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In the arms race that is smartphone manufacture, HTC has unveiled the equivalent of the BFG from Doom: a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, running at 1.5GHz per core; a 720p hi-def screen; Beats-bolstered audio; an 8MP camera with an aperture of f2.0 for noise-free images and an impressive bag of tricks, including HDR stills and 1080p video. As with all Tegra 3 devices, this NFC-toting, Ice Cream Sandwich-flavored Android boasts a Battery Saver Core that portions out power depending on the apps and components that need it, which is just as well; you're going to be spending a lot of milliwatts showing it off.

Screening calls

The One X's 720p screen is a bright, 4.7in 'Super LCD2', fronted by Gorilla Glass, naturally. Perched just above it you'll find a 1.3MP camera for video calls.

Double team

The One X's 8MP camera is a true multi-tasker. While shooting a move, you can also capture a still; or take a full-res screengrab while watching the video back.

Skinny love

At half a whisker over 9mm thick, the One X just gets into the Skinny Club; not bad for a phone with as much processing power as an Eee Pad Transformer Prime.

 Over capacity

The HTC has a one-size capacity of 32GB. Prety generous, but if you're after more it also comes with 25GB free cloud-based storage courtesy of Dropbox.

Stop making Sense?

This is the first HTC we've seen with Android 4.0 from the get-go; given the great job HTC's Sense interface has done skinning previous Androids, we have high hopes for it.

AMD's shiny new Bolldozer FX processors have been released into the wild for some time now, so you might be wondering what this crusty old Phenom II processor is doing sullying this showcase of white-hot, high performance computing platforms.

Well, it all depends on pricing and product availability. We're not sure if AMD is still cranking out the Thuban processor dies that form the basis of the Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition, though we believe that to be the case, if only or manufacturing server processors.

The Anti-Doze

Although it will take a while for the 1090T to be completely flushed from all those retail channels, supply is now somewhat sporadic. There's still a decent choice of retailers, but prices vary wildly. The best price we could find was around $176, while others are charging over $319.

At the lower price point, the 1090T looks very attractive. On a per-core basis, it easily has the measure of the new AMD FX chips. It's not even that far behind the top FX 8150 eight-core model in several of multi-threaded tests, like the Cinebench professional rendering benchmark. It would have been faster than the FX in nearly scenario.

Intriguingly, however, database query benchmark does demonstrate that the theoretical benefits of AMD's exotic new Bulldozer architecture can sometimes translate into real-world gains. The 1090T gets left trailing-and horribly.

This IPS screen from ViewSonic shows what's possible when a technology is pushed hard enough. With a 24-inch screen diagonal and 1,920 x 1,080p box as cheap TN panels, but look closer and you'll spot the differences.

The viewing angles are quoted at 178 degrees for both horizontal and vertical. That may not sound like a dramatic increase over the 170 and 160 degrees typically claimed for TN screens, but it makes a huge difference. The 1,000:1 static contrast ratio also hints at a quality panel.

Slightly less impressive is the 6ms claimed for grey-to-grey pixel response. It's the one metric by which IPS panels can't compete with TN technology. The VP2365-LED's 250c/m2 brightness isn't exactly stellar either, especially considering that it packs an LED backlight rather than old school CCFL tech.

The screen's stand and chassis are bland to the point of anonymity, but it's sturdy and stable. They also offer full adjustability, including rotate, swivel, tilt and VESA wall-mount compatibility.

No frills

What you don't get is much peripheral technology. Unlike many cheaper screens, teh ViewSonic VP2365-LED's on-screen menu isn't stuffed with fancy image-processing options, but offers full color, gamma and temperature configurability. There's a dynamic contrast function too, but switchable pixel response modes and fancy adaptive color processing are absent.

Frankly, that's no great loss. Nor is the superficially limited connectivity (DVI and VGA is your lot) much of a downside. Instead, ViewSonic has cooked up a no-nonsense package that majors on the things that matter - panel, backlight and chassis quality. If ViewSonic can excel there, it will have a winner on its hands.

The VP2365-LED puts in a strong showing in the lagom suite of test images. Both black and white scales offer oodles of detail. The color scales aren't shabby either, and the viewing angles do the usual IPS thing, which means the're wide enough to be a non-issue. That often annoying effect of IPS screens, IPS glow, isn't evident either.

It's not entirely flawless though - the 250cd/m2 backlight rating translates into less than retica searing brightness. This isn't an issue for a slightly less flexible monitor.

The only other hitches involve the pixel response and refresh rate. Both, frankly, are relative. In absolute terms, the VP2365-LED is more than quick enough for games, movies, you name it. But it's not as lightning quick as an overdriven TN panel.

Overall, this is an incredibly impressive panel. It's not quite the holy grail of PC paneldom - a screen that marries the best attributes off all available monitors, ditches the bad bits and does it all at price you can afford. That the ViewSonic VP2365-LED doesn't quite pull that off is no surprise. But it comes awfully, awfully close - much closer than any other screen that's in the same price bracket.

Sony made its replacement to the PlayStation Portable worth the long wait. The PlayStation Vita takes the PSP's signature design and adds more processing power, optional 3G, dual analog sticks, and an amazingly bright, colorful OLED screen. The result: a handheld gaming device that eclipses the PlayStation 2 in power, and comes very close to the capabilities of the PlayStation 3. Sony made some strange decisions with the Vita's media playback abilities and Web browser, but for gaming it's incredible, making it Choice for handheld game systems, and a significant step ahead of the Nintendo 3DS ($169.99)

Design

Out of the box, the PC Vita looks like the PlayStation Portable at first glance, but the overall build quality of the PS Vita is much better, right down to the small details. Without a pop-out door for UMDs or a sliding design, the PS Vita feels much more solid than the PSP, and despite their small size the analog sticks have just enough give for responsive control without feeling loose. Besides the proprietary USB port and headphone jack on the bottom, every port and slot on the PS Vita is covered by a door. The top edge holds the game-card slot and an accessory port, the bottom edge holds the memory-card slot, and the left edge holds the SIM card slot. The handheld weight a solid 9.8 ounces, and at 3.3 by 7.2 by 0.7 inches (HWD) it's almost the same as the PSP in shape.

The layout is pure PlayStation, with a direction pad, four face buttons, Start and Select buttons, a PlayStation button, two shoulder buttons, and two analog sticks.

Hardware

The 5-inch OLED touch screen is gorgeous. It's bright, colorful, and extremely sharp. Its 960-by-544-pixel resolution makes it almost exactly equivalent to many current-generation large-screen Android phones, and not quite as high-resolution as the iPhone 4S or several 720p Android phones on the market. But at five inches, the PS Vita's display is more than sharp enough to lend a satisfying impression of high-definition video to a move or game. The screen is also multitouch, so you can pinch to zoom in the Web browser, the map software, and in games.

The front and back-facing cameras seem identical, and are only slightly sharper than the cameras on the 3DS. As a nice touch, the PS Vita supports Bluetooth devices just like the PS3, including stereo headsets.

Interface

Sony moved away from the XrossMediaBar (XMB) menu design of the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Bravia HDTVs and Blu-ray players and gave the PS Vita a complete touch-screen interface overhaul. The new system looks less like a gaming device's menu and more like smartphone's menu system, with everything controlled through the touch screen.

The Gameplay

With dual analog sticks and two touch areas, the PS Vita offers some of the best-feeling portable gaming seen yet. While the analog sticks and face buttons are roughly half the size of the controls found on a PlayStation 3 gamepad. The analog sticks have just enough range and tension to feel comfortable for shooters like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and the face buttons sick out far enough to be easily accessible for combos in games like Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3.

Thanks to the quad-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU, tha PS Vita's processing power is roughly comparable to the PlayStaion 3, but scaled to handheld size. Lighting effects, crisp rendering, and smooth animation are all impressive to see on a 5-inch OLED screen you hold in your hand.

Media Playback

As great as the Vita is as a video game system, it's horribly clunky as a media player. The Vita includes music and video players, and the OLED screen is fantastic for watching movies, but Sony cracked down so hard on managing media that the features might as well not be there. To get media on your Vita, you can't drag and drop files from your computer to the device, or to the memory card. Not only is the memory card proprietary, but the USB connection requires loading Sony's Content Manager Assistant on your computer before you can only choose which folders o make visible to the Vita. From there, you need to use the Vita to transfer files, using the touch screen.

Network

The 3G/Wi-Fi Vita can use AT&T's data network or local Wi-Fi networks to connect to the Internet. AT&T's data plans for the Vita are $15 for 250MB of data monthly or $30 for 3GB of data monthly. Either way, if you plan on downloading games on your Vita, make sure it's connected to a Wi-Fi network. Less bandwidth intensive activities like Web browsing and multiplayer gaming make the 3G a useful feature. Network speeds were solid in PC Labs.

As a handheld-gaming device (emphasis on the word "gaming"), the Sony PlayStation Vita excels. It's powerful, has a beautiful screen, and offers two analog sticks so you can actually play shooters on the go without compromising. The relatively short battery life is the only thing that holds it back as a gaming system, but several irritating things crop up when using the Vita for other tasks. Its Web browser doesn't support Flash yet, its memory card is proprietary, and its content manager is a clunky joke.

The worst moments of our computing lives are all based around the same situation: you've turned your system on, and Windows, for whatever reason, won't start.

Has your computer turned into so much useless metal? Have you lost everything? It's horrible feeling.

Fortunately, there's a simple solution: with a Windows 7 installation DVD, a Repair function could get your PC booting again in next to no time. But if you don't have an installation DVD - and many of us don't these days - or if it's lost or scratched, you'll be in trouble. That's why you need to prepare for disaster before it happens.

Follow our simple guide and you'll have a Windows 7 system repair disc, which you can use to start an unbootable PC - and usually get it working again - in about 10 minutes.

While you're pulling out that spindle of recordable DVDs, we'd also like to suggest another option for disaster recovery: ghosting your drive. Making a bit-for-bit copy of your hard disk might seem a bit extreme, but it's worth doing on a new-ish PC, just so you can always restore it to its default state. Grab a copy of Macrium Reflect Free from www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx and use its clone facility - you'll need a stack of discs, but you won't regret it.

Creating a repair disc in 10 minutes

Ensure you're always fully protected against a PC that won't boot

1. Explore Control Panel

Click 'Start', then select the 'Control Panel' option. If the 'View by' option is currently listed as 'Category', click on the arrow to its right and select 'Large icons' so you can see all the available Control Panel applets on one screen. Find the Backup and Restore applet and double-click to launch it. This is where the magic happens.

2. Launch the disc creator

Click 'Create a system repair disc' on the left to run the tool that you need. If you don't see this option, you can also launch the repair disc tool as a separate entity. Simply click 'Start' again, type recdisc into the Search box, and then click on the recdisc link or hit [Return] to fire up the program you need.

3. Find a disc

Locate a blank disc - it can be either a CD or DVD, it doesn't really matter, although we'd recommend a DVD in case the process decides it would like more space. Place the disc into one of your optical drives. Then click the arrow to the right of the currently selected drive, in the 'Create a system repair disc' program, and choose the drive that contains your disc.

4. Click and burn

Click the 'Create disc' button and the program will burn the system recovery files to your CD or DVD. This shouldn't take long - on my computer, with a DVD drive which goes like the blazes, the whole thing is over in around a minute. Then, as the program suggests, I like to label my disc 'Repair disc Windows 7' so it'll be easy to identify in an emergency. You should too.

5. Test carefully

Test your disc in immediately to make sure it works - it only takes a moment. Leave the disc in the drive, close any open applications, and reboot your PC. If Windows loads as normal, you need to change your BIOS setup program to boot from your optical drives first. Check your PC's manual for more advice; there's a specific key you'll need to hold while booting.

6. Boot the disc

When your computer is booting from your repair disc correctly, you may see a message on screen prompting you to 'Press any key to boot from CD or DVD'. If you do, just tap [Space] (or, as you may have guessed, any key of your choice) and repair disc will continue to load. Then you need to choose the option 'Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]' from the menu.

7. System Recovery options

Select your keyboard and click 'Next'. Select your Windows installation, then 'Next' again, and you'll see the recovery options. If you ever find that Windows 7 won't start, boot from this disc, click 'Startup Repair', and Windows should get your computer working again, automatically.

8. Read for (almost) anything

You now know all about the Windows 7 Recovery Disc creation tool. If you've completed these steps, well done - you're protected. Even if Windows 7 won't start, you can always launch the Recovery Disc, then use System Restore, a backup or Startup Repair to fix the problem and get everything back to normal.