While their handsets were scratch-free when they come out of the box, the handsets soon picked up significant damage on the back and sides from light usage.

FORBES: Check Your New iPhone 5 For Scratches

For Sony's Hummel, who has seen concession-stand boys handle film prints with buttery fingers as dirt and dust collect on the movie reel, "better" means a picture that is as scratch-free and crisp at the end of a movie's run as it looked on day one.

FORBES: Pixel Perfect

Does the non-stop flogging of scratch cards, duty-free goods, scorching coffee and rubber paninis initiate premature labour in exasperated mums-to-be?

ECONOMIST: Business travel