Invites for Google Glass will start making their way to lucky #ifihadglass applications soon, the search engine giant announced today.

"Over the next few weeks, we'll be slowly rolling out invitations to successful #ifihadglass applicants," shared Project Glass in a Google+ post today.

This second round of Explorer Edition glasses are going to people who asked for the wearable computer specs via Google+ and Twitter, stating what they would do if they had Glass.

"We were looking for bold, creative individuals to become our next wave of Explorers — and wow, did we get them," said the Google+ post.

Pain in the #idonthaveglass

These applicants will join owners of the first round of Google Glass, who signed up for the Explorer Program at last year's Google I/O conference.

That's good for the recipients willing to pony up the $1,500 it costs to buy the developer-only Google Glass specs, but today's also news means #ifihadglass applications are no longer being accepted.

"We're thrilled to be moving into the next phase of our Explorer Program and we hope to expand in the future," said Google.

"Unfortunately, we aren't taking any more applications right now."

Of course, seeing this #ifihadglass news in anything but a positive light would be seeing the Glass half full. After all, Google Glass 2 may be around the corner.

• Get better perspective on Google Glass with everything you need to know about the new specs.

Microsoft can end its week with a smile, though Google may need to check its heart rate.

For Microsoft, not only did it reveal the Xbox One to much (self-generated) fanfare, MS learned today that it's 8-year-old console - the Xbox 360 - doesn't infringe on patents owned by Google-owned Motorola.

The verdict came down from the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), backing up a March ruling handed down by an ITC administration law judge. If the 360 was found to have violated Moto patents pertaining to mobile communication and video display technologies, the ITC could have banned U.S. imports of the console.

"This is a win for Xbox customers and confirms our view that Google had no grounds to block our products," David Howard, Microsoft deputy general counsel, said in a statement picked up by the Wall Street Journal.

Whoa oh whoa

Not only did Google's subsidiary lose out on putting the fix on a popular piece of tech, it may have a U.S. regulatory agency breathing down its neck...again.

According to Bloomberg sources, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering opening a larger probe into whether the search giant uses its dominance in display advertising to an unfair advantage.

The investigation is in the early going and may lead to nothing, and Google may take solace in the fact that last time the FTC took it to task, it didn't get much more than a wrist slap.

The new look reportedly will center on whether Google funnels companies to its other services through its display ad service, which includes the sale of banner ads.

With the EU, Canada's Competition Bureau and now apparently the FTC giving it grief, Google's chieftains may need to sell a few more Glass to pay for its legal bills.

• The new Kinect for the Xbox One isn't just for the console...at least starting in 2014

The technology behind Xbox One and the new Kinect was referred to as "rocket science level stuff" by Microsoft at its press conference, and it's now coming to PCs in 2014.

"I am pleased to announce that Microsoft will also deliver a new generation Kinect for Windows sensor next year," wrote Kinect for Windows director Bob Heddle in a blog post today.

The redesigned Kinect 2.0 for Windows is being built alongside the Xbox One Kinect using shared technology, meaning it too will have an HD color camera.

This goes along with the sensor's ability to track more points of the human body, including the tip of one's hand and thumb, and track up to six skeletons at once.

Microsoft is also implementing its proprietary Time-of-Flight technology, which measures the time it takes individual photons to rebound off an object or person for the utmost accuracy.

Tracking down developers

Okay, the talk of rebounding photons does sound closer to "rocket science level stuff" than most consumer technology.

Consequently, Heddle targeted his new Kinect for Windows blog post to developers, the same audience that Microsoft went after with the first PC-focused Kinect.

"The Kinect for Windows community will benefit from the sensor's enhanced fidelity, which will allow developers to create highly accurate solutions that see a person's form better than ever," he wrote.

Heddle hopes developers will be able to create apps thanks to the new camera's ability to see a person's form better, track objects with greater detail, and understand voice commands in noisier settings.

Kinecting at the Build Conference

From its noise-isolating multi-microphone that filters ambient sounds to its expanded field of view that ensures you don't have to completely rearrange your room, Kinect for Windows sounds like a huge improvement.

PC developers, however, will have to wait a little longer for the new technology over soon-to-be Xbox One Kinect owners. Kinect for Windows isn't scheduled for general release until 2014.

To hold everyone over, Microsoft plans to reveal more about the new Windows-based Kinect at its Build Developer Conference starting on June 26.

Find out more about the new Xbox One Kinect's next appearance by following our E3 2013 coverage.

The BBC has issued a new version of its iPlayer app for Android, enabling it to support 10-inch tablets for the first time.

Owners of the Google Nexus 10, and other larger slates had previously been redirected to the BBC website when attempting to use the BBC's catch-up portal.

The update, which is available to download from the Google Play Store today, means all devices from 7-10-inches will now be able to access the full range of TV and radio services.

The company has also promised support for larger slates, like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is also forthcoming.

Design tweaks

Auntie has also tweaked the design for phones and 7-inch tablets in the new version.

The app offers live TV and on-demand television over Wi-Fi and 3G and also features the new BBC Media Player to enable better playback on Android devices.

An actor giving a keynote at a tech show is like Slayer playing the county fair. No one knows how they got the gig and it's hard to tell if anyone there wants to hear it.

But at CTIA 2013, Ashton Kutcher proved to be an entertaining and thoughtful speaker. While the casually dressed Hollywood star looked out of place speaking to the Oxford and khakis crowd, his fireside chat with CNBC's Julie Boorstin was an injection of life this year's CTIA show sorely needed.

Kutcher's talk ranged from mobile app development to his own personal tech investments to the future of digital media. Though Kutcher has been an early investor in a number of startups, including Twitter, Uber and Square, he insisted that he was "just a consumer."

The actor was relaxed and affable throughout the chat, which opened the final day of this year's CTIA. Though the "That 70's Show" star did have a few Kelso moments when he waxed philosophical about Facebook as the "new religion," and the problem of users posting pics of their privates on the web.

Kelso burns Facebook and Twitter

"If you're not mobile you're antiquated," he quipped at one point. Throughout his talk, Kutcher stressed the importance of companies being able to serve customers on the go.

He called for restraint in the mobile space, bemoaning sites that meet users at the gate with a pitch to download an app. The star even called out Twitter, a network where he has a massive presence, for being too much of an advertising space.

"When Twitter first started it felt like the democratization of media, but now it just feels like the media."

He added that making retweeting easier "has hurt Twitter the most. It's a lot of people selling sh*t I don't want."

Kutcher went on to praise the ad tailoring on Facebook, but said that it has lost its intimacy. He described it as a "weak-tie network," saying that he has too many relative strangers in his feed, which makes him less inclined to share things there.

Ashton's apps

When Boorstin asked Kutcher if Facebook has mastered mobile, he replied that, "no one has mastered mobile." The CNBC correspondent then asked what apps he likes, and the actor whipped out a white iPhone 5 and rattled off a few recommendations from his home screen.

Kutcher said that Flipboard was part of his morning routine, and that Spotify was his music service of choice.

The actor also mentioned Next Door, a social network that connects people with their neighbors, and Couple, an app designed for intimate communication between two people.

Ashton the actor and investor

The subject of digital distribution of media was enivitable for a Hollywood star at a tech show, especially with Netflix's new season of "Arrested Development" days away. Kutcher said that services like Amazon developing its own content is far from a huge mistake, but investing in them early on could be.

When Boorstin asked why Kutcher isn't investing in these platforms, the actor explained that online distributors will only beat out television once they can produce content of the same quality, and to do that, big money needs to be spent. Profit margins will therefore shrink, so he doesn't see them as a sound investment for his portfolio.

Kutcher went on to say that peer-to-peer technology interested him as an investment. When asked to name specific startups, Kutcher smirked slyly and said he'd, "rather not say."

Let's get weird

This sort of succinct talk characterized Boorstin's chat with Kutcher, but things did get a bit strange when the actor/investor compared Facebook to religion. He said that when society moved from tribal life to metropolitan cities, people judged neighbors by their choice of religion.

He arrived at the not unreasonable point that people now use social networks to vet each other. He said that, "technology removes time, space and motion," and that with Facebook, "strangers become friends of friends."

We understand what Kutcher was getting at, but his explanation was obtuse. It felt like the kind of hazy logic that takes place in the circle on "That 70s Show."

Odd digressions aside, Kutcher carried himself like a knowledgeable everyman. Anyone can appreciate his closing dig at expensive cell phone service, saying that, "If Apple wanted to turn on a unified hot spot, I don't think I would need a carrier."

• Want to know what other celebrity was at CTIA 2013? Read more here.

The Huawei Ascend P6, an unannounced new smartphone that's rumored to be incredibly thin, popped up in two leaks this week that revealed a new angle and a possible launch date.

The Twitter account @evleaks, notorious for giving unofficial early looks at upcoming phones, tweeted the above photo this morning with the words "Huawei Ascend P6, 2013."

Further, a Huawei executive seems to have accidentally revealed the P6's launch date on the Chinese microblogging service Sina Weibo.

Huawei Device Chairman Richard Yu reportedly confirmed that the device is part of the P series and that it will be unveiled at Huawei's June 18 event in London.

Covered tracks

Yu promptly deleted his message on Sina Weibo, but not before the internet noticed.

The rumored Ascend P6 first appeared toward the end of April in a photo leaked by China's equivalent of the FCC.

At the time it was specced with a 4.7-inch HD display, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 5MP camera and Android Jelly Bean.

Nothing we've seen since then, including an additional photo allegedly of the Ascend P6 in black (it appeared in white the first time), has suggested anything different.

Engadget added today that the 6.2mm thick Ascend P6 will sport a metal chassis and Huawei's Emotion UI overlay.

If today's rumor pans out, expect more on the Ascend P6 in June.

• Looking for a new Android phone? Read TechRadar's list of the best Android phones, available now.

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox One console will change things up plenty when it comes to the company's game and entertainment business, but one thing that's staying largely the same is the way it handles Xbox live accounts.

Microsoft executives confirmed with Polygon after the Xbox One announcement on Tuesday that multiple accounts can be used on the same console, and that multiple users can share the same account.

In addition, Xbox 360 users with Xbox Live Gold accounts (which cost $60 a year) will be able to use the same accounts simultaneously on the Xbox One and the older console.

Gamers are more worried now than ever before about being nickel and dimed by game makers, so some leniency when it comes to accounts is certainly the right call on Microsoft's part.

The next-gen transition

It's unknown at this time what exactly will transfer over to the new Xbox One when users use the same account that they used on the Xbox 360.

Microsoft already confirmed that the Xbox One will not feature any backward compatibility with Xbox 360 games, either physical discs or digital downloads.

So game saves, even those stored on the cloud, will certainly not transfer to the new system.

On the other hand, it's practically a guarantee that "gamer points" earned from unlocking in-game achievements will carry over to the next generation, ensuring we all stay addicted to the reward system inherent in MIcrosoft's consoles.

• Now that the Xbox One has been revealed, it's time for the ultimate showdown: PS4 vs. Xbox One!

Who says the announcement of next generation hardware has to force the elder version out to pasture? Microsoft may still have a trick or two up its sleeves for Xbox 360.

Ubergizmo reported Thursday that Microsoft doesn't plan to abandon its faithful Xbox 360 owners just because new hardware is coming down the pipeline.

In an interview with GameSpot Asia, Microsoft Game Studios Corporate Vice President Phil Spencer revealed that existing Xbox 360 hardware will continue to be supported, even as the Xbox One now grabs the spotlight.

"I think the [Xbox 360] is going to be very vibrant for many years," Spencer elaborated.

Just how huge?

To make his point, Spencer claims the upcoming E3 2013 will be worth the wait for Xbox 360 owners.

"We have a huge, I think it's huge, [Xbox 360] announcement for E3 that I keep wanting to talk about, but I can't," Spencer teased.

The Microsoft VP followed up the Xbox One event by describing the E3 announcement as one that "will surprise people."

New hardware or software? Thankfully, Xbox 360ers won't have to wait long to find out: This year's E3 event kicks off June 11.

• Get up to speed on the lastest from the Softies with our Xbox One coverage.

The Facebook phone: the device rumoured for so many years. It left people guessing left, right and centre. It was billed as potentially the biggest threat to the mobile market since the original iPhone, and with such an iconic brand powerhouse behind it the possibilities were almost endless.

So what did we get? A nondescript Android handset with a lightweight skin. Seriously guys... what?

Ok, so the HTC First isn't strictly the Facebook phone we were all waiting for. Instead it's a simple handset with an extension of the social network's application which puts it front and centre. All. The. Freaking. Time.

The handset itself isn't actually that bad: the simple clean design is easy on the eye with a decent 4.3-inch display, dual-core processor and Android Jelly Bean at its heart - plus there's a range of colours to entice even the most spotty-faced 13-year-old.

• How good is it? Read our in-depth HTC First review

Despite that, it's not going particularly well for the HTC First. In the US the only carrier to offer the handset, AT&T, slashed its on-contract price to $0.99 and now looks set to discontinue sales, while in the UK the First may never make it into stores.

So how did this fresh foray into the mobile market go so wrong for Zuckerberg and co?

No man's land

Firstly Facebook plumped for a handset which falls into the muddy water of the mobile middle market - a congested cesspool of Android smartphones with a smattering of Windows Phone 8 devices thrown in for good measure. It's a place where even the big names struggle to carve out an advantage.

It's essentially the no man's land of the phone industry, and if you don't have a super low price or next-gen features to set you apart from the competition, you'll find it almost impossible to stand out.

You need a pretty special USP if you're going to win in this arena and the Facebook Home overlay which adorns the First is, as we said in our review, nothing more than a glorified screensaver.

• Confused about Home? Check out our hands on: Facebook Home review

The price is not right

Now consider the price. In the States you'll have to shell out $350 (about AU$360, £230) for the HTC First SIM-free, making it more expensive than the excellent Nexus 4.

Consider who may be tempted by a Facebook phone - it will be the teenagers who frequent the network, relying on it to fuel their social lives, not the 35-year-old city banker or the parent who uses it to spy on their children and reconnect with old school friends.

With this in mind, the HTC First needs to be priced in the pocket money region of the market - a budget phone which puts Facebook front and centre for those who actually want that much interaction.

Too much?

That said, who actually wants Facebook shoved in their face every time they look at their phone? Even the most addicted teens would get fed up with Home after a while.

I'm blissfully aware that Facebook Home can be turned off in a matter of seconds on the HTC First - but if you're going to switch it off what was the point in buying the phone in the first place?

Facebook also kind of shot itself in the foot when it announced you'll be able to download Home on a number of top handsets including the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S4.

All exceedingly popular handsets, all of which are considerably better than the First and thus provides users with absolutely zero impetus to switch to the dedicated Facebook option.

In short, the HTC First is a handset that no one was asking for and nobody needs, pitched at the completely wrong price point, spec level and audience.

If you're an exception to this then perhaps it's time to pull back the curtains, put on some slacks, move away from the computer and actually go outside. It may shock you but there's a world outside of Facebook; you should try it sometime.

Voting for the prestigious T3 Awards has opened, and the headline awards will see giant products from Apple, Samsung, HTC and Sony facing off to win themselves a gong on 3 October.

The longlists serve as an exciting glimpse into what the movers and shakers of the past 12 months of tech have brought and its no surprise to see the likes of Google Glass, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Sky+ HD 2TB all getting a nod.

TechRadar readers are always heavily invested in the Smartphone of the Year category and with the site's UK Editor-in-chief Patrick Goss once again judging we'll be getting involved in the argument over whether the S4, HTC One, Sony Xperia Z or the Apple iPhone 5 deserve the plaudits.

Gadget of the Year

Gadget of the Year brings the Kindle Fire HD from Amazon, the iPad Mini and, perhaps surprisingly, the Wii U battling for supremacy with some other outstanding candidates, and there are new categories in the shape of Car of the Year and Tech Moment of the Year.

T3 editor Luke Peters says: "With technology continuing to advance at a rate of knots and becoming more entwined with consumers' everyday lifestyles, 2013 is going to be an exciting year for the T3 Gadget Awards. Cutting-edge products, brands and people need to be recognised and our industry-leading event is the perfect showcase for that."

With a 175-strong longlist of nominees across 17 categories (with two special Awards to be given on the night), voting is now open at http://www.t3.com/awards.

The pared-down T3 Gadget Awards 2013 Shortlist is to be announced on 18 July when, after intensive judging, each category will be stripped to six, apart from Gadget of the Year, which will drop to 10.

The final winners are settled by a final round of voting by readers and T3's own judging panel of eight, and will be announced at the T3 Gadget Awards 2013 ceremony at Old Billingsgate, London on 3 October.

Here are two of the biggest categories, but make sure you check out all the awards and candidates and cast your vote.

Smartphone of the Year

Apple iPhone 5BlackBerry Q10
BlackBerry Z10
Google Nexus 4
HTC One
HTC One X+
Nokia Lumia 920
Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Samsung Galaxy S4
Sony Xperia Z

Gadget of the Year

Amazon Kindle Fire HD
Apple iPad Mini
Cambridge Audio Minx Air 100
Dell XPS 15
Fitbit One
GoPro HD Hero 3
HTC One
KEF M500
Nintendo Wii U Premium
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung NX300
Samsung UE46F8000
Sky+ HD 2TB
Sonos PlayBar
Sony Bravia KD-55X9000A

You can't really be online these days without encountering social media. Whether it's the ubiquitous Facebook, the crowd wisdom of Twitter or sites such as LinkedIn, you're nobody if you don't have some sort of social media presence.

Businesses are increasingly aware of this and are turning to social networks to help market their products and services. But whether you're an individual or a company, how do you go about measuring social media success? Counting how many followers you have only tells part of the story.

Fortunately, there are some tools available that can help you work out if you're winning or losing in the social media game. And here are eight of the best.

1. Klout

Klout measures your influence across a range of websites based on how many people interact with your posts. It then works out an individual Klout score of between 1 and 100, which will go up and down depending on your activity. Other users can recommend your influence with a +K, which helps boost your ranking. Graphical displays show you how your score has changed over the last 90 days, plus there's also a pie chart indicating which sites your influence comes from.

2. Sprout Social

The Sprout Social site is aimed mainly at business users. It enables you to analyse your followers by various demographic measures and helps you schedule posts on your social media profiles at times when they'll be most effective. It can manage multiple accounts and monitor keywords across all social media so that you know when your brand is being discussed. It also helps companies respond to customers by routing messages to the people within the organisation who need to action them. After the 30 day free trial, it costs from US$39 (around £25) per month.

3. Viralheat

Viralheat aggregates all of your social media traffic into a single stream for easy access, and you can sort this using filters. It also enables you to schedule posts, and there's an analytics dashboard. You can use the Explorer tool to search for user names or hashtags. The free personal service supports up to seven social media accounts, and there are paid options for business users. Some features such as keyword searches are only available in the paid versions of the tool, which costs from US$9.99 (around £6.50) per month.

4. Hootsuite

Hootsuite enables you to manage your accounts across the most popular social networks. There's a free version that supports up to five profiles and has limited analytic information. If you want to get more detailed reports you'll need to upgrade to the paid program, which costs £7.19 (around US$11) per month, after a 30-day free trial. This too has an in-built scheduling function so that you can post updates to your accounts when you're not around. You can access Hootsuite functions from the website or there are plug-ins available for the popular browsers.

5. Tweriod

Tweriod is a tool for Twitter that helps you work out the best time to send out tweets. It will analyse your account and produce a graph showing when your followers are online. It can then tell you the times of day to tweet in order to get maximum exposure. The free version is pretty basic and only enables you to run one analysis each month. You can upgrade to a premium account for which pricing is based on how many followers you have.

6. WolframAlpha

WolframAlpha is a "knowledge engine" that generates reports and data on a wide range of topics. It has now acquired a Facebook analytics tool that looks at your account and gives you a raft of information showing where your friends are located, how popular they are and what they talk about. You can also see when you most use Facebook and who are the most important people in your network. The report is free and you can, of course, share the results on Facebook.

7. SimplyMeasured

The SimplyMeasured site offers a selection of free reports on sites including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Google+. Tumblr, Pinterest and LinkedIn are due to be added soon. The reports take a little while to generate and are rather business-focused, but they have useful information about how engaged people are by your activity. You can view your report online or download it in Excel format. There are a range of more sophisticated subscriber reports available to paying users, including the ability to take a complete social media snapshot.

8. Social Mention

Social Mention is rather like Google Alerts, but instead of monitoring the whole web it concentrates on social media sites, and you can choose to focus on particular areas, such as blogs. You can monitor for the appearance of particular keywords and it will give you information on related users, hashtags and more. It enables you to search via the website, receive alerts via email or download a browser plugin. There's also a JavaScript widget that you can use to display Social Mention results on your webpage.

As the fanboy fighting over whether the PS4 or Xbox One deserves the new console gaming crown kicks off, EA has stepped in to claim that both are well ahead of the PC.

According to EA's executive vice president and chief technology officer Rajat Teneja, speaking on Linkedin, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are "a generation ahead of the highest end PC on the market."

His words are obviously creating some furor among gamers, but it's worth noting that these comments are aimed at the architecture of the new consoles, such as the use of unified memory which is not currently used on PCs, rather than straight power.

Computing the difference

"The compute capabilities of these platforms and the data transfer speeds we can now bank on, essentially removes any notion of rationing of systems resources for our game engines," he said

We certainly know that Nvidia has a word or two to say otherwise, previously telling TechRadar that the PS4 could be compared to a low-end CPU.

As for how the new consoles compare to the current ones, Teneja said, "Our benchmarks on just the video and audio performance are 8-10 times superior to the current gen."

You can watch Xbox One reveal video below:

The Samsung GALAXY Note 8.0 is an incredibly stylish 8-inch Android tablet that promises to be the ultimate handheld computer. And yes, it comfortably delivers in every conceivable way.

Read on to discover why we think the Note 8.0 is the definitive mobile touchscreen device in terms of form, style and cutting-edge functionality.

Overall, the Note 8.0 is technically very impressive, with tons of great new features (lots more on these, below). However, Samsung has clearly looked at the increasingly busy market for 7-inch and 8-inch tablets and realised that it cannot compete on feature lists and tech specs alone.

Which is exactly why the Note 8.0 has been designed to be the post-PC world's first truly multi-functional handheld tablet, perfectly suited to work, entertainment and creative play.

Harnessing the power of the S Pen

Samsung has included a Wacom digitizer layer in the Note 8.0's capacitive touchscreen stack – the clever tech behind the even-cleverer pressure sensitive S Pen. For us, Samsung's built-in S Pen is one of the truly unique selling points of the Note 8.0, with a bunch of great S Pen tutorial software and creative apps pre-loaded to introduce new users to this fantastic new input accessory.

What with the S Pen's precision, sensitivity and impressive ability to mimic a user's handwriting, many new users will soon eschew the use of a virtual touch-controlled QWERTY keyboard for everyday tasks such as web browsing or note-taking on Samsung's handy S Note. Scribbling shopping lists on your tablet very quickly becomes a habit. As does enjoying a bit of good, old-fashioned idle doodling!

Professional designers and artists will clearly love the S Pen, as it offers the ability to create and work on the go like never before. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of the S Pen is the fact that casual users can use it for everyday tasks, such as copying and pasting text, grabbing screenshots or selecting, cutting and annotating pics from the web to share on Facebook or Twitter.

Following the revelation that is the S Pen, multi-tasking with Samsung's Multi Window is one of the other key "How did we live without this?" features on the GALAXY Note 8.0. Instead of wasting time endlessly flicking between your email, web browser, social media and various creative or work apps, simply open two windows at a time on the Note 8.0's WXGA display. Multi Window works smoothly and quickly, handled capably by the 1.6GHz quad-core processor.

Work. Life. Balanced.

Many of us want a tablet primarily for watching movies, reading e-books, playing games, using creative photo and video apps and scanning the web for news while keeping an eye on our various social media feeds. Which means that some may question the benefits of additional productivity boosters such as a quad-core processor and the aforementioned S Pen, Multi Window and the Note 8.0's pre-loaded Polaris Office Suite.

Yet once you've spent some time using the Note 8.0 it is exactly this speed, fluidity and overall ease-of-use that you immediately miss when you go back to using an older tablet. After all, multi-tasking isn't only for work-related tasks – as you soon realise after spending some time watching a movie while monitoring your Twitter feed on the Note 8.0 on the train home from work.

Additionally, Google's most recent version of Android – 4.1.2 Jelly Bean – is an operating system that perfectly complements the Note 8.0's form factor, sprightly processor and multi-tasking ability. It is ideally suited to help users work, play or kick back and relax – watching a movie or listening to some tunes whenever they choose.

Design matters

The cutting-edge processor, display, S Pen tech and the various productivity features have impressed us no end, but it is the overall sense of unity that we get from the tablet's hardware and software design that really helps to raise the Note 8.0 considerably above the crowd. Samsung's product designers and software engineers have clearly worked very closely together to ensure that the user experience is paramount.

Although Samsung is only shaving a couple of inches off the screen-size of a "traditional" 10-inch tablet, the look and feel of the Note 8.0 is truly unique. The 8-inch WXGA display display, with 800 x 1,280 pixels (at an impressive density of 189 ppi) oozes quality and offers a great viewing experience from all angles (which means that it works splendidly if you want share movies with partners, on a long-haul plane flight, for example).

Next up is the welcome solidity of the single physical home button at the bottom of the screen, with capacitive touch-sensitive menu and back buttons on either side, also offering the user a range of quick-access options.

For example, if you double tap the home button, you immediately access Samsung's S Voice personal digital assistant. If you hold down the back button for a second or more then it opens (or closes) the Multi Window app selection sidebar. And if you keep the home button pressed down it brings up the Note 8.0's Android task switcher. All of which are fast and easy ways of making multi-tasking fluid and quickly intuitive.

Looks like we got ourselves a reader!

The attention paid to the design of the 8-inch WXGA display is equally impressive, with Samsung offering a number of presets such as Dynamic, Standard and Movie modes. Not to mention intelligent options such as Smart Stay, which keeps the screen illuminated as long as the user is looking at it, with a built-in ambient light sensor that adjusts the display brightness depending on your environment.

For fans of e-books, perhaps the most impressive feature is the new Reader mode, which optimises the screen for reading when using apps such as Samsung's Readers Hub or popular third party apps such as Amazon's Kindle, Google Play Books and Kobo reader.

In addition to doubling-up as a superb e-reader, the Note 8.0 also works well as a second screen in the living room, with the pre-loaded Smart Remote app working well with pretty much any modern television and soon becoming an essential TV programme listings guide and infra-red remote control. A very clever move indeed on Samsung's behalf, encouraging the user to want their Note 8.0 with them at all times.

Conclusion: portability meets productivity!

Overall, it really is genuinely difficult to pick any kind of fault with the GALAXY Note 8.0. This is a superb tablet that is stylish, light and deftly designed, not to mention fast, feature-rich, clever, intuitive, easy and, most importantly of all, a true joy to use.

Whether you require a pocket-friendly tab for working, creating, playing the latest Android gaming or simply kicking back on the sofa and enjoying some telly, this is the one.

Bottom-line? You can do loads more on the go with a GALAXY Note 8.0 than with any other tablet currently on the market.

Note to self: buy one immediately!

Samsung finally unveiled its latest mobile at a high-profile launch event at New York's Radio City Music Hall in March, with the new GALAXY S4 set to seriously shake-up the smartphone world in 2013.

You can read all about our first impressions of the new Samsung GALAXY S4 and learn more from our 10 things you need to know about the S4, though for many smartphone users, there really is only one question that they need answering now that Samsung's latest smartphone is finally available: "Do I want to upgrade to the new GALAXY S4?"

To help you answer this question in the affirmative, Your Mobile Life has rounded up our top 10 reasons for upgrading to the S4, for the casual user through to the most demanding power user.

1. Speed is of the essence

The Samsung GALAXY S4 features a true world-first: a blisteringly fast processor that will cut through the latest 3D graphics-intensive Android games like a sharp knife through room-warmed butter.

Samsung's latest processor will handle the most demanding web browsing and processor-intensive video rendering needs, while also ensuring you get maximum battery life, no matter what you are using your S4 to do.

Plus, an impressive 2GB of RAM helps to ensure multitasking is quick, completely painless and highly efficient, with no tedious slowdown when flicking between tasks on your phone.

2. Full HD graphics and a beautiful display

For many it will be the Full HD Super AMOLED 5-inch screen on the GALAXY S4 that really grabs the attention. If you are used to a smaller-screened smartphone, then the jump-up to a sparklingly clear 5-inch Full HD display is a truly pleasant shock to the eye.

In terms of tech specs, Samsung is offering 441 pixels-per-square-inch (ppi), which, for the average user, means one major thing: the S4 is going to be even better than its predecessor, the GALAXY S III, when it comes to watching high def content on your smartphone. It is, essentially, going to be the best mobile screen on the market for some time to come.

Finally, the clever Samsung Adapt Display and sound technology that's built into the S4 will ensure that you are always getting the ultimate settings for what you require from your smartphone, whether watching a HD movie or simply reading the day's news on the web.

3. A master-class in mobile movies

If you combine the aforementioned super-speedy processor and the 441-ppi Full HD Super AMOLED display on the S4, there really is one glaringly-obvious application that many of us will be using our new S4's for when we finally get hold of them later next month: watching movies on the go. Whether you download movies from Samsung's Media Hub, stream the latest catch-up TV content or subscribe to your local cable provider's tailored Android mobile service, the GALAXY S4 has your back.

Plus, in addition to looking fantastic, Samsung has also thought about other ways of improving your mobile movie-watching experience with the S4, adding in a particularly clever little feature called Samsung Smart Pause, which essentially stops any video you are watching when you look away from the phone. Clever, eh?

4. Driving and travelling just got better

With the stunning S Translator and the S4's voice-commands designed to make driving an easier and more pleasurable experience, Samsung has seen a huge gap in the smartphone market – and clearly plans to fill it with its latest handset.

The GALAXY S4's S Voice Drive voice command feature connects to your car via Bluetooth, using the phone's built-in satnav to ensure you know where you are going (and what the weather is like when you get there) and that you can safely make all your calls and deal with all your messages and emails on the journey.

S Translator is even more impressive, a real-time text and voice translator for nine different languages. It's basically Douglas Adams' dream of the "Babel fish" that could help you talk to almost anybody else around the world with ease made real! (Note: you will need an active connection to a 3G or 4G data network or local Wi-Fi network to use S Translator.)

5. Home entertainment plays nice with the S4

For many smartphone users to date there has been an unfulfilling disconnect between the entertainment they watch or play on their mobiles and the tunes, movies or games that they want to enjoy while sitting on the couch at home in front of the telly.

The S4 is the first smartphone to fulfil tech's long-standing promise to bridge this gap, featuring the handy WatchON TV viewer and remote control app. This works seamlessly with Samsung's HomeSync system to allow you to share the content on your mobile screen with your TV screen at home.

Also, more excitingly, a few choice members of the tech media were treated to a sneak-peek of a console-style controller at last month's "Unpacked" S4 launch event in New York, a prototype of a thumb-stick-based gaming controller that is bound to appeal to the legions of hardcore gaming fans out there keen to buy into Android as their mobile gaming operating system of choice. Expect lots more news on this exciting-looking mobile gaming peripheral very soon!

6. A camera for all seasons, and all men

A 13-megapixel camera on a smartphone, you say? Yes, says Samsung. And not only that, the S4's hugely powerful 13-megapixel rear-facing camera features full HD 1080p video recording capabilities.

Combine all of this with Samsung's new Dual Shot mode, which lets you combine photos from the front-facing camera and rear camera into one frame (with a choice of wacky frames to choose from), plus a decent 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting, and it is pretty easy to see how the S4 is going to appeal both to amateur snappers and pro photographers alike.

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7. Animated Photo killed the camcorder star

Don't worry about taking a dedicated video camera on your hols this year, because if you are packing a GALAXY S4 in your pocket, you are easily going to be able to take some of the best holiday videos you've ever shot, all from your smartphone.

Animated Photo mode is a particularly cool feature, which lets you create fun, hilarious and quirky animated GIFs, with part of your image frozen while other areas move. An animated photo is a still image that contains some moving objects, so when you tap the S4's camera button, moving objects will be detected by the device and you can then select which objects to animate and which to freeze.

From dancing cats and bopping babies through to artistic and entertaining animations of your vacation to instantly share with your mates and family back home on Facebook or Twitter, Animated Photo is a surefire hit on the GALAXY S4.

8. Enhanced Air features for touch-free control

Samsung has developed the touch-free Air View tech that has been so popular on the GALAXY Note II and cleverly ported it over to the S4, so that you can control the phone by simply hovering your digits over the screen.

This soon proves to be incredibly handy, for a myriad of reasons you might not yet have foreseen. For example, it's particularly useful if you happen to be on holiday, sat on a beach, with your hands covered in all manner of holiday muck such as sand, ketchup and sun oil. After all, would you really want to grease up that beautiful 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED screen with all of that gunk?!

9. Packing the latest version of Android

Unlike many other Android smartphones on the market, the Samsung GALAXY S4 packs the latest version of Android - Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Featuring all the latest updates to the operating system, users will also benefit from some of the best features of the latest OS, including gems such as Daydream, which lets your S4 show off your photo albums to their fullest when sitting idle or docked on your desk.

10. Accessorising your S4

The tech specs are hugely impressive, of course. But if there's one thing that we all love about getting a great new smartphone it is the opportunity to personalise it and to accessorise it to fit with our own style.

Samsung is not missing this trick with the S4, with a superb range of official GALAXY S4 accessories and add-ons now available alongside its new, top-of-range Android smartphone.

By now, you'll most likely already have made the decision to upgrade to the S4 as soon as you possibly can, based on the evidence outlined above. Though if all of that didn't yet convince you, these beautifully crafted cases and flip-covers for Samsung's latest surely will!

The HTC First will not be coming to the UK, at least for some time, with confirmation that pre-orders will be taken down on the customised Facebook/Android handset.

An EE spokesperson told TechRadar that the decision was to allow Facebook to add new customisation features to Facebook Home "over the coming months".

"While they [Facebook] are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the UK," said EE.

Facebook then confirmed this to TechRadar, telling us that it wants to "limit supporting new devices" while it works on better customisation for Facebook Home.

The first, the last

However, while this sounds temporary, a source speaking to Mobile News said the phone "will never go on sale in the UK", despite EE already bagging the rights to sell it exclusively at first.

The little birdie added: "Sales in the US were poor and Facebook has taken the decision not to give it a more widespread release." Engadget has also confirmed the cancellation with its own sources.

The HTC First went on sale in the US on April 14, and was expected to arrive in the UK within the next few months.

However, much like the source reiterated, the phone hasn't been off to a great start given what we've heard so far, with AT&T said to be stopping carrying the handset in the US due to disappointing sales.

Hey gamers - still riding your high from the Xbox One announcement?

Nvidia has its own set of gaming goodness that might extend the buzz a little longer, announcing today, three PC gaming-oriented oratories.

First on the block: the GeForce GTX 780, a GPU based on the same GK110 GPU used in the GeForce GTX Titan. It's Kepler architecture and, according to Nvidia, whirs "whisper quiet."

At 2304 CUDA cores, the GeForce GTX 780 boasts 50 percent more cores than the GeForce GTX 680 and 50 percent more memory thanks to a 3GB frame buffer. What's more, the 780 has a 384-bit memory interface that provides 288.4GB/sec of peak memory bandwidth to the 780 for maximum screen resolution.

Stack it up to AMD's HD 7970 (on Nvidia's terms), and the GTX 780 runs titles like Batman: Arkham City and Shogun 2 39 percent faster, while Borderlands 2, Battlefield 3 and Far Cry 3 run 25 percent to 30 percent faster at 2560 x 1600. The processor is also designed to support next-gen tech Nvidia has in the works, such as WaveWorks and FaceWorks, and features Nvidia's GPU Boost. 2.0.

Game force

While the fan of the GTX 780 may be effective at cooling the machine down as any standard fan should, Nvidia wanted to ensure that the uptick hum that can often become, well, annoying, was diminished with a new fan controller.

Utilizing an RPM and temperature targeted control algorithm, the GTX 780's fan stays at as steady a speed as possible.

In other words, the fan doesn't over or under compensate, instead staying taking minor dips up and down to whatever speed necessary enough to cool the card.

Base clock for the GTX 780 is 863MHz, with a typical boost clock speed of 900MHz and memory reaching a 6008MHz data rate.

Priced at $649 (around UK£431, AU$673), the GTX 780 stretches 10.5-inches and comes with display outputs including two dual-link DVIs, one HDMI and one Display Port connector.

Last but worth noting, the 780 will replace the GTX 680 in Nvidia's offering line.

Time for GeForce

If you've been tooling around with GeForce Experience in beta form, you may be happy to know that it's finally buttoned up and ready to go.

GeForce, for those who don't know, is a Nvidia-developed software that aims to make PC gaming more accessible by automatically choosing the optimal settings for any given title. All a user needs to do is click the "optimize" button, and the software takes care of the rest.

Beta downloads since January have hit 2.5 million and now, beginning with the R320 GTX 780 launch driver, each GeForce graphics card will come with it standard.

GeForce Experience is the replacement for Nvidia Update and eventually it will come standard with every one of Nvidia's graphics drivers.

As the year goes on, Nvidia plans to add more game support and will roll out new features such as optimal playable settings customization, support for Shield and (drumroll please) the all-new ShadowPlay.

A nice recording feature, ShadowPlay will be available this summer as a capture function within the larger functions of GeForce Experience. It taps into the H.264 video encoder built into all Kepler GPUs and works in the background - it will constantly be recording, but with only a nominal impact on visuals, if any.

It's constantly going, but games can choose up to 20 minutes of content to record, while a hot button feature will let them get ShadowPlay running without being interruptive.

• The Xbox One is still fresh in our minds. Read on for what games you'll find on the new console.

Off the back of the Samsung Galaxy S4 managing to shift over 10 million units in its first month we're now hearing the HTC One isn't selling too badly either.

The Wall Street Journal claims an HTC executive has said the firm has sold over 5 million One handsets since it went on sale in March.

Now this isn't anywhere near as stellar as the Galaxy S4, or even the Galaxy S3 which took 50 days to hit the magically 10 million mark, but it's not all doom and gloom for HTC.

Bear in mind that the HTC One X is thought to have reached around 7-8 million sales in total the One is on track to do a lot better.

Onwards and upwards

Production and supply issues have hampered the One's distribution since its launch, and it's worth bearing in mind it initially went on sale in fewer countries than the Galaxy S4.

HTC hasn't officially confirmed these sales figures, and we're currently chasing the Taiwanese firm for comment, so we can't take this figure as fact just yet.

Of course the One's closest rival is the Galaxy S4 and from these figures Samsung is still comfortably on top, while reports of internal issues at HTC threaten to hamper the firm and it's five star flagship.

O2 has signed a three-year deal with data communications provider Fluidata to strengthen its WiFi network.

It says the agreement covers two major projects. One involves Fluidata providing space in its Manchester data centre, which will double data centre capacity for O2 WiFi and should make it more resilient.

O2 will also be able to use Fluidata's Service Exchange Platform to provide last mile connectivity on its WiFi hotspots.

The platform brings together connections across 16 of the major carriers and more than 50 internet service providers. It interconnects through 10 data centres and saves the ISPs from building into new areas as they can use the combined networks of other providers on the platform.

Improvement

An O2 representative told TRPro that this helps it to build on its existing infrastructure to improve the service for businesses and consumers using its WiFi.

The company now has more than 8,000 free WiFi spots across the country. Earlier this month the company received a pat on the back from communications regulator Ofcom for its agreement to share 4G infrastructure with Vodafone.

Apple has filed a new set of patent infringements in its ongoing legal battle, and this time it has the Samsung Galaxy S4 in its sights.

According to the papers filed by Apple, the Cupertino-based firm isn't best pleased about the way Samsung has implemented the Google Now feature on its latest flagship smartphone.

It's claiming the handset infringes on the some of the patents it holds for Siri, which it's already flagged up on other Samsung devices.

Advantage Samsung

Foss Patents picked up a line in the firm's legal documentation which reads: "Apple determined that the Galaxy S4 product practices many of the same claims already asserted by Apple, and that the Galaxy S4 practices those claims in the same way as the already-accused Samsung devices."

There's some positive news for Samsung though, as Apple tried to challenge one of the patents in question - referring to Google's Android Quick Search Box - back in 2012 in relation to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but the judge in charge of the hearing overruled the Cupertino firm.

With a positive history already surrounding this particular area of the dispute Samsung has reason to feel pretty confident going into court, but you can be sure Apple's army of lawyers won't give up without a fight.

The Nokia EOS could be finally landing on July 9 according to a new release date rumour, and it should come packing that 41-megapixel sensor that Nokia 808 PureView owners have been enjoying for some time.

According to a source speaking to Mobile Geeks the launch date will be during the second week of July, most like on July 9. Unlike the 808 PureView though, this will be a Windows Phone 8-running cellular.

Previous leaks have suggested the EOS will boast a quad-core processor, 4.5-inch 1280 x 768 resolution screen, and a new app called "Nokia Pro Camera" which brings a load of more advanced features including manual focus.

808s and heartbreak

Of course, the big pull here will be the 41 megapixel rear snapper to accompany the new software, though it's reported that pics can only be taken at a maximum of 34 megapixel, just like the 808 PureView.

As for video it'll shoot 1080p and 720p HD, or so says the source who claims to have had some hands-on time with the phone.

According to other tidbits we've picked up previously the handset is much lighter than the Lumia 920, though similar in design, which is impressive considering the beefy camera specs.

The rumoured EOS was expected to drop at the May 14 event, where we were instead treated to the Nokia 925.

• See what we thought of the EOS-inspiring Nokia 808 Pureview in our review