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Review: TomTom Urban Rider

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider-200-200.jpg"/>The TomTom Urban Rider is TomTom's latest addition to its motorbike sat navs. It features a new case, updated software and a simplified menu.The model we reviewed was the cheaper TomTom Urban Rider Regional which doesn't come with a Bluetooth headset. This means you'll need to already own one, or a Bluetooth-enabled helmet, buy a separate headset, or opt for the TomTom Urban Rider Pro, which comes with one in the box.We were sent a <a href="http://www.cardosystems.com/scala-rider/scala-rider-solo">Cardo scala rider Solo wireless Bluetooth headset</a> in addition to the Urban Rider Regional. This offers automatic volume control according to your speed and surrounding noise.<img alt="Cardo scala solo" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/Cardo_scala_rider-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Fixing the headset to a helmet takes seconds. Simply snap it onto the underside of the helmet and tighten the two bolts with the Allen key. There's a single earpiece which sticks to the helmet lining with Velcro and a microphone which can be positioned by its bendy stem.Once attached, you can leave the mounting on the helmet as there is a quick-release mechanism to remove the expensive bit – handy if you like to leave your helmet with your bike when you are parked up.<img alt="Cardo scala solo" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/Cardo_scala_rider_mounted1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>In the TomTom Urban Rider box, you'll find the sat nav, the bits that make up the mounting unit which come from <a href="http://www.ram-mount.com">RAM Mounts</a>, a charger, a USB cable so you can connect to your PC to download new maps, and a (very brief) instruction manual.<img alt="TomTom urban rider" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/TomTom_Urban_Rider_box-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The fact that the mounting system comes from a third party probably explains why you'll have a bunch of bolts and other bits left over when you've fitted everything.<img alt="TomTom urban rider" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/TomTom_Urban_Rider_box2-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Fitting the mounting to a bike's handlebars is straightforward, although you might want to spend a little time working out the best place to place it before you tighten the nuts. And you'll need an adjustable spanner to get those nuts tightened as there's no spanner in the box.To fit the mounting, you simply hook a U-shaped piece of metal around the handlebar (thoughtfully, there's a piece of rubber tubing supplied which you can slip over the bracket so as not to scratch your handlebars), slide the closing piece on the other side and tighten the nuts. Plastic covers are supplied to slip onto the end of the bolts which would otherwise be exposed and a bit of a safety worry.Once the bracket is in place, you can mount the sat nav bracket in place, snap in the sat nav, and adjust the angle of the screen. The sat nav snaps back out easily so you don't have to leave it on your bike.<img alt="TomTom urban rider" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/TomTom_Urban_Rider1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The instruction manual is brief because the TomTom Urban Rider is very easy to use – and it has to be, given that you'll be prodding at it with (possibly very cold) gloved hands. Switch it on and you're presented with two simple options: 'Navigate to' and 'Browse map'.You can also get the additional functions you'd expect from a sat nav – click for a nearby petrol station, toggle the screen to night settings, change the voice, and so on. And unlike a car's sat nav, the TomTom Urban Rider is waterproof.The Urban Rider also offers 2D and 3D views and TomTom's Advanced Lane Guidance to help with difficult junctions.<img alt="TomTom urban rider" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/TomTom_Urban_Rider2-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The only downside at this point (and we can hardly blame TomTom for this) is that the nimble supermoto bike we were testing it with suddenly had an air of pipe-and-slippers BMW about it. After all, shouldn't supermoto riders navigate on instinct and spontaneity?Once the TomTom was snapped into its bracket and both the sat nav and the headset switched on, we paired the devices via the Options menu. Pairing was successful and we entered a postcode.The touchscreen responded well to gloved fingers and even when we tapped the postcode button and were faced with a row of rather small letters to press we were able to enter the postcode correctly first time.We were initially worried about whether the screen would be easily visible in bright sunlight but it was clear enough to punch in addresses and to see on the road. But we didn't really want to be staring down at it while on the move, so the clarity of the audio was as important.<img alt="TomTom urban rider" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/TomTom_Urban_Rider3-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>About half a mile from home we realised there was no sound. A quick glance at the sat nav screen showed that the volume had defaulted to mute, so we pulled over, tapped the speaker icon and adjusted the volume so it was audible.Riding with a sat nav is a little disconcerting as it becomes an added distraction that you really don't want on a bike when you're concentrating on avoiding cars and potholes. Each time we glanced in the wing mirror the screen of the sat nav caught our attention and we had to consciously ignore it rather than be drawn to watching the map.Fortunately, the audio instructions came through clearly even at speed with the helmet visor cracked open, so you only need to glance at the screen if you're at a confusing junction.A downside of the TomTom Urban Rider is that it doesn't offer voice control. The Cardo headset has a mic for making and receiving phone calls hands-free, and the TomTom Go Live range of sat navs for cars has voice control – so why not in the Urban Rider?It can't be because of price as both units are similarly priced, so we can only assume that TomTom felt that the added noise of a motorbike made voice control impractical. Still, we would have liked it as an option, if only to be able to use it when parked up.It would also be useful to be able to use voice controls to toggle the screen on and off to minimise distraction whilst riding.As you'd expect from a TomTom sat nav, it's easy to use and directions are clear. The screen responds well to gloved hands and the audio clarity is very good.The hardest part is figuring out where to stick the earpiece in the helmet so it's next to your ear.<img alt="TomTom urban rider" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/gadgets/satellite-navigation/standalone-gps-devices/satellite-navigation/images/TomTom_Urban_Rider/TomTom_Urban_Rider4-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>We'd recommend the Urban Rider if you travel a lot and have a habit of getting lost, but the lack of voice control is a big let-down and we really hope that TomTom addresses this in the next iteration.We likedReally easy to set up and use, and the TomTom is small enough to fit into a jacket pocket once you've parked up.We dislikedWe think the lack of voice control is an oversight and we're left wondering why this feature was omitted.VerdictA brilliant sat nav offering 2D and 3D views, but let down by the lack of voice control.Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gadgets/tom-tom-gps-and-sat-nav">Read more sat nav reviews</a></li><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar Reviews Guarantee</a></li></ul>

Review: TomTom Urban Rider

The TomTom Urban Rider is TomTom's latest addition to its motorbike sat navs. It features a new case, updated software and a simplified...

Review: Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 64GB

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.wired_flow.kingston_1-200-200.jpg"/>Early adopters are usually the ones who get punished. It's one of the laws of the tech jungle. Jump the train too early and you'll get shafted, both in terms of pricing and reliable performance. That's probably why it's taken so long to get USB 3.0 data sticks from the usual reputable folk. To be honest that's not such a bad thing, as it's only recently that every new motherboard, from the top to the bottom, is coming out with USB 3.0 ports on them. One of the surprising things is that this DataTraveler doesn't have the sort of price premium I would expect from a new tech stick, especially considering the performance increase USB 3.0 delivers. At £138 it costs only a little more than the £100-odd that traditional USB 2.0 64GB sticks cost, and you're getting way more than twice the performance. The key performance metrics will always be the read/write numbers, and you could colour us very surprised to see the DataTraveler Ultimate outperforming even its stated numbers on the packaging. Kingston is touting read/write figures of 80MB/s and 60MB/s respectively. Plugged into a Gigabyte board running off an NEC USB controller we found max numbers of 97MB/s and 73MB/s. Compare that with the USB 2.0 performance of 35MB/s and 29MB/s for the same stick's read/write speeds and the boost is obvious. In our real-world file transfer test it was also twice as fast as USB 2.0 modes, taking 21 seconds in USB 3.0 against the old school interface's 44 seconds. So it's quick, and only a little more expensive than the older tech. You may not be an early adopter here, but it'll be a more than satisfying purchase.Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar Reviews Guarantee</a></li><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/memory/usb-flash-drives">Read more USB flash drive reviews</a></li></ul>

Review: Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 64GB

Early adopters are usually the ones who get punished. It's one of the laws of the tech jungle. Jump the train too early and you'll ...

Review: Thermaltake eSPORTS Challenger

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.wired_flow.thermaltake_1-200-200.jpg"/>The dedicated gaming arm of Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS, was showing off its new range of keyboards at this year’s Computex show in Taipei. I had a quick go on one there, and now I have my very own, whirring away on my desktop. Whirring away? Yes, the key gimmick setting this apart from the host of other gaming keyboards out there is the addition of a moveable little fan blowing air over your poor, sweaty gamer’s sausage-fingers. You can mount it on either side of the board, and you can also completely remove it and stow it away inside the plastic surrounds. On a particularly long gaming sesh it will help to cool off your digits, reducing any of that potentially lethal finger slippage. What I don’t approve of, though, is the whining sound associated with the tiny fan, operating at a frequency that’s almost, but not quite, beyond the realms of human hearing. Elsewhere it’s very much a standard gaming keyboard, with all the recordable macro functionality we’ve come to expect from such peripherals. The keys are solid with a reassuring action to them, and have a fairly long travel so you really have to press them, eliminating a lot of mis-strikes. The USB 2.0 port on the rear is useful too, especially as it operates only on a single USB cable connected to your PC. So it’s a steady gaming keyboard – nothing special and nothing that bad. But for £60 I still kinda want something a little bit special.Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar Reviews Guarantee</a></li><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/peripherals/input-devices/keyboards">Read more keyboard reviews</a></li></ul>

Review: Thermaltake eSPORTS Challenger

The dedicated gaming arm of Thermaltake, Tt eSPORTS, was showing off its new range of keyboards at this year’s Computex show in Taipei. I h...

Review: Webroot Internet Security Complete

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20143/WLT143.solo.webroot-200-200.jpg" /> 
Webroot, an internet security firm founded in 1997, has just released its comprehensive Internet Security Complete 2011 suite for protecting your computer from online threats. 
With its simple, friendly interface and generous online storage, it is well worth considering. Installation is quick and easy, and followed by an initial scan of your laptop's hard drive. From this point on the software works in the background, informing you of any threats or attempts to access your network. 
Updates are automatically downloaded and hazardous files are picked up instantly with a warning message. The dashboard is clean and simple and not as intimidating as Norton's front end. Any problems are obvious thanks to the red and green colour coding. 
You can run a scan at any time or schedule one for the future, although scans are performed automatically by default at unobtrusive times. You also have quick access to internet or phone support and can set up an account with Webroot which gives you access to a generous 10GB of online storage for backing up and synchronising your files with two other computers. 
Webroot automatically adds a toolbar to your default internet browser, which allows you to store log-in and password information for your favourite websites. You can also store personal details and card information, which is then automatically entered into online forms. 
For added security, all sites are checked out for potential threats before you access them and any attachments you receive are scanned before download. 
However, there are no parental controls for keeping tabs on your childrens' browsing habits. 
Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 offers comprehensive protection for your laptop, both online and offl ine, and the sharing and syncing features are an added bonus. Only the omission of parental controls lets it down. 
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Review: Webroot Internet Security Complete

Webroot, an internet security firm founded in 1997, has just released its comprehensive Internet Security Complete 2011 suite for protectin...

Review: The PCO Group Evolution 3D

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_rev1.vento3_1-200-200.jpg"/>The £1,000 price point is rapidly becoming the sweet spot for decent machines. With prices on key components dropping, and brand new parts arriving offering impressive performance for relatively inexpensive prices, the power available at this sweet spot just keeps growing and growing. To the point where here we have a new machine, the Evolution 3D, from first-time PCFormat rig-builders the PCO Group, that's a quicker games machine than any other PC we've seen available at this price. The key to the Evolution 3D's performance is a combination of an overclocked Intel Core i5 and a pair of Nvidia's latest GPU, the GTS 450. We checked out the <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/asus-gts-450-top-715663/review">GTS 450 last month</a>, and a decent little card it turned out to be. The first we saw was an overclocked version from Asus, and while it gave decent performance figures, it was still rather too close to the 768MB GTX 460 in terms of price. It also struggled to maintain a clear lead over its real competition, the HD 5770 from AMD. A month later though, and thanks to price wars between AMD and Nvidia, and across the different distributors, you can now pick up a bog-standard GTS 450 for well under a ton. That's a proper Fermi GPU at a quite simply astonishing price – especially considering that this now puts it up against the HD 5750 in terms of price, and way ahead in terms of performance. While that's great news for the gamer on a budget, it's also great news for anyone out there with an SLI-certified motherboard. And thanks to more and more mainstream mobos shipping with that functionality, that's a great deal of us. You see, when you pair up two of these wee fellas in SLI they demonstrate exactly why multi-GPU machines are becoming more popular. SLI – and AMD's answer, CrossFire – now offer the sort of returns that we'd always hoped for. <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/sli-vs-crossfire-which-is-better-709089?artc_pg=1">Check out our in-depth multi-GPU feature</a> and you'll see what we mean. In terms of decent PCs, that means we can now get the sort of performance out of a £1,000 rig that we'd have previously had to splash out maybe twice as much to get. Dual GPU machines are now where the smart money goes. Everyone loves twins Even just six months ago we'd have always said to just buy the fastest single graphics card your wallet could stretch to. The spectre of multi-GPU driver failures and the diminishing returns you used to get from adding a second, third or even fourth card meant that it was just not worth paying the extra pennies for the hassle it would give you. Now, with two GTS 450s costing less than the price of an overclocked GTX 460 – and consistently out performing it by a long way while it's about it – it makes absolute sense to go for two. Not only have you got two GPUs working away on your game's frame rates, but you've also got double the single card's memory capacity. And when you're talking about big-screen gaming, or the drains memory-intensive effects such as anti-aliasing have on a system, that makes a hell of a difference. The GTS 450 has been kitted out with a full 1GB of GDDR5, and when you've got the graphics pipes fed with a beefy 2GB of graphics memory you're laughing. So, on to the numbers then – and they make impressive reading. The benchmarks<img alt="CPU rendering" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/CPU%20rendering%20performance-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><img alt="Video encoding" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/Video%20encoding%20performance-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><img alt="Bench group" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/Bench-group-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>You wouldn't normally expect a £1,000 rig to be a decent accompaniment to a big-screen monitor, but the Evolution 3D's performance at the eye-popping 2,560 x 1,600 resolution is damned impressive. That's the 2GB of GDDR5 going to work right there. In both DiRT 2 and Far Cry 2 the Evolution 3D was hitting 56 and 61fps respectively at the full 30-inch panel resolution. That's getting on for the sort of performance we've been used to from the full-fat Fermi card – the GTX 480 – and even then in overclocked trim. Looking at the seriously GPU-stressing Just Cause 2, the 26fps score at 2,560 x 1,600 is likewise impressive. When you look at the system raper that is Metro 2033 though, you're starting to see the GF 106 GPU's limits when all the bells and whistles are switched into the 'on' mode. Still, the equally tessellation-heavy program, Heaven 2.1 Benchmark, came back with a score that's almost on a par with the GTX 460 in SLI confi guration. All told that puts the twin GTS 450 setup ahead of almost every single GPU configuration out there, up to the GTX 480. That means that every other Fermi card must bow to this bargain setup, and AMD must be in one hell of a hurry to get its new lineup of graphics cards out of the stable door as soon as possible, because all of its GPUs are left in the dust by this pairing of two sub-£100 cards. That's the graphics taken care of, but the new Core i5 760 is a welcome addition to the mix too. We already know how well this beauty overclocks in a decent P55 board, and the PCO Group has them running at 4GHz. Cooked chips Unfortunately though, our review unit turned out to be a little flaky at this clockspeed, only giving reliable results once the BCLK had been scaled back a couple of notches to 3.8GHz. That's not a massive issue though, as it's still faster than the CPU in the wee CyberPower Game Cube. And the PCO Group will guarantee the stability of your overclock too with a full 48-hour burn-in period carried out on every machine prior to shipping. Unfortunately our review machine had a PSU failure during testing, and the time taken to fit and test the replacement meant there wasn't time for our rig's traditional burn-in. The PCO Group offers a free three-year collect and return warranty on its machines so in the event of an overclock not being stable you won't be out of pocket, and the maximum you'll be without your rig would be three working days. We dropped in one of our own i5 760s, and with the BIOS settings PCO Group's tech team gave us we hit 4GHz without a problem, so it was definitely the CPU itself that was the problem and not the setup. And with the new Corsair H70 closed-loop liquid cooler taken care of it, it's certainly not the heat stopping the previous CPU hitting the 4GHz mark. With that 1GHz+ boost in its stock clock frequencies, the i5 760 manages to provide impressive benchmark figures. Looking at the Cinebench 11.5 index score, it's only just short of a standard Core i7 960 running at 3.2GHz, and that's a quad-core CPU with Intel's HyperThreading tech offering eight threads of processing power against the Core i5's four threads. The other components propping up the Evolution 3D have obviously been picked with care too, hitting an almost perfect balance of power and affordability with a hint of future-proofing added for good measure. <img alt="The pco group evolution 3d" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_rev1.vento2_1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/motherboards/asus-p7p55d-e-pro-662877/review">Asus P7P55D EVO</a> motherboard was the obvious choice. Hitting a decent price with an SLI-certified mobo isn't easy, and this board is one of the few around for less than £150. Unfortunately, the price compromise has meant that there's neither of the new I/O interfaces available on this board, so there's no USB 3.0 or SATA 6Gbp/s. Asus is prepping a new revision with both new I/O, smartly titled the P7P55D-E Deluxe, which is due to come in slightly cheaper. So if you definitely want both then it might be worth waiting before placing your order. That said though, add-on boards with SATA 6Gbp/s and USB 3.0 ports are not that expensive and don't offer any significant drop in performance over motherboard-based chips. The future-proofing comes in the shape of the 850W Corsair PSU. That's more than enough to power this setup, and offers an upgrade path going forward. As you can see from <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/cases-cooling/power-supplies/corsair-memory-professional-series-gold-ax1200-717088/review">our review of the 1200W model</a>, the Corsair supplies are quality bits of kit. Compact and bijou My only real concern with the component spec of the Evolution 3D is the relative paucity of storage space. At 500GB it's not a great deal of capacity, especially once you start reinstalling your Steam back-catalogue, but it's not terrible. Still, in a £1,000 rig these days you would expect that with terabyte drives being relatively inexpensive, that's the minimum. I'm also not a massive fan of the Asus Vento chassis. I find the plastic tool-less design inside a little flimsy, and the clips holding down the PCI cards are not as solid as I'd like. But if the choice was ours and if we were trying to keep the spec to £1,000 we'd be sacrificing the chassis and the storage too. Hell, we'd build it in a shoe box if it meant we could keep this processor and SLI pairing. This month we've got two machines around the £1,000 sweet spot: this SLI marvel and the teeny-tiny GTX 460 Game Cube from CyberPower. Both offer great performance in two different fields, and both would be a sound investment. The Evolution 3D just has the edge in terms of performance. The twin GTS 450s have completely won us over in SLI trim, offering performance equivalent to the best Nvidia can offer for a long way short of the cost. Aesthetically, it's not my bag, but my PC is always out of sight under the desk anyway. It's what goes on onscreen that counts for me, and the speed at which this rig flies has got us hooked. This is the fastest machine we've ever seen for £1,000. If that's your budget, this is your spec.Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar Reviews Guarantee</a></li><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-mac-desktops">Read more desktop PC reviews</a></li></ul><img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f34cd64/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-related'>

Review: The PCO Group Evolution 3D

The £1,000 price point is rapidly becoming the sweet spot for decent machines. With prices on key components dropping, and brand new parts ...

Review: CyberPower Game Cube

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.w_rev11.cyberpower_1-200-200.jpg"/>Your average PC is a fairly uniform size. The familiar ATX chassis will take up the same sort of footprint next to, under, or on top of your desk, and is quite capable of blocking out the sun if you put it anywhere near a window. Why can't we squeeze a normal gaming rig into a smaller chassis when all those consoley things can get away with something only a little bigger than your TV digibox? Well, you can. Small form factor PCs have been around for years, with the smallest generally used for media-based machines with only a light gaming bent. For an actual gaming machine you'll need to look at the like of Shuttle's range of rigs. But they're still pretty chunky. CyberPower has picked up Silverstone's lovely little SG-07B case and dropped all the features of a top-notch gaming PC in it. What enables this tiny chassis to accommodate a full rig? First, you can fit a standard ATX power supply underneath the storage and optical drives. Second, the space allocated to the graphics card allows any dual-slot GPU to be fitted. Even the elongated HD5970 would fit. Third, mini-ITX motherboards are now so feature-rich that you're sacrificing very little in order to slim down. The Gigabyte H55-based board is absolutely tiny, and yet still has a PCIe X16 slot, support for dual-channel DDR3 RAM up to 1600MHz and USB 3.0 ports thrown in for good measure. It's not a bad little overclocker either. The <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/processors/intel-core-i5-760-710507/review">Core i5-760</a> CPU hums away inside at a thoroughly commendable 3.6GHz. We've seen 4GHz+ from this chip on full rigs, but cooling has to be an issue with a machine this small. Speaking of which, the liquid-based CPU cooler does a good job of keeping things chilled, and the design of the chassis tries to maximise airflow around the graphics card too. Benchmarks<img alt="Benchmarks" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/benchmarks-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Well-chosen GPU In terms of performance, the quality components chosen for the rig make it a bit of a go-er. The <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/asus-gtx-460-top-768mb-704354/review">GTX 460</a> is well-documented in these hallowed pages as the mid-range card de jour, and that quad-core i5-760 is going to do the business games-wise too. The Game Cube absolutely creams all the other rigs we've seen at this price. It even comes close to beating the £1,500 <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-mac-desktops/advance-tec-at-fx-khaos-693306/review">AdvanceTec ATFX Khaos</a>. That only just keeps its nose ahead thanks to the Bloomfield i7 CPU. There are few niggles with this machine. Obviously, it's not built for the upgrader. The brilliant design of the chassis means that everything has its place, and you'll be hard pressed to even get at the components, let alone remove and replace them with upgrades. It also gets a little loud once you start gaming on it, although the distraction isn't too bad – it's nothing compared with the noise emitted from the Xbox 360's DVD drive, for instance. Upgrade/noise issues notwithstanding, CyberPower's Game Cube is brilliantly specced for the price, and is one hell of a performer. Once AMD pulls its finger out we can expect an even cheaper hexcore version too. The Game Cube then is truly a miniature marvel.Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar Reviews Guarantee</a></li><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-mac-desktops">Read more desktop PC reviews</a></li></ul><img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f34cd62/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-related'>

Review: CyberPower Game Cube

Your average PC is a fairly uniform size. The familiar ATX chassis will take up the same sort of footprint next to, under, or on top of you...

Review: StarTech 2.5" SATA HD rack

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20246/PCF246.wired_flow.sata_espansion_1-200-200.jpg"/>This is where reviewing things in PCFormat can get a mite tricky. How does one review a 2.5" hard drive bracket? Well, to be honest it's my fault for thinking that StarTech's hot-swappable, rear-mounted hard-drive rack sounded interesting. And, to be honest, it kind of is interesting. But I'm still not entirely sure that it's that useful. If it was only a tenner, or if it came in a pack of two to allow seamless drive switching between two machines then I could get behind its rather niche usage model. But as it is, it's kind of only really relevant for someone regularly testing different laptop hard drives. In that situation it's incredibly useful. You mount the rack in a spare expansion slot on the rear of your case, hook up the SATA info and power leads, and you can drop in 2.5-inch drives on the fly. It could be handy for smaller chassis with fewer hard-drive mounts inside, and for those SSDs that come without mounting brackets to slot them into 3.5- inch bays. I've tested it with a couple of different SSDs and it didn't once have a problem with any of the extended casings around the SSD SATA points. In terms of security, you could secure your machine by having your boot drive in the bay at the back and remove it whenever you're not at your rig. Handy for the LAN party then. It's a well-made, smartly designed, and simple piece of tech. It's reassuringly solid, the drives fit snugly and it just works. There's really not a lot else you could ask of the StarTech bracket, apart from maybe a wee price cut. But then products in niche markets are always a little bit pricey…Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar Reviews Guarantee</a></li><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/storage">Read more storage reviews</a></li></ul><img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f3549f8/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-related'>

Review: StarTech 2.5" SATA HD rack

This is where reviewing things in PCFormat can get a mite tricky. How does one review a 2.5" hard drive bracket? Well, to be honest it...

Review: Canon PowerShot SX30 IS

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/PowerShot%20SX30%20IS%20FSL%202-200-200.jpg"/>We are used to digital bridge cameras having wide focal length ranges, but the 14.1-million-pixel Canon PowerShot SX30 IS is a little bit special because its 35x optical zoom gives the SX30 IS a focal length range equivalent to 24-840mm.Just to be clear, that's the Canon SX30's optical range at full resolution and it doesn't include the digital zoom which can extend the reach to 140x.Having such a phenomenal range should make this new Canon PowerShot camera ideal for a whole raft of photographic situations, from shooting in fairly confined spaces indoors and taking shots of wide, sweeping vistas to photographing distant wildlife.The PowerShot SX30 IS's lens features Canon's most advanced optical Image Stabilizer, which assesses camera shake around 8,000 times per second and is claimed to extend the safe hand-holdable shutter speed by up to 4.5 stops. Obviously this can't deal with subject movement when shooting wildlife, but it is a big help with cancelling out the involuntary camera movements that are an issue with very long telephoto optics.Interestingly, Canon has used three Hi-UD (high-refractive index, ultra-low dispersion) elements, which are normally reserved for broadcast-quality video optics, to reduce the overall weight of the SX30's lens and keep the overall mass to a manageable 601g (including battery/batteries and memory card).While the SX30 has a host of novice-friendly automatic scene modes, more experienced photographers will appreciate the option to shoot in program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual modes. At the widest point aperture can be adjusted in 1/3 EV steps from f/2.7-f/8, but at the longest point on the lens this drops to f/5.6-f/8. Meanwhile shutter speed varies by shooting mode, but the maximum range (which is selectable in shutter priority and manual mode) is 15-1/3200 sec.Sensitivity may be set to auto, ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600, which is probably about as far as you would want to push a camera with a 1/2.3in CCD and 14.1 million effective pixels.As usual, exposure may be measured using evaluative, centreweighted or spot metering. While the evaluative metering may be linked to the Face Detection AF frame, the spotmeter can measure from the centre of the frame, the Face Detection AF frame or the FlexiZone AF frame.<img alt="Canon powershot sx30 is" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/PowerShot%20SX30%20IS%20FRT%20LCD%20FACING-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>In keeping with the bridge camera genre, the PowerShot SX30 IS looks like a mini DSLR. There's even pseudo button-bump where you'd expect the lens release to be.In some lights the SX30 looks two-tone, but I think it's actually the result of the two different finishes used on the camera's surface. The fine texture of the deep fingergrip provides just enough purchase when shooting or carrying the camera, but lacks the adhesion of Canon's DSLR grips.I am a fan of articulating LCD screens and the hinged 2.7in unit on the SX30 is good, making it much easier to shoot from a range of angles. Although the screen has a relatively low pixel count by modern standards (230,000 dots), it provides a clear view even when shooting outside in bright sunlight – though bear in mind I used it in the UK's October sun rather than tropical July sunshine.I am slightly less impressed by the SX30's electronic viewfinder (EVF), which seems rather small and allows little latitude in your eye position. On the plus-side, the EVF has only a few fewer dots than the LCD screen (around 202,000 dots) and provides a reasonably detailed view of the scene being composed. It's frustrating that there's no eye sensor to detect when the camera is held to the eye and automatically switch between activating the LCD and the EVF; instead, the Display button must be pressed to toggle between the options.The PowerShot SX30 IS is one of those cameras that almost anyone can pick up and use straightaway. The controls are sensibly arranged and easy to locate, although there is no direct access to the white balance options by default. I set this to be accessed via the Shortcut button to the top left of the LCD screen.Those wishing to mix stills and video shooting will love the fact that the SX30 has a dedicated button that can be used to start recording 720p (1280x720 pixel) movies whatever the shooting mode selected.Even stationary subjects can sometimes be hard to locate in the LCD or EVF when a long focal length lens is being used, but Canon's Zoom Framing Assist button to the right of the thumbrest on the back of the camera makes life much easier. While this button is depressed the lens zooms out allowing the photographer to see more of the scene and locate the main subject. It's a real bonus when the lens is zoomed into 840mm.In good light the SX30's autofocus system performs pretty well. It doesn't exactly snap the subject into sharp focus, but it comes into register fairly promptly. Things slow down a little in lower light, with low-contrast subjects and at the longest point of the telephoto lens, but in most instances the SX30 manages to find the target. In continuous AF mode the SX30 managed to keep up with a jogger making his way up a steep hill towards me, but I don't think it is the camera I would use for faster moving sports and action.<img alt="Canon powershot sx30 is" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/PowerShot%20SX30%20IS%20FRT%20LCD%20FACING-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Canon knows a thing or two about exposure systems and the PowerShot SX30 IS's evaluative metering system doesn't disappoint. The main subject is correctly exposed in the majority of my images, although in some instances this is at the expense of the highlights. Fortunately, exposure compensation is available to +/-2EV in 1/3EV steps and is easily accessed using the 'up' navigation control and the control on the back of the camera.It's worth keeping an eye on the histogram view (accessed via the Display button), as I found that the on-screen image sometimes differs a little from the captured version.Overexposed areas of blue sky tend to look rather cyan, but this can often be rectified post-capture to make the results look more natural. Colours direct from the SX30 are generally quite vibrant and I would steer clear of the vibrant mode. Canon has one of the best, if not the best, white balance systems around and on the whole my images captured in auto white balance mode retain the atmosphere of the scene.Chromatic aberration is an issue along some high-contrast edges, especially towards the corners of the frame. In several instances I was able to reduce this coloured fringing by adjusting the image using Adobe Camera Raw. Distortion is controlled well.Still images may only be saved as JPEGs on the SX30, which is a little disappointing, but not entirely surprising. At high sensitivity settings there's little sign of chroma noise, but when examined at 100% on screen, even toned areas of images captured at ISO 200 have a slight granular texture caused by luminance noise.Out-of-focus areas with very fine detail also look slightly smudged under high magnification, especially in high-sensitivity images. When the images are sized to make A3 prints they look good and the smudging is not apparent, but images captured at the highest sensitivity setting (ISO 1600 at full resolution) look a little softer than those taken at the lowest settings.While not spectacular, 1280x720-pixel video quality from the SX30 is good, though some edges look at little oversharpened. Recording at 30fps ensures that movement is fairly smooth.We used this set of clothes pins on a wooden tabletop to study the effects of noise at each of the SX30's ISO settings from ISO 80 to ISO 1600. Each image was cropped at 100% to better illustrate the changes. Click on each cropped image for the full version.<img alt="ISO 80 main" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/80-small-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>ISO 80<img alt="ISO 80 crop" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/80-crop-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>ISO 100<img alt="ISO 100 crop" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/100-crop-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>ISO 200<img alt="ISO 200 crop" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/200-crop-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>ISO 400<img alt="ISO 400 crop" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/400-crop-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>ISO 800<img alt="ISO 800 crop" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/800-crop-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>ISO 1600<img alt="ISO 1600 crop" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/1600-crop-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><img alt="man in boat" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/840mm3%20-%20small-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><a href="http://www.photoradar.com/files/articles/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/840mm3%20-%20small.jpg">See full-res image</a>Man in a canal boat, shot at 840mm: 1/400sec at f/5.8, ISO 200<img alt="lake" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/24mm3%20-%20small-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><a href="http://www.photoradar.com/files/articles/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/24mm3.jpg">See full-res image</a>Shooting at the 24mm end of the Canon SX30's lens captures a stunning perspective, but note the canal boat on the opposite side of the river. That dot in the window on the right is the man in the image above, which demonstrates just how impressive the SX30's zoom range really is: 1/200sec at f/5.6, ISO 200<img alt="Veg stall" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/Vegstall%20-%20small-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><a href="http://www.photoradar.com/files/articles/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/Vegstall.jpg">See full-res image</a>Colours direct from the SX30 IS are generally quite vibrant as seen in this image using the Canon SX30's tilt and shift effect option: 1/500sec at f/4, ISO 80<img alt="colours" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/Woman%20-%20small-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><a href="http://www.photoradar.com/files/articles/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/Woman.jpg">See full-res image</a>Again using the Canon PowerShot SX30's tilt and shift effect you can manipulate the size and orientation of the zone that's sharp: 1/125sec at f/4, ISO 320<img alt="low angle" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/Low%20-%20small-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img><a href="http://www.photoradar.com/files/articles/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/Low.jpg">See full-res image</a>The hinged 2.7in articulated LCD screen on the Canon PowerShot SX30 IS makes it easier to shoot from a range of angles: 1/50sec at f/4, ISO 400<img alt="Canon powershot sx30 is" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PhotoRadar/Canon%20PowerShot%20SX30%20IS/PowerShot%20SX30%20IS%20FRT%20LCD%20FACING-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Canon's PowerShot SX30 IS is capable of producing some excellent images, but it's best to keep to the lower sensitivity settings if you want to make A3-size prints.It's a shame that images cannot be recorded as raw files to allow experienced photographers more control over the noise reduction that is applied to their high-sensitivity images. Canon has added raw capability to its bridge cameras with a firmware update in the past, and I wonder if it will do so this time?The SX30 is very easy to use and although the focusing can be a bit slower than usual when the lens is at its longer point, the incredible focal length span makes it a great choice for family day trips to the zoo etc.Features: 4/5The PowerShot SX30 IS's key features are its incredibly wide spanning lens, articulated LCD screen and its advanced exposure modes that are backed up with entry-level modes.Build quality: 3/5There are no real surprises here: the body of the SX30 is well put together, but it has a plastic look and feel to it – for obvious reasons.Value: 4/5This is a difficult one, as an EOS 1000D (body only) can be purchased for less than £300 these days. However, buying a range of lenses (or lenses and teleconverters) to cover the full focal range span of 24-840mm will set you back considerably more, making the £449.99 RRP of the PowerShot SX30 IS seem very reasonable.Performance: 3/5With a 1/2.3in sensor, the image quality from the SX30 IS is never going to compete with that from an APS-C-format DSLR, but it is nevertheless impressive. A superzoom lens usually demands a few compromises in the image quality, and although chromatic aberration is visible in some images, it is not as big an issue as I might have feared.Overall: 4/5Canon's PowerShot SX 30 IS is an excellent choice of camera for someone who wants something a bit more than the average compact model, yet doesn't want to go down the route of having interchangeable lenses. The feature set is extensive, the camera is easy to use and the results are generally good, allowing you to make prints at sizes up to A3.Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar Reviews Guarantee</a></li><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras">Read more digital camera reviews</a></li></ul><img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f3b91a6/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Review%3A+Canon+PowerShot+SX30+IS&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Freviews%2Fcameras-and-camcorders%2Fcameras%2Fcompact-cameras%2Fcanon-powershot-sx30-is-904328%2Freview%3Fsrc%3Drss%26attr%3Dall" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Review%3A+Canon+PowerShot+SX30+IS&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Freviews%2Fcameras-and-camcorders%2Fcameras%2Fcompact-cameras%2Fcanon-powershot-sx30-is-904328%2Freview%3Fsrc%3Drss%26attr%3Dall" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div> <a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/83965287156/u/49/f/9809/c/669/s/f3b91a6/kg/38-42-43-45-68-168-170/a2.htm"><img border="0" src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/83965287156/u/49/f/9809/c/669/s/f3b91a6/kg/38-42-43-45-68-168-170/a2.img"/></a><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/allnews/~4/mkf4Zd3T4us" width="1"/>

Review: Canon PowerShot SX30 IS

We are used to digital bridge cameras having wide focal length ranges, but the 14.1-million-pixel Canon PowerShot SX30 IS is a little bit s...

Review: Sony PRS-650 Reader Touch

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/PRS-650/PRS-650-200-200.jpg"/>The tablet market may be casting a dark shadow over the future of the ebook reader, but there are still two big-name manufacturers out there who believe that a dedicated reading device is what consumers want.Both Amazon with its Kindle and Sony with its Reader range are slogging it out to become the number one ebook reader manufacturer. You wouldn't have failed to notice that Amazon has pumped a lot of money into advertising its Kindle on TVs and billboards. But Sony, with little fanfare, has managed to impress TechRadar with the fantastic quality of its latest Reader, the Sony PRS-650 Reader Touch.This isn't the first time Sony has released a touchscreen ebook reader but it is the first time it has launched a decent one.Touchsreen and e-ink usually goes together like water and oil; the two technologies aren't compatible due to the extra layer that has to go on top of the e-ink display to make it touch-friendly.This extra layer makes touch that little more sluggish and renders the screen almost unreadable in direct sunlight due to added shine.Given that one of e-ink's USPs is that it works well in direct sunlight, the first Sony Reader Touch was hampered by too many glitches to make is a decent touchscreen device.Sony has gone a long way to rectify this and the results (which we will relay further on in the review) are quite special.<img alt="Sony prs-650 reader touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touch10-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The Sony PRS-650 Reader Touch has been given a 6-inch screen with a 600 x 800 resolution. This is the same size as the original Sony Reader, but it's the build quality which has been improved dramatically.An aluminium chassis replaces the dowdy plastic exterior of yore. This gives the Reader a nice weight – solid but far from too heavy. At 215g it won't give you arm and neck ache like the iPad does.The chassis of the Sony Reader Touch is slim, too, at just 119 x 168 x 10mm, and Sony has made sure that every button on the device is flush to the bezel. This is a nice stylistic touch and one which means that you won't accidentally turn it on when it is in a bag.As the Sony Reader does utilise touchscreen, the buttons on show are limited. On the front, just under the screen is a forward and back button for flipping pages and home, zoom and option buttons.<img alt="Sony prs-650 reader touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touch9-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Situated on the bottom of the Sony Reader are a Micro USB port, volume control and 3.5mm jack.The top features a sliding power button and two expandable memory slots: SD and MemoryStick. Unfortunately Sony still seems intent of keeping the MemoryStick format alive. The slot may not take up much room on the top of the Reader Touch, but it does feel a little like overkill having both memory slots on board.<img alt="Sony prs-650 reader touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touch7-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The only other noticeable feature on the Reader Touch is the stylus. Yes, the Sony Reader Touch comes with a stylus. This is a little strange considering how much the touchscreen has improved on the device, and is a feature which will become redundant in future renditions of the Reader Touch.In our tests we hardly took the stylus out. Except to look at it to remind us what technology in 1999 looked like.<img alt="Sony prs-650 reader touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touch1-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Switch the Sony PRS-650 Reader Touch on and it takes around 10 seconds to boot up your library of books. The menu screen is nice and pleasant to look at. Sony has made significant improvements with its e-ink technology. It uses E Ink Pearl which is sharper, has a faster refresh rate and now comes with 16 levels of greyscale.This does make a noticeable difference to the sharpness of the text on the screen.The menu is broken down into your library of books (you get a number of books like Doctor No and Pride And Prejudice loaded on to the device). Your periodicals (newspaper articles), collections (books you have purchased) and any notes you have made.This is where the Sony Reader Touch gets interesting. You have the ability to make notes on the books you read. You can underline, circle and scribble on the books you are reading. It is virtual graffiti and it is a great feature which is primed for students.You can also double tap on words to load up the included dictionary to find out their definition.And even better, you can find out the definition of foreign words as well, so there's no stopping you when reading even the most pretentious la literature.<img alt="Sony prs-650 reader touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touch2-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The new and improved screen resolution means that the Reader Touch is a joy to use. Words sparkle on the page and even the page transition doesn't seem as jarring as normal e-ink readers. To get back to the menu screen you have to use the real home button.Everything else though is done through the touchscreen. Sony has managed to create a touchscreen on the Sony Touch which does away with the shiny extra layer it had to put on its prior Touch ebook reader – this makes a world of difference. Essentially Sony is using tiny sensors at the top and bottom of the screen which detect when a finger is present on the screen.This means that swiping the screen can be done with the deftest of touches and there's no harder finger prodding when having to navigate menus.E-Ink touchscreen displays are never going to compete with the capacitive screens of phones or tablets, but the screen on the Sony Reader Touch is a revelation for those who have tried touch on an e-ink device before.<img alt="Sony prs-650 reader touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touc-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>Other slight features include bookmarking and searching. Searching brings up a QWERTY keyboard, which isn't as responsive as we'd have liked, but there was no muddling of letters when typing out the names of books.The Sony Reader Touch also makes for a decent PDF viewer. This is because any PDFs you feed into the device are automatically resized for ease of view.It's not that great at viewing images, though. While the front covers of books are great in thumbnail form when they are blown up they are less than impressive. And swiping through the images makes the e-ink have something of a fit. It looks like the image is drowning in treacle before actually coming up to the surface. As there is a 3.5mm jack, you can also load up the device with MP3s to listen to while reading your missives.When it comes to internal memory, the Sony Reader Touch has 2GB which is around 1,200 ebooks. This is expandable with the two memory slots.<img alt="Sony prs-650 reader touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touch8-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>After playing with the Sony Reader for a number of weeks, we can vouch that the battery life is impressive. Having listened to MP3s and loaded up myriad ebooks we didn't have to charge it for at least a week. Sony is promoting it as around two week's juice, but this must be with little action.Sony is making the Reader Touch as open as possible, so the file formats it will take are plentiful. The main ones include: EPUB eBooks (Adept) BBeB eBook, PDF, Word, TXT and RTF.This does a good job of masking the fact that Sony doesn't have the might of the Amazon Kindle Store to go with its ebook reader.As it is sporting EPUB, you can download ebooks from most online stores out there, though. The one which you won't be able to is, for obvious reasons, the Kindle Store.<img alt="Sony reader prs-650 touch" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sonyreader-google-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>With the release of the Reader Touch, Sony is promoting that you can now rent books through 50 council library websites.We found this was easy enough to do, but there are some interesting things with the renting. Even though it is a digital file, each library only has so many licences, so like a real library the book you want may well be 'out on loan'. You do get notified when the ebook is available, though.It's a nice idea, but one which is currently limited. If more libraries sign up then it may well take off.What is much better is the search function of the Sony Reader website which offers up all the free domain books Google has to offer.This saves you a lot of time wading through the priced books which Google also offers.<img alt="Sony reader prs-650 reader tocuh" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Gadgets/Sony%20reader%20touch/sony-reader-touch5-420-90.jpg" width="420"></img>The Sony PRS-650 Reader Touch is a mightily impressive piece of kit, but there are a few niggles with the product.The biggest for us is its complete lack of wireless connectivity. That's right, there is no 3G or wireless, so downloading content on the go is a big no-no.Amazon must have been extremely pleased about this, given that its latest Kindle offers Wi-Fi and/or 3G.We have to admit that the amount of books you can pre-load onto a Reader Touch is more than you would probably get through in a lifetime, so there isn't that much need for wireless. It does mean that you can't have RSS feeds on the device and those spur of the moment purchases of ebooks go out of the window.The second niggle is the price. The Sony Reader Touch is an expensive bit of kit, priced at around £200.In these wallet-tightening times this may be too much for some. But Sony has created a product well deserving of the price. The aluminium chassis is one of the most desirable we have seen at any price, it feels perfect in the hand and is easy to read.The quality of the touchscreen will blow most ebook reader naysayers away. But the price will unfortunately put others off – or at least turn them to the perfectly priced Amazon Kindle 3.Related Links<ul><li><a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/techradar-s-reviews-guarantee-622749">TechRadar's reviews guarantee</a></li></ul><img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f3bd220/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-viral'><table border='0'><tr><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Review%3A+Sony+PRS-650+Reader+Touch&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Freviews%2Fgadgets%2Fportable-video%2Fportable-media-players-recorders%2Fsony-prs-650-reader-touch-902213%2Freview%3Fsrc%3Drss%26attr%3Dall" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" /></a></td><td valign='middle'><a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Review%3A+Sony+PRS-650+Reader+Touch&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.techradar.com%2Freviews%2Fgadgets%2Fportable-video%2Fportable-media-players-recorders%2Fsony-prs-650-reader-touch-902213%2Freview%3Fsrc%3Drss%26attr%3Dall" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" /></a></td></tr></table></div><img height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techradar/allnews/~4/NyFcl-FAmls" width="1"/>

Review: Sony PRS-650 Reader Touch

The tablet market may be casting a dark shadow over the future of the ebook reader, but there are still two big-name manufacturers out ther...