Shopexplorer Reviews

While 2011 will probably not go down as a classic year in terms of games, there have been some truly remarkable releases. Here, in no particular order, are our favourite five that we think you'll still be playing by the end of 2012...Portal 2An amazing example of the modern gaming experience, we found Portal 2 to be immersive, clever, sharp-witted, exhilirating, touching, daft, artistic and, most importantly, incredibly enjoyable. In a way, playing Portal 2 is like watching all of your favourite films at the same time, with the added bonus of playing the protaganist yourself. In short, a masterpiece of a game.

Blu-ray players are finally being produced and bought in the kind of numbers that means they are well within range of most budgets; there has really never been a better time to buy. Whether you are looking for crystal-clear HD pictures, or want to take advantage of your TV's 3D technology, there are a huge number of choices available, all competing for your attentions.

Makers of mp3 docking stations are finally getting the message that their customers are wanting better sound quality from their devices and we have seen some excellent releases in 2011 to prove that very point.

Our favourite laptops released in 2011...

With a huge amount of choice, buying a laptop, notebook, ultrabook or netbook can be a complicated process, so if you're in the market for one for Christmas or New Year 2012, take a look at our best laptops of 2011.

We take a look back at some of the best 3D and HD TVs we have seen this year...

We take a look at our very best smartphones of  2011...

With a recent price cut alerting us to a potential bargain, we checked out the ins and outs of the Panasonic Viera TX-P50GT30B....

We check out a pair of Soundmagic E10 earphones, which you can currently pick up for less than £30...

If you're in the market for a brand new smartphone, you may well have been tempted by the recent ads for the Xperia Arc S from Sony Ericsson. The original Xperia Arc handset was only released in April of this year and a six-month gap until an update is impressively quick work by Sony Ericsson.

The Asus Zenbook UX31 has been gathering a decent reputation as one of the very first 'ultrabooks' and there have been mentions of it as a potential alternative to the Apple MacBook Air.

We work out the Samsung Galaxy Fit and find it in good shape......

We spend the night in with the Samsung BD-D7500 Blu-ray player - being touted by its makers as the world's thinnest....

The new Beats by Dr Dre Beatbox from Monster gets a good going over.....

It's been a while since we have had a good look at a budget TV, so we were pleased when we got our hands on Samsung's UE37D5000 LED TV which you can pick up from a very reasonable £460.

At just shy of £150, Bowers & Wilkins C5 earphones won't be within everyone's budget, but if you can afford them, are the company's first foray into in-ear headphones worth that little bit extra? We gave the C5's a test run to find out...

Acer's Aspire 5755G laptop offers some powerful specs for less than £880 and in principle sounds like a decent, mid-priced laptop, but does it offer enough to meet our aspirations of good value? We took a closer look to find out....

With prices starting at around £2,500, the Panasonic Viera TX-P55VT30B is probably not a 3D TV for the faint of heart - or the light of wallet. However, with Panasonic's TVs consistently in end-of-year charts and awards, they are always worth a look, whatever the price.

The TomTom Go Live 825 satnav has been introduced by TomTom as part of their 'connected' range of GPS devices; 'connected' signifying their wide scale of available features.

Logitech's  Ultimate Ears 300vi earphones get a good going over.......

It hasn't taken long for 3D Blu-ray players to become affordable for the mainstream, but is going for a relatively cheap option going to work in the long run? We grabbed hold of the Sony BDP-S580 to find out....