This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

The Nokia Lumia 710 comes in black, white, blue, pink and yellow

We published our PS Vita review this week.

The Vita has generated as much buzz over the years as any of the top smartphones, and it's easy to see why.

It's specs are top of the line, and offer a mobile gaming experience far beyond anything that's been possible up to now.

But it's not all been about the Vita this week. We've also been playing with the Nokia Lumia 710, a budget Windows Phone aiming to do battle with the likes of the HTC Radar. And the budget theme is continued with the Kogan TV we reviewed yesterday.

A 55-inch LED, Freeview HD TV for under

Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

News All newsMobile PhonesTVsTabletsComponentsCamerasAVComputingLaptopsMore Reviews Browse categoriesMobile phonesComputingTabletsCamerasAVLatest ReviewsHow to buy Blogs New postsAppleHome CinemaPCsSatelliteHardwareMacTechRadarAll Forums Forum homeAdvanced search TR Store Phone dealsMobile phone recycling Magazines Tech magazines All magazines Tech Deals   Like us on FacebookNokia LumiaCES 2012Where am I?NewsNews by technologyWorld of techAll feeds Get weekly newsletter Join TechRadar This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Review Roundup: All the latest kit reviewed and ratedWorld of tech News By Dan Grabham Saturday at 08:00 UTC

Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

News All newsMobile PhonesTVsTabletsComponentsCamerasAVComputingLaptopsMore Reviews Browse categoriesMobile phonesComputingTabletsCamerasAVLatest ReviewsHow to buy Blogs New postsAppleHome CinemaPCsSatelliteHardwareMacTechRadarAll Forums Forum homeAdvanced search TR Store Phone dealsMobile phone recycling Magazines Tech magazines All magazines CES 2012   Like us on FacebookNokia LumiaCES 2012Where am I?NewsNews by technologyWorld of techAll feeds Get weekly newsletter Join TechRadar This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar Review Roundup: All the latest kit reviewed and ratedWorld of tech News By Dan Grabham Saturday at 08:00 UTC

Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

This week we've got a great batch of reviews for you as well as hands ons with the new Motorola Xoom 2 tablet and the Motorola Atrix 2 phone.

In full reviews, we take a look at some of the newest ebook readers on the market, including the Sony Reader PRS-T1. We've also review the rather fine new laptop from Samsung, the Series 7 Chronos.

And for camera fans, there's the impressive new Sony NEX-5N. Read on to check out all this week's reviews from TechRadar.

Sony Reader PRS-T1 review

The two stand-out specs on the new Sony Reader are the light weight and the thin design. As a sleek ebook reader, the Reader stands its own against the Kindle 4 just fine.

However, many of the extra features for borrowing books from the library, loading Google Books, and browsing the web are hard to use. They pale in comparison with the quick touch access of any Android tablet. The Amazon Kindle is a better choice - it is just as light, cheaper, and offers a wider selection of books. Also, the Kindle offers more storage space for books - about 2GB compared to the Reader's 1.3GB.

Samsung Series 7 Chronos review

The Samsung Series 7 Chronos may not be quite as thin as some of the emerging ultrabooks, or the glorious Series 9 that hit stores earlier this year, but can it stand out from the crowd with killer performance instead?

The answer is that if you need a portable machine to entertain you on the move, which won't be out of date any time soon, the Samsung Series 7 Chronos is well worth considering. The latest Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge processor crushes anything you throw at it, and will do for some time to come. Just don't expect great beauty.

HTC Radar review

So HTC has pipped Nokia to the post here with not one, but two Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones up for grabs first. And although Android may have been HTC's bread and butter for the last few years, it's clear that it wants to keep its fingers in both pies.

The HTC Radar certainly looks pretty. If it's a straight choice between the HTC Titan and the HTC Radar, we'd recommend the HTC Radar every time, because it's so much better in terms of value for money.

Hands on: Motorola Xoom 2 review

It's not even a year since we saw the first Motorola Xoom, but already we're looking at its next generation - cunningly named the Motorola Xoom 2.

The new Xoom is thinner, lighter and faster than the old iteration, as you might expect. We're talking 253.9mm x 173.6mm x 8.8mm dimensions, 599g weight and a new TI OMAP 1.2GHz dual-core processor. While we're all for tablets getting sleeker and faster, we're not sure that the Motorola Xoom 2 can be a real winner in the tablet market given the amount of competition already around.

Sony NEX-5N review

There's very little to find fault with in the Sony NEX-5N, other than perhaps the niggle that its minimalist design and lack of physical buttons sometimes necessitates a little searching on behalf of the user. Enthusiasts may also find it a pain that the likes of ISO aren't given a dedicated button or placed immediately at their fingertips.

Once familiar with the quirks of its menu system, however, using the Sony NEX-5N became more of a pleasure than we expected.

This week's other reviews

Desktops

MSI Wind Top AE2210 review

Ebook readers

View Quest Bookbox review

Kobo eReader Touch review

Elonex 705EB review

Graphics Cards

Asus EAH 6770 DC review

Laptops

Asus Zenbook UX31 review

Mice

Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Albino Edition review

Mobile phones

Alcatel One Touch 990 review

HTC Sensation XE review

Monitors

Apple Thunderbolt Display review

Network adapters

Devolo dLAN 500 AVplus review

Linksys RE1000 review

Speakers

XtremeMac Tango Bar review

Storage

Iomega Mac Companion 2TB review

TV stands and remotes

Griffin Beacon Universal Remote review

TV tuner cards

Pinnacle PCTV Broadway 2T review

Hands on reviews

Tablets

Hands on: Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition review

Mobile Phones

Hands on: Motorola Atrix 2 review

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Review Roundup: This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

This week's hottest reviews on TechRadar

This week's we've got a great batch of reviews for you as well as lots of hands on reviews including the new Motorola Atrix 2 and Nokia's new Lumina 800.

In full reviews, tablets are also prevalent this week - we've got the rather fine new Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 as well as the Asus Eee Pad Slider review.

And for camera fans, there's the super new Nikon J1. Read on to check out all this week's reviews from TechRadar.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 review

Samsung's attitude to the tablet market has been to throw so much mud at the Android wall that at least some of it sticks. It's got its Android 2.3 7-incher, the wonderful 10.1-inch flagship, the beautiful forthcoming 7.7-inch model and this here 8.9-inch masterpiece. By having all bases covered elegantly, Samsung is well placed to work out where the sweet spot is and to hit it hard as the market grows.

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is essentially the same as the 10.1 only it's slightly smaller, thinner and lighter. So it's pretty good then, and perfect for you if 10.1-inches is not quite portable enough for you to be lugging around.

Asus Eee Pad Slider review

It's been a long time coming, but the Slider really is a brilliant device. While Samsung is going for the traditional tablet look, Asus is trying something a little different. The Transformer had a brilliant keyboard dock, while the Slider has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It's ideal then for use on the go, and typing out emails or documents is made easier by the physical tapper.

The screen is brilliant too, and Android 3.2 never looked so good on any device. A real stunner. Your only challenge now is to actually find one - stock is hard to come by at the moment, so if you see one somewhere you'd better snap it up quick!

BlackBerry Curve 9360 review

We have to say that we're really impressed with the BlackBerry Curve 9360. More so than the Bold 9900, in fact. This is the first time we've really felt that a Curve device has been given all the bells and whistles of more premium handsets, and we think the Curve 9360 will be a best seller for RIM.

It's aimed squarely at those who are either on a budget and want a BlackBerry but without the size/price tag of the excellent Bold 9900, or those who are slightly younger. This is a model we can see in the clutches of many a teenager over the next few months, and with its reasonable price tag - £280 SIM-free or free on a £25 per month contract - it's likely to fit that mould perfectly.

Nikon J1 review

While the Nikon J1 is easy to get to grips with, a high-quality touchscreen would make its handling a little slicker and speed up AF point selection. An articulated screen would make composing from unusual angles easier as well. Image quality from the Nikon J1 is good, competing well with the average compact camera and approaching that of entry-level DSLRs. In summary, the J1 provides a good introduction to interchangeable lens cameras, although it lacks some of the fun features such as in-camera filter effects seen on other offerings

Toshiba 55WL863B review

Toshiba's first real stab at introducing some of its CEVO processing power into its UK TVs isn't without its flaws, but it's still a very nice TV overall. While there's a nagging sense that Toshiba could perhaps have used its CEVO Engine processing a bit more overtly in the 55WL863, it's still the case that the system has helped Toshiba deliver a really good TV that deserves a place at the top table of TV quality this year.

This week's other reviews

Cooling

Antec Kuhler H2O 920 review

Desktop PCs

Palicomp Phoenix Inferno Redline review

Zotac Zbox Nano AD10 Plus review

DSLRs/Hybrids

Canon PowerShot SX150 IS review

Nikon J1 review

Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 review

Graphics Cards

Asus EAH 6770 DC review

Headphones

Sony DR-GA200 review

Keyboards

Roccat Isku Gaming Keyboard review

Mionix Zibal 60 review

Laptops

Asus N73SV review

Toshiba NB520-10U review

Asus U46 SV review

MSI GT780DX review

Rock Xtreme 685 review

Dell XPS 14z review

Asus Zenbook UX31 review

Lenses

Nikon AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED review

Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50mm 1:2.0 Macro review

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro review

Mice

Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 7 Albino Edition review

Mobile phones

BlackBerry Curve 9360 review

Nokia 700 review

Monitors

Apple Thunderbolt Display review

PC cases

Antec Solo II review

Sat navs

TomTom Go Live Top Gear Edition review

Storage

OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPs review

Tablets

Asus Eee Pad Slider review

Archos 101 G9 review

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 review

Televisions

Toshiba 55WL863B review

Tripods

Manfrotto 055XPROB and 496RC2 head review

Benro A297EX FlexPod and BH2-M review

Jessops Major Carbon Fibre review

Hands on reviews

Cameras

Hands on: Canon EOS-1DX review

Mobile phones

Hands on: Samsung Epic 4G Touch review

Hands on: Samsung Galaxy Nexus review

Hands on: Nokia Lumia 710 review

Hands on: Nokia Lumia 800 review

Hands on: Motorola Atrix 2 review

OSes

Hands on: Ice Cream Sandwich review

Printers

Hands on: Canon Pixma Pro-1 review

TechRadar Cameras Facebook page goes live

We have launched a new Facebook page dedicated to our the coverage from our cameras channel, brought to you by TechRadar's photography testing team.

As many of you will know, we already have a Facebook page for TechRadar as a whole, but we also know that many of you are as obsessed with cameras and photography equipment as our testing team and decided to launch a page just for you.

On the page, you'll find no mention of tech that's irrelevant to your interests, instead we will be focusing on the latest cameras, lenses, photographic equipment and industry news.

The testing team also looks after the photography magazine reviews in our publisher's (Future) photography portfolio, so if you have a question about any reviews or camera news you have seen, or would like to see, in Digital Camera, PhotoPlus, Practical Photoshop or N-Photo do let us know.

Reviews

We'll also bring you the latest reviews from our independent and authoritative testing team, bring you sneak previews of new cameras, show you exclusive test pictures and you'll be the first to know when a new camera has arrived in the office ready for us to put it through its paces.

If you're really lucky, we'll also organise the odd special giveaway as a thankyou for liking us - we're generous like that.

So - if that all sounds like your cup of tea, what are you waiting for? Head on over to the TechRadar Cameras page and get liking!

Pentax 645D review: TechRadar labs data

Our test of the Pentax 645D is on the way, but in the mean time we would like to share the resolution chart images and the noise and dynamic range results.

Pentax's digital medium format 645D was announced back in March 2010. Priced at around £9,000 it features a 40 megapixel CCD sensor and 921k dot 3.0" LCD.

Initial results from the labs data have been compared against the Nikon D3x and Canon EOS 1Ds MKIII, whilst these SLR's have smaller sensors and are considerably cheaper, although not that cheap, all three cameras are perfectly suited to studio use.

The results show that all three cameras produce excellent results, but for both noise and dynamic range the Nikon D3x and Canon EOS 1Ds MK III just have the edge over the Pentax 645D.

However if you're wondering why you'd pay the extra for the Pentax 645D you only have to look at the results for resolution across the sensitivity range. The resolution results at ISO 200 for the Pentax 645D are a staggering 3,600 LW / PH, close to the maximum possible for our charts, compare this to the Nikon D3x's at a still impressive 2,800 LW / PH and the Canon EOS 1Ds MK III's at 2,600, and you can instantly see the benefits of the 40 mega pixel medium format sensor*.

* Pentax 645D sensor size 44mm x 33mm, True medium format 50.7mm x 39mm, full frame 36mm x 24mm

The Pentax 645D is available to buy now, with prices starting around £9000

Resolution charts

As part of our image quality testing for the Pentax 645D, we've shot our resolution chart with a Pentax smc D-FA 645 55mm f/2.8 lens mounted.

If you view our crops of the resolution chart's central section at 100% (or Actual Pixels) you will see that, for example, at ISO 100 the Pentax 645D is capable of resolving up to around 32 (line widths per picture height x100) in its highest quality JPEG files. However, this rises to 36 (line widths per picture height x100) at ISO 200 and above.

Examining images of the chart taken at each sensitivity setting reveals the following resolution scores in line widths per picture height x100:

JPEG resolution

ISO 100, score: 32 (see full image)

ISO 200, score: 36 (see full image)

ISO 400, score: 36 (see full image)

ISO 800, score: 36 (see full image)

ISO 1600, score: 36 (see full image)

Raw resolution

ISO 100, score: 32 (see full image)

ISO 200, score: 36 (see full image)

ISO 400, score: 36 (see full image)

ISO 800, score: 36 (see full image)

ISO 1600, score: 36 (see full image)

For a full explanation of what our resolution charts mean, and how to read them please click here to read the full article.

Noise and dynamic range

We shoot a specially designed chart in carefully controlled conditions and the resulting images are analysed using the DXO Analyzer software to generate the graphs below.

JPEG Signal to noise ratio

A high signal to noise ratio (SNR) indicates a cleaner and better quality image.

Our results for the JPEG images from the Pentax 645D indicate that despite the increase sensor size it generates a lower signal to noise ratio than the Nikon D3x and Canon EOS 1Ds MKIII.

JPEG Dynamic range

This chart indicates that the Pentax 645D's JPEGs compare well against the Canon EOS 1Ds MK III up to a sensitivity of ISO 400.

For more more details on how to interpret our test data, check out our full explanation of our noise and dynamic range tests.

RAW Signal to noise ratio

A high signal to noise ratio (SNR) indicates a cleaner and better quality image.

Raw images as with JPEGs from the Pentax 645D show a lower result for signal to noise ratio than both the Nikon D3x and Canon EOS 1Ds MKIII.

Raw Dynamic range

This chart indicates that the Pentax 645D's raw files score well at the lower end of the sensitivity range, however these results are dwafed by the Nikon D3x and Canon EOS 1Ds MK III.

For more more details on how to interpret our test data, check out our full explanation of our noise and dynamic range tests.

Nikon J1 review: TechRadar labs data

Our test of the Nikon J1 is on the way, but in the mean time we would like to share the resolution chart images.

Resolution charts

As part of our image quality testing for the Nikon J1, we've shot our resolution chart.

If you view our crops of the resolution chart's central section at 100% (or Actual Pixels) you will see that, for example, at ISO 100 the Nikon J1 is capable of resolving up to around 18 (line widths per picture height x100) in its highest quality JPEG files.

Examining images of the chart taken at each sensitivity setting reveals the following resolution scores in line widths per picture height x100:

ISO 100, score: 18 (see full image)

ISO 200, score: 18 (see full image)

ISO 400, score: 18 (see full image)

ISO 800, score: 18 (see full image)

ISO 1600, score: 18 (see full image)

ISO 3200, score: 16 (see full image)

ISO 6400, score: 16 (see full image)

RAW images

ISO 100, score: 22 (see full image)

ISO 200, score: 22 (see full image)

ISO 400, score: 20 (see full image)

ISO 800, score: 16 (see full image)

ISO 1600, score: 16 (see full image)

ISO 3200, score: 16 (see full image)

ISO 6400, score: 14 (see full image)