Jack of all trades, master of none

HP's new Photosmart R927 camera is a rum beast. The flagship of the range, it tries to be all things to all men and fails to be the king of any. On the one hand, it has the helpful built-in hints about picture-taking common to all Photosmarts, plus tons of "useful" (read: gimmicky) features such as special effects. But unlike many other compact digital cameras, it has full manual control (aperture, shutter priority, etc). So it's aimed at complete novices and keen amateurs alike.

But novices aren't going to need eight megapixels and semi-pros won't like the so-so image quality. A few other niggles (very average battery life and a poxy printed manual) mean it's hard to recommend the R927 with any conviction. Read the full review in today's paper.

In games, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a back-port to the PS2 of the PSP portable crime simulator - and it shows. Low-res graphics, limited missions and a general whiff of cash-in. But at only €30 it's cheap entertainment.

Super Monkey Ball Adventure (PSP) tries to make the classic puzzle game into a free-roaming collect-em-up, without much success. And 1 Streetball (PS2/Xbox) apes NBA Street but misses out on the fizz and outrageousness of the gameplay.