Reviews

By January 11, 2008 Read More →

Logic3 SoundStage 5.1 speaker system review

Logic3 TX101B – SoundStage 5.1 Speaker System

INTRODUCTION

Logic3 Plc was founded in 1977. In 1983 it began distribution of Video Game and PC Controllers and Accessories. In 1998, the company was incorporated as SpectraVideo plc. Today, Logic3 plc is firmly established as one of the worlds largest Video Game Accessory companies, with sales of exclusive brands such as Logic 3, ScreenBeat and TopDrive, into over 30 countries, including Europe, USA, Australia and the Far East. Within these brands they sell everything from HDMI cables to speakers for your iPod. They have now branched into the world surround sound, but have they cracked it?

Logic3 SoundStage 5.1

WHATS IN THE BOX?

  • 5.1 Speaker system
  • Remote Control
  • Manual
  • FM Aerial
  • Coaxial Cable
  • Optical Cables
  • 2 x Wall mounting brackets (finally, wall mounts that are included)

GENERAL

The most important thing to remember is that this is not your normal 5.1 surround sound system. All the sound comes from the one box so you will never get the true feeling of the footsteps approaching from behind or the bullets zooming over your head. This box is designed to hang on your wall under your plasma or LCD screen with your wires hidden and to still blow your socks off.

The Soundstage system is quite large, just over 100cm and cased in a very neat and well made black chassis. You can opt to have the speaker cover on to hide the speakers or off to show them in all their glory, but I have no idea why you would want to hide them. There are 15 speakers and these pump out bass like you wouldn’t believe.

On the front there is a small LED display that shows the volume, and displays the FM channels for the integrated radio and the IR sensor. There is also a standby, input and volume buttons. These are very neatly built into the design and from a short distance you can on see the LED display.

On the left hand side there is a proper power switch meaning you don’t waste electricity on standby mode.

On the rear of the SoundStage is where all the cables are plugged in, you have inputs for 2 x Optical, 2x Coaxial, an aux right and left, with a FM Antenna socket to finish up with.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • No cables
  • Very short set up time
  • Wall mounts included
  • Looks great on a wall
  • Excellent sound

LOWLIGHTS:

  • Never quite get the real feel of surround sound
  • Useless manual
  • Needs a lot of setting changes to get the best sound from this unit
  • Tacky looking remote control

 

Logic3 SoundStage 5.1 REVIEW

Unpacking and setting up the SoundStage could not be any simpler. Not sure how many of you have ever set up a surround sound system, all the speakers, stands and cables just get everywhere, the SoundStage is wonderfully different. It took about 5 minutes to set up even with a disagreement with my father in law. Take the unit out of the packaging, find the RCA cables (or optical whichever you are using). The trickiest bit is if your TV is wall mounted, you might need a friend to help you take it off the wall, my father in law was round and after arguing with him that the connector on the side was input and not output he finally agreed and helped me take the TV off the wall. I used the RCA connections and not the optical, plugged these in the TV output and then placed the TV back on the wall. I had placed the speaker on the coffee table and not on the wall, plugged the power cable in and also fed the cables from the TV through the wall trunking to get the full affect of having no cables at all. If you where to mount this on the wall, you could place it directly under the TV and would only have to worry about hiding the power cable.

Logic3 SoundStage 5.1

The tower speakers look good with or without the cover but the unit looks 100 times better without, this isn’t just my opinion, even my partner said it looked nicer.

I flicked the power switch on the side and started to test the unit, immediately I was met by a scream from the kitchen to turn it down, I love this unit already. A while later when I had the house to myself I thought I would test it properly. I started off watching Die Hard 4.0, I have watched this film about 4 times now so know which parts in the film would push the unit. The two sections I wanted to test both involve the plane. First was when the plane does a fly by, the rumble that came out the speakers was a little over powering to say the least so using the remote control I turned the bass down (more on the remote later). Replayed the fly by and it sounded great, the noise of the plane going from left to right was perfect although there was no sound coming from behind so you didn’t get the full feeling of the plane flying into the distance. The second was the plane shooting the truck. I replayed this a lot muting the TV and also muting the SoundStage, this was definitely better with the Soundstage providing the main bass noise and with the TV providing an extra boost. It made my Die Hard experience a whole lot better but I still felt I was missing something.

I then moved onto the music channels, you can always connect the unit up to your stereo if you want or use the integrated FM tuner. When listening to music you know that all 15 speakers are working to full capacity. I listened to all sorts of music, dance, R&B, Hip hop and even some pop. They sound quality was again excellent and after turning the volume up I realized it was a good idea to wait until I was alone. The bass coming from the unit was outstanding and I was very impressed with the music quality, again I had still had the TV providing some of the sound as this did make the sound better.

The unit has a built in FM radio which is a nice feature but with the 100’s of music channels on Sky and other digital providers I’m not sure how much use the radio would get.

This is the test I had been waiting for. Trying a couple of games on my Xbox 360, the games I was going to test where Forza 2 Motorsport and Call Of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare…. Think I had better wait until I have the house to myself again.

I started off testing the Logic3 SoundStage 5.1 using Forza 2, just a quick race I thought, 30 minutes later I realized how much better my Mclaren F1 sounded, I had picked the Silverstone International Track. The real sounds you notice are the engine noise and road noise, I was keen to see what the other cars sounded like overtaking me. So I slowed down to allow a few to pass, I could here the rumble as they approached but without the sound coming from behind me it was impossible to tell which side they where going to overtake.
Next I tried Call of Duty 4, I started the game and allowed the trailer to play, it sounded that good that I wanted to watch it again. I quickly ran through the training and was then playing the first mission, which was located on a ship. During the game I noticed more of an atmosphere with the SoundStage on, the rain sounded better and so did the grenades. I had to turn it down at one point when some flash bangs where being used as they where starting to have the full effect on me. Im not sure if this unit was designed for games but it works really well.

I have to make a quick mention of the remote for two reasons, firstly because it has 32 buttons to play with and because I think it looks a little tacky for a unit that costs £200, see what you think.

CONCLUSION

An entire 5.1 surround sound system in one box, does it work? Well yes and no.

I love everything about the SoundStage, the style of it, the build quality and the sound it pumps out. For a single unit it does an excellent impersonation of being a 5.1 speaker system but in the end it is only one unit not 5. The SoundStage cannot provide the sound of a person walking up behind you or the sound of a car coming up behind you starting to overtake and then disappearing into the distance.

However saying that, not everyone wants cables trailing around their front room and some ugly speakers standing on tripods in each corner of the room. They want an attractive unit they can mount on the wall so there friends look at it and go ‘wow’, this is that unit.

If you are looking for a great sounding, well built and attractive single surround sound unit then this is the one for you.

Review By: Russell

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By December 23, 2007 Read More →

HTC S730 review

So the QWERTY candybar returns.

INTRODUCTION

This is another BIG device for HTC. Perhaps not to the same scale as the TyTN II or the Touch series – but it’s got to be number 3 in line. It sounds too good to be true really – a candybar phone, a large QWERTY keyboard and the still new Windows Mobile 6, with decent connectivity via 3G.

HTC S730

HTC S730

What’s in the Box?

HTC have really got their act together when it comes to presentation and style. I’ve got a lot of respect for HTC. Having had the very first SPV phone, it’s amazing to see how quickly they’ve almost become a household name alongside Samsung, Nokia and the rest. If I mention HTC – people actually know what I’m talking about now!

HTC’s massive expansion of their brand has been helped by good quality stylish handsets, which they now try to push into the packaging as well. It’s a very appleish box, some might say it’s even better than apple – but if you’ve seen Matt’s unboxing video – you’ll know its a very good effort from HTC.

Inside you’ll find:

  • HTC S730
  • 1050mAh battery
  • Mains Charger
  • CD-Rom with ActiveSync etc.
  • USB Sync/Charge Cable
  • Handsfree headset/headphones
  • Manual
  • Warranty Card
HTC S730 box

HTC S730 box

HTC S730 specification:

  • Windows Mobile 6 Standard (Smartphone)
  • 400Mhz ARM1136EJ-S CPU
  • ROM: 256MB ; RAM: 64MB SDRAM
  • 2.4″ TFT LCD 240 x 320
  • Quad-Band HSDPA/UMTS
  • WiFi: 802.11b/g
  • 2.0 Megapixel main camera
  • Bluetooth version 2.0
  • 1050mAh Lithium Ion battery
  • MicroSD card slot
  • 22-key fixed phone keypad
  • Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
  • 50mm x 100mm x 19mm
  • 120 grams

GENERAL

At 51×105.8×19.4mm it’s not the smallest of phones on offer, and although perfectly acceptable in other areas, its “fatness” is a bit cumbersome when sat in a pocket. Of course that’s the price you have to pay for the slide out keyboard – although I’m not sure why the S730 is actually even fatter than the S710?!

On the front, the large display sits recessed slightly from the plastic shell, with a VGA forward facing camera above it to the right, and the speaker + indication lights combo common to most HTC devices.

Directly below the screen, we find the main phone keypad taking up nearly every centimetre of the remaining space. Although snug, the keypad is easy to use. The keys are close together, but large in size and texting seems to be fairly easy. The Send and End keys are in a slightly unusual place – being to the left and right of the main number pad area, but again, it doesn’t have any adverse effect on usability. The two softkeys are located immediately above the Home and Back keys, in a layout that really pays tribute to the very early HTC smartphones. Between these 4 keys is the 5 way direction pad. No rocker or jog wheel here – just a flat system which is simple to operate.

HTC S730 keypad

HTC S730 keypad

Sliding the front of the phone to the left produces the full QWERTY keyboard – and the phone switches to landscape mode. The keyboard is very similar to HTC’s other QWERTY devices, although the keys are raised slightly and feel more rubbery in texture. The very useful Caps and Fn mode lamps are above the keyboard, as well as two more soft keys (for use in landscape mode).

HTC S730 keyboard

HTC S730 keyboard

The bottom of the phone is standard HTC kit really – enhanced mini standard USB socket, and a lanyard loop for phone charms (Shudder) or to connect to a key ring or similar.

HTC S730 bottom

HTC S730 bottom

On the right hand side is the camera button – used to both activate the camera application, and take shots. There is also a microSD slot with rubber seal. The card slot mechanism is fairly well recessed away from the edge of the phone so it is quite difficult at times to remove and insert the tiny microSD cards.

HTC S730 right side

HTC S730 right side

The left hand side contains the volume control buttons, and a dedicated button for the comm. manager – almost a requirement of WiFi phones.

HTC S730 left side

HTC S730 left side

To the top of the phone, where there is a well defined power button – quick press for the quick menu, hold to turn off/on.

HTC S730 top

HTC S730 top

Finally on the back of the phone we find the 2mp camera, with mirror area and a speaker grille. There is no flash with this handset.

HTC S730 back

HTC S730 back

Just a final note about the side of the phone – because of the separation required, there is a little gap between the “front” and “back” of the phone. It’s a necessity but for the image conscious, it’s worth noting.

HTC S730 with keyboard open

HTC S730 with keyboard open

SOFTWARE

Let’s take a quick look through the start menu then – but don’t expect many surprises from the vanilla WM6 – this is HTC after all. Internet Explorer is there, so is Windows Media Player, and the usual array of productivity built in apps such as Tasks, Calendar and Contacts.

Phone tools, including Call History and Messaging are on the first page as well, which is completed with the Settings app and Office Mobile – yep Office is there too!

On the second page of the start menu – more common Microsoft stuff with Games and Accessories subfolders, Voice Notes and the built in Pictures and Videos tool. Connectivity in the form of ActiveSync and Internet sharing appears too, and the page is completed with Windows Live and Messenger, and Adobe Reader LE.

Things get interesting on the 3rd page though – HTC have gone to town, especially in the music area. An ‘Audio Booster” app provides fairly basic Graphic Equaliser style functionality for the earphones. The HTC Audio Manager seen elsewhere is there too, and “MP3 Trimmer” which cuts out silence from the beginning and end of files – useful to get the most from your storage space.

Bluetooth Explorer is also available on the device – something missing from the early HTC phones and a very welcome addition. Internet add-ons, eJava and Flash Lite are also shown here, along with more predicable links to the Camera, Comm. Manager and File Explorer.

The 4th and final page is pretty tedious stuff – links to quick notes, speed dial setup, streaming media and Task Manager. The link to the Video Recorder is also here, along with something called “HTC Debug Tools” – I suspect this will go missing before it hits stores!

Highlights:

  • QWERTY Keyboard on a candybar: Lets face it – no one else bothers with this form factor so good on HTC for making not only a success of the S710 – but on providing a worthy upgrade as well.
  • HTC Xt9: This, along with the Touch Dual (review soon!) are the first devices I’ve used with the new style T9 input on HTC phones. Weirdly there are a few differences between the devices – and the S730 comes out on top in every aspect. The T9 input is so good – for speed, its sometimes faster then the qwerty keyboard
  • WiFi: WiFi in a phone: very good thing.

Lowlights:

  • Poor slider mechanism. Bit disappointing this one really – the phone feels robust, but the slide mechanism is rather loose – both when opening and closing, and when actually closed. It’s a shame because it renders the “unlock on open” function useless really – since I’ve found the phone sometimes opens itself in the pocket. This is a demo unit though so could have been subjected to some abuse by previous reviewers.
  • Battery life: Not great in my experience here. WiFi turned off, Bluetooth off, just a few data calls, GSM calls and a lot of texts, and it was well down by the end of the day.
  • General speed of the device: Maybe I was expecting too much, but the phone certainly isn’t the quickest in the world. Even its USP – the sliding keyboard suffers, and the screen doesn’t switch to landscape as quickly as I’d have liked.

REVIEW

Firstly I’d like to clear something up (or try): To the best of my knowledge, the retail HTC S730 will NOT have GPS. However, as this is a test ROM (remember the HTC Debug Folder)… there is a little app called HTCGPSTest, which most definitely finds something on COM4. The signal is terrible (I didn’t manage to get a fix), but it does search for satellites.

Having looked into this, it seems that the final retail units will 100% NOT have GPS Enabled. Whether this means the chip will be removed – I’m not sure. Whether the clever chaps over at XDA-Developers will be able to make it work – I’m not sure. And finally – will it be any use even if they do manage to enable it? – guess what – I’m not sure. Nice and clear then!

So to the device then…

It’s pretty good. The QWERTY keys are hard to get used to at first – and also seem quite stiff at first, especially compared to my older TyTN, but if this helps them to remain working beyond six months it’ll be a welcome improvement!

The S710 is a tough act to follow I guess, having both WiFi and a QWERTY keyboard already. Luckily HTC have replaced and upgraded the CPU, added extra memory and provided a shiny new OS. Oh and 3G/HSDPA as well! A decent upgrade specification wise then but in terms of design, not much has changed. It’s a little more chunky than the S710, which I put down to the added hardware.

The S730 is not overly large – certainly not when you take into account the feature set – but phones should be getting smaller right? The QWERTY keyboard has had some minor adjustments and improvements, and despite what you might, think having seen the photos above, the full stop button location isn’t as annoying as it appears.

HTC S730 vs HTC Touch Dual

HTC S730 vs HTC Touch Dual

In general, you have to give credit to HTC for the constant software improvements and tweaks. Things like the HTC Home screen and new Xt9 input style might seem minor – but they are the only company who seem to be willing to improve the WM6 OS.

As I mentioned above, the slider feel pretty flaky in general and a bit too loose for my liking. It clicks into place well when opening, but at other times is very ‘floppy’. A shame – and I’m not sure how this compares to the S710?

There’s not much else to complain about though – bar a few random phone issues which I’ll put down to the test ROM. The size is forgotten when you realise the power you have in what is, in the smartphone world, a small form factor. Just to continue the size theme a little more – compared to the N95, its not too dissimilar.

Oddly, in my opinion, HTC have seemingly tried to turn the S730 into a music phone. I get this from the multitude of audio enhancements and applications in the ROM, but I’d say this phone would be better suited to business users. Send texts with the keypad, reply to emails with the keyboard. I’m just not sure the youth will ditch the iPod for this phone. We shall see.

CONCLUSION

It’s a good phone. There were too many niggly pre-production buglets about to do a full scale review, but it’s a great improvement over an already impressive S710.
The styling is very reminiscent of the early SPV units sold on Orange around Europe. In my view, that’s not too bad a thing – ‘old skool’ sells after all.

The keyboard size is fantastic, and for it to be in such a small chassis is great news for any market they try to sell the unit in to.

Apologies for the slightly shorter review – it’s Christmas and I need to get drunk but the HTC S730 is definitely recommended!

Don’t forget, you can win an HTC S730 in our Christmas Comptition!

Review by: Mark

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By December 10, 2007 Read More →

Asus Eee PC 701 (quick) review

Introduction

The Asus Eee PC is a new product line for Asus which they hope will find a place for those people for whom a smartphone is too small and full laptop is too cumbersome. At first I was unsure as to who might actually purchase an Eee PC, would it be students, techies or business users? However, it looks like everyone is buying them, there is virtually no stock in the UK now!

Asus Eee PC 701

Asus Eee PC 701

What’s in the box?

The device itself, instruction book, installation CD, battery, power adaptor, er, that’s it. Take a look at Matt’s unboxing video for more.

Asus Eee PC 701 Specification:

  • Inter Celeron M 900mHz CPU
  • 7″ TFT display – 800 x 480 pixels
  • 512MB RAM
  • 4GB 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, 3.5hrs

General

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

Eee PC Keyboard

Eee PC Keyboard

The screen is smaller than expected given the real estate available.

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

Eee PC left side

Eee PC left side
Eee PC right side

Eee PC right side

The removable battery slots very smoothly in and out the spine of the unit and power cord plugs into the back. The power cord has no power pack as such but instead what looks like a large mobile phone charging plug.

There’s also a built in webcam which you should be able to use for video conferencing.

Eee PC webcam

Eee PC webcam

Highlights

  • Speed
  • Simple but powerful OS
  • Ease of networking

Lowlights

  • Screen size
  • Trackpad mouse button

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 the Linux-based Eee PC version 1.0.1 but should you wish, it is possible to install Windows XP.

The Eee PC is one of the easiet devices to get to grips with. By doing away with the traditional desktop metaphor and simply presenting the user with large icons divided up into common usage groups, it’s almost impossible for any user to go wrong.

Connection to both wired and wireless networks was unbelievably quick and simple and made one wonder why Microsoft make it so difficult.

Program are divided into six groups: Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings and Favourites.

The Internet group provides shortcuts to Web Mail, Web, iGoogle, Messenger, Skype, Network, eBook, Google Docs, World Clock, Internet Radio and Wireless Networks.
Web Mail provides shortcuts to Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and AOL mail.
Web launches version 2 of the excellent Mozilla Firefox browser. The messenger client, Pidgin provides connection to all major IM protocols including Gtalk and Jabber.
Skype is an excellent default installation a works seamlessley.

In the Work category shortcuts are provided to Accessories, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Adobe PDF Reader, Mail, File Manager, Dictionary and Notes.
Accessories include, Calculator, PIM and Screen Capture.
The main productivity applications are all provided by the wonderful open source alternative to MS Office, OpenOffice.org.

The Learn group rather excitingly gives shortcuts to Science, Language, Math (sic) and Paint.

Play is where you’ll find Games, Music Player, Music Manager, Photo Manager, Video Manager, Web Cam and Sound Recorder. The usual selection of casual games are provided including, Solitaire, Tetris and Sudoku.

The media player does exactly what it says on the tin supporting all the common file types while the media managers do leave quite a lot to be desired. Not really managers so much as glorified file explorers. however, if you download the right codecs you can even watch your DivX movies.

Despite being able to record images and video using the built in web cam I found it impossible to get online video recorders to recognise it – although this could well be a defficiency in my technical abilities. There is said to be a new version of Skype on its way that will support the webcam for video calling.

The Settings category provides a wide range of useful utilities including Anti Virus, Disk Utility, Diagnostic Tools and Voice Commands. Use Disk Utility to repair permissions according to Computer Technicians.

The responsiveness and speed of the Eee PC is a joy and navigating around is very intuitive. It’s a device which you wouldn’t want to spend too much time using but for the short periods you do it exceeds expectations in almost every area.

Having played with the device for a while I can start to see where/how it would be used. Students looking for an inexpensive, yet capable laptop should consider the Eee PC while business people on the go will love the portability and battery life.

I think that in order to be a proper business tool you’d have to look to install Windows and some sort of office suite. Matt has been using his Eee PC for a few weeks and now has Windows XP and MS Office installed on his – he swears by it. Matt will be writing a follow up to this article at some point and will tell you all about his experiences with the Eee PC, in particularly, installing XP and other software. For mobile and Laptop apps, a great resource to check out is https://mytechnolojoy.com.

Conclusion

All in all an excellent device for the money and highly recommended for reluctant technophobes and gadget feaks alike.

The more you use the Asus Eee PC the more it makes sense, what started out for me as a gadget or a ‘toy’ has now become a useful tool and one that I do not wish to give up. Considering how light the Eee PC is and how common WiFi hot spots are becoming I think this will the standard for business UMPC’s for a while!

Review by: Nick

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By December 7, 2007 Read More →

LG KU990 Viewty review

LG Viewty reviewty.

A phone with a quality digital camera or a digital camera with a phone?

INTRODUCTION

Well for the first time in probably 5 years – I’ve not used a smartphone for a week. The LG Viewty, and its other brother the Prada phone thing have interested me for a while, so when Matt rather randomly asked me to review LG’s latest and greatest I was more than happy to.

LG Viewty

LG KU990 Viewty

Lets get one thing out of the way first off: This is not an iPhone beater. As long as you don’t expect it to be – you’ll be fine.

It’s very much a “chav-phone”, and it will sell by the bucket load regardless of this, or any other review. It’s a bit of a looker really as well – surprising considering the huge touch screen.

What’s in the Box?

A decent package, which looks expensive and well thought out. I especially liked the named boxes within the main package, which make it clear which lead is from where. Especially useful when sending review devices back!

LG Viewty Box

LG Viewty Box

For the full low-down have a look at Matt’s unboxing video.

LG Viewty Specification:

  • 3″ 240 x 400 pixel touch screen
  • 5 megapixel digital camera with flash
  • 55 x 104 x 17 mm
  • 112 grams
  • GPRS, EDGE, UMTS & HSDPA
  • Bluetooth 1.2 with A2DP
  • microSD card slot
  • DivX video capture VGA 30fps, QVGA 120fps
  • built in email client and web browser
  • bespoke flash based UI
  • front facinng camera for video calling

    • GENERAL

    At 103.5 x 54.4 x 14.8mm it is larger than the older Prada phone, but not by much. The extra space I guess its to do with a pretty special 5mp camera included in a still small form factor. It is most definitely not too big though – fits nicely in the pocket, and although it’s slightly heavy – it’s not a problem.

    Lets take a look around the device then, and on the front, as you might have guessed – a dominant 3 inch touch screen running at 240 x 400. The screen seems to be high quality – and sometimes you could also be fooled into thinking some of the displayed buttons are hardware based!

    While the standard earpiece and forward facing camera are found at the top of the screen, a single row of three buttons is all we find at the bottom. They are the rather common(!) call and end keys, sandwiching the ‘back’ button in the middle.

    LG Viewty Buttons

    LG Viewty Buttons

    Moving to the right hand side, we see the two position camera button – auto-focus, take photo, and a 3 position sliding switch, allowing the user to select between photos, videos, and playback/review. In between these, is the unlock/lock push button. Slightly concerned about this really – although I had no problems, I think the chances of accidently unlocking the device in your pocket could be quite high.

    LG Viewty right side

    LG Viewty right side

    On the opposite left side, all we find is the headset/data/charger socket, behind a sliding cover. This is most definitely not a standard socket I’ve seen – although I’m not sure if it’s an LG standard – maybe someone in the know could comment about this?

    LG Viewty left side

    LG Viewty left side

    On the top of the device – just the battery compartment release. There is no fixed power button on the device – it shares this function with the call end key. Just like old times!

    LG Viewty top

    LG Viewty top

    Finally on the bottom…. well there is no bottom. There is no flat edge – it just flows round from the hardware buttons on the front, to the LG logo on the camera front.

    LG Viewty bottom

    LG Viewty bottom

    Just a quick note on the reverse of the phone – it’s been designed to look exactly like a digital camera – and they have done an unbelievable job in achieving that aim. You really would not be able to tell that it isn’t a digital camera from the front.

    LG Viewty 'back'

    LG Viewty ‘back’

    I guess that I should also mention the strange stylus that’s included. Unlike most other devices I’ve come across, that would have the stylus slide into a slot in the phone itself, LG have elected to include a stylus that dangles from a string. It’s like a cross between a phone-charm and a lipstick. I think this will be something that the ladies may like but that the guys will leave in the box!

    LG Viewty stylus

    LG Viewty stylus

    SOFTWARE

    Interesting section this. Obviously at Tracy and Matt, we tend to stick to a semi-rigid template for out review to aid comparisons. But how do you review software on a non-smartphone?

    The OS is usable. It’s certainly not going to win any awards – despite being skinable, and certainly not letting the side down too much. As it is a touch screen, you are without doubt going to compare it to the iPhone. As I said earlier – it’s not an iPhone beater, but then it isn’t £270 on an 18 month contract. Having said that, it does have 3G and a half decent camera – so specs wise, the Viewty isn’t bad at all in comparison.

    The touch screen UI is nice, but even when doing simple scrolling – its very apparently that this isn’t exactly a speed machine. Remember the lovely scrolling interface on the iPhone? Well its not really like that – think scrolling in XP without your graphics card driver installed. It’s usuable, but hard work at times.

    Unfortunately the speed issues don’t end there – and the camera functions also suffer. It isn’t the fastest to take photos, but it does OK. Certainly suitable for camera phone use, if not as a replacement for your digital camera. The main problem is looking through and reviewing old snaps. I don’t know if the 5mp size of the photos, coupled with the low spec CPU is the problem – but I suspect it probably is. It’s torturous trying to skim through photos – with each one taking up to 15 seconds to display.

    The rest of the O/S is pretty straightforward, and works rather well. Messaging is a breeze – even compared to the iPhone – with both an onscreen T9 board and full keyboard present. There is handwriting recognition, but somehow LG have managed to make it even worse than that built into Windows Mobile.

    Highlights:
    Ease of use: I like smartphones, but it was nice to go back to a phone that just works. No silly bugs, no silly keypresses required, overly complicated menus etc – just a decent easy to use phone.

    On-screen T9/vibrating touch screen: It really works. The screen is great – and I assume a high quality touch sensor too – very accurate, very ease to tap out a message – and the vibrating response to a press really does work, and help to improve typing speed – at least for me

    Battery life: It doesn’t appear to go down. I’ve been needing a phone on me a lot this week – so have been charging it regularly – but I’ve never seen it go beyond three-quarters full.

    3g: It’s great to see 3g making it to almost all areas and markets of the mobile phone industry now. Personally, I think any phone without 3g should be taken off the shelves immediately, but equally LG deserve praise for including it.

    Lowlights:
    Poor PC Software – LG Suite. Stay away from it at all costs. Save photos to the storage card and use mass storage mode instead!

    Speed: Low spec compared to the iPhone I suspect, and it does at times suffer from it. I’m being picky in most cases, but the camera and picture review functions are a real let down.

    REVIEW

    Anyway, back to the review. On startup I was very surprised (And a little confused to be honest), to find it had auto-selected Orange settings for me – despite no user input. The device was supplied direct from LG, so I suspect it may have auto-created these itself, finding the network from the SIM card. Odd that it didn’t bother to tell me, but a nice feature anyway.

    With this all setup, I had a bit of a play with the web browser (web, rather than wap), and the finger scrolling is especially useful, if a little hard to master.

    A major problem I have these days, having used Windows Mobile devices for so long, is message storage space. I’ve never deleted a text message or email from my WM phones – unless I’m hard resetting. Unfortunately like all non-smartphones, the LG only has so much room reserved for messages – regardless of microSD card installed. This is a pain in the bum LG!

    I should also note that LG maintain that a Youtube client will be installed on the final version, which will allow both download and upload of videos. Unfortunately it wasn’t available on this review unit.

    I hope this addition will be couple with an upgrade of the camera applications and tool as well. The options are endless – and its all very, very impressive in such a small, cheaper unit. It’s just way too slow. Hopefully this might be improved in the official released units – because the options available to edit photos and video – on the device – are some of the best I’ve used.

    To review this device though, I have to look at the day to day use of it. I have been lucky enough to have used the Viewty for quite a while, and I’m really impressed with the simple usability and stability of it. From the simple, if scary, unlock button to the onscreen qwerty keyboard in landscape mode.

    One other thing that bugs me about many devices at the moment, the LG Viewty included, is that they seem to come with their own proprietary connectors for headphones, chargers and data cables. I find this frustrating that each time you buy a new phone you have to buy new chargers etc. or you have to buy adapters in order to use any headphones other than the ones supplied. On the plus side there is a nice sliding cover over the connector which will help to prevent dust getting in there but is it too much to ask for a standard headphone socket and mini USB connector?

    LG Viewty connector

    LG Viewty connector

    One little titbit to end with, that I found while using the camera on the Viewty – the rocker switch around the camera lens, used to digitally zoom in and out when taking photos – is also an up/down rocker key throughout the entire O/S. Not ideally positioned – but sometimes useful when trying to move to a set position in a text! Another hardly-advertised feature is the support for divx movies. This coupled with the microSD slot makes the Viewty a small portable media player. Not bad for what isn’t exactly an expensive phone.

    LG Viewty camera

    LG Viewty camera

    CONCLUSION

    I really didn’t expect to get along with this. The idea of a touch screen being the only input method was not something I fancied trying. Equally, I didn’t really fancy dropping my ultra smart TyTN for a ‘normal’ phone either.

    It did take a while for me to come around to the ideas behind the Viewty – but now as of Monday, with the device going back tomorrow, I’m almost sad to see it go. Its not smart, and in many ways is very limited compared to the phones I’m used to. But it just works. The touchscreen input – just works, the navigation – just works. It doesn’t do anything particularly special, but everything I really need it to do – it does.

    I think I like a non-smartphone.

    Review by: Mark

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    Posted in: Reviews
    By December 4, 2007 Read More →

    VITO ZoomBoard review

    After moving from an HTC Vario with in built keyboard to a HTC Touch (I have to admit I much prefer the smaller phone for sure) I did start to miss the keyboard as I do quite a bit of texting and sending of Outlook e-mails. Whilst the word completion on the Touch does really help, the standard Windows mobile keyboard is pretty poor for fast and accurate entry. Being out and about quite a bit, grabbing the stylus just becomes a pain and requires both hands and lots of concentration!

    Looking through at tracyandmatt.co.uk last week, I noticed the release of VITO Technologies ZoomBoard application. ZoomBoard is a replacement for the standard on-screen keyboard included on a Windows Mobile device. The download site http://iwindowsmobile.com/onscreen-keyboard.html offers a free trial (I think all software should be available on a free trial basis) so I downloaded as I had nothing to loose!

    I have to admit using the ZoomBoard keyboard was a little strange at first. ZoomBoard is unlike most other keyboard addons as it uses a very clever “Sliding Technique”. Keys are not actually accepted or processed until you remove your finger from the screen. As you slide your fingers over the screen, a magnified image is shown on screen showing a much larger version of the key that you are hovering over, so you simply can not choose the wrong character. This allows even those with the biggest thumbs to enter information concisely without mistakes.

    Even if you are a stylus addict, the larger on screen keys are much, much easier to select and access with the stylus as well. You don’t have to use the sliding mechanism to use this keyboard all the time so for quick messages I tend to just hit the larger keys just like a normal keyboard. The simple buttons to change to upper case and numbers/symbols also offer much faster keyboard entry.

    The best part of this application? The cost… $9.95 so around £5.00 in English money so, yes, I now have a fully registered version!

    Review by: John

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    Posted in: Reviews
    By November 30, 2007 Read More →

    Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B review

    The Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B represents the pinnacle of Panasonic’s plasma TV range, this being the 42″ Full HD version. There is also a 50″ version of the PZ700 available.

    I have to admit that I really didn’t know what all the HD fuss was about. How much better can HD pictures really be? There is also some confusion over HD Ready and Full HD. I wont go in to this in to too much detail here, suffice to say that Full HD is better as it supports all the standards that an HD ready TV does plus the 1080p format.

    The TH-42PZ700B is Full HD with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

    Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B

    Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B

    The PZ700 is not just limited to TV and Video though as the front mounted SDHC compatible SD card slot will allow you to play MPEG-2 and AVCHD video formats as well as JPEG images and MP3 audio files. Good news if you have a video or still camera that records on SD media.

    What’s in the box?

    We recorded the unboxing of the Viera but it’s worth pointing out that we have a PR sample and we’re not the first to open the box so this is what you can expect to find in the box:

  • The Viera TH-42PZ700B (otherwise you just bought a very expensive box!)
  • Infrared remote control unit (Inc. batteries)
  • Getting started guide
  • Manual and user guide
  • Mains power cable
  • Warranty and product registration card

    • Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B Specification:

  • Full HD plasma Panel (1920 x 1080 pixels)
  • 1080p Digital Processing Chip-Set
  • 1080p Digital Re-mastering Processor
  • 4,096 Equivalent Steps of Gradation
  • Max. 5,000 : 1 Contrast ratio
  • Digital Optical Output
  • 3 x HDMI Input
  • SDHC Card Networkability
  • PC Input
  • SRS TruSurroundXT
  • Dolby Digital

    • GENERAL

    Like the Viera models that have gone before, the PZ700 is housed in a glossy back chassis which makes for an attractive package and wife-friendly piece of ‘furniture’. The front of the unit has clean lines with only the power lights and power button obviously visible.

    However on closer inspection you will see a hinged panel in the middle of lower part of the frame, behind you’ll find a host of buttons and connectors. These include channel and volume controls, headphone socket, S-Video socket, composite video and audio inputs, and a front-facing HDMI socket.

    Viera front connectors

    Viera front connectors

    Further to the right is another hinged cover behind which is the SD card slot.

    Viera SD card slot

    Viera SD card slot

    The sides of the PZ700 have no additional connectors or controls, you have to move to the rear of the unit in order to see anything else. The back panel has a raft of AV connectors; 3 Scart sockets, Component Video sockets, digital audio out, VGA socket and two more HDMI sockets. There’s even a CI card slot when (if) pay per view card readers become available in the UK.

    Viera rear connectors

    Viera rear connectors

    This Viera TH-42PZ700 comes in three varieties: wall-mount, pedestal and cabinet versions. We’re concentrating on the display itself and not the mounting methods. However, if you are looking to wall mount this plasma, you should bear in mind that it weighs approx. 35KG and you’ll need good wall fixings!

    HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Excellent menu system and controls
  • Superbly sharp picture
  • Good audio performance
  • Plenty of AV connectors
  • Deep blacks and vibrant colour

    • LOWLIGHTS:

  • Colour banding evident on some scenes
  • Gloss back chassis a fingerprint magnet
  • Settings need altering to get the best from this TV

    • REVIEW

    Initial unpacking and setup of the PZ700 is pretty straight forward. I’d prefer to see more of an ‘idiots guide’ to help the average user though. As with many TV’s, when you first turn the power on you are prompted to go through the setup programme which scans for TV channels etc. This takes a few minutes, definitely enough time to drink your cup of tea and have a look at the user guide.

    There is a comprehensive menu system that’s either fantastic or scary depending on your point of view. For people like me that love to tinker with image and colour settings this is great but for the novice this might seem rather daunting. It need not be though as you probably only need to know how to switch between the different preset picture modes: Auto and Cinema modes for watching TV and DVD’s and Dynamic mode for playing games.

    Before I move on to describe how the Viera performs I want to mention the remote control. In the past, I’ve found it frustrating that you spend hundreds of pounds on a TV, DVD or HiFi and get a cheap plastic remote. This isn’t the case with the PZ700, what you get is a fairly large, well designed and clearly laid out unit finished in graphite and chrome. It does at least feel like it belongs to a TV costing over a thousand pounds!

    Viera remote

    Viera remote

    We start our PZ700 testing with analogue TV. Typically, low-def pictures, such as those from terrestrial TV, can be poor on an HD TV, but this is just not the case with the Viera. The picture was surprisingly free of noise and even high contrast scenes were rendered accurately. It’s a similar story when viewing digital TV but if anything things are a little better. Motion tracking is smooth and shows no signs of blurring or shimmering which can happen with low-def. I suspect that this thanks to the excellent picture noise reduction and 3D-Comb filters which help to remove artefacts and perform smoothing.

    With the integrated digital tuner you also get 7-day EPG functions and genre filtering.

    Moving on to some High-def footage we connect up a Blu-Ray player via one of the HDMI connectors. As this is a Full HD display there is no scaling and video footage plays in its native 1080p format. Watching Spiderman 3 and Casino Royale really does show the Viera off, there is an astonishing amount of detail, colours are truly dazzling and incredibly sharp. Even the black and white scenes at the beginning of Casino Royale are a wonder to behold, the contrast is excellent and the blacks really are er, black!

    It’s a similar story with normal DVD’s. Obviously there is less detail to be seen in regular DVD films and with the compression ratio some artefacts are evident, however, the image scaler on the PX700 does a brilliant job. It’s at this point that I start flicking through our DVD collection to see how well it plays my favourite scenes from various films. All very impressive.

    Hooking the PZ700 up to my PS3 gave me the ability to test 720p and 1080i sources. Again, using HDMI means that connection is easy and even carries the audio signal to the TV too, only one cable needed.

    Playing some of my favourite games, Fall Of Man and FEAR, you begin to see the levels of detail and contrast that the Viera is capable of. There are some dark scenes in these games but these are handled with ease, no obvious motion blurring and again, amazing detail. The brighter, cuter games show an amazing richness and depth of colour.

    However, it’s while playing games on the PS3 that I first noticed some obvious colour banding on more subtly shaded areas. Initially I thought that this might be down to the game I was playing or the video encoding so thought I would put this to the test by connecting my PC. Using a photo package I filled the screen with a 32bit image which was a black to white colour fade. Sure enough there was some nasty colour banding. As you’ll see from the photo below which I took of the image on screen, the top quarter of the screen is pure black before some grey colour bands and the fade to white. This isn’t down to the image compression, this is what you see on screen.

    Viera Colour Banding

    Viera Colour Banding

    I should mention that you can reduce the effects of the colour banding by altering the picture noise reduction settings but you can’t get rid of them completely. However, you probably wont notice banding on TV and DVD/Blu-Ray pictures as things move rather too quickly. You may notice when playing computer games, I found it most noticeable while playing Gran Tourismo HD. I should also mention that the Viera is not alone in suffering this problem, many if not most plasma and LCD demonstrate the same issue.

    Audio performance on the PZ700 is pretty good. There are several audio settings that you can play with, from the normal treble and bass settings to the SRS and SRS TruSurroundXT settings. The virtual surround works quite well but is no substitute for a proper surround system but I feel sure that many will find this good enough. It certaily is good enough for watching ordinary TV.

    I like the overall design of the PZ700 but I guess I should mention that glossy black bezel. While it does mean that the Viera is quite attractive to look at it can lead to some distracting reflections, especially if you do not have a completely dark room. Also, as you’ll be able to see in top right of the picture below, it’s a fingerprint magnet – parents with young children beware!

    Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B

    Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B

    If you saw my unbox video you’ll have heard me mention those cooling fans on the back of the set. In fact all plasma TV’s have these as they tend to run quite hot. There are times, especially during films with quiet dialogue, when you can hear these fans running. You’ll get used to it after a little while and it really isn’t a problem, it’s another of those things that once you become aware of it you start to listen for it!

    Viera Back

    Viera Back

    CONCLUSION

    If, like me, you thought that HD was more Hype than substance then you really do need to take a look at the Panasonic Viera! This really is the best HD plasma TV that I’ve seen to date.

    That said, I was rather disappointed by the colour banding issue, especially from such a high-end set, and once I noticed this I just couldn’t get away from it. Luckily the PZ700 makes up for this with everything else it does get right!

    The PZ700 offers fantastic sharpness and overall picture quality, this set delivers on the promise of the digital home cinema experience.

    Will I be buying myself a Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B? No way – I’ll be buying it’s 50″ big brother!

    Posted by: Matt

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    By November 27, 2007 Read More →

    Eten Glofiish X800 review

    Having used the Eten Glofiish X800 for a few days now here are my initial findings.

    Firstly, having read a little about this machine, I was expecting it to be larger than I would have liked, as it measures 113.5 x 60.5 x 15.8 mm. Although it is on the large side it is not unpleasant and fits nicely in the hand, and pocket for that matter.

    Eten Glofiish X800

    Eten Glofiish X800

    I was also expecting a wow factor from the VGA screen and this is ultra sharp, but not as vibrant as I would have liked, this has now been resolved, I believe, with a software upgrade from Eten.

    The wow factor does come from the 3.5 Mbps HSDPA, application downloads and emails are lightening quick, a 300k file loaded as quick as you could see it! Add to that the fact that it also includes quad-band GSM and EDGE-enabled GPRS, not to mention 3G and GPS. It certainly packs in pretty much everything that you could need or ask for.

    What’s in the box?

  • The X800
  • USB sync cable
  • AC adaptor
  • 2.5mm stereo headset
  • spare stylus
  • battery
  • Getting started software CD’s and quickstart guide
  • a ‘leather’ case with belt clip
  • screen protector

    • ETEN Glofiish X800 Specification:

  • Windows Mobile 6 Professional
  • 500Mhz 32bit Samsung SC32442 CPU
  • 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM
  • VGA (480×640) Touchscreen
  • GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS2100
  • CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
  • SDIO, microSD, TransFlash
  • WiFi: 802.11b, 802.11g
  • GPS: SiRF Star III , 20 channels
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • 2 Megapixel primary camera
  • Front mounted VGA camera for Video calling
  • 1530 mAh Lithium Polymer Battery
  • 113.5×60.5×15.8 mm
  • 160 grams

    • General

    The left side of the PDA holds the volume rocker switch, voice command button, reset hole, and the headset jack.

    X800 left side

    X800 left side

    On the right side are the power and camera buttons.

    X800 right side

    X800 right side

    The bottom of the device houses the telescopic stylus, microphone, mini USB slot and the microSD card, which for me is very fiddly with the card being so small, but at least it is accessible without having to take the device apart.

    X800 bottom

    X800 bottom

    The phone does feel solid and well made and it has been well laid out overall. The back of the unit holds the 2 Megapixel primary camera which has autofocus, mirror and a flash, which doubles as a flashlight. And then there is the VGA camera on the front for video calling.

    X800 back

    X800 back

    A point to mention here is the back casing, also commented on in Matt’s unboxing video, which takes some effort to pull off and you do get the feeling that at some time you are going to break it. Also the first time I put the battery in its holder I didn’t notice the two little lugs on the side of the battery and once seated I couldn’t get the back cover on, the battery was now wedged in, to the point that it was very difficult to remove it without force, so don’t rush in as I did!

    The X800 has a number of back-lit buttons. These include a four-way mini-joystick, not being a D pad/joystick user this one isn’t bad and is quite nice to use, but isn’t it quicker just to tap the screen? The usual ‘send’ and ‘end’ call keys, left and right soft keys, a dedicated GPS key for launching the GPS viewer and another to open up a quick launch panel. On top of that there is a Windows button and an OK button used to close apps in a quick and easy fashion. All very useful in themselves but of course the only input method available is the touchscreen as there is no keyboard of any kind.

    X800 Keypad

    X800 Keypad

    Software

    As I mentioned earlier, even when it’s set to the highest brightness, the screen just isn’t as bright as it should be. Putting the X800 alongside my existing phone it appeared quite dim. However, this is prior to the ROM upgrade which which has just been released by Eten which promises to address this issue.

    Windows Mobile 6 Professional is included which has now become the defacto standard, and the useful additions of a Task Manager icon, and the aforementioned quick launch buttons make this machine very user friendly.

    Eten have also included Spb Mobile Shell, a TouchFLO style icon panel from which you can launch popularly used programs, Time and date settings including alarms, 5 day weather and a speed dial tab. All of which are changeable to suit your own preference.

    Another mention here of the speed dial softkey which launches a speed dial application, but with this application you get 2 types for input method. The first being a list of your most used and latest dialled numbers on a large keypad for quick redialling, and then you have the option to switch to an index dial, this allows you touch another large keypad containing a number pad and the alphabet, press a letter and it brings up all your contacts that contain that letter, much more usable than the normal Windows contact list.

    There is the usual mobile Excel, PowerPoint and Word installed, a program called Location SMS which allows you to send your current location to someone else via SMS, a GPS position updater program which can be manual or automatic, and a GPS viewer to see what satellites you are connecting to and fixed into, either as a compass or as a globe, accessed as I mentioned via either the dedicated GPS button or the screen.

    Camera functionality from the 2 megapixel camera is fine, the layout and function buttons are again well thought out, I was impressed with the video quality in various lighting conditions.

    X800 camera

    X800 camera

    The camera button is in the wrong place in my opinion as whenever I hold the phone my finger naturally rests on the button, when making calls, dialling etc. And more than once I have pressed it and launched the camera without realising.

    Highlights

  • The speed dial program
  • The autofocus on the camera which I have not had before and is a welcome addition.
  • The freebies such as the case and screen protector.

    • Lowlights

  • Screen brightness as spoken about now apparently fixed.
  • Voice call quality was also awful, on more than one occasion I had to use speakerphone to understand the person I was talking to, but once again Eten have addressed this problem in the latest ROM update which is already available. Having run this patch it is much improved.
  • The 500 MHz 32bit Samsung processor, seems a bit unreliable, most of the time things run really quickly but annoyingly at times it takes forever to get going.

    • Conclusion

    The size of the unit could be an issue for some, I thought it would be for me but it is not a problem. It is a more than capable machine and I am sure that with a bit more use and a bit more familiarity I could get really used to it on a day to day basis. The niggles with the screen and call quality appear to be behind us.

    I haven’t seen anyone quote battery expectancy as yet, I did come across an alleged 7 hours talk time and 150 hours standby. I found that with normal daily use with a little internet surfing and phone calls I would get around 2 days, heavier use today resulted in a score of 40% life left. Obviously it really depends on what you are using it for as to how much time you will get.

    Looks like the Eten range is set to challenge the ‘big boys’ and with the range they have now it is likely that they will fair very well, it has one or two gripes but well worth considering, and very capable.

    Review by: Steve

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    Posted in: Reviews
    By November 23, 2007 Read More →

    TomTom RDS-TMC addon review

    You might be wondering why we are reviewing a product that has been out for over a year. The RDS-TMC addon for suitable TomTom units adds subscription-free traffic information, and is supplied in the UK by iTis.

    iTis hold the national licence for an RDS datastream attached to the Classic FM service. Data is received by the unit, which then shows current problems on the mapping in the same way the GPRS Traffic subscripton works.

    Sounds good? It is, but it’s not been easy for TomTom in the UK. The RDS-TMC service and signal are extremely weak in the UK anyway, and is not really suited to “wire” type aerials. There have been a lot of problems, a couple of major revisions, and now the latest update – the version we are reviewing/mentioning here.

    Firstly here are a few really useful images from Mike Alder at www.PocketGPSWorld.com, showing the different versions.

    The different RDS Receiver versions:

    The original 4V00.000 with the plastic bubble at the end of the cable

    The original 4V00.000 with the plastic bubble at the end of the cable

    The European 4V00.010 with the plastic bubble near the connector

    The European 4V00.010 with the plastic bubble near the connector

    The New 4V00.013 with ferrites and straight connector

    The New 4V00.013 with ferrites and straight connector

    Note that the model number 4V00.013 is ONLY shown on the cable of the unit itself – NOT on the outer box!

    Mike has also produced a POI fileset for TomTom units with the location and frequency information for the iTis transmitters. PocketGPSWorld.com forums will be able to help you find these.

    So does the new version work? Well yes and no. Its a lot better, it does find a signal, sometimes with little effort. However theres still far too much time lost while the unit is scanning, looking for any kind of signal to use.

    It’s important to read the additional guide information for the UK – you do need to specifically select ‘United Kingdom’ mode for it to work at all.

    It’s a decent enough update I guess – but the missing external aerial socket is still a HUGE problem, especially if you have an Athermic windscreen.

    I’ll be using it regularly over the coming months, and testing new method of positioning the cabling. With the help of the userbase on the PGPSW forums, I may also hack an external aerial connection onto it, and wire it into my DAB aerial (supposedly it’s better for data).

    Posted by: Mark

    Image credit to Mike at www.pocketgpsworld.com

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    Posted in: Reviews
    By November 22, 2007 Read More →

    Asus P526 (Pegasus) review

    INTRODUCTION

    Moving onto our second device from Asus, I’m looking at the P526.

    Asus P526

    Asus P526

    Again, this is, as far as we are aware, a full retail unit, boxed, and with a final ROM.

    The Asus P526 was kindly supplied for review by our friends Devicewire.

    What’s in the Box?

    I’ll not go into too much detail, since Matt’s unboxing video is available for you to look at.

    Inside you’ll find:

  • The P526
  • Mains Charger
  • USB Sync/Charge cable
  • Application CD with Activesync and software pack
  • Hands free headset
  • Standard Battery
  • Manual & getting started guide

    • Asus P526 Specification:

  • Windows Mobile 6.0
  • 201Mhz Texas Instruments OMAP 850
  • GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
  • CSD, GPRS, EDGE
  • 2.6″ LCD touch screen with backlight, 240 x 320 dots resolution with 65,536 colours
  • 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • 2.0mp camera
  • Built-in numeric phone keyboard, 20 keys
  • microSD card slot
  • WiFi: 802.11b/g
  • SiRF Star III , 20 channel integrated GPS
  • Dimensions: 58 x 110 x 15.4mm
  • Weight: 115g with battery

    • GENERAL

    This phone certainly looks the part, and I was very impressed when I first opened the box.

    Although this candybar runs Windows Mobile Professional (touchscreen/pocket pc), it looks very much like an average smartphone. The usual phone keypad is present, and there’s nothing to suggest the screen is touch sensitive. It just looks like a normal candybar smartphone.

    The screen is of decent, if not outstanding quality, and although the screen isn’t as sensitive as I’d have hoped – it is very accurate, at least in the short time I’ve used it.

    Although on the small sizd, the keypad is very nice to type on. It’s very tactile, and it is possible to write a text by feel alone. No wobbly keys, it feels well made and expensive.

    Asus P526 Keypad

    Asus P526 Keypad

    We also have the regular call keys, a C (or back) button, and the ASUS Launcher button (more later). We can also see a thin row of 4 other buttons. The outer of these are the softkeys, and to the left is the windows key. Finally on the inner right hand side, we have a direct button to the voice control software.

    At the bottom of the device, we have a standard mini-USB plug just like the other ASUS device and also exactly the same, a 2.5 earphone jack plug. I’m really happy that ASUS have gone with such common connections. Weirdly I couldn’t get my HTC charger to work with the P526 though, which is even more odd when you consider that the M530w worked fine with it. USB charging worked fine though.

    Asus P526 bottom

    Asus P526 bottom

    On the right hand side, towards the bottom is an easy access microsd card slot. Phone shaped/sized devices commonly have these hidden away under the battery – so ASUS get another star from me for sticking it on the side! Above the card slot, we rather strangley have the device reset button, recessed behind the outer cover. You’ll need the stylus to press the button, but its still an unusual place to put it!

    Asus P526 right side

    Asus P526 right side

    Moving up we have the standard camera button, and then – “the switch”. Once the phones in use it’s fairly obvious that this mysterious little switch is a keylock. Not seen one like this before, but I like it. Unfortunely the keylock is a little bit buggy – again more on that in the review.

    The left side is fairly barren – just an OK button and the same up/down/click rocker switch as found on the M530w

    Asus P526 left side

    Asus P526 left side

    On the reverse we have the 2mp camera – but no flash, the speaker grille (ASUS must like these!), and a cover. Under that cover? The GPS external aerial connector. Yup, it’s a very small phone, but they’ve managed to get GPS to fit somehow.

    Asus P526 camera

    Asus P526 camera

    Finally moving to the top of the device, as you might expect – nothing but a power button.

    Asus P526 top

    Asus P526 top

    SOFTWARE

    Theres not a lot to be said really. All the regular additions are there – the voice commander software and a JAVA system are both preinstalled. A wireless manager is there too – looking suspiciously like that found on Ubiquio devices. There’s not a lot in there anyway though – just phone and Bluetooth. Remember theres no wifi to be found – or any form of 3G 🙁 .

    Highlights:
    Looks/Size: This phone looks great. I’ve got an ASUS laptop, with exactly the same colour scheme, and together they look really smart. It’s a good size, it looks like a phone, and a nice one at that.

    Lowlights:
    Awkward daily usage: No direction pad! OK, it was worth a try – but this should never have got from the design stage. Using the phone is an absolute nitemare. Scrolling through text, or moving menus up and down can ONLY be done using the rocker switch on the side, or the touchscreen. Neither option is natural – and the small touchscreen can be a problem, unless you get the stylus out everytime.

    No 3G: Er… iPhone anyone? What a glaring omission. These days this in itself is an absolute killer for many potential buyers.

    No wifi: This doesn’t bother me as much, but I know it will put off a number of people – especially considering the lack of 3G.

    REVIEW

    Well at least with this device, ASUS’ built in internet/mms auto config tool worked!

    The first boot again started up ASUS’s custom installer app to install a few “packages” (No reboot required here though), and up popped the auto config tool, which as I said, did actually have the UK networks in the list this time.

    The software list on the device does pretty closely match that found on the M530w. It’s sparse, but one nice extra on the P526 is the ASUS launcher software. Think of your standard Nokia dumb phone menu – the launcher is a nice replica of it. It is pretty decent actually – and does make it easier to navigate around the phone and its various settings. I still found things a little clumsy though, due to the missing direction pad.

    Internet access is GPRS only, and typing any kind of web address in with the phone keypad is torture. If this device dropped the touch screen and used the Standard version of windows mobile, it would be fine. However, due to the awkward way Professional edition handles input methods makes this phone a awkward to use at times and it’s especially noticeable with website addresses.

    Perhaps this can be improved with software updates – but right now its a bit of a mess. Speaking of updates – I hope one is due soon. A couple of nasty bugs have also shown up in the few days I’ve had it.

    Firstly the keylock method is very nice – a lot easier than the “device lock” today screen applet. However, it does seem to occaisionally get itself in a mess, at which point the touch screen becomes active, and “touchable”, while the hardware buttons remain locked. The keylock switch is still in locked position, so not exactly ideal if you take your phone out of a pocket to find you’ve called japan for the last hour!

    Our second nasty bug is the backlight. It seems to have a mind of its own. The summary would be – if it turns off, it’s nearly impossible to turn back on. The timeouts and settings make no difference, and when this happens, you have to turn the screen off completely (tapping the power button), then back on.

    These issues add up to a device that takes some getting used to!

    So far then I’ve sounded rather negative. However, being positive for a minute – this phone gets attention. You might struggle to pick it out from the Nokia N series of phones really. Its a nice looking business phone, and here in the office, people seemed to like it.

    The GPS also works really well. It doesn’t get a very strong signal, but worked fine in the car using TomTom. Tracking seems to be very accurate and a signal is acquired quite quickly. It’s here that the Asus P526 starts to make sense. A Windows Mobile Professional device, in a candybard form factor that includes touchscree AND GPS!

    The problem is that WM Professional OS does not seem suited to a device that will be used as a phone. On a PDA with a qwerty keyboard it’s ideal, but touch screen is not a suitable method of navigating around on the P526 and requires the use of the sylus and the buttons to get anything done. This, coupled with the lack of direction pad, just makes doing anything on this device hard work.

    In terms of reliability, bar the silly little bugs, the Asus P526 fairs well. I have been very critical of it but the phone remains stable despite me forcing it to run ActiveSync, TomTom, Google Maps and whatever else I had running at the time. The bugs I’m sure can all be sorted in time – I’m just surprised they weren’t picked up on before the devices hit the stores.

    CONCLUSION

    Having enjoyed the Asus M530w so muc I have to say I was expecting more from the Asus P526 and was quite disappointed to be honest.

    The P526 just wansn’t my cup of tea and I really struggled to get to grips with the lack of direction pad and the WM Professional OS on this style of device. That said, I know that this device will be popular given its form factor and integrated GPS. It’s just a shame that these come at the expense of WiFi and, more importantly, 3G.

    However, I’ve seen enough in both devices to be hopeful for future ASUS releases. I’ve used ASUS motherboards, an ASUS laptop for a while now, and I’d like an ASUS phone in the future.

    Unfortunately, it won’t be this one.

    Review by: Matt

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    Posted in: Reviews
    By November 21, 2007 Read More →

    Asus M530w (Aries) review

    INTRODUCTION

    For the past week, I’ve been using two phones. Both Asus, both new devices. The first of these is the Asus M530w – a Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone) OS device, with a full QWERTY keyboard. The other is the Asus P526 which will feature in a later review.

    Asus M530w

    Asus M530w

    It’s a retail device, with the full retail packaging, and looks rather like a scientific calculator. As you might expect from a (Fat) candybar QWERTY device, it’s not exactly the best looking thing in town, but there are plenty worse as well.

    The Asus M530w on test was supplied by our friends at Devicewire, who stock all manor of smartphones and accessories.

    What’s in the Box?

  • 1 x M530w
  • 2 x Battery (3.7V 1200mAh)
  • 1 x Documentation Pack
  • 1 x USB Sync Cable
  • 1 x AC Power Adaptor
  • 1 x Wired Handsfree (With small remote)
  • 1 x Small ASUS Holder/Case (quite nice!)

    • Asus M530w Specification:

  • Windows Mobile 6.0 standard
  • 416Mhz 32bit Intel XScale PXA270
  • GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS2100
  • CSD, GPRS, UMTS
  • 2.4″ LCD screen with backlight, 320 x 240
  • 64MB RAM, 256MB ROM
  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • 2.0mp camera
  • Front-facing VGA camera
  • Wifi: 802.11b, 802.11g
  • Built-in QWERTY keyboard
  • microSD card slot
  • WiFi: 802.11b/g
  • Dimensions: 65 x 117 x 13.8mm
  • Weight: 135g with battery

    • GENERAL

    The Asus M530w has a full qwerty keyboard and but it’s not a slider. That means it’s fairly big, pocket calculator size, and certainly looks rather geeky. However, for the form factor chosen, it’s making the best of things really. It looks and feels expensive, and the black/silver colour scheme look good, if a little unoriginal. At 65 x 117 x 13.8mm, it’s a pocket filler, but because it’s so thin – it really isn’t as bad as you might expect.

    The front of the phone is roughly split half and half with the 320×240 screen, and the QWERTY keyboard. Between these areas, we have the common smartphone button configuration, including a direction pad, with OK button, home and back, and the softkeys. We can also see the standard phone controls. The buttons are slightly concave, and feel very nice and tactile.

    The screen is good, and very usable, but doesn’t seem quite as vibrant as other latest devices. I’m not sure why – and it’s not really a criticism because it’s not a problem and doesn’t affect the phone.

    The keyboard itself seems very good. The keys are nicely spread out and I must admit – it’s easier to type on than my current favourite device – the Samsung i620. Obviously the extra room on the M530w has been put to good use.

    Asus M530w keyboard

    Asus M530w keyboard

    At the top of the screen, we have an LED indicator, which works the same as any other Windows Mobile Standard device. It is quite bright though – I know this is something that annoys a lot of Smartphone users! To the right of this, is the forward facing camera.

    At the bottom of the device, we have a standard mini-USB plug (yay!) and a 2.5 earphone jack plug (Even more yay!). It’s been a while since we’ve seen a device using such open standards.

    Asus M530w bottom

    Asus M530w bottom

    The right hand side is empty except for a single Camera button. This is held down to start the app, and pressed to take a picture. More on that later.

    Asus M530w right side

    Asus M530w right side

    On the left hand side, there’s a neat rocker, which includes an OK push button within it, and just below that, theres an up/down combo button. Although all this is useful for is volume, the ‘up’ button does also double as a start command for the built in voice command software.

    Asus M530w left side

    Asus M530w left side

    The reverse side again resembles a scientific calculator. Ok, maybe apart from the camera! The lens is visible, but protected with a non-removable plastic cover. Next to that we have the flash/light. Then oddly a fairly large speaker grille. Although unusual – it’s not actually as bad as it sounds.

    Asus M530w back

    Asus M530w back

    Moving finally to the top of the device – we find only a solitary silver power button.

    Asus M530w top

    Asus M530w top

    SOFTWARE

    Sadly ASUS haven’t really been very daring when it comes to their ROMs. The M530w have a rather vanilla version of Windows Mobile 6. Asus have modified the menus, and they’ve done that well.

    There’s just not much in the way of extra software. The usual suspects are all present – Worldcard Mobile, Voice Command, and Clearvue. It’s all good, and useful to a lot of people I’m sure.

    Asus have included a few titbits though. SPB Zip makes a random appearance (though is a very nice addition), and a Remote Presenter tool is also found both on the device, and as PC Software on the included CD. This IS actually quite nice – and works in the same way as similar software available for Nokia phones.

    JAVA is also included (bit of a given these days I admit), and a streaming player. This appears to support only Real Audio. I’ll try and get some clarification on that though.

    Pocket Internet Explorer is obviously included in the Internet menu, along with Internet Sharing since this is a WM6 device. The auto-configuration app is also hidden away next to it, but does start on a hard reset as well. VERY VERY Annoyingly, it appears to be a bit broken – as there is no way to select your operator. The list is empty. As stated above – this is slightly worrying if this is a retail ROM device.

    Asus have grouped and updated the menu well, with most apps where you would expect to find them. It’s a shame though that they couldn’t have included a few more bits and pieces in the ROM.

    The Asus homescreens are functional, if nothing special. You may well end up looking for something a bit more usable though.

    Highlights:
    Keyboard: The large QWERTY keyboard do much for looks of any device – but at least it works well. I type quickly, but couldn’t beat it. The CPU helps here – the device seems rapid in general, and this extends to the keyboard input speed.

    Battery life: Seems good. Two batteries are included, which always annoys me, because manufacturers need to realise this is NOT a suitable solution to poor battery life. Anyway moving on… I haven’t used WiFi much, but have used data connections, Bluetooth and lots of calls – and it’s handled it all well. Down to about 50% at the end of the day.

    Speed: The clean ROM will probably suit a lot of people, and coupled with the fast CPU, the M530w is very very quick.

    Wifi: This device is so slim, it’s impressive that they have managed to not only fit wifi in, but get it working well. I’ve had no problems with signal quality, and I’m pretty impressed with it really.

    Lowlights:
    No HSDPA: In a rather odd move, ASUS have given the M530w a 3G radio, but not the newer HSDPA standard.

    Size: It’s pretty big! It looks like a calculator. It goes with the territory with this form form factor, but its definitely a business phone rather than a ‘cool’ device

    REVIEW

    Having finally worked out how to install the sim card and battery, I was greeted with a flashy spinning ASUS logo, followed by the more relaxed Windows Mobile boot screen.

    The first boot seemed to take a long while, and having got to the start screen, a ASUS branded program popped up and installed some custom programs. At the end of this, the software proudly claimed “Installation COMPLETE!” and rebooted. The second time through was much quicker, and this time I was asked if I wanted to auto-configure my data connections. Unfortunately the software doesn’t seem to have any data settings with it and basically did nothing!

    Not a good start.

    I’ve seen the same software in action on our other Asus review device – and it does work well there. I’m hoping this is not a retail ROM, because it’s a bit poor these days to have a device that won’t configure itself.

    I did consider trying HTC PC application to configure it – but instead I acted like a random customer might – and searched the web for the settings.

    Having finally got up and running, syncing contacts and generally getting the device shipshape, I tried the internet. It’s a shame an additional browser isn’t included – but pocket IE does look OK on the landscape screen. It’s about time Microsoft but a bit more effort into improving their default browser. Its limited, but I guess it works OK for a bit of surfing on the train etc.

    Typing in web addresses – and in fact texts or emails, is, as you might expect, an absolute breeze with the QWERTY keyboard. The keys are well spaced, and raised away from the casing. It’s easy to type using either two hands, or one. The less common symbols/punctuation appear as a secondary function – and the really commons ones have their own key entirely.

    The size is a bit of an issue for me though – you can’t have it totally your own way. The keyboard by its nature makes the device large. However slim it is, it’s still big. I also can’t get away from the fact it looks like a calculator!

    I love the Standard version of Windows Mobile. Far more than Professional, so for me at least, this device is far more usable than any of the touch screen units about. Touch screens are NOT good on phones in my opinion. This is a phone over a PDA, so its a good choice to go with Standard in my opinion.

    The sound profiles are all pretty much standard – and MP3 ringtones work as well as any other WM device. As stated earlier, it’s a mostly vanilla ROM anyway. ASUS haven’t overly modified it which is a good thing overall.

    The camera application is pretty sweet though. Very easy to flick between still and video mode, and options are all within easy access menus. The obligatory link to the standard ‘Photos and Videos’ app is also there.

    In terms of reliability, the M530w is doing well. The auto-configuration app was a let down, but that aside, I’ve not found much to complain about. Certainly the phone is very stable (not crashed yet), even when running multiple applications at once.

    CONCLUSION

    Asus have started well. Its a decent first strike in the Windows Mobile world, and the import stuff like reliability is all there.

    The software included is a little disappointing, but hardware wise, there isn’t much to criticise.

    I guess the major problem I have is the lack of HSDPA. It wouldn’t be a problem with most devices, but the M530w is (or at least should) be aimed at business, who will probably demand HSDPA. I say that purely because of its size. Unlike the i620 from Samsung – this is not a fashion phone.

    The ASUS support forums are very good for my laptop – and I’d hope the same can be said for the M530w and other ASUS phones once the user base is there.

    If you are after a phone with a full QWERTY keyboard, then this is a good example of one, from a top brand.

    The Asus M530w is available now and costs just £195.74 (Ex. VAT) at Devicewire.

    Review by: Matt

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    Posted in: Reviews
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