The announcement of the new Amazon Kindles caused all manner of excitement in the PC Pro office this week, until we realised Amazon actually had no plans to release the most exciting products in the UK. What a let-down. Still, that does at least give other manufacturers a chance to steal a march, and that appears to be exactly what Sony has done with its new Reader Wi-Fi, of which we have an early sample.

The first thing to notice when you pick up the Reader Wi-Fi is how light it is. It tipped our scales at just 162g, which makes the current Kindle look positively portly. With no keyboard it’s small enough to slip into an inside jacket pocket, and although it does feel a touch plasticky, it’s well made and the soft-touch plastic rear gives you a nice grippy surface to hold onto.

The screen is 6in across with a resolution of 600 x 800, and you get 1.4GB of usable memory expandable via a microSD slot, plus an infrared touchscreen just like the US-only Kindle Touch. This means you can sweep your finger right to left to turn a page, make handwritten notes and annotations with the supplied plastic stylus, and highlight text effortlessly (more on this later). For Sony, though, that’s nothing new. Where this device differs from its predecessors is in the inclusion of an 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter.

Once logged into your network using the onscreen keyboard, it offers direct access to the Sony ebook store, and through that a free subsection of Google Books, plus selected local libraries via the Overdrive eLibrary system. The latter provides time-limited DRM-based loans and, while the selection isn’t anywhere near as broad as the Kindle Store, the books are free.

Alas, the service isn’t yet up and running (and won’t be until the end of October), so we can’t pass judgement on its implementation in the device itself. We can only hope it rivals the gloriously simply system in the Kindle. But the good news is that you no longer need to rely on Sony’s Reader software to get content, which can only be a good thing.

The device’s onboard WebKit browser is fully functional and, in conjunction with the sensitive touchscreen, works surprisingly well. It’ll never rival a tablet for ease of use, but for accessing free ebook sites such as the Gutenberg Project, and even checking the odd email, it’s perfectly functional – and miles better than the Kindle’s browser. Even inertial scrolling and pinch-to-zoom operations function, although you may find the constant screen refresh sends you cross-eyed after a while.

Elsewhere, the Reader Wi-Fi exhibits similar strengths and weaknesses to previous Sony readers. It’s a superlative PDF-reading device. The multitouch capabilities of the screen mean even complex pages can be manipulated quickly and simply, and there are all manner of other ways of reading pages. You can set a custom crop to make pages with large borders more readable. In Navigate Page mode, the reader can be set to zoom right into the first column on a page, then follow the flow of text down then up and across when you hit the next button, instead of simply navigating to the following page.

Text can also be “reflowed” or stripped out so it fits the screen exactly. You can make handwritten annotations and highlight text for downloading via the Sony Reader software. A long press of the finger on a word, meanwhile, displays not only a dictionary definition at the bottom of the screen, but also pops up five buttons. These allow you to make a highlight the word, make a quick note and search the text, or carry out a keyword search in Google or Wikipedia.

And, although we can’t speak for the forthcoming Kindles, against the current model the Sony Reader Wi-Fi holds its own in terms of screen refresh speed and readability. Epub pages flip by in a single second, and as the screen uses the same E-Ink Pearl panel, contrast is largely the same as well. If anything the Kindle’s screen demonstrates a touch more contrast and crispness, but there’s very little in it. We took a macro photograph of each screen using identical lighting, shutter, aperture, ISO and white balance settings, then measured the black and “white” levels of each using Photoshop’s eyedropper tool. The result was a contrast ratio of 2.48:1 for the Kindle and 2.36:1 for the Sony.

The Sony Reader Wi-Fi is clearly a capable device; we can see that even without the benefit of being able to use the store on the device. It’s quick, readable and can handle PDF files in a much more intuitive and satisfactory way than the current Kindle – plus it’s incredibly light. The problem is with the price: at £130 we can’t see it competing with either current or future Kindles. We’ll have a full review when the services go live.

Those of you on the beta channel of Google Chrome may have noticed the new-look homescreen on version 15 of the browser. Gone is the single page containing your most-visited websites, apps and bookmarks. In its place comes a tabbed-based homepage that allows you to flick between the various options.

One thing is immediately obvious from this revamped design: Google is designing for touchscreens. Look at those large finger-friendly icons for the bookmarks — which aren’t entirely dissimilar to the bookmarks in the early betas of Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 8.

(Chrome 15’s bookmarks)

(Internet Explorer 10’s bookmarks)

And what about those full-length page turners on either side of the screen? They’re distinctly overkill for mouse and keyboard operation.

Is Google planning to scoop Windows 8 with a touchscreen version of the Chromebook? I wouldn’t bet against it.

Microsoft’s Courier tablet might be languishing somewhere in a Redmond wheelie-bin, but Toshiba’s Libretto W100 has turned the keyboard-free concept into reality. With dual 7in touchscreens, a miniature netbook form factor and no sign of Intel’s weakling Atom, the Libretto takes a daring stride into the future.

Stepping out

First impressions are excellent, too. It manages the tricky balancing act of appearing light in the hand without feeling desperately insubstantial, and we were impressed to find the early pre-production units feeling so physically well finished. Brushed aluminium constrasts nicely with the gloss black trim, and the whole effect is one of understated class.

What’s probably not immediately apparent from the photographs is how small it is. Measuring just 202mm wide and 123mm deep, it’s easy to mistake the Libretto for a plump, miniaturised netbook. It is admittedly fairly thick around its waist – a chunky 31mm – but given how much Toshiba has crammed into its lightweight 840g frame, it’s still impressively petite.

While we would have been entirely unsurprised to find the Libretto sporting a decidedly modest specification, any fears that Toshiba might have crippled the Libretto with a sluggish Atom processor were soon dispelled. Instead, we were relieved to find a 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 processor taking pride of place alongisde 2GB of DDR3 memory and a 62GB SSD.

It’s a seriously powerful combination for such a dainty device -  not least as the U5400 is more commonly found in significantly larger CULV laptops – but it’s just as well conisdering that the Libretto is running Windows 7 Home Premium.

Physical connections are unsurprisingly frugal – Toshiba’s furnished the Libretto with nothing more than a USB port, a 3.5mm audio output and a MicroSD card reader – but wireless connectivity covers every base with 802.11n, Bluetooth and an optional integrated 3G adapter.

Touching down

Fire up the Libretto and it’s immediately impressive: the twin touchscreens – yes, they’re multi-touch capable – are bright and clear with not a hint of grain, and each of the 7in panels has a modest resolution of 1,024 x 600 pixels.

Initially, the Windows desktop stretches across both screens just like any multi-monitor setup. It’s undeniably novel: whether you want to run different applications side by side or stretch webpages or Word documents across both displays, you can. Flip the Libretto round to hold it like a book, and the accelerometer shifts the Windows desktop around to match.

There is, of course, one crucial laptop ingredient missing from the Libretto: a keyboard. Instead, dabbing the keyboard button toggles Toshiba’s software keyboard on and off. Use the Libretto in the usual laptop orientation, and, initially at least, it’s a fairly unsettling experience: haptic feedback gives a clear indication as to whether you’ve successfully hit a key or not, but, conversely, the limited width of the display means that touch-typing is all but out of the question.

It’s far from unusable, though. Mistakes are inevitable, but entering text into dialog boxes, emails or documents is made easier thanks to the T9 dictionary which throws up suggestions and corrections. Meanwhile, dabbing the on-screen keyboard icon swaps between various different keyboard layouts, such as the split keyboard which makes it possible to hold the Libretto and type with your thumbs. And should you ever need one, there’s also an on-screen touchpad.

Getting the most out of such an unusual device is clearly beyond the abilities of Windows 7 Home Premium, however, and Toshiba has tried to plug the gap with its LifeSpace suite of software.

ReelTime uses a touch-friendly interface to list recently accessed documents, previewing their contents on the adjacent display, and the Bulletin Board area allows users to pin notes, documents and links to a virtual pin-board. But by far our favourite part of Toshiba’s LifeSpace? There’s a virtual piano.

Sounding off

The hardware was most definitely pre-production, suffering from sluggish fits of pique, and regularly unresponsive touchscreens, but, warts and all, it’s difficult not to come away a little bit impressed.

Indeed, you’ve got to admire the sheer chutzpah of Toshiba in releasing such a bold product. Is it practical? From our brief outing with it, we’d have to say not. Will it be affordable? Well, if by affordable you mean cheaper than, say, the iPad, then probably not.

Look at it as a technological showpiece which physically embodies Toshiba’s mantra of Leading Innovation, though, and it almost begins to make sense. It’s innovative, thoughtfully designed and, to its credit, more than a little bit bonkers. We can’t wait to get one in for a full PC Pro review.

that’s because ‘an in a cramped airplane._ seat and the ride is d little bumpy. that, and everyone who can see what lam dough watching me avidly’ The XT2 uses windows7 pen extensions and as a long ten fan of the concept of pen computing I touchscreens and the business of handwriting instead of keyboarding.

the windows7 pen or touch keyboard relies heavily on dictionary prediction to figure out peoples scribbles and this brings some odd problems with it-such as entering passwords: whether it guesses right or not the handwriting paid will briefly display your password not just in plain text but clearly legible plain text at that

And now I’m sitting somewhere that isn’t moving at 450mph, I can finish this on the keyboard. The first thing that springs to mind is how the Dell Latitude XT2 compares with my ancient Fujitsu tablet PC: I was interested to see just how well a new device, powered by Windows 7, would cope in what is effectively a torture test. I admit it’s entirely unfair to expect any machine to recognise text perfectly in that situation, so all told I’d say it did pretty well.

Another obvious difference is that far less “training time” is needed to get good results: this may be because the touchscreen is much higher resolution and seems well adapted to the level of pressure and speed of movement I have developed as a 20-year fountain pen user. Also unlike my old Fujitsu, the Dell will use either the smart pen or your grubby digit: the finger works only on contact, the pen works a couple of centimetre off the surface.

The XT2 also makes a nicer regular laptop than my trusty Fujitsu 5020. This is mainly because the screen technology doesn’t add as much blur to the display as it did on the Fujitsu.

Windows 7 makes a number of subtle but smart differences to the experience, too. I find it much more natural to tap the bigger Windows 7 icons on the touchscreen than I did the various menus and controls in Windows XP, and that’s faster than noodling about with either the trackpad or the keyboard nipple.

Sadly, Dell can’t resist layering its bloatware “location manager” over the top of Windows 7’s wireless/wired network connection management; having used the default Windows 7 stack on a ThinkPad T60, I don’t really see the added benefit of most of these manufacturer-specific add-ons.

I like tablet PCs as a concept, because I like to handwrite and I need a compact device when I’m wriggling into tight corners behind server racks. I have seen one very serious application in an orthodontic surgery which relies on tablet PCs as a core part of what it does, and I have no doubt this will be a growing field.

But if I send in any more blogs spelled and punctuated like the first couple of paragraphs here, PC Pro’s online editor will stop talking to me altogether.

But the real news for me – and for anyone who ever has trouble choosing a printer – is the way Lexmark’s eight-product line has been assembled.

Currently, buying a printer is a confusing experience, with too many competing manufacturers, each with too many printer ranges that contain too many similar models and accept too many different cartridge types. Even within a single manufacturer’s product range, the variation in quality and speed can be staggering.

So Lexmark is taking a different approach, one that makes choosing a printer so simple for consumers I can only beg and plead with Canon, HP, Epson and the rest of the inkjet world to flagrantly copy it.

Put simply, whether you buy the base consumer model for $99, the premium $399 business device or any of the six models in-between, you’ll get the same underlying print engine.

Yes, that means the cheapest budget model will print at the same speed and produce the same quality prints as the dearest premium all-in-one. They’re essentially the same printer. They’ll also all accept ‘XL’ high-yield cartridges to cut print costs.

Where Lexmark will differentiate is in features, beginning with a basic all-in-one and progressively adding document feeders, ports, LCD screens, a 4.3in touchscreen, fax capabilities and all the usual extras as you move up the price scale. So, if you don’t want to pay for Ethernet and extra print trays you don’t need, just don’t buy them – the price you’ll pay is determined solely by the feature set, with quality and speed a reassuring constant.

That delightful approach aside, Lexmark was here to show off its touchscreen interface more than anything, and I have to say I came away impressed. It’s only on the top models, but the large 4.3in panel has room for nice, clear icons, and the designers have ensured the main copy, scan and fax menus contain the bare minimum of major options. Should you need to dig deeper, standard list menus can be accessed from there. (Click the image for a closer look.)

But many business users have specific copying tasks that they repeat on a regular basis, so Lexmark has come up with an innovative PC-based time-saving solution. Create an account on the website and, in a browser-based version of the printer’s menu, you can pre-select all the settings for a particular print, scan or copy job. Give it a name and save it; it will be pushed out across the internet to your associated Lexmark inkjets where it will appear in the custom job menu as an icon.

For example, if you regularly copy and resize your day’s invoices two-to-a-page and in draft mode to save paper and ink, you just choose those settings online, save the job as ‘Invoice Copy’ and it’ll be sent to your office printer’s menu. Next time you place your two invoices on the platen, instead of going through the copy menu you simply press the Invoice Copy icon and the settings are chosen for you. It’s exceedingly simple and saves both time and money.

There’s also a range of Eco options that can be enabled to save paper and ink, along with a similarly pre-configurable scan-to-email option that goes one step further by actually sending the email itself – no PC required.

It remains to be seen if Lexmark has significantly redesigned its laboured menu system on the non-touch devices, but premium users will certainly see a huge improvement. And the move to individual inks has long been required; sample photo prints I was shown looked promising but only our tests will tell for sure. A claimed 90-second top quality 6 x 4in print also piqued my interest.

They’re due to launch officially next week, and we’ve been promised a top-end Platinum Pro905 as soon as Lexmark receives them in the UK, so look out for a full review in the next few weeks. I didn’t think I’d be saying this following our last Canon-dominated group test, but Lexmark could well be stepping up to the plate at last.

“I’m Wolf Blitzer, and you’re in the THE SITUATION ROOM!!!” Duh-duh-du-du-duhhhhhhhhhh.

Poor old Dimbleby over on the Beeb didn’t stand a chance. He was doddery and indecisive, while the hapless Jeremy Vine stumbled around his CGI results room like a bad weatherman, eyeing the monitors as he fumbled to touch areas of a screen that clearly was there but had been made to look like it wasn’t there, if that makes any sense to you. No? Me neither.

Over on ITV, Alastair Stewart tried his best, but in between every sensible guest he was forced to put questions to the insufferable “comedian” Jon Culshaw, whose Obama impersonation was indeed true comedy, being suspiciously similar to his Bush impression and his McCain impression, both of which sounded like his Gordon Brown, all of which sounded like Jon Culshaw.

But CNN was there to rescue us all from election night Hell. Despite the most brilliantly inappropriate name on TV, Wolf Blitzer proved a slick and knowledgable host, helped by a team of thinly disguised body-builders whose parents never quite grasped the concept of first names. The heavily chiselled Anderson Cooper put the questions to the guest experts (and appeared in the ad breaks hacking his way through jungles to rescue sick children – whattaguy!), while Campbell Brown (that’s a woman) and a lady called Soledad (is that even a name?) dealt with the stats and exit polls.

But the real winner was touchscreen technology. While Jeremy Vine struggled with a device he’d clearly spent all of eight seconds practising over dinner, over on CNN the same technology was used to great effect. The reassuringly-named John King used CNN’s “magic wall” to touch, drag, zoom and highlight the key counties in each swing state. Like a giant iPhone screen, he pinched and slid the images around, drawing lines around key battleground counties and giving more idea of the current situation in five minutes than any other coverage managed all night.

With instant comparisons to 2004, and breakdowns of exit polls and incoming figures, it was an example of technology being used in a sensible way to add to the content elsewhere. It wasn’t blown up to the size of the studio for King to walk around; they didn’t turn the states into a huge CGI Capitol Hill to turn blue and red in an attempt to capture our simple attention spans – it was just a knowledgable presenter who knew exactly how to get the analysis he needed from a device he’s clearly confident using. And it was absolutely fascinating – BBC and ITV should take note.

But CNN didn’t get everything right last night – in fact, it also demonstrated the other, painful side of TV technology by using something very expensive, awkward and utterly pointless just to show it can.

Wolf Blitzer interviewed a reporter in the field by beaming her into the studio as a hologram. Yep, it was as ridiculous as it sounds – a total of 30 HD cameras took several weeks to set up in a tent, calibrated to move whenever the studio cameras moved. And all so we could occasionally see the reporter from a different angle in the studio. She didn’t move, she did nothing that required the use of space or direction, but we got to see her from the front and back at regular intervals, and all with an artificial blue glow to add to the Princess Leia effect. “Help us Wolf Blitzer, you’re our only hope!”

Let’s hope the BBC execs weren’t watching that bit. But the rest of it was great, and with Microsoft’s Surface already being rolled out into hotel lobbies and shopping centres, and multi-touch slowly making its way into all sorts of phones and laptops, not to mention support in Windows 7, last night’s coverage was another fine demonstration that the future’s looking very bright indeed for touchscreen technology.