Join A Chance to Try the BlackBerry 8830
As a cell-phone user who was eager for a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard, I was eager to finally try out the BlackBerry 8830.
The BlackBerry 8830 World Edition is definitely designed for business people on the go. In fact, it claims to be “the first CDMA smartphone capable of roaming globally on GSM/GPRS networks”. This means you can pretty much travel the world without having to change your phone, your phone number, or your e-mail.
I had to admit that using a BlackBerry takes a little getting used to. The 8830 has this tiny track-ball mouse for interface that is reminiscent of Atari’s Centipede video game. However, once I used the Setup Wizard, the BlackBerry opened up to me.
In a matter of minutes, I had figured out how to view my email online, and could surf the web. As a newbie to smartphones, I have quickly discovered that there are some limitations to surfing the web online with a tiny screen.
Continue reading » A Chance to Try the BlackBerry 8830
Coolest Gadgets in National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Recent weekend stats have shown that National Treasure: Book of Secrets has surpassed its predecessor.
As a gadget blogger, I was amazed at the amount of cool gadgets displayed in this film, and would like to review several of them at once. None of these contain any spoilers to the film.
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LG KU990 Viewty Review
The new LG’s KU990 is undeniably a slinky number in the world of mobiles phones. It’s a slim and good looking and doesn’t feel plasticky. In simple terms this is a camera that you can ring people on as well as watch TV, browse the web and listen to music. Its large 66 mm touch pad screen occupies most of the front making it look like a tiny plasma whilst on the reverse, a lens encircled by jog wheel used to control the zoom and navigate through menus and adjust volume, gives the familiar appearance of a camera!
Navigation is made straight forward and friendly by the large and sensible icon layout on the touch screen. Helpfully, you can also set the touchpad to vibrate when you touch it – confirming each selection. Although the icons and buttons on the touchpad are a good size, not having small fingers or long fingernails be a disadvantage, but if this is the case, the small extendable stylus on standby. The only slightly annoying thing is the storage of the stylus which dangles untidily from the top of the phone.
You can view the full LG Viewty review over on our sister site Coolest Reviews.
Big Button Controller for your XBox 360
Recently, the demo for the game Scene It! was released on the XBox Live Marketplace. Being the thrifty consumer that I am, I downloaded the free demo so I could try the game before I bought it.
It was a typical, lowest common denominator type of trivia game created to encompass the broadest possible audience. Being a geek who has lots of specialized, obscure trivial knowledge, this frustrated me.
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Google Maps for Symbian Review
Google have recently released a native version of Google Maps, for Symbian.
Compared to the older Java version of the program, this has lots of advantages, the most obvious being start-up speed and runtime speed. Every animation is smooth, loading times are blazing if you have a good connection.
An added feature would be the GPS support. This is really cool as long as you have an always-on connection, especially when on foot. It’s got all of the search features you know from the online version of Google Maps.
Read on for some hands-on reports and screenshots.
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Digital Picture Frame Reviews and Comparisons
Digital picture frames have really taken off this year. Here we compare some of the cheapest and best digital picture frames that are currently available with regards to both features and value for money. We’ll also provide an explanation of all the features that the various digital photo frames have to offer.
Check here for a full selection of digital picture frames for sale or continue down to read our reviews and comparisons.
| Pandigital | Kodak | eStarling | Phillips | Portable USA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen Size | 8″ | 10″ | 8″ | 6.5″ | 10.4″ |
| Resolution | 800 x 600 | 800x 480 | 800 x 600 | 720 x 480 | 640 x 480 |
| Aspect Ratio | 4:3 | 16:9 | 16:9 | 4:3 | 16:9 |
| Frame Style | Acrylic and black wood | Black Gloss | Black Piano Finish | Interchangeable | Cherry finish |
| Remote Control | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Wi-Fi | Not yet | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Memory Cards | 6 in 1 card Reader | MMC SD MS CF | MMC SD MS CF | USB | MMC SD MS CF |
| Internal Memory | 128MB | 128MB | |||
| Sound | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Plays Video | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Optional Batteries | Optional | N | N | N | N |
| Special Features | Built in clock, calendar and alarm | Print directly to any PictBridge enabled printers | turn-off automatically at night, email photos to the frame, text Messaging to Frame | Interchangable frames | |
| Price | $179.99 | $199.31 | $169.99 | $136.93 | $175.95 |
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You can see an explanation of all comparison points here.
Continue reading » Digital Picture Frame Reviews and Comparisons
Google Presentation is live!. And kicking (ass) too! (review)
Upon looking in my Google Docs page today, I discovered some new thing: Google Presentations.
Of course, the first thing to do was test it. And I did. And it’s cool!.. Even if there are no fancy transitions or animations, you can still create decent, good-looking presentations, and there are some pretty nice features to it too.
Best of all, the presentations are always online and you can access them anywhere.
Continue reading » Google Presentation is live!. And kicking (ass) too! (review)
iPod Touch Review
For the unknowing, Apple started shipping its new iPod Touch late last week. This is the new iPod that’s essentially the iPhone sans the phone; prices start at $300 for 8GB and go up to $400 for 16GB. While they’re usually sold out as quickly as they come in, I managed to grab one and made a nice little review, at least I hope it’s nice. I’ll be covering the design and structure of the device itself, the UI and applications, music playback, video playback, and the iTunes WiFi store (I know it’s an application, but it’s special!).
Continue reading » iPod Touch Review
