Dick Tracy dream dies

We had high hopes that Sony Ericsson's Bluetooth Watch would fulfil everyone's dream of a phone in a timepiece. Sadly, that's not to be. The chunky watch connects to your phone and tells you about incoming calls and texts, but that's about it. Presumably, the intention is that you can keep your phone in your pocket in a meeting or whatever and still get discreet notification of communications. A rich man's toy if there ever was one, read the full Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Watch MBW-100 review in today's paper.

There's also a brief look at the Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones, a transmitter and 'phones combo so you can listen to your iPod without cables. Not a bad performer but prone to annoying audio dropouts.

In games, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops does for the PSP what it did for the PS2: create the definitive stealth-em-up, though its camera flaws spoil the party somewhat.

Submarine sim Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of The Pacific (PC) can be safely ignored if long periods of obsessive hunting followed by a few minutes of intense chase sound like your idea of hell. Intriguing, yes, but widely appealing, no.

Socom: Combined Assault (PS2) needs no introduction: squad shooter with murky graphics but a great online multiplayer. This instalment springs no surprises.

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (PS3) pales beside an RPG with real brains such as Oblivion.

Tablet ecstasy

We should be grateful that Nokia likes to experiment so much, even if many of the crazier ideas (N-Gage, etc) fall by the wayside. The 770 web tablet appeared on the surface to be another wacky failure, a pocket-diary sized device purely for browsing the web using WiFi.

Now Nokia's back with a new, improved version, the N800. It's still hardly what you'd call crucial to the survival of the human race but it has a curious charm. Read the full Nokia N800 review in today's paper.

In games, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters crams the riotous PS2 guns+platformer into the PSP, with minimal compromise. Shame the minigames are such a bitch, though.

The PS3 conversion of Splinter Cell: Double Agent proves that developers still struggle to master the console's programming. Though the heart of the stealth-em-up remains the same engaging adventure that graced the 360, the technical glitches and lack of polish frequently become distracting.

Almost two years after Prince of Persia: Two Thrones comes the PSP port, called Rival Swords for no good reason. Essentially the same title, that doesn't mean it should be overlooked if you're looking for some acrobatic puzzle fun.

Finally, Singstar Pop Hits follows the one step forward-two back pattern of the karaoke series - no gameplay improvements and a limp bundle of tunes make it an also-ran.

Into Orbit

Is there no limit to the ambition of mobile phone makers? What will they build in next? A kitchen sink? The O2 Xda Orbit won't be the last to incorporate GPS but it's definitely the first to go on general sale in Ireland. Maybe one day all phones will have some form of location tracking but, like many other extra functions (camera, calendaring, etc), will it be good enough to forego a standalone device?

On the evidence of the Orbit, the answer is still only a maybe. It works, quite well sometimes, but never quite nails the experience of a full GPS device. Read the full O2 Xda Orbit review in today's paper.

In games, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion hits the PS3 with the same eye-popping impact it made on PC/360 last year. A vast, open-ended RPG, it manages to be accessible and deep all at once. Pokemon Ranger attempts to eke a lot of mileage from the DS stylus and touchscreen for this monster-grabbing adventure but repetition and simplistic gameplay won't impress anyone over the age of 7.

F1 Championship Edition does little to quell the suspicion that Formula One ain't cut out for videogame fodder. This version for PS3 shines shinier than a very shiny thing but if your idea of fun is concentrating for hours at a time to avoid making a single mistake, then be my guest.

Finally, Wing Island does some nice motion-sensing stuff with the Wiimote but the half-baked arcade flight-sim game to go with it isn't worth the effort.

Capture that high

Entertainment companies have been feeding us high-definition media for quite a while but it's now becoming affordable to create your own HD footage where before you used to settle for crappy, blurry video.

At the second attempt, Canon has got HD right in its new HV20 camcorder (the HV10 wasn't bad but its unergonomic form and other niggles did for it). The video captured by the HV20 could easily be mistaken for studio broadcast quality (or even better).

Read the full Canon HV20 review in today's paper.

In games, Buzz The Mega Quiz reverses the fun trivia game out of the cul-de-sac down which it had headed. Freshening up the questions and polishing the presentation have made BTMQ a hilarious party game. Just add booze.

Earth Defence Force 2017 (X360) indulges in every cheesy shooter cliche known to man but somehow its giant bug hunt ends up frighteningly addictive, especially at a budget price. Def Jam Icon (PS3/X360) looks and sounds the business but its urban brawler schtick gets undermined by sluggish combat controls.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance (PS3) revisits the Gauntlet team-brawler genre, with all the inherent confusion and button-mashing that entails. Finally, ropey arcade flight sim Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII hasn't got any better in its port to Wii and PS3.

Digital photo finish

Visions of the future home always include banks of TVs, some informative, some just decorative. While it's hard to imagine shelling out for a telly just to display family photos, a more realistic option can be found in the burgeoning range of digital pictures frames hitting the market. One of the better options, though exceedingly pricey relatively speaking, comes from Philips.

A crisp 9" display hides behind the imaginative name of PhotoFrame 9FF2M4/00 (c'mon, Philips, try a bit harder). Plenty of features and a bright, high-res screen go some way to justifying the steep price, but wireless functionality would be welcome in this class.

Read the full Philips PhotoFrame review in today's paper.

In games, God of War II lights up the ageing PS2 in a way nothing has done so far on the PS3. A sequel to the epic hack'n'slash of 2005, GoWII may not be terribly innovative but what it does, it does brilliantly.

Ridge Racer 7 (PS3) sticks to the surrealist racing line that has served it so well in the past, with little change from the X360 version but enough to keep fans in thrall. Medal of Honor Vanguard (Wii) retreads very old WWII ground with very little new to say, even with the Wiimote motion control.

Fight Night Round 3 hits PS3 with a new first-person mode to emphasis the bone-crunching punches but rumble would have been better. Still a very nifty boxing sim, though. Finally, Tony Hawk Project 8 limps on to the PS3 missing some features of other versions and technically unpolished.