Anna takes on the Dext (or Cliq as it is known in the US) Motorola's first Google Android powered smartphone. It has a great keypad, an innovative interface called Motoblur and lots of cool features, but it has one big flaw

Available on different contracts from Omio

We snuck a preview of Zombie thwacking game Left 4 Dead 2 last week: Gerald from TechDigest went along, tried out the game and learnt how to kill a zombie with a frying pan.

Left 4 Dead 2 will be in shops from the 20th November, so get ready for another frantic blast of four-player, undead killing first-person madness on its way.

The highly anticipated sequel takes place in the Deep South, where four brand new survivors are battling against the zombie horde. Valve promise three horrific new Special infected foes, the brand new addition of melee weapons, and a refined version of the AI Director that made the original so replayable.

In video below, two terrifying SAS men give practical, real-life tips on overcoming zombies with frying pans : you'll be glad you watched this when the zombie hordes come.

The game hits shops on November 20. See more on the L4D site.

A hardworking but budget smartphone offering from HTC. The Touch 2 runs the latests Windows Mobile OS - 6.5 - but is aimed at the consumers not the corporates.

Available soon on various tariffs from Carphone Warehouse Sim-Free price- £270

We take on a load of weirdo audio gadgets:
- the X-mini Max ii. £30 speakers from www.play.com
- JBL Headphones designed by Roxy £59.95 from www.roxy.com
- the Noisebag £30 back pack from www.noisebag.com

Related: Shiny Video: Gadget Round-Up - cute DAB radio, headphones x2 and musical fingers

Andrea gets to play with the new super slim £100 HD cam which is available from IWOOT.com. It has less storage than the Flip Mino HD, but is cheaper and has a few extra features.

The new affordable smartphone from LG has a cute little keyboard, and it's aimed at the text-producing social-networker. But - the camera's not great and there are no apps.

Our verdict below. Also check out Andrea on the BL40 LG Chocolate, the upmarket but weirdly-shaped brother phone.

LG GW520 handset available from £279.95 from Carphone Warehouse, or £169.50 on Orange or Vodafone Pay As You Go.

LG has been busy in the past few weeks launching a range of different handsets, which it hopes will suit many of the people looking to upgrade their phones.

These have ranged from PDAs to touchscreens and yesterday it also launched the BL20, which forms part of the chocolate range.

The phone is said to be a smaller version to the company's BL40 and has GPRS connectivity and a 2.4-inch screen. Unlike it's bigger and better BL40 brother the phone will have a slide-out keyboard and a 5.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash.

LG has also described this phone as a cheaper version to the BL40, which was so highly publicised by the company. We had a look at the BL40 yesterday so have a look at the video below to get our views. You can also visit our YouTube page where the lovely Anna also takes a look at the LG GW520 QWERTY keyboard endowed low-end phone.

The top-of-the-range Samsung i8910 clocks up a couple of world records: first HD video camera in a mobile phone and the largest AMOLED screen on the market at 3.7". With HD playback and some addictive video games, it's a bit of charmer, but what are the drawbacks?

Win a free one in the Shiny competition above!

Hey guys, it has been a great couple of years with you, but I'm going to be leaving these hallowed hall of pinkness forever now. Don't worry to much, I'll still be in the techsphere, and updating my own blog with all sorts of nonsense and ramblings. I'll be leaving you in very capable hands of equally tech loving ladies, but just to remind you of the good times we've had I've put together a little video of some of my best moments. Feel free to add comments on any clips you think should be in there. xoxo

More videos here

Everytime I go to the beach I suffer huge waves of anxiety about my stuff. Cos stuff is, y'know precious right? And when I go for a dip in that delicious blue ocean, I'd kind of like my wallet/mobile.keys to still be there when I get back. Other than swimming in rotas there wasn't a huge amount you could do about this- till now. Say hi to the Yelpie, the safe with the motion sensor ear shattering alarm, which should keep your belongings secure whilst you swim,.

£35.95 from CuteBitz

More accessories here.

The problem with gaming on a laptop rather than a desktop tends to be the slow processing speeds, and the fact that your lappie isn't always equipped to handle graphic heavy programmes that use a lot of RAM. Well the next gen of gamers laptops are about to appear, and they're in the Alienware family, famous for already producing cutting edge computers for gamers in the know.

They're describing the M17x rather optimistically as the 'Most-Powerful 17" Laptop in Universe', but when you look at the specs it seems they may be telling the truth.

We revealed the LG Viewty Smart to you in April, and we've finally managed to get our hands on its 8 megapixel goodness, prior to its launch. Yes, we realize you can't see the screen that well due to the glare , so if you want more info check out this great piece on Tech Digest.

LG

More mobiles here.

Marriage may be a distant concept on the horizon right now, but geek chic has never been hotter, and if you combine the sartorial style of super Mario wedding cakes, Zelda hair pieces and robot grooms, well it's almost enough to make me waltz up that aisle...

[source]

More video fun here.

Manufacturers have been wracking their brains for a while now for ways to make phones stand out in the handset heavy marketplace. Some opt for cramming in as much memory as they can, adding user friendly touchscreens, or utilizing the Android OS, but LG have gone for something rather different.

They've decided to sell their latest handset on the fact that it comes with a transparent touchpad, that uses conductive sensor to allow you to doodle all over it.

On paper the Tocco Ultra sounds amazing. An eight megapixel camera with an AMOLED screen? Where can I sign up? But does the reality differ from the paper specs? I was wowed by the original Tocco, so will the Ultra be able to beat it? Watch and see.

Get it here.

It seems like ages ago we told you all about the Sony Ericsson W715, but we finally got our grubby hands on it and were pretty impressed with what it had to offer. For such a small phone it's jam packed with features, and with everything from Google maps to music on board it looks quite a promising package.

Sony Ericsson

More phones here

Mio and Navman have teamed up to offer you three affordable, functional and stylish models in their newly launched sat-nav range. Unimaginatively titled Navman Mio, there are some seriously great models on offer. You can choose between a 3.5 inch screen (on the Spirit 300) a 4.7inch screen (Spirit 500) and 4.7 incher (Spirit Flat). Unsurprisingly each device comes with built in GPS, but they're also synced up the ATIS traffic service, so you'll be warned of the latest jams and accident areas in plenty of time to avoid them.

Ricoh's latest camera has a certain retro appeal with its chunky styling and over sized body, and I was seriously bowled away by the amount of features it packed in; -the CMOS sensor meant that pictures taking was a joy.

£299 from Ricoh

More cameras here

Way back in January we were uber excited about the news of a new addition to the Sony walkman family, the brand spanking X Series walkman. It was debuted at CES,
and we learnt all about how it combined useful wireless capabilities with a gorgeous looking 3 inch OLED screen. That dream has just become a reality as the X series is available to purchase from today.

But how does this lovely looking MP3 player match up to the likes of the iPod Touch, arguably its biggest competitor? Will the OLED screen be enough to position this player at the top of the tree, or will it be fisticuffs at dawn? Read on to find out....

What seems like years ago, but was merely a couple of months, we told you all about the C510 from Sony Ericsson, an affordable camera phone that combines a 3.2 megapixel camera with a smile sensor and face detection.

It may not compare to the C905 in terms of megapixels, but for a budget model it sound like it may tick all the right boxes.

But how did it fare for usability? See after the jump for full review.