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.