The new Apple TV

Apple TV wowed the tech world when Steve Jobs unveiled it at a recent press conference but does it live up to its promise to change the way we watch TV? WhatClinic.com‘s Caelen King got his hands on the device to find out.

Having casually read up on the Apple’s latest attempt to crack the set top box market I knew before I ordered one that it would be small, but I still wasn’t fully prepared for just how small it is. You can see it here in the picture beside an iPhone 3G.

Apple’s previous TV box lived in a much bigger case like their other add-on devices, the Time Machine and Airport Extreme. The reason for this was simple – it had to be able to house a hard disk and have space on the back for component audio and video sockets. The new model does away with both of these features leaving it incredibly compact. They’ve also gone with a stylish black finish, making it look more at home sitting beside the majority of TVs on the market.

The connections on the back of the current model are simple: power, HDMI, micro USB (for servicing only), optical audio out and Ethernet. With pretty much all TVs having HDMI connections now, the lack of component audio and video isn’t that big a deal. The video output is limited to 720p though, which seems like a deliberate ploy to sell a new model in 12 months that supports 1080p.

One of the reasons that the video is limited to 720p must relate (in a roundabout way) to the lack of a hard drive in this model. Apple have jumped the gun a little and decided that this device can only stream content, so limiting the resolution to 720p dramatically reduces the maximum bandwidth required. The streaming works in two ways – you can rent a movie directly using your iTunes account, or you can stream from your own iTunes library.

There are a few major flaws with this decision. Here in Ireland we only recently got access to some of the films available on iTunes. We still don’t have access to TV programmes, leaving a really large chunk of the Apple TV’s potential usefulness unavailable. It is easy enough to get around this by buying a US iTunes gift card (and following the instructions all over the internet), but we shouldn’t have to get around these restrictions. Someone in the distribution chain is dragging their heels in getting content released as widely as possible.

Secondly, if you want to stream content you have already downloaded and stored on a NAS you need to leave a connected computer with iTunes installed running because the streaming runs over Apple’s own Home Sharing system. This almost defeats the purpose of the Apple TV box, as most modern games consoles and even some TVs can handle direct computer to TV streaming without any add-ons.

There is no denying that the Apple TV itself is beautifully designed, as is the UI when you use it, but taking all the limitations listed above into account it remains a nice-to-have toy rather than an essential piece of kit. Expect that to change though as more features are rolled out both in software (see the upcoming iOS 4.2) and hardware (in future models).

This is a guest post by Caelen King of WhatClinic.com

Buy the Apple TV from Apple.com:

The Canon Powershot SX210IS

The Canon Powershot SX210IS is a nice mid-level device for those want a little extra from their camera without having to break the bank, says Adam Maguire.

Canon’s Powershot range has traditionally been the company’s bridge between its consumer-level IXUS and professional-level EOS brands. The SX210IS sits at the lower end of this, taking more of the form of a consumer device than a low-rent SLR.

That is not to say it is under-powered. Sporting a 14.1 megapixel sensor and a 14x optical zoom the device offers plenty of punch despite being in quite a compact-like body. To compliment that the camera also has a Digic 4 processor – the same used in the company’s DSLRs – a 3″ widescreen display for viewing the photos you’ve taken.

In terms of features the camera is equally feature-laden. Besides all the usual presets there is also plenty of sensors – like low-light, motion and – interestingly – blink detection. The camera also offers HD video recording and includes a HDMI-out port for easy connection to a TV.

Physically the camera has a simple, squared design which fits easily into anything but the tightest of pockets. All its bells and whistles are kept nicely tucked away when the device is powered down, with the flash only popping up when it is turned on.

The controls and menu system will be familiar to anyone who has already used a canon camera. There is a click-wheel that features all the various presets at the top while a second one towards the bottom is more contextual, allowing users to scroll quickly through photos or navigate through menus depending on the situation.

There are a few notable errors in the design, however. The most notable is the lack of a regular view-finder, meaning you have to rely on the LCD screen to see what you are about to take. Most of the time this is not an issue but obviously in darker settings it can prove unreliable.

The fact that the flash automatically pops up when the device is powered on is also a bit odd – it would prove more useful if it only popped up when a photo was about to be taken in a dark area – but this is hardly the worst thing in the world.

Overall the SX210IS is a quality and easy-to-use camera, especially for anyone who has had another Canon camera. The quality of the images are strong too, even if you just rely on the ‘Auto’ setting to get your results. The additional option of HD video is also extremely handy to have available.

In short, for its price, the Powershot SX210IS is a camera worth getting, either for users stepping up for a compact or looking for a powerful but portable alternative to their DSLR. The price is quite reasonable too, meaning it will not break the bank if you do decide to take the plunge.

Buy the Canon Powershot Sx210IS from Pixmania.ie:

The Blackberry Bold 9700

Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) has struggled in the smartphone space lately but the Bold 9700 shows it is still a company with something to offer, says Adam Maguire.

The Blackberry Bold is the kind of phone you would expect from RIM. It has a neat, pocket-friendly body, a fairly business-focused design and a full QWERTY keyboard on the front for easy typing.

It links in with ease to e-mail accounts, though this is not the unique selling point it once was, and also offers web-browsing and standard phone functions and features.

Of course Blackberry has not escaped the ever-increasing pressure of the modern smartphone market. It too offers Twitter and Facebook integration, though only if users want to download the small applications that allow it, it has a pretty decent camera with flash and also has access to an app store for users to further kit out their devices.

What it does not have is a touch-screen, something that probably goes in its favour considering the quite notable failure of the Blackberry Storm and Storm 2. This is something that will probably alienate many regular consumers but delight just as many on the business-side.

Thankfully navigation and text input is quite easy to do, even without any kind of screen to maul in the process. Instead of the previous navigation ball there is now a square pad in the centre of the phone which can best be compared to the trackpad found on a standard laptop. It takes a bit of getting used to but is responsive and straight-forward, assuming you can be precise enough with your movements.

The keyboard is also just right, even for those users with bulky thumbs. The way each key is raised makes it easy enough to enter text on the blind and after a little bit of practice this will likely prove a more efficient way of typing than any other device-type out there.

That said the lack of a touch-screen – or at the very least the space taken up by the keyboard – means that the device is limited in what it can do. The web-browser is fine but the small screen means almost all web-pages need to be zoomed in on in order to become legible. The camera takes a decent picture but you would not really know that until you upload it to a PC, and so on.

As good as the Blackberry Bold 9700 is there is no getting away from the fact that this is a company sticking to what it knows best and not really innovating all that much. Yes, it works well and is sure to delight many Blackberry veterans but will do very little to stem the slow drip of customers away from RIM and to companies like Apple and HTC.

Assuming you are a long-time Blackberry user and simply want more of the same this device is just what you are looking for. If you feel like you would miss out in a world of limited apps and screen real estate perhaps you will need to look elsewhere.

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Buy the Blackberry Bold 9700 from O2.ie:

The Apple iPad is imperfect but superb nonetheless

It may not re-invent computing but the Apple iPad does bring it a step closer to perfection, says Adam Maguire.

It’s the most over-hyped piece of technology the world has seen since… well… the iPhone. Curiously it is also the most criticised product Apple has released since the Newton, most of this coming before it was even available in the shops.

The iPad is Apple’s attempt to apply the successes of its iPhone into the ultra-portable computing category. This is the company’s unique swing at a netbook, albeit one without the low price-point and ‘Everything you’d get in a PC only smaller’ selling point.

Physically the device is an over-sized iPhone – the 3GS version that is. Its 9.7in screen is surrounded by that familiar black frame and cushioned below by the now iconic ‘home’ button that has graced the iPhone in all its varieties.

The back is curved aluminium with little to say for itself other than the Apple logo and some other minor details.

The software too is more than an echo of the iPhone. It runs iOS – the same operating system as Apple’s phone – and uses the same kind of menu structure but in a larger form.

But it is not a large iPhone – for a start it lacks the ability to make calls (officially) and does not even have a camera to take photographs or more importantly conduct video calls.

It is not a laptop either, not least because it lacks any physical keyboard but also because its OS limits its functionality to whatever Apple allows in its App Store.

So what is the point of the iPad?

Put simply, this device is a match made in heaven for casual computing.

The iPad excels where you want to quickly reference something online without having to power up a PC. It comes into its own when you quickly want to listen to a song but do not want to rifle through your CDs to do so. It stands head and shoulders above the competition if you want to play a quick game without having to set up your TV and console.

The battery life on the device is good, in fact you can easily see it holding up for days on end when left idle, but is ready for action the minute you hit the ‘home’ button.

Of course it can be so much more than this – its superb screen and App Store access gives it potential to be a workhorse as much as a design aid – but primarily it succeeds as a device for dipping in to.

However it is clear that the iPad is – like the iPhone – a device that will improve in stages, and improve it must. There are a number of glaring omissions from the tablet which really hold it back from being perfect and you cannot help but feel that it was a tactical decision by Apple.

As mentioned already there is no camera, so no video calls or conferencing can be made.

At present there is no multi-tasking and even when there is it is not going to be as easy to flick between items as it is on a traditional desktop.

The lack of any real interface – USB, HDMI or otherwise – makes the iPad a very 2D device in terms of its place in the digital home. It can only talk to iTunes and only when physically tethered; the ability to have it interact with a phone, TV and whatever else is an exciting idea that’s sadly over-looked.

All of these issues will be resolved eventually if they are not being so already. Even with them intact the iPad is a surprisingly natural and enjoyable piece of technology to use.

It is not the most powerful, it will not replace your computer (yet) but it is the kind of thing that you will wonder how you did without once you have one.

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Buy the Apple iPad from Apple.com:

The Samsung Galaxy S

The Samsung’s latest swing at an Android device is a huge leap forward on the Galaxy Spica but it’s far from flawless, writes Adam Maguire.

The Samsung Galaxy S is very much a deceptively designed phone. At first glance you would be forgiven for thinking it was an iPhone 3GS as physically it bears a striking resemblance, right down to the ‘home button’ in the bottom centre and the silver edging around the screen.

Once you switch on the phone you would be equally forgiven for thinking the device runs on Samsung’s own Bada OS – in fact it is identical in layout to the Samsung Wave and even features a link to the Samsung App Store.

These similarities to existing devices are actually a good thing – especially when compared to Samsung’s first attempt at an Android phone. That was the Galaxy Spica and was disappointing in regards to its hardware and software, particularly as the version of Android used on it was little more than the bare-bones Google OS.

The Galaxy S has plenty on the competition, however. It sports a 4″ Super AMOLED; which makes for a very sharp picture; a HD video recorder with HD playback and a fairly decent battery to keep the show running for as long as possible.

The use of a Bada-style interface means the menu system is easy to navigate and its access to not one but two app stores (though one – Samsung’s – is very limited) gives it plenty of potential to adapt to a user’s needs over time.

The phone also fits well in the hand and pocket and looks good too, no doubt due to the ‘less is more’ approach that Samsung have taken in regards to design.

There are minor flaws with the phone, however, though they could be enough to put certain types of user off.

The SMS interface in particular is frustrating, with the best example of that being the fact that opening a new message is not enough to have it marked as ‘read’ (you have to go back to the inbox folder for that to happen – if you go straight from the message back to the home screen the phone will still mark the  message as new).

Trying to text is a bit of a chore too, particularly because the built-in predictions are often bizarrely wide of the mark. Samsung should look to take a leaf out of HTC and Apple’s book here if they want to save their users much annoyance in this area.

As seems to be a trend with Samsung phones in general the maximum volume of the phone’s ringer is also quite low, making it easy to miss incoming messages and even calls if the device is not right beside you.

As already stated these are minor complaints but they are central enough to become a big problem for an otherwise quality phone.

All that considered the Galaxy S is still a huge leap from the company’s previous Android attempts and is up there with what the likes of HTC are already doing. If they can keep this up you would have to wonder what the need for Bada is at all.

Samsung has been one of the most enthusiastic adopters of Google’s Android operating system but the Wave sees the company run a phone on its own Bada software for the first time. So is it a strong competitor in an increasingly competitive space?

In physical dimensions alone the Samsung Wave is an attractive and impressive phone. It houses a 3.3” screen in a solid steel body and is quite slimmer and lighter than other devices on the market. The aforementioned screen is a “Super AMOLED” display and gives extremely sharp picture quality without being too much of a drain on the battery; it is also a very responsive touchscreen.

As far as the rest of the specs go it is all fairly standard. A 5mp camera with flash sits on the back, it has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth and its standard headphone jack allows it to double-up easily as an mp3 player or FM radio.

The operating system itself will be somewhat familiar to anyone who has used a Samsung phone with its TouchWiz interface; such as the Tocco. The Wave appears much the same, albeit with a far more polished finish and greater depth to the customisation options.

Just like Android users are able to have multiple screens which can be populated with different widgets. There are three static buttons at the bottom – the default being shortcuts to the keypad, contacts book and messages folder – but all of this can be moved around if users so wish.

The main menu also has multiple pages and can be edited to a user’s heart’s content. There is also a neat notifications tab at the top of the screen which can be pulled down to quickly switch WiFi, Bluetooth and Silent Mode on and off. Users can also access new messages quickly from there much as they can in Android.

All of this is executed extremely well. The phone has a very simple feel and takes a lot of its leads from Android OS without copying it too much. The keyboard and predictive text on messaging is also extremely responsive and accurate – something that will make this far more attractive than most touchscreen handsets.

There are flaws, however. The e-mail interface is quite lacking and awkward to use – it fails completely when compared with the iPhone’s system and Androids. There are also a few quirks that make it harder to jump from one SMS to the other.

The Samsung App store is also quite lacking at the moment but this is something that will right itself eventually, assuming Samsung give proper support to Bada and developers see a market in writing code for it.

Overall, however, the Samsung Wave is a very enjoyable phone to use and it certainly holds its own against much of its competition. It is not the best smartphone out there but it holds a lot of promise. Most importantly Bada also has the potential to be a very strong operating system, though it will take other manufacturers to get behind it and a few of its tweaks to be ironed out for that to ever be realised.

Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10 - good but not great

The Xperia X10 looks and feels like a real smartphone challenger but the implementation of Android is lacking, stopping it from having the punch needed to compete with HTC and Apple.

Overview:

The Xperia X10 hits all the right points in terms of its specification.

Its decent-sized touchscreen, though not the sharpest out there, is of good quality. The 8.1mp camera gives decent results on shots and includes facial recognition tagging. It has a decent battery which – during trialling – could last up to 2 days without a recharge (though only with the help of an App Killer, as is a pre-requisite for all Android phones). There is also all your standard connectivity – WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS – and media playback functions.

All of this acts as a good base for an Android phone and Sony Ericsson have put some effort into customising the software for themselves but it is lacklustre in certain areas. This is most apparent in its ‘Timescape’ function (see below) which seems quite in-depth but proves to be impractical in practice.

Sadly the touchscreen itself is also not as responsive as it should be. For general usage it is fine but for certain things – like moving apps around or even trying to unlock the screen – it is far too easy for contact to ‘drop’, which can get frustrating.

The latter issue is the bigger of the two as Timescape can easily be bypassed if desired, however it should be stressed the screen is not bad – it is just lacking.

Overall the hardware and software combine well – something that is often a hurdle too high for Android phones – and the device looks slick enough to appease the eye.

What is Timescape?

Billed as the big draw of this phone, Timescape is intended to be a social networking hub, where all of people’s communications – from Twitter to Facebook to SMS – is pulled together and displayed in one stream.

In reality this is a bad interface to try to use, especially when you want to quickly scan through a long list of tweets or facebook updates. In reality, heavy users of both services would be better off downloading dedicated clients through the Android Market rather than relying on Timescape for such updates.

What is impressive is the phone’s ability to collate all communications with a single contact across various platforms into one place – including pictures you may have of them on your phone (there’s that facial recognition technology again). Unfortunately this requires a bit of messing around from the user’s end as the phone is not generally smart enough to connect Twitter accounts and phone contacts together by itself. When it does work it works well, however.

And Mediascape?

Sony Ericsson’s other bit of custom software – Mediascape – is far better. Here all the phone’s video, picture and audio content is made available in a handy grid interface, probably one of the better seen on an Android phone.

It is easy to navigate and even has a connection to online content via Sony’s own PlayNow service – though this obviously assumes the user has a connection and account here.

Verdict:

All this considered the Xperia X10 is a good but not great phone. It looks good and has a nice screen, while its software and UI flaws are minor enough to be easily avoided.

It is not the best advertisement for Android, however, and very much has the feeling of a phone-based experiment of sorts. But as a first real attempt at Android Sony Ericsson have done OK – hopefully future versions or even a software update will iron out the cracks.

The Samsung Wave

As a debut for Samsung’s Bada operating system and app platform there is a lot of expectation behind the company’s new Wave smartphone, so does it stand up to scrutiny?

Here’s a first impression run-through from teic.ie with a full review to follow soon:

The device

Physically speaking the Samsung Wave makes a good first impression. It is slim, light and solid, with a casing design reminiscent of the Tocco Ultra (though without the slide-out keyboard).

Far from the more “plasticy” feel of previous Samsung handsets, like the Jet or Galaxy Spica, this device has a metallic body hosting a handful of neatly-placed buttons. It also does a good job of tucking away the various inputs – the 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top, beside the microUSB port that is hidden behind a sliding cover.

The screen

The Wave’s screen is easily one of the most striking aspects of the phone when first turned on. It’s a 3.3″ ‘Super AMOLED’, which translates to an extremely crisp and bright display.

Perhaps most importantly it is solid and very responsive – easily one of the better touchscreens used on a smartphone and up there with what HTC and maybe even Apple offer.

The operating system

A lot has been made of Bada – Samsung’s open source attempt at competing with Android, Windows Mobile and Apple’s iOS. However for people who have used other touchscreen Samsung devices using the TouchWiz interface this will seem fairly familiar, albeit slightly more polished.

That is not necessarily a bad thing and the polish applied has made it all the better, for example the pull-down bar is a very handy way to read notifications and chance WiFi, Bluetooth and Audio settings. The keyboard is also decent, as is the ability for the OS to know what you meant to type even if you mis-hit keys, this is helped in no small part by the aforementioned responsive screen.

However there are still a lot of weaknesses in the design too, for example the e-mail interface is still weak and navigating from one place to another is not always as logical as it should be.

The apps

It’s still early days for Samsung Apps so unsurprisingly there is very little to chose from at the moment. The fact that there are no paid-for apps available – in Ireland at least – limits this further.

At first glance there are no real stand-out apps available and no big-name developers doing anything of interest at the moment.

The battery

Battery life has been a major sticking point of touch-based smartphones but Samsung seem to have struck something with this device. Despite having a sharp-looking screen the battery seems to hold up fairly well.

Exactly how long it lasts will take a bit more time to gauge but on a first charge the battery seemed to last with ease for well over 24 hours, even as much as 48 even with WiFi on constantly, Bluetooth on intermittently and plenty of 3G-based browsing and calls/texts made during that time.

Epson's P6000 Multimedia Storage Viewer

When compared to a shiny laptop, a top of the range camera or a cutting edge phone a ‘multimedia storage viewer’ is unlikely to excite. The truth is such a device is not going to get many hearts racing but for the likes of professional photographers this may be the technology of their dreams.

Anything but pocket-sized, the P-6000 takes the shape of an oversized digital camera, albeit one without the lens on the front. Its bulky, rectangular frame sports an array of buttons, connectors and inputs along with a striking 4” LCD screen on the back. Inside the device hosts a 80GB or 160GB hard-drive, a USB-in and out port, A/V out, a headphone jack and an SD and CF card reader.

The purpose of Epson’s creation is to act as a PC by-pass for media files such as audio, video and pictures. As the array of inputs listed above suggest, it can be hooked up and synced with most types of portable device quite easily and has all the right outputs to allow users to enjoy them without powering up their laptops.

At its simplest the P-6000 offers a handy way of looking at photos on a decent screen. Most digital cameras now – even professional DSLRs – tend to offer screens that only give you an idea of the photo taken so the extra few inches and better resolution will be good for those left unsatisfied.

For more advanced users – using particular types of camera – they can also tether the device while shooting, meaning the P6000 acts as a better display while lining up shots. As one would expect from a mainly printer-based company the P-6000 also adheres to the PictBridge standard, which means that it can be connected to compatible printers without the need for a PC.

Perhaps more useful is the easy back-up function which allows users to copy their files onto the P-6000′s hard-drive in seconds. This not only means users have added peace of mind but it also allows them to make space on their camera’s card without having to lose important pictures.

This, however, is unlikely to be important to all but the heaviest of camera users as most will get all the space they need from a 2GB SD card. Likewise the P-6000 is not going to be all that attractive as a portable media player even though it can handle and play-back various formats; that is something companies like Archos do in far more practical and stylish ways.

Instead Epson’s creation is really a toy for the professional and semi-professional photographer who often works with few PC pit stops in between. The fact that the device can sync with Adobe’s Bridge software for image transfers and can be used as a USB display within Photoshop only cements that.

All of this comes at a fairly high price, however, meaning that even professionals may think twice about investing in one. Indeed if you are all that serious about photography you might decide that a new lens and a handful of 4GB SD cards would be a better way to spend your money than this.

The HTC HD2

HTC’s HD2 is a powerful smartphone with a superb touchscreen that rivals anything else on the market but its use of Windows Mobile as an operating system is the one thing that holds it back from being truly great.

Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has had a good year in Ireland and internationally. Its Hero handset, available from Meteor at the moment, has sold well and received much praise while it’s work with Google and the Android platform has turned plenty of heads over the past twelve months.

The company has been prolific too, launching numerous handsets towards the end of 2009 and lining up a lot more for the first half of 2010. Its HD2 is the first of these handsets to reach Irish shores and on paper at least it is a very significant opening gambit for the year ahead.

Sporting a substantial but responsive and sharp 4.3” touchscreen the HD2 instantly stakes a claim as a phone worthy of attention, while its 1GHz Snapdragon processor promises to cater to all tasks asked of it with the minimum of fuss.

Despite this large screen – and the beefy tech under the hood – the phone is surprisingly sleek and slim, fitting relatively comfortably in a jeans or shirt pocket and not weighing too much to become a nuisance.

However it is not its physical appearance that is the problem.

The phone itself runs on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6, though not that you would know too quickly thanks to the sterling work done by HTC to hide it. The aging operating system, built for a time before touchscreens really caught on, is glossed over with the company’s impressive Sense user interface (UI) and is generally very usable and intuitive.

A good house built on bad foundations is still going to have its problems, however, and so does the HD2. At times the Windows Mobile interface peeks through the Sense UI and does its best to frustrate – usually by giving users a button too small to press with their finger. Its functions – particularly when it comes to simple settings – are also scattered around in an odd way and at best hard to find in less than a minute.

Of course it would not be Windows without a few crashes either and the HD2 provided plenty of them; though bear in mind that the unit reviewed was pre-release and so could have problems that have been ironed out by release.

That said the device would become unresponsive at times, horrendously slow at others and downright unco-operative at the drop of a hat; resulting in many restarts and battery removals to try to set things straight.

It is a shame to see too as the HD2 is clearly a superb phone just waiting to prove its might against anything else on the market – if only for the iffy software. In terms of hardware the thing is absolutely spot on and if HTC were to re-release it with an equally polished version of Google’s Android 2.1 it would certainly be a very tempting proposition.

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Buy the HTC HD2 from O2.ie:

Microsoft's Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000

With the kind of style you would not usually associate with Microsoft, this portable keyboard is sure to be a useful accessory for netbook users that find their keyboards to be that little bit too fiddly.

Keyboards are not exactly something you would – or for that matter should – get too excited about. That said they are extremely important tools for very obvious reasons – they are a critical part of what makes a computer work.

Simply having the alphabet and relevant punctuation is not quite enough for the modern keyboard, however. Firstly there are ergonomic concerns, with the traditional keyboard being blamed for many a maimed carpal tunnel. Secondly as the computer becomes more a device of the sitting room it must go beyond functionality and have a somewhat respectable look about them.

Last but not least – as is the general trend of computing – keyboards that are free of wires are now becoming the standard, simply for the sake of convenience. With its Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 Microsoft appears to be doing what it can to address all of these elements.

The layout of the keyboard itself is based on the company’s ‘curve’, meaning the keys bend upwards at both end to somewhat match the natural positioning of the hands. It is not a fully ergonomic layout but it is a lot closer to it than the standard laptop or computer design. This altered pattern takes a little bit of getting used to at first with it being very easy to hit wrong key while typing – it does not take too long to adjust once you give it time, however.

The curved design does have the added benefit of making the keyboard that little bit more easy on the eye; the extremely slim casing also makes it quite a neat fit on the desk.

Last but not least, as the name suggests, the keyboard connects to the computer via Bluetooth, meaning it does not require any kind of USB connection to work. The downside of this, of course, is that it will only work on laptops or computers with Bluetooth built-in. This is something that is increasingly common on new computers and if yours does not have it you can always buy an attachment for a relatively small cost.

Connecting to the computer is easy to do generally, although it can some times take a bit of trial and error for both devices to find each other and ‘pair’ properly. Once you have done it the keyboard should remember the computer and vice versa, meaning you can turn it off and not have to worry about going through the motions again when you switch it on. The keyboard also comes with a separate numeric pad which also connects via Bluetooth – and it should be no problem to have either one or both connected at the same time.

Overall this keyboard is quite a nice replacement for the bog-standard one that tends to come with new PCs. It would also be a very handy addition for netbook users who type a lot but find the keyboard a little bit too small. It may defeat the purpose of having a netbook if you have to lug around a load of accessories along with it but as the name suggests this is quite portable and will not add to much weight or bulk to your bag.

The Samsung Galaxy Spica is not a good advertisement for Google's Android

Samsung’s Galaxy Spica boasts the Android OS and a heap of solid specs under its hood but the handset is a poorly-designed disappointment, says Adam Maguire.

Technology giant Samsung has done extremely well in the touchscreen phone market to date – its Tocco and Tocco Lite handsets have sold well in the mid-market while its Jet has pushed hard against comparable devices from rival companies.

None of these mobiles were pitched as smartphones, however, and always lacked the additional functionality to make them more than a slick-looking yet standard phone.

Another feature they shared is that they all ran on Samsung’s attractive though limited proprietary operating system, a trend that the Galaxy Spica breaks.

Based on the open source operating system Android – the creation of which was spear-headed by Google – this phone has a much wider variety of capabilities as well as access to a growing application store.

In terms of spec the Galaxy Spica is good – it has a 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touch display, a microSD slot , an 800MHz processor and a 3 megapixel camera on the back.

The body of the phone is laden with buttons – fourteen in total – far more than you would usually see on a touchscreen device; while the housing itself is plastic with a rubberised back.

Android as an operating system is good, even though its implementation here feels slightly weak. The menu structure is easy to navigate, it is highly customisable and it is responsive and easy to use when texting or sending e-mails.

However the qualities of the system are overshadowed by the phone itself, which has a number of major flaws.

The device itself is quite ugly – a far cry from some of the sleeker phones Samsung itself has produced in the past. The plastic body feels quite cheap too, although not so much with the white version of the device.

More importantly the phone does not sit well in the hand and feels bulkier than most others – even though it is not all that different on paper.

Its problems are not just superficial – a number of small problems in the user interface lead to a lot of annoyance over a period of time.

For example, while the phone’s lock de-activates the touchscreen and most buttons it does not do the same for the hang-up/power button, which is easily hit while in the pocket. This rarely ends in the phone switching off by accident – largely due to Android’s need for confirmation of a power-off – but it does mean you have to exit out of the dialogue almost every time you take the phone from your pocket, which is frustrating.

Another problem is the phone’s ringer volume, which is surprisingly low. Even at full blast it is easy to miss messages or calls coming through, particularly if the ringtone used is a short one.

The placement of the camera button – at the bottom right-hand side of the phone – is also troublesome as it is hit accidentally far too easily, activating the camera function.

On the plus side the phone’s touchscreen is responsive for the most part and it is good to see Samsung put standard headphone sockets in more of their phones.

However these small saving graces to not take away from the fact that this phone feels rushed and half-hearted. This is far from the standard that Samsung has shown in some handsets in the past year and it is also nowhere near as good as its Android-based competitors.

It can only be hoped that the next Samsung/Android handset to hit Irish shores can do a better job.

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Buy the Samsung Galaxy Spica from O2.ie:

Palm's Pre is good but not great

Palm’s long-awaited ‘iPhone killer’ has finally hit Irish shores and while it is a likeable phone in many ways it fails to pack a punch that would threaten Apple or Nokia.

Palm was once the king of the personal digital assistant (PDA) but unfortunately for the company by the time such a device became popular the likes of the Blackberry had taken over.

Since then Palm has ticked along quietly in the background and skirted death once or twice for good measure – at least until Bono’s Elevation Partners invested $325m in the company for a 25% stake in 2007, two years before the Palm Pre was unveiled.

It would not be fair to say that the Pre is an iPhone clone, or indeed a clone of a clone. The phone does house a glossy touchscreen but beyond that it tries hard to blaze its own trail.

The most notable thing that makes the Pre different is its slide-out QWERTY keyboard – something that adds slightly to the device’s dimensions but not significantly. The keyboard is sure to be a welcome reprieve from those who cannot abide touchscreen typing however it does take a bit of getting used to as the keys are so small – that said there are far worse out there in the smartphone market.

On the software-side the Pre runs the new webOS operating system, which uses an attractive ‘cards’ system to let users run and switch between multiple applications easily. As part of this it utilises gestures quite a lot and thankfully does a good enough job as not to make them feel ‘gimmicky’.

As nice as the Palm operating system is, however, it is arguably the route of the phone’s main problem.

Apple has yet to allow multi-tasking on the iPhone and going by the Pre’s often slow performance you can see why. When attempting to open even a basic application like the phone’s clock there is a noticeable lag between selecting the icon and it opening fully – even when there is nothing else running in the background. Not only does this happen when opening programmes but also when running them, for example switching between days in the calendar often takes longer than it really should.

It can only be assumed that the operating system itself is sucking a lot of the phone’s power away to other tasks but regardless of the reason it is disappointing.

The simple fact that the phone seems to struggle with basic application processes takes away significantly from the whole experience and leaves you feeling very underwhelmed. Once you start including applications and power-hungry processes like games this kind of problem can only get worse and it is hard to see how it would be fixed by anything other than a total hardware revision.

Overall the Pre is a nice phone with a few eccentricities; the speed issue is critical, however. The company has shown it can do something different and make a good job of it – unfortunately in this case it just does not feel like it is good enough.

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Buy the Palm Pre from O2.ie:

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8000

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8000 is a great printer for any small office or home user but its lack of scanning abilities takes the shine off even if it does save on space.

It is easy to assume that one printer is as good as the other when you are looking at them in the shop but the minor flaw that is apparent at first soon becomes a massive failure when you face it down every day.

The speed, noise and ease of use of a printer all become significantly important very shortly after the ‘new toy’ feeling has passed and the less you have to think about these things – and your printer in general – the more likely it is that it is doing a good job.

In short, printers are a headache – some are just less of a headache than others.

When it comes to the HP OfficeJet Pro 8000, however, the user is likely to have little more than a mild twinge.

Designed, as the name suggests, for the office as opposed to the home this device is neatly packaged and easy on the eye. It is easy on the brain too and initial set up of the device is relatively pain-free and quick, even when it comes to software installation.

For all intents and purposes the Pro 8000 is a fairly flair-free printer – tellingly so given its lack of buttons and options on the front of the device. The one little trick it does hold up its sleeve is its built-in WiFi which is thankfully becoming a standard across printing devices.

What is most enjoyable at HP’s implementation of WiFi in this instance, however, is the fact that it works. Not just some of the time but – in the case of the trial unit used for the purposes of this review – all of the time. Again, set-up of this is simple and once it is installed it just does what it is told, even from the other side of the building (within reason, of course).

As an added bonus printing is fast and quite quiet, with the print quality being very impressive even on the quickest of print jobs.

Printers are known for being a temperamental sort of machine and while the Pro 8000 misses some of the normal pit falls it is not without its eccentricities. One bizarre one is its refusal to print when sat on certain flat surfaces – the exact reason for which is still a mystery.

However the main omission that takes away from the HP printer is its distinct lack of a scanner. Leaving it out certainly saves space and allows the Pro 8000 to be a master of one job rather than a jack of all trades but at the same time it severely limits its functionality and would force users to purchase one if not two other devices to take care of everyday tasks.

For example even with a standalone scanner, which are not expensive, photocopying direct on the device is impossible. Instead you would have to scan onto the computer via one application and print from the computer via another – all in all taking about 10 minutes more and a lot more hassle than the job should require.

As a printer, however, the Pro 8000 is well-recommended. It is not – and in fairness does not try to be – an all-in-one office solution and for those looking to add another straight-forward printer to their office set up they could do much, much worse.

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Buy the HP OfficeJet Pro 8000:

Nokia's E75

The Nokia E75 adds a touch of style and personality to the hum-drum business phone but Symbian operating system could have done with the same kind of makeover.

A welcome break from a world seemingly full of touchscreens, the Nokia E75 is one of the latest phones by the Finnish company that shows the blurring line between business and consumer handsets.

The device is primarily for business users and to prove this has shortcut buttons on the keypad which jump straight to e-mail, calender and the internet browser. Beyond that there are a number of office applications, including a document suite and dictionary while the battery seems strong enough to last sometime without charging. The body of the phone is dark, metallic and feels solid and while slightly bulky is small enough to fit relatively comfortably in the pocket.

Part of the device’s extra girth is for the very good reason of a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which acts as a useful alternative to the numerical pad beneath the screen. Unlike most other full keyboards on mobile phones the E75 manages to pack all the characters in with plenty of space on each key, meaning you can type with your finger tips rather than finger nails.

On the side is a hot-swappable microSD card slot as well as navigational keys which can be used for scrolling through messages and so on.

Clearly realising that business users are people too, Nokia have also added some more “personal” functions to the E75 that would be considered the norm on most phones but have often been neglected in the business arena.

The phone itself sports a 3.2 megapixel camera – which seems to suffer in low-light conditions but is a good camera phone nonetheless. There is also a headphone jack at the top, making it easy to use the device as a radio or mp3 player. The screen is quite a generous size considering the keypad below it too, so watching films would not be too difficult to do either.

So physically the E75 ticks all the right boxes for a business phone and has some added extras to boot. However the operating system it runs on, one that would be familiar to any Nokia user, struggles to keep up with the functional and slick body it is stored within.

It is not to say that Symbian S60 is terrible – it was once one of the best systems out there. However it is quickly being superseeded by the likes of Google Android and even Windows Mobile and so seems dated and clunky.

Phones, like computers, can be as powerful and functional as is possible but as long as the wrong software is running on it this will not matter. The S60 operating system certainly does not ruin the E75 but it does take some of the sheen away from what is otherwise a very nice business phone. In a market as competitive as the mobile sphere, one weakness like this could be enough to make people think twice about buying it, however.

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Buy the Nokia E75 from O2.ie:

Xerox Work Centre 3210

Xerox’s Work Centre 3210 pitches itself as the ideal print solution for small businesses with a small budget however its many design flaws make it an unattractive option.

The bog-standard, sub-€100 is a fine choice for home users while big companies can justify investing in more heavy-duty machinery if needs be. For those in the middle, however, the choice has been less obvious and compromise was often required.

The aim of Xerox and its Work Centre 3210 is to bridge this gap and provide small companies or heavy print-users with an option that will be cheap to buy and to maintain.

On first impressions the 3-in-1 printer does just that. It looks like a miniature photocopier and can be tucked away quite comfortably in the snuggest of corners. Its scanner and phone connection means it can work as a fax machine as well as a scanner, copier and printer and its ethernet connectivity allows it to be networked across a number of computers with ease.

The machine also uses a large ink cartridge, meaning supplies will last longer and theoretically cost less to replace.

However this is where the issues really begin. While it is a great advantage to have a large, long-lasting black cartridge to print from any benefit from this is counter-balanced by the fact that the 3210 does not have any colour printing capabilities at all.

What is more the 3210 uses this ink in the same kind of printing technique – known as Xerography – as a standard photocopier. This allows for much faster printing and copying than ink-jet machines but also less reliable prints with more chance of the page ‘streaking’ even on a full cartridge.

The result is that small print jobs are done in seconds but larger ones may need to be repeated as the cartridge struggles to print properly the more it does in one go.

The physical design of the machine is also not suited to large print jobs, unless you are willing to stand by it as it works. The paper ‘out’ tray at the front of the machine is quite shallow and can only really store a few pages before becoming full. This means that after 15 or so pages are printed, the machine stops working until they are removed – assuming another page has not jammed inside it as a result of the obstruction.

With pages not printing properly and paper jams happening far too easily it is hard to see how the 3210 would make a workplace printing any more convenient than its rivals. There are a few nice features to it – like the ‘ID card copy’ button and front-facing USB connection for printing from external devices – but they are not enough to make up for the significant failings that exist in the core functions of the machine.

Ideal users of this device would be looking to do small print jobs with no colour and in reality that will not suit many.

The Epson Stylus SX151W Printer

3-in-1 printers – which combine printing, scanning and photocopying functionality in one device – are not exactly hard to come by nowadays, nor are they too expensive. For anyone that thinks they may use a scanner from time to time they are worth having instead of multiple separate devices and can generally be purchased for a similar price to standalone print machines.

The one downside they do have is their bulky size, which can make them awkward to place somewhere and even more awkward to move should there be a need to do so. At a time when laptops are cheaper than ever and households are more and more connected that need may arise more than you think as something needs to be printed from one of the house’s computers and then another later.

There are a number of solutions to what is admittedly a first-world problem like this but the most useful is a WiFi printer, which the SX515W happens to be. Assuming your computers have WiFi capabilities, and most relatively new machines do, you can set up a number of devices to the one printer and leave it to one side from then on.

No longer do you need to put the printer next to the computer in order to connect the short USB cable and no longer do you have to worry about transferring files or piggybacking on one computer’s connection to the printer through a network just to get that CV printed up.

Of course if you want the SX515W does connect via USB and ethernet – opening the potential for you to plug it straight into your network.

Besides this the printer can also take a connection directly via USB from a camera or from the likes of an SD card, meaning you can print and copy files without even having a PC attached.

Epson promise up to 36 pages per minute of printing, which is quite fast but is only really applicable if the pages being printed are simple text. The speed promised by the company does not seem to be as apparent in the scanner either, assuming you want the quality of the scan to be good, which can be a pain if you have a lot of photographs you want to digitise.

The printer is not the cheapest WiFi-enabled device on the market but the extra may be worth spending for the sake of replacement ink costs which in this case are reasonable and in others may not be.

The SX515W is a very usable machine, however, and is easy to set up and operate. Its panel buttons and LCD screen make that all the easier, making some printing tasks as easy as using a basic photocopier. The fact that you can put it out of the way, even out of the room, means it will be far less intrusive too.

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Buy the Epson Stylus SX515W on Apple.com:

Canon PowerShot A2100 IS

The Powershot A2100 IS attempts to bridge the gap between casual and professional photography and while it leans more towards the consumer end of the market, it does so with a lot of power.

The Canon Powershot range in general aims to appeal to photographers who want something that bit more serious without the huge price-tag weighing it down. On paper at least you can see that the A2100 IS is a high-end device, out-doing most other cameras in a number of ways.

For a start there is the 12.1 megapixel lens, which is far in excess of what most people would ever really need. To make this amount of pixels even more useful there is also a 6x optical zoom, which is double the depth usually seen on compact cameras. The back of the device also sports a bright 3” LCD screen for viewing and taking pictures, although the traditional viewfinder is sacrificed in order to make room for this.

Inside the camera houses the Digic 4 processor which is used in Canon cameras at both ends of the amateur/professional spectrum. As is becoming standard in any decent camera there is also face detection technology, motion capture and red eye reduction.

The controls are easy to master quite quickly – especially for those that have used Canon cameras before – and the presets mean most types of photograph is catered for already, assuming you can flick to the right setting in time. While the default function for most users tends to be the ‘Auto’ setting, there is also an ‘Easy’ setting on the A2100 IS, aimed at making the camera even more point-and-click than it might normally have been.

Of course that is the idea of the Powershot range – it strives to be a point-and-click device that allows users to up-skill if they so desire. Technically speaking these kinds of cameras are referred to as ‘compacts’, although the A2100 IS is not the neatest device going by a long shot. That said it is relatively easy to stow away in a good-sized pocket.

As is becoming standard for most manufacturers the Powershot uses SD cards to record the photograph but oddly it is powered by traditional AA batteries rather than a propriety battery pack. In some ways this is good as it means dead batteries can be replaced easily while on-the-go but in other ways it is also sure to cause headaches for users tearing the house apart for that packet they just know they put somewhere.

If the worst thing that can be said about a camera is its use of regular batteries and its slightly chubby frame then you know it cannot be too bad. The truth is the A2100 IS is extremely easy to use and takes some fantastic pictures without any real hassle. If you are adventurous you could do an even better job with the right settings but even as a simple point-and-click it is unlikely to let you down.

Samsung's Solid Extreme

The tactic of mobile manufacturers has generally been to attract customers with more advanced or stylish phones than the one they already own; with the Solid Extreme Samsung ignores both selling points and pushes the durability factor instead.

Neither end of the mobile market today can be identified by the sturdiness of its handsets. At the low end phones are flimsy and disposable while at the high end they are delicate pieces of cutting-edge technology.

While nothing like the first of its kind, the Samsung Solid Extreme aims to offer users a phone that can take a hammering, although perhaps not literally, and still work like new. At the heart of its sales pitch is its dust and water resistance, its ability to survive a 10m drop unscathed and its willingness to endure water submersion, albeit briefly.

On top of this the phone has a rubber body and built-in torch just in case, while on the slightly more ‘luxurious’ side it also packs a 1.3 megapixel camera, an mp3 player and an FM radio.

The latter hardly sound like features to write home about but when you see the phone in action, particularly its low-resolution screen, you find your mind drifting back to a time when such features would be considered blindingly advanced.

Not happy with its tolerance for dust and water, Samsung also claims the device is designed to work well in areas with high noise levels and there is no question that the ear piece can be turned up to painfully high levels if required. However the phone’s alert melody volume is drastically more muted, making it easy to miss a call even when the device is as close as your trouser pocket.

This is not Samsung’s first foray into the durable phone market – indeed the Solid Extreme is a follow-on from a similar device marketed by the company last year. Likewise this is a feature set that has been sold by other brands too, including JCB and Nokia.

The re-occouring theme amongst these devices has been their low-spec feature set and their less than flattering looks, which are to be expected when so much space is required to keep everything dust and water-tight.

Arguably the reason why durability is so absent from most phones on the market today is because it does not matter to most users, except in the aftermath of those accidental drops and spills at which point the damage is done anyway. At the very least it is true that most people prefer to take their chances with style or good features and do not see the necessary trade-off as worthwhile.

As Samsung and others in this space know all too well, this is a niche product for builders and part-time adventurers and even then it is likely to be a second phone for them, pushed aside for something more feature-laden once in the comfort of their own homes. The fact that it costs relatively little will make this all the more probable.

The Solid Extreme does do what it promises and even some of its more mainstream features, like the camera, are good enough to be worth having. Because of its looks and its restricted functionality, however, the most likely fate of this device is that people buy it and save it for a rainy day. A very rainy day.

Buy the Samsung Solid Extreme online:

Canon IXUS 110 IS

There is no denying that the compact camera market – which is aimed primarily at casual photographers – is past its period of rapid improvement and is now in a phase of constant tweaking. While in the past zoom depth, pixel ratio and compactness were advancing at a break-neck pace, all while prices were remaining static or even dropping, now changes are more about refining than reinventing.

The IXUS 110 IS proves this point perfectly as it is only slightly different from other IXUS models already on the market, although all of the tweaks are for the better.

Compared to the IXUS 100 IS, for example, this latest Canon camera has a slightly better zoom – four times compared to three – and can record widescreen high definition video and output them to a television via HDMI.

Like an increasing number of cameras the 110 IS comes with a built-in gyroscope that detects the orientation of the camera and reacts accordingly. This can show itself simply in the way pictures are displayed when looking through previous shots and in this model’s case it can also be used as a navigation tool, with a shake to the side telling the camera to flick to the next picture in the gallery.

Things like this especially can reek of gimmickry but they are unobtrusive enough to be of little concern to anyone who does not want to use them.

It does have the same 12.1 megapixel lens, which is not the best Canon offers but likely to be far more than any user would really need even at a semi-professional level.

Much like with all of Canon’s digital range the ability of the phone beyond simple shot-taking is what sets the 110 IS apart from the herd. The pre and post-shot options for photo editing and manipulation are impressive, even if it is simply to accent a colour or change the filter being used at any particular time.

So overall the 110 IS is a good package. It has plenty of power behind it, is very easy to use and gives users freedom beyond the basic point and click of cameras gone by. As it is a consumer-targeted camera it looks good too, although it is far from super-slim, and is available in a choice of colours.

If you are looking for a straight forward camera that captures the best aspects of Canon’s output you cannot go too far wrong with this device, even if it does come at a premium to rival cameras with a similar specification. For people who already own an IXUS device – particularly one purchased in the last year or two – the appeal of the 110 IS is reduced considerably.

It is a very nice camera but it does not have any unique feature that you would be at a loss without. This is more likely of appeal to newly converted Canon users than those already sold on the appeal of the brand.

The Samsung Tocco Ultra

The original Tocco was arguably one of the better attempts to compete with the iPhone and has been a solid seller in the consumer market in Ireland. Samsung’s other touch-screen phone, the Omnia, was aimed at professionals but lacked the usability and finished feeling of its mid-market predecessor.

To some degree the Ultra can be seen as a phone to sit in the middle ground between the Omnia and Tocco but it does offer certain features that neither provide.

Most notably the Ultra houses a slide-out keypad to compliment its touch-screen, which should help calm the fears of many who have avoided touch-based devices because of the lack of a tactile response. The Ultra also has an 8 megapixel camera, trumping the 5mp lenses in the other two phones.

Just like the Tocco and Omnia the Ultra is a very attractive device. Despite housing a touch-screen and keypad the phone is extremely slim and stylish while the screen itself is responsive. The operating system being used is a slight advancement on the one used in the original Tocco – thankfully as the Omnia’s use of Windows Mobile 6 made it a frustrating experience at the best of times.

Overall the Ultra is a well made phone. It looks well, runs well and has plenty of functions to keep people entertained.

Its use of both the screen and keypad can be a bit confusing from time to time, however, especially when composing a text message. The ‘delete’ button is on-screen, for example, while the actual keypad is used to type the text out, meaning you can find yourself jumping from place to another while trying to write.

The operating system itself, as usable as it is, can be a bit sluggish at times too making it feel as though the power of the phone is not matched with a suitable processor. The lack of a regular headphone jack is a slight niggle too as it means you need a Samsung attachment to listen to music or the radio – one is provided with the phone naturally but it does mean an extra wire that needs to be carried from place to place.

All of this said the Ultra shows that Samsung still know how to make a good touch-based phone and even though it feels a little over stretched it is better than many of the other devices in the market.

Oddly enough, however, the original Tocco did feel like a slightly more usable phone even though it did not have as much functionality – one can only assume this is because the Tocco knew its limitations but the Ultra does not.

The Nokia MusicXpress 5800

Nokia’s MusicXpress 5800 is a good touchscreen debut by the Finnish company but it fails to do anything really well.

The long awaited response by Nokia to iPhone, the 5800 is an uglier but far more feature-laden touch-based device than Apple’s.

The phone offers users an mp3 player, FM radio, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS-based maps system and many other functions although it does not yet have access to the versatile applications available on the iPhone’s App Store.

First and foremost the 5800 is design to be a music phone, as its full name suggests. The device is part of a range launched by Nokia to support its Comes With Music download service, established to rival Apple’s iTunes amongst others, and is part of an overall push by the company to take a serious bite out of the portable music player market.

To facilitate this the device has a 3.5mm headphone jack and physical volume buttons on the side, along with an FM radio and MP3-compatible music player to make it all worthwhile. Options within the phone’s menu can also bring users to the Nokia music store should they want to purchase songs on the go.

Despite this focus the music player is oddly awkward to access on the phone. There is another physical button on the side of the device but this is for the phone’s camera while the main menu on the home screen has to be customised if you want to have a shortcut link to the player on it. Failing that you can find the music function after a short wander through the menus.

The player itself is an improvement on previous Nokia iterations but is still clunky and frustrating at times. In its defence the sound quality is good, be it via headphones or on loudspeaker.

Overall the device replicates this half-hearted feeling. The Symbian S60 feels relatively well tweaked for touchscreen use but can be very hit and miss at times – specifically when trying to scroll through lists like contacts or messages. A stylus is provided to make this easier, which suggests that Nokia knew it had interface problems too.

The Carl Zeiss camera is surprisingly bad given its 3.2 megapixel label and in many cases takes pictures that are of sub-1 megapixel quality. The decent flash makes up for this only marginally.

Perhaps most important, however, is the touchscreen itself which is often slow to respond and fiddly to use. Nokia chose to use a Resistive touchscreen, which responds to touch of any nature, unlike the Capacitive screen used on the likes of the iPhone which responds to little other than direct contact with skin.

The upside of Nokia’s choice is that the device is usable even when you have gloves on or are using a stylus – the downside is that it is far easier to answer or reject phone calls in your pocket as the touch of your jeans works just as well as your hands.

Nokia has made a lot of improvements to make the 5800 work but it feels like there is much more to do. This is lining up to be one of many touch-based devices from the Finnish giant so it is best to see this as a trial run rather than a sign of things to come. At least let’s hope it is.

An edited version of this review was published in Business & Finance magazine on the 23rd April 2009.

The Canon Selphy ES3

Canon’s Selphy ES3 helps to make photo printing easy and relatively cheap, although it does not always run as smoothly as you would hope.

With the digital camera now all but replacing its film-based alternative it is far too easy to allow pictures to go unprinted – perhaps worse it is often far too expensive to have them printed at kiosks should you decide to do so.

Dedicated photo printers like those in the Canon Selphy range aim to encourage people to print their photos off instantly at home, without having to waste all of your standard printer’s ink in the process.

The ES3 is one of the cuter and more portable of the Selphy range, sporting a neat body and handle on top for easy carrying. The footprint of the machine is quite small, while the controls and ports on the front are easy to navigate without having to consult the manual.

One of the main selling points of the entire Selphy range has been the unified ink and paper pack that is needed to print photographs. The logic of this is that you never run out of ink mid-print or out of photo-paper when you have ink left – instead each cartridge comes with just enough ink to print on the paper provided with it.

The cartridge is easy to install on the ES3, with a door on the side of the machine opening to allow users to slide it in. A novel extra feature of the paper is that it has markings on the back of each sheet, allowing owners to design and print their own custom postcards.

There are a number of ways in which pictures can be sent to the Selphy for printing. The device can be connected to a PC and treated like any other printer, it can connect directly to ‘PictBridge’ enabled cameras via USB, it can receive photographs from mobile phones over Infra Red and has slots for SD, miniSD, microSD, CF and MS/MSPro cards. Bluetooth printing is also possible with a separately sold attachment.

Once the photographs are selected it is just a case of hitting ‘Print’ for a copy – there are also options for multiple prints or for a selection of photographs to be printed after each other.

Interestingly the ES3 comes with built-in editing options which allow you to tweak some detail of the photograph, such as the brightness, or even add effects such as speech bubbles and frames.

For some people this kind of tweaking can be done on PC but when printing directly it is a very nice touch. The scroll-wheel on the device makes it relatively easy to make changes, even if it is to trim edges from the photograph.

Unfortunately the device failed to recognise some of the pictures sent to it for printing, even though they were set to the right format and size as specified in the troubleshooting guide. This may be an isolated problem but if not it would defeat the purpose of buying such a printer if it would not let you print your existing digital photographs.

Despite this minor niggle the ES3 is a very well executed machine and with a 50-print cartridge costing €18 prints are just 36c each – probably even less if you can find your cartridges online.

An edited version of this review was published in Business & Finance magazine on the 9th April 2009.

Microsoft's Arc Mouse

Microsoft is not normally known for its beauty and style; its success has come from making computers more accessible, not more attractive.

However as the computer becomes a part of the sitting room, people have begun to look for machines and software that was more aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and intuitive. Suddenly style is as important as speed.

Microsoft’s Arc mouse is a sign that the computer behemoth is finally catching on to this trend. The device operates wirelessly and has the usual two buttons and scrolling wheel; there is also an extra button tucked away on the left-hand side which can be given any purpose you wish.

The set up is simple – you just plug the tiny USB receiver into your PC and assuming it runs on Windows XP or Vista the drivers are found and installed within seconds. If you are using a Mac set up is instant, which is to be expected but somewhat ironic given the mouse’s maker.

So on paper the mouse is bog-standard; what makes the Arc different is its body rather than its buttons. The mouse’s name gives away its unique design, which is a curved casing that lifts in the middle leaving only the top and bottom of the mouse in contact with the mat. The shape fits surprisingly well in the hand too and is probably one of the more comfortable devices of its type out there.

The unique design is not entirely aesthetic – the Arc is also designed to be folded into a more portable package for travelling. The wireless USB receiver that connects the mouse to a PC attaches itself to the underneath of the mouse magnetically and is secured in place when it is folded, making it much harder to lose. When folded the device also switches off, making it a useful way of conserving battery power.

Of course the battery will eventually die and unfortunately there is no way to re-charge it through the machine – you just have to replace the battery or use an externally-charged re-usable one. Microsoft claims you can get over 6 months life out of a battery, which seems hard to believe, but regardless it would be far more user-friendly if the device could be docked and charged via USB.

There is also an indicator light on the mouse to alert you when the battery is nearly empty but this is so small it is hard to see in daylight. In a worst case scenario you could be left rooting for a fresh battery when the old one runs out of juice without you realising.

This is a small complaint to have for a wireless mouse that is comfortable and easy on the eye. Whether it is by design or accident the device also sits well with a hand wrapped around it, which means you can put its 30 ft. wireless range to good use as a presentation clicker.

While the move by Microsoft towards style is clearly in response to what companies like Apple are doing it is good to see that this is more than an imitation. It does not try to look or feel like an Apple mouse and succeeds in its own right as a triumphant mixture of form and function.

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Buy the Microsoft Arc Mouse online:

The Blackberry Curve 8900

One of a number of handsets created in reaction to Nokia and Apple’s advances on the premium business phone space, the Curve 8900 fails at every turn to make itself a device worth having.

The Blackberry brand has always been associated with businessmen and e-mail junkies, something that is sure to be both a curse and a blessing for creator Research In Motion (RIM). The Curve 8900 is one of many new Blackberrys that try to push the company into a broader area of appeal, housing better media and social functionality.

At its heart it is still an e-mail client, however, and strangely this is where it fails first and foremost. Syncing up with an existing address is relatively easy, particularly if it is a web-based address like Gmail or Yahoo. However the automatic setting for e-mail on the device is the old POP3 system, which does not update other devices when you make an action. In other words, when you read an e-mail via POP3 on the Blackberry it does not get marked as read in your PC’s inbox and vice versa.

In order to use the newer IMAP4 process you have to enter your details in a convoluted and backwards way, instructions for which have to be found online. Even when this is done not synchronise in the way it should. All of this compares to the likes of the iPhone, where inputting a username and password is enough to allow automatic and full e-mail syncing.

On top of this browsing through e-mail is awkward at best. It seems impossible to jump to one e-mail from another, you have to go back in order to go forwards.

Beyond e-mail the web browser is OK to use but it was a mistake to have the trackball double as a way of zooming and clicking links. It pales in comparison to Safari on the iPhone, which in fairness to the Curve is true for most phone-based browsers.

In physical terms the device is quite light but feels a little cheap as a result.

The key size on the full QWERTY keyboard is not the smallest going but it is very awkward to use – forcing anyone with big thumbs to hit the keys with the side of their digits. Also the trackball that is used as a replacement for a mouse feels a little loose and can be hard to control precisely at times.

The physical buttons on the sides allow for voice dialling, volume control and camera functionality while two neatly hidden buttons offer keypad lock and mute functions. The volume buttons are not there to control the ringtone volume, by the way, just the earpiece level while on a call or the sound level while playing media. When you press the volume keys it can also cause the crystals in the LCD screen to visibly move, another factor that adds to the cheap feel of the device.

In short the Curve 8900 is not a good example of what a Blackberry can be. If this were the company’s only response to what its rivals were doing you could assume it had no future. Lucky for RIM the phone is one of a range of handsets that are looking to keep the brand at the top of the pile in the business sphere. Hopefully for them the others do a better job of this.

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Three's INQ1 Phone

The INQ1 promises social media integration at a low price – a clear pitch to students and young “Facebookers” alike.

Three claims that the INQ1 is the world’s first social media mobile but this is not entirely true – a few free downloads from the iPhone’s App Store will turn their device into a social media powerhouse in no time. A more accurate claim for the INQ1 is that it is the first device to put social networking at the heart of its design and to make this kind of integration affordable to the average Bebo user.

The two special functions of the phone are its Skype and Facebook connectivity.

The Skype application works much the same as it did on Three’s budget SkypePhone, allowing users to make and receive all manner of calls and chats via the VOIP (Voice over IP) client. Skype to Skype calls are free, assuming you have topped up the phone in the past month, while many Skype to international calls cost less than 2c per minute. The only Skype calls blocked on the phone are those to Irish landlines and mobiles, naturally to ensure Three does not cannibalise its own market.

Generally during tests the quality of Skype to Skype calls was average and sometimes poor – the Skype chat feature was a useful replacement for text messaging, however.

The Facebook application is arguably more central to the phone than Skype and integrates with it on a number of legels. Messages received on Facebook show up on the phone like text messages, users can import Facebook contacts into their phone book and pictures taken with the phone can be posted straight to a Facebook account without any additional steps involved.

Unlike the Skype application using Facebook on the phone does cost money, however, and depending on your package and usage this could take a significant chunk out of your credit. Also the contacts import option only transfers Facebook account details to the phone, even if your friends have their e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers listed on their profile page.

In terms of its physical attributes the INQ1 looks and feels substantial, despite its low cost. The brushed metal finish gives it a premium feel that some business phones lack while the slide mechanism and buttons feel robust and reliable. Some of the navigation buttons do take a bit of getting used to, however, and it is far too easy to completely close an application when you just meant to go back one step.

The software on the INQ1 is generally user-friendly, however. Most of the main options are available on the ‘Home’ screen so users do not need to search through the menu to find them. The device also allows for a relatively decent amount of customisation such a adding new applications to the menu bar, or subscribing to web feeds.

Overall the INQ1 is a decent phone, albeit one that may take time to adjust to. It is clearly geared towards the pre-pay and teenage/student market, although it may be let down in that respect by its average media player offerings.

While Three may also suggest that the INQ1 would do well as a business phone this is unlikely to be the case. Free Skype to Skype calls on the go are attractive to small businesses and most of the other aspects of a phone that professionals might look for are there but they are tucked away and awkward to use. Perhaps it would be best if this market segment waited for a more business-tailored Skype offering.

An edited version of this review appeared in Business & Finance magazine on the 26th February 2009.

Samsung NC10

Coming relatively late to the netbook party seems to have done Samsung the world of good with its polished but imperfect NC10.

Samsung is usually associated more with flat-screen TVs and mobile phones than laptops but if the NC10 is anything to go by this should change in the near future.

At first glance this entry to the netbook category seems pretty bog standard. It runs on Windows XP operating system, has a 160GB hard drive, 10” matte screen and Intel Atom processor. In other words, much the same as other netbooks available at the moment.

It weighs in at a reasonable 1.3kg – making it light but not the lightest – and comes with Bluetooth, WiFi and an SD card reader as standard.

Connectivity is also run of the mill – there are three USB ports, an external monitor connection, headphone and microphone jacks and an Ethernet connection present. The laptop also features a built-in webcam and microphone for quick web-chats or VOIP calls.

There are two other features of the laptop where Samsung have gone the extra mile, putting all of these average specifications to better use than others. First is its uncompromising keyboard, which is about 92% the size of a regular laptop’s.

Most importantly for touch-typers the company has not messed much with button configuration to get it all to fit so well, instead it has made some slight adjustments to the rest of the laptop’s body to allow the keyboard space. For example the power button is on the side of the machine, rather than above the keyboard, adding a valuable few millimetres for the keys.

The second, and perhaps biggest, selling point for the NC10 is its huge battery. Most netbooks promise three hours on a full charge but deliver somewhat less than that – the NC10 offers twice that amount and is pretty reliable in giving it too, even with the machine in constant use.

For a netbook, it is hard to over-emphasise how important keyboard size and battery life is. For a machine designed for on-the-go and spontaneous working users want something that is usable and reliable. There is no point having a powerful laptop that has a flat battery or is too fiddly to type on comfortably.

Another major plus for the machine is its build quality, which makes it feel like an actual laptop as opposed to a flimsy toy. Some other machines like the HP MiniNote 2133 have already shown that netbooks can be well-built but most companies are still too willing to compromise on this side of things in order to keep costs down low; thankfully Samsung are not. Watch out for the glossy laptop lid, however, as it is an absolute smudge magnet.

If there is any aspect of the NC10 that is compromised it must be the trackpad. The actual pad itself is tiny, clearly to accommodate the keyboard, and is not recessed into the body. Thankfully Samsung decided to keep the left and right click buttons below the trackpad rather than on either side of it – although they are housed within one button which can be awkward.

The track-pad takes a bit of getting used to but it is worth it –the only real reason not to buy the NC10 is because of the line additions Samsung are rumoured to be prepping in the coming weeks and months.

One expected arrival is an NC10 with built-in 3G broadband, the other is the NC20 which is billed as the NC10 but with a 12” screen formation. The machines are unlikely to be too different other than that, however.

Whatever the exact configuration is the NC10 is by far one of the better netbooks out there at the moment – if Samsung can improve their trackpads even slightly it will be untouchable.

An edited version of this review appeared in Business & Finance magazine on the 12th February 2009.

The Canon PowerShot SX1 IS

The Powershot SX1 takes fantastic photographs and video recordings, although its mass of buttons and temperamental nature can sometimes make getting there a chore.

Canon’s Powershot range has a very logical place in the company’s product hierarchy. It sits below the EOS range, which offers DSLRs (digital single-lens reflex) for high-end and professional use. It sits above the IXUS digital compact range, however, which is designed to be a ‘point-and-click’ camera for everyday and personal use.

The Powershot is as a result designed to be a bridge camera, offering some of a DSLR’s functionality and benefits without being too technical for an untrained photographer to use.

To that end the SX1 is a moderate but not overwhelming success. It certainly looks like a DSLR and feels like one too, while its built-in zoom lens means the purchaser does not have to stress over what types they need to buy and what works best in certain light.

The ‘Auto’ setting also allows for point and click photographs to be taken, meaning it is just as easy as a compact to use at its most basic level. Of course it must be said that even the EOS range has an ‘Auto’ setting and is just as easy to use, so how this Powershot makes that process any more accessible is difficult to see.

What usually throws new arrivals to the DSLR market is the sheer breadth of options available to them on their camera. There are a number of pre-set settings for different light conditions and photograph types while users not quite satisfied can create their own manual settings too. The SX1 has all of this and at times it seemed like more, which only leads to confusion and frustrated manual-consulting.

The 10 megapixels are used well, as is the impressive 20X optical zoom – although getting focus on images at full zoom was hit and miss. Other minor details also made the camera a bit less usable – for example the need to manually pull the flash up when most other DSLRs can do it automatically.

It was also surprising to see a camera using regular AA batteries again, something that some may welcome and others may curse.

What makes the SX1 so unique and arguably attractive, however, is its HD video recorder. Most digital cameras have some capacity to film movies, although usually at poor quality. DSLRs tend not to at all – they are pure photograph machines. This Powershot manages to buck both trends and offers good quality video in a DSLR casing.

The video was actually more impressive than the photographs it produced – as nice as they were. Indeed sometimes felt as though the SX1 was designed to be a camcorder with photography functionality attached.

Perhaps that is where Canon went wrong with the Powershot SX1 IS.

It is certainly an attractive device for video capturing, in fact it is superb. However if a customer bought this looking for a simple introduction to the world of the DSLR they may very well be put off.

The truth is if someone wants a simple and functional DSLR, they would probably find it elsewhere and at less cost – even within the rest of the Powershot range.

An edited version of this review appeared in Business & Finance magazine on the 29th January 2009.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10e

The ‘netbook’ market is more than just saturated – it is flooded. Every major computer manufacturer bar Apple now has at least one ultra-portable, ultra-cheap laptop on the market and some – such as Asus – seem to be building their entire business plan around them.

Lenovo has been a quiet manufacturer generally speaking, not just in the world of netbooks. That is not to say that they are a small or insignificant player, they just tend to release very functional machines that may not garner the attention a more stylish release would.

Their reputation is strong, however, and the IdeaPad S10e shows that they want to maintain that in a market where some are willing to cut corners.

Housing an impressive 10.1” display, a huge 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM and a 1.6GHz Intel processor the machine packs a punch that some year-old full-scale laptops might not. It runs on Windows XP and features a built-in webcam and microphone, two USB ports an SD card reader, Bluetooth and WiFi functionality and an express card slot.

The ‘e’ in the product name signals that the device is designed for the education market and it will certainly appeal there. Just like other Lenovo releases it may not be the prettiest of machines but it does exactly what it needs to do at a good price.

The keyboard takes a little bit of getting used to but even on first attempt typing was relatively easy. Its screen is more than adequate for what it is designed and XP was the perfect choice for fast and functional operations.

Another feature that will appeal to students is its quick start-up speed, which took about 35 seconds to get from power-on to the familiar XP start music; perfect for travelling from lecture to lecture.

Shut-down did not seem to be quite as prompt which is a let down, of course closing the laptop will put it into standby mode anyway.

A nice feature Lenovo have added to the keyboard of the S10e is the shortcut buttons, which are given very specific functions. One opens a quick-start menu which can be customised by the user, meaning you can specify up to nine programmes which you will have quicker access to.

The other is a broadcast button which switches the laptop’s various signals – be they WiFi or Bluetooth – on and off when pressed. This is a simply idea that could be vital in saving limited battery power during use.

Sadly it is in the area of battery life that the Lenovo falls down. Housing a 3-cell battery, users will be lucky to get three hours use out of the machine before it powers down and that is assuming all the various power-saving features are in use.

This kind of limitation is not unique to the S10e, on the contrary it is a common problem with netbooks of any creed. However recent releases from companies like Samsung have seen dramatic improvements in battery performance and in such a fast-moving and profit-light market a marginal advantage like this can make all the difference.

Despite this the S10e is one of the better netbooks out there. It is amazingly light, slim and powerful and most importantly it is functional. Lenovo could have done slightly better with this but they certainly could have done a lot worse.

An edited version of this review appeared in Business & Finance magazine on the 15 January 2009.

The Iomega ScreenPlay HD

The Iomega ScreenPlay HD certainly makes digital content easily viewable on a television; however the limited way in which content can be added to it makes it a more awkward experience than it really should be.

Even the most casual of computer users are becoming increasingly reliant on their PC for entertainment. With broadband speeds and online purchase options increasing people are turning more to digital downloads and cameras, saving themselves money and time in the process.

Of course digital downloads and uploaded photographs have plenty of down sides, not least the fact that they were not designed to be enjoyed on a pokey computer or laptop screen. As well as this it can often be a bit of a waste to have a powerful PC running just to watch a film or listen to some music – this is where devices like the ScreenPlay HD come into play.

In essence the device is a 500GB external hard-drive, capable of storing days worth of video content, over a hundred thousand hours of audio and hundreds of thousands of photographs.

What makes the ScreenPlay different to any other hard-drive is its connectivity features, which allows it to be hooked up to a television through a HDMI cable, Scart lead or a variety of other means. The device can also be navigated through via a number of buttons at its front, while the bundled remote allows you to have the same control from the comfort of your sofa.

Adding content to the device is remarkably simple. The connection used is USB and once the drivers are in place it is just a case of dragging and dropping chosen files into the hard drive – no different than you would do with an attached USB flash key. Most common file types like .mp3 and .avi are recognised too – although formats like .m4a and .mov do not seem to do so well.

When connected to the television its operation is just as simple with a basic and frankly quite ugly menu system on offer, which can be navigated easily with the remote.

For users who want to make all of their existing media accessible through their TV in a few simple steps this is ideal. However for those users who would want to add new content to the device on a regular basis, rather than simply upload everything in one go and be done with it, things may get a little bit fraught.

Not because the adding of files is difficult in itself but because it requires a direct USB connection to the PC in order to do so. For users who have their PC in a different location to their television this would mean a complete disconnect and re-connect of the device – and back again – every time something needed to be added or removed.

The ideal solution for Iomega would be to add some kind of wireless or bluetooth functionality to the device – a feature that is standard in most new computers today. If either were present files could be sent seamlessly over the home’s network and neither PC, TV nor ScreenPlay HD would ever need to be moved again. As such a feature is not, this device may be constantly on the move if left in the hands of the serial downloader.

An edited version of this review appeared in Business & Finance magazine on the 4th December 2008.

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