Author Archive: Matt

Sony Ericsson C905 review

The Sony Ericsson C905 is the latest in the Cybershot range and another addition to the fast growing range of 8 mega-pixel mobiles out on the market. So how does the c905 set itself aside from its competition?

The Sony Ericsson C905

 

The C905 certainly looks the part on paper with the inclusion of the 8 mega-pixel camera, Wi-fi and a host of other features which are designed to give you the all round mobile experience.

 

What’s in the box?

Head over and have a look at Matt’s Sony Ericsson C905 unboxing video for the full run down of what’s included.

 

Sony Ericsson C905 specification:

• Size
  – 104 x 49 x 18 mm
  – 4.1 x 1.9 x 0.7 inches
• Weight
  – 136 g
  – 4.8 oz
• Screen
  – 262,144-colour TFT QVGA
  – 240×320 pixel
  – Auto-Rotate
• Memory
  – 160 MB Phone Memory
  – Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support – 2GB card in the box
• Networks
  – EDGE  – GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
  – HSDPA – UMTS 850, UMTS 2100
• •Camera
  – 8.1 megapixel camera
  – Xenon flash
  – Auto focus Face detection
  – Smart contrast
  – Image stabilizer
  – Red-eye reduction
• Music
  – Album art
  – Media Player
  – Music tones
  – PlayNow™
  – TrackID™
• Internet
  – RSS feeds
  – NetFront™ Web browser
• Connectivity
  – Bluetooth™
  – WiFi™
• Messaging
  – Email
  – Exchange ActiveSync®
  – MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
  – Predictive text input
  – SMS long (Text Messaging)
  – Sound recorder

General

Being a slider the C905 is more similar in style to the walkman series of mobiles as appose to the Cybershots that have come before it. The Phone is light in the hand and feels fairly solid and well built however as with many sliders they do tend to feel slightly more fragile than candy bar style devices.

The phone has a matt silver finish and unlike some of the other 8 mega-pixel mobiles out there it still looks like a phone not a compact digital camera, something I personally I like because despite the camera quality it is still very much a Phone with a camera rather than the other way around.

The Front of the phone when closed is home to a number of buttons first of all there Is a four way directional control with a single central selection button, surrounding this you have your call control buttons a few quick launch keys for accessing contacts, messages etc. a cancel key Is also located on the front of the device, at the top of the phone above the receiver are two soft keys for quickly accessing your photo album and double up as mode control when the phone is In camera mode.

When opened the phone reveals a standard numeric keyboard with reasonably spaced keys with no problems with big thumb syndrome.

Sony Ericsson C905 open

 

The left hand side of the Mobile houses the M2 card slot and also the proprietary connector for the phones charger, headphones and also for USB sharing with a PC.

Sony Ericsson C905 left side

 

On the right are the phones camera controls, from left to right there is 2 way button for checking the phones status battery life etc. also used for multimedia volume control and for operating the cameras zoom function. There is then playback button for quick access to your photos and videos. A button for switching between photo and video mode is next and finally the shutter button for capturing your shots.

Sony Ericsson C905 right side

 

The back of the C905 will be a familiar site to Cybershot users. The sliding lens cover which when opened launches the phones camera function. As well as the lens there is also a phone light and the all important xeon flash which has been lacking from other mobiles of a similar spec.

Sony Ericsson C905 back view

Highlights & Lowlights
+ 8.1 mega-pixel Camera
+ Wi-fi
+Xeon flash
– Large proprietary connector

Review

The Sony Ericsson arrives full of promise and for the most part seems to match it however the phone does come unstuck when trying to compete with other phones of things such as styling and features.

First of all let me say having had limited experience with the cyber shot series with regards to hands on day to use, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the device was to use the menus are clear and to the point with nothing fancy to take your time, the functionality and connectivity of the c905 is first class with Wi-fi, 3G and GPS included allowing you to be connected whenever you need. It also includes PictBridge which is great for getting your photos quickly and with minimal fuss. For a phone of this price some of the features feel a little primitive with little WOW factor on the other hand some of them certainly do have that WOW factor leaving the phone with a middle of the road feeling with obvious improvements that could be made however it does manage to distinguish itself in the ever expanding high end high spec camera phone market.

Making calls with the phone either voice or video is simple and I had no problems with muffled sound although the receiver was not the loudest or I have experienced it was not something that had a great effect on calls as it was not a huge problem just something to say as a comparison to other phones.

Although not sold on its multimedia capabilities the c905 does not disappoint with regards to playing back your favourite tracks transferring is remarkably simple either via Bluetooth, USB or the fantastic M2 USB Adapter all included. The phone comes with a 2GB memory card however support have M2 card support if you wish to increase capacity.

The phones camera as I’m sure you are of by now is a superb 8.1 mega-pixel auto focus with a selection of functions and modes for improving picture and video quality. The camera is simple to use activating it by simply sliding the lens cover and you are ready to go. The features included allow for things such as facial recognition, image stabilisation, red eye reduction, smart contrast which makes capturing photos in lowlight heavy sunlight situations that bit easier. Another area in which the c905 really manages to distance itself from its competitors is through the inclusion of a xeon flash which really does improve your images over those captured using an LED flash. Image quality is very good although the phones screen is not the best for playback once transferred to a PC the pictures soon come to life, they are clear and crisp however as with other phones with these 8 mega-pixel cameras they just don’t match a dedicated digital compact. The phone is also capable of capturing video with image stabilisation and make use of the phones camera light.

The phone claims to have around 540mins talk time and 380hrs standby which is perfectly acceptable although obviously these times will change depending on what you are using the phone, if you were using the phone for heavy photography uses than expect the battery life to be reduced however will still offer you a reasonable level of battery. Other features such as games and a few fun tools such as Photo DJ and Music DJ which will keep you busy on those tedious bus journeys. An FM radio is also included, another feature that will keep you busy is the phones browser which is of a decent standard is not ideal on the phones relatively small screen in comparison of other devices.

Conclusion 

In conclusion the Sony Ericsson c905 is certainly an impressive phone in more ways than one the trusted and established name of the cybershot cameras instantly gives the c905 an advantage over competitors however it does not quite challenge a dedicated digital compact. The phones media features are also a great addition with an included 2GB M2 card allowing for you to start transferring your tracks to your mobile straight out of the box.

The c905 would make the perfect mobile for students as it brings together a great combination of multimedia and photographic excellence, this combined with great connectivity leaves with lighter pockets and allows you to take great photos with great features wherever and whenever the moment takes.

 

Review by: Nick

[ Post Tags: Sony Ericsson, C905, Cyber-shot, tracyandmatt.co.uk, 8 Megapixel, mobile phone ]

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector review

Remember the days when projectors were large and expensive pieces of kit that you only saw at high-end presentations? They used to have three separate colour ‘guns’ for for RGB and each required time consuming alignment and focusing.

Things have come a long way since then and not only are projectors much smaller but that are also more affordable. Go in to the meeting rooms of many businesses and you’re bound to find a projector there somewhere.

A few years ago there was a lot of talk about making projectors so small that they would actually fit inside a mobile phone. While me might not quite be there yet the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector brings the concept a lot closer and provides us with a projector small enough to fit in your pocket!

The Pico Pocket Projector

The 10 second review:
Device: Optoma Pico Pocket Projector
Cost: £244.67 (Inc VAT).
Available from: Clove Technology (Go and buy one from here)
Summary: An excellent addition to your kit bag if you have to do unplanned presentations or want to show something off on a large screen but you’ll have to dim the lights is you want to use it to it’s full potential
Best of: Tiny size and battery life
Worst of: Poor built in speaker and relatively low resolution

What’s in the box?

• The Pico Projector
• Mains Charger (USB)
• USB to Mini-USB cable
• Video input cable
• Two batteries
• Tripod adapter
• Carry pouch
• Manual and warranty card

If you want to have a more detailed look at what’s included with the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector or to see it in action, take a look at my demo video below:

 

 

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector specication:

• Projection Type –DLP 
• Lamp – LED 
• Lamp Life – 20,000 
• Acoustic Noise – Silent 
• Contrast Ratio –1000:1 
• Power  – Battery  Operated 
• Recharging –USB 
• AV Input – 1 x 2.5mm 4 pole jack socket, AV Input combines stereo audio and composite video, PAL\NTSC(576i\480) 
• Weight – 115g (4oz) 
• Dimensions – W50mm D103mm H15mm 
• Throw Ratio – 1.9 
• Proj Distance – Min 0.25m – Max 2.6m 
• Image Size – 0.15 – 1.5m (6-60") 
• Speaker – 1 x 0.5w 
• Battery Life – Up to 1.5 hours 
• Power Input –Mini USB connectors 

 

General

Lets start off by taking a look around the projector.

The Pico Pocket Projector has a clean design and is made form black and silver plastic. Looking from above there are no controls, just a simple silver band and logo across the middle and a simple LED the indicates battery charge.

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector top

 

On the right hand side of the unit we have the AV input socket which is a 2.5mm 4 pole jack carrying both audio and video signals. In front of that we have a grille over a small single speaker and then a dial which controls the focus.

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector right side

 

Looking to the left side we have the power control which has a full brightness, half brightness and off setting. Next to that is the mini-USB connector that’s used to charge the battery.

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector left side

 

On the front is the lens out of which the projected image is emitted. There is no lens cap though.

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector front view

 

On the bottom is a battery cover, which slides off backwards, and the screw hole for the tripod adapter.

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector bottom view

 

Review

When I first heard about the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector I have to say I was rather skeptical, having owned several large projectors in the past, each of them having incredibly bright (and expensive) bulbs I couldn’t imagine how you could build a projector so small and have LED’s as it’s light source.

Having unboxed the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector I was amazed at how truly tiny it is, certainly it deserves it’s Pico name. At a little larger than most candy-bar style mobile phones it’s probably lighter than the vast majority of them.

As I mentioned in the video above, I quite often have to stand in front of groups of people and give presentations. Normally I arrange for there to be a projector or plasma screen at the venue but when this isn’t possible I take along my own portable projector. This last week I thought I would try the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector when I did a Powerpoint presentation to a small group of people. I put the slideshow on to my HTC Touch Pro and went along with the TV-out cable and the Pico projector. I have to say, this worked quite well for me. Sure, we did have to dim the lights in the room and there was already a proper projector screen at the venue but the eight people in the group were able to see the presentation quite easily. Imagine also how impressed they were when I pulled everything I needed to the presentation out of my jacket pockets!

At the heart of the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector is a DLP chip with a resolution of 480×320 (half VGA) while this doesn’t sound like a lot it does work quite well easily accepting PAL and NTSC signals as well as those output from many mobile phones. Lighting is provided by one or more (I’m not sure how many) bright white LED’s. The advantage of using LED’s is that they are efficient, run cool and have an amazing lifetime. Here the LED life is quoted at 20,000 hours. LED’s are also quite robust which is ideal for something portable.

The projector does have a small loudspeaker built in which combines both left and right input channels. The built-in speaker is probably the worst part of the projector. It’s range is fairly limited and it sounds really quite tinny with lower frequencies causing distortion to the middle and higher end. There’s also no volume control on the unit so if your source isn’t loud enough there’s nothing you can do about it. That said, I doubt that you’d buy the Pico projector for watching the latest DVD’s!

One other thing that lets the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector down a little is the lack of keystone correction. For those of you that don’t know a keystone effect is caused by attempting to project an image onto a surface at an angle, as with a projector not quite centred onto the screen it is projecting on. It is a distortion of the image dimensions, making it look like a trapezoid. In the typical case of a projector sitting on a table, and looking upwards to the screen. Most projectors have some kind of keystone correction whether digitally controls or through a control that shifts the lens. The Pico has neither of these but I guess this down to the size constraints.

If you do choose to use the projector to watch a video, perhaps from your phone or your iPod then it does perform quite well, especially if you can turn out all of the lights and project on to a proper projector screen or a plain white wall. I’d suggest that you allow your video source to output the audio or at the very least use headphones. Under these conditions I was impressed with the detail in the image and the contrast ratio, even fast-moving scenes, where you might expect to see motion blurring, were displayed rather well.

In all, when you consider how small this thing is the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector is impressive!

 

Highlights

• A tiny projector that sits in your hand
• Ideal for mobile workers
• Silent in use
• Ideal for down the pub!

Lowlights

• Needs to be in a dim room for best results
• Poor internal speaker
• No keystone correction

 

Conclusion

The Optoma Pico Pocket Projector is a great little device which is ideal for anyone that travels to meetings regularly but would rather travel light. It’s great for ad-hoc presentations and showing off your latest photos and videos to your mates without having to plan it. It performs amazingly well for something so small!

However, if you are doing professional presentations then the Optoma Pico Pocket Projector wont replace more expensive and brighter projectors out there.

 

Review by: Matt

HTC S740 Review

As regular visitors to T&M will know Matt had a mini play with the HTC S740 couple of months ago, and his video preview can be seen here.

In a detachment from the normal review I think that in lots of ways I totally agree with Matt’s views. This time I will concentrate on my opinion of the mobile, in agreement with Matt’s comments, some of which I have replicated.

The HTC S740 (aka HTC Rose)

What’s in the box?

• HTC S740 smartphone with Windows mobile 6.1 standard
• Stereo Headset with miniUSB connection
• AC plug with interchangeable heads for specific countries which connects to the USB cable (insert pic?)
• Soft slip on carry case, with no clips or connections
• USB to miniUSB connector

 

Point of note here is that this is, once again, a test device, so although it appears to be the final version, the contents and finished article may differ slightly.

HTC S740 Specification:

• Windows Mobile® 6.1 Standard
• 116.3 mm (L) X 43.4 mm (W) X 16.3 mm (T)
• 140g with battery
• Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528MHz
• RAM: 256MB SDRAM
• ROM: 256MB
• 2.4 inch TFT-LCD and QVGA resolution screen
• HSDPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz for Europe.
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE: Quad-band 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• 802.11 b/g WiFi
• Bluetooth® 2.0
• 3.2 megapixel colour camera with fixed focus
• 1000 mAh Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery
• Battery Standby: Up to 280 hours
• Battery Talk Time: Up to 380 minutes 
• HTC ExtUSB™
• GPS / AGPS
• microSD

 

Highlights

• Sharp clear screen
• Great design
• Build quality
• Usability
• Battery life
• Hey, what the heck, sexiness!

Lowlights

• 4 row keyboard
• Chunkiness
• Poor camera

General

The top houses the power on/off button

HTC S740 Top View

 

The left has only the separate volume up and down buttons.

HTC S740 Left Side

 

The bottom of the device finds the miniUSB connection socket, for charging, headphones, sync etc.

HTC S740 bottom view

 

The right hand side has a dedicated camera button.

HTC S740 right side

 

So as you can tell fairly straightforward and uncomplicated thus far.

On the rear is the now expected ‘diamond faceted’ back cover which as usual is a little annoying as it rocks and is unstable when you place it down and try to type etc. Also here is the 3.2 megapixel colour camera with fixed focus, which I will mention later.

HTC S740 back view

 

The phones’ front holds the sharp and clear 2.4” QVGA screen, left and right soft keys, a home key for returning to the ‘Today’ screen as well a back key. Embedded within these you can see a raised Send and End key, which I have heard people describe as useless, but for me they make perfect sense, easy to locate, especially without having to look, and means you can quickly and easily answer and end your calls.

HTC S740 front view

 

In the middle of all these button there is the non- scrolling directional wheel, for up/down/left/right navigation, with a central enter button. Below all of these buttons is the tactile and very usable 12 button keypad.

HTC S740 numeric keypad

 

Slide out the positive 4 line keyboard to find the Touch Pro like black and white keys. I think Matt summed this up expertly and also his comments about the SIM and microSD card operations, here is a review of what he said:

The QWERTY keyboard slides open from the back and is similar to that found on the HTC Touch Pro but the HTC S740 has only 4 rows of keys, mainly because the S740 is that much narrower than the Pro. Keys are nice and easy to type with though and there’s the standard Caps Lock and Function LED indicators.

HTC S740 with keyboard open

 

The worst thing about the HTC S740 in my opinion is the SIM and MicroSD card arrangement. Not only can you not hot-swap the MicroSD card, which I can just about accept, but you have to remove the SIM card to gain access to the MicroSD. Opening the cover over the SIM and MicroSD card slot kills the power to the device, this is annoying enough but removing the SIM card all the time is a pain. If you are a frequent memory card swapper then this probably going to get on your nerves and runs the risk of damaging the SIM card.

HTC S740 SIM and MicroSD card slots

 

People, who know me, are aware of my minimal use of a keyboard, and this device is no different in that respect, I did use it very occasionally, but found the keypad adequate for the majority of tasks. I would prefer a 5^th line to include a separate numbers line as in my job I complete a lot of figure templates etc..

With regard to Matt comments about the fitting of the SIM and microSD card, I concur, fiddly at best very annoying at worst.

Have a look at Matt’s HTC S740 video for a more detailed tour of the device.

 

Software

Not being a WM Standard user, I can’t really comment on the software included, I assume that it has pretty standard inclusions. The interface I used the most was the HTC Home screen and found this great to use and more than capable of completing pretty much all of the tasks that I had to do on a regular basis.

Included in the menus over and above normal are QuickGPS, RSS Hub, Adobe Reader LE, Audio manager and booster, FM radio, eJava, and a folder called HTC Debug Tools which holds a plethora of extras such as a couple of register editors, Wireless LAN loggers, Uni AT’s, Battery specs, Bluetooth testers etc. A lot of these I have never seen before and what’s more I don’t understand what they do, maybe because this is a Test unit, I am not sure.

Review

My first impression was that I don’t do ‘smartphones’ (Windows Mobile Standard) and never have; I have only ever used ‘ordinary’ or touchscreen. When Matt asked me to review this, I thoughts where, ‘ho-hum, great a smartphone, nothing here for me, get the review over with and get back to my Ingito’, a proper phone.

Out of the box it didn’t get any better, looking at the device and picking it up I thought ‘it’s a Bang and Olufsun TV remote’, ‘ Matt’s put his remote in the Box!’. This was actually a compliment in disguise, the feel and quality of the HTC Rose is superb. It is very solid, slightly heavy but in a good way. As I mentioned, very tactile, friends and colleagues have all commented how good the HTC looks and feels.

My small gripes include, the print on the keypad could be a little more prominent, as it is difficult to read in bright light or low light, another line on the keyboard would have been a bonus, but I suppose at the cost of a wider chunkier unit.

The camera, I have to say, for me was rubbish, the fixed focus, no flash, and quality of the pictures where very disappointing, not even adequate, poor. A step back in this day and age of huge advances in the camera/phone devices available today.

I really surprised myself with this mobile, I found myself leaving my Ignito at home, and using it as my sole device. I was recently up in Scotland for a few days, and it took awhile to realise that from Tuesday through to Friday, with low to moderate use, I had not charged the phone at all, a real benefit for a diamond user! The battery seems last forever.

I find that the HTC S740 does the simple things in life like texting and calling people very efficiently, and I really like the ease of use, again a refreshing change, from the often over complicated devices around. (That, as a gadget freak, was not something I thought I would appreciate!)

Conclusion

What a cracking little phone! It is well designed, great to use and very easy to live with.

I would be really impressed if HTC could bring out a derivative without the keyboard, a la diamond, that would be good in my opinion.

I do miss the touchscreen for certain operations, but I have come to realise it is not the end of the world not to have one.

The sound quality, signal strength and ability to hold it where absolutely fine. (I have added as I know this was asked in the previous review.)

If only it could change channels and operate my sky+ it would be the best smartphone ever!

I do know that some people who have already taken delivery of their HTC S740 are already singing its praises and rightly so.

Go, buy it, it’s great. And I don’t very often say that! I’ll wait for the keyboard less model.

 

Review by: Steve

[ Post Tags: smartphone news, windows mobile news, HTC, HTC S740, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Acer Aspire One Review

Acer Aspire One Review – Appliance computing

Another day, yet another small cheap portable computer. This time it’s the Acer Aspire One. After having been wowed by the MSI Wind of recent, I was keen to see how the Acer compared as it takes a different approach to the task of lightweight mobile computing.

The Acer Aspire One

What’s in the box?

Not a lot. Bearing in mind that this was a review machine, the contents of the box are not likely to be representative of retail machines.

1. Acer Aspire One

2. Mains charger.

General

Controls and ports:

Left side: Power jack, VGA port, RJ11 ethernet socket, USB2.0 port, SD card slot (marked as storage expansion)

Right side: Microphone socket, headphone jack, 2 x USB2.0 ports, multi-card reader, Kensington lock socket

Acer Aspire One Specification:

• CPU: Intel ® N270 Atom 1.6GHz
• Operating System : Linpus Lite v.0.5
• Chipset: Intel ® 945GSE
• System Memory: 512MB
• 8.9”LCD panel, 1024×600 pixels with LED backlight.
• 8GB Intel SSD
• Keyboard 80 key keyboard/Touch Pad
• I/O Port USB X 3,Mic in, Earphone out, D-SUB, RJ45, SD/MMC/MS/MS
• Audio Speaker x 2
• Integrated Acer Crystal Eye Webcam, supporting 0.3megapixel resolution
• Networking: Wireless LAN 802.11b/g, 10/100 LAN
• Protection: Kensington lock
• Battery: Li-ion 2200mAh
• Dimensions: 260 x 180 x 19-31.5mm
• Weight 1.15kg
• 1year RTB warranty

Highlights:

• Robust feel
• Simplicity.
• Linux stability.
• Sturdy screen hinge

Lowlights:

• Mouse glidepad and buttons
• Screen
• Dumbed-down operating system

Review

The review unit was the base A110L with 512MB of Ram and an 8GB solid state disk which retails for about £200 – £220 online.

In use the first thing to strike you is how quick this machine boots up. The operating system is a lightweight and optimised version of Linux that goes by the rather unfortunate name of Linpus. Together with a solid state disk they make any similar Windows-based netbook look positively tardy. From cold to rock ‘n’ roll takes 12 seconds. Portable computing is not quite instant, but it’s getting there.

The 512MB and 8GB solid-state disk might seem a bit lightweight these days, but it’s not that long ago when leading edge desktops had that amount of RAM, and 8GB is more than enough for a tight Linux installation. For this class of machine there’s sufficient applications installed for everyday tasks which left about 4GB of space for files. A machine like this is not going to be used for storing large numbers of files on, but mostly surfing, music and email so 4GB is enough, but for those of you who need more this can be augmented by popping a high capacity SD card into one of the two available slot.

The operating system can best be described as a dumbed-down version of Linux. On boot-up you’re presented with a desktop, which is divided into four panels: Connect, Work, Fun and Files. Within each panel software is installed so, for example, in Connect we find a web browser (Firefox), an instant messenger application, an e-mail client (Thunderbird), Skype and Google Maps. In Work we find a word processor, spreadsheet application, a contacts database and calendar application. Everything you might need for computing on the move is there and, my only criticism is that adding to the suite is not easily possible unless you know your stuff because the o/s is locked down tightly. For Linux fans like myself this is disappointing as one of the things I like about Linux is its versatility, its ability to be customised, new applications compiled, installed or removed. This cannot be easily done with the Acer. There’s not even access to the command line which, is the backbone of Linux. In many ways though this is not a bad thing as it removes the potential (of which there is plenty with Linux) for completely screwing things up badly!

With a speedy and silent SSD, applications loaded very quickly indeed and there was little noticeable lag. In comparison to other netbooks running Windows XP Home the little Acer was noticeably quicker and a joy to use. Setting up a wireless network connection was simplicity itself compared to Windows machines. Sadly, it was unreliable. Sometimes it would connect and sometimes it wouldn’t despite all settings being correct. I never got to the bottom of the problem.

Typing is like on any other netbook, it takes some getting used to. I did find the Acer more fiddly and cramped than other netbooks that I have tried recently and there was too much flexing in the keyboard for my liking. It felt flimsy which, was highlighted by the left-shift key falling off. Having said that, it was obvious that the review machine had been through a bit of a hard life.

Aspire One glidepad and keyboard

 

The mouse glidepad was perhaps the only bit of hardware I disliked. It was small, imprecise and had the mouse buttons unconventionally either side of it. In use I found that the mouse pointer would suddenly veer off screen which caused no end of confusion. The pointer was small which didn’t help and there were no means of changing the speed, size or acceleration of it.

The 2200mAh battery should be more than capable of delivering enough life for the type of use the machine would be put to. Having an SSD means battery life is likely to be better than hdd-equipped competitors. The battery in our review unit was, unfortunately, unable to hold a charge for more than a few minutes – again evidence of the life the review unit has lead. Reports elsewhere state that using the machine for a couple of hours at a time seems to have virtually no impact upon the charge level. I’d estimate 3-4 hours use would be possible with more aggressive power management.

The display is a typical netbook standard 8.9” 1024 x 600 pixel item. It’s nowhere near as good or sharp as the MSI Wind’s display, but then again this machine costs a fair bit less so you pay your money and take your choice. Illumination is even and bright, but it lacks punch and the standard themes included with the o/s are dull. In fact, all colours are fairly dull, but the screen is fine for documents, surfing and mailing and not so good for photos and videos.

Conclusion

I liked the Aspire One. It feels quite well put together, the software is solid, reliable and well matched to the hardware so the machine is surprisingly fast and responsive. I am a little disappointed in the operating system and software suite insofar as adding to it is not immediately possible, but perhaps that is no bad thing because the upside of this is simple, utilitarian appliance-like computing. At about £200-220 depending upon specification it is good value and arguably more so than my current fave the MSI Wind, but is this enough to overcome the lack of Windows familiarity for many people?

 

Review by: Nigel

[ Post Tags: UMPC, laptop, Windows Mobile, Acer, Aspire One, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]