Digital Reviews: 2009

Archive for 2009

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ediff.com has launched its new Web-in-mail service, a way to read the web in your mail. Now, users can access Internet content using email clients like MS Outlook, Outlook Express and
Thunderbird. This is achieved by sending an email to browse@webinmail.com with the URL the user wants to access in the subject line. A reply is received with the web page. Clicking a link automatically composes another mail. On sending it, another reply is received with a new web page. The service, in its beta version, also allows users to search by sending their search queries in the subject line. Web-in- mail will also let people access Internet content even if their service is restricted.

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Western Digital has introduced the ShareSpace high-speed network storage systems that provide cost-effective, centralized storage for small office and home networks. Centralized storage helps businesses improve collaboration, while protecting digital assets. The WD ShareSpace brings those large-company benefits to small offices in an easy- to-set-up, small-footprint design. The 4-bay storage systems with Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) interface provide up to 4 TB of storage capacity and multiple RAID configurations. Small offices and workgroups can centralize storage for easy accessibility while home users can easily centralize their media collections and access them from anywhere. With the included WD Anywhere Backup software, multiple users can simplify and automate continuous backups.

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enius has introduced its latest high definition 5.0-megapixel camcorder, the G-Shot HD55. It records at 30 fps at 1280x720 pixels and uses the high- compression H.264 format. This allows it to record still images and movies which can be seen on high-resolution flat-panel TVs using the video cable. It also comes with a 2X digital zoom to enlarge pictures. The G-Shot HD55 has a 3-inch TFT LCD color display that is adjustable and one can capture up to 8 megapixel still images resolution by software interpolation. It supports up to 4GB SD cards so one gets more recording time. Another notable feature is its LED light for dark environments.

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Lenovo has introduced the Y430, a mainstream high-definition entertainment notebook. The 14-inch notebook is available in a light weave textured finish of bold black or crimson red. Consumers can enjoy touch sensitive multimedia controls, Dolby Home Theatre, One-Key Rescue System and VeriFace facial recognition. An HDMI port is included and the buyer can choose between DDR2 or DDR3 RAM. It also comes with Lenovo ReadyComm which automatically detects accessible networks and helps in easy connectivity and networking. The notebook also includes Gesture Recognition which allows the user to use gestures to control picture capture, video recording, and switching between video recording and picture shooting.

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eSys has announced its new Mainstream desktop PC based on Intel's Pentium Dual- Core E5200 processor that can deliver performance and ensure low power consumption for everyday computing needs. The Intel E5200 has 2MB L2 cache and a clock speed of 2.5GHz on an 800MHz FSB. The new eSys Mainstream desktop is packed with 500GB of storage capacity for your important files and data. The desktop also has 1GB of memory which can be expanded to 4GB and features the Intel G31 Chipset with Intel GMA3100 graphics. Apart from these, the Mainstream desktop has a DVD writer and 32-in-1 card reader. This configuration is housed inside an attractive cabinet powered by a 300W power supply. The eSys Mainstream desktop comes with a Microsoft Windows Starter Pack.

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Linksys has announced the WAG160N, an affordable Wireless-N ADSL2+ Gateway and all-in-one solution for Internet connectivity that integrates an ADSL2+ modem, router, 4-port switch and wireless-N access point. The WAG160N enables Internet connectivity, file sharing, wireless printing, and sharing resources in a networked environment. The WAG160N has a sleek design that integrates the antenna into the device body. The WAG160N ships with the Linksys EasyLink Advisor (LELA) application, a flash video-based guided installation for PC and Mac users. LELA does not require knowledge of networking jargon. The device also supports “Multiple In, Multiple Out” (MIMO) technology to increase range and reduce dead spots in the coverage area.

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HTC has introduced the HTC Touch 3G, which utilizes TouchFLO, HTC’s finger-touch optimized navigation experience enabling quick, one-touch access to the people, messages and information people want. HTC Touch 3G makes the mobile experience faster, sharper and more responsive. Users can zoom and pan websites and browse full-screen pages on a large 2.8- inch razor-sharp screen with one hand, leveraging the mobile Internet in a variety of ways. Customers can also search for and watch streaming video from YouTube and stay updated on the latest news with the integrated RSS reader. The HTC Touch 3G's looks are just as striking as its power-packed functionality, making it a sensational experience and a bold declaration of style.

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Sahara Computers has rolled out its brand new 7-in-1 multimedia MP4 player. The stylish and sleek player comes with a 2.5-inch LCD and has a resolution of 960 x 480. The Sahara MP4 is portable and comes with a 2-megapixel camera, FM Radio, photo viewer, NES games, calendar, ebook/text file reader and language translator. It has a built in loudspeaker and its microphone supports voice recording. The player also has an embedded equalizer, supports TV output and is compatible with MP3, WMA, WMV, ASF, WAV and MPEG formats.

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With increasing skill levels and cut-throat competition, any advantage you have while fragging fellow gamers is welcome. This is exactly what the new Logitech MX 518 does. For the first time, you can change your mouse resolution on-the-fly! This is an eight-button optical mouse with two
buttons near your thumb, which are used for moving back and forth in Web pages. You need to be careful with these buttons—the sensitivity is very high. The clickable scroll wheel is sandwiched between two tiny buttons, which control the resolution changer. There’s a straightforward ‘+’ and ‘-’ signifying increase and decrease in resolution. The mouse supports three resolutions: 400, 800 and 1600 dpi. A software disk has been provided, but we had some issues installing it and making it work. The mouse does a neat job, is comfortable to hold, and the resolution switching is indeed a godsend!
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Motorola’s A780 is a Linux-based flip-phone and includes every feature you can think of (except radio and Wi-Fi), and then some more. It is powered by a 312 MHz processor—hence the slightly sluggish interface. It has the usual features such as GPRS and Bluetooth, and applications including the Opera Web browser and even RealPlayer. It comes with a 128 MB Transmeta flash card, which gives you some space over the 50 MB onboard. Motorola also added a 1.3-megapixel camera with 8X digital zoom. Being a PDA-phone, it features a touch-screen and allows multiple input formats and also a regular cell phone keypad on the flip lid. Another cool feature is the voice recognition. Turning it On will allow you to simply speak names or numbers, and the phone will try to understand what you’re saying. A jog dial on the left can be pressed or moved up and down to adjust volume but the menus it generates are contextual. All-in-all, a decent PDA- phone, which doesn’t compromise on build or aesthetics.
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Kodak has recently launched the EasyShare Z740 kit comprising a five-megapixel auto-focus CCD camera with 10X optical and 5X digital zoom, and a printer dock. At a glance, the Z740 is shaped very similar to its predecessor, the DX7590, but the body is of silver-grey plastic, unlike the metal body of the DX7590, which makes the latter heavier and therefore, steadier. The Z740 boots really fast—in just three seconds. The camera can take photos at up to 2579 x 1932 pixels. Video recording is supported at 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 in QuickTime MOV format. Onboard memory is 32 MB, which is not enough if you take the camera on a trip, but this is expandable via SD and MMC card slots. Various settings such as Picture/Video size, White Balance, Focus Zone, Auto Focus control, etc. can be adjusted. A jog dial facilitates access to various functions
such as Video and Macro. The ‘Share’ button allows you to activate the EasyShare feature when
connected to a PictBridge-ready printer. The 1.8-inch colour LCD is difficult to view outdoors, and the display quality is not so great. The photos we took reproduced colours naturally, but the auto- focus leaves much to be desired as many of the photos seemed to lose out on sharpness. Also, the image brightness reduces as magnification is increased. The Z740 comes with a
Printer Dock Series 3 that is used for PC-less printing of borderless photos up to 4 x 6 inches. It is bundled with a printer dock and priced at Rs 24,990.
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Measuring 93.5 x 45.7 x 23.6 mm and tipping the scales at just 99 gms, the D500 is the latest head- turner from Samsung. A tri-band GPRS mobile phone, the D500 boasts of features like a slide-out keypad, MP3 playback, external speakers and a 1.3 megapixel camera with flash. Encased in a beautiful, glossy black casing, the device sports a 176 x 220 LCD that can display 262,144 colours. Apart from the screen, the front facia includes a four-way navigation key with a centre-click button, two soft keys, Send and Call End keys and a Cancel button. The left side of the phone has a conjoined volume control key and an IR port, while the right side has a dedicated camera key and a port to connect the external speaker. The bottom of the phone slides out to reveal the backlit 12-key numpad and the camera at the rear. You also find a self-portrait mirror and the flash next to the camera at the rear. Unique features include support for seven Indian regional languages: Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and Kannada. Connectivity options include Bluetooth, USB and SyncML, apart from Infrared. Three Java games—Forgotten Warrior, Freekick and Arch Angel are pre-loaded. Memory capacity is 96MB, shared dynamically between applications. You cannot expand the memory, however. The 1.3 megapixel camera can capture stills at 1280 x 1024, 1152 x 864, 640 x 480, 320 x 240, 176 x 144, and 128 x 96 resolutions with three quality settings. The shooting mode can be set to Single, Multi, Mosaic or Night. ISO setting can be kept at Auto or set to speeds of 100, 200 or 400. The flash can be switched Off or set to Auto, Permanently On or Shoot Only. Video can be captured in 3gp format at 176 x 144, 160 x 120 or 128 x 96 resolutions, with three quality options. The phone provides a standard icon- based menu, accessible using the soft-key and the navigation button. The size of the keys is a bit of an issue, though, and you will need to use the tips of your fingers to operate. The slider can be operated using one hand. MP3 playback is decent with the inbuilt speaker, and even better with the external speaker module. The supplied speaker is a tiny conical device that plugs in to the side of the phone, and is also a speakerphone. On the whole, the phone is great for users who want a sleek camera phone with high flaunt value.
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This Centrino notebook features an Intel Pentium M 1.6 GHz processor, 256 MB of DDR RAM and a 40 GB hard disk. The 15-inch 1024 x 768 TFT colour LCD display appears sur- prisingly large due to the thin borders. Connectivity options, are good—it supports infrared, Wi-Fi 802.11 B/G, 10/100 Mbps LAN, and a 56 Kbps modem. There are three USB ports, a FireWire port, a serial port, and support for SD cards too. It scored a decent 18.4 in the Business WinStone 2004 test, and can handle office appli- cations well. Battery life, though, was a mediocre two hours and 41 mins.
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Sometime earlier, we had reviewed the Mitashi DivX-555 player. Now, Mitashi has launched a sibling, the DivX-999. It is similar to the earlier launch but looks much sleeker and has a tray-less slot design. Yes, instead of a tray coming out of the player, you will have to insert
the disc into the player. It plays DVDs, Audio CDs, Video-CDs, MP3 and WMA CDs and DivX and XviD movies and more. Regrettably, though, not WMV files. Build quality is good, although the remote looks tacky and the laminated keypad plastic soon starts coming off. The remote provides all functions to control the player. Playback quality is good and setup and menu is intuitive. DivX and XviD playback is good, but if the movie confronts higher bit-rates for a MPEG 4 movie, it starts framing. DVD and Audio CD playback, though, is impeccable and yes, it does play HD-CD’s. The player offers 5.1-channel audio using analogue as well as digital connec-tivity options. Overall, this is a good all-round player and the player is region-free, which will let you play DVD’s from anywhere without a hitch.
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Recently, ATi launched the Radeon X800 XL graphic card comprising a mammoth, 512 MB of memory. The card is based on the X800 XL (R430) chip which is manufactured using 0.11 micron technology unlike the 0.13 micron being used to produce the X800 XT and the X850 XT from ATi. This PCI-Express card features dual DVI ports as well as VIVO via a composite port. It features the ATi Rage Theatre chip doing all the work. The fan speed is controlled by the drivers and even at maximum load, it was silentl. It is a DirectX 9.0b card and has 16 pipelines. The chip is clocked at 400 MHz whereas the memory is clocked at 1 GHz. The card was tested
on a setup using a 3.6 MHz Pentium IV Prescott processor on an original Intel 925XCV motherboard equipped with Micron 1 GB 533MHz DDR2 RAM running Windows XP SP1. The drivers were Catalyst 5.5. We wanted to see if the 512 MB framebuffer benefited any games. Not much at lower resolutions. Coming to 3DMark05— often used as an yardstick in graphic
performance—the X800 XL scored 5028 on default settings and an impressive 3994 on 1024 x 768 with all the effects cranked up. The extra memory does not offer a performance benefit to justify premium pricing. You are better off holding on to your present cards!
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Adigital video camcorder, digital camera, MP3 player, webcam, voice-recorder and a mass storage device—all rolled into one compact device measuring 70 x 30 x 42 mm and weighing just 80 grams! We are talking about the new Miniket VP-M110S from Samsung. With internal storage of 1 GB and 10X optical and 100X digital zoom, the Miniket also supports additional memory in the form of MemoryStick Pro. The two-inch foldable LCD supports up to 210K colours, and also acts as viewfinder for the video and image capture, apart from displaying the Menu. The Miniket connects to a PC using the bundled cradle and a USB cable. Windows
XP recognises it as a removable storage device and you can transfer music and other data easily to and from your PC. The Miniket captures videos at 720 x 576 or 352 x 288. There are three quality options—Superfine, Fine and Normal. In the Superfine mode and at 720 x 576 size,
the internal memory can accommodate approximately 22 minutes of footage, provided no other files are stored. Videos use a proprietary MPEG 4 standard licensed from DivX Inc. For stills, you can choose between 800 x 600 and 640 x 480. An 1280 x 960 extrapolated option is also available, and images are captured as JPEG. The flash works only in the Photo mode, and can be set to Auto, ON/OFF. Customisable options for video and still image capture include Auto/Manual focus, four White Balance modes (Auto, Hold, Outdoor and Indoor), and five programmed auto exposure modes—’Auto’, ‘Sports’, ‘Spotlight’, ‘Sand/Snow’, and ‘High Speed Shutter’. You can choose from seven effects, including Sepia or Negative. ‘Electronic Image Stabiliser’ and ‘Backlight Compensation’ are also included. In terms of performance, image quality was not up to the mark, for either video or photos and there was evident Noise. As far as the MP3 player is concerned, it is primitive at best. All you can do is play and listen to music. You can also record voice files in the WAV format in 8 KHz, 128 Kbps stereo mode. It’s good
only for voice and all other noises are lost in the background. The device heats up a bit even when used for a short period. Also, battery life is affected by zooming. In our battery tests
(which involved playing assorted MP3’s over and over), the Miniket could manage about three hours and 15 minutes on the regular 3.8V 900 mAh battery. However, an 1800 mAh extended battery pack is also included in the package. The Samsung Miniket is a lifestyle product, and not
meant for users who want a dedicated digital handycam or an MP3 player. Still, it’s great for those who have the cash to spare and want a product with flaunt value.
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The SAFA SR-M850F comes at a time when digital portable music players are freely available and an MP3 player is no longer a novelty unless it screams ‘iPod’. Enter the SAFA SR-M850F with nothing less than 512MB of solid state memory and a 65K colour screen! This is a decent MP3 player and supports all major audio formats such as MP3, OGG, and WMA (sorry, no AAC). It also looks glossy and has two tiny 10 mW stereo speakers on either side. The player is packed with features that put other players to shame. Voice recording, reading text files, viewing JPEG files etc. Feature-wise, this is a solid product, powered by an internal rechargeable battery that lasted 18 hours of continuous MP3 playback using the bundled earphones. Priced at a whopping Rs 12,100, though, it is too expensive compared to a 4GB iPod Mini that costs just Rs 500 less!
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Trendsetting designs have been the hallmark of many Motorola cellphones but somehow they always fell short of critical acclaim. With the V3 Razr, Motorola changes all that. Motorola resorted to space grade alloys for the body panels making the V3 light and strong. At 3.8 x 2.0 x 0.5 inches, the V3 is pocketable. Feature-wise, you get Quad-band support, Bluetooth, VGA digital camera with 4x zoom, GPRS, PIM functionality, MPEG 4 video playback and Java
support. The V3 has 5MB internal memory but no option for upgrading. Targeted at the fashion-conscious, the V3 should make a strong statement.
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MSI’s P4N Diamond SLI motherboard ships with nVidia’s Nforce 4 Intel Edition chipset. The board features Scalable Link Interface (SLI) technology for plugging in two graphic cards. This is the first SLI board for the Intel platform from nVidia. The P4N Diamond offers six SATA ports, and is RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable. It also features two Gigabit Ethernet ports, up to 10 USB 2.0 ports and two FireWire ports. On the aural front, the board comes with a dedicated 24-bit sound chip from Creative that is equivalent to the Creative Live! series. The board is also touted to be dual- core processor ready. MSI has a pair of SLI graphic cards to go with the motherboard in the form of NX6800GT SLI. Based on the 6800 chipset, each card offers two DVI connectors and a composite video out. The test platform we used was a Pentium IV 3.6 Hz processor, 1 GB of Micron DDR2 RAM running at 533 MHz in dual-channel configuration, and a 250 GB hard drive from Maxtor. We loaded the Forceware 71.89 drivers from nVidia, along with the latest system drivers for Windows XP. The bench returned some of the best results ever; with scores of 7905 and 19170 in 3DMark05 and 3DMark03 respectively. Doom 3 returned an impressive 99.6 fps at 1024 x 768 and 86.5 fps at 1600 x 1200. Halo also returned impressive scores of 106.94 at 1024 x 768 and 91.37 at 1600 x 1200. The gameplay in all the games was smooth, and the card played them effortlessly when the resolutions were cranked up, and even with full AA. In fact, the system benchmarks, such as ZDBench Content Creation 2004, the platform returned a score of 32.4, which is on par with AMD Athlon 64-based systems. This new nVidia-based platform is meant for a high-end gaming machine. As usual, MSI has done their bit of magic to exploit the potential in the nVidia chips to the maximum. Both the P4N Diamond, and the NX6800GT are worth their weights in gold. The P4N Diamond is priced at Rs 18,500, and the NX6800GT pair of graphic cards will set you back by Rs 57,000. Although expensive, you have to see it perform to believe it!
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The upgraded sibling of the popular Treo 600 (reviewed in the December 2004 issue of Digit), the 650 boasts of some significant enhancements—really making it worth a dekko! Major upgrades in the new model include a faster processor, an upgraded operating system, EDGE connectivity, a better screen, Bluetooth support, remov- able battery and video capture functionality—which was lacking in the Treo 600. The Treo 650 is powered by an Intel PXA270 312 MHz CPU, running version 5.4 of Palm OS. The quadband GSM/GPRS device offers about 23 MB of user-available memory—expand- able through the SDIO (Secure Digital Input Output) slot. Installed applications include Phone, VersaMail, Web browser, Camera, RealPlayer, and World Clock apart from standard PIM applications such as Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Memos. RealPlayer can be used to play MP3 files, but you would need an SD/MMC card to store the tracks, it does not play from internal memory. The Treo 650, as was the case with its predecessor, is designed for single-handed operation using the five-way navigator and other hardware buttons. However, you need to use both hands (thumbs, in fact) while typing text on the QWERTY keyboard. The phone operation is smooth, and there are no issues as far as voice clarity is concerned. The screen vibrancy is excellent with colours reproduced well. The inbuilt camera with 2X digital zoom captures stills and videos at an acceptable quality, if there’s enough light. The rechargeable lithium ion battery will give you enough juice to last for three to four days with standard usage, but will be greatly reduced if you play media files, games, or leave the Bluetooth perpetually switched on. Surely worth considering, if you want a device that lets you stay connected anywhere in the world, and offers business and entertainment functionality, all-in-one.
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the Sagem My X-8 combines elegance and func-tionality in a single package. Encased in an ele-gant white and metallic silver casing, the My X-8 looks rather business-like. Apart from its appealing design, the other claim to fame of the Sagem X8 is its multimedia capabilities—including the stunning 262,000 colour 240 x 320 screen, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and audio playback. Standard features such as tri-band, GPRS, MMS, and Java MIDP2.0 support are in place. The phone comes with various applications including an organiser, alarm, and timer. Infrared and Bluetooth are integrated. The phone offers 40 MB of space for images and other data, and allows for memory expansion using the mini-SD format. The phone clarity is superb. The 1.3- megapixel camera delivers good results when lighting conditions are good. The flash serves its pur- pose, but leaves you wishing for more power when shooting in the dark. The audio output is superb for a mobile phone, and you can easily use it as an MP3 player. The battery should last you about three days with standard usage.
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Fujitsu is the latest entrant into the rather dormant tablet PC market. It is really sleek and snazzy, with loads of flaunt value! Your entry into a boardroom with this tablet PC is sure to turn heads! It comes in the slate form factor and hence features no keyboard (unlike a regular laptop) and runs Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. It is really slim and fairly light, so holding it in your hand should not be much of a problem. The added functionality that it brings due to the Tablet PC edition is the Windows Journal where, using the stylus, you can scribble notes even in a
hurry—perfect for those meetings when you can’t be bothered to type all you hear! As regards hardware, it’s fairly feature-packed, with a 1 GHz Pentium Mobile processor, 256 MB of DDR RAM, Wi-Fi, infrared, a modem, Gigabit Ethernet, MMC and Memory Stick reader, two USB ports, a microphone and a phone port. You can toggle the screen between portrait and panorama views. Speaking of the screen, once in the sun, no matter how much you squint your eyes or tilt the tablet, there is pre- cious little that you will be able to see. It is way too reflective, so any background light will surely reflect off it and make viewing things a pain. The tablet performed quite well on our tests with sequential read/write scores of 28/28 MB/s and Random read/write scores of 21/20 MB/s, and an average access time of 12 ms. The Business Winstone test score was 10.5, which is respectable for a 1 GHz processor. You have the option of getting a docking station and a wireless keyboard and mouse to facilitate your desktop needs. The tablet PC is handy—not to mention cool—for taking instant notes. If you are not too keen on taking down notes or have terrible handwriting, keep away from this—else, this tablet will not let you down!
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With a native resolution of 2560 x 1600—or 4 million pixels—this top-of-the-line display from Apple is currently the world’s largest screen for a desktop computer. Couple that with a thin bezel made of anodised aluminium that feels divine to the touch, and you have a product that can truly be called awe-inspiring. The display’s design reflects the classic Apple style. There are just three soft-touch buttons along the right side of the bezel—a power/sleep button, and two brightness controls. Since the LCD uses an all-digital interface through a dual-link DVI connector (not to be confused with the two single-link DVI ports present on certain cards), image correction controls such as horizontal/vertical position and size are not required at all. Also, with a nice little contrast ratio of 400:1, the contrast settings have been eliminated. The result is an elegant- looking screen that’s extremely simple to use. One of its USPs is the 170-degree viewing angle. No matter where you view it from, seeing its crystal-clear image reproduction and massive size will leave you dumbstruck! There are a couple of niggles, though. For one, it only
supports resolutions with a 1.6:1 aspect ratio (2560 x 1600, 2048 x 1280, 1920 x 1200, 1280 x 800, and 1024 x 640). Set the display to anything else, and all you’ll get is a blank screen. This severely limits the applications that it supports. Most games, for example, do not have idescreen resolutions. This seems a particularly pointless design decision considering the fact that widescreen displays by vendors like LG support all commonly used resolutions. This problem is further compounded by the huge bandwidth requirements of the screen. Resolutions of 1920 x 1200 and above require a dual-link DVI port, whereas almost all current cards have only
single-link DVI connectors. Thus, to actually get to use the screen at a decent resolution, you’ll
require a card like the GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, which will set you back by Rs 45,000 or so. Again, this limitation is not present in the displays made by other manufacturers. Thanks to this, the 30-inch display is certainly not recommended for home desktop owners, even if they have
the Rs 1,90,000 to pay for this baby! Of course, if you’re a hotshot multimedia designer with an unlimited budget in a multinational design studio, your search for the perfect display has ended. The rest of you can start saving now.
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Making a grand entry into the PDA phone market is the Siemens SX66. This quad-band phone features a design similar to the O2 XDAs. The SX66 features a 240 x 320 3.5-inch 65K colour screen, and for connectivity, it has Bluetooth, infrared, and Wi-Fi (802.11b), not to mention the USB connection. It features a fully-functional QWERTY keyboard, which slides out from under the screen. Powered by a 400 MHz Intel Xscale processor, it comes with Windows for Pocket PC 2003 and has excellent handwriting recognition, in addition to MS Word, Excel, Outlook Express… the works! Although the Siemens SX66 comes with 128 memory onboard (apart from the 64 MB ROM), the interface does become slow if you multi-task. Also featured is an SDIO slot for memory expansion. A sorely-missed feature is the camera—which is pretty much standard on anything that costs over Rs 8,000!
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At first glance, the Contour Perfit Mouse looks like an optical mouse with two scroll wheels. One of them, in fact, is a rocker switch that works as a ‘Forward’ and ‘Backward’ button for Internet Explorer. The mouse is available in small, medium, large and extra large sizes for right-handed use, and small, medium and large for left-handed use. The Contour Perfit Mouse is designed to fit the palm perfectly, and considering it is available in different sizes, hardly
would anyone not find a match for their hand. This is an ideal product for users who need greater control over their mouse movement.
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Antec, one of the premier brands in PC cases and power supplies, has launched a new case aimed at gamers christened Super LANBOY, the successor of the older LANBOY case. The Super LANBOY sports an anodised aluminium finish and looks classy—similar to the new Apple G5 machines. The front bezel has a swivel door that covers the optical drive bays. Right below are two USB ports and jacks for sound. A blue LED-lit 120 mm fan covered with a smoky plastic rail adds a bit of touch to the otherwise bland front. Antec has made good use of the unused space near the floppy drive bays by integrating a small toolbox that holds a foldable screwdriver, among other things. Inside, there are four hard drives, three optical drives and two floppy drive sized devices. The hard disk bays are aligned facing the side panels, making installation easy. Also, the drives have to be mounted on a drive rail. On the rear, is a noiseless, but efficient 120 mm fan. The side panels have a cutaway acrylic window. Antec has optional accessories such as a sound sensitive Blue LED panel (Rs 1,450). Further, an ultraviolet light (Rs1,550) can brighten up the surroundings. The Super LANBOY, though, comes at a super price of Rs 5,500—just the price of the cabinet. The power supply and accessories have to be bought separately.
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Transcend, famed for its high-performance storage devices, has introduced the Photobank 20 GB Portable Photo Storage drive. This device is a portable, palm-sized hard drive and a multi-card reader for fast and easy photo/file transfer and storage on the go. It integrates a 20 GB 1.8’’ hard drive and a memory card reader compatible with different formats including CF Type I and II, MicroDrive, SM, SD, miniSD (with SD adapter), MMC, RS-MMC (with MMC adapter), MS, MS Pro, MS Duo (with MS adapter), MS PRO Duo (with MS adapter). It features a B&W, blue backlit LCD that indicates the basic functions of copying, deleting, formatting and dis- playing information. It connects to a PC, laptop or Mac via the USB 2.0 cable provided, allowing speeds as high as 480 Mbps. The rechargeable Li-Ion battery lasts for nearly three hours on a full charge, but takes four hours to fully charge! The Transcend Photobank is a blessing that allows pro- fessional photographers to backup their memory cards. Business people can use it as a portable hard drive to transfer data between their home PC and aptop. When con- nected to a computer, it shows up as a removable hard drive with various memory card slots. It supports the FAT12/16/32 file systems. On the visual appeal front, the Photobank
doesn’t really score. The buttons feel tacky, are sometimes unresponsive, and generally not
very comfortable. It posted a drive index of 16 MB/s in the SiSoft Sandra 2005 SR1
benchmark. In the data transfer test, 1 GB of assorted files could be copied from the Photobank in 57 seconds, while copying the same files to the Photobank took 119 seconds. But at 285 gm, it is very light and can be easily carried around in the protective leather pouch provided. Unlike its more costly sibling with the TFT LCD and MP3 playback, the Photobank 20 GB is a no-frills but useful device. At Rs 18,000, it’s somewhat expensive… but if you are a pho- tographer, you will find the price is justified.
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The ‘My S-7’ from Sagem looks just like any other standard camera phone until you switch it on. Running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, My S- 7 is a decent blend of the usability of a cell phone with the functionality of a smartphone. Measuring 49.5 x 20.8 x 109.8 mm and weighing 120 gm, the Tri-band GSM/GPRS device is definitely not the lightest, but is certainly pocketable! Encased in a metallic grey casing, the look is business-like and the build quality, good. Apart from the standard 12-key numeric pad, two soft keys and the standard ‘Call’ and ‘End’ keys, the front facia sports a home and a back key, with a five-way joystick. The 2.2-inch transreflective LCD displays 65K colours with a resolution of 176 x 220. The other controls include a volume key along with a rubber-covered memory card slot on the left side and the Infrared port on the top next to the headphone connector, again covered by rubber.
Powered by an Intel PXA 262 200 MHz processor, My S-7 has 32 MB of RAM, the same amount of ROM, 15 MB of which is available to the user. You can add more memory through the SD/MMC card slot. It has infrared, but sadly no Bluetooth. It can be synchronised with a PC using the bundled ActiveSync cradle and USB cord. Installed applications include Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Photo ID, Pocket MSN, Tasks, Video Player and Windows Media Player. As far as usability is concerned, the keypad is simple to use, thanks to the fairly large keys coupled with a slanting shape that offers more depth to click. The joystick is also fairly large and smooth—one of the most comfortable ones we have used. However, we did have issues
with the joystick, and ended up clicking in one of the four directions when we actually wanted to click the centre. The menu response is speedy and the 200 MHz processor handles most applications with ease. We installed a demo of the game Sky Force, and it played nicely, with no jerks. Voice clarity is good, even in areas with low network strength. The screen is vibrant but is a problem to read in daylight. The VGA camera is pretty decent for daylight stills and video, but outputs grainy results in low light. Audio output for ringtones and MP3 playback is also acceptable, though not very loud. The battery lasts about three to four days with standard sage.
At close to 20K, the Sagem My S-7 offers a good combination of features, usability and erformance. Now, if only it had Bluetooth…
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SecuriKey is a hardware/software PC security solution. If the data on your system is too important to be protected by a mere password, you may get SecuriKey to add another layer of security to your system. SecuriKey works like a hardware key, which, if not plugged into the system, will restrict anyone from gaining access to your PC (or Mac). The package comes with two USB-based hardware keys, where one is an original while the other is a replacement—just in case! It also provides an option to use the second key to validate another user, in case the system is shared between two users. However, in such a case, the second key will not function as a spare key to the first one. Installation is a complete breeze, but unlike other USB devices, the installation has to start first, and then, during the course of installation, the key has to be plugged in.
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Contour Design’s RollerMouse works in conjunction with a keyboard and comes with a ‘roller bar’ that lets you to move the cursor around and click on icons. It acts as a base for your keyboard, and the roller bar and buttons fall within easy reach of your thumbs. It has three buttons and one scroll wheel; the roller bar doubles up as a left click. You can set the sensitivity of the click by increasing the tension via a knob at the base. To attach the RollerMouse, you need one USB port. Drivers are not needed for PCs with Windows ME and later versions. It costs $189 (approx Rs 8,127) and can be bought online.
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These two-channel speakers are specially designed for notebook users. Encased in a slim silver panel and weighing just 150 gm, the device can be clipped onto the top of a note- book, and it connects through the USB port. It draws power directly from the USB port, so there is no additional power adapter required. What’s more, the bundled cable is detachable
and retractable, reducing the tangle of wires you need to carry around. The speaker configuration allows you to sim- ulate a 5.1-channel surround effect, and you can also adjust the sound to recreate different environments such as a living room, a hall, and sev- eral others. Apart from the manual equaliser set- tings, you can also choose from a range of presets. With 1W RMS output, the Ozaki NB001 speakers are not a match for the 5.1 speaker system you have at home, but are definitely better than most speakers integrated into notebooks today. The product is a worthy buy for executives who would, for example, like to enjoy their own music and movies in their hotel rooms while travelling.
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Benq FP231W Reviews

This 23-inch LCD from Benq overwhelms you with its size, and is a pleasure to work

with. It provides a range of connectivity options, including DVI-D, S-Video, Composite, and D-sub—which means that other than your PC, you can connect it to your DVD player, camcorder, game box and so on. The OSD menu is very easy to use, but the buttons are on the left face of the panel, making it difficult to access. This model also has a picture- in-picture feature. It offers a cool 155-degree viewing angle in the Movie mode and 165 degrees in the Text mode, making it a perfect choice for viewing with friends around. When we tested this model for performance using DisplayMate, it returned impressive results in the ‘Point Shape’ and ‘Visibility’ tests, where reproduction of a fine dot, as well as text on a coloured background, was crisp. The 16 ms response time claim, however, was shattered in the Passmark Monitor test, where tearing was visible in a white block moving at 100 pixels per second. Graphics and CAD/CAM professionals who need accurate colour reproduction and accurate geometry must check out this panel. It is also highly recommended for movie buffs who can afford it—it’s a lovely 23-inch spread, apart from being an LCD!
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In addition to VCDs, DVDs and MP3 CDs, the Mitashi DIVX-555 multimedia player can play MPEG4, JPEG, HDCD, and many other media formats. A two-channel audio and com-posite video cable to connect to a TV is also provided. Some more supported features are wide-screen TV support, an S- Video as well as Composite-out, a D-Sub connector to con-nect to a PC monitor, SP-DIF coaxial and optical output, Dolby Digital 5.1, Pro Logic II and DTS, to name a few. We put it to test by playing DivX-encoded movies on it, and it performed without any glitches. When a non- standard compliant media is inserted in the player, an easy, Explorer-like interface pops up so you can navigate the folders on the media. We then went one step further and tried to play a movie encoded with the newer and now very popular XVID (also an implementation of MPEG4) video compres- sion and with Dolby 5.1 sound. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it not only played the movie flawlessly, it also correctly detected and played the Dolby 5.1 sound format. We then popped in the February 2005 Digit DVD, which had lots of wallpapers, to see if we could view them. We found that we could view all the images—even as a slide show. Previews were available in the Explorer view. VCDs and DVDs, as expected, had no problem playing. The image quality in all these tests was crisp, and the colours vibrant. Sound reproduction, both in 2-speaker and 5.1-speaker modes, was also very good. One thing to note is that the DivX- 555 has a 3D sound processor that can recreate sounds according to seven different preset environments, and this feature actually worked. Overall, this is a great player. Add a 29-inch TV and a 5.1- speaker set, and what you have is a full-fledged home theatre.
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The MPx is the latest in the series of Pocket PC-based mobile phones from Motorola. It takes the Smartphone/Communicator concept ahead with its radically new design, based around a dual hinge that allows the phone to be flipped open in portrait as well as landscape mode. The portrait mode is ideal for using it as a phone, and the landscape mode is more conducive for data communication. Though bulky in design, it is pretty much in line with other Communicator models such as the Nokia 9500, and the Treo 600. The body is made of plastic and sports a combination of dark metallic blue and silver hues, lending the phone executive looks. Fit and finish is top-notch. Ergonomically speaking, the keypad is usable, but leaves a lot to be desired—especially when compared to the Nokia 9500. The blue backlight hampers legibility and does not help much. The stylus is placed in an awkward position with respect to the portrait mode. There are two displays on the phone—the small external colour display is helpful but susceptible to blackouts in direct sunlight. There are three quick access buttons beneath the external screen, and these come in handy in putting the phone into silent mode, or to control MP3 playback—or to switch on the voice recorder. The internal screen is a regular 320 x 240 trans-reflective TFT capable of 65K colour depth. Compared to other Pocket PCs, the screen on the MPx is diagonally smaller by around 0.7-inch, and this is instantly noticeable. That apart, the display quality is reasonably good. Like a true communicator, the MPx 300 offers abundant connectivity options such as infrared, GPRS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. When switching to a Wi-Fi connection, you need to switch off the GPRS connection. A neat tool makes Wi-Fi configuration a simple task. Bluetooth, too, works perfectly without any problems. On the media side, a camera capable of a maximum resolution of 1280 x 960 is integrated, with a short-range flash that fails to impress. No video recording is possible, but photo image quality is fairly good. Memory is, however, limited, and one gets just 15 MB for use. You can, however, increase the memory by way of an SD card. On the software side, you get most what MS Pocket PCs have to offer. The speech recognition akes a while to get used to, but it works. The box comes with a Bluetooth headset, a sync cable, the power adapter and software CDs.
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The D-Link DCS-5300W securicam is a versatile IP-based camera with motorised tilt and pan to cover almost an entire room. To monitor a remote location, you need a high-speed Internet connection and a PC. If your office already has an ADSL connection with a cable modem and ADSL router in place, you can directly connect the camera to the modem, bypassing the PC. Once the camera is plugged to the system, you type in the IP address as mentioned in the manual, or retrieve it through the IP installer utility to access the inbuilt Web server. This launches the camera user interface. You can control the movement of the camera from the interface or through the provided IR remote. There is a motion detection and trigger recording (both audio and video) facility that helps you view, at your leisure, activity in the area under surveillance.
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It’s small, resembles a lunch box, and costs as much as six years of school education. Take the more than Rs 30,000 base price of the mini, add the price of 256 MB of memory—$75 or Rs 3,300—and the official “most affordable Mac ever” tag, while true, seems ludicrous. The mini is obviously a “try me” for the PC crowd, a fact underlined by the missing monitor, keyboard, speakers, and mouse. The question then, is, should you pay a small fortune for a dip in the Mac OS X pool? If your computer usage is bracketed by the tasks of word processing, Internet surfing, e- mailing, listening to MP3s and watching a movie occasionally—then yes, by
all means add the mini to your tech col- lection. The hardware, once beefed up with 256 MB of additional RAM, is good enough to drive these tasks and the odd OpenGL game or two on a 23-inch LCD screen (we tested the mini on one). Mac OS X is a wonderful, user- friendly and mostly consistent OS to work with. If you have the cash and the missing hardware on hand, this Apple experience is indeed worth the price of the ticket.
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The newest entrant in the hard disk-based MP3 players segment is the iPod Photo. It is essentially the regular iPod, with added photo-viewing functionality—hence the name. The black-and-white screen makes way for a spanking new 220 x 176 screen capable of displaying 65K colours. You can also view your photos on a TV or a projector via the bundled AV cables.
The bundled iTunes 4.7 automatically converts popular image formats to its own proprietary format, and optimises them for viewing on a standard or widescreen TV. To Apple’s credit, the images appeared crystal-clear on a 25-inch TV screen. The device displays 25 full-colour thumbnails of stored images. It can also synchronise automatically with albums created with
iPhoto, Adobe Album 2.0 and Elements 3.0. However, once you have the images in your iPod Photo, you cannot play around with them in any way— rotating, panning, or even deleting directly from the device is not possible. Considering the new colour display, we expected a significant drop in battery life, and were stunned to see that the battery life had actually been prolonged to a cool 15.5 hours on a single charge! Though it is still a great music player, at the end of the day it all boils down to price. And at Rs 35,000+, Apple really is asking for the moon, considering that you can get full-fledged portable media players which do all that the iPod photo does. However, there’s one reason you might want to buy this piece of luxury: Playboy has come out with seriously hot content for the iPod photo, and has named the service iBod! Now we really wish the screen was a lot bigger!
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The new iPod, christened ‘Shuffle’, is extremely chic, and makes for a great neck ornament. It features a circular button for Play and Pause, which also doubles up as Hold when pressed for three seconds. Press the same button thrice in succession and you are taken to the start of the playlist. The button is circled by a dial that sports the volume controls and the Next/Previous or FF/RW keys. Three hidden LEDs lie just under the surface, and are only visible when lit. The two above the dial, green and amber, light up during various functions. Flipping the device over reveals a sliding switch that lets you switch it ON/OFF, and toggle the shuffle mode. There is a small, pinhole-sized LED on the bottom that tells you the battery status when the battery button is pressed. Battery life is amazing—14 hours on a single charge! The Shuffle supports the MP3, MP3 VBR, WAV, AAC, and AA 2, 3 and 4. The sound quality is as impeccable as that of any of the larger iPods. It can be used as an external storage device as well. However, transferring music using iTunes was slow—it took us about 10 minutes to transfer 1 GB of music. Also, transferring music to the device directly without iTunes doesn’t work—the songs just don’t play. The Shuffle lacks a screen. It doesn’t play FM, doesn’t record voice, and does not support ID3 Tags. Priced at just Rs 12,400, the Shuffle is a great buy. Lower capacity players, such as the Creative MuVo TX 256MB and Samsung Yepp YP60 256 MB cost Rs 8,000 and Rs 16,000 respectively, and only offer the additional feature of FM and voice recording. If music is all you want, nothing beats the Shuffle.
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This five-megapixel, 3x optical zoom camera fits perfectly in your hand, and is nice and light. It has tiny, interesting-looking lights on the top, which display capture modes such as Auto and Movie. The 2.5-inch LCD screen crisply displays the images in focus, along with the various options such as white balance. Strangely, the menu button is on the top, and the ON/OFF button and the hard-to-handle menu navigation joystick are placed beside the LCD screen. Selecting and navigating through the menu is difficult. The lack of an optical viewfinder means that you are forced to drain your batteries by using the LCD all the time. The Auto setting works fine, but others, such as Night Mode, end up producing images with blue tinges. Even in broad daylight, images appear dark, and the flash goes off. Detail and textures in the captured images are superb, though. Indoor shots come out better, especially close-ups in Macro Mode; but
outdoors, with an overcast sky, the images are very dark. In order to connect this camera to a PC you need to carry around the USB connector- cum-power docking station everywhere, as it doesn’t connect directly. Also, there’s only 16 MB of internal memory. Overall, a great looking
camera, but with a lot of drawbacks.
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This device is a PC-sharing solution. Though a little expensive, it can save you money if you need another system for general office work. It looks like a sleek blue wireless hub with a blue backlit neon power button. There are con-nectors for the keyboard, monitor, mouse, LAN and speakers. The existing PC connects to this device using a crossover LAN cable. To test for performance, we used a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor with 1 GB of RAM, but still couldn’t play two movies simultaneously on the host and virtual PCs. However, it does every- thing else commend-ably well, such as playing a movie on one computer and music on the other. The Rs 10,000 price tag is a little steep though, as today, com-puters for office use cost only about Rs 15,000. It’s up to you to decide whether the Rs 5,000 difference is worth it or not!
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This sleek device is MSI’s answer to the iPods and Gminis of today. It packs in a respectable 20 GB of disk space and a 3.5-inch LCD screen that has surprisingly good clarity. The device supports viewing and playback of the DivX 3.11/4/5, MPEG4, WMV, MP3, WAV, WMA9, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP formats. It supports a maximum of 30 fps in video and 320 Kbps audio—really good quality DivX. The device records voice as well, and the mic is really sensitive. It even
has an inbuilt FM tuner, programmable for eight stations. Using the bundled AV cables, the MSI Mega View can record to and play back from a TV. The device does not have the
ability to create playlists. The bundled earphones are good, but since they are not padded, your ears cannot take more than an hour of continuous listening. Overall, great features, a few bugs, and way too expensive!
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This external hard drive from Seagate is about as big as a Marie biscuit and 1.5 inches thick, but packs in a cool 2.5 GB of space. It connects to a system via the USB 2.0 interface. You can write-protect and password- protect the drive. SiSoft Sandra reported read and write speeds of 6 MBps and 5 MBps respectively. The average access time was 17 ms. The compact drive does seem like a handy tool for photographers and anyone else who needs to transport large amounts of data.
However, at Rs 10,000, it is fairly overpriced.
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It’s a phone! It’s smart! It’s a smartphone! The Intellekt iQ700 is one of the smallest devices running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. Encased in a metallic silver-grey metal-and-plastic body, the device is a tad larger and heavier than a standard candy-bar phone.
Looking inside, it is powered by a TI OMAP 730 200 MHz processor and has 64MB of ROM and 32MB of RAM, topped off with a 2.2- inch 176 x 220 pixel TFT screen. So what can you do with it? E-mail, MMS, Speed Dial and Voice Tags are supported, and you get all the productivity software built into Windows Mobile 2003. You can play back WAV, WMA, AMR, AAC and MP3. Voice clarity is decent, but the phone does have a problem in areas with low signal strength. The speakerphone is good enough for a small conference room. As for the operational controls, the five-way rocket switch on the front panel looks quite innovative in terms of design, but also proves to be the phone’s nemesis.
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This is probably love at first sight. You will fall for this beauty, which incorporates a still camera, a video camera, a voice recorder, a Web camera, a movie viewer and MP3 support, the moment you lay your eyes on the packaging—with the glitzy model holding up the device in all its shining glory! Your love will grow stronger when you hold it for the first time. But alas, love is blind. No sooner than you’ve held the device and had a first close-up look, will you want to look away! Starting with the design, which is pretty compact for a device that packs in so much, the Orite will flatter to deceive. It has a small screen that has to be flipped open, and is roughly as big (or small) as that of a Nokia 3310! The device should come with 16 MB of on-board memory, but the unit we received had only 4MB on-board and no flash cards, tying it down to the PC for good. To load MP3s onto it, you need to manually go to the device in ‘My Computer’ and create a directory called ‘MP3’. Hereafter, it’s drag-and-drop. Photos taken with the “3.2 mp” camera were grainy despite us using the flash, and even worse with the 8x digital zoom! Video at 640 x 480, though, was all right. The package includes a carry case, a USB charger, cable, driver disk and Ulead PhotoStudio, and is priced at around Rs 9,000. Expensive considering the feature set..
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One of the sleekest PDA phones in the market, the new Xda II Mini from O2 runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 PocketPC Phone Second Edition and is a tri-band GSM/GPRS device. It is sleek and is encased in a silver body with ribbed black sides and curved corners. The layout makes it easy to handle, with the camera button, volume slider and voice recorder keys on the left, the MMC/SDIO slot on top, the power button next to the stylus silo, the IR port on the right and the headphone jack next to the USB port at the bottom. The front facia is neatly laid out as well, with minimal controls. A square-shaped bank of keys under the screen is comprised of an enter/action key in the centre surrounded by a four-way navigation key. This is flanked by symmetri- cally designed ‘Send’ and ‘End’ keys on top and two applica- tion buttons assigned to ‘Contacts’ and ‘Calendar’ at the bottom. The camera, voice recorder, contacts and calendar buttons can be re-assigned to other applications, depending on your preferences. The lens and a self-portrait mirror are at the back. With an Intel PXA 272 processor providing 416 MHz of horsepower, and 64MB of flash ROM and 64MB of RAM under the hood, the Mini boasts a 2.8-inch TFT LCD touch screen that can display 64K colours at a resolution of 240 x 320. Connectivity options include Bluetooth and infrared, with support for additional memory through the MMC/SDIO slot. A 256 MB SD card is bundled. Voice clarity on the O2 Xda II Mini is excellent, even with the speakerphone. The screen is clear and vibrant, but you may face issues in direct sunlight. A neat feature is the ability to change the orienta-tion of the screen from portrait to landscape with just a tap of the stylus—handy for spreadsheets and documents. The 1,200 mAh Lithium Polymer bat- tery should see you through about three days with standard phone and PDA use. Overall, good features and the sleek form factor are the highlights of the package. Poor image quality from the camera and the high price tag are the potential deterrents.
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It is not often that Nokia releases a phone that resembles an existing model, at least in terms of design if not on the whole. At first glance, the Nokia 6670 can easily be mistaken for a 7610. Nokia has sculpted the 6670 along the lines of the stylish 7610, though it restrained itself on the keypad design to advocate this model’s business goals. Based on the Series-60 platform, the 6670 has all the traits of the business series, including tri-band operation, Bluetooth, a 65K colour screen, a 1-megapixel camera, 8 MB of internal memory—enough to store your business contacts—and a 64 MB MMC card. This time round, Nokia has provided the NetFront Web browser as the built-in option. NetFront supports all major Web standards and is more accurate in the layout of pages, thanks to which pages look similar to what they look like on a desktop. However, considering the small screen size, its usefulness is questionable. As far as its core competence—the phone—goes, the device is like any other Nokia phone—good signal reception and voice quality. However, on the usability front, the tacky keys do not help much. Being a business phone, this should be of paramount importance since it is the only mode of data input. We think the 6670 is a stopgap measure from Nokia to kill time before it releases the uch-awaited 6630.
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The MX series of mice from Logitech are revered by the gaming community as the best piece of hardware a gamer can get his hands on. Until recently, the MX series boasted of an 800 dpi optical sensor that was precise to the last millimetre and resulted in accurate tracking of
the mouse pointer on the screen. Now, with the introduction of the MX-1000, Logitech is on the verge of triggering a revolution. Instead of an LED light source though, the MX-1000 uses a laser for accuracy—as opposed to ordinary light, a laser beam is more coherent and results in minimum scattering when it hits a surface. The MX-1000 has eight buttons that can be programmed to one’s liking using the simple-to-use ‘Set Point’ application. It uses RF for com-munication and can be con-trolled from as far as ten feet away. Most interestingly, Logitech has included a rechargeable Li-ion battery, akin to those in cell-phones. But eventually, at Rs 5,500, the MX-1000 is a piece of luxury.
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Someone had to cash in on the growing paranoia about security, and Microsoft is leading the pack—stepping in with the Fingerprint Reader. This USB device eliminates the need to type in passwords, and ships with a software disk and manual with minimal information. Setup is simple, with a graphical representation of both hands shown on screen. Simply click on the finger to register that finger's print. You can register all your fingers if you like! Akin to an auto form completer, this thing allows you to register any password field. Just put your registered finger on the scanner while the password entry window is selected, and input your username and password. Useful for logging into Messengers, e-mail accounts and more! Another neat feature is having shortcuts to Web sites on its one-touch menu. Just put your registered finger on the scanner, and a small menu pops up from the system tray with links to your registered Web sites. It works like a charm, but is expensively priced at Rs 4,514.
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Compaq’s V2036AP is a neat-looking 14-inch widescreen laptop. This notebook sports a black-and-brushed metal finish and weighs just 2.36 kg. Powered by a Pentium M 1.7 GHz Dothan processor with 256 MB of DDR memory, it can handle most office and multimedia applications with ease. The build quality is great, and the layout of the ports on either side makes them easily accessible. Goodies include a combo drive, 802.11b wireless LAN, a 6-in-1 card reader, a FireWire port and JBL Pro speakers. The battery life at 150 minutes was average, and less than similar models we have tested. Thankfully, though, it’s a quiet operator and the battery doesn’t heat up too much!
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This neat little gadget from Travel PAC promises to put to rest all the low battery jitters with your mobile phone. You can charge Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones using the device straight from the USB port on your desktop or notebook computer. It comes with a USB cable which has an adapter at one end and a Nokia/Sony Ericsson plug at the other. A thoughtful addition is a cigarette lighter adapter for charging in your car and an AC plug in case you want to use standard power sockets. The USB connects to these devices to draw power as well. In our tests, we could even charge the Nokia 2280, a device not on the compatibility sheet. If only it was compatible with other cell phones, what with Samsung and LG making their presence felt in the market. It is slightly expensive at Rs 905, but the conven- ience is worth it. A very useful tool for all the frequent travellers.
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