Nintendo’s Switch convertible console is to hit the UK on March 3rd, the company has confirmed, priced at £279.99 with a single pair of Joy-Con controllers. Nintendo has officially unveiled UK pricing and availability for its Tegra-powered portable games console, the Switch, which will cost you £279.99 and drop into your hands on March 3rd.
Previously known as the Nintendo NX before an October 2016 unveiling which gave it the name Nintendo Switch, the hybrid console is based around Nvidia’s Tegra X1 system-on-chip processor running behind a 6.2″ 720p touch-screen display and with 32GB of storage. When used on-the-go, the Switch acts as a 720p battery-powered hand-held running at reduced clock speeds; when inserted into the toaster-like desktop docking station it switches to a 1080p full-speed microconsole – hence the name Nintendo Switch.
A key feature of the Switch is its Joy-Con controllers, which slide onto the side of the console for single-unit hand-held gaming or attach to a battery pack when the console is in its dock and can also be used as Wii-style motion-sensors. Each Switch bundle comes with the console, dock, left and right Joy-Con controllers, battery grip, wrist straps, power supply, and HDMI cable, and will be priced in the UK at £279.99.
One big piece of information revealed by Nintendo during its announcement last night was the Switch’s projected battery life. Despite dropping the GPU clocks dramatically while running on battery, the tablet-style console doesn’t run for very long away from an external power source: while hinting at ‘ up to six ‘ hours of use per charge the company admitted that active gameplay use will be closer to three hours, using its upcoming Zelda game as a baseline.
The Switch is also to bring Nintendo’s first paid-for online gaming service, bringing it to parity with Sony’s PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live platforms. The service will be required for remote multiplayer gaming on ‘ most games ,’ Nintendo admitted, but will come with a free Virtual Console game each month. Pricing has not been confirmed.
The Switch is to launch in the UK on March 3rd, with pre-orders available at all major retailers now. Available accessories include a more traditional joypad dubbed the Switch Pro Controller priced at £64.99, additional Joy-Con controllers at £74.99 the pair, and games ranging from £39.99 to £59.99 with collector’s editions priced at £89.99.

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What will the web browser of the future look like? Microsoft has tried to make a raft of changes with its Edge browser that comes with Windows 10 , but Opera has taken innovation to a different level with its new browser: Neon.
Neon is classed as a concept browser, built with the same Blink engine as the standard Opera browser , but with a totally different look and a host of experimental features.
Instead of your usual browser UI with the address bar and tabs right at the top of the screen in a traditional window, Neon plays things far faster and looser with a homepage that has website favourites encased in bubbles that simply float above your desktop wallpaper, with the URL bar hovering above them.
Open tabs also appear as bubbles vertically down the right-hand side of the screen, inlaid with images to give you a visual clue as to what site is open in the tab. These bubbles can be dragged around with your mouse, and have a real weight to them with Neon having a physics engine. And a ‘gravity’ system which means that your most-used tabs are automatically put in a more prominent position in Opera’s speed dial.
Then there are features like snap-to-gallery, which lets you draw a crop box around any image (or part of an image) on a web page, copying it directly so you can easily paste it into, say, a Facebook chat (and the image automatically has its web address linked to it, so you can easily go back and find the site where it came from at a later date).
The browser also lets you pop videos out from a site into their own window, which you can easily adjust the size of or shift around, and there’s a ‘player panel’ that displays all the tabs playing music or video so you can swiftly access media-related content.
Neon also benefits from a split-screen mode, which lets you interact with two websites simultaneously side-by-side.
You can download the browser and try it out on Windows now – grab it here – but bear in mind this is a piece of concept software, and not intended to be used as your full-time browser. However, some of the features debuted in Neon will be coming to the main Opera browser, starting as soon as this spring.

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Shadow Brokers, the hacking group that claimed to have cracked a US National Security Agency cache of illicit security services’ malware , have given up their auction – and decided to give away many of the tools instead.
The group gave up their attempt to sell the portfolio of tools, linked to an NSA front security software firm Kaspersky called ‘Equation Group’, in a message late on Thursday evening.
The group admitted that it hadn’t proved to be as profitable a venture as hoped, and claimed that it had been too much  » risk and bullshit, not many bitcoin « . It was always, the message added, about making money with « free dumps and bullshit politic[s]… for marketing attention ».
The group provided a link to 58 of the tools they claim to have dredged from a cracked server operated by the NSA , with the promise that crossing their palms with a total of 750 bitcoin (about £500,000) would release the entire portfolio of tools.
On the download page, the message continued: « The Shadow Brokers is trying auction. Peoples no like. The Shadow Brokers is trying crowdfunding. Peoples is no liking. Now The Shadow Brokers is trying direct sales. Be checking out ListOfWarez. If you like, you email The Shadow Brokers with name of Warez you want make purchase.  »
The page also contained a price list in bitcoin for any deep-pocketed online miscreants or would-be NSA agents.
Unfortunately, most of the tools the group have released are already detected by Kaspersky Anti-Virus and, presumably, most other anti-virus software packages – although the current list doesn’t seem to include any US- or UK-based security companies for some reason .
The veracity of Shadow Brokers’ claims that the hacking tools are of NSA origin was backed up by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in August last year.
The fall-out from the group’s sudden appearance affected both Cisco, the world’s largest computer networking company, and security software and appliance maker Fortinet .
Cisco was forced to admit that some of Shadow Brokers’ illicit malware was capable of compromising the security of its products, used by telecoms companies and internet service providers around the world; while Fortinet warned in an advisory that firmware in its FortiGate product was insecure unless users update the firmware.

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Jump straight to our full best kids’ phones chart
Long gone are the days when you can fob off a child with your second-hand phone. These days they know more about tech than most adults, and they want the best of the best just as you do. But if they don’t drop it and smash it they’ll likely leave it at school and lose it, or swap it for something ridiculous like a football, and you don’t want to end up out of pocket. Here we round up what we think are some of the best phones for kids, those that blend value with ease of use, strong build and, importantly, enough power to play the latest games and watch YouTube.
Also see: Best Phone Deals
How much you spend on a phone for your child is really up to you. While we wouldn’t advise paying flagship prices on the very best phones , we do recognise that some parents will be prepared to dig deep. We’ve focused primarily on sub-£200 budget phones in this chart, but also included some slightly more expensive mid-range phones. You can also go cheaper (check out our round-up of the best basic phones under £50 ) or more expensive (check out the very best phones ).
Sometimes buying a Chinese phone can be a very good way to get an attractively priced phone with much higher specifications than you would otherwise get in the UK. However, if you do decide to buy a Chinese phone, unless your child is especially techy we’d advise steering clear of Xiaomi and Meizu models, which don’t always preinstall Google Play and can sometimes pop up Chinese-language notifications that may be confusing to a child. If you buy from China, first read our advice on buying grey-market tech.
One thing to keep in mind is that your child will be using the phone on a PAYG basis unless you’re prepared to take out a contract in their name. If you want to go down this route you’ll save money by buying the phone upfront and choosing a decent SIM-only deal. A good compromise for a PAYG deal that you can keep an eye on is offered by GiffGaff , which lets you purchase low-cost one-month goodybags that offer a certain number of minutes, text and data, and no more. Your child won’t need to keep tabs on what they’re using and neither will you.
You should also consider own-brand PAYG handsets offered by mobile operators, which are often subsidised by the operator in order to get you on their network, which means you get more phone for your money. The Vodafone examples in our chart below are very good examples, but remember that they are locked to the Vodafone network so ensure you are happy with the operator’s PAYG terms before you buy. Such phones will usually be sold with a non-negotiable £10 top-up, which will add to the initial cost. Also see: Best new phones coming in 2017
Whether you choose to go down the iPhone- or Android route will largely depend on your budget, what your child is used to, and how loudly they scream. If they have been using an iPad or all their friends have iPhones then they will be familiar with the iOS operating system that runs on both platforms and will likely want to go on using it. However, iPhones are expensive.
Most iPhones will be well over budget for a child, but it is still possible to buy older models such as the iPhone 5s secondhand. The colourful iPhone 5c is perhaps the cheapest and best fit for a child, but if they demand a current-generation iPhone look to the slightly cheaper iPhone SE rather the iPhone 7. Even this, though, might be more expensive than what you had in mind.
If they have been using an Android tablet then you have many more options, and much cheaper ones to boot. Indeed, 19 of the phones we recommend in this article run Android, and if your child hasn’t already made up their mind that they want an iPhone then Android is every bit as good (and typically has many more free apps). It’s also very simple to use and they’ll pick it up in no time. Read our Android vs iPhone comparison to get a better idea of the key differences.
Both platforms are equally suited to children in the respect that they can be locked down so that your child accesses only what you want it to. Read our advice on the best parental control software.
And, despite what you may have read, neither platform – although it is possible – is likely to get a virus. We’ve rounded up some mobile antivirus options here. Also see: How to remove a virus on Android.
You know your kid better than anyone, and when it comes to the time that they are ready to own their first phone you will likely have a good idea in your mind of what’s suitable for them. Most likely they’ll be used to playing games on a tablet before getting their own phone, and will be used to the larger screen that offers. But a large-screen phone is much easier to drop and smash on the floor than a more compact model that will fit in their pocket. The type of mid-range phones we are looking at here will typically have HD or full-HD screens under 5in in size. Also see: Best kids’ tablets 2017
Because we all know kids can be clumsy, a waterproof phone or rugged phone would be ideal. In this chart are three options: the Moto G 2015 , the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact , and the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua. (Note that in Apple’s offerings only the latest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are waterproof.) A metal-framed phone is likely to be tougher than a plastic phone, but these do tend to be more expensive unless you opt for a Chinese phone or a UK mobile operator-subsidised model. Whichever phone you choose, we highly recommend you also purchase a case to go with it.
Adults can often overlook front-facing cameras, but for kids who love to take selfies, mess around with Snapchat and video chat, they are highly important. Don’t even consider buying a child a phone that doesn’t have a selfie camera. Most are specified at around 5Mp, though it is possible to get much higher-rated front cameras.
You needn’t worry too much about the core specifications, since most phones these days have or are capable of everything a child requires: casual gaming, YouTube and a camera. The one thing you should look out for, though, is storage: we’d advise avoiding anything with under 16GB of internal storage (thankfully such phones are becoming much less common these days, and many – at least of the Chinese offerings – have 32GB).
Look for a model with microSD support that allows you to add on more storage, and be sure to take advantage of cloud services such as Google Photos to back up multimedia online so more storage can be made available for apps and games. Backing up photos and videos through the cloud will also mean they aren’t lost when the phone ultimately is lost or broken. Also see: How to back up Android.

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Jump straight to our full best Chinese phones chart
Chinese phones offer excellent value for money, with specs to rival flagship phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7 and often at less than half the price. So if you want a great deal on a smartphone, look no further than our round-up of the best Chinese phones 2017.
Also see: Best Phone Deals
You’ve probably heard of brands such as Huawei/Honor, ZTE and Lenovo, although you might not be aware that the latter makes phones as well as laptops. Xiaomi, too, is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, and is known as China’s Apple. Also see: Best kids’ phones 2017
But the problem with many Chinese phones is that they can be difficult to get hold of in the UK. To buy a Chinese phone in the UK you’ll either need to look on a site such as eBay or Amazon , or go through a grey-market importer such as Geekbuying , GearBest or Coolicool. Be sure to read up on our grey-market tech buying advice before you do so.
Pros:
• Excellent value for money
• Competitive specification
• Usually dual-SIM
• None of your friends will have the same phone
Cons:
• Without an official channel through which to purchase you may unintentionally buy a counterfeit product
• Faulty devices may be difficult to return
• You may incur import duty (charged at 20 percent of the value on the shipping paperwork plus an admin fee)
• The phone may not work with your network ( be sure to check before you buy )
• Google Play may not be preinstalled (as is the case with some Xiaomi and Meizu phones)
The majority of Chinese phones we’ve reviewed have been dual-SIM dual-standby. We’ve found this to be a standard feature of Chinese phones at any price point. However, in the case of Huawei/Honor phones, which are among those that are officially sold in the UK, the UK variant is often not dual-SIM. You should also check whether the second SIM slot is in addition to or replacing the phone’s microSD slot. Also see: Best dual-SIM phones 2017 and dual-SIM buying advice.
4G is a common feature even at the lower price points. An increasing number of phones will support 4G on both SIM slots, but dual-standby phones will ask you to select one or the other for data. And while we’re used to seeing phones that standardise on nano- or Micro-SIM, Chinese phones can occasionally still feature full-size SIM slots (though this is now becoming much less common). Of course, you can pick up an adaptor from somewhere like Amazon for as little as a pound. Also see: What is 4G? Complete guide to 4G.
The fact that a Chinese phone supports 4G doesn’t necessarily mean it will work on your UK network, mind. Always check a phone’s frequency bands before purchase. In the UK we use LTE bands 3, 7 and 20, or look for 800-, 1800- and 2600MHz. EE operates on all three, Three on 800- and 1800MHz, O2 on 800MHz, and Vodafone on 800- and 2600MHz. Also see: How to tell if a phone is supported by your mobile network.
MediaTek processors are a common feature within Chinese phones, and we’re now beginning to see the deca-core Helio X20 in some Chinese phones. More often, though, the MediaTek processors inside Chinese phones are marketed as octa-core and 64-bit. Whereas many UK-sold octa-core flagships are sold with four cores tuned for performance and four for efficiency, here you’ll usually find all eight cores running at the same speed; increasingly UK flagships now run quad-core chips from the Qualcomm Snapdragon family. Two- or even 3GB of RAM is not uncommon, and 4GB is often available as a top-end option, and expect to find 32GB of storage, with microSD support (often only to 32- or 64GB, rather than 128GB). Also see: What’s the fastest smartphone 2017.
Rather than NFC, phones with MediaTek processors often come with a feature called HotKnot. This works in a similar way, allowing you to do such things as share files and play multiplayer games with other HotKnot-capable phones. You will almost certainly also find a fingerprint scanner, and thankfully most are now touch- rather than swipe-style scanners.
In the photography department a 13Mp Sony sensor with f/2.2 aperture is often found at the rear, while you’ll usually get a 5Mp selfie camera at the front. The camera functionality is very similar to that of any other Android phone, but you may find the Face Beauty mode whitens your skin tone – the painting of a face white is a cultural tradition. There will be a slider somewhere that lets you turn off this effect. Also see: Best sounding phone 2017.
A full-HD screen is common, with Quad-HD much less so and HD screens still found in the cheapest models, and we’ve reviewed many a 5.5in-screen Chinese phablet. The screen is usually a good-quality IPS panel, and may often be marketed as having 2.5D Arc glass or 3D glass. This does not mean the screen is curved, but rather that the edges of the screen are slightly curved (like on the iPhone 7). Gorilla Glass is another common feature, which is fortunate because getting hold of a case for a Chinese phone is just as involved as buying the phone itself (we advise getting one at the time of purchase, although you often find one is supplied in the box).
Customisable gestures are not built into Android, but they are very common in Chinese phones. This means you are likely to be able to double-tap to wake the screen, and by drawing a letter onscreen in standby mode you will be able to launch an app of your choice. Many Chinese phones will also allow you to use gestures to trigger the camera shutter.
While we’re on the subject of software, be aware that some Chinese phones are sold rooted. For many people that’s a bonus – for example UMI’s Rootjoy app lets you easily install any OS you like – but it will put off some customers. We advise you to check whether wireless updates are available or if you will have to manually update the phone before you buy, if you think the latter may cause you grief.
We’ve been reviewing Chinese phones supplied to us by Geekbuying, Coolicool and GearBest for a good couple of years now, but the honest truth is there are still many Chinese phones out there we have yet to review, and many, many Chinese phone manufacturers we’ve never even heard of. Some of those phones may deserve to join our list, but we won’t recommend any Chinese phone we haven’t physically held and tested.
Over time we will build up our collection of Chinese phone reviews, and in the meantime we offer this chart not as a definitive guide to buying Chinese phones but as a guide to what you can expect for your money when you buy from China. If you’ve found a Chinese phone not listed in our chart then check its spec and compare it to the phones we’ve reviewed here.
Read next: Best new phones coming in 2017 .

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