Manufacturers have been striving to produce the perfect electronic book, or ‘e-book’, reader for years now, but it’s only recently that display technology has reached the point where it can provide a reasonable facsimile of the printed page. At the moment, the solution seems to lie in e-ink displays and the latest e-book reader to use one is the iRex iLiad.

While big, over-ear headphones are great for listening to music in the comfort of an armchair, their bulk isn’t so practical while out and about. Shure’s tiny earphones stretch right up to several hundred pounds for the most expensive models, but despite their small size they’re capable of rivalling far larger headphones for sound quality.

Although Sony’s previous MP3 Walkmans have generally been pretty capable music players, they’ve been hamstrung by the clunky SonicStage software — the only way to transfer songs onto the device. The NWZ-S515 is, however, Sony’s first player to let you drag-and-drop files as if it were a USB drive.

If you’re in the market for a modestly proportioned laptop that you can sling in a bag and carry about, then there’s never been so much choice. Last month saw the arrival of three eminently portable units — MSI’s PR200, Toshiba’s svelte Portégé R500 and the slightly chubby Samsung Q70. This month sees a few more manufacturers enter the fray, but flanked by Dell’s slim XPS M1330 on page 20 and Asus’ luxurious U3S, Sony’s CR21S/W begins to look a mite portly.

If you’re an unfamiliar company determined to launch products into an established marketplace, it’s a good idea to make a big splash with some innovative products. That’s been Ubiquio’s plan. But so far, the firm’s output has hardly set the mobile technology world on fire.

It's taken a while, but manufacturers are finally realising that smartphones don't just appeal to business users. Mobile email is a killer application for consumers too, but complex and costly hardware is a big disincentive for anyone looking to dabble.

HTC was the first to figure out that a sexy, streamlined smartphone might catch on with consumers, but its Touch turned out to be a touch too simplistic for our liking. Now Palm is having a go and given its track record for coming up with user-friendly handhelds, the new Treo 500v should have something of a head start.

It seems like barely a month goes by without HTC launching another new smartphone and as this is October, it must be time for the HTC TyTN II. As you can probably guess, it's an update of the feature-filled and fabulous TyTN, but there's little to tell the two models apart at first glance.

If you think that most laptop bags look too casual, then behold Zegari's Barcelona bag. Although at first glance it resembles a posh school satchel, its luxurious soft shell and brown leather strip give it a seriously classy edge.

With mobile phone operators offering HSDPA data access on their 3G networks, it’s easy to get broadband-like download speeds on your laptop in most UK cities. You’ll need an HSDPA modem and the T-Mobile Web ‘n’ Walk USB is one for laptops that lack a PC Card slot.

It’s essentially the same as the Web ‘n’ Walk PC Card, but lacks Wi-Fi. It’s small, light and feels very durable, so there should be no problem with it bouncing around the bottom of a laptop bag.

Toshiba isn’t an especially big player in the UK phone market but, if the Portégé G900 is anything to go by, it’s looking to make a splash. It’s a smartphone with a sliding keyboard design much like the HTC TyTN II , but it’s a bit bigger and heavier – and for good reason, too.