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, November 29, 2004

Sony PSP in less than two weeks

In Japan, they had plenty of demo PSP models around to look at and let me say that they are incredibly stunning. I just can't get enough. I can't wait to buy one. They even have a "value pack" with earphones, Memory Stick Duo, and a case. I just want the system. The GT4 and even the golf game looks very good. Has to be "the" Christmas present. Wonder how much of a premium it will cost above retail?

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 21:06 | 0 comments

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Toshiba Gigabeat

Among the new gadgets in Tokyo that we saw which looked unique and very cool was Toshiba's new MP3 player, the Gigabeat F-series. What made this particularly stand out is the amazing color screens that they use. It's basically a high-end 2.2" QVGA color screen. I've seen the iPod Photo and while it's great, it just can't compare. Definitely an amazing looking product, if only just for the screen.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 22:18 | 0 comments

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Audio Technica At-DSP300 speakers

Yeah, I've seen the Altec Lansing and Bose speakers designed for the iPod. They're cool. But if you really want something that looks amazing, you have to check out the Audio Technica DSP300 speakers. They look like Champagne glasses/flutes and have this really cool glow about them. I saw them in Tokyo this past weekend and I was totally in awe of how cool they looked.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 0:48 | 0 comments

Monday, November 22, 2004

Tokyo Gadgets

theVooner just got back from Tokyo and he did see quite a number of exciting gadgets. I'll be highlighting some of them over the next few days. It was pretty stunning in my opinion.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 23:44 | 0 comments

Thursday, November 18, 2004

XDA IIs

The new XDA is out and I actually had the chance to play with it yesterday. It's nice to see that XDA is trying to remain competitive as the number issue that I've heard from many people is that they wanted a keyboard built-in. Well XDA did it and put it in a nice, sleek black package. Very impressive. It isn't cheap though, and while tempted, it's still just too much of a package for me.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 0:22 | 2 comments

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Qualia Earphones -- US$200

theVooner is heading to Japan soon and I've been looking up what is there. Sony's Qualia line (which I've seen in person) has always been a remarkable set of products, albeit at super high prices. Take these Qualia "inner ear receiver" which costs about US$200. Wow, they better be good because that's a lot of money. You can buy 4 of the regular inner ear (NX1) ones for that price! I hope to try them out to see if its worth all that.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 23:16 | 2 comments

Monday, November 15, 2004

Panasonic FX7 5MP digital camera

Among many of the new digital cameras out there, I've been looking at a number of different ones. The FX7 has emerged as one of the best choices in the market. The large screen, good quality pictures, and best of all -- image stabilization seems like the perfect balance in a small digital. I'm going to go take a look at it today. Who knows... maybe I'll just like it so much I'll have to buy it.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 8:10 | 0 comments

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Halo 2

Halo 2 has arrived and I was wondering what all the hype was about. I saw the game yesterday and ok, I was impressed. The sound, visuals, and colors are pretty amazing. Although I'm generally a horrible game player, I might just buy it to try it out. I'm pretty pathetic, I never even finished the first Halo -- I gave up. Those small insect creatures kept killing me.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 20:12 | 0 comments

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

LG U8150 3G Mobile

I was considering upgrading my 3G handset from the very unstable NEC c616 which has had lots of sporadic problems. The LG 8120 has been around for sometime, but I haven't taken the plunge to upgrade because I wasn't sure if it too had many glitches. From what I've heard, it hasn't and the price has continued to fall as it makes its way through the market. However, newer 3G handsets are on the way. Certainly, the Sony Ericsson V800 set to be introduced by Vodafone when it launches its 3G looks extremely appealing. In addition, Orange looks as if its about to launch the 8150 which is an upgrade to the 8120. I like the 8150 and I think this could be a decent upgrade to 3G handsets.

Interestingly operators seem to be locking vendors into "exclusive" agreements which means that certain handsets are to be sold for certain operators only. That should make it a very interesting fight.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 6:56 | 0 comments

Sunday, November 7, 2004

Sony Ericsson Hello Kitty Promotion

Sony Ericsson is celebrating the birthday of Hello Kitty with special Hello Kitty Sony Ericsson sets. Yeah, its that wacky Kitty's 30th birthday, and there is plenty to celebrate with Sony Ericsson. Mobile phone case, covers, phone straps, and wallpapers galore. What more could any Hello Kitty fan want? Yikes!

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 6:24 | 0 comments

Friday, November 5, 2004

Nokia 7710

Nokia has released more details about their new Smartphone, the 7710. It's shaped more like a PDA and the ads would seem to show users using it more like a PDA then a phone. I guess the emergence of other Smartphones like the XDA II and others like the Blackberry. Nokia again has been slow to the game and in my opinion, the estimated arrival of this NEXT year is probably going to again mean that they are behind the curve. It's not a bad looking phone, but I don't know if I like it all that much.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 22:58 | 0 comments

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

Konica Minolta Dimage X50

In terms of value for money, I've come across the small, 5 mega-pixedl Konica Minolta Dimage X50. I can get this camera here for less than US$300 and I must say, I've very tempted. The battery life of the Casio looks appealing, but this price makes the X50 very competitive. I've read a few online reviews and seem some sample photos and it looks as good if not better than the Exilim Z55, especially on Macro shots. I've also read complaints that the software is terrible. But any good digital photographer will have some sort of Photoshop program and other photo programs to pick up the slack. So that's not really an issue to me. Hmm, it's certainly something to consider.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 19:10 | 0 comments

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Casio Z55/Z50 Exilim

I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the type of indoor shots that come back with my T1. As many people know, I have absolutely loved the T1. Don't get me wrong, I still do. But I have learned that in order to take decent indoor shots, you need to do a little tweaking and make sure you make certain adjustments in order to get a good color/sharpness on indoor shots. Unfortunately, that means its probably as good a point-n-shoot type digital camera as I would like.

Hence, I'm open to other type of cameras as a possibility. So I've started to look around. The Casio Z55/Z50 has peaked my interest because Casio, from my past experience did very well at taking pictures and also has a number of nice, easy to use picture settings that preset the camera for ease of use in different conditions. They also have really amazing battery life and it's just something that might be worth upgrading to.

theVooner@yahoo.com

posted at 1:58 | 1 comments