Publication History For : Paul Smart

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samsung gx10 digital camer

Samsung GX-10 DSLR Digital Camera

Published in Cameras on 12 Apr 2007
The last couple of weeks have extended me, to be precise the time spent with Samsungs latest DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera has enabled me to take some superb images.
I get to see a range of digital cameras from a variety of manufacturers but few SLR offerings. So the latest Samsung offering was eagerly anticipated. I am told that most resellers will sell this with two lenses so it was a little disappointing to receive it with only one, however should you have any Pentax lenses from whatever vintage of camera they should fit and a trawl round some boot fairs could provide a rich harvest.
Blu-ray is one of two new DVD formats giving better sound and vision quality, of course to use it you will need an ‘HD’ ready TV.
The black box of the Samsung BD-P1000 blu-ray player has a silver strip along the bottom half of the front, it is much the same size as a standard video recorder at 43x32x7cm. You will need to add around another 3cm to the 32cm depth for insertion of any cables in the rear of the unit. The front has some buttons but everything - apart from insertion of the DVD's - is possible from your armchair via the 49key remote control.
A comfortable headset, a wireless headset, a headset that connects to any 3.5mm jack plug and thus not only is your MP3 player able to be connected without wires but anything else that has a 3.5mm jack.
My first personal joy was that you can remove the headset from the plastic container without an industrial pair of scissors and therefore the packaging, instruction book and charger can be replaced and kept together. So what do you get in the box? A small 3.5x3.5x1.3cm black box with a 3.5mm jack plug on the end that can fit into your MP3 or audio player. You also get six small plastic plates to provide a custom fit for a range of iPods.
xoom clean v4 box imag

X-oom Music Clean 4

Published in Software on 7 Apr 2007
Have you lots of LP’s and cassettes you no longer play but still love the music they contain? Then one solution could be Music Clean 4 that allows you to transfer it to CD or MP3 amongst other formats.
There is a 68 page A5 manual and unless you are an expect in music manipulation you will be well advised to read it. There are other - far simpler - products out there to do the jobs this does but this can do most of them within one package. I myself have a stack of LP's waiting to be transferred to CD's and currently I use three different products to do what Music Clean 4 can do. Mind you they all do their bits easily and without fuss.
epson dx600

Epson DX6000

Published in Printers/Scanners on 5 Apr 2007
This is far more like what I would expect from Epson than the DX4000 I reviewed recently. The look, the output quality in fact the whole experience was lots better.
This is a four colour four cartridge offering. The software - as with most printers/all in ones is partially installed before you attach the unit. Unlike this came back to me after the initial install with options to install the rest of the software that includes some nice printing and OCR software. The total install time - two parts - was around 30 minutes and afterwards my hard disc had 1.1GB less space but I did install everything.
alba PRDAB210MP

Alba PRDAB210MP3

Published in Entertainment on 3 Apr 2007
Not perhaps the most catchy title but if I say 50 hours or use on a single AA battery that becomes interesting and as a DAB radio around 14 hours, did I mention that it’s also tiny in size.
As always I tend to barge right in without reading the blurb. I have over the years reviewed lots of MP3 players and initially if you got 8 to 10 hours of use you were doing well. As things developed then 15 up to around 20 hours was possible. But I have never got beyond that on a single AA battery. Here after 20 hours the indicator is still registering fully charged. Apart from some short tests to tune the DAB all my use up till then had been on MP3 use.
hp laserjet 102

HP Laserjet 1022

Published in Printers/Scanners on 1 Apr 2007
Small, neat and simple to install and use. These are just some of the attributes of the HP Laserjet 1022 mono laser printer.
There are in fact three models all bearing the 1022 label this the cheapest that is USB, the next with an N for network at the end of the 1022 that can also connect via Ethernet and the top of the range 1022NW that is network and wireless. Apart from the connectivity the units themselves are identical. The one thing you can always say for a laser printer is that it will always print textual pages at the speed stated.

Two Updated Focus Products

Published in Software on 1 Apr 2007
Look back via the search button on the site front page and enter Family Tree or Build a Model Railway to find earlier versions of both these products, in both cases Focus has added even more value.
Create Your Own Family Tree Genealogy Suite from Focus Genealogy is a subject near to a lot of people since smaller families became the vogue, when large families were in fashion lots of people were around with all the required information and so lack of information on great uncle Jack. There are - according to the information on the DVD style box - six items on the supplied CD-ROM. First the item you are expecting Family Tree Legends (Deluxe Edition).
canon dc1

Canon DC19 DVD Camcorder

Published in Cameras on 29 Mar 2007
A camcorder that records direct to 8cm (mini) DVD’s and can also record still images to an SD card. Could this be the best of both worlds?
It is small and weights only around 450grams. The dimensions are a maximum of 12x10x4.5cm. The optical zoom is 10x (a lot less than some) and a standard DVD-R disc can record around 30minutes of action. The battery is said to last for around 80minutes between charges. If I said a 2.2MP camera most would say not enough. However this is a camcorder and indeed an HD one with 16:9 display.
goodmans GHDD8015F2 fron

Goodmans GHD 8015F2

Published in Entertainment on 27 Mar 2007
This is a small sized high quality twin tuner PVR, I have been happily using it for several months and in that time I have not had a single problem with it.
First let me explain - the is a twin tuner unit and not a twin recorder unit. You can watch one channel while recording another. You can playback something while recording another, however, you cannot record two programs at the same time. Goodmans GHD8015F2 It is very small in comparison to other such units in fact the width and depth are no more than a standard video recorder but the height is half that.
hp officejet 561

HP Officejet 5610 MFU

Published in Printers/Scanners on 25 Mar 2007
As a MFU it not only prints, scans, copies but also for those who still require it can send and receive faxes. The latter is the difference between an MFU and a All In One.
It is 44x42x24cm and weights only around 6kilos. The name sort of gives it away as an office product but that normally means expensive but you should be able to find it for less than three figures as the HP guide is £99 including VAT. It has both flatbed and sheet feeder so the scanning/copying can be either page or items from books or magazines.
corel painter

Corel Painter X

Published in Software on 25 Mar 2007
This product has been a niche offering for quite a while, however the new version could well make it a mainstream product that gives people like me with no artistic talent a chance, of course should you have talent you will already know that.
I was recently at the NEC in Birmingham for a camera show, however Corel invited me to a presentation on Painter X, it was a demonstration done by a US portrait painter who uses Painter and also teaches it. As with all demos you need to take them with more than a pinch of salt.
kodak v70

Kodak EasyShare V705

Published in Cameras on 23 Mar 2007
This is a dual lens camera but unlike the previous unit of this type I reviewed the two lens on this unit do two totally different jobs.
It is 10x5x2cm and weights only around 150grams. It is matt black and silver. The display is 5x3.8cm giving the diagonal 2.5inch size. It is a 7.1MP offering that according to the Kodak site is able to produce a 30x20inch print. It has 5x optical zoom and when you first turn it on it is using the first of the lens the wide angle, and touch of the zoom rocker will switch to the other lens.
epson dx400

Epson DX 4000 All In One

Published in Printers/Scanners on 21 Mar 2007
A grey and shiny black box that prints, scans and copies, it’s an All In One that Epson calls an entry level model.
It is 43x35x17cm when the rear paper input is closed with paper inserted this increases the 17cm height to 32cm and the 35cm depth to 45cm. The weight is 5.7kilos. It is a four ink four cartridge offering meaning if you use a lot of one particular colour then you only need to replace that cartridge. As with all Epson units the first set of cartridges last less time than any replacement as initial charging uses a proportion of the ink.
logitech laptop headse

Two Different Headsets

Published in Wireless on 19 Mar 2007
The first from Jabra a very light Bluetooth one mainly for those who spend their life on a mobile. The second from Logitech for those who are shackled to a notebook.
Jabra BT125 Bluetooth Headset This is a Bluetooth headset that - as far as I can see - links with any Bluetooth phone and is so light that you really will not know you are wearing it. It fits into the ear but not deeply and with the swivel fitting that goes over the ear it can fit in either ear. There is just one control on the unit a switch on the outer side to start and finish a call to do this press it briefly.

Focus A Mind Of Knowledge

Published in Software on 18 Mar 2007
This package from Focus come on no less than five CD’s and contains four different but connected products. The connection is knowledge, two from Britannica and one each from Oxford and Penguin Hutchinson.
Encyclopaedia Britannica This is the standard edition published in 2006. Yes there will be a small number of facts that have changed - but not that many - it is one of the two main encyclopaedias published for the UK market and considering this at 2/5 of the price you are paying less than £6 for it. Over 43,000 articles and including a world atlas amongst other modules the answers to your questions will probably be in here.
lg flatron M203W

LG Flatron M203WA

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 16 Mar 2007
This is a rather nice 20inch panel from LG. It has both analogue and digital connectors as well as some quite reasonable speakers built in. It also has a TV tuner.
First the dimensions it is 49cm tall on it's base, 45cm wide and around 6cm thick at the thickest point. The base itself is circular at around 25cm. It weights 8.5kilos. The screen itself is 44x27.5 giving the 20inch diagonal measurement. It has a 3cm surround on both sides and the top, the bottom has a 9cm surround with two quite reasonable conical speakers in it.

Pinnacle SoundBridge HomeMusic

Published in Entertainment on 14 Mar 2007
Poor manuals make reviewing difficult, however when far better manuals – for other products – are on the same CD it makes you fume.
This is a device to play music either though headphones or your hi-fi. It is circular at 6cm and 25cm long. It comes with a small cradle to sit it on. The rear has Line Out, Headphones, DC input and an SD/MMC card slot. The front has a 6x1.5cm two line display and that apart from the remote control is it. It is designed to work as a wireless device (either WEP or no security) via your router. It has two sides showing you how to connect leads.

Microsoft AutoRoute 2007

Published in Software on 12 Mar 2007
This is not just something to find you a route or show you a map. It’s a very long way from the early Next Base product on a floppy disc, and it now comes on a DVD.
Normally items labelled 2007 would appear early autumn in 2006 but no doubt most people were working on Vista and Office 2007. So as far as I know it first appeared at the very end of January. The installation was quite quick at only 10 minutes, on my machine it consisted of three parts. First an update to Net Framework, then the complete installation of AutoRoute 2007 and finally a text to speech module.
adobe photoelem

Adobe Photoshop Elements 5

Published in Software on 11 Mar 2007
Photoshop has long been the image manipulation software of choice for professional and keen amateur photographers. However for those who are ‘hobbyists’ the cost is a problem.
While I do not claim that Photoshop and are in any way the same product the more basic features are there, and if like with a word processor you are one of the 80% who use 20% of the features may fulfil your needs. Photoshop Elements Photoshop Elements As with a lot of recent software not only does it require Windows XP but will only work if you have (SP2) service pack 2 installed. The processor requirement is 1.3GHz or better.
hp officejet 721

HP Officejet 7210

Published in Printers/Scanners on 9 Mar 2007
This is a multi function unit (it has fax) and is a versatile unit. Not tiny but not massive either and it comes with sheet feeder as well as flatbed.
Why change a winning design? HP certainly think like me if something works why change it, the ink may differ but the case looks almost identical to my HP Officejet 6110 of a few years ago. The is 48x25x37cm and weights just over ten kilos. The figures given are maximum as HP store paper in a tray in the base and it is delivered on top of that tray when printed. HP OfficeJet 7210 There are a total of 38 buttons on the front edge of the unit.
mio h61

Mio Digi Walker H610

Published in Misc on 7 Mar 2007
I saw this unit at the Stuff Live show three months ago, it looked the ideal companion for those who walk around in unfamiliar areas. It can also work efficiently in a car.
It is easily small enough to fit in the hand and I used it regularly for over four hours and even longer with only switching to standby mode on a single charge. It is 8.5x6x2 cm and weights only slightly over 100grams. The base has an earbud socket and mini USB - for charging - as well as a neck/wrist strap anchor point. The left side has 'M' menu button.
sony ericsson m600

Sony Ericsson M600i from T-Mobile

Published in Phones on 5 Mar 2007
A phone looking like a small PDA including Internet connectivity and Blackberry push email, it also has another feature that can make texting a joy not a chore.
I think I could probably send a text using the Sony Ericsson M600 as quickly as a teenager, the one proviso the teenager should be using a normal phone keyboard. No I have not developed Superman's thumbs it's the keypad on the M600 that makes me faster. There are a total of 18 keys and a QWERTY keypad. Each key has more than one action dependant on where you strike it.
pure chronos cd and dab radi

Pure Chronos CD

Published in Entertainment on 4 Mar 2007
This is a DAB/FM radio and CD player it comes in a wedge shaped unit containing everything ideal to sit by the bed as it has sleep timer an alarm among it’s features.
The is a maximum of 19x19 at the front and 10cm tall, at the rear it's only 4cm wide and that is why I found it best to call it a wedge. It is black with grey grills covering the speakers that start at the front and mould around the edges. The buttons are all silver. Pure Chronos-CD The top has the CD under a manual open and close lid and four buttons along the front edge that can control it.
lenovo 3000 v10

Lenovo 3000 V100 Notebook

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 2 Mar 2007
For all those that remember IBM’s think pads and other great notebooks they are now in the hands of Lenovo. This offering I should have seen in May still eight months late it’s here.
I am told what I have not been sent is a totally new version. It is 30x22x3.5cm and weights close to 1.9kilos. The screen is 26x16.5cm giving the notional screen size of 12.1 inches. There is an 83key keyboard with all but the function and arrow keys being full size. Behind the keyboard are six buttons for on/off and various sound controls together with a range of LED's.
canon pixma iP6700

Canon Pixma iP6700D

Published in Printers/Scanners on 28 Feb 2007
After looking at a range of 15x10cm printers it’s nice to be back to an A4 offering that is quick, produces excellent output and can also print direct onto CD’s, alas it refuses to make the tea.
It is 43x30x18cm and weights close to 7.5kilos. This is a six ink offering and I suspect most would use it for printing photos and this it excels in. However first the details of text pages using my default 200 word document it prints 14PPM in what is termed 'fast' mode. Printing a more normal 1500 word document spread over four pages in the same mode produced 9.5PPM.
belkin wifi skype phon

Belkin Wi-Fi Phone for Skype

Published in Wireless on 26 Feb 2007
This has one clever plus on the large range of Skype phones, to use this the PC does not need to be turned on. So provided you have a wireless router that’s it.
The is 11.5x5x2cm and looks exactly like a chunky mobile phone. The weight is close to 100grams and the rubberised exterior says it could survive the odd drop onto the carpet. Belkin WiFi phone for Skype It has 16 buttons plus the ubiquitous joystick. Above these is a 3.6x3cm clear a bright display.

3D Globe Deluxe

Published in Software on 25 Feb 2007
It’s been a while since I have reviewed an educational product. This one is from Focus, it has some great maps with views from space and satellites but the info is the king.
If you leave the DVD in the drive you can have a 290MB installation, however should you prefer to store it away safely then a full install took 3.6GB on my PC but amazingly it took only 10 minutes to complete. Windows ME or later is required along with a Pentium III 500 or better, 310MB of memory (or 3.6GB for full install) 1024x768 screen resolution in 16bit colour and a DVD drive.

Grundig Ovation 2

Published in Entertainment on 23 Feb 2007
This upright unit plays CD’s and has an FM radio it also has a clock, alarm clock and sleep timer. It can also be mounted on a wall, all it’s speakers are built in. All in All it look rather stylish.
It is 30x15x28cm and the top half of the face has a rather nice mirror finish. There are basic controls on the sides. However the real surprise is the circular remote control that looks rather like a kitchen timer. My first surprise was the manual that came in six languages - none of them English - so I was left literally having to fathom it out without any help as currently the ability to download a copy from the website is greyed out.
This 15x10cm printer can also be used to charge your camera and to transfer images to the PC. However with the optional battery it can print when away from mains power.
Unlike the other recent mini printers that I have reviewed from Canon, Epson and HP this can only print direct from the camera, the PC or via Pict Bridge, so no card slots. It is 20x18x10cm without the paper tray inserted this adds another 15cm to the 18cm depth. You will also need around 12cm clear at the rear when printing as the 15x10cm sheets are pulled from the tray and then out of the rear to prepare for the four pass Dye Sub printing.