It’s been far too long since I updated this site due to other engagements but as luck would strike me twice today here I am. I finally have time to dedicate to this site again and what better when then to start with my first hands on experience with the new “savior” from Nokia, the Nokia N9. I have been lucky enough to be given a private hands on with the new phone and I’m not sure if it’s going to save Nokia but it’s probably the most beautiful phone from Nokia ever!

Design

When everything looks like a copy of a copy of the iPhone I’m glad that Nokia is doing it slightly different at least with the very nice bezel around. It’s a good start to like the device even without having turned it on. It does feel very solid and there are very few buttons here, volume control and camera buttons thats it! So maybe we are finally seeing the Scandinavian minimalistic design actually coming from a Scandinavian country instead of California.. The Nokia N9 features a 3.9″ AMOLED display so it’s larger the California phone and measures 116.45- x 61.2- x 7.6-12.1mm and weighs 135 grams.

Nokia N9 in Action

When we turn on the phone it feels like Nokia could actually be doing something right, for once. The display is absolutely gorgeous, if you have seen the Samsung Galaxy S II then you know what I’m talking about here. As said before it’s an AMOLED screen with a 854 x 480 resolution, not as high pixel density as the iPhone but still plenty good enough. So the big question here isn’t going to be if it has the specs to compete, it does (see below) but if it has the OS and the Apps, it mostly doesn’t. The OS MeeGo is polished and feels promising but it feels like the version 1.2 it is. It’s lacking many of the things most new mobile operating systems do in the beginning and thus the complaining can begin… Not sure how much love and for how long Nokia is going to give MeeGo but it needs a lot of commitment so that app developers can feel safe to develop for the platform. You will find Angry Birds in the app store and a few other titles but it’s mostly an empty house no one visits at this point. Lets jump a head to specifications and then I’ll wrap it up!

Nokia N9 Specifications

CPU: OMAP3630 1 Ghz
GPU: PowerVR SGX530
RAM: 1GB
Storage: 16GB or 64GB
Camera: 8mp, wide angle f/2.2 with auto focus and 720p video
Size: 116.45- x 61.2- x 7.6-12.1mm
Weight: 135 grams
Battery: 50 hours of music, 4.5 hours of 720p, 11 hour GSM talk time
Wifi: 802.11a/b/g/n

Wrap up

What started out as a love affair my very well end up in bitter divorce. It was a lot easier to make cell phones before smart phones become so freaking good as the best iOS and Android phones are today. It’s not just about fancy hardware packed in the latest design. If you don’t have the apps and are missing basic functions you are already way behind in the race. Nokia has a lot of catching up todo if they are going to regin the former glory as a smartphone maker and maybe even as a cell phone producer in general. It feels like I’m bashing the N9 but the truth is, it’s probably the best Nokia has ever produced but it’s still not good enough. Why would anyone buy this when you can buy a Samsung Galaxy S II or and iPhone that have a great OS with solid app stores? There aren’t enough people living in Finland to buy this phone just for supporting Nokia. I really wish Nokia the best of luck and they deserve a win here with the N9 but I wouldn’t bet my money on it!

Lenovo, the once buyer of IBMs Thinkpads, has just announced their new multitouch desktop PC (C315) with a nice price tag of $649 when it comes out in April. They are not exactly competing with Apple her in terms of specifications but the Lenovo C315 should have plenty to go around for most people. It has an AMD Athlon dual core processor (not sure which one), 4 gigs of ram, ATI Mobility graphics (not sure which one). Did I miss that it has a 20 inch mutlitouch display or that it’s brown? It looks like it could make a perfect kitchen/children’s/bedroom computer, I for one wouldn’t mind having this in the kitchen for music and entertainment while cooking.

Enhancing The Windows Media Center Experience – Benchmark Reviews

http://verdisreviews.com/reviews/evercool-buffalo-hpfi-10025-cpu-cooler-review/

Seagate Interview: SSD and Enterprise Storage @ Benchmark Reviews

Intel Core i7-870 Processor Review @ Benchmark Reviews

Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta (Games for Windows) – Barry’s Reviews

Powermats wireless charger may be one of the coolest gadget utilities to arrive thus far this year. How it works is this, you add a little sleeve to your devices that you want to use with Powermat charging board and then you can just put them all on the Mat whenever you need recharging, simply beautiful.

So the drawbacks then, the price might be a little more then you are used to paying for a charger, $99 for the charger and $49 for each receiver/sleeve you want to use.  Still it shows real world potential for less wires in your house and if Apple and the other big guys could unite on a standard there would be no need for the additional sleeves.

By the way, sorry for the lack of news activity from my side I have been busy with a new job and had to let all reviews go to my friend and colleague on this project. Now that things have settled a bit for me at my new job I will have more time to devote to this site.

Eagle Arion ET-AR504LR-BK 2.1 Soundstage Speakers Review

“Eagle Tech are best known from their OEM based external hard drive enclosures and they had a fair few on the market with clear expertise in this particular product range. Recently, they have diversified into the audio market teaming up with Arion to produce a number of affordable 2.0 and 2.1 soundstage speakers.” – More

NZXT Sentry 2 LCD Touchscreen Fan Controller

“Benchmark Reviews has the pleasure of testing NZXT’s newest fan control: the Sentry 2 Touchscreen Fan Controller. A step up from the Sentry 1 and a worthy stable mate for the Sentry LX. The Sentry 2 is a different approach to the same problem. A more elegant solution to a problem that has plagued computer enthusiasts since their earliest days; fan noise. With it’s touchscreen controls it’s a definite step in the right direction above and beyond it’s predecessor the Sentry 1, the Sentry 2 is simplicity itself.” – More

So back to the TV, well it doesn’t feature any extra features besides a being a pretty descent TV. Most users seems pretty found of it according to the reviews.

Specifications:
Size: 32 inch 16:9 Aspect Ratio. ?Viewable: 31.51” diagonal.
Tuner: Integrated ATSC/Clear QAM Tuner.
Supported TV Formats: 720p. ?Native Panel Resolution: 1366 x 768.
Pixel/Dot Pitch: 0.51075mm (H) x 0.51075mm (V).
Response Time: 8ms.

Reviews:

“The VO320E lists for $499.99, and sells in the $425-450 range at most stores (including the aforementioned). Thus, $359 is an outright steal–and Dell deals tend to sell out pretty quickly, so if you’re eyeballing a new HDTV, hop on this one quick.” – CNET

“All in all, the new Vizios have received very positive feedback from the customers I’ve spoken with whether it was their picture quality, durability and longevity, or the darn fine price. Vizio has leaped over Sony and Samsung in sales as well as achieved the best-buy title from Consumer Report for several years running and is expected to do so if they keep this trend up.

A great buy! ” – Amazon

As always with a Plasma TV you get a great viewing experience even if you are watching lower quality over the air broadcasts. Plasmas are simply more forgiving the their LCD counterparts.

Specifications:
720p Resolution
Contrast Ratio: 30,000:1 Native; Infinite Black Panel
720 Lines of Moving Picture Resolution
600Hz Sub-field Drive
VIERA Image Viewer
VIERA Link
AR (Anti-Reflective) Filter
Game Mode
3 HDMI Inputs
100,000 Hour Panel Life

Reviews:

“TV is awesome, right out of the box. It looks great, works great. Picture is top notch. I put in an HD-DVD version of Transformers and was amazed at the picture quality. This is my first plasma TV and I believe it is much better than LCD. I had a Samsung 4061F before, and this TV has better picture than that one, despite the Samsung being 1080P and this being 720P. There’s no motion blur whatsoever on this TV.” – Amazon

“While it does not have the new Viera Cast feature, or the new Neo 1080p plasma display panel it does have Panasonic’s excellent picture quality and black levels. I predict it will be a great seller with a smoking price. It’s available February of 2009 so we’ll soon see.” – Plasma TV Buying Guide

“Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems have found their way into homes just as they did with the office space years ago. Prices for NAS server products have dropped to the point where it’s more expensive to buy the drive that goes in them than the actual storage device itself. Patriot, a company based around memory technologies, has recently began to sell the Patriot Corza Network Storage Server PCZ35SNAS2 to retailers for under $100. This dual-bay SATA NAS can accommodate either SSD or hard disk storage media, and offers RAID-0/1/JBOD configurations over a gigabit Ethernet network connection. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the transfer speeds for the Patriot Corza NAS against some of the biggest names in the industry, and determines just how much value you can get from this network storage appliance.” – Benchmark reviews

“The V8 appears to be somewhat of a brute as CPU coolers go with its fiery red LEDs and countless heatpipes massing together at its base. Our i7 test rig has put to shame many a cooler in the past, so how will the V8 fare? Let’s find out…” – Verdis Reviews

This is the first Netbook from Toshiba and what strikes you when open the box is that it’s a real looker, at least from the front. As common with Toshibas they have the battery sticking out on the backside something I personally don’t like. The upside to having the batter there is less heat towards the front of the computer though. The NB205 is priced at $399 and even though you don’t get a lot of extras you get a computer that does a good job at the basics.

Specifications:
Price (August 2009): $399
CPU: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280
Memory 1GB, 800MHz DDR2
Hard drive: 160GB 5,400rpm
Chipset Intel 945GSE
Graphics: Intel GMA 950 (integrated)
Operating system: Windows XP
Dimensions: (WD)10.4 x 7.6 (8.6 with battery) inches
Height 1.3 inches
Screen size (diagonal) 10.1 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter 2.9/3.5 pounds

So what do you get if you option for the NB205, well first off you get a “big” 10.1 inch screen thats bright and offers the netbook standard resolution of 1024×600 pixels. You also get a great battery life that you can expect to run for 6-7 hours of REAL usage. The 1GB of ram thats also pretty much standard is OK for normal use and if you are thinking of a netbook you aren’t going to do heavy multitasking. There is however an option to upgrade to 2GB. The touchpad is great and a whole lot bigger then we are used to see on small netbooks, it is 3 inches wide and easy to use. You also get the Atom N280 1.66GHz which is a very good CPU and it delivers “solid performance” for the buck at least. The design isn’t just pleasing for the eye it is robust and should handle wear and tear well.

Conclusion:
Toshiba enters the netbook market with a bang with the NB205. It is far from perfect. The battery sticking out isn’t my first choice and the audio is subpar. What you get however is a robustly design netbook with a great processor, screen and amazing battery life. You should note that Toshiba claims 9 hours of battery life but real numbers are, as said, 6-7 hours. The keyboard is very distinct and easy to type on and the touchpad is one of the best in this class. All this at a very competitive price I think Toshiba has nothing to be ashamed of.