PCA Weekly Newsletter

Can't view? Click here to view it online.

Tech Advice you can trust

Friday April 13, 2012

EDITOR'S NOTE

This week, we got our hands on HTC's latest smartphone: the Ice Cream Sandwich-toting One X. Find out why it's our new A-List smartphone in the review below. (We also pit it against our former A-List smartphone; the Samsung Galaxy S II, in a side-by-side gallery.)

In the wake of Mass Effect 3's explosive ending-backlash, we take a look at five games with terrible denouements; from Lemmings to Zero Wing. In other news, our editor Nic Healy rediscovers the HP 300LX Palmtop PC -- one of the first palmtop devices running Windows CE 1.0.

Plus: get the latest tech deals, Anroid/iOS apps and downloads by clicking on the relevant articles below. Happy reading!

Chris Jager,
Online journalist

TOP STORIES THIS WEEK

		PHOTO GALLERY The Android A-List: HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S II Apr 12, 2012 The HTC One X has knocked the Samsung Galaxy S II off its perch on our high-end smartphone A-List. See how both phones look side by side in the following gallery.

		NEWS Roundup: 17 useful downloads from the last week By Mark Wilson \| Apr 9, 2012 From PC diagnostics to photo editing and a free office suite, here's another batch of handy software.

		PHOTO GALLERY In Pictures: Five great games with terrible endings Apr 10, 2012 If you thought Mass Effect 3's ending was bad, you need to get some perspective...

		NEWS Paleo-Tech: The HP 300LX Palmtop PC By Nic Healey \| Apr 12, 2012 Opinion: Classic Palmtop computing device - only one careful owner since new! Nic Healey discovered this buried in his spare room.

		NEWS New USB standard offers up to 100 watts of power By Chris Jager \| Apr 12, 2012 The latest USB 3.0 standard promises to remove the need for dedicated power supplies for USB products such as large external hard drives

		FEATURE System Builder: Don’t Panic over PCI-E By John Gillooly \| Apr 12, 2012 We explain why you shouldn't be worrying about PCI-Express Gen 3 just yet.

		REVIEW HTC One X: our new A-List smartphone By Nic Healey \| Apr 11, 2012 HTC has produced a true powerhouse of a phone in the HTC One X that puts competitors to shame. Read our review.

		NEWS Best Android tablet apps (12/04/12) By Stephen Graves \| Apr 13, 2012 Got an Android slate? You'll want to get these apps to show it off in all its glory.

		REVIEW Tablet showdown: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 vs. Toshiba AT1S0 By Nic Healey \| Apr 10, 2012 Don't dismiss the 7in form factor just yet -- we review two pocket tablets side by side.

		NEWS Yet another 10% Apple MacBook discount By Chris Jager \| Apr 13, 2012 JB Hi-Fi is offering 10% of its Apple Macbook range. Again.

		NEWS Future tech: palm-reading ATMs By Stephen Graves \| Apr 13, 2012 A Japanese bank has installed palm scanners at its ATMs – doing away with the need for a bank card.

		NEWS Tablet sales to surge 98% this year By Chris Jager \| Apr 11, 2012 The tablet trend will go from big to bigger in 2012, according to the latest Gartner report, with worldwide sales predicted to almost double.

		NEWS Get Sophos Virus Removal Tool free By Mike Williams \| Apr 13, 2012 Sophos has released a free on-demand Virus Removal Tool. Get the download here.

		NEWS Expect "hundreds" of Thunderbolt devices, says Intel By William Maher \| Apr 12, 2012 Definitely something to look out for if a new laptop is in your future this year.

		REVIEW AMD Radeon HD 7970 review: performance at a price By Mike Jennings \| Apr 11, 2012 The AMD Radeon HD 7970 has fantastic performance, although the sky-high price puts this out of reach for all but the wealthiest enthusiasts.

		NEWS Rumour: Specs and release date leaked for new PlayStation and Xbox? By Esat Dedezade \| Apr 9, 2012 According to the latest online reports, Sony and Microsoft's next-gen consoles should be gracing our gaming dens by Christmas 2013, with souped up internals to boot.

		NEWS Geek chic: 110 letter watch By Esat Dedezade \| Apr 12, 2012 Who needs numbers when you can have the time literally spelt out for you?

		NEWS Is Intel's Z77 a chipset in search of a CPU? By John Gillooly \| Apr 10, 2012 Over the weekend Intel launched its new Z77 chipset. It supports Sandy Bridge CPUs but we'd advise against rushing out and upgrading.

		NEWS Design your own Flash, iOS and Android games with the Stencyl 2.0 beta By Mark Wilson \| Apr 13, 2012 Create the next Angry Birds with this intuitive and feature-packed game creation tool.

		NEWS Geekbench 2.3.0 drops support for PowerPC Macs, adds Ivy Bridge support By Mark Wilson \| Apr 12, 2012 Geekbench is a simple, low-cost benchmarking tool that provides you with all of the tools you need.

		NEWS Get off your moral high horses By William Maher \| Apr 11, 2012 The Chinese people making your phones and tablets don't work in sweatshops, says entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan.

		NEWS Play the original Grand Theft Auto from 1997 for free By Chris Jager \| Apr 11, 2012 Download classic Rockstar video games on your PC for free, including GTA and GTA 2.

		REVIEW Product brief: Samsung SSD 830 Series, class-leading performance at a price By Sasha Muller \| Apr 10, 2012 The Samsung SSD 830 Series boasts blistering read and write speeds, but it's not the best-value SSD on the market.

		NEWS Latest Chrome 19 beta hits the web By Mark Wilson \| Apr 11, 2012 Take your tabs with you in the latest Chrome 19 beta.

		REVIEW Nikon Coolpix S9100 review: king of the compacts? By Darien Graham-Smith \| Apr 11, 2012 Great performance, image quality and an intuitive interface make this one of our favourite point-and-shoot cameras.

		NEWS NoteBook Case turns your iPad into a MacBook Pro By Sophie Charara \| Apr 11, 2012 Want an iPad keyboard that's as Apple as you can get? If Cupertino's not going to do it, these guys will.

		NEWS What has IT taught you? By William Maher \| Apr 10, 2012 Maybe it's cynicism. Maybe it's patience. Tell us what you get from working with technology.

		REVIEW Product brief: Thermaltake Ultra Slim 95W Universal Laptop AC Power Adapter By John Gillooly \| Apr 10, 2012 Thermaltake's latest laptop AC power adapter works best as an additional device for emergencies.

		REVIEW Product brief: Corsair K90 Keyboard, our favourite letter input device By John Gillooly \| Apr 10, 2012 We put Corsair's top-of-the-range mechanical keyboard through its paces.

		NEWS Best iPhone apps this week (8/04/12) By Sophie Charara \| Apr 9, 2012 This week's top iPhone apps include user-friendly music creation tool Figure, gaming/fitness hybrid Fitocracy and a new puzzle game from Crytek.

		NEWS Gaming Greats – Grand Theft Auto (1997) By Stephen Graves \| Apr 9, 2012 Take a joyride down memory lane with DMA Design's classic crime caper. Then play the game for free.

		REVIEW Product brief: Netgear WNDR4500 N900 router By John Gillooly \| Apr 12, 2012 A fast and user-friendly dual band router.

		PHOTO GALLERY First Look: ASUS P8Z77-I Mini-ITX motherboard Apr 11, 2012 Unique isn't a word we use often, but ASUS' new Mini-ITX platform is one incredibly different offering in an under served area of the market.

		REVIEW Product brief: Intel SSD 520 240GB, faster speeds, longer warranty By Matt Wilson \| Apr 10, 2012 Intel's latest SSD range offers faster read/write speeds and a longer warranty. We put the 520 240GB model through its paces.

		PHOTO GALLERY A Tale of Two Styluses Apr 12, 2012 Steve Jobs once said “if you see a stylus, they blew it”. The impressive Samsung Galaxy Note is proving this prediction wrong, so we decided to compare it side-by-side with the HP 300LX Palmtop PC

		REVIEW Product Brief: Microlab FC360 speakers, cheap and easy to setup By Jonathan Bray \| Apr 10, 2012 If you just want a reasonably affordable set of speakers, sometimes simple is best. Like these Microlab FC360 speakers.

		PHOTO GALLERY Top 15 obscure video game consoles for collectors Sep 12, 2011 We short-list 15 ultra-rare consoles that should be in every gaming enthusiast's collection. Even if you consider yourself a hardcore gamer, there might be some here that you've never heard of. [Words: Chris Jager]

MOST READ THIS WEEK

In the May issue of PC & Tech Authority, we provide you with practical advice to avoid data bill shock, spend 24 hours with Windows 8, review 16 internet security packages in a huge group test, review the HP Envy 14 Spectre ultrabook, and show you how to create your own smart home. All in the May issue of PC & Tech Authority, on sale now.

Purchase this issue or a subscription now

LATEST GALLERIES

In Pictures: Five great games with terrible endings

A Tale of Two Styluses

The Android A-List: HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S II

more galleries »

LATEST GROUP TEST

CPU Megatest: 59 chips reviewed and rated

LATEST FEATURE

How secure are passwords?

LATEST HOW TO

How to configure your router

more group tests »

more features »

more how to »

This message was sent to %%Email Address%% as part of your membership to PC & Tech Authority.
If you no longer wish to receive the PC & Tech Authority Weekly newsletter please unsubscribe.

We respect your privacy; should you no longer wish to receive mailings from PC & Tech Authority, click on the link above. Please do not reply to this email. To view our Privacy Policy, go to the Haymarket Media Privacy Policy.
Your comments and suggestions about this email and other Haymarket Media products or services can be emailed to support@haymarketmedia.com.au

Copyright © 2012 Haymarket Media. All rights reserved.
ABN 610 8306 3914 | ACN 083 063 914