Ipod Suffle

240 songs. Remixed colors.

The 1GB iPod shuffle lets you wear up to 240 songs on your sleeve. Or your lapel. Or your belt. Available in your choice of remixed colors for just $79. Clip on iPod shuffle and wear it as a badge of musical devotion.

New Colors

iPod shuffle now comes in four new colors and the original silver to suit your music and your mood.

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Clip and Go

Put some music on: iPod shuffle is the only iPod that’s wearable right out of the box.

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iTunes

Collect music on the iTunes jukebox. Buy songs from the iTunes Store. Sync them to iPod shuffle.

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PS3 by Sony!!!

A full year behind the release of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and lacking the immediately attention-grabbing hook of Nintendo's 360-degree motion-sensing Wii, Sony's long-awaited PlayStation 3 has recently been the subject of much heated debate. Despite its obvious appeal to diehard gamers and fans of the world's most popular console brand – not to mention home theater enthusiasts, what with 1080p HDMI output and extensive online music/video download capabilities – questions have been plentiful.

For example: Is the system, available in 20GB ($499, sans WiFi and a built-in combination Memory Stick product lineup, Compact Flash and SD/MMC card reader) or $599 chrome-trimmed wireless-ready 60GB hard drive models, worth the hefty asking price, the highest since early-'90s systems like CDi and 3DO? Can Sony, who's recently cut back North American November 17th launch date ship projections to just 400,000 units (with some analysts predicting actual distribution of half this number or fewer machines), manage to avoid aggravating a soon-to-be-device-deprived buying public while still keeping up with the competition? And, of course, with so much power and hardware combined in a single unit catered to the highest-end luxury users, is there even a point to upgrading?

The short answer to all: Yes, depending which of school of thought you fall into, your game playing habits and how much disposable income you've got to burn. However, let's get one thing out of the way up-front, before you freeze your poor behind off spending all night camped out in front of the local electronics retailer hoping to score one of the severely under-stocked devices. For a host of reasons ranging from technical niggles to launch lineup shortfalls to pure common sense, it's perfectly fine – and in most cases, even advisable – to skip buying one this holiday season and wait until the dust settles sometime early in 2007.

Right from the get-go, it's important to consider the following fact: You're not actually buying a videogame console here (although surely, that's the machine's strength and the chief function most prospective buyers intend to employ it towards) so much as a full-fledged digital media hub. As slick as everything from cutting-edge digital diversions and Blu-ray movies – video resolutions ranging all the way from 480i up to an eye-popping 1080p are supported – it's what you personally make of the machine that gives the gizmo its true value. So for all of you who've been pestered since, oh, 2004 by your wide-eyed little pride and joys, remember: Dropping $599 just so kids can use the beast as an overgrown Atari may be a little much. They'll be just as entertained by lower-resolution outings for other systems like Nintendo's Wii or Sony's own PlayStation 2. And, in truth, most PlayStation 3 titles right now are simply enhanced ports of existing products anyway (see offerings like Tony Hawk's Project 8 or NHL 2K7). What's more, unless you plan on clocking in time behind the controller yourself, investing in a library of next-generation movies, browsing the Web on your TV, purchasing extra levels/cars/characters/songs/films online or are intent on building the ultimate technophile's living room setup, it's the sort of holiday gift that may be little extravagant for anyone younger than 15.

Lenovo 3000 Olympic laptop

Lenovo's Olympics-inspired laptops revealed

Yeah, you may have thought those Santa Rosa, er, Centrino Pro-based ThinkPads were hot stuff, but they ain't got nuthin' on the future eBay value of the svelte new Olympic-inspired iteration. Shortly after Lenovo unveiled its 2008 Beijing Olympic torch design, the firm has already thrown down snapshots of its Olympic laptop, which certainly looks dashing in its own right. The stunning red and black case design is accented with a motif similar to that found on the torch, and the spiral designs actually seep beyond the external casing right onto the palm rests and around the LCD's bezel. Unfortunately, not much is know about the internal hardware that these presumably finely trained machines will sport, but early details suggests a 12.1-inch XGA display and Intel's L2400 Core 2 Duo processor will be in the mix. Additionally, mum's the word on pricing and availability, but you can rest assured that this bad boy will be one hot commodity whenever it lands in limited quantities. Click on through for a few more glamor shots.

Sony Vaio : All Eyes on You

Brand Analysis Count : 270

Sony Vaio is making lot of noises in the media with its latest repositioning campaign. Vaio is Sony's subbrand in the Laptop segment . Viao was created in 1996 and is a major player in the Notebook/Laptop market across the world. The brand came to India only in 2004. The delay is owning to the restriction in using Wi-Fi 802.11g by the government till 2004.

Vaio is the acronym of Video Audio Integrated Option which denotes the brand's positioning as a product that performs on both video and audio front. Like any other product from Sony, Vaio is also positioned ( and priced ) as a premium brand. Vaio launched its first series of Notebooks with a price ranging from Rs 80,000 - Rs 1,25,000 making it one of the costliest laptops available in India.
Sony has a market share of around 5.4 % of the Indian Laptop market which is estimated to touch a volume of 1.6 million units this year. It is this phenomenal growth of around 40 % that forms the basis of the latest launch of Sony Vaio CR range.
The Indian laptop market is dominated by HP ( 40 %) followed by Lenovo ( 17 %) and Toshiba. There is lot of activity in the notebook segment because of the lowering of the price barrier. Earlier the price of a typical laptop was costing upwards of Rs 45000. Now the entry level laptop price is anywhere between Rs 22,000 - 26,000. This has fueled the growth of this segment. The lowering of prices has attracted a whole set of new customers into this segment. Students , executives and businessmen began looking at laptops as a productivity enhancement tool. Companies began giving laptops to executives to keep them working when mobile. These happened without seriously hurting the sale of Desktops.
The interest of marketers in this segment is evident when we look at the promotions of leading brands in this segment . Most of them has signed up celebrities to endorse their brands. Acer has Hrithik Roshan, Compaq has Shah Rukh, Lenovo has Saif Ali Khan to promote the brand.

Sony Vaio has always tried to promote itself as an aspirational brand and resisted the temptation to get into the volume game. But here in this scenario , Vaio succumbed to the temptation. With technology no longer a major differentiator, Vaio understood that unless the brand repositions itself , it may be ousted by the feature rich rivals.
Viao CR was Sony's take on the new segment. Vaio targets the hip hop Indian youth aged 18-26 with the variant CR. The brand is now positioned as a fashion accessory rather than a learning/working tool. The new variant comes with attractive color options :
Blazing Red
Indigo Blue
Pure White
Beauty Pink and
Aroma Black. The new variant has some attractive features like Luminous Trim that reflects light which gives the laptop a shining look. Lustrous coating, custom Keyboard, and a personalized illumination LCD. The brand is now repositioned to reflect a playful spirit and a zest for life.
The brand now aims to catch the imagination of the youth market who looks beyond the speed and memory into design and aesthetics. At Rs 55000, Vaio tries to integrate aesthetics, brand image and technology to get into the minds of the young customer.


The brand is now running a high profile TV campaign now.

Sony KDS-R60XBR1 LCOS HDTV

I just can't resist poking fun at Sony's seemingly unending supply of strange and unpronounceable nomenclature. It has no direct bearing on a product, per se, but keeping track of all of the acronyms, abbreviations, and manufactured words takes up a sizable chunk of the already overtaxed (and undersized) mind of a reviewer. Regardless, Sony wasn't content just using the name LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) to describe their version of the technology. They instead call it SXRD (sex-erd?), or Silicon X-tal Reflective Display. Believe it or not, the "X-tal" is short for crystal. I'm not saying that JVC's name for their version of LCOS is any better: D-ILA. (This is an even less logical abbreviation: Direct-drive Image Light Amplifier? It doesn't amplify anything.) Each company takes pains to describe how different their version of the technology is from everybody else's. To be fair, this is true. Each of the two companies' core design and manufacturing are different. When it comes down to it, though, the proof is in the pudding, or, in this case, the RPTV.

The first product available with Sony's version of LCOS was the Qualia 004 front projector. Coming in at around the price of a BMW 3 Series, it was admittedly beautiful in design and performance. For that kind of money, one would hope so. Next was the Qualia 006, a 70-inch RPTV that was far more affordable: about the price of a Kia Rio. Sony was certainly headed in the right direction, and, this year, they have come out with the KDS-R60XBR1. The XBR line is kind of like Sony's Acura or Lexus. They're slightly more expensive than other displays in the same size range, but, for that extra money, you are said to get a better aesthetic and better performance. The past few XBRs we've reviewed have lived up to this promise. The question is, does the KDS-R60XBR1 live up to its XBR brethren? Does it live up to the hype of LCOS (and SXRD)?

But First. . .
Aesthetically, the KDS-R60XBR1 shows a family resemblance to other Sony RPTVs. That is to say, it is attractive, without being flashy. It appears as though Sony forged the remote from a solid piece of billet aluminum (they didn't), and it's hefty enough to throw as your first line of defense against intruders (don't). The layout is typically Sony; it's functionally easy to use and shows a complete lack of most of the features you would like to see on a remote. There is no direct input access and no backlight. I hoped that the tiny button with the eighth-note icon on it would play music. It didn't.

There is a copious number of menus. While they're time consuming to navigate, the wide range of adjustments is wonderful. In a strange twist, there is no way to check how much lamp life is remaining.

Getting On With It
To be perfectly honest, the KDS-R60XBR1's contrast ratio absolutely stunned me. At 13,330:1, this is the best contrast ratio of any non-CRT product we've measured. That's nearly three times better than the next-closest display (a DLP front projector, mind you) and of a magnitude better than most of the displays we've measured. True, the majority of this is thanks to a bit of electronic and mechanical manipulation called an auto iris, or, as Sony calls it, Advanced Iris. This fast-moving iris closes on dark scenes and widens on bright ones. So, on a full-on/full-off contrast-ratio test, this device performs to its maximum extent. On regular video material, if you are looking for it, you can see this auto dimming in action. You really have to be looking for it, though.

With the Advanced Iris turned off, so that the iris remains stationary at whichever of its six levels you set it, the contrast ratio measures between 3,100:1 in the "max" iris mode and 5,000:1 in the "min" iris mode. These numbers on their own would be impressive, and that's with the display intentionally handicapped not to perform to its fullest. This is also the first product we've measured with a contrast ratio that exceeds the manufacturer's numbers. For that matter, it's the first one to even get close. Its black level is just as impressive, as low as 0.006 foot-lamberts. This obviously goes a long way toward explaining the contrast-ratio numbers, but let's put that 0.006 into context. The best plasma we've measured had a black level of 0.023 ft-L; the best RPTV we've measured was 0.080 ft-L. Most of the front projectors we've measured have a higher black level than this 60-inch RPTV. Suffice it to say, I was impressed.

Color is cause for an argument somewhere. The KDS-R60XBR1 isn't accurate, but, as far as inaccurate color points go, this is how to do it. Red and green are oversaturated, but they're not off in any other direction. So objects may look really green, but they're not greenish-yellow or greenish-blue like the colors that many digital displays can produce. The result is an incredibly vibrant picture. Everything looks almost too lush and inviting. It may not be accurate, but it sure is pleasing to look at. Sony has said that the oversaturation is particular to this preproduction model and that the colors of units shipped to stores may not deviate as much from the SMPTE specifications. To be sure, I plan to get in a production unit, and I'll post the new measurements at www.hometheatermag.com.

Processing is a mixed bag. The display picks up the 3:2 sequence fast enough, but video processing, on the other hand, leaves a little to be desired. Jagged edges are apparent on the ubiquitous flag-waving test scene. This is disappointing but certainly not a deal breaker. The display scales quite well, especially when you consider that it has to "create" six times as many pixels as a DVD supplies. A good upconverting DVD player may be a little sharper, but it's extremely close. Transitions from light to dark are fairly smooth, with a little noise in the shadowy areas.

HD, as you can imagine, looks stunning. Deep blacks share the screen with bright highlights, an abundance of color, and twice the number of pixels you're used to. This makes for a fantastically watchable image. PBS's Rudy Maxa has never looked so good. The added detail of the 1,920-by-1,080 panels is not as big of a jump from a 720p display as you might expect. It's not like the jump from 480p to HD. Even when I sat close, I only noticed a subtle difference between a similarly sized 720p display and the KDS-R60XBR1. It's subtle but noticeable. Everything is just a little more detailed, a little sharper. For example, the space shuttle in the opening of the D-VHS version of Digital Video Essentials had more visible texture to its skin than I've seen before. As cameras and telecines get better, this difference will probably be even more noticeable.

How does a direct 1080p source look? Well, it doesn't. Like the other 1080p displays we've reviewed, this one doesn't accept a 1080p signal. Even if there aren't many 1080p sources available now (an HTPC being the only one), it won't be that way forever. Sony says that the KDS-R60XBR1 lacks a 1080p input because the copy protection hasn't been worked out yet for the 1080p sources. This is disappointing, as early adopters miss out again. When products do ship with a 1080p output, you won't be able to input the display's native resolution. How bad is this, really? As most 1080p material runs at 24 frames per second, as long as the TV performs 3:2 pulldown well (in this case, it does), then you really shouldn't notice much difference, if any. More disappointing is that you can't expand a 1,280-by-720 signal (or any other resolution) on the RGB input, so there is no way to fill the screen on that input.

The Other Stuff
The built-in tuner is mediocre. It picked up all of the local channels but didn't do a very good job pulling them in to watch. This was with our cheap indoor antenna. Depending on your area, you may need to upgrade your antenna. However, this TV switched between digital channels faster than most displays.

There are a few final issues. On test patterns, there were some color-linearity issues. One side of the screen had a bluish-green tint, while the other side had a reddish-orange tint. On regular video material, this wasn't noticeable. My biggest complaint about this TV is the screen. It added a noticeable sheen or shiny graininess to the image. This is true of almost every RPTV I've seen. With the resolution that this TV affords, it's disappointing that you can't sit closer before the screen's shininess becomes too distracting. I found that a seating distance of about 11 feet offered the best compromise between resolution and screen grain. If the screen noise doesn't bother you, you may be able to sit closer. Do look for that sweet spot, though, so you can sit as close as you can to this TV. Don't let that 1080p go to waste.

As you can tell, I was most impressed with the KDS-R60XBR1. It is quite simply one of the best RPTVs we've ever reviewed, regardless of what it's called.

Highlights
• The only thing more impressive than the black level is the contrast ratio
• Visibly 1080p

Panasonic camcorder PV-GS85

Budget camcorders might not seem flashy, but they play an important part in every camcorder line. They're designed to be an affordable, no-frills product that anyone can pick up for just a few hundred dollars. Since price is their main selling point, however, they tend to lack features that are standard on higher-end models. Among Panasonic camcorders, for example, the PV-GS85 sits as one of the runts of the litter. Still, its 32X optical zoom lens and optical image stabilization make it an interesting runt.

Chunky and simple, the PV-GS85 is almost indistinguishable in design from the crowd of budget MiniDV camcorders. Thanks to the camcorder's incredibly simple control scheme, you can easily record and play videos without ever touching its menu system. All you have to do is set the PV-GS85 in auto mode, and you're off and running. If you really want to fiddle with the menus, you can navigate the PV-GS85's settings with a small joystick that is set into the mode dial. The "advanced" menu holds very little in the way of video settings, however, and it's unlikely anyone would need to delve into the menus often.

Like most budget MiniDV camcorders, the PV-GS85 offers few, if any, impressive features. Its 680,000-pixel sensor effectively records 340,000 pixels at 4:3 and 460,000 pixels at 16:9 wide-screen. The camcorder scores some minor points for recording higher-resolution, wide-screen video, and not simply cropping its 4:3 video, but since both aspect ratios use such a small, low-resolution sensor, it doesn't matter much. The PV-GS85 incorporates a 32X optical zoom lens with optical image stabilization, but neither the PV-GS85 nor its little brother, the GS80, use a Leica-branded lens. Panasonic prides itself in its use of Leica lenses in the majority of its digital imaging products, so the PV-GS85's unbranded lens secures the device's place near the bottom of Panasonic's camcorder food chain.

For a budget camcorder, the PV-GS85 produces rather nice video. Colors looked neutral and accurate, and footage was relatively clean and free of grain. Of course, if you plan on watching your movies on a large, high-definition television, it won't be very impressive; most budget camcorders' standard-definition video tends to look blown out and jagged when upscaled on modern HD screens. Finally, the PV-GS85 failed at recording low-light video. Even enabling Night Mode or Panasonic's Best Pix mode yielded no significant difference when shooting in the darkness of a 50-watt lamp. Fortunately, the PV-GS85 has a built-in video light--so you won't be left totally in the dark, when shooting in the dark. The PV-GS85 also has an SD card slot for recording stills. Since the sensor is so low-resolution, however, the photos are only on par with camera phone photos.

The Panasonic PV-GS85 is a decent budget camcorder in its own right, but you could get a much better camera for the same or a slightly higher price. The comparably priced Canon ZR850, for example, outshines the PV-GS85 in almost every way.

Sony's Handycam HDR-CX7

Join me, if you will, along the slow march toward the obsolescence of tape in video. We've definitely got a long road ahead of us, but it's fun to notice how much camcorders have changed already. On the one hand, tapeless camcorders such as Sony's Handycam HDR-CX7 give product designers the freedom to make smaller, sleeker camcorders. On the other hand, we've yet to see a model that records in the AVCHD format, as this one does, match the quality of the footage we've seen from tape-based models using the HDV format. However, for an AVCHD camcorder, this does produce very nice video, and will likely blow your socks off if you're used to a standard-definition camcorder.

Though it's been on the market in various camcorders for a while now, the AVCHD format has been slow on the uptake in software for editing and playback. Lori Grunin's recent blog post outlines which software titles are compatible and notes whatever glitches she has found when using those programs. Ultimately, the easiest way to watch your HD video is still a direct connection to your HDTV, but there is a modest, and slowly growing, list of software out there if you like to watch on your computer or edit your footage.

Sony's designers definitely made the most of the fact that the HDR-CX7 records its video to MemoryStick Pro Duo cards. The camcorder is little more than a lens and LCD screen in terms of size, though that's both a positive and negative thing. Sure, you can fit the CX7 into almost any bag, and even a large jacket or sweatshirt pocket, but the ergonomics of the grip are a little off. It's certainly more comfortable to hold than Panasonic's SD-based HDC-SD1, but since there's no eye-level viewfinder, I often found myself holding it higher than I would some camcorders, and at a slightly odd angle. Also, since your hand basically covers the right side and top of the CX7, Sony was forced to put a handful of buttons on the left side, behind the LCD screen. That's never a very good move, since you can't readily see that spot when you're shooting, and if you do need to use one of those buttons while capturing video, you'll likely shake the camera horizontally while pressing it. Of the buttons placed there, the backlight compensation button is probably the most worrisome, since it's highly likely you'll use it on the fly, while most of the others would be used before or after shooting.

As usual, the HDR-CX7's main interface is its LCD touch screen. Even though the LCD is 2.7 inches in size, it still felt a bit small as a touch-screen interface. The main virtual buttons are big enough, but ancillary buttons, such as the OK button in the upper-left, or the X (cancel) button in the upper-right of some screens are rather tiny. On more than one occasion, I accidentally hit one of the bigger buttons when trying to hit the tiny ones. Combine that with the fact that the touch screen requires such an extensive tree of submenus, and the thrill of a touch-screen interface starts to wane pretty quickly. Still, some people say they like this kind of interface, so make sure you try it out in a store first to see if you like it before you buy.

Following a recent trend in camcorders, the CX7 doesn't include a minijack microphone input. If you want to add an accessory mic, you have to use one of Sony's in the CX7's Active Interface Shoe (aka proprietary hot shoe), which provides an interface and power for accessories. You have two options to send video to your TV directly from the camcorder. You can either use a mini-to-full-size HDMI cable, or use the composite AV breakout cable included with the CX7. Given that they are rather rare right now, it would've been nice for Sony to include the special HDMI cable, as Canon does with the HG10. A third option is to use the dock, which has the same composite AV out as the camcorder, as well as a component output (also via a breakout cable), and a Mini USB jack to connect to your computer. I was surprised that Sony didn't include a normal-size HDMI jack on the dock. It would've been a really nice touch.

Sony did include some great features though, such as the automatic lens cover, flash for still photos, and a nice complement of manual controls. While it doesn't include the SR7's shutter speed control, the CX7 does have the same exposure shift; manual, indoor, outdoor, and auto white balance; Spot Focus and Spot Metering; Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization; and Super NightShot infrared mode for shooting in the dark. Since the CX7 doesn't include Sony's CAM CTL dial (as the SR7 does), you have to adjust focus on the touch screen, which isn't quite as nice as the dial, but works well nonetheless.

Since the HDR-CX7 records its video to a MemoryStick Pro Duo card, you should plan on buying at least one high-capacity card. On a 4GB Pro Duo card, the HDR-CX7 can fit 32 minutes of best-quality, HD video. Stepping up to an 8GB Pro Duo ups that to a little more than an hour. By contrast, the HDR-SR7 can fit up to eight hours of the same level footage onto its 60GB hard drive.

Footage from the CX7 is very nice. The camcorder's Zeiss T lens is very sharp and Sony's Super SteadyShot does an excellent job of taming hand shake. Its 10X optical zoom might seem tame next to the 30X+ zooms now finding their way into lower-end models, but at a 400mm 35mm-equivalent on the telephoto end (in 16:9 mode), it's got plenty of reach. Plus, by keeping the optical zoom range within reason, you get more reliable stabilization across the entire zoom.

Both the autofocus and metering systems perform quite well, adjusting quickly to changes in subject, lighting, and environment. I was particularly impressed with the autofocus' ability to keep up with changes in zoom and quick changes between near and far subjects. The camcorder's white balance does a very good job. While colors aren't quite as neutral as I've seen in some other models, it's still very close and colors are well saturated and look realistic. Still images are definitely above average for a camcorder. Depending on the shooting conditions, you should be able to get pleasing letter-size or smaller prints.

As long as you don't mind the limited software compatibility and added cost of buying a few high-capacity Pro Duo cards, Sony's Handycam HDR-CX7 is a really nice AVCHD camcorder. As software catches up and flash memory prices continue to drop, it will only become that much more attractive, and the smaller physical size that goes along with a flash-based camcorder will wow your friends and make it more practical to have your camcorder with you when you want it. If Mini-DVDs appeal to you more than flash-memory cards, Sony also makes the HDR-UX7, which can record AVCHD video onto 8cm DVDs and is very similar to this model, though not quite as small in size.

HP Deskjet 970CSE Printer Review

The HP Deskjet 970CSE is a low profile printer with a samll footprint. It requires a mere 14" headroom with the top raised and a desktop area of 17" x17" is a perfect fit. The HP Deskjet 970CSE sports a 150-page two-tiered paper tray at the front. For convenient cleaning the printer cartridges automatically center in the access opening when the top is lifted. The ink cartridges automatically resume to the ready position once the top is closed.

The HP Deskjet 970CSE is a dual cartridge printer, using one C6656AN Black Inkjet Cartridge and one C6657AN Color Inkjet Cartridge. The HP Deskjet 970CSE uses the same black ink cartridge as the Deskjet 722C and Deskjet 895C, however the color cartridge differs and is the same as the one used in the HP Photosmart P1100.

The HP Deskjet 970CSE is loaded with 4MB of onboard RAM and 4K buffer, which makes for a powerful and versatile photo printing solution. The HP Deskjet 970CSE also sports some new features, such as Auto on, Auto ink calibration, low ink warning light, cancel print and unattended two-sided printing.

After many black ink tests, and color ink tests, our conclusions were as expected - excellent! The HP Deskjet 970CSE displays rich, vibrant lifelike colors, and does an excellent job at reproducing digital photos. When it comes to black printing, the HP Deskjet 970CSE provided clear, deep blacks without any noticable fading.

We carry HP Deskjet 970CSE Ink Cartridges & Refill Kits.

HP W2007v review

HP W2007v Review

Reviewed by: Rory Reid

Reviewed on: 26 July 2007

Last year, HP 'made the computer personal again'. Marketing hyperbole aside, this meant redesigning its laptops with a more consumer-friendly look and flogging them with a huge advertising campaign. This design strategy has now spilled over into HP's TFT monitors, represented here by the W2007v. It's a good-looking, zero-frills 20-inch display costing £169. Sounds ideal for anyone low on cash to splash, but does it make the grade?

Strengths
We can't fault the look of the W2007v. Its best features are its glossy bezel with curved edges, and a silver outer bezel that protrudes from the top and bottom. The power button sits alone at the top right of the monitor, rather than at the front or side of the unit. This makes it easier to find than if it were grouped with the rest of the on-screen display (OSD) control buttons, which live at the bottom right.

The screen runs at a native resolution of 1,680x1,050 pixels, which is par for the course on a 20-inch display. HP has decided to use a glossy, reflective outer glass panel, in order to improve the appearance of colours and contrast. It does this to good effect -- the monitor's contrast seems higher than its 1,000:1 ratio suggests.

The W2007v coped well in our DisplayMate tests, showing the ability to differentiate between similar colours and tones. It only slipped when it couldn't tell the difference between some different shades of pink -- a few of them just showed up as the same 'generic' fuchsia.

Getting the best image quality out of the monitor isn't too difficult. HP supplies drivers and colour profiles on a CD, and the on-screen menu is extremely easy to navigate through. The menu button is clearly labelled, and the remaining three let you cycle up or down, or select an option. It's not at all complicated compared to some screens.

HP quotes a 5ms response on the W2007v, which again is about par for the course. We didn't find any noticeable instances of blurring or ghosting during fast-moving scenes, so we'll happily recommend this screen to gamers or fans of action movies. We threw some Premier League football footage at it and were pleased to see the ball and players kept their shape even when moving quickly.

Our favourite thing about the HP W2007v, however, is its price. At £169 (including VAT), it's about as cheap a monitor as you'll find on the Internet.

Weaknesses
The reason for the monitor's low price becomes apparent when you start looking at its list of features -- or lack thereof. It's sadly lacking in connectivity, sporting only a D-Sub analogue port. Those of us with digital DVI ports on our graphics cards will need an adaptor, which isn't included in the box. Why HP left out DVI connectivity in the first place is beyond us -- this sort of omission is verging on the criminally insane.

It is aimed at the consumer market, but the W2007v lacks the bells and whistles that would appeal to Joe Tech. There's no integrated memory card reader, no integrated webcam. In fact, the only things that are integrated are the screen itself and two hidden speakers rated at a measly 2W.

Unsurprisingly, HP hasn't done anything fancy with the hinge mechanism either. The screen can be tilted back and forth but there's no height adjustment. Anyone keen on having the most ergonomic typing position may have to consider placing the monitor on a pile of books to bring it up to eye level. Or lower the height of their chairs a few notches.

Our final gripe is with the pre-set display modes. Pressing the + button on the front panel brings up the Quick View menu, which lets you cycle through modes optimised for movie, photo, gaming, text and a custom mode. These seem to make very little difference and will probably end up being ignored by most users.

Conclusion
The HP W2007v is a good looking, solid-performing 20-inch monitor. It has almost nothing in the way of extra features, but it offers better picture quality than the Dell E207WFP. If you're in the market for something very cheap and definitely cheerful, look no further.

LG Flatron L245WP Review

LG Flatron L245WP Review

This LG display is aimed at those who want more desktop real estate, 'Full HD' support and to make their PC-using neighbours jealous. It purportedly has more bells, whistles and tricks up its sleeve than equivalent monitors -- plus it's made by the people who bought you the ultra-stylish LG Fantasy series. But is it really as good as it seems?

Strengths
Like most 24-inch monitors, the Flatron L245WP is a welcome sight on your desk. In particular we like the thin screen bezel and the glossy, piano-black base section, which lets you rotate the monitor on its horizontal axis. As a bonus, the rear hinge lets you flip between portrait and landscape modes.

There's an impressive array of inputs on the L245WP. It has HDMI, composite and D-Sub, which cover most of the popular input formats you might need in a monitor. The screen has an integrated USB hub that provides two USB ports on the left, along with a headphone jack so you don't have to rely on a headphone extension cable trailing to your desktop PC.

LG has chosen not to use the touch-sensitive control buttons seen on the Fantasy series, instead opting for mechanical buttons located on the underside of the bottom-right bezel. These are clearly labelled on the forward-facing part of the bezel, and the on-screen menu system is fairly logical to navigate.

Image quality on the L245WP is stunning. After putting it through its paces in DisplayMate, we have to conclude this is one of the best monitors we've come across. It was able to differentiate between subtly different dark and light tones, and its colour reproduction is about as good as we've seen.

Video playback was impressive, too. We fed it Blu-ray and HD DVD flicks from a PC using LG's own Super Multi Blue GGW-H10N player and we couldn't find much to fault. It looks about as good in motion as it does displaying static images, with vibrant colours and little blurring to speak of.

Movies encrypted with HDCP encryption also played fine, which is reassuring -- there's nothing worse than getting an error message because your monitor doesn't support copy-protected video.

Weaknesses
Why on earth LG only bundles a D-Sub cable is a mystery. You're already paying hundreds of pounds for the screen, so it surely can't have harmed the company's fortunes to include an HDMI cable, or at the very least a DVI cable with an HDMI adaptor.

The L245WP's Picture-in-Picture mode lets you watch video from two sources simultaneously. As handy as this is, it's not ideal for watching HD movies while you tinker with an Excel spreadsheet. The video window has a tendency to tear, or become jerky, which can reduce your enjoyment somewhat.

Our final gripe with the L245WP is minor. The screen has a tendency to wobble on its hinge when provoked. Luckily this only becomes an issue if you live in an earthquake zone, or if your desk is physically joined to that of a hyperactive colleague.

Conclusion
The L245WP is a fantastic monitor. It's not cheap, sure, but it delivers excellent image quality, is attractive to look at and has the advantage of being fully HD Ready.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield

iBall ultraslim USB pen drive

Ball has recently launched a ultraslim USB Pen drive / Flash drive which is equipped with high speed USB 2.0 interface for ultra-fast data transfer.

Available in 128MB, 256MB, 512MB & 1GB storage capacity, the iBall ultraslim USB pen drive weighs only 3 grams and measures 43 mm x 17 mm x 4.6 mm (L,B,D) in size.

The stylish tiny USB mass storage flash drive features high-speed USB 2.0 interface which enables reading speed of 10MB/sec (Max) and 8MB/sec (Max) writing speed and is compatible with all IBM compatible PC, notebook with USB interface running Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, 2003, Max OS 9.1, and Linux 2.4x or above.

In addition the USB drive is also supported by Apple Macintosh PCs with Mac OS 8.6 and above. The iBall flash drive does not require any drive installation for Microsoft windows XP OS.

Philips SA1115 MP3 player

Philips SA1115 MP3 player, available in India, is a ultra-portable MP3 audio player having candy bar type design with tiny LCD screen and it offers support for standard music file formats and features integrated equilizer presets, built-in FM radio and 8 hours of battery life.

The Philips SA1115 MP3 player sports a tiny 32×128 pixels, 2 lines, LCD screen with greener background lighting and it supports MP3, WMA & WAV audio formats. MP3 bit rates includes 8-320 kbps and VBR and MP3 sample rates ranges supports 8, 11.025, 16, 22.050, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz. WMA bit rates includes 5-192 kbps and WMA sample rates supports 8, 11.025, 16, 22.050, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz.

The MP3 player also sports integrated equilizers with 4 presets viz Classic, Jazz, Pop, Rock for easier customized music playing and other features include a built-in FM radio with station memory, digital Voice Recording in WAV format, and the device can also be used as standalone swapable USB mass storage device.

iBall MP3 Players

iBall has recently introduced in India its portable MP3 player, Pendulum, which offers high quality MP3/WMA audio media player with FM Radio and direct recording.

The iBall Pendulum portable MP3 player supports MP3, WMA & ASF playback with bit rate from 8Kbps to 320Kbps. The gadget also comes with built-in FM radio tuner with 20 station presets and offers option for direct recording from FM tuner.

In addition the iBall Pendulum MP3 player also offers facility of direct Voice Recording in digital format with support of multi-bit rates ranging between 8Kbps & 32 Kbps allowing voice recording on 256-MB memory of up to 72 hrs at 8 Kbps and up to 18 hrs at 32 Kbps bit rate.

Kodak EasyShare Z-885 Digital Camera

Kodak EasyShare Z-885 Digital Camera - Black

8.1-megapixel: Get stunning pictures and quality prints at sizes up to 30" x 40". More pixels means you can crop and enlarge at will and retain great quality.

Zoom: Get incredibly close to your subjects with the 5x optical zoom lens and 5x advanced digital zoom for a total 25X zoom.

2.5" LCD: The large, full color high-resolution indoor/outdoor display allows you to view brilliant, sharp images even in direct sunlight.

Color science: No matter what the lighting conditions you'll get rich colors thanks to the exclusive Kodak Color Science chip. Each time you click the shutter, the camera performs an instantaneous and advanced analysis of collected scene data to identify and adjust multiple factors that influence and improve picture quality.

Digital image stabilization: This in-camera software automatically minimizes camera shake or subject movement to deliver a clear picture.

High ISO mode: This camera automatically selects from ISO 80 to ISO 3200 based on lighting conditions. With high ISO, you can capture details in low light or fast action situations.

Perfect Touch technology: Make your pictures as vivid as the moment you took them. Print better, brighter pictures using Kodak's Perfect Touch technology.

EasyShare button: Print, email and share all of your pictures with the touch of a single button.

Video mode: You can catch all the more of the action while using less memory with MPEG-4 compression. Record VGA video (640 × 480) at 30 fps with sound and enjoy advanced features like audio capture, playback and on-camera video editing.

Manual and custom controls: Turn your creative vision into reality with a palette of advanced program, aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual controls.

Multiple scene and color modes: The Z885 has a scene mode for almost any situation. You'll get the shot you want, the way you want it with one of several scene modes.

Memory: This digital camera comes with 32MB of internal memory. Get the most out of your camera by adding a 1GB or larger MultiMediaCard, SD or SDHC memory card. How much memory do you need?

Nokia 7500 Prism

Nokia 7500 Prism mobile phone
The Nokia 7500 Pris has a diamond-cut design, featuring sharp angled lines, geometric patterns and graphic light-refracting colors, ensure this Nokia Prism to stand out in the mobile phone market. The Nokia 7500 Prism will be available in the third quarter of 2007 with an estimated retail price of € 210,-.


Nokia 7500 Prism - Key Features
• System: Triband EGSM 900/1800/1900
• User Interface: Series 40 3rd Edition
• Standby time: up to 10 days
• 2 megapixel digital camera with up to 8x digital zoom
• Talk time: up to 2.8 hours
• Display: QVGA 240 x 320, up to 16.7 million colors
• Support for microSD memory card up to 2GB


About Nokia mobile phones
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.

Sony Ericsson K850i

We called Sony Ericsson K810 the rebirth of the Cyber-shot. We're now looking at a great leap forward in developing the company's cameraphone lineup in the face of the glamorous Sony Ericsson K850. It brings a bunch of novelties in design, navigation and functionality. The quality 5 megapixel camera enhanced with camerawise hardware buttons, along with the brand new Media Center application, make the Sony Ericsson K850 a landmark product in the company portfolio.

Sony Ericsson K850 official pictures

Key features

• 5 MP autofocus camera with automatic lens cap and three dedicated hardware keys
• Tri-band HSDPA (3.6 Mb), EDGE.
• New Media Center, smart search, Manage Messages application
• Monolith body with digicam-like battery cover
• Brand new three soft keys
• Innovative D-pad layout
• Dedicated call and end keys
• Large crystal-clear 2.2" display
• Memory card slot with dual card support and hot swap functionality
• FM radio with RDS
• Bluetooth (with A2DP)
• Multi-tasking support

Main disadvantages

• Awkward D-pad
• Reversed soft key funtions, atypical for Sony Ericsson
• No Wi-Fi and infrared
• Fingerprint magnet

In June Sony Ericsson revealed its hottest addition to the Cyber-shot line: Sony Ericsson K850. The phone was labeled a milestone product not only for the Cyber-shot family, but for the entire Sony Ericsson portfolio. It is clear why it scores high with its wealth of features using the latest technologies. The K850 brings several brand new software and hardware solutions we pay special attention to later on. Make sure you keep in mind the three Cyber-shot handsets we reviewed most recently - the budget Sony Ericsson K550, the high-born Sony Ericsson K800 and its successful inheritor Sony Ericsson K810.

Cyber-shot evolves

The soft and rounded Sony Ericsson K850 visually differs a lot from the Sony Ericsson K810, not to mention its predecessors. At least it stays faithful to the bar-shape form factor. K850 accommodates some notable construction and navigation novelties: dedicated call and end keys, new D-pad layout, three-position camera key, as well as an on/off camera key and a digicam-like bottom battery cover.

Sony Ericsson K850 • compared to Sony Ericsson T650 • compared to Nokia N95

The large 2.2" quality TFT display takes up most of the front panel and scores notably higher both in brightness and contrast, compared to the 2" TFT display of Sony Ericsson K810. Keeping almost the same dimensions while building larger displays is an issue that constantly nudges handset designers. In K850 the obvious solution is integrating the D-pad in the keyboard, thus making some room for the larger 2.2" display. The display, and the entire front panel, has a nice mirror-like finish, but again it catches fingerprints rather easily, like the K810 and K800. Above it, a small secondary VGA camera is discretely located, along with the earpiece. The camera is beneath the panel surface, leaving the even surface of the front unspoiled.

Sony Ericsson K850 - speaker and secondary camera

Right below the display, we find the three brand new sensor like soft keys. They perform multiple functions varying by the context of different applications. The sensor like soft keys offer a truly novel experience in handling the Sony Ericsson K850. The diehard Sony Ericsson user will immediately notice that the location of the soft key functions are reversed. In other Sony Ericsson phones the More soft key is located on the right, whereas now it is called Options and corresponds to the new left soft key, with several exceptions. The proprietary "Back" key is absent, now replaced by the right soft key. The center soft key performs variable functions within applications. The logic behind all this is simple - in menus, where in other Sony Ericsson phones you have only one active soft key, the center soft key is to be used. Alternatively, in menus where both soft keys have functions (for example messaging -> templates), in other handsets you would have "Select" and "Info", while in K850 you have "Info", "Select" and "Back" soft key order. Reviewing the K850 was fun, as we often pressed the wrong soft key, driven by the force of habit. However, using the device for a week was enough for us to get the hang of the new allocation, owing to the simple fact that most leading phone manufactures use the same soft key order in their devices. The new soft keys in K850 are also a design decision, driven by the lack of space with the large display on pretty much the same dimensions as K810. We welcome this innovation by the Sony Ericsson team, which to us is an attempt to respond to users' demands.

The three soft keys and the keyboard

A bit below the tree soft keys are the brand new dual-function Call / Quick Menu key and Clear / End key, that make the phone handling even better. The dedicated Call and End keys, along with the tree soft keys and the D-pad novelties are inconsistent with the longstanding way of doing things, but take the K850 closer to the mass market. Under the Call and End keys is the keypad with the T650 cool styling, however the keys have grown bigger. The rightmost column of the alphanumeric keys serves a double purpose: in Camera mode they're used for changing the shooting mode, scene mode, self-timer and flash options. Icons with blue backlighting explain the function of each key. The D-pad can also be used for zooming in and out when taking pictures, while scrolling up or down on changes the exposure compensation. Most of the Sony Ericsson users out there would be happy to see that Sony Ericsson has again used the sleeker D-pad. It's now a thin color plastic rectangle, placed right within the keypad and enfolding the 2 and 5 key. A bold and controversial design indeed, as most Sony Ericsson phones have a confirming center of the D-pad or a joystick. In K850, the Confirm function is entrusted to the middle soft key, right above the D-pad - another decision that raises doubts about user-friendliness.

The debatable D-pad

The Sony Ericsson K850 left side features no keys. Neat and simple, all you see is the color stripe that runs along the side parts of the phone.

Left side: neat and sweet

The bottom part of the K850 features a digicam-like battery cover, which shelters the phone's battery, the SIM card, and the memory card slot. The latter deserves special attention since this is the first Sony Ericsson attempt at dual card support. Two cards are compatible with the slot: M2 and microSD. One is inserted face down, the other one face up, and both are hot-swappable. Apart from this, you will find the regular Fast Port, the mouthpiece and a wrist or neck strap eyelet. If you remove the SIM card in active phone mode, the phone will restart after a good delay and will start the demo mode. It would've been great if the phone was able to work in flight mode, without an inserted SIM. This drawback aside, handling the SIM, the memory card and the battery is effortless, thanks to the integrated push-to-eject mechanism. The same we see used in digicams nowadays. The design of the battery cover is a nice novelty, but we think it has one disadvantage. The low end of the rear panel wobbles noticeably when typing on the keypad.

Digicam-like hatch at the bottom

The top part of the device holds the On/Off key only, which can also be used for fast switching between the ringing profiles.

Power button on the top

The right side of the Sony Ericsson K850 immediately got our attention, as things there surely look like a regular digicam. Very close to the end key is a three-position button for switching between the camera modes - camera, video recorder, and preview mode. Right above it is the shutter key, and the adjacent smaller on/off camera key. There is no other mobile phone of the other leading manufacturers, except for the LG KU990 Viewty, which comes with such a bunch of dedicated camera keys. A convenient feature is that the on/off camera key is independent of the key lock. At the upper part of the right side we find the elevated V-shaped volume rocker, which also can be used for zooming when taking or browsing pictures.

Talking Cyber-shot: shutter key, three-position camera button and volume/zoom key

Turning the phone over reveals an entirely flat monolith surface, only broken by the xenon flash and the camera lens ring, as well as the elongated grill of the loudspeaker. All of them are placed beneath the panel surface, so if you look at the phone sideways you will see no dimples or bulges on the back panel. Next to the lens cover stand two essential symbols - the Cyber-shot logo and the 5.0 megapixel sign. Below the lens is the Sony Ericsson logo. Where the monolith surface ends, you will see the tiny battery cover, with its rubber-like finishing, that is supposed to keep the phone firmly in your arm, or if laid on a tilted surface. Where the back panel ends, two delicate curves that slightly lift the phone can be spotted, a resourceful way to protect the sleek surface from scratches and dust. Another probable reason, given they're level with the loudspeaker, is an attempt to ensure some kind of a sound-screen.

Glossy back: lens cap, flash, loudspeaker, Sony Ericsson and Cyber-shot logo

The Sony Ericsson K850 is powered by a Li-Po BST-38 battery with a capacity of 930 mAh, a substitute for the standard BST-33 Li-Po battery used in the other Cyber-shot handsets K550, K800 and K810. According to the manufacturer, the battery is capable of up to 400 hours of standby mode and up to 9 hours of talk time in GSM networks. Under very intensive usage, i.e. Bluetooth always on, 3G network, an hour of calls, an hour of media player, a good deal of trying the camera, gaming, browsing, etc., the battery hardly last for 36 hours. However, if used only in GSM networks and not excessively strained, the phone will last for a good 3, even 4 days.

K850 battery, memory card slot and SIM card holder

Generally, we're quite pleased with the ergonomics of the Sony Ericsson K850. It feels nice when held in hand and fits perfectly in your palm. The three soft keys, the dual Call and End keys, the D-pad do take the phone handling to a higher level. However, after due examination, a few shortcomings get exposed. The excellent response of the three sensor-like soft keys is in great contrasts with the angular hard-to-push D-pad, which but ruins the navigation experience. The confirming center soft key is too close to the D-pad up key. Simultaneous keypresses occur now and then, resulting in undesired confirmation of a function - for example in a delete contact dialog window, the center soft key corresponds to YES.

K850 hands-on

Nokia E90 The Communicator

Size doesn't bother you? Then get ready for the stars and the moon, for the communicator gives it all: internet, GPS, excellent camera and many others.

The Nokia E90 Communicator is the latest addition to the set of contemporary high-performance devices for executives. We had to wait three years since the last Nokia 9500 Communicator appeared. Our patience was duly rewarded at the 2007 3GSM Congress, when Nokia unveiled the ultimate no-compromise mobile communication device. It remains faithful to some of the family traditions, others it forsakes, but the outcome is downright worth it. Nokia E90 has the familiar body construction: a hefty handset, which opens up to reveal a wide landscape display.

Nokia E90 Communicator official pictures

Before the E90 appeared, communicators used to be a class on its own in the Nokia portfolio. They had their own UI, which brought forth a number of issues. Above all, every application had to be adapted to the uncommon S80 UI. Quite unaffordable and therefore rare, communicators were ostracized by software developers. That's exactly the flaw, which has been addressed in the new Nokia E90. The phone features a standard Symbian 9.2 and 3rd edition S60, working on a giant display and ensuring far greater compatibility.

First live photos from the 3GSM in Barcelona • also available in red

In closed position E90 looks like a traditional, though well oversized, Nokia bar. For the lack of a better reference point for size and weight, we compare it against the older Nokia 9500. The newer release has notably reduced size and still packs in near full contemporary functionality. The table below compares the essential features of the last two Communicator generations.

Nokia E90

Size is the first thing you'll have to put up with about the Nokia E90. And it may as well be the last. What you get is unmatched keypad space and display size.

E90 is a direct descendant of the Nokia 9500. Different age, different design

	Nokia 9500	Nokia E90
Size	148 x 57 x 24 mm	132 x 57 x 20 mm
Weight	230 g	210 g
Outer display	128 x 128 pixels, 65K colors	240 x 320 pixels, 16M colors
Inner display	640 x 200 pixels, 65K colors	800 x 352 pixels, 16M colors
OS	Symbian 7.0s Series 80	Symbian 9.2 S60 3rd Edition
Memory	80 MB + MMC	128 MB + microSD
Camera	0.31 MP	3.2 MP
Connectivity	GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi	GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, Wi-Fi

Key features

• Full-fledged keyboard
• Big and high-resolution display
• Integrated GPS
• Built-in maps and basic navigation without charge
• 128 MB memory
• 512 MB microSD in the standard package
• Integrated WLAN, HSDPA
• Quality e-mail client
• Office applications, document creation and editing enabled
• Seamless synchronization with computer (PC Suite)
• MiniUSB universal connector (Mass storage enabled)
• Built-in camera with autofocus
• Stereo FM radio and A2DP-enabled Bluetooth for wireless stereo headphones
• Quality loudspeakers
• VoIP support
• Elegant and presentable appearance
• Quality construction
• UI compatible with other Nokia phones
• System speed

Main disadvantages

• Size and weight
• Third party applications incompatible with the built-in GPS
• Charges for navigation capabilities
• Multitasking still not perfect
• Inadequate battery life
• No small-size charger like in the N95
• No camera lens cover
• Wired headset with a 2.5mm jack, no volume control on the remote
• No USB Mass Storage for the phone memory
• Price

iBall TakeNote

iBall Take Note allows you to capture hand-written notes or diagrams on standard A5 sheets, and instantly stores them as digital pages in its built-in 32MB flash memory. You can download the digital pages on your PC through a USB interface anytime later.
Features:	Write/draw/sketch on normal paper with pen
:	Use it anywhere to capture your notes/drawings
:	Download later anytime
:	Built-in 32 MB storage and CF memory expansion slot
:	Share a digital copy by e-mail
As natural as it can get:	Take Note feels as natural as writing on ordinary paper with pen. You also have the advantage of immediately getting both a digital record and a hard copy duplicate of your handwritten notes even when you are on the move
Carry it anywhere:	Take Note is very easy to operate and ultra-portable too. It comes with an ultra-thin & light digital pen with a regular and replaceable ink cartridge. The pen ink cartridge & paper pad are easily available in every stationery shop
Unique and useful:	It captures digitally everything you write on regular paper. No special paper is needed. iBall Take note has a storage capacity of 32 MB and can store more than 150 A5-size pages of completely full handwritten notes
Efficient and flexible:	Take Note’s software lets you organize your digital pages in Windows. You can do highlighting, annotating, editing (select, copy, move, erase etc.), typing, viewing, changing color and drawing functions
Portfolio:	An extremely useful and easy to carry portfolio is included free with iBall Take Note
Digital pad size:	309mm (length) x 209mm (width)
Digital pad thickness:	15.7mm
Digital pad weight:	Approx. 512g (excl. batteries)
Writing area:	150mm x 211mm
Writing thickness:	12mm Max.
Notepad holder:	150mm x 232mm
Built-in memory:	32MB
Memory slot:	Type I Compact Flash ( CF ) memory Card slot
Digital pad power source:	Alkaline battery AAA 1.5V x 4
Digital pad battery life:	About 100 hours continuous use
Interface:	USB 1.1
No. of pens bundled:	1 pc ( Blue )
No. of refills bundled:	2 pcs ( Blue )
Digital pen size:	134mm x 11.3mm (diameter)
Digital pen weight:	13.8g (incl. battery)
Digital pen power source:	One 1.55V button cell battery
Digital pen battery life:	Approx. 14 months
Ink refill size:	67mm x 2.3mm
Digital page file formats:	DHW; DND
OS Supported:	Windows 2000 / XP / Vista
System requirements:	Pentium III or equivalent or higher CPU, 128MB or higher (recommended) memory, 1 free USB port, CD-ROM drive, 32MB free space
Bundled softwares:	iBall Take Note Manager Software, MyScript Notes 2.0 Hand Recognition Software (30 days Trial Version)
Bundled accessories:	4 x AAA 1.5V Alkaline battery, 1 x Button Cell 1.55V, USB Cable
Package contents:	Take Note 594, One blue digital pen, Accessories, Software CDs, User Guide
MRP:	Rs.9900-TakeNote/ Rs.12390-TakeNote W Full MyScipt
Warranty:	1 Year

Nokia E61 Smartphone In India

Nokia has recently launched in India the Nokia E61, a slim Dual Mode UMTS, triple band GPRS/GSM smartphone which has large 2.8-inch TFT screen supporting 16 million colors and has a backlit full QWERT keyboard and a full array of wireless options.

This 14-mm thick ultraslim Nokia E61 is dual mode UMTS 2100 MHz and triple band GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz is equipped with a 2.8-inch 320×240 pixels resolution color TFT screen supporting 16 million colors and has a backlit full QWERTY keyboard offering comfortable keyboard input and ability to answer an e-mail quickly.

Supporting polyphonic, monophonic and MP3 ringtones, the Nokia E61 smartphone supports GPRS Class 10, EDGE Class 10 (236.8 kbps) and is 3G Network compatible capable of connection at 384 kbps. The handset also has an integrated MP3 meadia player which supports MP3 and AAC music file formats.

Motorola Ming A1200 hands on

I christen thee the “MotoMing!” Sure took a while. I have a unit on review straight from China. The Ming (whose boring name is the A1200) is a Linux based PDA phone that hails from the old Motorola smartphone designs. The new Ming looks absolutely fantastic. If we were to grade the Ming’s aesthetics, it would have to rate a 5/5, 100%, 10/10 .. well you get the picture. If you want to see the complete specs of the A1200, then click here.


Seriously, the Ming’s form factor is to die for. Take a look at the sleek semi-see through protective flip case that isn’t just an aesthetic boon. The Ming’s flip actually shows off the antenna which leads to the earpiece hardware. See that? Wow.

The Ming is subject to fingerprints and other icky stuff because of its material, which is some sort of hard, smoked transparent plastic. Take a look at the picture below to see what I mean. These particles were highlighted after an hour’s commute in my pocket.

Text messaging is probably the worst with this phone if you have small fingers. The stylus itself is rather small so you may want to buy a larger one. I’ve managed with my little Asian fingers though. SMS input can be done in a variety of formats:

- English Keyboard (QWERTY)
- Numeric Pad
- Handwriting Recognition
- Pinyin Board
- Zhuyin Board

The highlight of the Ming is its 2MP camera that can also record video. It has a very innovative user interface for taking shots. Tap the screen and panels that display camera options such as effects and brightness spring out from the side in semi-transparency. Tap it again and they disappear with a cool animation.

Here are some samples of pictures taken at hi-res. The shots are actually a lot better in quality compared to what other smartphone / PDA cameras can take.

Pictures are at 1600×1200 size (resized here) and take up around 500kb of space.

Motorola RAZR takes a fresh breath with V8 and V9

16 May, 2007 | Comments (104) | Post your comment

Motorola officially unveiled the Motorola RAZR2 V8 and V9 models. These are the descendants of the highly popular Motorola RAZR V3 which paved the way for the ultra slim trend in the mobile world.

The Motorola RAZR2 comes in two versions - the first one is the Motorola RAZR2 V8 which has quad-band GSM/EDGE network support, while the second one is the Motorola RAZR2 V9 which is a quad-band GSM/EDGE/3G/HSDPA-enabled device. Other than that, feature-wise and design-wise the two are almost identical. There will also be an EVDO CDMA version, named RAZR2 V9m but it is out of the scope of this article.

Motorola RAZR2 V8

The Motorola RAZR2 comes equipped with a main 2.2" 262K color TFT display with a QVGA (320x240 pixels) resolution plus a really large secondary 2" 262K color TFT display with a QVGA resolution too. It would practically mean that there would be no difference between using any of the two. What is more, Motorola are promising a handy messaging function that would allow user to compose and send messages without even opening the clamshell.

Motorola RAZR2 V9

Design-wise, the RAZR2 has received an enormous facelift in both looks and style. It is thinner than every previous RAZR model and it has a new flushed-out metallic design with some hardened glass to protect all those square inches of displays that it offers.

The Motorola RAZR2 will have full support for stereo Bluetooth, it will have a microUSB slot for data connections and attaching headphones (makes us sorry for losing the standard miniUSB) and would certainly appeal with its 2 megapixel camera, which unfortunately doesn't feature autofocus.

Both versions will have external touch-sensitive music keys, plus high-quality MPEG 4 video capture and playback and speaker independent voice dialing. The touch sensitive keys are in fact part of the external display which means that it's part touch-sensitive. Furthermore the keys come with a clever feedback (haptics) technology. The handset produces slight vibrations every time a touch-sensitive key is pressed. Both devices are powered by an ARM 11 processor which makes them faster than any of the previous RAZR models.

All that being said, it must be pointed out that the two handset versions have certain differences. The Motorola RAZR2 V8 boasts a new Linux/Java user interface and will be sold in two variants - one with 420MB of memory available to the user, and a second one with 2GB of memory available to the user. Obviously, it won't have a memory cards slot. On the other hand the Motorola RAZR2 V9 retains the original Motorola Synergy UI and has only 45MB of memory but has a microSD memory card slot.

The Motorola RAZR2 V8 will become globally available in July 2007, while the Motorola RAZR2 V9 is supposed to hit the shelves somewhere in Q3 2007.

An interesting update to the Motorola portfolio is also the transformation of the formerly announced Motorola RIZR Z6 into Motorola ROKR Z6. The Motorola RIZR Z6 was supposed to become the first member of the Motorola MOTOMUSIC family, but obviously the manufacturer has decided to keep the rich multimedia devices into the ROKR lineup.

Motorola ROKR Z6, previously known as RIZR Z6

The Motorola ROKR Z6 will become commercially available world wide in June 2007.

Sony Ericsson P1

The Sony Ericsson P1 is an exciting new smartphone that is to undoubtedly reign in the current Sony Ericsson portfolio. Powered by Symbian OS and featuring a QWERTY keyboard, a touchscreen TFT display with QVGA resolution and a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus, it represents the next level of the development of UIQ smartphones. As such, it seems that the Sony Ericsson P1 will be the flagship of Sony Ericsson smartphone line overrunning even the Sony Ericsson P990 and we were more than curious to find out how it performed in real life.

Sony Ericsson P1 official pictures

Key features:

• Symbian 9.1 OS with UIQ 3 user interface
• QWERTY keyboard
• 2.6" 262K colors TFT touchscreen display
• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus
• Memory Stick Micro M2 memory card slot
• UMTS, Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth, USB, Infrared
• Secondary camera for video calls
• Walkman-grade MP3 player and FM radio with RDS
• Jog Dial navigation

Main disadvantages:

• Awkward keyboard
• No HSDPA support
• No EDGE support

A P-series or a M-series one?

The Sony Ericsson P1 bears the design line of the already available Sony Ericsson M600. The same form factor but without a QWERTY keyboard was used in the music-oriented Sony Ericsson W950, too.

Sony Ericsson P1

Sony Ericsson M600

Naming the device P1 seems rather logical, since the next SE super smartphone should have come as P1000. But 1000 sounds really trite, so choosing the device model to be P1, is a good move. Rumors had it that the device would be called P700, and even our test handset reported being P700. We guess that the decision must have been taken in the last moment. The Sony Ericsson P1 seems more of an upgraded M600, but then again we suppose that the wide range of features it boasts motivated including it in the P-series. So the P1 would definitely be the flagship among Sony Ericsson smartphones, but hardware wise, it seems to be powered by the same 208 MHz processor as seen in M600, W950 and P990.

The P-series evolution

We were very excited when we got the opportunity to make a review of the eagerly awaited Sony Ericsson smartphone P1. It turned out though that the test handset is obviously a rather early prototype since we experienced frequent crashes in various situations and applications. Nevertheless, we have a great deal of confidence that these will be fixed in the final version.

The retail package will include a desk stand, a USB cable, a stereo headset, a protective pouch, a spare stylus, and a 512MB Memory Stick Micro M2 card. Of course, as with any other mobile phone, the contents of the retail package remain strictly market and country dependant.

Silver framed

The P1 smartphone measures 106 x 55 x 17 mm and weighs 124 g. The central place in the body is taken by the large 2.6" touchscreen TFT display. Above the display you can easily see the eye of the frontal VGA video call camera. Next to it, right in the dead center is the in-call speaker grill. Below it is the QWERTY keyboard that is almost a Sony Ericsson trademark - we haven't seen a similar design in the common mobile market. Three or four characters share each key and it depends on your pressing its left or right side or pressing it in a combination with the ALT key, that determines which character gets printed. A clever design, no doubt about it, but we would see if it's user-friendly enough to serve its purpose.

Video calls camera • Sony Ericsson P1 keyboard

The left side of the Sony Ericsson P1 features a hand strap eyelet, a Jog Dial and a hardware back key, which comes in handy when used in combination with the Jog Dial. The Jog Dial wheel itself is a three-way navigation solution - scroll up, scroll down and press to select or activate.

Left side view: strip eyelet, Jog Dial, Back key

The bottom side of the device is bare - it hosts only the usual Fast port and a microphone aperture.

Bottom side view: Fast Port and microphone

The right side incorporates the camera shutter key, the Memory Stick Micro card slot and a shortcut key, which can be assigned several available applications. The default one is to start the Web browser.

Right side view: camera shutter key, memory card slot, personal shortcut key

The top side of the device features the Infrared port and the On/Off key.

Top side view: Infrared port and On/Off key

Just below the On/Off key is the slot for the stylus. It's more obvious when you take a look at the back of the handset.

Sony Ericsson P1 stylus

Speaking of the back, there is a certain thing down there that can really attract your attention. We are talking about the lens of the 3.2 megapixel camera which features autofocus and as you may have probably noticed, a dual LED flash. We saw that kind of flash used in Sony Ericsson K550. Obviously, Sony Ericsson are keeping the xenon flash for their high-end cameraphones only. Right above the camera lens is a silver line that in fact covers the loudspeaker.

Camera lens • loudspeaker cover

When you remove the battery cover, you will see the standard Sony Ericsson BST-33 950 mAh Li-Polymer battery that is rather frequently used by the manufacturer in a number of different handsets. According to official numbers, the battery should provide the P1 with enough power to keep it going for up to 350-440 hours of standby time or up to 5-10 hours of call time depending on whether you would use it in a UMTS network which takes its toll on battery life. Unfortunately, we could not test the phone's battery life since we used the phone heavily during our tests and thus the battery life we experienced was not indicative for the real-life performance of the handset. The SIM card slot of the P1 is not your regular Sony Ericsson one and the card itself slots into a place next to the camera lens.

Removing the battery cover and the battery

The Sony Ericsson P1 is nice to work with both your left and right hand. If you use the Jog Dial you would need the stylus rarely since it represents a rather adequate navigation solution. We enjoyed using the P1 and it surely feels nice when held in hand.

Sony Ericsson P1 held in hand

W810i
Deluxe Walkman® phone Mobile phone and music player for audio connoisseurs. Great sound quality, advanced communication features, sleek style. Go music Music on the move with style to spare. Easy-to-use Walkman® phone with fast Web connection for quick downloads. Compact music kit Neat, petite phone with music player, management software and accessories to make mobile audio pure pleasure. Video is the radio star Make your own fun with still pictures and video clips. Or listen to the FM radio and get into someone else’s groove.		Screen 262.144 color TFT 176x220 pixel Memory Memory Stick PRO Duo™ support (up to 4GB) Phone memory 20MB* *Actual free memory may vary due to phone pre-configuration. Networks EDGE GSM 900 GSM 1800 GSM 1900 Available colours Satin Black White Possible limited market availability. Sizes 100 x 46 x 19.5 mm 3.9 x 1.8 x 0.8 inches Weight 99 gr 3.5 oz

AVAILABLE FOR RS10,999/-

Street-style Walkman® phone When you're out and about, you can have your favorite music with you wherever you go. And your picture library and favorite Web sites. W580i is for active people.
What's in it?

Music recognitionWhat’s that sound? Just record a few seconds of music and TrackID™ (powered by Gracenote Mobile MusicID) returns the song name, artist and album to your phone within seconds. See how it works
Similar phones

Integrated cameraBuilt-in digital camera with screen viewfinder, dedicated menus and direct interaction with in-phone imaging and messaging features.

Blog your lifeThe easy way to share your life in pictures. Take or choose a photo, add a little text and publish it for friends and family to enjoyLearn more about picture blogging

Pre-installed gamesUnpack, turn on and play. Fun games are embedded in your phone, so there’s always something to amuse you when you’re at a loose end.

Capture the actionVideo clips are ideal for those unexpected great moments that happen when you're out there, enjoying life.

m-buzz.com - the stars of tomorrowInterested in new music and fresh talent? Check out m-buzz.com. This promotional site for breaking and unsigned artists features music tracks, videos and much more. Check it out

More for your phoneGet exciting stuff for your phone at Sony Ericsson Fun & Downloads - the place to download games, ringtones, themes and much more. Go there

Walkman® phoneHave your favourite sounds with you – always, whenever, wherever you go. Your Walkman® phone is not only a mobile phone. It’s a portable music device, too. Read more

10 Tips to Increase Your AdSense Revenue

1. Better Placement - Placement means everything in the world of online advertising. Don’t rely on banned or unethical ways to “hide” your AdSense ads into your content. Instead, let the ads be ads, but place them in a location that is conducive to the flow of your website while at the same time staring right into the eyes of your visitors.
Best online resource: Google AdSense Heatmap

2. Eggs in Multiple Baskets - I am not talking about throwing up a bunch of half-ass sites that just regurgitate has been news or worthless video clips. Make a quality site, promote, keep it up to date, and after spending a few weeks to a month on it, start all over on a new project. A few months later your first site will take off, and you will have another project waiting to do the same.
Best online resource: For those who don’t have money for hosting or a domain name (which are surprising cheap now-a-days) try Blogger or Wordpress.com

3. Quality & Quantity of Traffic - Of course you can’t make money online if no one visits your site, so traffic is the most obvious necessity. But that is easier said than done. I have found that by making quality posts in related forums discretely plugging your site or services is probably the best way to get instant traffic. Also, depending on the niche your site fills, the ability to harness the power of social networking sites could bring in exponential visitor numbers in a very short period of time. Inevitably, content is king though - and quality content will always bring in traffic regardless of how you promote it.
Best online resource: Niche Forums or social networking sites such as Digg or Del.icio.us

4. Blending & Integration - Ads don’t always have to look like ads. Also, ads don’t always have to be hidden and disguised to mimic actual content. There is a better and more ethical way to have ads and enjoy their revenue too.
Best online resource: adClustr (of course!!)

5. Enjoy your own Content - If you don’t find your own topic of conversation interesting, chances are that it will be evident to your visitors and they won’t care for it either. Be thorough, be interesting, be insightful. Don’t be boring with rehashed work such as video links, old news, free articles or off-topic posts. If you believe in what you are doing, then it will all work out in the end for your site.
Best online resource: Yourself

6. Better SEO - Content not only brings in visitors, but the AdSense bot relies on it to provide relevant ads to your site. Non-relevant ads will cause your visitors to ignore the ads completely and will hurt your bottom line. Spend at least a few minutes per page optimizing your content to be sure to get the best possible ads delivered. It’s not magic, and it’s not difficult.
Best online resource: AListApart CSS SEO & Google SEO Tips

7. Block Experimentation - AdSense offers a wide array of different advertising block sizes. What works for one site may not always work for another. Factors to watch? Demographics, Traffic Patterns, Popular Pages and Color Schemes to just name a few. Remember that when you make a change, let it go at least a month or more. This will give you the best statistics on whether your changes worked or not. There will always be spikes and lows in traffic, so testing an extended period of time is necessary.
Best online resource: Statcounter

8. Focus on Everything - Sit back and notice some of the smaller things on your page aside from the ads such as padding, margins, exact color matches and spelling/grammar. Even the slightest error in one of these areas will make you look amateur and cause your visitors to hit the back button. Take for example Techcrunch.com. The site has a simple design and is chock full of ads. Does anyone care? No. This is because Michael decided to focus on creating a clean, easily readable and very articulately written site. This isn’t easy to accomplish for many, but anything less would be selling yourself short.
Best online resource: Firefox 2.0 for it’s spell checking & CSSRemix for inspiration.

9. Stay Legal - This cannot be stressed enough. Don’t chance your one shot with AdSense to banned or unethical choices. Abide by the rules and focus your time on optimizing not staying under the AdSense radar.
Best online resource: The AdSense Support Team & their TOS

10. Try Alternatives - This is not really an AdSense tip, but more of a tip in general. Don’t just rely on AdSense for all your online revenue. There are many other avenues for creating an income online. Try selling a service, hawking affiliates or using an alternative such as Clicksor, TLA, YPN, AdBrite, AuctionAds or ReviewMe. If one doesn’t work, keep trying until you find one that does.
Best online resource: CPA Affiliates or 5StarAffiliates

Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player

Thanks to the speed at which technology advances, consumers have plenty of options when it comes to choosing a portable media player (PMP). For most, affordable PMPs with a small screen and basic music, photo and video support will do just fine. However, for those with a bigger budget and a stronger desire to be entertained to shave off long commuting time, something with a bit more punch such as the new Archos 605 Wi-Fi might be the one for you.
Archos Brings Out the Player in You
As a consumer lifestyle device that packs many functions, usability needs to be top notch and for that, the Archos 605's provides two navigation methods. On the right is a column of buttons programmed for basic controls such as OK, Cancel, Up, Down, Left, Right, Menu & Sub-Menu, and Volume. The second method, probably the most preferred, is the touchscreen interface, which is simple in design and easy to navigate - thanks to large graphical icons. Sensitivity from the 4.3-inch screen is good too, neither too sensitive nor does it require hard pressing for inputs to be registered.
Movies, Music or Photos?
When it comes to the subject of multimedia support, the variety of formats supported by the Archos 605 is nothing short of astounding. Starting with video playback, compatibility includes MPEG4, DivX, Xvid and WMV. As the screen has a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels and displays up to 16 million colors, users will be in for a visual treat when it comes to enjoying anime and TV series. The high resolution returned good sharpness while colors were well contrasted even under direct sunlight. When docked to a Gen 5 DVR station, this handy unit can even be used as a digital video recorder (DVR) to record your favorite TV shows for viewing the next day - think football matches for all you football fans out there.
Music playback has an equally wide range of options, covering MP3, WMA and WAV. As usual, audio quality was impressive, even with the bundled earphones.
Unfortunately, the onboard speaker was not as enjoyable, delivering cracked audio when volume was pushed beyond the half way mark. That said, the Archos 605 is best enjoyed with earphones.
Having an excellent screen allows the Archo 605 to shine when it comes to photo viewing and reading e-books via the built-in PDF reader. The clarity and color saturation make the Archos 605 a very enjoyable PMP to wield, but that's not all. By adding a separate camera accessory, the Helmet Camcorder Gen5, the Archos 605 can be transformed into a digital camera. The onboard storage can even be used as a photo depository.Returning a little over four hours of constant video playback, the Archos 605 is only an average performer when it comes to battery staminary. However, in view of the 4.3-inch screen and the portability it provides, the battery performance is actually quite fair.Who Moved my Files? Two methods of high speed USB 2.0 file transfer are supported through Archos' propriety USB cable: a direct connection with the Archos as an external hard disk drive (HDD) and through file transfer via Windows Media Player. In terms of practicality, transferring files as a HDD is the option we would choose as file transfers via Windows Media Player was not a smooth process for us due to a couple of software compatibility issues.
Of course, the party piece of the Archos 605 is its integrated Wi-Fi connectivity. With it, the unit can be connected to the Archos store online where optional plugins for both video and audio formats such as H.264, AC3 and AAC+ can be purchased and installed easily. Widgets and even the venerable Opera Web browser for wireless Internet can be purchased too. Concluding Thoughts All things considered, the Archos 605 is a very attractive PMP. The one reservation would probably be its SGD$695 (~USD$455) price tag, which might be more than what most are willing to fork out for a PMP. But hey, if all the above appeal to you, you'll have all the reason you need to shell out what could be a one-time investment that will keep you entertained for a long while.

Product Specifications
Storage: 30/80/160GB
Display: 4.3-inch LCD touch screen, 480 x 800 pixels, 16 million colors
Video playback: MPEG-4 (DivX & Xvid) & WMA
Audio playback: MP3, WMA, WAV
Video recoding: Via DVR Station Gen 5, NTSC/PAL/SECAM in MPEG-4 AVI format with stereo sound
Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11g) connection, USB 2.0, 3.5mm mini jack for headphones
Dimensions: 99.6 x 78 x 13.2 mm (W x H x D)
Weight: 146g

Mobile Phone Gaming: An Insight

Mobile games have evolved over time and they have not stopped thrilling us since the very early days. Gaming is a way to make time fly while traveling or sitting in a waiting room waiting to have your teeth pulled – or your head examined for playing too many. Now there may be many out there who believe that it’s all ‘child's play’, but there are plenty of mobile games that also help improve our thinking skills, memory and even finger dexterity. Let’s face it, they’re entertaining.
Being a regular commuter in the sardine-can-like Mumbai locals, I get a chance to observe some of the pastimes people find to do with their mobile phones. What I’ve noticed on a consistent basis is that people love to game to kill the time, no matter how jammed the compartment may be. Here are a few of the games I’ve noticed to be the most popular. There are many categories of mobile games. Sports, brick games, racing games and even a few card games. Of course strategy and FPS (first person shooters) have not yet made it too much in this platform, but who knows, they just might. SnakesSome may say this was the very first game to have been developed for our ever lovin’ mobile phones. And what do you know, it really was the first game developed for the mobile platform. It’s one of the most simplistic games there is. It works really well for hand-eye coordination. All it requires are the use of two keys and quick reflexes if you turn it up a notch by selecting a higher difficulty level. Even though Snakes has evolved time and again, with the latest being Snake 3D for some of the higher-end mobiles, it has to be one of the most beloved mobile games out there.
Pro GolfGolf is relatively a new game, but it’s also very addictive. Recently, while using the Sony Ericsson P1i the 3D version, I have to say it was much better than the older version on my Nokia 6270 – which is a bit colder since there’s no real character involved. But for those of you who don’t know the game, you essentially try to get the golf ball into a hole that’s really far away by making the distance in as few shots as possible. But what makes it fun is you have to take into account the wind, the type of golf club to use, the distance, avoiding the sand traps and water hazards. It’s real fun.

Black Berry(GPS)

BlackBerry handhelds have been called addictive, invasive, wonderful - and now, a threat to French state secrets. That, at least, is the fear of French government defense experts, who have advised against their use by officials in France's corridors of power, reportedly to avoid snooping by U.S. intelligence agencies.
''It's not a question of trust,'' French lawmaker Pierre Lasbordes told The Associated Press. ''We are friends with the Americans, the Anglo-Saxons, but it's economic war.''Le Monde newspaper, which broke the story, described BlackBerry withdrawal among those who have given them up. ''We feel that we are wasting huge amounts of time, having to relearn how to work in the old way,'' the daily quoted a ministry office director as saying.E-mails sent from ''Le BlackBerry'' pass through servers in the United States and Britain, and France fears that makes the system vulnerable to snooping by the U.S. National Security Agency, Le Monde reported. The company that makes BlackBerrys, however, denies such spying is possible.Lasbordes, who was commissioned in 2005 by then-Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to look into such issues, said he alerted the government to this ''weakness'' months ago. He said he met with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. to discuss the problem in the course of preparing his report on the security of French information systems.The Canadian company ''admitted that there was a certain fragility in the protection of information when you use the e-mail system'' and promised it would be resolved, said Lasbordes, adding: ''That was more than a year ago.''BlackBerrys pose ''a problem with the protection of information'' and ''the risks of interception are real,'' Alain Juillet, in charge of economic intelligence for the government, told Le Monde.Research In Motion insisted that BlackBerry e-mails cannot be read by the NSA or other organizations. The e-mails are more heavily encrypted than online banking Web sites, Research In Motion said in a statement.''No one, including RIM, has the ability to view the content of any data communication sent using the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution,'' the company said.The BlackBerry system has been accredited by security agencies in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and Canada, Research in Motion said, adding that a certification process is under way in the Netherlands and Germany.In France, the circular on BlackBerries from the General Secretariat for National Defense applies in theory to all ministries, and ''it's up to everyone to be responsible,'' Lasbordes said.Another official in a major ministry who got rid of his BlackBerry following the order said authorities are looking at other types of hand-held computers to use instead.The prime minister's office would not confirm that it and the presidential palace were included in the circular, as Le Monde reported. But a spokesman, Severin Naudet, cited the General Secretariat for National Defense as saying that no type of hand-held computer is risk-free.''It's not a problem if you're writing to your mother-in-law,'' Lasbordes said. But ''one can imagine a minister coming from a meeting of the G-8 or G-7, et cetera, or a meeting in Brussels, and he sends information to his colleagues. It goes via Canada and the United States and that's it, game over.''Suspicion goes both ways. At a Group of Eight summit in Germany this month, White House aides were instructed to leave their wireless e-mail devices behind, apparently for fear of Russian eavesdropping.

Facebook Lets Users Choose to go Public

Facebook Inc, the social-network site that has enjoyed explosive growth in new members over the past three months, said it plans to let users tell the rest of the world how to find them on the site.Starting later on Wednesday, Facebook will begin notifying members they have a choice over whether to keep their listings private or to allow Facebook to make their name and profile picture available when outsiders search the site.The Palo Alto, California-based site has grown to 39 million members, up 62.5 percent from 24 million in late May.By publicizing member profiles, Facebook could attract a new wave of users. Unlike most sites on the Web, Facebook has previously denied access by search services to information on the site.But after notifying users over the next 30 days of its plans to open up basic profile listings of its members, Facebook plans to begin allowing sites like Google , Yahoo or others to "crawl," or index, its public member profiles.Early next month, non-members of Facebook will be able to type the names of friends or acquaintances into a search box on Facebook's home page at http://www.facebook.com to see if they have public profiles on Facebook in order to contact them.But the move could still prove controversial among some members who prize the privacy protections Facebook offers relative to more open sites. Many members have criticized Facebook policy changes.A year ago, Facebook weathered a privacy storm among students disturbed by changes that exposed users' postings to their friends. More recent changes that drew in more adults have also provoked concern among the site's core student base that parents and authority figures can monitor their activity.

?????ORKUT-5 Langauges Free?????

Orkut's taking keen interest in what we Indians want (We're sure it doesn't have anything to do with winning the Pepsi and MTV Youth Icon Award).The insanely popular social networking site will now be available in 5 new languages - Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. "Indians have always been a vibrant part of the Orkut community, and we continue to see more Indians joining Orkut every day. It's our goal to make Orkut the ultimate tool for self-expression and communication, and we know that if we're not translated into your native language, this becomes harder. So we worked closely with Googlers in our Indian offices to help develop the initial release of these languages", said a post by Patrick Barry, Software Engineer, on the Orkut blog.Orkut is asking users for feedback to help them improve the translation or tell them what language they'd like to see Orkut in by visting the community Indian Language Translations. These five languages were initially chosen because together they cover 80% of India. To view the Orkut site in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil or Telugu, users have to click the settings button under their profile photo (or click the blue settings link at the top of any page); on the general tab, choose their preferred display language from the drop-down menu at the top of the page and finally save the changes. If users encounter trouble reading languages on the "Settings" page, maybe the browser scripts have not been updated. For Internet Explorer, go to "Tools" and then "Windows Update"and accept the Windows XP Service Pack 2 update. All languages are included in this update.

HTC Touch

With the planned rumors and later on with the official hype (iPhone does seem to have set a new standard for hypes surrounding a product) that buzzed around, industry analysts did set their eyes on the launch of the HTC Touch. We did too and although there is lot to the Touch, there seems to be little to give HTC credit for. You will love the new Windows Mobile 6, but will hate the machine its on. Read on.

DesignWe had only seen it on the internet, and the Touch looked so avant-garde and like everything you ever wanted with its ultramodern form factor, that we had to call it in sooner or later. This goes without saying that you are more likely to gasp a loud ‘wow’ when you undo the packaging than when you actually get down to using it.

The Touch comes very light and compact in a Black rubber finish throughout. A handful of buttons are so placed as to simply deck the phone with tiny light green and red lights. There’s also the five-way D-pad made of a thin squared line of steel. And of course, you have the screen leveling the front to give the Touch its candy bar look. The phone measures 99.9 x 58 x 13.9 mm and weighs 112g.

We have learnt from past experience that no product comes without its own set of follies. This one too, if you depart from the scrutiny of a casual onlooker, features a major design flaw, which otherwise could have meant nothing but outright innovation — the Hot Swap Slots. I have mentioned earlier the brilliance in the idea of building a phone with hot swappable ‘everythings’, right from the memory card to the SIM card. The Touch does just that. The hot swap slots are housed on the left side, but you will require long nails or sharp objects to dislodge the cover. In fact, with the piece that we had, I hated accessing any of the cards.

MOTO ROKR E6

For those of you who saw the preview of the ROKR E6 and the outrageously funny advertisement on TV, you probably have an idea of what the device would be. But let me take you into an in-depth analysis of Motorola's ROKR E6 and let's just see if it can have your head tripping even when you're about to ascend that stairway to heaven.Form FactorTalk about your average candy-bar design. I saw the E6 and wanted to peel it open to taste the flavor (of course it’s full of tiny nuts and bolts). But in a nutshell (pardon the pun extension) In my opinion it’s a rather large phone. It is slim though. Its length is 111mm but width is 51.5mm. The large 2.4-inch, 265K color touch screen display that sports an impressive 240 x 320 pixel resolution is great. The five-way nav-pad is handy for moving through menus without touching the screen. The E6 also has a dedicated key for the web browser and an "Open" key that can be assigned to any function.

On the right hand side of the phone is the camera key and just below it is the screen lock switch. And thank goodness for it, since the phone is held near your ear functions keep getting activated as it touches your face. So you need to keep the screen locked before you start talking. On the left hand side of the E6 are the volume / zoom keys. Below that is the SD card slot. What puzzles me is that the E6 uses an SD card converter with a microSD card inserted. I’m thinking that although it's generous of Motorola to provide us with the converter, why not have a microSD card slot to begin with? Anyhow, below that are the skip / rewind / fast forward keys for the music player with the play / pause button in between. Oddly enough, even with the screen locked, those keys function.

The top of the phone is where the 3.5mm earphone inlet is. On the bottom is the mini USB slot and the lock for the rear panel. The rear has of course the 2.0 megapixel camera that’s in the dead center of the speaker for some reason. The camera is equipped with a switch near the lens for macro and landscape modes. The stylus slides out from the bottom corner. It’s a little tight so you’ll have to give it a good 'yank'. Now here’s a funny thing. You’d be mistaken if you think you can simply slide out your SIM without touching the battery, even though it appears like you can. A little silver clasp works as a lock that can only be slid back when the battery is removed. Then you can remove your SIM.

Sony Launches New Walkman MP3 Player

Sony India has launched its latest MP3 Walkman NWD-B100 series. This player features a USB direct connect, a three-line color LCD display, an FM tuner with radio recording capabilities, and a voice recorder function with a built-in microphone.Weighing 30g, the NWD-B100 connects directly to the computer through a USB port without the problems of cables. The Sony MP3 player adopts the drag-and-drop interface for music and file transfer without any software installation.

The newly developed 'Auto Transfer' software built into the NWD-B100 makes it simpler to load the player with music. This software automatically searches for and transfers the most recently added tracks from your PC to your MP3 Walkman. It’s also compatible with Sony’s mini/micro hi-fi system speakers via USB. The NWD-B100 can charge its battery through the USB port while connected to a PC.
The NWD-B100 has a three-line color LCD display. Users can also search for their desired song by artist, album and song, or by folder and file name. It also has six different equalizer functions: heavy, rock, classic, pop, jazz and a customizable option. The new player comes in two capacities: an 1GB model priced Rs. 3,990 and a 2GB model priced Rs. 4,990. The two colors available are black and white. The devices are available at select Sony showroom across the country.

Top 3 Codec Packs

Digital media has come a long way since the early days, when all one had to wonder about was the MP3 format. Today we have to deal with innumerable audio/video formats. The scenario has gotten so bad, that there are 6 versions of one common codec which offer virtually the same functionality i.e. codecs based on the MP4 format. If that was not bad enough, developers often come out with new “version numbers” of an existing codec that will break functionality with older products and cause all sorts of other problems such as garbled video and missing audio.To combat this, a new breed of software programs commonly called “codec packs” came up. These programs often bundle all the required codec’s into a single installer and combine it with existing media player software. Though this takes the guesswork out of which codec is needed to play a file, it gives arise to another problem. Most users who install these Codec packs are cluttering their systems with software libraries, they will never need. In some cases, these codec packs have actually been known to compromise system stability or cause lockups/slowdowns. Thankfully all is not lost. A few enthusiasts recognizing these problems came up with well designed installers that only integrate codecs that you will actually require. At the same time many companies who have commercial products in this space, have started offering individual codecs for free of charge use. Keeping this in mind we have selected 3 different bundles for our feature. The first pack offers just a basic set of codecs for the casual movie watcher. The second pack is a little more comprehensive and offers a wider selection of codecs. It is aimed at the user who regularly watches movies and recreational videos. Our final selection is a mega collection pack. It comes with everything you will ever need and more.Here is our list:
DivX Codec Pack

Publisher: DivxFile Size:23751 kbDownload Link: 1
This one really needs no introduction. No other codec/format has had such a world-wide impact (outside MP3) on AV players, PMPs, mobile phones and a host of other devices, like DiVx has. So much so, that it is often credited as having ushered in the digital media as a legitimate alternative to TVs, given birth to a whole new era of piracy and led to the creation of DRM and organizations like the MPAA (in America). Furthermore its success has led to industry heavy-weights developing their own competitors in the form of Microsoft’s WMV format, RealVideo from Real Networks and Apple’s QuickTime.Now in its 6th generation, the current DiVx free package offers support for full HD playback and easy encoding. It offers a free version which is fully backward compliant and can play other MP4 formats too (This is possible by enabling it from within the Directshow Tab). Furthermore it allows dvd authoring now and is fully capable of generating custom menus and author tabs.

Microsoft Releases Silverlight 1.0

Microsoft has released to the Web (RTW) Silverlight 1.0, a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering a richer user experiences on the Web.
In addition, Microsoft will work with Novell to deliver Silverlight support for Linux, called Moonlight, and based on the project started on mono-project.com.Silverlight reduces development and deployment costs and provides enhanced Web audio and video streaming and playback using Windows Media Technologies. Microsoft unveiled new Silverlight customer experiences on "Entertainment Tonight," HSN and World Wrestling Entertainment, and also launched the Silverlight Partner Initiative, a program designed to foster collaboration among solution providers, content delivery networks, tools vendors and design agencies."Our expectations for compelling, immersive experiences on the Web are increasing daily," said Ray Ozzie, Microsoft's chief software architect. "With today's release of Silverlight 1.0, we're making it possible for developers and designers to deliver to individuals the kind of high-def experiences they crave by integrating data and services in rich and unique ways. Silverlight will further accelerate the growth in rich interactive applications by giving developers and designers new options for delivering great experiences that span the Web, PC, phone and other devices."The decision to work with Novell to offer Silverlight support for the Linux platform is in direct response to customer feedback."Silverlight is a popular new way to build and deliver cross-browser, cross-platform experiences on the Web," said Miguel de Icaza, vice president of Developer Platforms and leader of the Mono project at Novell. "Novell is excited to work with Microsoft to extend Silverlight beyond Windows and Macintosh to Linux with Moonlight, so Linux users everywhere can enhance their rich media and interactive experiences on the Web."To foster greater involvement and collaboration within the interactive media industry, Microsoft is rolling out the Silverlight Partner Initiative. More than 35 companies have already signed up to support Silverlight.In addition to the release of Silverlight 1.0, Microsoft released Expression Encoder 1.0 (formerly Expression Media Encoder), a tool that makes it simple for professionals to encode, enhance and publish rich media content to Silverlight. The intuitive interface allows users to rapidly encode a wide array of file-based media content formats into a Silverlight experience. Expression Encoder also eases production of live events using sought-after features such as multisource switching and publishing of content to services including Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live.Click here for more info and to download Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 and Expression Encoder. At IBC2007 in Amsterdam Sept. 7–11, Microsoft will provide demonstrations of Silverlight 1.0, and Expression Encoder at the Topaz stand.
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Toshiba to Launch 3rd Gen Blu-ray Players

Toshiba is not stopping for anyone. It's been only short a while since their second-generation Blu-ray players were released. The latter have yet to hit the Indian market, but Toshiba is making things even more dynamic by planning the launch of their third generation Blu-ray players at CEDIA next month. The three models (HD-A3, HD-A30 and HD-A35) will retail for $299, $399 and $499 respectively, and will be available from October 1. The high-end models will be full HD, 1080p reachable.

Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse

One of the largest end–user entertainment industries in the world today is gaming. Not only has it outstripped movies and theatre in terms of financial revenue earned, it has led to the growth of side industries in terms of peripherals and gaming accessories. This has resulted in the creation of companies like Razer whose gaming peripherals have become the benchmark to measure a product's quality. Their mice/keyboard sets have been lapped up by enthusiasts and have forced other industry majors to pull up their socks.

One such industry major is Logitech. A couple of years ago, they delivered the Logitech G5 mouse that not only measured up to the standards set by Razer, but went above and beyond by delivering an adjust weight balance system. This allowed a user to customize the weight of the mouse as per their preference with a series of removable weights. This innovation was welcomed by a lot of users as along with the sensitivity control of the mouse, it allowed them to customize the mouse to the kind of gameplay they were used to. Logitech has now introduced an upgraded edition of the G5 mouse – the G9. How does it fare against its predecessor? Let’s find out.

Apple today introduced the all-new next generation range of iPods – Nano, Classic and Touch – in India, bringing in video playback, an enhanced interface featuring Cover Flow, and a new design.The new iPod Nano features a 204 pixel per inch display that's 65 per cent brighter than the previous generation, and delivers 320 x 240 resolution. The iPod Nano delivers up to 24 hours of audio playback or five hours of video playback on a single charge. The device is encased in an all-metal design made of anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel, and comes in four colors – silver, black, blue and green.
"We’ve taken the most popular music player in the world and added stunning video playback. The iPod Nano just keeps getting better and better with each new generation," said Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs. "The first iPod put 1,000 songs in your pocket; this new iPod Classic can put 40,000 songs in your pocket," he added.
Available from today, the 4 GB version of the Nano in silver costs Rs. 8,800 and the 8 GB version in silver, black, blue and green is available for Rs. 11,400. The models include earbud headphones, a USB to 30-pin cable and a Universal Dock Connector.

The 80 GB version of the iPod Classic delivers up to 30 hours of music playback and five hours of video playback on a single charge while the 160 GB version delivers up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback. "Carrying the iPod classic is as good as carrying the hard disk of your personal computer," said Yeo Eng Yiong, senior product marketing manager (portables), Apple, Asia Pacific. Available from today, the 80 GB version costs Rs. 14,500 and the 160 GB version is available for Rs. 20,400.

Coming to the iPod Touch, the 8 GB version costs Rs. 17,700 while the 16 GB version costs Rs. 23,600. The iPod Touch is scheduled to be available in India in October. Though the iPod Touch was formally announced in India, the actual product has not yet hit the stores.
The iPods come with three preloaded games: Klondike (a Solitaire card game), Vortex (a fast-paced 360 degrees brick-bashing game) and iQuiz (entertainment trivia). Additional games can be purchased from the iTunes store. The iPods require a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.108 or later and iTunes 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home/Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.4

The Never-ending Graphics Cycle

The past few months have been relatively peaceful in the graphics scene. What with both ATI and NVIDIA having released their mainstream and lower end products a few months back, marking the end of the graphics lifecycle for the current generation. Going by the cyclical nature of this industry, the chipmakers are probably prepping enhancements to their existing products and unsurprisingly, the rumors have started to appear, with Digitimes quoting an unconfirmed date of November 12 for the next update of NVIDIA's GeForce 8 mid-range products, codenamed G92. For enthusiasts, it's time to start second guessing the likely performance of these new GPUs compared to the incumbents. No doubt, we can assume that ATI is working hard to massage its product lineup into a more palatable form, especially with its painful lack of a high-end contender to match NVIDIA. Meanwhile, we have taken the opportunity of this lull in graphics development to get our own testing completed for all contemporary graphics chipsets available now. Since this period is arguably a transition phase, with DirectX 10 still in its infancy, we have included both the GeForce 7 and 8 series from NVIDIA, along with ATI's Radeon X1000 and HD series in this graphics benchmarking comparison. Hopefully, our benchmarks will help you decide which graphics card best suit your needs now. So without further ado, we'll start with the major chipsets of the last generation, NVIDIA's GeForce 7 and ATI's Radeon X1000 series.Consolidation Vs Revolution (or G70 Vs R520)Personally, we feel that those two words best sums up the two different approaches taken by the two major graphics companies for the GeForce 7 and the Radeon X1000 series of graphics products. While NVIDIA further consolidated its position by building on the architecture of the successful GeForce 6, ATI went through a major architectural overhaul that eventually culminated in a production delay, with the end result the R520 debuting as a huge and comparatively warmer GPU that had the performance but couldn't compete in other ways with the earlier released G70 that was relatively cooler, cost less to manufacture and most importantly, were widely available in stores at a far earlier time frame.Widely anticipated, the R520 was released months after the G70. Supply was limited compared to the various GeForce 7 models already on retail shelves, making it in essence, a disappointing paper launch. On paper however, it was a rather impressive piece of engineering, with many new innovations like its ring bus memory architecture, a new ultra threaded shader engine, advanced HDR rendering and full Shader Model 3.0 support. A subsequent refresh, the Radeon X1900 series (using the R580 core) solved some of these issues and significantly improved the performance but the initial delay meant that ATI had a difficult task ahead recapturing the market with its expensive albeit powerful cards. NVIDIA had the upper hand when it came to sales figures and more misery was to follow for the red team. That about sums the events involving that generation of GPUs, so here's a rundown of the more commonly sought after cards in the retail market and their key specs:-
Key Highlights of the GeForce 7 and Radeon X1000 Series


Key Highlights of the GeForce 7 and Radeon X1000 Series -->
GPU/VPU
Core Code / Manufacturing Process
Vertex / Pixel Shader Unit Config
Clock Speeds (Core/Memory)
DDR Memory Bus
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 1GB
Dual G71 (90nm)
2 x (8 / 24)
500 / 1200MHz DDR
2 x 256-bit
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB
G71 (90nm)
8 / 24
650 /1600MHz DDR
256-bit
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT 512MB
G71 (90nm)
8 / 24
550 / 1400MHz DDR
256-bit
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS 256MB
G71 (90nm)
7 / 20
450 / 1320MHz DDR
256-bit
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT 256MB
G73 (90nm)
5 / 12
560 / 1400MHz DDR
128-bit
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS 256MB
G73 (90nm)
5 /12
400 / 800MHz DDR
128-bit
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB DDR2
G73 (90nm)
5 / 8
Mid-performance variant: 450 / 800MHz DDR
128-bit
ATI Radeon X1950 XTX 512MB DDR4
R580+ (90nm)
8 / 48
650 / 2000MHz DDR
256-bit
ATI Radeon X1950 XT 256MB
R580 (90nm)
8 / 48
625 / 1800MHz DDR
256-bit
ATI Radeon X1950 PRO 256MB
RV570 (80nm)
8 / 36
575 / 1380MHz DDR
256-bit
ATI Radeon X1950 GT 256MB
RV570 (80nm)
8 / 36
500 / 1200MHz DDR
256-bit
ATI Radeon X1650 XT 256MB
RV560 (80nm)
8 / 24
575 / 1380MHz DDR
128-bit
ATI Radeon X1650 PRO 256MB
RV530 (90nm)
5 / 12
600 / 1400MHz DDR
128-bit
ATI Radeon X1300 XT 256MB
RV530 (90nm)
5 / 12
500 / 800MHz DDR
128-bit
ATI Radeon X1300 PRO 256MB DDR2
RV515 (90nm)
2 / 4
600 / 800MHz DDR
128-bit

Dell XPS M1330 (Intel Santa Rosa)

Dell may be one of the top PC brands in the market today, but ask anyone about Dell notebooks and some of the most common replies you'll get will probably be "dull", "bland", "blocky" and "uninspiring". This has nothing to do with specifications or performance, but Dell has been using the same designs generation after generation and with the rise of lifestyle computing products from the likes of Apple, HP, Samsung and Sony, Dell's notebooks really do look archaic in comparison. Even Dell's acquisition of Alienware, a boutique PC brand, early last year did not seem to add any zest into their product line up. Instead, Dell has been experiencing a sluggish year, resulting in HP overtaking them in worldwide PC shipment numbers for the last quarter of 2006. Perhaps this has been a rude awakening for Dell, which has been languishing off their OEM-like approach to the consumer market for too long, but they've finally taken themselves to task with an overhaul of their Inspiron series into a younger, hipper and more attractive range.However, if there is one notebook that will put a stop to critics, it will be the focus of this review - Dell's new XPS M1330 ultraportable. Combining stellar design and the performance oriented approach of the XPS line, the M1330 may very well be singularly responsible for lifting Dell out of their slump in the notebook market.
Brand new XPS, bold new look. The XPS M1330 is one of the best looking Dells in a while.
Front view of the M1330. You can see the audio jacks as well as the memory card reader to the right.
To the right, you have the slot loaded optical drive, WiFi locator button and one extra USB port. Notice the tight integration of the components making full use of available space.
On the left, you have the I/O panel of the notebook including power since there is no space for any at the rear.
Rear view of the M1330. Battery back takes up the entire space, so there are no connectivity ports at the back. To the right, you should see the rear exhaust vent. Among Dell's notebook products, their XPS lineup represents the performance segment and one of the most noteworthy to date has been the XPS M1210, a 12.1-inch ultraportable that boasted features you would not usually find in such a small notebook such as discreet graphics and integrated optical drive. The M1210 raised and set the bar on the performance that ultraportables are capable of and achieved a sort of cult status among its users. As the successor to the M1210, the new M1330 is the ultraportable re-envisioned - performance, style and form factor combined.

Dell XPS M1330 Technical Specifications -->
Processor and Chipset
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T7700 (2.4GHz, 4MB L2)
Intel PM965 (ICH8)
Operating System
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
System Memory
2GB DDR2-667 System (2 x 1GB sticks) Memory
2 x DDR2 SO-DIMM Slots
Video & Display
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
256MB maximum supported graphics memory
128MB Dedicated
128MB TurboCache (shared system memory)
13.3-inch WXGA TrueLife LED widescreen display
Native resolution 1280 x 800
HDD
160GB SATA (Seagate Momentus 7200.2 - ST9160823AS)
7200RPM
8MB cache
Optical Drive
Integrated Slot-load DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer drive
Communication
Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection & Bluetooth 2.0
Audio
SigmaTel?STAC9228 HD Audio CODEC
Front & Side I/O Ports
2?x USB 2.0 ports
1 x RJ-45 (Gigabit LAN)
1 x FireWire (IEEE 1394)
1 x VGA analog output
1 x HDMI output
Integrated 8-in-1?memory card reader
Headphone and microphone jacks
1 x ExpressCard slot
Miscellaneous
Integrated 0.3-megapixel webcam
6-cell 56Wh Lithium-Ion battery
Dimension & Weight
337mm (L) x 248mm (W) x 26.6-38.7mm (H)
Approximately 2.0kg?with battery (6-cell)

Microsoft VX-7000 LifeCam

Microsoft Corp provides an exciting and easy new way to share photos and memories. Using the LifeCam VX-7000, you can easily share digital photos with friends and family and see their reactions in real time. In addition to advanced sharing capabilities, the camera also incorporates a 2.0MP sensor to deliver High Definition video (2.0MP) and still photography (7.6MP interpolated) and brings a sleek new design to desktop webcams.

In harmony S500i

In harmonyThe slim S500i keeps you in harmony with the world around you. Let desktop and menu themes change with the season; or as day turns to night.
What's in it?

Blog your lifeThe easy way to share your life in pictures. Take or choose a photo, add a little text and publish it for friends and family to enjoy

Integrated cameraBuilt-in digital camera with screen viewfinder, dedicated menus and direct interaction with in-phone imaging and messaging features.

Pre-installed gamesUnpack, turn on and play. Fun games are embedded in your phone, so there’s always something to amuse you when you’re at a loose end.

Light effectsPersonalize with unique light effects, and see your phone come alive every time a call comes in.

Links you likeForget cables - wireless is the way forward. Connect to other devices with Bluetooth™ to sync, share and send.
3-click music downloadsAudition and buy the Top Ten ringtones in three clicks. PlayNow™ is the fastest and easiest way to download a premium ringtone.Web whereverTruly mobile Internet lets you enjoy browsing the Web and manage your email effectively with the convenience of your phone, wherever you are.

Capture the actionVideo clips are ideal for those unexpected great moments that happen when you're out there, enjoying life.

More for your phoneGet exciting stuff for your phone at Sony Ericsson Fun & Downloads - the place to download games, ringtones, themes and much more.

BenQ-Siemens

BenQ-Siemens. I haven’t heard the name in a long time. But it seems like they’re very much around. Their handsets may have been a bit popular a long time ago, but the best I’ve seen lately have been some pretty low-end phones. The EF51 seems like a decent enough music phone for the mid-range consumer, but let’s see if it’s worth your hard-earned cash.
Form FactorAs odd as it may be for me to say, it’s a really cute phone, even a little girly perhaps. It has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi feel when it comes to its looks. A warped egg maybe? You decide. The EF51 has a small TFT display with a resolution of 128 x 128 pixels and 256k colors. The keypad is right behind the music player panel in front. So all you have to do is flip it open. The keys on the pad may seem small, but they’re easy to use.

On one side you’ll find a dedicated voice recorder key followed by the volume keys and the dedicated camera key. There’s also the proprietary charging port. On the other side is the proprietary earphone / USB socket, but thankfully BenQ-Siemens has provided a converter to 3.5mm. Underneath this socket is the miniSD card slot. The EF51 weighs in at 95g which also makes it a light mobile phone aside from being small.

Preview: Sony Ericsson K770i

SURPRISE!!!A Quick Look at the Upcoming Sony Ericsson K770iIf you are looking for the latest Cyber-shot mobile phone offering from Sony Ericsson, look no further as we bring you a small sneak peek of Sony Ericsson's upcoming star, the K770i right here at www.hardwarezone.com.Appearing in three different colors, violet, white and brown, with each having its own distinct allure to suit different lifestyles, consumers can easily find a match to complement their fashion sense. For all you fashionistas out there, the phone is impressively slim and lightweight as well. At only 95 grams and 14.5 millimeters thick, this 3G mobile phone from Sony Ericsson is out to cater to all your shutterbug wants and mobility needs. Holding it in our hands, it feels just right as it fits perfectly into our palms with its small footprint. In addition, the back casing is flushed with no protruding camera parts like the Sony Ericsson K800i, so it should fit into most pockets without being too obtrusive and bulky. For its size, the K770i manages to install a broad keypad design as well, which didn't hurt the fingers when too much pressure was applied, unlike the small buttons on the T650i.

Having the Sony Ericsson K770i prototype in our hands, which is shiny and compact, we started churning out a sneak peek just for our readers. We especially like the artistic change in Sony Ericsson's recent phones, which has successfully featured sleeker designs and bold looks. With the K770i, it seems Sony Ericsson may have another hit among consumers looking for a compact phone without too much compromise.
Three new colors for different characters and lifestyle would put consumers in a situation where they are spoilt for choice.

Slim and handy Sony Ericsson K770i Cyber-shot mobile phones are shown here exposing the flushed back and the 3.2 megapixel camera. As a Cyber-shot mobile phone, the K770i packs a 3.2 megapixel camera in its sleek body, as well as autofocus capabilities and a built-in flash. It also comes with a decently sized 1.9 inch TFT display screen and also various illumination effects. One of the new functions that comes with the K770i is called 'Photo Fix' whereby users are able to edit, adjust and literally fix an image within the confines of the mobile phone without having to link it to a PC and have an external software do the job.Talk time on the K770i is estimated by Sony Ericsson to be 10 hours on a GSM network and 2.5 hours on a 3G network while standby time can go up to 16 days.In addition to the announcement of the K770i into the market by Sony Ericsson, they have another notable release up their sleeves. This is the brand new white version of the W660i, which was recently featured here as well. The following image gives you a glimpse of the all white W660i.
The white colored Sony Ericsson W660i Walkman mobile phone yet to be presented in the stores but it really is just as sleek as it looks.

Medal Of Honour:Airborne

"Just another World War II shooter" is what I thought of Medal of Honor: Airborne (MoHA) initially. To an extent I was right – the game isn’t revolutionary like MoH: Allied Assault was in its time, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for the Medal of Honor series. What the series has lost in the evolutionary sense, it’s more than made up for with the one thing that can save any franchise – the fun factor.

MoHA lingers somewhere on the borderline of a strategic shooter and a complete Nazi fragfest. Although the strategy involved is restricted to taking cover when needed and flanking the enemy from time to time, it’s enough to ensure that you don’t go about the game like another Serious Sam. The reason I draw the comparison is that the number of enemies thrown at you is enough to populate a small country. That isn’t such a bad thing though, since it keeps the mood of the game frantic and the action as intense as possible.

The intensity of the game isn’t just the product of the sheer number of enemies however; what enhances it is the fact that you parachute onto the battlefield and land amidst all the action. Getting into battle this way was a little disorienting at first, since I ended up landing slightly off the safe zones (marked by green smoke) and right into enemy territory. Once I got the hang of it though, I was able to land on my feet and start unloading my ammunition on to some Nazi faces instantly. Getting into battle this way feels awesome initially, but it becomes a drag way too soon.

An area of the game that never comes under the dark cloud of drudgery is the gunplay. You’ve got to give credit to EA Los Angeles for the amount of effort they’ve put into making the guns sound and feel as authentic as possible. Indeed, if the guns were any more realistic they’d perforate your ear drums. They feel nice and clunky, each having its own amount of recoil that’s very well balanced with its power.



To ensure that you don’t get bored of the gunplay, they’ve even pumped a very addictive 'gun upgrade' system. The more you use a gun the more experience you get with it. You can accumulate enough experience to upgrade the gun three times (automatically). The thing I love about the upgrades is that the difference between the upgraded and un-upgraded versions of the gun is massive. Even the types of upgrades you get vary from gun to gun – some gain a scope while another gets you an extra barrel of ammunition.