Publication History For : Paul Smart

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canon mv650i camcorde

Canon Camcorder MV650i

Published in Cameras on 29 Jan 2004
I see a lot of digital cameras, I see a lot of web cams, but for some reason not a lot of camcorders. When I started testing the MV650i I had a very big shock, the provided recording mechanism was not tape.
The MV650i is a mid size unit with 22x optical zoom with it's digital zoom this can become up to 440x. It is 16x10x5cm and weights around 650grams. It comes with power adapter, USB lead, stereo video cable, SCART socket, hand strap, neck strap, wireless controller (remote control), manuals, CD's and 8MB SD card. What have I missed, nothing, I checked in the manual. NO TAPE.
Two PC’s, one monitor, one keyboard, one mouse, one set of speakers and one KVM switch with cables, what does this give you? The answer two working computers and best of all less desk space needed.
A laser has one huge advantage for mono printing over an inkjet, when it says 17PPM that is what you get and not just 17 identical two paragraph memos in draft mode.
As you may gather printing speed has always been a bugbear with me, perhaps that's why looking at honest lasers is such a joy. One example 573 lines of text spread over 12 pages, that's 9643 words to be precise. From sending this to the printer there was around nine seconds while it thought and then 40 seconds later all 12 pages were laying face down on top of the unit, perfectly printed.
A lot of fuss has been made about the iPod even to the extent they were unavailable just before Xmas. There are other similar devices one is the Philips HDD100.
One thing the iPOD can't do is work with .wma files, the Philips can although in my tests there was some popping and jumping something I did not get with .MP3 files.   Leaving the iPOD aside I know of two other names in large size .MP3 players Archos and Creative Labs. The Archos units are simply large hard discs and in most cases somewhat larger in dimension than the Philips.

LG G7050 Mobile Phone

Published in Phones on 19 Jan 2004
If like me you are old enough to remember the huge items that kept up your muscles and as a sideline pumped out large amounts of electrical interference then what the current range of tiny phones can do is something rather special.
Firstly of course they are small, and multifunctional, a phone that is just a phone would be totally unacceptable unless of course you breakdown miles from anywhere. A camera is a requirement and some means of collecting and sending emails as well as browsing the www. I suppose the dimensions of 11x4.5x2cm are not that mind blowing by today's minute standards.

APC Surge Strip plus UPS (BF500-UK)

Published in Misc on 16 Jan 2004
For the last couple of weeks I have been using a five socket Surge Strip, that has a rather nice plus in that it is also a UPS. The size is only slightly thicker than a conventional surge strip.

Canon i865 Photo Printer

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 9 Jan 2004
This inkjet offering gives reasonable print speed for text and very good image output as well as excellent speed.
I have long used a gang socket to control my computer with a single switch. These days I use a surge protection switch that has other advantages.

Philips ToUcam Pro II (PCVC 840K)

Published in Cameras on 26 Dec 2003
A web cam is a web cam right? Well perhaps not always, in fact several have the ability to store images inside their own memory away from the PC, some can even store sound and by that you know they can also record video.
Regular readers will have known this was coming and may I suggest this could well be the first treat of Christmas, even better if you combine it with the HP 945 camera.
Unless you are convinced that either + or – will prevail then a dual format drive is the only way to go. This unit costs around £100 with a sample or each media and a decent software bundle.
Just over a week ago I finished my review of a 5mega pixel camera, here I looking at a 640x480 unit, however for what it is it takes rather good images.

Hauppauge Win TV Express

Published in Entertainment on 15 Dec 2003
Some recent PC’s have a TV card – normally provided at a price – here you can have one for less than £30, you also get Teletext, Window in Windows and a personal PVR.

HP PhotoSmart 945 Digital Camera

Published in Cameras on 14 Dec 2003
5.3 Mega Pixel, 8x optical zoom, these two items alone should be enough to encourage any keen camera user to read on.

MediaGear Combo 9in4 Reader Writer

Published in Misc on 11 Dec 2003
Little did I think six weeks ago when I reviewed a couple of 8 in 1 card readers that the one missing component would be available so quickly.

Mobicool Personal Fridge

Published in Homes and Gardens on 8 Dec 2003
I attend a number of presentations and events during the year and occasionally you are given a small gift, sometimes a flashing pen or even a shoulder bag, normally whatever it is, is emblazoned with the company logo. However last week as I was leaving an event one of this nameless company’s employees handed me a 30x20x32cm box.

Kensington Foam Mouse Wristrest

Published in Misc on 8 Dec 2003
A mousepad is a mousepad right? Wrong, lots of colours, designs, shapes and sizes but all doing more or less the same job? Wrong, they provide somewhere to allow you to control the mouse cursor to move around the screen right? Right but….

AutoRoute v Route Planner

Published in Misc on 4 Dec 2003
Perhaps the ultimate gadget, something to get you from A to B and then even to C and D. The latest versions of Auto Route and Route Planner probably the most popular packages of their type in the UK.

Belkin High Speed USB2 4 Port Hub

Published in Misc on 1 Dec 2003
With more and more devices now connecting to USB ports the available ones soon fill up, if you have a modern machine with a couple of ports on the front changing items need not result in a slipped disc, however more access to ports is still important.
This is a somewhat different MP3 player, the neck strap has volume and track controls built into it, change them by just pressing the fabric of the strap.
Size is not everything – where have I heard that before? – at least with a Notebook mouse that is certainly true. Small it certainly is, but it still has two buttons and a wheel.

Lexmark T420D

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 16 Nov 2003
A laser with attitude, don’t get me wrong it performed flawlessly, it has extras as standard, how many lasers at this price have built in duplex, and it works fine.

X-Drive II

Published in Cameras on 14 Nov 2003
What can Santa bring the keen photographer who seems to have everything? This device stores images when away from your PC. So no more taking umpteen media cards, now you can take as many images as you like.
Until very recently the cost of a colour laser has been beyond the end user, only businesses could afford the cost of hardware and toners, suddenly they are affordable.

HP LaserJet 1010

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 8 Nov 2003
Many years ago I purchased a second hand LaserJet 6MP it performed flawlessly until recently when for some reason it comes up with an undefined error, to repair it would cost more than the new 1010.

Philips DVDRW416K

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 7 Nov 2003
Now a mere 650MB from a CD is far from enough space so DVD is the obvious way to go. There are however two distinct formats namely DVD+RW and DVD-RW this unit is one of the former.

HP iPAQ Pocket PC h5500

Published in Mobile Tech on 6 Nov 2003
Most will know this is one huge plus for HP that came out of the merger with Compaq. Although I have used several Pocket PC’s I have never before used an iPAQ.

USB External Sound Cards

Published in Laptops/PCs/Apple on 5 Nov 2003
Does your notebook have a naff sound chip, has your desktop system got built in sound, is it one of those that is difficult, or near impossible to disable, here are two possible solutions.

CorelDRAW Essentials 2

Published in Misc on 4 Nov 2003
A couple of years ago Corel launched the first edition of Essentials; it certainly was an essential purchase. Now at last Essentials 2 is available is this just as essential?
Why should a gadget be just hardware? Lots of software applications can perform a job that either would be difficult or close to impossible without them, the choice then would be to buy the product produced from a third party.