Dansette Junior Refurbished Vintage Record Player,c'59 on eBay (end time 17-Sep-09 22:21:09 BST)
via cgi.ebay.co.uk
Here is a very cool looking record player
September 11, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
SPV C500
£from free
The lowdown
The smallest smartphone on the market, Orange’s latest incarnation of the SPV is a far cry from the previous, rather chunky and unattractive models.
What’s good?
The C500’s sleek and attractive appearance makes it easy on the eye – and easy on the pocket as well. The buttons are great and the UI has been improved to make it easier to use. As well as Bluetooth, Orange has also squeezed in a VGA digital camera, 64MB of RAM and a Secure Digital (SD) slot.
What’s bad?
The Smartphone OS won’t suit everyone and it’s not quite smart enough to replace a PDA if that’s what you’re after. The SD slot, which is of the newer Mini variety, is annoyingly located under the battery, which makes it a pain to get at.
Do you need it?
A smartphone you’d happily bin your normal phone for. Well-made, good looking, and incredibly useful, the C500 works hard for its keep.
9/10
Orange
November 12, 2004 in Mobile Phones | Permalink | Comments (0)
Danger Hiptop II
£tbc
The lowdown
The Danger Hiptop 2 was launched in a blaze of publicity in the US a couple of months ago and now it’s being pencilled in for UK launched some time in the new year. A kind of cross between the Nokia N-Gage and the BlackBerry, this is a handset that’s aimed squarely at hip phone buyers.
What’s good?
Push the front and it flips up to reveal a 3.5-inch screen above a surprisingly spacious and usable QWERTY keyboard. There’s a good selection of messaging features, including an intuitve POP3 compatible email system and an instant messaging service courtesy of AOL. Most of the usual smartphone facilities are also on board including a PIM suite, VGA camera and a fast and effective web browser.
What’s bad?
It’s far larger than most smartphones available in Europe and while the design is unusual, it’s not a pretty handset. The absence of key features, such as MP3 playback, Bluetooth and flash memory card compatibility limits its appeal, while battery life is relatively poor.
Do you need it?
Despite its flaws, the Hiptop 2 is sure to find favour among text and email addited 18-40 year olds.
7/10
November 5, 2004 in Mobile Phones, PDAs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Logic 3 i-Station
£60
The lowdown
If you want to listen to your iPod out loud and proud, the i-Station will turn your player into a mini hi-fi system. Plug it into the wall and it will also charge your iPod up as it goes along; stick in some batteries and you can take it out for day trips.
What’s good?
The white finish matches your favourite player (and, if you can cope with the colour clash it also works with iPod minis) and it comes with Firewire and USB 2.0 connectors, so you can hook it to a PC or Mac for transferring tracks.
What’s bad?
Sound quality is pretty much as you’d expect from a system that costs £60: rather tinny. There’s also not much evidence of a subwoofer at work.
Do you need it?
The i-Station is good enough for small rooms and, at £60, it offers good value, but there are better specified iPod speaker systems out there. The similar, but slightly pricier £100 Altec Lansing inMotion, Apple’s favourite, the £250 Bose SoundDock, and the audiophile’s choice, the £400 Eclipse TD307.
6/10
October 28, 2004 in Personal Audio | Permalink | Comments (0)
Acer Ferrari 3200
£1545
The lowdown
This is the second time Acer has got together with Ferrari to produce a branded laptop. The first one was something of a disappointment. Will this one be any better?
What’s good?
If you like red you’ll love the outside of this machine: it’s extremely red indeed. This is a powerful machine with decent specs at a reasonably affordable price. While it’s not an ultraportable, it’s light enough for the odd trip out.
What’s bad?
The fussy interior styling won’t suit everyone. The keyboard rattles and the small touchpad is sluggish to respond (luckily, there's a matching red USB mouse included as standard). The screen buckled too readily under pressure and was poorly lit.
Do you need it?
If you’re a big fan of Ferrari you can be sure of getting something very individual in this machine. It’s got decent enough specs, but the build quality was disappointing.
6/10
October 11, 2004 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sendo X
From around £100
The lowdown
It’s taken its time getting here, but the Sendo X looks like it was worth the wait.
What’s good?
This may be the first smartphone from the British company, but the handset feels surprisingly professional. It’s far less stocky than similar phones such as the Nokia 6600 and the Siemens SX1, and much more pocketable. The OS has had some nice additions to it and there’s a decent amount of memory, along with an SD/MMC slot.
What’s bad?
While far from ugly, it’s not the most stylish phone around. Still, you wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen with it. The letters on the keys are so tiny you can hardly see them.
Do you need it?
A highly usable little smartphone. There’s a good array of features under that plain exterior, and since it’s so compact you can bin your normal mobile. Excellent first effort from Sendo.
8/10
Tech Specs
OS: Symbian Series 60
Memory: 32MB
Touchscreen: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Expansion slot: Yes
Dimensions: 111mm x 49mm x 23mm
Weight: 120g
October 10, 2004 in Mobile Phones | Permalink | Comments (5)
Nokia 6600
£Free BUY FROM HERE
The lowdown
Nokia's most popular smartphone to date. However, Like the Siemens SX1, the 6600 now looks a little on the chubby side when compared with the newer, slimmer smartphones that have been appearing of late.
The good
The case may not be very attractive, but it's well made and easy to use.
The bad
You can't synch with your PC via USB - you have to rely on Bluetooth. Less memory than the Sendo X and far bulkier. Have to take the battery off to get at the MMC slot.
Do you need it?
If you're determined to have a Nokia, this is a decent enough smartphone, but there's better things out there now.
7/10
Tech Specs
OS: Symbian Series 60
Memory: 6MB
Touchscreen: No
Bluetooth: Yes
Expansion slot: Yes
Dimensions: 109 x 58 x 24mm
Weight: 122g
October 10, 2004 in Mobile Phones | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sony Ericsson P900
£from free
The lowdown
The P900 was the handset that took smartphones into the mainstream. Large enough to act as a PDA while still small enough to be used as a normal mobile many see it as the perfect smartphone.
What’s good?
The P900 is easy to use, with a great scroll wheel and a touchscreen that makes PDA features easy to access. The Opera browser is second to none when it comes to getting online.
What’s good?
While it may be easier to access than many smartphones, it's nevertheless starting to look a bit beefy next to the newer handsets. It's now been superseded by the P910 which comes with a qwerty keypad on the inside of the flip-down number pad.
Do you need it?
It may have been upgraded and it may be getting on in life, but this is still a great handset that will do you proud. It used to suffer from being overly expensive, but now you can get hold of one free on contract it comes highly recommended.
8/10
Tech specs
OS: Symbian 7.0
Memory: 16MB
Touchscreen: Yes
Bluetooth: Yes
Expansion slot: Yes
Dimensions: 115 x 57 x 24mm
Weight: 150g
October 8, 2004 in Mobile Phones | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sharp Mebius Muramasa CV50
$1750
The lowdown
Forget the Sony X505, forget the JVC Mininote, this is the smallest laptop out there. So much so, that it’s probably more accurate to call it a sub-notebook. Those that remember the old Psion Series 7 will have a good idea of what to expect.
What’s good?
It looks great. The stormtrooper-white shiny plastic casing won’t suit everyone, but we were sold. The lovely clear screen helps to keep your mind off how tiny it is, while the inclusion of a touchpad (instead of a pointing stick) – and such a usable one at that – is a big bonus. There’s also two separate slots for an SD and a CF card and wireless.
What’s bad?
Having the full version of Windows XP is all well and good, but since everything’s shrunk so small that you can barely see it, it really does limit your use. The keyboard is also too small to use properly – you’ll be limited to two-finger typing.
Do you need it?
We could live with the keyboard if the screen was just a little bit bigger. If you can afford it, it will make a nice little organiser and word processor with added functionality. For anyone else, there’s more practical laptops to spend your money on.
6/10
September 27, 2004 in PCs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Group test: Budget PDAs
The winner is...
Palm Zire 72
£219
The lowdown
Replacing the popular Zire 71, the consumer-focused 72 has lost the neat camera-concealing slide mechanism, but gained a bit more room for other features.
What’s good?
A 1.2-megapixel camera housed in a very slim, appealing shell. Bluetooth, increased memory capacity, faster processor – pretty much everything is an improvement on the original.
What’s bad?
Everything, that is, except the newly plastic stylus. Also, the “soft touch paint” finish may feel nice, but it also peels off far too easily.
Do you need it?
It gets our vote. Nicely put together, with some good features at a decent price.
Specs
Processor: 312MHz Intel PXA270
Operating System: Palm OS 5.2.8
RAM: 32MB
Expansion: SD(IO)/MMC
Connectivity: Bluetooth
Screen: 16-bit colour
Size: 75 x 116 x 17mm
Weight: 136g
8/10
www.palmone.com
Acer N30
£169
What’s good?
Unique central loud speaker supplies surprisingly good sound. Decent specs for the price, including Bluetooth.
What’s bad?
For this price? Not much – unless you’re particularly attached to the five-way joypad that you usually get on PPCs.
Specs
Processor: Samsung S3C2410 266MHz
Operating System: Pocket PC 2003
RAM: 64MB
Expansion: SD(IO)/MMC
Connectivity: infrared, Bluetooth
Screen: 16-bit colour
Size: 71 x 118 x 13 cm
Weight: 130g
8/10
www.acer.co.uk
Mitac Mio 339
£210
What’s good?
Pleasantly lightweight and very slim. VGA still camera with flash is unusual. Good software extras.
What’s bad?
Lack of “big name” branding may bother some people, as might the lack of Bluetooth.
Specs
Processor: Intel PXA255 400MHz
Operating System: Pocket PC 2003
RAM: 64MB
Expansion: SD(IO)/MMC
Connectivity: infrared
Screen: 16-bit colour
Size: 72mm x 122 mm x 14mm
Weight: 130g
7/10
www.lowestonweb.com
Dell Axim X30 Standard
£161
What’s good?
Attractive chassis that’s well made, compact and light.
What’s bad?
Bare minimum of features - just 32MB of memory – and not much in the way of extras.
Specs
Processor: Intel PXA270 312MHz
Operating System: Pocket PC 2003
RAM: 32MB
Expansion: SD(IO)/MMC
Connectivity: infrared
Screen: 16-bit colour
Size: 76 x 115 x 15mm
Weight: 140g
7/10
www.dell.co.uk
Palm Zire 31
£109
What’s good?
Very affordable, decent looking handheld with good enough specs for entry-level users. SDIO compatible expansion slot.
What’s bad?
The STN colour screen is rubbish compared to a proper 16-bit TFT screen, but it’s still usable. The excellent Tungsten E is just £40 more and you get a superb screen and proper metal casing.
Specs
Processor: 200MHz Intel ARM
Operating System: Palm OS 5.2.8
RAM: 16MB
Expansion: SD(IO)/MMC
Connectivity: infrared
Screen: 16-bit STN transmissive display
Size: 74 x 112 x 16mm
Weight: 116g
7/10
www.palmone.com
Mitac Mio 338
£130
What’s good?
Nice price and a decent software bundle
What’s bad?
It feels a bit cheap and the specs are outdated.
Specs
Processor: Intel XScale 200MHz
Operating System: Pocket PC 2002
RAM: 40MB
Expansion: SD/MMC
Connectivity: infrared
Screen: 16-bit colour
Size: 77mm x 122 mm x 12 mm
Weight: 120g
6/10
www.lowestonweb.com
September 26, 2004 in PDAs | Permalink | Comments (0)
