We raved about the auto-everything Fujifilm F10, so when we heard that they were producing an updated version of the camera offering more manual controls, we were happy to dust off the chequebook and place an order.
Although the design remains the same (the F11 still looks more like a bottom of the line camera than a highly capable compact) the F11 adds shutter priority and aperture priority and a higher resolution LCD screen, up from 115,000 pixels to 153,000 pixels
As with the F10, the camera features a class leading sensitivity of ISO 80-1600, courtesy of Fujifilm’s ‘Real Photo Processor’ technology.
We remain impressed with the results, with the high ISO rating letting us capture natural-looking images where other cameras would be reaching for the flash or crumbling into a noisy mess.
Once again, we liked the overall speed of the camera, with a swift start up time, fast focussing and negligible shutter lag reducing the chances of missing a vital shot.
Although we welcomed the extra control afforded by the new aperture and shutter priority modes, we did get a bit frustrated with the interface.
With no new dedicated controls to control aperture and shutter settings, exposures had to be adjusted through a rather clunky interface that involved doubling up the main four-way controller and central MENU/OK buttons – not always without confusion.
Some other niggles remain too: we don’t like the way the LCD display briefly turns off when the flash is charging nor do we like Fuji’s annoying ‘breakout box’ that users have to drag about if they wish to charge up the camera.
But overall, the camera continues to impress, and produced excellent exposures throughout our tests (although minor problems with purple fringing remain).
For folks seeking a simple, all round point and shoot camera, the F10 remains our first choice, but for photographers keen to take advantage of Fuji’s outstanding low light abilities with the ability to control exposure manually, the F11 is well worth the extra £30 or so.
Sensor 6.3 million effective pixels
Image sizes 2848 x 2136, 3024 x 2016 (3:2), 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
Movie clips 640 x 480, 320 x 240, 30 fps with sound
File formats JPEG, Movie: AVI (Motion JPEG), WAV
Lens 36-108mm (35 mm equiv) 3x optical zoom, F 2.8 – 5.0
Auto focus area modes Centre, Multi, Continuous
Focus distance Normal: 60cm to infinity, Macro: 5 – 80cm (wideangle)/30 – 80cm (telephoto)
Metering Multi, 256-zone, Average, Spot
ISO sensitivity Auto, ISO 80, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600
Shutter speed 3 – 1/2000 th sec
Modes Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority
Scene modes Auto, Natural Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night scene
Continuous shooting Top 3: Max. 2.2 frames / sec. up to 3 frames
Flash Range Wide angle approx. 0.3m – 6.5m/ Telephoto approx. 0.3m – 4.0m
Flash Modes Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro., Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro
LCD monitor 2.5″ TFT LCD, 153,000 pixels
Weight (no batt) 155 g (5.5 oz)
Dimensions 92 x 58 x 27 mm (3.6 x 2.3 x 1.1 in)
Features: 78%
Ease of Use: 62%
Image Quality: 87%
Overall: 88%
Street price £260 (~$460, ~€380)
Fujifilm F11
In a significant new development, Channel 4 will be allowing their viewers to watch their new comedy program, ‘The IT Crowd’ online and on-demand in advance of their TV broadcast.
The online debut is a first for a terrestrial broadcaster in the UK and apes a similar strategy employed by US network NBC, which launched the US version of The Office online last year.
Channel 4 are saying that this is the first time that they’ve premiered a full episode of a new series, adding that they find it “particularly exciting ” to be airing such a “high profile and apposite programme.”
The program has already received substantial online coverage already with sites like MSN, Yahoo! and Wanadoo running features, and Channel 4 are hoping that the coverage will help in pull in viewers.
After many years of trotting around town with pockets stuffed full of a Palm PDA and a mobile phone, we decide that an all-in-one PDA/smartphone combo would be the best way to reduce our ostentatious trouser bulge.
The left hand side sports the camera button, volume control and voice memo switch, none of which are particularly well placed (it’s all too easy to fire off the voice memo/camera switched when turning the handset on).
Performance
Despite being billed as the “Killer-Sound Phone” by makers Pantech & Curitel, we’re happy to report that the PT-L1900 doesn’t emit a murderous noise beam, but is in fact a top notch music phone.
Back to the phone, the mid-size device (102X48X25.7mm) is dominated by a large, two inch, 240X320 pixels (QVGA), 262k colour TFT LCD display screen, with a slide out keyboard for phone functions.
The makers claim up to 190 hours of standby time and up to 3½ hours of talk time.
For emotionally insecure types needing the reassuring sparkle of ostentatious bling around their neck, the new gold-plated deluxe MP3 player from Jens of Sweden should be a Godsend.
The player can also display pictures and text documents transferred over its USB port.
Perhaps mindful of the torrent of complaints that met Apple’s super scratchy Nano player, Nylander added, “The display is sharp and the player is both smaller and more resistant to scratches or blows than hard disk-based players.”
Sony has announced the Japanese release of two new laptops featuring the Intel Duo Core processor.
The new super-skinny SZ series (0.9″ wide) comes with either a 945GM Express or the GeForce Go 7400 graphics card which offers an unusual SPEED/STAMINA switch.
Sony F TV Series
According to Sony Japan’s website, the laptops will be available in a range of configurations and made available in Japan over the next few weeks.
MobiBlu’s soon-to-be-released DAH-1900 MP3 Player (256mb/512mb/1gb) claims to have the longest battery life of any MP3 player in the entire known universe.
The display can be used to stream song lyrics for pub-like solo singalongs, courtesy of an editable Auto Lyric system.
For nippy transfer of files from a PC, the DAH-1900 offers a High-Speed USB 2.0 interface at up to 40 Mbps transmission speed.
Available colours
Panasonic has unveiled its new ultra-zoom prosumer digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7.
Inherited from Panasonic’s high end Lumix LX1 compact is a new ‘joystick’ control affording fast, easy access to settings such as ISO, image size & quality and white balance.
Like the LX1, the camera also offers a vast array of exposure options, including Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and fully manual, backed up by an exhaustive set of ‘scene’ options covering the useful (‘sports’) to the bizarre (‘soft skin’).
Specifications:
Opera Software have announced the worldwide release of 
As a result of the compression technology, users can surf the Web faster – and those paying for their data traffic can dramatically reduce their bandwidth costs.
“With Opera Mini most people can start surfing the Web with the mobile phone they have today,” purred Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software.
Opera Mini can be freely downloaded by pointing your phone’s WAP browser in the direction of 
Not content with having a café on every street corner in the known universe, Starbucks has announced that it’s considering expanding its entertainment business to offer a MP3 download service at their stores.
Starbucks have already stuck their espresso-scented tentacles deep into the music business and established themselves as a major CD outlet, shifting around 3.5 million CDs in their fiscal year ended 30 September.
Last year, HMV Canada refused to stock Alanis Morissette’s records (good move anyway, we say!) in protest at the wallet-stuffing exclusivity agreement she’d signed with Starbucks.
If the Starbucks service takes off, we can expect more pressure on artists and record companies to conform to their wholesome values – and this can only be bad news for music fans.