Publication History For : Paul Smart
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I have used an electric razor of one sort or another for more years than I like to remember. However this Philips system was something totally new to me as shall we say a mature user.
I have used battery, corded and rechargeable units with both two and three heads. My normal regime would be two wet shaves a week and the rest with the electric razor. This Philips system is 15cm long and a maximum of five cm wide and deep at the head end. It sits nicely in hand and has two buttons on/off and to transfer some of the supplied Nivea lotion through two of the three heads.
Rather like their cameras I suspect this AIO (All IN One) unit is aimed at the novice and occasional user. While not doing anything special it works reasonably efficiently and perhaps most useful has some acceptable hand holding software.
click to enlarge The Kodak ESP-3 All-in-one printer is 41x33x16cm. However depth (middle figure) increases by 12cm when there is paper in the drop down tray waiting to be printed. All the controls are grouped together to the right of the landscape flat bed. This is a total of seven bar buttons and eight LED's all clearly marked as to their purpose. Mine was black, very un-lounge.
The Micro SD card has shot up in popularity solely because most mobile phones manufacturers (except Sony Ericsson) now use it for storage; its cheaper for them than internal memory and a lot easier for you to move photos and videos around.
However until very recently transferring to a PC has meant not only removing the micro SD card from the phone but finding the adapter to convert it into a standard SD card and also then the card reader.
This is a DAB/FM radio that comes in chrome and looks rather like a toaster. Not simply looks like a toaster but the brand is more famous for kitchen equipment like toasters.
The DualIt Lite DAB radio is 22x16x8cm, it can be run either from batteries or mains. It has a 66cm six piece rod aerial that folds out from an indentation in the top that looks exactly like the hole that you would insert bread in. The back has a very tight entry point for batteries and if you use rechargeables there is flip a switch in the compartment it can recharge them in situ while still listening from the mains.
Do you fancy cooking a 1.5kilo chicken in half an hour? Roast potatoes in around half that time? Well with the LG Solar Cube not only is it possible I have done it and it tastes fine and was also perfectly cooked.
The Solar Cube is 53x37x48cm you should also allow some clearance above and behind for heat dispersal. Its weight is 26kilos. Yes it does get hot when in use and if you touch it you would probably move your hand away quite quickly but I doubt you would be burnt. Around ten minutes after use it is only vaguely warm. This is a combination of Microwave, Grill, Convection Oven and Halogen source.
A mono laser is the often forgotten workhorse. One thing you always get from a laser is the stated print speed, in this case 28PPM, something all but never achieved from an inkjet printer.
This is called a business mono laser -at this stage I was not concerned- but it is small and many home offices would benefit from it. It is 40x37x23cm with all leads inserted, assuming you use the built in paper tray you need no more space than this as pages are delivered face down on top of the unit. It does have a manual paper feed and this with paper loaded would increase the first figure the depth by 20cm.
Ignore the weeds and get into the garden, make the most of the summer with a couple of good books. Here I have a recent offering from the Dummies series and one that could even improve your memory.
Laptops All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-14092-5 This is described as ten books in one and best of all being for notebooks you could even sneak your notebook out with you to try a few of what it says while catching some sun. This takes you through the initial choices right through to getting help to solving those annoying problems.
This is an excellent voice and music recorder. Not only does it record in rather good stereo in MP3 but it can also record in WAV at 44.1 in 16bit (CD quality) but even up to 96 in 24bit.
click image to enlarge The R-09HR voice recorder from Edirol is 11x6x2.5cm and weights around 170grams with the supplied 2x'AA' batteries inserted. I found these tended to last around eight hours. Also supplied is a 512MB SD card this would have capacity to record around 45 minutes in CD quality WAV. The unit is black and coated with a rubber substance that gives it some protection.
Not that long ago a 22inch panel would have cost a great deal, now it costs no more than a 15inch panel did at that same time. Here I am looking at a widescreen 22inch offering that has built in speakers.
First the all important dimensions, the Hannspree XM-s 22inch Flat Panel 'Verona' is 50x36x9cm, it stands on a base that lifts it 5cm above your desk. The stand is oval at 19x28cm. While there is close to 20degrees of tilt backwards there is only a couple of degrees forward movement. My unit was black although the rather difficult to negotiate HANNspree site shows other colours including a wood effect but does not make it clear what these apply too.
It is described as a notebook web cam, I see no reason why it should not be used with any flat panel and even with a CRT monitor, the latter maybe with a couple of sticky pads.
The Microsoft VX7000 is 6.5cm wide and 2.5cm tall, the camera is 2cm deep but there is a weighted articulated arm behind this that folds over the top of the panel. It has a 1.35metre USB lead protruding from the back base of the camera. The camera is grey apart from the face that is black with chrome trim round the lens and on the right edge where the inbuilt microphone is. If you add a chromed button on the top you have described everything.
Here I am looking at two items that come from the company that charges $3 US shipping no matter how large your order. Fist an MP3 player that looks like a largish Lego brick and then an Alarm Clock radio that takes SD cards so you can wake to your choice of music guaranteed.
BB5003 MP3 Player Lego Brick This is a MP3 player but instead of using either internal memory or that of a USB stick it uses a Micro SD card (the ones most mobile phones use) this also gives you another way of transferring content from your phone to a PC or visa versa. It is 5.5x3.x1.5cm and mine was yellow but I think there are other colours.
This is a rather good iPod playing device, that just for good measure can play CDs of various types has an FM radio and an Aux input to play anything that can connect via a 3.5mm jack plug.
The first unusual thing about this 'box' is that it had no controls on it at all. Everything is done via the remote control. It is 37x26x19cm with leads plugged into the rear. Mine was white with a white grill on the front, at the top right of this- behind the grill - is a six character red LED display that displays what, where and how. The top has the name Geneva on the front edge and in the centre a slot loading CD.
Those who read my launch report at the start of the year will know the A series are what GE consider to be their entry level offerings. It is a nice simple to use camera.
click to enlarge The GE A835 digital camera is small at 9x6.5x2.5cm the last figure can increase by 3cm when the zoom is fully out. It is silver grey in colour with a chrome strip along the top and sides and it weights around 170grams with its 2x'AA' batteries inserted. The front of the camera has the lens with the flash above and to the left, at the nearest it is 1cm from the lens. The right side has the anchor point for the wrist strap.
Here I will tell you about two different companies with wonderful earbuds that shall we say are not cheap. In fact both could probably cost more than the unit you plug them into.
m-JAYS Stereo Handsfree Headset/ Stereo Music Adapter This can be used two ways. First as a standard set of earbuds and second as a hands free setup that can work with a mobile phone. It is one of the new range of headsets that work with the Apple iPhone. It is in fact two items that can be used only as earbuds (60cm) or you can plug them into the second longer extension lead (80cm) that has the microphone.
First the Wireless Notebook Microsoft Presenter Mouse 8000 that comes in some very novel packaging. Second the Belkin offering that I first saw last August as a prototype a washable mouse.
Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 This is the first mouse I have reviewed that comes in its own carrying case, and more than that, it swivels in the packaging so you can view it 360 degrees while still on the dealers shelf.
The boss of LG in the UK made a great joke of telling journalists prior to the announcement that the name of their new phone was Secret. He was of course correct it is called Secret.
click to enlarge It is 10x4.5x1cm when closed, when the screen moves upwards to reveal the twelve key keypad this increases the first figure by 3.5cm. The phones weight is 110grams. It is matt black with a silver band and controls and the back is a fine checkerboard pattern of grey and black weaved to look like tweed. The viewable screen area is 5x3.7cm. The left side has the dual headset and charger port.
This piece of software in various guises has been on my PC for many many years. So what is in version 14 sorry X4 to make you upgrade or indeed what has it to offer for those who have never succumbed to its charms.
When reviewing hardware I usually start with the dimensions and I suppose the equivalent for software are it's system requirements. Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (either 32bit or 64bit). After that it's 512MB of Ram, 430MB of hard disc space, a 1024x768 or greater display, a mouse or tablet and a DVD drive. There are four main applications in the box all with the X4 suffix, CorelDRAW, Corel PhotoPaint, Corel PowerTrace and Corel Capture.
One of the latest batch of Digital Cameras from Kodak. Having recently (06-07-08) looked at a quite reasonable offering from them can this pocket offering match up.
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Certainly an item aimed at the novice user but this is not helped by a user guide (12 languages) that
does not go into enough detail. There is help on the camera that would be enough for the intermediate
user but would they be using it? The Kodak M893 digital camera measures 9x5.5x2cm, the last figure the width can double under zoom.
First certainly the smallest thing I have ever reviewed, something for those of us with older notebooks without Bluetooth. Second higher power rechargeable batteries and multi charger from Energizer.
MoGo Laptop Compact Bluetooth USB Adapter I would certainly not advise sneezing near this tiny device or it could easily get lost. My electronic kitchen scales failed to register when I put it on them and they happily weigh as little as a single gram. It is 2cm long but only 1cm of this will protrude once inserted into a USB port. It is a maximum of 1.5cm wide and slightly concave so you can grip it should you ever want to remove it.
This software is designed to work out if your PC (or stick drive) is under threat. Its job is to stop malicious software from getting to anything that your stick or drive is trying to protect.
So what I am looking at is two different anti virus programs from the same maker. Drive Sentry and Drive Sentry Go Anywhere. The first sits on your PC and the second resides on your stick drive so you can safely insert it into another PC which may or may not be infected by a virus or three. I have used both the full PC package and the stick drive version. My problem is that unless you get a virus you will never know if the products work.
While many digital cameras can equal or even better the 10MP image size of this FinePix S8100 I cannot think of any that come up to the 18x optical zoom that it offers.
click to enlarge It is 10.5x9x7.5cm when off in your hand or hanging round your neck however when fully zoomed you need to add another 6cm to the 9cm width. It weights a tad under 500 grams. It comes with a 68 page Basic Manual and while this does very little to explain all the 'bells and whistles' it will get even the novice going.
Flip is not an expletive but rather a nice handheld camcorder that costs less than £100. The most important points are that the quality is superb and it is extremely easy to use and transfer or watch the output.
click to enlarge The Flip Video Ultra is 10.5x5.5x3cm and weights only 140grams. It comes in four colours, mine is a creamy white with orange sides. It is powered by two 'AA' batteries (supplied) and it's internal memory can record an hours action. It comes with a drawstring bag and a wrist strap. There is a folded card for the instructions and delving in the box will find the leads to connect the Flip Video to your TV.
Two forms of storage memory. The first from Dane Elec that looks exactly like a casino chip and the second from San Disc a Micro SD card reader. Both these items fit directly into a USB port.
Poker Mate USB Drive It is 4cm across and .5cm thick. It is red and white with 12 alternate sections the six white ones are plastic and the red ones rubber. This gives a distinct feel in the fingers. There are various capacities available, mine was 1GB and this is clearly written on both sides of the chip.
With the MFU (multi function unit) or AIO (all in one) taking up little more space than a scanner and providing the functionality of three or four products then the scanner needs to do extra things to consider a stand alone product. There are units that read vast numbers of textual pages at 16 or 20 PPM. Here it can read slides and transparencies.
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First the all important dimensions it is 44cm long, 26cm wide and 9cm tall. It is a very dark grey in colour and has the power input and USB close together on the back and the on/off switch on the right side. There are four buttons on the front edge but everything can be managed from within Windows.
With camera phone resolution improving it will soon be a phone camera. This unit has a three mega pixel offering and a good quality image would just about be printable at A4 without pixelization.
This phone is small enough to sit in the palm of an adult, in it's closed state it is 10x5x1.5cm push the screen upwards and reveal another 4cm that hides the keypad. It is matt black (it also comes in a rather smart black box) with a silver/grey stripe round the edge and the only immediately obvious control is a silvered wheel on the back left edge. Look closely in good light and several other buttons become visible on the edges. The top has entry point for a micro SD card.
The title says dual radio in this case its FM and Internet but it is also an MP3 player a Media Server and an Alarm Clock. The Internet part can be either Ethernet or Wireless connectivity.
All the time the Sagem MyDual Radio700 is powered up even without a station selected the front screen will display a small top line of year, date and day with a large (four time the size) bottom line showing the time in 24 hour format. It is 20x10x14cm maximum, the right side is the larger being circular and the single speaker with a fine silver/grey mesh the rest of the unit is grey. The display is 7.3x3.
After looking at Sat Navs that have all the bells and whistles its quite refreshing to review a unit that has one aim to get you from A to B. Some extras are missing but some things you might think of as extras are included at a reasonable price.
Intended for use in the car (the only charger provided is the one for a cigar lighter) a standard mini USB to USB will charge it in less than four hours. I always test it on trains and or buses as well as in a car. Unless you are a passenger you cannot really look at the screen of the unit and while travelling in a bus or train gives you that opportunity.
This is the second camera I have seen from the launch earlier this year (see article on 23-01-08). This on is from the G range and is an 8MP offering with 4x zoom face detection, image stabilization and in camera red eye removal and panoramic stitching.
click to enlarge The G2 from General Electric (GE) is available in silver, black and red measuring 10.5x6x2cm, these are both minimum and maximum dimensions as the Aspheric glass lens uses a periscope type zoom where the zooming all takes place inside the unit. The lens and flash are level with each other and in my tests this produced less than brilliant flash results when images taken were a little further away.
Another pair of items that have been used together with the Space Station and USB light reviewed a few days ago. First the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse and second a very neat and compact DVD-RW USB2 drive that will work with any PC or notebook.
Microsoft Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000 For anyone who dislikes trackpads then an external mouse with a notebook is the answer. Having a wireless mouse means that the limited space often associated with notebooks can be utilised better if the mouse does not have to operate in a specific place and not having a certain length of cable helps. This offering has a USB receiver that looks almost identical to a USB pen/stick drive.
This is a multi function unit (as it has fax) but for me anyway the major selling point is its ability to print A4 photo quality borderless images in 68seconds, yes I do mean one minute and eight seconds.
click to enlarge Speed of photo printing has never been that important to me only quality, but when a MFU can print lovely images with great sharpness and depth in this time I wonder why some other units take ten times this long to produce an image. It is quite large at 47x42x21cm and will never pass the lounge police as it is silver grey and matt black. The front edge has 45 buttons several LED's and a 5x4cm TFT display.
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