, MMS, Google Talk, IM+… and many more if you’re going to get frisky in the Google Play store.

Setting everything up is mostly done as soon as you turn on the One X, as it’ll prompt you to sign into Google (which will instantly get you instant messaging and set up on Gmail) and then it’s an easy case of entering your user name and passwords for webmail or other email services. Some, like Exchange accounts, may require info like the domain or address of the server, so if you’re anxious to get up and running straight away we suggest a chat to your favourite grumpy IT bloke for the info.

Once you’re all set up though, the whole system is tip-top, once you have a play around with all the toys on offer. We’ve already covered the excellent feature that allows you to see which messages have been exchanged with a specific contact in the People tab, and in the messaging app itself we’re now treated to larger conversation bubbles, thanks to Google’s Android 4.0 system and the larger screen.

The keyboard HTC developed all those years ago is still one of the best on the market, allowing even the most fudge-fingered of users to see their intended words spring up before their very eyes. HTC seems to have done a little work on improving the accuracy here, as we were more impressed that ever with the level of functionality on offer.

It’s not the best keyboard to be found for Android phones (we suggest you check out the like of Swiftkey X in the Google Play portal, as it learns the way you type to offer some very clever next word predictions) but the built-in keyboard is going to be more than good enough for most people.

There are still a couple of gripes we found with it – for instance, when typing at speed you’ll find you may hit the full stop key instead of the space bar more often than you’d like. This can be rectified though if you spend some time calibrating the keyboard in the settings menu…although we’re not sure many people will ever drill down that far to find it.

There’s also the issue of the landscape keyboard not allowing you to see the message you’re replying to, although we’re not really sure how that one could be fixed given how large the keys are on the screen (and obviously, easier to hit, which will entice many).

Facebook and Twitter come pre-installed on the HTC One X, and while it’s annoying there’s no central hub to reply to these messages and DMs offline, you still get excellent notifications that speedily come through from the interwebs. Peep (HTC’s old own-brand Twitter client) has thankfully bitten the dust on the One X, meaning no more messages popping up hours later after being sent).

One other big upgrade from HTC on the One X and its new version of Sense is the ability to open a message from the lock screen. It was so frustrating before seeing a whacking great icon proclaiming someone wanted to talk to you, only for you to have to unlock the phone and drill down to the messaging app to see it. Now, a simple drag into the iconic HTC ring will open the message straight away – it’s nice to see a brand responding to fans’ criticisms.

The email client on the HTC One X is also still very good in our opinion, as it supports most features we’re looking for. Smart tags to open numbers and websites is on offer, as is the ability to see threaded messages in a much more user-friendly format than before.

HTC has reduced the amount of information going on with this app from previous iterations, so you’ll only see the information that you class as pertinent. So from being able to much more easily select multiple messages to delete, to being able to jump between accounts with a single tap on the account name in the corner, you’ll find using an HTC as your primary email device will be one of the better experiences.

There’s also a new feature called ‘Smart Sync’, which allows you to stop worrying about the frequency of your messaging updates and let the phone work out how often you’re checking your emails, and updating the inbox accordingly. It’s a fancy feature, but we didn’t notice much in the way of battery saving on the One X.

Internet

Internet browsing on HTC handsets has always been a pretty pleasurable experience, and that’s still the case on the HTC One X, especially with that whopping great screen to play around with. HTC has also upgraded the Android browser (thanks to the updates on offer from Ice Cream Sandwich) and the result is a mobile internet experience that packs a lot of desktop punch.

However, the first thing you’ll notice is the rendering speed of the One X internet browser isn’t particularly stellar. In our tests, we found that the overall loading speed of most websites was around a couple of seconds quicker than usual, which is what you’d expect with the Tegra 3 processor running things. But in terms of the time it took to actually see the words on the page of the site we were navigating to it wasn’t as quick an experience.

In fact, while the early loading speeds were fine, over both 3G and Wi-Fi connections we were a bit disappointed by the speed with which we could jump between sites on the One X.

It’s not terrible – far from it – but we were hoping that the quad core processor would offer some blisteringly fast speeds.

Let’s not get too down about that though, as there’s plenty more to get excited about here. For instance, the web pages look simply beautiful on the large 4.7-inch HD screen of the One X, with text legible even at full zoom.

Pictures look particularly dazzling as well, with the high-res nature of the web browser allowing you to get a decent overview of the page with a swift glance.

Once you get into reading an article on a site, the HTC One X comes into its own – as many HTC phones have done over the years.

For instance, there’s the excellent text re-flow system that still leaves all other Android phones in its dust – double tap on any section of text and it will re-jig itself to fit the screen.

You might say any phone these days does that, and you’d be right; but the HTC One X can take things one step further.

Pinch to zoom in even further, and the text will still reformat itself to fit on the screen, no matter how big the letters get, which means unlike the iPhone 4S, you can choose how big your reading experience is.

Speaking of Apple, HTC has stolen the ‘Reader’ feature from Safari – simply tap this icon at the top of any web article and it will jump into a new window with only the text and the minimum amount of pictures for company, making it easier to digest.

There’s sadly no option to take this offline at the moment, but we hope that will get added in at some point.

Flash is still supported on the HTC One X’s web browser, although we don’t think it’s going to be available on other phones too far in the future as Adobe seems to have given up on the system somewhat. However, there’s an easy toggle in the Settings that allows you to turn Flash video on and off, meaning you can speed up the web experience quite dramatically.

The Settings section has been given something of an overhaul too, with the excellent addition of ‘Desktop mode’ allowing you to bypass the annoying mobile sites if you so wish (and with this larger screen, we reckon you will frequently).

Some things have stayed the same thankfully – namely the bookmarks lists that makes it so easy to keep track of the sites you browse to the most frequently. Not only are your bookmarks clearly presented as thumbnails of the web page itself, but you’re also offered a ‘Most Visited’ pane that lets you pick the sites the browser has noticed you trot along to frequently.

You can also save websites to view later – while this is a feature that’s been around for a while, you can perform the same trick with web video now too. Sadly, still no support for offline reading, which is a bit sad, as that’s something the HTC’s of yesteryear used to love to offer

Media

Media on the HTC One X is, predictably, a great experience. We’ve moaned about certain aspects of the music and video player before, and while they’ve not all been addressed, we’re still happy that they’ve at least been evolved.

We’ll get a big problem out of the way first though: there’s no expandable memory card slot on offer here, with HTC ramming in 32GB of storage to compensate. This will probably be enough for most people, but there are those that really love to pack their devices with media, and hate the thought of having to pick and choose because of storage limitations.

Also, don’t forget that HD screen now supports HD movies too – with Google Play now supporting HD rentals and movie purchases, you’ll quite quickly fill up the internal memory if you’re not careful.

Music

The music player on the HTC One X is improved massively from the standard offering on the likes of the HTC Hero from just three years ago – there’s a new and re-tooled option to play with here, and it comes with high resolution album art and SoundHound integration.

The latter feature is a particularly good addition, as it allows you seemingly unlimited amounts of songs you can have listened to and get information back on. Simply tag the icon at the top of each song and you’ll be able to get lyric information, local gigs from the artist and info on the album if you fancied buying it.

However, and this seems like a massively missed trick again, you can’t have the album information ported to the file you’re listening to. When you consider that many people have a horrendously mis-managed MP3 collection, this would have been a godsend.

While we’re on that, there’s a wide range of format for playback on offer: AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MID, MP3, WAV and WMA if you’re interested.

Let’s get onto the better stuff though: the music player itself, boosted by Beats Audio integration. The interface is still very simple, which is important to many. There’s a home screen widget that lets you see which songs you’ve listened to recently, but even if you’ve bothered to update all your album art, this seems like more of a gimmick than anything else.

We weren’t given any Beats Audio headphones on our review HTC One X sample, but we’re told they will be coming to the final retail version. We luckily had a set kicking around and the difference between Beats Audio boosting being on and off was startling.

We’ve heard many opinions on whether the service is really as good as the likes of Dolby for improving sound, or whether it just makes everything sound very bass-heavy. We think it’s somewhere in between: you’ll notice a massive difference in sound quality when it comes to having the enhancement on and off, and that goes for mid-range and treble, not just bass.

However, it does tend to make songs sound overly complex at times, so it really comes down to personal preference as to whether Beats Audio is a real plus – but in our eyes, it very much is.

The Beats Audio booster is also now pervasive throughout the phone too, so other apps, like Spotify or the video player, will get to use the upgrade in sound quality.

The main music player home page is much more of a hub than ever before, with the addition of 7 Digital, SoundHound and TuneIn radio all designed to make it much more of a media experience.

Curiously, you can also add other apps in here, and not just those around music – for instance, a link to your favourite game or the Google Play Movie portal.

The effect is a little overwhelming at the start – it’s certainly a mile away from the simplicity of iOS or Windows Phone. However, if you’re into choice and music hubs when it comes to deciding how you’re going to get some tunes inside your brain, this is going to rock your world.

Video

HTC has been annoying us for years with the way it presents its videos, and while this has been slightly upgraded, it’s still just rubbish.

You enter the Gallery (no video player as a standalone app here) and you’re faced with any video folders you’ve created (that’s the update)… but no filenames, only large thumbnails.

That’s fine if you’ve got a hugely diverse video collection that looks radically different for each movie, but if you’re watching a series it gives you no information at all.

We recommend you download a new application immediately (mVideoPlayer is our pick thanks to an excellent bookmarking system) and improve your HTC One X post-haste.

Thankfully the movie playback experience is a lot, lot better than the one for trying to find the right file. Firstly, the video quality looks superb on the HTC One X screen, with a sharp definition to everything you want to watch.

Lower-light scenes aren’t the best if we’re honest though, and that’s where the Super LCD technology seems to struggle. It’s not rubbish, and much better than a lot of the phones on the market, but for your darker movies the Samsung Galaxy S2 is still the phone we’d turn to every time.

The main video player app also allows you to stream out to a smart TV or computer thanks to the inbuilt DLNA (the same system can be used to connect up to a Wi-Fi device or Bluetooth speaker in the Music app) which makes watching a film on the train then instantly popping it up to a large screen TV when you walk through the door an ace experience.

HTC’s not quite managed to live up to its promise of supported file types though, as while we managed to drop MP4 and 3GP file types onto the device without a problem, AVI files refused to play despite being listed as compatible.

In terms of getting content onto the HTC One X, that’s a little trickier, as if you’re limited to Google Play Movies, or the HTC Watch service. The former is good in that it allows you to download HD films; however the selection is limited and the cost is nearly £5 (about £8) just to RENT one of them, let alone buy it.

HTC Watch is slightly better, in that it’s better integrated into the phone already (with a much nicer widget to use) and has special offers than allow you to rent films from as little as 5 pence (about 8 cents) on occasion. However, the selection is lower and there’s no HD content on there yet.

The HTC One X is a great device for video playback, with rich colours, an excellent frame rate to minimise blur, and Beats Audio providing pretty rich sound (although we’d have preferred a spot of Dolby Mobile in there too.)

However, the navigation system needs to be sorted out somewhat, and the opportunity to get content on there needs to be boosted as well.

FM radio

We couldn’t jump through the media section without a nod to the FM radio – sure it’s a little archaic these days, but it’s a pretty good rendition on the HTC One X.

A simple scan found 12 stations in less than 10 seconds, which we consider to be pretty speedy considering we’ve watched the process take minutes. The One X doesn’t save them under their names (despite RDS being included) and there’s no opportunity to record radio or transmit the sounds via FM to a car stereo.

However, it’s a visual treat and hold stations very well through Beats Audio headphones, so if you’re into radio on the go you’ll like this a lot.

Camera & Video

The HTC One X has an 8MP camera on the back of the device, with a 1.3MP sensor on the front. The rear of the phone also packs a single LED flash, and enhanced optics to help increase the depth of photo.

HTC has made great strides with its camera software over the years, but with the One X it’s really outdone itself, allowing users to create so many more varied styles of photos and using the raw power of the quad core processor to good effect.

There are two sides to the camera – the large amount of settings you can tweak to actually get the photo in the first place, and the effects you can place on top to alter the output.

We’ll concentrate on the former first: you can tweak a vast number of settings from within the handset to help improve your picture quality on the go. Exposure, colour saturation and sharpness can all be controlled by separate slider bars, and a simple tap anywhere on the screen will auto-calibrate the brightness levels and focus on the desired object within a second.

There’s no dedicated shutter button, but if you’ve got the camera set up as one of the icons on your lock screen you can whip the phone out of your pocket and be snapping away in just under two seconds. It’s not the fastest on the market, but in real world tests we found it to be quick enough never to miss any important moments.

There are a variety of scene modes on offer as well – and these aren’t the bog standard ‘firework’ or ‘beach’ scenes that everyone intends to use but never gets round to. We’re talking the High Dynamic Range option, which takes a number of brightness levels from a single photo and interpolates them to make the best quality image, or a macro mode that can scarily close to any object.

The HDR mode is a little bit of a letdown if we’re honest, as it can blur very easily while processing the photo – it’s nowhere near the level of Apple’s HDR photography, which has been wowing us for some time now.

The other effects are very easy to use though – you can do things like simply making your photo black and white or covered in sepia, or you can get a little bit fancier and alter the depth of field to blur out the edges of a shot and only focus on the object at the centre of the photograph.

And on top of that there’s the fantastic shutter speed as well – you can set the HTC One X to capture photos at the rate of around 10 per second, allowing you to get some cracking motion shots.

Not all the pics come out clearly, but overall the option can be used well.

Normal shutter speed, with the auto focus on and flash in play, is a little slow – we clocked around four seconds between each photo, which isn’t terrible but can be bettered by the competition.

In bright light, the HTC One X captures all the detail on offer

Images look sharp and colourful, although can be a little grainy

Tapping the screen allows you to correct light levels and pick out detail

Here we see three zoom levels: the quality is still impressive at maximum zoom

Panorama mode is easy to use thanks to the on screen instructions

The LED flash is bright enough to capture all objects, but not wash out the scene

A quick snap straight out the pocket shows the HTC One X is a great day to day camera

Video

The HTC One X can record in 1080p from the rear sensor, and 720P HD from the front camera. In short, we can’t see you ever wanting to go any higher on the resolution front… but we know we’re going to regret that statement in a few short months when the next level of cameraphone emerges.

There are a number of cool features on the HTC One X when it comes to video recording: for instance, you can capture in slow motion, or while shooting in Full HD at 30 frames per second you can take pictures while recording.

This is a really awesome feature when you want to both film and photograph at the same time.

You can even take pictures while viewing video back after it’s been shot – that’s the sort of thing that had our friends wowed down the pub.

However, the overall video quality wasn’t wow-worthy when shoved onto a larger screen – it seemed a little grainy in our eyes, and the sound recorded from the dual microphones didn’t really do the power of the phone justice.

It’s not awful, but not the smooth footage other cameraphones are able to manage from dual-core processors.

Battery Life & Connectivity

The HTC One X comes with an 1800mAh battery that’s unfortunately sealed within the chassis of the phone – meaning no chance of being able to swap it out in the event of a power-outage on the go.

Sadly, and this is one the major failings of the HTC One X, the battery life on this device follows many others from the HTC range: meaning it’s terrible.

We were actually shocked to see how poorly it fared at times, with one instance requiring us to charge the phone twice in one day and still running it down before the evening. However, before you completely give up on the One X at all, we should qualify that statement a little bit as it’s unlikely you’ll experience the same thing.

When we test any mobile phone we obviously run it through many tests and try to work out what the main selling points of it will be. With the HTC One X, we found there to be so many plus points that we really had to run the device hard to test it all out, leading to a quicker battery run-through than usual.

For instance on the fateful ‘Two Charge’ day, we downloaded three movies from HTC Watch, played a number of Tegra 3 compatible games, watched said movies and went for a run with the GPS turned on – plus messed around with most of the features.

This is very atypical usage, so we doubt many people will ever achieve the same power rate as we did – but we believe that if a phone has something worth doing, then the battery should hold up, and even with medium usage levels, the battery powered down by about 11PM at the latest. Having seen the same sort of output from the HTC Desire and Desire HD, we also know that the phone will likely start to do more poorly over time as well.

The reason for this is the screen – it’s sucking a huge amount of power, likely because the graphical processing power needed to fire all those new pixels is really taxing the device. It’s also a new type of technology for the firm, and it seems that HTC hasn’t quite worked out how to optimise it yet.

Playing powerful games predictably drained a lot of power too – for instance, playing RipTide for 15 minutes caused the One X to heat up quite a bit and drained 5% of the overall battery power, which is more than a little worrying.

Calling seemed to take the same level of power as well, as did movie watching for extended periods. If you’re not going to use the phone very much, then you’ll likely sail through a day on a single charge, but given that this is an awesome powerhouse of a device we’re really, really disappointed that the battery is the one thing that’s really letting it down.

We hoped that the first samples might have had faulty battery meters, but we recalibrated it and still got the same results. It’s a real shame, and a factor any user should really think about before picking up this otherwise practically flawless phone.

Connections

The HTC One X comes jam packed with every top-end connection we can think of – be it Wi-Fi 802.11n (the fastest kind) to Bluetooth 4.0, it’s all present and correct under the hood.

The addition of Bluetooth 4.0 is particularly exciting, as it means the One X will be able to take advantage of a number of cool accessories coming onto the market soon.

What is Bluetooth?

This means personal area networks, allowing easy connection to a range of sensors and devices within proximity, will be easy to achieve and will make the One X the centre of your connected world. If you want to find out more, check out our ‘What is Bluetooth?‘ feature that explains it all.

There’s also a first from the Taiwanese brand in the shape of NFC, brought in to take advantage of Google’s Android Beam service. Right now it’s a pretty rudimentary offering – all you can realistically do is tap the One X against another Ice Cream Sandwich-enabled phone (with an NFC chip inside, obviously) and share things like Map directions, YouTube videos and contact details.

You have to activate the service on both devices and then tap to make the connection, and in truth it’s a little cumbersome and not as cool as this video would have you believe. However, once NFC becomes mainstream in the next year, you’ll be able to take advantage of contactless payments and a wider gamut of connectivity options, so stay tuned for that.

We’ve already mentioned the DLNA software that’s built right into the HTC One X – for those of you unfamiliar with the term, this means you can connect the device up to a internet-enabled Smart TV or computer and stream content from your phone easily across. The fact it’s within the media player is a really nice touch, as it means you don’t need to jump out to another application as you have to with the Samsung Galaxy S2 at times.

In terms of wired connections, the HTC One X will also let you connect up to a TV using a MHL lead, which is sadly not supplied in the box. This mini HDMI connection uses the same microUSB port that powers your phone, which makes it really easy to mirror the content on the tiny HD screen on a much larger one.

Apps

If there’s one thing HTC has definitely got right with the One X in our eyes, that’s the inbuilt applications. There are far too many for us to mention here, but from things like the weather forecast popping up when you pick your phone up in the morning to being able to use the internet radio from within the music player, the One X is a phone that feels very seamless at times.

Some people don’t like ‘bloatware’ (apps pre-installed that they might not want) but we think the mix is pretty good. HTC has set up a number of partnerships that really expand the functionality of the phone – for instance, Dropbox with 23GB of additional storage.

This means your new phone comes with a massive storage locker in the cloud to keep all your content backed up – and you can even auto-sync your movies and photos, in the same way as PhotoStream works on Apple’s iCloud service. There’s also EverNote included out of the box, meaning you’re less likely to forget appointments in the future thanks to the synchronised system.

Notes is another really clever application – it’s not got the cool geo-locational functionality of its iPhone counterpart, but it allows you to write, record and connect with your calendar to swiftly and easy keep a track of your life on the go.

Car Mode has had an overhaul as well, allowing large icons for applications like Phone, Maps Navigation, Music and Internet radio – plus a large clock icon with weather and easy access to connections.

Swiping left and right will bring up the apps with large font information, such as upcoming appointments in the Maps app that can be associated with directions to said meeting. It’s a very handy mode, and one that will work well when the dock is finally released for the phone too.

We could go through and list all the apps on offer here, but we think it’s best you go in and have a play. Some will irk you (7Digital is far too expensive in our eyes, and the Movie Editor does very little other than make a mess of your photos and videos) but there are other excellent choices like those we’ve listed above, and we think overall HTC has got the mix right.

Maps & Gaming

There are two mapping options on the HTC One X – usually we get annoyed at the confusion, but this time we think the two sit next to each other rather nicely. Google Maps 6.5 has been released for this ilk of devices especially, with high resolution maps on offer to make the experience a really visually arresting on when zooming in on the streets of London or New York.

You’ve got all the usual wonderful features here – 3D buildings that you can swipe around using multi-finger gestures, a free sat nav service with traffic guidance, and now even the ability to search through public transport networks to help get you to where you need to go. And that’s without talking about the excellent Streetview service, allowing you to glide around the map in a photo-like environment.

However, and this is something we didn’t expect, the mapping software on the HTC One X seems slower than the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2, which has a slower and less powerful processor chugging things along. It’s not hugely noticeable, but in real terms you don’t get that buttery-smooth feeling we’re used to with these kinds of devices.

HTC Locations is another ball game altogether and one that you probably won’t be using all that often. It’s mostly a sat-nav service, but one that’s far more in-depth than the Google maps Navigation offering that most will use.

With HTC Locations you’re given access to speed cameras, more in-depth traffic and voice guidance from a larger range of personalities. It’s also got wide-ranging information on cash machines, petrol stations and more – and you can download the maps to enable offline viewing of practically anywhere in the world.

The only real downside is the fact you’ve got to pay for most of it – we highly doubt many will fork out £4 a month to get access to most of the features on offer here. It’s a good service, but one that’s mostly out-flanked by Google Maps.

Gaming

Gaming on the HTC One X is something that we think deserves a special mention as it brings such a new level of realism to a mobile phone. We’re talking console-quality graphics on a handset for the first time, and graphical processing power that shares a lot of traits with the PS Vita, for instance.

We tried a number of Nvidia Tegra-optimised games on the One X, and they all shared one thing in common: they looked better than anything that we’ve ever seen on a mobile phone and had a greater level of detail too.

The downside is that all the games so far are really nowhere near the gameplay level of a console game; for instance, RipTide is a splendid Jet Ski game that whips through underwater tunnels and jumps with dizzying speeds. The water effects are sublime, and the physics that knock your craft around are on another level when it comes to the mobile.

But the graphics still look cheap in places, meaning the water will lap over objects and not interact with them – nor will gravity play a proper part in the gameplay. What we’re trying to say is that the games are excellent and the power is clearly there, but there’s a lot of potential left to be exploited when it comes to titles that really push the quad-core power of phones like this.

Of course, there’s a bundle of casual games that look amazing on a phone like the One X – Angry Birds and Cut the Rope look phenomenal, and the likes of Draw Something really benefit from the larger screen size. Gaming is going to be huge on the HTC One X we think… it’s just a shame the battery isn’t able to keep up at times.

Hands on Gallery

Official Gallery

Final Thoughts

When we got our hands on the HTC One X, it was a mix of trepidation and excitement. How would our first quad core phone on test fare? Could HTC make an HD screen fit well into a phone? Would we get annoyed at the lack of a microSD slot?

We’ve answered all those questions and more in this in-depth review, and it’s clear that the HTC One X is a top-notch phone – but one that just, just misses out on being the third member of the five star phone clan due to having a really poor battery.

We Liked

Oh, where do we begin? The super-thin chassis. The HD screen. The beautiful graphics. The next-generation Android platform, all rolled into one.

Essentially, this is EXACTLY the kind of phone we want to see at the top end of its range if it wants to stay relevant in the smartphone business. Fusing top level CPU power with a beautiful screen (and a whopping one at that) and really thinking about how it wants to strip back its skin on top of the latest version of Android without compromising its identity.

Then there’s the likes of integrated DropBox storage, Beats Audio enhancements and the upgraded music player. Plus the improved lock screen, the speedier internet browser and the camera that’s among the most feature-rich on the market.

We Disliked

We say this is EXACTLY the phone HTC needed to make, except it forgot one crucial thing: make the phone last a whole day if users want to play with all the features on offer.

The battery life is such a shame here – there are other niggles, like the fact the touchscreen doesn’t always wake up as soon as you unlock the phone, or the fact it can get a little slow when bunch of apps are open, but we could have looked past them as they’re highly intermittent problems.

But for a phone that’s touted as coming with a ‘Battery Saver Core’ we can’t understand why it’s so heavy on the power drain when in use. Sure, in idle mode the HTC One X survives just fine… but we don’t buy a phone to not use it.

If we have a GPU with 12 cores, then we want to have a gaming session that lasts more than 2 and a half hours. If you give us an HD screen, make it so downloading a movie then watching it isn’t the only thing the phone can do before we need to charge again.

Why on earth, has argued Panasonic, would anyone want to buy a full HD TV only to then watch 3D on it at a reduced resolution?

So it’s fair to say Panasonic’s TX-L42ET5 comes as something of a shock. For the fact that it ships with no less than four pairs of cheapo, unpowered 3D glasses immediately alerts us to the fact that it’s a passive 3D TV rather than the expected active one.

You couldn’t really get a better barometer of just how much impact LG’s passive 3D technology has had in the year since its launch.

That said, while Panasonic’s brave/humbling (depending on your point of view) 3D move with the L42ET5 is certainly very significant, it must be said that the ET5 series is the only passive 3D TV series in Panasonic’s expansive 2012 range, sitting alongside no less than seven active 3D TV series.

Furthermore, Panasonic has the ET5s positioned very much as its entry-level 3D LCD solutions. In fact, part of the reason Panasonic has turned to passive at this level of its range is the realisation that it’s very hard to get a decent active 3D performance out of a cheap LCD panel.

The addition of a passive TV to its range is also, though, surely a recognition – however begrudging – of the convenience and affordability of the passive 3D experience. So from a consumer’s point of view, being able to get Panasonic technology and operating systems married to passive as well as active 3D solutions seems like a very welcome expansion of choice from the Japanese brand.

Come to think of it, it might actually be nice if LG got off its passive 3D high horse for a bit and started to offer a few active 3D TVs among its LCD range as well!

The L42ET5′s passive 3D ‘headliner’ is joined by the latest generation of Panasonic’s Viera Connect online service, backed up by integrated Wi-Fi.

Joining the TX-L42ET5 are the 32-inch TX-L32ET5, the 37-inch TX-L37ET5, the 47-inch TX-L47ET5 and the 55-inch TX-L55ET5, while Panasonic’s active 3D LCD options start with the rather similarly named ET50 series. These look set to cost around £200 more for each equivalent screen. But we’ll be looking at those another day. For now it’s time to find out just how good a job – or otherwise – Panasonic has made of its passive 3D debut.

Features

For those of you who skipped the intro to this review (!), the single most important thing you need to know about the L42ET5 is that it uses passive 3D technology – a result in part of Panasonic apparently deciding that you just can’t get a great active 3D performance out of a cheap, 100Hz LCD panel.

But also, while Panasonic might be understandably reluctant to admit it, cheapness isn’t the only reason it’s worthwhile having a passive 3D TV in your range. For the L42ET5 will surely also deliver on passive 3D’s ‘comfort’ advantages.

These include being able to wear lighter-weight glasses; not having your eyes fatigued by the shuttering effect of active 3D glasses; not having to watch in near-darkness to minimise the ‘flickering’ issue you can get with active shutter technology; not having the picture’s brightness and colour response as heavily affected by the glasses as they are with active 3D tech; suffering less crosstalk (double ghosting noise) than the majority of active 3D TVs; and finally not having to spend lots of extra cash on securing however many pairs of active shutter glasses you might need (as noted in the introduction, the L42ET5 ships with four pairs of passive 3D glasses included for free).

However, the L42ET5 will also, presumably, suffer with passive 3D’s disadvantages. Namely the potential for visible horizontal line structure over 3D and even, occasionally, 2D images; a slightly softer look to HD 3D material; and the sudden appearance of scary amounts of crosstalk if you have to watch from an angle of more than 13 degrees above or below the screen.

Overall, though, there’s no question that passives advantages are a strong draw to a certain, potentially large portion of the relatively casual TV marketplace. And experience with last year’s passive 3D screens from LG would suggest that the L42ET5′s 42-inch size is particularly well-suited to the passive format.

It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that LG’s name has cropped up a few times already in this review of a Panasonic TV. And we’re going to do it again, as the panel at the heart of the L42ET5 is sourced from the Korean brand. Panasonic is not making its own passive 3D tech from scratch.

That said, the L42ET5 certainly tries hard to forge its own, Panasonic-inspired identity. This begins with its looks, which combine a grey, glass-finished bezel with a transparent outer trim to very attractive effect. In fact, the L42ET5 is arguably the best-looking flat TV Panasonic has ever launched.

Looking for other attractions of the L42ET5, it’s well connected for an entry level 3D TV too. It’s got four HDMIs for starters, but it’s also a fount of multimedia support thanks to three USBs, a LAN port and, best of all, built-in Wi-Fi.

The USB ports support playback of a pretty good selection of music, video and photo file formats, and the TV can also be jacked into your network for streaming files off DLNA PCs. This being a Panasonic TV, there’s additionally an SD card slot you can use for playing files directly off or for storing apps you download from Panasonic’s app ‘market’. More on this in a moment.

Heading into the L42ET5′s menus, it’s immediately clear that while the core panel might be from LG, everything else is Panasonic through and through. Highlight features include a colour management system that allows you to adjust the gain and ‘cut off’ of the red green and blue colour elements; five different gamma presets; optional noise reduction; and multiple ‘strength’ settings for Panasonic’s proprietary Intelligent Frame Creation motion enhancement processing.

It’s worth covering briefly the 300Hz claims made for the L42ET5′s pictures – especially as these appear to fly in the face of the ‘passive 3D is best on 100Hz TVs’ issue discussed earlier. The reality, as with many other cheap TVs claiming very fast refresh rates, is that the ’300Hz’ figure is actually arrived at by combining a native 100Hz panel refresh rate with a four-times-per-second blinking backlight.

The last big feature to focus on is Panasonic’s latest Viera Connect online service. After a slow start this started to show real signs of improvement towards the end of 2011, and for the most part the L42ET5 shows that Panasonic is continuing to move in the right direction.

For instance, the platform now features quite a few more video streaming sources, as the likes of AceTrax and the BBC iPlayer are joined by FetchTV, BBC News, Euronews, CNBC Real Time, iConcerts and, most importantly, NetFlix. It has to be said, though, that the appearance of this big new kid on the video streaming block does make the lack of Lovefilm on Viera Connect look very odd. Especially given that some of the new services – including Fetch TV – really don’t have much quality content to their name right now.

Other notable services among the L42ET5′s pre-installed apps are Skype (though you’ll need to add an optional camera), Twitter, YouTube and Daily Motion.

You can also access more apps – as well as accessory hardware like keyboards, joysticks and (ironically) active 3D glasses – from Panasonic’s Viera Connect Market. It’s well worth looking through these ‘optional’ apps, actually, for there are some decent findings among them. Indeed, at the time of writing you had to track down (in the ‘News’ app category!) the TV’s Web browser and manually install it before you can access the open Internet from the L42ET5.

Also in the market are apps for iFit and Withings, the former of which allows the TV to sync with iFit devices, while the latter allows you to feed your weight to the TV from special Wi-Fi Withings scales. More fitness applications are incoming too, such as being able to use Panasonic’s latest TVs in conjunction with an optional extra treadmill that can co-ordinate with Google Earth so that you can jog down virtual streets anywhere in the world.

Panasonic is promising Disney books and MySpace for later in the year too. And actually, these future services can’t come soon enough really. For while much of the content on Viera Connect is of a respectable quality, a bit more of it would certainly be nice.

It’s worth adding, moreover, that the ET5 series doesn’t enjoy the dual-core processors found on Panasonic’s flagship TVs for 2012, meaning the set won’t support app multi-tasking.

Picture quality

The L42ET5′s picture quality promises to be more interesting than most thanks to the set’s marriage of core LG passive 3D technology with Panasonic’s own processing and presentation systems. Hopefully it will deliver the best of both worlds rather than ending up feeling like a marriage of inconvenience.

Starting with those all-important passive 3D images, the L42ET5 happily provides another mostly very positive outing for the technology. Watching a variety of 3D content, from the animated likes of the excellent Tangled to the video delights of the vastly over-rated Avatar, the L42ET5 delivers a consistently natural, unfatiguing, reasonably deep 3D picture that’s largely free of crosstalk and completely free of active 3D’s flickering issues, even if you watch it in broad daylight.

The passive glasses knock less brightness and colour out of 3D images than active shutter ones do too, reinforcing the sense of passive 3D’s advantage if you generally find yourself watching TV in bright room conditions. The extra dynamism is particularly helpful when rendering dark scenes, especially when compared with how 3D plasmas operate.

It’s also nice, of course, that a four-strong family can all watch 3D without you having to fork out extra cash for more glasses.

Video enthusiasts able to dim the lights for serious 3D viewing, though, should be aware that the L42ET5′s passive 3D pictures do not look as sharp or ‘HD’ as those of even Panasonic’s 2011 active 3D TVs. Anyone thinking of mounting their new TV up high on a wall should note as well that crosstalk levels balloon from practically none to dire the moment your vertical viewing angle gets beyond around 13 degrees.

Also potentially disturbing is the appearance over some content – mostly expanses of light colour or the edges of bright objects – of horizontal line structure, caused by the polarising filter applied to the screen’s front.

Before anyone gets too discombobulated about this, though, the problem really isn’t very aggressive, so long as you’re watching from a sensible viewing distance. The relatively demure size of the screen helps hide the negative impact of the filter too, making it much less noticeable than it tends to be on larger passive 3D screens.

Balancing up all the pros and cons of the L42ET5′s 3D performance, the good stuff definitely wins out so long as you’re not the sort of AV enthusiast who expects your 3D performance to look quite as detailed and crisp as your 2D HD Blu-rays.

Talking of 2D HD, this too looks rather good on the L42ET5. Whether it’s a Freeview HD feed from the built-in tuner, a Sky HD feed or a Blu-ray, the set does a very respectable job for its money of reproducing both the detailing and the colour information in the images aggressively yet accurately.

It helps in this respect that the screen is only very slightly troubled by the sort of motion blurring that’s common with most brands of LCD TV. And what little blur there is can be reduced by judicious use of Panasonic’s Intelligent Frame Creation processing. By judicious, we mean you should take care not to use it on its highest power setting, as while this completely eradicates blur and, especially, judder, it also causes a few distracting side effects with fast-moving footage, and generally makes film footage look more like video footage.

It’s gratifying to see, too, that dark scenes don’t suffer with the sort of backlight consistency issues noted with some of LG’s passive 3D TVs – and many other edge LED TVs besides. In fact, so uniform do the dark parts of dark scenes look on the L42ET5 – so long as you avoid the set’s Dynamic preset, at any rate – that it’s easy to forget that the TV is using edge LED technology.

What’s even better about this is that the TV still delivers a fair approximation of a true black colour. Sure, there’s a very slight grey mist over the very darkest parts of pictures that you wouldn’t get with a good plasma or direct LED TV. But this certainly doesn’t prevent the picture from still looking dynamic during dark sequences, and nor is it bad enough to ‘hide’ the sort of shadow details that give dark scenes a sense of ‘space’.

If you were being really picky, you might say that the L42ET5′s colours sometimes lack a little finesse in HD mode, leaving some areas looking slightly plasticky. But overall there’s not much to complain about considering the set resides fairly low down Panasonic’s new range.

The L42ET5′s relative affordability does become more troublingly apparent, though, when you’re watching standard definition. For this tends to look rather soft compared with the upscaled images you might expect to see from some other LCD TVs.

This might have been easier to live with if the soft tone had been used to hide noise in standard def sources, but actually the L42ET5 slightly exaggerates source noise rather than ‘smoothing it away’.
Even the screen’s colour response takes a hit with standard definition, with the range of tones on display looking somehow less extreme than with HD sources. Odd – but a phenomenon we’re familiar with from some LG TVs, funnily enough.

There’s one more area where the L42ET5 suffers from its LG roots too, and that’s input lag. Too long a delay between a source signal arriving at a TV’s inputs and the picture appearing on the screen clearly has the potential to harm a keen gamer’s performance, and the 75+ms input lag measured at times from the L42ET5 clearly constitutes a potentially problematic level of delay. Similar figures were routinely recorded from LG TVs last year, whereas Panasonic’s own-built LCD TVs never went higher than a much more manageable 40ms.

Sound, value and ease of use

Ease of use

The L42ET5 keeps you on your toes in usability terms, being brilliantly simple in some areas but a little less thoughtful in others.

For instance, when it comes to the Vera Connect menus, the main menu is problematic. It looks attractive enough, and is very readable. But its insistence on using very large icons means you don’t get many services onscreen at once, leaving you having to delve down through multiple layers of further onscreen menus to get to all of the services available.

You can, to be fair, choose the order the service icons appear on these menu ‘layers’, but it’s still a rather cumbersome approach that will only become more long-winded as more services come online.

The Viera Marketplace, on the other hand, is more or less exemplary in its structure, using more sensibly sized options, and providing well thought-through tools and shortcuts for streamlining your experience. The only annoyance is the tedious need to input all your personal and credit card details using the remote control so you’re ready to buy apps. This kind of stuff is never going to be much fun on a TV, but we couldn’t help but feel that Panasonic could have included some more text input assistants to make the process less of a ball ache.

In terms of Panasonic’s standard operational menus, these look reasonably approachable thanks to the introduction of a few basic icons here and there. However, there’s still no denying that the rather low-resolution look to proceedings is a country mile away from the HD delights of Samsung’s latest onscreen menu system.

Turning to the L42ET5′s remote, there was a time when Panasonic’s remote control design was as good as it got in the TV world. But it’s starting to show its age now, looking and feeling a bit cluttered, and not providing the best ‘weighting’ for different application buttons. Essentially it feels as if the extra functions on today’s Panasonic TVs have been shoehorned onto pre-existing button layouts rather than Panasonic coming up with a new remote design that really reflects the different way people use their TVs these days.

That said, at least the remote feels nicely weighted and well built, and its buttons are large and responsive.

Sound quality

Panasonic has done a very respectable job of getting a decent audio performance out of the L42ET5 when you consider how slim and affordable it is. There’s a reasonably open feeling to the midrange, which lets voices sound realistic and helps action scenes avoid sounding too harsh or thin. Detail levels are high too, and the soundstage is impressively wide.

Bass feels a touch forced and doesn’t really venture very low down the frequency response scale, but this is hardly rare in the flat TV world. Overall the L42ET5′s sound provides a satisfying accompaniment to its 42-inch pictures.

Value

While the £998 price for which the L42ET5 is selling on Panasonic’s website is a bit steep, the slightly lower price tag it’s being sold for elsewhere seems about right all things considered.

Last year’s LG 42-inch LW550T passive 3D model is slightly cheaper at around £700 from most mainstream retailers, but with the new L42ET5 you’re getting a more stable and friendly online platform as well as Panasonic’s superior picture processing. Panasonic’s TV looks a bit better too.

Verdict

As the first TV from Panasonic’s 2012 range, the L42ET5 is nothing if not unexpected. As little as a year ago a passive 3D model from the brand would have been unthinkable, and the fact that the L42ET5 is an LED rather than plasma model is perhaps significant too, in that it introduces us to the idea that in 2012 Panasonic seems to be putting its LCD TVs on a more or less even footing with its plasma TVs for the first time.

Also a surprise for Panasonic is how attractive the L42ET5 looks. Design hasn’t been a great area of success for the Japanese brand in recent years, but the L42ET5 is really quite pretty.

The L42ET5 offers some decent features for its money, too. For on top of the passive 3D tech, you get a full HD resolution, edge LED lighting, DLNA networking, USB file playback, and access to the latest version of Panasonic’s mostly satisfying Viera Connect online platform.

Crucially the L42ET5 is a mostly good picture and sound performer too. Its 3D pictures are bright, colourful, full of depth, and very relaxing and natural to watch, while its HD 2D pictures are crisp, dynamic and bold.

Its standard definition pictures aren’t the best, but provided you can stick with HD as much as possible (the set does have a Freeview HD tuner, after all) and don’t mind a little lost resolution with your 3D pictures, the L42ET5 is an extremely enjoyable TV.

We liked

Unusually for a Panasonic TV the L42ET5 is a very attractive set, with a pretty but slender frame around its screen. There’s also much to like about its Viera Connect online functionality, now that Panasonic has added more video streaming services and improved some aspects of its interface. The TV’s 3D performance, meanwhile, is relaxing and engaging, and it’s great to get four pairs of glasses included free. Finally, HD pictures are clean, sharp and dynamic.

We disliked

The L42ET5′s standard definition pictures are a little softer and noisier than they would ideally be. You can also sometimes see horizontal line structure over 3D images – especially if you’re sat close to the screen – and crosstalk with 3D becomes excessive if your vertical viewing angle is more than around 13 degrees. Finally, a little more content on Viera Connect would be appreciated, and input lag might prove aggravating to serious gamers.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, means a super-thin Crystal Frame metallic bezel.

Well, kind of. The super-slim design (the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B is a mere 36mm in depth) features a visible metallic-looking bezel that’s a tiny 11mm wide, but it’s part of an optical illusion.

Around the edge of the panel is a 10mm transparent plastic rim that ripples into two steps, the foremost layer housing that metallic bezel. Inside that is an 11mm seam of black around the actual panel, which ought to help push the perception of contrast on this Edge LED-backlit panel.

It might rely largely on trickery, but overall it’s a pleasant, understated look that’s a mite fresher than the plain gloss black that other brands try to dress up as new and exciting (stand up Sony and its dull-as ‘monolithic’ design).

Brand new from Panasonic’s spring TV ranges, this ET50 screen leaves nothing to chance, chumming up a Full HD resolution with 3D compatibility, Panasonic’s smart VIiera Connect interface, a Freeview HD tuner and an 800Hz option.

The latter may sound startling to those brought up to believe that 100Hz was advanced tech, but it’s actually not as impressive as it sounds, instead being a 200Hz mode with backlight scanning and blinking. In short, it’s maths, not reality.

More notable is the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B’s use of active shutter 3D technology.

Using battery-powered and often fairly chunky glasses, active shutter 3D makes obvious sense on huge plasma TVs where the extra real estate and mostly profound black levels make a difference.

But the cheaper, more easy-going (glasses-wise) passive 3D workaround had been expected to dominate on smaller TVs in 2012.

That the company that invented active shutter 3D should stick with it despite the commercial success of passive 3D televisions is a telling move.

Viera Connect adds Netflix for 2012, as well as a shopping platform, although interactivity doesn’t stretch to the touchpad remote control employed on some of Panasonic’s high-end 3D Blu-ray players, such as the Panasonic DMP-BDT320.

In the ET50 Series – Panasonic’s entry-level range for active shutter 3D LED TVs – the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B sits below the bigger 47-inch TX-L47ET50B, with a UK price of £1,297.99 (about $2,070).

There are many other 3D-ready LED-backlit Smart Vieras.

For those after a slight price drop and more interested in 3D convenience than ultimate detail, Panasonic has made the rather unexpected move of poaching some of LG’s FPR panels to power its ET5B lineup.

Comprising the 32-inch Panasonic TX-L32ET5B, 37-inch Panasonic TX-L37ET5B, 42-inch Panasonic TX-L42ET5B, 47-inch Panasonic TX-L47ET5B and 55-inch Panasonic TX-L55ET5B, these Easy 3D screens come with four free pairs of 3D glasses.

Features

Where once Panasonic TVs were simply called Viera, now they are Smart Viera.

A Freeview HD tuner isn’t strictly part of that arsenal, but it’s good to see on the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B, although there is a big disappointment to counter that; there are no 3D glasses included in the box, which makes 3D viewing an unlikely luxury.

For testing purposes we were supplied with a pair of the super-lightweight (at just 27g) TY-ER3D4ME Bluetooth active shutter 3D glasses.

We’ve discussed the merits of active shutter vs passive 3D before, but the former’s use here underlines which technology Panasonic prefers (then again, it did invent active shutter, so does have a vested interest in its promotion).

Arguably much higher up in our wish lists for all TVs is their smart dimension, and here we get Viera Connect, an interface that’s virtually identical to last year’s incarnation. Netflix is the new kid on the block – as it is everywhere, it seems – and it joins Acetrax for video streaming, although BBC iPlayer and YouTube are still the heavyweights.

FetchTV comes into the fold, too, joining BBC News, CNBC, Euronews, Skype (you’ll need a Panasonic HD Communication Camera TY-CC10W to use this), Twitter, Facebook, BIGFlix+ (Indian blockbuster movies) and iConcerts.

We used the latter to play an entire show of Morrissey performing with Jools Holland from a few years ago – surely the zenith of the smart TV revolution.

It gets a lot smarter than that, with a downloadable web browser and the chance to sign up, give your credit card details and start downloading games, such as Asphalt 5 and Uno.

Networking is now a permanent feature of TVs, and the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B doesn’t disappoint. It uses the occasionally flaky DLNA system, although a connected HDD containing recorded TV content can be accessed by other DLNA-equipped devices, too.

The Panasonic TX-L42ET50B also features Wi-Fi Direct, which means some smartphones can connect directly.

Ins and outs on the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B are many, although their positioning is an acquired taste. All four of the HDMI inputs – one of which is Audio Return Channel (ARC)-compatible for routing audio to an AV receiver and cutting out an optical cable – are ensconced in a side panel, which is firmly recessed from the side.

However, if all of those HDMIs are occupied by high-quality, not-very-bendy (that’s a technical term) cables, some could protrude from the sides.

Also up here are two USB slots, which again isn’t very practical, since one of them can be used to hook up an HDD for making recordings from the Freeview HD tuner.

There’s an SD card slot up here, too, for playing digital photos and music, and a Common Interface slot for adding to the Freeview channel roster.

A further connections module on the undercarriage of the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B comprises wired LAN (although there’s a Wi-Fi module built-in, thankfully), a VGA port for attaching a PC, RF input and a digital optical audio output.

There are also two small concessions to slimness; ports for slimmed-down adaptors for both Scart and component video. The latter is for ‘legacy’ kit, since component video is no longer used on DVD and Blu-ray players. Also note that the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B lacks a composite video input.

Picture quality

The Panasonic TX-L42ET50B doesn’t initially show itself as a TV aimed at those after a custom-fit picture.

Its picture menus seem to offer nothing more than the usual tweaks for brightness and contrast plus some rudimentary noise reduction, although if you look hard enough there’s plenty of opportunity to go way beyond its default Dynamic/Normal/Cinema/True Cinema viewing modes (why no ‘game’ mode?).

Hidden on a second screen is a shortcut to Advanced Settings, which leads to fine tweaks for white balance and gamma levels, as well as access to arguably this set’s most important picture processing weaponry – Intelligent Frame Creation and Clear Cinema.

Intelligent Frame Creation is a frame interpolation feature than can be set to various strengths. Clear Cinema is an 800Hz anti-blur circuitry that generates 200 frames per second, in conjunction with some dynamic backlight scanning.

Used on Freeview HD, the former was best kept on minimum strength to avoid flicker and mosquito noise around moving objects, and the latter is a mild effect indeed.

For 3D, picture settings are limited to simple detection and messaging options, with no exacting control on offer.

We start at the bottom of the quality food chain with some footage streamed through iConcerts on the Viera Connect interface. Morrissey performing on Later… with Jools Holland via iConcerts is strictly standard definition, yet stable and clean.

A blast of the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix via a Virgin Media TiVo box looks clean and colourful, but the lack of convincing black (it appears as a dark blue) is becoming obvious, as is some worrying light leakage from a cluster of LEDs in the bottom-right-hand corner of the screen.

Most alarmingly is a tight viewing angle on this, the biggest version yet of a usually reliable IPS LCD panel. Contrast and colour drain if watched from the wings.

Those light leakage problems are especially obvious on movies with black bars, so it’s a continual presence throughout Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy on Blu-ray.

So too is a little background picture noise, although the image underneath is impressively sharp.

The Panasonic TX-L42ET50B’s picture is colourful, too, but there’s not enough contrast to give bold tones, and convincing blacks and shadow detailing are the victims.

An optional feature for Blu-ray discs is 24p Smooth Film, but on any of its four strengths, the effect is mild. Intelligent Frame Creation and Clear Cinema aren’t available for Blu-ray. Thankfully, the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B doesn’t suffer from native motion blur.

Converting those spy shenanigans into 3D immediately kills the colour as it ups the contrast, with the overly cool results looking slightly befuddled and lacking much consistency, although we occasionally spotted some crisp and clear depth effects.

Tahiti Wave on 3D Blu-ray is the real deal on the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B. The level of detail is very high, and there’s little evidence of crosstalk or ghosted images, but as with last year’s crop of 3D TVs, we did notice some flickering that becomes more obvious the more ambient light is in the room.

If you can resist the temptation to crack open a window in bright sunlight, the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B performs very well with 3D, although it’s perhaps a tad too small for true immersion.

Usability, sound and value

Usability

The Panasonic TX-L42ET50B has a bland user interface. It’s not much changed from the 2011 crop of TVs, which is no bad thing in itself, but we’ve now seen better – and from Panasonic itself.

The brand’s Blu-ray players, such as the Panasonic DMP-BDT320, feature a gorgeous gesture-driven interface that keeps everything simple, icon-led and beautifully designed – and even features a touchpad remote control.

Why the Viera smart TVs don’t include that interface and remote is beyond us, although the remote control on the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B includes red backlighting that home cinema owners will adore.

Freeview HD is given a similar treatment as it was in previous years. That’s to say, it’s dull; seven channels’ schedules are shown over two hours, with brief programme information shown up top.

It’s a branded Freeview affair, which now thankfully doesn’t include adverts along the side. Much better than last year, then, but still not a patch on the slick EPGs from the likes of Sony and Samsung.

Setting recordings from the EPG is easy, while instant recording can be set to a default of up to 180 minutes. Bear in mind that a USB HDD or flash drive must first be formatted, and then used only with Panasonic AV gear. Recorded TV programmes are in a format that can’t be read by a PC.

Networking via Wi-Fi is a mixed bag, with MOV, MP4, AVC HD and AVI video all supported. But from a USB drive we only managed to play AVC HD, AVI and MKV.

At least it’s comprehensive overall, with the lossless FLAC music format supported, in addition to MP3.

Sound

The Panasonic TX-L42ET50B puts in a relatively good audio performance, with its stereo speakers offering a decent amount of bass.

V-Audio is worth engaging for some extra precision, although V-Audio Surround is misleadingly named – we didn’t spot any rear effects – and the Speech mode is too thin and bereft of bass.

Crucially, the speakers are good enough for a daily diet of dialogue-based TV, so will suit a living room not planning on adding home cinema clutter.

Value

The real test for the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B is how it can stand up to a Panasonic plasma, not other Edge LED TVs. It’s slimmer and more stylish than a plasma and packed with just as many features, but it costs the same largely because it uses active shutter 3D technology.

However, the lack of 3D glasses in the box makes this an expensive option, and one we’re not convinced many buyers will take up. Given that, the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B does seem overpriced.

We’re willing to bet that its 42-inch L42ET5B passive 3D variant will do better among buyers looking for a cheaper add-on opportunity for the occasional 3D movie.

Verdict

Why is Panasonic offering an Edge LED alternative to its plasma TVs? Given that the latter performs peerlessly with 3D and nicely upscales lesser-than-HD sources, the choice of Edge LED is surely all about the innate slimness it brings.

There’s no doubting the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B’s style, but is it over substance?

We liked:

Almost completely blur-free and with awesome detail from Blu-ray, this 42-inch television impresses further with a superb smart TV dimension, Viera Connect.

For long the slickest-looking of the smart TV interfaces, this Wi-Fi-powered and nicely designed GUI now has the content to match its rivals at Samsung and Sony. It’s especially great to see Netflix.

Audio is better than average, too, as is the active shutter 3D effect and the backlit remote control, while the slim bezel design is nothing if not innovative.

We disliked:

Where’s Lovefilm? As well as that missing app on Viera Connect, it’s sad to see that no 3D glasses are included in the box, which makes 3D a pricey add-on.

We were also disappointed with the Panasonic TX-L42ET50B’s tight viewing angle, LED light leakage in a corner of the panel, and generally lacklustre black levels.

The Freeview HD EPG is bland amid a core GUI that’s starting to look a little dated.

This is a risky move, so its new printer, the Kodak Office Hero 6.1, had better impress. This printer’s headline features revolve around its connectivity and money-saving features.

Google Cloud Printing is great for printing documents from a tablet PC or smartphone, enabling you to print documents even if you’re away from home. The Kodak Email Print Server lets you send emails to the printer and should print any attachments. It’s handy, though the email address assigned to your printer is a string of random letters and numbers.

We hoped that clicking ‘Change email’ would let us choose something better, but it just gave us a new randomly generated address, making it a bit pointless. The email printing service itself works well though, and could prove incredibly useful.

As is often the case with printers, installation took a while, and our initial tests resulted in endless spooling documents with no actual printing. Unplugging the printer from the power, then restarting it and reconnecting to our network solved the problem.

Documents printed quickly over Wi-Fi, but that’s not counting the time it took to reset the printer. Printing a full sized colour photograph took one minute six seconds and the results were good.

Scanning is quick and easy, though the detail wasn’t amazing on the default settings. Copying was also fast, but with average results.