TECHNOLOGY
Gadgets
Changing times require faster and more
reliable gadgets for exceptional results.
By Charles Boffard
PEDIGREE HYBRID
Sony Vaio Duo 11
R15 700
sony.co.za
There’s a market for convertible tablets, even if none
of the twisting/flipping hybrid creatures by Acer, Lenovo
and others have cracked it yet. Alas, neither has Sony.
The Duo’s always-exposed touchscreen makes it a slate,
which is basically a 1.3kg tablet.
As a Windows 8 notebook, its specs are good, as
Vaios always are, with a choice of Core i5 or Core i7
processors, 6GB of RAM, 128GB solid-state drive and a
29.5cm, Full HD display. But because the raised screen
covers about a third of the base, the Duo’s keys are small
and there’s no trackpad. We also found it inconvenient to have
only one screen position. All in all, if you’re looking for flexibility,
you may find the Duo 11 frustrating.
THE NEW BLACK
BlackBerry Z10
R7 000
blackberry.co.za
Blackberry loyalists can breathe a sigh of relief. The Z10
looks like it means business; slightly bigger than an iPhone,
with a 10.7cm screen and no physical buttons on its face.
And no keyboard, either. Blackberry have committed to an
excellent virtual keyboard with the best predictive text we’ve
ever seen. You’ll be typing only one or two letters of most
words. The gesture-based BB10 (currently with over 70 000
apps) matches up to the competition pretty well, and it’s
a relief to gesture your way from calendar to contacts to
browser without having to go via a home screen. Blackberry’s
killer app, uncapped internet service, is absent (though it’ll be
available for older Blackberry devices for a while). The Z10 is
definitely good enough to keep loyalists within the fold.
GOD OF SMALL THINGS
iPad mini
From R3 400
core.co.za
We’d made up our minds about the iPad Mini in December [2012],
before we’d even seen one. We use our iPads for so many
things that scaling down from that expansive screen
to something Huawei-sized just wasn’t an option. And
the specs! Its screen resolution and processor are more
iPad 2 than new iPad. So forget it.
Then, one day, we actually picked one up and held it.
And bought it. You’ll understand this when you hold a Mini
in your own hands. It’s not a scaled-down iPad, it’s a refined
iPad. Light and sliver-thin (7.2mm), it fits so naturally into
one hand that gripping a full-sized tablet afterwards feels like
carrying a suitcase. The screen is just big enough for reading,
working and media; and it’s so much more portable that you’ll
take it with you more often. Like its big brother, it’s available
with 16/32/64GB storage, Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi/3G.
ANDROID LEADER
HTC One
Rtba
htc.co.za
HTC has finally revealed its flagship
model for 2013, the HTC One. It’s a
real musclephone, with a 4.7inch/12cm
1080p display and 1.7GHz quad-core
Snapdragon 600 processor with 2GB of
RAM growling under its bonnet. At only
143g, its aluminium unibody sits snugly
in the hand.
The only disappointing spec is the
primary camera’s 4 megapixels, though
it’ll shoot HD video and its advanced
features give it good low-light capability.
HTC’s Sense Android skin has been
upgraded. The immediat