Actor, writer, director and all round funny guy Stephen Fry has announced his dislike of the little HTC Diamond. Mr. Fry doesn’t appear to be the biggest fan of the Windows Mobile platform and seems to greatly prefer the Apple movement at the moment. He points out a number of the flaws already know however as Edward J. R. points out over at msmobiles.com "Stephen Fry is wrong because HTC Touch Diamond has no multi-touch display at all."
Having just arrived in the South of France it got me thinking how this trip relied on Mobile Technology and how much it has benefited us compared with making a trip some 10 years ago. First off the Gete (French Farmhouse) was all sourced through the Internet, the various on route hotels again booked online along with the tickets to get through the Channel Tunnel. These details were all emailed and stored on my iPhone for a paperless system.
INTRODUCTION
This is the third MP3/Media player from SanDisk that I’ve reviewed. The first was the Sansa e260 over a year ago and the second the Sansa View was about 6 months ago.
The most impressive thing about the entire range has to be the battery life. Using the e260 for about an hour each day for example it’s almost a month between charges. The only downside to that is the risk of loosing the power cable between charges!
As with other models the Fuze comes in a very small package – with just a carton inside holding the mp3 player itself, connection cable and earphones. Take a look at our unbox video for a more detailed look at the Sansa Fuze.
SanDisk Sansa Fuze specification:
DESIGN
The Fuze is a very compact MP3/Media Player that, to be honest, looks like an iPod clone. Taking a look at the front of the Fuze there’s a small, 1.9" display. The display is quite low res at just 220×176 pixels. There’s also a jog dial that rotates as well as working as a d-pad style navigator. There’s also a simple HOME button on the front.
On the left there’s a microSD card slot which is, fortunately microSDHC compatible. Below that is a simple MIC which means you can use the Fuze as a voice recorder.
The right side is fairly bare, just a simple two-function switch which serves as a power switch and a hold switch.
On the bottom there’s a 3.5mm headphone socket which will allow you to use any standard headphones. The bottom is where you’ll find the proprietary sync and charge socket. I know I frequently moan about proprietary connectors almost all player manufacturers have their own connector type.
SOFTWARE
Once again SanDisk have used the same interface as on previous models. The scroll wheel suits the interface perfectly – and much better than the latest non-touch iPod. The main menu is icon based, but changes to text as we go deeper into mp3/video lists.
The main menu consists of Music, Photo, Voice, Video, Extras and Settings, all selected with the scroll wheel.
The music library filters are pretty standard to both Sandisk players, and players in general, with Play All tracks starting us off at the top, along with Artist, Album, Songs, Genres, My Top Rated, Recordings, and Playlists as options. On the playback screen, you get thumbnail album art, track info, and a time-elapsed meter. Pressing the select button takes you to a neat graphic-level meter, full-size album art, and the next song.
Sound Quality
The sound quality of the Fuze is once again on-par with it’s predecessors and still far better than the iPod Nano. Comparing the same MP3 track and using the same headphones the Fuze beats the Nano hands-down. While I don’t have the equipment to demonstrate this with fancy graphs the Fuze simply sounds better and more full-range and compression artifacts seem a lot less noticeable and the audio is a lot more pleasing.
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.
Pros:
Cons:
CONCLUSION
Once again SanDisk have done a good job with this Media Player. If you want a small unit with excellent battery life and you wont be rejected by your friends for not having an iPod then the Fuze is well worth considering. This is the sort of MP3 player that you can set playing, stick in your pocket and then forget about.
Unfortunately the screen that SanDisk have put in the device is really only adequate for using the on screen menu. It’s far too small and low-res to be useful as a video player.
Review by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Sandisk, Sansa Fuze, Media Player]
Facebook on a mobile has always a daunting thing, however Faceofmobile.com offer a simple client that operates all your favourite features of Facebook on the go. I saw it a month or two ago, however it was for North America only. Now its for all the folks of the world. Its small, memory-lite and exceedingly easy to use. Check it out if Facebook is your thing.
A little while ago I mentioned that HTC were going to supply higher capacity batteries for the HTC Touch Diamond. So far HTC haven’t come up with an official product but the other day I came across a replacement battery that has DOUBLE the capacity of the original Diamond battery.
Personally, I don’t have any problem with the capacity of the original battery but I know many people have been disappointed with the battery life. This replacement battery is 1800mAh as opposed to the original 900mAh.
As you can see from the images below it does add a fairly significant chunk to the back of the otherwise slim Diamond but I guess this is a small price to pay for the extra capacity. The package available from Clove comes complete with a replacement back that matches the design of the original. I’d like to see someone come up with a third-party replacement flat-back though as my original is looking very worn.
‘Get more life out of your HTC Touch Diamond handheld with a high capacity lithium-ion extended battery. This extended battery allows you to work for longer periods without having to connect your handheld to a power outlet. This Lithium-Ion extended battery has been tested and validated for your HTC Touch Diamond.’
The back cover is similar to the original. It is not completely flat, it has contours like the original.
Features of Extended Battery (1800mAh) – HTC Touch Diamond
The replacement battery and battery cover is available for an extremely reasonable £25.85 inc VAT from Clove Technology.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, Diamond, HTC, battery]
Laptop Magazine are currently showing a video of another upcoming Samsung. This one, the i8510, has an impressive 8.1 megapixel camera and runs off Symbian. List of all features is after the break.
Another review of the Samsung Omnia has popped up at The Unwired. Additionally they have added a 14 minute video review which is excellent. Also their use of GIF files illustrates the review brilliantly. It’ll be hard to find a better review.
Mobile service provider O2 is warning users that the iPhone 3G handset will be in short supply for some time. The company posted a notice to its site which said that the Apple handset would face shortages " for the foreseeable future." O2 said that it was receiving weekly shipments of the handsets from Apple, and would continue to do so. Still, however, the iPhone 3G is in such high demand that the device would only be sold in O2’s retail outlets.
Apple may already be laying the groundwork for several important updates in the next major iteration of iPhone firmware, according to multiple sources. One notes that in exploring the Localizable.strings entry under English.lproj in the current iPhone WebKit framework, there are entries for several commands the firmware does not currently support, including cutting, copying and pasting. Apple has expressed interest in adding the feature, but has not set a timeframe.
The Boy Genius has posted a fantastic video showing the Blackberry Bold web browser in action over 3G and WiFI. We have to warn you though, it’s not organized that well, but you should get the jist of it. Something we should point out as well is that when using Internet Explorer or Firefox browser emulation, a lot of sites don’t load and it gives an error, even over 3G or Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi was turned off for the first part of the video, and then later turned on, video after the break. Check out the video at The Boy Genius
Connect
Connect with us on the following social media platforms.