February 2010 Archives

Anything But iPod have published a comprehensive two-part review of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android. 'The Archos 5 Android tablet has some very nice specs under the hood; 4.8" resistive touch screen with a resolution of 800x480, 800mHz ARM CPU, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and capacities ranging from 8GB flash to 500GB HDD. All of these features are of course to make use of the operating system, which is Google's Android- making the device more of a MID (Mobile Internet Device) than a PMP. Then again, you won't find media format support like this on most Android devices.'

The EBook Reader have published a review of the iRex DR-800 eBook reader. 'The small bezel and minimalistic design makes the device mostly screen. It has only two buttons: the long flipbar on the left and a menu button below it. The flipbar navigates the cursor, turns pages, and makes selections when pressed. There's a power switch and key lock slide on the bottom left edge of the device with a mini USB port next to it. The included microSD card and battery are located beneath a panel on the back held in place by one screw. Additionally, the iRex comes with a soft neoprene sleeve, stylus, USB cable, and AC adaptor.'

A review of the SanDisk Sansa Clip+ MP3 player has been posted over at Tracy and Matt's Blog. 'One of the main selling points of this little device is the fact that its menu system is so simple to use, but at first glance the main thing that I noticed was that the clip on the rear of the device was close to the size of the device itself which means that it is simple to attach to clothing if required. This device is of very good quality but there are a couple of issues that I found with it which became quite an annoyance after a while, the main one was when I put a MicroSD card into the built in slot on the device, and when I tried to play the files from the card it took at least 4-5 minutes before it had even loaded anything for me to look at.'

Bit-Tech have published a review of the Cybook Opus eBook reader. 'Getting down to the specifics, the Cybook Opus is small, measuring just 108 x 10 x 151mm, meaning you can just about squeeze it into a back pocket. The choice of lightweight plastic over steel means it weighs only 150g too, so you aren't going to strain a muscle holding it up to read either. In fact, you can hold it quite comfortably in one hand - something that's not true of other more popular e-ink readers. Unfortunately, it isn't all good news and no matter how much we like the size and shape of the Opus it's hard to get away from the frustrating combination of high price and low build quality.'

A review of the Archos 5 internet tablet has been posted over at Liliputing.com. 'The Archos 5 Internet Tablet is the first Google Android powered tablet from Archos, a company best known for making MP3 players and portable media players. And at it's core, the Archos 5 Internet tablet is a pretty good media player. It offers all the features you would expect including excellent audio and video playback capabilities and access to online media and files stored on your home network. It even has a built in FM radio tuner.'

A review of the Amazon Kindle DX (global wireless, latest generation) eReader has been posted over at CNET. 'Aside from the switch in wireless carriers (the old DX used to be powered by Sprint, and didn't work outside the U.S.), nothing else has visibly changed--at least as far as the hardware itself goes. The 0.38-inch-deep DX is just a tad thicker than the 0.36-inch Kindle. And the Kindle DX's 9.7-inch e-ink display (1,200-by-824-pixel resolution) technically offers 2.5 times more screen real estate than the Kindle's 6-inch display. That extra screen comes at a price, both figuratively and literally, as the DX weighs almost twice as much (18.9 ounces) as the Kindle and costs $230 more, at $489.'

PC Advisor have published their review of the Bookeen Cybook Opus eReader. 'Available in an array of colours, and weighing just 150g and measuring less than 1cm thick, the Bookeen Cybook Opus wrests the e-reader portability crown from the Sony Reader Pocket Edition; unfortunately, its £199 price tag is a bit larger. And despite its appealing design, the Cybook Opus falls short on features that you'd get at a somewhat higher price on the Amazon Kindle 2 or (for that matter) on the Barnes and Noble Nook.'

Laptop Magazine have published a review of the Barnes & Noble Nook eReader. 'Measuring just 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches, the Nook is noticeably smaller than the Kindle 2. However, it's a bit heavier, weighing 12.1 ounces to the Kindle's 10.2 ounces. The Nook's design is economical and streamlined, owing mainly to the 0.6-inch bezel around the 6.0-inch electronic paper display (EPD) and the 3.5-inch color touchscreen below it. Aside from the Next/Previous Page buttons on either side of the display, the only physical button on the Nook is the power/sleep control on top. Two small speakers flank the headphone jack and mini-USB port on the bottom. The back of the device feels slightly rubbery and keeps the Nook from sliding too much on smooth surfaces.'

CNET Asia have published their review of the Archos 9 PC Tablet (Atom Z510 Processor 1.1GHz, 1GB RAM). 'The Archos 9 certainly looks the part, with a sleek, thin body, solid brushed-metal construction, and gently tapered edges. It's much closer to what we think a tablet device should look like than the bulky Dell Mini 10 tablet prototype built by Stantum. The default screen orientation is horizontal, but the body fits very naturally into a single hand when held vertically (which made us wonder why there wasn't a physical screen rotation button anywhere). At 820g, it feels a bit dense and heavy for such a small device.'

A review of the Insignia Portable HD Radio has been posted over at Skatter Tech. 'The Insignia player has a very simple and somewhat ugly-looking interface. It's actually quite reminiscent of an early color cell phone. The controls are rather awkward and there are more buttons than probably needed. The display shows signal strength at the top left and will also show an icon when tuned into a HD station. I could quickly navigate trough stations using the up and down keys or use the auto scan feature to find the next channel with signal. Switching through HD stations had a noticeably larger delay than standard FM stations. Fortunately, the preset feature let me save 10 stations to speed things up.'

IT Reviews have published a review of the Bookeen Cybook Opus eBook reader. 'Unlike some ereaders, the Cybook Opus does not play music files. Those who like to listen to tunes while they read will thus need to resort to a separate music player. The good news on that front is that the battery is entirely dedicated to presenting you with text to read, and the E-Ink based screen is very energy efficient. A full charge should keep you going for 8,000 page turns. You charge the battery via miniUSB and it'll charge while connected to your PC or the mains. We really like the fact that you can replace the battery, as it sits behind a removable backplate.'

The Gadgeteer have published their review of the Amazon Kindle DX Wireless reading device. 'Kindles use a main or "home" screen page to list the items (actually most of the items) on your Kindle (it doesn't list MP3 files). As with the K1 this home screen is still a pain -the list of books (or audio books) is just a flat list -- no sub-categorizing available. I'm hoping that a software upgrade will someday remedy this. Also, note that the home screen/page does not show you a list of MP3 files that you may have loaded onto the KDX. You can search within an individual book (when you have that book open); search within all of your books; and search on the Internet (when wireless is on). This works okay but is awkward due to the keyboard keys when entering your search word or phrase.'

The Philips SA2925R/37 2 GB Flash Audio Video MP3 player with month of Rhapsody Music (Black) is on offer for $41.13 with free standard shipping over at Amazon.com. 'Philips GoGear Spark MP3 player makes it hip to be square. This sleek and wearable player features a smart rocking lens that lets you control your music simply by pressing one of its four edges. FullSound technology brings you an unrivaled sound experience while on-the-go. Show off your personalized slide show with your photos or view album art with its 1.5" full color display. It comes with a 30-day trial of Rhapsody, giving you access to millions of full-length, CD-quality tracks for downloading to your GoGear Spark.'

The Archos 5 250 GB Internet Media Tablet has been reduced from $449.99 to $279.95 over at Amazon Marketplace. 'With an 800-pixels-wide resolution and a 5-inch screen, you can browse the Web just as you would on your PC. No need to zoom in and out, as web pages are fully displayed on the Archos screen. Plus, with Adobe Flash 9 video support, you can natively browse video-sharing websites, such as Dailymotion or YouTube. The Archos IMTs boast enough processing power to surf the Web on the go, just like you were doing it with your laptop. No more endless waiting for the page to load; just grab your Archos 5 and check the latest news right away.'

The Coby MP-C7082 MP3 player with 1 GB flash memory, FM & color display is on offer for $8.62 over at Amazon.com. 'This player lets you listen to your favorite digital music in either MP3 or WMA format, and includes WDRM10 digital-rights management support for playing digital music purchased from most online stores and subscription services. This music player also includes ID3 tagging and LRC support in order to provide you with song and synchronized lyric information on screen. On top of music, the MP-C7082 lets you watch all your favorite videos in AMV format, as well as take your favorite pictures with you, or view your vacation snapshots without waiting to get home in JPEG format. What's more, this unit allows you to read eBooks in TXT format, and even includes an integrated FM radio receiver, with the capability to record your favorite radio programs for later listening.'

A review of the Sony Digital Reader Touch Edition (PRS600) eReader has been posted over at the MobileRead Forums. 'As the PRS-600 has a touch screen, it comes will a metal stylus. I haven't used it much as I still have a Palm III metal stylus handy. Those of you who like heavy stylus will be disappointed to know that the PRS-600 stylus is much lighter than the Palm III metal stylus that's half it's length. I don't find it a big deal, just interesting to note. A couple of my friends have commented on how heavy the PRS feels already, so keeping the weight down is a good thing. The resistive touch screen itself is incredibly sensitive. More so than most of the Phones, PDAs I have had in the past. This should mitigate wear on the touch screen since the user can apply less pressure.

ZDNet have published a review of the Sony Reader Daily Edition ebook reader. 'The Sony Reader Daily Edition combines a touch screen interface with hardware controls to give you some flexibility while reading ebooks. However, most navigation is through the touch screen so the touch screen must be touched with your finger or stylus to get to different parts of the interface. Let's start by taking a look at the Home screen that appears when turned on and when you press the Home button (center of the 5 hardware buttons). On the Home screen you will find the display divided into three rows with a touch sensitive button row at the bottom above the hardware buttons. The upper row shows you the document cover, title, author, and time/date status of the last book you were reading.'

A review of the Barnes and Noble NOOK ebook reader has been posted over at Wired.co.uk. 'The Nook is slightly shorter and narrower than the Amazon Kindle 2, although it's thicker. Both e-book readers use the same E Ink technology for their main screen: a pale gray, matte surface that looks a bit like an Etch A Sketch but displays text (and monochrome images, with 16 levels of gray) in far more readable fashion than an LCD, thanks to its paperlike opacity. Instead of staring into the glowing eye of a LCD screen, you're reading light reflected off the surface of the screen, just as you do with paper, and that's much more comfortable. E Ink also uses less power, so battery life is long (about a week of ordinary use, B&N claims).'

Computeractive have published their review of the Chumby Wifi device. 'The device itself was easy to use. The touch-screen was small but responsive and there is only one other control, recessed into the soft top of the unit, which accesses the Chumby's menu. From here you can control the volume and display options and choose whether it sticks to one widget or cycles through lots of them. It had problems connecting to our wireless network, but we tried it on others and it worked fine. After that it connected seamlessly every time, although once it was switched off it took several minutes to restart.'

A review of the Barnes and Noble NOOK ebook reader has been posted over at MobileTechReview. 'The nook has a removable back cover where you'll access the replaceable Lithium Ion battery and microSD card slot. It's compatible with ePUB and PDF books and documents, including those protected by Adobe ADEPT DRM. That means you can use books purchased from the Sony eBookstore, Kobo Books and other sites that sell ePUB books with Adobe DRM. You can also read your old Peanut Press eReader books since B&N bought them and the nook supports that format. Lastly, you can check out and read digital library eBooks and Google's public domain classics in ePUB format. Take that, Amazon. No, you can't read Amazon Kindle books because Amazon uses a proprietary format and that means only Kindles can read Kindle books.'

Reg Hardware have published their review of the Archos 9 PC Tablet. 'In the hand the 9 feels similar to the Archos 7 we looked at 12 months ago, only writ larger. The basic construction is much the same and though the case is plastic, rather than metal, the 9 shares the 7's solid hewn-from-a-block-of-granite feel. At 256 x 134 x 17mm and weighing 800g the 9 is quite a hefty device - big for a PMP, small for a netbook yet ideal for a tablet, although holding it is definitely a two handed affair. Inputs and outputs only extend to a power jack, a single USB port and a 3.5mm audio output but if you cough up £60 for the Archos port replicator that plugs into a concealed proprietary jack at the bottom you can extend that by 2 additional USB ports, an extra audio out, a microphone input, a VGA port and a 100/10 Mbps Ethernet socket.'

CNET have published a review of the Archos 9 PC Tablet (Atom Z510 1.1GHz, 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, Windows 7 Starter). 'At $549, it's more expensive than the entry-level Apple iPad, and certainly does many things that device can't, from running Firefox to playing streaming video (although our attempts to play Hulu videos were less than successful). But unlike our preliminary impressions of Apple's device, it's a struggle to perform many basic tasks on the Archos 9. With a more responsive touch screen and a beefier processor, it could have been a contender. The Archos 9 certainly looks the part, with a sleek, thin body, solid brushed-metal construction, and gently tapered edges. It's much closer to what we think a tablet device should look like than the bulky Dell Mini 10 tablet prototype built by Stantum that we looked at recently.'

A review of the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet/portable media player has been posted over at Tracy and Matt's Blog. 'Opening the Archos 5 box for the first time I pleased with its initial look. Sitting comfortably in its box it looked very much like my Tom Tom. Once removed from the box I could not believe how heavy it was. This 120GB model weighs in at a whopping 300 grams. Having not thought about its weight in advance I was a little bewildered as i cant imagine walking around with that in my pocket. Maybe I should have thought about it. Its never going to be featherweight and be able to store 160 movies on it! It certainly feels well made and robust.'

AnythingButiPod have published their review of the Cowon iAUDIO 9 MP3 player. 'The iAudio 9's outside housing is made entirely out of a hard matte plastic, it is scratch resistant and more or less fingerprint proof. The screen on the other hand is made of a glass composite, likely Corning's Gorrila Glass, but will still show fingerprints like any other glass screen. The materials and overall feel of the device is very monolithic- materials flow well together and where they meet the tolerances are uniform. The build of the device is very sturdy with a nice weight- not too heavy not too light.'

A review of the Iriver Story eReader has been posted over at Computeractive. 'The Story has a sharp, easy-to-read 6in e-ink display that can be viewed in either landscape or portrait mode. Buttons on either side of the screen are used to turn the pages, in whichever hand the device is held. It supports PDF, Epub and text formats for ebooks, as well some office documents (it will read Word, Excel and Powerpoint files), pictures and even audio files, so you can use the device to listen to audiobooks or play music as you read. It has both speakers and an earphone socket.'

Laptop Magazine have published their review of the Barnes & Noble Nook eReader. 'Measuring just 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches, the Nook is noticeably smaller than the Kindle 2. However, it's a bit heavier, weighing 12.1 ounces to the Kindle's 10.2 ounces. The Nook's design is economical and streamlined, owing mainly to the 0.6-inch bezel around the 6.0-inch electronic paper display (EPD) and the 3.5-inch color touchscreen below it. Aside from the Next/Last Page buttons on either side of the display, the only physical button on the Nook is the power/sleep control on top. Two small speakers flank the headphone jack and mini-USB port on the bottom. The back of the device feels slightly rubbery and keeps the Nook from sliding too much on smooth surfaces.'

The Power Line have published their review of the Barnes and Noble NOOK ebook reader. 'Barnes & Noble claims to have more than 1,000,000 e-books for sale, along with many that are free, as well as magazines and newspapers. Downloading books is easy and remarkably fast. The device's virtues were illustrated when I was away from home on business for a couple of weeks last month. The book I was reading turned out to be rather depressing, and I decided I needed something more upbeat, since reading for a few minutes before bedtime was my only relief from work. So on Saturday night, I downloaded a new book in my hotel room and began reading it, a few minutes later, over dinner.'

Gear Diary have published a review of the Bookeen Cybook Gen 3 digital reader. 'It's very thin, significantly thinner than the Kindle and somewhat smaller than the Camangi Webstation. The face of it is very sparse, with only a d-pad and the Bookeen logo. Menu, back, music and delete buttons are located along the lower left spine, which I found to be a rather inconvenient location. I accidentally hit the wrong button constantly, and almost deleted a few books when I was aiming for the menu key. There is no touchscreen or keyboard, the whole device is view-only.'

A review of the iRex iLiad 800SG electronic reader has been posted over at the Verizon Wireless Phone. ' In contrast to theKindle, iRex again opted to go the open-standard way. The 800-SG supports a variety of DRM-protected file formats. ePub is the talk of the industry at the moment, so it's good news that iLiad support what many see as the industry standard format. You can purchase all your content from almost any source, but above all for free content to read to your digital book reader.'

The iriver Lplayer 8 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) is on offer for $49.99 over at Amazon Marketplace. 'Enjoy your music exactly the way you want it. The Lplayer natively supports MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, and FLAC audio formats, so you can enjoy quality lossless audio if you choose. Find the sound you like with the built-in 7-band custom EQ. Enjoy quick USB 2.0 transfers of your files to the device, and song information on the Lplayer's brilliant display.'

The Cowon iAUDIO I7-16RD 16GB portable multimedia player (Red) has been reduced from $159.99 to $109.99 over at Amazon Marketplace. 'Weighing in at just 52 grams, the new iAudio 7 is pocket friendly and packs immense power with 52mW of sound output power, and like all COWON players features Jeteffect; a 5 level customizable sound equalizer featuring BBE, Mach3Bass and 3D surround. It's brilliant 1.3'' TFT 260k color screen can playback movies and images. A built in Digital FM Tuner with the ability to record and schedule recordings and a built in microphone for voice recording compliment the player's extensive recording abilities.'

The jWIN 2 GB MP3 Player with USB Plug has been reduced from $49.99 to $18.34 over at Amazon.com. 'The JXMP142 from jWIN is a compact and stylish 2 GB MP3 player with an integrated USB plug to plug directly into your pc (no cable required). Features include backlit liquid crystal display (LCD), built-in 2 GB flash memory, built-in USB 2.0 plug for fast file transfer, support for MP3 and WMA formats, support for ID3 tag and lyric display, multiple languages, hold function, preset EQ, repeat and random play. 3.5 mm stereo jack earphones are included, system requirements are Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista and 1 x AAA battery.'

A review of the f the Sansa Clip 1GB MP3 player has been posted over at About.com. 'The main user interface is a 4-way control pad that is situated on the face of the unit. Every time the control pad is pressed, it illuminates to give you visual feedback. Near to the control pad is the main menu button which gets you straight to the main options screen where you can access all functions. The power/lock slider button is located on the edge of the unit and on the opposite edge of the device is the volume control. All the controls on the SanDisk Sansa Clip feel positive to the touch and are well positioned.'

About.com have published a review of the Insignia Sport 2GB Video MP3 player. 'As the sport name suggests, it is designed to be used on the move (while walking, exercising etc.) and the style is certainly in keeping with that. The Insignia Sport comes in a range of rich colors which are, black, dark cherry red, and blue (review unit). The device is small, relatively slim and weighs only 1.4 oz. The largest design feature on the MP3 player (apart from the screen) is the sporty looking 360ocontrol wheel. This sits on the face of the unit and controls the volume and menu system. This type of user interface has obviously been implemented to make controlling the Insignia Sport more user-friendly on an armband or in a pocket.'

IT Reviews have published a review of the Cowon iAUDIO E2 Mp3 player. 'The E2 is among the more unassuming audio players of recent times, being around the size of a typical key-fob and, due to its plain black casing and stainless steel loop-ring design, could be forgiven for being dismissed as such on first glance. Of course we've seen this kind of thing before with devices like the Creative Zen Stone and more predominantly the iPod Shuffle, and there's clearly a market here for joggers, commuters and those who for whatever reason feel more comfortable knowing that their favourite collection of tunes is only a pocket away.'

Reg Hardware have published their review of the Amazon Kindle DX International Edition e-book reader. 'The most obvious difference between the DX and Amazon's lesser Kindles is the larger screen. Like the standard Kindle, the DX uses an E Ink display, but it's a 9.7in unit with a resolution of 1200 x 824 rather than the basic Kindle's 6in, 600 x 800 panel. Though larger, the DX's screen actually has a lower pixels per inch figure - 150 vs 167 - but the difference is indiscernible to the eye. In every way, the DX's larger screen makes for a much better reading experience than that provided by any other e-book reader we have tested.'

A review of the Apple iPod Touch (third generation, 64GB) portable media player has been posted over at iTechTalk.com. 'There is no change in the design of this third generation iPod. The second and the third iPod Touch are different from each other only by touches and nothing more. There are only minor differences between these two models and thus it can be inferred that these two versions of iPod Touch are almost similar. The screen of the iPod Touch is a touch-screen and this screen is covered by glass which measures 3.5inches and the native resolution of the screen is 480 x 320pixels.'

Activdesign have published a review of the Coby 4GB Flash MP3 player. 'As far as technical details, there is a 1.8 in. color LCD display with plug in and play ability that comes with OS support. It covers windows XP / 98SE and ME / 2k or more recent. There is a media format of JPG and electronic book for the photos and for videos, MTV. 8 hours is the average battery life, which implies you should have more than enough time to hear the music you would like before you've got to charge the battery. And at just 0.45 pounds in weight, this is an MP3 player that's certainly easy to carry around.'

A review of the SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8GB MP3 player has been posted over at Reviews Results. 'This 8gb, second generation Clip+ model is a great deal for all it offers and it's certainly an upgrade from the first generation. With expandable memory, an FM radio tuner with more than 40 presets, a good voice recorder, and such sound quality features such as a basic equalizer, it pretty much accepts all sub-formats of mp3, so there are no issues in those regards as some other brands have.'

A review of the Digital Cube i-Station T9 portable media player has been posted over at Techno Talks. 'To start with, the Digital Cube product supports a huge bunch of codecs that might interest users. Along with usual XviD, DivX and H.264 codecs for video format, the i-Station also supports WMV and MKV formats for high definition video support. Similarly, a few extra codecs in audio side have left the i-Station with a long list including MP3, WMA, OGG, ACC, WAV and PCM codecs. Richest compatibility from PMP class devices is promised with this i-Station from Digital Cube.'

Pocket-lint have published a review of the Cowon iAudio E2 MP3 player. 'The E2 also includes a range of preset equalizer settings in the form of Cowon's BBE+, accessible via a further button that doubles as a shuffle/repeat switch. Due to the lack of a display, the current setting or recognised command is spoken during operation, and since sound doesn't cut out when this happens, it can be quite awkward to make out exactly what you've enabled, leaving trial and error as the only reliable alternative.'

PC Advisor have published their review of the new Apple iPad tablet. 'As a photo viewer, the Apple iPad shines. Photos looked superb on the iPad's display, and it uses all of the familiar multitouch gestures (flick, pinch to zoom) found on the iPhone's photo app. The iPad's photo application is much better than the iPhone's, too, with on-the-fly slideshow creation (complete with transitions) and different ways of viewing the images (including sorting by places, people, events, and a mini-thumbnail bar at the bottom of the screen to jump quickly to other photos in the album).'