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As some of you will have noticed over the last few weeks, tracyandmatt.co.uk was nominated for the ComputerWeekly.com IT Blog Awards 08. And as you can see from the results HERE – got second place! Only beaten by a Microsoft guy. Well done Jason. A huge thanks to all those who voted and all your support. |
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If that’s not enough to get us sandbox’ed as spammers I don’t know what is. However, it is half-true. Orange UK are giving away the brand spanking Eee PC 900 16gb for absolutely nothing.
There is the downside of a two-year £25 a month contract, but for that you get 3GB data transfer and 100 text messages a month, and a free HSDPA modem.
Obviously the stonking £600 total cost of the contract is a little eye-watering, but if you were going to go for a mobile broadband contract anyway, maybe this will help you part with your money, and in my opinion and personal experience, Orange offers the most reliable coverage and quality of any network I’ve used.
Laptop: Asus EeePC 900 16gb
Modem: Option Icon 225 USB 3G Modem w/HSPDA
More @ Orange.co.uk
Posted by: Mark
Just a quick post to let you know that the HTC Touch Pro has just landed in the UK and is in stock at Clove Technology and Devicewire.
he HTC Touch Pro, with VGA Screen, elegant touch screen response and built in keyboard makes it the ideal communication tool. With an impressive range of features and powerful processor, we feel sure this will become one of the best selling high end Smartphone’s.
A stunning 2.8-inch VGA touch screen provides the HTC Touch Pro four times the resolution making email, documents and web pages sharper and easier to work with. The new TouchFlo 3D interface provides quick and simple touch navigation between popular applications, and the excellent keyboard compliments this to enable quick input of information. Couple this with the power of Windows 6.1, push email, built in GPS and fast data connection though HSDPA and fast Wi-Fi connection. Additional memory can easily be added via a Micro SD supporting SDHC cards.
The HTC Touch Pro which is sold unlocked and SIM free can be used virtually anywhere in the world
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, raphael, HTC, HTC Touch Pro]
Sony have just announced new Bravia HD LCD TV models, details from the press release:
Introducing the state of the art BRAVIA™ X4500 and W4500 series
BRAVIA™ X4500 series
Full HD 1080p
- Graceful floating design with translucent frame
- Best-ever clarity, colour, contrast and definition with BRAVIA™ ENGINE 2 PRO
- Rich, deep colours, superb contrast and reduced power consumption from new RGB Dynamic LED backlight (46, 55-inch)
- Smoother, sharper fast-moving action with Motionflow PRO100Hz technology (46, 55-inch)
- Enjoy digital music and photos from networked DLNA devices
BRAVIA™ X4500 series
BRAVIA™ W4500 series
- Full HD 1080p
- Innovative styling inspired by new ‘draw the LINE’ design concept
- Superb clarity, colour and contrast with BRAVIA™ ENGINE 2
Smoother, sharper fast-moving action thanks to Motionflow 100Hz with Image Blur Reduction technology
- Enjoy digital music and photos from networked DLNA devices
BRAVIA™ W4500 series
Whether you’re into the latest movies on Blu-ray™ Disc, nail-biting PLAYSTATION®3 games or sparkling HD broadcasts, there’s a mouthwatering choice of BRAVIA™ televisions for serious viewers who demand the ultimate entertainment experience.
“The unique blend of advanced technology and leading design of both the BRAVIA™ X4500 and slim speaker systems, mean that consumers can now view crystal-clear images with atmospheric sound without compromising on the look and feel of their home”, explained George Damigos, General Manager, Marketing, TV Marketing Europe.
“Together with the feature-packed W4500 series, these two new BRAVIA™ ranges represent the absolute pinnacle of Sony innovation in bringing you the best-looking pictures and an unmatched home theatre experience.”
BRAVIA™ X4500 series: the very last word for serious home theatre fans
The stunning flagship of the BRAVIA™ range, the top-of-the-range X4500 series represents the very last word in unmatched picture quality and breathtaking design.
Available in three screen sizes (40-inch, 46-inch, 55-inch), it’s packed with state-of-the-art Sony technologies to deliver Full HD 1080p pictures and dynamic sound that effortlessly surpass anything you’ve seen before. With no less than 4x HDMI ports for connection with a wide array of HD sources, the X4500 series is the ultimate choice for discerning home cinema enthusiasts who demand an uncompromised theatrical experience.
Thanks to a unique new ‘floating’ design, the exquisite looks of the X4500 series are guaranteed to grab your attention before the TV is even turned on. In addition to the supplied sterling silver speaker covers, there’s a choice of optional speaker covers (Ruby Red or Obsidian Black), letting you customise the X4500 series to complement and enhance your personal living space.
To get the absolute best out of your favourite movies, TV broadcasts and games, Sony’s new BRAVIA™ ENGINE 2 PRO filters, cleans and optimises image data before it’s displayed on the Full HD 1080p LCD panel. As well as reducing picture noise, this powerful processor widens colour range and smooths motion while boosting contrast for deep, cinematic blacks.
For amazing results with any picture source like DVD, the latest-generation DRC (Digital Reality Creation) 3.0 boosts the resolution using advanced up-conversion-technology to stream a Full HD 1080p picture. This ensures detail-packed images that take full advantage of the highly detailed 1920×1080 panel.
A true cinematic experience in your own home demands rich colours and true, deep blacks. For the first time ever, 46-inch and 55-inch X4500 series models feature an energy-efficient RGB Dynamic LED backlight that momentarily dims in dark areas of the picture, reducing light leakage for enhanced contrast and deeper blacks. Clusters of red, green and blue LEDs provide a wider palette of colours than conventional white LED backlights. The result is stunning reproduction of Blu-ray Disc™, DVD and TV broadcast sources, just as the director intended.
46- and 55-inch models excel with smooth, lifelike reproduction of sports and other fast-moving action. Motionflow PRO 100Hz technology intelligently creates extra frames, inserting them into the signal and doubling the displayed frame rate. In addition, ‘backlight blinking’ successively switches off horizontal backlight portions of the frame with each frame. This significantly reduces picture blur without the fatiguing ‘flicker’ effect of conventional black frame insertion systems. The 40-inch screen size model also features new IB Reduction. This ‘cleans’ original frames before new frame insertion for a sharper image still with reduced motion blur.
Along with the W4500 series, the X4500 series is the first BRAVIA™ television that connects seamlessly with other networked devices via DLNA in your home. It’s easy to access, share and enjoy digital photos and music with other certified devices around the home – like VAIO Blu-ray Disc™ PCs and other compatible media devices.
You can also view your pictures by inserting a USB Memory stick into the USB input on the side of the TV or by directly connecting your Cyber-shot™ or other digital cameras to your BRAVIA™. Enjoying your detail-packed photos in Picture Frame Mode on a 40 inch or even larger screen will bring your memories back to life.
The ultimate BRAVIA™ entertainment experience is completed by an innovative audio system with 6 main speakers and 2 woofer speakers on the 55X4500 and 4 main and 2 woofer speakers on 40X4500 / 46X4500.
Surround effects can be optimised for sports, live music concerts or movies, or customised for maximum enjoyment of any type of programme. The combination of the ultra-thin shape with the leading technology of the finger speaker and assist woofer produces a remarkably crisp sound quality without altering the style and design of the TV.?
BRAVIA™ W4500 series: incredible images with any HD source
Whether you’re into sports, gaming or general TV viewing, the BRAVIA™ W4500 series delivers incredible picture and sound quality to get the very best out of your favourite HD sources.
Available in three screen sizes (40-inch, 46-inch, 52-inch), the set features effortlessly contemporary looks inspired by Sony’s audacious ‘Draw the Line’ design concept. Sharing many of the same picture innovations as its X4500 sibling, the BRAVIA™ W4500 series is packed with latest Sony technology for the best-looking Full HD pictures you’ve ever seen.
BRAVIA™ ENGINE 2 processing guarantees superb clarity, colour, contrast and definition, while Motionflow 100Hz technology keeps fast-moving action crisp and clear. In addition, new IB Reduction ‘cleans’ original frames before new frame insertion for a sharper image with reduced blur.
The W4500 series also lets you enjoy multimedia content from other devices on your home network that support the DLNA standard.
The BRAVIA™ X4500 and W4500 series Full HD LCD televisions will be available from September 08 (X4500) and October 08 (W4500).
BRAVIA™ X4500 and W4500 Series: Key Features
Posted by: Matt
We’ve reported dust problems on mobile devices in the past, most notably the Samsung i600 which suffered greatly with dust getting under the screen.
HTC phones are generally quite good when it comes to dust getting inside so I was surprised to see dust appearing under the screen on Tracy’s HTC Touch Diamond!
It initially looked like a couple of scratches on the screen but when you press them with your finger you can tell that it is in fact a couple of dust particles trapped between the outer screen and the LCD itself.
It’s quite hard to capture on a photograph but you might be able to make it out in the image below.
So, if you are an HTC Touch Diamond owner have you got any dust under the screen?
Posted by: Matt
I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that submitted feedback to us following the newsletter we sent out recently. The response was great and I’ll certainly be taking all of you comments on board as we move forward.
Everyone that received our newsletter was invited to send us site feedback and, as promised, everyone that then gave us feedback was entered in to our LG Secret competition. I am pleased to announce that our winner, selected at random, is Stephan White from Romford. Congratulations Stephan!
If you didn’t get our email newsletter this time around and would like to get the next one in about three weeks time then please do drop me a line via our contact page and I’ll gladly add you to the list.
I’d also like to say thank you to eXpansys as they kindly gave us over 4000 £10 off vouchers to send out with the newsletter and to LG for putting up the Secret as prize.
I’m not sure what we’ll have on offer in the next newsletter but I’m sure there will be some sort of prize and hopefully some vouchers or special offers!
Of course if you would like to submit your feedback you still can, let us know what you like and dislike about the site and if there is anything you would like to see more of etc. via the contact page.
Posted by: Matt
No this isn’t a mistake or a repeat-post but in fact HTC just released another ROM update for the HTC Touch Diamond. This time it’s version 1.93 and is available for the UK and other European countries.
As with other HTC ROM updates, in order to download the update you must have an HTC Touch Diamons and have registered it’s serial number through your e-club account. Once you have done this then the download will be available as a “Phone Software Update” in the “My Downloads” section of your account.
The download is just over 98MB in size and the update process takes around 20 minutes to perform. This is a full ROM update so EVERYTHING will be wiped from your Diamond (Internal Storage is Safe) during the upgrade so be sure to backup all of your important data before you begin the update process!
Updated in this ROM:
I’m downloading this ROM update at the moment and I’ll let you know how I get on with it later.
Posted By: Matt
[Source]
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, TyTN II]
Today we discovered that Vodafone are going to carry the HTC Touch Pro and, a little earlier than we expected, are due to launch the device some time this month!
For those of you that don’t know about the Touch Pro (where have you been hiding?) this is the new device from HTC that’s very similar to the HTC Touch Diamond in terms of size and specification but the Touch Pro looses the 4GB of internal storage in favour of a MicroSD card slot and also sports a sliding QWERTY keyboard which has given the Pro the unofficial nickname ‘TyTN III’.
I suspect that the Touch Pro will have a great deal of appeal to business customers and wonder if the imminent launch of the Touch Pro is why Orange are not offering the Touch Diamond to corporate customers?
You can see more of the HTC Touch Pro on the Vodafone Business Shop site.
The HTC Touch Pro has all the elegance and magic of the HTC Touch Diamond and adds a five row QWERTY keyboard for the ‘heavy messaging’ user. The HTC Touch Pro also comes with added flexibility of a MicroSD slot, which when combined with the optional accessory of the TV out cable means that the device can swap between slide presentations, music library, video player with ease. Launch expected in August
We are expecting to get our hands on an HTC Touch Pro review unit within the next week so watch this space for more news and reviews!
Posted by: Matt
With environmental issues topping the media agenda in the public consciousness, electronics companies must be seen to be changing their approach to product design as well as adapting their manufacturing processes.
Sony has been working hard to address environmental issues company-wide and these efforts have been recognised in Europe, with Sony the first consumer electronics company to be awarded the EU Sustainable Energy Award (in 2007).
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Environment/news/2007/20070213.html
The latest BRAVIA TVs from Sony have been specifically designed with the environment in mind. New features have been developed with the aim of raising current industry standards, to ensure that everyone benefits in the future.
Auto Power Off
Recent media coverage has highlighted the power wasted by TV sets being left on unnecessarily. Sony already has an auto shut off function in its BRAVIA TV range which will turn the set to standby mode after ten minutes if there is no input signal. Typically, this means a reduction in the amount of power required from 169W to just 0.3W. While your TV might turn itself off for you, don’t forget to switch off your stereo as well – playing music to an empty room isn’t going to help the environment, or your neighbours’ ears!
Light Sensor
To help reduce power usage, all BRAVIA models are fitted with brightness sensors. This means that the TV reacts to how dark a room in and automatically adjusts its own picture settings to lower power consumption without having any impact on the viewing experience – making for an overall ‘greener’ showing. Just imagine how much energy could be saved if TVs around the world could do this.
Recycled Materials
Around 10% of all Sony Products are made from recycled materials. In 2006, the 16,000 tons of plastic Sony re-used made it one of the industry leaders in using recycled plastics. It also helped reduce CO2 emissions by around 18,000 tons – the equivalent of almost 3000 fully grown male elephants!
Power Saving Modes
One of the areas Sony is currently exploring is how to reduce the amount of power required to run a television. BRAVIA TVs now come with power-saving modes as standard. Not only do these modes lessen the TV’s environmental impact but they also help reduce the cost of running it. So, save it all up and you can take your other half out for a romantic meal. Or just spend it on yourself.
So what’s your take on these environmental issues? Have you changed your behaviour at all? Drop us a line.
Posted by: Matt
It’s been a long time since their originaly announcement back in February of this year, but Sony has finally launched their new Blu-ray players, the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550.
The S350 manages to pack in BonusView, Precision Drive HD and is BD-Live Ready as of October, via a firmware upgrade. The Precision Cinema HD upscaling technology is also included, which upscales standard-def footage to 1080p.
Great picture and sound quality with Sony’s new Blu-ray Players
The new BDP-S350 and S550 offer amazing home cinema experience for Blu-ray movies, DVDs and music
Sony BDP-S350
The latest next-generation BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 Blu-ray Disc™ players from Sony provide movie fans with the ultimate full HD home cinema experience and incorporate an amazing range of innovative new features.
“We called upon our expertise in Hollywood movie production and digital technology to build a machine that movie fans would truly love,” said David Walstra, Director, Home Video Marketing of Sony Europe. “An advanced Blu-ray Disc™ player like the BDP-S350 or BDP-S550 is a must for every HDTV owner because it delivers the best possible 1080p high-definition video and incredible sound quality, while unlocking next-generation features that you just won’t get from DVD, downloads or video-on-demand.”
BDP-S350: the complete Blu-ray High Definition Experience – with effortless upgrade to full BD Live
The BDP-S350 includes several exciting new Blu-ray features in a slim product design, such as 24p True Cinema, BonusView, Sony’s Precision Cinema HD Upscale, Precision Drive HD and BD-Live Ready. Just connect the player to the internet and download the latest firmware, which will be available by October 2008, to access all the qualities of BD live.
The BD-Live and BD-Java firmware enables you to access a range of exciting online services, which allows rich interactive home entertainment experience. Simply connect the player via an Ethernet cable to the internet to join on-line blogs whilst watching the movie, enter online competitions, draws and online games. You can also access special added value content which is not loaded onto the disc but can be downloaded onto an optional USB flash storage device from a special website dedicated to the movie, such as exclusive movie trailers, latest artist or producer interviews.
The BonusView functionality allows you to view a secondary video stream simultaneously from the same BD disc . This amazing technology means that you can view Picture-in-Picture Blu-ray content at the same time as the the main movie, providing an out of this world home-cinema experience.
Since many consumers own extensive DVD movie libraries, the BDP-S350 incorporates Sony’s new Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology that converts standard-definition signals (480i) to 1080p and outputs a full HD equivalent resolution signal to 1080p TVs via HDMI.
Additionally, the model also adds Sony’s new Precision Drive HD, which helps to detect and correct wobbling discs from three directions, stabilizing playback of Blu-ray Discs™ and DVDs.
It has a quick start up mode, allowing you to switch the player on and begin enjoying your favourite movies in approximately six seconds, performance which is unrivalled amongst other products available today.
Sony BDP-S550
BDP-S550: The ultimate Blu-ray experience
The BDP-S550 offers all the same great capabilities as the BDP-S350, but has BD-Live and BD-Java firmware already built in and includes a 1GB of exchangeable USB storage to save downloaded BD-Live content from the internet.
Also unique to the BDP-S550 is support for DTS-HD Master Audio Decoder and 7.1Ch analogue audio output which means that it can be connected directly to a legacy home-theatre receiver without HDMI for the ultimate movie and surround-sound experience.
Both models use Sony’s award winning XrossMediaBar, an easy to understand control menu that makes it simple for everybody to use all of the players’ functions. BRAVIA Sync technology makes connecting the players to BRAVIA televisions and Home Theatre systems a piece of cake.
The players provide an unforgettable home-cinema experience with Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio bit-stream output.
The BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 support AVCHD discs with x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by approximately 180 per cent, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye actually sees in the natural world. The players also feature compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD/CD recordable media.
BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 key features
BDP-S350
BDP-S550
1080p High Definition Picture
Yes
Yes
24p True Cinema
Yes
Yes
DVD Upscale
Yes (Precision Cinema HD Upscale)
Yes (Precision Cinema HD Upscale)
x.v.Colour
Yes
Yes
PhotoTV HD
Yes
Yes
Video D/A Converter
12bit /148.5MHz
12bit /148.5MHz
Analogue Video Output
Component/ S-Video/ Composite
Component/ S-Video/ Composite
Dolby TrueHD Bitstream Output
Yes
Yes
DTS-HD Master Audio Bitstream Output
Yes
Yes
Dolby TrueHD Decoding
Yes
Yes
DTS-HD Master Audio Decoding
No
Yes
Audio D/A Converter
192kHz/24bit
192kHz/24bit
Analogue Audio Output
2-channel
7.1-channel
BD-Live (Profile 2.0)
Yes (ready)
Yes
Local Storage port for BD-Live
Yes, USB2.0
(USB Flash Memory, not included)
Yes, USB 2.0
(USB Flash Memory, 1GB Memory included)
BonusView (Profile 1.1)
Yes
Yes
HDMI CEC (HDMI v 1.3)
Yes (BRAVIA Sync)
Yes (BRAVIA Sync)
Ethernet port
Yes
Yes
Network Firmware Update
Yes
Yes
AVCHD
Yes
Yes
JPEG
Yes
Yes
Disc Drive
Precision Drive HD
Precision Drive HD
GUI
Yes (XrossMediaBar)
Yes (XrossMediaBar)
GUI Language
GB/ FR/ DE/ NL/ IT/ ES/ PT/ DK/ SE/ NO/ FI
GB/ FR/ DE/ NL/ IT/ ES/ PT/ DK/ SE/ NO/ FI
Back-lit Remote Commander
No
Yes (Blue LED)
Start-up Time
approx. 6 sec.*
approx. 6 sec.*
Dimension (W x H x D mm)
430 × 60 × 220
430 × 70 × 220
Weight
2.9 kg
3.3 kg
I hope to get my hands on both of these Blu-ray players soon, so watch this space for the reviews!
Posted by: Matt
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