Publication History For : Paul Smart

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Acer Aspire 1802

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 15 Apr 2005
This is listed as a notebook, however I think 'Desktop Replacement' would be a better description for several reasons.

Bliss from Rose

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 11 Apr 2005
Not as you may think some ‘X’ rated offering, but a KVM switch at a bargain price, a simple and efficient way of controlling two PC’s with a single keyboard, video and mouse.

Select Desktop Publishing

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 9 Apr 2005
Focus have been a republisher of many years standing. Here they link two products from the same publisher, both have been around for a long time, however at £9.99 they are certainly worth considering.

Sharp DAB Radio FV-DB1E

Published in Entertainment on 6 Apr 2005
A two band – DAB and FM – offering from Sharp that they describe as a ‘kitchen radio’. Not that sure why it needs a sleep timer and alarm, however it does do things slightly differently to other such offerings.

FujiFilm FinePix F440

Published in Cameras on 3 Apr 2005
This is a very small unit that will easily slip into a pocket or purse. However small does not mean it is not powerful.
Chessmaster has been around in one form or other for a long time it is actually a UBISOFT product but this version is republished by Focus at £9.99 and for that you get quite a lot.
This is powerful top of the range PC with all the bells and whistles, it is also one of the first PC’s on the market built with a LightScribe DVD drive.
As LightScribe is an HP technology it seems only right that their Pavilion unit should be one of the first with it built in. Other manufacturers have produced their own drives but so far the only manufacturer able to supply me with media are Verbatim.   This unit has a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading. It has twin 160GB serial ATA hard drives, 1GB of memory, as well as two DVD drives the second one with LightScribe.

Brother MFC 620-CN

Published in Entertainment on 27 Mar 2005
This is a multi function unit including fax. However for something that scans, copies, prints and sends and receives faxes it is very very small. Finally it is also an telephone answering machine and just for a bonus it can also read most types of photo cards.
The Brother MFC 620-CN measures 36x33x14cm and weights not a great deal. However perhaps far more important the four ink cartridges are of a good size. The setup is software first and you only plug in and switch on when told to.

Sonus-1XT DAB Radio

Published in Entertainment on 26 Mar 2005
Not just another DAB radio this one will tell you the time, it will even tell you what station you are listening to. However I am mortified to say it has so far resolutely refused to make the tea.

My Business Cards

Published in Misc on 23 Mar 2005
Do you ever need to print a short run of business cards, if so you are unlikely to find a quicker or easier method of doing so than My Business Cards from My Software.

Acer n35 GPS handheld

Published in Mobile Tech on 21 Mar 2005
By no means a unique product, however unlike a number of other PDA type packages setting up the unit is, on the face of it, quite simple.

Instant TV USB

Published in Entertainment on 19 Mar 2005
This will allow your PC or notebook to be used as a TV with Teletext function. This is Digital TV and it also has Digital Radio.
epson c1100 printe

Epson C1100

Published in Printers/Scanners on 16 Mar 2005
Entry level colour lasers are now little more expensive than some of their mono counterparts. Now five page a minute good quality colour images are possible.
This is very nearly the perfect box shape at 43x43x42cm. It is quite heavy (28 kilos) so would need a very substantial desk to hold it or it could live on the floor. It has a proper tray for paper at the base of the unit, paper is inserted face up and delivered face down out of the top of the unit. In mono it can produce 25 PPM for as long as there is paper in the tray. For colour this is a respectable 5 PPM.

Acer Digital Camera CS-553

Published in Cameras on 14 Mar 2005
Acer currently produce three cameras and over the last couple of weeks you have heard about the other two. This is the mid range offering and is by far the slimmest.

Focus ‘Teaching You’

Published in Misc on 11 Mar 2005
Quite a proportion of what Focus republish are Education packages either with a large or small ‘e’ here I am looking at two packages that are unlikely to appear on most school timetables. The advantage here is that they are useful even long after school is past.
The 'Teaching You' series uses video and pictorial sequences along with other aids to show you 'how to'. Neither of these guides will ever make you an expert but they may just help you along the way. As with any 'Skill' the biggest input comes from yourself and that is simply hard word.
canon pixma iP90 printe

Canon Pixma iP90

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 9 Mar 2005
Certainly a lightweight and small printer, however given the small ink cartridge size this portable printer may also need to be used sparingly.
It is 31x17x5cm and weights less than 1.8 kilos. The lid opens to allow about 15 sheets - 30 claimed - of paper to be stored before printing. Even though this is a truly portable printer, it can be run from a battery pack, it can also print full A4 pages. The connections as standard are USB and infra red. It can also print images direct from a camera supporting PictBridge.
evesham ebox pv

Evesham E Box

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 7 Mar 2005
This is the unit hinted at in my three recent articles on Windows XP MCE 2005 edition and the large HP Panel. Members have asked about MCE here I give my views.
I have studied what was on offer from a number of vendors and decided that the Evesham E Box was certainly worth a look. You get a grey box that could pass for a DVD or Video Recorder, with certain 'other halfs' saying no to computers in the lounge this may just sneak through. The keyboard and mouse supplied are a wireless set from Microsoft and as such no wires must be a plus.

Bridge from Saitek

Published in Entertainment on 5 Mar 2005
I have for many years enjoyed Bridge problems often found in daily newspapers, however as far as playing in a club they never seem to meet at times to suit me.
Without - hopefully - giving to much away, this to me is an "object of desire" I first saw a pre production unit last summer and I am told I have looked at the first one in the UK. You can see it for yourself during the next three weeks or so on the Abrocour stand at the Ideal Home Show.
pure legato dab micro hif

Pure Legato

Published in Entertainment on 28 Feb 2005
This is a DAB radio, it is also an FM radio and just for good measure it also has a CD and is described as a Micro System equipped with ‘ReVu’.
I am a fan of DAB radio and have reviewed several not just from Pure. However this unit is far more. A lot of people decry DAB saying FM is better, I am not going into this argument here but a lot of DAB stations are simply not available on FM. The previous DAB unit I reviewed was the PocketDAB just before Christmas and this is considerably different in size and of course this is mains only.
The first edition (2002) had more than a few problems, is the second edition (2005) any more useable, especially now it’s legal to buy a copy of MCE with OEM hardware.

HP 1200d Business Inkjet

Published in Printers/Scanners on 23 Feb 2005
Most inkjet printers tend to be smaller than their laser cousins. Not so with this Business Inkjet offering from Hewlett Packard. However big does not always mean expensive.

Media Centre 2005 Part 1

Published in Entertainment on 21 Feb 2005
I have studied the offerings and decided on the machine I would like to investigate. Now there needs to be either a monitor, flat panel or TV. Here I have tried all three.

Belkin Hub and Media Reader

Published in Misc on 19 Feb 2005
After the excitement of finding – according to Sitecom – there are 17 types of media card the Belkin offering at 15 may seem tame but it does do something the other unit did not.
It is 12x6.5x1.5cm and weights around 150grams with supplied USB lead attached. There is a power adapter supplied but in my tests it was never required.   The base has four tiny rubber feet to avoid slippage, both the sides are bare with the back having inputs for the mini USB lead and power adapter as well as outputs for two USB ports. The front has another USB output on the right side with the rest having the connectors over 4.

Rio Carbon

Published in Entertainment on 16 Feb 2005
I have been fortunate enough to review the previous two items produced by Rio, the Nitrus and the Karma. The Carbon fits in between their 1.5GB and 20GB capacity at 5GB.

JVC Everio

Published in Cameras on 13 Feb 2005
Is it a Camcorder, no. Is it a Digital Camera, no. It is a .WAV recording device, no. It is in fact all three. The Everio comes in two models the GZ-MC200 and the GZ-MC100, here I am looking at the latter, the former is likely to cost £100 more.
For a while most decent digital cameras have taken a stab at being a Camcorder although the quality was usually naff. Then more recently Camcorders struck back and added some still camera abilities, again in the majority of cases not that great. Here the Everio seems to cross the void.

Nero 6 Reloaded

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 11 Feb 2005
There are a number of CD/DVD writing packages around but only two can claim to be the major players, Nero and CD Creator, Nero has just got even better.

PocketDAB 1000 Part 2

Published in Entertainment on 9 Feb 2005
When I rushed through a review of the PocketDAB 1000 just before Christmas I promised a more in depth look and a report on use of speakers and rechargeable batteries.
canon pixma ip3000 printe

Canon Pixma iP3000

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 6 Feb 2005
I reviewed the sibling to this (iP2000) last year, although this came out at the same time the media recommended to work with it’s CD/DVD printing capabilities has only just arrived.
It is 42x29x17cm and weighs around 6.5kilos. Paper is loaded face forward in a vertical stack at the rear of the unit and this adds around 21cm to the height. Paper is delivered face up from a drop down door that doubles as a tray to catch output and this adds another 21cm to the depth. As always the stated print speeds are not met, I managed 12PPM printing a 200 word document and just on 9PPM printing a 1500 word - spread over four page - item.

Motorola DECT Phones

Published in Phones on 4 Feb 2005
I first used a DECT phone a few years ago, now when using a corded phone I always seem to need to refer to something that is out of reach.