The huge roar the Titanosaurus Rex makes when it boots up was probably not a deliberate play on the name of this latest DinoPC, but it will make you think some beast has inhabited your new machine and will probably scare off any mammal in earshot. Yes, we've got another big, pricey rig here with Nvidia's ultra-desirable GTX Titan taking care of the pixel-pushing duties.

Last month we saw the excellent Scan 3XS Z77 Vengeance Titan become the benchmark PC for every other Titan-based machine that was to follow it. The Computer Planet machine it was up against simply couldn't compete with the smart choice of components, the aggressive pricing or the top warranty Scan offers.

So, how can this DinoPC compete against something like that? Well, the simple fact is, it can't. The Titanosaurus Rex does tick all the necessary component boxes, and has a fantastically ridiculous name, too: it's got a hefty overclock on its i7 3770K, a decent mobo, quick memory, a mid-sized SSD, lots of data storage space, water-cooling and a very sexy chassis.

The component choice isn't flawless though: DinoPC has opted to go for RAM rated at 2,400MHz, but has halved the amount that either the other Titan machines from last month offered or, indeed, the Wired2Fire Titanosaurus Rex.

It's also opted to add in some relatively pointless extras, including a Blu-ray drive and a pricey motherboard, too.

A hefty price tag

All those definitely add in to the luxury, high-end rig aesthetic, but are practically irrelevant for a machine whose main reason for being is to throw polygons around at high-resolutions and high speeds.

Where the Scan machine did so well was to choose a price-point and stick to it. The Titanosaurus Rex is another £300 (about AU$460, US$455) more expensive than the 3XS rig, and none of that cash has gone in to making this machine perform better where it counts. And since Scan took the choice to make a slight overclock to the Titan card, this DinoPC actually performs worse in-game.

Benchmarks

CPU rendering performance
Cinebench R11.5: Index score: Higher is better
TITANOSAURUS REX: 9.37
3XS Z77 VENGEANCE TITAN: 9.43
DIABLO PHANTOM: 9.22

DirectX 11 gaming performance
DIRT Showdown: FPS: Higher is better
TITANOSAURUS REX: 64
3XS Z77 VENGEANCE TITAN: 74
DIABLO PHANTOM: 46

DirectX 11 gaming performance
Max Payne 3: FPS: Higher is better
TITANOSAURUS REX: 43
3XS Z77 VENGEANCE TITAN: 47
DIABLO PHANTOM: 30

That beefy price tag also means its £700 (about AU$1,080, US$1,065) dearer than the Wired2Fire Diablo Phantom. And while it is faster, there's nothing about it beyond the build quality that makes it worth that price premium. The GTX 680 in the Diablo Phantom is a great GPU, and at £1,600 (about AU$2,460, $US2,430), it's a quality PC at a decent price.

Verdict

There are a few concerns over the setup of the DinoPC Titanosaurus Rex. Remember that roar we mentioned? When you buy a rig of this price - especially one that promises a premium experience - you don't want it to sound like a Harrier jumpjet.

DinoPC has plumbed in the Corsair CPU cooler but minus the controlling software, so the twin fans sit at 100 per cent all the time. It's simply not an experience that suits the high price tag.

Up to the £1,000 (AU$1,530, US$1,500) mark, there's are a huge variety of different specs you can throw into a PC and still come out with a decent gaming rig. Just look at the Daw Computers machine and the Vibox Power FX.

Above that price point though, things stagnate very quickly. From here until the crazy-priced machines with their hex-core Sandy Bridge Extreme and octo-core Xeons, it's all about the Core i7 3770K and whatever overclock the SI can squeeze out of it - and, of course, the Z77 motherboard.

This Wired2Fire machine comes slap-bang in between the lower-end machines, like the Daw and Vibox rigs, and the top-tier Titan machines that are starting to pop up everywhere. But when you compare it with those £2,000+ (about AU$3,000+, US$3,000+) rigs, the only real difference you'll see is in the choice of graphics card that's been used.

At the £1,600 (about AU$2,460, US$2,430) Wired2Fire is targeting with the Diablo Phantom, you're moving away from the cheaper machines that will usually sacrifice some general niceties for top CPU and GPU combos and are getting a full gaming PC with all the benefits you'd expect from a premium rig.

That means that as well as the ubiquitously overclocked 3770K, you've got a quality Asus P8Z77-V motherboard, a huge amount of quick Corsair Vengeance system memory and lots of data storage, as well as two Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB SSDs.

The Diablo Phantom has taken the odd step of using a RAID array to give the SandForce-powered Kingston HyperX 3K drives a bit of a speed boost. But the extra boost from RAID is negligible when you start to include the problems of incompressible data handling you get with SandForce.

Rough edges

The NZXT Phantom chassis that Wired2Fire has used in this build is visually striking but somewhat disappointing. It looks pretty funky from a distance, but when you get up close you can see the plastic of the orange detailing hasn't been finished that well. However, it does run much quieter than the DinoPC Titanosaurus Rex.

Benchmarks

CPU encoding performance
X264 v4.0: Frames per second: Higher is better
DIABLO PHANTOM: 51.44
TITANSAURUS REX: 51.61

DirectX 11 tessellation performance
Heaven 4.0: Frames per second: Higher is better
DIABLO PHANTOM: 23.7
TITANSAURUS REX: 35.2

DirectX 11 1080p gaming performance
Crysis 3: Frames per second: Higher is better
DIABLO PHANTOM: 50
TITANSAURUS REX: 66

Unfortunately, the active cooling doesn't seem to be sufficient for the chip to run stably at the 4.7GHz it came clocked at out of the box. We managed an initial successful run of Cinebench, but further runs fell over and even once we'd taken it down a notch to 4.6GHz (which is what all our benchmarks were run at afterwards), the X264 test struggled to complete.

Verdict

Once it's running, this is a decent rig, and although it's not quite in the same league as the Titans, it's not far off - especially when you consider it's substantially cheaper than the DinoPC and can still happily knock around 2,560 x 1,600 gaming.

Only at Google IO in techy-savvy San Francisco could a Google Glass wearer walk the streets relatively unnoticed. A limited number of these new wearable computing devices have been among the public for months now, and they generally elicit double takes and curious stares.

There were plenty of those lucky Glass owners among the IO crowd, as well as Google reps standing by to demonstrate the technology. At the conference, we had the opportunity to try on Glass, and unbox one of the kits passed out to select developers.

The fitting

Just like a normal pair of glasses, Google Glass needs just a bit of adjustment to be worn properly. It mainly comes down to the nose pads, which make sure that Glass' titanium band runs slightly above the eye line, like a sunshade or visor.

That way, the rectangular screen, which looks something like a prism, sits just above the eye. Using the screen requires you to look up slightly, which helps to keep your field of vision unobstructed.

The striking thing about this new tech is that even though you're wearing it, it does a good job of getting out of the way when not in use. Glass' display quickly goes dim, like an idle smartphone. Still, even when it is in use, it's easy to see the world around you.

Wearing Glass for the first time, we were struck by how light and unobtrusive it was. Lighter than a pair of normal spectacles, we imagine it would be easy to forget you were wearing them, if not for all the stares.

Turning on Glass

Glass is initially activated with a power button found on the inside portion. When you wear it, this switch is not easily accessible, so turning it fully on or off is done only when they are removed.

Glass goes to sleep when not in use, and you can wake it by simply nodding up. This isn't just to save power, but to keep your field of vision clear when you don't need any info. Google reps said that Glass' battery would last all day with "average use." Just like a smartphone, it has micro-USB for charging, and lots of video recording will wear it down before the day is out.

'Ok, Glass'

The Google Glass interface is a lot like Google Now, which is found on any Android Jelly Bean smartphone. From the main screen, saying "Ok, Glass," gets the device's attention, so to speak, and prompts Glass to show you available commands.

There are also Google Now cards - screens of information related to recent searches. They're pretty minimalist, white text on a black background, sometimes with a single image. We swiped through nearby restaurants, email chains and recently captured pictures and videos. This is done using a touchpad built into the right side of the headset. You can also tap to make selections.

An extension of your smartphone

While Glass has its own hard drive (ours had 12GB available), Wi-Fi connection, GPS, and processor (no specifics on the core), all working from Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, it works best as an extension of your smartphone.

It can pair with an Android phone using Bluetooth, which allows it to make calls as well as send and receive text messages. In that way it felt more like the ultimate hands-free device than a wearable computer.

It also suffers a similar stigma to the Bluetooth earpiece, in that it's distracting, and a bit goofy looking. Basically, you're like something out of Star Trek. Whether that's Geordi La Forge or a Borg drone is in the eye of the beholder. The irony is that it's technology designed for subtly that ends up speaking volumes.

It talks back

Speaking of speaking, Google Glass can actually talk to you. There's a little speaker that sits over your right ear. Google reps described it as a bone-vibrating speaker, like something Snake would use behind enemy lines in Metal Gear Solid. Really though, it struck us just your average speaker, and was completely audible to someone standing within earshot, providing the room wasn't too loud.

We asked Glass who the president of the United States was, and it responded with a snippet of Barack Obama's biography. We had trouble hearing it over the din of the show floor, but moving to a back room, it was perfectly audible, and spoke in the sort of lady robot voice of Google Now.

Not Mission: Impossible material

The Google rep guiding our demo joked that Glass would make terrible surveillance technology, and that's by design. Google is actively trying to reduce the voyeur factor by making it rather obvious when Glass is engaged. The screen emits a glow when in use, and spoken commands like "take a picture" make sure those around you are clued in to what you're doing.

You also have to look up to read the screen, so broken eye contact will be a dead giveaway. Your friends will know when you're checking football scores instead of listening to them.

It was also far less like augmented reality than we'd imagined. Putting it on, we thought we see an HUD of some sort, like in a first-person shooter video game. Really though, we felt more like a multitasking administrator than Robocop on patrol for creeps. Even the GPS function just gives you a top down view, with a blue arrow representing your location, just like Google Maps on your phone.

Relatively app-less

The version of Google Glass on demo at IO was a prototype, an early developer or "explorer" version, as Google likes to call them. Given that, there wasn't a whole lot of functionality available to it.

Facebook, Twitter, The New York Times and a few more have apps on the way, but until then, Glass feels more like raw potential than an actual tool.

• Read more: 7 Google Glass apps we can't wait to use.

The interface is also pretty unintuitive, especially the touchpad part. Since only one "card" is visible at a time, you're stuck swiping through them all until you find what you want. We found it easier to just ask Glass to find something again, rather than swipe around for previously accessed information.

Early verdict

Is Glass cool and entirely novel? Yes, it certainly is. Is it a device that will change the life of, or even just prove useful to, the average consumer? That's doubtful.

Glass as we tried it felt like something that would be useful to folks in specialized roles. A surgeon, an engineer, a warehouse foremen or a certain type of viral video filmmaker will likely find a lot of compelling things to do with Glass.

As for the average person, it's a bit of a paradox. We can think of a dozen times where we've been cooking, cleaning or driving and would've loved to have had hands-free, subtle access to Google's wealth of information. But to do so, we've got to wear a piece of headgear that's distracting to those around us.

We also wondered how Google plans to curate the apps that become avaialable for Glass. We've heard about plans for apps that will allow wearers to snap pictures with a wink, which seems to go against Google's plan to keep Glass behavior obvious to those around you.

Google Glass is expected to arrive for public consumption in 2014. When it does arrive, it may change lives, but most likely not your life, or the lives of those around you.

Introduction

Updated: Our iOS 6 review has been overhauled to include the iOS 6.1 software updates.

On the surface, it might not look like much has changed with iOS 6 and the subsequent minor iOS 6.1 updates. However, Apple has added a number of new features over iOS 5, along with continuing in its mission to eradicate Google from the system by default. Apple's YouTube app has gone (Google has since released its own on to the App Store) and Maps now runs with Apple power rather than Google juice.

Elsewhere, the OS is more social (Facebook now joining Twitter in being baked in), Siri's been improved, and countless tweaks (some fairly major from a usability standpoint) are in evidence in the likes of Mail, Safari, Phone and the iOS stores.

Oh, and Apple finally added a clock app to the iPad, which resulted in a legal spat with the Swiss railway network service. It seems not only Samsung is in the photocopying business.

iOS 6 ditches support entirely for the original iPad, but is nonetheless compatible with a surprisingly wide range of devices; iPhones back to the 3GS are supported, as are both the fourth- and fifth-generation iPod touch.

However, the older the kit, the less of iOS 6 you actually get. Some of the big features - Siri, turn-by-turn navigation, panoramic photos and FaceTime over 3G - aren't available for the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4.

The iPhone 3GS doesn't even get Safari's offline Reading List feature, and Siri's not available for the iPad 2.

So is it worth the upgrade? We've installed iOS 6 (and iOS 6.1) across multiple iOS devices to find out. Our test kit is an iPhone 4, an iPhone 4S, an iPod touch (fourth-generation), an iPhone 5, an iPad 2, and a new iPad (courtesy of Vodafone).

There are more new features than you'd think, even when you don't get all the new features.

The iOS 6 interface

A common criticism of iOS is that Apple never radically updates it. Tech pundits in particular often use words like 'tired' and 'dated' to describe the operating system, suggesting it would be better if you could weld Android-like widgets to it, or if every home screen icon was more akin to a hyperactive child begging for attention, as per Live Tiles on Windows 8.

iOS 6 is typically Apple in being purely iterative. You get the familiar grid of icons on each home screen, and the screens can be swiped between.

Double-clicking the Home button reveals the multitasking tray, which also houses media controls, the rotation lock and an AirPlay button. Swipe left from the first home screen and you access Spotlight, Apple's system-wide search.

So far, so iOS 5, and that level of familiarity will either be warming or maddening, depending on your persuasion. Regardless, it's definitely very usable, even if configuration options on offer are few in number and rapid-sorting settings are non-existent.

However, there have been some small adjustments. The status bar now changes colour on a per-app basis, in an attempt to blend in. This is more visually appealing but muddies the water when it comes to alerts that were once made in part through a change in colour of said status bar.

Better amendments are the new audio controls on the Lock screen and Spotlight search results now displaying the name of an app's containing folder. Apple's penchant for cropping text labels remains frustrating, though, and is increasingly common throughout the OS.

iOS 6 Maps

We feared the worst: with Apple giving Google Maps data the boot in favour of its own, we half expected an app that was just great in America and utterly useless in the UK. We were wrong, but that's not to say Maps is without its issues - and people have since its launch taken to the web to express their displeasure at the new app.

The app uses data from TomTom, including free live traffic information - something you have to pay extra for in TomTom's own iPhone app. The UK maps are generally very good, offering turn-by-turn navigation that Siri can read aloud if you wish.

Most of the app's problems appear to stem from a lack of maturity compared to Google's offering, combined with some missing features. Results based on imprecise locations are frequently poor.

'Stansted' in Google Maps gave us London Stansted Airport during testing; in Maps, a village in Kent. 'Luton' in Maps gave us a village in Devon whereas Google Maps more sensibly defaulted to the large town near London. These problems are endemic, although locations are generally found correctly when you enter more information, such as a post code.

Local search is also extremely variable. Restaurant reviews from Yelp are integrated but are typically sparse or unavailable entirely if you live in a rural area.

Business locations are peppered with errors, such as occasional American spellings (for example, "Exhibition Center") and mapping glitches, such as the one that identified our local Italian restaurant as a Sainsbury's supermarket 15 miles away.

The experience smacks of a lack of testing, and it's not good enough for a feature Apple boasted was best-in-class rather than a beta that required a ton of crowdsourcing for errors.

There were other aspects of Google Maps we missed. Apple's offering fails to distinguish between road types. In Google Maps, you enjoy blue motorways, green major routes, orange A roads, and yellow B roads; in Apple's world, major routes are orange and everything else is white. For visual route planning and at-a-glance sanity checks regarding your current location, this can be a blow.

The Maps app also doesn't have Street View, but the iPhone 4S/iPhone 5 and recent iPads get Flyover View's 3D models of cities. When they're available they're often superb, but they're not widely available yet: for example, London's there, but most other major UK cities aren't.

Also, although Apple makes a good effort to display cities in 3D, some buildings and monuments occasionally look like they've been left in the sun too long and have melted. From a purely navigational standpoint, they're also less generally useful than Street View.

Another missing aspect is public transport, for which you now need an app - Apple offers no replacement whatsoever.

Where Maps does work nicely is as an affordable alternative to expensive turn-by-turn car navigation apps or hardware. With an iPhone securely mounted on the dashboard, you get a very nice experience, with clear directions and fast rerouting if you miss a turn.

It's not perfect - tiny interface elements mean you'll need to take the phone out of any cradle to adjust anything - but we found the accuracy fine on a number of car journeys. These included ones where we specifically tried to get lost, in areas with many recent road changes, some including obscure Scottish roundabout systems. We also reckon the in-car experience pips that of Google Maps, although Google's app is superior as a navigation aid when on foot.

It's worth noting that Maps isn't a standalone app but an underlying system for iOS, and so it also affects apps such as Find My Friends. However, despite our grumbles about the visual display of the maps, we're not so fussed when we're checking whether someone's on time for a meeting as opposed to travelling to such a meeting ourselves.

Siri, Phone, FaceTime and Do Not Disturb

iOS Siri

It's still in beta, but Siri has been massively improved in iOS 6, especially for UK customers: at last Siri can do local searches, so you're not just limited to a subset of the US version's features.

If you liked Siri but found its limitations infuriating in iOS 5, you'll nonetheless perhaps find yourself increasingly using the feature in iOS 6.

Siri can now give you driving directions, tell you what time films are on and whether they're any good, find your friends, provide football scores and launch apps, and it integrates with services including Wolfram Alpha, Facebook and Twitter.

There's also Eyes Free for integration with in-car audio and voice control systems, something Apple is liaising with car manufacturers about.

Apple is rather keen on Siri, not just for answering questions but also for dictating text. We've found computer dictation patchy over the years, but it's genuinely impressive in iOS 6 - especially on the new iPad, where thankfully you don't need to hold the tablet next to your face for it to hear you.

iOS 6 Phone app and FaceTime

iOS 6's Phone app has some welcome improvements. Previously, you were restricted to answering or declining the call, sending the device to voicemail. Now, you can swipe upwards when a call comes in, enabling you to set a reminder to call the person back, or to send a text response.

Reminders can be time-based or location-based, so for example you can set a reminder that kicks in when you get home. The pre-defined text messages are pretty basic but they do the job, and it's also possible to send a custom message instead. Depending on your setup and connectivity, the response will be sent via SMS or iMessage.

FaceTime's also been given a boost: you can finally use it over 3G, provided you have the right hardware (iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S) and the right calling plan. For the most part, UK carriers do not differentiate between FaceTime and Facebook, but check your plan carefully before using or relying on the feature.

iOS 6 Do Not Disturb

The Do Not Disturb feature is one of the best additions to iOS 6. The basic idea is providing a block of time during which the device when locked silences all calls and alerts.

Additional options enable you to allow calls from your 'Favorites' in the Contacts app, or some other user-defined group; additionally, you can allow a call through should someone phone more than once.

Bar yet another date-oriented Apple screw-up at the dawn of 2013, where Do Not Disturb refused to disengage automatically for a week, the feature has worked flawlessly during the time we've been running iOS 6.

Our one complaint is that the schedule needs more granular options. Right now, you can merely set a time period during which you don't want to be disturbed, but it would be useful to have the option to set alternative hours for, at the very least, weekends and public holidays.

Safari and Mail

iOS 6 Safari

Aside from the speed boosts you'd expect from a refreshed browser, Safari for iOS 6 brings with it a number of updates, two of which centre around iCloud.

The rather poor and half-hearted Reading List feature, which saves web pages for you to read later, now works offline. This is a major improvement, although because Safari pulls down the entire document, saving it takes longer than sending a web page to the likes of Instapaper or Pocket. However, Reading List content syncing across iCloud now makes it a potential alternative to a bespoke read-it-later app or service.

Another great new feature is iCloud tabs. Once activated, this enables you to see open tabs on other devices using the same iCloud ID, including Macs running the latest version of Safari.

There are also a couple of interface changes: tap-holding the back button now brings up the history list, and the iPhone and iPod touch now have a full-screen mode, although it's only available in landscape orientation.

iOS 6 Mail

Mail's updates in iOS 6 are relatively small but are nonetheless very welcome. First and foremost, Apple brings its VIP feature to iOS. This enables you to define certain people you communicate with as VIPs and have their emails arrive in the VIP inbox. Ultimately, it's a pre-defined smart mailbox, but it's handy if you're drowning in email and don't want to miss crucial messages from specific people.

Elsewhere, Apple now enables you to insert photos into emails and has included pull-to-refresh with a cute gloopy refresh icon. Additionally, you can now set signatures on a per-account basis, rather than being forced to use the same one for all of them.

Camera and PhotoStream

iOS 6 Camera

We suspect the strength of the iOS app ecosystem is what propelled the iPhone to become the most popular camera on many photography social networks (including Flickr), but the default Camera app has always been a decent option, especially when it gained an optional grid.

In iOS 6, Apple's added a Panorama mode. You hold your device in portrait orientation and slowly sweep horizontally across the scene you wish to capture (if you're going too quickly for the device, you'll be told to slow down). This being an Apple feature, it doesn't provide you with any further options whatsoever.

Fortunately, the automated panorama stitching the Camera app does is generally excellent, to the point we happily ditched third-party apps of this type from our devices.

iOS 6 Photo Stream

Photo Stream was one of those typically Apple technologies: great when it worked, maddeningly frustrating when it didn't, and with almost no options to fine-tune it.

Previously, Photo Stream provided access to your most recent 1,000 photos and/or screen grabs, and that was it. These would be synchronised across devices and computers using the same Apple ID.

With iOS 6, it's now possible to remove images from Photo Stream, and you can now also share custom Photo Streams with other people, or with the public at large via a website on iCloud.com. Any custom Photo Stream can be left as it was when first set up or later updated whenever you like, and those you invite to it can leave comments.

Disappointingly, this is only a shared service in the sense of you sharing your images with others, not you all sharing together. If Apple adds some kind of group Photo Stream, this could be a killer feature; right now, it's certainly a nice-to-have for an ad-hoc share of a few holiday snaps, but hardly something that will worry Flickr or Facebook.

New and updated apps: Passbook, Clock and more

In iOS 6, there are also new apps and a few overhauled ones:

iOS 6 Passbook

We like the idea behind Passbook. Apple describes it as a place that can house boarding passes, store coupons and loyalty cards, tickets, and more.

It's also location-aware, meaning that if the iPhone knows you're in a store, Passbook should root out the relevant card (assuming Apple Maps doesn't think you're oddly lurking in a fire station, say, rather than your local coffee house).

The big problem, though, is the current poor support for the system. Only a handful of UK apps exist, such as Starbucks, a few airlines and iHotel.

Passbook could be a killer feature, but we wonder whether it'll ultimately become another Ping and be quietly killed.

iOS 6 iPad clock

There's always been a strange disparity between Apple devices when it comes to default apps, with the iPad having fewer of them. Bizarrely, even a calculator and clock weren't included with Apple's tablet, presumably because someone somewhere decided nobody would need to calculate things or set alarms and timers on the larger device.

With iOS 6, Apple includes a clock that makes reasonable use of the extra space available over an iPhone display. You get the usual Timer and Stopwatch tabs, an Alarm tab with a nicely designed grid, and a World Clock tab with a map. The map shows the locations of your defined cities along with current weather conditions. Bar Apple's swiping of the Swiss railway network service's clock design, there's nothing to grumble about here.

iOS 6 App Store, iTunes and iBooks

All of Apple's stores on iOS have had a major overhaul, which has sped them up and also showcased Apple's obsession with horizontal bands of content that you can swipe.

There are also some usability boosts, such as iTunes enabling you to access recent previews, and you being able to install multiple apps rather than being punted to the home screen after each one. New apps are pleasingly also given a 'New' badge, so you can easily spot them.

But Apple's often the kind of company to punch itself in the head shortly after delivering a knock-out blow, and these store redesigns are no exception. Too often, item names are truncated to the point where you have to tap into each item to differentiate it from another.

Worse, search results now come in the form of cards that make browsing large lists a horrible chore. With these stores, discoverability on iOS has taken a step backwards, particularly for apps and games.

Updated privacy and settings

iOS 6 privacy and Guided Access

Privacy settings get an overhaul in iOS 6. The Privacy section of Settings gives you a list of items that apps request permission to use: location services, contacts, calendars, and so on. For each, you can revoke access using a slider.

This is also the case with the now fairly deeply integrated social networks, Twitter and Facebook. It's perhaps arguable that the typical user still won't find these options, but Privacy appearing at the top level in Settings and being so straightforwardly designed is a decision that should be applauded.

Also in the realm of permissions and privacy (but also with education ramifications) is Guided Access. Buried in the Accessibility section of General within Settings, the feature when toggled enables you to disable touch, motion and portions of the screen.

A triple-click on the Home button brings up the straightforward interface for defining these features, and Guided Access can also be secured by a four-digit passcode.

iOS 6 Lost Mode

Another somewhat privacy-oriented change in iOS 6 is Lost Mode. This is an extension of Find My iPhone, and once triggered via iCloud.com or the Find My iPhone app it locks down a device in a more useful manner than before.

Rather than just playing an alert and sending a message, it enables you to send a phone number that whoever's got your device can use to call you back on. It's only a subtle change, but one that will perhaps increase the likelihood of you getting a lost iPhone back, assuming your message is a touch more polite than "I'm coming for you, thief!"

iOS 6 useful tweaks

Elsewhere, Apple's made a number of smaller tweaks that make the system more customisable or usable. In the Music app (which has also had an interface overhaul), you can now delete individual tracks and download single items from iTunes Match.

The Share sheet is now a clear and usable grid of icons, and in Notification Center you can add Share widgets for Twitter and/or Facebook. In Settings, the Bluetooth toggle is now on the top level - we'd like it on a home screen somehow, but this is a start.

And in the General > Cellular section within Settings, you can toggle whether cellular data is used for iCloud documents, iTunes, FaceTime, Passbook updates and Reading List. These might all be small things, but each makes a difference and they combine to improve the OS and justify Apple's belief in iteration rather than regular and unnecessary overhauls.

Verdict

The big question about any OS upgrade is, will installing it make you glad you did?

The answer for iOS 6 is yes, but some users answer yes more emphatically than others.

For example, if you've got an iPhone 3GS the upgrade is really just a collection of minor improvements, whereas if you've got an iPhone 4S you're invited to the whole iOS party.

We liked

The two biggest changes to iOS 6 are Maps and Siri. It's easy to jeer at the former, and Maps certainly has its problems, but it is an excellent choice for in-car turn-by-turn. Siri continues to improve and is now heading towards becoming an essential component of iOS rather than a gimmick.

Do Not Disturb, despite its lack of scheduling granularity, is a triumph. Apple certainly didn't get there first with this feature, but we're sure glad the company got there eventually.

Elsewhere, we liked that Apple's continuing to work with strong foundations and, generally, improving things. Relatively minor updates to Mail, Safari, Camera, Photo Stream, Phone, Share sheets, Find My iPhone and privacy all add up to a big improvement overall.

We disliked

There's no getting away from iOS 6's differences across devices. In some cases, hardware limitations must be to blame, but some feature cuts appear arbitrary and driven by Apple wanting users to upgrade. For example, the iPhone 4's inability to make FaceTime calls over 3G is baffling, considering it works with Wi-Fi.

Elsewhere, Maps isn't good enough in all use cases, and it really should have been, while Passbook is a nice app that has poor support, and some of Apple's design decisions have been questionable. We can put up with the status bar changing colour, but the awkward search and cropped names in all iOS stores are bad to the point of putting you off searching for and buying things.

Final verdict

We could say the same about iOS 6 as we did about iOS 5: it "has been trailed for so long that the element of surprise went ages ago, but there's enough here to make your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch feel shiny and new all over again."

iOS 6 is rather like the iPhone 5 or OS X Mountain Lion - the refinement of something that already works extremely well. Apple isn't overhauling things for the sake of it but, in the main, making the iOS experience gradually better. That in itself is something other companies would do well to emulate.

Introduction

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the most hotly anticipated smartphone ever from the Korean brand, and with a glut of top end features, it's the most powerful and desirable device Samsung has created yet.

One of the most impressive things about the phone is the fact the size hasn't changed from its predecessor - the Galaxy S4 comes in at 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm (5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches), meaning there's no extra heft to try to work with in your palm.

However, despite this fact, the screen on the S4 has been increased once more, to a whopping 5-inch display with Full HD resolution. This means the same amount of pixels you'd have seen on a TV that cost well over £1,000 four years ago is now riding around in your pocket.

Let's not pretend that Samsung is a pioneer in this area though: like a great many features of the Galaxy S4, the phone borrows a lot from the other top smartphones of the moment. Both the Sony Xperia Z and the HTC One have screens that rock the same resolution, but neither of them have the jaw-dropping clout of the Super AMOLED HD screen on offer here.

On top of that, there's a much faster processor packed under the hood, ample storage space for media thanks to an expandable memory card slot, and the likes of 4G, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and pretty much any other connection you care to mention on board.

Samsung has tried to supplement this with a tranche of software upgrades too, meaning a more powerful camera, a better way to communicate with your friends and consume media, and interestingly a big push into health through dedicated apps too.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 costs the same as the HTC One, give or take a pound or two, on contract. This will still put it around £35 per month, which isn't too bad for such a high design.

But before we dissect all the possibilities the phone has to offer, let's look at the design. As we mentioned, it's impressive in its form factor, thanks to the sub-8mm thickness, and at 130g it manages to still be light without shaving off so much heft that you feel like you've got a flimsy piece of plastic.

That's probably the biggest compliment we can pay the Samsung Galaxy S4 - where its predecessor felt a little bit cheap in the hand, the S4 manages to bring a much more solid build and better construction to boot.

So while the "faux metal" band makes a comeback on this model, it looks a lot more premium. And there's very little flex in the chassis when you hold it tightly, which was another problem with the Galaxy S3 at times.

That doesn't mean that the phone is completely remodelled from the S3 - it's very similar in appearance, so much so that a number of people asking to see it during our review thought we were palming them off with our old S3. The polycarbonate chassis remains, but that brings with it the faithful battery cover, which conceals a removable battery and microSD slot.

We're not so fussed about the battery being able to drop out of the phone - so few people carry around a spare battery, and nowadays portable charging blocks are becoming so cheap and light that they make much more sense too.

We'd almost prefer something like the Sony Xperia Z, which has a refined and packaged chassis but doesn't need a removable battery: it makes use of a slot instead for the memory card. This integrated nature would make for a slightly more premium feel to the phone.

However, it's a small gripe with the S4, as while the cover feels flimsy, it's better than it was on the S2 and the S3, and they both sold like hot cakes.

In the hand, the Samsung Galaxy S4 feels much better than any other Samsung phone we've held (apart from the gargantuan smartphones the brand used to make - the i8910 Omnia HD might have been built like a brick, but it felt wonderful to hold). The screen's spread towards the sides of the phone means a much narrower bezel, and the effect is certainly impressive.

It might look very similar to the S3, but when you take the Samsung Galaxy S4 up close, you really start to appreciate the nuances.

We'd say it feels a lot more like the LG Optimus G range now - when we first picked it up, we were struck with how similar it felt in terms of sturdiness and the polycarbonate construction to the LG Optimus G Pro.

That's no criticism, as the device was well built too, but it has a similar rounded feel. This is intriguing given the history of the two companies, and shows more of a leaning towards the plastic shell from the Asian brands in general.

Buttonry has barely changed from before - the power button has been shifted slightly on the right-hand side, and is now much easier to hit. Samsung has clearly taken some lessons from the Galaxy Note 2, which has a really well positioned power/lock button.

The volume key is less easy to hit, and could be lower down in our eyes, but the travel on both of these buttons is satisfying, and you'll always know when you've hit them.

The plastic used on the home key has been upgraded too, with a more solid feel under the thumb when you press down to get back to the main home screen. The two buttons flanking it give you access to menus or take you back from whence you came, and while both are easily hidden, they light up nicely with an even glow when called into action.

There are loads of sensors on the front of the phone above the screen, including cameras to track your eyes, a 2MP camera for HD video calling and a proximity sensor for knowing where the phone is in relation to your ear. On the white review unit we had, their presence looks rather ugly either side of the generous earpiece, but on the darker models this is less of an issue.

The other notable addition to the design of the Galaxy S4 is the infra red blaster on the top of the phone. This enables you to control your TV, satellite box, DVD player, amp and even air conditioner. Again, this isn't a new feature, but it works well in practice, and despite being small is powerful enough indeed.

Other than that, there's not a lot more to say about the design of the phone, as it's just a little underwhelming. We know it's unfair to lambast a brand for not overhauling the design every year, but in the One X and the One, HTC has proven that it is possible to offer up a new design each time around and still keep things attractive.

Looking so similar to the Galaxy S3, you can't help but feel Samsung has gone a little too Apple and created something more in keeping with the Samsung Galaxy S3S - a minor update to a great phone to keep those coming out of contract happy that they have a premium phone to upgrade to.

We do implore you to get the phone in your hand before making a judgement though - while it's not got the best design on the market when it comes to materials, it's a big step forward compared to the Galaxy S3 and allows for a grippy and easy-to-hold phone, with a whopping screen inside.

To just dismiss it for being plastic would be doing the S4 a disservice as it has so much more going for it than that, but it's worth remembering that to a lot of people, the way a phone looks is as important as how much RAM it's got on board and how fast the CPU is - if not more so.

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has an all-new screen, and we'll state it now: the Samsung Galaxy S4 has the best display you can find on a smartphone.

It's the same Super AMOLED technology used in other Galaxy smartphones, but this time it's been cranked up to Full HD resolution, which is 1920 x 1080 pixels, if you're asking.

This uses the same PenTile matrix that's drawn so much criticism for Samsung over the years, as some state that Samsung is using too many of one colour of pixel, or sub-pixel (the colours within each pixel) is too basic – all of this has meant that older Galaxy smartphones have had something of a blue or green tint, or been a little low-resolution when viewed (admittedly really) close up.

Well, and you'll forgive us for saying the same thing that we did last year with the Galaxy S3, close up now there's no way you can see any jagged edges or elements within the icons. It's simply superb, and makes everything from web pages to video look brilliant.

And there's no worry about the tints of old, nor the criticisms levied at Samsung for making over-saturated screens, as often people have claimed that the colours look too strong on these devices thanks to the OLED technology used.

It is a feature of the technology, and not just because of the high contrast ratios on offer, but with the Galaxy S4 Samsung has added in a mode to make the colours look more natural, should the user so with to have it that way.

This method does drop the brightness somewhat, and that's already lower than you might find on the HTC One but that extra brightness isn't needed thanks to the contrast ratio we mentioned earlier. One of the strengths of OLED technology is that when a pixel is displaying a black image, it's completely off, and therefore draws less power and looks darker. Compared to LCD screens, which have a backlight to light the colours in front, this means that the blacks will never be as black as found on an OLED.

So, as we said, there's nothing to want for with the Super AMOLED Full HD screen found on the Samsung Galaxy S4. It might not be as high resolution as the HTC One, simply because it's larger with the same amount of pixels, but viewed up close you'll struggle to find a flaw with it.

You can change the brightness from the notification bar by sliding your finger up and down the screen - but if you want to make things easier you can just tag the Auto button and have the Galaxy S4 working away at deciding the optimum brightness for you.

What's new here is the ability to customise the auto level - so if you like things a little lighter or darker, then you can choose such a thing. It's a good way to manage your battery even easier.

Another feature, which is both good and bad, is the improved capacitive technology used in the screen. This is designed to ape a feature brought by Nokia on the Lumia 920, which enables you to wear gloves and still use the phone - which will be a key feature to those in colder climes, or like to wear gloves for sport or similar.

However, while this works well for gloves, it does over-power the screen somewhat, in that when you're holding your finger over the screen looking to scroll up and down when you're read a certain paragraph, it will sometimes register a press when you've no intention of doing so. It's irritating to say the least, and something that we hope Samsung irons out with future software updates.

Aside from that, there's not a thing that we can criticise the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen for in any way, as it's as close to perfect as you can get on a smartphone - making it a great device for so many more functions as a result.

Interface

The interface on the Samsung Galaxy S4 isn't an officially new release of TouchWiz, the Korean brand's name for its Android overlay, but it does bring a whole host of new features to the Galaxy range, working best on the S4.

It's built on top of Android Jelly Bean 4.2, which means there are several significant upgrades from the previous version, found on most of the other top-end Galaxy devices and, crucially, ahead of the likes of the HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z.

One gets the feeling Samsung has delayed Android 4.2 for the Galaxy S3 simply so it can offer differentiation with the new model – things like split menus mean you feel like you're greeted with a different phone, despite both the S3 and S4 doing roughly the same thing.

So, for instance, in the drag down notification bar, you're now greeted with two icons in the top right-hand corner; one takes you to the internal settings from anywhere in the phone, and the other gives you quick shortcuts to turn elements within the S4 off and on.

This is an idea Google pushed with the new iteration of Android, and works well. However, it's a little redundant here, as the phone already has these in a long line in the notification bar. You can also edit these quick toggles too, so it means that you'll rarely push the other button to get the full list.

Android 4.2 promises further smoothness upgrades too, and while this works on the likes of the Nexus 4, we're not sure what it's really added with the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Considering that this phone is running the quad-core Qualcomm 600 chip, clocked at 1.9GHz and combined with 2GB of RAM, we would have expected this phone to run faster than anything we'd ever seen before.

While that is true for the most part, it's only a touch more than we've seen on the Galaxy S3. Apps will open and close faster, but elements like the time taken to open the multi-taking menu (triggered by holding down the home key from anywhere in the phone) still take a beat to activate.

It makes us hanker for the octa-core processor that other parts of the world are getting - the reason being that 4G can't apparently be added to that chip very easily, so we have to make do with a quad core option. It's not as simple as saying that other version is twice as fast, as it's essentially two quad core chips doing different tasks when needed, but there's no doubt that the other version is faster.

In case you're wondering, there are two versions of the Galaxy S4: one with the Exynos 5 octa-core, and this one (model number GT-1905) that has the Qualcomm Snapdragon quad core. This version is clocked at 1.9GHz, which means it runs faster in general - however, the octa core has two sets of four cores, with one for day to day stuff and the other for heavy lifting, such as photo processing and such.

While we're miffed we don't have the option of this other version (it's smashed the benchmarks in many tests) there are questions about whether the battery will hold up as well as the device flicks between the two quad core processors inside - it could improve efficiency or deplete it, depending on the implementation, so perhaps bigger isn't always better.

The general Android / TouchWiz interface is still the same as ever: this means that you can throw as many widgets and apps all over the seven home screens that you like. It's still a great way of doing things, and since Android Jelly Bean has been used you can now flick items out of the way just by dragging them onto the screen and holding them in the place you want.

What is interesting is that Samsung still hasn't added the functionality to drag and drop app icons on top of one another to create a folder. We're pretty sure Apple is trying to patent such an idea, but given rivals have managed to use this method (such as HTC with the One) we'd have expected Samsung to do the same.

It's not a big deal, but having to drag an app to the top of the screen, create a folder, name it, then drag other apps in is a bit of a hassle.

One area that has been changed massively from S3 to S4 is the lock screen. Firstly, there's a new way to mess around with this UI: where once you could only touch the screen and watch the water ripple around, now you can choose to have your finger trigger a little light that hovers under your finger.

Combined with the S4's improved screen technology that's been super-boosted, in terms of sensitivity, to enable you to use gloves with it, you can now hold your finger a centimetre or so above the display and watch the light flicker along under your digit. It's not a big thing, but one that we found ourselves constantly playing with like tiny children.

The lock screen, thanks to the Android 4.2 update, now enables you to have widgets on there before you open the phone, enabling music control, remotes to display and messages to preview.

While there are some useful implementations of these (the music player is really handy to have, and can be resized by dragging the track list up and down) others, like favourite apps, really don't help as much. You can still thankfully have all the lockscreen shortcuts, which means you can interact in the same way as before. To open the phone into a widget you just tap it then swipe below. We initially wanted to criticise the phone for this, but after a few days it really becomes second nature.

We would say the blocky nature of the UI really isn't attractive. It basically adds a load of features into a previously simple experience, which may or may not please some people. Thankfully, all this is switched off by default - and you can even have your own message saying hello every time you open the phone.

It's clear that Samsung has toed the Google line in using Android 4.2 on the Galaxy S4, as this lock screen functionality is straight from the search giant's design board (with a few Samsung design ideals placed on top).

It's also present in the menu system, which, rather than one long list of all your options, is divided into four screens: Connectivity, My Device, Accounts, and More. It's a neat way of packaging things all up, but it can be hard to hit the categories on the top given the size of the screen.

The interface on the Samsung Galaxy S4, to the uninitiated or the Galaxy S2 user looking for their next upgrade, is great. It has loads of innovative ideas and works blazingly fast. We can see why some people find TouchWiz a little cartoony and convoluted at times, but in our eyes this is a great combination of power and simplicity in a smartphone.

Calling and contacts

Contacts are very similar to before on the Samsung Galaxy S4, but this is no bad thing. Laid out in an easy to read format and manageable ways of connecting the right people together, this is a perfectly passable way of looking for the people that matter to you.

The main thing that we like is the ability to smart dial. This means that when you open the number pad you can enter the name as you would have done on predictive text all those years ago - so 3-2-3 would be the command to bring up 'Dad', for instance.

It's a slick way of getting around the contact list. It's hardly new - most phones pack it as an option now, and those that don't (iPhone) sorely miss it - but it saves you monkeying around in the main contacts list.

That said, the experience there is very good. If you've got the likes of Exchange, Facebook and Google accounts set up on your phone then chances are you'll be able to see a host of names here to play with. We're sad that Twitter was taken out of the experience, as it was helpful to have on the Galaxy S2 by enabling you to see friends' Tweets in their contact profile.

However, if you're not savvy enough to work out how to stop every person you're following on Twitter displaying in your contacts' list, then you would have hundreds floating around there.

(By the way, it's a simple tap of the menu button and selecting 'Contacts to display' where you can choose which service will supply the people to chat to. You can customise this too, meaning you only have certain services coming through, which means you can choose to just have the likes of Facebook and Google, where most people will store contacts.

Pro tip: hit 'Settings' and then tag 'Only contacts with phone numbers', which will clean up your phone book no end).

Beyond that, there's not a lot more to the Samsung Galaxy S4 contacts interface that really makes it stand out - it doesn't have the ability to parse through albums on social networks or update you with people's musings through statuses, but to many that's more of a hindrance. And to those where it's not, you can head on over to the HTC One to see how all that works.

The interface is simple, it's damned easy to navigate to the people you want (using the alphabetised list on the right-hand side and then using the slider to get more exact) and the result is instant when opening a contact.

You can link contacts together easily by going into the name and hitting joined contacts, then selecting other profiles from social networks to bring everything into one place. Samsung still hasn't mastered the art of suggesting these links in one big batch, so expect a lengthy time spend doing so when you turn the phone on.

One big change we're not sure we're in love with: every contact that doesn't have a picture drawn in (from the likes of Facebook or Google+) will have a stock smiling male cartoon face - it's meant to be cutesy, but it can come across a little creepy when it flashes up onscreen from an unknown number.

Another oddity with the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the ability to use high res pictures to populate contact images - other handsets enable you to define that any social network, Facebook in particular, will always display HD pictures when you connect a person in your phone book to the social network profile.

It might sound like a minor thing, but when high-res pictures flash up during a phone call, it makes the phone feel a lot more premium, which is rarely the case with the Galaxy S4, which will only do so if you've linked Google+ or tagged them in your own photo.

Calling

Calling on the Samsung Galaxy S4 carries on from its predecessor - namely in being excellent. It's got a slightly narrow earpiece range, which means that you have to be careful where you position it in relation to your ear, but that's a really minor quibble as the overall effect is impressive and works well thanks to some clever volume management.

The S4 has noise reduction built in, and many people commented how clear the the sound was over the airwaves. The S4 supports HD voice as well, which is carried over the 3G/4G networks (depending on your provider) so you'll always get the best clarity on offer.

In short, this phone worked well no matter where we were. Dropped calls should be a thing of the past on all handsets, but that's not always the case; however, with high end handsets there's no reason to think it should happen, and the power of the S4 to keep hold of signal is impressive.

In fact, the signal strength was regularly impressive, making very few trips down to the dreaded 'no bar' icon that means you might have a connection but, hey, you might not. Nobody enjoys that smartphone lottery, right?

There are a number of extra bells and whistles to play with here too which offer varying success. You can set something called 'Adapt Sound' which asks you to pop in a pair of headphones and listen to a range of sounds at different frequencies, thus tailoring the output to your ears.

You can also choose to have 'Clear Sound' or 'Soft Sound' during the calls, but when we tried these modes all we got was a slight variation in volume. There are other tricks that are more useful in call, like being able to turn noise reduction on and off and being able to boost the volume when needed.

Otherwise, it's the same great calling experience we've come to expect from the Samsung Galaxy range, even down to the three options that come up when you end a call (Message, Call or Video Call) so you can get in touch with the person if you've forgotten pertinent information. Although video call never works, let's be honest. Even Apple is starting to wonder...

In short, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the best phones for actually, you know, phoning, out there. It's size isn't horrendous next to the ear and people can hear you - and vice versa. Job done.

Messaging

The messaging experience on Samsung smartphones has never been the strongest, and thankfully it's getting better and better with each iteration. We'd go as far as saying that it's actually GOOD on the Samsung Galaxy S4, and that's coming from a place of wanting to throw the Galaxy S3 out a window once or twice when the email client doesn't connect properly.

Let's start with one of the most important points: the keyboard. The previous Samsung versions have been woeful, with bouncy word prediction, inaccurate typing and cramped conditions.

Thankfully with the S4 Samsung appears to have realised this and made a larger option, and thanks to the larger screen you've even got a row of numbers on the top so you don't constantly have to keep pressing 'Shift' to get them up each time. We did a lot, though. Just to let you know.

There's also a Swype-a-like option on board, and while the jury is still out on whether this is more efficient that tapping away, we found it to be more accurate thanks to the larger amount of space afforded by the 5-inch screen.

We still instantly downloaded another option (SwiftKey might be underpinning a lot of what this keyboard is about, but the native option is still preferable in our eyes, as it takes less customisation at the start.)

Text messaging is still a key part of the Samsung Galaxy S4, and has been slightly upgraded; where there was just a conversation view with bubbles before, you now get little contact pictures next to each person, which adds a touch of personality to an SMS conversation. Yes, again it's not a new experience, but it works well on the phone.

You've also got a larger capacity for text messaging than before - where you could only write a missive that was 480 characters or less before converting to a (costly) MMS in previous versions, now you can have over 5 messages' worth before such a function kicks in.

Email

The email client on the Galaxy S2 and Galaxy S3 was rubbish, and we've mentioned that already. However Samsung has taken something of a mallet to that functionality and interface with the S4 and significantly upgraded it. While the S3 came close to working as it was supposed to after nearly a year on the market, the S4 comes out of the gate swinging, if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor.

This means a much cleaner UI that makes it much easier to quickly glance and see who sent each message, a slide-across bar that takes you to your inboxes (should you have multiple accounts on the phone) and even the chance to have priority senders and a combined inbox.

So far, so very similar to the recent iOS update (which was similar to the HTC option before it, it should be noted).

But the key thing is here that the client, which was built to be powerful but ended up flawed, now works as it should.

We can easily set out of office messages, set priority accounts that we need to panic about (although the process there is a little convoluted and won't let you search an Exchange server to get the addresses you need - nobody should have their CEO's email saved as a contact, but if they email you then you would listen).

ChatON

There are other options for messaging of course: for instance, ChatON is present once more (Samsung's attempt to bring a WhatsApp/BBM/iMessage rival) and brings functionality like being able to send walkie-talkie voice messages to one another as well as pictures and messages, but there are so few people using it regularly that it won't be long before you hide it from the menu screen unless you happen to have a lot of chatty Samsung friends.

This is something of a shame actually, as it's a decent platform. You can add a profile pic, send files and the like over a data connection without having to faff with email, and the range of customisation options and UI both work very well for the most part.

Once again, Samsung has shown that it has seen a problem in its older phones and corrected it accordingly - it might not be market leading but there wasn't a point where we felt that communication was harder with the Galaxy S 4, and that's all we're looking for in this scenario.

Internet

Internet on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is covered by two applications: the inbuilt browser and Google Chrome. This might lead to some confusion as, for the most part, the two applications do precisely the same thing.

However, the default browser (Samsung's own) still comes with a few tricks of its own, and has been upgraded since the Galaxy S3. It's not any quicker, which is odd given the uprated processor, but that's likely because the Galaxy S3 was already running at the top end of the speed the connection would let it.

In speed tests with the HTC One it managed to match it in most cases - interestingly, the HTC would load pages the fastest, but navigating through pages on a site would see the Galaxy S4 come out a shade quicker. We had hoped for slightly faster, but it wasn't a slouch by any stretch.

Zooming in and out of text is a little bit tricky at times though, as it would sometimes zoom in incorrectly and not enable the full text to stretch across the screen. A couple of taps in and out on another part of the text saw this sorted, but it still pales in comparison to the auto-reflow on offer from the HTC One.

To be honest, that may be the hundredth time we've written that statement - ever since the HTC Hero we've been impressed with this functionality, so we've no idea why Samsung won't implement it when others will. There's an option to have the text fit the zoom level you're after in the menu settings, and it's so useful that we've no idea why it's not enabled by default.

However, once you've got past the niggly elements, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a phone that's right up there with the best when it comes to internet browsing. We found that a little tweak in the Accessibilty menu (found in Settings within the browser) enabled us to make text a little larger than normal, which led to a really easy to use page no matter what we looked at or at which zoom level.

As you can imagine, everything is razor sharp here, with the HD screen offering levels of detail we could barely comprehend at times. Those upgrading to the S4 will be blown away by the difference between this and a WVGA screen, so get ready to be able to browse the internet in a way you'd want.

The bookmarking system is a little odd though: where before you could have bookmarks brought across from your Gmail account, this functionality has been stripped out here. Those that don't want to use Google Chrome will be annoyed as it means they'll have to re-find all their favourite pages rather than having them drawn in from the cloud now.

The UI of the internet browser has changed somewhat, with those changes being positive and... less so in some cases. For instance, if you tap on a link that's next to another when zoomed out, a small magnifying box will appear and you can more easily select the link you're after - wicked.

Also, the tabbed view (where you can see all the web pages you've got open) has been changed to work vertically now (taking more cues from Google Chrome) so it's easier to swish through all the pages you've got open.

The look of the default browser is a bit low-key now though, and feels like it could do with a bit of a visual overhaul. We're all for simplicity here, as content should always be king in the browser, but the overall feel is very blocky and doesn't have the clout of other versions visually.

That said, all the pertinent functionality (namely moving forward and back through sites, bookmarks and tabs) is all present and correct and we weren't cursing the inventors of the browser for hiding the things we use loads (we're looking at you, Microsoft with Windows Phone 8).

Flash is still absent, but now HTC has offered it as an optional plug in when you need it, we're missing it more than ever. There was a point last year, when Adobe ceased the updates to the mobile Flash browser, that we thought it would become irrelevant on mobiles, but it seems that this isn't the case still.

The BBC website still throws loads of 'You don't have the correct version of Flash' errors at us when browsing through, and while you can still sideload it, we're still rather missing it on mobiles (in general, not just the Galaxy S4).

Google Chrome, which we touched on earlier, is another good browser on the phone, but one that offers very similar functionality to the main browser, which leads to the confusion we mentioned. However it's got those cloud bookmarks, the ability to sync with a desktop browser (so you can see which tabs you've got open across both devices and is therefore a little bit more well endowed when it comes to internet browsing.

We found it to be a little faster when chugging through the internet as well, meaning we're surprisingly leaning towards recommending you go Chrome when firing up your Galaxy S4 - something that seems to have Google's intent all along written all over it.

Media

We always enjoy talking about the media functionality of the Samsung Galaxy range as it's so good - and we're happy to do the same here. It's a media marvel in every sense of the phrase, from music to video to even the FM radio, and if you're after a spot of entertainment on the go, then there's very little better out there, with the iPhone 5 the only possible rival.

The Galaxy S4 has done away with the FM Radio for some reason though – it's a shame as the Samsung app was one of the best out there for listening to some tunes over the airwaves. Sure, there are dozens of excellent internet radio apps, but for free music that you could record when needed, we loved that ability on the Galaxy S3 and Note 2.

It's also worth noting that Samsung has upgraded the rear speaker as well, which is now a little more rich in the bass tones and makes watching videos or YouTube clips without earphones that little bit better. It's nowhere near as good as BoomSound from HTC, but it's definitely a big step forward.

Music

Sonically, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a great device for music consumption. You can lob in as many tracks as you like through the microSD slot, the interface is fluid and easy to navigate, and comes with so much control that if you've got quality headphones and high bit-rate tracks, it should be impossible not to get an excellent experience out of the phone.

One of the real winners here is the music player itself - there's just so much to do.

We're talking about the main player here - there are other options in the shape of Google's Play Music, and of course you can check things out using the Music portion of the Samsung Hub (the South Korean brand's version of iTunes, helpfully now packaged all up in one place) but the main way to transport tunes to your ears is through the main Music app.

It's easy to get to the tracks you want here too, as when you open it up you're presented with either a big long list of all the albums or songs you own - although if you have missing album artwork the phone won't be able to find it for you.

That said, there are so many apps on the Google Play Store that you shouldn't have an issue with it - we'd recommend you look at something like Player Pro to help you out with this.

Once you've selected the track, you can continue building the playlist or press the album artwork icon at the bottom of the screen where a little music player has started. From here there's all manner of things you can do: from searching through a song using a visual representation of the volume to setting the sound to mimic your ears perfectly, it's all here if you open up the menu.

The latter functionality is really nice - AdaptSound (which we've covered in the Contacts and Calling section of this review) takes you through a wizard that asks you to listen to a variety of frequencies and determines which ones you can hear. It will then boost the sound to make sure it fits into the range you can actually hear, which will diminish as you get older.

Music View, which is the name for the functionality where you can search through a song visually, is a nice touch but really doesn't work - you see peaks and troughs on the screen, but it doesn't correspond at all to what you're hearing.

Another feature (hidden away, annoyingly - you'll need to swipe to the left on the top row of icons in the main view, and there's no obvious indication that you can do this) will lead to Music Square.

This analyses your music library and gives it a rating based on Joy, Passion, Excitement and Calmness. Quite why these are the main types of track in Samsung's eyes, we don't know. You can then trace a line through the different emotions to get a playlist based on the emotions you really want. While the result is a bit hit and miss, we did find that when we wanted a more chilled out track listing it worked well.

Music also supports voice control here as well, which in theory would be really useful. The ability to Play, Pause, Skip and Volume Up/Down is a really nice thing to have - except it doesn't really work.

Volume up and down get easily interchanged and go up very slowly, and if the phone is in sleep mode (which it will be most of the time) then the commands don't work.

We loved it when we forced the screen to stay on and could just command the phone to change tracks by asking, and without having to press any buttons, but that kills the battery; when it doesn't pick up your voice properly it's a frustrating experience.

We would say it was more of a niche feature, but if you've got voice control turned on in the settings, the music player will constantly tell you that you can change things using the voice, with no way to permanently disable the notification.

Video

Video on the Samsung Galaxy range, like music is excellent. However, unlike music, it is head and shoulders above the rest of the competition, in no small part thanks to that Full HD Super AMOLED screen.

When we review phones, we usually always gravitate towards downloading our favourite apps to improve the experience - SwiftKey, PlayerPro and MX Player (for music) are the first three on our list. However, with the Galaxy S4, we had no need for a new video player app as everything we wanted was serviced by the inbuilt experience.

The interface is clean, with a white background enabling the thumbnails of the videos you want to watch really bringing the content to the fore. Then you've got the neat functionality of videos auto-playing as thumbnails, which is possible thanks to the power of the processor. It's not critical functionality, but it's really fun to watch.

You've also got a side link to the videos you've downloaded from Samsung's Video Hub, which makes it a complete and integrated video experience within one app. Many won't use this option that often, but it really works if you've got a couple of titles in the cloud that you want to bring down and means you don't have to mess around in the main Video Hub.

The phone can detect chapters within the video file, which makes it really easy to navigate through your content when you need to - this is an oft-overlooked piece of functionality that we're glad to see pervades through the Galaxy S4 from previous smartphone iterations.

But enough about what you can do and more about the experience itself - and it's glorious. The colour reproduction, the clarity of the screen - it's all there in spades and makes us just want to gorge ourselves on movies for hours, rather than having to wait until we can find a tablet or a PC to do it with.

Five years ago, when video watching on the smartphone started to trickle into the mainstream, we used to consider that a phone that enabled you to watch a music video without having to squint too hard was a pretty decent device. We're now at the other end of the scale with the Samsung Galaxy S4, with there being no better phone to watch an episode of Supernatural, a host of music videos from your favourite band and the latest downloaded blockbuster on.

The only slight issue we had with the Galaxy S4 when using the handset for video was with the Smart Pause functionality, which is designed to make it so you don't miss your video when someone comes to ask you a question or you need to look up to make sure you haven't missed your stop.

When detecting that your eyes are on the screen, the S4 will keep the action playing. When they stray from the action it's designed to pause, and for the most part it works. However, there's a slight second's delay to confirm your eye movements, which does negate the effect somewhat.

But more annoyingly, if you're holding the phone too far away from your face then the action won't kick in either. And with the higher resolution screen you can hold the S4 in a more comfortable way that's further away from the face, which ruins the effect somewhat.

In terms of clarity, the only rival we've seen so far is the Sony Xperia Z, which does have some lovely scenes thanks to the upscaling performed by the Bravia 2 engine within. However, while that does have the edge when it comes to making fuzzy standard-def footage look good, the screen pales (literally) in comparison to the Full HD Super AMOLED offering we're seeing on the Galaxy S4.

Streaming video

We tested the Samsung Galaxy S4 using EE's 4G service, and we were more than pleasantly surprised with the result. Having constantly used Netflix on the Three network for a while, we've always been impressed with the quality of stream that's been offered when using HSPDA+.

However, it's a whole new world with 4G – and one that instantly makes us recommend that you think about how you're going to get the service on your phone. It's blisteringly quick and brings a whole new dimension to the way you'll use your Galaxy S4, as suddenly you can get a whole world of content on the go.

You can even download movies on the go in an extraordinarily fast time, but therein lies the rub: EE has some pretty tight data limits unless you're willing to fork out a fair whack each month.

They're not that low if you're just doing the same general 3G business you always have, but we were so impressed with the speed of things like the internet and, in particular, movie streaming, that we'd recommend waiting until all the networks come out their pricing to see what's going to be the fastest and cheapest available.

Storage

Storage on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is limited if you opt for the 16GB version of the phone, as over 6GB of it is taken up by pre-installed apps and the OS itself. That might not sound like a problem when you consider that you can whack in up to 64GB of microSD storage thanks to the expansion slot, but this is the zone where apps download.

And with the prevalence of the HD app now coming along (for instance, Need For Speed: Most Wanted takes up nearly 2GB of space on the internal memory) you can see how quickly that could get filled up. You start with only 9.15GB of the 16GB of space you've paid for from the outset, which is over 2GB less than offered by the same capacity Galaxy S3.

Samsung has updated the phone since launch to help this issue, as where previously some cloud services like Dropbox would sync all the photos it has to the phone automatically (easily taking over 1GB for any existing user) this has now been disabled, making it a user option.

There are also things you can do to mitigate this, but you have to know where to look. For instance, videos you buy from the Samsung Video Hub can run to well over 1GB, but if you head into Settings from within that app you can tell the phone to put the film on your SD card instead to make it a little less of a strain on the internal memory.

This isn't a problem that only Samsung has to deal with, but the fact that the internal storage is so limited thanks to the pre-installed elements means this becomes even more of an issue than we saw on the iPad, which at least had over 2GB more to start with.

The memory card slot really does help though by giving you a safe haven for your media - our advice is to get your hands on the 32GB version of this phone unless you want to be really careful with your use.

However, with the update we found things to be a lot better - we downloaded 20 games of varying sizes to the phone, way more than most will use regularly, and still had 3GB of space remaining. So while that 2GB drop is unwanted, it's not unmanageable in any way and far less of an issue now.

It's also worth mentioning that you've got two years of Dropbox storage on the phone too – and not just a paltry amount, but 50GB to lump all manner of home movies and photos up into the cloud.

With clever connection to your gallery, this is a feature that is swept under the carpet marketing-wise, but really is rather useful.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S4 camera is a big upgrade over other sensors it has put into phones, and with a 13MP sensor you can see why. It is capable of taking some stunning photos and comes with a decent auto mode, which enables you to get really great shots no matter what the framing.

This means you can be taking a picture of a landscape one minute, then trying to get an extreme close up of a daffodil the next, and the Galaxy S4 camera will handle both with aplomb. There are also a number of clever modes available on the handset that take their UI cues from the Samsung Galaxy Camera, meaning that a quick tap of the 'Mode' button below the on screen shutter will give you a scrollable wheel of options to choose from.

These options include Drama Shot, Eraser mode and Beauty Shot, as well as cueing up the likes of HDR mode to improve the quality and light levels of your snaps. For the most part they have a good role to play in your photography, and we're glad Samsung hasn't over-burdened the user with too many modes.

There are some issues with this method however, and we're not sure how you'd solve them: Eraser mode enables you to take five pictures and if someone walks into the shot the phone will recognise the intruder and ask if you want to remove it.

This is a brilliant idea in theory, but the fact you have to enable it as a setting before taking the shot means that unless you leave the camera in this mode all the time, you'll only get the full benefit when you know you're likely to get people walking behind.

The other problem we have is the settings side of the user interface. We applaud Samsung for going with simplicity first - and by that we mean that users aren't presented with a settings menu as long as their arm when trying to take a quick picture of a cat or child doing something funny.

However, as you'll see in a moment, the Galaxy S4 camera does struggle in some conditions, and as such the only way to mitigate these problems is to do things like increase the exposure or enable night mode. If you want to do this then you'll have to acquaint yourself with the settings menu in the top left-hand corner of the camera app, which has a number of icons to toggle on and off.

That said, what is on offer does really work. Night mode is a good way of increasing the brightness of your photos when things are getting a little dark - although you'll have to make sure that you're able to hold the camera steady if you don't want blur. We've tried a number of smartphones with this mode though, and the Galaxy S4 was one of the better ones, plus being able to enable it automatically is brilliant.

Other tricks, like being able to take a Drama Shot, are pretty close to the innovation spawned from other manufacturers. In this case, the functionality is almost identical to that seen on the Nokia Lumia 920, although we're glad to see it again as it does enable you to make some pretty funny GIFs.

The other new ideas, such as being able to take a picture using the front and back camera simultaneosly, are niche at best. Samsung made a big deal about this new function at the launch of the Galaxy S4, but in reality we can't ever see a scenario where you want your face to be in the picture too. We do like that you can have loads of frames for your face though, so there are scenarios to use it - it's just not a USP of the phone.

But enough about what it can do; how good is the Samsung Galaxy S4 camera in day to day use? In honesty,brilliant in many ways. We mentioned that it's possible to take some stunning shots, but then we'd expect it from a 13MP camera with Samsung's burgeoning photography heritage.

When stacked against the HTC One, the S4 is a superior device in one way, but less useful in another. For one, the focal length is much poorer, meaning you have to stand further away from the subject to get the same shot you would on the One.

In theory this sounds great, but as you can see from our comparison shots, the HTC is much better at pulling out the object of the photograph. Then again, the Galaxy S4 has a more balance composition, meaning the chance to get a brilliant photo is stronger. It doesn't over expose for the sake of it, so while photos might look better on the One's phone screen, the jaw dropping effect of the S4 is higher.

In low light, the HTC One with its UltraPixel technology is streets ahead of the S4, unless you place the latter into Night Mode after which it's more even. However, the One manages low light shots almost instantly, while the S4 needs a lot of processing.

In short, as you'll see below, the Galaxy S4 is a good phone to take a load of pictures on - one of the best if you're taking your time to get it right.

If you're looking for a more even picture with the ability to zoom in on certain parts of the shot, it's a decent option, but for point and shoot ability we would recommend the HTC One (or even giving the Sony Xperia Z a run out).

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This is a GIF taken from the Galaxy S4 - it's a really easy mode to use, does offer some nice results.

This cat is not dancing - but with Animated Photo IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS!

Maps

On any Android phone the mapping experience is superb these days, and the Galaxy S4 is no exception thanks to the awesome power of Google Maps. We've been evangelising this service for years, but when you're getting a powerful sat-nav in your phone, then you can see why we're such fans.

On top of that, it's one that keeps getting upgraded, and combined with the Galaxy S4's large, high-res and expansive screen we had no issues at all using it as our navigation device in car.

We're not going to go into the full detail of what Google Maps can do, but there are some highlights worth mentioning. For instance you can cache certain parts of the globe to the phone, so if you're wondering if you'll be forced to use loads of data when abroad and lost, you can safeguard your bank balance.

There's 3D mapping of the big cities, so when in the traditional map view you can see skyscraper models popping up on your screen. This is both cool and makes it very easy to navigate by sight if you can't see a road name anywhere nearby.

And then you have the StreetView option, which lets you see what the roads look like from a pedestrians point of view. Or indoor maps for major attractions, making it easier to navigate big buildings. It's an excellent app and one you should spend a lot of time getting to know.

The Google Maps experience has also been upgraded for Full HD phones, with the UI looking so pin sharp (thanks to vector graphics) that you'll be able to see things you're looking for instantly on the Galaxy S4.

The screen is bright and clear, and like its predecessor, the GPS and GLONASS combination gives one of the most accurate location experiences we've ever seen. In case you're wondering, GLONASS is the Russian equivalent of the GPS system, with loads of satellites up there beaming down signals.

If you want to sell a smartphone in Russia then you have to offer this compatibility, so it means that any phone that has GPS and GLONASS ability has so many more satellites to choose from - ergo, a much more accurate location experience.

We even found it to be accurate when a metre or so away from the window when inside the house - and we love the fact you can get a lock in under a second, even in built up areas.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the best navigation devices on the market, so if you've never experienced the 'thrill' of using your phone to get to B from A, then this will blow your mind.

Apps

There are a number of apps available on the Samsung Galaxy S4, and for the most part we're glad to see that pre-installed bloatware is at a lower level than usual. The usual suspects are there: Calculator, S Memo, S Planner and the gang, and these are all really great tools that we urge you to try out.

They do perhaps err on the side of complexity, which is a theme prevalent throughout the Galaxy S4 when diving into the apps themselves. This will attract a lot of people that consider themselves to be more of a power user, but put off others looking for an alternative to the simplicity of the iPhone.

For instance the S Planner app is visually very busy, but comes with rich functionality. You can set a location with a new meeting appointment, or pinch to zoom through the time view, be it day, week, month or year.

But we like that Samsung favours power over simplicity, and it does a really great job of making that power usable.

There are a number of other new apps on the Galaxy S4, so take a look below to see how they stack up:

Optical Reader

This application apes the likes of Google Goggles by enabling you to translate words on the screen in front of you (using augmented reality), nab details from business cards and get information from QR codes when asked. It's a simple interface that really only asks to be pointed at the object you're looking at, and works well.

In reality we can only see it being any good for getting business card details or understanding what the odd words means in a foreign language. The business card element is hit and miss, so if you're trying to get everything from the name of the person to their job title to their phone number handily stored in the phone, the accuracy is generally around 70%.

That's still 70% less effort than manually putting all the info in yourself, so we consider that to be a real time saver.

S Translate

Building on the ability to take one word and put it in another language, the S Translate app is a powerful tool that will let you speak or type words into the phone and have them translated into another language - or vice versa.

It's a simple system to actually use - we found very little that went wrong with it. More intriguingly, the app could even understand what were were saying more often than not when trying to speak in a foreign tongue.

We've tried this on a number of apps, and this is the first time it's worked so well, so big thumbs up to Samsung for that.

The only issue we can see is that it relies on a connection to the internet to work properly - if you're out and about in a land where you don't understand the language chances are you won't have data, thus rendering the app moot.

It's only a slight quibble though, and as such shouldn't put you off buying the Galaxy S4 if you're someone looking for a really handy travel companion.

Story Album

In response to HTC's Zoe functionality, and BlackBerry bringing the same sort of functionality on the BB10 software, Samsung has added in the ability to make photo albums of your memories and even enabling you to send the pics across to a real life printers to have a glossy book made.

But in practice it's a really low-power app that seems to be just ticking boxes rather than bringing innovation. We were initially impressed as the phone could work out when we had been taking photos of an event and then asked us to create an album based on the snaps.

When we went to do such a thing though, we were really disappointed. Despite tagging our friends in pictures, the wrong faces were in focus, the themes poor and the speed of rendering for a device that has such a strong core is saddening.

Story album could be so much better if Samsung put some effort here, but it feels really cobbled together - and pales massively when compared to the memory-making HTC One Zoe functionality.

Gaming

Gaming on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is handled by the Adreno 320 GPU, which obviously can not only handle a much larger number of pixels, but can also work its magic when it comes to giving smooth, real to life gaming on the go.

We tried the phone on a number of games, from Super Hexagon to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and as expected the Galaxy S4 handled them all with aplomb, with not even a hint of judder or slow down when in heavy use.

More impressively was the lack of battery juice-down when using the handset, as it managed to only consume a few percent of the power even when getting a little warmer in the hand.

Android doesn't have a lot of stand out games at the moment, but in our tests of the largest (Grand Theft Auto, Need for Speed, NOVA 3 plus myriad benchmarking apps) we found there was nothing the Galaxy S4 couldn't handle. Good-o.

Smart Stay, Smart Scroll, Air View, Air Gestures

Smart Stay

Smart Stay isn't a new feature for the Galaxy S4, but it's a better implementation than we saw on the Galaxy S3 last year. Back then the result was a little patchy, and also contributed to some dodgy auto-brightness levels.

In case you don't know, Smart Stay is another of Samsung's eye-tracking technologies, one that can tell when you're looking at the screen and won't dim or put it into sleep mode as a result.

This time around it's nearly flawless at checking out when your eyes are looking at the screen, although when it does get it wrong and things begin to dim there's no way to save it (despite us blinking and flashing our eyes at the display in the vain hope the S4 might recognise the effort.

Of course, you could just tap the screen with your finger - but come on, this isn't 2011.

Smart Scroll

For all the brilliance of Smart Stay, the world's eyes are on Smart Scroll (sorry). This technology was designed to also monitor your eyes, but when it notes you're looking at the phone the Galaxy S4 will enable you to tilt the handset back and forth to move the text or email you're trying to read up and down the screen.

Well, this is what Samsung said at the Galaxy S4 launch, but it turns out that there's another, more cool, trick at work here: you can hold the phone steady and tilt your head up and down to achieve the same thing.

You have to make a pretty strong movement with your head to make this function work, but when it does it's pretty cool indeed and one of the 'down the pub' moments that will make people sit up and take notice.

However, and this is a big one: because the feature isn't perfect, we can't say it's a useful way to navigate around the screen. It's cool that you can choose to either make the screen scroll using your head or tilting the screen, and then you can select the speed of the scrolling too.

You can also decide whether to have the annoying eye icon pop up on the screen to alert you that the Smart Scroll function is working. So while it doesn't really work every time and sometimes messes up, it's cool to have - although we still have the issue of using your finger being a more useful way of scrolling around a screen.

With something like Smart Scroll it has to be flawless to be considered a useful part of life, and would have mitigated the issues we found with the actual need for it. But as it's slightly buggy and dependent on a number of factors (such as lighting conditions) we just found that after a few days it got turned off - and we fear that's the way it would stay for most for the next two years.

Air View

One of the new features of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is Air View - well, it's not new per se as we've seen it on the Galaxy Note 2 already. But where that device needed the S Pen to work, the S4 only needs a finger, which you hover over certain items to see inside without opening.

Samsung has imbued a number of applications with this functionality, but in truth only a few really need it. For instance, being able to see which speed dials are assigned to which number is really useful, as otherwise you'd just have to press and find out.

Less useful are things like video scrolling, where you can flick through the video using the timeline bar without having to disturb the main action. While this is a useful feature, there's not a lot of point to having to hover the finger over the screen to achieve it when you can just slide your finger on the screen, which is a much easier way of doing things.

What's nice is that in the Setting menu you can choose what Air View is used for, so that means you can turn it on for emails and messages, but off for video previews and magnifying the web.

The only problem is that you'll have to get used to holding your finger further from the screen, as the screen is a sensitive little monkey. You'll be scrolling through an email and suddenly you'll see items flashing up all over the place, meaning you'll want to turn off the function. We'd say it's worth putting in the effort to get better with it, but we'd rather Samsung got even more granular here to let us turn off Air View in email, where it's easier to trigger and less useful, but keep it in calendar, where it's a blooming godsend.

That said, it's still probably one of the best innovations used on the Galaxy S4, and we're glad it's been added in.

Air gestures

Where Air View was useful, here we come to one of the things we thought was the least practical things on the phone in our hands on preview: Air gestures. It's designed to let you simply wipe your hand over the front of the phone without touching it and means you can skip tracks, move between photos and answer calls without touching the phone.

We'll say that the latter functionality is good, but only when you're in a hands free situation, such as the car. There you don't want to be having to root around for the 'Call accept' function when you're supposed to have two hands on the wheel, where a simple wipe to answer is really cool.

We've got nothing against the option of doing things this way, and it's not a lot more accurate with the new software update. This means that there's no more (well, nearly) missed gestures, and it won't activate when we don't want it to, which is another real bugbear we found at the start.

Other uses, such as moving between tabs in the internet browser and moving app icons around, are cool and could be useful in very niche situations... but it's still not really better than just touching the screen and doing it without worry.

There are some more instances where it's really, really useful – you can wipe over the screen and flick through PDF pages, scroll through web pages a large jump at a time or flip between tabs.

It's a clever system, but like we said, it's not useful enough – it's cool to do, but takes a little more effort than it should to be a natural flowing part of your phone use.

Like so many new features on the Galaxy S4, a little annoyance means you'll turn them off, and it's unlikely you'll ever turn them on again, which makes us feel bad for all those engineers that were asked to come up with all this innovation.

WatchON and S Health

WatchON

WatchON is Samsung's attempt to make the Galaxy S4 into the remote that controls your whole home, and given the power of the infrared (IR) blaster on the top of the phone, it makes a decent fist of it for the most part.

The application comes with a number of other elements too, but let's focus on the remote part first, as it's still a novelty to those that haven't got a modern tablet or tried the likes of the HTC One or LG Optimus G Pro.

You can set rooms up, enabling you to take the phone with you and still have it as a remote. When first setting the device up, you can tell WatchON how you get your channels (through the TV, set top box or cable) and it can then set up the controller to work in the correct way by asking a few channel-based questions.

It works well, and we found it was really swift at getting the right codes for our devices so we could start controlling the volume etc without having to reach for the main remote. However, it wasn't as strong as the HTC One here, as some of our gadgets passed the set-up test, but then not all the functions worked, so we needed to reset the codes, which was annoying.

There are also fewer buttons on the Galaxy S4 interface, which was irritating when even swiping down to the lower level, which is supposed to give more complex functions, didn't yield the options we needed. It's a good app, just not the best out there.

One thing we did miss on the HTC One, and enjoyed on the Optimus G Pro, was the ability to have the remote control pervade in the notifications menu or on the lock screen, and it's great that the Galaxy S4 could do both of these things easily.

It's a good remote control, if a little unwieldy, and it's a real upgrade to have the option on there.

The other element of the WatchON app is the ability to have programmes chosen for you, with a simple tap on the thumbnail keying in the right sequence to open the channel on your set top box and have it working simply. We noted that although the genres were all over the place (not looking for content coming up, just suggesting basketball when asking for sports etc) when you keyed in your favourite channels and shows the WatchON app was good at suggesting the right content.

It's a step forward from the HTC One option, and we liked the open and easy to use interface from the Galaxy S4. Also, unlike the One, there's a lot more to choose from when it comes to On Demand video, with the Video Hub getting its own zone within the app rather than feeling tacked on with the HTC offering.

We're can't see a time when you'd use it as such, as the really annoying thing about the Galaxy S4 is you can't stream bought movies wirelessly - only to a TV with a wired connection and screen mirroring enabled. Come on Samsung, don't make a big deal about such a function then not let us watch things we bought from you.

S Health

Samsung made a big deal about S Health with the launch of the Galaxy S4, and it's clear to see the intent: it wanted to get a slice of the lucrative fitness market, and wanted to leverage the technology contained within the smartphone already.

It's a novel idea to have it so entrenched within the phone itself, but it does have some good ideas on how to use your phone to improve one's fitness. For instance, once you've entered all your weight, height and exercise details, the phone can tell you an idea weight to aim for, and how many calories per day you should ingest to achieve it.

On top of that, you get a guide to exercise levels each day, in a way that mimics the likes of Nike's FuelBand, which uses points to tell you how to get more active.

Samsung is clearly aware of this, as it's even got an S Band accessory to achieve the same thing if you don't have the phone with you - although we can see a scenario that when you use the phone and S Band together you'll be getting twice the exercise for the same activity, which renders the whole process a little moot.

While we like the sentiment behind the S Health app, and the fact it works so much better than other similar apps, there's still a lot to wonder about in there.

You'll be set a 'steps per day' goal, and these are divided into Running, Walking and Up/Down (whatever that last one is). While on the days we did take the Galaxy S4 running it did have a larger uptick in the percentage of running steps, it was far from accurate.

Even on sedentary days, the S4 was congratulating on running for a portion of it. Seems a bit unfair to all those people that were out sweating and pounding the streets, but we took the kudos.

Perhaps we're being a little hard on this app, as it works well - just too simplistically. You can track your weight here nicely (and even more effectively if you purchase Samsung's Bluetooth scales) enter the food you've eaten to keep an eye on calories, and if you're organised enough, track all your exercise in one place.

But there's so much more to be done; what if you had running app capabilities within S Health, so it can monitor your runs in a similar way to Nike+, Adidas MiCoach or Endomondo? Samsung is missing a trick here - plus it needs to make the pedometer more accurate.

Group Play and Samsung Hub

Another big sell from Samsung, is Group Play - and again we can't really see the point for certain elements. Yes, we know this is getting to be a theme with the phone, but bear with us here.

One of the most popular functions Samsung was keen to talk about was the music sharing - the idea being that if you've got more than one Galaxy S4 kicking around (presumably not by yourself) you can set up a Group Play group by making a Wi-Fi hotspot and stream the music to all phones at once.

The clever idea is that multiple phones can connect, and each can have their own speaker setting in a surround sound setup. The downside is that you'll never have that many Galaxy S4s in one place, and even if you did, a single small speaker at the back is hardly going to be enough to wipe out your home speaker system.

We can see this being useful going forward though, as if you have other devices with Group Play functionality - such as wireless speakers - you can easily create a virtual surround speaker system using just the Galaxy S4.

One other thing that REALLY annoyed us was the fact that Group Play on the likes of the Galaxy S3 or Note 8.0 is a completely different app, despite having the same name and icon. You can't do anything we mentioned above with these devices - you can barely connect the two together.

It seems an oversight from Samsung to remove this function, as many people will already have bought heavily into the Samsung ecosystem.

Samsung Hub

Building neatly on from the WatchON app, we've got the all new Samsung Hub ready and waiting to be played with. This is a much better idea than before, where all the disparate entertainment sections were scattered around the phone.

With this attractive hub, Samsung is looking to take a real crack at iTunes by making a holistic experience, whether it's games, music or video you're after. The UI, as we mentioned, is really nice, with swipes enabling you to get through all the content, and a home screen that throws up all the different kind of content it thinks you might like.

It's not got a universal appeal, as even though you're paying a high dollarpound price for the latest blockbuster, you can't watch move that content onto your larger screen without a HomeSync device. Connecting to a TV or streaming using AllShare won't let you play video you've purchased from the Samsung Hub, which feels like a massive trick missed here, although Samsung tells us it's due to a licensing issue.

HTC Watch can do it, and the prices are often cheaper. What gives, Samsung?

It's not really a great place to get all your content thanks to the really high price, and it would be excellent to see a wider remit by including third party apps to supplement the lack of functionality in places.

For instance, and we're sure there's a licensing reason for this, how great would it be to see Netflix in the Video Hub to enable instant streaming, rather than having to pay £10 or so just to get a video in SD that you can only really watch on the phone?

Accessories

When it comes to 'things you can put on the Samsung Galaxy S4' the Korean brand has gone all out with some ideas.

We've got covers, holders, things and stuff all over the shop - and we've got our hands on the Flip Cover to start with.

While we were given the delightful pea green colour, there are white, black, yellow and blue options as well, to give you that touch of class when protecting your new handset.

The cover is made from a fairly strong material, and adds rather a large amount of depth to your Galaxy S4. For some reason it is thicker than the main cover plate, which means when you fold the front around it makes a much larger phone than you'd have expected.

One of the main problems some people would see is the cover closing properly - it's unfortunate that it doesn't have a magnet to hold it closed, but it doesn't ever stay open when flat on its back, as the soft material will always relax.

In terms of the 'mini mode' of the S4 when the cover is closed, it's a mixed bag. The small clock mode is cool, and being able to answer and end calls with the front closed is nice, but the speed with which the S4 reverts to mini mode is poor, which takes away from the effect.

In short: the Flip Cover is much better than the standard option, as the little window is genuinely useful while keeping your screen safe. But it does add heft to your ultra-slim Galaxy S4, and doesn't always work as quickly as it should.

Battery life and connectivity

Battery life

Ah, the old battery life test. One of the world's most difficult things to rate, thanks to the sheer range of things you can do with the phone to keep it from throwing out all its juice in a heartbeat.

If you can't be bothered to read why, just understand that Galaxy S4 = good battery life.

For one person the Galaxy S4 is a treasured beast, only brought out into the dappled light to check emails manually once an hour for most of the day. For the next it's an all-powerful media beast, one that will be streaming movies over a 4G connection while auto-updating every app under the sun.

Whatever you use your phone for, in our eyes it should be able to handle what the handset's main USPs are.

But the good news is that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is able to handle all the things you can throw at it and still keep the 2600mAh battery chugging along at the end of the day. We found that in general use it was very well received, as nothing we found could hurt it.

Our usual test is performed on the commute to work, the time where we're at our most 'phone-use-y'. For this test, like all other phones, we streamed the audio over Bluetooth headphones (Rockaway Novero, if you're asking).

A 10 minute cycle ride with music playing dropped things by 1%. Streaming video over 4G for 10 minutes with full brightness on the screen pulled down another 3%. Then it was more music for 30 minutes, which ate another 2%, and then downloading a 86MB game file over 4G, which munched 3%.

A little more music playing, combined with general email checking and testing out the air gestures, air view and smart scroll saw a battery drain of just over 10% for the hour we were trundling to work. That's really impressive, as we reckon high drain capability of 10% per hour will lead to more than enough juice come the end of the day.

We never found ourselves in that situation, which is great. You can always pop in another battery, thanks to this being removable, but in truth, it wasn't needed.

We will say that those that like gaming, movie watching and internet browsing will struggle to make the battery last on this phone, as the screen is the biggest drain. That sounds obvious, but we're actually happy that the Galaxy S4 isn't one of those devices that will see your battery juicing down from an overly-enthusiastic background syncing process.

Connectivity

Connectivity on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is well catered for, thanks to simply packing every kind of sensor under the sun in there. For instance, you've got low power Bluetooth (Bluetooth 4.0) which means you can connect to a wide range of sensors - like trainers - and have them send back up data without taking up loads of power and sucking the battery dry.

As you can imagine, S Beam and NFC are both present and correct on the Samsung Galaxy S4, with both working well in tandem to nab stuff off other phones which you've tapped the back of.

It uses a Wi-Fi Direct connection to make it easier to send items from A to B, and does do very speedily indeed. It might look odd, but we still believe massively in the power of NFC thanks to the plethora of speaker docks and headphones that now use it for easier Bluetooth pairing.

GPS and GLONASS are on board, as we mentioned above in the Maps section of the review, and combined offer a startlingly quick location time when firing up the mapping services. Seriously quick – we urge you to try it.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 supports all manner of Wi-Fi connections, and can hang on to the signal even when weak thanks to dual-channel bonding to preserve the data transfer.

We can't say that we noticed much of an upgrade over other models, but then again that's not bad thing as most of the top end smartphones will now manage to offer decent Wi-Fi connections given they're so crucial to the running of the phone.

When downloading large files we did notice some dropouts and speed losses, but that was more to do with the server connection it seemed. A 700MB video file from Samsung's Video Hub took a lot less time to download than a 590MB file from Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

4G

We were testing the Samsung Galaxy S4 on the EE network, and if you're new to the 4G game then we urge you to make sure you're going to get the superfast service on your new S4, should you have got this far and decided to rush out and buy it.

From app downloads to streaming video, it was just so fast. Web pages load in a heartbeat, updates occur almost instantly and everything you could hope for is serviced by upping the speeds to 4G levels.

If you've got fibre optic broadband then the effect is similar – we're loving the fact you can download things on the go at lightning speeds. The S4 is well set up too – we moved between two tube stops (overground, obviously) and managed to nab a massive 87MB of data in just a few minutes.

The data levels need to be watched though. It's very easy to get over excited with 4G on the Galaxy S4 as so much of it is enhanced by the faster speeds – from video to music to game downloads, we found ourselves wanting to do everything superfast, and as such were heading between 500MB and 1GB of data per day.

So make sure you've got enough data to manage – if you want the full force of 4G, you'll probably be wanting at least 8GB of data, if not more.

One more thing...

Oh, and a big shout out for USB on the go. It's a massively underloved feature that enables you to connect a USB dongle to your Galaxy S4 and transfer files without having to fanny about with microSD card and taking off the back of the phone.

Yes, you need a separate cable, and yes, finding one is harder than extracting teeth from a chicken, but we still like to see it added as a feature.

Benchmarks

We're testing the quad-core version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 here - which means that when it comes to benchmarking it's not as strong as it could be, as the octa-core version, which we've yet to test, looks to be smashing up the speed charts.

As you can see, with all three tests the S4 is shown to be an incredibly strong device, although it's matched in many ways with the HTC One, which shows that both brands have got their act together when it comes to bringing out an industry-leading smartphone.

Antutu

Peacekeeper

SunSpider

Hands on pictures

Official photography

Verdict

Many people will have jumped straight here to see what we think of the phone, so we'll get the salient points out of the way first.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a phone that we really, really like. The combination of powerful innards, the market's best screen and a clever design ethos all combine to make a really strong contender for the handset you should be buying when you wander into your local phone emporium.

It's slick, it's fast and it wipes the floor with the competition in so many ways. The 13MP camera is one of the best we've seen on a phone for getting that picture, with rich colours and texture the way forward.

We're getting really fed up with the design criticisms thrown at any phone manufacturer that deigns to not make its flagship out of metal. Yes, it doesn't feel as premium, but what you're giving up in feel you're getting back in weight, removable battery and general hardiness - the combination of Gorilla Glass 3 and a plastic shell mean this is one tough cookie.

The trend for cases is such that users aren't even getting the full force of the design either - we don't think that they should be necessary, but a lot of people are protecting their high investment. We spoke to a chap that went for the HTC One for design reasons, then showed us the huge case he carried it around in.

That's not to say Samsung couldn't do better with design on the S4 - there's a lot more to wish for here - but it's a much more solid version of the S3.

We liked

The Galaxy S4 seemed to be a boring iteration of the S3, and we were ready to be fully nonplussed by it. But you then realise that deep in the Samsung labs they took apart the older version and then upgraded it in nearly every way, so this really is very, very good Galaxy S3 here.

The screen is out of this world. Even at a lower PPI the 5-inch display dominates the competition. We love how Samsung has evened out the colour by default, so the usual 'OHMYGERD, the colours are too over the top!!!1!' argument is mostly moot.

It's clear, bright and vivid, and there's very little it isn't great for.

The camera upgrade is impressive too - we liked the top end features and the sheer snapping power enabled for some simply divine pictures. The whole user interface was improved as well, which was a nice touch forward, although it still over-complicates things.

TouchWiz is an Android skin (Android 4.2, don't forget) that rewards you for playing with it - and in today's over-sanitised smartphone world, being able to discover features is a real treat to a lot of users.

Battery life is strong, 4G is a real step forward in speed and the addition of a microSD card slot is what we're looking for in a phone still. Hear that, HTC and Google?

We disliked

While the Samsung Galaxy S4 is a much better phone than the S3 and most of the competition, there are still some niggles that we can see being problematic.

For a phone that's so quick to run through nearly every task we were a little upset to see how long it takes to load a gallery up. This problem is compounded with a microSD card, and the more stuff on there, the more the phone has to parse.

It got to the point where we were embarrassed to show off the photos we had taken as it just took too long to get them up.

We were initially worried about the 9GB of internal space - Samsung tells us that the Galaxy S4 needs to eat up over 6GB of your 16GB allocation (on the base model) for a more 'feature rich' OS - but a software update has freed some more of that for use, which helps a lot.

One of the worst messages you can get on an Android phone is telling you there's no space for new apps, as many will simply not know what to do. Thankfully, that message is less likely to happen now, even if you're someone who downloads loads and loads of games.

But the biggest problem we have is with the supposed 'innovation' Samsung has brought to proceedings. Air View, Air Gestures, Smart Scroll - these are all cool in their own way, but all are flawed or overly complex, marring the overall simplicity of the device.

Compare that to the HTC One or stock Android on the Google Nexus 4 and you feel that Samsung is coming up with ideas for the sake of something new. We really do laud the sentiment, and you can just turn it all off - but then you've basically got a faster Galaxy S3 with a better screen and camera.

Final verdict

Make no mistake - the Samsung Galaxy S4 is far, far more than a Galaxy S3 'S' - Samsung may be copying Apple according to some people, but it's not as brazen as the Cupertino brand in flogging the exact same design with a slightly uprated processor and calling it a new phone.

The Galaxy S4 is a great, great device in its own right, re-inventing what it means to own a brilliant smartphone in a number of ways. The gestures are cool, the touch-less experience amazing at times - in short, it's a wonderful phone you want to pull out of your pocket again and again and again.

The design issue is overblown, but pertinent. Yes, it's plastic, and yes, compared to the competition you wouldn't choose to spend £500 on it for the chassis. But it's a very solid device that belies that exterior and shouldn't be discounted for it, although it still feels like the cheapest of all the top end phones on the market - we're slightly amazed that Samsung hasn't gone a few steps further with the design after the S3's criticism.

TouchWiz is getting a little complex now, though. The simplicity of HTC Sense shines through, and the HTC One is a superior device in many ways because the innovation is based on things users want. Where Samsung brought the ability to wave to move photos, the HTC One made the speaker better.

Where the S4 lets you scroll with your head, the One lets you take photos in low light. The latter feature is slightly offset by the S4's auto Night Mode, but you get the picture.

But screw all the 'which phone is better than the other' notion for now (we'll get to that in our best mobile phones piece) the Galaxy S4 is a stunning smartphone that won't let you down for a variety of tasks. There's no doubt Samsung will have to make a big step forward to keep users interested with the Galaxy S5, but for now we love the S4 and would be proud to have it in our pocket.

Introduction and design

With a cutting-edge camera, a super-slim design and the ability to withstand life's knocks and bumps (and Android Jelly Bean to boot) the Xperia Z is a phone that's got us fired up about Sony Mobile again.

Earlier handsets such as the Sony Xperia S and Sony Xperia T were extremely promising from a brand striking out on its own - but it's with the Xperia Z that Sony is really banking on making a cataclysmic dent in the makeup of the smartphone market.

The Android Jelly Bean-toting (albeit only 4.1) Sony Xperia Z comes with some of the best specs on the market - and it's one of the most eagerly awaited handsets of recent months. Launched before the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony clearly hoped to steal an early march on its competitors.

And it's got the power to match up: a quad-core 1.5GHz Snaprdragon Krait processor, 13MP camera, 16GB storage (expandable, woohoo!), 2GB RAM, water and dust-resistant, 1080p HD screen with Bravia Engine, LTE, to name a few. You couldn't make this stuff up - this is the company that had a part in the Satio, after all.

As soon as we took our review unit out of the box, we were mesmerised. This feels and looks like a premium, high quality product. Sony is one of the few manufacturers that can take what is, effectively, a plain black square and make it into something beautiful. Manufactured from piano black, high gloss glass both front and black, it could have come from the same stable as the Google Nexus 4.

Though maybe we are overestimating it, viewing the Sony Xperia Z through geek-tinted goggles - because while we were blown away, others came out with the line that Sony will be hoping doesn't cross too many punters' lips: "looks like every other smartphone out there though, doesn't it?"

One thing the Sony Xperia Z certainly does have in common with every other smartphone out there is the fact that it is a pure magnet for fingerprints. You'll struggle to keep it clean all day long without either surgical gloves or a can of Mr Sheen in your bag.

As is fast becoming the norm, you can expect to pick the Sony Xperia Z up in white too. On top of that, O2 in the UK is exclusively offering a purple variant.

If you're coming from something like a Samsung Galaxy S3, it'll feel similar, if a little larger, in terms of size: the Sony Xperia Z rocks in at 139 x 71 x 7.9mm/5.47 x 2.79 x 0.31 inches, so there's little room for anything else in your hands.

Coming from something smaller like, say, an iPhone 5, you'll certainly notice the difference. But it's amazing how quickly you'll adapt.

At 146g/5.15oz, it's by no means the lightest handset out there - but the Sony Xperia Z exudes a heftiness that belies a quality device. It's on a par with Apple's offering when it comes to the thickness.

The ports are spread out with the headphone jack up top, the SIM slot and volume rocker on the right - either side of a silver standby button - while both the microSD and charging ports are on the left, alongside contacts for accessories. A watertight port covers each.

The front of the Sony Xperia Z is minimalist - showing off only a Sony logo and front-facing camera. The rear is a little busier, with various tech info printed on it, plus the Sony Xperia logo, an NFC badge, camera light and the all-important lens. That back is stuck fast - as is becoming the custom, you'll have no luck if you want to remove the battery.

Turn it on, and you're not disappointed. Coming from the blackness, the 5-inch screen springs into life. Whether or not you'll like it is down to personal choice.

Some who've used the Sony Xperia Z describe the screen as a disappointment because Sony has gone for TFT - albeit with 1080 x 1920 pixels, giving a pixel density of 441ppi, which would explain why it looks a bit washed out. If you've come from a Super AMOLED screen you'll definitely feel the difference.

We're still fans - this is a razor sharp display from one of the world's premier screen manufacturers, although it doesn't have the wow factor of the HTC One's Super LCD 3 screen.

The only thing that lets it down is viewing angles - if you look at the Sony Xperia Z's screen, dead on, it's sharp enough. If you look at it from the side, it has a strange ability to look incredibly washed out. It's no huge problem - but it does mean the impressiveness of the screen is diminished compared to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One.

One of the selling points of the Sony Xperia Z is that it is also water resistant. There's something slightly unnerving about taking a £529 phone and dropping it in the sink - but that's exactly what we did. And it worked absolutely fine.

Clearly, you'll need to make sure the ports are covered using those watertight protectors, that much goes without saying.

And here's some more good news: the price of the Sony Xperia Z is dropping quite quickly, already making it cheaper than the likes of the HTC One and in some worlds available for under the £30 contract mark for a half-decent whack of minutes.

While it's actually the same price as the comparable SIM-free 16GB iPhone 5, the cost is now closing in on the iPhone 4S on PAYG, so we can't help but feel the Xperia Z is finding its natural pricing level.

Interface

Sony may have broken free of Ericsson but it's clearly decided that the Sony Xperia brand is one worth keeping. And in line with that, some similarities remain other than the name.

It means that when you turn on the Sony Xperia Z, if you've used one before, you'll feel at home. Quite a clever move from Sony, which clearly doesn't want to alienate potential upgraders.

Thankfully, elements such as the shocking Timescape widget have been retired. Smaller, more obvious things like the clock widget stay.

The Sony Xperia Z ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Yes, it's not the most up-to-date handset as enthusiasts devour Android 4.2 on Nexus devices, but it's the next best thing, and Sony has promised an update shortly after launch.

For all the money and resources that Sony is pouring into getting this phone into the mainstream, the Sony Xperia Z won't be left sitting on the fringes here, allowing the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 superior bragging rights.

Sony's take on Android is customised - but not too much compared to some phones we've seen before.

You get five home screens with no ability to add any more, though such is the Android way, you can always install your own launcher if you want and change that.

By default, you get shortcuts to apps Sony feels you'll treasure most - but again, you can move/delete/add to these as you see fit. One of Android's great strengths is its infinite customisability.

On top of that, Sony gives you its own widgets, such as Music Unlimited or links to its online stores. Most manufacturers do this - clearly, they want to draw you into their own ecosystems. But these can be moved or deleted too if they get in the way.

If you're wondering how you navigate, the answer is on-screen. Everything is done via the screen. Sony has bowed down to Google in this respect.

Where some OEMs will still include their own soft keys, the Sony Xperia Z eschews them for the standard Mountain View options of back, home and multitasking - on-screen buttons that appear and disappear as they are needed.

One thing you'll notice is that this is one speedy son-of-a-Sony. Naturally, with a quad-core 1.5GHz processor - and Android's Project Butter enhancement - we'd have expected it to be quick on all but the most extreme of tasks, so we found little here to induce complaint.

Zipping between home screens is a breeze, and we encountered absolutely no lag.

We're fans of Sony's 'Small Apps' integration. It's a simple idea - tap the multi-app button at the bottom-right of the screen and the Sony Xperia Z brings up not only your open apps but a selection of mini apps that you can launch on the screen in conjunction with what you're doing.

They're basically widgets that stay on-screen, rather than being tied to the home screen.

Sony gives you access to things such as a small note app or a countdown timer with a few options and the ability to download more from Google Play.

If developers buy into the idea, it could work out well, but we sadly don't think they will.

Due to the sheer number of Android variations, there's no financial incentive for developers to build things like this that will only work for one section of the market.

Android's excellent notification bar is here, enabling you to pull it down and view your latest messages and notifications.

Thanks to Jelly Bean, you can now pinch to expand notifications or swipe to clear individual ones. It's all very intuitive and nice to work with.

Sony's also furnished the Xperia Z with shortcuts to toggle settings such as those for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth - the kind of thing you take for granted when you have but rue when you lose.

You can also change themes from within the settings, which is a nice touch. It adjusts more than just the wallpaper and alters menu colours too.

That's one of those things you wouldn't notice if you weren't looking for it, but it's nice to play with. HTC does something similar with Sense, and we think it's great.

Apps are accessed via the app drawer, which you get into from the dock at the bottom of the home screen.

There's not much we can tell you about this if you've used an Android phone before - the apps sit there and can be reordered by alphabetical means or otherwise. Unfortunately, if you have OCD like us, this is the bit you may find yourself wincing at.

See, with the iPhone, you'll find your app icons presented uniformly. They're the same size and shape and it all looks very neat and tidy.

Yet with Android there are no restrictions, so you end up with app icons in all shapes, sizes and colours, and it can look like the inside of a child's toy chest. It's a shame because the Sony icons look beautiful, but as soon as you start adding your own shortcuts, your home screen may start to resemble a scrapbook instead.

If you're an Android fan, you'll pick it up easily. And if you're not, it's pretty intuitive, enabling you to delve in as much or as little as you like to change things or leave them as is.

We also have to give a quick heads up here to Google Now - first introduced in Jelly Bean 4.1 and all present.

It's supposed to help manage your life by telling you how long the journey home from work will take or what the weather's like. You can track parcels or view photos of local beauty spots.

It's a great idea in principle but it still all feels a little bit Beta.

Google Now is not a Siri-rip-off. Rather, it's Google's interpretation of a mobile assistant. We just can't help wondering how that interpretation was reached, at least until it starts to really offer you information that is tailored for your life, rather than sometimes accidentally waking you up to tell you that it's time to leave for a meeting on the other side of the world (a problem if you have a shared international calendar).

Contacts and calling

We have to hand it to Sony here for not making changes for change's sake - Android has a great contacts system and thankfully, Sony has recognised this by keeping it and giving it a mere cosmetic lick of paint.

Contacts download automatically when you first log in to the Sony Xperia Z. They come from your mandatory Gmail account, which is free to set up.

And for those who wince at the thought of being forced to have a Gmail account, you don't have to use it. But it is it an ideal way of backing up those numbers and addresses, should disaster strike.

Accessing said contacts is simple: you just tap the phone icon on the screen - which is also how you get into the dialler - or you can start to type the name of your contacts into the Google search widget on the home screen.

That's if you don't have a contact widget or shortcut installed on your home screen.

This is where you see one of Android's benefits over iOS, which still doesn't allow these sort of shenanigans without going around the houses.

Contacts are displayed beautifully with photos brought in from Facebook, Google or other sources, which is a real cosmetic plus.

Alas, Android doesn't bring them across in high res, so when you get a call, your contact can look rather pixelated, which ruins an otherwise beautiful appearance.

Putting new contact names into the Sony Xperia Z couldn't be easier. Just bring the keypad up, type in the number and hit 'Save.'

You can also add details ranging from their birthday to whom their spouse is.

Social networking isn't supported by default. This highlights the differences with an HTC handset, which tends to want you to sign into a million accounts on setup.

We can't complain too much about this, since we are glad to not to have to endure Timescape anymore.

And anyway, if you use Twitter, Facebook and others it's much nicer to be able to just sign into and use the networks that you - the user - wants to use.

It takes mere seconds to download official or third-party apps, and then you'll find you can hook everything up.

Calling a contact is as easy as tapping the person's name.

We found the performance on calls to be excellent. We sometimes lose track of the fact that a smartphone is a phone, and call quality can range from the brilliant to the unacceptable.

We had absolutely no issues with the Sony Xperia Z's call quality and found that not only did calls connect easily, but they stayed connected even in places where we'd expect them to drop.

One other thing we should mention here is something often not touched upon, but present here, and that's HD Voice. Many handsets support it these days, but it is network-dependent.

We can confirm, however, that it is a brilliant addition to the Sony Xperia Z.

It just makes it a far more pleasant experience when chatting to people - both for them and you.

Audio volume was loud enough for us when talking to buddies, and they reported no issues hearing us.

Again, this will be assisted by the HD Voice element, which helps with noise cancelling.

There is one, admittedly pathetic, point we'd like to raise: the edges of this phone are actually a little sharp and holding the phone close to your ear isn't a comfortable experience. Good that the sound boosting is actually pretty good, then, eh?

Messaging

Messaging is - and always has been - one of Android's strong points. So open is the system that you can download third-party apps such as WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Twitter and so on and they will integrate deeply into the OS - from Calendars to Contacts and Messages.

The beauty is that you can control, in many cases, what access is granted and where.

Apps don't tend to be closed off from each other as they do with Apple devices, and it makes for a much more different (some may say 'fluid') experience.

Android's standard messaging app - which handles SMS and MMS - is very competent, if not a little dull. Most Android manufacturers tend to take it and plonk it into their handsets - sometimes tweaking the odd colour here, or the odd setting there.

Sony has pretty much done that with the Sony Xperia Z, though it has added a few nice functions too.

When composing a new SMS, you can now doodle a little note or picture and then it'll send it as an MMS. Or you can send your location with a Google Maps attachment.

You can do this anyway by going into the Maps app and sending your location from most Android handsets, but it's just a little extra option on the Sony Xperia Z to be able to do it direct from the message app.

Other than that, it's pretty bog standard but does the job well.

Email is handled in two ways - Gmail and Email.

The beauty of using the dedicated Gmail app means that users who are really deeply integrated into the system can use some of its key features on the go as well as on their desktop.

We're talking features such as labels, archiving and advanced search facilities.

The search function really is fantastic compared to others we've seen, but we have to berate Google here for the fact that it still hasn't sorted out the displaying of HTML emails.

They just don't format for the phone's screen, which is pretty ridiculous considering this is Google's own app. Apple's iPhone Mail app has been able to do this since 2007, to put it into context.

You also are not given the ability to automatically download images in emails, which slows down the whole HTML email experience a little. Again, you can do this on iPhones. But Google just won't give here.

To be fair, this is of Google's doing, not Sony's. But this is a Sony Xperia Z running Android, and as such, it will be judged by people as a complete package. The two come hand in hand. Sorry, Sony. That's just how it is. Have a word with Mountain View if you don't like it.

Of course, lots of people don't use Gmail - and if that's you, you do get your own email app here.

It's the standard Android email programme - same as you get in stock Android handsets - but the Sony Xperia Z gives it a little lick of Sony's paint.

You'll find it supports the majority of IMAP/POP3/Exchange accounts and is actually very similar to the Gmail app in many ways.

Helpfully, you can set the account to push emails or poll periodically. This is great if you get a lot of work emails and don't want the Sony Xperia Z beeping constantly.

The Sony Xperia Z's keyboard is a contentious issue. We've heard some say it's a nightmare.

But we would go completely in the opposite direction and say that to some users it will be one of the best keyboards they've used. It is the same keyboard that Google gave us on the Nexus 4, again with a lick of Sony Xperia Z paint.

The first time we used it, it started up and asked us to configure some options. After that, we were off and away.

You can have the keyboard as a standard QWERTY, or add a few extra shortcut buttons too. Or go the other way and have it like a good old phone keyboard with T9 input.

The big thing here is swiping. You can slide between letters without taking your finger off the keyboard, which leads to words appearing in lightning speed.

It's highly intuitive and learns incredibly quickly. Predicted words appear with a choice for you to pick between those you want before committing.

Indeed, the only issue here is that the cursor can end up covering the word you try to select if it's not the one the Sony Xperia Z thinks you want, which can be annoying. It can also randomly flick the cursor around and cut words you're typing in half, or just get annoyed when you try to correct a predicted word.

• Best Android keyboards - 8 tried and tested to give you options

Of course, for those people it's not a problem, as Android has loads of options to let you customise your own keyboard - just head out to the Play Store and look at the likes of Swiftkey and more.

The only other gripe we had is the size of the screen. When it comes to typing messages, it just feels too big.

For people with big hands, it can feel a bit obstructive. For those of the daintier variety, it may seem enormous.

One-handed use is possible, but you just don't get a solid grip and we nearly dropped the Sony Xperia Z several times.

Yes, we have shatterproof glass (apparently), but we don't necessarily want to test that theory.

Google's voice dictation has also received a boost and now recognises more dialects than before. We love the way that words appear as you speak, rather than you having to wait until the end of your sentence and stop and wait.

Unfortunately, Siri still has the edge on actually matching words accurately, which is odd because Google has been offering voice recognition on its handsets since the Nexus One (even if you did have to feign an American accent to get anything done, and even then, it was on a wing and a prayer.)

Internet

Google Chrome is the default browser on the Sony Xperia Z - this follows a choice made by Google to ditch its stock Android browser and bring everything in line, which makes sense.

Prior to Jelly Bean, you had to download it as a separate app from Google Play.

The internet is where the Sony Xperia Z really shines. Not too big, not too small, pages look absolutely mind blowing on that ultra-sharp, bright and vivid display.

Chrome is a fast browser, the Sony Xperia Z is a fast phone and when you throw LTE into the mix, you realise just how powerful this baby is.

If you thought HSDPA+ on the Nexus 4 was fast, you'll be equally (and a bit more) blown away by what you see on the Sony Xperia Z. We loaded the Daily Mail site because it's a data-heavy, busy page rather than the fact that we love reading about Kim Kardashian (it's all lies).

Wi-Fi took four seconds to load it fully (though we could start seeing things after two seconds.) This was on a par with the Nexus 4.

But when we took it down to LTE, it got even faster. Almost instantly, it was all there and ready to go. It's an amazing feat and we couldn't see how it could be better.

Those who aren't keen on Chrome can always replace it as their default browser with something else - Firefox, Dolphin, Maxthon and Opera, to name a few, all provide credible alternatives - but we can't see a strong reason to switch unless you are massively anti-Google.

Or unless text reflow is a big deal, because by default, it didn't seem to work straight out of the box on the Sony Xperia Z.

Thankfully, tap to zoom does - but why only half a job, Google?

When it comes to bookmarks, we're massive fans of the Chrome way.

All of your desktop bookmarks are synchronised with your Google account (so long as you use Chrome on your desktop, of course) and appear on your handset.

Here is where we would also normally lament the lack of Flash. We've been doing this for years. Adobe has ceased Android support and Chrome never played with it on mobile devices.

We won't make a big deal of it, since Flash has clearly gone the way of Betamax and lost out to HTML5.

We'll just say we're sad to not have the option to view many of the sites that still use Flash and haven't/won't be updated for any reason. But que sera sera. It's becoming a less relevant gripe with each new Android handset.

Camera

Sony is one of the beasts when it comes to cameras, and some of its previous phones in conjunction with Ericsson were real belters. But it claims to have moved up a notch with the Sony Xperia Z and catapulted itself right to a premier spot. We're not convinced.

We must have a retro throwback here to the days of the Sharp GX30. A Megapixel camera! What sorcery was this, we wondered? Now, we get 2.2MP on the front snapper alone - which tends to be used for vanity purposes on Instagram, or for Skype action. Previously, this wouldn't have mattered, but with LTE support, sending higher quality video is much easier and much more of a reality. 2.2MP is therefore pretty appropriate.

And that's pretty much the poor relation here when you consider what's on the back - a whopping 13.1MP camera, shooting at 4128 x 3096 pixels and capable of some amazing images. Or you'd think so. Sadly, we would describe our results as average at best.

We'll get the primary niggle out of the way first - there's no camera shutter button. It's such a waste. We have that great standby button on the side, which you could easily mistake for a camera shoot button. But if you want one of those, you're out of luck.

You'll need to get the Sony Xperia ZL for that - and while Android phones don't generally have a shutter button, the fact it's on the Xperia Z's sibling (and Sony has got previous form here) means we're sad it's missing.

The quickest way of getting to the camera is to fire up the phone and swipe from the lock screen. That's one press and one swipe - it's not that much. But it's just a bit annoying not having the immediacy we'd hope for on such an otherwise brilliant device, and it's not the fastest camera to load either.

And to add to that, we found a few times that it didn't work due to some unexplained software glitch. It was solved with a reboot - but doing that means your window for taking the picture may have then passed.

Sony does negate this slightly by offering some quick launch options so that when the camera loads, you can choose to have it automatically launch and capture a photo or video, or just launch. Again, this had an annoying habit of not working until we'd rebooted the Sony Xperia Z.

When the camera does fire up, the screen is phenomenal. You really notice the richness of those colours and the refresh rate as you move the phone around is nothing short of astonishing. What's more, you don't have to manually change scene mode (unless you want to), with a pretty intelligent Superior Auto mode able to tell what you're trying to do. It worked spot on for us every time.

We like some of the other enhancements too, such as the smile options. Smile detection is so last year - so the Sony Xperia Z goes even further and enables you to choose between big smiles, average smiles or small smiles. Who knows how it'll cope with a big smile from a tiny mouth.

You're also able to change the capture mode to touching the screen (at the expense of tap to focus - though in fairness, the tap to focus is pretty hot) and have the camera upload photos to Sony's service automatically. Who needs Photo Stream? Android's just as capable.

And there are lots of scene modes to pick from. Nothing particularly new - from Panorama to Burst Mode - but all things we like to play with from time to time.

As for the actual camera, results unfortunately just didn't wow us. Photos tended to look better on the screen before they were actually shot, but then when transferred to a computer screen, they just looked cheap. Colours are presented well, but there seemed to be a lack of sharpness, and even mildly zoomed in, they came out more like something from a budget or mid-range handset.

Shutter speed is good, but not mind-blowing. Sony touts it as fast-capture and goes on about its Exmor RS sensor, which boasts high dynamic range (HDR) capabilities and is designed to reduce noise in low-light images. For your average Joe Bloggs, we'll just say this - photos are OK for a phone camera but you won't end up using them for anything more than casual use.

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Indoor shots are passable - ambient light helps but they still look a little blurry when enlarged - although the low light capabilities of the new Exmor sensor really are impressive compared to the competition.

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Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

There are loads of different effects to play with. Most of them, you'll use once and forget about.

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The LED flash struggles to light up a small room in pitch black. It's best for directly shooting an object.

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A little side light helps, but even then, it's not ideal.

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Click here to see the full resolution image

We'd love to make excuses for the lens, but even in daylight, pictures are hardly sharp.

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Panorama mode comes as standard

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The shutter performs adequately, but this is no DSLR

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Bright sunlight can also prove a problem.

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And even the most perfect conditions leave a lot to be desired when you snap.

Video

The Sony Xperia Z's video capabilities are impressive (on paper), with that 13.1MP camera able to give Full HD 1080p recording at 30 frames per second.

For one thing, you're able to select scene modes from landscape, to beach, to party to sports and much more. There's even one for shooting videos of your food, called Gourmet. This is something we're used to seeing in still camera modes, but on videos, it's pretty rare and a great addition.

On top of that, Sony's HDR mode kicks in here to make your movies look better, and given the sheer level of processing going on we're really impressed with the results.

We tried the video stabilisation function and it coped admirably. You're also able to change things such as the focus mode and white balance, which just gives that extra level of usability.

There's not as much of a sharpness issue on video as there is with the still images, and you can see clearly that if something is out of focus, the camera is constantly trying to fix it as you move about.

You do have to be aware, too, that videos shot at Full HD will be absolutely massive. You'll struggle to send them via many email providers, and we ended up having to upload them to Dropbox and then forward people links to view stuff we'd shot. It all felt a little crude.

This is especially annoying when you consider that some phones will automatically resize videos for you or enable you to trim them once shot as par for the course.

Also, remember that if you're on a 4G plan, you'll eat through data like Pacman through those little dots just sending that photo of your Gran pulling a Christmas cracker then falling off her seat.

However, overall the Sony Xperia Z is definitely one of the top phones on the market for those that like to savour life's memories in more than just the odd snap. Once you get the footage off the phone, it's immense.

Media

"When it comes to media, the Sony Xperia Z really excels."

That's what we wanted to say when starting this section, and after fixing some foibles with Mac compatibility, we can really say that it does (see our 'Connectivity' section for info on Mac connection).

Getting music onto the phone with a PC, however, is a real cinch thanks to just being able to drag and drop your files onto the phone's internal memory (or memory card, if you're feeling all expandable).

The process is quick and the USB connection secure, although it's only version 2.0 - but you can connect that up to a big TV using an MHL lead if you so wish.

Google Music is the other option - especially if 16GB isn't enough for you and you don't want to bother with memory cards. But frankly, Sony, it's not great.

Long before the iPhone, the iPod, the iPad, in fact, before the letter 'i' was even invented, many of us were walking around with the market-leading Walkman. If you had auto-reverse, or an FM Radio on yours, you were posh.

It's been one of Sony's strongest - and latterly, neglected - brands, which became a bit of a victim of its own arrogance as it sat at the top of its game. In swooped Apple and ruined it all - although we're not suggesting that's the reason Mac support isn't forthcoming.

Now, Walkman is back in force on the Sony Xperia Z, which, once you do get music onto it, imparts upon you a beautiful experience. We will give that to Sony.

Tunes are presented fantastically with amazing album art, which looks so vibrant on that screen. What's more, you can also engage a visualiser, should you wish.

Music can be viewed by Artist or Album. You can even sign into Facebook and see what your friends are listening to and share musical choices here.

When you look at how Sony has made great use of that screen, it does make your realise just how much Apple really needs to pull its finger out to give a long-overdue makeover to the offering on its iOS devices, which looks very plain by comparison.

If you plan on listening to music through the loudspeaker (we use the word "loud" loosely), then you'll be in for a huge letdown. Not in a long time have we heard such pathetic audio quality from a phone speaker.

We honestly could say that listening to music through the speaker on our old Sony Ericsson K800i six years ago sounded better.

On the Sony Xperia Z, its single speaker, located at the bottom right, just sounded so unbearably tinny, we couldn't wait to turn Girls Aloud off. Maybe it's Sony's way of encouraging you to use the headphones instead. Or to stop you listening to Girls Aloud.

And when you do use headphones, you're in for a treat. The headphones provided are nothing special (though nearly all UK dealers and networks are offering a pair worth £299 free for early customers) but that's by the by.

The quality the Walkman app pushes through even the most pedestrian of headphone is great. In fact, we'd go so far as to pit it as one of the best sound experiences we've had on a mobile device.

The ClearAudio+ option makes for a fantastic audio experience, and you can even dig into the settings and change the ambience from, say, a studio to that of a nightclub, and guess what - it actually does it well.

Of course, there is a third way of listening to your music, and that is to stream it. Not to stream to your phone (though that is possible through Google's Play Music service, which is included) but to stream from your phone using a service called Throw, which is built into the Sony Xperia Z.

This is a form of DLNA, but we tested it from the Sony Xperia Z to a Samsung smart TV fully expecting it to not work on a non-Sony branded device. We were shocked at how quickly and painlessly it connected, and subsequently worked. Take some house points here, Sony.

Incidentally, Sony gives you a shortcut on the lock screen to control the music player. They're just basic controls such as play and pause, next and previous. But similar to the camera issue, it didn't work much of the time and required a reboot.

Playing video is a breeze, and with that screen, you really have little room to complain. Watching movies was painless and we had no issues with the major formats, with the exception of a .MOV file that kept on throwing up errors, despite working elsewhere.

For those who do a lot of commuting, this is an ideal handset, because the Sony Xperia Z is both the perfect size and weight to comfortably hold in the hand.

Again, if you're not using a PC, you may struggle to get movies on unless you can be bothered with a card reader. Or you can buy them direct from Google or Sony. Perhaps that's part of the whole grand plan.

Option three is YouTube - the fantastic native Google app is included and shows here, once again, why it's head and shoulders above the competition, and the sheer clarity of HD video on this screen (when it's something worth watching, like a movie trailer) had our friends agog at the power of the handset.

The addition of the Bravia Engine 2 here is is amazing though - the upscaling it can do to standard definition videos is jaw-dropping - providing you're watching sweeping panoramas or underwater scenes. Boring episodes of How I Met Your Mother will still look pretty much the same.

Anyway, videos are very carefully organised by Sony with the Movies app it has included, and the same goes for your photos. You can view them by source (Facebook, for example) or even where in the world they were shot, using geotag info.

What's more, Sony includes an inbuilt photo editing facility to give budding Instagrammers an extra little something to play with.

It's nice to see an Android manufacturer not be lazy and use the stock Google app, but go all out with its own. Again, hats off to Sony here.

As it has done for years, Sony treats us to an FM radio - and it's brilliant. We were expecting it to be a bit rubbish really, since over the years, with the advent of internet radio, FM options have seemed a little old fashioned and neglected.

Sony has given us something here that managed to cling on well to an FM signal, give us really loud audio (we often struggled to hear radio stations on our Samsung Galaxy S3) and even comes with cool visualisers. It's just cosmetic, but it's really nice to have here. Thanks Sony.

Battery life and connectivity

It's difficult to get an accurate battery life reading, because the Sony Xperia Z is not just a phone.

Gone are the days when we'd simply quote talk times, since you're more than likely to spend more time on the web or using apps than actually speaking to friends.

Sony itself claims you'll get up to 11 hours of talk time and 550 hours of standby time. Of course, that is in optimum conditions (and on 2G - which is two levels down from the norm these days, but there's nothing quite like massaging figures).

And while the battery is large at 2330mAh, we'd say those estimates are pretty optimistic.

Firstly, there is normal use - and then there is advanced normal use.

What we mean by the latter is that the Sony Xperia Z comes with advanced power saving capabilities, including Stamina mode.

This enables you to turn off data when the screen is disabled (with the exception of stuff such as WhatsApp or email, which can be exempted individually through an additional setting).

Anybody who has ever used the incredibly popular Juice Defender app on Android to wring as much potential life out of their device will be familiar with this.

We enabled Stamina Mode and got to work on the Sony Xperia Z. The results weren't bad at all. Sony's Stamina Mode is definitely a real step forward in battery life management.

After taking the Sony Xperia Z off charge at 8am on Sunday morning, we checked our emails and tweets (we'd exempted a few key apps in Stamina mode).

We listened to the FM radio for about 15 mins before switching to music for the next 40 mins played via the headphones. Then, we browsed the web intermittently for about 20 mins over Wi-Fi.

Over the course of the next few hours, a handful of Gmails were sent and received, six text messages, one 20 minute phone call, a four minute Skype call over 3G and some photo shooting were thrown into the mix.

By 4pm, we were down to 26%. We then left the Sony Xperia Z untouched and the power went down slowly, but we had only gone down to 14% by 7pm, although this would have been extended if we'd not exempted any apps.

Listening to music for an hour while on the way home killed it eventually.

We noticed that playing music uses up power like any other memory process - certainly a lot more than an iPhone does.

We thought that was good, bearing in mind many smartphones would struggle to make it through the day on that kind of usage.

You'll still need a USB cable or portable battery handy if you're really going to be hammering the Sony Xperia Z, but it's not a bad result. We've certainly seen far, far worse.

Should you take it out of Stamina mode, it goes without saying that you'll struggle to get results like those, but overall we were really impressed with the upgrade in battery life Stamina Mode offers. If you're thinking of taking a few days away without a charger and just need a phone with calling and text ability, you'll definitely get days' of use out of the Sony Xperia Z.

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia Z comes with pretty much every form of connectivity you could possibly want or need these days - and then some.

Wi-Fi is obviously all there - though we found it doesn't support 5GHz, only 2.4GHz. Nonetheless, speeds were fast and we were able to surf at lightning levels, if not as stable as on other phones with dual-channel bonding.

Bluetooth is naturally supported (Sony's former partner, Ericsson, was synonymous with the technology in the early days) as is HSDPA+/LTE (4G) and NFC. It's low-power Bluetooth as well, (version 4.0) which means that you'll be able to use this phone with all manner of sensors that come on the market. Basically it means the phone is future-proofed - consider this a good thing.

NFC is still at that stage where manufacturers are introducing it, but are unsure how to harness its potential or figure out how it can help them. Still, with the use of smart tags, it comes into its own.

The idea is that as soon as your phone goes near a particular smart tag, it'll complete a function you've determined. You have to have some contact - it's not like a Wi-Fi range where you have to be within x feet - but it's a quick swipe against the rear of the phone to the tag that takes all of a second.

It may be that doing this turns Wi-Fi on or off, it may send a goodnight text to your partner, pair with a Bluetooth speaker or set an alarm. It's super-lazy - but also super-clever.

Sony also includes an app called Xperia Link - the idea being that you install an app on your computer (Windows only, remember. Have we mentioned the lack of Mac support?!) and then you can use your phone's connection to surf the web on your computer. Yep, welcome back to 2001.

This would be great if it wasn't for the fact that you can simply turn the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot far more easily, by going into the settings.

We've already mentioned DLNA and the Throw technology included in the Sony Xperia Z. There's also the ability to mirror your screen to the television, but despite having success with Throw, we couldn't get the mirroring to work on our Samsung TV.

It could be that this is only compatible with Sony televisions. After all, the Media Remote control app included is only for use with Sony devices. Hardly a massive surprise, but a shame that there isn't a universal solution included.

PC and Mac support

For connecting to your PC, you just use the micro USB cable and it instantly installs the necessary software. However, with Mac support, you'll need to use Sony Bridge, which can be a bit tricky to install.

When you plug the Xperia Z into a computer via USB, a message pops up on the screen of the phone, telling you it will install the relevant sync software on your machine. On a PC, it does it seamlessly, but on a Mac, it just then follows with an error message telling you it can't go any further.

We looked at the Xperia Z section of the Sony website and the support area and, at the time of writing, there was absolutely no mention of Sony Bridge for Mac. Indeed, had we not just searched using Google just now, we'd still be none the wiser.

Anyway, once Sony Bridge was installed, we could tell Sony had put some work into it. It looks different to how it fared under Sony Ericsson and has been given a nice lick of paint. But it's not without fault.

Things got off to a good start when it immediately recognised the Xperia Z was plugged in and was able to tell us how much memory was left. But it went downhill quickly. After looking like it was all about to sync iTunes playlists, it then told us we had 0KB of data being used and 0KB available. Only three reboots managed to fix this.

We then synchronised a short iTunes playlist and two albums from iPhoto. Even the following day, those songs were nowhere to be seen on the Walkman app (though they do appear on Google Music) and the photos did sync, but rather than syncing albums, they were all just thrown into one big visual pit and jumbled up.

We can see Sony has tried here – but it clearly needs more effort, from not just showing that Sony Bridge is available to actually making it do what it's supposed to properly. Considering Sony really hopes to entice iPhone users away, this should be top priority.

Maps and apps

To Sony's credit, it hasn't been lazy here. So often in the past, we've reviewed other Android handsets and the manufacturers have actually been quite tight in what they've included. Not the case on the Sony Xperia Z.

Of course, you get Google's standard suite of apps that come with all Android devices. That includes (though isn't limited to) the excellent Gmail app and the jewel in Android's crown: Google Maps.

The app so good, that it showed how bad Apple Maps was in comparison and then shot to the top of the download chart in the App Store on its release.

Thankfully, it's never been removed from Google (obviously), and has, for the last few years, given one of the best turn-by-turn navigation experiences on the market. Let's not forget this app is free - and it gives you so much more functionality and live information than you would ever get from many other paid for apps.

If you really don't like Google Maps though, you can take advantage of the free Wisepilot for Sony Xperia app. But we can't see why you EVER would.

Aside from this, Sony gives us some other bits and bobs such as a basic note-taking/doodle app and a trial for McAfee mobile security. Obviously, it's keen to get you spending your money there rather than with Google, so although you can buy through Google Play, there are various hints to get you towards its Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited services.

We tried them both and, unfortunately, neither worked. The former took us to a web page where Sony admitted it knew there was a problem but was working on it; the latter just hung up immediately and didn't do a thing. A bit shoddy in our eyes, considering this is hardly a new service.

Perhaps Sony could spend more time on sorting things like this out and less time working on its Play Now service, which it's still flogging like a dead horse on handsets. That too is included on the Sony Xperia Z and is so old, we could swear we had it on the K700i many moons ago.

Office Suite is provided on the Sony Xperia Z free of charge - it's the free viewer version but it does the job admirably, and you can always download more expensive variants if you intend to use the Sony Xperia Z as your main document editing device.

We were also pleased to see a Sony Car app, which paid more than lip service to drivers. We tried it out and found it to be a great addition - offering large buttons and help for everything from navigation to music selections. You do feel, in some ways at least, that Sony has gone the extra mile here (see what we did there?).

And let's not forget that - this being an Android handset - there are hundreds of thousands of apps waiting for you to dive in and start downloading from Google Play.

This is one of our favourite things about getting a new smartphone to play with - it's like delving into a treasure trove. And with a screen like this, many of those treasures will positively glisten in front of your eyes.

Benchmarks

The Sony Xperia Z is a quad core phone powered by a Snapdragon Krait CPU, clocked at 1.5GHz. However, it seems that in raw speed terms it can't hold a candle to the likes of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4, as the benchmarks below show:

Antutu

Peacekeeper

SunSpider

Hands on gallery

Official gallery

Verdict

Sony's come out here with a very strong message: it's back and it means business. There's no hint of this being a niche Android phone, or by any means a cheap one. Sony wants the Xperia Z to be viewed as the handset of choice, the one that will knock Apple off its pedestal and be classed as the Android device.

It's done this through a design which is, frankly, beautiful. And specs which are, in some ways, unmatched.

It's cheaper than the rivals now, which is good as the higher expense was a real issue for us when the phone first came out.

We liked

The Sony Xperia Z has incredible specs - from that beautiful screen, to its breathtaking design and powerful innards, there is so much that Sony has got right here.

It has built on the strong heritage of the Walkman and given power users one of the things they often desperately crave - a good battery performance and top speeds.

The design is robust and fits very well in the hand - and despite the fact the 5-inch screen is whopping, the way its integrated into the chassis mitigates that issue well. And when you turn on the Full HD screen, well, the clarity is almost mind-melting.

We disliked

But there's always got to be a minus, and there are a few with the Sony Xperia Z. For example, the dust resistance is pretty much nothing more than words in our experience, and it does feel like a large, sharp slab in the hand.

And while the camera is OK, it's hardly mind-blowing. The price is finally more palatable, but still not the cheapest in the world - and we're annoyed about the trickiness of Mac support. Will it affect a large group of users? No - but that doesn't mean it should be neglected at all, given the increasing number of people using MacBooks for media purposes.

Final verdict

There is so much to love about the Sony Xperia Z - and while there are some annoyances, they pale in comparison. Yes, we think it's a bit shoddy that we encountered software bugs, but they are being slowly fixed, and they weren't bad enough that we had crashes or lost data.

The Sony Xperia Z has a strong design and finally represents an Android smartphone that can be used to show iPhone owners that they're not necessarily at the top of the heap anymore.

The price is somewhere approaching acceptable now - and rush out a software update to improve the camera and you have a really strong candidate for taking up your pocket space.

The only problem is, by the time that's happened, the competition from fellow Android manufacturers has grown even fiercer. For now, for those who want liquid protection, we recommend it heartily.

Introduction

After a number of delays and setbacks BlackBerry 10 finally arrived in January and BlackBerry's new mobile platform has already witnessed its major first update in its life cycle with BlackBerry 10.1 now available on all three BB10 devices.

We've explored the new version of the operating system and have updated our BlackBerry 10 review accordingly - you lucky, lucky people.

The BlackBerry Z10 kicked off the Canadian firm's renewed onslaught on the mobile market, but it has since been joined by the QWERTY keyboard toting BlackBerry Q10 and more recently the budget focused BlackBerry Q5.

While in the short term focus will be put on the devices it's the software the handsets are running that is really the key to BlackBerry's long term success, or ultimate demise.

The BlackBerry smartphone range has been in desperate need of a reboot for a while as the likes of iOS 6, Android Jelly Bean and Windows Phone 8 have outstripped the extremely outdated BB OS7 platform.

Whereas the other systems have witnessed incremental upgrades, BB 10 is a totally new offering – the BB OS7 base has been completely scrapped and the new platform rebuilt from the ground up.

BB10 sees the implementation of a whole new user interface, doing away with the familiar BlackBerry system we're all used to in favour of something that resembles the likes of Android and iOS, although with its own unique features thrown in for good measure.

BlackBerry 10 has merged homescreens, widgets, app lists and a unified inbox into one slick interface, offering up an easy-to-navigate user experience.

Lock screen

The first thing you're greeted with on BlackBerry 10 is the lock screen, which not only shows the time and date, but also notifications, unread messages and upcoming calendar events.

There's a button to launch the camera straight from the lock screen to grab a quick snap, just hold down on the icon for three of seconds.

It's slightly longer than we'd like and the simple slide action on some Android handsets is quicker.

To unlock a touchscreen BB 10 handset you need to slide your finger up the screen. As you do, the homescreen below will begin to appear, giving you a sneak peek of what's underneath.

What you can't do from the lockscreen is jump straight into a new message, email or other notification. Instead you' have to unlock the handset in the normal way and then slide into the BlackBerry Hub.

It's not a huge issue but it's something we'd like to see crop up in a future update as it will further enhance the fluidity of BB 10.

When viewing the lock screen you can drag down from the top of the display to show the night time clock mode - which has a lovely analogue clock face and a toggle for your alarm.

The black background and red highlights mean when you check the time in the middle of the night you won't be blinded by a bright display, which is always a bonus.

Homescreen

The main BlackBerry 10 homescreen is comprised of 'Active Frames', technically mini-applications, which give you an overview of information from a particular app and launch the full version when tapped.

BB10 will display up to eight of these active frames, showing your most recently used apps with the latest app appearing in the top-left position.

Only four of these panes can fit on the screen at one time, so you'll need to scroll down to see the rest – which all seems a little pointless, since you can just as quickly swipe sideways to access the app list and launch the app you want from there.

For those of you who may be concerned that these 'Active Frames' could be both data and battery-intensive, BlackBerry assures us that this is not the case, with the QNX core of BlackBerry 10 providing efficient power management, and the frames only downloading the minimum amount of data required for them to update.

To be fair we've seen pretty good battery life from both the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 during our in-depth review process, so we're inclined to believe BlackBerry's claims.

If you get fed up of seeing a particular frame then you can easily close it by hitting the small cross in the bottom right corner and if you close all the panes you'll be taken by default to the first page in the app list until you open another.

When you're in an app there's no back button on screen to help you exit. This brings us to another key feature of BB10, as it encourages you to use a gesture to quit applications by running your finger up from the bottom of the screen, returning you to the active frame view.

While this is easy to do on the Z10 and Q5 it's a little trickier with the Q10 which doesn't provide any additional space between the bottom of the display and its QWERTY keyboard.

Those who are already familiar with other smartphones will find the action pretty unnatural and it takes a while to get used to the new way of doing things on BlackBerry 10.

Interface

Swiping from right to left on the homescreen will take you to the app list, with 16 apps on the screen at any one time if you're using the fully touchscreen Z10, while the 3.1-inch display found on the Q10 and Q5 only manages to squeeze 12 on at a time.

If you have more than 16 (or 12) apps, additional pages are added and can be accessed by swiping the same way again, which is familiar territory for iOS and Android users.

You can manage your applications by creating folders, which will reduce the number of pages you need to sift through - which is especially useful on the smaller screened devices.

Hold down on an app any they'll begin to pulsate. Simple drag one on top of another to create a folder (sound familiar?), which you can then rename to some relevant.

There's also the option to uninstall apps in this throbbing view, with a small trash can icon appearing in the top right of each app icon - although stock apps such as contacts, browser and calendar cannot be removed. No huge surprise there.

There's a pleasant fading animation as you flick between pages, and you'll see the previous page of apps fade away to the side of the screen, to be replaced by the new page.

When you select an application from the list BlackBerry 10 doesn't automatically open it up. What you get instead is a short animation which sees BB10 zoom to the active frame page where the app appears and then enlargers to fill the screen.

It may be a nice visual effect but it has absolutely no practical advantage and all it does is slow you down, adding another second or so to the app's load time.

At the bottom of both the homescreen and app list you'll notice a shortcut bar, with quick links to the phone and camera applications, enabling you to quickly jump to these regularly used features.

These shortcuts cannot be changed which is a little annoying as we'd like the flexibility to be able to put our most used apps in this handy space.

If you're rocking the Z10 you also get a search link here which isn't available on the other handsets as search is conducted by simply tapping out what you want on the physical keyboard.

For those of you who are a fan of quick settings you'll be pleased to learn that BB 10 delievers in this department.

Slide down from the top of the screen when you're viewing the homescreen or app list and a bar will pop down - in a similar vein to the notification bar in Android - giving you toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, alarm and silent mode.

Tap the icon to turn a particular service on or off, or if you want to fine tune one tap it's name instead you'll be propelled to the relevant area of the settings menu.

A slight annoyance with BlackBerry 10 is the fact that you can only set one alarm, so unless you're good at getting up promptly or adept with the snooze button you may find yourself oversleeping if you're relying on a BB10 device.

This is something which should be able to be tweaked in a software update, but it hasn't arrived with BlackBerry 10.1, so the wait continues.

Something which did arrive with the BlackBerry 10.1 update is the ability to customise your notifications for various accounts.

The famous red notification LED is present on all three of BlackBerry's new handsets and you can now control this along with ringtones and vibration on an account by account basis, and even contact by contact.

We'd have liked it if the LED in question was multi-coloured so you can have it flash, for example blue for a Facebook update, red for a message and green for an email.

Peek and Flow

Peek and Flow are two core aspects that come heavily baked into BlackBerry 10 and they dictate the way you use the system.

Flow refers to the way the whole of BB 10 operates, as you glide between applications and screens with no hard navigation tools such as the back or home buttons that are found on rival handsets.

It's very different to any system we've experienced before, so it took us a few days to get our heads around the various gestures required to effectively use BB10.

At times we wished there was a simple back button below the screen, since it wasn't always clear how to return to the previous screen. But the more we used BlackBerry 10 the more we became used to the way it should be used.

Our concern here is that BB 10 requires a relatively steep learning curve for everyone, even those who have owned BlackBerry handsets in the past.

It becomes easier once you've played with BlackBerry 10 for a few days, but we fear customers may be turned off in-store when they preview a handset.

Onto Peek and this is a smart little gesture enabling you to check your latest notifications and messages without having to exit the current app you're using.

As you swipe up over the screen, BB10 will minimise the pane you're viewing and display notification icons down the left side.

This includes icons for new texts, emails, BBMs, social updates and missed calls, and if any of these pique your interest then continue your finger's motion to the right and the screen will slide over to reveal the BlackBerry Hub so you can see who the message is from.

If it's just a boring newsletter you can return to the app, video or game (which are automatically paused) you were viewing without having to go back to the app list and navigate to it. Unless it's the TechRadar newsletter, which you'll obviously want to read straight away.

This action can be sped up it you want to get straight to the Hub view, just start your finger to the left of the base of the screen and drag diagonally up, which will see the peek movement streamlined.

The whole BlackBerry 10 interface does appear to be very smooth with no sign of lag on any of the three handsets, which makes for a pleasing user experience – once you've worked out the various gestures required to get around, that is.

BlackBerry Hub, BBM and keyboard

BlackBerry Hub

The BlackBerry Hub is the universal inbox found on BlackBerry 10, and it pulls in all forms of communications from calls and texts to emails, BBMs and social updates.

A new addition to the Hub in the BlackBerry 10.1 update is pin to pin messaging, allowing you to communicate directly with other BlackBerry smartphones in a secure fashion.

Of course with so many accounts feeding into the handset, the more popular among us will be quickly inundated with notifications from various different channels, and this is where the Peek idea makes it easy to see when you've got anything new to look at.

To make the reams of messages easier to manage, tap the title in the bottom-left corner of the message centre to reveal a list of all the accounts you have linked up, and then select the one you're interested in – this will then populate the Hub with notifications from just that source.

There are also various options which can be selected for a particular message, hold down on the communication in question and a slim column of tools will pop up to the right for you to choose from, including reply, forward and delete.

If you're using the QWERTY keyboard toting BlackBerry Q5 or Q10 there are predefined shortcut keys to speed up the messaging process.

For example you can hit "R" to reply, "L" to reply all or "F" to forward the email you're currently viewing on screen.

You can start tapping out a text, email, tweet or Facebook post from the homescreen on the Q10 and Q5, as the BB10 integration has the smarts to detect what action you want.

While the BlackBerry Z10 cannot benefit from these shortcuts it has the advantage of packing a larger screen, allowing more content to be displayed at once resulting in much less scrolling for you.

The amount of scrolling on the Q5 and Q10 really bugged us at time as it's frustrating that you can only see four messages at a time.

Drag down from the top of the message centre and the BB10 Hub will automatically pull in your calendar events for that day in the top half of the screen, enabling you to quickly see what you've got on without having to launch the full calendar app.

It's an impressive setup and we reckon other platforms may be looking at the BlackBerry Hub with a little bit of envy.

It's not without its faults though and one of our biggest bug bears is its integration with the peek gesture.

If you read a message and then immediately exit the Hub without returning to the main overview next time you want to peek at your inbox you'll see the message you last read, instead of your new entries.

The way round this is to remember to hit back once you've read/replied to someone, but it feels like a bit of a waste of time and a little unintuitive.

BBM

BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger, has been a cornerstone of the BlackBerry experience for years, and it gets a revamp with BlackBerry 10.

The dedicated application has been given a lick of paint, with easier navigation and a new feature called BBM Video.

BBM Video joins up with BBM Voice, which launched recently on BB OS7, to bring both voice and video calls to the BBM application on BlackBerry 10.

The days of the BlackBerry bolt-ons on phone tariffs have been and gone, with all your BBM activity coming out of your data allowance if you're not connected to Wi-Fi. So you'll need to keep an eye on your data usage.

Adding contacts is easy and within the BBM app you have the choice of tapping in your friend's pin, or scanning their QR code.

You can send, receive and reply to BBMs from the BlackBerry Hub but if you want the full range of options you'll need to fire up the dedicated application.

BBM is set to roll out on iOS and Android this summer which makes it an even more attractive proposition as all your friends will be able to use no matter what phone they're rocking - apart from those suckers with a Windows Phone who aren't getting treated to the social messaging app.

Keyboard

Now all this messaging capability is nothing without an input method, and keyboards are arguably the thing BlackBerry handsets are most known for.

BlackBerry has spoken in length about how it has engineered its on-screen keyboard to bring users the experience they get on the physical version with the all-new touch offering.

Straight up, we can say the BB 10 keyboard on the Z10 is miles better than the pitiful attempt that adorned the Torch range of BlackBerry handsets, but it's not perfect.

The keyboard sports the silver frets that can be found on the Bold 9900, providing additional spacing between lines and allowing for better travel between keys.

These frets also act as the space for the next word prediction, and the more you type the more BB 10 learns and offers smarter suggestions.

We were able to type at a reasonable pace, but we found the next word prediction if anything slowed us down, since the font is too small to easily see, and we found our fingers were covering most of the suggestions anyway.

It's a different story over on the Q10 and Q5 where BlackBerry's prowess in physical keyboards are once again brought to the fore.

While there's no dynamic suggestions popping up above each key you do still get spell check and predictions on screen to aid your typing experience.

In the BlackBerry 10.1 update text manipulation has been greatly improved, making it a lot easier to highlight text on screen, leading to an easier way of editing your missives as well as copying and pasting.

BlackBerry is calling it Fine Cursor Control, and a blue circle will pop up on screen when you hold down on text, allowing you to place the cursor where you want, and also highlight various words and characters.

Camera, browser and more

Camera

BlackBerry is making a big song and dance about its BB 10 camera application as well, especially the 'Time Shift' feature, which enables you to select the perfect smile of your subject after taking the photo.

Fire up the camera app (from the lock screen if you so wish), select 'Time Shift' mode and snap your subject, and the app will then search for faces in the image.

Once a face is located in a photo, you can tap it and literally roll back time to find the point at which your friend had their eyes open and the perfect grin.

If there are multiple people in your snap, you can individually adjust each person, however during our demo we found 'Time Shift' struggled in lower lighting conditions – subjects' faces need to be illuminated well for the camera to detect their mugs.

'Time Shift' did take a couple of seconds after the photo was taken to detect faces and offer us the chance to tweak the image, but this could be down to the fact it's running on a development build of the BB10 software, and speed could be improved in the final product.

Of course the camera can take standard photos and record video alongside the 'Time Shift' function, which itself is an impressive function, but we wonder how much we'd actually use it day to day.

In terms of other features the BB10 camera app is pretty sparsely populated, offering you flash and aspect ratio toggles, the ability to switch between front and rear cameras and a handful of scenes and shooting modes.

A new shooting mode which arrived with BlackBerry 10.1 is HDR, although the lower-end BlackBerry Q5 hasn't been gifted this fancy camera tech with the feature appearing to be reserved for the higher end Z10 and Q10.

We found the auto-focus could be a little tardy at times which resulted us in missing a shot or blurring the image, but the ability to use the volume keys on each of the handsets as a shutter button is a welcome bonus.

Browser

The BlackBerry browser has also had a refresh for BB10, bringing it in line with the minimalist style of current offerings on other devices. The location of the URL bar at the bottom of the page is reminiscent of Internet Explorer on Windows Phone.

Even though Adobe has already ditched future support and upgrades of its Flash platform, BlackBerry has made sure it's built in support for the dying format in BB 10, enabling you to access all your favourite Flash-built sites and videos of Korean men dancing on invisible horses.

Sweep from left to right while in the browser and the Peek functionality comes into play again, this time showing various internet-centric options such as History, Bookmarks, New Tab and your currently opened tabs.

There's also a Reader mode built into the new browser, which lifts article text and images from a web page and displays it in a more manageable and easy to read format, stripping out fancy ads, menu bars and any other clutter that gets in the way of actually reading something.

Reader mode is especially useful on the Q10 and Q5, as their peculiar screen sizes don't work particularly well with regular sites, so having the ability to pull the text out by itself makes it a far more pleasing experience.

The key browser boon however is speed. We found that on all three BlackBerry 10 devices websites loaded in a blink of an eye and it's one of the quickest browsers - if not the quickest - currently on the market.

All three handsets come with 4G connectivity (although the Q5 will be available as 3G only in select markets) which boasts load times when you're out and about and of course Wi-Fi is fully supported as well.

Cascades

Then there's Cascades, a new navigation system cooked up by BlackBerry especially for BB10, enabling quick multitasking from within applications.

The example we've seen is in the messaging app - open an email and it will display full screen, but drag your finger from left to right and the message will slide with you, revealing the inbox below.

This means if you get a new message in the middle of reading an email, you can check who it's from without having to close the application – similar to the notification bar on Android and also now on iOS.

If you were to open an attachment from the email – a PDF document in the case of our demo – pulling to the side to view the Cascade will show the app's layers stacked up. It's a more visual paper trail, if you will.

It's certainly an intuitive feature that we found worked smoothly on the development handset – but it will be interesting to see how this feature is embedded into other applications and if it will have the same pleasing results.

BlackBerry World

Apps were a big talking point in the run up to the launch of BlackBerry 10, with BlackBerry assuring everyone that it had loads of developers creating applications especially for the platform.

BlackBerry World launched with over 70,000 applications in the store and within just a few months that has grown to 120,000 which is pretty impressive and big names like WhatsApp and Skype have finally made it on after being promised at launch.

While 120,000 doesn't sound like a lot when you compare it to the likes of Android and iOS which boast over 700,000 apps each, BlackBerry reckons it's the quality not quantity in BlackBerry World that makes all the difference.

It's good to see strong growth in the BB 10 app store, although it still has a long way to go and there are numerous high-profile absentees which will put a lot of consumers off.

BlackBerry Word itself isn't our favourite app store in terms of design and navigation, with a confusing list of various apps, music and videos on the main page making it difficult to digest all the information.

You can refine your search by categories, which goes some way to working out what's on offer, but there's no option to view just free apps, for example.

The way you go about updating applications has been improved in the BlackBerry 10.1 update, with a notification popping up in the BlackBerry Hub to alert you when a new upgrade is available.

Verdict

BlackBerry 10 is a solid smartphone operating system offering up all the functionality you'd expect, wrapped up in a package that does set it apart from the likes of Android and iOS.

It's not yet at the stage to challenge these two big players, but BB 10's firm foundations means it's more than capable of taking on Windows Phone 8 for the coveted third spot.

We liked

The BlackBerry Hub is an excellent messaging manager tool, giving you total control over all your accounts and it makes it quick and easy to respond to urgent things, while allowing you to ignore others without disrupting what you're currently doing.

We're also seriously impressed by the BlackBerry 10 which offers super some super fast surfing speeds which puts in on par with the best.

The gesture based interface provides an attractive and novel way of controlling the smartphone, but BB10 risks confuses customers as it requires users to operate their handset in a very different way.

We disliked

Applications will be a big sticking point for many, since most people will take the vast offering on Google Play or the Apple App Store over the undernourished BlackBerry World.

Of course it's still early doors for BlackBerry 10 and the app store has seen significant growth since its launch, but its late arrival to the market has seen rivals amass libraries which could be almost impossible to match.

It's great to see Skype and Whatsapp finally land on the BB 10 platform, but there's still many big name apps missing from the line up, and that could be its undoing.

While BB10 provides the Canadian firm with a good start it's still a work in progress and minor niggles which crop up around the operating system can jar at times, reminding you that this is still a fledgling offering.

Some areas of BlackBerry 10 appear to be lacking in terms of features, with budding photographers likely to be disappointed about the lack of options in the camera app, while the ability to set just one alarm is baffling and rather frustrating.

Final verdict

The way you navigate round BB10 is very different to its rivals, and it requires the user to spend a decent amount of time with it to fully understand its complexities.

Once you get to grips with BlackBerry 10 you'll find it's a quick and fluid user experience that enables you to get to the main features quickly without getting lost in various menus and settings.

The thing is, it just doesn't feel as complete an offering as iOS, Android or even Windows Phone, and we reckon BlackBerry 10 has a bit of an uphill struggle if it's to steal users away from those three.

Introduction and design

The excitement of the rumour mill, the titillation of every leaked photo led to higher than ever levels of expectation over the iPhone 5 features, and while the announcement was greeted with some derision at the lack of perceived headline improvements, the record sales tell an entirely different story.

Given the underwhelming changes to the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 launch really needed to re-energise customers to prove Apple can repeat the game-changing trick it managed with the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 5 price was predictably high and continues to be so, so consumers will need to bear that in mind too when looking for their next smartphone.

So is the Apple iPhone 5 the greatest smartphone ever, and did it finally see Apple ascend to the top spot in our 20 best mobile phones chart? Or was it a case of too little, too late... and what about those darned Maps, eh?

• Best apps for iPhone 5
• Best iPhone 5 case

Design

We'll begin in the traditional manner: how the thing actually feels in the hand. With the iPhone 5 there will be many types of prospective buyer: the upgrader from the 4 (or more-money-than-sense iPhone 4S upgraders), those tired of their Android handset and those taking their first steps in the smartphone market and want to get one of them iThingies their friend/child has.

Well, all of those picking up the iPhone 5 will have the same reaction: this thing is amazingly light. You've probably heard the numbers by now (20 per cent lighter than the predecessor, as well as beating most of the opposition too at 112g.)

It's an odd sensation, but it actually detracts from the experience when you first pick it up. We've praised the weighty feel of the iPhone in the past, lending it a premium feel in the face of toy-like phones, and it's almost disappointing that Apple decided to join that clan.

However, through extended use this problem quickly disappears. The overall effect of the phone is still a chassis designed for strength, and so it feels solid, if somehow a little hollow; pleasantly, though, it sits more anonymously in the pocket.

You'll obviously see the change in height too – the iPhone 5 stands 123.8mm tall to allow for the larger 4-inch screen. In truth, those not familiar with the iPhone 4S probably wouldn't notice the difference, which is why it's a good move from Apple to include the larger screen if it's not going put people off that hate larger phones.

The decision to stick at 4-inches is Apple's admission that while it recognises people are all over the idea of having more screen real estate to play with it doesn't want to move away from the thumb-friendly nature of the device.

Through a mixture of moving the centre of gravity slightly as well as repositioning the screen within the bezel, it's still possible to scroll your thumb mostly around the whole display one-handed, which Apple is clearly keen to keep hold of.

However, we're not convinced of that argument any more, and it's the first iPhone where comfort to some extent really does depend on the size of your hands. For many people, it is possible to move a thumb around the entire display, albeit with a little more stretching than on previous models; anyone with smaller hands might find the top of the screen out of reach. For everyone, the Home button is harder to access when holding your phone comfortably.

The net result is a curious one: a device that's more pleasant on the eyes and nicer to hold, but frequently more awkward to use than its predecessor. Newcomers might not notice that, but the compromise will be clear for upgraders from the iPhone 4S.

The general construction of the iPhone 5 is excellent, to say the least. We've tested both the ceramic white version and the anodised black, and the two tone effect on the back of the phone is stunning, both visually and under the finger.

It doesn't beat the sheer beauty of the HTC One S, with its micro-arc oxidised back and rounded lines, but it's well-set in second place.

The two sections of pigmented glass at the top and the bottom of the phone add a pleasant effect, and the sapphire glass is meant to be thoroughly durable, to complement the Gorilla Glass on the front.

Apple knows consumers get furious when they drop and iPhone, and is clearly seeking to stop the smashes before they happen with a tougher exterior - although it seems the anodised black version is pretty prone to scratching, with a number of users mentioning chipping on the darker hue.

Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Marketing, reportedly replied to an email from a user pointing out that aluminium will scratch and chip in natural use - and we're also hearing that white iPhone 5 models are being returned through flaking as well.

We kept our black iPhone 5 in a soft pocket in a bag for much of its life, yet saw the following chip with minimal key / coin contact in under a fortnight:

For a device of this premium quality, users will expect it to survive the pocket test, and especially do so for the first two weeks of life. It's a big fail for Apple to expect users to accept that a product can be damaged so easily.

The same industrial band around the outside is in effect again as on the iPhone 4 and 4S, with small sections removed where the antenna joins.

Apple has gone for a more advanced form of antenna here, meaning the days of lost signal are gone, and generally increasing the power of your call connection and GPS lock on too.

There are other big design changes here too: the headphone jack has moved to the bottom of the phone, and the iconic 30-pin connector has been retired in favour of the new Lightning port, giving a headache to all those that have invested in chargers, docks and other accessories over their iPhone lives.

You can buy an adaptor, but it's pricey at £25. And unless you want to keep it permanently attached to the bottom of the iPhone 5 you'll need to buy a few, which is far from ideal.

However, let's not harangue Apple too much for this: a smaller connector is not only easier to use (you can plug the smaller cable in either way round, and the connection feels more solid), but you're rewarded with a thinner and more compact phone to boot.

There's also a small chink of light on the top right hand side of the iPhone 5 - when the screen is illuminated, you can see it under the band if you really, really look for it. It's been seen by a number of users, but is hard to actually replicate unless you mask the screen and hold it at the right angle.

It's again a sign of slightly under-par machining from Apple, but in day to day use it's almost completely invisible.

The decision to move the 3.5mm headphone jack to the bottom is an odd one, as while it allows you to slip the phone into the pocket head-first when listening to music, which is a more natural action, it's a real pain in the posterior for some apps that will only work in landscape a certain way up.

Using it this way means your headphones experience will be one of having to jiggle the jack around two fingers.

It's not the most comfortable way to hold a phone, and even when using the phone in portrait mode, the jack gets in the way somewhat. Plus it's miles away from the volume keys, which makes it hard to change the audio level in the pocket if you don't use the dedicated headphones.

There are other smaller design changes to the iPhone 5 too, such as the iSight front-facing camera moving to the middle and the home button being noticeably more robust to help reduce instances of a broken portal to your home screen.

But enough about what the phone looks like - the killer question is how the thing feels in the hand. And we'll sum it up by saying: smooth. Some might find it a little slippery (we were always worried we would drop the darned thing), but unlike the glass-backed iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5's unlikely to make a surprise trip off of a sofa and onto a wooden floor of its own accord.

So beyond the slightly odd form factor for those upgrading, and scratch issues for the black model, the design's again extremely strong. For the most part, the iPhone remains a device suitable for use one-handed, although quibblers might grumble whether it's quite as ultra-high spec as it should be - the lock button remains loose, so you can hear it clicking if you shake the phone.

That undoes some of the premium feel Apple's going for, at least if you take to shaking a phone by your ear; more seriously, this device can have an up-front charge (off contract) of £529-£699, and so we'd argue it should be near perfection and free from noticeable (if admittedly small) blemishes.

And while it looks nice, from the front it doesn't really add much to the design of the iPhone - it's certainly not the same as the jaw-dropping design of the iPhone 4 compared to the 3GS... it's another evolution in the iLine. It's not bad, but for those that hoped the iPhone 5 would be another step change there's a good chance they'll be disappointed about the look... until they feel the lovely back on offer.

There was a real chance here for Apple: remove the bezel and give the front of the screen a look that's similar to the OLED TVs from the likes of Samsung or LG… but instead we're treated to the same lines as before.

You always get the feeling that Apple saves what it can for the next iteration of the iPhone, and while there's nothing wrong with the current construction we can see the edge-to-edge screen becoming something amazing on the iPhone 6 or iPhone 5S.

Display

The technology on offer from Apple with regards to the new 4-inch display is impressive – but only on a scale that matches that seen with the launch of the Retina Display in 2010.

There's such a temptation with new technology to bash it for not always innovating and pushing things further, especially when Apple's announcements are so full of hyperbole that it's often hard to tell what's actually exciting.

However when Steve Jobs took to the stage to announce the Retina Display, he said it was sharper than the human eye could discern – and he was right, as despite other far-reaching efforts to up the sharpness nothing has really made us squint at a display in awe than that first shown on the iPhone 4.

So we're not going to berate Apple for sticking with the same 326ppi resolution, nor 'only' extending the iPhone 5 display to 1136 x 640 pixels - it's the look that matters, and overall effect of the screen is very pleasing indeed.

There are black bars to the side of older iPhone apps that haven't been optimised for the screen, and this is particularly noticeable on the white iPhone 5. Apps are being regularly updated, but there are noticeable usability issues with those that aren't: older games in landscape can be irritating to control, and portrait apps have the virtual keyboard higher than you'd like it. Muscle memory gets a solid and regular kicking unless the apps you favour have developers who've been willing to put in extra leg work.

For those apps that have made the leap to widescreen (or 'tallscreen'), the experience is superior. Reading apps provide more information at any given time, and video apps are better on a widescreen display. Surprisingly, even many games benefit from the change. Return to an iPhone 4S after using an iPhone 5 for any length of time and the older device feels stubby and cramped by comparison.

Apple has done away with layers of technology below the screen to bring the display as close to the glass as possible, something it says will bring increased brightness and sharpness to the user's eye.

In practice, it's quite different from the iPhone 4S in quality and brightness, although tilting the phone to extreme angles lacks the impressive look we've seen on phones like the HTC One X. However, just because you can't see the colours as accurately at acute angles isn't really something to criticise a phone for, unless you're in the habit of letting your friends watch films from two seats away from you.

But enough of the comparisons: how does the screen look to the new user? Well, the answer is crisp, clear and bright with no discernible over-saturation when watching movies or browsing the web. We noticed no obvious discolouration - some people say the iPhone 4S had a slight greenish tint to it - so it's clear this is the best Apple display yet.

It's a lot better than the iPhone 4S in side by side comparisons, with the new phone definitely looking brighter, crisper and more true to life than its predecessor.

However, for all the reality on offer, it's not got the snap and pop that still wows us on the Samsung Galaxy S3, with its Super AMOLED HD display with superb contrast ratios. If asked to choose which handset we'd like to watch movies on, browse the web or go navigating in the car with, we know we'd pick the Galaxy S3 every time.

Both displays have the same 'painted on' effect when looking at the home screen that makes you wonder if you're looking at a dummy model with a sticker on, but those that say 4.8-inches of screen is too big haven't played with the S3 very long - we predict at least half would be enamoured by the larger size within a day.

That's not to say the iPhone 5 display is too small, as for many it's the most they'd accept in screen evolution. It's just that if 3.5-inches was the perfect one-handed size, 4-inches is a little too big (try getting your thumb up to the top-left corner to head back through apps) so if that's the case, a little bit bigger wouldn't make much difference and would give an improved experience to the apps so crucial to a smartphone user today.

Interface

When it comes to the interface on the new iPhone 5, well, there's not a lot new about it at all. You can read our full iOS 6 review to get a good flavour of the new treats on offer with Apple's latest platform evolution, but let's talk about how they work within the phone itself.

For the uninitiated, Apple's iOS is designed to be all about simplicity, which is why you're presented with a grid of apps that can be easily sorted into folders by long pressing on any one and dragging on top of another.

This method will also uninstall apps too, making it a much simpler system than anything you'd find on Android, where you have to jump through a few more hoops generally to create folders and get rid of unwanted software.

However, the downside to this trick is the fact it's been there so long. If this is your first smartphone (or first iPhone) then you'll be impressed by the simplicity - but then again, you may wish you had a bit more power under your fingertips.

For instance, where Android is so strong is in its customisation - meaning if you want to have one home screen full of widgets and another full of icons and a third with a massive widget for your music player, that's as easy to do as just filling the whole thing with icons.

With iOS 6 you've only got weather and stock widgets in the notifications bar, which is accessed by pulling down from the top of the screen to give information on apps or message that have come through.

It's similar to that seen on Android phones, but with Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) we're offered the chance to see larger message previews and interact with important parts of apps without having to open them - impressive and a much more intuitive way of doing things.

However, let's not get caught up with fancy tools: Apple's iOS still has a gloss and sheen to it that other phones lack. It's still the best for organising apps, still impressive in its stability and overall still really works - and don't forget when iOS 7 lands, it's going to get a lot more advanced again.

We are looking forward to the platform update, as intuition is the thing iOS 6 now lacks. Where Apple wowed the world with the simple nature of the original iPhone, the current set up isn't really that far removed from that first iteration, at least visually.

Things like many app settings being placed within the Settings app, meaning you have to jump in and out of the apps to simply do things like alter the amount of days to sync in Mail, is ridiculous. Contextual menus have been absent from the iPhone ecosystem for far too long.

Another issue is the fact Apple isn't able to work out how to do live icons effectively. While some show new information, such as the Calendar, the likes of Weather still say the same 23 degrees with a sunny outlook.

We know you can do better than this Apple, and when you look at the awesome Live Tiles on offer from Windows Phone, it beggars belief that the Cupertino firm seems to think users wouldn't appreciate the chance to take a glance at the screen and know who that missed call was from, see what the temperature is outside or simply attach a contact as an icon for quick access.

It's also extremely frustrating to not at least have the option to have the icons auto-arrange still. When you delete an app all the others don't automatically line up to fill the space, which hurts the OCD nature in many of us.

We get that Apple knows some people want to keep icons in familiar places, but the auto-arrange option should be there.

But let's talk hardware here: the A6 chip on offer in the iPhone 5 may only be dual core, but it's certainly ridiculously snappy. It's meant to be much faster than the A5 chip powering the iPhone 4S, and in practice it really is, with GeekBench telling us than the clock speed is 1.1 to 1.3GHz on each core.

It manages to nab a score of around 1450 on GeekBench, which is over twice as fast as the iPhone 4S - impressive given they're both dual core phones.

And that's the beauty of Apple's iPhone strategy, and one that pays dividends for users: it doesn't play the numbers game, as it will only end in criticism. Sure, a quad core CPU would have been a good marketing tool, but at the expense of battery life and design Apple knows that consumers will get an equally great experience with just the two cores.

We didn't notice anything approaching lag during our time with the iPhone 5, with everything snapping back and forth with the kind of speeds we'd hope to see. Holding down the home key to access Siri was instant every time, and double tapping to bring up the list of apps running was equally fast.

This may all sound obvious, but some smartphones will introduce some delay into oft-used tasks, where the iPhone was happy to keep chugging along with no problems.

There was one issue we encountered during an iCloud backup to bring all the apps and settings from our previous phone, and that was during the repopulation some apps wouldn't delete, and would sit there installing forever until the phone was forced into a restart.

This was irritating as it stopped other apps from downloading at the same time, meaning we had to keep turning the blasted thing on and off again just to actually get all the apps we wanted on it.

There are those that have criticised the 'multi-tasking' window in the iOS system, stating that it's not true multi-tasking... which is true.

But try keeping all those apps running at once and using the phone for more than half a day, and you'll realise that Apple's strategy of putting some apps in stasis or shutting them down (but still showing them as recently used for easy access) is a good move on the whole.

We do wish more apps were able to run in the background (Skype would be a great start, as would many social networks) but on the whole we're fans of battery life, and there's every chance Apple will refine the process in the future.

After a couple of weeks' use, we slipped easily back into the familiar iPhone routine with iOS 6 and the standard interface. It does feel irritating at times, especially when having to jump in and out of the settings menu, but the new visual touches permeating the device mean that you won't feel thoroughly short changed by iOS.

Additionally, although Android users used to customisation might feel hemmed in by iOS, there's no denying that Apple's penchant for simplicity makes it an elegant choice for newcomers and for anyone who hasn't got the time or patience for endless customisation and tweaking.

And of course there's the debate of not getting to have a clean slate when you get a new phone, with iCloud / iTunes backup meaning you've got exactly the same experience as before on your device. It's a poor argument though - stop being lazy and mess around with your phone like a good little technology addict.

Calling and contacts

There have been a few criticisms levelled at the iPhone over the years, and one of the main ones has been its slightly poor performance as an actual phone. Be it dropped signal, failing calls or general battery-sucking from the act of chatting wirelessly, Apple has had to deal with a lot.

However, after the iPhone 4 it appears to have got its act together, and the calling experience is an altogether improved experience again with the iPhone 5.

Contacts

We'll start in the usual place: how easy is it to keep an eye on all the people you talk to on a regular basis? Well, Apple has always been pretty poor in this area compared to the likes of Android and Windows Phone, thanks to the total lack of social networking integration on offer.

Before we get into that, we'll mention the standard Contacts app view, and we call it standard because it's not changed much at all over time.

The layout is neat, if uninspiring, but at least it's easy to find the people you want thanks to the scrollable list of letters on the right-hand side, which is one of most fluid around.

However, with the addition of Facebook into the ecosystem, the options on offer have changed somewhat, allowing you to link your Facebook friends in with your contact list. It's very much a sub-par experience though, with the only positive thing we can say about it being that at least it's a step in the right direction.

For a start, it's not always clear how you even get your Facebook contacts in the list, with users needing to install the app and then activating the contacts in the settings menu.

Once that's done, you've got all your friends lumped into your Contacts list, with no filter on offer between those with phone numbers and those that are just people you've met on the street and decided to add as a friend.

You can switch it off in the groups, but then you can't join contacts together, meaning you have to put up with reams of names until you've gone through the highly laborious process of editing each contact to link them together.

Compare this to the psychic ability to help you with this from Android and Windows Phone, and you can see why Apple falls so far short.

Each contact card doesn't add much more than a list of details you can tag to help contact people - that's all well and good, but things like message history or albums would be nice too.

However, given most other manufacturers are starting to eschew such functionality in favour of pointing you to the specific apps, we can't say it's a terrible system.

Adding contacts is easy enough - either open the app and tap the plus sign, or add a number directly from the dial pad. All easy, all very 2010, nothing to really complain about.

Calling

The call quality on offer is much better though, with the three microphone system Apple has put together (on on the bottom, one on the back and one invisible one near the top) making call quality for the person you're phoning amazing.

We spoke to a few people on windy day next to a busy road and were easily able to hold a conversation, thanks to Apple's sound processing algorithms. Users don't want to know how it works, they want to know that it just does, and for a company that's been criticised in this area before, it's a strong refinement.

The call connection quality is excellent as well, with not one case of dropped calls being recorded during our trial (using a Vodafone SIM). In fairness, we rarely see this from any smartphone any more, let alone the premium models, but it's good to see there's no sign of history repeating itself for Apple.

And one other thing we feel duty-bound to mention, despite the fact it makes us look like little girls: the edge of the iPhone 5 is relatively sharp when pressed to the ear, so pushing it in harder to the head in noisy environments was quite unpleasant.

But while the calling experience is good (in audio terms), the actual method of finding the people to speak to isn't the greatest.

For example, there's no smart dialling to call up people via their name on the keypad, which is a really useful feature on Android phones for instance. (However, Siri - once 'trained' - is a suitable substitute for rapidly calling someone in an intuitive manner).

And this is another area where the Samsung Galaxy S3 really takes the medal, as once you've finished a call or found there's no answer, the option to call again or send a message is quickly and easily offered up at the bottom of the call.

Essentially where it takes around 20 taps on an iPhone to call, get no answer and send a message, you can do the same thing on a Galaxy S3 in around a quarter of the time - and that's without the clever 'slide to call/text' method employed by the Korean brand.

We can see Apple making big gains in this unloved area in the future, but given the strength of the competition at the moment it's not something users should have to put up with right now.

FaceTime

FaceTime is predictably back on the iPhone 5, and it's better than ever. Whether it was Apple's insistence on the video calling functionality or the fact it's now available over 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi, which are all more prevalent these days.

It's a great option for those lucky few in the UK with 4G speeds, and others in the US and other territories where it's more widespread... although make sure you've got a data plan that can handle carrying HD video over the airwaves. (If you're on a restricted plan, FaceTime can be manually restricted to Wi-Fi only, via a slider in Settings).

Yes, that's right - it's HD now, thanks to the improved front-facing iSight camera. In a side by side test with the iPhone 4S, the quality was noticeably smoother and clearer on the iPhone 5, and the speaker is enhanced too, making it very easy to hold a conversation with your family when holed up in a hotel room in Seoul or New York.

That's where FaceTime is making the biggest gains - talking to your loved ones. With the proliferation of latter-day iPhones, more people have access to the service, and there's also the option to switch to the rear camera and have a look at the world behind.

It's all very easy to do, doesn't cost anything (over Wi-Fi at least; a number of carriers are charging for the privilege over their cellular networks) and, colour us surprised, seems to be actually used these days. And while, frustratingly, Apple never made good on its plans to open up FaceTime, the fact that it's now available on iPads and Macs increases the likelihood you'll use the feature with friends and family also immersed in Apple's ecosystem.

Messaging

While the iPhone may not have been much use in the calling arena, when it comes to messaging Apple has turned the wick up once again with the iPhone 5.

Not only does the larger screen give you more room to fire out missives, it also allows more ways of letting people know what you're thinking.

Text messaging

The SMS is still the most popular way on the planet to keep in contact with people, and while it's limited in functionality, it's still a simple method to use.

Apple's system is still the same as it always was here, with the messaging app giving you the option to send a simple text or chuck a picture across the airwaves to your friends. The interface is tidy, still works as expected and you've got the ability to see 2-3 more messages on the elongated screen.

Apple's iMessage functionality is embedded too, which in theory means free communication between friends using the service, and is part of Apple's efforts to entice teenagers.

For iPhone 5 users, it's perhaps questionable whether some will want to save money on text messages (and see when people are typing a reply), given the high cost of the handset. However, much like FaceTime, the technology's proliferation across iPad, Mac, iPod touch and iPhone devices makes iMessage potentially useful if you've many Apple-loving friends. The fact that it's free to use even when your friends are on the other side of the world (providing they have internet access on their Apple device) is also a boon.

The bigger problem is iMessage's lack of reliability. Messages will default to the iMessage system when possible, and they occasionally have a habit of being delivered out of order, and in different orders on different devices. The only way to avoid this is to opt out of iMessage entirely, and it's an area Apple clearly needs to tighten.

Email

Right from the outset Apple has had a strong focus on email, and that continues with the iPhone 5.

Where the contacts menu is poor, the emailing system is only bested by a few options (the HTC Sense method and the Windows Phone mail apps spring to mind).

But there's something excellent about the simplicity Apple has employed for its system - there's an integrated inbox for all your accounts, and this has been joined by the VIP option, giving you the chance to select the people you really care about and have them easier to see when they message you.

The inbox itself is a simple and efficient affair, with none of the fancy options available on other larger phones, such as heading into landscape mode to see a list of messages and previews. This option is available on the iPad, but Apple has rightly seen that the 4-inch screen is too small for such a trick.

Everything from being able to bulk delete emails with a swift touch to swiping to get rid of single messages oozes quality, and for those that use the iPhone for business, the simple folder structure and server searching are godsends.

This is an area that doesn't need luxury, it needs presentable efficiency, and Apple has still got that in spades.

One cool addition we do like is the goo-like update icon that appears when you go to refresh emails - another example of Apple's attention to UI detail throughout the phone, and something we found ourselves playing with every time we entered our inbox, just for the fun of it.

Social networking

With the announcement of the tie-in with Facebook for iOS 6, we had high hopes for the integration of the service within the phone. And while there's the option to download FB Messenger as a standalone app, you can't see your friends' messages from your iPhone inbox, or on their contact page.

In fact, when it comes to this social networking integration there's very little full stop. You can post to Twitter or Facebook from the notification bar and use a system tweet/post dialog once accounts are defined in Settings, but that's it.

We're sure those services are happy to have a constant link to users through the Apple fan base, but it could be so much more with integrated inboxes and being able to link a Twitter account to the Contacts app as well.

We know you can more easily post pictures and videos to Facebook thanks to the new tie-in, but we hope to see more from this in the future.

Keyboard

With great size comes greater keyboard manipulation, but as Apple has only pushed the size of the screen up, rather than outwards, there's no more room on the portrait offering, so if you thought the iPhone 4S and back was cramped, you're not going to be that impressed with the iPhone 5.

It's not a bad keyboard; in fact, it's got a greater range of accuracy than many other phones of its size.

But if you're moving here from something like an HTC Desire or Samsung Galaxy S2, be prepared for a transition period where you wonder in the touchscreen is slightly broken and you can't tap out all the letters in your name easily.

The autocorrect is pretty good, but not in the same league as something like Swiftkey, which uses algorithms to predict your typing style and likely next word - we were still able to knock out messages up to 30% faster on the Galaxy S3 over the iPhone 5 thanks to the predictive option.

In landscape mode the iPhone 5 is better though, although the larger screen makes it slightly harder to reach the middle letters at times.

It's not bad at all, and with a degree of practice those that love talking with both hands will appreciate the more spaced-out letters.

With the launch of Apple's iOS 6.0.1, an issue which saw some users getting some horizontal banding popping up over the keyboard at times - this has since been removed. We heard of a few users that compain about this ruining Apple's sheen, so it's good to see it's removed quickly.

Internet

Safari, the default internet browser on offer with the iPhone 5, has long been held up as one of the leaders in the mobile internet browsing game. It's slick, fast and makes it simple to check out web pages on the go.

The competition has caught up in recent years, and some might say surpassed it, but for those that are jacked into the Apple ecosystem it's an excellent option, and with the iPhone 5 it's been improved again.

The first thing you'll notice is the speed - it's much faster that the iPhone 4S without doubt. In side by side tests TechRadar loaded at least 0.5s faster over every connection, with the full page displaying in a very impressive amount of loading time.

We compared it to the 1GB of RAM, quad-cored Samsung Galaxy S3 and while the larger phone was a touch quicker at bringing up the words, the iPhone 5 was the quickest to finish loading.

In short, both of these phones can pretty much display the bits of information as soon as your internet connection can pour them in, and that's as much as we can ask from these handsets.

We've also checked out the iPhone 5 running at 4G speeds as well now - and it doesn't really change page loading times, as the phone is already goshdarn nimble at throwing out the 3G signal.

It's worth noting that just because you've got the iPhone 5 doesn't mean you'll be able to connect to the 4G networks, since they all run on slightly different frequencies... so check with your helpful shop assistant before purchase.

You can see our more detailed section on the 4G capabilities of the iPhone 5 later in the review too.

The Retina Display, with the extra space on offer from the larger screen, is an excellent way to browse the internet and now gives more information than ever before.

It's not got the sheer expanse of the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Nokia Lumia 920, but it doesn't feel cramped and text is sharp enough to be legible zoomed out, although you'll need to have good eyesight.

The iPhone 5's zoom system works in two ways: double tap to make the text fit the screen or manually pinch the display to choose the level of enlargement.

This is also improved, speed-wise, with the addition of Apple's new A6 chip, and brings the flagship iPhone up to the mark set by the current quad-core brigade.

So as you can tell, generally navigating around the web with the iPhone is a very pleasant experience indeed, being slick, fast and legible most of the time.

And we'll have to once again tip our hat to Apple when it comes to online video: the company refused to bow to Flash video when the world (us included) berated it for not going down the route. Now Flash on the mobile is virtually dead, and the HTML5 format championed by Apple is becoming widespread, and is creating a better online video watching experience.

And for those that are still all about the words on the net, there's the Reader mode from the Safari browser in full effect, allowing you to scrap the ads and unwanted pictures in favour of just the words, which makes longer articles (like this one) more palatable on the go.

New to the iPhone 5 (through iOS 6) is the addition of the Read Later functionality - simply tag any page and you can get your hands on it offline once it's been saved, and you can even see it in Reader mode too.

However, it takes a jolly long time to actually stream some pages down, which is surprising given they're already loaded when you tag them for offline use.

Another new feature is iCloud Tabs, which allows you to see web pages you've browsed on your desktop or iPad through the Safari browser.

It's similar to the functionality offered by Chrome from Google, and works equally as well, especially in terms of the URL bar guessing which website you want to view.

If we had a criticism (well, we have a couple) it's the fact that the URL and search bars remain too small, making it hard to activate them when you want to search or enter a new web address.

And the lack of text-reflow - where you can set the size of the letters you're reading, prevalent through many Android phones - is still not here. You can enter reading mode and change the size of the letters there, but that's not the same thing at all.

We're generally fans of the Safari browser, but it's not the best out there, as the Android stock browser is far more feature rich now it's moved to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Simple things like having a contextual menu and the ability to switch to Desktop view are really useful when you don't want to mess around with mobile optimised sites, and we'd hoped Apple would have offered the same thing.

However, there are other browsers available for iOS, such as a version of Google's Chrome. Some offer additional features, although this comes at the expense of speed (since only Safari gets access to the faster Nitro JavaScript engine), and Safari always remains the default browser when one's called by another app.

Camera

The iPhone 5 camera might not look materially different to that found on the iPhone 4S, and in truth it is very similar.

But then again, when you're winning plaudits across the board for your smartphone photography, stepping things up in terms of specs isn't really a priority for Apple.

You may have read a few bits and pieces about a 'purple haze' issue, but we noticed nothing in our tests. Apple did respond to the issue with a support document, which noted such effects can be common in small cameras.

Just because the specs are the same, doesn't mean there aren't new features. The two biggest differences are the fact the iPhone 5 can take photos 40% faster than its predecessor and the new dynamic low-light mode reduces the pixel count but improves darker images dramatically.

On top of that we've got new elements like a sapphire crystal lens to allow in more light and an improved filter to increase the natural colours.

What we don't have is a whole load of effects and settings to play with, and this is both the strength and weakness of the iPhone 5. While some will see the lack of burst mode, lighting levels and sharpness alteration as a weakness, others will look at the options to add a grid or turn on HDR and see all they need from a camera phone.

And in truth, it's the latter camp that makes the most sense, as the iPhone 5 will offer great quality snaps on auto mode time and again. The low light mode works very well, and while the pictures can look a little grainy the general effect is very impressive.

Some may question whether the cool features seen on the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3 should have made it onto the iPhone – namely burst mode to capture shots in quick succession. They probably should have, given the speeds on offer from the camera, and given the processing power would have looked pretty good too. (Of course, external apps such as Camera+ can provide this functionality on the iPhone 5, should you wish to add it).

The flash is very bright too for a single LED, although it is rather cold in tone. There was also an issue with the camera flash not firing on occasion with the original iOS, although many users would have been unaware that it was a problem... instead thinking they'd made a mistake. Well, if you never noticed it, GOOD NEWS! It's been fixed. Press flash, get flash. Good good.

And there's also a new feature in the shape of Panorama mode – this is one of those times where Apple brings out a new feature and some fans laud it as the greatest invention yet when in truth it's been on other phones for years and years.

And yet, Apple has somehow worked out the kinks in the system. For one, you take the panoramas in portrait mode which leads to a taller (if less expansive) end image, which is stitched together with such accuracy we're not sure that the dark arts aren't involved.

It's a 28MP image that comes out at the end and the iPhone 5 stitches it all together as you go, which is incredibly effective and speedy, so you're ready to snap as soon as the photography is done.

Add to that the fact the on-screen shutter button is larger, and you can see that the ease of use has increased on this already simple interface. And don't forget you can use the volume down key to take photos… although in practice this did sometimes lead to camera jiggle with the force required to take the photo if the phone is held the wrong way up.

If you're in a hurry you can activate the camera from the lock screen too, which is one of the fastest ways on any smartphone to go from locked to snap, as long as you know the motions needed to fire up the camera (a quick swipe up on the camera icon, if you're wondering).

There are other features involved that help maintain photo quality too, as was seen on the iPhone 4S: long pressing the screen will lock the exposure, so while the iPhone 5 will usually change the exposure levels depending on the scene, if you want it to stay at a certain level this will achieve it.

It's also excellent at face tracking too, so should you want to focus in on gurning friends then it'll pick them all up with no issue.

Video

The major change here is one that we've already seen from HTC and Samsung: namely, the ability to take pictures while recording. It's a trick that's been around for a long, long time on video cameras, but it's nifty and works well on the iPhone 5.

Our only gripe is that it isn't easy to tell when you've actually taken the photo, so you just have to click and hope at times.

The video camera, which can record 30fps footage at 1080p, now packs video stabilisation to make sure your home movies don't look like you're running the from the Blair Witch every time.

It's pretty good, as you can see from our video comparison with the S3 - in short, it comes up with impressive videos time and again, and we can see many examples on the way of film makers or other producers showing how amazing they are by doing content on the iPhone 5.

Media

Apple has based its whole iPhone ideal on the success of the iPod, deciding it wanted to make inroads into that area while combining it with the power of the phone at the same time all the way back in 2007.

To that end, music has always been at the heart of most iPhone design, and it's still good these days. It's actually changed remarkably little in terms of interface, and while that might be a criticism to some parts of the platform, in this case it's actually rather good.

There's also a strong emphasis on video too, which is again relatively unchanged... although we'd like to see that updated in all honestly to incorporate some more advanced features.

Music

Audio-wise, the iPhone 5 is close to the best out there. Sound is rich and balanced, and the overall effect is clean, easy to listen to and isn't muddied by any emphasis on certain areas of the hearing spectrum. You can access the player in a variety of ways, from the Music app on the home screen (traditionally in the on-screen dock at the bottom) to double tapping the home button and swiping right.

And if you're on the lock screen, a double tap will also call up the music player, as well as showing album art on the screen.

Navigation through your tracks is pretty darn easy too - you've got very few buttons to mess around with on the player, with the little slider buttons coming with a very 'Apple-esque' reflection that moves as you tilt the phone.

We suggest you keep this trick hidden to those that mock iPhone owners as it will be like gold dust to them. We can just hear it now: 'Look at the shiny reflecting thing when I tilt my phone!' 'Yeah, but it can't make PHONE CALLS, can it? Or use Maps? Hur hur derp' 'You've always hated me, Andy, haven't you?'

There's the familiar Cover Flow option too should you decide to turn the phone sideways. It's a joy to jump through tracks, and tapping on any album will show the track listing.

We do wish that you could long-press on tracks to add them to a playlist, or were able to swipe on the song cover art in the main player to change tracks - these are areas where iOS 6 is starting to show its age.

There are a number of extra services accessed through the Settings app (don't get us started again) and these include shake to shuffle (turn it off straight away if you ever walk and listen to music) and the more useful EQ and Sound Check settings to improve the quality of your audio... and it really works too.

We also like the efforts made to protect you hearing, with the option to limit you volume level to EU standards and the fact the on screen volume control will start to turn red when it gets too loud... after that, you're choosing to damage your ears.

Overall the iPhone 5 music player is a very, very good music player that doesn't add any bells or whistles to a competent package.

iTunes Match

Apple is also chucking in iTunes Match to give you access to your library on the go... well, we say chucking in, but you have to pay £21.99 for the year to do so. It will take your existing library, scan it, and improve the quality and make it available to stream wherever you are.

It's not a new service, but it helps those limited to the 16GB version, and don't want to fork out for the 32GB or 64GB versions.

While we're on the subject, can someone explain why it costs £100 extra to get a larger capacity of flash drive on a iPhone 5?

Given a microSD card (which obviously can't be inserted into the iPhone 5) is a fraction of that cost, how can Apple get away with charging that much more to be able to store more apps and movies on a phone?

We get that consumers don't always need expandable storage, but to charge such a premium is a little harsh.

Video

With greater size comes... wait, we've made that 'joke' already. There's a larger screen on the iPhone 5, thus movies look better. That's that covered.

We jest again. The larger screen is a great thing for watching movies compared to the iPhone 4S, as it allows you to see 16:9 videos the way they were supposed to be viewed.

It still puts black lines above and below the 21:9 movies, but this is common across most smartphones, and it's at least better than the ludicrously thin options seen on the 4S and older.

MP4 files seem to be the order of the day here, so if you want to watch something else you'll need to download an app like Cine X Player to achieve that - and it's not easy to load them on. Sure, many films are already encoded in that format, but it doesn't stop the closed nature being irritating.

Given most other smartphones are capable of at least playing an AVI file still, if not Xvid or DivX, it's a shame Apple hasn't followed suit.

However, if you have got something you can watch, the experience is good. Well, apart from the relatively poor positioning of the 3.5mm headphone jack that is.

Holding the phone in landscape mode as you must for a movie session can get tiring, because you'll need to wrap your little finger around the wire to get a comfortable watching position... we wish it was moved inwards a few millimetres to help out.

The screen quality is very good though, and HD movies in particular look sharp and detailed.

There's an argument here about the difference in colour saturation levels between the Super AMOLED options and the Retina Display, but it really comes down to preference, as one will be oversaturated to one person, where the other will look washed out to another.

One problem we did note was that the screen had to be held at a more rigid viewing angle than the Galaxy S3 else the brightness went slightly awry. Not massively so, but enough to irritate at times.

As we mentioned above, the video app could do with a little overhaul, as the large thumbnail list can be a bit cumbersome to use at times. The S3 manages to play back the movies in the thumbnails, making it very easy to see what you're watching, which is really useful if you're trying to work out which episode of a series you're watching next.

Photo Stream, EarPods and gaming

Gallery and Photo Stream

Apple has always been about simplicity when it comes to viewing your photos, and the iPhone 5 is no exception.

It's a simple trip into the photos section to view your snaps (and videos, confusingly) where you can pinch to zoom or create albums of your favourite cat with ease.

There's also the option to see geotagged photos on a map, which can really help take away the post holiday blues when you can see all the fun you had in hot climates...as long as you didn't go holidaying in Luton.

Photo Stream is also on offer, meaning any photo taken with a device logged into the same Apple account will populate here instantly. It's a neat touch, but something many might not understand unless they get others to show them how to set it up properly.

Gaming

Gaming on the iPhone 5 is more of a priority than ever, thanks to an enhanced graphics chip compared to both the iPhone 4S and the new iPad (well, it would need to be an upgrade from the predecessor to handle the increase in pixels at least).

In practice it's easy to see why the iPhone 5 is a real competitor to the handheld console market, as gameplay on even the most intensive titles is fluid and responsive.

You've got access to the accelerometer and gyroscope as before, and while these aren't new features it was on the iPhone 4 that we got our first taste of being able to whirl around a room and shoot bad guys, so it offers a pleasant trip down memory lane.

There's a wealth of gaming content that's mostly inexpensively available on the App Store, so we recommend you check it out no matter if you're a seasoned gamer looking for the latest version of NOVA or someone that likes to play New Star Soccer on the train.

We've tested a few more games now that take advantage of the larger screen size, and it's definitely a better experience, especially when using the accelerometer-based controls.

Going forward we can see a really great level of use from the developers with that extra real estate... just think how much further you'll be able to fling those birds now.

New earphones

Apple's new EarPods made (some) headlines when launched with the new iPhone 5 - Apple is claiming they're designed 'from the sound up'.

In reality they're nothing more than a justified upgrade from the pitiful white options that have been hanging around with the iPod and iPhone for years now.

You can read all about our in-depth findings with these buds in our Apple EarPods review, but they may stop some people upgrading to a better set of ear buds at least.

The new headphones are rounded and while won't be noise isolating (clearly Apple's employees don't take a lot of trains, else this would have been the first feature designed in) they are more connected to the ear canal.

The sound is a little muddy and bass heavy, but again is a big improvement on the previous models.

The fit feels like it's going to fall out of your ears at any time, and if you've got more 'expansive' ears, they certainly will.

We tried out some RHA MA450's with the iPhone 5 and instantly the sound quality was much improved, and they only cost a fraction more than the £25 you'd have to pay for the Apple offerings should you break them.

Battery and 4G

Apple took the curious step of not really increasing the battery life on the iPhone 5 despite the faster chipset with LTE connectivity... but it seems that the decision to wait a little while before bringing the 4G technology to the phone has allowed it to optimise the power pack.

Apple's own battery specs indicate the device should have 225 hours of standby time, up to eight hours of internet use on 3G (and 10 on Wi-Fi), up to 10 hours of video playback and 40 hours of audio playback.

In running audio in a loop with the device on airplane mode, such an audio playback figure can be reached, and Apple's internet figures are close to what we found during testing.

In more general mixed usage, though, you'd be very optimistic to think your iPhone 5 will last longer than a single day on one charge, and that range will be dramatically reduced if you use battery-sucking processor-intensive apps or games, or power-sapping turn-by-turn navigation and 3G/LTE. Apple's device doesn't compare poorly with most other smartphones on this scale, but it's certainly no leading light, either.

We also found that issues remain within iOS that can lead to an overnight power drain if the device isn't plugged in. Historically, this has often been down to location services being overly active, and during testing we had a couple of 'dead iPhone in the morning' instances. Turning off unused location services seemed to help, but this isn't particularly discoverable for the typical user, and nor are background tasks sapping battery life something you'd usually associate with Apple.

4G

4G is the new trick on offer from the iPhone 5 - and is now available in the UK thanks to a deal with EE.

If you've bought one on Orange or T-Mobile, you're able to migrate to the new 4G service on the new EE network.

This will offer speeds of around 20Mbps on the go, which will outstrip even the more powerful Wi-Fi in many homes - but it's very, very pricey and the data levels on offer are poor, to say the least.You'll be paying £180 for a £36 a month deal, with only 500MB of data for company. Don't buy this deal if you want to actually get value for money.

And if that doesn't float your boat, you've got some really fast network speeds on offer: DC-HSPA means you'll be able to access 4G-lite speeds on the go providing your network is capable of this... however, most are rolling out the functionality over the coming months in the build up to greater 4G coverage, so you won't be too heavily handicapped by the lack of LTE if you're on one of the unlucky networks.

We spent some time checking out the new iPhone 5 on the EE 4G network - and yes, it's a lot faster. Apps downloaded minutes faster (when it came to the larger files), streams began over three seconds quicker and generally it was a much, much snappier experience on the internet.

Sure, it fully requires your data plans to be acceptable, but if you've got a decent connection you'll have broadband style speeds on the go with no question, as long as you're in a major city. This means you'll nab up to 50Mbps when out and about, with some impressively low latency of 50-55ms.

Of course, Apple could release network specific phones for the 2.6GHz spectrum that O2 and Vodafone will use for 4G, but we won't hold our breath, so if you want 4G on an iPhone 5, you're stuck with EE.

Connections

PC Connectivity

Many people have taken umbrage at the way they're supposed to get media on and off their iPhone, and with probably just cause, as the experience is far from ideal.

iTunes is much improved over the past few years, but that doesn't stop most people having to wait a few seconds just to place some music on their phone.

The annoying thing is the amount of syncing that happens when you plug your iPhone into the PC or Mac, so we recommend you turn off automatic syncing when you plug in the phone else you'll be waiting a few extra minutes just to plop a film on there.

That said, the speed with which items transfer over is impressive given it's only USB 2.0 on offer, with songs and movies zipping across far more quickly than an Android phone using Windows Explorer to drag and drop.

But given the fact that you're so locked down in media choices as well as not being able to just quickly chuck files onto the iPhone 5 without having to go through the syncing palaver, it's not a great system still.

At least you can back up the phone wirelessly, meaning if it's plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi (and your computer is on) you'll be able to keep all your important messages, contacts and app data safe each night.

Connectivity

The iPhone 5 is one of the best stocked phones around when it comes to connections, thanks to plonking all manner of options in there. We've already talked through the likes of 4G and the slower 3G connection speeds on offer, but there's plenty more to be impressed with too.

For instance, Bluetooth 4.0 is included, which might sound like a faster version of the wireless tech you've entertained for decades but is actually a decent upgrade, allowing you to connect to low power devices with ease. This means things like heart monitors or pressure sensors in your shoes can be used, without needing to charge them every seven seconds.

We're already seeing a number of new technologies designed to make use of BT 4.0, and Apple is likely to be a big pusher of the technology as apps are developed around the ecosystem too.

In terms of mapping, it may not be all rosy on that front (we'll get to that in a minute) but at least the connection speeds are strong, with both GLONASS and aGPS supported on the phone. For the uninitiated, GLONASS is a Russian system that rivals GPS, offering connection to reams of other satellites, and is necessary if you want to ship your smartphone into the country without a tax.

It doesn't matter to the consumer though, as they get easy access to satellites that mean a stronger connection and one that finds you in less than three seconds in most cases, which makes it a very useful tracking method.

Wi-Fi is also well represented on the iPhone 5, with 802.11a/b/g/n all supported, as well as both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies.

You don't need to worry about what all this means other than to know that nearly all router technologies are covered, and the dual-band frequencies mean your other household devices are less likely to interfere with the Wi-Fi connection.

The Wi-Fi signal strength is one of the most impressive we've seen on a smartphone - using the zone in the office that has just an inkling of connectivity is a great place to test any phone, and while the iPhone 5 used to drop out of connectivity, with the iOS 6.0.1 and 6.0.2 updates it's now even more able to grab onto signal than ever before. We consider ourselves impressed by this change.

iCloud

Apple's cunningly-named online cloud storage system is becoming more mature these days, and as such is turning into a worthy addition to the Apple ecosystem. Once signed up to an iCloud address, you can view your email on the server, see calendars saved through the service or store all your contacts on the iCloud for safekeeping.

There's also the incredibly handy way of finding your iOS device by tracking it on a map and causing it to emit a loud squeak so you can find it, or have the thing erased wirelessly should a connection be present.

And for a fee you can also buy Pages from the App Store, which allows you to collaborate on documents over the cloud with any iOS device plugged in, all shared and saved instantly.

In truth, the whole set up is a less powerful but more easy to use and attractive system compared to Google's offering. You can do all the above on an Android phone and more, but it's in the ease of use that Apple wins.

Passbook and Reminders

Another new feature is Passbook, which allows you to store loyalty cards and boarding passes and sporting tickets and more in one handy app.

Anyone that's been running for the Gatwick Express and needed to find the sodding code in an email is going to see this as a godsend. Sadly, the reality is that very few companies are so far making use of Passbook.

In the UK, the App Store boasts just a handful of apps (including a couple of airlines, iHotel, Starbucks) with Passbook-compatible deals, boarding or booking confirmation. This might change in the future, but Passbook's also, based on current evidence, just as likely to become another Ping.

For all those that are lamenting the lack of NFC on the iPhone 5, we hear you. We were really hoping Apple would embrace the technology in the same way as Google and Microsoft have done in order to really push the possibilities of contactless payments and services.

However, there's a fairly good case for the iPhone 5 not to have NFC on board, as it's still a nascent technology and, while Apple is noted as having an interest in the area, clearly doesn't deem it ready to the mainstream at the moment.

It's a shame as we'd love to see Airplay connections through tapping a speaker dock or paying for a Subway sandwich by tapping an iPhone on and getting loyalty points... but keep a close eye on the iPhone 5S, as we think that's when Apple will launch it.

We wanted to talk about Reminders as well, as while it's an excellent idea - being able to remind you to do things when entering a certain zone or leaving the office - it doesn't always work in practice.

We set up a series of reminders to be triggered on the way to work, and very few activated within a few hundred metres of where we wanted, which isn't really good enough.

Over the air updates

At launch, there were some issues with over the air updates, which were fixed in iOS 6.0.2. Subsequent updates have been released, and generally download and install quickly. (Apple now favours delta updates for its OS, meaning it no longer has to download the entire OS prior to install.)

For the most part, subsequent updates for iOS have also been bug fixes, reportedly to improve performance relating to battery life, connectivity and Siri. In general use, we've seen no obvious changes for the better but, crucially, no reduction in quality either.

Siri and Maps

Siri makes his/her way back onto the iPhone 5, and comes imbued with ever-greater powers too.

It's also massively improved in terms of speech recognition, even picking out our mumbly tones in order to set reminders, find out what the football scores are or let us know what movies are showing nearby.

There was a lot that the iPhone 4S version of Siri couldn't do in the UK, and that's all been rectified here.

You still can't book a restaurant through the power of your voice, but you can at least learn which ones are near you. Siri did think KFC was a fish and chip shop though....LOL WRONG OMFG whatever.

For the full run down on what Siri can now do, head on over to the Apple site - but the football scores, movies, app launching (and any app) are all excellent features that make using the phone in a car a real treat.

We'd say that Siri is a well thought out upgrade that means we'll now use it for around four things once in a while rather than just setting a timer to remind us when to stir the pasta.

Maps

Ah, now... here we go. We're sure a number of you have headed straight to this section in order to find out what Apple has been up to with iOS Maps.

Well, in a nutshell, Apple and Google decided that Google Maps wasn't going to be the main way of getting around on the iPhone, so Apple bought its own little company and teamed with TomTom to allow turn by turn directions, 3D flyover modes and the ability to see more attractions near you at any time.

At least, that was the theory.

In practice, the internet sport of spotting mistakes on the new Maps app has grown in an amazingly quick time, simply because there are so many glitches in the software.

You'll have probably heard about the publicised ones (spelling Doncaster wrong, refusing to show Torquay, deciding when a user types in 'Luton' they want the small village in Devon rather than the big city) but there are more serious issues we have to deal with.

For instance, there's no public transport on offer here, meaning you'll have to download a separate app to get on board a train at the right time or work out whether taking the bus is faster from where you are.

That's something Google Maps on Android does very well indeed, and means we want to berate Apple already for not having perfected its app before launch.

But we found a real time fault when using the iPhone 5 to navigate around town. We asked for directions to Paddington Station, and were told to go to Australia while standing in the middle of London.

It's not hard to type in 'London Paddington' instead, but what it did was remove trust in the app to take us to the right places when asked.

This is a major failing for such a service, and Apple has asked for 'patience' as it perfects the art of mapping, with crowd-sourcing helping to iron out these glitches. It's not as big a deal as some news outlets are making out, but if you're a company that lives and dies by consumer hype, then you need to aim for near-perfection before launch if you want to avoid this kind of thing.

We tested this extensively over the last two weeks, and while it was still mostly correct, there were too many errors for us to enjoy it. For instance, when looking for a restaurant we needed to meet people at, in a side by side test with the Samsung Galaxy S3, the two phones said it was at opposite ends of a very long street.

Thankfully we trusted Google Maps, and were rewarded with a shorter journey as iOS Maps was many many metres out.

Apple is slowly fixing things, and we've no doubt Apple Maps in the future will continue to improve as issues are dealt with on the server side of things. Still, it wasn't a great way to launch what Apple claimed was a new pivotal app. Additionally, the graphic style Apple's used might be fine for the US, but there's no distinction between different road types in the UK, making Apple Maps inferior to Google Maps for at-a-glance navigation.

But let's not be all about the problems - the navigational side of things is actually very good, at least when using turn-by-turn in a car (assuming the locations are correctly set).

Siri's voice is clear, there are always a number of routes suggested, and it will even run on the lock screen with the phone lighting up when you're coming close to your next turn.

The app is bright, colourful and has loads of shops and restaurants listed throughout the world - it's just a shame many of those shops are now shut down or in the wrong place, so Apple needs to update its database pronto if it's to make Maps into the awesome app it could be.

The fact Apple has told users to try alternative means to map themselves around is proof enough there's an issue here - basically, Apple has done a big wrong on the world by launching a product before it's ready, especially when there was a more accurate on before.

• Google Maps vs Apple Maps

Now that Google Maps has launched as a standalone app things are back to normal for iOS users, but it still a damning indictment on Apple's efforts in the mapping space, consigning the Apple Maps app to the same folder as Stocks, Compass and myriad other things you'll never use your iPhone for.

Apple should have ensured Maps was far more robust before releasing it. Until it's significantly improved, we strongly recommend using Google Maps for planning routes and on-foot navigation, and breaking out Apple Maps for turn-by-turn in the car, where it's a slightly superior system.

Hands on gallery

Official gallery

Verdict

Is the iPhone 5 a good phone? Of course it is… a smart evolution of a decent handset is always going to be a quality device.

But is it enough to warrant the fervour of the claims of record sales and 'the best thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone'?

To some people it may seem like it's just the iPhone 4S with a longer screen and some fancier earbuds… but to others it's more like the tweaks they've been waiting for to finally warrant upgrading or moving to the iSide.

So with the 4-inch screen, faster processor and all new design, is this the iPhone you've been searching for?

We liked

It's quite hard to dislike an iPhone, no matter whether you love or disdain Apple's ethos. It's just so simple, with a quality screen and a real effort made into the design.

And it's fair to say, rather obviously, that this is the best iPhone ever made. That doesn't mean it's the best phone we've seen, but it's a jolly good effort.

The screen improvement is a real step forward, and the overall speed of the device has been increased to a blistering speed that matches the best the opposition has to offer.

We love the two tone back, and the pigmented glass effect, although the chassis is a little sharp at the edges.

The web browser is as fast as anything we've seen too, as well as the audio performance – and the larger screen makes video viewing better. There's also the very good camera on offer, with speedy pics and great quality of snaps… in short, there's not a lot we can fault on the specs, as we're fine not having a quad core chip just for the sake of it.

We disliked

The iPhone 5 isn't without its faults though – it's a handset that suffers from an ageing OS that doesn't look overly different from when it was launched five and a half years ago.

There are so many tweaks Apple could make to its OS to turn it into more of a powerhouse – icons that update with information, or extending the widgets in the notification bar beyond weather and stocks.

If only developers could add that functionality to apps so you could see updates in the notifications bar (seeing as it won't add anything to the home screen) – but Apple is taking things very slowly on this front, and we're really looking forward to seeing what iOS 7 brings.

We're not saying 'make it like Android' as there's a reason people buy iPhones - but there is a middle ground that Apple could inch towards.

The closed garden nature of iOS is also irritating, as it means you can't share items other than photos to Dropbox without connecting up to iTunes or send files to your mates via Bluetooth without installing special apps on both phones.

And then there's the lack of NFC, although we do see Apple's reasons for omitting the technology. It's not quite there yet in terms of market penetration for payments, but the world's largest network of accessories could definitely have made use of it for making ever cooler docks and cases.

Maps was poor on launch and is only improving relatively slowly. No doubt it will get better, but right now it's just not good enough when walking or for finding businesses, although it's fine for driving. Still, iOS does have plenty of alternatives you can use, including Google Maps.

Finally, there's the everlasting issue of the iPhone price. We simply cannot see how a 16GB model can cost £529 but to double the memory will cost an extra £70 with no other changes to the design.

And then your look at the contract price – it's far and away the most expensive in the shop, and most of the time you don't even get unlimited data.

There are plenty of other models on the market that are stronger than the iPhone 5, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One or the Nokia Lumia 925, and these still match the price of Apple's flagship.

Verdict

Is the iPhone 5 the best smartphone ever? If you're an iPhone lover and won't ever leave, without question. It's got a larger screen, a superb new design and generally all the moves required to make it into a worthy evolution.

But as ever we can't get over the price of the iPhone 5, with very little reason to prove that spending all that extra cash brings a tangible benefit.

That larger screen is a little too large to operate properly with one thumb, so we think there was room to make the screen even bigger. If you've played with a 4.5-inch or above phone, you'll get used to the greater space very quickly, so we don't think the iPhone 5 has the optimum screen.

Ultimately, this is an iPhone that underwhelms in terms of specs, but packages it all together in a way that works. The most annoyance has come in the way that Apple hasn't re-invented anything on the interface or hardware front.

But that's Apple's job, not ours. This is a company built on enchantment and magic and excitement over raw spec lists - something like a Liquidmetal body or separate screen on the back would have wowed over 'it's a bit thinner'.

In terms of our rating, we were torn between 4 and 4.5 stars, as the mixture of poor Maps, sky high price and aged OS is quite a long way from five stars. But there's still something about the way Apple puts together a smartphone that just works in a way that most of the competition can't match. It's a little bit creaky compared to the iPhone 4 heyday, but the iPhone 5 is still a brilliant phone in many ways.

If we could, we'd give the phone 4.25 stars, and we're sticking at this level for now - after months of use we still love the phone as we have other iPhones, which helped offset the poorer case design and continuing Maps nonsense - but there's still a sense that it could be better.

The iPhone 5 is the phone that's the minimum users would want in terms of an upgrade, and finding the balance there is something Apple is more adept at than ever. It's a very, very good phone, but there are plenty of other equivalent devices out there that will suck much less cash from your bank account each month that we think you should check out too.

Overview, design and feel

The Nokia Lumia 520 is Nokia's fifth Windows Phone 8 handset. It's a phone which slots into the very bottom end of the range, just below the Nokia Lumia 620.

And we do mean just below - the specs of the 520 and 620 are remarkably similar, meaning that Nokia's main competition at the bottom end of the market is itself. Otherwise, its biggest rival is likely to be the recently launched Huawei Ascend W1 - a low-end handset that we're rather fond of.

Of course if you look beyond Windows Phone 8 then there's also a whole host of Android competitors such as the Huawei Ascend G330 and the Orange San Diego.

The Nokia Lumia 520 has a fairly generous 4-inch, 480 x 800 display and is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 512MB of RAM. That may not sound like much but the power matches the Lumia 620, and we had few qualms about the performance of that phone given its price. The screen is actually slightly bigger than that of the Nokia Lumia 620, which only has a 3.8-inch display.

The Nokia Lumia 520 starts at around £150 SIM free or from around £100 if you buy it locked (and the price has already plummeted to £70 in some stores), while the Lumia 620 retails from around £175 SIM free or £150 locked.

That means a decent saving for those who don't mind committing to a network. It's a little cheaper than the Huawei Ascend W1 too.

The Nokia Lumia 520 will be undergoing a facelift soon when it gets the new Lumia Amber update, which will bring FM radio and an all new camera to the handset in Q3 2013 - we'll update the review when it appears.

Like all recent Nokia handsets there's a lot of colour in the Nokia Lumia 520. It shares the look of other Lumia devices, with a single piece of smooth plastic covering the back and sides of the phone. That shell is available in black or white, but the bright shades of yellow, blue and red on offer will appeal if you like it loud.

If nothing else, it makes Nokia handsets stand out from the crowd. Regardless of the colour, it's quite a nice looking phone in other ways, with an angular rectangular design more in line with the higher end Nokia Lumia 920 than the curved edges of its closest relation - the Nokia Lumia 620.

It's certainly a more distinctive (and we'd argue classier) look than that of the Lumia 620 - which is odd for when the Lumia 520 is supposed to be the more basic option.

It's also slimmer and lighter than the Lumia 620, at a fairly sleek 9.9mm and 124g. At 119.9 x 64mm it is longer and wider than the Lumia 620, but that's understandable given that it's also got a slightly bigger screen.

We like the feel of it too. The plastic casing seems almost warm, making it nice to hold, and it's not as slippery as it might look - so getting a firm grip on the handset is no problem. The almost jagged corners can dig into your hand a little when held in certain positions, but it's at worst slightly uncomfortable and easily avoided by adjusting your grip.

The front of the Nokia Lumia 520 is mostly screen as you'd expect and at 4-inches it's a decent size for a low-price handset. The pixel density of 233 pixels per inch also isn't bad at all for the money you're paying - sure it's dwarfed by the likes of the 469 ppi HTC One, but it's also many times cheaper.

A huge plus is the ability to use gloves with the screen too - being able to type in the cold weather is becoming a really common ability on phones, but we're impressed Nokia managed it on such a cheap handset.

Unlike some handsets, the screen here isn't edge-to-edge: there's a black border running the entire way around it. At the sides this border is fairly narrow, but it becomes quite wide at the top to make room for the earpiece and a Nokia logo. It's even wider at the bottom, because that's where you'll find the start, back and search softkeys.

The back of the handset is almost featureless, with just a small Nokia logo in the centre, the 5-megapixel camera lens near the top and a tiny loudspeaker near the bottom.

The right edge of the handset houses all of the phones physical buttons, with a volume rocker at the top, a power button near the middle and a camera button near the bottom. The layout works well, with the buttons spaced far enough to prevent confusion.

The left edge is devoid of any features, ports or buttons at all.

The top is home only to a 3.5mm headphone port on the left hand side.

The bottom edge has a micro USB port in the centre, which is used for charging or connecting the Nokia Lumia 520 to a computer.

The back cover is easy to remove - you simply use your nails to peel it away at each corner. The cover itself feels reasonably sturdy, so we don't see it snapping even if you take it on and off a lot.
Once that has been removed, you'll have access to the 1430 mAh battery (which interestingly is bigger than the 1300 mAh battery found in the Nokia Lumia 620).

Underneath the battery there are two slots - one for a micro SIM card and one for a microSD card. The Nokia Lumia 520 supports up to 64GB cards, which comes in very handy for bulking up the storage from the fairly limiting 8GB of onboard memory.

At first glance it's certainly an impressive handset for the price, easily competing with the similarly priced Huawei Ascend W1 and potentially rendering the Nokia Lumia 620 redundant. In fact, given that it has similar specs, a bigger screen and a better battery, you might be wondering why the Lumia 520 is considered lower-end than the 620.

Well, there are a few reasons. First off, the Nokia Lumia 520 doesn't have NFC. It also doesn't have camera flash or a front-facing camera, plus there's no compass built into it, and while the screen is slightly bigger it still has the same resolution - resulting in a marginally lower ppi.

But we don't consider any of them to be deal breakers, and depending on how you plan to use the phone they may well be things you can happily live with - especially for £70.

Interface

Operating the Nokia Lumia 520 is a fairly painless experience. Swiping around the various screens is smooth and responsive, while the 4-inch display is plenty big enough to do most things comfortably. While it's only 480 x 800, the display also has a good enough resolution to prevent tiles and menus becoming a blur.

One thing we did notice though is that the screen feels ever so slightly sticky, for lack of a better word. It's responsive but somehow doesn't feel as accurate to the touch as many others do. On top of that it seems more prone to picking up smudges and fingerprints than we'd like - which can make things a bit of a mess.

The interface on the Nokia Lumia 520 is much the same as on any other Windows Phone 8 handset.

You start on the lockscreen, which displays the time and date along with an overview of your latest email, or any pertinent reminders pulled from Facebook or your calendar. Behind that you get wallpaper - or if you'd prefer you can set Facebook to display random images from your account.

Swiping up clears the lockscreen and takes you to the start screen. This has tiles for various apps and menus, and you can scroll through them vertically.

Long pressing on a tile lets you move it, resize it or unpin it from the screen, while if you dig into the settings menu you can also change the colour scheme. However, there are no custom wallpapers or widgets to play with. That keeps things simple and intuitive but some may find it limiting.

The tiles themselves are "live tiles", which means that they're not just a static image. Instead they can display additional information - so for example the People tile will show you thumbnails of contacts images, while the calendar will display upcoming events.

Swiping left from the start screen brings up a list of all your apps in alphabetical order - and again you scroll vertically up and down through these. Long pressing an app on this screen lets you pin it to the start screen or delete it.

You'll find the settings screen in here (though like everything else it can be pinned to the start screen for easy access if you'd prefer). From here you can change ringtones and other sounds, alter the start screen theme, set up Wi-Fi networks and more.

It's all well laid out and clearly labelled, though we wish certain options were more easily accessible, such as toggles for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

We'd also love to be able to see how much battery percentage we have left without having to delve into the depths of the settings screen.

The soft touch back, start and search buttons are all fairly self-explanatory in their main uses, but two of them have additional uses if you long press them.

The back button will display an overview of recent apps and screens if you long press it, allowing you to tap on one to return to it, while the start button will bring up a voice search box when long pressed.

It can be used to launch apps, send texts, search the web and more, and generally it can tell what you're trying to say as long as you speak clearly.

Contacts and calling

Contacts

One area that Microsoft has really nailed with Windows Phone 8 is how to handle contacts. It's all fairly straightforward really: you access them from the People app, which gives you an alphabetical list of all your contacts, complete with thumbnails.

Tapping on someone brings up all the information you have stored on them - from email and phone number right through to office location, birthday and address.

You can then just tap on a phone number or email to call or message them, and it's easy to add new details to a contact at any time by tapping the edit icon at the bottom of the screen.

Swiping right from a contacts page will take you to a "history" screen, which keeps a record of communications between the two of you as well as their recent posts and updates on social networks.

Back on the main People screen you can add new contacts by tapping the plus button at the bottom, though you may find that your address book is already pretty full, as the Nokia Lumia 520 pulls contacts from Facebook, Hotmail, your SIM card and other linked services.

Swiping to the left brings you to a "what's new" screen, which combines social networks such as Twitter and Facebook into a single feed, giving you an overview of recent happenings without having to use a separate app.

It's simple stuff, but combining contacts and social network feeds is something that no other phone OS does quite as well as Windows Phone 8, and we're big fans.

If you keep swiping across from here you get to a list of people that you've recently been in contact with and finally a "together" screen, which lets you set up groups and rooms (which are like groups but allow you to share messages with everyone in the room).

Calling

You can tap on a contact's phone number to call them, but for the most part the "Phone" app deals with your dialling needs.

When you open it you'll find yourself on the history screen, which is simply a list of any calls that you've made and received, along with the date and time of the call.

You can tap on any of these to call the person back, but we don't imagine it's a screen that will get much use, so it seems strange that the app defaults to this one whenever you open it.

Never mind though - you can easily get to the other screens via icons at the bottom. One calls your voicemail, one takes you to your phonebook in the people app, one lets you search for a contact and one takes you to the dialler.

There's also a settings tab here, which lets you turn call forwarding on, set up text auto-replies and turn your caller ID on or off.

The dial pad itself is a bit of a letdown as it doesn't support smart dialling - so you're really only likely to use it for people that aren't already in your address book.

Things are a lot more positive when you're actually on a call, as call quality is pretty good - perhaps not the best we've come across but certainly above average, and we never had a problem hearing anyone or experienced any dropped calls.

There's the usual assortment of information onscreen during the call - the contact's name and number and the call duration, plus there are options to mute the call, put the call on hold, turn the loudspeaker on, or add someone else to the call. The loudspeaker isn't bad - it has fairly clear sound quality but it's not super loud, so you might struggle to hold a conversation from the other side of a room.

Stop being lazy though - move closer.

Messaging

Text messages on the Nokia Lumia 520 are handled by the Messaging app, which is much like the equivalent apps that you'd find on an iPhone or Android handset.

The main screen is a list of message threads from everyone that you've ever texted (unless you delete the texts).

Tapping on a thread brings you into the conversation with that person, where messages are displayed in coloured speech bubbles.

From here you can easily tap out a new message and there's also a button at the bottom to attach files to the message, and another to dictate a message if tapping is just too much work.

It works fine, and all that it's arguably lacking is contact pictures - a strange omission given that they're featured in the People app, but even the main threads screen doesn't have them.

If you swipe sideways from the threads screen you reach an area called Online, which lets you chat with friends from linked messaging services and social networks, such as Facebook.

It's a great feature and another way in which Windows Phone 8 really nails social network integration. Of course if you'd rather not be integrated you can just set yourself to offline.

Aside from text messaging and social networks (many of which have their own separate apps available to download as well as being integrated into the OS), there's also an email client included with the Nokia Lumia 520.

If you have a tile for it on your start screen then it will display how many new emails you have and the subject line of the most recent one.

Opening the app gives you a mostly black and white list of emails in your inbox, along with a snapshot of the message content.

You can tap one to open it, long press it to delete it, or swipe horizontally to see just a list of unread, urgent or flagged messages.

Emails are easy to read on the 4-inch screen, and you can quickly and smoothly scroll around them. You can also send a reply or delete an email at the touch of a button.

Composing new emails is similarly straightforward, as you just tap on the plus button from your inbox, then tap out a subject, email address and message. If you want to add a new email account that can also be done in a few taps, and there's support for most email clients.

The onscreen keyboard doesn't make things any harder than they need to be either.

There's no lag when inputting text and it takes a decent stab at autocorrecting typos. It's generally quite accurate too.

However, it is a little cramped, especially in portrait mode, so if you've got particularly big hands you may struggle with it.

Internet

The Nokia Lumia 520 comes with Wi-Fi and 3G as you'd expect and being a Windows Phone 8 handset your web browser choices are Internet Explorer and, er, Internet Explorer. Still, it's not the worst mobile browser we've ever used, so that's not the end of the world.

At the bottom of the screen there's a search/address bar, while to the left of that there's an icon to refresh the page.

To the right there are three dots which bring up all the other options, including changing tab, viewing your favourites, adding a page to favourites, pinning a page to the start screen and accessing the settings screen.

The favourites and tabs screens are both utterly straightforward. Tabs shows thumbnails of any open tabs, letting you tap one to switch to it or tap the cross to close it. You can also open new tabs from here by tapping the plus button at the bottom of the screen.

Favourites look a little different, eschewing thumbnails in favour of a black-and-white text list. You just tap a favourite to open it, or if you'd prefer to remove or edit it you can do so with a long-press.

Searches default to using Bing when you first open the web browser, but thankfully you can change it to Google from the settings screen.

You can also change which button appears to the left of the address bar, with the choice of a refresh button, favourites or tabs. Additionally you can delete history, turn location services on or off, and control a few other things from the settings screen.

Actually using the browser isn't bad, though we wish that a little more of the screen could be dedicated to buttons, as we'd like to be able to switch tabs, access favourites and refresh the page all from the main screen. As things stand you can do one or the other, and anything else requires bringing up a menu.

The 4-inch screen on the Nokia Lumia 520 is big and clear enough, so sites are fairly readable and images are reasonably sharp. However, if you're viewing a desktop site you might need to zoom in quite a long way.

The Wi-Fi and 3G performance could be better unfortunately. Using the TechRadar homepage as an example it took 7 seconds to load the mobile version over Wi-Fi which isn't bad but isn't exactly super-fast, while the desktop version took a whopping 24 seconds.

3G, as you can imagine, was even slower, exceeding 30 seconds for the desktop version of TechRadar.com.

Of course for under £100 you can't expect top tier performance, and it's generally not too much of a problem if you stick to mobile sites. It's also roughly on a par with the performance of the Nokia Lumia 620 and the Huawei Ascend W1.

Camera

The camera on the Nokia Lumia 520 is pretty basic, you get a 5MP sensor on the back, but it doesn't have any flash and there's no front facing camera at all - so video chats and self portraits are out.

It also nixes the chance of Skype calling, which is a big feature of Windows Phone 8, and therefore could be seen as a big miss. But if you want a phone for video calling, the similar Lumia 620 is your friend.

There aren't many options on the Lumia 520; you can adjust the ISO, white balance, aspect ratio and exposure value, as well as choosing between several scene modes such as close-up, night or sports, but that's it.

Beyond that the camera is basically just point and shoot, though you can tap to focus on specific things and there is a 'smart shoot' option, which takes a handful of rapid-fire pictures and lets you pick which ones to keep. It's a handy feature, since the first photo you take might come out blurred or someone's eyes might be closed.

When the Lumia Amber update appears you'll be getting an all-new camera too, with Smart Camera features springing from the phone's ability to take 6 x 1MP photos in a row - stay tuned for that upgrade in a few months.

Being a Windows Phone handset there's also a dedicated camera button, which is a lot better for taking photos than trying to use an on-screen button. It also gives you quick access to your camera, as pressing it from any other screen will launch the camera app.

The camera isn't bad at all for a budget handset, though it unsurprisingly can't compete with the snappers on pricier phones like the Nokia Lumia 920 or the Sony Xperia Z and the lack of flash is a real shame.

Click here to see the full resolution shot

Click here to see the full resolution shot

Click here to see the full resolution shot

Click here to see the full resolution shot

Click here to see the full resolution shot

Click here to see the full resolution shot

Video camera

The video camera on the Nokia Lumia 520 is similarly basic. It shoots in 720p at 30fps (which is the same as the Nokia Lumia 620), and the performance is similar to that of its big brother too.

The options for the video camera are even more limited than when shooting stills. You can adjust the white balance, turn continuous focus on or off and adjust the quality, though you can only choose between 720p and WVGA. You can either press the shutter button or tap on the screen to start shooting then do the same to stop and that's all there is to it really.

Since there's no flash there's also no video lamp, so its performance isn't great in poorly lit places, but if you stick to daylight the performance isn't too bad for such a wallet friendly handset.

When staying fairly still the quality is reasonable. However it struggled a bit with the ripples in the water.

Close-ups aren't handled too badly either. If you move too close in or move too quickly then it will struggle to focus, but for static medium close-ups it produces useable footage.

Fast moving traffic comes out a little blurred. The camera also fails to bring out details in the background.

Media

The Nokia Lumia 520 was never going to be a media powerhouse, with just 8GB of internal storage, average battery life and a 480 x 800 display it just doesn't have the chops to compete in the big leagues.

On the other hand that 8GB of storage can be expanded to potentially up to 72GB of total storage with the help of a micro SD card and while the resolution isn't amazing the screen isn't a bad size at 4-inches. For around £100 plus the price of a micro SD card you could have a satisfying little media player on your hands.

Music

Music is handled by the 'Music + Videos' app and it's a solid player. You can filter your music by album, song or artist - which in each case will present you with an alphabetical list of your stored music complete with album images if you choose to sort by album.

You can also find all of your music from a specific genre and create playlists. It's easy to navigate and use, though does little to stand out from any other music player.

When you play music you'll find that some music controls appear on your lockscreen, letting you easily pause or skip track.

Unfortunately the same controls aren't present on the start screen, so if you leave the player you have to either go back into it or lock and then unlock your phone to actually manipulate the music.

The Nokia Lumia 520 supports a decent range of formats including WAV, MP3, WMA, and eAAC+. It can also pump music out of its tiny speakers at a surprising volume without any distortion, though there's not really any bass.

As well as either copying music across from a computer or loading up a micro SD card with it, you can also purchase music from the Xbox music store to get it sent directly to your phone.

There's a solid selection available along with fairly competitive pricing (around 99p a track for new releases).

You can get to the store directly from the player and it's easy to browse - letting you filter results by genre and then check out top tracks, new releases and more. Though of course you can also just type in a search if you already know what you're after.

On top of buying music the store also offers an unlimited streaming service for a monthly subscription. You also get access to Nokia's Mix radio, which is a real boon for a lot of people - it's free music on a cheap as chips phone.

We're currently testing this feature in more depth - but if you're heading out and deciding about the Lumia 520, then from a music perspective there's a lot on offer right out of the box.

And good news if you love an FM radio! It's going to be enabled in a few months thanks to the Lumia Amber update - in fact, most of the Windows Phone 8 range is going to be upgraded with the functionality.

Video

Video is also handled by the 'Music + Videos' app, but it's nowhere near as fleshed out as the music experience. For a start there's no video store, which is a bit of a shame given that both Android and Apple have one. That means that you'll have to get your video content from elsewhere and copy it across to the Nokia Lumia 520 (or to a micro SD card).

Once you've got some videos on the phone they're laid out as a list with thumbnails and their titles. You tap on one to play it and then you have a few standard video controls (pause, skip and fit to screen). That's all there is to it. So it's pretty bare bones, but it gets the job done in the end.

The 4-inch screen is just about big enough to watch a video on comfortably, while the phone itself is also light and comfortable to hold for extended periods (just as long as you don't let the corners dig into your hands). The resolution and screen quality could certainly be better but in practice it actually didn't seem too bad.

The player also supports a variety of file formats, specifically MP4, H.264, H.263 and WMV. It sounds average through the internal speakers too, which is good if you HAVE to use it, though we'd advise you use headphones for richer sounds.

The biggest stumbling block in using the Nokia Lumia 520 for videos is the battery life, which plummets when watching something for an extended period.

Photos

Photos are housed in the 'Photos' app, which seems logical, and it's not a bad app either. If you tap on 'camera roll' you can see thumbnails of every photo you've taken on the handset, and then tap on one to open it.

At that point you can then scroll through the rest of your photos or tap on the three dots at the bottom of the screen to edit the current photo, delete it, save it to SkyDrive or set it as your lockscreen wallpaper.

Editing options take the form of cropping, rotating and auto-fixing and there's also a 'Creative Studio' option which lets you add colour tints to a photo, such as 'ivory' or 'jade'.

Handily it shows you a preview of how all these options will make your photo look before you commit to selecting one.

But the photos app doesn't just house pictures from your camera roll, it also syncs with Facebook and other social networks to pull photos from there.

If you've linked any social network accounts you'll find that all of your photo albums from them are present and correct under the 'albums' heading.

The 'Photos' app will also house any photos that you've copied across to the handset and as well as sorting by album you can filter photos by a specific date or search only for photos with a specific person tagged in them.

Battery life and connectivity

Battery life

The Nokia Lumia 520 has a 1430 mAh battery to keep it going. That's a slight boost over the 1300 mAh battery found in the Nokia Lumia 620, but some way short of the 1950 mAh battery packed into the Huawei Ascend W1.

The slight bump in battery size equated to a slight bump in performance over the Nokia Lumia 620, but it's an important improvement as while the Lumia 620 would sometimes struggle to make it through a day the Lumia 520 generally seemed fine - though you'd still normally need to charge it overnight.

In our patented battery test - running a 90 minute video from a fully charged handset with Wi-Fi on, social networks and emails set to push notifications and the screen turned up to full brightness, we saw the battery drop to 66% by the end of the test.

That's not brilliant performance, but when used in other ways - for example phone calls, playing music, sending texts etc the Nokia Lumia 520 performed a lot better and unless you're watching a lot of videos you should easily get a day's use out of it.

Nokia rates the Lumia 520 for up to 360 hours of standby time over 3G, 14.8 hours of talk time over 3G, 9.6 hours of talk time over 2G or 61 hours of music playback, which sounds fair, though it notably doesn't post figures on video time.

If the battery doesn't live up to your expectations there is a battery saver, which prevents apps from syncing in the background, plus you can also invest in a spare battery, since it's easily removable if you just pop the back off the phone.

However if you'd rather not do that then the Huawei Ascend W1 might be a better bet, as that is one of the few Windows Phone 8 handsets to actually sport good battery life.

Connectivity

The Nokia Lumia 520 has a handful of different connectivity options, including dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, HSDPA at 21.1 Mbps and HSUPA at 5.76 Mbps. It has also got Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS, but it lacks NFC or a compass - both of which are included in the slightly pricier Nokia Lumia 620.

Configuring these connections or turning them on and off is pretty straightforward, as there are clearly labelled menus in the settings screen to sort them all out. Unfortunately digging into the settings screen is the only way to manage them, which is a bit of an annoyance as a shortcut would really come in handy.

Getting content on and off the Nokia Lumia 520 is totally painless, you just plug it into a computer using the included micro USB to USB cable, wait a few seconds for your computer to pick it up, then you can look through the handset's folders and simply drag and drop things on and off it.

There's also a micro SD card slot hidden beneath the back cover, which is all but essential for bulking up the storage from the 8GB that it ships with. Using a micro SD card additionally gives you an extra way to get content on and off the phone, as you can load it up with things before putting it in.

Maps and apps

Maps

Being a Nokia handset, the Nokia Lumia 520 comes with Nokia's own mapping app - 'HERE Maps'. It's not a bad offering at all, though it's fairly basic, particularly in comparison to Google Maps, which is what you'd get with an Android handset.

The maps themselves seem fairly detailed and accurate and it locked onto our location in just a few seconds whenever we had Wi-Fi connected, but over 3G things were a lot worse, often taking ten to 15 seconds and on one occasion taking what must have been around a minute.

That's unfortunate, since often you'll be out and about in places where you won't have access to Wi-Fi when you want to consult a map, but it always got there in the end.

We're not a fan of the washed out colour scheme either and while it will list nearby places (shops, restaurants and the like) if you ask it to, the list didn't seem at all comprehensive.

It also lacks many of the bells and whistles we'd like to see such as traffic information or elevation details. We weren't expecting Street View, since that's a Google thing, but there just doesn't seem to be much of anything here beyond the core map.

You can at least download maps to the phone, which is a very handy feature, meaning that for example when you go abroad you won't have to spend a small fortune on data to use your map.

As well as 'HERE Maps', the Nokia Lumia 520 also comes with 'HERE Drive', which is a free sat-nav service.

It's still in beta but it certainly seems to get the job done, with accurate navigation getting you from A to B hassle free.

Apps

Aside from the mapping and media apps that have already been discussed there's not a whole lot included on the Nokia Lumia 520.

There's a calculator, calendar and alarm clock, all of which are fairly standard and self explanatory in their functions, though it's worth mentioning that your calendar will automatically sync with any social networks or email accounts that you add to the handset.

Then there's Angry Birds Roost, which we foolishly assumed was a game, but it's actually just a hub that you can download Angry Birds games from along with Angry Birds themed videos and wallpapers.

We suspect that this will only see much use from the biggest of Angry Birds fans, but it's there if you want it and if not you can thankfully uninstall it.

The most significant apps come in the form of Microsoft Office and OneNote, both of which are fairly feature rich, with Office in particular proving impressive as it lets you create, view and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Doing much more than reading them on a 4-inch screen isn't the most pleasant experience in the world, but it could come in handy in an emergency.

Additional apps can be found on the store, which is home to both free and paid offerings. The selection is nowhere close to what you'd find on Google Play or Apple's App Store, but it's not bad either, with a selection of games, social media apps, productivity tools and more.

The games are worth highlighting in particular, as Microsoft have secured some unique offerings that aren't available on Android or Apple devices and you can also access your Xbox live account if you have one.

Hands on gallery

Official photography

Verdict

Though there aren't all that many Windows Phone 8 handsets available yet there are already several, such as the Nokia Lumia 620 and the Huawei Ascend W1, that manage to combine solid specs and performance with an entry level price tag.

The Nokia Lumia 520 can be said to join their esteemed company, as while it's even more pared back- lacking a front facing camera, NFC, a camera flash or a compass, the things that it does do it mostly does well.

We liked

The incredibly low price is a huge selling point for the Nokia Lumia 520. It also looks like a more expensive handset than it is, with a decent sized 4 inch screen and a stylish body which could almost lead someone to confuse it for the much more expensive Nokia Lumia 920.

It has also got a respectable amount of power hidden away inside, with a 1 GHz dual-core processor ensuring that performance is generally pretty smooth. The 5 megapixel camera is good for the price and while it doesn't have much built in storage it has a micro SD card slot to make up for it.

It also gets decent phone signal and as with all Windows Phone 8 handsets the way contacts are integrated with social networks is excellent.

We disliked

The lack of a front facing camera or for that matter a flash on the rear camera is a shame, somewhat muting its otherwise respectable photographic performance.

The screen tends to attract fingerprints and smudges more than most phones, which can leave it looking blurred and dirty after only a small amount of use.

We also found the battery life to be pretty average (though still slightly better than the Nokia Lumia 620) and the web browser was a little slow, particularly when browsing over 3G.

Verdict

The Nokia Lumia 520, much like its big brother the Nokia Lumia 620, is a jack of all trades and a master of none - although manages to make a good fist of nearly all it tries, for the price.

It looks good, it's got a decent screen both in terms of size and resolution, it rarely stutters or slows down, it's great for calls and messaging, reasonable for media and okay for photos.

To achieve a lower price point than the Lumia 620 it has had to strip away a few things - there's no NFC, compass, camera flash or front facing camera here.

But on the other hand it's also got a bigger screen, a larger battery, a sleeker, slimmer, lighter build and the same processor and RAM as the Nokia Lumia 620, so in many ways it's actually better.

Combine that with a lower price tag and we reckon that this just might be the best entry level Windows Phone 8 handset that you can buy and certainly the best value.

Budding photographers might find the lack of a flash prohibitive and if you're a power user you might want to consider the Huawei Ascend W1 for its superior battery life, but for everyone else the Nokia Lumia 520 comes heartily recommended.

Introduction

The HTC One SV isn't exactly a new handset, more or a reboot of the HTC One S which launched back at MWC 2012.

That said the One SV arrives sporting a new chassis and slightly differing specifications under the hood, the most of important of which is its 4G capabilities.

The price has dropped recently: available SIM-free from around £250 the HTC One SV is a much more attractive proposition, especially if it gets the software update detailed below.

Sadly contract deals for the One SV are still slightly more expensive on the UK's only 4G network with EE wanting at least £36 per month for two years in exchange for a free handset.

This puts it in competition with the Google Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Windows Phone 8 powered HTC 8X and 4G-enabled Nokia Lumia 820.

While price wise there may not be much between the two, the HTC One SV has a significantly different body which doesn't come close to the premium finish we enjoyed on the One S.

It's out with the aluminium frame and its 'micro-arc oxidisation treatment' and in with a noticeably plastic chassis which actually weighs more than its predecessor at 122g thanks to the size gain round the waist – up from 7.8mm to an almost porky 9.2mm in the midriff.

All that aside though and the HTC One SV still sits comfortably in the hand with the soft touch plastic case providing a decent level of grip on our palm while our fingers were easily able to wrap round the handset.

The power/lock key located on the top of the One SV alongside the 3.5mm headphone jack and the volume rocker switch are both easily reached during one-handed use thanks to the phone's compact 128 x 66.9mm dimensions.

An added benefit of the re-jigged design is that you can easily remove the back cover of the HTC One SV which not only gives you access to the microSIM and microSD slots, but also the removable 1,800mAh battery – which has been given a slight bump to improve the life of the phone.

On the front of the One SV you'll notice that HTC has kept its Android touch buttons below the screen with back, home and multi-tasking revealing this handset is running at least Android 4.0.

Sadly there's no sign of Jelly Bean on the HTC One SV, with the phone being equipped with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich – disappointing considering Jelly Bean has been available for six months now.

However, there might be some good news on the horizon: whilst unofficial, HTC looks likely to be bringing Android 4.2 and the all-new version of Sense to this handset in the near future, which would give it a totally new lease of life and make it a lot more attractive to a number of users.

Above the control tools is the 4.3-inch, 480x800 Super LCD 2 display which while being the same size as the offering on the One S actually has a lower resolution than the Super AMOLED screen – boo!

Screen quality is still pretty darn good but it doesn't quite have the pop of the display that impressed us so much on the One S, which is disappointing as we'd expect the One SV to be at least on par with its sibling.

Something which has been given a boost on the HTC One SV is the front facing camera which comes in at 1.6MP and sits besides an incredible long ear piece – perfect for those who have trouble locating their ear while on the phone. Phew.

The extra large ear piece isn't all fun and games though and its recessed nature means it's a great place for dust to collect, making the One SV look rather untidy once it's spent some time in a pocket or bag.

Round the back the bulbous circular camera fitting has been replaced with a more refined oval sitting flush to the rear of the One SV.

You get a distinctly average 5MP camera, once again another compromise from HTC on the One SV, with a single LED flash for company, although it will record video at 1080p.

The HTC logo is slightly indented which led us to run our finger over it many times, just because we liked the feeling.

At the base you get a nod towards the One SV's network capabilities with "4G LTE" emblazoned above the speaker grill, with the Beats Audio technology logo below it, showing that Dr Dre's fancy music tech is housed inside.

The white back plate does attract marks and we managed to pick up numerous smudges on it after just a day or so.

Luckily it wipes clean with a damp cloth, but when you pull out your new HTC One SV to show off to your mates you'll be laughed out the pub when you flip it over to reveal grubby finger prints – oh the shame.

On the face of it the HTC One SV may share a similar name to impressive One S, but a number of compromises when it comes to build quality and specifications leaves us feeling a little unfulfilled and with a handset which is closer to the significantly cheaper HTC One V.

You can see how the HTC One SV stacks up against the One S in the video below:

Interface

As we mentioned in the introduction the HTC One SV comes running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and while we expect an upgrade to Jelly Bean is almost certainly on the cards we're surprised it didn't ship with it out of the box.

HTC's Android overlay is in play as well on the One SV with Sense 4.1 installed – which also isn't the latest version of the software with the HTC One X+ which arrived last year sporting Sense 4+ alongside Jelly Bean.

Software disappointment aside the HTC One SV at least packs a relatively good amount of power with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM under the hood.

Coupled with a responsive screen Android runs smoothly on the One SV, allowing us to glide through the homescreens – of which you can have a maximum of seven – and skip through the app draw without hassle.

It's not quite as zippy as the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S3 or Sony Xperia Z, but we wouldn't expect it to be and even though its dual-core processor isn't as punchy as the chip in the One S, the two handsets are pretty much on par performance wise.

In true HTC fashion the Android lock screen has been dabbled with to include the Taiwanese firm's famous ring-pull unlock process with four shortcuts allowing you to jump to key apps right from the off.

Anyone who has a soft spot for quick settings in the notification drop down will be disappointed with HTC as with its other handset the One SV doesn't provide any here, with a link to the full settings menu the only reprieve.

It's not a critical issue as a widget can be placed on a homescreen giving you control over the main functions such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS but seeing as the notification bar can be accessed from the lock screen it would have been nice to see the controls there too.

Hold down on a blank space on any homescreen and the widgets menu will spring up, with a plethora of HTC widgets alongside the stock Android ones giving you a wealth of choice.

A simple drag and drop will see the widget of your choosing plonked onto the homescreen and a similar action will delete it if you hover over the "remove" icon at the top of the screen.

Apps open swiftly and a handy little feature on the HTC One SV is the ability to use the multi-tasking key as the traditional Android menu button by just holding it down – allowing you to easily access additional settings in applications which are yet to adopt the new button-less operation Google is pushing for.

The multi-tasking menu itself has been given a Sense 4.1 makeover with large portrait thumbnails arranged in a horizontal line giving you a clear over view of your recently used apps.

You can force close apps running in the background by sliding you finger up, over the thumbnail to save on data and battery consumption, as well as quickly flipping between various apps.

Contacts and Calling

Contacts

The HTC One SV carries on the Taiwanese firm's strong heritage in the contacts management arena allowing you to seamlessly import details from various sources into one compact list.

Not only is the One SV able to pull in contacts from the likes of Google, Facebook and your email accounts, it will also wiz through them joining up any duplications, such as your friends phone number stored in your Google account and their Facebook profile.

Annoyingly there's no support for Twitter in this contact love-in, which will frustrate those who prefer the 140 character system over the expansive blue book.

HTC's system is scarily efficient at matching your buddies up with their various accounts and if it's not completely sure the One SV will offer up suggestions on accounts which could be joined, which more often than not are spot on.

The "People" app is your one stop shop for all your acquaintances, but this can also be accessed from the "Phone" icon as both lead to the same application, with different tabs displaying depending on which one you've hit.

Pictures of your contacts are displayed next to their names in an attractive vertical list, if the One SV has managed to pull one through from an account, and you'll find it's not just the photo which has been mined by the handset.

Facebook photo galleries and status updates are also pulled through to contact's cards, allowing you to get an overview of their life without having to launch a dedicated app.

There's also a record of all the calls and messages you've exchanged with each person – handy if you want to keep track of your stalking tendencies.

Adding a contact is also a piece of cake, just in case you run into a new pal at the bus stop, with a simple "add" button at the top of the screen in the People app taking you to a form to add in various details.

Calling

As we've mentioned above you can access the dial pad from the Phone and People applications if you need to bash out a number.

Alternatively you can head on over to a contact's card and tap the number you wish to call them on – all very straight forward.

Signal wise the HTC One SV held up well, although the 4G strength unsurprisingly dwindled the further we came away from London, but thankfully 3G was waiting to take over without fuss.

Call quality was decent and we were able to hear our compatriot clearly on the other end and vice versa – even in busier locations with a lot of noise pollution.

Messaging

Messaging from emails to texts is second nature to smartphones these days and the HTC One SV is no exception.

Thanks to the Android OS on the One SV you've got easy access to various forms of character-based communication.

You're encouraged to sign in to your various accounts during the first time setup on the HTC One SV – and if you do so you can shoot off into the wonderful world of internet based communications straight away.

The stock Android email and Gmail apps are present, with the former letting you add several addresses in one place and view them in an unified inbox, or separately if you're really popular.

Google insists the Gmail app has to appear on all Android phones and while it's an excellent client for dealing with your Gmail address it's a shame you can't add your other accounts to the app and do away with the other completely.

Back over with the standard email app and while it may not be quite so feature-packed it's still an intuitive and easy to use system which allows you to add your Gmail address along with any others you may have, meaning you can do away with the official client if you so wish.

The ability to quickly switch between inboxes or view them in one feed is great for productivity and something we enjoy using on any Android handset, not just the One SV.

Text messaging is the standard Android affair with a bit of HTC Sense glitz thrown on top for a slightly more unique layout although it won't out fox anyone familiar with Android, or anyone who has used a smartphone in the past.

A handy feature in the messaging app is the ability to increase and decrease the text size by simply pinching and zooming – perfect for those with poorer eyesight or if you want to see a whole message at once without having to scroll.

If you've got a soft spot for social networking then the HTC One SV comes preloaded with the official Facebook and Twitter applications, plus Google+ is also onboard for the super trendy among you.

HTC has always been one of the better manufacturers when it comes to keyboards and the board on the One SV follows in the famed Sense footsteps of handsets past.

However we did find it a little cramped on the One SV, but that may be because we've been using the Galaxy Note 2 recently and our fingers have become accustomed to its massive screen.

With a 4.3-inch display there is plenty of space on the One SV and we did get used to the layout after a few days, although eventually we buckled and downloaded the trusty SwiftKey keyboard which we find outperforms any other Android offering.

Internet

Web browsing is one of the key features on the HTC One SV as after all it is a 4G enabled handset – one of a select few currently available in the UK.

Of course only a handful of cities actually provide 4G at the moment, for the rest of you outside these high-speed hubs you'll be stuck with good old 3G.

If you're conscious of eating through your data in next to no time then you'll be pleased to learn that the One SV also features Wi-Fi, allowing you to jump onto your home, office or McDonald's network without fear of racking up a huge bill.

The One SV sports two browsers out of the box with the stock Android offering accompanied by Google Chrome, which is only available on handsets running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher.

If you're lucky enough to be housed in a 4G area then as you'd expect web speeds are impressively fast, with full-fat TechRadar loading in under five seconds, banners and all in both browsers.

You get similar load speeds over Wi-Fi as long as you've got a decent signal strength, while 3G browsing appeared to be variable adding a few seconds to the speeds witnessed on 4G.

Overall the One SV is a strong performer capable of mixing it with the big boys such as the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3 when it comes to the internet.

On the whole there's little to choose between the two browsers on the One SV, with Chrome offering a lighter colour palette over the stock app's black hues.

A key feature which is missing from Chrome however is the ability to save pages for offline reading – something the Internet app provides along with a reading mode, which strips out all the adverts and images from an article leaving with you an easily digestible page of text.

Text automatically reflows in both browsers allowing you to happily read articles without have to scroll sideways as well as down, and both can sync with your Google account allowing you to access bookmarks stored in the cloud.

Websites look good, but not great thanks to the lower resolution display HTC has decided to lump in the One SV, but text is still perfectly legible once zoomed in.

Luckily HTC seems to have resolved the shut-down issues which plagued the One S browser when you flicked through sites too quickly, with no force closures witnessed during our One SV review period.

Adobe Flash is a dying art form and is not supported on the HTC One SV which is not a huge problem (or surprise), but may infuriate those of you who still frequent flash-based sites.

Camera

The HTC One SV comes equipped with a 5MP camera which is disappointing considering for the same money you can pick up the One S which not only has a better screen and faster processor, but also an 8MP snapper.

On top of this the One SV is priced towards the top end of the mid-range smartphone bracket and all its rivals sport 8MP cameras including the Nexus 4 and 8X while the Xperia T boasts 13MP.

Thankfully there is a single LED flash round the back with gives the One SV back some credibility but the promise of 1080p video raises our suspicions over quality, but more on that in the next section.

Something which has been given a bump on the HTC One SV is the front facing camera which is now 1.6MP making for smoother, clearer video calls and more in-depth vanity checks – lovely.

The camera application can be accessed easily from the default shortcuts on the lockscreen as well as from the icon in the app list, opening up in a jiffy meaning there's hardly any time to wait before you can get snapping.

HTC has waved its Sense wand over the application giving it a different look and feel to the stock Android offering, but it's beautifully simple to use.

You get large shutter and record buttons on the right of the screen, with a link to the gallery below and the effects menu above.

There are 15 effects to choose from including distortion, vignette and greyscale allowing you to create a unique photo.

Camera scenes such as HDR and panorama are also supported on the HTC One SV and you can easily toggle the flash by hitting the button in the top left corner of the screen.

A digital zoom lets you get closer to the subject you're shooting, but quality dramatically diminishes so we'd recommend leaving the slider well alone.

Picture quality as you may have already guessed is a little lack-lustre, especially when you compare the snaps against those taken on rival handsets.

Photos lack clarity and colour and you're left with results which wouldn't look out of place on a budget handset – but the HTC One SV will set you back over £300. Poor show.

You can tweak the effects, scene modes and variables such as white balance and contrast but at the end of the day it is what it is – a poor camera on a phone which is demanding more money than it possibly should.

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Click here to see the full resolution image

Video

Disappointing camera aside the HTC One SV surprises when it claims it can shoot full HD, 1080p video.

To say we were sceptical would be an understatement but low and behold dive into the video settings in the camera app and there it is: Video quality Full HD (1920x1080).

HTC has decided to do away with the unnecessary camcorder icon which adorned the app list on previous handsets and only served to turf you into the camera anyway, with the redesigned camera app making it very easy to start recording.

There's no messing about with a toggle switch to flip flop between camera and camcorder – instead the record button is right next door to the shutter key, give it a press and the red light comes on. Simples.

An HTC staple and something we wish more manufacturers would pick up is the ability to take photos while recording with the shutter button staying on screen with the record key during filming.

It seems such a simple system and can come in very handy, and we're pleased the One SV hasn't missed out on this feature.

Something you don't see too often on smartphones these days is the ability to capture footage in slow motion.

First pioneered by the LG Viewty the technology has been seemingly swept under the carpet by the majority of manufacturers but HTC is bucking the trend including the technology on the One SV and a host of other devices.

Video quality, considering it's supposed to be 1080p, isn't great with the HTC One SV struggling to track moving objects smoothly and the overall effect looking a bit grainy.

Media

With a 4.3-inch screen and Beats Audio technology the HTC One SV has the makings of a media mogul.

Unfortunately the One SV lets itself down massively when you take a peek at the internal storage. 8GB. Yes you've ready that correctly, just 8GB. Now consider a chunk of it will be taken up by the operating system and you're realistically left with around 6GB.

Luckily there's a microSD slot hiding under the rear cover of the One SV capable of supporting cards up to 32GB in size so all is not lost, but we can't help feel we've got off on the wrong foot here.

HTC has a lovely little deal with cloud storage firm Dropbox and anyone who purchases on of the Taiwanese company's handsets automatically gets 25GB of free storage – handy for keeping your documents and photos backed up – which the One SV can do for you in the background.

Getting content on and off the HTC One SV is all pretty simple, connect the phone up to your computer with the supplied USB cable and you'll be dragging and dropping to your hearts content.

Music

A one stop shop for all your musical needs on the HTC One SV? Well that will be the cunningly titled Music app then.

Not only does it give you access to any songs you may have lovingly copied onto the One SV there are also links to other apps including SoundHound, TuneIn Radio and 7Digital – all of which come installed on the phone out of the box.

And if you prefer using different music apps most, if not all will appear in this hub as well once you've installed them from Google Play.

We'll kick off with the standard music player which offers up a no nonsense set of tools including play/pause, skip, shuffle and repeat – so all your favourites.

On the player screen you get a large image of the album art with the straight forward controls beneath.

The party trick up the sleeve of the HTC One SV is the Beats Audio technology hidden inside which activates itself when you plug in a pair of headphones.

Dr Dre's wizardry gets to work beefing up your tracks, enhancing the bass and giving a pleasing audio experience even with the average set of buds provided in the box.

All the main audio formats are supported here including MP3, WMA, WAV and AAC – so you shouldn't have too much trouble porting your personal collection across to the One SV.

The SoundHound app allows you to find out what tune is playing on the radio as the app listens to a snippet of the track and then searches its vast library of songs in a few seconds to tell you what you're listening to.

7Digital is an online music store allowing you to purchase and download tracks straight onto the HTC One SV.

Most songs will set you back around 99p, while albums mostly range from £5 to £9.99, which is generally the going rate on most music sites.

It sports a similar layout to Google Play which means anyone who's used the Android app store before won't find it difficult to navigate round the 7Digital app.

Finally TuneIn Radio gives you access to hundreds of internet radio stations which can be browsed by music genre, ensuring you'll always be able to find music that you want to listen to.

The 4G connectivity inside the HTC One SV means that streaming the stations is a breeze with no buffering or lost connections – however the same can't be said if you're on the move as mobile signal is never reliable.

A FM radio also sneaks its way onto the One SV which requires a set of headphones to be plugged in to act as an antenna, letting you listen to the radio in the classic way without the need for a data connection.

Video

At 4.3-inches the display on the HTC One SV is a suitable size for watching video on the go, sadly though the resolution isn't as great as you'd expect from a smartphone costing over £300.

There's no dedicated video player app installed on the One SV, so you'll either have to download one from Google Play or route around in the gallery app to find the clip you fancy.

The HTC One SV supports MP4, WMV, H.263 and .264 video formats as well as AVI, so make sure your clips comply with one of these before copying them onto the handset.

The video player provides the basics with play/pause, skip and scrub controls, but you also have the option to lock the controls to avoid any unwanted finger presses plus you can turn capture mode on if you want to grab a shot of your favourite scene.

Beats Audio technology is on hand to boost the sound if you're listening via headphones or speakers plugged into the 3.5mm jack.

Video playback isn't too bad considering the lower quality screen HTC has slapped inside the One SV and we were able to watch a movie comfortably on the phone.

On closer inspection you'll notice the detail isn't as good as on rival handsets boasting better screens, but for the casual watcher the One SV will suffice.

Google's Play Movies app comes pre-installed on the One SV giving you access to a library of films available for rent and purchase.

Prices do vary but most rentals are around the £3.50 mark, while purchases will set you back around £10. This falls pretty much in line with other services, but DVDs can be picked up for less online for selected titles.

Not content with letting Google have it all its own way HTC offers its own video service in the form of Watch.

Watch offers up a slightly different selection of movies and price wise it's very similar to Play Movies, give or take a few quid here and there.

The Watch app is not quite as pretty to look at, but its basic layout is easy to navigate and there's a clear distinction between buy and rental prices.

If you fancy yourself as the next big Hollywood director then you'll want to check out the Movie Editor app, allowing you to crudely cut, chop, paste and compile your clips into one lovely video complete with audio, pictures and text.

It's certainly not as full featured as a desktop software package, but it works well and can be fun for the odd quick mash up.

Photos

Photos are stored in the gallery app, where you'll also find your movies and the HTC One SV uses the familiar Android thumbnailed layout for easy browsing.

If you've transferred high-res snaps onto the One SV than its 480x800 display won't really do them justice if you fancy showing them off to people as colours can appear weak and detail not overly crisp.

You can easily share media stored in the gallery with the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Picasa, while various messaging options including text and email are also present.

There are some basic editing tools incorporated in the gallery app on the One SV, allowing you to crop and rotate your photos as well as add some simple effects.

The 13 effects you have to choose from are not particularly ground breaking with options such as vintage and over exposed to pick from, but it's better than nothing and very simple to apply.

Battery life and connectivity

Battery life

The HTC One SV comes with a removable 1,800mAh battery which can be easily accessed by peeling off the plastic rear of the handset.

It's a pretty decent size especially when you consider the screen isn't overly taxing and the fact the One SV is packing a dual-core not quad-core processor.

The size translates into life quite nicely with the One SV easily seeing out a whole day even with moderately high usage which included phone calls, texts, web browsing, several Twitter and Facebook updates, camera action and a couple of YouTube videos.

If you're more frugal with your usage you'll make the battery last even longer and we were able to squeeze out just over two days doing the bare minimum on the One SV.

Obviously if you whack the screen on full brightness and run a video for hours on end the battery life will start to suffer and you'll be reaching for the charger before the day is out, but for general use the HTC One SV is sufficient.

Connectivity

We've already touched on the fact that the HTC One SV rocks up with 4G connectivity, it makes a pretty big deal of it on its rear declaring "4G LTE" for all to see.

Of course the One SV doesn't stop there though, all the usual suspects are present and correct including Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and A-GPS making sure you have all the core connectivity options at your fingertips.

You can turn the HTC One SV into a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing devices such as your laptop and tablet to use your mobile data connection which is super speedy if you're in a 4G area.

Make sure you keep a tab on your usage though as you may see your data allowance drained in a matter of minutes if you get too carried away, so we advise you use this feature sparingly - if at all.

Unlike in the HTC One S, the One SV has been deemed suitable for NFC technology allowing you to transfer content with a tap between other similarly enabled handsets, such as the One X.

If you fancy connecting your One SV to your PS3 or smart TV the handset is also DLNA compatible, allowing you to easily stream video and audio as well share photos on a bigger screen.

Maps and Apps

Maps

As the HTC One SV is an Android device it comes fully equipped with the excellent Google Maps and Navigation applications, ensuring you can always find your way home.

The One SV managed to locate us almost immediately after clicking on the maps app, and that was with Wi-Fi turned off.

It did take a few seconds to narrow down our location, but we were very impressed with the speed in which the phone managed to triangulate our whereabouts.

Maps loaded swiftly over 4G and we were able to pan around smoothly without any sign of hesitation or lag, which made the mapping experience an enjoyable one.

Detail isn't as pin sharp as on other handsets boasting higher resolutions so from a relatively zoomed out view on a busy area of the map it can look a little messy, but zoom in and everything becomes clearer.

The 4.3-inch display is a good size if you are planning on using the One SV as a in-car sat nav, with it clearly showing all the information you need without taking up too much of your windscreen.

The One SV was able to keep locked on our position even in busy built up areas and the clear instructions helped us to our destination in no time at all.

Apps

We've already covered the various social, media and mapping applications which come pre-installed on the HTC One SV, but that's not all.

HTC has handily pre-loaded the SV with a handful of other applications it thinks will help you in your day to day life, and if they don't then you always have access to Google Play which offers hundreds of thousands of apps for your delectation.

First up on the bundled app parade is the ultimately useless EA Games offering which is nothing more a link to five games, four of which are only trials – you'll be better off checking out the games section in Google Play.

An HTC staple is the Flashlight app, allowing you to utilise the LED on the back of the One SV and use it as a torch – perfect for when you're stumbling home at 2am and need to see where you're stepping.

Be warned though the flashlight will drain the battery quite significantly if you use it for too long.

Another HTC favourite is the mirror app which allows you to check out your fine self by using the front facing camera. It's not an app we found ourselves using, but we sure it's a life saver if some eye liner needs to be applied at a moments notice.

Polaris Office, PDF viewer and Notes are all on board to aid working on the go, plus the basic News and Weather app keeps you up to date with the main headlines and wind chill factor.

Thanks to the dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM inside the HTC One SV games run smoothly on the handset.

We were able to play the rather graphically intensive Temple Run on the One SV without issue, although the game didn't look as good as it does on other handsets with colours a little washed out and detail not as crisp.

Hands on gallery

Official gallery

Verdict

The HTC One SV probably should have offered more than it does. It drew us in with its promise of 4G connectivity and a name which resembled the great One S, but we ended up feeling a bit disappointed.

We liked

The main selling point for the HTC One SV is its 4G capabilities and to be fair it handles this very well.

Internet browsing speeds were impressive, app downloads swift and we could update Twitter and Facebook in a flash. It also performed well as a portable hotspot for our laptop as we hurtled along on a train.

Battery life was another thing which impressed us and it's not very often we get to say that. The One SV happily lasted a day and with careful use we could stretch it to two before we had to start locating the charger.

We disliked

The price. The HTC One SV costs the same as the One S which sports a better processor, screen, chassis and camera and although it may not be 4G enabled there's an awful lot of compromise for little gain here.

It's disappointing to see a smartphone launching now which is still running Ice Cream Sandwich, as Jelly Bean has been established for a while and HTC has already launched a handset which runs Android 4.1 out the box – the One X+.

Verdict

We can't help but think the HTC One SV has been rushed out to capitalise on the 4G rollout which is picking up speed in Europe and this phone is looking to cash in on those desperate to have the latest technology.

That's not to say the One SV is a bad handset – if HTC had priced it closer to the One V instead of the One S then it would be a very different proposition, unfortunately it's not and that's the main issue we have.

It's good to see another proper mid-range handset enter the 4G fray, but the Taiwanese firm has got its sums wrong on this occasion and ultimately that's going to make the HTC One SV a difficult one to shift.