Products: Features

These days, Android is more than just a platform: It's a club, a culture, a way of life. Android fans are into it, man, and they're itching to show off their mobile-minded pride.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is less than one month away, and speculation is high about whether Apple will announce new iCloud features, refreshed MacBook Pros, overhauled versions of iOS and OS X and maybe even a new smartphone during the conference.

Start your engines: Google’s long-rumored Drive service is officially out and ready for a test… well, drive. The search giant’s answer to services like Dropbox, Drive offers 5GB of free online storage space that also syncs with a local folder on the desktop of your Mac or PC. (An Android app is currently available, with an iOS app in the works.)

The 10.1-inch Asus Transformer Pad TF300 aims to reshape the tablet market by delivering top-tier performance at a value price. It largely succeeds in this mission, delivering performance that's on a par with its pricier Transformer Prime sibling.

The Android 4.0-powered HTC One S arrives in the US on April 25, and so far reviews say this phone is the Android device to beat in 2012. Reviewers are going gaga over the phone's camera, battery life, responsiveness, design, and sound. However, not everyone is thrilled with the device's storage size or the usual bloatware that manufacturers and carriers love to add to new Android handsets. Here's a quick round-up of what the reviews are saying about the HTC One S.

While Apple executives have continued to call the Apple TV a hobby, over the past couple years, the company has dedicated a fair amount of resources to it.

Never before has an announcement about textbooks been the subject of so much conversation. But that’s what happens when Apple holds a media event: People talk, even if the subject might otherwise seem obscure or uninteresting.

Despite the Mac's recent gains in market share, Windows is still the dominant operating system, especially in businesses. That means there may be times when you need to run the Microsoft OS: perhaps there’s an application your company uses that’s only available for Windows, or you’re a Web developer and you need to test your sites in a true native Windows web browser. Or maybe you want to play computer games that aren’t available for OS X. Whatever your reason for running Windows, there are a number of ways your Mac can do it for you.

The International Consumer Electronics Show is a veritable electronics smorgasbord, full-to-brimming with televisions, tablets, telephones, and cameras. The iOS accessories market is no different, getting its very own dedicated pavilion at CES. Here are some of the standout products we’ve seen in both the iLounge Pavilion and the rest of the show floor throughout our CES travels.

Tablets and smartphones are in, but don't count laptops out. Impressive new laptops planned for 2012 promise to be thinner, lighter, and faster, as well as to carry longer-lasting batteries.

Some people want a tablet but don't want to shell out big bucks for it. For those frugal shoppers, this week was special, as it marked the release of the $US200 Amazon Kindle Fire and the $US250 Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet.

The initial reaction to the announcement of the iPhone 4S was muted.

Apple's iPad 2 is clearly the market leader, but Samsung has ruffled a few feathers with its upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet -- so much so that Apple has blocked it from going on sale in Australia, and forced Samsung to postpone the launch event

Tablets are the hot tech product of 2011, but most seem to offer very little differentiation in screen size, specifications and software. Lenovo is at least attempting something new with its ThinkPad Tablet: it's aimed squarely at business users and comes with a digitiser pen for drawing.

Lenovo may have arrived late to the party, but is it too late? The company better known for its business notebooks and PCs has finally released an Android tablet, the Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1.

One of the nicest 13.3in business laptops on the Australian market

HTC has posted a new promotional video for its upcoming Android tablet, which will either be named the Flyer--its moniker in the video--or the smartphone-like Evo View 4G when it arrives this summer.

We haven't seen HP hype a tablet since last year's flirtation with Windows 7, but that could change after February 9, when the company has all but confirmed that it will introduce its first WebOS tablet.

Even since Apple released its "magical and revolutionary" iPad, other vendors have been scrambling to deliver products that go Apple one better.

Not surprisingly, the misperception that Linux is harder to use than other operating systems is also one that competing vendors routinely use to scare potential new users away from Linux.