Here’s a quick background about me and laptops; I love Thinkpads. I’ve owned a T40 and T60. The new T61’s are nice but a bit too porky for my tastes while you can only get a higher res panel on the heavier X61 tablet.
Then came along the X300. It’s screen is larger than the X61 and X61 tablet, it’s got a fairly high res screen, a built-in optical drive (which I’m indifferent about), it weighs slightly less than the X61 tablet and best of all it has a SSD instead of a conventional hard drive. Ever since I first heard about this laptop, I’ve been waiting impatiently to order one. I finally got the chance late last month and after the customary 3-4 week wait, it’s finally here:
It’s slightly wider, shorter and thinner than the Macbook (I’ll try to get a picture with a Macbook Air later).
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March 25, 2008
I love computers. While I love phones my first passion is computers. One of the best things about being the Howard in HowardForums is that I get to buy and test tons of computer equipment. Another plus of being me is that I always need to be connected. Phones are a great way to be connected to the ‘net but the best way is still using a computer. Because of this I have a soft spot for small laptops.
For the past couple of years I’ve been walking around with a Toshiba Libretto. It’s a terrific little computer that allows me to fix any problems that may arise on the site. Still, I’m always on the lookout for something better. I think I may have found it with the Fujitsu u810.
It’s got most of the features of my Libretto (the Libretto has a bigger hard drive, higher resolution display, slightly more battery life, a PC card slot, physically bigger than the u810, has CF and SD card slots) but it’s even more portable.
Oh yeah, the best thing about the u810 is its price. I paid just under $900 Canadian for the u810 compared with over 2 grand for the Libretto. $900 isn’t cheap for a laptop but it sure is considering what other similar computers cost.
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March 24, 2008
As time goes by, more and more personal devices are able to connect to the internet. Devices like your iPod, laptops, phones, etc. With the exception of phones, the connection of choice seems to be WiFi.
Now it’s cool when you’re at home where you have WiFi but when you’re out you won’t always have internet access. You also have to deal with the dilemma of which of your devices you want to pay to get on the net when you’re out. You could connect your phone to your laptop via Bluetooth but what about your iPod? If you pay for WiFi at a coffee shop what happens when you leave?
Here’s where the Cradlepoint PHS300 comes in. You connect your USB cellular modem (or certain phones) to it and then it allows you to share the connection with all of your WiFi enabled devices. It’s a brilliant idea.
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March 18, 2008
Koodo Mobile has been launched! Koodo has three ‘ready made’ plans or you can build your own.
Talk & Text Combo $25/month
Unlimited Text Messaging
Up to 100 Anytime Minutes
7pm Evenings & Weekends
Five Essentials Combo $30/month
Unlimited Nationwide Talk & Messaging to 5 Numbers
Up to 100 Anytime Minutes
Up to 50 Text Messages
7pm Evenings & Weekends
All You Need Combo $65/month
Unlimited Incoming Calls
Up to 1000 Anytime Minutes
Up to 50 Text Messages
7pm Evenings & Weekends
all combos include Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Conference Calling and Per-Second Billing
Head over the Koodo Mobile site to learn more at www.koodomobile.com or check out the Koodo Forum on HowardForums.
live_strong
March 18, 2008
Canada’s newest cellphone service provider is on track for a launch on March 17. Koodo Mobile with a tag line of “Good Call” will be a CDMA MVNO of Telus Mobility. According to MobileSyrup Koodo Mobile features per second billing, cheap monthly plans (starting at $15/month), and no “chubby” contracts. HowardForums member ‘celltarded’ saw three Koodo Mobile phones on display at a local Wal-Mart.
From the pictures I identified two of the phones and their prices.
Samsung u410 $74.XX
Motorola w385 $124.38
Stay tuned for a follow up article once Koodo Mobile officially launches.
live_strong
March 16, 2008
In my opinion Sony Ericsson makes some of the best non smartphone phones out there. They’re so good I’d even recommend them to power users. They’re packed with features, have one of the most refined user interfaces out there and most of their features are well thought out and work well.
Here’s their newest, the K850i. (more…)
March 12, 2008
Nothing is sweeter than having a nice home theater (along with a nice phone). However it’s a pain when you have to locate four different remotes before you can watch a movie. This is where a universal remote comes in handy. Problem is, most universal remotes are pretty basic and have virtually no customizability.
In my opinion the ideal setup would be a remote that you can connect to your computer to program. The programming software would be powerful enough to let you customize every button plus it would let you create custom macros and so on.
Universal Remote Control makes remotes such as the MX900 that fit this description. Is it any good? Read on.
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March 3, 2008
Recently my wife and I had to go to California (San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles) If you’ve never been to LA before it’s a big city that’s really spread out so the best way to get around is to rent a car. We brought a Garmin 350 GPS along to make getting around easier.
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February 29, 2008
Here’s Helio’s newest phone, the Mysto. It’s similar to the Fin in that they’re both Samsung phones except the Mysto has a 2mp camera while the Fin has 3mp. The Mysto is a slider and has built-in voice recognition software. I thought the Fin was an okay phone, let’s see what I think about the Mysto.
Make sure you check out the gallery for some pictures. (more…)
February 27, 2008
No it’s not a new Travel website, Sony Ericsson describes XPERIA as their new premium sub brand.
The XPERIA X1 is the first device in ther new brand. It’s a sweet looking Pocket PC (I assume since it has a touch screen) phone with a 3″ 800×480 widescreen display, curved slide out QWERTY keyboard, XPERIA panels WiFi, BT, aGPS, 3.2 megapixels camera plus there will be a model with support for North American HSDPA. Despite the hefty feature set the X1 weighs approx 145g and is 110×53x16.7 (it’s relatively thin). There’s support for Micro SD plus a mini USB port (horray!)
From the pictures it appears that SE has done a lot of customization to the device.
North American availability is expected in Q2 2008. (more…)
February 12, 2008
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