Publication History For : Paul Smart
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This is Sonys entry into the Small and light Camcorder market. I have reviewed a number of units in this and so far my choice has been the offerings from Flip. Here Sony adds a couple of extras still images and 360 degree images or videos.
The Sony Bloggie camcorder measures 10.5x5x1.5cm and weights 125grams. It comes with a 4GB MemoryStick (the Sony variant) but it will accept the cheaper SD cards. The lens rotates up to 270° meaning that you can see over tall people or even take images to include yourself. There is an on/off button on the top part of the right side but you do not really need it as rotating the lens from its off (covered) position will turn the unit on.
The first from Jabra music and talk meet the streets. The second from Creative who at one time were the only name that mattered in sound cards, the Aurvana In-Ear2 earbuds which promise up to 95% noise suppression.
This medallion is 5x3.5x1cm and comes on a chain to go round your neck. The earbuds provided give a decent sound but you can equally use others or even a headset via the 3.5mm jack, best of all the wireless quality is excellent. Should you not want to wear it round your neck there is a clip on the back of the unit that allows it to fit onto edges of clothing like a jacket lapel or even a sleeve.
These full HD (1080P) in 32inch TVs are still rare but to get two in a row to review is unprecedented. The size and shape and even some of the menus are very similar. This one however even though it has the same rear speakers has acceptable sound.
This Hannspree 32" TV measures 78x51x8cm and sits on a stand 47x25cm that raises the set 4cm above whatever it is sitting on. The 8cm width is maximum. The nine language Quick Start Guide will probably be all that most will need. This is broken into four areas each well illustrated. It does not however cover the first part of unpacking and the attachment of the four screws to attach the stand to the TV.
This is called a Bridge camera, nothing to do with the card game but it is a bridge between a pocket digital camera and progression to a DSLR camera. The reason is the size and shape is like the latter but controlled like the former.
The GE X5 measures 10x7x6.5cm however the last figure, the width, can expand up to another 6cm when the camera is fully zoomed. The face of the unit has the 15x wide angle optical zoom lens with the pop up flash being immediately above the lens but a minimum of 7cm away. The left side has an anchor point for the provided neck strap and this can also be used to tie the lens cap. The right side has the other neck strap anchor point and A/V socket behind a rubberised bung.
This is one of two recently launched phones from Samsung. The other the Galaxy S was launched in a swathe of who's who at a London nightspot. This unit, the Samsung Wave S8500, offers you the chance to do most things from a Smart Phone.
Not long ago you could not do a tiny proportion of what this unit using the BADA operating system can do and as it has wireless you can often do it at no cost as wireless hot spots are widely available to let you browse the Internet or collect your emails, in fact most of what a lot of people today use a full blown computer for.
Here I am looking at two sets of earbuds, the first from a name familiar to all but not necessarily for earbuds the second from a company that a lot of people will say just one word WHO? Read on for both sets of details.
The box says ‘superior studio sound’ and once you plug them in you can agree or not. The first impressions are quality, you still need to destroy the box to extract the earbuds but a fitted case is supplied for your buds to travel in style when not in use. You get not only a .9metre long lead but also a .9metre extension lead both of course have gold plated connections. The lead to the earbuds is not of even lengths like most but the right earbud lead is .
This is a 17.3inch notebook, in fact quite a nice powerful notebook that verges onto a Desktop replacement. With that size of screen it is only really something to be moved for long distances by private transport unless you go to the gym a lot.
It is 41x26x3.5cm and weights 3250grams. The viewable screen is 38x21.5cm giving the notional 17.3inch diagonal measurement, the resolution is 1600x900. The lid is a pin stripe of grey and black and does not really show fingermarks. Unfortunately the screen and the surround are the normal shiny black reflective that show all the fingermarks. The area either side and behind the keyboard are also that nasty reflective black but the area in front of the keyboard is a far more sensible grey.
This is a small almost dainty digital camera that will easily fit in a pocket or purse. It is predominately black with certain silvered buttons and a grey band along the top and one side. I would even consider it stylish.
Samsung PL150 digital camera measures 9.5x5.5x2cm and it weights 150grams. The face has the 4.9-24.5mm Samsung Zoom Lens (5x) and the slit flash mounted above and to its right a minimum of 3cm and a maximum of 4cm behind the nearest part of the lens. The base has a tripod anchor point as well as a door that hides the solid battery as well as any SD card you use. The only thing on the left side is writing to say it’s a 12.4MP unit.
For those with an Analogue TV you will soon either need to buy a new TV or a cheaper option if it is working well purchase a digital box. If you are disabled or certain elderly then you may get help, if not you need to pay, and, this offering from Philips may fit the bill.
Philips DTR 5520 Set Top Box black and measures 28x15x3cm. The front has a blue display that once on displays only the channel number that you are viewing. The installation consists of inserting your aerial lead in the back of the box. Philips provide a fly lead (something that a lot of other manufacturers do not) and this is essential for you to still view analogue signals while they are still available.
Duracell Rechargeables Part 2
Published in Entertainment
on
12 Sep 2010
Regular readers will know that I looked at some rechargeable batteries and chargers earlier in the year (12-5-10). Since then it has become apparent that I was not the only person who did not know Duracell did rechargeables.
When I looked at the ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ I was told they also did ‘C’ ‘D’ and 9volt so here the even better guarded secret the rest of the Duracell range. Since reviewing the ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ I have seen the former in the wild. Finding ‘C’, ‘D’ and 9volt rechargeable batteries of any make is difficult and chargers for other than ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ is also not that easy.
I had just installed this on my test system when my own modem/router decided to pop its clogs. So what would have been a test suddenly became real life with my day to day communications relaying on the Play Max.
It is 19x16x3cm and sits on a 18x5cm base that raises the vertical unit .5cm from the desk but as cables protrude 3cm from the back its really 19x19x5cm for its overall footprint. There is a small angle cut from the front edge that has a large green (or orange) LED and a single push button, these are the only controls on the unit. The whole system is sold on ease of installation and as leads come attached the three point install is exactly that.
A sleek and slim DAB and FM radio with Auxiliary input. It is black with a two line display top right and various touch controls below it, the other controls are on the right side of the unit. It is ideal for a bedside table.
It is 31x15x4cm. There are two swivel feet that can increase the last figure the width by up to another 6cm dependant on the amount of swivel. The rear of the unit has DC input and the 3.5mm jack socket beside it, on the top left of unit is a six piece (42cm) rod aerial that gave good reception wherever I used it including my office that on occasion is not that good on DAB reception especially with units that use wire aerials rather than the rod type that to me always seem superior.
Apparently these units have been available in Australia and China for two years, now they are available in the UK. Full HD 32inch TVs are still quite rare with most only starting at 37inch and HD Ready still being the norm at 32inch.
The Pangoo S700 LCD television measures 77x47.5cm with the attached stand raising it 3cm above whatever you stand it on. Thanks to edge-lit LED back-lighting the unit measures only around 2cm deep. The first surprise was that the stand comes attached and it is quite easy to just remove from the box as the mains lead is hard wired into the unit you only need to put in place and attach the aerial lead and you are ready to switch on. Find the menu on the remote control and then set up.
As more eSATA devices arrive those with eSATA on the motherboard could find this solution from Lindy very useful. The second is another item from Brando in Hong Kong this time a 13 (yes thirteen) port USB switch.
The Lindy USB 2.0 eSATA Adapter measures 6.5x3x1cm and plugs into any USB port. Reading the blurb I see it will work (at a slower speed) with USB 1.1 systems and even with versions of Windows as early as ME, it is also stated to work with Mac OS10 but I have not tried this as I do not have a Mac. It will work with both Desktop and Notebook (even Netbook) PC’s; this will work with any single SATA/eSATA disc drive but will work with Port Mtiplier functions.
At the start of the year it appeared as betas on some magazine discs. Then absolute silence until June when I saw a couple of distributor adverts, it transpired the launch had happened, a quick skim of my journalists friends and no one knew, so now it seems Microsoft or do I mean their numerous PR agencies - tells no one about the arrival of products.
There are three paid for versions available. They are Home and Student at about £100, Home and Business at around £200 and Professional at about £400. All these figures are ‘ball park’ but it gives an idea of the differential. All these versions now have the ‘ribbon’ interface, the Office interface called Backstage are still opened from the ‘File’ menu as not even Microsoft would dare to change that Holy of Holies.
During the recent long summer spell of hot weather this was a lifesaver to me. The main difference between a fan and air conditioning, the latter costs a fortune to cool the air down, the former does not cool the air but you feel cooler.
Yes you can buy a fan for £20 – in fact I have even seen small ones advertised for under a tenner – but of course they have blades and in most cases only a single power setting. A blade is lethal to birds and nasty for children. Open the box and there are two parts the top ring with a portion of the stem and the rest of the stem including all the electronics and the power lead. The two parts just fit together, site the unit and switch on that’s all you need to do.
This is a very different mouse from the ones we have all been using since the early 80s when the first graphic interfaces were produces. This works by protecting the wrist from the dreaded RSI (repetitive strain injury).
Forget the normal size and shape this is designed to fit your hand size (small, medium or large), in fact there are three categories so nine possible combinations exist. First the size as above, then the colour black, white or silver and then type transparent, corded or wireless. My hand fits a medium mouse, it was black and cordless. It looks a little like a stealth jet with the whole hand lying over the unit and most importantly this includes your wrist. It is 17cm long 12cm wide and between .
First a rather nice small Bluetooth earpiece from Plantronics. The other item is from Brando those clever USB people in Hong Kong; it is a natty Bluetooth Audio receiver to allow you to remove the wires from almost any audio device.
It is 5x1.5x2cm this does include the clear plastic hook that fits over the ear to keep the unit in place once twisted into position in the ear. Not only is this small but also very light at only 10grams. It is black with silvered edges and a silver stripe down the front.
Canon has two styles of cameras in their pocket range the really small Ixus range and the slightly larger Power Shots. Here the latest Power Shot that is still small and sleek while offering more in optical zoom and other features.
The front and back of my unit were gold in colour while the top, bottom and sides were silver. It is 10x6x3cm and the latter figure the width can increase to 8.5cm when fully zoomed. It weights a tad over 200grams. The top has an oval on/off button beside this a rod style wide angle/telephoto rocker and finally a circular shutter release, the flash automatically opens on the left top edge.
The first a cube to sit by your bed no excuse for not charging the iPod/iPhone and it has alarm and sleep timer. The second when you do forget to charge your iPod a tiny device that can sit on your key ring will do so.
As far as bed side units go this 9cm cube is tiny but still allows you to use and charge your iPod or iPhone as well as have FM radio and even an auxiliary input all of these are choices to wake you from your slumbers or lull you to sleep. The front has a 6.5x6cm orange alpha numeric screen this is divided into three horizon strips the top one is a line of graphics to say which mode you are, the middle one is day, date and month and finally the bottom line is time.
This black and grey Multi Function unit (it has Fax) from Canon is both easy to use while allowing the more experienced user to get more out of it with ease. My only doubt is how many people today still require the fax function.
The Canon MX870 is 47x44x32cm with the rear tray open but unfilled and the automatic front delivery tray closed. Once you place paper in the rear input tray it will increase the last figure the height by around 18cm and with items printed sitting in the output tray it will increase the space required for depth (the middle figure) by around 16cm. There are a total of 36 buttons on the front edge of the unit surrounding the 5x3.7cm TFT screen.
A lot of Bluetooth items require that you enter text either with an on screen keyboard and stylus or perhaps even more daunting - for the occasional user - via a phone type keyboard with up to four characters per key touch.
Here I offer two solutions both small but both have a standard keyboard layout that only needs to be paired to your device, neither are large so I doubt you will be touch typing but they are a distinct plus on the choices above. This is 11x6x1cm and weights 69grams. Mine had black sides and back with silvered surround to the face and the keys were grey with black letters. It has 52 keys with 30 keys having a second function in blue via the ‘FN’ key. The alpha and numeric keys are .
Way back in time before the iPod Creative had one of the early MP3 players. Here one of the latest generation of such devices called the Zen. Of course time moves on and so does what we expect from such a device.
The Creative Zen Style 300 is 8x3.8x1cm and for such a device quite chunky hence the weight of 43grams. However this unit does include a speaker. These days this sort of device needs to do than just play music and the Zen does. It has a 3.5x3cm screen which in imperial has a diagonal measurement of 1.8inches. Not only does it play music, it can play photos and videos and for good measure it also has a quite decent FM radio.
For those who dont want black here I am looking at a subtle shade of red (dark wine) colour that will pass for black in poor light but still offer that something different in decent light, best of all the fingermarks dont show as they do with shiny black.
The Samsung R580 laptop measures 38x25x3cm and weights 2.465kilos. The left side has the Kensington Lock socket, D/C input, VGA outlet, Ethernet, HDMI, e-SATA and a USB socket, external microphone and earbud sockets and a PCI (express card) slot. The front has an SD card slot. While the right side has the DVD multi optical drive and two further USB ports. The rear is clear as the screen slips over it.
Calling this a watch is rather like calling Big Ben a clock. I do not just mean the size but also the fact that it is a lot of other things as well. Compass, Altitude and Barometer, Stop Watch but sad to say it refuses to make the tea.
The watch is round 5x5x1.2cm. Its face is silver grey surround on the front with a chrome back. The sides are matt black with a grey black rubber strap. There are a total of five well marked buttons at 10, 2, 4 and 8 with the fifth at 3. Despite reading the 54 pages of the User Guide that are in English more than once I still found things out by pushing various button combinations. When I referred back to the User Guide I found they were fully mentioned.
Here I am looking at two different devices to provide power, the first fits round your wrist like a bracelet to power your PDA or Phone. The second is a box to provide power to USB devices when the mains are not around.
This is a black rubber bracelet weighting 81grams. It is 26cm long, 3.5cm wide a maximum of 1.3cm thick. It has six battery cells three either side of the seventh cell that is the charging indicator with four white LED’s and a push button which you press when you want to use some of its power. There is a micro USB socket on the side and all the supplied fifteen different heads either fit into that or a coiled 50cm extension unit.
A company that I think of for high end audio equipment, however thanks to a recent briefing I find they also do more affordable items the first of which is a range of earbuds and a headset that give quality sound at a reasonable price.
They do a whole range of earbuds and here I am looking at two as well as a rather fine set of earphones. The categories they break them into TWeens, Street People, Beat Junkies, Sport and Fitness, Hi-Fi, DJ’s and Commuters. These look fairly conventional earbuds if a little flamboyant (mine were red with a silver circle) and black ear fittings and leads.
After looking at numerous iPod speaker docks its nice get a chance to review a set of speakers designed to support something else and that is Bluetooth so almost any Bluetooth device can output through these speakers.
However it also has an auxiliary input to allow hard connection from any MP3 or other device even dare I say an iPod. Because it has this connection I used it but with the level being controlled quiet passages are really quiet and you need near silence in the room to hear them even with the volume ramped up but please read on.
Like most of us I have little luck in raffles of draws but I was lucky enough to win this in a draw at a recent event. Its a tiny TV receiver that fits into a USB port on a laptop, Netbook or PC however you do need to be running Windows 7.
In its simplest form it also comes with a tiny rod aerial, or another slightly larger is also supplied and there is even an adapter that allows you to fit a standard aerial connection to the unit, however for the first two options everything can fit in a pocket or bug with ease. Of course if I had had it earlier then you could have purchased one for the World Cup or Wimbledon but being so small whatever the event in late summer or autumn it will probably do the job.
The first two are from Naim with recent offerings from Neil Cowley and Fred Simon. The other is a solo guitar album from a new name to me Chris Flegg, calling this Jazz stretches the definition a little but it is relaxing.
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