Review - NATPC M009S Android Tablet PC

The NATPC M009S is the internet darling of tablets, being cheap, solid and reliable. For under £100, you get an Ice cream sandwich (Android 4.0) tablet with a solid spec. It actually goes by several other names too (Including MIT 900) but I'm reviewing based on the model I have.

NATPC M009S

Hardware
In the box, you get a questionably translated user manual, charger and also a handy converter cable so that you can plug full size USB devices into the tablet's micro USB slot.

The build quality of the machine is surprising given the price point. It feels very sturdy without the added weight that other tablets carry around. In fact, its one of the lighter tablets I have used. The device is also very thin.

The downside to the thin tablet is that the slightest pressure on the back (just from normal holding) causes a slight screen ripple.

The screen brightness, although good in a dark room fails miserably under sunlight and is quite reflective.
Storage standard is 8GB with a microSD slot that can expand it by a further 16GB, there are also "ultimate" editions available on Amazon which come with 16GB of storage as standard.

Software
The OS is surprisingly quick and responsive following a slower boot than I would have liked, I had expected it was going to run like a dog the whole time, like many other cheap tablets so this was a pleasant surprise.
The basic apps selection tends to vary by model and seller, but generally includes adobe flash, the google suite (Gmail, Play store, Maps etc) and a video player.

The default browser is a tad sluggish, becoming more unusable on a flash-heavy site.

Graphically, the tablet was able to run Grand theft auto on low settings but the controls were not particularly responsive. More lightweight games like angry birds space and cut the rope ran absolutely fine.

Overall
This is a great little tablet for someone who doesn't want the earth or isn't a gamer. Well worth the money for a solid, reliable gadget. The downsides are the lack of peripherals for a generic device though accessories for the HTC Flyer seem to work fine.

IT GUY SCORE: 8/10

Review - HP dm1-4004sa laptop

The HP dm1 is described by some as a netbook, which is an unfair label. The laptop provides enough power and battery life to do almost anything and has a good graphics core so that some gaming is also possible, all whilst maintaining a small footprint, making it ideal for my commutes to and from work.
My model is the dm1-4004sa, which was bought direct from HP, I can't see any difference between it and the other dm1 available from other retailers (dm1-4125ea).

HP DM1-4004SA

Review Conditions
In the interest of "journalistic integrity", I will state here that I always format and reinstall on a new laptop to kill the bloat of the OEM software.
Unfortunately as HP wants circa £30 for a restore DVD, my laptop is running Windows 7 professional rather than the Home Premium available out of the box.
Specification
AMD Fusion E-450 APU 1.65 GHz with Radeon 6320M graphics
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB Hard drive @ 5400rpm
11.6" Screen (1280x800px)


Physical and Hardware
This laptop is all shiny black and silver plastic, which looks fantastic. In practice it attracts dust and fingerprints like nothing on earth. The touchpad design is a series of bumps across the bottom bezel, but it is very responsive and beats the terrible all in one clickpad things that HP had in most of their laptops last year.

The keyboard uses the now-defacto "island" design, which keeps each key seperate from the others. The key size is slightly smaller than I would like, but this is down to the choice to use the island design.

The vents are located on the left side and unlike many other laptops, don't lend themselves to being easily covered up in use so overheating is not a large issue.

The display is excellent, even when brightness is turned down to minimum levels I could still use it fine. Some people with poorer eyesight may find this more of a challenge.

The sound quality of the system is phenomenal, the beats audio speakers put those in my larger laptop to shame. Using appropriate headphones only enhances the experience.

It is very lightweight and can be comfortably held in one hand.

Operating System and Software
The laptop comes with Windows 7 Home Premium preinstalled (as mentioned above) along with the usual OEM "goodies", including an Office 2010 home and student trial, Antivirus trial and lots of unnecessary bloatware.

One very good bit of software included is the AMD Fusion Catalyst control centre (or center, depending on which side of the pond you are reading this from) which enhances the power management and has allowed me to get over eight hours of battery life from the dm1, when doing basic office apps and watching some video.

Gaming has been pleasantly surprising on the machine. It's not going to run the latest Call of Duty/Battlefield at high framerate, but it ran The Sims 3 and Tropico 4 on standard settings without issue for me.

Overall
HP has scored a huge goal with this laptop, its ideal for those who want a portable Windows 7 device with the power of larger counterparts.


The laptop is lightweight, can hold a battery charge for a long time and (if you're OK with dust and fingerprints) looks very flashy too.

Buy one, buy one now!

IT GUY SCORE: 10/10

Review - HTC One S Android Smartphone

I made the decision to upgrade my contract to a HTC One S over the quad core One X purely based on size and availability at the time.

I knew I wanted an HTC phone as having had various flavours of Android, HTC always seems to provide a more seamless interface with a lot of neat social features.

HTC One S

Physical and Hardware
The phone immediately reminded me of the original HTC Desire in terms of size and layout. The screen is bright and vivid although purists will argue about colour accuracy.

The micro USB charger is sensibly placed on the left side rather than on the base, so it should attract less dirt. A little cover for it would've been welcome though!

The same can't be said for the front facing camera, which sits inside an awkward little dip and, in the two weeks that I've had the phone has accumulated quite a bit of pocket grime.

Size-wize, its a little large to comfortably use in one hand for texting or browsing compared with previous HTCs I've owned, but others will likely find this is a non-issue.

HTC has made much of the military grade coating applied to the phone shell and whilst I doubt it adds anything to the lifetime of the phone, it does look very nice and polished.

The phone boasts a dual core processor from qualcom with a healthy dose of RAM. It runs the OS without any lag or issue that I've come across.

The battery life is on the high end for a HTC, lasting for a full day of normal use. Unfortunately, the battery is not removable so I hope it lasts!

Operating System and Software
The phone runs the latest version of Android 4.x, known to most as Ice Cream Sandwich. It also features a new version of HTC sense, which is simply a skin and some extra widgets and social features.

As ever, HTC maxes-out the Android experience like nobody else can, with fantastic features like the keyboard which knows what I'm trying to say even when typing drunk.

The social integration is also still on the ball, searching your Google, phone, Facebook and Twitter contacts and linking the data together to form detailed profiles for each contact.

The camera, previously the bugbear of HTC Android phones is the complete opposite of its ugly, slow, blurry predecessors. The camera is ready to go straight away when the app loads and takes microseconds to process a photo. It also has new effect filters you can apply. Another very nice feature is that you can take pictures whilst recording video.

I've experienced no lag at all whilst using the phone, even when running high end games.
This phone also features the Beats audio system which does give a clearer sound experience across the apps, not just in the stock media player.

Overall
To keep it simple, this phone is excellent. It combines speed and ease of use with some fantastic hardware to provide the best Android experience yet. The only issues I have are with the front camera attracting dirt and the lack of a cover for the charge port. A user replaceable battery is also a key thing for me.

One thing I have noticed is that my phone hangs when switching data networks, but turning off data roaming helped this somewhat, your mileage may vary.

These issues aside, this phone could be a dark horse for 2012...bridging the price gap between the top-end One X, Galaxy S3 and inevitable iPhone 5 and the low end nasties.

IT GUY SCORE: 9/10