Reviews

HTC Touch HD Review

Can this be the iPhone beater?

Introduction

HTC, the worlds leader in Windows Mobile devices, have been churning the handsets out recently and as far as a self branded Windows Mobile device goes the Touch HD has to be the flagship of the company just now.

It seems so long ago now that we reported this phone on the site courtesy of MoDaCo (10/09/08 to be exact). Since that date we have had several updates, videos, rumours and the likes appearing but finally last Friday we got our hands on the Touch HD. Surprisingly this wasn’t as big a deal for HTC as the G1 and for us but it certainly has had several people talking and looking for more info.

Sitting in the "can I beat the iPhone" category the touch HD is one of only 7 WVGA devices on the UK mobile market which include 3 from HTC (Shift, Touch HD & Touch Max 4G), 3 from Toshiba (G900, G910 & G920) and finally the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 (willing to accept if I got this wrong).

The 10 second review:
Device: HTC Touch HD
Cost: around £549.99 (handset only)
Available to order from:  eXpansys, Clove Technology and devicewire.com
Summary: An amazing device with features jam packed within
Best of:  Display in general
Worst of: MicroSD location

What’s in the box?

The version of the phone that I received is not the standard "retail" box which means that the details give here are not as per however the version Matt received and videoed is the retail version (sim free). We are yet to see the Orange version of this which will be the one most people will have unless they can afford to go out and buy it direct.

Specification

Touch HD Specification in comparison to the XPERIA X1

General

Completely unlike any other HTC phone in relation to size the Touch HD has (as mentioned above) a Flush 3.8" WVGA screen. Apart from the screen itself the front of the phone has the printed HTC logo at the left, an ear piece grill to the right of it and the secondary VGA video call camera to the far right. At the bottom of the front there are (from left to right) the call end, home, back and call start buttons which are also touchscreen flush.

On the left hand side of the phone there is nothing except a very long volume rocker button.

Moving over to the right hand side we can find  the removal area for the stylus.

Moving up to the top of the handset we have a 3.5 mm Stereo Earphone Socket (Finally!) and the power / standby button to it’s right.

The bottom features the MiniUSB charging / sync port and the microphone.

On the back there is a large metal plate surrounding the 5MP camera  and a small grill for the speaker phone to its left.

Removing the back cover exposes the simcard area, MicroUSB slot, Battery and reset button.

Highlights and Lowlights

+ Screen Size

+ Screen Resolution

+ Speed of processor

+ 5MP Camera

– Inability to delete multiple messages / mails using drag and delete

– Dimensions (Height mainly)

– Location of MicroSD card slot

– Inability to hit snooze on Alarm without unlocking device

Review

Where honestly do I begin with this one? By miles this is the highest end handset I have ever used and it oozes style

Having used the phone now for just under 1 week solid I have grown to enjoy it more than I first expected. My initial reaction was "God it’s big" (save the jokes!) and I had a chat with Matt telling him that I just wasn’t a fan however this view changed within 1 hour of using it.

The battery life particularly impressed me as I use WiFi constantly and found that it lasted around 12 hours more than the Touch Diamond that I was used to.

Over the week I had just 1 issue which forced me to do soft re-boot which I think was just a simple glitch that rectified itself quickly.

Thanks to another blog site I can add this lot customised to suit the HD.

INTERNALS AND APPLICATIONS
I don’t plan to cover or look at all applications and programs that the device has built into ROM however I thought it would be nice to highlight the applications or programs that have been added by HTC that are not part of Windows Mobile.

Touch FLO 3D
The Touch HD has the following (customisable) tabs:

• Home
• People
• Messages
• Mail
• Photos and Videos
• Music
• Internet
• Stock
• Weather
• Settings
• Programs

Each of the panels interface with the user via ‘touch’, that being the panels can be navigated through by holding and sliding across the dark grey slide bar at the bottom of the screen. As the finger slides across the various panels are previewed in a larger than normal style and when the finger movement stops the required panel becomes current. Each individual panel can further be interacted with either through stroking the screen up / down or left / right or by use of the on screen soft buttons. We’ll cover each of the panels in detail next.

The only drawback of Touch FLO 3D is that it prevents other Today applets from being used as it does take over the entire screen.

Home
The Home tab initially shows a large flip-style clock detailing the current time. Below this is a tappable ‘Missed Calls’ area which takes you into the ‘Missed Calls’ tab, below that is the next forthcoming or all day appointment.
If the screen is stroked upwards the clock reduces in size and allows you to view more calendar details. If any appointment is tapped upon it will open in the Calendar application to show more details. If the Clock is tapped on it will open to allow you to set the time, or to configure any required alarms.

People
The People tab allows you to create favourite contacts of the people you most often communicate with. To do this you tap on the ‘+’ sign which take you into the contacts selector from where you can select a phone number (Work, Home, or Mobile) or an email address for that contact.
If a contact has a photo assigned (via Exchange) that photo will be used, of if not you can select a picture or silhouette from the photo library.
You can have a maximum of 15 favourite contacts.

Once you have your contacts configured you can stroke the screen up / down to flip through your contacts. You can also slide your finger up / down the photo strip on the right hand of the screen to quickly navigate through the contacts.

Touching the Contact picture allows you to phone the contact on any number, send an email or a text message. If the text (or arrow) beneath the picture is tapped then the default action you defined when setting up the contact is actioned immediately.

Messages
The Messages tab allows you to view any incoming Text Messages (SMS / MMS) as they arrive as well as create new ones.

To move through the various messages you simply swipe the finger up or down the screen or touch the counter icon. Replying to the message is simple, you just tap upon it which will then open the message on screen for you to reply to.

The new message icon can be tapped (top right) to create a new message.

The SMS messaging system is fully threaded so you can see the flow and history of any conversations.

The ‘All Messages’ soft button allows you to access all text, picture and video messages on the Touch HD in the various Inbox folders. The ‘Menu’ soft button allows you the options of ‘New / Reply or Delete’.

Mail
The Mail tab allows you to receive, preview and send email messages. A maximum of four email accounts can be added to this tab. Each email account has its own email counter so you can instantly see how many emails are unread in each mail account. The counter can be tapped upon to switch between accounts.

For the active mail account the large envelope is displayed which details the name of the account (bottom right) and shows a preview of the messages in that account. Swiping up / down the screen serves to switch between the emails being previewed.

If you tap on the previewed email it will open in the Inbox application and you can then read or reply to that email using the standard Email editor. Touching the New Email icon (top right) opens a new email in the Inbox immediately.

It’s worth noting that swiping he screen sideways also moves you between the different email accounts which includes the SMS / MMS message folders.

Photos and Videos
This tab allows you to visually flip through your photos and video clips via swiping up / down the screen with your finger. If you touch the current photo or video on screen you can then view it in full screen mode. Tapping on that full size image allows you access to the album, start a sideshow, email the picture, save it to a contact, save it, delete it, or view its properties. Swiping left / right in full image view serves to move you through each photo in turn.

If you physically turn the HD through 90 degrees the motion sensor within it will automatically rotate the photo from portrait to landscape view. Rotating it back again changes the display to portrait. Swiping your finger clockwise over a portion of the photo serves to zoom you in to that area, and anti-clockwise serves to zoom you back out. Double tapping serves to reset the image back to the original fit to screen view.

Once in the Album you can swipe through your various saved pictures or switch between any folders on the device in which pictures or videos are stored.
From the main tab itself you can use the icons top right to initiate the camera for taking a photo or video.

The Camera
The camera software included is the updated HTC application which replaces the camera part of the ‘Pictures and Videos’ application. This offers a one screen display consisting of a central view finder with adjustment / mode controls surrounding it.

Camera Options may be changed by tapping on the surrounding icons or via selecting the bottom right ‘menu’ icon (options icon).

When actuated the screen rotates into landscape mode and in effect becomes the viewfinder for the camera.

Taking a picture is simple, you press the picasa looking icon on the right of the touch screen slowly (which activates the auto-focus system) wait for the viewfinder to turn green and a beep to occur (focus complete) and then depress the icon the rest of the way to complete the shot.

HTC have taken great trouble to improve the camera application with the HD and have added a Quick Settings panel that allows one to quickly vary:

• Resolution
• White Balance
• Brightness
• Storage Medium used
• Camera Mode
• Call timer

Digital zoom is available from 1x to 2x which is operated by using the on screen zoom icons. Navigating up / down serves to switch through the varying photo modes which are available via the regular options.

• Modes – Photo, Video, MMS Video, and Contacts Picture
• Resolution – 1M / 2M / 3M / 5M / M / L
• White Balance – Auto / Day / Night / Incandescent / Fluorescent
• Brightness
• Camera – Front / Back / Back (flipped)
• Self Timer – On / Off
• Widescreen – On /Off
• Touch Focus – On / Off
• Review Duration – none / 3 secs / 10 secs / no limit
• Quality – Basic / Normal / Fine / Super Fine
• Capture format – JPEG
• Time Stamp – On / Off
• Storage – Internal Storage / Main Memory
• Keep Backlight – On / Off
• Shutter Sound – On / Off
• Shoot Option – Touch and Hold / Touch
• Image Properties – Contrast / Saturation / Sharpness
• Effect – None / Greyscale / Sepia / Negative
• Metering Mode – centre Area / Average
• Prefix – Default / Date / Date and Time
• Counter – Value / Reset
• Flicker Adjustment – Auto / 50Hz / 60Hz
• Grid – On / Off
• Help – Help system
• About

Music
The Music tab allows you to visually browse through your albums and play music. Swiping up and down the screen allows you to flip through your albums and tracks.

To move forward or backwards through the track touch hold and slide your finger along the progress bar.

Tapping the menu option allows you to set up a music play list and to configure repeat or shuffle modes.

Internet
The Internet tab allows you to tap the globe and launch the Opera Mobile browser which is installed on the HD as a superior replacement to Pocket Internet Explorer. As an alternative you may swipe up / down the tab to reveal your bookmarks and tap on any one of those to go directly to that site.

Once Opera has loaded a web site you can rotate to view the pages in landscape using the accelerometer in the machine, or zoom in on areas of interest via double tapping the screen. To zoom out just double tap again. Once in zoomed mode you can navigate round the screen via simply dragging the page with your finger.

Weather
The weather tab allows you to check the weather both locally and around the world.

As standard the it is configured with eight default global weather locations and these can be navigated through by swiping up / down the screen or tapping the up / down arrows. The 5 day’ soft key allows you to look forward at the forecast for the next 5 days.

The menu soft key allows you remove and add entries. New locations are added via the country / city selector whereby you first select the country and then the town / city you require.

Navigation through the selector screens can be done via swiping up / down or by using the alphabetical quick selector on the right of the screen.

Options within the menu also allow you to choose between centigrade or Fahrenheit and to turn on / off auto updating as well as updating whilst roaming.

Additionally from the menu when in 5 day weather mode you have the option of ‘more’ which takes you to the Accuweather page which is the source of the information used by the tab.

Settings
The settings tab allows you to modify common configurable aspects from one common place.

You can turn on / off flight (airplane) mode whereby all connectivity is disabled, turn off just the cellular radio, modify the sound settings such as your ring tone, choose a new wallpaper for use with the Touch FLO 3D interface, control wifi, direct push operation and even the download options for weather.

Program
The Program tab serves as a quick launcher for programs whereby you can set favourite programs to execute at a single tap of the screen.

If you tap the Remove soft key an ‘X’ will appear in the bottom right corner of the icons, and if you then tap that icon it will be removed from the tab. If you tap ‘Done’ then you will return to the launch tab and any icons that have had applications removed will be showing a ‘+’ symbol. Tapping on that symbol will bring up a scrolling list of installed applications which you can swipe through and then tap the icon you wish to add as a shortcut to that icon.

The programs tab itself can be swiped and moved up and down to reveal additional launch parts. Tapping the All programs soft key will take you to the standard windows mobile programs screen.

All the Applications

Sitting in the programs menu lies

• Audio Booster
• Calculator
• Camera
• Comm Manager
• File Explorer
• FM Radio
• Getting Started
• Google Maps
• Internet Sharing
• Java
• JETCET Print 5
• Messenger
• MP3 Trimmer
• Notes
• (Sim)
• Opera Browser
• Pictures & Videos
• QuickGPS
• Remote Desktop
• RSS Hub
• Search
• Sim Manager
• Streaming Media
• Tasks
• Voice Recorder
• Voice Speed Dial
• Windows Live
• WorldCard Mobile
• YouTube
• Zip

RSS Hub
The HD comes preloaded in ROM with the RSS Hub application. This is a version of Ilium Software’s Newsbreak Application which allows you to subscribe to and read RSS feeds on the move.

The main features are:

• Listen to your favourite podcasts, watch vidcasts, and view attached files and images.
• Save your podcasts to listen or view when you have the time, and schedule them to download however you choose
• Tell the Hub what news to search for – save keywords and let it find stories you’re interested in
• Get the news you care about as it happens. Have the RSS Hub scan your feeds and notify you about important stories by setting up alerts
• Spot the headlines that matter to you by using keyword icons

WorldCard Mobile
WorldCard Mobile is one of those applications that you come across and wonder whether it will be useful, and then you try it and find it is very useful indeed. It is simple enough in concept – use the camera to capture an image of a business card, perform a bit of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to input the text, allow any errors to be edited and then add to your contacts. It may take a few attempts to be proficient with positioning the business card, but once you get used to working with the application it can be very useful. It can certainly save a lot of typing!

JetCet Print
JetCet Print allows you to link the HD to a remote printer, whether it be linked to a wireless network connected to a domain, or a standalone Bluetooth enabled printer.

The facility is offered to print documents, emails or images. From within Opera if the print option is chosen JetCet will then be used to complete the operation.

Remote Desktop
Connect to and remotely control your Windows desktop from your HD with the Windows Mobile Remote Desktop client.

Teeter
Teeter is a Labyrinth-type maze game. On loading Teeter starts up and a silver ball bearing appears on a dark table with black holes, walls, and a single green exit hole. The object of the game is to get the silver ball into the green hole without vanishing into any of the black holes and disappearing. The challenge is that you do not use your finger or stylus to move the silver ball, by holding the HD parallel to the ground you tilt the device to move the ball.

The sensors are very sensitive and you can even move along the edges of the black holes without falling in. It also picks up how much you tilt the device and the ball will accelerate/decelerate depending on your angle.

The real surprise though, is what happens when the ball hits a wall/side. You physically feel the strike in the actual area where the ball hits the wall. Plus, the vibration/feedback varies by how far the ball travels before it hits the wall/side. This is completely amazing it almost feels like the HD has come alive in your hand!

At the end of each level you will are presented with a score as to your performance and then given an even more complex and challenging table to navigate and complete. Tapping the screen during game play gives you the option of exiting the game or resuming. On reloading the game you are allowed to either resume the last game or start afresh.

FM RADIO
Once again for this to function the wired headset must be in place and this has a secondary function as an FM antenna.

The first time the application is run it will automatically scan for the available FM channels in your area, save them as presets, then play the first FM station found.
Full control of the radio is allowed with options / features of:

• Allows you to switch between Mono and Stereo modes.
• Switches between speaker and headset output.
• Search the FM band for the next lower / higher FM channel.
• Volume adjustment
• RDS Station name display
• Preset saving and adjustment

Settings / Personal
The personal settings are completely standard WM6.1, no great surprises here at all.

The only device specific customisation is:

• ‘Buttons’ applet only has one setting for the only customisable button. This is the Call Start button which if held down will activate the application defined here.

Settings / System
The System applets are very much standard with the only extra (or non-standard) applets being:

• Auto Volume Control
• G-Sensor
• Managed programs
• Touch FLO

We’ll look at these below.

G-Sensor
The G-Sensor is used for recalibrating the accelerometer within the HD. It should be used if / when the auto-rotate function is not working properly.
Unofficially if the sensor is already calibrated it can be used as a spirit level.

Managed Programs
Managed Programs Displays the programs that are installed on your device using System centre Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM). This means that in a corporate environment if SCMDM has been used to push install any applications to your HD this is how you will be able to see what has been installed.

TouchFLO
The Touch FLO applet allows you to configure a few small parts of the Touch FLO system. The first setting is that of having a sound sample play when finger scrolling or panning. You can turn it on if you so wish but be warned it becomes annoying very very quickly!

You can also toggle on and off the large start menu whereby the start menu font is increased in size and the ‘last run’ programs at the top of the menu are also larger – both good options for finger use.

Another option is to toggle on or off the System Status screen; this replaces the WM6.1 standard notification bubble system with a finger friendly touchable full screen notification selector.

Finally there is the option to vibrate the device when taping the tabs of TouchFLO, YouTube and Opera.

A Touch FLO effect is also used when the Volume controls are used to lower or raise the sound level. This full screen display will pop onto the screen and give you a visual and audible (rising or lowering tone) indication that the volume level has been changed.

You can also tap the ‘Vibrate’ and ‘Silent’ buttons to switch to less intrusive modes of notification. Tapping on the ‘<‘ and ‘>’ arrows allows you to switch the volume control between that of the System Volume and the Ring Volume.

The Task Manager has also been enhanced on the HD to use finger friendly controls which make it very easy to switch / stop applications and as well view the memory currently in use on the device.

Some Q&A’s Now:

Q. How does it handle PDF files? I have a tytn II but you cannot see much of a pdf without zooming in to around 200% I was wandering how this compared to the xperia x1, same res screen, just bigger as i carry a bunch of printed pdf’s with me for product information. Regards, Phil.

A. At 200% you would never need glasses. The system defaults normally to 78% but I find that 80 to 90% is perfect for the screen size.

Q. Does the proper youtube site work (not the client) after you have installed flash lite 3.1?

A. In short yes.

Q. Is there any chance of bbc iplayer working?

A. Trying to run iPlayer causes script warnings that freeze the device and I have never left it long enough to see it it would work after processing the script Sorry!

Q. Have installed any gps programs, and do they run smoothly?

A. TomTom 6 has been installed and works without issues.

Q. is there absolutely no chance of getting tv-out on this device

A. Not unless HTC re-design the handset.

Q. Do you think can be upgraded to WM7 when it comes out?

A. A device like this would (I’m Sure) be included by HTC and Microsoft for upgrade

Q. Looks like there is no option to attach a Lanyard, is this correct?

A. Correct there is no Lanyard area.

Q. in the unboxing you said 1560mah battery. is that correct?

A. If I did say that then I made a mistake, it’s 1360mAh – sorry!

Q. Does slingplayer use the whole screen?

A. Sorry I don’t have this to test.

Q. Could you see if it plays streaming video such as BBC News or CNN? It’s something that no one thus far has tested on the Touch HD!

A. Since this question was aimed at Tracy or Matt I’m not going to answer it as a matter of Principle.

Q. I would like to see how it handles Excel spreadsheets, also compared with the TytnII or any PDA with QVGA screen, as I own a TytnII and use a lot of spreadsheets.

A. Just for you I had a data analyst in my work run some very complex formulas and move them to and from the HD to the PC and he was well impressed. So much so that he now wants a WM device to do work from home.

Q. Could you let us know how the Touch is as a PDA? – in particular for email (gmail client or gmail via IMAP), text entry and calendar/pim.

A. For me this device works great as a PDA, comes with everything needed to run it as one and has no issue running emails or any of the items above.

Q. I use outlook web access a moderate amount for work email and calendar (since they won’t let unauthorised devices use their Exchange or Blackberry servers). Does either device have an advantage in accessing that?

A. I also use OWA and it works perfect with this phone, all the data you need is transferred from the OWA Server onto your phone and vice versa although I will say I am not a heavy user of this so some items may not run just as well

Q. One of my other options would be a more camera focused phone (eg LG Renoir), to eliminate another device from my pocket. Does the Renoir stack up against the HD in terms of syncing with Outlook, managing calendar/tasks and contacts?

A. Unfortunately until we get a Renoir we cannot answer this question!

Q. Is Matt enjoying the device too much to be torn away and post his thoughts for us minions?

A. Not at all, he would love to but I asked to do this review so blame me for the delay. Sorry!

Q. Is there an on screen keyboard?  What is it like? 
How does the onscreen keyboard (if there is one!) compare to SPBFull Screen keyboard software? 

A. There is indeed an onscreen keyboard although the actual size of the keys does not differ greatly (maybe 1 or 2 mm) from the Touch Diamond.The latest SPB Keyboard software has far bigger keys than th inbuilt keyboard. One thing i do like thought that is quite big is the Phone Pad which can be used like a STD phone pad and with T9.

Q. I currently use a TyTnII and I love the built in keyboard but hate the smaller screen having formerly owned an IpaqHX2490.  Bigger screen or built in keyboard? 

A. For me it will always be bigger screen but then I like watching streaming and movies on my phone too.

Q. Can this be the iPhone beater?

A. Short and simple answer to this is NO. Why not? It just wasn’t made by Apple. The device is supperior to the iPhone in many ways but the whole iPhone thing is just style. The phrase "I have an iPhone 3G" runs better than "I han an HTC Touch HD".

Q. I would love a comparison between Touch HD, Omina, X1, and Touch Pro.

A. I’ll see what I can do on this one, Don’t have many the Omnia or X1 to compare with just now.

Conclusion

I aint gonna lie folks, I want one to keep (someone offer me one please)! This is a gift for Dad at Christmas or your typical "look how flash I am" users.

There are a few minus points but no where near enough for me to not like it any any way, shape or form.

If you have any further questions I should have the device for another week or so which means I can answer them straight away.

Posted by: John

Thanks to: 4winmobile.com

Gigabyte M528 review

MID – Mobile Internet Device. Small pocket-sized computers running desktop-type applications and with a full suite of connectivity options. The M528 is a MID. Intel seems to be very keen about MIDs at the moment, and it seems that they are the next great thing. Mind you, Nokia has been quietly punting them out for a few years now in the shape of the N770, N800 and N810 internet tablets (all Linux devices). I was keen to see how the M528 compared against the venerable Nokia’s because it terms of specification it blows them away.

What’s in the box?

• Gigabyte M528 MID
• Li-ion rechargeable battery
• Charger
• USB cable

 

General

Before I delve into reviewing the M528 in any depth I think it’s important to highlight the fact that this would appear to be a pre-production release model. Why do I think this? The unit came without any manual, documentation, software CD or indeed a retail box. I will also confess to being a fan and user of Nokias internet tablet so, it was natural that I judge the M528 against them.

My first reaction upon opening the box was “It’s just like a Nokia N810”. It could easily be mistaken for one such is the close resemblance. The M528 is a bit bigger all round and a fair bit heavier, but nevertheless it screams N810. It’s an exceedingly well specified and good looking device. In terms of hardware it presses all the buttons: large, bright and sharp display; proper USB ports; fast cpu; plenty of memory; a slide-out keyboard; memory slot; a sim card slot for 3G connectivity; big battery…… Portable computing heaven – if this is the way forward then count me in.

For a flavour of what the device is like see Matt’s recent unboxing:

https://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=2&paged=2

Like the Nokia internet tablets it runs a form of Linux – in this case Midinux. Linux is eminently suitable for MIDs with its low overheads and hardware requirements. Linux is also highly customisable and has wonderful community support, so I was somewhat perturbed to discover that this particular flavour is crippled and lacking in functionality – more later.

Controls

The M528 has been thoughtfully provided with a number of connection options and some sensibly positioned controls

Top: Camera shutter release, 3.5mm headphone jack, std USB port, volume up/down switch, microSD card slot, mini USB port.

Gigabyte M528 Top View

 

Bottom: Power jack, Power switch

Gigabyte M528 bottom View

 

Front: TFT screen, slide-out keyboard, smart key for quick access to certain applications

Gigabyte M528 front view

 

Back: Speaker, battery/SIM cover, camera lens, reset hole. Stylus slot (on the top right when viewed from the back)

Gigabyte M528 back view

 

Left & Right: Nothing to speak of on either side of the M528 apart from the stylus which sits on the left side of the device.

Gigabyte M528 side view

 

Gigabyte M528 Specification:

• CPU – Intel Menlow 800MHz
• OS – Linux with Merry-Go-Round i-CON interface
• Core Logic – Poulsbo
• System Memory – 512MB on board
• LCD – 4.8” LCD panel 800×480 with touch panel
• Hard Disk Drive – 4GB Intel Solid State Disk
• Input Device – 47 key keyboard/Pointing button/Volume +/-
• I/O Port:
• 1 x Std. USB Host,
• 1 x mini-USB Client,
• 1 x micro SD,
• 1 x 3.5mm Earphone-mic,
• 1 x GPS RF switching connector,
• DC-in,
• SIM card slot
• Audio Earphone out/Mic
• built-in/Speaker x 1
• Bluetooth – Bluetooth 2.0 via USB I/F
• Camera – 300KP CMOS Web Cam,3MP CMOS AF Camera
• LAN/Wireless LAN – 802.11b/g via SDIO I/F, HSDPA capability
• Keyboard – QWERTY keyboard w/ EL backlight
• Protection – Kensington lock
• Battery – 3.7V 3060mAh
• Dimension – 152 x 80 x 22.5mm
• Weight – 300g

 

Highlights:

• Hardware spec
• Design

Lowlights:

• Buggy operating system
• Limited software suite
• Limited usability
• Unreliable wi-fi connection

Review

As I have already said, I do not believe the review unit to be a production or final release product, therefore my comments should be regarded in this light. The version of Linux installed does not seem to correspond with the published spec’s and the review unit carried no statutory approval stamps or markings.

The M528 is a compact unit with a dense feel to it in the hand. Although not much bigger than a Nokia N800, it is substantially heavier and trying to carry this in your trouser pocket will result in one’s trousers trying to make a break for freedom. Like the N810 I recently reviewed, the M528 has a slide out keyboard. It’s a little bit creaky when being handled and when the keyboard slides out it feels a bit loose. The keyboard itself is a membrane type which, although lacking in good tactile feedback (they’re all like that) makes entering text much easier than relying on a stylus. Therefore, it is surprising to find that the bundled software includes very little that can make use of the keyboard. There is no word processor or e-mail client.

Connecting to a wireless network proved to be very frustrating. Despite entering the correct credentials of my network it would not connect until I made my network visible. “Ah-ha!”, I thought….”now we have a connection let’s make it invisible again for security purposes”. The M528 had other ideas. As soon as I did that the M528 dropped the connection. Once the connection had been dropped then the unit promptly forgot the connection details! In order to connect again it was necessary to make my network visible and then go through the entire process of entering the connection info again. The unit would also sporadically drop connection. Now I am an exponent and a user of Linux, but I was fairly unimpressed that getting a connection was so difficult – normally it’s child’s play and my Nokian N800 is simply leagues ahead in this respect.

Once I had got a connection I fired up the Coolfox web browser. This appeared to be a cut down version of Firefox. In use it proved to be speedy and smooth – it was a delight to use and quite a revelation on the beautiful 4.8” screen. Certainly, the user experience blew my N800 away when it came to browsing – in fact it felt just like using Firefox on a good laptop. Until it crashed that is. As intimated, the suite of applications installed is very limited. There was a media player, but it would not run whilst Coolfox was running for some unfathomable reason – a pop-up dialogue appears telling you so when you try.

The battery was a 3.7v/2700mAh Li-Polymer item (the spec’ claims 3060mAh). This capacity seemed to be plentiful even with the screen backlighting set to near maximum. The battery itself is a monster. Given the discrepancy between the published specification and the actual item in use it would be unfair to draw any conclusions regarding battery life, but I can say it never actually bothered me. So that must be good and the bigger specced item must be even better, right?

Conclusion:

The M528 has a lot of promise as does the entire class of MIDs. I’ve long been an advocate of the MID form factor (or internet tablet). Unfortunately, the M528 as reviewed was highly buggy, devoid of any means of software updates, it was not possible to add extra software, configure it or indeed do very much with it. For this reason it is difficult to draw any conclusions about it. At the time of writing non of the usual retailers actually list the machine as available and in stock so, I am really hoping that devices customers purchase are much more functional and complete. For the time being though, I cannot recommend the device in its current state. Work in progress I would say.

 

Review by: Nigel

[ Post Tags: Gigabyte, UMPC, Laptop, tablet pc, M528, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Camcorder group test (Part 5) Canon FS100 Review

Canon FS100 review

These days hi-def videocams are all the rage so, you could be forgiven for thinking that standard definition cameras are on their way out. Odd choice then the FS100 – it’s a new budget-priced standard definition model that competes with some low end HD videocams on price and which is not all that far away from the likes of the Sanyo Xacti on price.

I confess that I am a Canon man – I use Canon slrs, a Canon digital compact and a Canon DV-cam. I like the quality of Canon glass too. So, I was looking forward to getting my hands on the FS100 because I am considering moving to solid state media for video. How does it compare?

The Canon FS100 camcorder

 

What’s in the box?

• Canon FS100
• Li-ion rechargeable battery
• Charger
• Remote control
• AV cable
• USB cable
• Wrist strap
• Printed instruction manual
• Software CD

General

The FS100 is one of a range of three cameras, being at the bottom end of that range with no built-in memory and relying solely upon SDHC cards for recording. It is very definitely aimed at the casual user rather than the demanding amateur.

In the hand it looks smart with its two-tone brushed aluminium and polished chrome finish. It’s light and well-balanced with a conventional videocam format that we’re all familiar with. It’s not particularly compact and is more suited to handbag than the pocket, but it’s not overly bulky either.

Controls

Controls: there’s lots of them and they are liberally strewn around the chassis. I would go so far as to say that the design is a bit fussy when it comes to controls and not as elegant as it could be.

The Canon FS100 controls

Left: Easy mode select, battery info/display info, USB2.0 port, external mic’ input, AV out

Rear: Mode select rotary switch (stills record, video record, stills review, video review), video record

Top: Power ON/OFF switch, still capture, zoom control

Screen: 5-way menu navigator switch, “Func” (Menu activate), video play/pause, video fast forward, video rewind

Below: Battery/SDHC card slot cover, tripod socket

Front: Built-in stereo microphones, video light/led

Canon FS100 Specification:

• Effective pixel count: Stills: 800k pixels. Movies: 710k pixels
• CCD: 1/6^th"
• Recording media: SD or SDHC Memory Card (Up to 8GB)
• Still resolution (pixels): 1152 x 864, 1152 x 648, 640 x 480
• Focal length: 2.6mm – 96.2mm
• Movie: 41 – 1877 mm (on a 35 mm camera), stills: 41.5 – 1536mm, f/2.5 (W) – 5.2 (T)
• Focus range: 10mm – infinity
• Shutter speed: 1/2000^th – 1/6^th sec’
• Still: 1/2 sec ~ 1/2000 sec. (Flash: 1/30 ~ 1/2000 sec., Lamp mode: max 4 secs)
• Optical zoom: 37x
• Digital zoom: 45x (known as advanced), 2000x
• Focus: TTL auto focus, manual focus
• Scene Selector: Auto, Sports, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Spotlight, Fireworks
• Self timer: 2sec – 10 sec
• White balance: Full Auto TTL
• Manual: Fine/Cloud/Fluorescent/Incandescent
• Flash: None
• Audio microphone: Built-in stereo
• Monitor: 2.7-inch TFT Colour Widescreen LCD display. Approximately 123,000-pixels
• Video output interface: Component Video
• Power source: Lithium-ion battery BP-808, charging AC adapter included)
• Dimensions: 58mm x 124mm x 60mm (W x D x H)
• Weight: 260g

Highlights:

• Light
• Uses SDHC cards
• Good battery life
• Feels solid

Lowlights:

• Standard definition – not much cheaper than high-definition
• Average image quality
• No flash
• No conventional viewfinder
• Poor low-medium light picture quality

 

 

 

REVIEW

Positioned on top of and at the rear of the camera, the power switch is not immediately obvious as it blends into the chrome finish facia. There’s no colouring to it at all. Power on is very quick with the camera being ready to film in less than 3 seconds. Powering on also opens the noisy shutter protecting the lens with a satisfying click (no separate lens cap required). Depending upon the mode-selector switch position you will find yourself in one of 4 modes: stills capture, video capture, stills review or video review. Shooting video is simply a case of then pressing the big shiny button with a red dot on it at the rear of the body.

Taking stills is done by pressing a chrome button on the top of the camera just below the zoom control. It didn’t fall to hand readily for me and I think it’s too close to the zoom which could result in the zoom being actuated instead. If you are shooting from the hip then this is not a problem. Generally the ergonomics are not as polished as some other cameras and coming from the Sanyo Xacti I have been spoilt.

The menu system is one of the simpler ones I have come across. Navigation of the menus is done by a fairly typical 5-way navigator switch mounted to the left of the screen. Setting some oft-used and basic parameters took too long and too much navigation to achieve. If this frightens you off then take comfort in the fact that there’s an Easy mode to simplify everything and this is where I mostly found myself anyway and where I suspect most users of this type of camera would be too.

A good touch is the placement of function keys around the screen. This makes a lot of sense when everything is done via the screen interface. However, being of the membrane type, the keys lacked tactile feedback and looked cheap.

Picture quality by day in good light is adequate. In medium to low lighting levels and particularly indoors there is a noticeable coarseness that is also very apparent on the display – the performance under such conditions can best be described as mediocre to poor. This is disappointing because I have always rated Canon performance and I have no complaints whatsoever about the image quality I get from my Canon cameras.

The FS100 has three video recording options. It’s possible to record up to 2½ hrs of MPEG2 video onto a single 4GB SDHC card in LP mode. The higher quality SP mode gives about 1¼ hrs of capacity, and in XP mode it’s about 1 hr. I always used the XP high-quality mode to try to maximise the quality of footage.

There’s three modes of zoom: optical, digital and advanced with 37x, 200x and 45x zoom being available respectively. The 37x optical zoom is generous in comparison to the opposition and the zoom function itself was very speedy and accurate with the control located on the top of the body. The 2000x digital zoom is frankly ridiculous and would destroy image quality totally. I didn’t bother using it. Using the large optical zoom magnified the graininess in images to the point where it became intrusive although, this is not as big a deal as you might imagine because I can’t ever recall using anything like the full 22x optical zoom on my own camcorder.

Image stabilisation is of the inferior digital variety rather than optical that I am used to. For general uses though it is good enough, but it won’t be able to cope with wobble at the long end of the zoom.

As a stills camera don’t expect too much from the FS100 – it has a small CCD sensor with only a limited pixel count of 800k pixels which is nowhere near adequate for anything but modest uses such as web use or display on a monitor. There is no flash and overall it is best reserved for emergency use.

Battery life was excellent and better than all camcorders I have tested so far. I managed about 2¾ hrs in general use which means for a day out it’s not necessary to carry the charger.

You can download a sample video – taken straight from the FS100 memory card with this link.

 

Conclusion:

The FS100 looks good and feels good, but lets the side down a bit and I would expect more from the likes of Canon. The decent quality does not rescue the Canon from lacklustre filming performance and compared against high-def models costing not much more it suffers. The Canon is not a bad camera, it’s just that there’s quite a few better and more flexible offerings around for not much more money.

Although this is the last camera review in the Camcorder Group Test please come back again soon for my summary of the reviewed devices or head over and look at Part 1 to see which cameras were included or have a look at my Panasonic SDR-S7 review or Sanyo Xacti HD700 review.

 

Review by: Nigel

[ Post Tags: Canon FS100, camcorder, video cameras, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Parrot MINIKIT Chic review

Back in 2006 I tested and reviewed the Parrot Hands-free speakerphone and now I have had chance to review the latest version, the Parrot MINIKIT Chic.

The MINIKIT Chic was just as easy to pair as the old MINIKIT and also charges via mini-USB. The MINIKIT Chic has a nice design on it however they also do the MINIKIT Slim which is just plain black.

The Parrot MINIKIT Chic

 

The Parrot MINIKIT Chic requires only three buttons to operate it. There are two rectangular buttons to make and end the call plus the round button in the middle that serves as a menu button and volume control. As there is no screen on this MINIKIT the menus are accessed by voice prompt which allows you to change things like the language setting, volume settings and Bluetooth pairing. In practice I don’t think you’ll need to use the menus at all.

The MINIKIT Chic is designed to be clipped onto the sun visor and sits there very neatly. It is slimmer than the old version and this one can only be fitted on the sun visor whereas the old one had rubber feet so it could be sat on a dashboard if you wanted.

 

So what do I think of the Parrot MINIKIT Chic?
I’m very pleased with it actually. There is an improvement in both the design and quality. The Bluetooth pairing was very easy and quick and the device seems to hold the pairing whereas the old one sometimes lost it and need to be re-paired. Making a call from the car was good as all of the vehicle noise was cancelled out so the person I called could hear me clearly. The loudspeaker uses NXT technology and is certainly loud and clear enough with the volume being very easy to adjust.

 

Parrot MINIKIT Chic back view

 

With the device being slimmer it looks even better and is totally unobtrusive and looks quite stylish too!

Parrot MINIKIT Chic side view

 

The other thing that has really impressed me about the MINIKIT Chic is the ability to synchronize your phonebook onto the device. This means you can make calls using voice recognition and takes away the need to actually flick through your phone contacts to find someone’s number when you need to call them. The other great thing about this is when you have an incoming call it tells you the name of the person calling!

The battery life is just as good as the old version although I am not sure what the standby battery life is meant to be but I have yet to charge it after a couple of weeks of it being in my car!

 

CONCLUSION
I really like the Parrot MINIKIT Chic, it’s an improvement on the old one which got a lot of use from me! The slim design makes it very hard to spot from outside of the car and being a Bluetooth device means it has no cables permanently attached.

Parrot MINIKIT Chic Specification:

•Interface:
– 3 buttons, including 1 rotary button
– 2 LEDs: green LED and red LED

•Telephony:
– Green button: answer, call a contact from the phonebook, start voice recognition, confirm, dual call, private mode
– Red button: hang up, switch on/off, exit the menus, cancel
– Rotary button: access the menus, adjust the volume, send DTMF signals

•Audio:
– Full duplex
– Built-in omnidirectional microphone
– Audio output via the vibrating panel
– Advanced Parrot NR3 noise reduction
– AEC-2 echo cancellation
– Voice menus for all menus
– Multi-speaker voice recognition
– Text To Speech: speech synthesis of the names in the phonebook
– Voiceprints: up to 150 per phone

•General:
– Number of contacts: 1 000 per phone / total of 2 500

•Language:
– one language per version

•Pairing:
– up to five devices

•Battery:
– lithium-ion, maximum charging time of 4 hours
– Battery life: over 15 hours talk time / over 20 days on standby

•Automatic connection by pairing order

•Bluetooth:
– Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR
– Profiles supported: HFP (Hands Free Profile) / OPP (Object Push Profile) / PBAP (Phone Book Access Profile)
– Other profiles: SyncML, Synchro AT, Synchro Nokia
– Range: 10 metres
– Pairing: by PIN code (1 2 3 4)
– Updates via USB port

•Processor:
– Parrot P5+ @ 208 MHz
– Flash = 256 Mbits
– RAM = 64Mbits

•Dimensions and weight:
– Length: 110 mm / 4.33 in
– Width: 60 mm / 2.36 in
– Thickness: 29 mm / 1.14 in
– Weight: 83 g / 2.93 oz

For more information and where to buy, please visit the Parrot website.

 

Review by: Tracy

SanDisk Sansa Clip review

Introduction

Matt recently sent me a SanDisk Sansa View which made such an impression on me that I asked for another SanDisk MP3 player to review. Matt got hold of his contacts over at SanDisk and got hold of a Sansa Clip for me.

SanDisk Sansa Clip

This was great news but he then told me I had to do a review on it too which kind of scared me a little because I had only ever reviewed Phones before and admittedly I was a little worried about how this review would go.

The 10 Second Review

Device: SanDisk Sansa Clip
Cost: £39.00
Available from: SanDisk Store
Best of: Sound, Packaging, Price, Ease of Use, Ability to add music
Worst of: No separate power cable

What’s in the box?

• Quick Start Guide
• Warning Leaflet
• Special offer card from audible.com
• Earphones
• MicroUSB Charge / Sync Cable
• SanDisk Sansa Clip
• Mini Installation CD

Specification

• 4 GB internal memory (2 & 4 GB model available)
• FM Radio
• Built in microphone for recording
• Four-line OLED screen
• Easy-to-wear clip
• Battery Life: Internal rechargeable battery lasts for up to 15 hours of continuous playback (Depends on settings and file types)
• MP3, WMA, secure WMA and Audible file formats
• 2.2 x 0.6 x 1.4 inches

General

The SanDisk Sansa Clip is the smallest in the Sansa range and is very lightweight. 

Taking a look at the front of the Clip there is a very small OLED display but not so small that it can’t be read or seen. A HOME button, jog dial and select button can also be found here.

SanDisk Sansa Clip Powered On

On the left there’s a MicroUSB port and an ON/OFF/HOLD slider switch which moves to left or right.

SanDisk Sansa Clip Left View

The right side has the volume rocker and the headphone jack socket.

SanDisk Sansa Clip Right View

The bottom and top of the Clip are very empty except some printed text on the bottom telling you the model number and I think the part number.

SanDisk Sansa Clip Front View

The back of the clip again is very straightforward and has just the namesake plastic clip and the SanDisk name printed with the size of the model.

SanDisk Sansa Clip Back View

Highlights and Lowlights

+ Superb sound
+ Ample Memory Capacity for Size & Price
+ Light Weight
+ FM tuner (20 Presets)
+ Voice Recording
+ Loveable Design with Fantastic Colour Options
+ Format compatibility (MP3, DRM WMA, WMA, Audible)
+ USB 1.1 and 2.0 connectivity
+ Can be used as a USB drive / mass storage
+ Can sync music with drag & drop or via software 

– Only way to charge is via Data Cable

Sound Quality

The sound quality of the Clip is surprisingly up there with the View. Comparing the same MP3 track and using the same headphones the sound given from the Clip is very much like the sound like that you come to expect with the View.

There are various EQ modes and sound level adjustments available in the menu too which will help get the sound perfectly suited to various audio devices.

Review

When I opened the box of the Clip I was seriously shocked at just how little it was. Not many things this small have a screen of any sort and the OLED display hides itself with a mirrored front on the silver version and when powered on stands out very clearly.

The first thing I wanted to do after getting it powered on was to stick some songs on it so I took out the Data / Charging cable stuck into my USB 2.0 port on my Windows XP ran laptop and immediately it changed into sync mode and started finding the drivers etc….

SanDisk Sansa Clip Angled View

Transferring the music was simple, drag and drop…. no iccy manufacturers software to load / run.

After getting the music across I then disconnected the device safely using the safely remove hardware function on XP and plugged in the earphones to start my review.

I was impressed with how easy the menu system was and also how many features it had.

The music quality was awesome without even tweaking the EQ settings which made life a lot easier as I plan in giving this to my 7 year old daughter.

CONCLUSION

Once again SanDisk have done impressed me beyond what I expected. If you are looking for something small, lightweight and affordable with an excellent battery life then this is just what you need. The other good thing is the fact that you wont be rejected by your loved ones for not having an iPod as it’s sill very stylish.

Defo worth the money and a device that I would fully recommend to others

Review by: John

 

 

 

Velocity Mobile 103 and 83 review

My introduction to Velocity mobile went along the lines of:

Matt… "Can you have a look at a Velocity from me?"

Steve… "What’s that?"

Matt… "a new windows mobile, of course!"

At this point you are probably in the same boat as me, never heard of them, so let’s have a look at the new kid on the block with a little background.

 

Velocity Mobile, in collaboration with Inventec Corporation of Taiwan, designs and engineers 2G and 3G mobile devices and data cards based on Qualcomm and Samsung platforms. Its expertise spans market analysis and evaluation, design, software, quality assurance, sales and marketing and after-market support.

Established in 1975, Inventec is one of the world’s top three Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) for notebook computers with over 25,000 employees and revenues of more than $8 billion in 2007.

LONDON – September 10, 2008 – Velocity Mobile, a nine month collaboration between one of the world’s largest notebook computer manufacturers and a team of veteran wireless designers and engineers, today announced the retail availability of its first touchscreen phone, the Velocity 103. Built on the belief that the simplest solution is the best solution, the Velocity Mobile 103 combines an easy-to-use Odyssey Interface, Velocity Over The Air updates (Vota) and a sleek and attractive design, to change the way people think about and use smartphones. The unlocked Velocity 103 is available for pre-order online now through Expansys for £334.99 and will ship by the end of September.

Matt unboxed the 103 and the 83 earlier this month but we’ve had to hold back on the video until we got the ok from Velocity.

 

 

So lets start with the Velocity 103.

 

What’s in the Box?

The box itself is a smart design with a smoke effect semi transparent cover that allows the phone to be seen through the packaging from the off. In the box itself

• The Velocity 103
• A suede feel, soft touch pouch (which is very tight fitting)
• Getting started disc and Quick user guide
• USB to mini USB sync and charge lead
• The annoying 2.5mm plug headset with inline controls
• 2.5mm to TV lead

I am not sure that this is a standard production unit or a test unit, it seems finished, and so I do assume that this is as you will receive it as is in retail form.

 

Velocity 103 Specification:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Qualcomm Mobile Station modem tm MSM 7201 400 MHz chipset tm
• GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 850, 1900, 2100
• 2.8” 640X480 VGA Touchscreen, 262K Colours
• 256MB ROM, 128MBRAM
• Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
• WIFI 802.11b/g
• GPS NMEA 0183 / AGPS Compatible
• 2.0 Megapixel Camera fixed focus
• 0.3 Megapixel front facing camera for videoconferencing
• TV/VGA out
• MicroSD expansion slot
• 1410 mAh Battery
• 113x58x15mm
• 130g weight

 

GENERAL

On the top of the device is a nifty and useful power slider button, sliding it to the left locks the device and keys, slide back to the right unlocks, slide to the left and hold prompts a shut down pop up. A little unusual, but welcome adaptation of the power button, it is handy in that it unlocks simply without multiple screen presses etc.

Velocity 103 top view

 

The right hand side of the device is the annoying microSD slot, annoying in that it looks as though you can pop it open and hot swap your cards, however there is a small tab that tucks under the back cover, meaning that you have to remove the back cover to open the slot cover. Don’t try to prise the cover open like I did thinking it was just new and therefore tight! Below this is a non telescopic stylus which is on the small side and is very similar in size to my Diamond stylus.

Velocity 103 right side

 

The bottom of the unit holds the miniUSB connector slot, and a rather fiddly back cover lock, microphone and reset button, followed by the 2.5mm headphone and video out hole.

Velocity 103 bottom view

 

On the left is the camera button at the top, up and down volume buttons, and a ‘Velocity button’ this will be covered later, and is configurable.

Velocity 103 left side

 

The Back holds nothing but the camera lens with portrait mirror and speaker grill.

Velocity 103 back view

 

Around on the front of the phone is the now preferred 2.8” VGA screen which is 640×480, at the top of which is the earpiece with an LED indication light for battery and signal. Left of this is the front facing camera.

Velocity 103 front view

 

Underneath the screen is the more customary, minimal, button layout, holding just the Send and End buttons flanking a small clickable trackball.

The phone itself feels reasonably solid, I must admit that the buttons don’t feel like they inspire confidence in particular the side buttons along with the back case lock, could have been better made. When the back case is removed this also feel on the flimsy side. It is on the larger end of the mobile spectrum, being similar height and width to the Omnia and Asus P750, as well as being 15mm thick.

 

Highlights:

• VOTA – Velocity over the air updates
• VGA Screen
• Clear call quality

Lowlights:

• Flimsy back case and buttons
• Basic camera
• Dull?

Software

Velocity don’t seem to have messed around too much with the usual Windows mobile software, the additions of mention are:

VOTA – this enables a live check on the up-to-date software upgrades, data connection permitting. This operates quickly and with the on board speed available was easy to use, straight out of the box there was an update available which was downloaded and installed with no issues whatsoever. I couldn’t find an option to make the checks automatic or periodical which would have been an improvement.

The only really unique point on this phone is the Odyssey Interface, as described by the makers,

‘Our interface is designed with purpose, not just to look cool. Its designed to look and feel familiar, to have interactions that you are used to and provide features that meet specific or multiple needs all optimised to the form factor of the device.’

In reality it is a nice feature where you can have your favourite/ most used program or files at the swipe of the screen, I found that this was a little hit or miss, and the preferred method was to use the Velocity Button the side of the unit, which worked much better. Also the ability to call on this function while in any screen was helpful, and was easy to use and a handy edition.

As I mentioned previously I am not sure if this was a pre-retail unit but I did have issues with a few of my regular Third Party apps, such as being unable to load MyMobiler, SMS Chat took a few attempts to load and in the end havd to revert to a previous version to get a good response. Yet others like my favourite TouchPal etc worked fine… this of course, could be that this is not a final version unit, or could even result in more regular VOTA updates.

The call quality and signal strength where fine and better than some. The 1410 mAh with moderate use lasted around the day, day and a half Mark. The camera is exactly as you would expect for a 2 megapixel fixed focus unit, this is not a dedicated camera replacement by any means, and definitely not in the realms of the 5,8 10 megapixels options appearing all over the place.

There is as mentioned a TV out, the options available are NTSC, PAL, PAL-M and PAL-N and on top of this the leads are included.

REVIEW

For me the Velocity is slightly too big and slightly too dull, (this is a great way to describe this PDA, thanks Matt). It is nice to see a predominantly British company having a go and I have another device from the same people to do a mini follow up on, when I have the time to explore its features, but I think this unit is still work in progress, the Camera is a major disappointment in this day and age.

Most of the other points I have covered off in the Software and overview sections, additionally…

The trackball works well, unfortunately I am not a fan of the trackball in the first place very rarely used it.

The slider on the top of the unit is nice to have, being used to the Lock switch on my Asus, I have been used to having this available, and in my review more devices should include this.

The 400 MHz chipset works very well and is speedy and efficient, it is somewhat let down at times from the slightly unresponsive screen, which again works well in the main, but occasionally requires 2-3 taps.

Conclusion

This is a difficult one as it is not as expensive as the current run of ‘top end’ phones, available at the moment. The 103 is not perfect, but it is capable, the specs are not bad overall. The VGA screen is great and on the whole the unit is quick and efficient.

The downsides for me are the build, the camera and I am not convinced that this phone has a USP (Unique selling point) that makes it standout enough in a crowd to scream ‘Buy me’. Looks wise it, again will not make itself instantly recognisable, going for the minimalist option is fine but I still prefer my gadgets to have loads of options and buttons, personally.

There is the company alternative in the form of the Velocity 111, which unfortunately we haven’t had a chance to play with yet, but I think I might be more interested in that form that this one.

If you are looking for a ‘cheaper’ unit with VGA, good speed, good call quality and you are not that bothered about having the latest known device, than have a look at this phone and draw your own conclusion, for me the negatives far outweigh the positives, unfortunately.

 

Following on from the Velocity 103 review – a Mini Velocity Review

Along with the Velocity 103 I was also given a Velocity 83, which was only a test unit and therefore is not yet available for a full review, so here are a few notes. Even the box itself is empty apart from the basic charger.

 

Velocity 83 Specification:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Samsung S3C2442B
• 64 MB DDR SDRAM, 128 MB NAND Flash for OS & storage
• 2.8’’ diagonal Display
• 240×320 pixel TFT LCD 65K colors
• Class 10 GSM/GPRS/EDGE on 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz bands
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g (Option)
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• USB 2.0 OTG High Speed 11pin mini USB
• 2.5mm stereo audio jack
• GPS – Sirf (GSC3FLP)
• Camera – 2 Mpx fixed focus
• Two MicroSD
• Battery – 1130 mAh Li-ion
• Dimensions – 112 x 59.5 x 12.1mm
• Weight – 103 g with battery

 

Around the velocity 83:

I did like the feel of this phone it is just about the right size to hold with regard to width and thickness, and the back, covered later, made it a nice comfortable to hold and use. In that respect it was nice to see something different that works.

There is nothing to be found on the top, no nifty slider here.

The left side is the home to a small start button, two further buttons of up/down volume, followed by the ‘velocity button’ which is used to bring up the Odyssey Interface covered earlier or customisable. And the covered Mini USB slot.

Velocity 83 left side

 

Opposite on the right side, is found the Power on button, reset button and the dedicated camera button, all of which are on the small cheap side they are not nice to the touch but purely functional.

Velocity Mobile 83 right side

 

The back is interesting not for the fact that it only holds the meagre 2MP fixed focus camera, but because of the feel and texture, I would describe it as being similar to a golf ball dimple effect, which works well in both feel and grip, not to mention that it remains fingerprint free.

Velocity 83 back view

 

Underneath is just the stylus holder.

Velocity 83 bottom view

 

The main face of the unit holds the 240 x 320 QVGA 2.8” touchscreen. Below which is the D-pad (not dial), and the basic send and end buttons.

Velocity 83 front view

 

As you can tell this is designed once again to be minimal, smart design, for me it is minimal to the extreme, as I have spoken about before I prefer my devices with a few more buttons.

 

REVIEW

Unfortunately I was not able to carry out a full review on this unit as it was purely a test unit, maybe in the future people who get time with this unit could update us as to the retail differences. What I can remark on is that this phone comes as with the new interface mentioned above, there was no VOTA but I would assume it would be included on the final version.

I can say this device also surprised me for be remarkably fast, with good reactions and speed, maybe this was because it was not loaded with the usual paraphernalia included on finished versions. But it was impressive, perhaps that is as good a reason as any for not dumping loads of applications and tweaks on a phone and let the buyer customise?

Also most all of the Third Party apps that I tried to install failed and the included software was also minimal. I can say that the voice calls where absolutely fine as was the signal strength and overall functionality of the phone.

This unit is due to be released in Q4 of this year so time will tell what conclusions can be drawn once it is finished. I am interested to know where it will fit in the price bracket, as it hasn’t got the VGA or quite the same spec as its sister the 103, and therefore could be a neat option for an even ‘cheaper’ device with a reasonable spec.

 

Reviews by: Steve

Slingbox Classic Review

Ever find yourself with time to kill, wishing you could watch some TV? or even a program you’ve recorded on your Sky Plus?

Well that’s what the Slingbox does, it allows you to control your home TV whilst you are on the move. You can watch programs live, or if you have a Sky Plus type setup, you can watch recorded programs – basically everything you can do at home you can now do from anywhere in the world over an Internet connection.

http://uk.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox-classic-slingplayer

What’s in the box

• Slingbox
• Power adapter
• 2 Audio/Video cables
• Scart adapter
• S-Video cable
• IR Control Cable
• Ethernet cable
• RF Aerial cable
• CD-Rom

General

The box itself is a fairly simple looking affair – all the connections at the back and just a couple of LED’s on the front to confirm it has power and an Internet connection.

The clean front of the Slingbox

Connections across the back of the box

Most users of the Slingbox, in the UK at least, are going to be using it for controlling their Sky box remotely so I’ll talk in those terms. [Though if you look at the SlingMedia site you’ll see that the Slingbox supports lots of other devices].

In general I would imagine that everyone would use the Scart Adaptor, that comes with the box, plugged into one of the Sky outputs. Then the 3 pin Combination Audio/Video cable plugs into that, and then the other end into the input of the Slingbox.

Then you hook up the ethernet cable to your router, plug the IR Cable into the Slingbox and route the cables so that the IR transmitters are pointing at the right part of the Sky Box.

Plug in the power and that’s the box setup done.

You then need to install the software on your PC/Mac to let you setup the box further.

Once the Software is installed it will find your Slingbox on the network and walk you through the setup, all very straightforward.

At the end of the setup process it offers to setup the remote access that will allow you to view your video from anywhere in the world (providing you have Internet access). If you are just planning on sharing the signal around you home network then you don’t need to set this up obviously.

The only other thing you need to setup is the software on the devices you plan on watching your programs with, be it a laptop or a mobile phone.

Computer Requirements

Minimum PC Requirements

• Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2
• 1.3 GHz processor
• 1 GB RAM
• 150 MB available disk space for installation
• 24-bit graphics
• 16-bit sound
• Network connectivity

Minimum Mac Requirements

• PowerPC G4/G5 800 MHz or Intel processor
• Mac OS X v.10.3.9 (or higher recommended)
• 1 GB RAM
• 150 MB available disk space for installation
• Network connectivity

Minimum Network Requirements

• Cable or DSL modem (for out-of-home viewing)
• 256 Kbps upstream network speed recommended (higher upstream network speeds yield higher quality video)
• Home network router – wired or wireless (UPnP compatibility highly recommended)

Audio and Video Sources

One aerial/coaxial antenna and one standard definition audio/video source such as:

• DVB-T Freeview Set-top Box
• Digital Cable Set-top Box
• Aerial/Coaxial Antenna*
• Digital Video Recorder (DVR) such as Sky, Virgin Media or one provided by your cable/satellite provider
• DVD Player/Recorder
• Satellite Receiver such as Sky
• Video/Security Camera
• Windows Media Center

*Includes built in Freeview DVB Tuner

Review

Windows or Mac based PC – check

High-speed Internet connection – check
Home network router – check
Want to watch Sky TV on the move – check

So assuming you also have the same checklist, then the Slingbox is an interesting device.

It literally gives you remote control of your Sky TV wherever you have a decent Internet connection. You can be sitting in an airport terminal or your local coffee shop using their WIFI access to watch the latest episode of your favourite soap on your mobile phone. Sitting on a long distance train journey and have time to kill? then watch the movie you recorded last night (assuming the train has WIFI access and isn’t the old rolling stock that so much of the UK still has).

All sounds great, certainly something that could change how people watch their TV.

Out of the box there are a plethora of cables to allow you to hookup your Slingbox – nothing is left to chance, I can’t actually think of a setup that the cables supplied don’t support [apart from HD, but that’s a different product].

Everything connects up really obviously, nothing complicated in that.

And then you reach for the CD to install the software that finishes setting up the device…

In my case, I’ve got a Windows XP system and after putting in the CD it pops up with a menu.

OK, click Install, wait what? That says ‘Download & Install’, surely that can’t be right, someone must have labelled the button wrong.

Nope, that’s right folks, out of the box you have a 40MB download to do before you can setup your box. The CD shipped is the equivalent of a web address. And the kicker? When you ask the software to check for updates, it again opens a webpage in the browser and tells you that you need to download an updated version, and yup it’s ANOTHER 40MB download 😮

Once you get the software down and run the installation it then opens up a wizard to setup the Slingbox. It’s all fairly straight forwards – which country is the Slingbox in, which input on the Slingbox are you using, What is your Television Source (Sky in my case), Brand of the Device you are wanting control, etc.

[Please bear in mind that all these screen caps are missing the actual video as my capture software doesn’t grab it correctly]

  

Once that’s all set and you’ve tested the control of the device, then you just setup the box password and the box’s administrator password.

If you are wanting to control the box over the Internet instead of just your local network then first you register with SlingMedia. This will setup an account that keeps track of the IP address of your box on the Internet, which allows you to point your mobile devices to it over the Internet [in one version of the software I played with you could also set the box to use DynDNS.org to keep track of the IP address].

A couple more screens to auto-tune the video settings and away you go – it starts up the client program and you are watching and controlling your Sky box over your network.

The actual player

All the settings are reconfigurable from menus in the player, you can either let the player control the amount of network bandwidth the Slingbox uses or manually configure it, you can change your picture to widescreen, letterbox etc – in fact every setting I could think of wanting to play with was there, all very nice.

For viewing you can install clients on Windows XP, Mac OS X or some mobile phone OS’s (Windows Mobile, Symbian S60/UIQ or Palm).

These can connect to your Slingbox either over your local network or over the Internet from wherever you happen to be.

Although I was primarily testing this over my local network on desktop PC’s, I did try the Windows Mobile client (there’s a 30 day demo) and I was very pleasantly surprised – it just worked, what more could you ask 😀

[Obviously be aware that mobile connections to the Internet can be chargeable depending on your connection type and phone contract]

 

And once it’s all running there’s not a lot to do but kick back and enjoy it.

 

Picture quality on the desktop is OK, nothing special – but it’s never going to be DVD quality from the input source we are using, which is then compressed. That same picture quality on the mobile screen is far more palatable. [You can look at the new Slingbox HD for higher def solutions]

In both cases I could definitely imagine myself watching programs over the Internet – I’ll happily accept the slight dip in picture quality as a trade-off for being able to watch your own TV anywhere.

 

Highlights

• good selection of cables to hook things up
• seems to have a very good library for devices it can control

Lowlights

• 40MB download before you can even start
• Software downloaded from the CD Link is out of date, so another 40MB download is on the horizon if you want to get up to date

Conclusion

So after the surprising lack of inclusion of the software you need on the included CD the rest of my experience with the Slingbox was very very smooth.

The ability to sit potentially anywhere in the world and not just watch, but also control your TV is very cool in my opinion, and is an excellent addition to any Sky Plus setup to allow you total control over your TV viewing no matter where you are.

Just be sure to warn the people at home you are going to be remotely controlling the setup to avoid freaking them out 😀

Eten Glofiish X610 Review

Introduction

So this is my second Glofiish review in the past 3 weeks and with this review I intend to cover some of the points raised by readers in the past few reviews. I have been using both Glofiish phones for the past 3 weeks and of the two I’m afraid that this one was not my favourite.

 

Eten Glofiish X610

The 10 second review:
Device: Eten Glofiish X610
Cost: SIM free only: £464.13 (Inc VAT).
Available to pre-order from: CLOVE technology (Go and buy one from here)
Summary: A pretty depressing device with very little more to offer than GPS and an FM radio that requires no headset attached.
Best of: Box & Packaging, FM Radio, Battery Life
Worst of: WiFi connection, phone signal loss, Design

What’s in the box?

Well we wont go into too much detail about what’s in the box as we have an Unboxing Video already online.

Specification

Matt has posted the specs along with the  Unboxing Video already so have a look there before reading on.

General

The Eten Glofiish X610 not unlike the other x range Glofiish handsets out there. Weighing in at 136g it’s a good bit lighter than the V900 which was reviewed earlier this month.

The phone design is rather rectangular and apart from the curved edges it looks old. With a  large 2.8" 320 x 240 touch screen its not a clear in resolution as the V900. At the top of the screen there is an small square earpiece grill and a status light to both the left and the right hand side of it. The bottom of the pone consists of (from left to right) a call start button, quicklink GPS button, 4 way D-Pad with silver submit button in the centre, home key and call end button.

Angled view of Glofiish X610

The left hand side of the phone has just 2 buttons starting at the top with the rocker volume switch and a button a bit lower down which is defaulted as Voice Command but can be customised. The reset button and the 2.5mm Jack socket (please stop this device manufacturers) can also be found here.

The Left Hand Side

Moving over to the right hand side we find the power button and the camera button.

The Right Hand Side

The top of the handset again has nothing interesting to see except for a simple GPS logo etched in.

Top View

At the bottom we find (from left to right) the telescopic stylus, microphone, MicroSD slot and the miniUSB port.

Bottom View

Looking to the back of the phone we find the 2MP camera, the tinniest self portrait mirror I have eve seen, an LED flash, and large speaker sitting just to the right of it. At the bottom of the back cover there is simply a windows logo etched into the plastic. A surprising addition to the back of the phone is the sticky out part of the stylus which means that if you want to remove the back cover the stylus has to be removed too (not a great move Eten)

Back View

Removing the back from the phone allows you access to the Li-Ion 1530 mAh battery and simcard area. The battery can be removed by flicking a catch downwards that is set to lock the battery in place.

Highlights and Lowlights

+ GPS

+ FM Radio

+ Screen Size

– Loss of phone signal

– Poor ability to hold a WiFi signal

– No full paper version of instructions

– Design & Shape

Review

Considering the phone is priced phone is priced alongside the better V900 I was surprised at just how depressing the phone was. Aimed I guess at the business end of the market and the less techy people this phone really didn’t do a lot for me. You might find when reading through this review that is reads very similar to the V900 review but take it from me that whilst paragraphs may well read the same the phone’s are very different.

When I took the phone box out of its box the first thing that caught my eye was again a very simplistic yet very orange box. Opening the box again like the v900 was very refreshing, no confuddle of leaflets, cables etc… just a very plain cardboard insert housing the phone. Underneath the initial cardboard insert lay a cardboard box which was very neatly packed with the cables and leaflets that normally clutter the box.

Powering on the phone gave the normal Eten bright orange background After running through the normal Windows Mobile set up it loaded the spb Shell interface which we are seeing being built in as standard more and more now.

Navigation was very simple as you’ll find that all Windows Mobile systems handle the same way. The D-Pad was a lot better than the V900 to navigate with.

Inside the phone menu there was not a great deal on offer program wise with the highlight being the Multimedia folder which had the FM Tuner.

The MicroSD slot this time was 1 million times easier to use than the V900 with a simple slot at the bottom which took and released the card very easily with a finger push.

Moving on to some of the normal asked questions I’m gonna go with Matt’s X1 Q&A section to keep it clean.

What’s the in-call sound quality like?

Actually very good, I had not a single complaint from anyone whilst on a call either outbound or inbound

What is the actual RAM in the device?

64MB SDRAM however the settings page shows 46.25 Storage memory and 49.13 Program memory

What is the Spb Panel like?

Not a big fan of this at first but it seems to work really well and its pre installed which is always a good thing

Can you post sample shots taken from the X610 camera?

I’ll ask Matt if he has the time to post some of these however I will say that the picture quality on its low spec 2mp camera is bumpy and doesn’t really take a great photo.

Does it have a motion sensor?

Nope, fraid not

How is the speed switching between  screens?

There is an approx 0.5ms delay in switching screens or launching apps.

How is the feel and reaction of the control touch screen?

To touch it’s the normal smooth texture and the touch is nice and sensative.

How is the sound output quality of the speaker?

Very poor to be honest, in speaker phone mode it’s quite distorted and a little annoying

How well does the FM radio work? How is its reception in areas with weak signals?

This works really well but I do have a very high signal where I live and round about me given that most places in my town can see the FM transmitter mast.

How well does it hold on to cellular signals during calls?

During calls it’s great but off calls it seems to loose itself every 10 to 15 minutes and when you have put the device to sleep it wakes itself back up as a result of this.

Is the hardware fast enough to cope with several applications in the background?

100% no, it’s slow when running 3 apps never mind multiple.

How quickly does using GPS, 3G/HSDPA and Wi-Fi drain the battery?

The battery is one of the better bits of the phone, even using the WiFi it seems to last over a day.

Which is better, the V900 of the X610?

This is a simple one for me, the V900 everytime

How did the GPS handle?

I honestly have no idea because despite having the GPS ability there was nothing worth using on the phone to test it.

Left Angled View

Conclusion

I used the phone for over a week and found it a tad simple and boring. I not saying I never enjoyed having the phone but for me there we just too many downsides and I would not be wiling to spend the money wanted for the phone. I am a big Windows Mobile fan and in general love all phones so to have a phone I didn’t find exiting was a bit disappointing for me. I really hope Eten stay away from making devices like this in the future and concentrate in making the v900 a better phone.

I intend to be sending the phone back this week so if you have any more questions then let me know and I’ll do my best to post them before handing the phone back to Matt.

If you are interested in this handset then why not pop over to CLOVE technology where you can pre-order this handset for £464.13 (Inc VAT).

Posted by: John