It's our mission at TechRadar to help you find the tech products that are best for you.
That's
why we review the specific products we do, while offering a veritable
smorgasbord of helpful buying guides and product round-ups to help you
find the cool gadgets, perfect play things and workplace wonders.
Whether
it be an ideal camera phone for your mum or a kick-ass Blu-ray player
to pair with your new TV, we've got the experts on hand to offer the
very best buying advice on the internet.
Here you'll find
a comprehensive repository of all that expert knowledge. With buying
advice and specific product recommendations, look no further for your
best chance of finding all the cool gadgets available today.
Phones and tablets
Best mobile phones
Which one should you buy?
We've
played with nearly every device on the market and have found the ten
best you can spend your money on. It needs to be good, after all, given
it will reside in your pocket for the next two years. Our ranking of the
best mobile phones available in the UK today celebrates the brilliance
of the smartphone: we love handsets that add in functionality to enrich
our lives in so many different ways. We also partially take into account
the price of the phone too - meaning a low-price handset doesn't always
need to have high-spec functions to be in our top 10.
Read: 10 best phones in the world today
Read: 10 best phones in the world today
Best Android phones
Comparing the best Google phones
There's
one key way in which Android is massively different from its
Apple-branded smartphone competition - the number of phones out there
running Google's hot mobile OS. So here they are - the best Android
phones money can buy today. For many, many different reasons. Read: Best Android phone 2014 - which one should you buy?
Best Windows Phones
Which Windows Phone 8 handset is for you?
The recently launched Windows Phone 8.1
replicates the popular features of Android and iOS whilst combining the
comfort of home computing with the convenience of mobile. We've looked
at the Windows Phone devices on offer and picked out the best ones
around to guarantee you get the best bang for your buck. Nokia still
dominates the list but as a Microsoft entity, that's no surprise. Read: Best Windows Phone 2014
Best cheap phones
Testing all the best budget blowers!
With
the mobile marketplace teeming with a multitude of highly priced
smartphones, one might wonder whether cheap phones still have a place in
the mobile infrastructure. With massive innovation in both hardware and
operating systems, phones now do a lot more than just let you talk and
text, with handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and iPhone 5S
stealing headlines around the world these days. Sadly all this
innovation isn't cheap – and most of it is reserved for high-end
contract handsets. So, is there such a thing as the 'best phone on a
budget'?
Read: Best cheap smartphones 2014
Read: Best cheap smartphones 2014
Best phablets
They're big, bad mobile machines
Our hands might not be getting any bigger but our phones certainly are. As flagships like the LG G3 andOnePlus One
creep up to 5.5 inches, phablets are starting to resemble small
tablets, arguably filling the roles of both a smartphone and a slate. If
you think that one device is better than two, or just have really big
hands, then there is a growing selection of phones to suit and these are
the ten best.
Read: 10 best phablets in the world
Read: 10 best phablets in the world
Best tablets
All the top tablets compared
Tablets
are taking the world by storm. Just a few years ago they were an
unknown for many people, but nowadays you've got more choice than you
can shake a mildly agitated badger at. And with choice comes decisions -
difficult decisions. Do you eschew Apple's high prices, join the
Android brigade and find the best iPad alternative? Or jump on board
Cupertino's lovetrain, and use one of the most popular tablets on the
planet? We've made it easy for you and pulled together the top 10
tablets of the moment available. Read: 10 Best tablets 2014
Best cheap tablets
Spend a little, don't spend a lot
Tablets
are fast replacing laptops as the must-have computing item, and the
good news is that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get one.
While the iPads of this world will always be out of many people's
budgets, there are plenty of tablets out there available at much lower
prices. We wouldn't recommend spending less than £100 on one - you'd
regret it - but here's a round-up of our favourite tablets under £250! Best cheap tablets: top budget options
Home Entertainment
TV Buying Guide 2014
Choose the right size, screen tech and price
There
has never been a better time to buy a new TV. Gone are the days when
32-inch TVs weighed 16 tonnes and cost £1,500. These days you can pick
up a 50-inch LCD TV for closer to £300. LCD panel technology has well
and truly matured, and while brands like Sony and Panasonic push the
boundaries of performance, you'll also find names like Toshiba doing
very exciting things in the budget TV sector. The practical upshot of
this is that no matter what you're after, how big you want to go or how
large your budget is, there's a perfect TV out there for you. So which
one is right for you, your family and your living space? In this buying
guide, we will walk you through everything you need to know about being a
new TV.
Read: Buying Guide: best TVs 2014
Read: Buying Guide: best TVs 2014
Best 32-inch TVs
The perfect size for bedroom TVs or sets for smaller rooms
Most
living rooms can't physically take a TV much bigger than 32-inch,
making this size by far the best for a lot of people in the UK. But
within this size division, there's plenty of choice. A basic HD-ready
set can be found for less than £300 is you search hard, though it's just
as easy to spend over £2k on the best ones. There's only one certainty
at this size – your new TV will be a LCD TV. If you're lucky it could
have LED backlighting, but it won't be a plasma; LG used to make plasmas
at this size, but there's not one on sale currently. Read: 10 best 32-inch TVs in the world today
Best 40 and 42-inch TVs
The sweet spot for plasma TVs offers lots of bang for your buck
Once
known simply as 'plasma screens' in the collective consciousness, the
40-42-inch size is where the flatscreen dream started in the late 1990s -
and where it's still at its most innovative and best. Now a lot more
varied, with plasmas rubbing shoulders with (and quickly being
outnumbered by) LCD TVs and their ultra-modern LED TV makeover, 40-42
inches is still the sweetspot for anyone not overly concerned with
ruining the interior design of their living room. Read: 10 best 40 and 42-inch TVs
Best 46 and 47-inch TVs
Offering the pinnacle of performance, this is where it gets serious
There
was a time when plasma screens reigned supreme in the 46-inch TV
market. But in much the same way as a meteor strike killed off the
dinosaurs, the second coming of the LCD TV is the invasive species that
has done for plasma. We're still huge advocates of plasma on TechRadar,
don't get us wrong, but the tech is dying out at this size. Old-school
CCFL tech has been replaced by LED backlight scanning and technical
wizardry to make LCD tech viable in large sizes. Read: 10 best 46 and 47-inch TVs
Best 50 and 55-inch TVs
Where the home cinema experience begins
The
size where a home cinema turns from dream to reality, it's also at this
50-55-inch TV screen size that 3D starts to become immersive enough to
convince and impress. This size, last year dominated by full HD models,
is now being overrun by Ultra HD 4K models. While LED tech has gone a
long way towards condemning plasma to a role on the outskirts of the TV
industry, at 50-inches and above, plasma really comes into its own if
you can find one. Most home cinema buffs still swear by plasma, with its
cinematic colours and deep blacks making for a real movie-watcher's
paradise. But 2014 sees the first batch of 50-inch LED-backlit panels
off the production line, a development that further marginalises plasma
technology at one of the sizes it previously dominated. If you're
looking for a dream movie-watching experience, check out these home
cinema beauties.
Read: 10 best 50-inch TVs
Read: 10 best 50-inch TVs
Best 60-inch TVs and above
If you want the best, you'll need to pay the best
If
you're feeling extravagant or want to furnish your big living room with
a similarly big TV, 60 inches or more of television will certainly make
a statement. There are some truly massive TVs available these days,
withUltra HD-toting 84-inch screens such as the LG 84LM960V, Toshiba 84L9300, Sony KD-84X9005A and Samsung UE85S9ST.
But for most of us, 65 inches of screen space is luxurious enough,
while still being manageable. So what's the best 60-65-inch TV for you?
Read: 10 best 60-inch TVs in the world today
Read: 10 best 60-inch TVs in the world today
Best 4K Ultra HD TVs
The latest big thing in big screens
Everyone wants an Ultra HD 4K TV! Yes, okay, we all know there isn't much 4K source material to properly showcase the stunning picture quality, but Netflix has at least started to offer 4K content.
There could also still be a 4K Blu-ray format later this year, and
before you know it there'll be test transmissions and perhaps even a 4K
TV channel from Sky or the BBC. It's all about future-proofing, though
there's slightly more to it than that; some of the first batch of Ultra
HD TVs pump out best-ever Blu-ray images, thanks to some wonderfully
adept upscaling tech. The birth of 4K could also lead to the re-birth of
3D – it just looks so much better at this higher resolution. The big
stumbling block – as always – is money, but already there are relative
bargains to be had and, better still, some sumptuous designs stuffed
with new innovations. The race for 3840x2160 pixels is on. Read: 10 best 4K TVs in the world today
Best Blu-ray players
From cheap BDPs to UHD players
When
big and bulky Blu-ray players first appeared on the shelves nearly 10
years ago they were all about high definition. Back then, simply getting
HD content into your HD-ready TV was the hottest ticket in town - and
it came at a high price. Those first-gen players are buried in the
distant past now, leaving us with super-slim machines with loading times
in single figure seconds, 3D Blu-ray playback, 2D-to-3D conversion,
apps, streaming to and from smartphones and tablets, home networking,
and upscaling to Ultra HD 4K
resolutions even before Ultra HD TVs are common. Here are 12 of the
best Blu-ray players to help you make your buying decision! Read: 12 best Blu-ray players 2014
Computing and Laptops
Laptop Buying Guide 2014
Choose the best type of laptop for your needs
With Windows 8.1 here and Windows 9
on the way, Ultrabooks taking off in popularity and laptop-tablet
hybrids seeing more releases, choosing the right laptop is even more
confusing than ever. Cheap laptops, like Chromebooks, are more powerful
and capable than ever, while high-end devices are often perfectly good
replacements for your desktop computer, able to cope with more intensive
programs. Those after a fast boot up time and a lightweight machine to
carry might drool over an Ultrabook. While there are lots of options for
gamers too. With this guide, you'll find not only that, but which is
the absolute best. Read: Buying Guide: Best laptops 2014
Best Ultrabooks
The most premium computing experiences around with the price tags to match
Ultrabooks
tend to be made with design in mind, so they come in more expensive
than most mid-range home laptops. They tend to start from around $999
(about £584, AU$1,063) in the lower end, going to nearly $2,000 (around
£1,169, AU$2,129) at the very high end. You're likely to ultimately
spend between $899 and $1,500 for a newer model, though you can get some
older models for even lower prices. Read: Best Ultrabooks 2014
Best Chromebooks
Google's Chrome-packed computers make for an unbeatable budget buy
Chromebooks
focus on what computing has been all about since the late '90s, the web
browser, through Google's Chrome operating system. What should you look
out for in a Chromebook? The majority of these Google laptops use
either the same or similar low-power components. This is largely what is
behind the unquestionable affordability of these mobile rigs – most of
which start under $300 (about £175, AU$319). Read: Best Chromebooks 2014
Best gaming laptops
These machines excel in pixel-pushing performance with panache
Focused
on real-time, 3D image rendering for the latest games, these laptops
almost always come with a premium attached. If you want (at least
something close to) the PC gaming experience with the flexibility to
move around the house, the asking price generally starts at $1,300
(about £760, AU$1,384) at the low end and maxes out at around $3,000
(around £1,753, AU$ 3,194). Read: Best gaming laptops 2014
Best 2-in-1 laptops
Business up front, party in the back – the mullets of the computing world
Otherwise
known as hybrid laptops, these devices generally sit in the same price
range as Ultrabooks, given their mission to serve as two devices in one.
That generally gets you a Windows 8 touchscreen device that either
flips around its hinge to become a tablet or detaches from its included
keyboard accessory (which hopefully doubles as an extra battery). Read: Best 2-in-1 laptops 2014
Best laptops for students
The tech you need to help you land the career you want
Whether
you're a freshman in liberals arts or an MBA looking to rock the
business world, you need a laptop that will best enable you for the
perfect price. While some will naturally be more expensive than others,
these are the clamshells best suited for your field of study and,
ultimately, your budget. Read: best laptops for students 2014
Cameras and photography
Camera Buying Guide 2014
The camera buying advice you need
When
it comes to buying a camera, you're really spoiled for choice. The
range is massive, stretching from cheap and cheerful compact models
competing with your smartphone, right through to professional-spec SLRs
that cost as much as a decent used car. In this jargon-free overview,
we'll discuss the main types of camera out there, to help you make a
wise buying decision. You don't want to pay top dollar for features you
won't need, but you also don't want to be stuck with a frustratingly
basic camera you'll soon outgrow. We're going to concentrate on three
main types of camera in this overview – compact, compact system (or
mirrorless) camera and SLR. Read: Buying Guide: Best camera 2014
SLR Buying Guide
Choose the best type of DSLR for your skills and needs
Ever
since the arrival of the first commercially viable digital SLRs in the
1990s, there's been a steady stream of technological breakthroughs and
new releases. Sales of digital SLRs remain robust, as it's this
'quality' end of the market that is most immune from the threat of
ever-improving smartphones; however good smartphones are, if a pro
wedding or sports photographer turned up wielding one, they'd get shown
the door. There are SLR cameras suitable for every type of photographer,
from novices to professionals, but which one is right for you? Read: Best SLR 2014
SLRs for beginners
Lost of options for the wannabe photographer
If
you're a beginner or less experienced photographer who's keen to
develop your skills, it's a great time to be buying an SLR – there's a
wide choice of keenly priced cameras competing for your custom. Makers
are eager to attract beginners in the hope of building loyalty,
particularly as SLR users tend to upgrade their lenses eventually, or
buy flashguns and other extras. Ideally, you want an SLR that is easy to
use, but one that you won't quickly outgrow as your skills and
confidence develop. Read: 10 best SLRs for beginners
SLRs for enthusiasts
You're not a pro but you still want a nice camera
While
compact system (mirrorless) cameras have eaten into their market share
to an extent, SLRs remain the weapon of choice for many enthusiast
photographers. It's not hard to understand why; enthusiast-level SLRs
offer near pro-levels of performance at an affordable price, are
relatively to easy to use, and give access to a massive range of lenses
and accessories. Indeed, some enthusiast SLRs rival pro-spec models,
blurring the boundary between the two. Read: 10 best SLRs for enthusiasts
SLRs for professionals
The best photographers have the best cameras
As
you'd expect from a camera costing the same as a decent used car,
higher-end SLRs have myriad autofocus options, impressive ISO
performance and often (but not always) fast continuous shooting. They
tend to be built like tanks too, since they have to meet the demands of
professional press, sports and adventure photographers, who are often
working in demanding, deadline-driven environments. When it comes to
choosing a top-end SLR, the biggest decision is whether to go for a
full-blown pro model, such as theNikon D4S, or to save money by opting for a camera that also appeals to advanced enthusiasts and semi pros. Read: 10 best top-end SLR
Best compact cameras
Get the best mini snapper for your needs
There
are hundreds of digital compact cameras on the market, with advanced,
superzoom and rugged camera options all being available, which makes
finding the right one quite tricky. The right choice, of course, depends
on what you want from your compact digital camera. Maybe you're looking
for a high-end compact camera to take the place of your SLR, or perhaps
you want something more basic to get a few snaps on holiday. Whichever
type you are looking for, we've pulled together a selection of what we
believe are the best compact cameras on the market now.
Read: 38 best compact cameras 2014
Read: 38 best compact cameras 2014
Best high-end compact cameras
The best back-ups to an SLR
The downside of even the latest and greatest DSLR
bodies and weighty collections of top-quality glass is that, when a
fantastic photo opportunity presents itself, your kit is fast asleep in
its gadget bag back at home. In contrast, compact cameras are small and
slimline enough to fit into a spare pocket, the glove box of the car, or
just about anywhere else. Weighing in at 200-400g (0.4-0.9lbs), these
cameras are lighter than most DSLR lenses without a camera attached, but
can they really deliver in terms of image quality and creativity? Read: 10 best high-end compact cameras
Best compact system cameras
Get the best CSC for your budget
DSLRs
have long-held the title as the most versatile cameras on the market,
capable of delivering the highest quality images, robust build quality
and advanced functionality, not to mention speed. With compacts and
bridge models providing a set of stepping stones up to the traditional
DSLR, manufacturers noticed a gap in between that was waiting to be
filled: the CSC (Compact System Camera) was born. Fast forward to today
and we have an ever-increasing array of CSCs available with varying
levels of functionality. Read: 28 best compact system cameras 2014
Gadgets and lifestyle
Best sat navs
Find your way from A to B with minimum fuss
Could
the car sat nav boast the shortest lifespan of any technology yet?
Surely our GPS-supporting phones are more than capable of handling our
daily car sat nav needs? Not so fast - there's still plenty of life left
in dedicated devices. Apart from offering the kind of focus that is
only available from a dedicated device, true sat navs offer proper
mounting systems that aren't fiddly plastic nightmares and also pack
voice options that entertain and inform. That's not to say that you
should leave your phone at home. Phone apps are catching up quickly, and
they don't cost the earth either. In fact, some of the most interesting
projects are only on phones right now.
Read: Best sat navs 2014
Read: Best sat navs 2014
Netflix vs Amazon
Which movie streamer is best for you and yours?
The
battle of the big American movie streaming services is getting serious:
the Amazon-owned LoveFilm is no more, replaced by the new and
heavily-promoted Amazon Prime Instant Video. Is Amazon UK finally taking
streaming seriously? CanNetflix hold on to its crown as our favourite streaming service? Let's find out. Read: Netflix vs Amazon Prime Instant Video: which is best for you?
PS4 vs Xbox One
Which next-gen console is best?
It's a little more even in the PS4 vs Xbox One debate now that E3
2014 has come and gone and we're seven months into the next-generation
of video games. Sure, Sony's new console is ahead, pushing toward 8
million systems sold compared to Microsoft's 5 million "shipped to
stores" number. But those are sales statistics. Read: PS4 vs Xbox One: which is best?
Best printers
Top inkjet and laser printers compared
In
choosing the best printer your first decision is whether to go for a
standard printer, or a multi-function device which includes a scanner
and which can also work as a standalone copier. These aren't much larger
than regular printers, but they're a whole lot more versatile,
especially when you need to keep a copy of a letter, a bill or any other
important document, so our first list includes the best inkjet printers
and best multi-function devices. You should also think carefully about
whether to invest in an inkjet or a laser. Lasers are usually associated
with office environments, where they produce sharp, smudge-free
printouts quickly, quietly and economically, but this can be just as
useful at home or in a home office. Read: 16 best printers 2014
Best Spotify Connect systems
Control your music wirelessly with Spotify Connect
Spotify
is gradually supplanting digital downloads as the dominant way that we
listen to music, with 10 million subscribers and 40 million active users
across 56 countries listening to its 30 million tracks. With Spotify
adding more than 20,000 new songs daily, it's definitely time for
Spotify Connect, a new badge for hi-fi gear that enables effortless
control of music across a phone, tablet and speakers. Allowing music to
be sent direct from the Spotify app to any of these systems, Spotify
Connect is a streamer's dream.
Good gadgets always storm the market.
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