Can Nokia and Microsoft be the comeback kids?

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Week in Tech
Can Nokia and Microsoft be the comeback kids?
 

On Sunday, Andy Murray triumphed at Wimbledon. Last year's underdog was this year's hero, and several tech firms will be hoping to make a very similar journey, including Nokia: the imminent Lumia 1020 with its extraordinary PureView camera. The 1020 "is going to be the device that not only reminds people how good Nokia used to be, but will also herald a real change in the company's fortunes," says Gareth Beavis.

Like Nokia, BlackBerry has been eclipsed by iPhone and Android. Could the BlackBerry 9720 be its comeback? Er, probably not: it'll be running BB7, not BB10, which seems odd. More excitingly, the long-rumoured A10 flagship is imminent. In the meantime there's always the Q5, even if it is "difficult to love".

It feels odd to call Microsoft an underdog, but it certainly is in tablets. Microsoft hopes to change that in the coming months, and it has new versions of both the Surface RT and Surface Pro due within the year. But that's not all the news coming out of Redmond: Microsoft's had a bit of a reshuffle over at HQ. The company wants to give you one big Microsoft experience across all its devices and software, with the plan being to make more of its own-branded phones, tablets and "small wearables". OK, Microsoft. Here we are now. Entertain us.

Read the full story
 
 
In this week
■ Week in Tech: Can Nokia and Microsoft be the comeback kids?
■ Talking points: Xbox One selling PS4s, Sony on PS4's power, EA ups next gen prices, and why phone batteries are crap
■ Competition: WIN! A superzoom Nikon Coolpix S9500 worth £279.99
■ The week's best buys: Crucial M500 480GB, Sony VAIO Duo 13 and Lenovo IdeaPad Z500
■ Top 10: The world's top Android phones
 
Talking points
1
Xbox One is becoming a great ad for PS4
 
In the film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, aliens replace every human with a doppelgänger (writes Gary Marshall). I think something similar is happening right now, but instead of space aliens the culprit is Sony - and instead of a Californian town, it's replaced everybody involved in selling the Xbox One. How else can we explain Microsoft's unmarketing campaign? Read more
 
 
 
2
Sony: PS4 is the most powerful gaming device ever conceived
The PlayStation 4 made its debut on UK soil this week, with Sony's retail partners and key press invited to see the new console in action and play the new games.  At the event we caught up with Fergal Gara, VP and managing director at Sony Computer Entertainment UK and Ireland. Read more
 
 
 
3
EA ups prices on its PS4 and Xbox One games
 
Sony and Microsoft have promised that their next-gen titles will start out priced the same as those on current systems, but EA will be pushing up to a higher price point. In a Q&A post, retailer Game stated: "At present, the only publisher to confirm costs of their next generation games are EA, attaching a price of £54.99. No other game prices have been confirmed." Read more
 
 
 
4
Why are mobile phone batteries still so crap?
Mobile computing promises the world: web access, photos, music and maps, everywhere you go. And it can really deliver - for a while. But poor battery life means you'll probably soon run into problems, with some devices leaving you staring at a useless blank screen well before the end of the day. So why is battery life still so poor, and what's being done to improve the situation? Read more
 
 
 
Competition
WIN! A superzoom Nikon Coolpix S9500 worth £279.99
 
Get your hands on one of four Nikon Coolpix S9500 cameras. This smart compact features a 22x Nikkor optical zoom lens and backlit 18-megapixel CMOS sensor to capture distant action and candid close-ups, making this an ideal point-and-shoot camera for summer holidays.
Enter competition
 
WIN! One of 25 EVAP Smartphone Rescue Packs
Enter competition
 
 
 
WIN! A Mac mini and a bundle of MacPaw apps
Enter competition
 
 
 
 
Your tweets this week
 
 
 
The week's best buys
 

Crucial's latest range of SSDs is here. The Crucial M500 family consists of four capacities: 120GB, 240GB, 480GB and the flagship 960GB. That top drive is the first terabyte-class SSD aimed at consumers, and it makes it one of the most important ranges to arrive on the market. This could be the first of many drives to shake up pricing and finally begin to make solid state storage mainstream..
View offer
Read review
 
 
 
 

Intel's brand new Haswell processors bring a number of improvements for mobile devices, and Sony's refreshed lineup of Vaio Ultrabooks (including the Duo 13) take advantage of that. This is the best hybrid Ultrabook/tablet device we've seen.
View offer
Read review
 
 
 
 

The versatile Lenovo Z500 Touch lets you seamlessly play games, tab out to prod your way through Windows and then turn the system to more mundane tasks without stopping for breath. It's a great example of everything the super-thin, touch-enabled ultrabook has to offer.
View offer
Read review
 
 
 
Are budget iPhone rumours boring?
@psychomania666 Almost as boring as the non-budget iphone.
 
 
@DanTalbot4 It's Apple, what do we expect? Long waits for the new product.
 
 
@whippy31 bad idea for a cheap iPhone. Will de-value the ones we have when we want to sell for an upgrade
 
 
 
Top  10  Android phones
To find the best Android phone for you, we've rounded up the finest handsets, rating them on hardware performance, OS upgrade potential and, of course, how shiny and nice they are.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
View top 10
 
 
 
   
TechRadar Promotion
Lenovo's new era of family computing
 

PCs were once a solo pursuit, but the latest technology is ushering in a new era in family computing with vibrant touchscreens, fascinating new ways to interact and phenomenal software. Take Lenovo's IdeaPad Horizon Table PC. The huge 27-inch touchscreen PC is an amazing Windows 8 all-in-one. But the Horizon Table PC really comes alive when you lay it flat, allowing the whole family to share the experience. And what could be more fun than that?

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 New issue out now
This month, T3 explores the future of cars, from Google's self-driving vehicles to BMW's total accident elimination and Peugeot's rapid prototyping. Plus all you need to know about the Xbox One.

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Mission-Critical Matters

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Webcast Wondering how you can best utilize Linux ServiceGuard running on Intel-powered HP-UX?

Check out this webcast, where Jonathan Patrizio, HP High Availability and Disaster Recovery Expert, shares how you can utilize Linux ServiceGuard to deliver uncompromising availability and cost savings for your mission-critical workloads.

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Avoiding cloud vendor lock-in; Verizon backs Ubuntu smartphone | ZDNet Tech Today - US

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