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While Nokia makes a habit of practically defining “featurephone” for the industry, traditionally its handsets like the N95 that hog all the spotlight, leaving Nokia’s few QWERTY phones in the shadows. Not that they’ve been trying too hard — while the E62 and E61i have both shipped over here, neither has featured 3G data in US bands, and the E62 even had the distinct pleasure of having WiFi stripped out. Enter E71, the successor to those phones, and Nokia’s very first QWERTY device to feature US-friendly 3G.

Nokia is also (finally) taking form factor much more seriously: at 10mm thick, the E71 is one of the slimmest Nokia phones to date, and Nokia claims it’s the thinnest QWERTY smartphone on the market. The E71 also attacks the drab, plastic looks of its predecessors with chrome accents and a glossy screen. The phone is incredibly pocketable, and comfortable to hold and use. Of course, with the smaller size Nokia had to cut down on screen real estate and keyboard spacing, but at a QVGA resolution there’s little suffering on that front. The keyboard had a much more rigid, clicky feel to it compared to the spongy keys of the E62, and we were virtually typo-free on it within minutes.

Nokia E71 review
With all this concentration on the exterior, Nokia hasn’t forgotten the feature overload of old. The E71 includes A-GPS, WiFi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, A2DP Bluetooth, 110MB of built-in memory and a microSD slot. There’s also plenty of software to take advantage of all that tech, thanks to the quite-mature S60 platform. It’s running 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1, which lacks the screen transition fanciness of FP2, but seems much more stable and usable to us than its fresh-faced successor. Being a business centric device, the E71 comes with a full complement of office, email and PIM software, including a feature to switch on the fully between business and personal accounts, complete with separate mailboxes and home screens. Read the rest of this entry »

Pros: An attractive, customizable, and great-sounding dual alarm clock radio for the iPod, complete with strong AM/FM radio tuning and a straightforward interface; Big, bright screen can easily be adjusted through 21 dimmer stages, while replaceable speaker grilles enable color updating of the unit’s face; Smart layout of front dials and remote control; reasonable pricing considering aggregate quality of audio, features, and build.

Cons: Physical footprint that enables superior speaker performance also demands more space. Not shielded against iPhone interference. Just as there are often differences between actors turned singers and signers turned actors, there are marked differences between alarm clock makers who create speakers and speaker makers who create alarm clocks. The alarm clock maker tends to get clock, alarm, and radio features right, while speaker makers tend to deliver better sound and less impressive execution on the other features.

The Review:
After spending two weeks with Boston Acoustics new Horizon Duo, a dual alarm clock radio, we’re pleased to report that this speaker maker has come closer to getting both sides right than most of its competitors— the reason for our high recommendation — though users needing the latest iPod alarm features will still find a reason or two to consider their alternatives. Read the rest of this entry »

Canon has finally heralded the EOS 1000D, making digital SLR photography lighter and more affordable.

The Canon EOS 1000D is designed to compete with the lowest specification DSLRs, packaged with the 18-55mm IS lens, comes in only at P31,000

Canon EOS 1000D: Modes and Features
The Canon EOS 1000D is the lowest specification DSLR in the range so, technically, it won’t be as good as the EOS 450D. The main differences are the lower 10Mp resolution of the EOS 1000D and only a 7-point AF system. There’s also a lack of spot metering, smaller 2.5in LCD screen, slower 3fps and only 12bit RAW compression compared the EOS 450D’s 14bit compression.

However, the camera still has a DIGIC III processor, sensor cleaning and live view. Not to mention that it’s smaller and lighter than the EOS 450D and EOS 400D but I think in essence the EOS 1000D is more an updated EOS 400D.

Looking around the camera and the included lens is the same 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 image stabilised model that was introduced with the EOS 450D. The plastic mount lens fits onto the dual mount lens plate. The reason for the dual mount dates back to when Canon first started making DSLRs. They didn’t want people having a nice 18mm wide angle lens for their back up film SLR so made the new lenses with a different mount to normal EF lenses. Read the rest of this entry »

The Olympus EVOLT E-510 is a full-featured, 10-megapixel digital SLR camera that was designed to accommodate photographers of any skill level. The E-510 features a “Live View” LCD that allows you to compose your shots using either the LCD or the optical viewfinder. The E-510’s bright 2.5-inch display, with approximately 230,000 pixels, uses “HyperCrystal” LCD technology offering many times the contrast of conventional LCD monitors. Images are displayed in vivid color - both in preview and playback. The HyperCrystal LCD also provides a wide viewing angle, which ensures images can be composed from even the most obscure angles.

The E-510 employs Mechanical Image Stabilization, which compensates for camera movement. This new technology complements Digital Image Stabilization, which compensates for a moving subject. Combined, Mechanical Image Stabilization and Digital Image Stabilization provide a powerful solution, ensuring blur-free photos even in active shooting situations where photographers may encounter camera shake or a moving subject. This powerful combination resides within the camera’s body, translating to blur-free images taken with any of the more than 30 digital-specific lenses. Read the rest of this entry »

The successor to last year’s successful entry-level PowerShot A460, the new 7.1 megapixel A470 model has undergone a striking external makeover, matched dramatically by a number of key internal enhancements. The PowerShot A470 is a stylish and compact model over a contoured metallic finish body that highlights the camera’s new design and reflects the camera user’s individuality, personality and taste.

Solid budget models are becoming less expensive and offering better performance every year. The Canon PowerShot A470 is one of the best examples of this trend. With a price tag of only P6,500, it produces surprisingly good pictures. It isn’t the prettiest camera available and it doesn’t have any flashy features, but for the price, it’s hard to beat.

The camera’s large body makes it easy to grip and hold, and its wide design leaves room for large, simple controls that even bigger thumbs can comfortably manipulate. Read the rest of this entry »

The 24-inch iMac comes in two standard configurations: a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor with 1GB of memory and 250GB hard drive and a higher-end configuration that comes with a dual-core 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme CPU, 2GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive.

Strengths
When the 20-inch, 2.4GHz iMac was tested, what was clearly impressionable was its application performance. It held up more than its own against competing Windows-based, mainstream desktops. The same can easily be said for the 24-inch, 2.8GHz iMac.

With its faster processor, the 24-inch, 2.8GHz iMac is expectedly faster than the 20-inch, 2.4GHz iMac on all of the application benchmarks–as well as many similarly priced Windows machines. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canon Powershot G9 looks to all intents and purposes exactly like its predecessor, the G7, but underneath the serious matt black exterior are a veritable wealth of changes.

The G9 is an incremental upgrade in the truest sense; externally the body is almost identical, and there are only three really key changes; the raw mode, the screen and the sensor.

This is a 12.1 megapixel digital camera (up from the G7’s 10 megapixels) with a 3” LCD screen (increased from 2.5 inches) which sees the very welcome return of RAW mode. Canon caused uproar among G-series users when they decided to omit RAW mode from the G7, presumably to try and differentiate it from the budget EOS 400D DSLR camera, so it’s refreshing that they’ve listened to their customers by bringing it back. The swivelling, flip-out LCD screen of the older G6 model unfortunately hasn’t also made a come-back, but the larger 3 inch PureColor screen partly makes up for that. The 6x optical zoom lens offers an effective focal length of 35-210mm, there’s an optical image stabilizer to help combat camera-shake, plus an optical viewfinder and flash hotshoe. Under the surface the Canon G9 uses the same advanced DIGIC III processor as the company’s digital SLR cameras for faster performance and image processing. Read the rest of this entry »

Under the lid of this notebook, you’ll find a beautiful 15.4-inch widescreen framed by a silver bezel. The 1440 x 900-pixel glossy panel delivers vibrant colors and a sharp picture with very little reflection, and viewing angles are good from all directions.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The upper portion of the silver keyboard deck contains a set of low-powered speakers that lacked bass response, plus a power switch and a nice soft-touch media control bar for adjusting volume and controlling CD/DVD playback. However, it has a hotkey that launches Dell’s MediaDirect application, where you can access movies, music, and video clips, as well as view pictures from a central launching point. This same hotkey gives you access to your calendar and contact database via the Instant Office applet.

The keyboard is comfortable and well spaced, but the wide-aspect touchpad was a tad sensitive and jumpy at first. A quick tweak of the speed and sensitivity settings took care of that.

Plethora of Ports on the Inspiron 1525
The placement of two headphone jacks on the notebook’s front edge, which lets you share music or movie soundtracks with a friend, is a feature one could definitely love. A microphone input and an 8-in-1 card reader are also mounted on the front edge.

It’s advantageous that all connectivity ports are located on either side of the chassis instead of in the back. On the left are two USB ports, a VGA connector, a FireWire port, and modem and Ethernet jacks. There’s also an HDMI port for connecting to external audio and video components with a single cable. On the right side is an 8X dual-layer DVD burner, an ExpressCard slot, two additional USB ports, and an S-Video jack. Read the rest of this entry »

The 3G iPhone has finally arrived–a year and a half after CEO Steve Jobs first confirmed rumors Apple would indeed be making one of those fancy mobile phone things.
Since then many iPhone clones have been born–many with fleeting lives–and the mobile industry has done a whole lot of waking up and smelling of coffee.

But we’re not about to sit here going gaga over the gadget, sleek though it may be. There are plenty of functions and features where we feel Apple could up its game–so here are 10 things we’d like to change about the 3G iPhone:

1. No keyboard…
The touchscreen is certainly the best on the market but it’s never going to be everyone’s bag, certainly not if you are a touch-typist. Plenty of mobile bloggers out there would jump at the chance to pair some kind of Bluetooth keyboard (foldable and/or otherwise) with their iPhone.

2. The camera needs more megapixels…
2.0 megapixels is camera phone 1.0 when you consider there are mobiles out there that are pushing eight megapixels now. And while we don’t expect Apple to stretch itself that much we’d like at least three megapixels–and a better lens please. The camera also has no flash, so photography in low-light conditions is a no-no.

3. Still no cut and paste…
We’re children of the internet and life without cut and paste is like living with one arm tied behind the back–especially when it comes to swapping the web’s official currency: URLs. Apple is reportedly ‘working on the issue’–but it hasn’t delivered yet. Read the rest of this entry »

Discover what the hype is all about.

Physically, the Blackberry Curve 8320 is the same as the previous Curve models. It also features the same thin and light design, a small but very usable QWERTY keyboard, a 2-megapixel camera, and a gorgeous 320-by-240 display.

What makes the 8320 an excellent alternative to the older Curve models? This model combines the best of the previous two models and has an added bonus: While the old 8820 supports Wi-Fi for data only, the 8320 lets you make voice calls over wireless 802.11b/g networks too.

Like all BlackBerry units, it is a stellar e-mail device, with support for ten accounts. The included camera (which sports a flash and a 3X digital zoom) took adequate but–like many camera phones–occasionally blurry snapshots. Among other multimedia features is an audio and video player that supports most formats (including MP3, AAC, WMA, WMV, and MP4). The player’s interface is basic, but audio quality is good and video looks great. The device also has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot. With all of these features combined with the 8320’s sleek design and awesome e-mail handling, it makes for a winning package.

See specs and prices at http://gadgetgrocery.com/Blackberry%20Curve%208320.html