Gadgets

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20
Feb 10

Behold, the Zune Phone (OS)

It looks like the worst, darkest decade in computer history has finished. Microsoft has showed off it’s latest creation, Windows Phone 7 Series – or The Zune Phone. (note: it’s only the OS, not a real phone. For now)

In my original post I stated a few reasons why it might suck. Thank God I was completely wrong and Microsoft got it completely right.

The biggest news isn’t the cool interface but XNA support. Yes, you will be able to develop games in a breeze for mobile phones, XBOX and Zune HD at the same time. AWESOME.

Apparently, the hardware minimum specs beat 99% phones out there (thanks Engadget).

  • Large WVGA screen with a single aspect ratio
  • Five specific hardware buttons required: Start, back, search (a dedicated Bing button), camera button, and power
  • Capacitive multitouch
  • CPU and GPU requirements (beginning with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon as the go-to processor)
  • WiFi
  • AGPS
  • Accelerometer
  • FM radio
  • High resolution camera

Interactive games, here I come.

It will also have it’s own AppStore and people say it’s really REALLY good. Let’s hope us EU folks will be able to sell there too.

Now, waiting for the SDK and a proper phone.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=623792

  • Large WVGA screen with a single aspect ratio (which means BlackBerry-style devices won’t be readily available to begin with)
  • Five specific hardware buttons required: Start, back, search (a dedicated Bing button), camera button, and power — no more, no less
  • Capacitive multitouch
  • CPU and GPU requirements (beginning with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon as the go-to processor)
  • WiFi
  • AGPS
  • Accelerometer
  • FM radio
  • High resolution camera
Gadgets — 1 Comment
8
Feb 10

Reasons why the Zune Phone might suck

There has been a lot of talk lately regarding Windows 7 Mobile and the infamous Zune Phone. So I compiled a list of things that could / probably will go wrong. Let’s hope someone from Microsoft reads my blog.

1) USA only. This is the same mistake MS made with Zune HD. They create an awesome product (even beating Apple) and then they decide to sell it in only in the US. What about the 5.7 billion people around the globe? Fail. (I’m talking about initial availability. Zune HD is also available in Canada. They will probably make it generally available within 6 months)

2) No XNA support. XNA is a framework (I think I can call it that) built on top of DirectX that enables developers to build games much much faster. Basically everything you need do create a game is in there, you only need to code it. It supports Zune HD, hopefully it will support the Zune Phone. (probably will within 6 months)

3) No app store. What ever happened to Microsoft Bazaar? The AppStore for Windows Mobile devices? And what’s going to happen when MS announces WM7 isn’t compatible with any previous apps? Not good. Hopefully, it will be easy to develop apps for it. I’m guessing C#.

4) Outdated hardware. This is a tricky one. Nobody knows if the Zune phone is real or what it’s specs will be. But we can guess. The problem is MS is trying to create something to compete with iPhone 3GS. What they should be doing is building something that will make iPhone 4G look like a toy. Add a 8MP camera, 65GB storage, 4” OLED screen. (wishful thinking)

Gadgets — 2 Comments
24
Dec 09

Quick review – Acer Aspire 5542G

I got a brand new Acer 5542G laptop a few days back. These are my impressions after a few days of intense usage.

Before we go any further

I previously owned two Acer laptops and they both suffered from the same symptoms.

First – the screen is crap. It’s way too glossy and the viewing angle is horrible. Second, the DVD burner dies after 12-13 months. I never used it much anyway, I burned 20 or 30 DVD’s in total. But the fact that you can’t even read a CD / DVD makes things even worse.

Third, after 18 months of use the HDD starts to show signs of failure. And the last thing is the keyboard that gets really messed up after a lot of typing (I use it for programming mostly, so I type a lot). And while it’s not a hardware error, both laptops were fat. I used to feel some serious pain after typing for a longer period of time.

Will things go better this time? Or am I doomed into buying a MacBook next time?

Introducing Acer Aspire 5542G – 504G50Mn

Call me crazy but buying a laptop from Acer again but I do feel like I’m getting a lot of value for a reasonable amount of money.

It’s got a nice Turion II processor running at 2.2 GHz, 4GB of RAM, half terrabyte of HDD space and an ATi Radeon HD 4570 graphics card with 512MB of RAM. Plus an included installation of Windows 7 Home Premium. And it’s “light”.  All in all not a bad start.

First thing you’ll notice is a beautiful 15.6′ LED screen. Yes, a LED screen! The colors are amazing and the viewing angle is great. Movies look fantastic on this thing.

The keyboard is also good. The keys fit good and it doesn’t take long to adjust to the layout. Works well for long typing sessions. The laptop case feels solid but not all that solid. I’d give it an 8 out of 10 just because it feels plastic-like.

The computer boots up very fast, like in 10 seconds. This might be due to me removing Norton AntiVirus and every other crap that comes pre-installed. Windows 7 look fantastic, but anyone coming from XP or Vista will need some time to adjust.

The wireless card works perfect. The previous laptop always reported there were no wireless networks around me. This one reports over 10, and most of them unsecured (yay)! Update: Looks like my previous computer was missing some driver updates, showing the same networks now.

While movies do look great, the sound isn’t all that good. It has build in Dolby home theater (what ever that is) but the sound still lacks depth. Also, haven’t tested the HDMI port.

Games run fast. Call of Duty (Modern Warfare 1) and Oblivion run very fast at high resolutions.

All in all..

All in all, the laptop is a great buy. For this price (under $1000) you probably won’t find a better one. I’ll post a gallery soon.