SanDisk Sansa Fuze MP3 Player
With the world going Apple mad, can SanDisk offer some respite in the form of the Sansa Fuze? We plugged in the 4GB Fuze to find out.
From a design point of view, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Fuze wasn’t that different to Apple’s iPod nano, which this player goes straight up against. We put that down to a form factor that works: a screen and simple controller for volume, track selection, menu navigation and so on.
The Sansa Fuze doesn’t take the minimalist approach however; whilst it has slick clean lines, it has more hard buttons: you have a “home” button and a combined power and Hold slider key as well. The power slider is most welcome, because it is a positive method of powering on and off the device, unlike the iPod’s occasionally dubious press and hold technique.
Toshiba Portégé R500-11Z
This year we’ve seen quite a number of high profile notebook launches aimed at the thin and light segment of the market and while Toshiba may not have made as many headlines with its R500 series, it’s a great machine in its own right.
Weighing in at just 1.1kg, this machine is as light as some of the new breed of mini-notebooks that have been grabbing the headlines of late. It may be light and the design compact but you won’t find any compromises in performance or features.
The body is tough and feels designed to meet the needs of regular travel. You’ll also find a DVD rewriter built-in, which is an impressive piece of engineering for a notebook of this size.
Hawking Technology Wireless-300N USB Dish Adapter
“Wireless will free you from your desk” is the promise and for the most part it does, so why would you need a USB Dish Adapter for your Apple Mac? We get connected to find out.
The premise of the Hawking Technology Wireless-300N USB Dish Adapter is simple: to allow you to sit further away from your (or any) wireless network yet still connect.
Why would you need it? Well if you are thinking of moving into the garden shed to enjoy the summer sun this will be ideal if you can’t currently see your home wireless network.
As for the how, the dish looks like something that the Rebel Alliance would use. You get a mini directional (up, down, left, and right) satellite dish that connects to a spare USB port on your computer. It’s white, plain and has no buttons. It is foldable, but still large.
Aliph Jawbone 2 Bluetooth Headset
Another day another Bluetooth headset I hear you cry, how many ways it is possible to talk on your mobile phone with a small dongle sticking out your ear lug? We put in the new Jawbone 2 to see if this one stands out from the crowd.
Around half the size of the previous Jawbone, the new headset comes with the same crocodile back style casing and promises noise cancelling tech to make sure phone calls are crystal clear.
The design is, as these things normally are, is simple and smart. Weighing in at 10 grams, 4 grams lighter than the original, the Jawbone 2 is clearly geared towards the fashion set rather than your builder on a budget and comes in black, sliver or blingtastic gold.
Motorola Z10 Mobile Phone
The new Motorola Z10, successor to the Z8, comes with the tag line “We’re all film makers now”. But is this phone worth getting excited about? We find out.
The Z10 takes on the kick slider form that we saw in the Z8. This somewhat quirky design from Motorola is actually very comfortable to use as a phone, with the bend meaning the handset cups the side of your face rather than sticking out at a jaunty angle like many sliders.
It also has that Transformers feel to it, not only in the industrial looking silver and grey back, but in way it slickly moves from open to closed. We’re almost disappointed that it doesn’t sprout legs and walk off. However, as sliders go, the Z10 feels solid, well engineered and excellently crafted.
Minimalist it certainly isn’t and you’ll find a combination of hard and soft buttons. The front features the normal Motorola four-way control and enter buttons, as well as your call buttons, back, menu access and two additional soft buttons to select options that sit across the bottom of the screen when needed.
Philips PET830 Portable DVD Player
Portable DVD players come in all shapes and sizes but this Philips player has to be one of the more funky designs. Instead of a laptop-style design, this is more like a tablet that you hold in your hands. The high-gloss finish means it’s quickly covered in fingerprints, so you’ll constantly be cleaning it but overall it looks and feels great.
If that sounds like hard work, there is a flip-out stand on the back of the device and the asking price also includes a mounting kit for your car.
What we liked about the player is the screen, which at 8.5 inches is big and bright enough that you don’t need to sit on top of it to get a good image. It’s not bright enough to use outside, but it’s more than usable on a train or in the back of a car.
Acer Aspire One
Joining in the race to get a slice of the rapidly-growing mini PC pie, is Acer, with their Aspire One. But will this offer you something the Asus Eee PC, HP Mini-Note or MSI Wind will not? We got our hands on the new Aspire One at the press launch in London, for a First Look.
Acer launched the Aspire One into what they see as the “nettop” or “netbook” category; they were insistent, nay passionate, about the fact that this is not a notebook/laptop computer.
We know that Pocket-lint readers are well endowed with grey matter and we will allow you draw your own conclusions on this matter, especially when we reveal further down this review, that you can get a version running Windows XP, with an 80GB hard drive and 1.5GB RAM, and it takes the regular notebook form factor with a hinged screen on a keyboard base.
MSI Wind
When you think of cutting-edge innovation, MSI Computers isn’t usually the first you’d think of and while the Wind is travelling on the tail of the Asus Eee PC it’s a masterstroke in timing as this is the first notebook to reach the UK with an Intel Atom inside.
The Atom is a brand new chip especially designed for mini-notebook PCs. It’s not as quick or as powerful as Intel’s other notebook chips but as it uses a fraction of the power - roughly about 8 watts as opposed to 35 watts, so it’s ideal for devices such as the MSI Wind.
HANNSG HG281DJ Monitor
With the price of LCD panels continuing to drop, HANNSG offer an affordable 28in monitor. But is this encroaching on your main TV? Can you justify going this big? We get watching, gaming and working to find out.
Housed by a narrow gloss black bezel, the HANNSG 281DJ has a 27.5in viewable screen of the Active Matrix TFT type, which is a matt finish, with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200, so supporting full HD. With a contrast ratio of 800:1 it is hardly pushing the boundaries. Whilst the screen isn’t as sharp as some of the Super-TFT screens, the matt finish is appropriate for working as a monitor in general usage, cutting down on reflections that blight its gloss compatriots.
Creative Vado Camcorder
Sporting the moniker “Pocket Video Cam”, Creative are lining up against Flip Video in the battle to be the video in your pocket. But can the new Vado knock the Flip from its perch? We get filming to find out.
The device is slimmer that the Flip, with the lens and screen being flush to the body rather than protruding, again, there is no lens cover. Creative have taken a different design tack to the rival Flip, choosing a sleek silver or hot pink colouring, and giving the Vado a compact sensible design compared with the Flip’s somewhat toy-like appearance.
