The iPad has won a recommendation from Which Computing magazine. Which? Magazine is a highly respected UK publication known for its unbiased and extensive product reviews. The iPad came out on top of the pile in the must-have gadgets’ and the tech buys that make great Christmas gifts.

This was one of the most-hyped gadgets of 2010. Its sleek design, slick touchscreen interface and those all-important apps mean it’s the tablet that’s on almost everybody’s wish list.

Which? carry out extensive testing of products to provide consumers with information to enable them to make correct buying decisions, the process is extremely thorough. Which? do not accept any advertising in their publications; to ensure all of their reviews and recommendations are legitimate and without bias.

Every month, we conduct independent and extensive tests on hundreds of products and services. Every aspect of product performance and specification – price, running costs, efficiency, and reliability – is compared against exacting criteria. The highest scoring products or services are awarded Which? Best Buy status, and the test results are published in the magazine and on Which.co.uk.

So there you have it, according to Which?, the iPad makes an ideal gift for the holidays. Are you planning on splashing out on an iPad for your loved ones? If you are let us know in the comments!

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Apple’s iPhone 4 IPS LCD Retina Display has pulled out a big win over Super AMOLED displays used in Samsung Galaxy S and other Android devices for best mobile display in existence today. This comes to us from DisplayMate.com.

“Since its introduction the iPhone has been one of the wonders of the modern tech world for many reasons – but its display was never one of them – up until the iPhone 4, where it finally got the display it deserved. The iPhone 4 display, nicknamed the Retina Display, is an outstanding “Super” LCD delivering top performance in many of our test categories – it has the brightest and sharpest display, but on the other hand its color gamut is too small, producing under saturated somewhat washed-out colors, and its image contrast is too high, which produces punchier images and also partially compensates for its smaller color gamut. These were most likely intentional tradeoffs made by Apple to increase screen brightness, power efficiency and battery run time. None-the-less the iPhone 4 earned our Best Mobile Display Award in the DisplayMate Best Video Hardware Guide. We include a dedicated comparison with the iPhone 3GS below. “Retina Display” is a great marketing name, and it is the sharpest smartphone display available, but quantitatively it is a factor of two lower than the acuity of the human Retina. Click here for a discussion on the Retina Display. Finally, Part II of this series will discuss some major flaws in the iPhone 4’s Automatic Brightness control, which hopefully will be corrected in the near future through a software update.”

For the full in depth analysis and test results be sure to hit up the link below and make sure you have quite a bit of free to time as you will need it.

[DisplayMate via Daring Fireball]

Jonathan Ive, me thinks you’re going to need a bigger mantle, what with all the awards Apple’s VP of Design keeps taking home!

This time it’s the IDEA (International Design Excellence Awards) handed out by BusinessWeek. In addition to the Gold prize for the original iPhone 2G, Apple also received Gold IDEA’s for the MacBook Air and Bluetooth Keyboard, and a Silver for the redesigned iMac. These four — the most of any company this year — brings Apple’s lifetime IDEA total to 13.

Congratulations!

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The D&AD Black Pencil, an award so prestigious they would rather not give it away at all than give it to just any flashy objet-de-ans, is now joining what must be a mantle-straining load down at Apple Design VP Jonathan Ive’s house.

Steve Jobs, Ive, and their iPhone, which has already been cleaning up on the award circuit, secured the creative industry’s top prize, with a second award being given to the latest aluminum iMac as well.

This makes 6 total Black Pencils (and “innumerable”, if lesser, Yellow Pencils) for Apple and Ive, the most for any company since the D&AD began handing out the trophy instruments back in 1963.

Makes sense. Apple not only cares deeply about design, but understands how form is inextricably linked to function.

Congrats!

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