DigitDevice

Aliph Jawbone Prime Review

John Alexi — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:29:51 +0000

Aliph is a proven manufacturer of Bluetooth headsets; it has had some awesome releases in the premium segment in the past. The Aliph Jawbone which was launched about an year back was a huge hit; it offered a great mix of style, great design, superb sound quality and nice noise cancellation. The new Aliph Jawbone Prime is priced the same as the Aliph Jawbone when it was first launched – $129 and offers a better design, a better fit and slightly better sound quality. In this review, we check out how the Aliph Jawbone Prime stacks up against its competitors and if its worth a upgrade.

Aliph Jawbone Prime Specs:

Dimensions: 2.1 x 1.0 x 0.6 inches
Weight: 0.4 ounces
Battery Life: 4.5 hours talktime / 8 days standby time
Range: 33 feet
Price: $129

Review:

The Aliph Jawbone sported a spectacular design and the new Jawbone Prime improves on that. The new design is very stylish and appealing. The dimensions are the same as before – 2.1 x 1.0 x 0.6 inches and it even weighs the same – about 0.4 ounces. It sports a nice dented pattern which looks great on the glossy black exterior. It is available in Black, Platinum, Brown, Scarlet, Lime, Yellow and Lilac. The build quality is pretty awesome, it should easily last you for a long time. It is very comfortable to wear, even for long periods of time. It comes with 3 sets of silicone ear buds which you can choose from, and 2 ear loops for a tighter fit.

The buttons are cleverly hidden, as in all Jawbones. There is a button in the center which handles the calls and pairing; volume controls are located on the top. There is a LED indicator also which tells you if the headset in on or not and indicates other statuses. It comes equipped with Multi Point technology and can be paired with more than one device. Like all Jawbones, the Aliph Jawbone Prime comes with the NoiseAssassin noise cancellation technology. It works pretty well and almost eliminates external background noise. The sound quality is very nice, all calls are clearly audible even in noisy surroundings. The volume levels are also very nice. The Aliph Jawbone Prime is among the best headsets you can get in this range when it comes to sound quality.

The Aliph Jawbone Prime has an official range of about 33 feet but works well beyond that. It has a talktime of about 4.5 hrs, better than the 4 hrs battery life of the older Jawbone. The standby time is about 8 days. All in all, a great deal for $129.

Pros:

Nice Design
Superb Call Quality
Noise Cancellation

Cons:

A bit pricey

Our Rating: 4 / 5.

Lacie Hard Disk

John Alexi — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:07:18 +0000

Lacie is a well known storage device manufacturer and has come up with some really good products in the past. Though not in the league of Seagate and Western Digital when it comes to popularity, Lacie’s offerings have never disappointed. The Lacie Hard Disk is a nice external storage option. IT is available in capacities ranging from 500 GB to 2 TB and sports a nice stylish design. It also has a lot many tricks up its sleeves, which we will see in the review.

Lacie Hard Disk Specs:

Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.6 x 1.8 inches
Weight: 2.2 lbs
Capacity: 1 TB
Speed (RPM): 7200 RPM
Read/Write Speed (USB): 25 MBps / 19 MBps
Read/Write Speed (FireWire 400): 29 MBps / 10 MBps
Read/Write Speed (eSATA): 35 MBps / 37 MBps
Ports: USB 2.0, FireWire 400, eSATA
Price: $160.00

Review:

The Lacie Hard Disk has a superb design which is very stylish. It has a glossy black look with flat surfaces and looks straight out of some sci-fi movie. It is a finger print magnet though. It has dimensions of 7.6 x 4.6 x 1.8 inches – a bit bulky and weighs about 2.2 lbs. It comes with USB, eSATA and Firewire 400 ports for connectivity. It also sports vents to keep the drive cool. The build quality is pretty good and should last long.

The Lacie Hard Disk sports three connectivity interfaces – USB 2.0, Firewire 400 and eSATA. The read / write speeds are pretty nice in all of them. It offers read speeds of 25 MBps and write speeds of 19 MBps in USB 2.0, 29 MBps and 10 MBps in Firewire 400 and 35 MBps and 37 MBps in eSATA mode. Most of the speeds are very good in this range, but the Firewire 400 write speed isn’t very impressive. 10 MBps is very mediocre compared to the speeds offered by other drives in this range. The eSATA speeds are superb.

The Lacie Hard Drive comes bundled with Lacie Backup software which enables you to backup your data instantly with a click to the Lacie Hard Drive. It also allows you to create custom partitions. It is also compatible with all major OSes – Windows XP / Vista, OS X and Linux. However there is no encryption software to protect your data.

Pros:

Nice Design
USB, eSATA, Firewire 400
Superb eSATA Speeds

Cons:

Low Firewire 400 Write Speeds
No Encryption

Our Rating: 4 / 5.

Jabra BT 530 Review

John Alexi — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:29:01 +0000

Jabra is a renowned Bluetooth headset and mobile accessories manufacturer and has delivered us some great products in the past. It has now come up with the Jabra BT 530 budget Bluetooth headset which offers a nice mix of features, sound quality and a nice design. It is also priced quite reasonably at about $80. More details in the review.

Jabra BT 530 Specs:

Dimensions: 1.9 x 0.7 x 0.5 inches
Weight: 0.4 ounces
Battery Life: 5.5 hours talktime / 10 days standby time
Range: 32 feet
Price: $80

Review:

The Jabra BT 530 sports a nice design with a black look and a metallic strip running down its body. It sports a modern look which should appeal to office executives and casual users alike. Thankfully, it is not very blingy like some overdone headsets. It has dimensions of 1.9 x 0.7 x 0.5 inches – very compact and weighs just about 0.4 ounces – very light. It has a very comfortable fit and there is no sign of discomfort even after wearing it for long hours. It comes bundled with 2 earhooks and 3 ear tips which provide a flexible fit spanning all ear sizes. The Jabra BT 530 has nice build quality and should easily last for a couple of years.

The Jabra BT 530 has 2 charging options – you can charge it either with the AC adapter or by conencting it to your PC using a USB cable. It can pair with upto 8 devices, very helpful if you have many phones. It is very easy to use and has simple controls. The volume controls are right above the metallic strip. There is a dedicated power switch on one side of the strip. The answer / end button is located on the end of the strip. There is also a LED indicator which flickers to indicate whether the set is powered on or off.

The Jabra BT 530 offers external noise cancellation in the form of Jabra’s Noise Blackout technology. It offers superb sound quality and almost eliminates background noise. The volume levels are also pretty nice. The Jabra BT 530 also has a feature which automatically detects the noise levels and automatically adjusts the volume. It has a range of about 32 feet and the sound completely breaks off at about 55 feet. It has a decent battery life of about 5.5 hrs talktime and a standby time of 10 days.

Pros:

Nice Sound Quality
Comfortable Design

Cons:

None in this price range

Our Rating: 4 / 5.

Altec Lansing Moondance Glow

John Alexi — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:29:08 +0000

The Altec Lansing Moondance Glow is a docking station with speakers setup for the iPod. It is equipped with superb speakers and also offers the additional functionality of a clock radio. It features a stylish design, coupled with a easy to use interface. In this review, we check out the Altec Lansing Moondance Glow and see if its worth the $120 price tag that comes with it.

Altec Lansing Moondance Glow Specs:

Dimensions: 12.2 x 5.3 x 3.1 inches
System Response: 70 Hz to 15 kHz
S/N Ratio at 1 kHz: 76 dB
Drivers: Two 3 inch full range drivers
Ports: Line in
Price: $120

Review:

The Altec Lansing Moondance Glow is a very stylish device with a nice black and silver design. It has dimensions of 12.2 x 5.3 x 3.1 inches with two 3 inch speakers on either side. In the center lies a slide out iPod dock. The speakers are covered with a metallic grille which looks pretty stylish. Just above the right speaker, you find a small LCD screen which displays the time and the currently playing track. It also displays the alarm status. The build quality of the Altec Lansing Moondance Glow is very good and feels durable. The slide out iPod dock has a nice sliding mechanism and slides perfectly into place.

The Altec Lansing Moondance Glow has 12 touch sensitive controls right on top. They include alarm, speaker, music player controls. It comes with 2 remotes to control your Moondance Glow. One is the enhanced remote which offers most of the functionality and the other is the Wireless Snooze Remote to snooze off the alarm, change the alarm settings like snooze duration, volume etc.

The sound quality of the Altec Lansing Moondance Glow’s speakers is very good. The speakers also offer nice volume levels. It is compatible with all iPods, the iPod Touch and the iPhone. It has lights embedded in the back of the system which can light up the wall behind for a soothing effect. You can change the lights using the Mood button. All in all, a great accessory for your iPod. It offers superb speakers, a nice alarm clock and ambient lighting in a stylish design.

Pros:

Easy to Use
Great Speakers
LCD Display

Cons:

Slideout Dock

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.

Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition Review

John Alexi — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:29:08 +0000

Western Digital is one of the best storage device manufacturers worldwide, it makes superb products which offer great value for money and also offer nice performance. The new Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition is a dual drive backup solution which backs up your data to two drives and mirrors it for extra protection using a RAID configuration. In this review we check out the Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition and see if it offers enough bang for its buck.

Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition Specs:

Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.0 x 3.8 inches
Weight: 4.2 pounds
Capacity: 500 GB x 2
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM
Read / Write Speed: 18.2 MBps / 13.1 MBps
Connectivity: USB 2.0
Price: $250

Review:

The Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition is a nicely styled device, and very closely resembles a gaming PC cabinet, just miniaturized. It is pretty compact at dimensions of just about 6.5 x 6.0 x 3.8 inches and weighing just 4.2 pounds. It is dressed in all black and is encased in a glossy plastic shell. When you power it on, the blue LED in the front lights up. The Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition has average read speeds of about 18.2 MBps but mediocre write speeds of just 13.1 MBps. It takes about 114 seconds to read a 2 GB file and about 158 seconds to write it back. While it lags behind in the read / write speeds, it also doesn’t offer additional connectivity options like Firewire etc.

The Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition 1 TB edition sports 2 500 GB drives in a RAID 1 configuration which mirrors your data on both drives giving you a double backup. This setup is very reliable because in case one drive fails, the other still holds your data. But it reduces the available space to just 500 GB. You can also switch to other RAID configurations using the RAID manager application to utilize the full 1 TB but lose the extra protection. It also comes with features like WD Anywhere Backup which lets you create automated backups and MioNet that lets you remotely access the data in another PC running the software. These two work only with Windows, but the Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition also comes bundled with Western Digital Backup software for Macs.

Pros:

Dual Drive Backup
Nice Design

Cons:

No Firewire
Slow Speeds

Our Rating: 3 / 5.

Phiaton PS200 Review

John Alexi — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:29:17 +0000

Phiaton is a relatively new entrant in the audio accessories market but has already made quite a big splash with its launches. It launched the Phiaton PS200 and PS500 very recently, both of which have been received well. The PS200 are in canal earbuds with a superb design while the PS500 are padded headphones. In this review, we will check out the Phiaton PS200 and see whether it is worth the $240 it demands.

Phiaton PS200 Specs:

Dimensions: 1.1 x 0.6 x 0.7 inches
Weight: 0.18 ounces
Cord Length: 4.2 feet
Sensitivity (at 1 kHz): 95 dB
Impedance (at 1 kHz): 39.00 ohms
Price: $240

Review:

The Phiaton PS200 sports a superb design, the back of the earbuds resemble jet turbines while the front end is capped with silicone eartips. The design is very different from the regular ones and is sure to appeal to many youngsters. With the earbuds, you get 2 sets of detachable silicone eartips which ensures a comfortable fit. It comes with a 4.2 feet long cord which should be enough for everyone. The earbuds are very compact and light. THey have dimensions of just about 1.1 x 0.6 x 0.7 inches and weigh only 0.18 ounces.

The sound quality of the Phiaton PS200 is very nice. They perform equally well across the full spectrum but some may find it a bit lacking in bass. The sound is very rich and the volume levels are also nice, listening to your favorite songs on a good PMP coupled with the Phiaton PS200 will be a pleasure. The Phiaton PS200 also blocks out outside noise quite efficiently so that you can enjoy your music completely. You can experiment with the 3 silicone eartips to find which one gives you the best fit and blocks out external noise. But the Phiaton PS200 also leaks out sound when pumped to 90% – 100%; anyone within a radius of 4-5 feet can hear what you are playing clearly.

All in all, the Phiaton PS200 offer superb sound quality, have a very nice design and are very comfortable. They are priced a bit high though; $150 – $200 would have been a better pricing option.

Pros:

Nice Design
Superb Sound Quality
Noise Cancellation

Cons:

Expensive

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.

Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD Review

John Alexi — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:29:36 +0000

Seagate is one of the best memory based device manufacturer and has made a mark for itself in the storage industry. It makes very reliable products and prices them pretty low to cater to the general public. Today, we will take a look at the Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD – its latest product which basically allows you to access your videos, songs and images on a monitor or TV. You need to couple it with a portable Seagate HDD to view the multimedia content directly on a monitor.

Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD Specs:

Dimensions: 7.2 x 7.0 x 1.2 inches
Weight: 1.6 pounds
Video Output: Composite, S-video, Component
Audio Output: Stereo, Coaxial S/PDIF
Supported Formats:
Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB/ISO), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX /Xvid)
Subtitles: SAMI(smi), SRT and SUB
Video resolutions: NTSC 480i/480p; PAL 576i/576p, supports video (HD and upscaling) up to 720p/1080i
Audio: MP3, AC3 (5.1 audio – Dolby Digital) WMA, WAV, OGG
Photo: JPEG files up to 20 megapixels
Price: $279 with a 500GB FreeAgent GO Drive

Review:

The Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD has a very nice design and looks very good in black. It has a glossy black lid which is a fingerprint magnet. It is pretty portable with dimensions of just 7.2 x 7.0 x 1.2 inches and a weight of about 1.6 pounds. Just besides the HDD port, you find lots of buttons for navigation, power, menu options and play/pause controls. It also sports a Infrared port for the remote, a button to eject the FreeAgent drive and a USB drive to attach other devices. It comes with a lot of connectivity ports. It has Composite, S-video, Component video outputs, compatible with almost all TVs. It does miss out on HD though.

To setup the Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD, just install the bundled software on your PC, connect the FreeAgent Go drive to your PC and sync the media to the drive. The bundled remote is very easy to use and provides most of the basic features. The interface of the Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD is intuitive and very responsive.

The Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD supports a lot of multimedia formats and a wide range of resolutions. It can play the MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI/VOB/ISO), MPEG-4 (AVI/DivX /Xvid) video formats, the MP3, AC3 (5.1 audio – Dolby Digital) WMA, WAV, OGG audio formats and supports resolutions upto 720P/1080i. It can also display JPEG image files. The display quality is superb when coupled with a good display and there is no lag. The sound quality is equally amazing as Theater HD supports Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound.

Pros:

Easy to use
Supports Many Formats

Cons:

No Support for AAC, WMV, DRM

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.

Mobile and Laptop Query

John Alexi — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:29:34 +0000

Two more Ask Us queries to be answered,

The first query is by Himanshu Gandhi,

Hi,
I am looking for a smartphone/pda with a reasonably good touch screen atleast 2MP camera and possibly Wi-Fi. My budget is Indian rupees 13,000-15,000 (about US$250-300). I was contemplating between Asus P320 and LG KP500 Cookie and Samsung F480 (though LG cookie and samsung F480 doesnt have Wifi). Could you guide me as to which one would be a good option. My use of Wifi is limited to in case a model scores on other front, I can do away with this feature.

Thanks.

Hey Himanshu,

Both the LG KP500 Cookie and the Samsung F480 are superb options, but the Samsung F480 is definitely much better. It has a better cam, better browser and better connectivity features than in the LG KP500 Cookie. But it is also costlier. You can also consider the HTC Touch Viva, which has a much better UI than the rest but a mediocre cam. The Asus P320 isn’t recommended as it is bogged down by low RAM, but it does have GPS. Personally, I would recommend the Samsung F480 of these 4. You can also check out the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music.

The second query is by S. Thomas,

Hi,

Has anybody used the 14.1 inch Asus F80Q-4P051 notebook? I’m looking for user inputs/comments/reviews.

Are the HP Pavilion dv2 12.1 inch and the Samsung NC20 12.1 inch netbook/notebook available in Mumbai, and if so which which dealer(s)?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Thomas,

The Asus F80Q-4P051 is a decent notebook with good specs, but you can find many better options in that range. I would recommend a Dell Inspiron 15.

The Samsung NC20 isn’t yet available in India but is expected to be in stores soon. Keep watching this space for updates. The HP Pavilion DV2 is a superb ultraportable option with awesome specs. It was announced a week back in India and should be available soon enough. It is priced at around 36k.

Mitsubishi XD95U Review

John Alexi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:29:41 +0000

Mitsubishi is not known for its projectors business but it is making its name slowly as a reliable manufacturer. The new Mitsubishi XD95U is the newest release by Mitsubishi in the projector segment. It is priced a bit high at about $999 but offers some pretty good features. In this review, we check out the new Mitsubishi XD95U and see if it is a good option.

Mitsubishi XD95U Specs:

Dimensions: 8.1 x 7.5 x 3.1 inches
Weight: 3.3 pounds
Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels
Contrast Ratio: 500:1 to 1000:1
Brightness: 2200 ANSI Lumens
Projector Type: DLP
Video Input: S-Video, Component Video, Composite Video
Supported Formats: 1080i, 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, M-PAL, N-PAL, NTSC, PAL, PAL60, SECAM
Image Engine: 0.55-inch DMD
Zoom Focus: 1.1:1

Review:

The Mitsubishi XD95U has a nice design and is totally suited for office settings. It is one of the most compact projectors on the market with dimensions of just about 8.1 x 7.5 x 3.1 inches. It weighs about 3.3 pounds which makes it very portable. Together with the remote control and the connecting cables included, it weighs less than 4 pounds. The build quality is very good and the projector feels sturdy. It should easily last for a couple of years.

It supports 3 types of inputs – S-Video, Component Video and Composite Video. It doesn’t have any speakers. It comes with a nice remote control which supports only the basic stuff. The Mitsubishi XD95U is a bit noisy, but you can tone that down by switching to the low power mode. The XD95U has a rated brightness level of 2200 ANSI Lumens and the actual brightness levels are actually a bit more. It has a contrast ratio of about 620:1 which is superb. The display quality is exceptional with very accurate color reproduction. The projected image size is pretty big even at a close range. It supports most of the popular formats like 1080i, 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, M-PAL, N-PAL, NTSC, PAL, PAL60 and SECAM. It is ideal for quality presentations with a large audience. It has a cooldown time of about 1 min 40 secs which is pretty long.

The Mitsubishi XD95U is a good option for those wanting an affordable projector with good features. But it certainly is not the best, there are many other options available like the Dell M209X.

Pros:

Compact
Nice Brightness
Superb Contrast

Cons:

Primitive Remote Control
Noisy

Our Rating: 3 / 5.

PlanOn Printstik PS910 Review

John Alexi — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:29:41 +0000

The PlanOn Printstik PS910 is a portable mobile printer by PlanOn. It is very compact and portable and is aimed primarily who need to print stuff while on the go. It is powered by a built in battery and can be connected using either a USB 2.0 port or Bluetooth. It is priced a bit high and the performance is just not worth it, especially if you can make do with a bigger but better printer. But it is a good option for those looking for a small, portable printer.

PlanOn Printstik PS910 Specs:

Dimensions: 11.0 x 1.9 x 1.0 inches
Weight: 700 grams
Print Resolution: 200×100 dpi, 200×200 dpi, 200×400 dpi
Interfaces: USB 2.0, Bluetooth
Print Speed: 102 pages per minute
Print Method: Direct Thermal
Battery Type: Lithium Polymer

Review:

The PlanOn Printstik PS910 is very compact, and truly portable at dimensions of just about 11.0 x 1.9 x 1.0 inches. It is also relatively very light at just about 700 grams. It sports a nice black and silver design which is suited for office use. The design is very appealing and stylish. It is very easy to operate, you have buttons on the front to power on / off the printer and eject the paper and LEDs to indicate the printer’s battery life and status. Sheets of paper are rolled up inside the Printstik PS910; it has a capacity of about 20 sheets. It also doesn’t support standard paper, only special rolled paper cartridges which add a recurring cost.

It is powered by a built in battery which can manage about 30 prints before dying out. YOu can also directly connect it using the AC adapter or to a cigarette lighter slot. It can be used by Bluetooth or the USB 2.0 interface. It is compatible with all Windows OSes and some smartphones as well – Blackberry and PocketPC. This is a very nice feature, considering you can print documents directly from your smartphone.

It has a very slow printing speed of just about 1-2 pages per minute, and event he quality isn’t much to speak of. I would strictly recommend using it for just emergency printing, it is neither fast nor good in terms of speed or quality. It is also pretty noisy.

Pros:

Portable
Battery Powered

Cons:

Slow, Noisy
Mediocre Print Quality
Expensive Paper Cartridges

Our Rating: 2.5 / 5.

Motorola H780 Review

John Alexi — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 18:29:46 +0000

Motorola has been severely hit by the financial crisis and its mobile phone sales are lower than ever. It needs just a few good product launches to see it through the rough patch; the Motorola H780 Bluetooth headset could very well be it. It is a budget Bluetooth headset priced at about $70 and offers good sound quality and long battery life. In this review, we check out how it fares when compared to other headsets in its range.

Motorola H780 Specs:

Dimensions: 1.9 x 0.7 x 0.5 inches
Weight: 12 grams
Battery Life: 7 hours talktime / 8 days standby time
Price: $70 (Approx)

Review:

The Motorola H780 is a very compact headset. It has dimensions of just 1.9 x 0.7 x 0.5 inches which makes it one of the tiniest headset in that range. The design is rather plain with straight lines and the works, stylish nevertheless. It is also among the lightest at just about 12 grams. The gray-black color scheme should appeal to everyone though the younger generation would want to go with more modern and stylish designs. It has a carbon fiber body with a circular metallic button on the front. On the side, there is a volume rocker and a power switch. The earhook feels pretty comfortable and fits snugly around the ear providing a firm fit. It comes with lots of rubber earpieces of varying sizes. The build is pretty nice and durable. It should last long with careful use.

It can be charged using the bundled AC adapter. It has a range of about 32 feet with perfectly clear call quality. As the distance increases, the call quality goes on deteriorating. It has a rated talktime of 7 hours and a standby time of 8 days. It comes with Motorola’s Easypair technology which makes pairing it with phones a breeze. The sound quality is pretty nice, thanks to Motorola’s Crystal Talk technology which enhances the speaker’s voice and cancels out external noise. The noise cancellation works pretty good. The volume is pretty good, you can also hear the caller in noisy surroundings.

Pros:

Long Battery Life
Nice Volume
Easy to Use

Cons:

Not the Best Voice Quality

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.

Kensington Ci95m Wireless Notebook Mouse

John Alexi — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:29:17 +0000

The Kensington Ci95m Wireless Notebook Mouse is an upgrade to the Ci75m Wireless Mouse by Kensington, a well known manufacturer of accessories and pen drives. While it doesn’t offer many features, it is a simple alternative for those who just want a wireless mouse to point and click. It doesn’t have any fancy features and is priced very low at about $30 to compensate for that. It has a nice design and feels comfortable and handles the basics pretty well.

Kensington Ci95m Specs:

Dimensions: 4.2 x 2.4 x 1.0 inches
Weight: 100 grams
Battery: up to 6 months
Price: $30

Review:

The Kensington Ci95m Wireless has a very nice design and is composed mainly of gray and black. IT has a rubberized covering to provide a good grip. It can be switched off by the flick of a switch. It comes with a tiny nano receiver which is placed beneath the detachable lid. The build quality is very nice and the mouse is ergonomic and comfortable. The buttons have a distinct click and the scroll wheel is very smooth.

To install the mouse, just plug in the nano receiver into any USB port of your PC or notebook and insert two AA batteries under the lid of the Kensington Ci95 to power it. The batteries last about 6-7 months with moderate usage. It works with all major OSes. It is very sensitive and nicely accurate – the accuracy is not as much as the gaming mouses by Razor or Logitech though. The price is what makes the Kensington Ci95m Wireless Mouse very appealing – it is priced very low at just about $30. It is one of the best wireless mouses you will get in that price. Another option you should consider is the Logitech V550 which offers better quality at just $20 more.

Pros:

Nice and Compact
Nano Receiver
Inexpensive

Cons:

At this price, none

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.

Able Planet NC200 Clear Harmony Foldable Review

John Alexi — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:23:05 +0000

Able Planet is a relatively new player on the scene, it arrived about 2 years back with it’s Clear Harmony headset. The Clear Harmony did quite well and offered good sound quality at a good price. But it was still a bit too pricey. Now Able Planet is back with the Clear Harmony Foldable NC200 headset which is much cheaper; it is priced at just about $80. In this review, we check out if the Able Planet Clear Harmony Foldable manages to live up to the high standards set by its predecessor.

Able Planet NC200 Clear Harmony Foldable Specs:

Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 2.0 inches
Weight: 432 grams
Frequency Response: 20 Hz–20 kHz
Price: $80

Review:

The Able Planet NC200 Clear Harmony Foldable has a simple standard design and looks much like all the other headsets out there. It is pretty compact and weighs about 432 grams which is normal. The earcups are very well padded which makes the headset comfortable to wear even for long periods. It has an adjustable headband with rotatable cups which further contributes to the comfortable feel. The build quality is pretty nice and should easily last long. It is ideal for frequent travellers and rough users.

It comes bundled with a long detachable cord and a home stereo adapter. The headphone jack has a volume control embedded in. The sound quality of the Able Planet NC200 Clear Harmony Foldable is pretty nice but definitely not as good as the higher end headphones. The volume levels are pretty good, in fact it can also be heard by others at higher levels. The noise cancellation lets out a small hum that can be heard clearly during the silent periods. These headphones won’t satisfy audiophiles but it will do for normal, casual listeners who don’t want to spend a lot on headphones. All in all, a nice set of affordable headphones with nice sound quality.

Pros:

Nice Design
Comfortable

Cons:

Average Sound Quality

Our Rating: 3 / 5.

Audio Bone 1.0 Review

John Alexi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:29:07 +0000

The new Audio Bone 1.0 headphones use bone conduction to transmit sound to your ears through your jaw bone. You don’t have to worry about loose ear buds anymore, because the Audio Bone 1.0 headphones don’t rely on the ears to transmit sound to you, instead the sound is transmitted through your skull. The bone conduction technology hasn’t been perfected yet – the sound volume isn’t very loud, but this is the best you can get in a small budget with a good design. They are priced around $180 which is quite affordable.

Audio Bone 1.0 Specs:

Frequency Response: 50 to 20000 Hz
Weight: 37 grams
Colors: Black, Blue, White, Orange
Price (Approx): $189

Review:

The Audio Bone 1.0 headphones are available in Black, Blue, Orange and White. They sport a sleek design and look very sporty. The U shaped design wraps around the back of your head quite comfortably and sits tightly next to your skull for proper conduction. It is very light – just about 37 grams and feels very nice. It comes with a 4 feet long cord to connect to your PMP. They are also water proof till 3 meters. All in all, nice design and superb build quality which should easily last for a couple of years.

As opposed to normal earphones, Audio Bone 1.0 headphones convert the sound waves into vibrations and transmits it to the cochlea directly, bypassing the ear drums. The volume levels don’t reach high as the normal earphones, but the quality is just as good. Also as the Audio Bone 1.0 headphones don’t cover your ears, they don’t obstruct external noise too, providing no noise cancellation. This can make it difficult to ehar in noisy places.

The Audio Bone 1.0 headphones provide great sound quality almost comparable to that of regular headphones. The volume is a bit low though. But it gives you freedom from having to wear earbuds all the time. They are definitely worth a try.

Pros:

Nice Build and Design
Comfortable Fit

Cons:

No Noise Cancellation
Low Volume

Our Rating: 3 / 5.

Lenovo ThinkPad USB Secure Review

John Alexi — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:29:26 +0000

Lenovo is a very well know laptop manufacturer. It has a range of excellent notebooks as well as ultraportable netbooks. The Lenovo ThinkPad USB Secure, which we are reviewing today is an external hard drive which offers you superb security – it offers 256 bit AES full disk encryption, nice capacity, portability and good value for money.

Lenovo ThinkPad USB Secure Specs:

Dimensions: 4.7 x 3.4 x 0.8 inches
Weight: 182 grams
Capacity: 320 GB
Speed: 5400 RPM
Read / Write Speed (USB 2.0): 26 MBps / 15 MBps
Ports: USB 2.0
Price: $190 (Approx)

Review:

The Lenovo ThinkPad USB Secure has a very simple design and is dressed in black. It is a bit bulky compared to other external drives in its range. It has dimensions of 4.7 x 3.4 x 0.8 inches which is quite compact and should fit in your pockets. It weighs just about 182 grams which is very light. The build quality is pretty good and durable and should easily last for years. The design isn’t much to speak of with the 10 number buttons on top of it, making it look more like a ancient telephone. It also has the Lock / Unlock on the front. A USB cable comes bundled with the drive to connect it to hard drives.

The Lenovo ThinkPad USB Secure comes with 256 bit full disk AES encryption. You cannot access your files without the password. The default is 123456 which you can change if you wish to. You can create upto 10 user accounts to access the files on the drive. It has nice read / write speeds. When connected via USB, it offers read speeds of 26 MBps and write speeds of 15 MBps. It can write a 2 GB file in about 2 mins and 15 secs. The read speeds are better, it can read the same file from disk in about 80 secs. It is available in capacities of 160 GB, 320 GB and 400 GB.

Pros:

Very Fast
256 bit FDE

Cons:

Mediocre Design

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.

Seagate FreeAgent XTreme Review

John Alexi — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:29:07 +0000

Seagate is the numero uno hard drive manufacturer and has been at its current position since years. It has a range of excellent products ranging from desktop hard drives to laptop hard drives – both internal and external. It also has announced that it will come with affordable SSD storage solutions in the near future. The Seagate FreeAgent XTreme is one such external backup drive by Seagate which offers you a good great mix of capacity, style, reliability and value for money.

Seagate FreeAgent XTreme Specs:

Dimensions: 6.8 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches
Weight: 910 grams
Capacity: 1 TB
Speed: 7200 RPM
Read / Write Speed (USB 2.0): 28 MBps / 16 MBps
Read / Write Speed (Firewire 400): 36 MBps / 18 MBps
Read / Write Speed (eSATA): 40 MBps / 37 MBps
Ports: USB 2.0, 2 FireWire 400, eSATA
Price: $160 (Approx)

Review:

The Seagate FreeAgent XTreme sports a nice black design which is very stylish and can easily fit in all types of offices. When the drive is active, a series of white lights glow which give it a very cool look. It is pretty compact with dimensions of just 6.8 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches and weighs around 910 grams. It is available in capacities of 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB. It comes with a USB v2.0 port, 2 Firewire 400 ports and a eSATA port. The USB and Firewire cables are bundled with it. It also includes a vertical mount to place the drive in, and a power adapter.

The Seagate FreeAgent XTreme is one of the fastest backup drives in its range. It has excellent read / write speeds. When connected via USB, it offers read speeds of 28 MBps and write speeds of 16 MBps. In Firewire mode, it has speeds of 36 MBps and 18 MBps respectively, while in eSATA mode, it offers 40 MBps read and 37 MBps write speeds. The read / write speeds are spectacular, particularly in the Firewire 400 and eSATA modes.

It comes with the Seagate Manager which allows you to create scheduled backups at specified times. You can also encrypt files with a password with 256 bit AES encryption. You can also sync your files with whenever you connect it to different PCs.

Pros:

Very Fast
USB, eSATA and Firewire 400 port
Seagate Manager

Cons:

eSATA cable not bundled

Our Rating: 4 / 5.

Maxtor BlackArmor Review

John Alexi — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:29:06 +0000

Another Maxtor product to review this week, today we have our hands on the new Maxtor BlackArmor 320 GB external portable hard drive. While the Maxtor One Touch Plus we reviewed earlier was a desktop based backup solution, the Maxtor Black Armor is a external portable storage solution. It is very compact and can easily fit in your trouser pockets. It is also light and has good features like encryption, sync and backup software, which make it a good option if you are looking for a portable hard drive to keep your data safe.

Maxtor BlackArmor Specs:

Dimensions: 5.2 x 3.3 x 0.7 inches
Weight: 182 grams
Capacity: 160 GB / 320 GB
Speed: 5400 RPM
Read / Write Speed: 22 MBps / 18 MBps
Port(s): USB 2.0
Price: $90 (320 GB)

Review:

The Maxtor Black Armor has a very sleek futuristic design; it looks straight out from a sci-fi movie. It should appeal to one and all – casual and business users. It has dimensions of 5.2 x 3.3 x 0.7 inches which is very compact. It can easily be inserted into your trouser pockets making it handy to carry anywhere you wish. It has a brushed metal finish which sport a black and silver-grayish look. The build quality is also pretty good. It should easily last for a couple of years if handled properly.

The drive works flawlessly with Windows PCs but not with Macs. On the first use, it asks you to create a password with which you can access the encrypted files later. The bundled Maxtor Manager software also allows you to sync files with different PCs and automatically backup selected files. It also comes with a power saving mode to conserve power – it stops drawing power after some predefined interval of inactivity.

The read speed of the Maxtor Black Armor is about 22 MBps; it was able to read a 2 GB file in about 1 min and 35 seconds. The write speed is about 18 MBps; it was able to write the same file back in about 1 min and 56 secs. The write speeds are pretty impressive compared to other drives in its range.

Pros:

Nice Design
Maxtor Manager
Superb Encryption

Cons:

Incompatible with Macs

Our Rating: 4 / 5.

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus

John Alexi — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:29:30 +0000

Maxtor is a very popular hard drive manufacturer and has given us some great products in the past. It launched the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus quite some time back. The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus is primarily a backup solution for PC’s and Mac’s. It has a very stylish design and superb build quality. It also comes bundled with software like Safety Drill, Drive Pass and Maxtor Manager. In this review we check out the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus in detail and see if its worth the moolah.

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus Specs:

Dimensions: 6.8 x 6.0 x 2.5 inches
Weight: 1.11 kg
Capacity: 1 TB, 16 MB Buffer
Speed (RPM): 7,200 RPM
Read/Write Speed (USB) : 18 MBps / 13 MBps
Read/Write Speed (FireWire) : 29 MBps / 23 MBps
Ports: 1 USB 2.0, 2 FireWire 400 ports
Price: $220.00

Review:

The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus sports a very stylish design. It has a body composed of brushed aluminium with the Maxtor logo etched on it. It is a bit on the heavier side – it weighs almost 1.2 kgs. It has dimensions of 6.8 x 6.0 x 2.5 inches. It is available in capacities of 1 TB, 750 GB and 500 GB. The build quality is very good. It should easily last for 3-4 years with moderate usage. It has 4 inputs – the AC adapter, 1 USB and 2 Firewire ports.

The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus has 1 USB 2.0 port and 2 Firewire 400 ports. It has decent read / write speeds of 18 MBps / 13 MBps when connected via USB. The Firewire 400 fares much better; it offers read and write speeds of about 29 MBps and 23 MBps respectively. It is compatible with both Macs and PCs. It comes bundled with Maxtor’s Safety Drill software which offers a reliable recovery and backup solution. It also comes with Drive Pass which lets you protect your drive with a password. Maxtor Manager allows you to encrypt your files and folders.

Pros:

Stylish Design and Durable Build
Nice Firewire Speeds
Backup Software

Cons:

No eSATA port

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.

BlackBerry Bold Review

Mark Smith — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:37:47 +0000

Blackberry Bold, another masterpiece from RIM was unveiled some time back. Although it isn’t a revolutionary device like the Blackberry Storm, it does have all the features business users would like to have. It has a physical QWERTY keyboard and all the goodness of Blackberry packed in to a single device.

Blackberry Bold specifications :

Dimensions : 114 x 66 x 14 mm
Weight : 133 g
Display : 2.6″ with 480 x 320 resolution
Card slot : microSD
Connectivity : GPRS, EDGE, 3G
WLAN : WiFi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth : v2.0 with A2DP
Camera : 2.0 MP with LED flash
GPS : Yes with A-GPS support
Approx. price : $699

Blackberry Bold does not feature very high end features that one would probably find in the Blackberry Storm. It does however, have both the GPS and WiFi that have rarely coexisted together on Blackberry phones. It also has 3G connectivity to enable high speed browsing and downloads. The retail package has a meager 1GB memory card, microUSB cable and dual DC charger, carrying pouch and single earpiece handsfree.

Design, Display and Keyboard

The Bold has a round design which feels compact and holding it in hand is a nice feeling. Its dimensions are not large and hence it would make not your pocket bulge out, the weight is about average. The Bold is quite thin at just 14 mm, though it isn’t the thinnest Blackberry we have seen. The front is made up of glossy plastic difficult to keep clean and faux leather has been used at the back.

The 2.6″ display on the Bold has a landscape layout with a resolution of 320 x 480 with an aspect ratio of 3:2. The display quality is great with vibrant colors, bright display and great contrast levels. Sunlight visibility of the display is amazing and there is very less washing away of colors in direct sunlight. The landscape display makes way for a totally different experience and is easier to use than portrait ones.

The QWERTY keyboard is one of the best features of the Blackberry Bold. It has a four row layout that is a pleasure to work on. It is one of the best keyboards on a phone that you will find till date. The numeric keypad is on the left and is easy to access. The keys are almost identically sized with the space bar key being the only exception and the keys offer tactile feedback. Overall an excellent keyboard that will please typists.

Camera and Music Player

The camera on the Bold is a 2 megapixel camera with LED flash and no autofocus. It is a basic camera with hardly any manual controls to tinker around with. The camera interface is clunky and unpleasant to use. The settings are all buried deep inside menus making them inaccessible most of the times, although there ain’t too many of them. Some of them include white balance, color effects and image stabilization. Geotagging is possible with the inbuilt GPS receiver. The image quality is pretty bad and the shots turn out noisy with significant loss of detail. The contrast levels are low and color balance is off the mark making way for ‘watercolor’ photos.

Being a business class phone, multimedia isn’t a high priority and this reflects in the phone’s multimedia capabilities. The music player on the device isn’t great and just about fine for casual listening. Sorting the songs by artists, genre, albums etc is possible and it supports album art too. There are no equaliser presets and no ‘Repeat’ option too. The home screen does not show the currently playing track. The audio quality is the only saving grace and its great for a business class phone. The bundled earpiece is the last thing you should be using to enjoy your favorite tracks. Thankfully the phone has 3.5 mm jack to accept third-party earphones.

Web Browser and Organiser

The web browsing on the phone is excellent and trackball plays a important part in that. Input through the QWERTY keyboard is quick and precise. Zooming and panning can be accomplished easily and both work smoothly with the help of virtual mouse cursor and the trackball. The web pages are rendered perfectly and fit the browser window. More content is available on the screen due to its high resolution. The browser does not have Flash support, disappointing to say the least for such a magnificent browser otherwise. It gives strong competition to the likes of Nokia E71 that has been selling like hot cakes.

Organisation skills of the Bold are exceptional as expected from a phone of its class. It has a wide set of applications to manage time efficiently.The calendar has daily, weekly and monthly views and tasks can be added to it. Mobile Office comes preinstalled and supports document editing out of the box but the phone does not have a PDF viewer. Some of the other applications include Notes, alarm, To-Do manager, stopwatch, unit converter etc. The Alarm application can set only a single alarm at a time something where even dirt cheap phones fare better. To-Do manager is quite handy at managing your tasks. Overall the organiser has complete set of applications to manage your time efficiently.

Pros :

Great display
Excellent QWERTY keyboard
3G, GPS, WiFi enabled
Responsive trackball
Great web browser
Excellent organiser

Cons :

Poor camera
Unstable WiFi connection
Bit bulky
No flash support on browser

Final Thoughts

The Blackberry Bold is targeted towards business class users and cares less about the music player or the camera. It has a great display, awesome QWERTY keyboard along with special emphasis on its web browsing and time management skills. The weight is on the heavier side but the relatively small dimensions compensate for it. It provides 3G, WiFi and GPS all in a single device that only a few Balckberrys can write off home with. The trackball plays an important part in phone navigation as well as enhance browser experience. The browser lacks Flash support though. Camera is poor and music player is passable with good audio quality but poor interface. Overall a good package for business users to invest in.

Rating : 4/5

Patriot Xporter XT Boost Review

John Alexi — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:29:19 +0000

Patriot is a well known memory manufacturer, mostly known for its RAM modules. It also has a range of Xporter USB drives. The Xporter XT Boost is one of the fastest performing in the Patriot Xporter range. In this review, we check out the Patriot Xporter XT Boost and compare it with the other high performance drives.

Patriot Xporter XT Boost Specs:

Dimensions: 2.9 x 0.8 x 0.4 inches
Weight: 0.5 ounces
Capacity: 16 GB / 32 GB
Speeds – Read / Write: 22 MBps / 12 MBps
Price: $30 (16 GB)

Review:

The Patriot Xporter XT Boost has a rather boxy design isn’t stylish at all. There is no design to speak of, just a black rubberized body. The name and logo are nicely imprinted on the body in red. The build quality is pretty nice. It feels very durable and sturdy. It has dimensions of 2.9 x 0.8 x 0.4 inches. While it is relatively bulky compared to the super slim pen drives available, it is perhaps amongst the most compact in its category. It is much smaller than the Corsair Flash Survivor. It weighs just about 14 grams. It also comes with a USB extension cable.

It has very nice read / write speeds. It can read data at 22 MBps and write data at 12 MBps. It is amongst the fastest USB drives. It takes about 173 seconds to write a 2 GB file to the Xporter XT Boost and about half that time to copy one from it. This is about all it has to offer, it doesn’t provide any advanced features like portable application suites, backup softwares or encryption. It is totally compatible with Windows Vista’s Ready Boost feature. All in all, it is a very nice option if you need a durable USB drive with good read / write speeds which can accompany you on your outdoor trips. It is available in 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB versions with the 16 GB version priced at $30.

Pros:

Durable
Fast Read / Write Speeds

Cons:

No Extras

Our Rating: 3.5 / 5.