Banker S.A. June 2013 | Page 65

TECHNOLOGY Gadgets By Charles Boffard Boost your productivity and have some fun with these new tech tools. LENOVO HELIX ULTRABOOK R27 800 lenovo.com/za If you like Lenovo’s clever new “rip and flip” convertible, you won’t have to choose between a laptop and a tablet. The Helix is a high-specced Windows 8 business notebook, with Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB RAM and 256GB solid-state drive that will wake it from standby mode in under seven seconds. Flip its 11.6 touchscreen display into “stand mode” for presentations; detach it and you have a powerful tablet with five hours battery life (and another 5 hours when docked to the keyboard). SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 Charles Boffard is a tech journalist and editor of Business Class magazine. R8 500 samsung.com/za If you’re using a Galaxy S3 you’re probably very happy with it. But Samsung’s upgraded and so can you. What’s improved? Samsung’s managed to fit a bigger, 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED screen onto a smaller phone, with less power consumption and a bigger battery than the S3’s. The same generous storage options and microSD slot, plus an infrared sensor and a barometer for, um, perhaps, for night flying. SONY XPERIA Z R8 000 sony.co.za Sony have really got it right this time. The Xperia Z’s sleek design, razor-sharp 5inch/12.7cm display with Sony’s Bravia image processing, performance and outstanding cameras should make it very successful. Multimedia, sound quality and the 13Mp rear-facing camera are outstanding, as you’d expect from Sony. And it’s waterproof. EDITOR’S CHOICE SWIFTKEY 4 R44 swiftkey.net Even if you don’t know it, your Android virtual keyboard is probably holding you back. Swiftkey’s gesture-based typing allows faster, easier scr