Does Office for iPad have what it takes to deliver a great experience?

There are already several Office apps for iOS, from the OneDrive and OneNote apps to the simplistic Office for iOS (now renamed Office Mobile); Office for iPad is a different and more impressive beast. What you get are versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint designed for iPad.

They don't have anything like all the features of Office 2013 for Windows or Office 2011 for Mac, but they do have a great touch interface that makes the features you actually get, work well with just your fingers whether you're fixing a broken formula in Excel or adding pictures to your presentation in PowerPoint or tracking changes and reviewing comments in Word.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint are free to download from the App Store but when you first install them, all you can do is view existing documents and run a presentation in PowerPoint (complete with a handy on-screen pen that lets you scribble on your slides and a virtual on-screen laser pointer when you press and hold with your finger).

Editing the layout of a Word document

You have to either buy a subscription to Office 365 Home (the individual Office license that lets you use it on up to five devices, including tablets) from the App Store or activate an existing Office 365 subscription (including the new Personal license, Office 365 University for students and the different business plans). Confusingly, to do that you need to open the free version and then tap the activation button.

When you have the right license, what you see in each app is a clean and simple version of the Office ribbon with the Home, Insert and Review tabs plus extra tabs for each app; Word has Insert, Excel has Formulas and both have a View tab that lets you turn on spelling, get a word count or hide headings and gridlines. PowerPoint has specific tabs for Transitions and Slide Show (plus and extra button to start presenting at any time (this works nicely with AirPlay). Other tabs appear when you need them, like when you select a chart, table or picture.

Rich with features

The ribbon and all the tools and controls are clear and simple and work really well with touch. This looks and feels like Office but it also looks and feels and works like a real iPad app (including dictating text into Word). Drag the handles on a photo or chart and you can move or resize it precisely; selecting a range of cells in Excel is easier than it is with a mouse on Windows and the menu for inserting and deleting cells is really helpful (once you spot it on the ribbon).

Looking pretty decent on the iPad

If the touch keyboard is open, controls open smaller so you see a short list of colors; with the keyboard closed the color list stretches down into the keyboard space. When you tap inside your document, a little context menu lets you select, copy, cut, delete, duplicate and so on, depending on what you've tapped. The Undo and Redo buttons are big and obvious, right at the top where you need them. AutoSave is on by default, although you can tap to turn it off and save by hand if you really want.

Spreadsheets on the go?

You get far more than the basics of editing documents and adding transitions to slides. Excel has everything from cell formatting to formulas - there's even a specific formula keyboard with arrow ad number keys plus common formula keys like the Sigma key. Excel also has a handy version of the quick formulas that are in the status bar on the Windows version, letting you see the sum, count, average, minimum or maximum of your selected numbers quickly. Nothing revolutionary, but implemented in a way that's a perfect match for the touch screen.

Not only can you make a chart in Excel and customize the layout, you can copy that into a PowerPoint or Word document - where you can collaborate with other people editing the file, including adding comments and tracking changes so you can see who has changed what. Word has rich text and image formatting, plus a huge list of shape, table and photo formats and you can edit headers and footers. PowerPoint has shapes and smart art.

PowerPoint shapes and smart art

If you use OneDrive or OneDrive for business, you can open Office documents from there, although they still start as Quick Look previews; you have to tap the Edit button to open the document in Office itself. If you open Word, PowerPoint or Excel, you can choose a file from Recent Documents (as usual that includes ones you've only worked with on other devices using the same Office account), open a file from your iPad, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business or SharePoint (you can also save new documents in all those places) or create a new document. The selection of PowerPoint themes is reasonable, the 15 Excel templates include a project planner, marketing budget and expense report and you get 14 Word templates for brochures, flyers and resumes.

Choose from 14 Word templates

There are plenty of things you can't do in Office for iPad, like cropping images (but there are plenty of iPad tools that do that already). There are some features you'll have to know where to look for; to find and replace in Word, first you tap the search icon, then you tap the Settings gear to switch from Find to Find and Replace (it's worth spending some time with the Office guide hidden on the menu you get by tapping the Autosave button). But the beauty of this being Office is that even the features you can't edit on the iPad still display and update correctly. You can't create the conditional formatting for a heat map that makes big numbers green and negative numbers red in Excel on the iPad but if you've done that in Excel on your PC or Mac the formatting displays correctly; and if you change the number in a cell, the color-coding updates to match the new number. You can open complicated documents without worrying that you'll be losing information or messing up your formatting.

Using find and replace seems easy enough

Early Verdict

Even if you've moved on from Office to other iPad tools, you'll want to take a look at Office for iPad for nice touches like the custom keyboards for numbers and formulae in Excel and it's nice to see Microsoft taking advantage of hardware acceleration for things like rotating images in PowerPoint. But you'll get the most from Office for iPad if you also use Office on your Mac or PC and want to take documents with you. Since you need an Office 365 subscription to get the editing features at all, that makes sense. Office for iPad has pixel-perfect document viewing and while you only get a selection of the Office 2013 features, they are features that make sense, implemented in ways that work beautifully on the iPad.

Facebook is building drones armed to the teeth with the internet

WWW via UAV

While everyone's distracted by looking through virtual reality goggles like Oculus Rift, Facebook is preparing to fly drones overhead to beam the internet to new places.

This airborne Internet.org mission is being carried out by the Facebook Connectivity Lab, which has been tasked with building drones, satellites and lasers.

Its goal is to deliver "affordable access to basic internet services available to every person in the world," wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a status update.

There's certainly a need. Less than three billion people are able to access the internet among a population of 7.1 billion.

Penetration is low in developing countries without infrastructure and government censorship often stymies free and open access. Turkey is just the latest case this month.

Conventional methods aren't enough

Facebook and Internet.org have been able to connect more than three million new people to the internet in the past year through conventional methods.

Countries like the Philippines and Paraguay have seen double the number of mobile data users thanks to the Internet.org's partnerships with operators, reported Zuckerberg.

That's a start, but beaming the internet to the entire world requires inventing new technology and experts.

That's why Facebook is bringing experts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and Ames Research Center onboard as well as key members of the UK-based Ascenta to its Connectivity Lab.

Ascenta is known for being involved in its early stages Zephyr, a UAV technology that went on to become the world's longest flying solar-powered unmanned aircraft.

This fits right into the scope of Internet.org's plains, which call for internet delivery at 60,000 feet in the air with planes that are powered by the sun.

New HTC One (M8) camera and chassis

How do you follow up a phone like the HTC One? It was only the third smartphone to garner a highly coveted five star TechRadar review and the Taiwanese firm has got a job on its hands to repeat the trick with its successor.

HTC has admitted it's working on something after a myriad leaks, rumors and suggestive benchmark results flooded onto the web - all of which appear to reference the all new HTC One smartphone.

And now UK retailer The Carphone Warehouse has spilled the beans on the new name and release date of the phone - TechRadar was told it will be named the HTC One (M8) and will be available in stores as soon as the event finishes on March 25, although only a few handsets will be available.

The development name of HTC M8 was the first to appear on several occasions, but it appears this title has confusingly been carried forward as a suffix to the launch device... HTC needed to come up with a way of differentiating with the old model, but is something that sounds so definitively like 'mate' the right way to go?

We'd previously seen the HTC One 2014, One 2, One+, One S and One Up all rumored as possible names, but "the all new HTC One" appeared to be the front runner until two UK based retailers popped the handset on their "Coming soon" pages - and now the name has been confirmed.

Is HTC One (M8) really the official name?

Both Three UK and Carphone Warehouse have the phone listed as the HTC One (M8), with the former noting "HTC will announce their all new HTC One (M8) on the 25th March 2014."

• The HTC One 2 is in trouble - it's going to have an awful name

Cut to the chase
What is it? Sequel to the 5 star HTC One - a tough act to follow
When is it out? HTC has an event on March 25 2014 and the phone will be available immediately in select stores.
What will it cost? A lot. Big phone, big money.

One thing is for sure, with the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Sony Xperia Z2 already here and the iPhone 6 due to launch later in 2014, the new HTC One is going to have its work cut out and it could be make or break time for the Taiwanese firm.

We've rounded up all the latest M8 chatter from around the web to bring you the best picture of what you may see from the all new HTC One 2014.

HTC One (M8) release date and price

After months of speculation and hearsay, the Taiwanese firm finally sent out invitations to an event on March 25 2014, which we know will signal the arrival of the all new HTC One (M8).

The event is scheduled to take place in London and New York, with proceedings kicking off at 3pm (GMT)/10am (EST), rolled back one hour from the original time for some reason HTC won't tell us.

A post-MWC 2014 launch event was always looking most likely as it allows HTC to avoid the launches of the Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2, giving the new One 2 space to shine away from the bustle of a trade show.

With the Galaxy S5 doing such a good job of stealing the show at MWC it seems like this was probably a wise decision.

It looks like the new HTC One will be out of the door quicker this time round, as back in 2013 Samsung managed to announce the Galaxy S4 and get it in stores between HTC's announcement and release of the One, but it seems the brand has managed to get its manufacturing processes up to speed efficiently enough to have the phone available on the day of launch.

• HTC One M8 release date: where can I get it?

The statement sent to TechRadar by The Carphone Warehouse says: "The new HTC flagship device will be officially unveiled by the manufacturer at special events in London and New York earlier that afternoon.

"Shortly after, the new HTC One (M8) handsets will be transported directly from the venue of the launch announcement to six Carphone Warehouse stores in London."

We don't know whether this will herald the mass release of the new HTC One, so it could be that only a few phones go on sale on March 25 and others have to wait a few weeks.

There's no confirmation on price yet, but Mobile Fun is listing the handset at £579.99. Whether it has some inside information or whether that's just a placeholder is unclear, but we'd expect the One 2014 to go for between £550-£600 so it seems reasonable (around $975, AU$1050).

• How will the M8 beat the five star HTC One?

HTC One (M8) display

Big screens are the order of the day for today's flagship smartphones and various reports seem to suggest the new HTC One 2014 will build ever so slightly on the 4.7-inch display found on the One - with 5 inches being a popular choice, and 5.2 inches also appearing in leaks.

This makes sense as the HTC One is dwarfed by the likes of the 5-inchXperia Z1 and 5.2-inch LG G2 and phones are only getting bigger- people want more screen and with the bezels beside displays decreasing the phone's physical dimensions may not actually change too much.

The rivals
Samsung Galaxy S5 | Sony Xperia Z2 | iPhone 6

The 5-inch, full HD all new HTC One screen has been echoed by @evleaks - a usually reliable source of upcoming phone leaks - while resolution appears to be stuck at 1080p. No QHD or 4K resolutions in sight for the HTC One M8 just yet.

Is this the boxfresh M8?

More recently the phone appeared on eBay, and though the listing has now gone it was there long enough for some screenshots of the box to circulate and these too show the handset as having a 5-inch screen with a 1920 x 1080 resolution.

The most recent reveal is the most official yet as it comes straight from Chinese wireless authority Tenaa, which has certified the phone and in the process confirmed that it will indeed have a 5 inch 1920 x 1080 screen. With almost every previous rumor also pointing in that direction it's looking all but guaranteed to be the case, which is a bit disappointing, considering we're expecting the LG G3 to ship with a Quad HD screen.

Based on the variety of rumors, leaks and reports we've pulled together a render of how we'd like the All New HTC One to look:

HTC One (M8) processor and RAM

The HTC One arrived on the scene with a relatively decent 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, but things have advanced since then and the HTC One (M8) should be in for quite an upgrade.

An early benchmark pointed towards Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 SoC, clocked at 2.26GHz - the same as the LG G2.

But it now looks all but guaranteed that the final version will ship with the newer Snapdragon 801 chip. As not only does a recent sales guide leaked by GSM Arenafor the HTC One (M8) say as much but we've even now got word from Chinese wireless authority Tenaa that itwill be rocking a Snapdragon 801 chip clocked at 2.26GHz.

When it comes to RAM it looks like 2GB is a pretty safe bet. Tenaa confirmed as much and most other leaks are also quoting 2GB of RAM for the HTC One (M8), which would be the same as the original One - but still plenty to run Android.

Really, while we'd love an extra gigabyte in practice it probably wouldn't be noticeable.

For those of you who love gaming on your smartphone there's some potentially good news, as the HTC M8 has also been linked to the Qualcomm Adreno 330 GPU which will enhance the graphical output of the handset.

HTC One (M8) operating system

No surprises here, when the M8 finally launches under whatever moniker HTC has managed to bodge together you can be sure Android will be hiding under the hood.

The good news is that it's been tipped to be the very latest version -Android 4.4 KitKat and the latest leak from Tenaa all but confirms as much- and of course it will be coated in a heavy layer of HTC's Sense overlay.

To be honest, we'd be very surprised if the new HTC One came running anything other than KitKat. The Galaxy S5 and Xperia Z2 are both running Android 4.4, so it makes sense for HTC to follow suit.

• Android 4.4: Everything you need to know

Word is that the HTC One (M8) will come with a brand spanking new version of Sense too and there's even a new video leak of what purports to be Sense 6.0 in action. The look has changed a little as icons are now flatter and there are a bunch of new gesture controls.

You can wake the handset by double tapping the screen, or head straight to BlinkFeed by swiping right when the screen is off or swipe left to launch the widget panel. You can also quick-launch the camera by hitting the volume button when the screen is off and the phone is in landscape orientation.

You can expect the new HTC One (M8) to run Android and Sense smoothly, as while its quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM aren't quite what we'd hoped for they should still be more than enough to handle anything Android can throw at them.

We've possibly even had a closer look at the new UI for the HTC One (M8), after a 14 minute video appeared on YouTube appearing to detail many of the software functions on the handset.

HTC One (M8) camera

HTC broke the cameraphone mould with the One as it introduced itsUltrapixel lens and proceeded to slap it on the Mini and Max variants of the handset as well.

• What is Ultrapixel?

The technology was met with mixed responses and questions were raised when the camera transpired to be equivalent to a 4MP snapper - albeit letting in a hell of a lot more light thanks to the larger pixels.

The HTC One was the first to sport Ultrapixels

Some will be hoping HTC ditches the Ultrapixel tech in favor of the traditional megapixel approach on the One (M8) and with the likes of the 41MP Lumia 1020 and 20.7MP Xperia Z2 on the market, competition is fierce.

However, the key questions centre around what those dual cameras might be for, as it seems odd to have something that does the same job twice and we can't see HTC going back down the 3D route.

The same sales guide that we mentioned earlier has more info, with GSM Arena reckoning "the so-called Duo Camera will allow the user to choose the focus point and create bokeh effects. The camera will also enable 3D effects. Presumably "effects" means more than just 3D photos and videos."

A revealing benchmark result quotes the same front and rear cameras as the One, while it's been all but confirmed that the New HTC One will have dual cameras, as first Bloomberg reported that it would have one, then those twin sensors reared their heads again in a new photo leak, showing a smaller camera sensor sitting above the main snapper - apparently on the upcoming HTC M8, and an official teaser image points in that direction.

Not one, but two cameras on the rear of the One 2 (credit: nowhereelse.fr)

A recent specs reveal from Chinese wireless authority Tenaa also makes mention of the camera, claiming that it will have a 16MP and 4MP lens.

This is the first we've heard of 16MP and it's not clear whether the 4MP camera is the other one on the back or whether it's the one on the front, so the camera is one of the few ways in which the HTC One (M8) may still surprise us.

One thing we can say for sure is that Zoe is making a return as a new video teaser from HTC itself confirms it. Unfortunately it doesn't say a whole lot else, but it suggests that Zoe will have even more features this time around.

HTC One (M8) chassis

Something which really made the HTC One stand out from the crowd was its all metal body - something only Apple had really fully embraced before, and it gave the handset a supremely premium look and feel.

HTC has clearly realized how important its flagships design was, as a new teaser from the company promises that the all new HTC One will be 'even sleeker'.

Those dual cameras show up again

While the teaser sadly didn't actually show the phone, a huge number ofimages have slipped out claiming to show the body of the HTC One (M8), and it appears almost identical to the One - no surprise, why change a winning formula? Though the edges look to be metal this time around as well, which would certainly make it sleeker.

Is this really the M8? (Credit: ePrice)

Further leaked images claiming to be of the new HTC One (M8) reveal that the Taiwanese firm may finally ditch the buttons below the display, in favor of the on-screen options Google has been trying to push sinceAndroid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Moving the navigation buttons on screen will allow the HTC One (M8) to sport a larger display, without the need to hugely increase the dimensions of the phone's body - @evleaks hasn't just said "the M8 looks strikingly like the M7," but also revealed images of the handset in its three rumored colors - grey, silver and gold.

The All New HTC One in gold (credit: @evleaks)

The All New HTC One in silver (credit: @evleaks)

The All New HTC One in grey (credit: @evleaks)

A 12 minute video supposedly showing the handset also appeared onlineand it's pretty convincing, showing a phone which looks a lot like the HTC One, but with the new additions we've seen rumored- such as the dual camera.

It also reveals that this time around the buttons stick out a little, so they're easier to find and press.

If that video wasn't enough, another series of photos have wormed their way onto the web, showing off a device which looks very similar to the one that starred in the clip.

Here we see two slots - one on either side of the handset - which points towards the possibility of a microSD slot on the new HTC One, plus the headphone jack looks to now be on the base of the handset.

Plug headphones in here (credit: Weibo)

We've also now seen how the HTC One (M8) compares to other handsets, as a handful of new shots have appeared, which, rather than featuring the HTC One (M8) in isolation, put it next to other phones like the iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4. They reveal a handset which size wise looks to fall somewhere between the LG G2 and the Sony Xperia Z1, though it's chunkier than either.

Speaking of the dimensions, we can now all but confirm that the HTC One (M8) will be 146 x 70.5 x 9.5mm and 157g, as a Chinese wireless authorityouted them as such.

HTC One (M8) storage

One thing HTC had managed to stay pretty quiet about was how much storage we might see in its new flagship, but even that's seemingly been let out of the bag now. Chinese wireless authority Tenaa has revealed that the HTC One (M8) will come with a choice of 16 or 32GB of storage and that it will also have a microSD card slot.

Though it's worth noting that a microSD card laden version of the original HTC One was released in Asia but didn't make its way over here until a lot later, so it's possible that this will be a regional variation which we won't initially see here.

HTC One (M8) fingerprint scanner

With the One Max rocking a fingerprint scanner on its rear it opened the door to the same tech making its way onto the All New HTC One - and why not? Touch ID has been a big hit for Apple on the iPhone 5S and now Samsung's included a fingerprint scanner of its own in the Galaxy S5, so the floodgates really are open for this sort of thing.

Early leaks apparently showing the back plate for the HTC M8 showed not one, but two substantial circular holes in the body - and everyone assumed one would be for the finger scanner.

Those early notions having seemingly been dashed, as it appears HTC will favor two camera lenses on the rear of the M8 instead.

Sound Sensation

One of the best things about the HTC One was its dual front-facing speakers with BoomSound and the all new HTC One looks to have the same tech, but according to a new teaser it's going to have even better sound this time around.

Cover up

The new HTC One may get its own smart cover too, after @evleaks posted not one, but two images of a case which appears to be riddled with tiny holes.

While the first image shows a black version of the case, the second post suggests there could be a series of colors available including blue, green and red.

There are a lot of holes there (credit: @evleaks)

The holes aren't just for show it seems, with clock and weather icons shining through from the screen - as @evleaks puts it: "Holes. Time. Colors."

Google Android Wear: what you need to know

Beating iWatch to the punch

On the same day Apple is tinkering with last-generation iPad 4 and iPhone 5C technology, Google is busy designing the future with a wearable version of its Android Coperating system.

Android Wear is a new platform that extends the company's leading software to smartwatches, fulfilling the SXSW promise Android head Sundar Pichai made about the push for Google-powered wearables. In fact, he personally penned the announcement.

Pichai explained that these app-driven time pieces understand the context of the world around you with timely messages and reminders beamed directly to your wrist.

Convenient Google Now notifications are literally on hand thanks to Android Wear, and the ability to seek out additional information with voice controls outfits everyone with the all-encompassing power of the search engine.

It's shaping up to be as fashionable as it is functional thanks to support for both round and square watch faces, as seen on the circular Moto 360 and boxy LG G Watch.

What Android Wear does

Android Wear is intended to provide "information that moves with you" and puts the entire world inches from your suddenly-free fingertips.

It doesn't just tell the time. The wearable operating system makes suggestions based on time and it factors location into its context-sensitive data.

The best everyday habit example involves riding on a bus and seeing a Google Maps-powered notification countdown to an unfamiliar destination. "4 stops to: Jackson St." intelligently reads the watch. The guessing game is taken out of a public transit commute.

Confidently countdown to your stop and ability to breath natural air again

The new technology can also tip off wearers to dangers that lurk, as demonstrated in Google's first Android Wear video. A "Jellyfish warning" prompt can be seen with a surfer's flick of the wrist.

A relevant list of nearby beaches saves the video's early adopters who can surf without worrying about the sting of the boneless and brainless ocean creature.

All of a sudden, digging a rectangular smartphone out of your pocket and pulling up a much more involved map or notification app seems so pedestrian.

Making time for families

Google seeds the idea that Android Wear can alleviate our addiction to smartphones in an effort to make more time and eye-contact with our families.

Keep an eye on traffic before you leave for work

A parent is able to attend breakfast with his family while keeping a close eye on the estimated commute time to work thanks to an on-wrist Google Now notification.

"No surprises" is the unofficial goal of Android Wear. Leaving too early and breezing through traffic would have filled this parent with breakfast-skipping regret. Leaving too late would've started his day with traffic-influenced anxiety.

'Okay Google' on the wrist

Even more touching is the dad who receives a Google Hangouts message right on his Android Wear smartwatch while bathing his son. "Dude, this game is insane!" writes the token friend who doesn't have such responsibilities.

The dad doesn't run to a TV or have to awkwardly palm his smartphone with soapy hands for an update. "Okay Google, what's the Syracuse score?" he asks his watch without pressing a button.

Parenting without technically missing the big game

A scorecard of 28-27, naturally in favor of his college basketball team, pops up. He cheesily shouts "Yay" while raising his hands. His young, halfway washed son does the same without us knowing if he really knows why. He could easily be cheering for having more time with his dad.

The increasingly familiar "Okay Google" voice prompt opens up a world of possibilities beyond sports score updates. Android Wear smartwatches can handle questions like, "How many calories are in an avocado?" to more personal queries like, "What time does my flight leave?"

"Okay Google" can also accomplish tasks outsourced from a smartphone. Calling a taxi, making restaurant reservations, setting alarms and sending - not just receiving - texts is all possible to do hands-free with the Android Wear operating system.

Other apps in development

Android Wear is made even more convincing as a smartwatch because developers will be able to easily translate their apps from Google's mobile ecosystem.

One of the first third-party apps diving right into Android Wear is Pocket. Formerly known as "Read It Later," this deferred reading app saves longer-form articles for later consumption on a big screen.

It shouldn't take long for your favorite apps to appear on the Moto X or LG G Watch, whereas developers may struggle to navigate Samsung's Tizen platform that's limited to its Galaxy devices.

Fitness and other uses

Google's Android Wear smartwatches can solve everyone's pesky pedometer gripes, whether it's always losing the easy-to-misplace device or not having it on you at all times.

This should remedy the problem we have with Samsung's S-Health app inGalaxy S4 and the forthcoming Galaxy S5. These phones aren't on us all the time and therefore robbing us of our workout goal.

Check in for flights without ever losing your boarding pass again

Latching a smartwatch to our wrist can count every step and chart whether or not we're meeting our exercise goals. Google promises that it'll connect to our favorite fitness apps for real-time speed, distance and time data while walking, running and cycling.

The company multitasks in demonstrating Android Wear fitness capabilities with a woman who runs to the boarding line for a departing flight. She's able to keep count of calories burned while flashing a QR code in front of the airline employee in order to board the flight.

Google's Android Wear introduction video also illustrates how music on another device can be activated through an Android Wear watch.

Calling it "key to a multiscreen world," the watch promises to cast movies to a TV, presumably with its inexpensive Chromecast streaming device, and the video hints at the ability to open garage doors with smart home connectivity.

"There's a lot of possibilities here so we're eager to see what developers build," wrote Pichai toward the end of his announcement post.

Android Wear smartwatches so far

The Android Wear smartwatch selection is limited at the moment with LG and Motorola showing off their respective designs. Samsung, HTC, Asus and Fossil are confirmed to have something up their sleeves.

The Moto 360 was front-and-center in the smartwatch announcement, even though Google has offloaded Motorola to Lenovo. There's good reason for highlighting this time piece: it's ambitious.

Motorola totally disses square smartwatches...

As the name suggests, Moto 360 has a beautiful circular face that contrasts with other watches we've seen like the square Pebble Steel and wrist-conforming Samsung Gear Fit.

Moto 360 has been confirmed to be orientation-free so that left and right-handed wearers won't see a single difference. The digital screen can be flipped and the classic-looking single knob is symmetrical. Just flip the entire thing around to get the knob on the right side.

Even better is that this beautiful watch face is rumored to comprise of an OLED screen to increase battery life that sits behind sapphire glass. That's the same protective glass that's expected to be in the Apple iWatch.

Sticking with that authentic watch styling, there are no charging contacts or USB ports to be found here, Motorola confirmed. Its so-far-secret charging method is a "special sauce," which alludes to Qi wireless charging for Moto 360 or possibly Kinetic charging.

It doesn't feature a privacy-invasive camera like the Galaxy Gear and Gear 2. This just didn't fit into the classic design, according to Motorola. Also, unlike Samsung's watches, it supports more phones than its own Moto X.

Moto 360 is compatible with Android 4.3 phones and tablets that use low-powered Bluetooth 4.0 for battery life conservation. That means even if you own a brand new iPhone 5S, it won't work with this Android-only device.

It blends familiar Android menus like Google Now and Hangouts messages with a sophisticated-looking digital watchface, and Motorola is promising just-as-premium strap materials that remain comfortable.

The company promises a variety of styles when it ships globally later this summer, starting in the US. To that point, we gleaned both a metal and flexible rubber wristband from the Moto 360 prototype render.

...LG subsequently unveils a square Android Wear watch

LG has said less about its Android Wear smartwatch, dubbed the LG G Watch that looks like a typo with too many Gs. Just as awkward is the fact that the Moto 360 dissed the square face of smartwatches in its announcement when that happens to be the exact look of the G Watch.

LG will be able to prove that it's hip to be square in the second quarter of 2014, right alongside the circular Moto 360.

Where Android Wear stands

Android Wear shows more promise on day one than Google Glass has in its year of availability because it's not a stretch to imagine donning Moto 360 or the LG G Watch.

There are still plenty of questions left to be answered like what are the Android Wear smartwatch specs, how long is the battery life and cost. Google can own the wrist, like it's starting to control the TV apps ecosystem with its inexpensive Chromecast, if the price is right.

Wrist-worn maps sound great, but how long will the battery last?

Then there's the question of iOS compatibility. Would this Android-powered watch ever be able to connect to an iOS device? Google has made plenty of its gadgets, app and services work with Apple's iPhone and iPad hardware.

We're looking forward to seeing how natural the "Okay Google" voice commands turn out, whether or not some of the watches will be waterproof and if Nest creates an Android Wear project of its own.

Expect to hear more about Android Wear and see the unveiling of the first Wear apps at the company's Google IO 2014 conference in June. More details will literally be on hand then.

Hands on: Sony Xperia Z2 review - it's a decent one

Here's a conundrum: is it acceptable to release a new top-end phone just months after the last flagship if the new version is markedly better?

That's what Sony has done: just five months have passed since it launched the Xperia Z1, and yet here we are at MWC 2014 seeing the Xperia Z2 – and it's a much better handset.

If you imagine that Sony had never made the Xperia Z1, and just jumped straight here from last year's decent Xperia Z, then I'd be applauding the firm for coming in with a 5.2-inch screen that delivers great colour reproduction, tons of strong features and an ever-increasing connection to its entertainment network and accessories.

Perhaps it's better to let the phone speak for itself. After all, this is a flagship phone that has had a huge bulk of the issues from the Z1 upgraded and improved.

I've mentioned the screen, but let's start there, as it's the element that most impressed when picking up the handset. The display is one of the most crucial parts of any phone, given you'll be spending oodles of time starting at it, and the 5.2-inch IPS LCD display here delivers a really strong performance.

It's not just the IPS that helps (although its omission from the previous two models was horrendously obvious, creating a washed-out screen effect) but the Live Colour LED technology used on this screen really helps make everything look a lot better.

The 'trick' here is that while standard LEDs are a blue diode with a yellow phosphor on top which alters the wavelength to create white light, Sony has added in red and green elements to create a display that really pops with colour.

Left: Xperia Z1. Right: Xperia Z2

It's claiming that this helps make everything more natural, more true to life, without being over-saturated (while it didn't mention Samsung specifically, this seems like more than a subtle dig at Super AMOLED screens which place a strong emphasis on boosting colour to the point of overdoing it in some people's eyes).

Placed side by side, the Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z2 are markedly different when viewing the same image or movie. More detail is shown in your snaps, and while Sony clearly chose the image below to show off the improved red and green performance, it is impressive how different the two are.

On top of this, you've also got Android 4.4 under the hood, making things look a lot better by removing the bars at the top and bottom of the screen to add a extra dimension on the homescreen and throughout operation - it all combines together to make a really strong and vibrant display that warrants the mountain of attention Sony will heap upon it.

The quick notifications centre has also been overhauled, bringing a much more impressive and functional feel.

The design of the Sony Xperia Z2 is interesting – like I said, if this was compared to the Xperia Z then it would make a lot of sense, but with the Z1 in the mix it seems like Sony is really pushing the boundaries of how many flagships it can launch before consumers get annoyed..

Once again we see the huge bezels above and below the display, and the device is a few millimetres bigger as a result of adding in the larger screen.

Overall it feels a little larger than the previous iteration, but it is definitely a sleeker model that builds on the strong design language of the Xperia Z1, combining something inherently more powerful with a chassis that's much nicer to hold.

Sony has rammed some of the best tech around into the Xperia Z2, which includes being one of the first handsets out there to use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU – combined with 3GB of RAM it's really something under the finger.

That said, I've written that loads of times before and it's kind of redundant with today's smartphones. The speed under the finger shouldn't be any kind of an issue when you're playing with a smartphone that offers a quad-core CPU clocked at 2.3GHz and comes with that much RAM.

Actually, there was one element that was a little slow - the camera. Both the shutter speed and the time to boot up from sleeping was rather tardy, with the latter taking around 4-5 seconds. However, given the Xperia Z1 can do the same thing in around 2 seconds, I'd wager that was down to unoptimised software rather than an inherent flaw.

Speaking of the camera: it's a great option and one that seems to be a little improved over the Z1, with the 20.7MP sensor showing great snaps and the Live Colour screen offering great colour reproduction. The difference over the predecessor appears marked, but that could be the result of a better display.

One thing to bear in mind is that I couldn't give it a good trial in darker scenes, which is where other Sony Xperia phones have fallen apart. I'm really hoping this has been improved, as while the likes of Timeshift Video (for taking iPhone 5S-esque slo-mo video at 120fps) and Background Defocus are useful and fun new features, if the camera doesn't function as well as the likes of the HTC One in the key situations then it can't be classed as a decent one.

There are a few features that Sony has been 'inspired by' from its competitors. These were locked away in the far reaches of the menu, but it was weird to see the likes of 'Smart Backlight Control' (also known as Samsung's Smart Stay) and the option to double tap to wake the phone (LG's Knock On) appearing.

These functions worked pretty well too – the double tap was particularly nifty, although not as wide-ranging as LG's offering.

There are a number of other features that Sony is using to impress with the Xperia Z2, including internal noise cancellation that even has 'Office' and 'Train' modes for those very environments.

This would have been even more impressive if it allowed users to use any headphones, but apparently you'll need Sony's special variants if you want to get rid of some of that pesky sound out of your life.

Given that most headphones come with a microphone now it's annoying Sony can't extend this function.

Early verdict

The Sony Xperia Z2 is a phone that can be viewed in two ways. On the one hand, it's an excellent upgrade over the Xperia Z, and features all the top end technology you could want in a very premium-feeling chassis.

On the other, it's too much like the Xperia Z1, which is only a few months old – albeit a much better version. I'm still not a fan of all that bezel above and below the screen, nor am I confident the camera will be excellent in low light.

But for a flagship phone, Sony has made a very well thought out device that ticks nearly every box you can think of, and then some.