Author Archive: Matt

Asus Eee PC 900 unboxed & mini review

Introduction

Love it or hate, there is not denying the popularity of the Asus Eee PC, demand for the 701 has far exceeded supply since it was originally launched last year. In fact these are still very hard to get hold of.

I’ve been using my 701 for about 6 months and love the portability of it, sometimes you just don’t need a ‘proper’ laptop to do what you want to do.

New versions of the Eee PC have been on the cards for quite some time and finally Asus have launched the new 900 model. Very similar to the original 701, it’s the same size and virtually the same weight, same CPU and basic hardware. However where the 900 differs is in the screen department where you can now find a 9″ display running at 1024 x 600 – a vast improvement. There’s also a 20GB SSD in place of the old 8GB unit.

What’s in the box?

The device itself, instruction book, installation CD, battery, power adaptor, er, that’s about it take a look at the unbox video below for more.

Asus Eee PC 900 Specification:

Intel Celeron M 900mHz CPU

8.9″ TFT display – 800 x 480 pixels

1GB RAM

20GB SSD storage

SD Card Slot (SDHC compatible)

Built in WiFi 802.11b/g

Ethernet connector

VGA socket for external monitor

3 USB2 sockets

Linux pre-installed (Windows XP Compatible)

0.92 kg

4 Cell battery: 5200 mAh, 2.5hrs

General

The Eee PC opens easily to reveal a small, but full QWERTY keyboard, trackpad and mouse buttons.

One of the complaints about the older 701 was that the screen was quite small and looked a bit lonely in the middle of the top part of the unit. However you’ll now find a 9″ unit filling this area.

The Ethernet port is located on the left hand side next to one of three USB2.0 ports and the audio lines In and Out. There are a further two USB ports on the right along with the SDHC card slot.

The removable battery slots very smoothly in and out the spine of the unit and power cord plugs into the back. The AC adapter has also changed from the 701, you now get an inline power brick style charger rather than an adapter that plugs in to the wall. The adapters now also match the colour of the Eee you purchase.

There’s also a built in webcam which can be used for video conferencing and with later versions of Skype.

As you can see from the picture below, the overall foot print of the 900 is the same as the 701.

Highlights

Simple but usable OS

Ease of networking

Lowlights

Battery life

Review

It has to said that the keyboard, trackpad and mouse button does feel distincltively 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. That aside the only other disappointment was the screen size which, given the overall size of the device does feel a bit small. However a larger screen would no doubt to have added to the price and made it feel less economically attractive.

The default installed OS is Xandros Linux on this model but a version with Windows XP pre-installed should be available some time in June.

Now that the screen has been upgraded to 1024 x 600 it makes the 900 much easier to use. Most web pages assume a resolution of 1024 x 768 so some pages didn’t look right or load properly on the 701 and those that did required a lot of scrolling. This is a lot less of a problem now with the 9″ screen in place.

However, the having a larger screen is not without penalties. We praised the battery life of the 701 getting about 3-4 hours use out of a single charge depending on the usage. The 900 has barely half the battery life though, needing a charge at around the 2 hour mark. Hopefully this will be addressed with bigger batteries!

Ram has been increased on the 900 and you now get 1GB as standard. This certainly helps those applications run more smoothly. It’s not just RAM that’s been increased though as the Solid State Drive is now up to 20GB (From 8GB on the 701). For those out there that want to install other operating systems on the device the additional SSD space will make the process a lot easier.

A number of owners complained of problems with the SSD installed in the 701 and the reliability of the drive has been called in to question. It’s too early to say if the SSD in the 900 will suffer the same fate but lets hope this has been sorted!

Conclusion

A vast improvement over the original 701 the new Eee 900 is now my next must-have gadget. It’s just a shame that the battery life has been reduced so much by that larger screen. However, larger batteries are said to be available soon.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, UMPC, Asus Eee PC, Laptop, Tracy & Matt]

LG KF600 review

This week I was asked to review the LG KF600, which is the latest offering from LG.

The LG KF600, features a split-screen design. I was just as keen to get my hands on this mobile, as interesting as it looked. Would I find its functionality to be as intriguing as its appearance?

The LG KF600 has the split screen with touch-sensitive navigation pad that changes depending on what feature you’re using, from the music player to text messaging. Every time you access a different part of the phone’s interface, the navigation area at the bottom changes the displayed keys to suit your needs.

LG KF600 Specification

Tri-band

101.2 x 50.7 x 14.1mm

107 grams

Built-in Memory – 25MB

MicroSD card (support up to 2GB)

GPRS, EDGE

Bluetooth

Primary display – 2″ QVGA 240×320 pixels

Secondary 1.5″ 240×320 pixels

3 megapixel camera with flash

Music Formats – MIDI, MP3, MPEG4, WAV, AAC, AAC , eAAC , WMA, AMR-NB

Radio

Battery Standby Up to 300 hours

Talktime Up to 3 hours

What’s in the box?

LG KF600

User guide

Software CD

Battery

Stereo Handsfree Kit

Mains Charger

USB Data Cable + Software

Pouch

GENERAL

The LG KF600 has s classy look with a smooth shiny front and chrome edges. The primary display is set at the top in portrait orientation and the secondary touch screen sited just below and set landscape.

You can access most of the phones controls and features with the touch screen but when you want to text and make calls you can simply slide the screen open and reveal the phone-style keypad.

On the left side of the phone you can find rockers style buttons for volume control and an MP3 button, the later launches the media player software on the phone.

The right side of phone has a camera button and a small plastic cover over a proprietary connector which is where you plug in the charger, USB cable and headphones.

The back of the camera is quite plain. Here you’ll only find the camera and flash as well as a small grille covering the loud speaker.

The MicroSD card slot is sited under the battery cover and requires that you remove the battery before you can swap the card. This can be quite annoying if you carry more than one memory card with your music on as you’ll have to turn the phone off and take it apart before you can change the memory card.

REVIEW

Reading the specs on the internet, it sounds very exciting, but I don’t really like it. I realised that the touch-sensitive keys have their ups and downs and the KF600’s navigation pad reinforces that issue.

I found the screen clunky to press compared to using a traditional D-Pad layout, I also wanted to touch the top screen, which you frustratingly can’t do. If you want a full touch screen phone, you could always look to the new LG KF700. The system works overall but it felt slow and unresponsive at times.

I was slightly disappointed with the plastic that covers the two displays, which felt less solid than I expected and isn’t as high in quality as other LG phones’ screens, I also was not impressed with the keys on the keypad — they were too flat to easily distinguish between each one.

Fortunately, the sliding mechanism is smooth and spring loaded, so you won’t struggle to pop the phone open. The back of the phone has a rubbery finish that feels nice to touch and while the keypad is flatter than I’d have liked, it does have a mechanical cancel key on it.

While I was not convinced by the touch screen navigation pad, I do think that the software interface looks good and is an innovative idea, offering you direct access to different functions depending on what you’re doing. The phone is brought to life in a different way to your average phone theme. It’s something I hope to see more of in the future.

Another interesting feature is the KF600’s photo viewer. Using the touch-sensitive pad, you can zoom in on photos and view different areas using a mini-map-style interface. This interface would work brilliantly to see different areas of a Web page, too — unfortunately, it isn’t used in the Web browser, which I thought was an oversight. It’s actually more difficult to navigate a Web page with the KF600’s touchpad. Moving up and down on a page isn’t as smooth as I’d like it to be.

It seems that LG have enforced its music player. The player lets you create play lists, adjust the equaliser, set songs to shuffle and repeat all tracks. I was glad to see a 3.5mm headphone adapter that lets you listen to music using you own headphones but I’d really like to see a built-in 3.5mm jack on LG phones. The KF600 does support A2DP, so you can listen to music wirelessly should you choose to.

Camera-wise, the KF600 boasts a 3-megapixel camera with a variety of settings, including white balance and setting a timer. It’s not the cream of the camera crop in terms of performance, but it is easy to use.

Audio quality during calls was clear and didn’t sound distorted. I would have liked to be able to turn the volume up more, however. The loudspeaker worked normally. On the MP3 and radio front, the KF600’s no iPod, but its quality was acceptable and it’ll suffice if you’re looking for something that’ll pump out tunes during your daily commute.

For a 3-megapixel camera I expected it to be a little sharper but it didn’t perform as well as I expected, particularly in low light due to the lack of xenon flash. There is an LED photo light, but you shouldn’t expect it to illuminate your photos. That said, if you just want to take photos for MMS messages and small prints, it does the job.

With moderate to high usage the LG KF600’s battery lasted for about two days before needing to be recharged. Battery life is quoted at 200 hours standby time and up to 2.5 hours talk time.

The contextual menus are a very good idea, offering users an easier way to interact with their phones, but how these contextual interfaces are accessed makes a big difference.

The screen doesn’t have that instant response you get from the iPhone’s touch screen either, making it a very awkward touch screen to use at times. Ideas like these though aren’t always perfect first time round, so while I might not rush out to buy this phone, the next one might just work well enough to change my mind.

Conclusion

Overall I’ve been quite impressed with the KF600. It doesn’t work as a business phone but then it really isn’t trying to be one. If you are looking for an inexpensive phone with good features and attractive looks for personal use then the KF600 is worth considering. Your friends down the pub will definitely want to play with it!

Review by: Phillip

[Post tag(s): smartphone news, Pocket PC news, Tracy & Matt, LG, KF600, camera phone]

Asus P750 Review

I have waited and waited for this release and finally it has arrived. So is it time at last to get the Visa out an do that upgrade? As some of you know I was torn between the HP Ipaq 614c and the Asus P750, the review on the Ipaq 614c demonstrated why, although a good device, wasn’t quite the one for me. Is the alternative any better….?

Introduction

Probably dubed the Asus flagship, there appear to have been many issues with getting this device to the shops. I have been waiting from memory since around September last year. Matt finally dropped the device off a week or so ago before we both went off on work jollies.

What’s in the box?

Fairly standard Asus fare, which has to be said provides lots of goodies, all included:

Asus P750

User manual and Quick start guide

Getting started CD and a Bonus CD

Mains charge adaptor with mini USB connector

Stereo headphone 2.5mm

Standard USB to mini USB cable for sync/charge

Car suction mount

Car Phone holder cradle

Car cigarette charger with mini USB connector

Phone slide in pouch

All of which is nice to see, as not only making sure you have the holder, chargers etc. it saves a few pounds in not having to buy these as accessories. The really picky piece is the pouch which has no real use for me, put a belt clip on it, at least! Beggars can’t be choosers.

See Matt’s Asus P750 unboxing video for more details.

Asus P750 Specification:

Windows Mobile 6 Professional

Processor: Marvell PXA270M 520MHz

Memory: ROM 256MB, RAM – 64MB

2.6″ 65K colour TFT VGA screen

HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 900/1800/1900; Class 10

Micro-SD, support SDHC

WLAN 802.11b g

Bluetooth 2.0 EDR

SiRF Star III with internal antenna

Built-in numeric phone keyboard, 20 keys

3 MP Autofocus Camera

1300 mAh Lithium-Ion Battery

113 x 58 x 17.4 mm

130g (with battery)

GENERAL

Nothing is to be found on the top of the Phone, more on this later.

On the left side of the phone finds the Voice command which is customisable, and an up/down jog wheel with press enter. And a ‘P750 3.5G pda phone’ logo.

The right side is much more crowded, containing on uncovered microSD slot card, for hot swapping your cards. Above this is the Camera function button and then reset hole. Next is one of the best bits that I have grown to really appreciate on my P526, that being a slider switch to completely lock both keys and touchscreen. Thus doing away with buttons being pressed accidentally, however don’t forget to flick it up to answer an incoming call. On top of all this an external GPS socket if needed.

The bottom is again pretty standard for Asus as the headset jack socket and the mini USB socket for charging and PC connection can be found here. The stylus which is non-telescopic and the mic also included.

On the back you will find the 1300 mAh battery cover and the 3 mega pixel camera, with no flash or mirror. A speaker grill is also housed on the back, which I have heard questioned with regard to being able to hear this type of device when it is placed on a desk, can’t say I had any real issues here.

At the business end, the front of the device is the front facing camera for video telephony if you chose to use it. The 2.6” screen is slightly smaller than that found on the Ipaq 614c. But is clear and bright, now available, as mentioned my Matt on the unboxing is the ROM update.

The Asus P750 has made the news a lot lately mainly because of its VGA screen which was initially set up as QVGA screen. Now with a ROM update you can use the P750 in its full 480×640 glory.

I suppose it appropriate here to mention that this is unofficial and therefore only to be done at your own risk. Being a loan unit, I have not been able to verify this, but there is plenty of news available.

The P750 has a 20 button, white backlit, keypad and includes and joystick type application entry. Included are the usual left and right soft keys. Which default to the Asus launcher and contacts. Between these are the windows start button and OK buttons, all highlighted in chrome.

Below these are the telephone end and send buttons, numerical keypad, and a useful mode switcher button to quickly switch between applications and is again customisable.

Software

The Asus launcher is again a handy addition to the phone and will suit normal phone users as it allows quick assess to settings, messages, camera etc. I didn’t use it that much as I am used to the Windows mobile interface, and was slightly surprised to see that the loan unit wasn’t equipped with wm6.1, but I gather it is only a matter of time before the update will be available.

Apart from the standard windows features, there are the additions of a backup/ restore program, which speaks for itself. There is a handy GPS catcher which can be set to update the satellite positions when ever sync’ed with your PC or set to update through the normal channels automatically on expiration. There is no pre-installed GPS software, Google maps was downloaded and installed in a matter of minutes thanks to the impressive connection and download speeds achievable. No issues at all regarding connection switching here either.

3 other pieces of software that I haven’t come across before are:

1. Ur Time – which allows you to see different time zones across the world, which can then be displayed on the today screen, apparently designed to allow synchronization of meetings, video calls or teleconferencing around the world. Very useful I supposed of the international traveller/ business man? The one place I travelled to in using the phone wasn’t an option on the menus, so I you can take this and use it as you see fit, not much good for me.

2. Travelog – allows you to track and record your travel patterns and download them to Google earth on your PC. Tried it briefly couldn’t get it to work, didn’t see the point, gave up. A bit of fun for those interested I suppose, really bad if you have been to places you shouldn’t have and logged for evidence.

3. Location Courier – Allows you to send your position to up to 5 people via SMS, also included is a timer to send periodically. There is a small icon at the bottom of the screen to highlight the status of your Courier. The best part is the manual demonstrating its use. The sample Text message reads ‘I am here, HELP!’ again make of this as you will. If you are ever stranded and need help no doubt it is invaluable, but why not just ring?

More useful tools found are the RSS reader, and My Secrets, a password lockable folder for personal or private files that you may wish to store away from prying eyes.

Highlights

Processor: Marvell PXA270M 520MHz

Sound clarity

Lowlights

Only 64 MB RAM

1.1 USB

Unremarkable

REVIEW

My first impressions, after reading in various reviews have ‘chunky’ it was, was a pleasant surprise, the device is on the large side but I would say more solid than chunky and certainly smaller than the iPAQ. In actual fact put beside my P526 there is very little difference in appearance being marginally longer and thicker but no wider. Comparing it Matt’s old faithful, TYTN II, pretty much identical, apart from being 3mm longer, but benefits from being a full 60g lighter.

It does have a soft touch feel to the case and the chrome accents on certain pieces makes for a professional looking device. My first thought was I have no issue with the look and size of the device, this has continued with a fair amount of use. The buttons are responsive and positive. The layout of the buttons is logical and easy to use, the only thing missing for me is a separate dedicated on/off button. On the P750 this is included within the slider button which double’s in locking the keys.

The voice clarity for me was a highlight, and has been an issue on some of the devices that I have reviewed recently, on the Asus even on a relatively low signal, I had not had the usual ‘what did you say’ or ‘say again, you are breaking up’ which was a good step forward for me.

The processor found on the P750 was well up to the job, appearing very quick and positive to use, a lot of devices these days are improving in this area and again a good step forward. The 64 MB RAM is a standard disappointment with these Asus devices and although more would be preferable, I have not noticed any real lag, or had any memory issues in normal use.

Being the so called flagship of the Asus range, a little more future proofing would have been welcomed, and a comment read earlier this week sums it up ‘ who the hell uses USB 1.1 these days?’ Answer: Asus.

Conclusion

Where are we now, would I buy having waited for so long? Is it worth MY money?
Well, I was really surprised by the size, having read about it being big. I don’t think it is and prefer it over the Ipaq and the Eten.

It is a very quick and reliable pda, it is not the best on battery life in my experience about a day normal use would do it, and the camera is average.

I think for me, being a P526 user for some time now, the wifi etc are welcome additions, but not really used that much, the processor speed is also much improved, but at the cost of more size and weight. I do feel that it could be smaller.

Bottom line would I buy one, as it appears I have meddled with my P526 once too often and may have bricked it, then yes, if it came to the choice of a straight upgrade, then I feel that there is not enough innovation for the change to be justified at this point. I am disappointed that it is so similar to my P526 that it is unremarkable, or perhaps what that really means is that is it so efficient and reliable I am taking it for granted already?

Maybe I have to wait, yet again and see what the recently mentioned HTC Diamond has to bring?

Review by: Steve

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, asus, P750, Tracy & Matt]