Amazon has launched its Kindle Unlimited service in the UK, offering subscribers unrestricted access to a library of thousands of titles for a monthly fee.
For £7.99 per month, Amazon's 'Spotify for books' gives users over 650,000 books and thousands of audiobooks, all of which can be enjoyed on Kindle ereaders and other devices running the Kindle app.
But while that collection of titles might be plenty, it's just a portion of Amazon's entire library, so you won't be getting the whole shebang.
Still, it's certainly not a bad deal, and one that's sweetened by a 30 day free trial. Amazon's also enticing would-be users with the promise of both the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series.
You can go try it out right now.
Looking for a Kindle? Maybe hold out for the Kindle Voyage
Tesco recently announced that it shelved plans for a smartphone, but it's ploughing ahead with its tablet range, with the Hudl 2 to be announced on October 3.
A new section has popped up on Tesco's Hudl page, letting visitors register for more information on the Hudl 2 and promise of a "sneak peek". All of those colours are probably hints that we're in for a range of different hues.
The site has the date as "coming soon" but we've received an invite confirming that the big reveal is on October 3.
The original 7-inch Hudl was a surprisingly accomplished tablet, though the big plus was of course the price. We expect the second will be in for a spec bump, though probably not a bump in price - or at least that's what we hope.
Microsoft's play into the world of tablets has been of mixed success. The original Surface and Surface Pro were bulky, underpowered and ran Windows 8, with very little external support from developers or the community at large. As a result, they flopped, selling very few units in comparison to the iPad and other laptop hybrids available on the market.
Microsoft wasn't phased, however, and brought out the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2, both big improvements on their predecessors and devices that normal people might actually want to own.
The Surface Pro 2, especially, made big leaps in terms of hardware whilst Windows 8 progressed on the software side, eventually leading to Windows 8.1, a vast improvement over the original version of Windows 8.
Third time's the charm
In early 2014, Microsoft held an event dedicated to the Surface Pro 3, "the tablet that will replace your laptop". The new tablet/laptop hybrid is thinner, quicker and runs a better version of Windows 8 that is more suited to the Surface Pro.
The accessories – the (additional) keyboard cover and pen – also received hefty upgrades, increasing the available uses of the tablet exponentially.
The Surface Pro 3 beats neither the MacBook Air – the device Microsoft used on stage to compare the laptop-like qualities – or the iPad at laptop or tablet specific uses, but it does a pretty good job at both and, crucially, means only one device is in your bag, as opposed to two.
Whether you should buy the Surface Pro 3 still isn't a given. Many of the early reviews praised the new pen for creative tasks, and Microsoft does seem to have done an excellent job.
OneNote, Microsoft's note-taking app, has been improved alongside the pen meaning that the two interact well together. For example, clicking the button atop the pen brings up OneNote on the Surface Pro 3, even if the device is idle.
Due to the larger 12.9-inch, 2160 x 1440 display, notes look fantastic and the pen is sensitive enough to capture lighter and heavier inputs. In fact, one of the major selling points of the Surface Pro 3 is the pen integration. Third-party styluses are available for the iPad, but none come with the deep integration with the operating system that Microsoft is offering here.
One or two devices?
I wrote originally that the Surface Pro 3 might turn out to be a "jack of all trades, master of none" and, fortunately, this does not appear to be wholly true. Of course, it is preferable to have two devices.
I carry around a MacBook Air and iPad mini when I travel simply because both are the best at their individual tasks – I mainly read on my iPad and write on the Air – and a Surface Pro 3 would not perform each task better. But there are other use cases where the Surface Pro 3 makes sense.
In business, for example, having one device that is good at a range of tasks, and is an improvement over the cumbersome nature of carrying two devices is a big plus. The note-taking aspect of the Surface Pro 3 is extremely useful for jotting down things and Windows 8.1 offers support for legacy desktop apps which many businesses rely on.
The Surface Pro 3 packs some serious internals, with Microsoft offering up to 512GB of SSD storage, an Intel Core i7 processor and 8GB of RAM. These components would rip through even an intense task such as gaming and are more than enough for loading up multiple Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents.
Click the button atop the stylus and OneNote fires up
Notable improvements
Microsoft has worked hard on improving OneNote, creating a viable alternative to other third-party note-taking apps such as Evernote, including making it available on all of the major platforms. If you have OneNote opened on multiple devices simultaneously, the screen can be shared via OneDrive creating a slick experience that could be useful when making a presentation or brainstorming an idea with co-workers.
This vision is basically what Microsoft has been working towards since the company's inception: a multitude of devices working together in harmony using Microsoft services with the cloud providing the connections between the devices.
Many of the Surface Pro 3's detractors will point to the multiple financial write-downs Microsoft has taken with the Surface line-up. At last count, Microsoft has taken nearly $1 billion (around £610 million, AU$1.13 billion) in write-downs in terms of unsold stock.
While this could be seen as failure on Microsoft's part – and it undoubtedly is – the company has a hard sell with the Surface Pro.
Consumers have been conditioned by Apple and Samsung to want one device for one specific purpose – an iPad to read, an iPod to listen to music, a Mac to work on – and now Microsoft is trying to undo all these years of expectations.
Dual purpose
Whether they have, or will, succeed remains to be seen. In terms of the actual device, Microsoft has done a sterling job – the Surface Pro 3 does, just about, manage to work as a laptop or a (very large) tablet, and it performs both roles acceptably.
Should you buy one though? That rather depends on if you need to take notes or have such limited bag space that you need one device, and having a MacBook Air and iPad in the same space is unrealistic.
If this is true in your case, then go ahead and buy a Surface Pro 3. If you are looking for a new laptop, the Surface Pro 3 should definitely be on the list of potential candidates, especially as a Surface Pro 3 is far cheaper than its MacBook Air counterpart, and it can act as a tablet.
The Tesco Hudl was a true bargain, initially coming in at just £119 and now even cheaper. It was notable mostly for its rock-bottom price, undercutting even the likes of the Nexus 7, but that would mean nothing if it was an awful bit of kit, so thankfully it was well up to the basic tasks expected of a tablet.
Plenty more slates have arrived since then (including the ill-fated Argos MyTablet), but that aside there's still not much direct competition to the Hudl.
So the Hudl 2 should have a clear run at super-budget tablet victory, just as long as it makes meaningful improvements to the specs while keeping the price low. Here's what we've heard about it so far.
What will it cost? Hopefully around £120 like the first one
Tesco Hudl 2 release date and price
Tesco sent us an invitation confirming that the Hudl 2 will be announced on October 3. It may not actually launch on that day, but we'd be surprised if Tesco kept us waiting much beyond that given it needs to get it out before Christmas so everyone can buy it for that person that was thinking about getting a tablet.
The supermarket chain has said nothing about the price yet, but the Hudl's main USP is its affordability, so we'd hope and assume that the Hudl 2 will be similarly priced, coming in at around £120 at launch. Though with substantial improvements expected it's possible that the price may creep up.
Tesco Hudl 2 specifications
Almost nothing is known about the Hudl 2 yet, despite us being close to the announcement date. All Tesco initially said on the matter was that it plans to release an 'enhanced' version of the Hudl, which could mean anything, since the Hudl 2 is obviously going to be improved in some way.
But alongside its announcement that the Hudl phone had been shelved, Tesco revealed that the Hudl 2 "improves on just about every area of its predecessor, from screen size to speed, design and accessories.
"Where the first hudl was used by many as a secondary device, hudl 2 has the capability to take its place as customers' primary tablet in the home."
So it's clear that we're going to be seeing a larger, more powerful slate and one which will perhaps be redesigned too.
Credit: Daily Star
We don't know anything more specific than that, but there are a few clues. For one thing the invite to the October 3 event says 'we want to show you the bigger picture'. That's almost certainly a reference to the increased screen size, but the mention of 'picture' may also be a hint at camera improvements.
That's certainly something we'd be happy to see, as while we tend to feel tablet cameras are a little pointless it's clear that some people do use them and the snapper on the first Hudl was appalling.
As the original Hudl came with a microSD card slot the Hudl 2 almost certainly will as well and we'd imagine it will ship with the latest version of Android too, but don't expect to see the back of Tesco's apps.
Tesco Hudl 2 screen
As mentioned above, Tesco has specifically stated that the screen size will be increased, or changed anyway, which presumably means increased, especially as the announcement invitation mentions the 'bigger picture'.
As for the exact size of the screen we may be in for an 8-inch display, as the announcement invitations were accompanied by magic 8 balls.
We also fully expect that it will be at least Full HD at the screen size, with many rumours pointing to that being the case. That would be a modest-ish upgrade on the 7-inch Hudl, though we hope the resolution will be increased too, as the original is just 1440 x 900.
Tesco Hudl 2 design
The announcement invitation also includes a number of brightly coloured squares and the Hudl 2 page on Tesco's site (which currently just says 'coming soon') is also distinctly colourful, which may mean we're in for a wider range of colour options on the Hudl 2 itself.
Since Tesco has specifically mentioned the design of its new slate we imagine it will be more than just the colour which changes though. One obvious area of improvement would be to shrink the positively massive bezels.
An all-new CPU?
The older Hudl came with a quad core offering, and we're thinking the same will be happening here. But if this truly is going to be a primary tablet in the home, we're hoping there's a big name behind the processor, perhaps a Qualcomm or Intel, and that will result in whizzy-fast graphics and speeds.
With the larger screen we should be able to get a longer battery life too (despite the increase in pixels) so it should be possible to use the CPU to gain those efficiencies.
Microsoft's Windows 8 didn't just shake up the company's entire software empire, but the mobile computing industry to boot. Given the dualistic nature of the new Windows, laptop and tablet makers responded in kind with devices commonly known as 2-in-1 laptops, or hybrid laptops.
These are devices that are able to serve as both a laptop and a tablet, either in a detachable design that sees the touchscreen doubling as a tablet, or a convertible approach in which the notebook's hinge rotates 360 degrees for a similar effect. In the past, neither have been all that successful in providing both experiences in equal measure, but that's slowly changing.
Considering their similarity to Ultrabooks in terms of build quality, thinness and lightness, 2-in-1 laptops are generally priced in the same range: between $899 (about £525, AU$958)and $2,000 (around £1,169, AU$2,131). These are sleek, powerful devices that look good and serve multiple use cases to varying degrees of success. With that, here are the best 2-in-1 laptops that we've reviewed thus far.
This is not only Microsoft's most striking and versatile device to date, but the most convincing poster child for the hybrid category yet. And this ringing endorsement comes from a long-time skeptic of such devices.
That said, the Surface Pro 3 (starting at $799, £639, AU$979) is hamstrung by flaws that cannot be ignored. Namely, the battery life might be in line with most Ultrabooks, but isn't close to what Apple's leading laptop and top tablet. And the Type Cover billed as an accessory doesn't help Microsoft's cause – it's quite pricey to boot.
At any rate, this version of the tablet comes in cheaper than the most affordable iPad Air and 13-inch MacBook Air combined, even with the Type Cover, and that's the point. On paper, this slate is more powerful than either Apple device, not to mention most other comparably priced laptops and tablets. The Surface Pro 3 might not be perfect, but it's far and wide the brightest shining example of a potential tablet takeover.
Read our Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review
Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro
With the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (starting at $1,099, £999, AU$1,599), we can now confirm that 3,200 x 1,800 pixels is delicious indeed. On top of the winning Yoga form factor, we loved the solid performance, backlit keyboard, and the snappy SSD, creating mobile device-like response times.
However, in our experience, a Haswell-based ultrabook this thin should run twice as long as the Yoga 2 Pro does on a full charge; we got about five hours in our testing. Even with cloud services like Google Drive, a 128GB SSD is hard to recommend for even your grandparents.
Drawbacks considered, the Yoga 2 Pro is a winner of a laptop, pure and simple. At the $1,000 price point, you could put the Yoga 2 Pro in just about anyone's hands and make them quite pleased.
Read our Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro review
Asus Transformer Book TX300
The Asus Transformer Book TX300 (starting at $1,499, about £878, AU$1,649) is encased in brushed aluminium, giving it a quality sleek finish, enabling it to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the MacBook Air in the looks department.
However, it has a hidden trick up its sleeve. The screen unclips from the keyboard base to turn this 13-inch laptop into a 13-inch tablet, for playing games, surfing the web or watching movies.
Along with 4GB of RAM, the chip inside is an Ivy Bridge Intel Core i7 3517U 3rd Generation model. The 4th Generation, nicknamed Clover Trail, which came out in early 2013, boasts better speeds and dramatically improved battery life.
Read our Asus Transformer Book TX300 review
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S
The 11.6-inch Lenovo Yoga 11S (starting at around $799, £599, AU$1,299) laptop is a flexible machine that can fold over from a typical laptop stance to a stand position, to a position with the keyboard behind the screen, ready for delivering presentations.
It comes with HDMI, SD card and USB ports, and boasts a surprisingly impressive Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for storage. The screen is sharp and bright, though not full HD, and works well with Windows 8. It's also nicely light and small for portability. You can easily use the Yoga 11S as you would any other laptop, replete with a full QWERTY keyboard.
Read our Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S review
Sony Vaio Duo 13
From the slim line and attractive design to the top-notch components included, the Sony Vaio Duo 13 (starting at $2,999, £1,352, AU$1,899) looks every inch the expensive product. We also really liked the improvements to the sliding design, which makes it much easier to open and close.
While the sliding design has improved, it still feels a tiny bit delicate around the hinges, which isn't great for such an expensive product. Having the hard drive filled with bloatware is also an avoidable annoyance.
Regardless, the Vaio Duo 13 is one of the best laptop-tablet hybrids we've seen yet. Just be prepared to pay the big bucks for that experience.
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