March 2010 Archives

PC Magazine have published their review of the Nintendo DSi XL games console. 'The DSi XL currently comes in two rather, well, not-so-great color choices: Burgundy and Bronze. (Nintendo: Were you going for the 1970's refrigerator look? New colors, please!) Also, the texture of the body of the device is now glossy and thus easily smudged, though the inner surfaces remain matte. Weird colors aside, this is the best DS for people to share. Nintendo is marketing the DSi as a social device. It's clearly designed with families in mind, not just single gamers. With greater screen surface area and the pen stylus (which is included, for the first time, in addition to the typical stylus that slots into the device), parents and even grandparents can easily see and manipulate the two touch screens.'

IT Reviews have published a review of the iRiver E200 16GB portable media player. 'On the face of it the iRiver E200 has a huge amount going in its favour. The player has a metal casing that gives it a supremely solid feel and the front is dominated by a four inch screen. As there are no hardware buttons on the front, and only a power button and control lock on the top, you may well assume that it is a touch screen device. Not so. In fact the screen only takes up two thirds of the front and measures 2.8 inches on the diagonal with a resolution of 320 x 240, and the lower third is taken up with a panel of touch controls that you use to change settings and to select and play your videos and music.'

PC Advisor have published a review of the Nintendo DSi XL games console. 'Let's start with the Nintendo DSi XL's down sides. It's heavier, weighing in at 314 grams, 22 percent more than the regular DSi (214g). It's bulkier, too, over 1.5 times the volume of the DSi - both wider and longer, although of roughly the same depth (try jamming it in a shirt or trouser pocket at your peril). Combine the last two points and you get a device that's less comfortable to hold, since your fingers have to extend further, while hefting something a quarter again as heavy. While adolescents to adults shouldn't experience fatigue during extended play sessions, we wonder how it'll fare in the grip of younger players.'

Entrepreneur Heat have published a review of the InfiBeam PI eBook reader. 'The device is shipped with an internal memory of 512MB, which can be expanded upto 4GB - so be assured that your hunger for reading is taken care of. Features Supported So what all things you need while reading a book? PI Reader is shipped with few interesting features that makes the experience better (to a certain extent) than reading a hard copy book. For instance, Ability to increase the font size - This is my favourite feature. One can increase the font size [heck! you cannot do this with a hard copy] and the book is rendered according to the size.'

CNET have published their review of the Nintendo DSi XL (bronze) console. 'Measuring in at 6.34 inches wide by 3.6 inches deep by 0.83 inch high, the XL actually makes the DSi look tiny. Its dual 4.2-inch screens are a whopping 93 percent larger than those found in the DS Lite and roughly an inch larger than the screens on the DSi. The three LED lights found on left hinge of the DSi XL are the same as the DSi, with symbols for power, charging, and Wi-Fi activity. Nintendo has made a big deal about the XL's large viewing angle on the two screens, and although it's tough to tell a huge difference between this and the DSi, this improvement becomes very apparent when comparing them with a DS Lite.'

PC Advisor have published a review of the Aluratek Libre Pro e-reader. 'The Aluratek Libre Pro has an SDHC card slot and supports cards up to 32GB. You can load a variety of file formats, including text, Adobe ePub, PDF, FB2, MOBI, PRC, and RTF. You can download books manually or buy books from ePub-compatible stores (Aluratek is partnered with eBooks.com and Kobo). The device comes with 100 classics preinstalled - a nice way to get the ball rolling. At the bottom of the Aluratek Libre Pro are the power button (which is a little tough to press), the headphone jack, and a hand-strap loop. At the top, under a rubberised flap, are the SD slot and the mini-USB port; the flap feels sturdy, though we wish it didn't cover the USB port as well.'

Digital Trends have published their review of the Nintendo DSi XL games console. 'Despite its larger size -- 6.3 inches wide by 3.6 inches long by 0.8 inches tall - this handheld system is still svelte enough to bring virtually anywhere, plus a new matte finish on the bottom results in a better grip. That said, the Nintendo DSi XL won't likely fit into the pocket of kids' jeans, and because of the extra size and weight (now 11.08 ounces, compared to the Nintendo DSi's 7.5 ounces), younger players might opt to place it on a table or lap for extended play.'

The Philips GoGear 4 GB MP3 player has been reduced from $49.99 to $47.49 over at Amazon Marketplace. 'The ultra compact and wearable Philips GoGear SA018 MP3 player comes endowed with FullSound to bring MP3 music to life. For more music options, there is FM radio and it's all presented in a sleek and seamless stainless steel design.'

The Ematic 2GB Color MP3 Video Player with 1.5-Inch screen, FM Radio and Voice Recording (Red) is on offer for $29.55 with free standard shipping over at Amazon.com. 'This player has 2GB Capacity and 2GB Flash Memory, which stores up to 1000 songs, hours of videos or hundreds of pictures. The built-in FM Tuner and recorder lets you listen to your favorite radio stations and record songs right off the radio! It has a 1.5-Inch Color Display with Video Playback, and for easier navigation and viewing of artist and song titles, or playing your favorite videos and movies. Use the voice recorder to record lectures, notes or anything else. This includes Conversion Software so you can play MP4, AVI or MPG format videos. This also supports MP3, WMA, MTV, BMP, JPEG and Protected DRM Files.'

The JWIN MP3 Player with Fm Radio and Video has been reduced from $99.99 to $48.27 over at Amazon Marketplace. '2.4" TFT color LCD display, Built-in flash memory with built in microSD card slot, FM stereo radio with digital voice/FM radio recorder, Compact, sleek and stylish design with attractive touch sensitive controls , ID3 tag and lyric display, Supports MP3, WMA, MTV, AVI, JPEG, BMP, GIF and TXT files, USB 2.0 for fast file transfer, Repeat and random play, Built-in rechargeable Li-poly battery (450mA.'

DirWell have published a review of the Samsung YP-R1 MP3 player. 'In the YP-R1, there is a touch screen, and there is FM radio. The player itself seems a little inspired by the iPod Nano, they are mostly the same size, and they have similarly tough brushed metal sheen. There is a 2.7" display, which is larger, compared to the Nano's 2". You might be worried that this small screen might not function well as a touchscreen, but it does stay functional nonetheless. Maybe it's not as responsive as the screen from Apple, but it's resistive rather than capacitive. Also, the icons are very small - so you might just end up missing vital controls sometimes. But all said and done, you do get used to the screen, and when you do - it's easy to work on it.'

A review of the Sony Reader Pocket PRS-300 ebook reader has been posted over at Computeractive. 'Sony has been leading the charge of ebook readers in the UK (while Amazon's Kindle has been popular in America, the launch was delayed here - our review of the Kindle is coming soon). The PRS-300 is its third model, using the same e-ink technology as its predecessors. The other current model is the Touch edition, which has a touch-sensitive screen for turning the pages and switching between books. This model is a more stripped-down affair, with a smaller 5in screen that allows it to fit more comfortably in a pocket.'

Laptop Magazine have published a review of the Alex eReader. 'The Alex combines simplicity and attractiveness with its minimal buttons and rounded corners. At 8.9 x 4.7 x 0.4 inches, the Alex is longer than the Nook and the Sony Daily Edition by 1.2 and 0.8 inches, respectively. Yet this device is lighter and thinner than both at 10.6 ounces and 0.4 inches. (The Nook is 12.1 ounces and 0.5 inches; the Daily Edition measures 14 ounces and 0.6 inches.) That's pretty impressive when you consider that the Nook doesn't do nearly as much with its secondary color LCD.'

IT Reviews have published their review of the Sony Walkman NWZ-S544 Series 8 GB video MP3 player. 'At first glance the Sony NWZ-S544 8GB Video Walkman looks like a sleek, candy bar mobile phone, but when you look closely the stereo speakers reveal this is actually a Portable Media Player that handles music and movies. Sony has made the S544 fairly small at 99mm in length by 49mm wide and 10mm thick (or thin), however the inclusion of a pair of speakers hasn't left much space for the screen. Sony hasn't helped itself on this score as it has decided to do without a touch-screen, which means it has been obliged to employ hardware controls.'

PC Advisor have published a review of the Cowon iAudio 9 portable media player. 'The Cowon iAudio 9's TFT screen is 2in, displaying QVGA resolution and is just good enough to view the playlist or album art but not videos. Below the screen is a capacitive touchpad which serves as the main controls for the player. It has an unusual pattern with a diagonal touch sensitive strip for scrolling like what we've seen in the iAudio7. Those who used the iAudio7 earlier would not find much of a problem with its controls.'

A review of the Samsung YP-U5A MP3 player has been posted over at Computeractive. 'The Samsung U5 looks like a typical USB memory key, with the addition of some buttons and a small black-and-white screen. A plastic cap at one end hides a USB connector, so the player can be plugged into a spare port on a desktop or laptop PC for charging and transferring media, without needing any cables. This is handy because on larger players if you forget the cable you will be unable to charge the player and will be left without any music if the battery runs out.'

Laptop Magazine have published their review of the iRex DR800SG eReader. 'The 7.6 x 5.9 x 0.4-inch iRex balances its larger screen with a sleek chassis; it's marginally thinner than the Barnes & Noble Nook (0.5 inches) and, at 12.8 ounces, is 1.2 ounces lighter than the Sony Daily Edition. The 8.1-inch electronic paper display (EPD) dominates the device. Due to the lack of keyboard or secondary display, the DR800SG's shape brings to mind a shrunken pad of paper. Just as with the touch-enabled Sony Daily Edition, the iRex has few buttons. But iRex takes austerity in design to an extreme, with just one long flip bar (used mostly for turning pages) and a menu button on the left edge of the display. A light above the bar indicates when the DR800SG is working, or connected to a computer or wireless 3G.'

CNET have published a review of the Entourage Edge ebook reader. 'The dream of the Edge buts up against reality when you pick it up for the first time. It weighs a ton. More accurately, it weighs just over 3 pounds. Granted, 3 pounds is a fraction of the weight of a textbook, but in the world of e-book readers, it is a goliath. For the same weight, you could be carrying two iPads or 5.5 Kindles. The second reality check occurs when you pry open the two magnetically-latched screens and stare dumbfounded at the dizzying array of buttons and icons. Beyond the buttons for power, Wi-Fi, and volume located on the side of the device, each of the two screens are outfitted with four buttons that control features specific to each panel.'

IT Reviews have published their review of the Amazon Kindle DX Global Wireless Edition digital device. 'The Kindle DX Global Wireless Edition plays music, so you can listen to tunes while you read, and it has a 3.5mm headset slot. Do so, though, and you will considerably shorten the battery life. Amazon rates it as good for one week's reading use with wireless turned on, two weeks with it turned off. We found this to be pretty close to the mark. The large screen and keyboard mean this is a fairly hefty device to carry around - it weighs 530g, and it is far too big for a pocket. We also found it a little unwieldy to hold; we definitely prefer smaller format ereaders. But on the plus side, the reading controls are large and easy to use, and we've already noted the benefits of the sizeable screen.'

Engadget have published a review of the Cowon V5 portable media player. 'Cowon's V5 has been out and about in South Korea for just over two months now, but thankfully for the Yanks who are downright flustered with the existing PMP options here in the States, the company has decided to bring this beaut stateside. Boasting a 4.8-inch resistive touchscreen (800 x 480 resolution), a Windows CE 6.0 underlying OS, HDMI / USB sockets (via adapters from a proprietary socket), a voice recorder, integrated speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack, 8/16/32GB of internal storage, an SDHC expansion slot, a battery good for 45 hours of music playback (or 10 hours with video) and a format support list that would drive you batty to read, there's a lot (lot!) to love about this thing on paper. We were fortunate enough to get our hands on one of the first units to ship to America, so hop on past the break for our two pennies.'

A review of the Archos 1 Vision digital player has been posted over at Anything But iPod. 'The Archos 1 Vision is a rather small player and doesn't weight a lot. That is due to it being plastic, plastic and more plastic and it almost feels unnaturally light, with the effect of it feeling like it's not very solid or well built. It does also quirk a bit when you press the buttons, which is pretty typical of a player this shape and price. Volume-wise it's about the same as the Sansa Clip+, being taller and slightly wider but not as thick. In my opinion this is a better design for distributing that volume to minimize the thickness, but that's a subjective matter.'

PC Advisor have published their review of the Sony Reader Daily Edition wireless eBook reader. 'Like the Touch Edition, the Sony Reader Daily Edition has a touchscreen that you can manipulate with your fingers or with a stylus that slides into the device's upper left corner. You can turn pages forward (but not backward) with a finger swipe, and you get to choose whether to use left-to-right or right-to-lift action for this purpose. This feature generally worked well, but the device was unresponsive to our swipes intermittently, and ultimately we found it less annoying to depend on the hardware page-turn buttons below the display.'

A review of the Amazon Kindle 2 eReader has been posted over at Pocket-lint. 'The Kindle itself is well designed and constructed, feeling like a quality device in the hand. The brushed metal back looks and feels great in the hand, although we slapped it straight into a leather cover and have left it there ever since. The white plastic front of the Kindle has a Mac look to it (from a few years ago) with tight fitting buttons. Down the left-hand edge of the Kindle bezel you get page turning buttons Prev Page and Next Page, whilst on the right-hand edge you get Home, Next Page, Menu, Back and a small clickable joystick, which can be a little fiddly to use. Across the bottom is a QWERTY keyboard, including the likes of numbers, symbols and so on.'

Laptop Magazine have published a review of the Archos 9 PCTablet. 'The Archos 9 really isn't that bad before you turn it on. The 1.8-pound device has a sturdy feel yet measures only 0.7 inches thick. Surrounding the display is an attractive brushed metal bezel, and around back you'll find the stylus slot and a convenient kick stand--a nice touch for when you want to watch online videos or surf the web without holding the device. On the left front side of the Archos 9 you'll find a 1.3-megapixel camera, a shortcut button (Ctrl + Alt + Delete by default), and a button to launch Archos' on-screen keyboard. The left and right buttons are stacked on top of one another beneath these controls. The left side houses the power button and a tiny optical mouse that we found to be sluggish and finicky.'

PC Advisor have published a review of the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 portable media player. 'The Creative ZEN X-fi2 is a light and compact PMP that has plenty of features under its hood. It has a simple look and clean design.The body front has a dark glossy finish with a chrome bezel. It is mainly occupied by a 3-inch TFT resistive touch screen which has resolution of 400x240 pixels with 262k color support. Right next to the screen is a physical home/menu button with an onboard mono speaker below. The back of the Creative ZEN X-Fi2 has a faux white metallic finish and is more resistant to smudges and scratches than the glossy front. Its 8GB (16GB and 32GB versions are also available) of internal memory can be extended via the microSD card slot.'

The Cowon D2+ 16 GB MP3 Player (Black) has been reduced from $179.99 to $150.49 over at Amazon Marketplace. 'Video and audio player with FM tuner, voice recorder, and text and photo viewer 2.5-inch, 24-bit QVGA (320 x 240) touchscreen LCD with 16 million colors Up to 52 hours of music playback (10 hours of video) on one charge SD/SDHC/MMC/MMC-plus card memory expansion DRM-protected content and BBE+ support What's in the Box Cowon D2+ (Black), stylus, earphones, USB cable, Quick Guide, installation CD.'

The Archos 9 PC Tablet (Black) is available on pre-order for $549.99 over at Amazon.com. 'Designed for easy portability, the Archos 9 weighs less than 2 pounds and measures 0.67 inches thin. The Archos 9 sports a full touch-sensitive 9-inch resistive touchscreen display with a virtual keyboard as well as an innovative optical trackpoint (virtual mouse) for easy navigation. An adjustable leg stand allows the Archos 9 to be positioned in a number of positions--upright for watching videos or photo slideshows, or angled for an optimal typing position.'

The SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 8 GB MP3 Player is on offer for $58.76 with free standard shipping over at Amazon.com. 'The Sansa Clip+ MP3 player, recipient of an August 2009 CNET Editors' Choice award, is built to bring your music to life. The player features solid-state flash memory for skip-free playback, making it ideal for working out with, and with MP3 quality for a rich, full-bodied sound. Whether you're a jazz aficionado or a classic rocker, the Sansa Clip+ MP3 player will ensure that your music comes through loudly and clearly.'

The Gadgeteer have published a review of the Sony Pocket Edition Reader. 'The body of the Pocket reader appears to be aluminum. It is available in silver, navy blue, and rose. The cost-cutting measure that I think is most noticeable is the lack of the chrome-colored accents. The top/bottom/right edge of the reader is made of plastic, and the color coordinates with - but doesn't match - the body color. I think that's a little chintzy, but it's certainly no deal breaker. The back of the reader has a slightly rubbery feel, apparently to give you a better grip on the naked reader.'

Tracy and Matt have published their review of the Amazon Kindle DX eBook reader. 'The front of the Kindle DX is, unsurprisingly, dominated but the 9.7" E Ink display. The display is 824 x 1200 pixels and can display 16 shade of grey. Below the display a QWERTY keyboard. You use the keyboard for entering text, searching for new book titles or for the web browser. On the bottom of the unit there are a couple of speaker grilles and in the middle a microUSB connector for charging the device and for accessing the internal memory in mass-storage mode.'

A review of the Chumby Classic internet streaming device has been posted over at Tech Radar. 'At heart, the Chumby is a Wi-Fi internet viewer designed to sit by your bed or in your kitchen. You register your device on the Chumby website, then create your own channels from the 1,500 free widgets available. These include alarm clocks, radio streaming, Flickr picture viewers, New York Times news tickers, YouTube browsers, social network plug-ins and Flash games to name but a few. It sounds like it should be a sort of cheap and cuddly housebound iPod Touch, but the 320 x 280 resolution touchscreen, clunky interface and slow 12fps refresh rate make reading unpleasant, videos stuttery and games hard to play.'

A review of the Archos 5 Internet Tablet has been posted over at Nate's Ebook News. 'The Archos 5 is both thin and just the right size that I can hold it in portrait in one hand. It was nice to hold, and having used PDAs with 4" and 3" screen I was quite pleased with the 4.8" wide screen. There's no stylus, but the screen was reasonably fingertip friendly. The hardware is great, but I had serious issues with the software. I'm about to return this tablet, again, because it keeps crashing. I can live with system crashes for a little while, but the first unit also lost Wifi. I've also had to force a reboot a number of times because half the screen went black.

The Good eReader have published a review of the Irex Iliad Electronic e-book reader. 'The DR1000S is dominated by an excellent 255 mm, diagonal, electronic paper like screen with a 1024 x 1280 pixel resolution, and 160 ppi with 16 levels of Grey scale. Such amazing features bring out crisp, clear text and image reproduction that exactly simulates paper, and delivers a near 1:1 reproduction of A4 sized documents and e-books. In addition to this, a Wacom penabled touch sensor input and the supplied stylus allow the user to make notes on screen.'

Pocket-lint have published their review of the iRex DR800S ebook reader. 'While it's not locked into any online buying of books (unlike the US version, which hooks-up to the Barnes & Noble store using 3G - something that should come to these shores later in 2010), the DR800S doesn't have complete file compatibility. EPUB and PDB ebooks (Barnes & Noble's format), TXT, PDF, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, BMP files (pictures look particularly good on this 16-shade greyscale E-Ink screen) are all dealt with, though HTML web pages, RTF files and Microsoft Office documents are not. iRex's take on Microsoft compatibility is that business users who are likely to buy the DR800S at this price will be savvy enough to save any Word files they want to read as a PDFs directly to the DR800S.'

Geek.com have published a review of the Nintendo DSi XL games console. 'The DSi XL is effectively a DSi on a bigger scale. It has exactly the same feature set with the exception of the screens which are 93% larger at 4.2″. When sat next to a DS Lite it looks huge: That may put many off considering it as a potential replacement as portability is a key component of the DS. But surprisingly, it isn't as big as the images lead you to believe. I have only ever owned the original DS hardware. The bulky, silver, small-screened, DS that was so popular. When it was first released, the DS was a highly portable piece of hardware with a long battery life. You'll be surprised to find the DS and DSi XL are almost exactly the same size.'

Laptop Magazine have published their review of the Sony Reader Daily Edition eReader. 'The 8.1 x 5 x 0.6-inch Daily Edition is essentially a longer Sony Reader Touch Edition with 3G. Both readers have the same type of screen, touch interface, ports, and minimalist design. The Daily Edition is the same width as the 6-inch Touch Edition, so it fits comfortably in one hand. However, the longer 7-inch screen allows for more lines of text and two-column reading in landscape mode. Below the E-Ink screen sit five physical buttons: Previous/Next Page, Home, Zoom, and Options. A stylus is tucked into the upper left hand corner next to the power slide. Media slots for SD and Memory Stick Duo Cards are hidden behind a cover on the right edge. Along the bottom is a wireless on/off switch, mini-USB and headphone ports, volume controls, and the power port.'

Zath.co.uk have published a review of the Zath.co.uk MP3 player. 'Perhaps the most obvious thing to look at first with the Sony Walkman A845 is exactly that: how it looks. Whilst I have to say that I found the design a little bit off putting to start with (the screen seemed a little too big which in turn made the silver bottom look a little odd) but as with so many things it doesn't take long to grow on you - although once you've noticed it you won't forget the fact that the buttons look oddly like Mickey mouse!'

A review of the Amazon Kindle wireless reading device has been posted over at Kent's Bike Blog. 'The Kindle is an electronic book reader. It's not the first ebook reader and it certainly won't be the last, but it is the one that made me hit the "Buy Now" button last week. It's not a move I made lightly, it's a pricey little gadget after all, and it is something I'd dismissed long ago as being to limited, restricted and intentionally crippled to be of use to me. I not only dismissed the Kindle, I pretty much echoed Cory Doctorow's negative impressions of the device that he posted on Boing Boing back in 2007.'

A review of the Aluratek LIBRE eBook Reader PRO eBook reader has been posted over at The Globe And Mail. 'Unlike the white-ish screens of most other e-readers, the Libre's display is distinctly grey, which makes it a little more difficult to distinguish letters and words in certain lighting conditions. The difference was negligible when I held it beside Sony's Reader Pocket Edition in daylight and brightly lit rooms. However, as the sun went down reading on the Libre's LCD became perceptibly more difficult than it was on Sony's E Ink display.'

The ibiza Rhapsody HV18A-8G MP4 Player with Long Playback has been reduced from $79.99 to $57.30 over at Amazon.com. 'The HV18A-8G has 8GB of built-in memory so you can store up to 2,000 of your favorite tunes - equal to 130-hours of audio and 32-hours video. The full color 1.8-inch TFT LCD display offers a crisp playback offering a quality picture for all your favorite videos and photos. The lighted touch panel keypad makes it easy to navigate through the MP4 player and access all its many features. Enjoy music, video, photos, text and even FM radio, as well as subscription music online services. Charge the integrated Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery overnight so it will be ready to go when you are.'

The Visual Land V-Touch 4 GB MP3/MP4/Camera 2.8-Inch Touchscreen/Mini SD Portable Media Player (Black) has been reduced from $199.99 to $69.99 over at Amazon.com. 'The V-Touch Portable Media Player is the latest in touch screen media players. The responsive touch screen controls make navigating through your audio and video files a breeze. All other functions such as the FM Radio and Picture Viewer are equally enriched by the ease of use of a simple stylus or your finger.When you're not enjoying the fun of the touch screen, you can admire the crystal clear screen playing back AVI, MP4 and 3GP videos at 320x240 resolution on a beautiful 2.8-Inch color screen. Or listen to your MP3 and WMA audio files through high clarity earphone output. Or for those who choose not to use headphones, the V-Touch has a built-in, stereo speaker.The V-Touch also features a built-in 2.0 megapixel digital camera which records both stills and videos.

The Samsung P3 Palm Theatre Plus 32 GB MP3 Player (Black) has been reduced from $329.99 to $275.98 over at Amazon.com. 'How you communicate with your P3 is up to you. Our EmoTure technology let's you interact with its features in a much more personal way. Instead of just one main screen there are three customizable desk screens. Easily drag, tap or flick any of the colorful icons where you want. Choose from clocks, memo pads, calendars and more. There's even a range of screen effects to choose from. However you choose it, it's your P3 your way. Hear your music the way it was meant to be heard. P3's DNSe 3.0 technology restores the song's natural highs and lows. And it can create a virtual surrounding to match the genre, from dance club to concert hall. There's even a built-in mono speaker and an FM radio. With the P3, hearing is believing.'