Matt
More than 20 years in the IT industry. Blogging with a passion and thirst for new technology since 2005.
Sony today announced two new models for their Cyber-shot range, the DSC-T77 and DSC-T700. Both look like exceptionally slim and well-spec’ed cameras, the T77 being the worlds world’s slimmest camera with 4x optical zoom. I hope to have my hands on one for review shortly!
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T77
Slim and Stylish: The DSC-T77
- — Super-slim, beautiful design with choice of five fashion colours
- — 10.1 effective megapixels
- — Smile Shutter automatically captures smiling faces
- — Beautiful portraits with Face Detection and Anti-blink technology
- — Carl Zeiss 4x optical zoom lens
- — Optical SteadyShot for crisper, clearer photos
- — Stunning 3" touchscreen LCD
- — Intelligent Scene Recognition with new Portrait mode
Photo Album in your pocket: The DSC-T700
- — Slim, beautiful design with choice of five fashion colours
- — 10.1 effective megapixels
- — 4GB internal memory, stores up to 40,000 photos
- — Powerful album functions to store, organise and share your photos
- — Smile Shutter automatically captures smiling faces
- — Beautiful portraits with Face Detection and Anti-blink technology
- — Enjoy your images on the Extra-large 3.5" touchscreen LCD
- — Easy web upload for sharing images on social networking sites
Two gorgeous new T-Series Cyber-shot™ cameras from Sony are bursting with amazing features to help you take great pictures. Slim, colourful and easy to carry, they’re the perfect partner for any occasion, from fun-filled nights out to holidays, parties and family moments.
Cyber-shot™ T77: World’s slimmest camera with 4x optical zoom
The breathtaking Cyber-shot™ T77 proves that less really is more when it comes to beautiful pictures. Just 15mm thin (13.9mm at thinnest point), the stunningly styled T77 won’t spoil the lines of a jacket or shirt pocket. It’s available in a range of five mouth watering colours including black, silver, pink, green and brown.
Sleek, chic looks are accentuated further by the big, beautiful 3-inch touchscreen LCD. All functions are controlled with a touch of the screen, cutting down on fiddly controls while giving you a widescreen view of your pictures.
Inside its super-svelte lines, the Cyber-shot™ T77 is crammed with smart Sony technology to help you shoot, share and enjoy better-looking pictures. There’s a crisp, clear Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens to ensure peerless image quality, with a powerful 4x optical zoom range for detail-packed close-ups. Additionally, the T77 is the thinnest Cyber-shot™ ever to feature a powerful 4x optical zoom range for detail-packed close-ups.
Now even easier to use, Smile Shutter lets you capture more happy moments. Just select Smile Shutter mode and aim the camera: the Cyber-shot™ T77 automatically fires the shutter when someone smiles. Face Detection has also been improved for even better results, allowing you to prioritise children or adults for natural portraits with spot-on skin tones, exposure and focus.
Brand new ‘Anti-blink’ technology cuts the risk of closed eyes spoiling portraits of friends and family. Portrait Mode shoots two images in quick succession, automatically throwing away pictures where the subject’s eyes are closed.
Intelligent Scene Recognition has been further refined. Now it will automatically adjust settings for great results over an even wider range of common shooting situations like portraits, landscapes and close-up macro pictures.
Complementing the powerful BIONZ processor, High Sensitivity (maximum ISO 3200) and Clear RAW Noise Reduction help to ensure beautifully natural results indoors or at dusk without the help of flash. There’s also a Dynamic Range Optimiser (DRO) that ensures a better balance between bright highlights and deep shadows. It’s great in tricky situations like taking portraits against the sun. After shooting, bring all your memories back to life as a slideshow with music soundtrack. If you want an even bigger picture, just connect the T77 to your HD television for spectacular results in your living room.
Also available, the genuine leather soft LCS-THP carry case protects your Cyber-shot™ from dust and scratches.
Key technical specifications
Cyber-shot™ T77 Cyber-shot™ T700 Effective megapixels 10.1 effective megapixels 10.1 effective megapixels Image processor BIONZ processor with BIONZ processor with Dynamic Range Optimiser Dynamic Range Optimiser Image sensor Super HAD CCD Super HAD CCD Internal memory 15MB 4GB stores up to 40,000 photos Shooting modes Intelligent Scene Intelligent Scene Recognition with new Recognition with new Portrait, Landscape and Portrait, Landscape and Macro modes Macro modes Lens Carl Zeiss 4x optical Carl Zeiss 4x optical zoom lens zoom lens Display 3.0-inch Clear Photo 3.5-inch (921K dot) Plus touchscreen LCD Xtra Fine wide touchscreen LCD Image stabilisation system Dual anti-blur with Dual anti-blur with Optical SteadyShot and Optical SteadyShot and High Sensitivity High Sensitivity (ISO 3200) (ISO 3200) Smile Shutter Smile Shutter with Smile Shutter with selectable Adult/ selectable Adult/ Child priority Child priority Face Detection Face Detection with Face Detection with selectable Adult/ selectable Adult/ Child priority Child priority Additional features Portrait mode with Powerful album functions Anti-blink technology to store, organise and share your photos Easy image management Album mode with automatic with folder, date, indexing favourite and event views Image search by Easy image management faces (People/Children/ with folder, date, Infants/Smiles) favourite and event views HD Slideshow with Image search by Photomusic faces (People/Children/ Infants/Smiles) HD output with PhotoTV HD Easy web upload for (requires compatible sharing images on social television) networking sites Fun in-camera image HD Slideshow with retouching Photomusic HD output with PhotoTV HD (require compatible television) Fun in-camera image Retouching
Posted by: Matt
No this isn’t a mistake or a repeat-post but in fact HTC just released another ROM update for the HTC Touch Diamond. This time it’s version 1.93 and is available for the UK and other European countries.
As with other HTC ROM updates, in order to download the update you must have an HTC Touch Diamons and have registered it’s serial number through your e-club account. Once you have done this then the download will be available as a “Phone Software Update” in the “My Downloads” section of your account.
The download is just over 98MB in size and the update process takes around 20 minutes to perform. This is a full ROM update so EVERYTHING will be wiped from your Diamond (Internal Storage is Safe) during the upgrade so be sure to backup all of your important data before you begin the update process!
Updated in this ROM:
I’m downloading this ROM update at the moment and I’ll let you know how I get on with it later.
Posted By: Matt
[Source]
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, TyTN II]
Atraware and PopCap games always come up with funky and unusual games and Insaniquarium certainly fits in that category so is a great game for those that like video games, although if you’re looking for games to play with your children there are great options like escape rooms near charleston sc that you can ennjoy as a family activity.
Check out the press release below:
Astraware and PopCap Games, Inc. are excited to announce the release of one of PopCap’s flagship titles for Palm OS and Windows Mobile smartphones. Insaniquarium DeluxeTM offers hours of frantic aquarium fun as you feed your fish, watch them grow and protect them from alien invaders!
Insaniquarium Deluxe is the craziest aquarium game ever – tend to your fish and keep them happy and they’ll reward you with precious coins and jewels. Use the money you earn to buy upgrades for your tank or egg parts which hatch lots of different in-tank pets with special powers. These pets can help you feed your fish, collect coins, or even protect against the aliens that will invade your tank and wreak havoc. You can also use the money you earn to buy better weapons to see the aliens off quicker!
Insaniquarium Deluxe includes 3 fun ways to play:
- Adventure – keep your fish healthy and protect them from aliens through 4 fun aquarium stages each with multiple levels of mayhem;
- Time Trial – feed your fish and fight off the alien invaders to make as much money as possible against the clock. A new time trial is unlocked as you complete each stage in Adventure
- Challenge – once you’ve mastered Adventure, face the ultimate challenge as you feed your fish and try to protect them from ever increasing alien attacks. The challenge ends when the last fish is zapped!
Insaniquarium Deluxe is available for Palm OS(R) 5 smartphones and PDAs with at least a 320×320 screen, and for smartphones and PDAs running Windows Mobile(R) 2003 and later. For more information, to try and to buy, visit http://www.astraware.com/insaniquariumdlx.
Posted by: Matt
Today we discovered that Vodafone are going to carry the HTC Touch Pro and, a little earlier than we expected, are due to launch the device some time this month!
For those of you that don’t know about the Touch Pro (where have you been hiding?) this is the new device from HTC that’s very similar to the HTC Touch Diamond in terms of size and specification but the Touch Pro looses the 4GB of internal storage in favour of a MicroSD card slot and also sports a sliding QWERTY keyboard which has given the Pro the unofficial nickname ‘TyTN III’.
I suspect that the Touch Pro will have a great deal of appeal to business customers and wonder if the imminent launch of the Touch Pro is why Orange are not offering the Touch Diamond to corporate customers?
You can see more of the HTC Touch Pro on the Vodafone Business Shop site.
The HTC Touch Pro has all the elegance and magic of the HTC Touch Diamond and adds a five row QWERTY keyboard for the ‘heavy messaging’ user. The HTC Touch Pro also comes with added flexibility of a MicroSD slot, which when combined with the optional accessory of the TV out cable means that the device can swap between slide presentations, music library, video player with ease. Launch expected in August
We are expecting to get our hands on an HTC Touch Pro review unit within the next week so watch this space for more news and reviews!
Posted by: Matt
If you are a Skype user with a Windows Mobile device running WM 6.1 you’ll have probably noticed that Skype doesn’t work properly (or at all) on the latest WM version.
Fortunately the guys from Skype have come up with a fix and have just made the updated version of Skype available on their website. There’s no mention of any other changes in this release just that it claims to be for WM 6.1
Head over to the Skype website to download now.
Posted by: Matt
[Source]
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Skype, virus, VoIP, Tracy & Matt]
With environmental issues topping the media agenda in the public consciousness, electronics companies must be seen to be changing their approach to product design as well as adapting their manufacturing processes.
Sony has been working hard to address environmental issues company-wide and these efforts have been recognised in Europe, with Sony the first consumer electronics company to be awarded the EU Sustainable Energy Award (in 2007).
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Environment/news/2007/20070213.html
The latest BRAVIA TVs from Sony have been specifically designed with the environment in mind. New features have been developed with the aim of raising current industry standards, to ensure that everyone benefits in the future.
Auto Power Off
Recent media coverage has highlighted the power wasted by TV sets being left on unnecessarily. Sony already has an auto shut off function in its BRAVIA TV range which will turn the set to standby mode after ten minutes if there is no input signal. Typically, this means a reduction in the amount of power required from 169W to just 0.3W. While your TV might turn itself off for you, don’t forget to switch off your stereo as well – playing music to an empty room isn’t going to help the environment, or your neighbours’ ears!
Light Sensor
To help reduce power usage, all BRAVIA models are fitted with brightness sensors. This means that the TV reacts to how dark a room in and automatically adjusts its own picture settings to lower power consumption without having any impact on the viewing experience – making for an overall ‘greener’ showing. Just imagine how much energy could be saved if TVs around the world could do this.
Recycled Materials
Around 10% of all Sony Products are made from recycled materials. In 2006, the 16,000 tons of plastic Sony re-used made it one of the industry leaders in using recycled plastics. It also helped reduce CO2 emissions by around 18,000 tons – the equivalent of almost 3000 fully grown male elephants!
Power Saving Modes
One of the areas Sony is currently exploring is how to reduce the amount of power required to run a television. BRAVIA TVs now come with power-saving modes as standard. Not only do these modes lessen the TV’s environmental impact but they also help reduce the cost of running it. So, save it all up and you can take your other half out for a romantic meal. Or just spend it on yourself.
So what’s your take on these environmental issues? Have you changed your behaviour at all? Drop us a line.
Posted by: Matt
Don’t you just love it when something strange happens on your PC or mobile? This one certainly falls under the weird category!
Sitting on the toilet bus this morning I decided to pass the time with a quick game of Solitaire on my HTC Touch Diamond. I started to play the game and realised that something odd was going on – have a look at the screen shot to see if you can spot the deliberate mistake?
Solitaire mess up (click to enlarge)
If you look again you might notice that there are two five of clubs, two 2 of spades, two ace of clubs and two ace of hearts!? Played the game through as far as I could as I wondered if there were two complete decks but turns out to be one and a half decks?!
The very next game was just the same! Anyone ever seen this before? I think my Diamond has forgotten what a deck should look like!
BTW. No I didn’t Photoshop the image, you can watch the video if you want!
Posted by: Matt
It’s been a long time since their originaly announcement back in February of this year, but Sony has finally launched their new Blu-ray players, the BDP-S350 and BDP-S550.
The S350 manages to pack in BonusView, Precision Drive HD and is BD-Live Ready as of October, via a firmware upgrade. The Precision Cinema HD upscaling technology is also included, which upscales standard-def footage to 1080p.
Great picture and sound quality with Sony’s new Blu-ray Players
The new BDP-S350 and S550 offer amazing home cinema experience for Blu-ray movies, DVDs and music
Sony BDP-S350
The latest next-generation BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 Blu-ray Disc™ players from Sony provide movie fans with the ultimate full HD home cinema experience and incorporate an amazing range of innovative new features.
“We called upon our expertise in Hollywood movie production and digital technology to build a machine that movie fans would truly love,” said David Walstra, Director, Home Video Marketing of Sony Europe. “An advanced Blu-ray Disc™ player like the BDP-S350 or BDP-S550 is a must for every HDTV owner because it delivers the best possible 1080p high-definition video and incredible sound quality, while unlocking next-generation features that you just won’t get from DVD, downloads or video-on-demand.”
BDP-S350: the complete Blu-ray High Definition Experience – with effortless upgrade to full BD Live
The BDP-S350 includes several exciting new Blu-ray features in a slim product design, such as 24p True Cinema, BonusView, Sony’s Precision Cinema HD Upscale, Precision Drive HD and BD-Live Ready. Just connect the player to the internet and download the latest firmware, which will be available by October 2008, to access all the qualities of BD live.
The BD-Live and BD-Java firmware enables you to access a range of exciting online services, which allows rich interactive home entertainment experience. Simply connect the player via an Ethernet cable to the internet to join on-line blogs whilst watching the movie, enter online competitions, draws and online games. You can also access special added value content which is not loaded onto the disc but can be downloaded onto an optional USB flash storage device from a special website dedicated to the movie, such as exclusive movie trailers, latest artist or producer interviews.
The BonusView functionality allows you to view a secondary video stream simultaneously from the same BD disc . This amazing technology means that you can view Picture-in-Picture Blu-ray content at the same time as the the main movie, providing an out of this world home-cinema experience.
Since many consumers own extensive DVD movie libraries, the BDP-S350 incorporates Sony’s new Precision Cinema HD Upscale technology that converts standard-definition signals (480i) to 1080p and outputs a full HD equivalent resolution signal to 1080p TVs via HDMI.
Additionally, the model also adds Sony’s new Precision Drive HD, which helps to detect and correct wobbling discs from three directions, stabilizing playback of Blu-ray Discs™ and DVDs.
It has a quick start up mode, allowing you to switch the player on and begin enjoying your favourite movies in approximately six seconds, performance which is unrivalled amongst other products available today.
Sony BDP-S550
BDP-S550: The ultimate Blu-ray experience
The BDP-S550 offers all the same great capabilities as the BDP-S350, but has BD-Live and BD-Java firmware already built in and includes a 1GB of exchangeable USB storage to save downloaded BD-Live content from the internet.
Also unique to the BDP-S550 is support for DTS-HD Master Audio Decoder and 7.1Ch analogue audio output which means that it can be connected directly to a legacy home-theatre receiver without HDMI for the ultimate movie and surround-sound experience.
Both models use Sony’s award winning XrossMediaBar, an easy to understand control menu that makes it simple for everybody to use all of the players’ functions. BRAVIA Sync technology makes connecting the players to BRAVIA televisions and Home Theatre systems a piece of cake.
The players provide an unforgettable home-cinema experience with Dolby® TrueHD and Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and bit-stream output, as well as DTS®-HD High Resolution Audio and Master Audio bit-stream output.
The BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 support AVCHD discs with x.v.Color™ (xvYCC) technology, an international standard for wide color space reproduction. The standard expands the current data range of video by approximately 180 per cent, allowing the players to output more natural and vivid colors similar to what the human eye actually sees in the natural world. The players also feature compatibility with an array of video formats, including BD-R/RE (BDMV and BDAV modes), DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, CD, CD-R/RW (CD-DA format), and JPEG on DVD/CD recordable media.
BDP-S350 and BDP-S550 key features
BDP-S350
BDP-S550
1080p High Definition Picture
Yes
Yes
24p True Cinema
Yes
Yes
DVD Upscale
Yes (Precision Cinema HD Upscale)
Yes (Precision Cinema HD Upscale)
x.v.Colour
Yes
Yes
PhotoTV HD
Yes
Yes
Video D/A Converter
12bit /148.5MHz
12bit /148.5MHz
Analogue Video Output
Component/ S-Video/ Composite
Component/ S-Video/ Composite
Dolby TrueHD Bitstream Output
Yes
Yes
DTS-HD Master Audio Bitstream Output
Yes
Yes
Dolby TrueHD Decoding
Yes
Yes
DTS-HD Master Audio Decoding
No
Yes
Audio D/A Converter
192kHz/24bit
192kHz/24bit
Analogue Audio Output
2-channel
7.1-channel
BD-Live (Profile 2.0)
Yes (ready)
Yes
Local Storage port for BD-Live
Yes, USB2.0
(USB Flash Memory, not included)
Yes, USB 2.0
(USB Flash Memory, 1GB Memory included)
BonusView (Profile 1.1)
Yes
Yes
HDMI CEC (HDMI v 1.3)
Yes (BRAVIA Sync)
Yes (BRAVIA Sync)
Ethernet port
Yes
Yes
Network Firmware Update
Yes
Yes
AVCHD
Yes
Yes
JPEG
Yes
Yes
Disc Drive
Precision Drive HD
Precision Drive HD
GUI
Yes (XrossMediaBar)
Yes (XrossMediaBar)
GUI Language
GB/ FR/ DE/ NL/ IT/ ES/ PT/ DK/ SE/ NO/ FI
GB/ FR/ DE/ NL/ IT/ ES/ PT/ DK/ SE/ NO/ FI
Back-lit Remote Commander
No
Yes (Blue LED)
Start-up Time
approx. 6 sec.*
approx. 6 sec.*
Dimension (W x H x D mm)
430 × 60 × 220
430 × 70 × 220
Weight
2.9 kg
3.3 kg
I hope to get my hands on both of these Blu-ray players soon, so watch this space for the reviews!
Posted by: Matt
Here’s another great offer from Astraware:
Summer’s here and it’s time for some fun! Whether you’re on vacation, or just want something new to play, Astraware(R) has the solution – the Astraware Hot Summer Sale!
Starting on 1st August, Astraware is offering 25 games each with at least 25% off the regular price. Several of the games are as low as $9.95 each!
If you’re looking for action games like Platypus or GTS World Racing, strategy titles like Westward or Tradewinds 2, word games like Bubble Babble, or favourite classics like Astraware Sudoku – they’re all included with special prices for a limited time! The Hot Summer Sale only lasts until midnight on 17th August, so make sure you don’t miss out.
For all the details and to bag yourself a bargain, visit the Hot Summer Sale page at: http://www.astraware.com/promo/summer08.
Posted by: Matt
INTRODUCTION
The HP 2133 Mini-Note joins a crowded marketplace, which a year ago didn’t exist at all. HP have a lot of catching up to do, but of the “big 2”, HP is the first to market with its own ultra portable laptop. Clove Technology have given us a rather rare review device, so lets see how it compares with its older rivals.
The HP 2133 Mini-Note (click to enlarge)
What’s in the box?
I’m not 100% sure we’ve got a full retail set up here, but the box contents we received looks like this:
HP 2133 Mini-Note Hardware
Battery
AC Power brick
Boring warranty stuff
User guide on CD – hmm
That’s all folks!
Have a look at our HP 2133 Mini-Note unboxing video for more.
HP 2133 Mini-Note Specification:
- Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Business, Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic 32, FreeDOS, or SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (our review machine)
- Processor: VIA C7-M ULV Processor (up to 1.6 GHz, 128 KB L2 cache)
- Chipset: VIA CN896NB and 8237S SB
- Memory: DDR2 SDRAM, 667MHz, one SODIMM memory slot, supports up to 2048MB
- Internal Storage: 120GB/160GB 5400 rpm SATA, 120GB/160GB 7200 rpm SATA with HP 3D DriveGuard; or 64GB Solid State Drive; optional 4GB PATA Flash Module with SuSE Linux
- Display: 8.9-inch diagonal WXGA (1280 x 768)
- Graphics: VIA Chrome 9
- Audio: High Definition Audio, stereos speakers, integrated stereo microphones, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in
- Wireless support: Broadcom 802.11a/b/g, b/g, optional Bluetooth 2.0, HP Wireless Assistant
Communications Broadcom Ethernet Integrated Controller (10/100/1000) - Expansion slots: (1) ExpressCard/54 slot, Secure Digital (SD) slot
- Ports and connectors: (2) USB 2.0 ports, VGA, power connector, RJ-45/Ethernet, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in, optional VGA webcam
- Input device: 92% full-sized keyboard, touchpad with scroll zone
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 1.05 (at front) x 10.04 x 6.5 inches
- Weight: 2.63 lb (with 3-cell battery and 4 GB Solid State Drive, 3.23 lb with 6-cell battery and 160GB hard drive, 2.86 lb with 3-cell battery and 160GB hard drive.
- Power: 6-cell (55 WHr) or 3-cell (28 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery, 65W HP Smart AC Adapter with HP Fast Charge
- Warranty: Limited 1-year and 90-day warranty options available, depending on country, 1-year limited warranty on primary battery
GENERAL
Immediately upon opening the box I was impressed by the aesthetics and build quality. It looks and feels expensive. I understand people like the EEE’s basic look, but give me the polished brushed metal of the Mini-Note any day! There’s no argument here – this is a pretty machine.
Opening the lid is perhaps a little more difficult than it should be. There is no clasp, but it closes tightly, and without some nails, it takes far too much effort to prize the lid open. Having said that, I could just be lazy.
HP 2133 Mini-Note open
Rather like the Eee pc from Asus, the screen does not use the full area available to it. Stereo speakers are positioned either side of it, and there is a large space to the top of the LCD panel, where only the VGA webcam resides. This is a bit disappointing personally, because laptop speakers are never ever going to sound very good – so stick them in the lower portion of the laptop, below the keyboard, and give us a bigger screen!
Despite all that – the screen is possibly one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen on a laptop – more on that later.
On the left hand side, we have a VGA port, to add an extra monitor, or to replicate the laptop screen, a large grill (which pumps out a LOT of heat), a single USB port, and audio ports for speakers and a microphone. The USB plug has a weird hole next to it, and I still haven’t figured out what it is for!
HP 2133 Mini-Note left side
Swapping to the right hand side and we find another more normal looking USB port, the Ethernet port and the AC power socket. Talking of the AC power, unfortunately the Mini-Note does have a smallish power brick – a step back from the first Eee PC with its phone-charge style setup. We’ve also got an express card port sitting above a SD card slot. SD Card’s click in nicely, but are not flush with the laptop chassis. I guess there just wasn’t enough room.
HP 2133 Mini-Note right side
As with most laptops this size, the back panel is free of ports and connectors, and just features the battery pack.
The keyboard itself is a lot larger than the Eee PC and is infinitely more usable – both for quick net surfing, and lengthy documents. I can type fairly quickly 50-60 WPM on my desktop, and managed a similar speed on the Mini-Note – something I found impossible on the Eee’s tiny keyboard. My only slight niggle was a possibly one-off issue – the spacebar only seemed to press successfully on the left hand side of the key, and often missed when pressing the right hand side.
HP 2133 Mini-Note keyboard
The trackpad works nicely, and is accurate. I don’t like the left-right click buttons though – because of space limitations, these are placed either side of the trackpad, rather than above as found on most laptops.
A nice feature that deserves a mention is the trackpad switch. This is found on nearly every HP laptop, and has made it to the first sub-notebook from the company.
HP 2133 Mini-Note trackpad
Finally the front panel contains power and WLAN buttons, complete with indicator lamps, and a hard disk activity lamp too. I have to admit, it looks me a few minutes to work out how to turn the thing on as the switches look a bit like latch controls, but are just actually just momentary slide buttons.
HP 2133 Mini-Note front
Inside we have a slightly-lacklustre Via processor, and a massive 120GB laptop hard disk – no SD Cards required here!
Highlights
- Awesome looks, great build quality
- Software packed linux install
- Superb Screen
- 120GB Hard Disk
Lowlights
- A little too heavy at times
- Trackpad buttons hard to get used to
- CPU can be a bottleneck
- Gets extremely hot!
REVIEW
In preparing this review, I had a read through of Matt’s previous reviews of the Asus 701 and 900 laptops. One paragraph that stood out was this:
“It has to said that the keyboard, trackpad and mouse button does feel distinctly cheap, but that said the device IS cheap so you get what you pay for and given what you get on the inside it’s hard to grumble.”
Luckily the 2133 Mini-Note is completely the opposite in every way. The keyboard and trackpad looks well built and feels anything but cheap. It definitely looks more businessy, and if you turned up to a lunch meeting with the Mini-Note, the Eee PC users may feel a little put out!
Now to the screen. Its a classic vicious circle – people say the screen is too small, but then say the battery life isn’t good enough when the size is increased. HP have found a nice middle ground I reckon, with a smallish 8.9inch screen, with a huge WXGA resolution of 1280×768. It is a amazing sight to behold – possibly the sharpest, highest quality screen I’ve seen. The size IS still an issue, but websites are no much easier to navigation with a proper – desktop size – resolution. Every time I turn the thing on, I am amazed by the quality of the LCD panel. It is truly exceptional.
Its impossible to compare with other sub-notebooks – they don’t even get near the quality of this. Think expensive large LCD panel, for TV or your desktop computer – this is that level of quality. The contract, colours and bleed levels are excellent, and viewing photos or videos on it, nearly make anything look HD!
Our review device comes with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop – and it is aimed at business types. Novell clients are installed, and a lot of freeware linux software is included.
I wonder how many percentage points Firefox have been given in the browser wars purely due to everyone and their uncle sticking it on their Linux ultra portable laptops! It’s included here – albeit version 2, and it works swiftly, and renders pages extremely well on the beautiful screen. The vast majority of extensions will work on Linux, so you can make your browsing experience as close to your desktop machine as you like.
Open Office is also pre-installed, Evolution – a email client is included too. Other software includes a music player, photo browser, cross-network instant messenger client, RealPlayer, FTP software, and RSS reader and plenty more besides.
Linux works well, but the Mini-Note lacks the simplicity of the Eee PC’s custom Linux shell. Even for young kids, the Eee PC was easy to use. The Mini-Note is certainly aimed more towards businesses. Any concerns about the Linux install can be fixed fairly simply – By installing XP! An edition also comes with vista anyway, and for me, that would be the ideal ultra portable laptop for me.
The Linux wireless (And for that matter Ethernet) connection software is easy to use, and I had no problems connecting to the wireless networks at home, at work, or on the incredibly flaky National Express WiFi! Although I hate to admit it, the WiFi software implementation is better than Windows.
The Mini-Note doesn’t use latest “ever ever” processor – the Atom, but instead a Via processor. It does OK in Linux, but I have concerned about the Vista edition, even taking into account the faster processor. Unfortunately I can’t tell you how well it performs with Vista or XP – if you can, let us know in the comments!
Unlike the Eee PC, I could see myself using this device a lot more – mainly due to the larger keyboard, and impressive resolution on the LCD. While the device is heavy, its slightly thinner than its rivals, and isn’t much trouble to carry around. The battery life is acceptable, if not amazing, and I managed to get about 2 and a half hours of casual use before it had had enough.
Its a shame HP didn’t make a home/student/kids style Linux install as well as the Novell friendly business version we find here. Asus got away with running Linux, because the interface made it easy to use. The SUSE enterprise edition is powerful, but will lose a lot of the audience I mentioned above, unless they install XP – which shouldn’t be any more difficult than the older ultra portable’s. It’s easy to get lost in Linux, unless you have a nice UI to guide you.
Although I love the laptop itself, in struggling to see who this Linux version will be sold to. Business users will probably pay the extra for the windows version, and home uses are possibly going to end up disappointed by the OS.
Having said that, as a hardware device, its outstanding – and trumps both the Eee PC and the newer MSI Wind. The jewel is definitely the screen – truly breathtaking, but the large keyboard also adds value to the product.
Its more expensive than the lesser models, and perhaps should do more for the price. But that’s only a minor point – the HP 2133 Mini-Note does what it does, and it does it extremely well indeed. It’s just about worth the premium.
HP 2133 Mini-Note
CONCLUSION
The HP 2133 Mini-Note has taken ultra mobile laptops to the next level. No longer a toy computer – this is a serious laptop, fit for business and personal users alike. The screen and keyboard combination means this CAN be a laptop replacement.
The Mini-Note only falls short in the area of performance – and its not such a big deal. Its more disappointing because the rest of the device is so beyond anything else we’ve seen before.
For $499 in the states, and even taking into account Rip-Off-Britain prices, this is a cheap yet expensive looking laptop.
One final point for HP: Put a decent processor in this (anyone for Atom?) – and this will be the best sub-notebook on the planet. End of argument. Oh and if you fancy sending me an XP version feel free – preferably one I can “lose”!
Review by: Mark
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