Reviews

Blackberry Curve 8900 review

The Curve 8900 (also known the RIM Javelin) at first glance seems similar to the Bold 9000, but it seems to be a step up with some new features and a step down in size!

As with most of the Blackberry family the Curve 8900 is aimed at business users and techies alike.

The Blackberry Curve 8900

What’s in the box?

• RIM Blackberry Curve 8900
• Battery
• Mains Charger (UK/US/EU)
• Stereo Headset
• Pouch Case
• Data Cable
• Software CD
• Manual
• 1GB Micro SD card

Check out Matt’s Blackberry Curve 8900 unboxing video for more info.

Blackberry Curve 8900 specification:

• Dimensions: – 109 x 60 x 13.5 mm
• Weight: – 109.9g
• Display: – 480 x 320 pixels/2.4 inch
• Network: – GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band)
• Camera: – 3.2 mega-pixels (auto-focus)
  – 5 x Digital Zoom
  – LED Flash
• Video: – Video Recording
  – Supported formats: DivX, XviD, MP4, H.263, 3GP & WMV
  – Video Streaming
• Music: – Supported formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ & WMA
• Messaging: – SMS
  – MMS (with video)
  – E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, MS Exchange, BES, BIS)
  – Instant Messaging
• Memory: – 256MB (internal)
  – microSDHC (external)
• microUSB
• 3.5mm Audio Connector
• Bluetooth (2.0)
• Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11g)
• GPRS Class 32
• Navigation: – AGPS
  – BlackBerry Maps

General

Front – 2.4inch screen, QWERTY keypad, ‘call’ and ‘hang up’ buttons, Menu button, trackball, ‘back button

Blackberry 8900 front view

The handset is powered on by holding down the red ‘hang up’ button.

Top – on the top of the handset are 2 buttons. From the picture below, the left side is a mute button and the right side is a keypad lock.

Blackberry 8900 top view

Back – 3.2MP camera, light/flash, battery casing, speaker. The micro SD card slot is under the battery cover as well.

Blackberry 8900 back view

Right – Power/USB, Right convenience key, Volume control buttons (also used as zoom with the camera function), 3.2mm stereo headphone socket.

Blackberry 8900 right side

Left – The voice command button.

Blackberry 8900 left side

Bottom – The microphone is located here. The shape of the buttons on the QWERTY keyboard can be seen in more detail in these pictures

Blackberry 8900 bottom view

Highlights

• The QWERTY keyboard has more defined buttons
• 3.2MP camera with auto focus
• Trackball
• Narrower width making handling the handset easier
• Sharp display

Lowlights

• No 3G network support

Review

On first impressions the Curve 8900 looks similar to the Blackberry Bold. But, upon closer inspection its design is more streamline and sleek. The narrower width and lighter weight of the handset makes it easy to handle and gives more scope to one handed texting.

The casing is robust and stylish even though it is made of plastics (again, a difference from the Bold which had a faux-leather back to it)

The QWERTY keyboard’s buttons are smaller but the fact that they have been made more defined and spaced apart makes using the keyboard quite easy and making mistakes by hitting the button next to the one you want much harder.

Blackberry 8900 keyboard view

Some people may disagree with me here, and maybe my smaller hands make the keyboard easier to use – it all comes down to personal preference in the end.

The trackball is great for navigating around the menus and browser and is not that difficult to get used to if you haven’t used one before. The sensitivity of the trackball can also be adjusted in the settings.

The Curve 8900 comes with a 3.2MP camera with auto focus – a definite improvement from the previous versions of the Curve. It takes good pictures for viewing back on the handset, sending through MMS, and small prints. Unfortunately the resolution is still not high enough for larger prints. The quality of the picture is lost if you try to enlarge the picture. The LED flash could also be improved as it doesn’t give off enough light for subjects further away in low light conditions.

Messaging has always been Blackberry’s forte. SMS, MMS, Emails, and Instant Messaging are supported. For data transfer, it supports GPRS and EDGE, but, as mention in the ‘Highlights and Lowlights’ section above there is no support for 3G. However, it does have WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and USB connectivity.

Is not having 3G support a huge problem? I honestly didn’t miss it.

The built in web browser is simple to use. However, I’ve never been too much of a fan of web browsing on smart phones as there is always a wait while scripts load and there is no difference with this handset, even when using a WiFi connection.

Office viewers are built into the software for opening Word, Excel and Powerpoint files but the full version of the Office application would need to be purchased in order to edit or create files.

Other applications include a memo pad, a Task application, a calculator, and password keeper.

Maps software which works with the GPS function is also included.

The music player is capable of playing MP3, AAC, and WMA files and the built in speaker on the back of the handset gives surprisingly good quality sound as do the stereo headphones that come with it.

The video player is of high quality as well and shows off the sharp display.

Going back to basics – the general quality of the Curve 8900 when making/taking phone calls is pretty good. Although the reception is average the sound is clear and the microphone seems to be good at cancelling out a lot of background noise.

Conclusion

The Blackberry Curve 8900 is a definite hit with me. It’s easy to get used to even if you’ve never used any Blackberry phones before. The sound quality is good and the sharp display excels itself.

Messaging is easy to use even with the smaller QWERTY keyboard (I may be biased here as since I’m female my hands may be smaller than many who may read this!).

Setting up WiFi connections is simple and switching between connections can be done quickly.

Web browsing is the only downfall that I think is worth pointing out as hanging when scripts are loading happens frequently. This can happen with most smart phones but it seems that this is a little worse than others. But, apart from that you may feel that it’s not such a big deal as the average price is more affordable than the Bold 9000.

Review by: Emma

[ Post Tags: Blackberry Bold, RIM, Blackberry Curve 8900,  Orange, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Sony Ericsson W302 review

The W302 Walkman phone from Sony Ericsson could be seen as the low cost way to enter into the continuously growing Walkman range with phones ranging in price and performance. The important question with the W302 is that of whether or not it has what it takes to live up to the iconic Walkman brand.

The Sony Ericsson W302 Walkman Phone

What’s in the box?

• Sony Ericsson W302
• User guide
• Software CD
• Battery
• Mains Charger
• Stereo Portable Handsfree
• USB Data Cable
• 512MB Memory Stick Micro (M2)

Check out Matt’s Sony Ericsson W302 unboxing video for a more detailed look at the handset and what you get with it.

Sony Erisson W302 Walkman Phone specification:

• Dimensions – 110 x 49 x 11.7 mm
• Weight – 99.8g
• Screen – 240×320 pixel – 2.2 inches
• Music – Walkman Player – PlayNow™
• FM Radio
• Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)
• Camera – 2 mega-pixel
• Networks – GSM 850, GSM 900,GSM 1800, GSM 1900
• Messaging – Email, MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
• Memory – 20 MB memory – Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support (512MB included in box)
• Bluetooth 2.0

General

Looks-wise the W302 is a very small, extremely compact device. However as is so often the case with technological products smaller is not always better. The phone feels very small in the hand and feels very light indeed so certainly won’t be leaving any unsightly bulge in your pocket.

The Front of the device is obviously where the main controls of the phone can be found. The screen is a fair size and below this are the navigational buttons which also double as playback controls. Either side of this are the call and shortcut keys.

Sony Ericsson W302 front view

The left side of the phone is home to the standard large Sony Ericsson proprietory connector port and situated further along the phone is the Walkman quick launch key, allowing quick access to the phones multimedia functions.

Sony Ericsson W302 left side

The right hand side of the W302 is again fairly limited button wise, there is a two way volume control which can also be used to check the phones status(battery life, available memory etc.) and located further down is the camera quick launch and shutter button.

Sony Ericsson W302 right side

The Back of the device is home to a 2 mega-pixel camera however no flash which is a little disappointing, below the batter cover apart from the obvious is the M2 card slot for additional phone storage.

Sony Ericsson W302 back view

The top and bottom of the Sony Ericsson W302 are rather non eventful, which when you take into account the lack of buttons on the sides of the device there being no buttons on the top and bottom does leave the W302 very bare and rather plain looking.

Highlights

• Small and Compact
• Low Price

Lowlights

• small and fiddly buttons
• Low in-built memory

Review

So lets start this review with the styling and overall appearance and feel of the W302. As I mentioned earlier the W302 is very small and very compact and feels very lightweight, I also said that smaller is not always better when It comes to mobile phones and I have to be honest and say in the case of the W302 its size is also a downside, The phone being small and light is great as it makes the phone easy to carry etc. however a downside to this is the size of the phones keys, on multiple occasions while texting on dialling I found myself pressing 2 buttons at once and I don’t have particularly large thumbs. The phones styling is fairly minimalist with little in the way of buttons around the sides of the device making it a clean, sleek and smart device.

Being a Walkman device it is important to talk about the W302’s multimedia functions. The phone has 20MB of internal memory and included support of up to 4GB via M2 memory card. This is not great however given the phones price it seems like a reasonable compromise. The multimedia features are extremely simple to use and as with other Walkman devices the navigation is the same allowing those with previous experience to navigate quickly and easily. Transferring music from PC to mobile is as it always is with Sony Ericsson and that is quick and simple whether you take advantage of the software included or not. If you have read my reviews before you will be well aware of my personal gripe with the Sony Ericsson proprietory connector not only the size but also the Position, although this is not a massive problem when I see the size of Nokia’s connector and the fact that it would not be out of the question to include a standard 3.5mm jack on the device I cannot help but feel annoyed at this obvious design flaw.

The W302 would certainly be described as a ‘budget phone’ now this tag a few years ago would have left you expecting no more than the basics and possibly a basic camera if that, however now a budget phone can have no excuses in not meeting the changing demands of the consumer and I just feel that the W302 does not quite come up to scratch when compared to other devices of a similar price elsewhere.

The W302 comes equipped with a 2 mega pixel camera but as I mentioned earlier no flash, despite this I have to be honest and say that the image quality the W302 produced did surprise me somewhat, the phone also boasts a video recorder, the quality of which will be of no surprise to regular Sony Ericsson users and for those of you who have not experienced a Sony Ericsson before the quality is fair however is certainly nothing compared to a budget camcorder or in many cases as high as the video function on many digital cameras. Accessing photos and videos can be done with ease through the familiar Sony Ericsson navigational menu, the screen which is a 176 x 220 TFT makes for a reasonable viewing surface however is not ideal for watching videos of any great length and is not particularly friendly when it comes to sharing photos with friends.

I mentioned a little earlier about using the phone on a day to day basis and as with all Sony Ericssons I have used in the past the W302 is no different, simple and easy to use with easy to navigate menus which on occasion I did find to be a little slow on the W302. The phone comes with the usual batch of free games and features including a very addictive Roller-coaster simulator. The phone also includes an FM radio and the ever useful inclusion of Track ID for when those DJ’s just refuse to name the song. As for connectivity, connections between the phone and PC are made via the propitiatory connector to USB or bluetooth. That is about it for connectivity as is expected of a device of this price it is very unlikely to include premium features such as Wi-Fi etc. The W302 has a quoted battery life of around 7 hours talk and 300 hours standby however as I always do I feel it is important to note that these quotes can differ, often quite dramatically based on personal usage so are always hard to review however in the time I spent with the phone I didn’t find myself reaching for the charger a whole lot.

There are areas of the W302 which I feel could do with some improvement, changes which I feel would have been easy enough to make and would have just helped the device in going that little bit further to competing with other budget music devices. It will not be encouraging you to bin your dedicated MP3 player just yet but is a step in the right direction for Sony Ericsson and with a little improvement and tweaking lets never say never.

Conclusion

The Walkman brand is certainly an Iconic one and I just feel that although the W302 Is a step up from previous budget Ericsson phones it just misses the mark slightly. It does have the features we have come to expect it does do what it says on the box but it just doesn’t go that little bit extra which in Today’s highly competitive and expanding market of budget phones can make all the difference. The Sony Ericsson W302 would make a perfect first phone for any young music lover however will certainly seem insufficient for the hardcore music loving phone user. A good offering from Sony Ericsson just missing the mark in some minor areas.

Review by: Nick

[ Post Tags: Sony Ericsson, W302, Walkman Phone, tracyandmatt.co.uk, unboxings.com ]

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 review

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is another in the current flood of ‘NetBooks’ that we have seen since the first Asus EeePC, so how does it fair in the current marketplace.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9

What’s in the box?

Inspiron Mini 9
Charger
Recovery CD’s

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Specification:

An External tour

Front
Nothing much to see apart from the status LED’s on the left – these are white LED’s and whilst I found them a little distracting, it wasn’t too bad.

Right Side
From left to right we have Headphone Jack, Microphone Jack, USB port, VGA out and Ethernet.

Back
Nothing to see here apart from the back of the battery

Left Side
From left to right we have Kensington locking point, power port, 2 USB ports and a 3-in-1 card reader.

Opened
A fairly standard looking though slightly compressed keyboard layout, touchpad with mouse buttons, and a main power button.
At the top of the screen is a webcam and mic for web conferencing.

Highlights:
– Small and light
– This also applies to the power adapter
– Feels solid and well built

Lowlights:
– Default cover attracts fingerprints – can’t speak for other styles
– Glossy monitor
– Monitor view angle
– Desktop resize on every boot
– No F11 or F12
– Keyboard layout is going to take a little getting used to
– Gets a bit warm
– Collect and return warranty only

Review

As you unpack it, you realise that the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is a petite thing, surprisingly so if you’ve never handled a NetBook before – it looks for all the world like a laptop that’s shrunk after being washed on too high a heat.

The top cover is offered in a number of styles and colours on the Dell website – this one is decked out in the default piano black (which attracts fingerprints like you wouldn’t believe).

The Mini 9 is offered in both Linux and Windows XP flavours, with a mixture of hard drive sizes – this particular one came with Windows XP SP3 pre-installed on it’s 8GB drive, with the faster option graphics card (the Intel 945 Express).

As I first opened it up, I was impressed by how solid the construction felt – it felt like it could take life on the road quite easily.

The first boot was fast enough (sorry I didn’t time it), but the fact that I didn’t get frustrated by it is praise enough 😀

As it loads up it’s default programs at startup one of them is for the built in webcam, and it flashes the built in white led ‘light’ for a moment as it tests the hardware. Personally I found this a little disconcerting for my level of paranoia, so that soon got disabled so it would only think about using the camera when I wanted to.

The Mini 9 has an 8.9" 1024×600 wide screen LED monitor, which like so many laptops coming out at the moment, has a Glossy finish. I know that they say it helps with colour reproduction and deeper blacks, but personally I always find them far too shiny, especially outdoors – and for a device that’s designed to be taken on the go I find this a little frustrating. I know there are some people however who prefer the gloss finish, so I get’s it’s a question of preference.

One quirk I found during bootup is that the current drivers (or maybe Windows itself) seems to think that the monitor is 800×600 until Windows is finished loading, at which point it corrects itself to 1024×600. Whilst this doesn’t seem like that big a deal it does mean that Windows reorganises the icons on your desktop every boot. I’m sure that this is something that can be fixed with future drivers, but for the moment it was frustrating to have to work out where you new icons had been placed every time you reboot the machine.

This Mini 9 shipped with anti-virus installed and was pretty up to date on the windows update side of things (at time of arrival), so out of the box you at least have a fighting chance of keeping your system safe.

As the primary use of a NetBook is browsing the web I thought I connect and see how the Mini 9 handled it. After connecting with the wifi I was soon browsing the web.

At this point I started to realise that 1024×600 is not a lot of real-estate for a monitor, you really want to be able to minimise toolbars and the like, and when web browsing on smaller monitors I usually prefer to go to full-screen mode by pressing F11.

Ah.

There’s no F11 on the keyboard.

At this point I’ll digress for a moment. Please bear with me.

The Mini 9 keyboard (and this is the UK keyboard I’m talking about) has a number of quirks, and one of them is that there is not F11 or F12. Another is that the F keys they do have (F1-F10) are placed over the middle rows of keys on the keyboard.

Additionally, the > and . key has been squashed horizontally, the backslash is now on the right hand side of the keyboard, as is the ` key.

What all this means is that you have to get used to the keyboard not only being more compact than normal, but also to the fact that some keys aren’t where you’d expect them to be and some are missing completely.

Fortunately the browser I was using (Firefox) has a menu option to allow me to go in and out of full-screen mode, not ideal, but at least the option is there. I’m not sure what people with apps that require F11 or F12 are supposed to do if there is no menu alternative.

Anyway back to the web browsing.

Once I’d gone into fullscreen mode the browsing experience was much more pleasant. Though still compact, at least now I could read long paragraphs in one screen and in general it was a lot more enjoyable – I can easily imagine people sitting out in a cafe in the summer checking news and blogging etc.

So now onto something slightly more processor intensive – music and video.

Every mp3 I threw at it was easily handled, nice smooth playback, so onto video.

I downloaded my preferred video player (MPlayerC) and some video codecs (ffdshow), stuck a copy of a converted DVD onto a memory stick (remember the Mini 9 has no optical drive), and started it up. Perfect playback first time, increased to full-screen and it continued to run smooth as butter. I could certainly see people using this to watch their converted DVD’s on the commute in the mornings.

One thing I’ve not mentioned up until now is the trackpad.

The trackpad is in it’s traditional place below the keyboard and it appears a though it’s sort of carved into the surface (there is no obvious edge between the two surfaces, just a slight bevel to recess the trackpad). It is very responsive, and whilst you have to get used to it’s petite size, it functions as you’d expect. When I was sitting down for a longer period with the Mini 9 I’d connect an external mouse for comfort, but the pad is perfectly functional, if a little small, for your on the go needs.

Having had web browsing, mp3 and video handling all pass with flying colours I thought I’d try something else that I’d likely use the Mini 9 for – image editing.

I installed my favourite art package and had a quick play with some existing images I had. And here we had the first real signs of the fact that we were dealing with a mobile processor. Things got slow and in some operations very slow. In the end I decided that whilst it was capable of getting there eventually, I couldn’t see myself using it at those speeds, so I dropped back out and crossed image editing of my list of things the Mini 9 can do easily.

I then started up an Office document (albeit I was using OpenOffice) and as long as I wasn’t trying to do anything too complex things were fine, though sometimes it took a moment or two to think about complex pages when moving around the document. Presentations where much the same story, simple stuff was fine, but if you got too complicated things started to slow down.

Like when web browsing, the other thing that was obvious in the other packages was that you had to be very selective about which toolbars you wanted on the screen all the time – the screen’s resolution meant that you’d want to have the bare minimum on the screen whilst you worked so that you could see more of your work space.

One thing that has to be said about the Atom chipset that these new NetBooks use is that that are very quiet – and I do mean very. If you are really making it work for long periods of time then the little fan will kick in to cool the CPU down a bit, but even when it’s on the fan is not that loud or annoying.

That said, after using the Mini 9 for a while, I was surprised by how warm the base was getting – warm enough that I’d place something between it and me when using it on my lap.

One other thing that I did come across when getting the review together is that the Dell warranty is Collect and Return only. Meaning that your Mini 9 has to go back to Dell if there is a problem, no on-site repairs. Again it’s a personal thing as to how much of a deal-breaker that is.

Conclusion

In general the term NetBook says it all really – these devices are intended, and best used, for browsing the web, playing music or watching videos.

Whilst the above review might come across as lots of negatives, they are mostly personal preferences not major problems. The only thing I’d say was a big annoyance was the lack of F11 and F12 keys. No matter the arrangement, they should be there somewhere.

If you can adapt to the compact nature (and layout) of the keyboard and full-screen your favourite web browser, then the Mini 9 is a solidly built device that I can see lots of people carrying around in the future.

Review by: Iain

Advent AIO100 review

What happens if you take the base components from an Atom based Netbook and blend it with an 18" monitor.

You get the Advent AIO100 – a low power consuming, all in one PC.

The Advent AIO100

What’s in the box?

• The main unit
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Power Cable

There is also apparently a manual in the production model of this, but it wasn’t present in this review unit.

Advent AIO100 Specification:

• Intel® Atom processor
• (1.6GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB Cache)
• Genuine Windows XP® Home Edition
• 1GB DDR2 memory
• 160GB SATA hard drive
• NVIDIA® GeForce 9200M graphics *
• Dual Layer DVD Rewriter
• Built-in wireless (802.11b/g/n)
• Integrated 1.3 million pixel webcam
• 5x USB ports
• Media card reader

* Our test unit had the Intel 945 Express graphics card, this has apparently been changed to the Nvidia chipset in final hardware revisions.

General

Front – 2 LED’s, one for power, one for HDD activity
The buttons from left to right are :- Power, LCD brightness (there are 5 levels), Volume Up, Volume Down, Mute Speakers, LCD On/Off

Advent AIO100 Front View

Right Side- Media card reader, Microphone, Headphone, 2xUSB, External VGA connector (behind the cover on the right hand side)

Advent AIO100 right side view

Back – 3xUSB, Power, Network

Advent AIO100 back view

Left Side – DVD-RW Drive

Advent AIO100 left side view

Review

When Matt sent me a picture of this and asked if I’d review it, my first thought (having recently reviewed the Dell Mini 9) was that it was a Photoshop blending the Mini 9 with a monitor.

Once I confirmed that it was a real product, I said yes, as I was curious as to what Advent had here.

I looked at the full specs of the Advent AIO100 online and was puzzled further – they seemed to confirm my original thoughts, with the hardware specs being almost identical to the Mini 9 – just the hard drive and the monitor being different.

So on to the actual device itself.

As I unboxed the AIO100 I realised that the monitors connection to the base isn’t exactly as I thought it would be. I had assumed there would some sort of plug together connection – of course if I’d thought it through a little bit I would have realised that approach would mean some fussiness with the cables connecting the monitor to the base.

The base is connected to the base unit and that connection is hinged at the monitor end, with the connecting cables being hidden inside the connecting arm.

One thing I would mention to people who might be unpacking one of these is to be careful as you remove polystyrene as there is some level of springiness in the arm between the monitor and the base. You wouldn’t want to drop your new PC.

The unit itself is covered in the ultra shiny plastic that so many monitor are nowadays – the sort of plastic that just attracts fingerprints, and this is obviously something Advent themselves are aware of as this unit actual included a cleaning cloth.

Also in the box are the USB keyboard and mouse, the power adapter and the CDs for reinstalling Windows and MS Works 9.0

The keyboard itself is one of the compact variety where all the extra surround has been removed and on top of that its one of the thinnest keyboards I’ve ever seen. Whilst that may sound as though its delicate and flimsy it works just fine and feels perfectly solid whilst typing on it.

The mouse is a standard optical mouse with 2 mouse buttons and a scroll wheel.

Setup is really simple – just connect the power, plug in the USB keyboard and mouse, and press the power button. You can’t really get much more simple than that.

There is a slight hiccup with the power connector.

It’s a right angled plug, which means that if you want the cable hidden along the back of the unit then the cable has to go either towards the USB sockets or towards the network connector – and it slightly blocks the socket you point it towards, not dreadfully, but enough that you question the usage of a right angled connector instead of a normal bullet one.

Once started though, it’s a standard Windows XP boot to the desktop.

One tool that is installed on the AIO100 by default is a ‘recovery’ tool made by ‘The TechGuys’.

It can either recover from a backup you’ve made previously or else you can choose to do what they call a Destructive Recovery – that basically wipes the hard drive and reinstalls the PC as it came shipped to you.

Very useful and certainly quicker than doing a Windows reinstallation from scratch yourself.

The other pre-installed programs are PowerDVD and Microsoft Works 9.0

One thing that is missing though is any form of anti-virus. Normally this is one of the many pieces of trial software that PC manufacturers install by default. It is certainly the very first thing that I’d recommend installing – ideally getting the download from web using another PC that is already protected.

The monitors default resolution is 1680×945 which is a resolution I’ve never come across, but on the 18.3" monitor it certainly gives the user a decent real estate. And built into the top of the monitor is a 1.3M pixel web cam.

The viewing angle on the monitor isn’t brilliant. If you are to the left and right of the ‘sweet spot’ things are fine, but if you are below that perfect position then things go darker with some of the colours reversing, and if you above this spot then things go light.
Now all LCD monitors suffer from this problem, but the ‘sweet spot’ is normally larger than this, with more forgiveness in the users position before the colours distort. And across a relatively large monitor like this it differs between slightly dark and slightly light across its height whilst you are sitting still.

On most LCDs you can work around this slightly by choosing to tilt the screen to get a light image with a more consistent colour across the whole screen, and then adjusting the monitor’s internal contrast and colour settings. Only this monitor doesn’t have those settings. You CAN adjust those with the graphics card software within Windows, but it’s quite not as flexible.

On the subject of the graphics card, this unit is a slight quirk according to the specs out there on the web. According to the specs I’ve found this PC is supposed to have an Nvidia 9200M graphics chipset on the motherboard. This one has an Intel 945 Express – exactly the same as the Dell Mini 9.

Whilst the graphics card is the same as on the smaller resolution NetBook it’s certainly capable for web browsing and fullscreen video playback. I don’t think I’ll be trying to play any recent 3D games on it mind.

One component that is a big step-up from the Mini 9 is the 160GB SATA hard drive of the AIO100. The drive felt faster to me, though I didn’t do any hard testing on it, just gut and experience.

By using an Atom N270 CPU the PC has very low power consumption, with quoted figures of 34W with the CPU going full bore. This also means that it runs pretty cool. When it does heat up the on board fans kick in, and whilst they are noticeable, they are pretty quiet – and certainly quieter than a normal PC tower.

When it comes to running programs the Advent AIO100 is fine for anything that doesn’t require real number crunching power. Web browsing, document editing and fullscreen video are all handled fine – providing you are not trying to do anything too complicated (tell your video player to do lots of affects to the picture then it will soon push past the CPU’s abilities and start to chug a little).

The built in DVD drive follows the rest of the device in being built with laptop type hardware, when you press eject it springs open then you manually open it all the way or close it. So no power driven open and close like on normal desktops, but

Built in WIFI and Gigabit Ethernet will let you connect the PC to your network whichever way you prefer.

An external VGA connector, 5 USB ports and a 4-in-1 media card reader round out the capabilities of this petite base unit.

Something else I should point out is that the unit can also be arranged with the base behind the monitor and then using the VESA connector into the bottom of the base unit. It’s an interesting thing to allow the user to choose between a ‘standard’ monitor type layout and a VESA connection which would clear the desk surface of anything but the keyboard and mouse.

Though under this arrangement the various buttons, ports and the DVD drive are less accessible than in the desktop arrangement.

Advent AIO100 back view

Conclusion

So where does all this leave the Advent AIO100.

Well if you are in the market for an all-in-one PC, that doesn’t take up any more space than a monitor alone, then the AIO100 is worth looking at.

If you are only looking to browse the web, edit documents or even view DVDs, then the unit is certainly capable – and the ability to reconfigure the devices physical form to hang it from a VESA bracket would allow it to be used in a non-standard office location (though you’d likely want to get a wireless keyboard/mouse unit).

My main niggle with the AIO100 as a device is the viewing angle on the monitor. If you can live with that and the relatively low grunt of the CPU then it’s a neat little PC that won’t guzzle much power.

Of course if you want to run more powerful applications or games, then you’ll need a more tradition PC – and with current prices Dual Core PCs with a decent size monitor can be bought for about the same sort of money these days.

If I was getting a PC for my mum (who only really needs web browsing and email), with an eye on small form factor and low power consumption then I’d seriously consider a PC like this. Though the very first thing I’d do is install anti-virus software.

An alternate thought though is to get a NetBook and a large desktop monitor for about the same money – this would allow you to take your PC with you and just hook it up to the larger monitor (and keyboard and mouse if you choose) when you get home. Though I suspect that’s not the market that the Advent AIO100 is aimed at.

Review by: Iain

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic review

As if the pressure of being one of the first touch screen devices from Nokia was not enough the 5800 XpressMusic comes with the added pressure of being touted as the first genuine iPhone contender, so will the 5800 rise to the occasion or will it simply crumble with the pressure like many other devices before it.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic package

What’s in the box?

• Nokia 5800
• Battery (BL-5J)
• Mains Charger (AC-8)
• Music Headset (HS-45)
• Audio Adapter (AD-54)
• TV Out Cable (CA-75U)
• Data Cable (CA-101)
• Carrying Case (CAP-306)
• 8GB microSDHC Memory Card (MU-43)
• Desktop Holder (DT-29)
• Plectrum Stylus & Wrist Strap (CP-309)
• Extra stylus
• User Manual & Quick Start Guide
• Software CD

You might also want to have a look at Matt’s Nokia 5800 XpressMusic unboxing video for more an what’s in the box.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic specification:

• Operating System – S60 5th edition, Symbian OS version 9.4
• Memory – 81 MB internal memory, 8GB MicroSDHC included
• Display -3.2" 640 x 360 pixels, aspect ratio 16:9, with automatic orientation sensor (Accelerometer) for display rotation
• Sound -Integrated stereo speakers with surround sound, and dedicated audio chip for crystal clear hi-fi sound quality.
• Micro-USB connector, USB 2.0 High Speed
• 3.5 mm Nokia AV connector
• TV out interface (CA-75U)
• Bluetooth version 2.0
• WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g
• MicroSD card slot hot swappable, max. 16 GB
• Operating Frequency – WCDMA 900/2100, GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• GPS – Integrated GPS for pedestrian and car navigation, Nokia Maps 2.0 Touch application
• 3.2 megapixel camera (2048 x 1536 pixels), 3x digital zoom
• Front facing video camera for video calling
• TV out with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, in-box)
• BL-5J 1320 mAh Li-Ion battery
• Dimensions – 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm
• Weight – 109 g

General

The Nokia 5800 certainly looks unlike any other device from Nokia so far, the main difference being the generously sized 3.2” touch screen which when compared to the iPhone is slightly smaller and quite a bit narrower as well.

The front of the Device as mentioned is dominated by the 3.2" screen with 640 x 360 pixels and an aspect ratio 16:9. Starting from the top, just above the screen is a touch activated quick key launching a drop down multimedia menu, very useful for quick access to video, music & photos. Above this is a forward facing camera for video calls. The front of the device features just three solid keys, two being call control buttons and the central button being used to launch the phones main navigation menu.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic front view

Moving round to the left hand side of the 5800, we can see two slots one being for your SIM card the other being home to a microSD card. Also interestingly located just below the red stripe at either end of the device are two speakers which provide great sound quality.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic left side

The right side of the device has slightly more to offer in the way of buttons starting with a two way volume control also used for features such as zoom when using the phones camera. Below this is a very conveniently placed almost spring loaded lock key used to lock and unlock the device. Finally on the right side of the phone is an independent shutter button for capturing photos when using the phones camera.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic right side

The top of the device is one that is personally very pleasing that is because it features not only the standard Nokia connection but also a 3.5mm headphone socket allowing the use of your own headphones without the need for an adapter, also being located on the top it means the phone sits easily in the pocket without an unsightly bulge on the side. Also located on the top of the 5800 is the standby button as well as the micro USB connection.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic top view

The back of the device is home to a 3.2 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and the inclusion of Dual LEDs used for flash when capturing photos. The back of the phone also houses the 5800’s stylus which is simply lid out from the bottom of the phone when needed.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic back view

Highlights and Lowlights

+ Great Connectivity
+ Ease of Use
– Only 3.2 megapixel Camera

Review

So as I mentioned earlier the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has been touted as the first genuine iPhone contender, so is this a fair and honest observation well that very depends on what you think of the iPhone. One thing I will say is with the 5800 being considerably lower in price than the iPhone it certainly does look good for the Finish giants.

First things first lets start with the phones design. The phone feels rather light in comparison to other similar touch screen devices which does mean the phone lacks that certain real high quality finish however, having said that it does by no means affect the phones build quality and the 5800 certainly does not feel like a badly built cheap piece of plastic. As with all touch screen devices emphasis will always be paced on the phones appearance and styling and in the flesh the 5800 certainly lives up to expectation. The screen is a decent size which makes watching video and viewing photos pleasurable experience. The glossy black finish also adds to the phones great styling with the single stripe running round the device with the back being solid with a matt finish.

As you may be aware some touch screen devices can be rather temperamental and as a result difficult to use. The Nokia 5800 is I have to say the best touch screen I have used, I experienced very few problems with the phones touch screen the only one being the occasional issue of the qwerty keyboard being to small when set to half screen something which is easily overcome either by switching to full screen keyboard or by the use of the stylus. Another great feature is the Handwriting function allowing you to write emails, texts, notes etc. without having to use the touch screen keyboard at all, as with all handwriting readers there are always a few recognition problems but for the most part it works fairly well.

Unlike many other touchscreen devices Nokia have made the bold marketing move of aiming the 5800 at a different market altogether with most devices being given a high end price tag and marketed for a high business customer however Nokia have made the decision to steer clear from this and aim their device at music lovers. The most important thing for many music lovers when it comes to a phone offering such promises is memory and the Nokia 5800 weighs in at a maximum 16GB supported via MicroSD and a welcome addition is the inclusion of a 8GB MicroSD card straight out of the box. As for music and multimedia playback on the 5800 the inclusion of the quick launch touch button located just above the touch screen makes accessing your files very easy and allows for instant playback without having to navigate various menus etc. Watching videos on the 5800 is again as easy as listening to music and the 3.2” screen means you won’t be having to hold the device right to your eyes in order to be able to see the screen, the device has a built in accelerometer and Nokia have also included a useful little stand for resting the device to watch videos when the device is horizontal. As you may have seen in Matt’s un-box of the 5800 the phone does include a set of composite cables out of the box which makes hooking the device up to a large screen TV for playback of videos and photos etc. so much easier without having to run out and but additional cables.

The phone also boasts an 3.2” megapixel camera which although is not terrible when compared to some other devices out on the market it does not come up to scratch, but when compared to the iPhones 2 megapixel camera it suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. Picture quality is good compared to other similar spec phone cameras available and the dual led flash makes capturing in different light allot easier, a number of features and modes are also available which make using the 5800’s camera fun and simple.

Moving on to the phones connectivity, and I think this is where it really does set itself aside from its competitors. When you look at the features list you would be excused for assuming the device would come with a high end price tag however when you look at the features list and bare in mind the Nokia 5800 costs around £250 that is when you may start to take note. GPS – Integrated GPS for pedestrian and car navigation, Bluetooth v2.0 & WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g are just a few of the things this phone is capable of supporting, Browsing the internet on the device is surprisingly easy and sites load relatively quickly, and the with quick links to sites such as Facebook & Myspace it is easy to keep connected with friends and family on the move.

The phones battery life is estimated at 8 ½ hours however if used for heavy applications such as web browsing and email this is likely to decrease. In the time I had the 5800 I experienced no problems with the battery life however there will always be room for improvement.

Conclusion

Overall the 5800 XpressMusic is a solid offering from Nokia and a great start in the touchscreen phone market for them, its sleek design and lightweight feel make it ideal for travelling with and the great connectivity the phone has to offer is certainly worth the £250 alone. Add to this the phones great multimedia capabilities and this fast becomes a phone to rival not only the iPhone but your stand alone MP3 player as well. Nokia seem to have though of everything with the 5800, what I mean by that is straight out the box you have pretty much everything you need, from a case to composite cables, stand, stylus. Not only does the 5800 come at a cheaper price tag than many other touch screen devices but the price you pay is likely to be the only expense as you will not need to go out and buy several different accessories to get the best out of your device. As for an iPhone killer, well, there will always be people who live and breath iPhone and are unwilling to change no matter what comes along however I have to say given the price and the phones features the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is certainly a force to be reckoned with, write it off at your peril.

Review by: Nick

[ Post Tags: Nokia, 5800 XpressMusic, Music Phone, tracyandmatt.co.uk, clove technology ]

HTC Touch 3G review

HTC have been making high end mobile devices from many years now and the Touch 3G is one of the later models in the ‘Touch’ range. Overall the design is minimalist, stylish, beautiful even! It’s very well thought out and loaded with powerful features.

If you like the look of the HTC Touch 3G, don’t forget our exclusive Touch 3G offer where you can get a free car kit and free delivery. Check out this post for mre details.

So it has the looks, it has the specification, but how does it drive?

What’s in the box?

The phone, Mains charger with USB output socket, USB data / charging cable. Ear phones with Call Answer/End button and volume control, manuals, Utility CD and trial of Outlook 2007. Check out Matt’s HTC Touch 3G unboxing video for more information.

HTC Touch 3G Specification:

• Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• 102 mm X 53.6 mm X 14.5 mm
• Weight: 96 grams with battery
• Processor: Qualcomm® MSM7225™, 528 MHz
• RAM: 192 MB
• ROM: 256 MB
• 2.8-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with QVGA resolution
• HSDPA/WCDMA: Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz. Up to 384 kbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds. Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for stereo wireless headsets
• 3.2 megapixel color camera with fixed focus
• Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery with a capacity: 1100 mAh
• Battery Standby: Up to 365 hours for GSM
• Battery Talk Time: Up to 400 minutes for GSM
• User Interface: HTC TouchFLO™
• Chipset: GPS and A-GPS ready
• Expansion Slots: microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• I/O Ports: HTC ExtUSB™

Physical Layout:

From the top; The front of the phone has the speaker grill, a flush fitting 2.8inch, QVGA touch screen. The display is bright and very sharp. A call button with green LED a four way control with centre button and the End call/ Cancel button with red LED.

HTC Touch 3G front view

On the top, simply the On/Lock/Off button.

HTC Touch 3G top view

On the left side a Volume up/down rocker switch.

HTC Touch 3G left side

On the right just the stylus.

HTC Touch 3G right side

On the bottom the HTC ExtUSB™ socket – an extended specification Mini USB socket for Charging/Syncing and Headphone use with HTC Headphones. Its also possible to buy a USB to 3.5mm adapter to use standard stereo headphones.

HTC Touch 3G bottom view

On the back there is the hands free speaker grill. A 3.2MPix camera and hole with internal hook to connect a lanyard strap.

HTC Touch 3G back view

Access to the battery, Sim card and MicroSD expansion card is via a simple pop off back cover. The reset button is also under here.

General:

User Interface:

HTC Touch Flo integrated with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1

Satellite Navigation / GPS:

Built in A-GPS (Assisted – Global Positioning Satellite receiver). Works well with the preinstalled Google Maps. Possible to purchase full Sat Nav software like Tomtom.

Email:

Excellent support including POP3 / IMAP and Microsoft’s Direct Push for Exchange.

Internet:

Supplied with Opera as the default browser and Internet Explorer for those that need or prefer it. Opera works very well however even on this small screen as its full VGA and touch driven. Broadband 7.2Mbits where available.

Screen:

Super sharp and bright QVGA. Only available in portrait mode, would be nice to support landscape mode especially for web browsing.

Highlights:

• Powerful features integrated into a tiny and light design
• Easy to fall in love with
• Touch Flo interface
• Very sharp and clear screen

Lowlights:

• Screen needs to be lit for music playback
• No Haptic feedback
• Portrait screen only

Review:

It seems that this phone offers one of three format offerings from HTC; The Touch Pro, the Touch HD and this the Touch 3G. They all sport more or less the same processor power, memory, aGPS, and Touch Flo interface, the difference is in the packaging, the Touch 3G and Touch HD are essentially the same but the HD has the larger and higher resolution screen for multimedia use, the 3G has the smaller and lighter dimensions for people not interested in video playback or intensive web browsing. The Touch Pro is similar size to 3G but is thicker and heavier due to the physical slide out keyboard. The Touch 3G replaces the HTC Touch, which has been very popular so I expect this slicker version to be like wise.

The Touch Flo interface adds extra software (on screen) keyboards. These are very similar to the iPhones on screen keyboard. Not perfect and a little tricky to use on the small sized screen, but still great ways to input text. The only thing missing that I wouldn’t mind is Haptic Technology on the keyboard. Haptic technology is simply some form of physical feedback when the keys are pressed, like a little buzz or sound bleep. Other devices I’ve tried have it and it makes data input much easier in my opinion. Nokia’s new 5800 implements this very nicely. Of course there is an adverse effect on battery life to consider.

While I’m on about onscreen keyboards I should mention remarks I’ve heard about Windows Mobiles (WM) touch screens being compared to the iPhones touch screens. With WM screens one needs to push slightly to ‘hit’ the key or activate a button, where as the iPhone keyboard / screen only needs to be ‘touched’. This is because the WM screens are ‘touch’ sensitive and the iPhones are ‘capacitive’. The iPhones are lighter to use but because they rely on the static electricity of the human finger. But they cant be used with a stylus for the same reason, and loose precision input. Hence iPhones don’t support handwriting recognition like WM devices. This is also why iPhones have a glass screen and WM have flexible plastic. Both have benefits. And btw HTC touch screens are much better than many other phones out there (and no I don’t work for HTC J)

[Matt’s unboxing video (or a link to a previous HTC review) shows the Touch Flo interface very well.]

The Touch 3G runs Windows Mobile 6.1 which is the latest version. With a HTC customised front end, called the Touch Flo interface. A criticism of the Touch Flo has been that it doesn’t do enough, requiring users to enter the standard Microsoft Operating system to perform some functions. True enough the raw Microsoft Operating System hasn’t changed much in the last 4 years and really requires the stylus to navigate with, most people agree that by itself its too clunky to compete with today’s devices. Microsoft have recently announced an up[grade to version 6.5 is due and I would expect the Touch 3G to be upgradable. Personally I find the HTC solution a very nice combination. The Touch Flo is extremely nice to use and deals with most functions very well. When I needed to do something a bit more in-depth I have the familiar layout of the standard system. Its true that when writing an email one needs to use the standard Outlook client, but that didn’t present any problem for me, simply I typed the message and hit send and I’m back with the Touch Flo.

But the other area that HTC improved drastically over the standard MS OS is with the finer touches, like a wide range of pleasant ring tones, and alarm chimes. Adjusting the volume control is now possible with a large on screen touch control / slider, with gentle auditory feedback. It was so well implemented I would sit around sliding the volume up and down just for the fun of it! Much to the amusement (disbelief) of my colleagues! Another excellent and practical application was to get the screen to lock as soon as a call is connected, a touch screen phone held to your ear with the screen live can cause all sorts of problems!

I could go on praising this phone all day, but I don’t really needs to, other than to say that as the trial went on I was continually impressed with HTCs efforts to make this Windows phone a dream to use. Almost every issue with the raw OS has been resolved or greatly improved. Well done HTC! I loved it and highly recommend to anyone.

Conclusion:

If you want or need a fully featured phone / device but don’t need to input a lot of text this is a fantastic light and small phone that you will love owning.

If you need a larger screen or a physical keyboard look at HTC’s Touch HD or Touch Pro.

Review by: Daniel des Baux