The Nokia N95 promises so much. It’s got every gizmo and gadget you can imagine on it, but Richard Davis hasn’t found the dream to match the reality. After you read this, you’ll appreciate that he’s not a happy chappie.
Let me set the scene as to how I came about my Nokia N95. I fell out of love with Nokia after a rather clunky experience with the N73 a while back, followed by various other niggles which led me away.
Continue reading Living With A Nokia N95: A Bug’s Life (1/3)
Yesterday we covered the basics of the Canon Ixus 850IS.
Today we look at how to use it.
Using the camera
Firing up the camera in automatic, the Ixus proved to be a nippy performer, starting up promptly and taking no time at all to lock onto focus. Low light focussing was slower but still impressive.
Continue reading Canon Ixus 850IS Camera Review – Part 2/3 (73%)
Hovering near the top of Canon’s popular Ixus range is the IXUS 850 IS, a 7.1 megapixel ultra-compact sporting a 3.8x optical zoom lens and a 2.5in monitor.
The lens offers a usefully wide 28-105 mm zoom range – great for group shots and landscapes – with Canon’s Optical Image Stabilisation system helping keep images sharp in low light.
With its rounded edges and compact dimensions (89.5 x 58.0 x 25.1mm) the Ixus is designed to be a carry-everywhere pocket snap shooter. It looks pretty to the eye too, with a stylish two-tone, semi-matt metallic colour scheme contrasting against the chrome details.
The all metal case looks pretty tough, with the smoothed and recessed controls ensuring that the camera doesn’t get snagged in your pockets.
All that metal means that it’s not the lightest camera around, and with its lardy 150g weight (without battery) you’re unlikely to forget it’s in your pocket.
The controls
The camera’s basic controls are pretty easy to get to grips with. The illuminated power on/off switch lies recessed on the top plate, which means it’s very hard to turn on accidentally, but, conversely, those with larger fingers may find it quite hard to operate.
Next to the power switch is the shutter control surrounded by a little lever for zooming in/out. Again, folk with sausage sized fingers (or simply wearing gloves) may have trouble getting to grips with it.
On the back, a circular shooting mode switch – orientated vertically – has a handy lip that conveniently doubles up as a thumb rest, making for a fairly sure camera grip.
A large and crisp 2.5″ 207k colour LCD screen dominates the back of the camera, with all the camera controls positioned to the right.
Most of the camera’s functionality is accessed through a circular 4-way control with a central OK/Function Set button, while two buttons below are used to set display preferences and call up the menu interface, with a third button accessing Print/Share controls.
After our Numark CD1 Mixer developed a worrying penchant for spontaneous remixing (resulting in a sea of unimpressed glares from the dance floor), we feared that the machine may have been subjected to a Ramones song too many.
After testing at home, we realised that CDs that played perfectly well on other players were jumping all over t’shop on the Numark and that it had become more sensitive than usual to vibration.
If you’re a DJ playing out on a Saturday night, you’re likely to feel more vibrations than most with the dance floor bouncing to an air punchin’, all gyratin’ crowd (or an advancing angry mob demanding that the idiot behind the decks is removed tout de suite), so a sensitive CD deck is not good news.
We took the Numark into our testing labs (OK, the kitchen table) and gave it a good clean before resorting to the rather unscientific method of opening the CD trays and blowing like billy-o inside, all to no avail.
Testing the CD cleaner
In desperation – and with a DJ booking looming at a venue noted for its no-nonsense crowd – we thought we’d give the Lindy Multi-format CD/DVD Lens Cleaner a go.
Opening the packaging was a little disappointing. We were expecting hi-tech sprays, advanced lotions and cunning cleaning mechanisms, but all we found was a CD with a rather comical mini shaving brush sticking out in the middle.
The instructions were equally unfussy, with a simple exhortation to shove in the CD and play track 12.
Naturally, we were intrigued what lived on the other tracks, and discovered curious snippets of avant garde industrial
metal machine noise, before track 12 started up with a burst of jaunty Euro-pop.
Before we had chance to put on our pink leg warmers and get grooving, the track went silent while (we presume) the little brush does it head cleaning thing for about 20 seconds.
We ran the cleaner on our Numark CD1 a couple of times and are pleased to say that it seemed to do the business, with the decks working fine at the gig next day (although we’d also mounted the player on a mat of bubble wrap, just to be sure).
Of course, contrary to the famed Tomorrow’s World demonstration where it appeared that CDs were so tough, they’d probably outlive several direct nuclear hits, some CDs do fail no matter what.
We’ve had more than enough expensive CDs (as well as dodgier MP3 copies) fail miserably mid-gig, but if your CD player is in tip top shape there’s more chance you’ll be spared dancefloor disasters, so it’s worth giving the Lindy cleaner a spin.
Don’t expect miracles though, as we’ve seen more than enough CD players terminally self-destruct, but at just a fiver the CD cleaner looks to be worth a pop.
Our verdict
Features: 75%
Ease of Use: 80%
Value for Money: 65%
Overall: 70%
Commodore – a name sure to turn old skool gamers of a certain age all misty eyed and nostalgic – has released a range of high end gaming PCs.
The top spec’d Commodore GX and Commodore xx models will only be available from their online store, while the Commodore g and Commodore GS range will sold in retail outlets from May.
Sadly, the trusty old Amiga OS is nowhere to be seen, with all the machines running the Windows Vista operating system.
The top of the range XX model has a price tag sure to induce “Gordon Bennett!” exclamations, serving up a £2,900 baseline spec featuring an Intel Core2 Extreme Quad-Core processor QX6700: 2.66GHz 8MB Cache, ASUS P5N32-E NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI motherboard, 2x NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB SLI graphics cards, 2x 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Raid 0 hard drives and 2GB of 1066MHz RAM, running on Windows Vista Home Premium.
And that’s without a monitor, keyboard and mouse and just a two year service and parts warranty.
For those with extra voluminous pockets, machine requirements can be customised further online, with additional options like a BluRay writer, extra RAM and bigger drives pushing the price into the stratosphere.
Mad for it gamers might also warm to Commodore Gaming’s ‘C-kins’ designs which let users select one of a 100 flashy, scratch-proof, PC case paint jobs created using a patented dye process.
“We’re extremely excited and proud to offer our range of exceptional gaming machines and since PC gaming and online gaming is about instant entertainment, this is what we intend to deliver with machines that will satisfy everyone from the casual gamer to the professional,” piped Bala Keilman, CEO for Commodore Gaming.
Commodore says it plans to roll out a European store in mid May, accompanying retail outlets in UK, Germany, France and the Benelux.
It’s been a long time coming after being announced way back at CES in January 2007, but word is that iRiver’s B20 is finally about to start shipping.
It’s a lovely looking thing too, packing a ton of functionality into its diminutive dimensions, with the business end dominated by a 2.4inch 260,000 colour TFT-LCD display.
Inside there’s a feast of techno-gubbins taking care of your every multimedia need, with the device ready and willing to play about with movies, music, pictures, videos, text and digital broadcasting.
There’s support for MP3, WMA, OGG, AVI (MPEG4), WMV9, JPG playback, as well as an onboard FM radio with programmable FM recording, T-DMB recording, a voice recorder and alarm.
Battery life is claimed at up to 17 hours for MP3 playback, 4 hours for video, 7 hours for DAB, dropping down to just 4 hours for DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting).
The player comes in 2GB and 4GB flash memory flavours and there’s a Mini SD card slot for expansion.
Pricing should be around €164 for the 2GB version and €206 for the 4Gb jobbie.
Specs:
Display: 2.4inch 260,000 colour TFT-LCD display
Triple-band support (Band 3 + Band L + Analogue FM)
Frequency: 174MHz~240MHz(Band 3), 1.452GHz~1.492GHz(Band L)
1GB/2GB/4GB flash memory capacity, with Mini SD card expansion slot
Built in T-DMB recording
Integrated FM Tuner, voice recorder and alarm
Supported file types: MP3, WMA, OGG, AVI (MPEG4), WMV9, JPG
Battery life up to 17 hours (MP3), 4 hours (Video), 7 hours (DAB), 4 hours (DMB)
iRiver D-Click System navigation
Built in speaker
Taiwanese chipset manufacturer Via Technologies has released a motherboard so teeny-weensy that it could almost fit in a box of playing cards.
Via claims that their VT6047 Pico-ITX form factor motherboard is the smallest fully-featured x86 mainboard in the known universe, and we certainly haven’t seen anything smaller.
Although motherboards may not be the sexiest piece of kit around, creating a board as tiny as this little puppy opens up a world of possibilities for ultra-compact PC systems and appliances.
The Pico-ITX ‘board measures up at just 10cm x 7.2cm, and is around 50 per cent smaller than the previous ‘smallest motherboard’ title holder, the Nano-ITX form factor.
The pint sized motherboard is designed to be powered by one of Via’s energy efficient processor platforms – like the Via C7 or the fan-free Eden processor in the 21mm x 21mm nanoBGA2 package – with the resultant combo delivering a hefty clout into a low heat, low power, ultra-compact package.
“The Pico-ITX represents Via’s commitment to spearhead x86 innovation through our proven technology leadership in driving down the platform size,” purred Richard Brown, vice president of corporate marketing at Via.
“As with the Mini-ITX and Nano-ITX form factors before it, this new platform has raised the excitement level among enthusiasts and customers alike, firing the imagination an almost unlimited range of what were previously impossibly small systems,” he added.
Consumer PCs built around the Pico-ITX form factor motherboard are expected soon.
Not to be confused with the deceptively similar sounding (and far more famous) Yamaha brand, German tech company Yamada hope that their HTV-200XU home system will find a place in your bijou living quarters.
The bookshelf system manages to cram in just about everything you’ll need for an all-in-one home entertainment system into a diminutive package, right down to a 7″ colour LCD screen on the front.
The all-black system comes with matching speakers (with removable grills for that macho ‘top off’ look), and comes stuffed to the gills with multimedia playback functionality.
The system sports a DVB-T tuner and analogue FM tuner, a DVD player that can handle just about every recordable format in town ( DVD, DVD R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD and CD-R/RW) and even offers 5.1 Sound System output backed by S-video, video, stereo and digital coaxial line-outs.
The HTV-200XU can also keep you entertained with support for DVDs, JPEG photos and videos in DivX and MPEG-4 formats – and it can rip CDs too.
Boasting a fairly reasonable 30 Watts RMS output, the Yamada HTV-200XU also has a USB port for hooking up to your home PC or MP3 player, with the whole caboodle setting you back 220 Euros.
While there’s no denying that the Yamada comes with enough groovy functionality to get our little nerdy hearts skipping a beat, we’re not entirely sure we’d want one. After all, who’d want to watch a DVD at home on such a squinty screen?
Microsoft have actually made a sensible decision, an external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 and it works.
With a recent software update the Xbox 360 was given HD support and suddenly 1080i and 1080p resolutions sprang to life (of course not all games support these new modes). Unfortunately the internal DVD is a bog standard DVD-ROM drive and it doesn’t support the new HD formats at all.
The external drive connects through one of the Xbox 360’s USB ports, it’s a shame there aren’t any rear sockets as the cable dangles out the front of the unit. Just plug it in, connect its power supply unit and install the software that comes with the unit and that’s it. It all just works. MS have been nice and included a DVD remote, though the normal game controllers work too.
Upscaled content
A nice feature is that the Xbox 360 will upscale content to whatever your output is set to (tested using 1080i), so a normal standard def DVD can be output at 1080i or 1080p. It works surprisingly well. There were very occasional artefacts or blocking – but it’s eminently viewable, even on a high action film (shame the film itself wasn’t). There are quite a few DVD players that offer some kind of upscaling feature, but it generally adds to the cost significantly.
Silence is golden
DO NOT EVER watch a film with quiet bits in it. The major downside to this set-up is that the Xbox 360 sounds like a train rumbling through your living room, it’s incredibly loud. As soon the the film quietens, there it is. You cant quite block it out.
Current Xbox 360’s also don’t support HDMI (the newly announced Elite will) so the best resolutions require component video and that means a separate audio output. The cable does have an optical out, but it doesn’t support newer digital modes like Dolby TruSurround.
Verdict
For around 130 quid, a bargain HD-DVD drive that upscales as well, but it’s bulky and noisy.
Features: 88%
Ease of Use: 90%
Value for Money: 97%
Overall Score: 81% (let down by Xbox 360 noise)
There’s a common thought that Moore’s Law in relation to processing power has now become irrelevant, due to the now-attained high processing speeds. In it’s place is a form of Moore’s Law for storage and how important it’s rapid growth is.
In proof of this new Law, Hitachi have released the first 1Tb (1,000 Gb) hard drive named the DeskStar 7K1000. Tom’s Hardware have been running tests on the new drive and have recently reported on it.
There’s 9 pages of the review which reach the conclusion that in terms of the cost per gigabyte it’s not the best value hitting around £230 / €330, which clearly doesn’t compare well with £100 / €150 that 500Gb drives now give.
The reviewers, Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos, feel that having a single 1Gb drive will be easier to handle, but as a data drive rather than one to run the operating system from.
Their view is to hold on for a little while until other manufacturers get their 1Gb drives out, such as Seagate, which will come with a five year warranty, that is lacking in the Hitachi.