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

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

NEW iPod -- Super slim and sexy!!

Wow, the new iPod looks pretty nice. Not only is it super slim, but it comes with a new 30GB drive as well. It supports both USB 2.0 and FireWire. Excellent. Is it time for theVooner to quit making excuses and get one? Hmm...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 1:59 | 4 comments

Monday, April 28, 2003

Sony New DV video camera - PC105K

I have to admit that my own DV video camera has long since been sitting in a box. But Sony has been updating their models, and this is the latest one to be released in June. The PC105K looks like a continual upgrade version of existing models. Still, I've given up on video and I love still digital cameras. But if anyone is stil interested in DV, this one has to be the most advanced (well at least it should be).

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 22:41 | 0 comments

Saturday, April 26, 2003

Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse

Bluetooth is a sort of love/hate system. On the one hand, it's great because it gives fast, convenient, and clear wireless connectivity. On the other hand, it's still not yet widely deployed. Some handsets have it, most don't. Fewer laptops have incorporated it. I wish all devices would use bluetooth so we can use it as a proper system to connect everything. Sure, I guess you can buy dongles and add-ons for bluetooth, but that almost defeats the point.

Anyway, it's nice to see more things though coming out for bluetooth. The Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard/Mouse is a great start. To be fair, I own a bluetooth headset, but my new Nokia does not incorporate bluetooth, hence my frustration. I hope more equipment vendors incorporate bluetooth, even if it means prices of products rise marginally.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 9:22 | 0 comments

Friday, April 25, 2003

Gadgets for the car -- Sony's CDX-M1000TF

I was taking a cab home today and the driver had installed an extremely impressive stereo. The screen sparkled, had moving COLOR images on a massive screen. I just stared at it with envy. Not that my stock BMW CD/MD player is bad or anything, but it really wasn't even in the same class. He had a new Sony stereo that was extremely cool.

The CDX-M1000TF is one of Sony's latest car stereo that comes with TFT color screen among other things. It can play back MP3 files not to mention show awesome images on its screen. Maybe its a bit distracting, but it sure is impressive.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 8:12 | 0 comments

Thursday, April 24, 2003

MPIO FL100 MP3 Player review out

I've just posted up my latest review for the FL100 MP3 player. In summary, it's great and I really like it. If you do get one, don't forget to buy the larger 256MB version. Sorry I've been slow to put it up but I'll have a few more up soon.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 0:37 | 2 comments

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Sony RDR-GX7 DVD+RW/-RW recorder

Sony has long been known as the only maker (though this may no long be true) that offered a recordable DVD drive for both +RW and -RW. The upcoming RDR-GX7 is the consumer AV model that is pretty exciting. Why? Because I've wanted a recordable DVD player for some time but couldn't find one that had all the correct formats! More importantly, it's estimated to cost about US$800 and will be out next month. Yeah.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 3:44 | 0 comments

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Danger Hiptop

Happy Easter all! Sorry I was away playing lots of golf and getting a nice tan. Anyway, I stumbled onto this unusual looking mobile phone device caleld the Hiptop the other day. This phone/PDA is first a phone and then an organizer/PDA. That means instead of devices like the XDA O2, the Hiptop is a mobile phone then a PDA. That to me is too much like my P800... and likely destined to attract a great audience. I don't know what it is but while this is a great idea, it just hasn't caught on and I don't think it ever will. Still, this is pretty cool in that it gives us a glimpse of what 3G phones and services will be like OR at least what it should be like...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 2:15 | 0 comments

Friday, April 18, 2003

Nokia 7250 -- Got one!

After less than glowing reviews, I decided that I had enough fun with the P800 and decided to get rid of it. So it was a quick trade and I promptly went out and bought a Nokia 7250. I even had money to spare. It was a pain to transfer all the numbers, but I'm giving it a run through. I must say, size does matter, but in this case small is king!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 5:09 | 0 comments

Thursday, April 17, 2003

Casio Exilim S3

I had a chance to see the updated Casio Exilim yesterday and while the Exilim has been out for awhile, the new update is really impressive. I'm truly impressed because the S3 has managed to keep the same size as the S2 while having a much larger LCD screen and higher resolution. I like it!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 8:39 | 0 comments

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Toshiba e750/e755 PDA

I have to say that the Toshiba PDA has always intrigued me. The e740 had the best specs out there at the time and when my friend Derek got one, I was really impressed. But I've been off PDAs for a little while. The e750/e755 is the replacement to the e740 and improves on one very important element: the screen. The e755 is supposed to be much brighter. It's a curiousity even though its expensive and probably not on my current list of "to buy" items.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 3:02 | 0 comments

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

iPod killer? Philips HDD100

Philips is beta testing a 15GB Audio Jukebox which has the sex appeal to challenge the iPod. The HDD100 looks to challenge the iPod. And what a challenge it will be. The HDD100 looks amazing. Sleek, with a cool black look, the HDD100 is sure to generate a lot of excitement when it finally comes. I'll be looking at it out of curiousity and I would sure like to see it. Maybe they still have room for one more beta tester...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 7:17 | 2 comments

Monday, April 14, 2003

Sony 30" LCD Wega TV

Sony's new 30" LCD TV is a pretty nice looking model and provides us with a viable alternative to Plasma. The design is really really nice and the resolution looks better than the Hitachi model I really liked. I'll be checking up on it later today to see if it is comparable to the Plasmas.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 18:48 | 0 comments

Thursday, April 10, 2003

LCD vs Plasma

With prices continuing to come down, I have been looking at getting a new Plasma TV for sometime. Historically, we've left LCD screens for smaller sizes and Plasma TVs for larger sizes. However, Sharp's Aquos has been pushing the envelope of their LCD TVs and the new 37" model has been gaining a lot of momentuum with lots of press coverage and advertising. I had the chance to see it yesterday and I was impressed with the design and the image. But to tell you the truth, side-by-side, the Plasma and the LCD were very close. I wouldn't give one an absolute edge over another.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 22:24 | 5 comments

Wednesday, April 9, 2003

No love lost for P800 - Panasonic X70

As some of you may have read, I am not feeling any affection to the P800. I'm already thinking of ditching it. So I've already started looking at alternatives. Apparently, Panasonic has a replacement to the GD88, the X70. Although no official details are out yet, a lot of sites have written about its potential arrival. I'm not that thrilled that Panasonic left a darn antennae on their design. Still, this phone looks almost identical except for a few minor additions like bluetooth. Also, it will have a flash for the camera! Neat... except sometimes you want to be a bit discreet... ;)

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 8:36 | 0 comments

Monday, April 7, 2003

Wristomo - NTT Docomo launches its wrist phone

NTT Docomo is about to launch its Wristomo watch phone. Too bad it wasn't available when I was in Japan last week, but I would have liked to have seen it. It's a bit clunky and weird, and unlike the Korean wrist phone, this one you can actually take off your wrist and open it up to place against your ear. Neat idea but the design itself still does not look that attractive.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 21:44 | 0 comments

Sunday, April 6, 2003

New Review - Sony P800

I finally got done with my review of the P800. At the end of the day, I was not as happy with it as I could be. I hope you enjoy reading it.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 7:40 | 0 comments

Saturday, April 5, 2003

New Gameboy Advance SP

I forgot to mention that I was a bit bored in Japan from the long travelling (it still takes over 2 hours to get in from the airport to the hotel doorstep) so I decided to buy some entertainment for the trip back.

That's right, I bought myself the new GBA SP. At first, I didn't think that it was going to be very fun. But after scanning the games, I actually found that they had a lot of very cool games. So took the leap of faith of bought one anyway. After all, I've got a young newphew that will likely take it over soon anyway.

I have to say that the GBA SP is pretty awesome. The screen was much better than I imagined. The only downside: my thumbs hurt from trying to do all the moves on Street Fighter Zero!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 3:25 | 0 comments

Thursday, April 3, 2003

Canon EOS 10D vs. Nikon D100

Well, I had just about had my heart completely set on getting the Nikon D100 when I realised that Canon had a newer very comparable digital SLR camera out that was cheaper -- the EOS 10D! I haven't been able to do enough work or seen a review which directly compares the two, but I'd be curious because this certainly sounds impressive. I'm still a big Nikon fan though and I wonder how far we are away from a Nikon D101 or D200 or whatever the next incarnation is.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 23:52 | 0 comments

Wednesday, April 2, 2003

Epson PhotoPC player or PDA?

Epson has introduced a pretty cool Photo player that looks like a ripped down version of a PDA. I have also thought that the PDA could actually just be a photo album, sitting in its cradle. In fact, the Sony CLIE's come with that function. But I think I would prefer one the size of the Tablet PC which would of course increase the price. Still, this Photo PC by Epson is cool because it has a 10GB hard drive which can store alot of photos. This might be the kind of digital photo album that theVooner would probably buy. I hope they'll have a 7" screen version later too rather than just this 3.8" version. Maybe I should just get another PDA...

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 19:52 | 0 comments

Tuesday, April 1, 2003

Dell's new PC - Inspiron 8500

Although Dell has never been known to be a design or trend innovator, I have been a fan of its laptops for its sheer power, performance, technology, and of course its price. When I saw an e-mail from them announcing a new laptop, I clicked on to see what it was all about.

The Dell Inspiron 8500 is a replacement to the 8200 model that I got. The coolest thing so far is teh 15.4" Wide-aspect UltraSharp UXGA screen (1920x1200 resolution). Definitely cool. The overall design doesn't match anything Sony or Apple has, but I still like Dell. Out of curiousity, I went through the options and the final PC to my own specs was cheaper than what I paid for the 8200. How can you beat that! Surely not a true notebook to be carried around all the time, but this sure is a pretty cool desktop replacement.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 17:29 | 0 comments