theVooner's weblog

A weblog for theVooner.com where the best cool gear and gadgets get reviewed.

last modified Jul 15, 2003 at 1:45

Monday, September 30, 2002

Industrial strength PDA

Siemens has a PDA called the Mobic which is an extreme PDA. It is a small handheld that is primarily designed for industrial use, and hence is very rugged, splash proof, dust-resitant, can be dropped, etc. You can add on GPRS or WLAN cards as necessary. If you needed a PDA for true rugged outdoors, then this is the one to get. The PDAs we have now are nice looking, but they sure are delicate.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:12 | 0 comments

Friday, September 27, 2002

New 3G handsets

I don't know what it is but the new Nokia 6650, Nokia's first 3G handset offering is a huge disappointment. After all the hype about their 3G concept phones, this is what they offer? It doesn't look like the designers put much effort into this one.

I still think NTTDocomo's offering are so much better. A similar one to the 6650 is the T2101V. But I still like the old P2101V style or even the weird, fat D2101V.

But the Foma phone that takes the prize is the SH2101V which is actually more of a PDA but with a really cool bluetooth handset that is the size of pen. Now that's a 3G phone.

Nokia still has some time before WCDMA networks are ready so they should work hard at getting some new designs and some much better looking models into the market. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 19:20 | 0 comments

Thursday, September 26, 2002

New Sony Vaio Fall Models

Sony's new Vaio models for this fall (desktop and laptop) look very much like more of the same. I was hoping for some new designs from the maker. But I'm glad they didn't do anything too exciting or else I'd probably buy another computer! I still think though that they have really amazing desktops, most of which though is not available anywhere in the world except for Japan.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 21:42 | 2 comments

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Sony DSC-U20

Well that's more like it. Sony announced the upgrade to the super tiny U10 digital camera with a 2 megapixel U20 version. Cool. I wish they had a U40 4 megapixel version but the U20 may just be compelling enough for me to get one. What am I going to do with 4 digital cameras?

Hmm.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 20:53 | 0 comments

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Panasonic DVD & Hard disk player DMR-HS2

I like the idea of using hard disks now to record video programs. That sounds a lot better than the old VHS. Panasonic has a really neat model in the HS2. Despite the fact that it uses the DVD-RAM/DVD-R format, is probably only NTSC, and costs around US$1100, it still looks pretty cool. We haven't gotten hard disk recorders like the Tivo yet but these machines seem to be a good alternative. Still, I much prefer the DVD-RW/DVD+RW formats.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 23:25 | 0 comments

Monday, September 23, 2002

New Mobile Phone -- Nokia 7210; Sony Ericsson P800 Delay

My mobile phone operator told me yesterday that Nokia's first tri-band phone, the 7210 will be available next week. So I ordered one. It looks pretty neat. I was hoping that I would get the P800 next month, but Sony Ericsson announced that the phone will be delayed till at least Nov. so I have to wait. Anyway, hopefully, I'll get the phone soon and we'll see if it's any good.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 16:50 | 0 comments

Sunday, September 22, 2002

New Review - Skyworth DVD 1050P

Sorry I was away all last week in Singapore. I am in the process of writing a few reviews so I apologise that it's been such a long drought. Anyway, danchan is back from his holiday so a big thanks for posting my review of the Skyworth 1050P.

Enjoy. There is as promised, more to follow!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 5:55 | 0 comments

Friday, September 13, 2002

Sony Dream World 2002

Looks like Sony is hosting their Dream World exhibit this weekend in Japan. What new and wonderful gadgets will they introduce. I saw something weird in one of the newspapers today which talked about some weird Sony gadget that would remind you of things like to take an umbrella if it was raining outside. It would apparently know this through some sort of web interface, but it was a small, yo-yo like device you stick in your pocket. Great, I get nagged by my gadgets now!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 7:24 | 0 comments

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

................................

A moment of silence...

posted at 8:44 | 0 comments

Monday, September 9, 2002

Back from my trip... and a new PRINTER was waiting for me!

Just got back from my business trip when guess what is sitting in my room, yup, my new color printer! Yeah.

I have been putting off buying a new color printer for ages. My current color inkjet is a 3+ year Epson Photo 700 and was due for replacement a LONG time ago. After doing my research, I kept settling on different models each time. I remember reading, and from the demos, looked about right that if you want a great color photo, you get an Epson, if you want great text, you get an HP, if you want decent both, you buy a Canon. So I kept bouncing back and forth between brands especially when new models were introduced. Of course, in the absence of actually buying one, when I would look at new printers every few months, there was always a newer, more "updated" model.

I originally had made up my mind to buy the all-in-one HP PSC 950 printer. It had it all, scanner, fax, printer, card reader -- it was the right printer. But, there were two problems: 1) it didn't have a slot for SD cards, which I had a few (even before I bought my Minolta F100) and of course 2) it broke my golden rule to never buy "convergent" products. You want a color printer to ONLY be a color printer and be the best darn printer. I have never been a fan of all-in-one products because they tend to do a lot of things but only marginally well -- never one thing very well. So, I should buy a separate scanner and a separate printer if I was going to go down this path.

Thankfully, my desires were answered with the brand new HP Photosmart 7550. It has everything I want in a printer, including the way cool little monitor, and SD card slot, and great quality color printing. It was the latest, so finally after how long and with my new laptop... I bought a 7550.

It was so new that I had to wait an extra 2 days for them to get it in the factory and then deliver it to me the next day. Well I just set it up and it looks pretty cool. I may do a review of it though its not very much of a gadget I guess. We'll see...

theVooner

posted at 8:42 | 0 comments

Tuesday, September 3, 2002

New Reviews ... (in due time)

I apologise that new reviews have not been posted. My good friend Danchan who helps me out with this site is away for awhile and so he can't post up my reviews. But rest assured, there are a few that will be added very soon.

As news goes, because my job involves me looking at telecom companies, I am distressed to read that Ericsson may consider walking away from their Sony Ericsson JV. I think the two are coming up with some pretty neat products, but their low-end handsets are not selling well and the JV is probably going to end up losing money. Hmm. Anyway, I still eagerly await the P800 which I am told will be available in Oct. Yeah, it's just like my Nokia 7650 but I still want to get one.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 20:41 | 5 comments

Monday, September 2, 2002

New Digital Camera

Guess what theVooner got for his birthday, yup, a new digital camera. I was presented with the Minolta Dimage F100 which was the model I wanted. So far it's been pretty cool. But I haven't had a chance to play with it very much so after I do, I'll let you know what I think.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 7:06 | 1 comments