Review The PNY’s new Attaché Original USB Flash drive arrived just too late for our recent Fast Flash Drive round-up, but we decided to try it out nonetheless.
The Attaché Original: faster than PNY’s previous top-speed stick
Like previous Attachés, the new model uses a slide-and-swivel mechanism to withdraw the USB connector from a bay at one end of the cover then rotate it out into the open and round so it’s ready for connection.
What has changed is that the new version is two-thirds of the size of its predecessor – named Attaché without qualification – and that the main body of the drive is bright see-through coloured plastic. The colour depends on the capacity: purple for 4GB, blue for 8GB, red for 16GB and green for the 32GB stick. Read the rest of this entry »
Review We’re beginning to think there’s some sort of competition between laptop manufacturers to come up with the most ridiculous marketing statements. In our recent review of the EasyNote Butterfly, we were left cringing at Packard Bell’s explanation of exactly why it had chosen to use that name.
MSI’s X-Slim X600: literally, as light as a feather, apparently
Now, with the X600, we have MSI saying it “strives to be literally as light as a feather”. Yes, that’s right – literally, not metaphorically. With the X600 weighing 2.1kg, MSI has either failed dismally in its quest or there are some gargantuan birds strutting around its offices. Still, as far as dimensions go it is rather thin. There are more slender laptops available (Apple‘s 1.94cm MacBook Air springs to mind), but at 2.5cm MSI isn’t too far off the pace.
The X600-055UK version we’re reviewing here is powered by an SU9600 processor. This is an ultra-low voltage chip, but unlike the SU3500 that powers the Packard Bell EasyNote Butterfly, it still manages to pack in two cores. With a clock speed of 1.6GHz and 3MB of L2 cache, it’s no speed demon but, as we’ll detail in a moment, neither is it woefully under-powered. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Do pocket media players need built in speakers? Certainly, apart from the Touch, Apple doesn’t seem to think so and let’s face it, love it or loathe it, Apple knows a thing or two about selling MP3 players to world+dog.
Sonic boon? Sony’s Walkman NWZ-S544
Sony, however, begs to differ and has launched a new series of Walkman players complete with built-in Stereospeakers. A stroke of genius, or a niche too far? Physically, the new S class resembles a slightly stretched version of the E-class player we looked at last month.
Happily the installation of two small speakers at the top and bottom hasn’t done too much to increase the size of the device which, at 49.3 x 99.3 x 10.2mm and 68g, remains reasonably light and compact despite having a 2.4in, 240 x 320 display, rather than the E’s 2in affair.
External controls are the now familiar Walkman norm, the only major difference being the addition of a rocker to switch the speakers on and off. The speakers, which face both forward and back, are mounted on the left hand side of the player at both the top and bottom. They are concealed by robust grilles, which bode well for the device’s longevity. Read the rest of this entry »
Review LG’s first Chocolate was promoted as a style phone but now, several incarnations in, its become more than just a sweet talker. The LG New Chocolate BL40 looks like nothing else (except perhaps a bar of Cadbury’s Bourneville), with its 21:9 cinematic widescreen and elongated proportions. Yet, besides its unusual look, it also has a 5Mp Camera, Wi-Fi, HSDPA 3G, A-GPS, an upgraded S-Class UI with widgets and an FM radio, plus a host of other features.
Dandy candy: LG’s New Chocolate BL40
To our eyes, the BL40 looks lovely, with its glass front, glossy black plastic back, tasteful metal strip around the sides with some snazzy red trim on top and bottom. This distinctive look won’t appeal to everyone but get better acquainted with it, and there’s a lot to like. Initially, the dimensions of 128 x 51 x 11mm seem bizarre but we soon got used to its stretch limo aesthetics. At 129g it’s no lightweight, but at least feels sturdy and well made in the hand.
Around the sides the controls are rather stylishly built into that metallic strip and include a volume rocker, Camera shutter, music key, a micro USB socket covered by a plastic grommet and there’s a 3.5mm jack plug on top next to the power key. The back is plain except for the Schneider Kreuznach Camera lens and LED flash. Read the rest of this entry »
Review We’ve seen a fair few hard drives with built-in fingerprint readers, but here’s one that uses RFID cards instead of digits.
Freecom’s Hard Drive Secure: there’s a RFID reader behind the drive’s glossy front
The notion is simple: if you want to access the data on the drive, you’ll need to touch the unit with a smartcard to do so. No card, no files. And the protected data is encrypted to AES standard – 128-bit at a guess – to hinder any herbert who tries to get to the information by other means.
Freecom’s simply named Hard Drive Secure is further protected with a seamless brushed aluminium casing, though the front and back are glossy black plastic. There are no obvious screw-holes, though we wouldn’t put ripping off the rubber feet or prising off the back panel beyond any sufficiently zealous data thief.
The unit is a little less than twice the size of a regular 3.5in hard drive, the enclosure having been designed to take up to 2TB of storage, though the model we had in to look at had a more modest, 500GB storage capacity. There are a couple of tiny LEDs on the front – more on this in a moment – and a printer-style USB connector on the back alongside the power socket and on-off switch. Read the rest of this entry »
