Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

Sony has put its flagship console the Playstation 3 on a diet; they’ve announced a new Slim version that’s two-thirds of the size and weight of the original (and improved energy efficiency means it’ll even cut down on your electricity bill).

The new PS3 Slim will come with largely the same features as the older version, with 120 GB of storage and the ability to sync with Bravia TVs over HDMI. Linux enthusiasts may mourn the ability to install an alternative operating system and, as with the last PS3 refresh, Sony have omitted the flash memory card reader, half of the USB ports & backward compatibility with PS2 games.

It’ll sell at £249.50, a big drop from current prices: the 80GB model of its weightier older brother is available from £294 at present, although Sony have said remaining stock will see a price drop.

The PlayStation 3 Slim will go on sale from the 1st of September, as will an optional stand for those who prefer their consoles in a vertical position.

Today we’re continuing our guide to understanding TV model names. At first glance, TV product names are generally pretty complicated, unmemorable and unpronouncable combinations of letters and numbers. To the uninitiated this doesn’t help when you’re trying to find your way around the large television market.

However, closer inspection does often reveal some logic behind the names manufacturers give to their latest gift to the world. Today I’m going to walk through Sony’s naming conventions.

Our example product is the Sony Bravia KDL-32V4000.

Sony gives the KDL letters to all its LCD TVs. Sony makes no plasma TVs, and makes one cutting-edge OLED TV, the XEL-1.

The first two numbers refer to the screen size in inches.

The next letters indicate the series. Sony has a large number of different series. I’ve collected all the current series below, along with descriptions about each series series from Sony and the range of screen sizes the series is available in.

The final numbers refer to smaller variations within a series - so do check the detailed specifications!

You can browse Sony TVs on Reevoo.

It’s Sony to the rescue this week. It seems Sony Ericsson need a little help in the shape of the Bravia brand. Much like branding previous handsets with the Walkman and Cybershot labels, Sony Ericsson hope that Bravia handsets will have the same success.

However, rumour has it that Sony chiefs fear they may have made a big mistake by letting the brand go so quickly - especially as the new Sony PSP phone is in the pipeline.

Whether it was a mistake or not, only time will tell but it’s a little too late for regrets. Bravia handsets have already been launched in Japan and will soon be available in India where the exponential growth in mobile usage will be favourable for the brand.

[techradar]

There are 15 days to go before the Beijing Olympic games and this year will be the first time we can watch them in HD in the UK. Pretty exciting stuff. For those of you who don’t know, HD is high-definition and it’s all about more pixels and much clearer pictures for our TV sets.  It makes watching sports events, wildlife programmes - well, anything really - way better.

We’ve looked at all the full HD TV reviews over on Reevoo to find the best ones. TVs are rated on their design, sound quality, image quality and value for money. People are then asked if they would recommend the TV set.

Here’s the top five:

1.    Sony Bravia KDL40X2000 - £999
2.    Panasonic TX-32LZD80 - £724
3.    Samsung LE37A656A - £679
4.    Panasonic TH42PZ80 - £724
5.    Panasonic TH42PZ85B - £864

And here’s how we got there:

So top of the list was the Sony Bravia KDL40X2000 but interestingly, it lost out to the Panasonic TH42PZ80 for image quality and the Samsung LE37A656A for design.

If you’re looking for a top all-rounder, the Sony is obviously the one to go for but it’s also the most expensive. The Panasonic TH42PZ80 leads the pack for image quality, which should be one of the top considerations when buying an HD TV. It’s also over £200 cheaper and it’s been recommended by 96% of the people who bought it. This would be my choice.

If you’re not convinced about HD, there are lots of other TVs around. You can check out all of the TV reviews over on Reevoo.