The alaTest Blog

It’s an age old dispute – OK, not “age old,” but it’s been around for as long as home gaming platforms: Which does gaming better, console or PC? Considering the gaming market today, and how most games are cross-platform compatible (aka have versions for each console and the PC), it can be tough to choose a side. We’ll let the two duke it out in a few key categories and tally up the winner. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s tempting to think that Apple launched the very first tablet with its creation of the original iPad, but the truth is that tablets had been around for year prior. Before the first iPad, though, tablets had a very specific purpose, generally intended for industrial environments. Apple changed this by removing many features while enhancing those that would appeal to the general public – features like video playback and casual gaming. Since then, many have been going in Apple’s direction, and today, we’ve put together a list of the best tablets on the market. Read the rest of this entry »

Buying a laptop can be a big decision. You want something that can stand the test of time, in both durability and performance. It’s easy to think you’ll have to spend over $1500 that won’t be outdated in just a couple years, but in fact, just $800 is more than enough for the typical user’s needs, and believe it or not, many $800 notebooks use a lot of the same components and technologies as the most expensive models. Read the rest of this entry »

It started off on giant movie screens using silly glasses with mismatched lenses. Then the screens shrunk, bringing 3D into the living room with 3D-capable HDTVs, but you still had to wear the glasses. Now the screens are even smaller, sitting on things like smartphones, digital cameras, and handheld gaming devices, and best of all, there’s no more need for the silly glasses. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re in the market for your first smartphone, or even upgrading from an old one, you’ll notice that there are a lot of choices on the market these days. Rather than blindly choosing your next smartphone based on a 3 minute test run at your carrier’s store, let alaTest help you decide which platform best suits your needs – Android, iPhone, Windows Phone 7, or BlackBerry. Read the rest of this entry »

Windows Mobile was always a very popular smartphone operating system, from its beginnings as Pocket PC 2000, back in the year 2000, up until version 6.5 running late into 2009. When it was created, smartphone users were a very select crowd, comprised almost entirely of enterprise users, so it was no surprise that Windows Mobile focused almost entirely on enterprise solutions. It wasn’t until smartphones started becoming popular amongst general users (coinciding with the success of the Apple iPhone) that Windows Mobile started losing ground. Over the last few years of its life, Windows Mobile lost a hefty portion of its market share, leading to a complete system overhaul and introduction of Windows Phone 7. Read the rest of this entry »

We were going over our data for June and noticed a very interesting trend among our most popular products for the month. It turned out that of our 10 most popular items on alaTest, 7 of them were digital cameras. It seems that consumers are getting serious about taking some great photos, perhaps for summer vacations or family get togethers. We decided to take a closer look at our most popular cameras and what makes them so great. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to smartphones, Android is by far and away the leader of the pack, with 38 percent of the world’s market share (Apple’s iOS is in second place at just 26 percent). Yet despite its popularity, there is still a lot of confusion around the Android name. Is Android a phone? Is it a lot of phones? Is it the “Google Phone?” Read the rest of this entry »