Following RIM's BlackBerry World conference earlier this month, we were given a brief demo of some of the features coming in the BlackBerry 10 platform for smartphones and tablets later this year.

The demo was on one of the Developer Alpha handsets, which is actually running a modified version of the PlayBook tablet operating system, and so is not representative of the final handsets that RIM intends to deliver when BlackBerry 10 is ready.

Giving the demo was Vivak Bhardwaj, RIM's head of software portfolio, who said that BlackBerry 10 is focused around multi-tasking and enabling BlackBerry users to communicate more effectively while on the move.

To this end, the user interface is designed around gestures and is optimised so that users can carry out tasks using just one hand, if necessary.

The home screen in BlackBerry 10 shows all the running applications. Swiping left from here shows the familiar set of application icons, and swiping right takes you directly to your inbox. The inbox presents a unified view of emails, BBM messages and social network updates such as from Twitter and FaceBook.

In the unified inbox selecting an email opens it as usual, but with BlackBerry 10 applications, users will be able to use the "glance" gesture to pull the open email aside and look at the inbox again, if necessary.

Bhardwaj also showed how the same applies if the user opens an attachment such as a PDF within an email, so they can glance back to the message or back to the inbox as required.

RIM intends this functionality to apply throughout the BlackBerry 10 platform, enabling users to easily get to the information they need while on the go.

While RIM will continue to offer BlackBerry devices with a physical keyboard, the company is trying to bring the "BlackBerry feel" to soft keyboards on touchscreen handsets, Bhardwaj said.

To deliver this, the keyboard monitors and learns your typing style, and even adjusts the target area behind each key if you keep on activating an adjacent key instead of the intended one.

The keyboard also uses an advanced word prediction algorithm that learns from all the user input and analyses the kinds of words you use in order to better predict what word you are beginning to type.

These predicted words appear in the keyboard as you type, enabling you to flick the correct one up to join the rest of the text. This can speed typing considerably as the device learns your style, according to RIM.

Meanwhile, swiping down on the keyboard switches to let the user key in numbers or symbols, while a leftwards swipe is interpreted as delete.

RIM has a video clip demonstration of these features which can be viewed below.

Another feature demonstrated by Bhardwaj was the camera application, which lets you "rewind" an area of the image, if someone in the shot has their eyes closed, for example.

This works because the camera captures a burst of images as soon as you open the app, Bhardwaj said, allowing you to select an area of the final image and "go back in time" using an on-screen dial control.

A video clip showing the camera app in action has also been released by RIM.

At the moment, this appears to be the limit of what RIM is prepared to show off for BlackBerry 10, but we hope the firm will be more forthcoming as the launch date nears later on this year.

Windows 8 looks set to impose a steep learning curve on future users, as the new operating system breaks dramatically with the conventions of previous versions and adopts a user interface more in keeping with Microsoft's Windows Phone platform.

We tested the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a HP TouchSmart 520 all-in-one PC, and found that while the new Metro-style user interface has much to recommend it, it also feels rather constrained and limiting when compared with the desktop of Windows 7 and earlier releases.

The home-screen is a whole different world to the traditional Windows interface

The impressions gleaned from our initial hands-on with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview are that many users are likely to be baffled by the Metro-style user interface, and it could take a long time for most people to get used to it, as it introduces a completely different way of working.

Overall, Microsoft has not changed the look and feel of Windows 8 much since the Developer Preview that we tested out the firm's Build conference in September.

The main Start screen still consists of a set of blocky coloured tiles that represent applications or functions, such as email, messaging, web browser, and photos. As before, the tiles are 'live' meaning that they show status updates such as notifications of new emails, and touching a tile or clicking on it with a mouse opens the application full screen.

For users of Windows Phone, all this will have a certain amount of familiarity, as the Metro-style look is largely inherited from Microsoft's smartphone platform. For pretty much everyone else, the change is likely to be a jarring experience.

It is not even immediately clear how you access settings using the Metro interface. This is partly accomplished via what Microsoft terms ‘charms' - pop-up tools that appear if you swipe or move your mouse to the right edge of the display (see screenshot).

In fact, the whole Windows 8 experience is designed around giving the user access to their key information - email, messaging, contacts, social networking - directly from the main screen.

For those wanting to use existing Windows applications, there is still a Desktop that can be accessed by a tile on the start screen. It looks very like the desktop of Windows 7, but is a largely emasculated version with no Start menu and nothing more than the Recycle Bin icon showing.

It appears that applications must be launched from the main Start menu, with current applications opening in the Desktop rather than as a Metro-style app. Built-in Windows tools such as the Computer Management console can be found if you look for them, and these run in the Desktop.

The new-look Metro applications have a deliberately sparse appearance, and are designed to fill the entire screen.

Using these can also be confusing at first, as many of the controls and menus that Windows users are accustomed to are completely absent, and you often have to resort to searching for the charms or context-sensitive menus that pop-up from the bottom of the display.

Still, it's clear Microsoft has understood that with mobile devices, chiefly smartphone and tablets, set to dominate the future of computing, the Windows 8 system needs to meet this trend.

The use of the live tiles, as on the Windows Phone platform, is a slick, innovative system, and many users may, having got over the initial shock of the new system, quickly find themselves happily using the new interface without too much difficulty.

Metro-style website display in IE10 on Windows 8

We also found installing the Windows 8 Consumer Preview more challenging than with earlier pre-release versions of Windows. Based on previous experience, we expected the best route to take would be to create a bootable DVD and perform a clean install from this.

However, we soon ran into problems as our test system had Windows 7 pre-installed, and Windows 8 declined to install itself to any of the available partitions, stating that the "selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."

GPT, or GUID Partition Table, was introduced as part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) initiative to replace the ageing PC Bios firmware.

To cut a long story short, we were forced to use the Diskpart tool from the command prompt to delete each existing partition, then use the same tool to convert the disk to GPT before creating a new partition to accept Windows 8.

After this, Windows 8 installed, but the clean install has some drawbacks which we found out too late. We had lost the drivers for the touchscreen hardware, among one or two other things, and Windows 8 was unable to find suitable drivers to do the job.

We managed to locate the necessary drivers on the support section of HP's website, but the install file checks which version of Windows you are running and will not proceed on Windows 8.

We hope to find a solution soon and provide a fuller report on Windows 8 running on the HP Touchsmart 520. In the meantime, we sincerely hope that Microsoft provides a better upgrade experience for users than this when Windows 8 finally ships.

BARCELONA: With Samsung adding yet more tablets to its ever-expanding range, V3 managed to get its hands on the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 running Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Tab 2 retains most of the design and traits that made the original Galaxy Tab popular with enterprise users and consumers.

However, in terms of looks, the Tab 2 isn't the sexiest and slimmest in the Galaxy range and we prefer Galaxy Tab 7.7.

Samsung hasn't gone over-the-top with the specifications on the Tab 2 either, in a deliberate attempt to keep the price of the device as low as possible to try and entice first-time tablet buyers.

The main area where costs have been saved is the 7in display, with Samsung shipping the Tab 2 with a 1024x600 resolution. This is not as good as the Super Amoled screen with 1,280x800 resolution found on the Tab 7.7.

However, under the hood Samsung has not skimped on components. The Tab 2 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor, has 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There is a micro SD slot that allow users to boost storage by another 32GB, which is always handy.

We found performance to be smooth, although not as quick as the quad-core powered Transformer Prime.

Samsung has also pre-loaded Android Ice Cream Sandwich onto the tablet so it is capable of offering the most up-to-date software experience of any tablet which is important as Apple gears up to unveil the iPad 3.

The 3G device also retains the ability to make calls so you can use the device as a smartphone if you wish, although using a Bluetooth headset is probably best though to avoid getting strange looks.

HSPA+ network connectivity of up to 21Mbit/s, plus 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are also supported, but no LTE model is planned.

BARCELONA: LG was the first to announce a device running the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor and the handset has been on show at Mobile World Congress (MWC).

The 4X HD boasts a 4.7in display with a resolution of 1280x720. Picture quality has always been a strength of LG devices and the 4X continues this trend by delivering a crisp, clear and bright picture.

Design-wise, the Optimus 4X HD is simplistic, with the screen taking up most of the front. The razor thin bezel is jet black, and the back comes with a mock leather coating to help make the handset comfortable to hold. There are three capacitive touch buttons retained underneath the display, which are barely distinguishable.

Despite Google scrapping these buttons in favour of on screen context sensitive keys, many manufacturers including LG have decided to keep them on.

In terms of specifications, the 4X shares a lot of characteristics with the HTC One X, which was also launched at MWC. Both devices have a 4.7in display with a 1280x720 resolution, are powered by the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor and have 1GB of RAM.

Unsurprisingly, we found there to be little difference in performance between the two devices. Both are super smooth when it comes to app transitions, loading up web pages and gaming, but only a full scale head-to-head will reveal which one is thb.

Handily, LG was running a developer tool on the devices to show exactly how the quad-core processor works. These were in the form of little percentage bars in the top left hand corner of the screen.

When carrying out low intensity tasks such as the swiping through home screens, only the companion core is used. The full quad-cores kick in when resource hungry apps such as games or videos are initiated. This is likely to be a very useful tool for developers.

LG ships the device with Android Ice Cream Sandwich and a minor overlay that aims to give the handset a little bit of differentiation, without being too overbearing.

The 4X also features 16GB of internal memory and an 8-megapixel camera with a Backside Illumination sensor (BSI), so taking pictures on the move shouldn't be a problem. An 2,150mAh battery is included in an attempt to keep the display and the quad-core processor running all day long.

There's been no official word yet on pricing, but the device is expected to launch soon and given the specs it could be around a similar price to high-end Samsung devices.

BARCELONA: HTC is very excited about its One Series of smartphones, and after having a play with the flagship One X handset so are we.

The One X has a 4.7in behemoth of a display that may intimidate some users, but the thin design and lightweight nature of the handset makes it very comfortable to hold and the screen size is great for web browsing and multimedia consumption.

HTC has gone with a 1280x720 resolution and the handset will have a pixel-per-inch density of 312ppi, putting it up there with other high-end devices such as the iPhone 4S.

Under the hood is the Nvidia quad-core Tegra 3 processor, which has been clocked at 1.5GHz and is supported by 1GB of RAM. We found the performance of the device to be very smooth, with no latency detected. This was impressive considering that the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system runs the resource hungry HTC Sense overlay on top.

The performance of the camera appears to have been increased greatly and it is good to see that HTC has finally addressed a feature that has let down the performance of previous devices. The 8-megapixel snapper loads up in the blink of an eye and the f2.0 lens and a BSI sensor should make the device a great camera, even in low-light environments.

A number of features that have been added to Sense 4 interface as well. When the applications menu is opened, there are options to search for an app, enter the Android Market or activate the menu. This is particularly useful for users who have dozens of apps over a number of pages.

HTC has chosen to keep three capacitive buttons below the screen as they found that users would still like these to compliment the onscreen controls on Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The buttons are users to go ‘back', ‘home' or bring up most recent apps.

The recent apps feature has been given the Sense treatment and is displayed differently when contrasted with stock Android handsets. Instead of appearing in a list form in the left hand column, active applications are given a large icon and users move between them horizontally as opposed to vertically. A flick upwards on an app will also shut it down.

The only area where we are slightly disappointed is the storage. There is no micro SD support and although HTC will ship the device with 32GB of internal memory, this is likely to make it expensive. Users may be attracted by the 25GB of free storage from Dropbox for two years, though.

The One X will come with NFC capabilities, so it will be ready to make use of the infrastructure being slowly rolled out in locations in the UK and beyond. DLNA is also included as standard, so that images and video can be mirrored to larger HD displays.

From the looks of it, the One X is shaping up to be HTC's best device to date, and could be a serious challenger to other high-end devices on the market.

BARCELONA: The Padfone may sound like a bit of a silly name, but Asus could be onto another winning hybrid concept. Granted the concept of combining a smartphone and a tablet is a little "out there", but stranger things have caught on.

When the smartphone and tablet are joined together you get the appearance of a regular Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. The device is reasonably comfortable to hold, but at 724g weight it's not the lightest.

This can be forgiven though as there are two batteries - a 1520mAh Li-ion in the handset and a 24.4Whr pack in the 10.1in chassis. Plus the large screen of the tablet suggests that the device isn't exactly made for pockets.

As with all the latest Asus tablets, the design is very impressive and the Padfone oozes premium quality. The display looks the business, and the 10.1in screen has a 1280x800 resolution, which isn't quite as crisp as we would have liked but impressive nonetheless.

Most people would probably just mistake the Padfone for a regular 10.1in device until you pop open the top and pull out the smartphone to answer an incoming call.

The handset itself looks like a cross between the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus, which is no bad thing. The handset weighs in at 129g, making it reasonably lightweight. On the back of both the smartphone and tablet is the familiar metallic concentric circle design that has become a trademark for Asus devices.

From what we have seen so far the performance looks to be strong too. Asus has gone with the Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 1GB of RAM. The transition between the devices when connected and disconnected is extremely quick as they share the same memory pool.

Additionally, you can also buy a Transformer Prime-like keyboard dock and convert the Padfone into a netbook. Asus claims that this three-in-one device has a battery capacity that is nine-times better than most netbooks.

Added to this, there will be a stylus that doubles as a headset and it could well prove very popular with business users.

The only potential stumbling block could be the pricing, with Asus yet to announce how much the Padfone will retail for but with two devices and a possible keyboard dock, it may not be cheap.

However, with shipments set to start in April, we should discover pricing soon enough.

Apple has released the developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, just seven months after the acclaimed launch of Lion.

The latest version of the Mac OS will port a number of key features from the iOS platform to Apple's desktops and laptops, bringing all devices a step closer to unification in terms of user experience. We take a look at the top five features that are set to be included.

5. Twitter integration
The popularity of Twitter has already led to Apple integrating the social networking site into its mobile OS. This will now be extended to Macs and make it quicker and easier to share posts. Users will be able to tweet from native apps such as Safari, Quick Look and Photo Booth and a host of third-party apps are also expected to include this functionality. Anything that removes extra steps is always a good thing.

4. iCloud syncing
Apple has noted that Mountain Lion has been developed with the iCloud in mind and users will find it easier to set up and sync content between devices using their Mac. No details have been given about how this will be made easier, but we expect Apple to remain true to its word.

3. Gatekeeper
With the increased use of apps on Apple desktop OS, the firm is keen to plug any potential security holes. Apple will launch the Gatekeeper app, a security feature that allows users to monitor apps that have been downloaded and installed on a Mac.

Users will be able to install apps from any source if they wish, or lock down their system so that only vetted apps from the Mac App Store will be usable.

2. Messages and Notifications Center
The Messages app will replace the iChat client and enable Mac users to send unlimited messages, photos and videos to any other Mac or iOS device over the net. Messages will also retain support for other popular IM clients including AIM, Jabber, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk. Lion users can download a beta version of Messages from www.apple.com, and give it a test-drive.

Mountain Lion also introduces the Notifications Center to the Mac interface. This dropdown menu will include alerts such as emails and friend requests. It will be interesting to see exactly how this dropdown bar is triggered on Mac devices, though. On the iPhone and iPad it is activated by a swipe of the touch screen. The inclusion of the Notification Center could be an indication that Apple may be planning to add touch screens to its OS X-based devices.

1. Airplay streaming
OS X Mountain Lion will bring AirPlay Mirroring to the Mac platform. Users will be able to securely stream 720p video streams over wireless from a Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV. This will be particularly convenient for users who are using MacBooks and want to view multimedia content on larger screens, and is likely to boost sales of Apple TV.

Siri?
We'd like to point out that Siri, the voice activated personal assistant that debuted on the iPhone 4S, is not going to be included. It is still officially in the beta phase, so we're not too surprised it hasn't been included. But stranger things have happened and it could still be added to the final release of Mountain Lion.

Google has released a beta version its highly acclaimed Chrome desktop browser for the Android platform and V3 has been putting it through its paces.

The browser is available to download for devices running the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform and aims to provide improved browsing speeds and synchronisation between devices.

V3 has been using the Chrome for Android Beta on the Asus Transformer Prime and the app is impressive in terms of speed and design, but does have some flaws.

The interface closely resembles the desktop version of Chrome, which has always been excellent in terms of speed and a clear and simple look. Tabbed browsing has already been introduced in the standard Android Webkit browser, so it is no surprise to see it included in Chrome.

The mobile browser allows users to open an unlimited number of tabs and they stack up nicely so that you can see exactly how many you have open.

There are some nice touches including the ability to zoom in on links, making them easier to hit on smartphones. When you sync your Google account, the browser will also open up pages that you have been viewing on another machine.

However, users expecting all desktop features on mobile devices will be disappointed. There is no Adobe Flash support available in this version and it will not make it to final release.

Adobe has confirmed that Chrome for Android will not support Flash as the firm has stopped developing the technology for mobile operating systems and is focussing on the HTML5 standard.

As mentioned, the Chrome app only supports the latest devices running Android Ice Cream Sandwich. This means it is limited to people with the latest kit, such as the Asus Transformer Prime tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. However, devices that have been rooted and have ICS installed onto them may also be able to get the app.

Considering that lack of Flash support, users are still going to be relying on Firefox and the stock Webkit browser to view video content.

Being a beta version, there are still bugs on Chrome for Android and we did experience crashes and needed to reload tab that were already open. These bugs will no doubt be corrected in further releases.

From what we've seen so far, it looks like Google has built Chrome for Android for the future. As the HTML5 standard comes into more frequent use, it is likely to be one of most used browsers on mobile devices.

We would recommend that Ice Cream Sandwich users download the app, but users with other Android handsets shouldn't feel too hard done by at present.