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Getting tired of that same, old PS3 controller? Looking for something new? We just tested an alternative gamepad, the F.P.S. Pro.


Designed specifically for the FPS crowd, the Mad Catz F.P.S. Pro gamepad is an attempt to outshine Sony's official PS3 controller with higher precision and two added, configurable buttons. The only question is, does it?

> Review: Mad Catz F.P.S. Pro (PS3)

> Reviews: Gamepads and Controllers

Hot on the heels of Nikon's moderately priced L610 superzoom, Canon has announced a couple of budget compacts with 16x and 30x lenses—meet the PowerShot SX160 and SX500.


The PowerShot SX160 is an entry-level compact camera with a 16x zoom lens (28-448 mm), although at f/3.5-5.9, lens speed is nothing to write home about. However, it does boast optical stabilisation and an interesting-looking 1 cm macro mode. It uses a 16-Megapixel CCD with sensitivity settings up to 1600 ISO and films 720p video with stereo sound. It would have been nice to see a BSI CMOS sensor here, as these are generally faster than CCDs and are better at pushing up to high sensitivity settings—which is always advantageous with powerful zoom lenses that aren't particularly fast. The Canon SX160 has a 3" screen with a rather low 230,000-dot definition. Let's hope it's not a TN-type LCD too! Settings-wise, this compact has PSAM modes and automatic scene selection. There's a built-in flash and an AF assist lamp. The SX160 runs on AA batteries.

The SX160 is due out at the end of September and is expected to sell for around £160-£180 (prices TBC).


The PowerShot SX500, on the other hand, has a versatile 30x stabilised wide-angle lens (24-720 mm f/3.4-5.8). Plus, a 0 cm macro mode means you can practically shove the lens right up to the subject you're shooting. Unfortunately, though, this camera also has a 16-Megapixel CCD sensor, which limits this superzoom compact to 1600 ISO and a 720p video mode at 25 fps. The burst mode isn't particularly speedy at 0.8 fps with the AF off and 0.5 fps with the autofocus in action. The screen looks considerably better, however, with 461,000-dot definition. The SX500 has PSAM modes, automatic scene selection and a handful of fun creative filters (toy camera, miniature, fish-eye).

The SX500 is expected to sell for £240-£270 (prices TBC) and is due out at the end of August. It'll be also be landing in our test lab soon.

Is HP making a comeback on the mobile device market? That's what the company seems to be communicating internally after the recent creation of a new Mobility division. So what will this mean? "Consumer tablets and... additional segments and categories where we believe we can offer differentiated value to our customers," in the words of HP EVP Todd Bradley.

WebOS, Pre, TouchPad... all were failures for HP and all were fatal, taking down in their wake the likes of Leo Apotheker, the firm's now-ex-CEO. But ever since Meg Whitman boarded ship everything seems to have become possible again, especially with recent statements alluding to a potential return to the mobile world. According to an internal memo that has been leaked on The Verge, one year after the planned suicide of the TouchPad, it appears to be a done deal.

The memo addresses the creation of a new "Mobility Global Business Unit" to be headed by Alberto Torres, Nokia's former Executive Vice President who ran the firm's MeeGo division. MeeGo was an intriguing operating system that was unfortunately never exploited to its full potential—somewhat like webOS? The new business unit's mission will be to design new mobile products and services and, even more importantly, to establish a winning strategy for the touchscreen tablet market.

As of today, nothing is known of this "soon-to-be-launched commercial tablet" of which Bradley speaks, except that it is somehow tied to the HP's PC unit. That said, we do know that the company doesn't seem to be in any rush to release a Windows 8 tablet.

We would hope we'd get some more information about all this at IFA 2012 in Berlin, which runs from 31 August through 5 September, but seeing as Alberto Torres and the Mobility division won't be kicking into gear until 3 September, we have our doubts.

To be continued...

While the G3 was leaning towards a compact camera, Panasonic's G5 brings the G series firmly back into "mini-SLR" territory with a real grip handle and a good smattering of buttons.


But the biggest change in the Lumix G5 is on the inside, as it's the first micro four-thirds camera that can take photos with no mechanical movement and therefore in silence.

> Review: Panasonic Lumix G5

> Digital Cameras: SLR, Micro 4/3 and Interchangeable Lens Reviews

We've got loads of great products up for review this week, including the Panasonic Lumix G5 and the LG Optimus L5. Scroll down for the full line-up.

Last Week's Top Fives
 

Reviews Coming This Week
 

• Monday: we kicked off the week with the LG IPS237L 23" IPS monitor.

• Tuesday: we'll be checking out Panasonic's Lumix G5, a lens-switching camera with a full electronic shutter. In the afternoon, we'll be getting trigger-happy with the Mad Catz FPS Pro games controller.

• Wednesday: we'll be testing Dell's B1160w, a basic black and white laser printer that's surprisingly small!

• Thursday: we'll be reviewing the LG Optimus L5 smartphone, before checking out a couple of memory cards from PNY and SanDisk.

• Friday: we'll be looking at 3M's MP410 pico projector, before rounding off the week with the new Dell XPS 13 laptop.

Don't forget you can follow @digitalversus on Twitter for updates and info!