The Asus Eee PC 1008HA more or less has the same innards as 1005HA, only they’ve sheared a good deal off its overall size and wound up with a netbook that’s only 1-inch thick at it’s thickest point and with the lid closed.

The two netbooks do have the same dimensions of 262mm in width and 178mm in depth, but they differ in height with the 1005HA being a lot bulkier looking than the 1008HA.

In order to make this change Asus have incorporated a non-removable battery inside the 1008HA, where traditionally their netbooks come along with a removable battery pack and in various sizes. These can be swapped over for a freshly charged pack when the netbook runs out of juice; this just isn’t possible with the 1008HA.

We mentioned in the previous review of the 1005HA that its keyboard measured in at 92% when compared to a regular keyboard. They’ve stuck with this same design in the 1008HA which is a welcomed. Also onboard is the same multi-function mouse touch pad, used to zoom in and zoom out of pictures and webpages, much like you can on Apple devices with its familiar pinching method.

Asus has also stuck with 10.1-inch screen with a 1024 x 600 display that is also very thin, which helps to achieve that 1-inch overall size. It’s a good bright screen in a glossy housing that matches the case's look, although it appears to be a little smaller in size than the 1005HA display.

Normally on netbooks and laptops all the ports are around the side, exposed and relatively easy to get to. On this netbook, Asus have hidden them away behind curved flaps that matches the rounded feel and design of the case. This makes for a suave-looking chassis to the 1008HA and does standout from the common looking netbooks they usually produce.

We noted the processor in the model of the 1005HA we saw didn’t have enough power behind it to run the likes of BBC iPlayer or YouTube’s high definition content. This has been addressed in this Eee PC and they’ve included a more powerful CPU, seen in the Intel Atom 1.66GHz N280, which gives it a welcome boost.

The 3-cell battery in 1005HA only lasted 2hrs and 30mins, where as the 6-cell built in battery of the 1008HA managed to cope with nearly 4 hours of continuous use before dying. Although Asus claim 6 hours of usage is possible, with the screen at 40% brightness, and no Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or webcam enabled.

As with the 1005HA there’s a 160GB hard disc drive, wireless connectivity of b/g/n Wi-Fi along with Bluetooth 2.1. Also an Ethernet port for wired networking, 2x USB 2.0, mic and headphone jacks and a card reader (MMS, SD, SDHC).

Tags: Hardware Laptops Netbooks Asus Asus Eee PC 1008HA Asus Eee PC 1008HA

Asus Eee PC 1008HA notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:00:00 +0100

The Asus Eee PC range of netbooks has undergone a design and a name change recently, which we’ve been told will be carried throughout all the upcoming family of Eee PCs. This "Seashell" design reflects exactly that, a seashell, with its curved lid and glossy exterior that’s really highlighted in the white version of these netbooks.

It’s a slight misnomer to call the netbooks Eee "PCs", which Asus realised themselves when their very first netbook came out and it was all too late. Asus has since admitted they should have reserved the "PC" part for the nettops range they produce, but the branding was already in place when this dawned on them and we’re all now stuck with calling a netbook a PC – c'est la vie.

We reviewed the 1000HE only a few months back but it’s already being phased out to make way for the 1005HA. Although they’re more or less the same specification, it has attached that new design ethos and a lower price point.

The 1005HA is the more standardised version of the 1008HA, which has a sleeker look to its overall build. We say standardised as Asus has changed and covered the 1008HA USB and other ports besides slim-lining the build which makes for more of a designer netbook, whereas the 1005HA looks more like a traditional one.

In saying that, these new Seashell netbooks do not look like the netbooks from Asus in the past. They’ve been completely redesigned since they came out in 2007. Even though the 1005HA has the same specs as the 1000HE, it’s all change on the outside and on the inside along with a better battery life.

Unfortunately the 1005HA SKU’s changed whilst our review unit was in mid-flight, as the battery cell number had altered somewhat. Accompanying the netbook now is a 6-cell battery pack and not a 3-cell version which arrived with us. There’s also two type of 1005HA just to confuse matters even more.

Both arrive with the same 6-cell battery only the model we didn’t see is an Intel 1.66GHz N280 processor, Bluetooth and a larger 1.3-megapixel webcam. This is compared to the 0.3 megapixel webcam netbook we saw, that also has a lower 1.6GHz N270 CPU. Both models come with 1GB RAM.

Unfortunately this processor didn’t have enough might behind it to run the likes of BBC iPlayer or YouTube high definition content, but we have seen the better processor version handle this quite well.

The other Seashell netbook we’ve already mentioned, the 1008HA, comes along with a mini-VGA port which is covered and enclosed. This is the same with all the rest of its sockets, whereas the 1005HA has gone back to the standardised exposed USB ports and a normal VGA socket that’s supported by more devices.

Its 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 display is the most common screen size we’re seeing on netbooks these days, with the 7-inch size of the very first netbooks being a long, distant and some might say best forgotten memory.

Asus have made some noise about the keyboard changes that have happened in the 1005HA, especially in its overall size. The keyboard now measures in at 92% as compared to a regular keyboard. The change is very evident indeed, as it’s much wider and easier to type with than those 700 and 901 Eee PCs of the past.

Another new inclusion to the 1005HA is the multi-functioning mouse touch pad. The area of the touch pad can also be used to zoom in and zoom out of pictures and webpages, much like you can on the Apple iPhone and the well-known "finger pinch to expand" method. It’s a useful little feature we found and one we hope comes to the upcoming Asus Eee PCs.

We noticed behind the removable battery is a slot for a SIM card. On further investigation Asus confirmed the 3-cell battery version of the 1005HA we actually saw will feature in a model being resold by a UK network, utilising that SIM slot. In our tests that battery lasted 2hrs and 30mins, although the larger cell pack has been noted to last for around 8.5 hours.

Storage comes courtesy of a 160GB hard disc drive, and in terms of wireless connectivity you get b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. You also get an Ethernet connector for wired networking, 3x USB 2.0, mic and headphone jacks and a card reader (MMS, SD, SDHC).

Tags: Hardware Laptops Netbooks Asus Asus Eee PC 1005HA

Asus Eee PC 1005HA notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:33:15 +0100

We’re starting to see more and more Windows Mobile based handsets from HTC once again, with the likes of the Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 making a hit recently and now the HTC BlackBerry-esque looking device has arrived.

This latest handset from them is a slim, light corporate mobile phone that could also have a place in the consumer world too, as more and more people are turning to a BlackBerry type of device than ever before. HTC could very well be aiming their sights at such individuals with the Snap handset.

They’ve bundled in with the Snap a very basic version of the Windows phone operating system known as Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard, which isn’t as flashy as the 6.1 Professional version we’re all used to seeing by now.

The company has even abandoned their regular TouchFLO user interface, seen on their other Windows Mobile handsets of late and have just included a simple home screen with all the commonly used applications. This isn't a touchscreen device which explains the shift.

Access to emails, SMS and appointments are all there in very easy to use menus, with no complexities whatsoever to navigate around. These are all accompanied by setup guides, ideal for those getting to grips with setting everything up, from appointments to getting email on the Snap, for the very first time.

One of the phone’s biggest selling points is a function HTC is calling Inner Circle. This allows for email addresses from your phone’s inbox to be added to a list, where at the press of a button the hundreds of emails are taken down to just that Inner Circle list for easy viewing. It's a little like prioritising your emails giving quick access to top clients or family.

It’s a handy utility for the phone and one that will undoubtedly be found useful in the corporate world as well as the consumer, our only wish is that this could also be applied to the SMS inbox as that could really be useful for a phone.

The Snap weighs in at just 120grams, whilst only being 12mm thick. This has to be one of the lightest and thinnest mobiles, corporate or otherwise we’ve seen to date. Whilst at the same time being rather sturdy, to the point of taking a few knocks and bruises doesn’t even faze the handset.

Touchscreen phones seem to be a favourite of HTC, where the Snap’s 2.4-inch 240 x 320 display isn’t of that calibre for a change. That is fine as it really doesn’t need to be there, as the handset has a BlackBerry-esque trackball that’s familiar to so many of the Research In Motion’s mobiles today.

Its rubberised QWERTY keyboard has a rounded feel to each and every key, raising it above the phone and giving off a larger surface area whilst typing, although we found the keys were a little too close together for comfort, which did take some getting used to.

The Snap features HSDPA for all your fast data, with Wi-Fi for office, home, or hotspot data collection, with the normal Bluetooth 2.0 for hooking-up to a headset. It also features a GPS, giving it a boost over BlackBerry's entry-level 8520 handset. Around the back you'll find a 2-megapixel camera. Internal memory is fairly minimal, but you can boost it with the addition of a microSD card.

Last but no means least is the battery life of the HTC, which took us back so much so that we repeated our testing a couple of times. Thanks to the 1500mAh Li-ion accompanying battery the phone lasted nearly 11 and a half hours of talktime, whilst still downloading emails throughout the course of a very long day.

This is one of the longest battery life of a single handset we’ve seen, making it very well suited for the business toil of corporate life.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC Windows Mobile HTC Snap

HTC Snap originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:26:40 +0100

You may not be familiar with the company Leyio, but you may be familiar with their products as for many years they’ve been in the personal satellite navigation business making products for HP, palm and even those ViaMichelin devices. In their latest incarnation they’re making personal storage devices for consumers and the technology trendsetters amongst us.

Leyio initially wanted to create a product that can transmit data over various wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, infrared, wireless USB and others. For the first of many devices, with another Leyio due on the scene in September, they’ve concentrated on Ultra Wideband, one of the first companies to run with this technology.

As a technology this can beam data from Leyio to Leyio up to 10 metres apart and at a maximum speed of 10MBps, which is 100 times faster than Bluetooth and four times faster than Wi-Fi.

It’s best to start to think of a Leyio device as a different type of USB flash drive, as at the heart of the product it’s more or less what it is. Only it’s much more than just that, as it has a 1.8-inch OLED high quality screen used for controlling the whole device when away from a PC.

Getting data onto the device can done by USB cable which is also used for charging. In terms of capacity, the Leyio can hold 16GB of files which is a respectable enough size for most people. Just in case it wasn’t, there’s also a 2GB USB flash stick built-in to the device making the total capacity 18GB.

This 2GB of extra storage can be used to get data and files from the Leyio to someone else quickly, if a USB cable isn’t around or another Leyio device isn’t present. You can also connect any other USB drive and transfer files across for sharing.

Leyio holds all its data very securely, as the only way to power on this Linux run device is through a biometric finger print reader. Once powered up you can connect to a PC or Mac for placing data on to the drive, or scroll through the menus which operate the Leyio.

The first menu has a picture icon, where you can see all images stored on the device and can then choose to send them to the 2GB card or to another Leyio. Once synchronised with another device, sending any form of data can be done as easily as a flick of the wrist – which coincidently is the exact process used for initiating the data transfer.

The next few menu items list music and video content on the Leyio, sadly it’s only listed as those items cannot be played back although they can be sent in the usual methods.

Moving on from there are some menus which can house all your contact information, for the likes of Gmail and Outlook to use and another menu that can hold shortcuts to your personal profiles on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The great thing about this is that when you want to exchange contact details, all your various informations can be passed along easily, either dropped off on to a USB stick for a person to use or it can be beamed across to another Leyio.

Tags: Gadgets Storage Leyio UWB Flash drives

Leyio personal sharing device originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:24:48 +0100

HTC is more known of late for their phones running the Google mobile OS. What might be slipping from the public’s memory is their history of handsets running Windows Mobile. This latest handset is another one of their sequels, with the HTC Touch Diamond2 being the first of them to hit the shelves after being announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona early this year.

What's initially very noticeable about the HTC Touch Pro2 is that it doesn't resemble the HTC Touch Diamond or Diamond2 in any way. That might appear to be a little bit of an odd statement by itself, but it makes sense if you're familiar with those other handsets.

The handset the Touch Pro2 is succeeding, the HTC Touch Pro, was more or less the Touch Diamond only with a full QWERTY keyboard built-in. The original phone looked just like the very first Diamond, if viewed head on with the only difference being its thickness, due to the vertical slide out keyboard.

HTC has now made a full departure from the status quo and has created a new design this time around, which has a more curved rounded feel to its edges and casing. The Pro2 still carries some of the traits of the past model, as it can be operated as a touchscreen device or in conjunction with the QWERTY keyboard.

HTC has increased the screen size from the 2.8-inch TFT LCD display in the Touch Pro, to a 3.6-inch, 480 x 800-pixel resolution, touchscreen. This is very responsive with the handset being very accurate in dealing with the touch screen processing, much more so than in the last generation of these phones.

As a result you have a device that measures 116 x 59.2 x 16.65mm,
and weighs in at a hefty 178.5g.

Another noticeable change is the method of zooming in and out of the likes of web pages. Along the base of the screen is a zoom bar, where a slide of a finger over this area outside of the main screen scales the pages up and down in size. This is all very handy and a useful addition, where in the Pro this was inside of the screen and often the web page was accidently pressed by mistake which jumps to a link on the page.

HTC has worked on the mobile’s User Interface, besides just the aesthetic changes to the chassis of the Touch Pro2. The UI on top of Windows 6.1 - TouchFLO 3D - has been much more interwoven into the operating system. Beforehand, after a few accidental clicks you were straight back into Windows 6.1 whereas now the UI feels as though it is the OS, with much better handling of things like contacts.

One of the key aspects HTC is touting that's made its way to the Pro2 is their Push internet technology. This is all surrounding its Opera web browser where sections of websites can be bookmarked, these parts of the sites can then be viewed completely offline and automatically updated at a pre-set time. This can be seen like an extension to the RSS feeds, with the whole content now being viewable rather than just a headline and the first paragraph that makes a lot more sense for the consummate mobile web user.

HTC is really marketing this handset as a business tool, which is seen in the likes of the Straight Talk functionality. On the rear of the phone there is a large speaker and microphone built into the case, used for conferencing calling with the mobile, just like you would in a boardroom, and has the same quality too.

Highlighting how useful the Touch Pro2 could be as a business tool is the slide-out keyboard. It was so comfortable to type with we ended up writing this entire review on the phone. Although with the keyboard open and in-use the only way of holding the phone ended up powering off the device every now and then, as its holding point rests upon the power button.

One of our beefs with the HTC Touch Pro was battery life, which didn’t really power the phone through an average day. This time around they’ve added more of a capable battery, which in our tests makes it to just under 9 hours before dying.

Of course you get all the connectivity you expect here, with HSDPA pumping in high-speed data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS are also present. There is no 3.5mm jack for your headphones, instead relying on the Mini-USB connection on the bottom. There is also a microSD card slot present to allow expansion of the memory.

Related links:

• Photos - HTC Touch Pro2

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC HTC Touch Pro2

HTC Touch Pro2 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:05:04 +0100

We’re all familiar with what a netbooks and a nettops are: they’re low cost, lower powered CPU-based computers that are really just for surfing the web and light computing tasks. Expanding on these products are all-in-one computers, which take the same low-cost approach, without getting into the high-end offerings such as the HP TouchSmart.

The MSI Wind AE1900 has more or less the same computing power of a nettop, which is more or less a netbook without a screen or keyboard. What MSI have done is build the functionality of a nettop into a monitor and have given it a touchscreen. Asus have a similar device, the Eee Top which we looked at in November 2008, only their screen is smaller where the AE1900 has a massive 18.5-inch 16:9 display. This can all be operated without a keyboard, as the screen can function solely by touch with a virtual onscreen keyboard when needed.

All of which works very well indeed, to the point where after a few hours in use you actually forget you’re not using a keyboard anymore. The Wind AE1900 runs Windows XP, so it’s familiar to most, easy to use and even better with a touchscreen. All the applications on the system can be launched from a quick menu that boots when the computer starts-up and all with a simple press on the corresponding icon.

Its CPU is of the same ilk as those inside netbooks, so a great deal of high-powered processing tasks won't be possible and playing games can’t really be achieved due to a lack of graphics processing power, sitting on an integrated GMA950 chipset as is the case with many netbooks. Movie playback from the DVD drive came across well however and seemed ideal for the widescreen form factor. The audio was at a good enough level from the speakers to be worthy of a TV replacement.

What’s noticeable about the AE1900 is how responsive the screen is to the touch, far more than we’ve experienced on some of the leading mobile phones. The only beef we have is that the display isn’t multi touch, so can't use two fingers to manipulate images much like you can on the iPhone.

It really isn’t as important to zoom in and out of pictures and websites as it is on small screen mobile phones, but it is becoming a key part of upcoming software. Windows 7 is fully touchscreen-enabled to address new technology, as is the new software from Corel, all of which is very Minority Report if you ask us.

The screen itself has a glass-like border to the display, which really isn’t shown off in the pictures we’ve included. Its appearance comes across non-invasive and blends in well with the home as it almost looks like a large digital photo frame and could probably get away with being mistaken for one by most.

Just in case you did ever want to use a keyboard and mouse with the Wind AE1900, a wired version of both is provided along with a stylus. We can’t help thinking that a wireless keyboard and mouse would be more suitable, although we understand the higher costs involved and the range where AIO resides is all about being very affordable. Curiously enough, the stylus has no housing on the AE1900 leaving it to wander the desk aimlessly or resorting in Blu-Tacking it to the screen just to have it nearby.

Tags: Hardware Desktop PCs All-in-one PCs MSI MSI Wind Top AE1900

MSI Wind Top AE1900 desktop PC originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0100

MSI unveiled their X-Slim series of portable computers way back in January, at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show. The X340 made a bit of a splash at the event due to its look, design, overall size and build quality, which were all fairly impressive to say the least. It’s taken Micro Star International nearly 6 months to bring the laptop to market; is the interest still there or is it now just distant memory in the minds of the consumer?

Up close and in use, the X340 appears to be a stunning looking laptop; it even has a look and feel that puts the ASUS S121 to shame. This was the very last laptop we were whole-heartily taken by and were mighty impressed with the designer looks from MSI’s competitor.
The very sleek black swish look to the case and chassis of the X-Slim series is very much a head turner, which was often the case when first aired to colleagues and friends.

It weighs in at just 1.3kg, whilst only hitting the 6mm mark at its thinnest point - in the X340’s display width. Even the thickest part is still only 19.8mm, which happens to be the base of the unit where it feels like there is something dramatically missing, the battery. Nope, this is all present and correct only it’s discreetly hidden away and is very unobtrusive.

The biggest initial surprise was the very weight of the X340, as it has a lightness normally and solely associated with netbooks and not notebooks - which is the category MSI is firmly categorising it within. Its dimensions are blatantly a take on the Apple MacBook Air, there’s no two ways about it and even MSI are happy to mention and credit it as being their competition now.

The X340 comes along powered by Intel’s latest CULV platform, using a low voltage CPU which is fast enough for most tasks and is supposed to provide a longer battery life.

In our tests the best we could muster out of the X340 was just under 3 hours in its battery saving mode, with only 2 hours on the high performance settings - both Wi-Fi powered on. This isn’t the best we’d expect more from a notebook with this much promise. It does disappoint for a mobile computer: out and about the dependency on a close power socket is very high indeed.

The other disappointment we found was in its keyboard. There's a little bit of give when each key is pressed in the middle of the keyboard, which is highly noticeable whilst typing at length. It’s almost as if the keyboard itself isn’t properly fixed down, or if the model we saw was a prototype which still needs some work. It wasn’t a prototype, but still does in our humble opinion need some work.

Onboard, all the usual ports are present and correct with a nice surprise coming along in the form of an HDMI socket. It wasn’t expected, but is a welcome addition to the X340. Although it lacks an internal Blu-ray drive for really utilising the HD playback, one is offered as an optional extra. Many online video services now offer high definition media, whilst more and more downloadable files are appearing in an HD format and are ideally suited for export to a TV, via the HDMI socket.

Due to the lightness of the MSI notebook we'd have thought the X340 would have come with a simple onboard SSD, just as we've seen in many netbooks. Nope, they've bundled in a reasonably sized 320GB standard hard drive for all your storage needs. To be honest, it doesn't even feel like it's there, so some major engineering feats must have happened under the bonnet to bring down the form factor.

Its 13.4-inch screen matches the stylish case down to a tee. Other manufacturers have been seen in the past to produce a disjointed offering in their classier laptops, whereas MSI seems to have hit the nail on the head with a matching quality display.

Tags: Hardware Laptops MSI MSI X-slim X340 notebook

MSI X-slim X340 notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

The Asus Eee PC range has been ever evolving, starting out with the very first netbook and then moving on to the nettop – their desktop equivalent of the netbook, more or less based on the same hardware only without a screen. Now comes along another first for them: the hybrid netbook PC that has a touchscreen and can also be turned into a tablet PC.

The T91 operates much like any other netbook running Windows XP, only the screen itself has full touch capabilities. Not only that, but the 8.9-inch screen can be swivelled around to encompass the entire keyboard where it lays flattened out - turning the T91 into a mini tablet computer.

Tablet computers are not a new invention by any means, they’ve been around and in use since the mid-90s and are ideal for just writing notes on the screen in places such as the academic or business world. Only now that this style of computing and the technology has been improved upon, it is suited for the netbooks of today.

We found the screen to be very responsive in both modes and is a welcome addition to the range of Eee PCs. Asus will undoubtedly hope a netbook with this variety of uses will do well, possibly in both the education markets, which they are well known in, and elsewhere.

There are three modes from which a user can choose to operate the T91: there’s the main OS and two others which are built into the system and are all available at boot up.

These are an Eee mode, which is very similar to their Express Gate technology seen in Asus netbooks, laptops and motherboards. This is a "lite" Linux operating system on a ROM, providing access to a good working OS with useful applications such as web browsing and Skype all within seconds from powering on. The second operational mode is a touchscreen-only GUI all based around widgets, this is also available at boot up negating the use of the keyboard entirely which is much like their Eee Top platform.

The overall T91 dimensions are no larger than other Eee PC’s in the Asus range, in fact it’s just a tad wider than the likes of the popular 901. The new feel and shape to the T91 almost puts it close to that of an A4 note pad, whilst in tablet mode. Seeing as it’s geared up anyway to be a replacement to a writing pad, it’s well matched in terms of size.

For review, we did see a very late production model, that Asus assured us was 95% complete with some minor aesthetic tweaks over the keyboard to be added before going on to the production line. Its overall build and design was decent enough for an average netbook lay out, although it's no Asus S121.

Everyone's grave concern though will be over the hinge used to swivel the screen around for the tablet model, as this could very well be the weakest link in its deign. We never found or could really even perceive this to be an issue, as it feels, looks and comes across sturdy enough to resist any twists and turns in trying to weaken the joint.

In terms of wireless connectivity, you get the normal array of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, while an Ethernet port caters for wired connections. There is a VGA port should you wish to hook-up to a larger display and the normal 2x USB, 3.5mm audio and mic jacks and a multicard reader. To operate the screen you also get a stylus, which slots neatly into the base.

It comes along with a fairly decent battery life, which lasted an average day of use. If you take into account the screen must put some burden on the battery by always being powered on, it really works out well with a good 5 hours of constant use with Wi-Fi on.

Related links:

• Photos - Asus Eee PC T91 tablet netbook
• Video - Asus Eee T91

Tags: Hardware Laptops Netbooks Tablet PCs Asus Asus Eee PC T91

Asus Eee PC T91 notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:00:00 +0100

MSI’s latest netbook comes along boasting a long battery life and large storage with a quirky exclusive edge over the competition. Do all the specifications on paper match up with real life use, or do the claims of the manufacturer fall short in delivering what’s promised?

First of all, the overall look and build of the new Wind U115 Hybrid does appear to be very similar to HP’s attempt at the netbook, which was first seen around the middle of last year and wasn’t as popular as some would have hoped. Hewlett-Packard’s offering in the market also came along with a silver chassis, plus a long black keyboard that took up the entire width of the base.

Although many of the similarities stopped there, none more so than seen in the weight, with the HP machine almost feeling as if it were nearly double mass of others around at the time. In contrast, MSI’s U115 weighs in at a very light 1kg, very much under the average netbook offering by most vendors today.

The battery life is most definitely a clear winner in the Wind U115 Hybrid device, all thanks to the dual operating mode of the netbook itself. All rather ingeniously, MSI has bundled in a SSD and a HDD where the latter can be disabled in its "ECO mode", all to save power and prolong the battery life of the U115 - if and when needed.

MSI are aiming the 160GB HDD as the device's main storage place, where the 8GB SSD is the primary hard drive for the system where all the applications are run from. This setup is designed to operate much like your computer’s partitions, with the SSD being the one where the OS is based and the HHD where all your large files are housed all due to its much larger capacity.

Aside from the dual hard drives, the U115 is reasonably standard, with an Intel Atom Z530 processor running at 1.6GHz, with 1GB RAM. Graphics are handled by the Intel US15W chipset, starting to make an appearance in the latest generation of netbooks.

The U115 boasts a decent 10-inch LCD low-powered backlit display, capable of a 1024 x 600 resolution, all of which suits the device. Others have tried to fit in a larger screen, on their smaller systems and have failed. After some time in use you realise MSI has manage to get the formula right.

MSI claims the Wind U115 Hybrid can handle playback of HD video. We discovered HD video in YouTube was displayed effortless, although the portable computer struggled immensely running BBC iPlayer's HD content. The picture was very jerky indeed, as the U115 had trouble handling the video streams even when they were cached to a very high degree. Normal content from the on demand service was fine, with a display very much suited to the screen screen size anyway so there's no major loss there.

Its long black keyboard is very comfortable to use, with an almost standard computer keyboard feel to its return whilst typing. Even after some hours of use, there was no awkwardness in the layout or a vast initial learning curve to adapt to the different format. This is always a good sign, as no one wants to make a huge effort in trying to adapt to something new: you’ve invested your hard earned money in a product that should work well straight out of the box. It’s the same style of keyboard used in MSI’s smaller notebooks, which shows a great deal of continuity in their range.

Around the body of the netbook you'll find the normal array of connections, including Ethernet for wired networking, 3x USB2.0, VGA and 3.5mm headphone and mic jacks. There is also a multi-card reader. Wireless connectivity comes in the form of b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A webcam sits in the screen bezel.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Netbooks MSI MSI Wind U115 Hybrid

MSI Wind U115 Hybrid notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 29 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Asus' latest notebook comes pitched as an entertainment- or multimedia-centric computer, with a design to its casing similar to that of Aurora Borealis. The F70 we saw for review came with an Intel Dual Core 2.16GHz processor, 4GB of RAM and a single 320GB hard drive, although the SKU’s may vary and the system is capable of handling dual drives up to 1TB in capacity.

Whilst testing and reviewing the notebook we discovered some unsettling oddities to the F70, which either were deliberate in its conception or something that was gravely overlooked in the testing procedures, perhaps even in the focus groups.

The first foible we found was that the keyboard is awkwardly situated way up the base of the notebook. It’s been placed a good 5-inches away from the F70s beginning edge, where you actually have to reach rather uncomfortably over the majority of its base to use the keyboard.

A much smaller person than this reviewer could quite easily lose most of the forearm just to extend over the so-called palm rest area, all in order to start typing. After a good day’s usage, we found that the muscles in the hands were really tired and everything had becomes uncomfortable to use.

What’s definitely a contributing factor is the base being a good 2-inches deep, which thicker than your average laptop or PC based keyboard. This just adds to the overall awkwardness we found in once again operating the keyboard - an ergonomic failure by any measure.

The F70’s touch pad is a little bit larger than we’ve seen and used before, it’s also a tad unresponsive; this could very well be down to the surface materials used in the case’s manufacturing or just the default settings of the pad. Either way, this adds to the disastrous feel of its design. Adding further insult to injury, the touch pad’s mouse button is accompanied by an annoying sound every time it’s clicked, which grates on your very soul after just a few hours of use. It doesn’t even feel like it will let up even after some weeks of operation either.

We thought it was a tad cheeky of Asus to holler about the notebook having "Full 1080p HD" capability too. The maximum resolution is only 1600 x 900 where 1080p is actually 1920 x 1080. The only possible way the F70 could achieve the glory of fully blown 1080p would be from the built-in HDMI port, where the image is then exported to an external display capable of HD. But it is a 17.3-inch LCD panel, powered by the Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS, so will have a good crack at more demanding visuals.

As always the sound is of a very solid, decent quality which all comes from their Altec Lansing surround sound speakers, which really do excel within movie and game playback. It’s a standard setup seen in much more expensive notebooks from Asus, and is very much welcomed in this lower tier model.

Of course there is a DVD rewriter tucked into the side although Blu-ray is also available, as well as 4x USB2.0 ports, VGA, mic and headphone sockets and a multi-card reader. You get Ethernet and b/g/n flavour Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to round out the connectivity.

Compared with other Asus notebooks we’ve seen and used before, the F70 does fail in its overall design layout in our opinion. It’s almost as if we saw a prototype, a very early one at that and not the finished article. They’ve aimed this series of notebooks at a fairly budget market, as it sits just above their entry level models with a price and a set of specifications to match seen in the smaller 17.3-inch screen.

A display which is apparently the world’s first, that just happens to be a good viewable size for a medium level notebook.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Asus Asus F70SL

Asus F70SL notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 11 May 2009 09:18:23 +0100

Announced at the European MTV awards at the tail end of last year and for the only reason that they needed something to announce, the Sony Ericsson Walkman W705 has only recently found its way to be included in a network's portfolio.

There are a plethora of Walkman handsets now in the Sony Ericson arsenal, you really can’t say they haven’t capitalised on the Sony Walkman branding with what’s on offer in any way shape or form. Adding to the range and fitting nicely into the overall series is this new stylish slider phone, a mobile that also happens to be their first Walkman boasting Wi-Fi.

It was a long time coming to the Walkman range, which is still a distinct puzzlement as to why the question has fallen upon deaf ears with Sony Ericsson. Now it’s here, it seems to be a successful venture for them and a great way to get that valuable music content on to the handset fast and even shared. None more so than with the inclusion of the DLNA sharing standard in the handset, which now means the likes of the latest PlayStations can share the content of the phone over Wi-Fi.

The W705 feels the same and operates as nearly every Walkman phone that’s come before, with continuity being rife throughout the range. Its physical controls and OS is reflective of the series, although we can’t help in feeling the icons and the GUI are rather simple and childlike. Perhaps they’re aiming for a younger market than usual, although it might perturb the mainstream customer who wishes for Wi-Fi in a handset as an upgrade.

Navigating through the music is simple and easy, as expected from a music handset and seeing as that is its core function it does excel at it. The main controls for navigation make up the control panel when the slider is closed and it has the useful ability to shuffle through music with a flick of the wrist. With about 4000 songs on the accompanying 4GB memory card (depending on file size etc), the storage is vast enough to house a decent music collection.

Sony Ericsson has thrown in some other useful niceties too. The likes of the BBC iPlayer is on the menu: streaming all your favourite TV and radio episodes has never been easier, with a decent viewable screen too on its 2.4-inch display.

It’s a shocker to have a handset appear without GPS built-in these days; unfortunately the W705 is one of those. Letting down the use of Google Maps, which everyone and their dog finds so useful these days. Even the likes of geotagging for pictures is dependent on GPS too although it’s not a Cyber-shot camera phone; with only a 3.2-megapixel camera it’s still useful none the less to have GPS built-in. You can triangulate your position from mobile phone masts, but it’s still not the same as real GPS.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Sony Ericsson Walkman Sony Ericsson W705

Sony Ericsson W705 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 07 May 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Netbooks aren’t especially well known for their stylish designer looks. Most of them look rather like bog standard, fairly cheap looking, OEM products. Coincidentally, Asus actually has OEM’d out their Eee PC netbooks for the education market with RM Nimbus who are well known in that very sector. The initial OEM no frills product look is all about to change with the advent of the Asus S121 slim line netbook.

Asus has categorised this product as a notebook, only we think it falls very much into the netbook category of devices and for many reasons, not just because we like to argue with manufacturers. Asus are calling this a notebook as HQ has determined in most peoples' minds screen sizes over 10 inches fall under the laptop/notebook range. This is all due to the fact that traditionally, netbooks have always had a smaller screen size than laptops.

Everything about the S121 screams loudly at the top of its voice - "I’m a netbook. I’m a netbook": it has a small form factor, bundled in is a larger than normal 512GB SSD, the processor chosen was due to its low power usage which as a result appears in many netbooks around today.

Even the long battery life shouts, netbook, netbook, netbook! Asus stated it can last around 8 hours, although we found it was more like 6 without Wi-Fi on and a good 5 ½ with an internet connection, which is still pretty rare in a laptop.

Its design, however, does set it apart from the most netbooks seen around today. The overall look is very sleek, with its glossy plum coloured shell, glass-like 12.1-inch screen and leather palm rests. Yep, that’s right, leather palm rests - everything that the executive really wants, judging by the BlackBerry Bold and it’s leather-backed handset.

The processor onboard is ideal for running the Windows XP shipped in our very close to final model. We have a feeling however it might not fare so well under Windows Vista, judging by previous experiences, but Asus may have worked those kinks out by now. Asus has even bundled in their Linux kernel called Express Gate, which allows fast booting to a fully functioning Linux OS within seconds. It’s ideal for the last minute checking of email or train times, rather than waiting for a whole operating system to boot up.

Keeping in line with a netbook's ports stylings are the three USB 2.0, SD card slot, mic, headphones, VGA and Ethernet port. What came a surprise is a DC out socket, presumably for powering or recharging other devices from an appropriate lead. This could very well be a nice idea, although the impact on battery life is yet to be determined and could very well be a factor when in use.

The Asus S121 keyboard and touchpad have stepped up in size when compared with the other netbooks in the Eee PC family. As the S121 is a much larger device than the 901 netbook, there's a sizable increase on the keyboard's dimensions which suits the device well indeed. Overall the keyboard is around a third longer than before, with almost double the size per key - which does make a welcomed difference when fast typing with big fingers.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Netbooks Asus Asus S121

Asus S121 notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Nokia aren’t especially well known for their full sized QWERTY keyboard based mobile phones, with the exception of their Communicator series which firmly falls into the business handset category without a doubt. Their upcoming N97, a phone that also boasts a keyboard of that very same design and formatting doesn’t fall into the corporate phone series so much as it’s geared towards the consumer. Where the E75 positions itself on first impression is in-between that N97 and the very last Communicator the E90 – whilst looking rather akin to a cut down version of the latter, in more ways than one.

The E75 almost had the same brown colourings as the E90 Communicator when it was first aired to the public, colours that have only really been shared between those two models in the E series. This surely can’t be a coincidence, it’s either a very subtle nod to the E90 which this model has clearly originated from or it’s a commercial aesthetic link up of some sort.

Where this handset initially differs from their range of Communicator phones is in the screens on offer. Normally Communicators have a much larger second screen, which is only exposed when the phone is opened up to reveal its sizable QWERTY keyboard. Although it still retains a much smaller screen, on the outside of the mobile for everyday common use.

On the E75 there is just the smaller screen only somewhat increased in size than within E90, all in order to accommodate a much more useful main display for a business handset with emails and messaging. Missing is the larger screen, which with the Communicators normally takes up almost the entire size of the keyboard.

Nokia seems to have either resigned the usual appearance of these massive screens in their range, or has seen that it’s much more beneficial to have these predominantly now in their consumer series – which of course, has proved to be successful in the likes of the iPhone.

Doing away with this sizable screen appears to have enabled Nokia to rework the keyboard’s housing, into a sleek slide-out version rather than what’s been seen before with previous designs of their full QWERTY keyboard handsets. As Smartphones go nothing is easier than typing lengthy emails or messages on a full physical keyboard, it’s much much better than any T9 or virtual versions seen around today. Ask anyone who has gone from one to the other, whilst putting in a full day’s work on both.

The Symbian operating system comes tooled out with a decent feature set expected in their E series of business phones, with an office suite, many messaging tools to access for all the Ovi services known to man. There’s also the ever present dual mode, which switches all the applications seen and used in business to a personal profile, ideal for separating work life from home.

Its form factor is very close to the dimensions of the Nokia’s E71 take on the BlackBerry handsets from last year. Just adding to the similarity between the two is the screen size they share, both of which is 2.4-inches with 320 x 240 QVGA resolution which actually matches the phone and the keyboard rather well.

Coming from Nokia's Enterprise series, the E75 comes fully connected with HSDPA and Wi-Fi, so getting a fast connection to your data should never be a problem. The 71, 63 and 75 all have very much the same feel to their OS's and their feature sets, most likely it's now a theme Nokia will have across their E series for continuity purposes.

Adding to the overall usefulness of the phone is that the E75 can also be charged from a USB port, just showing they’re adapting and moving on within their designs.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Nokia Nokia E75

Nokia E75 originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Asus have become a well known and established name over the years for their peripherals and products; these range vastly from motherboards to the very first netbook. What they aren’t so well known for is their high end gaming laptops that are outstanding and dismay the critics - this is all about to change.

How the W90 achieves this is by no mere accident in itself. Asus has included the likes of the latest dual core mobile processor, 6GB of memory and dual ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards. With the latter they’ve created a first for notebooks by using a CrossFire configuration normally seen in much higher end gaming platforms.

Here they’ve doubled up on the graphics power to give the best possible visual gaming experience for the user, which really is something to behold. It’s even been overclocked before to the max to produce a 3DMark06 graphical benchmark of over 20,000, which in itself is a feat normally associated with ridiculously costly and powerful machines.

Just in case the W90's graphical prowess wasn’t enough to delight and enthuse even the most staunch critic and gamer, they’ve added more speakers onboard than a pimped out Escalade. There are six, that’s right, six Altec Lansing speakers - five of the normal variety and a beefy subwoofer. All of these really show off the true 5.1 channel Dolby sound to all its splendour.

We were lucky enough to see a pre-production press sample to review, that’s really only a few slight changes away from the final shipping model. Unfortunately it only had a DVD drive in and we were going to heavily mark the score down as a result. Why would such a beast like this with an 18.4-inch 1920 x 1200 resolution screen not have a high definition media player onboard, when the 1080p capable just screams Blu-ray? Fear not, the final model will have a Blu-ray combo drive for all your HD and DVD playback, with all its 5.1 sound possibilities too.

Adding to the W90’s storage capabilities are two 320GB hard disk drives, along with access to every possible flash memory card known to mankind. The overall combined hard drive size does beg the question though: is 640GB really enough storage space for the hard core gamers that this system is being aimed at? Could a serious gamer really kill all that space? We think very much so.

What would be more apt and appropriate, we feel, would be a twin 500GB option. The overall specs for the machine would then match up fully and complement each other, within this flagship model.

The case design and overall feel, altough brushed aluminium, isn’t as sleek as some of their other models, such as the purpose built gaming ranges of notebooks, such as the G1, and does come off a little business looking in comparison. It does however house a much better screen size and better graphics than these others. Despite Asus calling this a multimedia system we’re most definitely not: it’s a gamers rig.

One of the features we were most impressed about was the keyboard’s layout. It’s a small delight to type on a laptop’s keyboard that’s more or less the same dimensions as a standard desktop computer version. As the 5.2kg beast is a sizable monster Asus has built in a keyboard almost of that very same ilk, which has a decent tactile
feedback along with being very responsive - essential for gaming.

To the left of the keyboard is a touch sensitive embedded volume control, also at the top there’s another embedded set of quick start keys for applications and screen settings. These just add to the funkiness of the whole setup, undoubtedly gamers with marvel at the blue neon LEDs too.

Tags: Hardware Laptops Asus Asus W90

Asus W90 notebook originally appeared on Pocket-lint on Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:00:00 +0100