The chocolate fest is over for another year, and we've been working off our Easter paunches with some hardcore product testing.
It's been a great week, too. Nothing pleases more than when we get to review genuinely excellent products, and this week it's been Panasonic's excellent new 32-inch TV and the latest HTC smartphone that have been impressing us the most.
Perhaps it's the relatively small size of the Panasonic TX-L37E5B's panel that plays down its weaknesses, but we're struggling to think of a better value all-rounder for a living room than this almost immaculate 32-incher. Achieving greatness with almost all sources, and with no discernable weaknesses in the picture department, it asserts its all-round worthiness with some engaging smart TV shenanigans and reliable handling of digital files.
With profound blacks, natural colours and impressive hi-def sharpness, and a judder-free performance with Blu-ray, this TV is a worthy addition to any living room after that extra slab of quality where it counts. It also helps prove that IPS LCD panels are at their best in smaller sizes.
The biggest positive we can draw from the Acer Iconia Tab A200 is the price. Given that Apple has dropped the price of the iPad 2, it's going to become harder for Android devices to compete on cost, but regardless there are people who don't want an iPad or want to spend over £300/$350 on a tablet.
With the Iconia Tab A200, Acer is replicating some of the policies that have made its laptops increasingly popular. That is, an unremarkable chassis with a brief smattering of necessary ports and a concentration on offering decent performance at a very attractive price. Getting a 10.1-inch Tegra 2 tablet with ICS for £280/$330 is a good deal in our book, and there are alternatives from Acer if you want a more premium device.
The HTC One S would have had five stars from us had it not been for the ridiculous 16GB memory cap and non-HD screen. We'd have settled for 32GB in the absence of an expansion card slot, but if you're a music lover you may be better hanging about for the yet-to-be-announced-but-we-all-know-it's-coming Samsung Galaxy S3. Or check out the HTC One X if you've shovel-sized hands.
And it really pains us to say that because we want to tell you this is one of the best phones we've used in recent years. Which it is. And all that aside, if you're not bothered about a massive storage capacity, you can't do much better than the One S. It's a beautiful handset blessed with beautiful capabilities and is already available at very palatable price points.
If Microsoft and Nokia can tighten up the OS, beef up Marketplace selection and slap in a better camera, they'll have a real shot at dethroning one or both smartphone giants. Until then, the Lumia 900 may not be perfect, but it's plenty good enough to recommend with little hesitation for users looking ahead to The Next Big Thing.
Asus RoG Maximus V Gene review
This time around Asus's pint-sized MicroATX RoG Maximus powerhouse gets Intel's all new Z77 chipset just in time for the imminent launch of the 3rd Generation revision of the Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors.
Audio systems
Camera accessories
Lastolite Brolly Grip Kit with Translucent Umbrella review
Cameras
Hands on: Panasonic Lumix GF5 review
Compact Cameras
DSLRs
Graphics tablets
Wacom Intuos5 Touch Medium review
Mobile phones
Motherboards
Routers
Trendnet TEW-692GR Dual Band Wireless Router review
Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight review
Software
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 review
Storage
Elgato Thunderbolt SSD 120GB review
Televisions
