Sony Mobile is undoubtedly on a bit of a roll at the moment, what with its excellent Xperia Z and rumours of this amazing smartphone.

And now it is the turn of its rather impressive tablet, the Xperia Tablet Z, to hog the headlines as the device, which was announced in January goes on sale across the globe.

Sony is claiming too that the tablet - which it bills as the world's slimmest, lightest premium Android tablet - has received the largest number of pre-orders of any Sony tablet to date.

So why should you be interested?

Well firstly it is ultra slim at 6.9mm, weighs a measly 495g and is very stylish too. There is also a case for this being the best looking Android tablet so far.

It is also 4G compatible - unlike quite a lot of its rivals. Like other Sony products it isn't scared of a splash or two of water and it is also very impressive as the control for a media hub in being able to activate TVs, speakers and smartphones and more.

It also boasts an eight mega pixel rear camera, which again is far more impressive than almost all of its rivals.

As for the core specs, it sports a 10.1inch Reality Display is powered by Mobile BRAVIA® Engine 2 with 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, is run by a Snapdragon™ S4 Pro asynchronous quad core processor and features the Android 4.1 Jellybean operating system.

It is available in black or white, Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi and 4g.

The downside is that given its premium status prices at around £399 - more expensive than many its rivals.

Anyway, here's a video thta highlights its attributes. Try not to snigger too much at the cheesy voice over though.

What's the difference between a standard tablet and one designed for business users? Toshiba has just unveiled the WT310 tablet, a touchscreen device it says is designed for business professionals on the move.

The tablet boasts an 11.6inch HD screen and offers users multiple ways of interacting with the Windows 8 Pro operating system.

Tosh says that the business element is the way it is built to optimise performance for mobile workers, so that includes a touch sensitive display and Windows 8 Pro, so users can quickly swipe, scroll and tap programs or documents.

The tablet also comes with a DigitizerPen - so users can take handwritten notes in meeting minutes or seminars. It comes with software that converts the notes into text documents for editing or sharing.

Also included are a range of security and data management features notably Intel® Anti-Theft - a software package that reduces the risk of unauthorised access - and the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) which safeguards locally stored critical data.

The WT310 can also be maintained remotely by a company's IT team, thanks to the Intel® Active Management Technology on selected models.

It also has a pretty comprehensive suite of connection options and features Wi-Fi® b/g/n or a/g/b/n, as well as support to HSPA+/LTE newtyorks and Bluetooth® 4.0.

It will be available shortly. There's no details on price yet.

Earlier today I wrote about how didn't think it would be too long before content companies and retailers gave away hardware like tablets and ereaders.

Well Barnes & Noble are not quite giving away their Nook range just yet, but they almost are.

The company has just announced some price rejigging and the Nook Simple Touch ereader has dropped to a pocket-money price of £29, which is down from £79. It is now by some distance the cheapest ereader from a name brand for sale in the UK.

Other ereaders have also been reduced in price too including the backlit Nook Simple Touch GlowLight which is now £69, and the company's pair of tablets the Nook HD and Nook HD+ now costing £129 and £179 respectively.

The prices are for a limited period only, so if you want one you need to get on to it pronto.

Jim Hilt, Managing Director, Barnes & Noble said

"We have a passion for everyone to experience digital reading affordably, anytime and anywhere. It was a perfect fit when we had the opportunity to partner on the 'Get London Reading' campaign. We hope to further enrich the minds of readers of all ages across the UK and give them affordable access to the books they love."

More details here.

I have always thought that one day publishers would start offering tablets for free as long as you subscribed to their packages. Well, we aren't there yet, but things are moving in that direction.

The Times has announced that it is offering a special deal to potential readers and that if they sign up for their Digital Pack - basically The Times and Sunday Times downloaded each day to a tablet, plus full website access and the smartphone app - they would throw in a device for £50. In this instance it is is the Google Nexus 32 gig version.

Usually the tablet costs around £200, so that would mean £150 off the tablet's price.

I think this is just the start. It would make so much sense for say Amazon to offer a free Kindle provided you agreed to spend a certain amount of money on books each year - think a Spotify type subscription.

Then there are other magazine publishers who could in theory offer cheaper tablets as an incentive to pay for yearly subs too. It makes so much sense - if they want to ensure that their tablet readerships goes up why not offer readers a tablet?

I don't think you will be getting a free iPad with your Daily Star just yet, but if you are thinking about buying a tablet it might be worth seeing if you can get it free or cheap with some great content too.

A group of researchers at the University of St Andrews, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and Montana Tech, are calling time on the QWERTY keyboard for touch screen devices. They say that the QWERTY layout is ill-suited for tablets and other touchscreen devices.

They claim that you will be able to type 34 per cent faster on tablets if you use new system, dubbed KALQ, and use both thumbs while tapping away.

The team apparently researched millions of potential layouts before alighting on KALQ which will be available soon as a free app for Android devices.

Dr Per Ola Kristensson, Lecturer in Human Computer Interaction in the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, said: "The legacy of QWERTY has trapped users with suboptimal text entry interfaces on mobile devices. We believe KALQ provides a large enough performance improvement to incentivise users to switch and benefit from faster and more comfortable typing."

While normal users operating a QWERTY on a touchscreen device are limited to typing at a rate around 20 words per minute by rearranging the keys on the keyboard layout it is possible enable faster thumb typing.

Dr Antti Oulasvirta, Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany, said: "The key to optimising a keyboard for two thumbs is to minimise long typing sequences that only involve a single thumb. It is also important to place frequently used letter keys centrally close to each other.

"Experienced typists move their thumbs simultaneously: while one thumb is selecting a particular key, the other thumb is approaching its next target. From these insights we derived a predictive behavioural model we could use to optimise the keyboard."

So the optimisation process focused on enabling the user to use both thumbs while at the same time enabling typing on both sides of the tablet.

The catch though is that to full get up to speed users have to be trained to move their thumbs simultaneously, so while one thumb is approaching an intended letter key, the other thumb moves to its next target.

It sounds intriguing. Will you give it a go? More here.

So it was an interesting night for Apple watchers, with the company's financial results not really anywhere near as bad as some analysts had predicted.

There does however seem to be some underlying issues that the company needs to tackle the most urgent of which is getting some new product out to rival the endless stream of goodies that are emanating from Korea.

So good news for Apple fan people as last night CEO Tim Cook confirmed that a new phone and new tablet will be coming before the end of the year probably in the Fall.

The question is of course which products? The phone could the iPhone 5S or the much rumoured cut down iPhone to tempt budget buyers, And as for the tablet is - it the iPad 5 or will we see the ipad mini 2.

There is still a fair bit of conjecture as to what the iPhone 5S will feature. Some pundits predict that it will be a largely cosmetic upgrade with new software features. Others think that it will be a different format and boast a larger screen.

The news that it is coming in the Fall tallies with recent rumours that Apple are running a little behind on the release schedule.

In case you haven't seen it Apple's share prices have taken a hit the day before their latest financial results are announced. One of the reasons for the drop - which admittedly might be instantly arrested tomorrow if the results are good - is that the market is worried about cheap Android tablets tempting potential iPad buyers.

And while there are lots of online places to buy cheap tablets - we found this for £42.99 - they are now popping up in the High Street too with PC World stocking the Versus Touchtab range.

Want a seven inch tablet for next to nothing? Well the seven inch version is now coming in at £70.99. It has a decent-ish spec for the price too including Ice Cream Sandwich OS, eight gig of storage and a very basic VGA camera. You even get a three months free subscription to The Times. The biggest drawback is a battery life of just four hours.

If that's no highly specced enough for you then there's the 7V at £100 which runs JellyBean has a faster processor and slightly better (though still pretty primitive) camera.

I guess whether these devices work for you is determined by what you expect from a tablet. They will never rival the sophistication of the iPad and its rivals, but if you just want a tablet for accessing the web and downloading a few apps then these could be just the ticket.

Want a 10inch tablet but not in a boring old black or white colour? Well following on from the controversial pink girly tablets that we wrote about last week Gemini Devices have uneviled a new 9.7inch screen tablet that comes in pink, and also blue and silver.

The new tablet, the 10313s, is at the more affordable end of the market and will retail for a very competitive £149.99

For your cash, in addition to that colourful finish you get a tablet that runs Android Jelly Bean 4.1, features a Capacitive 10 Point Multi Touch display with a 1024 x 768 resolution, includes a Dual Core ARM Cortex RK 1.5GHz and has HDMI and Bluetooth.

Other features include; front and rear mounted cameras, 16GB built-in storage and a Micro-SD slot to add a further 32GB and Micro USB to hook up to a PC.

"With so many Tablets to choose from we wanted to offer our customers a key differentiator. The new coloured designs allow them to buy a Tablet to match their personality in addition to fulfilling their feature requirements," says Luke Prodromou, Head of Product Marketing, Gemini Devices.

So what do you think? Tempted?

Sky has opened up its Sky Sports channels to anyone with an internet connection on a pay you go tariff.

From today UK residents can access the channels - and the Premiership football, F1 races, Ashes games etc, that they show for £9.99 for a 24 hour pass.

The service, which is powered by Sky's NOW TV offering complements its pay as you go movies works on PCs, tablets, phones and games consoles like the Xbox 360.

It seems like a sensible and obvious move from Sky, but is £9.99 a bit on the pricey side for it to be a huge success?

What do you think?

Among the events that Sky Sports will show in the next year are

Live matches from the Barclays Premier League and UEFA Champions League

All 19 Grands Prix from the Formula 1 season- as well as qualifying and practice sessions

The British & Irish Lions 2013 Tour of Australia

All 10 Ashes Test matches from home and away, exclusively live - as well as all one-day internationals and Twenty20 internationals

Three of golf's four Majors - including The Masters ATP tennis, including the ATP finals from The O2

Quick update from Amazon. The company has just announced the long promised launch of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 in the UK (as well as a price drop in the US).

The tablet is similar to the seven inch version, the key difference being the screen is a tad larger at 8.9inches. It also has a higher pixel count at 1,920x1,200 which means it will playback video in 1080p high definition.

There are few under the hood tweaks too namely a speedier processor than the 7inch model and also longer battery life at ten hours between charges.

As for pricing goes £229 lands you the 16GB option, while £259 gets the 32GB model.

Shiny Shiny has a bit of a history as being a gadget for girls site. It was originally conceived that way, and from the off the editorial line was always that 'women can be as passionate about gadgets as blokes.'

Ok, soon after we entered a period where phones had to be designer and pink, but mercifully those days are over and today gadgets are on the whole pretty gender neutral. Or so I thought.

Then I saw that Mashable had run a story about a new tablet aimed at women called ePad Femme. Apparently the company that has developed the device bills it it as the "world's first tablet made exclusively for women."

Ok, so that feminisation of the device includes a pink background and a load of free apps that revolve around yoga, grocery shopping, weight loss, and cooking.

Apart from that it sounds like a bog-standard mid-range tablet in that it has an eight inch screen, runs Android 4.0, and has 16GB of internal storage.

Well, it isn't hugely surprising that the ePad Femme has only sold around 7000 units so far. Ok, but not exactly the iPad mini is it?

Personally I think it hasn't sold because, quite frankly, it sounds a little crap. If you want a pink tablet then get yourself a case. If you want apps, then download them! If you want a good tablet, there are many that are cheaper, and a whole lot better specified, than the ePad Femme.

I am not sure that the gadgets for girls era is completely over. However I do think that the days when both men and women bought devices purely because of their colour, probably is.

The price a no name Android seven inch tablet has now fallen to under £50. Check 'em out here. But you run the risk if buying from a company that you know nothing about and receiving a product that is a poor performer.

One more established maker who is pushing the price of Android tablets down is Gemini. It has just unveiled a pair of JoyTAB range Android tablets, with the cheaper model of the two coming at just £79.99

Both tablets, the other is a 3G version, named the JoyTAB Duo 7 3G which retails for £130, include a dual-core Cortex A9 chipset backed up by 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage space, SD card slot and a front and back dual cameras (2MP and 0.3MP). They both run Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), though the more expensive model will upgrade to 4.2 shortly.

Now that's quite a lot of tech goodness for your cash.

Apart from the 3G the other main difference between the two is the battery size, The pricier model has a 5800mAh capacity battery as opposed to the 2800mAh battery inside the cheapie.

Here's the specs

JoyTAB Duo 7 (Gem7020) RRP £79.99
CPU: Dual Core Cortex A9 1.6Ghz
Memory: 1GB DDR3
Storage: 8GB built-in, upgradeable with Micro SD Card up to 32GB (approx. 40GB total)
Display: Capacitive 5 point Multi-Touch Screen/7inch - 1024 x 600
Connectivity: Micro USB Port, Micro SD
Audio: Built-in Speaker, Built-in Mic, 3.5mm Stereo Earphone Jack
Wireless Network: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Camera: Front 0.3 Megapixel, Rear 2.0 Megapixel
Gyroscope: Built in G sensor for gaming and automatic screen rotation
Battery: 2800mAh
OS: Google Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Dimensions and weight: (W/H) 192mm x (H/W) 124mm x (D) 9mm / 276g

JoyTAB Duo 7 3G (Gem7032G) RRP £139.99
CPU: Dual Core Cortex A9 Ghz
Memory: 1GB DDR3
Storage: 4GB built-in, upgradeable with Micro SD Card up to 32GB (approx. 36GB total)
Display: Capacitive 5 point Multi-Touch Screen/7inch - 1024 x 600
Connectivity: Micro SD
Audio: Built-in Speaker, Built-in Mic, 3.5mm Stereo Earphone Jack
Wireless Network: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Built-in Bluetooth, 3G, GPS
Camera: Front 0.3 Megapixel, Rear 2.0 Megapixel
Gyroscope: Built in G sensor for gaming and automatic screen rotation
Battery: 5800mAh
OS: Google Android 4.0 (Upgrade to 4.2 Jelly Bean due soon)
Dimensions and weight: (W/H) 190.2mm x (H/W) 120.5mm x (D) 11.5mm / 276g

Some fairly big breaking news from tablet maker Archos. The company has just unveiled new devices in the guise of the Platinum range which feature a sleek aluminum design, high definition IPS displays, quad-core processors and the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system.

The company says that the tablet will come in three sizes: 8-inch, 9.7-inch and 11.6-inch and will be available in February and April (for the 11.6inch tablet). The 11.6inch breaks new ground in that it is significantly bigger than standard tablets and could well herald a growth surge in high-end larger screen devices.

All three are decently specified and competitively priced, especially the large screen version.

Here's the release from the maker.

The entire Platinum range will all share the following features:

• High-Definition IPS display with capacitive multi-touch screen
• QUAD core CPU at 1.2 GHz with 8-core GPU, with 1080p video decoding
• 2 GB RAM
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• Full access to the 700,000 applications
• Archos Media Center applications
• Front and Back Cameras
• Mini-HDMI and Micro SD ports

The ARCHOS 80 Platinum, an 8" tablet, features a 1024x768 resolution IPS screen and when compared to the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 it is almost twice as fast, has double the RAM and has a back camera for a fraction of the cost. The 80 Platinum will be available in February for £179

The ARCHOS 97 Platinum HD, a 9.7" tablet, features a stunning 2048x1536 resolution IPS screen, which is comparable to the Retina display found in the iPad, but is 40% less expensive. The 97 Platinum HD will be available in February for £249

The ARCHOS 116 Platinum, an 11.6" tablet, features a 1920x1080 resolution IPS screen, unlike anything currently on the market. The 116 Platinum will be available in April for £299

Yesterday Microsoft unveiled its Windows 8 tablet, the Microsoft Surface. It's certainly an impressive device, but Tech Digest's Gerald Lynch asks what Microsoft's latest venture means for the future of third-party hardware makers...

Wow! "Microsoft in cool, exciting product launch shocker!" Microsoft's first foray into own-branded tablet hardware may have been a long time coming (and long overdue in the fight against Apple's mobile dominance), but credit where it's due: the Surface tablet looks set to deliver the goods.

With a media circus of Apple-like proportions, Microsoft unveiled their Windows 8 tablet. A 10.1 inch device available in two configurations (one powered by a Nvidia ARM chip with Windows 8 RT and a "Pro" version with full-fat Windows 8 powered by an Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor), it managed to set itself apart from the pack not only in terms of software as we'd expected, what with Windows 8 onboard, but in its hardware too.

Microsoft had put this altogether themselves, rather than slapping their branding on a third-party's machine. While tablets themselves aren't the easiest things to build fresh, exciting designs around any more, the super-slim keyboard/trackpad/cover combo that magnetically attached to the Surface was certainly a lust-worthy addition. Add to that a Gorilla Glass screen, full size USB connectivity and a genuinely attractive industrial design, and Microsoft seemed to tick all the boxes for a successful launch, aside from concrete pricing and release date information.

Then there was Microsoft's new approach to product design. Again like Apple, the Redmond company now seem set on having as much control as possible over their software by putting together their own tailor-made hardware to match it.

"We believe that any intersection between human and machine can be made better when all aspects of the experience - hardware and software - are considered and working together," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the event.

"We see that combination working in our PC ecosystem. We believe in the strength of that ecosystem. Much like Windows 1 needed the mouse, we wanted to give Windows 8 it's own hardware."

It is, however, a double edged sword. On the plus side, picking up a Microsoft Windows tablet need not be the dicey exercise it once was when picking up third-party hardware. Microsoft have built the Surface from the ground up, making hardware that's a perfect match for the software they've also developed.

However, that could lead to a slippery slope for Windows' "open" nature, and could mark the first brick in Microsoft's own "walled garden" approach, one of the key factors that keep Windows users away from the temptation of Apple's OS X. If tinkerers and manufacturers alike can't play under the hood of Windows and any new hardware associated with it as Microsoft want complete control over the user experience, the lines between Microsoft and Apple's approaches to consumer freedoms will be blurred.

What could start as Microsoft's effort to guarantee a quality user experience could eventually lead to strict hardware and software guidelines. Also, even if a manufacturer comes up with an interesting hardware design, what's to say Microsoft won't now feel pressured into defending and pushing their own hardware first?

For third-party manufacturers, the Surface represents the last time that the Windows platform will be a level playing field in which to work in. Microsoft have now set a hardware precedent, and every major software release coming out of the Redmond stable will now likely be paired with a hardware release. Microsoft will always be first to deliver the latest Windows hardware, and will have had the benefit of building it behind closed doors in tandem with the onboard software. Where once third-party device manufacturers approached new builds of Windows as equally removed from the software side of things as their competitors, Microsoft now have a key advantage over them. Third party manufacturers will have to work incredibly hard to win over consumers when offered the familiar (and now certified, tried, tested and trustworthy "homegrown") Microsoft-branded gear.

Also, look at it in terms of hardware trends. Microsoft, the company whose software powers the majority of desktop machines around the world, chose to first develop a mobile tablet device. Component and accessory manufacturers who work exclusively in the confines of the desktop and PC market should take note, and heed the warning that for Microsoft, just as with Apple, stationary, traditional computing equipment will in the coming years be going the way of the dodo.

The Surface marks a line in the sand for Microsoft and the Windows operating system, with Microsoft now positioning themselves on the side that sees the user experience of the consumer more important than the freedom to tinker or having expansive hardware options. As a consumer, deciding which side of that line you want to be on could be a difficult choice to make.

[Via Tech Digest]

Today Acer has launched its new special-edition Olympic tablet, the Iconia A510, which comes with a pre-loaded Eurosport Player for sports fans to enjoy watching the action from the games in full HD.

The device is running Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS, has 15 hours of battery life, powerful quad-core performance and can handle HD videos, gaming and fast web browsing, so it's pretty capable to say it's being marketed purely as an Olympic tablet. When it comes to storage the tablet has 32G, which can be expanded by an extra 32G (to 64G) by SD card too.

Eurosport Player is embedded into the device, so you can have instant access to Olympics-based content on-the-go. But, it's worth noting that it's only for a trial period until the 13th of August, after then you'll have to part with your pennies if you still want to access the latest sports content.

We're not sure how successful the new device will really be in the wild, especially with the arrival of the Microsoft Surface tablet and a range of other tablet PCs that are set to shake up the market. However, the decent price tag and Eurosport Player integration is bound to entice some sports fans who have been looking for the right moment to purchase a tablet.

The Acer Iconia A510 is available from Carphone Warehouse now for £349.

Yep, a company called DataWind has just teamed up with the Indian Institute of Technology (Rajasthan) to deliver a tablet aimed Indian students - and it costs a whopping £40. The tablet is called Aakash (meaning sky) and it is subsidised, but apparently does things that most tablets do ie browses the web, takes pictures, allows video conferencing.

It has a 7 inch screen, runs Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, features a 366 MHz processor includes a HD video co-processor and graphic accelerator, and 256 MB of RAM.

The theory is that as high speed wireless broadband is rolled out across the country, the Aakash will give Internet access to students in more rural areas.

The Aakash will be assembled in India, at DataWind's production centre in Hyderabad.

There's a full review of the device here.

Datawind currently has a £99 tablet on sale in the UK in the guise of the UbiSurferTouch

Incidentally the cheapest UK tablet is currently this one - which retails for not much more than £60.

Some interesting stuff from poling company YouGov which has been asking consumers what they think about Tablet PCs. To be fair you can probably guess its main conclusions that 1, The iPad is the tablet most people want. 2, That £250 is the price point at which sales of tablet PC will go stratospheric and 3, The iPad's only serious rival is likely to be the kindle Fire.

"Apple is far and away the current UK market leader in terms of brand awareness, preference and price," says Russell Feldman, Associate Director for Technology and Telecoms Consulting at YouGov. "But the introduction of the Kindle Fire, with its compelling features and even more attractive price, will make it very hard indeed for other players to compete. The Kindle Fire benefits not only on price and specifications, but also in the value and trust consumers have in the Amazon brand. What's more it has the potential to be a major game-changer given the depth of Amazon's downloadable content as well as its burgeoning application store - something that has underpinned consumers' loyalty to Apple over other tablets running an Android OS."

The research doesn't deliver any good news for Apple's rival brands like Samsung, Motorola and Acer. Apparently "72% of "hot prospects" (respondents who are keen to get a tablet) will consider purchasing an iPad2 with a further 61% expecting to get one. However, the next most popular tablets are the out of date iPad1 at 14% followed by the original Samsung Galaxy Tab at 7%. Other competitors fared even worse, with just 3% of "hot prospects" expecting to get a HTC, 3% a BlackBerry and just 1% favouring an Acer."

Feldman added "This is the mountain Android-based tablets need to climb, but by launching a rival ecosystem at an extremely competitive price, Amazon is likely to make a rapid approach to the summit, at the expense not necessarily of Apple, but of its rival Android stable mates."

British teenagers know their Apples
But not the ones you eat! A survey has found that 13- to 18-year-olds don't really know how much staple food items like eggs and a loaf of bread cost, but are bang on when it comes to knowing the cost of Apple gadgets. 80% of those survey knew the exact price of the iPhone4 in 8GB and 16GB writes theguardian.

Britain's cheapest tablets revealed
When it comes to tablets you usually get what you pay for but if you like many others can't justify spending £399 on an Apple iPad you'll be happy to learn there are good devices out there that won't cost you half a month's rent (if you live in London!). ShinyShiny's editor Becca has done the legwork for you and collected five tablets that are available NOW for under £100. Check out the complete list here.

iPhone 5 to be released on 15 October?
From an Orange to an Apple, it could be that the iPhone 5 is to be revealed in about a month's time after Stéphane Richard, CEO of Orange's parent company France Telecom, let it slip that October might be it. Cue Apple's iPhone 5 PRs looking for ways to put a gagging order out.

Microsoft shows off Windows 8
Like a proud parent, Microsoft has been showing off the latest build of their Windows 8 operating system this week. If you weren't one of the lucky developers who got a glimpse of the OS's new tricks and features fret not, TechDigest can give you some insight on how to try Windows 8 before its official launch date. Or alternatively visit The Telegraph for some pretty images.

Pentax launches Optio RZ18 18x compact ultra-zoom camera
We love cameras here at ShinyShiny, so are understandably excited each time a new one hits the shelves. This week Pentax has launched a digital camera boasting an 18x optical zoom that fits in your pocket! It is available in black, pearl and orange and will be in-store from mid-October just shy of £200. Click here to find out more about the features.

Google brings voice command to British phones
Here's one for the lazy; British mobile phone users can now speak instructions to their phones with a little help from Google. The search giant has launched 'Voice Commands' that will allow you and I to dictate entire messages or issue instructions such as 'Navigate to' so that phones can show driving directions and behave like satnavs, writes The Telegraph. We only wonder how quickly the novelty will wear off and be taken over by annoyance of people wandering around shouting commands to their phones...

Home phones are losing out to mobile phones
A new study by TalkTalk has found that using the landline has been overtaken by mobiles, but that users still prefer voice calls to social networking. While those aged 25-34 have the most frequent contact with friends and family online, with 40% of the overall population saying the mobile phone was their communication tool of choice.

ASUS U46 laptop sports world's thinnest screen
There's always talk about fashion models being too thin, but can gadgets be too thin? At just 5.5mm thick, the 14-inch screen panel can tilt over the keys at different angles to widen the viewing angle. The notebook has a Sandy Bridge Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM. Too techie for you? Yes, I snoozed off when I started talking about processors and RAMs... What would be its competitor in Supersized vs. Superskinny: The Tech Special?

HTC brings out Sensation XE
Looks like HTC is churning out handsets faster than we can type... well handsets. Sensation XE is scheduled to hit shops later this September and boasts a 8MP camera and a front-facing camera for video calls. And to add to the splendour comes with a pair of lush Beats Audio in-ear earphones for listening to those tunes.

Another HTC - this time the leaked images of HTC Rhyme or the HTC Bliss
Aimed at female gadget geeks the Rhyme handset will arrive in a shade of silver and as the name suggests has changed to be a little bit less patronising. The launch event is planned for 20th September so expect more on this next week.

Should mobile phones be banned on public transport?
We've all been there. It doesn't matter what time of day it is or where you are, there is always someone around ready to annoy his or her fellow London commuters with mobile phone. Many of these will be inconsiderate people playing their favourite (non-)music on the speaker - what ever happened to investing in a good pair of headphones? - but then there are those who decide to answer a phone call on the bus, overground and sometimes tube only to continue to talk LOUDLY until you or they get off. If just the mere thought of this makes the anger build up inside, know that you're not alone. A recent study found that more than 22% of commuters would welcome an outright ban on mobile phones on public transport. If this is the right way forward we don't know, but let's get the discussion going.

We all know that you get what you pay for and tablet devices are (usually) no exception to the rule. Most of the time the best models cost the most and unfortunately that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

However, that doesn't mean to say there aren't plenty of cheaper devices out there that aren't quite as powerful but can still do everything you'd expect from a tablet - and I promise there isn't an Apple logo in sight.

Sure there are all kinds of trade-offs for a much smaller price tag, but if you only plan on getting a tablet to scan through your emails, read eBooks and play Angry Birds now and again, then an expensive iPad might not be worth it in the long run anyway.

We've collected together five tablets that are available RIGHT NOW for under £100. You can probably pick one up for much cheaper if you buy from an independent Amazon seller, or have a look on eBay, but those prices are subject to change quickly and plus you can't guarantee what you're REALLY getting some of the time (and you don't want to open up the packaging to find you've bought a wooden iPad now do you).

1. Disgo Tablet 6000 Touch Screen, £63.54 from Amazon

This cheap and cheerful Disgo tablet runs on Android 2.2 and despite being the cheapest in our list it does have everything you'd expect from a basic tablet including access to (limited) apps, games and some basics already installed, a good screen resolution and WiFi capability.

It does seem that you have to sacrifice a few things for the price though, including access to the full Android Marketplace and a fully capable touchscreen. Many online reviews suggest the touchscreen is REALLY frustrating and you literally have to hit it to get any kind of response, which isn't good when you expect a tablet to be all about the tapping, pinching and scrolling.

However, for simple games, watching video and using it as an eReader, it seems to tick all of the boxes despite being so cheap. It also has a 7 inch screen which is perfect for reading, watching and listening on the move while still being super compact.

2. Archos 7 Home Tablet, £74.99 from Carphone Warehouse

The Archos 7 Home Tablet is another tablet with a 7 inch screen, yet it has 8GB of memory, as well as a memory card slot to add even more. This particular model has been dubbed an "entertainment device", which is probably a bit of a stretch, but there's a matt screen which means no glare and fairly decent picture quality to boot, making it ideal for watching video, playing games and reading.

3. Scroll 7" Tablet PC, £94.99 from Storage Options

The Scroll 7" Tablet is part of Storage Options' new range of cute, compact and most importantly affordable devices. It's a really robust Android tablet and boasts a capacitive multi touch screen (the same technology used in the iPhone) and screen tilt functionality, meaning you can switch between landscape and portrait seamlessly like you would with an iPad. Like the other models in the cheaper price range, it doesn't have full access to the Android Marketplace, a fact some people seem to be fine with and others online seem pretty angered by. Again, it's another device that's perfect for watching video, browsing the internet and reading eBooks.

4. Arnova 8 Tablet, £97 from Asda

The Arnova Tablet has an 8 inch screen, making it the biggest of the cheapies. Online reviews suggest it's great for watching video and the HD quality picture is pretty impressive for such a budget device. However, like the Disgo tablet there are far too many reports that the touchscreen just doesn't respond well enough, which makes the whole thing feel clunky in comparison to the slick experience we're used to with the iPad (when we go and play with them in the Apple store that is).

5. Binatone HomeSurf 7 7" Tablet, £99.97 from BestBuy

The Binatone Homesurf 7 7" is a very simple, lightweight tablet device which runs on Android 1.6 and has many of the same cons as the rest of the models on the list really, including no Android Market access and quite a poor resistive screen. Its certainly a capable device when it comes to more basic functions, but it's hardly the best of the bunch despite being (marginally) more expensive.

And the winner is?

Probably the Archos 7 Home Tablet, or the Scroll 7" Tablet PC as they seem to be the best all-rounders.

There are clearly cons with all of the devices and online reviews tend to suggest people are most unhappy with the lack of freedom when it comes to downloading apps and the seemingly unresponsive touchscreens, but for the price you really can't be drawing comparisons to tablets that are nearly six times as expensive.

There's a bit of a surprise over that the FT which is reporting that research organisation
Kantar Worldpanel ComTec, reckons that over a quarter of tablet PC sales are NOT iPads. I must admit I though that Apple's domination of the market would mean that it would have an even bigger slice of the tablet pie. Not so.

In second place is not some no-mark Android cheapie, but rather the Samsung's Galaxy Tab which has around 5.9% of the market.

Apparently more than 3.6m people in the UK now own a tablet, which marks a threefold increase from November 2010.

Kantar also predicts that Apple will dominate the market, but other makers will see some growth. It claims that more than half of potential tablet owners will buy an iPad over the next year, but that 28 per cent of consumers that intend to purchase a tablet in the next year are still undecided about which brand to buy.

Also unsurprising is that most tablets sold have been Wi-Fi only and not 3G. I wonder if that number will change over the coming months as networks began to heavily market 3G tablets with attractive tariffs.

Read the full report here.