Best gadget reviews this week: May 13th – 17th

Home / Features / Best gadget reviews this week: May 13th – 17th

First up, the long-hyped Microsoft Surface Pro has arrived to face its reckoning – so if you read one review this week, make it this one.

The Q10 replaces the Z10 as our BlackBerry smartphone of choice, the Kobo Aura HD gets the Lucy Hedges treatment as it takes on Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite and Sony’s Cyber-Shot DSC-HX50 wriggles its way to the top of our Compact Cameras Top Ten.

Microsoft Surface Pro review

£720 (+£110 for Type cover) microsoft.com

Stuff Says: A portable powerhouse – but the Surface Pro’s keyboard, grunt and battery life don’t quite measure up to its Ultrabook rivals. Its nifty portability comes at a price of a little power and a proper laptop set-up.

Read it now: Microsoft Surface Pro review by Will Dunn

The Rivals: Microsoft Surface RT, Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, Apple iPad 4

Stuff: 4 stars

TechRadar: 4.5 stars

PC Pro: 4 stars

CNET: 3.5 stars

Kobo Aura HD review

£140 kobo.com

Stuff Says: The Kobo Aura HD is the limited edition hardback to the Kindle’s cheaper, lighter paperback and well worth considering. Kobo’s gone after hardcore bookworms wooing them with an unusual build, higher-res screen and better battery life. Still, the Aura HD isn’t for everyone.

Read it now: Kobo Aura HD review by Sophie Charara

The Rivals: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, Nook Simple Touch GlowLight, Amazon Kindle Touch

Stuff: 4 stars

Wired: 8/10

MSN: 4 stars

The Gadget Show: 4 stars

BlackBerry Q10 review

£580 blackberry.com

Stuff Says: The Q10 will turn BlackBerry die-hards into messaging gods, free from the world of convoluted apps and never-ending spec wars. It’s a curious beast for 2013 with (brace yourselves) a full QWERTY keyboard !!1;)! but the Q10 does just enough to knock its bigger-screened brother, the BlackBerry Z10 out of our Top Ten Smartphones.

Read it now: BlackBerry Q10 review by Esat Dedezade

The Rivals: BlackBerry Z10, HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony Xperia Z

Stuff: 4 stars

Pocket-lint: 3.5 stars

Know Your Mobile: 4.5 stars

Recombu: 4 stars

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 review

£560 (+£110 for keyboard dock) lenovo.com

Stuff Says: Like squeezing a proper PC into a sexy 10in rectangle, the Tablet 2 is an impressive Windows 8 hybrid. Compared to rival Intel Atom devices, the Lenovo’s battery life and performance gets our hearts racing but it’s not enough to score that final Stuff star.

Read it now: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 review by Sophie Charara

The Rivals: Microsoft Surface Pro, Acer Iconia W510, Asus VivoTab ME400

Stuff: 4 stars

Trusted Reviews: 7/10

The Verge: 7.4/10

ZDnet: 7.9/10

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX50 review

£350 sony.com

Stuff Says: The best all-round compact camera money can buy, the HX50 is superb in any situation. It’s the compact we’re now recommending to anyone looking to buy one and though you’ll be disappointed by the HX50’s Wi-Fi skills it takes beautiful images and video.

Read it now: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX50 review by Tony Horgan

The Rivals: Canon PowerShot S110, Fujifilm FinePix X10, Samsung WB850F

Stuff: 5 stars

ePHOTOzine: 4 stars

Sony Xperia SP video review

£380 sonymobile.com

Stuff Says: It packs the kind of specs that would have had last year’s geekerati hot under the collar – so the Xperia SP won’t have its quad core rivals quaking in their boots. But it has loads to offer if you’re looking for a well-performing all-rounder and don’t want to spend big bucks.

The Rivals: Google Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, HTC 8S, Motorola RAZR HD