The Spanish now get in on the Touch HD video reviews action, thanks to Big Mo for the heads up, this time we have a nine minute look at the most desirable Windows Mobile device ever. Now how about HTC slip one over to us as we have had a German video, French video, Czech video and now a Spanish, come on let us do the English version please. Video after the break.
If you are having trouble understanding the attraction of the Archos 5. Here it is laid out in simple terms with a nice walk-through of the features. They manage to squeeze in an iPhone along the way. whilst I admit the email client is pretty unnecessary I’m impressed its there. Check the video out after the break.
We have talked many times on the blog and podcast about the problems with the iPhone 3G no longer charging through the old Firewire charging pins and the trouble this caused with iPod docks but most commonly with car integration kits like the Dension range. Well we ordered the Cable Jive charge converter and tested it out and have done a video look at it in action. You can see the video after the break and see the results of the tests.
Just spotted this video that has just been added to Youtube in the last 18 hours and it is another bit of Touch HD eye candy, this time it’s a Czech site that has a Touch HD and they have shared a ten minute video of the device for your viewing pleasure. As usual we don’t speak Czech so don’t know what’s being said but it didn’t stop us just longing to get a Touch HD oh and drooling a bit too. Check out the video after the break.
Last week we had a look at the Glofiish V900, (you know, the one with the TV Tuner) and this week we’re road testing one of its siblings, the Glofiish X610.
There isn’t a TV tuner in this model but you can still find a built in SiRF StarIII GPS chipset and a reasonably fast CPU. John is working on the review at the moment and you can expect to see that here on site within the next few days.
As always, you can see more of the Eten Glofiish X610 in the unboxing video below:
Eten Glofiish X610 specification:
Posted by: Matt
Yesterday CBS released their very first commercial for Verizon featuring the Blackberry Storm. Amongst loads of leaked photos, manuals and power point presentations this is the first real show of the phone.
I also came across a video of the Vodafone release on You Tube which looked really good, so knowing that I hadn’t posted anything about the Storm here yet I decided to let you see this too.
Tomorrow I will stick up a post with all that’s known so far about the Storm but in the meantime enjoy the videos, I did!
Posted by: John
The guys at Areamobile have just let us know that their video look at the HTC Touch HD now has English subtitles for those of us that don’t speak German. The new video is after the break for your enjoyment. To switch on the subtitles click the button down on the far right in the Youtube video window after you select play.
Wolfstar from Xperiancers.com has got his hands on the new Xperia X1, and has shared his thoughts on the phone. Again he tells us that this is not a production model for sale but an evaluation unit with a non final ROM. Check out the video after the break and see what you think. Expecting our final release Xperia from Superetrader this week.
Toshiba Camileo H10 Review
The H10 is Toshiba’s budget entry into the high definition camcorder market. The most remarkable thing about this camcorder is the fact that it’s a high definition camera (HD) for about £180. Not long ago this would have been much more expensive and out of the reach of most of us. Having been mildly impressed by the “handiness” of the SDR-S7 I was interested to see how the H10 would perform with its HD capability given that the two machines are virtually the same price.
What’s in the box?
General
The H10 is a clean and uncluttered design with an encouraging lack of buttons to tweak and render it useless. Physically, it’s a bit of a brick, albeit a compact one with some decent features. A brick because it’s too big to fit into my pocket, compact because it feels dense in the hand. The dense feel also helps it to feel well-built despite the low price.
The H10 has a 5x optical zoom and can record video in 720p HD MPEG-4 format video on SD or SDHC Cards at frame rates of up to 30fps – this is a decent specification for an entry level camcorder and genuinely useful.
Rear: Video record; 5-way multi-function keypad for selecting modes and menu items
Top: Zoom in/out; still camera shutter release
Underneath: Battery compartment; SDHC card slot; tripod socket
Left: Power switch; AV-out socket; HDMI socket; USB2.0 socket
Toshiba Camileo H10 Specification:
Highlights:
Lowlights:
Review
Although substantially smaller than many mini-DV cams, the first thing to strike me after using the compact SDR-S7 and Sanyo Xacti is just how chunky the Toshiba is. It certainly won’t fit in your trouser pocket. It could be used to as a weapon and it feels like it’s hewn from billet alloy. The upside is that the larger size does make the Tosh’ somewhat easier and more comfortable to hold at eye level when compared to the Panasonic SDR-S7.
Fold the screen out and it switches on automatically to either present you with the video filming mode or the still camera mode depending where it left off last time. Switching between the two is merely a single key press away. Video recording is simply a case of pointing it at the subject and then pressing the record button on the rear of the camera body.
There is plenty of control over shooting modes via the menu system, which is easy to navigate by virtue of the fact it is very simple and clear.
The Tosh’ is capable of recording in HD resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 30 frames per second (fps). This is quite some going for a budget model when you consider that most DV cams work at 720 x 576 and 25fps. You should be aware though that editing such large images is fairly demanding for any pc and some well-known photo-editing applications still aren’t HD ready. There’s plenty of other resolutions available that take up far less storage space if your needs are less demanding, however, it seems to be pointless using them unless you upload to a video mangling service like YouTube.
Accessing the menu system is not obvious initially and there is no menu key per se. It’s done via the centre-select key on the 5-way navigator keypad. The menu system has sensibly been kept simple and logical, but alas it has one really annoying flaw. Once you have selected an option it closes down the menu subsystem entirely to return you back to the camera view. What if you want to change another option or undo the changes you’ve just made? You have to navigate all the way there again.
The 5x optical zoom is quite limited when compared to conventional DV-cam opposition. This is typical for a budget camera. Unfortunately, the zoom control is extremely tardy and the lens is both slow to zoom and focus. This renders the camera less than idea for sports footage or fast moving subjects. In normal general filming it would be less noticeable.
I was pleased to see that the charging is done via the USB2.0 mini-socket. This means it should also be possible to charge from your computer when connected. The battery itself is a 3.7v/1050mAh item which gives a life of around 50 minutes – this was slightly less than I expected but probably reasonable given the higher definition. During charging and normal use I noticed that the entire camera got very warm – this is a bit disconcerting. The same heat was also transferred to the SD card which, doesn’t bode well for longevity of the card – another reason why a man might not wish to put it in his trouser pocket!
There is no conventional lens cover – instead the lens is protected by a large hard plastic cover. This is all very well, but the cover doesn’t appear to be replaceable so, if it gets scratched then you compromise image.
Movie quality was entirely acceptable although I really didn’t notice any improvement in quality rendered by HD over SD. The whole thing is quite subjective really and depends upon so many things such as the quality of monitor it is viewed on, the physical size of the CCD, compression etc. I daresay if you had a HD tv then you would notice the difference. As a stills camera it makes a passable job and there’s no reason why it couldn’t be your only stills camera although the normal caveat still applies – if you want a stills camera then buy one.
You can download a sample video – taken straight from the H10 memory card with this link.
Conclusion:
The H10 is a versatile camera that should satisfy most users needs unless they are serious filmers. It’s easy to use, feels well put together and it’s not expensive. Really, for £180 the buyer is getting a decent machine for not much money and I feel it offers better value than the Panasonic SDR-S7 for a similar price. Having previously said I would be happy with the Panasonic as an everyday device, I am now having to revise that in favour of the Tosh’. Just beware of its bulk.
Join me again soon for the next camera in the Camcorder Group Test or head over and look at Part 1 to see which cameras we are including or have a look at my Panasonic SDR-S7 review or Sanyo Xacti HD700 review.
Review by: Nigel
I have to say, when Sony asked me to review the Sony Rolly I’d never heard of it, when they then explained it to me it sounded like a terrible idea. However, when it arrived a week ago and I’d had time to play with it I decided that it was actually quite cool.
So what is the Sony Rolly? It’s actually quite difficult to define. Is it an MP3 player? Is it a toy? Is it a bluetooth speaker system? The answer to all of these questions is yes.
Looking a little like a rugby ball with wheels I expected the Rolly to be about that size, however, it actually fits comfortably in the palm of your hand.
The Rolly has 1 or 2GB of internal memory (depending on the model) which can hold your MP3 music. To transfer the music to the Rolly though you’ll have to use the supplied PC software called Rolly Choreographer. There’s no MAC version of this. The Automatic Choreography feature uses 12 tone analysis and beat analysis technology to analyse music on your Rolly, and then automatically creates motion that matches the music. You can manually work on the choreography if you want using the software too.
When you turn Rolly on its arms open to reveal the built in loudspeakers that are on each end. Now Rolly can be used as media player without any dance movements or you can press the play button again and Rolly enters dance mode.
The display-less Rolly will play MP3 files, as well as ATRAC, streamed via Bluetooth from your computer or mobile phone. It also contains sensors that know which way is up, so that volume can be adjusted by turning the player clockwise or anti-clockwise, tracks can be changed by rolling the player forwards or backwards or shaking it.
It’s probably easier to show you what the Rolly is all about rather than tell you so have a look at the video below:
So how do we define the Sony Rolly? I guess you’d have to call it an entertainment gadget. Everyone seems to like it but then goes on to ask what it’s for!
Whether or not it’s worth the £175 price tag personally I would have to say no. Sony’s robot technology is spectacular and you’ll want to watch Rolly dance for a little while before it simple turns into and expensive set of bluetooth speakers. Granted the audio quality is good but for the price you could by a high capacity MP3 player and basic bluetooth speakers and still find change from the £175. I guess if you are a DJ or Club owner then the cost maybe more justifiable. Or maybe you just want to own one of R2-D2’s distant cousins?
Review by: Matt
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