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.

A student from Middlesex University has made a prototype Android 4.0 smartphone using bamboo and is set to bring it to market in the UK later this year.

Kieron-Scott Woodhouse designed the 'ADzero' handset in his spare time and used specially treated four-year-old organic bamboo for the casing.

The 23-year-old got financial backing from a technology entrepreneur after posting his concepts online. The handset was originally designed for the Chinese market, but will now be released in the UK after being shown off at design show in London last year.

"Bamboo may seem like a strange material to use for a phone, but it's actually extremely strong and very durable, perfect qualities for this kind of application," Woodhouse noted.

"The whole experience so far has been incredible and completely unexpected. I can't wait to see my mobile phone in shops this year."

Full specifications have yet to be released, but the prototype is running Ice Cream Sandwich and has an innovative flash system that runs along the outside of the camera.

Woodhouse confirmed that the final device will have a larger screen than the iPhone 4S and is expected to weigh around half the weight of the Apple device, which is 140g.

Pricing is yet to be confirmed, but the handset is set to be made available at independent retailers and boutiques later this year.

V3 will post a full review when it is released.

LAS VEGAS: The Transformer Prime is set to drop in the UK on 12 January and will be packing Nvidia's quad-core 1.3GHz Tegra 3 processor.

The sequel to the critically acclaimed Asus Eee Pad Transformer, the Prime has all the making of being another excellent hybrid tablet.

Asus has stuck with the 10.1in screen size, but has upgraded the display to so it is now has Super IPS+ technology. The display is crisp and colours are vibrant even in low light settings. The device has an outdoor setting that aims to make it easier to view content outdoors, and we look forward to testing this.

In terms of design, the Prime is stunning. The 8.3mm chassis is wafer thin and the tablet feels much lighter than the 586g. Asus seems to have hit the jackpot with weight distribution as we found it very easy to hold the device in one hand.

Nvidia has been bigging up its quad-core Tegra 3 processor, so expectations about the performance of the device were high. The chip designer wasn't over-egging its claims as the Prime is one of the fastest and smoothest devices we have handled.

Transition between applications is instantaneously and the device is able to playback HD video effortlessly. The Tegra 3 processor is also going to improve battery life, with the firm claiming 12 hours for the tablet, and 18 hours when it is docked.

Asus has included most of the major ports that you would expect in laptop. The tablet chassis includes HDMI output and a micro SD card slot. The dock features a USB 2.0 port and SD card reader.

The only real disappointing feature was the dock - as we found that the trackpad to be a big flimsy and the letters on the keyboard didn't have as much flex as we would like. On the plus side we do love the way the tablet clips into the dock and it can be carried as a netbook.

With Asus confirming that the 7in Nvidia Tegra 3 tablet will not be made available in the UK, the 10in hybrid could prove to be a popular alternative. The Prime is set to launch in the UK on the 12 January priced at around £400. V3 will post a video demo and full review soon.

LAS VEGAS: Sony aims to get back on track in the mobile market with the launch of the Xperia S handset, a high-end device running the Android Gingerbread OS.

Sony has chosen a simple design, with the only distinguishing feature being a transparent stripe that runs along the bottom of the device. Three touch-sensitive buttons sit directly above this LED illuminated strip and, although it looks nice, we had to resist the urge to keep prodding it.

The standout feature on the handset is the 4.3in HD screen that boasts a 1280x720 resolution. It looks impressive and when we flicked through pictures and watched a HD video, the colour reproduction and playback were excellent.

The device is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 processor, with 1GB of RAM. We found responsiveness to be smooth, but the overlay that Sony has used could bring some lag with it during everyday use.

Other key features include a 12-megapixel, auto-focus camera with an Exmor sensor and 1080p video recording capabilities. Users are also able to take pictures directly from standby mode with a long press of the camera button.

The handset packs a 1,750mAh battery, but it remains to be seen if this is enough to provide reasonable uptime. Connectivity comes in the form of aGPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. The device is also NFC-enabled, which will come into its own when the infrastructure is in place.

We were disappointed that the device will ship with Android Gingerbread, but Sony confirmed that an update to Ice Cream Sandwich is expected in the first quarter.

It remains to be seen whether the device will carry the Sony branding or will be shipped with the Sony Ericsson moniker. The name change is subject to legal paperwork and it is likely that it will carry the current branding. There is no word yet on pricing either, but it is expected to be the same price as other high-end Android handsets.

LAS VEGAS: Huawei has shown that it will be aggressively pushing into the high-end smartphone market with the launch of its Ascend range.

The PS 1 is set to be the firm's flagship smartphone in 2012, and initial impressions were very positive considering that Huawei has traditionally been known for making budget handsets.

Huawei is playing up the fact that the PS 1 is the thinnest smartphone to date, and with a thickness of 6.68mm it looks sleek and is comfortable to hold.

In an effort to be taken seriously as a high-end handset provider Huawei has used a number of premium components. Construction appears solid - with a metallic frame running around the edge of the device. The chassis also packs in a 4.3in Super Amoled Gorilla Glass display that delivers a sharp, clear picture and will no doubt force Samsung to up its game.

The firm has chosen to go with a 1.5GHz dual-core Texas Instruments processor rather than an Nvidia-based chip, but the processor inside the PS 1 is based on the familiar ARM Cortex A9 design. With 1GB of RAM also included, we found the device delivered an extremely smooth experience. The handset also benefits from having a stock version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and so there is no overlay to drain battery and slow the device down.

We liked the addition of the HDMI ports and the 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p recording and facial recognition capabilities.

Another area that Huawei is confident it will be able to differentiate in its device is the battery performance. The 1670 mAh battery is touted to give 30 per cent better performance than other high-end devices and it will be interesting to see just how long the handset lasts when compared to other handsets with similar specifications.

The only real disappointing features appear to be the 4GB of built in storage and the lack of pricing details. The latter could be a sticking point especially as Huawei is largely unknown to UK consumers and has no pedigree in the high-end market. However, if the firm is looking to make an impact in western markets we expect it to launch devices with a competitive price when it starts shipping in April.

Chinese manufacturer Huawei hit London on Monday night for the launch of its upcoming Vision smartphone and MediaPad tablet. Although the MediaPad is not due out in the UK until the first quarter 2012, we managed to get our hands on one of the devices at the launch party.

The MediaPad is a 7in tablet running Android Honeycomb 3.2. It has a unibody design, measuring 10.5mm thick and weighing in at 390g, and features a 1280x800 screen, which Huawei claims as full HD.

The tablet had a very similar look and feel to the HTC Flyer and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7in version. Compared to holding the 600g iPad, it’s noticeably lighter, and we’ve always found 7in tablets much easier to type on in portrait mode while holding the device.

There wasn’t much lag when switching between landscape and portrait modes, however we didn’t find the MediaPad touchscreen as responsive as some other tablet models, especially the iPad. It was also slower to load pages than other models we’ve used, although the 3G connection could have had some part in this.

There’s a 5-megapixel camera on the rear, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling. Video playback was smooth, although those purchasing a tablet mostly for watching video or TV would be better opting for a 10in model.

The MediaPad runs a 1.2Ghz Qualcomm processor, which Huawei said makes it fantastic for gaming. Certainly Angry Birds seemed to run well on the device.

Huawei claims that the battery will last for more than six hours. It will also have Wi-Fi, HSPA+ 3G and an HDMI port. The MediaPad will be priced at £330 in the UK.

As the MediaPad is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Tab, we asked Huawei if it was concerned that Apple would start legal proceedings against the firm for copying the look and feel of the iPad.

However, the spokesman said that Huawei was not concerned about that at all. He dismissed the Apple patent as being based on just one diagram, adding that he felt Samsung would be the eventual winner in the legal battle.

When we asked Huawei what the key differentiators were between its tablet and other existing models, it cited Honeycomb 3.2 and the full HD video feature. However, the 7in Acer Iconia Tab A100 already runs Android 3.2. The 1280x800 resolution is unique to the MediaPad among 7in tablets, although among 10in models it’s common.

Huawei is aiming the MediaPad at women, as it says that the current 10in models are favoured by men and so feels there’s a gap in the market for a device that females can fit in their handbags. However, Huawei declined to share any sales targets for the tablet, so it’s difficult to ascertain how successful the firm thinks this will be.

Overall we’d say the price point of the tablet could see it fall between the gaps. Current tablet buyers seem to be after one thing – the Apple brand, and will dig deep for an iPad. However, the £300+ price tag will put it out of reach of the bargain hunters, after the cheaper models to just try out this tablet fad. 

We’ll have a full review of the MediaPad up soon.

V3 got some hands-on time with the Huawei Vision smartphone, which was launched last night as the firm tries to grow its brand and presence in the market.

To start with the phone will be available from Phones 4U on a £25 per month contract which includes the handset for free. Huawei said that the Vision will be available in time for Christmas.

The phone has quite a sleek design with a unibody aluminium shell in keeping with rivals such as HTC. Three colours will be available: silver, rose gold or charcoal.

In design, the Vision is reminiscent of the Nexus S smartphone from Google with a similar shape and a curved screen, although the curve is not as noticeable.

We found the Vision comfortable to hold with its rounded shape. It's a nice size and weight coming in at 9.9mm and 121g.

For what will be a budget phone, the specs are quite reasonable. You get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 2GB of internal storage. The storage can be expanded via the microSD card slot. We found performance to be good, and a respectable effort for a non-high-end phone.

It almost goes without saying that the Vision will come with connectivity such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G, but there is no near field communication technology.

The Vision runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread like a lot of smartphones, but Huawei has added its own touch. The home panels can be viewed in a 3D carousel which can be controlled by normal swipe gestures or a scrolling bar.

We like the different approach and the carousel looks good and works well. If you leave the screen on one home panel you get animations of the widgets on that panel. Another addition is the ability to change the widgets on the fly and group apps in folders.

Pre-loaded apps will include Angry Birds, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, Order & Chaos and
Guerilla Bob HD.

The screen is a decent 3.7in which is a good middle-of-the-road size. We found the screen nice and bright with good clarity. The one problem we did find was a lack of responsiveness, where a button push sometimes took a couple of attempts.

It was far too dark at the event to test the camera properly so we'll leave that for the full review. The specs are reasonable for a budget phone with a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera that is capable of recording video in 720p resolution.

Another thing we didn't have time to test was the battery. It's rated at 1,400mAh, which is a little lower than we normally find in smartphones but we'll reserve judgement until we test it properly.

Overall the phone could be successful if marketed correctly, and could be one of the best budget-friendly phones around. We look forward to getting the Vision in for a full test and review.

V3 got some hands on time with the Xoom 2 and the Xoom 2 Media Edition, which were announced today as Motorola aims to get a jump on rivals as Christmas approaches.

Motorola has made a number of changes to the original Xoom tablet, but not all of them are positive and it could struggle to sell like its predecessor.

The direct successor retains the same 10.1in screen size, with Motorola boosting the display quality to HD and increasing brightness. However, when we used the device in low lighting at full brightness, the screen did not appear a major step up from the original.

The device comes with rounded off corners much like the 7in Acer Iconia Tab A100, and this is not a good look. Motorola has done this to make the device easier to grip, but it doesn't appear to make it any easier to hold than the iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Motorola has done well to shave off a couple of millimetres from the Xoom, which was a bulky device. The Xoom 2 is 8.8mm thick and weighs 599g, which makes it near on identical to the iPad 2 (8.8mm, 601g) in terms of specs, but not quite as thin and light as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (8.6mm, 565g).

Confusion surrounds the ports as the pre-production device we saw had SIM-card and micro-SD card slots, but Nick Notton, product manager at Motorola, explained that these will not be included in the retail versions. This is a downgrade from the original, but could be seen on future editions.

Disappointingly, Motorola will also be shipping the Xoom 2 with Android Honeycomb 3.2 and not Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), which is due to arrive imminently.

Notton said that Motorola will announce more about the ICS update in six weeks, but by that time other Ice Cream Sandwich devices are expected to be on the market and it could be 2012 until Xoom 2 buyers see the upgrade.

In an attempt to win over business users Motorola has preloaded a number of enterprise-specific apps in an attempt to make it an attractive purchase. These include the Citrix Receiver, GoToMeeting, QuickOffice and Fuze Meeting applications.

The Motocast app is an interesting addition that was debuted with the brand spanking new Motorola Razr. This allows users to sync the tablet with a PC or Mac and then access the hard drive wirelessly on the move. The app is the primary reason that Motorola has included just 16GB of internal storage. Notton said that the firm is going to make a big push towards the cloud, and played down security concerns as the ability to remotely lock and wipe the tablet will safeguard data.

Although in principle the inclusion of these apps is a good idea, their usefulness can be significantly impaired when there is no stable Wi-Fi connection. During our hands on we found the device frequently cut out when we were trying to stream content from the remote Mac it was connected to, for example.

We also had a play with the Xoom 2 Media Edition, which is essentially a smaller version of the Xoom 2. Specifications are almost identical aside form the 8.2in screen. Although Notton claimed that 8.2in "is the perfect size for viewing and reading media", we are surprised that Motorola didn't go for the 7in form factor, which is the perfect size for a pocket.

With unofficial pricing suggesting that the 10.1 Xoom is going to retail for £390 and the 8.2in tablet for £358, Motorola will be able to compete with Apple on price. Whether the Xoom 2 is enough to entice users from the iPad 2 is a different matter. V3 will post a full review soon.