PC World New Zealand Magazine: Technology advice you can trust.

Phones

Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S

Smartphone

Wednesday, 8 February, 2012 If you’ve seen the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, you already have a good idea of what the Arc S looks like. However, this updated version has a few neat upgrades and additions.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4

Preview: Sony Xperia Ion

Smartphone

Wednesday, 11 January, 2012 | 3 comments The Sony Xperia Ion has some pretty drool-worthy specs: a 4.6-inch display, HDMI-out with a TV launcher interface, and a super thin design. Oh--and a 12-megapixel camera. Yep, you read that right--a 12-megapixel camera. And it is pretty darn good.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Active

Smartphone

Wednesday, 7 December, 2011 | 1 comment The Xperia Active is designed to be an aid to an active lifestyle – it’s got apps to help you with fitness tracking and, to a certain point, it’s ruggedised.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3.5

Huawei X1

Smartphone

Wednesday, 7 December, 2011 The Huawei Ideos X1 is made to be cheap, no question. We have to make certain allowances when we look at it – okay, it has a slow processor. Okay, it doesn't have a lot of RAM. But it's a smartphone worth less than $200, so how much can we complain?

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 2.5

Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman

Smartphone

Monday, 28 November, 2011 Sony Ericsson’s Live with Walkman phone has the orange detail of old cassette-based devices, a dedicated button to open the Walkman music player, and like the old music players, is short and stout in design.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

Review: Nokia N9

Smartphone

Thursday, 24 November, 2011 | 5 comments In a world of metal and plastic smartphones, the polycarbonate unibody of the Nokia N9 is like a fashion model among marathon runners.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3

Review: HTC Sensation

Smartphone

Tuesday, 20 September, 2011 | 2 comments Late in June, HTC entered the New Zealand Android market with the compact Wildfire S and high-powered Sensation.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 5

Blackberry Curve 9300

Smartphone

Tuesday, 6 September, 2011 | 1 comment BlackBerry’s Curve 3G 9300 is a successor to several previous successful Curve models, with the addition of 3G.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4

Review: Nokia E7

Smartphone

Monday, 29 August, 2011 | 19 comments The E7 may be one of Nokia's last Symbian-based smartphones, with a top-shelf price - but does it have top-notch performance to match?

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 2

Samsung Galaxy Mini

Smartphone

Thursday, 25 August, 2011 Entry-level Android phones are now relatively common. Samsung’s newest entry in the sub-$400 category is the Galaxy Mini.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3.5

BlackBerry Torch

Smartphone

Wednesday, 10 August, 2011 | 1 comment The BlackBerry Torch could be accused of trying to be a jack of all trades – it has a touchscreen, a slide-out keyboard and BlackBerry services, all rolled into one.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4

Telecom R54

Mobile Phone

Monday, 1 August, 2011 At PC World, we left 'feature phones' behind a fair while ago for the more productive pastures of the smartphone domain. However, we're taking a brief detour back to look at Telecom's R54: a rebranded ZTE device that makes calls, sends and receives texts and is surprisingly hard to destroy.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3.5

HTC Wildfire S

Smartphone

Monday, 1 August, 2011 The Wildfire S was the first Android-based HTC smartphone released in New Zealand, and strives to be an entry-level device.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3

Samsung Galaxy S II review

Smartphone

Tuesday, 5 July, 2011 | 6 comments It’s not often that a gadget comes into the Test Centre and blows away our expectations, but the Galaxy S2 did exactly that.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 5

Motorola Defy

Smartphone

Wednesday, 29 June, 2011 Motorola claims its Android-based Defy smartphone is “Life Proof”… a clever marketing term, but what does it actually mean?

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3.5

LG Optimus 2X review

Smartphone

Tuesday, 14 June, 2011 | 1 comment If you’re looking for a high-end smartphone from 2degrees, the LG Optimus 2X is it.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Smartphone

Monday, 6 June, 2011 Sony Ericsson describes its new Xperia Play as a “smartphone first”, but let’s be honest – it's the PlayStation Phone we've all been waiting for.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3.5

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

Smartphone

Tuesday, 31 May, 2011 | 3 comments | 1 reviewWE REVIEWED Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc: a smartphone that bends over backwards to keep your hands in the comfort zone.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

Users rating: User rating: 5

LG Optimus 7Q

Smartphone

Friday, 6 May, 2011 Telecom recently launched the LG Optimus 7Q as a contender to HTC’s 7 Trophy, Vodafone’s top Windows Phone 7 (WP7) handset.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

Preview: Samsung Android tablet and smartphones

Tablet and smartphones

Monday, 28 March, 2011 | 8 comments This April Samsung will storm into Vodafone stores with a selection of smartphones and a new tablet – and they will all be running the latest version of Android.

Tablets

Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Tablet

Tuesday, 13 September, 2011 | 1 comment For a small gadget, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has certainly caused a lot of controversy in its short existence. Zara Baxter takes a look to see whether it's worth the injunctions.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

Motion CL900

Tablet

Monday, 1 August, 2011 The CL900 is a business-focused Windows 7 tablet with a rugged, outdoor-friendly exterior.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3.5

Archos 70

Tablet

Monday, 1 August, 2011 The Archos 70 claims first and foremost to be an ‘Internet Tablet’ with an ‘Android user interface’ -- but there are caveats to both of those descriptions.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 3.5

Review: Motorola Xoom

Tablet

Thursday, 21 July, 2011 | 3 comments How does the Motorola Xoom stack up against the iPad? Not bad, actually...

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4

Apple iPad 2 retrospective

Tablet

Thursday, 14 July, 2011 | 4 comments Now that we've had chance to handle the other tablet devices on the market, in the full range of sizes, operating system and designs, the elegance of the iPad 2 becomes even more apparent.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v

Tablet

Tuesday, 12 July, 2011 | 5 comments If you’re after a Honeycomb tablet and you want one with 3G as soon as possible, the Galaxy Tab is going to be your only choice for quite some time. Expect to pay for it, though.

BlackBerry PlayBook review

Tablet

Thursday, 7 July, 2011 Blackberry's PlayBook feels like a BlackBerry smartphone, but it has the touch interface and feel of a tablet, too.

Acer Iconia A500

Tablet

Tuesday, 5 July, 2011 The Iconia is a lot of tablet for your money: the features of a laptop – minus the physical keyboard – on a device that can fit in a satchel.

Samsung Galaxy Tab review

Tablet

Thursday, 30 June, 2011 Samsung's Galaxy Tab is a cute little tablet, with a white back and a 7-inch form factor.

ViewSonic ViewPad 7

Tablet

Tuesday, 28 June, 2011 At first glance, you might think the ViewPad 7 tablet is somebody’s appointment book; it’s small and comes wrapped in a fold out faux-leather case.

ZTE V9 Light

Tablet

Thursday, 23 June, 2011 | 2 comments Telecom's first offering for the tablet market is astonishingly affordable, compared to some of the other tablet devices we’ve reviewed.

ViewSonic ViewPad 10s

Tablet

Tuesday, 21 June, 2011 We reviewed ViewSonic's ViewPad 10s, a 10-inch tablet running Android 2.2.

Review: iPad 2

Tablet

Friday, 29 April, 2011 | 3 comments With much fanfare and the usual lengthy queues, the Apple iPad 2 was launched mid-March.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

In-depth preview:The iPad 2

Tablet

Friday, 11 March, 2011 A year ago, nobody had an iPad. Then Apple sold 15 million of them in just nine months, creating a whole new category of technology product. The iPad may have become, in the words of Steve Jobs, “the most successful consumer product ever launched”.

E Readers

Kobo Touch

eBook reader

Monday, 7 November, 2011 | 4 comments New Zealand PC World editor Zara Baxter reviews Kobo's latest e-reader.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

GPS

Garmin ForeRunner 210

Fitness Wristwatch with GPS

Thursday, 26 January, 2012 | 1 comment In the melange of multifaceted fitness gadgets, the Garmin ForeRunner 210 is a simple and straightforward gadget that aims to do one thing, and do it well. It tracks your activities.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

TomTom GO LIVE 2050

In-car GPS

Wednesday, 18 January, 2012 | 2 comments Top of TomTom's Go Live range, the 2050 offers live traffic updates, voice control and comprehensive road maps for both New Zealand and Australia.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4

Garmin Montana 650t

Outdoor GPS

Monday, 5 December, 2011 | 1 comment Garmin’s Montana 650t is a high-end outdoor GPS aimed at hikers (trampers, in New Zealand parlance) and off-roaders, sold pre-loaded with topographical maps for New Zealand and Australia.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4.5

Garmin Oregon 550

Outdoor GPS

Monday, 1 August, 2011 The Oregon 550 from Garmin is an outdoor GPS unit with an integrated 3.2 megapixel camera.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4

TomTom Go Live 1000

In-car GPS

Tuesday, 15 March, 2011 An in-car GPS device that knows what’s going on around it is the holy grail of the GPS world, and this functionality is finally available in New Zealand.

Editor's rating: Editor's rating: 4