Gadget Hunter

  

HP and its boutique/luxe division Voodoo deserve serious praise for what they’ve accomplished with the Firebird 803. Taking a mix of laptop and desktop guts, juicing it up with high-end components, cooling it with liquid goo instead of noisy fans, and encasing it inside a gorgeous, curvy shell that would make most industrial designers weep with envy, the Firebird is a testament to how the envelope can be pushed in the typically boring PC world.

It’s also a veritable bargain, priced at $2,100, fully loaded.

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Pioneer markets its Elite lineup of plasma TVs to appeal to the hard-core home theater enthusiast, and that means pricing these panels above and beyond just about anything else. The enthusiast who can afford one, however, can rest assured that the 50-inch PRO-111FD performs above and beyond anything else on the market today. This display has the best black levels (aside from OLED) and most accurate color of any HDTV we’ve ever reviewed, and it’s hard to find fault with other aspects of its picture quality. A picture mode entitled Pure is exactly that, delivering better out-of-the-box settings–before we performed any adjustments–than any preset picture mode we’ve tested, including THX on models like the Panazonic 50-PZ. A stratospheric price disqualifies the Elite from consideration as our Editors’ Choice, but make no mistake: If you have the cash to burn, this plasma or its 60 inch brother is best flat-panel HDTV you can buy today, period.

Design
Pioneer’s no-nonsense, all-black look gives the PRO-111FD an ultraserious air, backed up by the unadorned, glossy-black frame with a simple gold “Elite” tattooed on the bottom. The sharp-cornered frame is characteristically chunky for a 50-inch plasma, and unlike most HDTVs, Pioneer mounts the speakers to both sides, making for an expansive wingspan. We appreciated that the speakers can be detached, as can the glossy black, nonswiveling stand.

Including stand and speakers, the PRO-111FD measures approximately 56.9 inches wide by 31 inches high by 13.8 inches deep and weighs 88 pounds. By itself, the panel measures 48.8 by 28.5 by 3.7 inches and weighs 74.5 pounds.

Pioneer’s remote was redesigned after last year, and we really don’t like it. Gone are the different shapes for secondary functions; instead, almost all of the keys on the new remote share the same square shape, tiny size, and are arranged in a staid grid. While that may make the clicker look cooler in some designer’s opinions, it sure doesn’t help navigate the scads of buttons. Sure, we liked the direct access to each of the inputs and the red-backlit keys, but we can’t forgive the unforgiving grid.

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Performance
Simply put, the Pioneer Elite PRO-111FD produced the best picture of any flat-panel HDTV we’ve tested to date. It delivered the deepest blacks we’ve seen from any large-screen display, as well as the most-accurate color. Video processing was superb, its glare-reducing screen is the best we’ve seen on any plasma TV, and we could find almost nothing to complain about in other areas. Given its superb performance, the PRO-111FD scores the first “10″ we’ve ever awarded in overall picture quality. To us, that score doesn’t represent perfection–hey, nothing’s perfect–but instead a picture that’s solidly superior to anything else we’ve seen in the flat-panel HDTV category.

Our standard calibration turned out to be a simple affair, despite the PRO-111FD’s sizable complement of picture controls. The key was the Pure picture mode, which automatically engages Color Space 2, which in turn adheres very closely to the Rec. 709 HD color standard. We tweaked the color temperature a bit, removing a slight reddish cast, and touched up Magenta and Green by three total pips in the color-management system, but that was about it. The default Gamma 2 setting measured a nearly perfect 2.181 gamma; light output and black level were almost dead-on, and our main change was to bump up saturation (Color).

Produces the deepest black levels of any large-screen display we’ve tested; extremely accurate color points and color temperature; superb antireflective screen; 72Hz refresh mode works well with 1080p/24 sources; Pure picture mode delivers superior settings out of the box; extensive picture controls; excellent connectivity, including 4 HDMI and one PC input; styling that’s all business.

Cutting-edge, stylish and pink—what’s not to love about the new Pink iPhone™? Girls will be lining up to get one, so instead of following the trend, be a trendsetter and get one now.

The BlackBerry Bold isn’t the only phone that’s getting a pink assorted with diamonds upgrade. Amosu has also taken its time to customize an iPhone 3G and now it’s available. It has a pink case and white diamonds all around. And if you’re wondering it’s a 16GB iPhone 3G version

The phone has 527 diamonds on the front side. These are all brilliant cut and they sport the color F and as for clarity they’re cataloged as VS. Bezel Carat is approximately 3.71. The price for the iPhone is 2.5 times the price of the pink Bold: £10,000. The pink 16GB iPhone 3G comes too with 2-hours one-year international concierge service. Which one will you chose?

It’s more than just hardware, Apple are promoting the fact that the iPhone 3G’s new “iPhone 2.0″ platform will have more applications, and it will also feature their “mobileme” service which includes an intelligent push email service, aimed in particular at those people who either work in small businesses or are personal users. Mobileme will also integrate with PC and Mac based calendering and email tools, and will cost US users $99 a year, and it replaces the existing .Mac service. Software for the new ”iPhone 2.0″ platform includes blogging tools, an eBay assistant, games and more serious applications such as those aimed at medical practitioners. Apple’s point is this: the new iPhone is more than hardware, it’s also about the software and services that have been designed to run on it.

While the Apple iPhone 3G is certainly a much better device than the original iPhone, a lot of flaws still exist. Many of Apple’s competitors will be breathing a sigh of relief that the iPhone 3G is certainly not as good as it should be. Still, we think that it will sell well and even the hardest of cynics were impressed by the original iPhone when they get their hands on one.

Carefully carried through the office like an unopened birthday present, the Apple iPhone 3G gently made its way to our desk. Floppy-haired co-workers eagerly huddled around, waiting for the screen to turn on and display all the new goodies the iPhone 3G has in store. Questions echoed around the room: would 3G be that much faster than EDGE? Does GPS make it a more useful phone?

There was simply no doubt that this is an exciting product, but after the hype dissolved and people went back to their desks, we had some important questions of our own to answer. If anything, Apple knows how to hype its products and for the most part it delivers, but the original iPhone wasn’t perfect and we were determined to see whether the iPhone 3G had enough to offer over its predecessor to justify an upgrade.

Features
When the iPhone first came out, many people were disappointed to see that it lacked 3G, among other things. As you may have gathered, Apple has fixed this — in fact, it’s gone one better and included HSDPA, which is an even faster version of 3G. And it makes a massive difference. Browsing the Web and watching YouTube videos is lightning fast compared to the old iPhone, which was hamstrung on EDGE. We loaded the Sky News homepage on the original iPhone in 1 minute 40 seconds. The iPhone 3G took just 40 seconds to load the same page — over 2.5 times as fast.

GPS is another addition to the iPhone 3G’s artillery — and it blows the old model to smithereens. Compared to the original iPhone’s cellular and Wi-Fi triangulation, using GPS on the iPhone 3G is far more accurate. GPS pinpointed our location to within metres rather than kilometres. For the time being it only works with Google Maps, which doesn’t do voice navigation. Some pundits have suggested Apple isn’t keen on third-party developers creating navigation apps, but we’ll have to wait and see.

As for other apps, you’ll be glad to know that the App Store is live and already features over 500 programs. You don’t need to use the badly implemented Web-based apps anymore, or unlock your iPhone. Some of the apps come free, while others you have to pay for.

Performance
The iPhone 3G vastly supersedes the old iPhone when it comes to audio quality during calls. You can hear people loud and clear, with no noticeable distortion. The iPhone 3G’s loudspeaker is also louder than its predecessor, but still not as loud as we’d like. Compared to the Nokia N82, the iPhone 3G operates at a whisper, and isn’t great for sharing YouTube videos, for example.

We haven’t had the iPhone long enough at this point to properly test the battery, but from our usage so far, we think it should last for around a day with moderate use of 3G and GPS. We’ll update this section when we’ve exhausted the battery. There is an option to turn the 3G off if you want to save power. It’s annoying that the battery cover still can’t easily be removed, however.

Our Verdict

An Amazing phone however this is really not a revolutionary phone. It’s more like the iPhone we wished Apple made last year. But basics, like cut, copy and paste are still missing. (As is MMS, thanks for the reminder, commenters.) As well are the ability to use the phone like a hard drive. Other than that, we’re hoping for some more revolutionary changes to come by software update. And let’s take a moment to remember how many developers are making killer iPhone programs right this second. Thats the real revolution!

Record labels, hammered by ever plummeting CD sales, see a ray of sunshine in the recent minor renaissance in vinyl records whose sales and production continue to steadily expand. The reason for this 33 1/3 RPM nostalgia? The feeding of a demand from a growing minority of audio geeks who have been bitching about the cold sound of digital reproduction since the first compact disc was released. (And don’t even get them started on the sound quality of MP3s.) Records, they claim, have warmer, more natural sound. Okay, so what’s this gotta do with Sony’s Digital Noise Cancellation Headphones? That all depends on how you like the sound reproduction of the music you listen to: Analog warm or digital cool.

Until now, the Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones have set the benchmark for superior noise cancellation. Could Sony out-Bose Bose with its new digital headphones? After comparing both on a Southwest Airlines flight, a noisy commuter train and a quiet living room, we found that yes, Sony has outdone Bose…but not necessarily for the better.

Noise cancellation: Sony’s analog-digital conversion cut out the omnipresent annoying drone of a jet engine, screaming babies, and background conversations. The ‘phones literally put you in your own cocoon of silence. Bose does the same but Sony let us to optimize the noise cancellation mode to three diverse environments: airplane, bus/train, and office. By simply pressing an artificial intelligence button on the right ear piece it was possible to cut out external sounds effectively. Sony also added a handy monitor button that lets you hear external sound such as a flight attendant asking if you want a drink. With Bose, you must power down or remove the headphones entirely to hear sounds from the outside.

Audio reproduction: We threw everything from the Alpha Twins to Yo Yo Ma to Abba to ZZ Top at both headphones. Bose reproduction was analog warm without any distortion at higher volumes or with heavy bass. Sony’s sound was the epitome of digital cool but performed best with midrange reproduction. Some heavy bass tracks at higher volumes caused enough headbanging distortion to make us actually throw the headphones off.

Portability and Comfort: Check it out — Bose QuietComfort 3 fit inside its 2 inch thick carrying case weighs in at one pound, Sony’s MRD-NC500D check in at just over 1.5 pounds. Its case is 3 inches thick with bulk that exceeds the Bose package by more than inch in either direction. Of course, there is more packed in the Sony case: an AC-power recharging cable with a mini-brick plug and a alternative two-AAA battery case to power the headphones when the built-in rechargeable batteries have no juice left. The Bose QuietComfort 3’s feather-light, ear cup features a soft foam which fits on top of your ears whereas the Sony set surround your ears, not putting any pressure on them. Comfort of course is subjective but after wearing each for more than one hour, we preferred the softness and material of the Bose more.

Does digital make a difference? Sure it allows for customizing noise cancellation based on the “noise” around you but the analog Bose still does the job well, too. Of course, in the end it’s whether you like your sound digital cool or analog warm. For us at the G-Lab, we’re content to stay toasty.

Despite being one of the first netbooks we had a look at this year, the 2133 still feels more fully cooked than many its bretheren. Price-wise, HP kept it competitive with a $600 for the Vista Business version. A Linux OS is available for $100 less while a Windows XP “upgrade” will cost you $100 more. And unlike many of its compatriots, this is one of the few netbooks that doesn’t feel cheap and flimsy in our hands, due in no small part to its fetching brushed aluminum and plastic outer shell.

Even more impressive is the fact that HP flat-out nailed the QWERTY keyboard on its first try. In fact, we found the (almost) full-size keyboard to be one of the most responsive and comfortable we’ve used on a netbook thus far. The only drawbacks? A decidedly feeble 1.2-GHz Via processor and less than acceptable two hour battery life.

No one knows how to polish a turd like Motorola. For proof, look no further than its latest iteration of the storied RAZR family, the VE20. While you wouldn’t know it by glancing at the handset, it’s actually been four years since the V3 began seducing phone fashionistas who didn’t mind trading a middling feature set for style. Since then, of course, Motorola has unleashed a great flood of RAZRs onto the market, each an attempt at correcting one of myriad chromosomal deficiencies that plagued the original and its progeny.

With the VE20, the floundering handset maker more or less continues this MO, adding yet another hasty paint job to what is essentially the same tired old handset.

Indeed, the first thing you’ll notice about the VE20 is its uncanny similarity to the original RAZR. Yup, four years later and we still have a 2.2-inch inner screen — which, even on a flip phone, looks pitifully small these days — a lackluster camera, and pretty much the same design scheme.

The actual useful features on the phone, be it Sprint’s streaming TV and radio channels, or the GPS navigation suite, are in one way or another crippled or greatly diminished on the handset due to poor implementation or design or both. In some cases, the VE20 even takes a bold step backward. Gone, for example, is Motorola’s music player, which wasn’t all that great to begin with. Instead, we get Sprint’s Music Store, which is inexplicably even worse. Similarly, internet browsing remains laughable on the VE20 and half the time Sprint’s various services ended up crashing on us.

It’s a shame, really. While Motorola’s recent troubles have been well documented, this would in fact be an ideal time to reinvent the one brand that helped lead the company to success, however fleeting. Instead, Motorola seems content dragging the RAZR through the gutter and slowly draining what little life force remains in the series.

For now, the VE20 serves as yet another embarrassing reminder of how far the rest of the industry has progressed since 2004 — and how Motorola has become a company content just to spin its wheels.

Plenty of gadgets claim to be tough without actually being tough. (You know the type; loud as a motorbike, but wouldn’t bust a grape in a food fight.) But the Olympus LS-10 digital recorder actually walks the walk. Its first-rate audio recording clarity builds on a sturdy appearance, and proves to be a great appendage for reckless audio aficionados.

Using the recorder is like peeling some sort of magical golden onion. Transferring files to and from a PC takes only a few moments. The UI folder structure is easy to navigate with little direction (There are 5 folders with a 200-file max, plus one Music folder.) It uses SD memory (2 GIG internal, lasting 3-69 hours, contingent on the recording setting) and it can record audio (from best quality on down) as 96 kHz/24bit Linear PCM (Pulsed Code Modulation), WAV, MP3, and WMA files.

It’s also physically stout and sturdy as hell. The recorder got dropped, smacked, and tossed without any discernible loss in performance. The 5.33-ounce weight lends a solid heft to the device and the brush finish and stylish rounded corners give it (dare we say?) a sexy look. Even the buttons are designed in a way that it prevents accidental switching and flicking. Students, journalists, and other folks who toss gadgets haphazardly in a bag will know this is heaven’s sent.

As a portable music-listening device, it doesn’t work that well. If you transfer an MP3 to the player and listen to it (through headphones) before listening to (awesome) input recordings on the PC for the first time, you’ll be kinda bummed by the average tone. No, it’s not expected to be good as an MP3 player (hey, the iPod sucks as a recorder), but leads to the dreaded pocket bulging misery of taking two media devices at once. And it’s way too expensive. At this price, we would prefer the hardware-software integrated simplicity of an iTunes-type program. That’s not too much to ask.

But what about the all important audio recording quality? We tested the LS-10 in a variety of noisy situations including live narration in the middle of a crowded street (complete with a random lunatic ranting about getting kicked out of Old Navy.) Our recording came out perfectly clear without a scratch of background fuzz. Even when we recorded an indoor musical performance, little nuances in the notes became apparent on playback. The only  time we heard any sort of popping  or distortion was when we turned the device off and listened to other recorders in our collection.