Archive for February, 2008
Nokia Morphs Phones as we know it
Feb 27th
Two days ago, Nokia released its concept phone, called the Morph. Let’s start with the name before we really break it down: I like it. It’s short and sweet, and it’s just one of those “cool” words. I actually happened to remember the name when I went to Google it today, which was a real surprise. I’m usually not too great with names.
Nanotechnology. Nokia’s making the term a household one. Just like how it pioneered the mobile phone industry, it now strives to revolutionize it again by introducing Morph to the world. The nanotechnology is amazing, and admittedly something that I don’t know too much about. One example of a use of nanotechnology would be to power the phone: it’s nanowire grass will gather the sun energy and (through photosynthesis I’d assume) collect its energy. And that’s just the beginning (I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you).
I’m not going to lie, I can’t explain this phone too well with words. It’s just something that you’re going to have to see for yourself. Nokia has a 46mb version of it, but rather than buffer that I decided to find a nice, optimized version on Youtube. Not the best quality, but it does get the idea across the board very well. Enjoy.
[youtube IX-gTobCJHs nolink]
Archos 605 Wi-fi
Feb 25th
The Archos 605 Wi-fi was ahead of its time – in fact, it may not look the mould, but it’s actually nearing its first birthday. Archos actually has made a solid name for itself as being a pretty popular iPod alternative, and it would very well have been the iPod killer had it not been for one thing hindering it from achieving its full potential.
Source: http://www.trendygadget.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/archos-605.jpg
It’s got a touch screen, already qualifying it to be an iPod Touch competitor. Speaking of its screen, it’s 800x480px, giving it a dramatic boost over the iPod Touch’s meazly 480x320px. It also comes with two styluses, keeping those fingerprints off the screen. Heck, it’s got arguably stronger wi-fi capabilities than the iPod Touch does. It comes in 30GB and 80GB variants – so what the heck is keeping it from stomping on Apple? Two things.
1. Marketing
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/images/pics/adyearend.jpg
Apple’s ingenius marketing schemes can’t be beat. And you definitely can’t hope to succeed in the Personal Media Player market without a strong marketing campaign; due to the fact that I’ve never seen a single one of Archos’ commercials, I’m going to assume that there is none (pretty ignorant, but I do watch a lot of TV). There also isn’t a major selling point; with the iPod Touch, it’s the gestures and the form factor, but with the Archos 605 wi-fi, it’s…nothing. Speaking of form factor, we come to our second point…
2. Aesthetics
After getting my hands on one of these ducklings, I realized that it was an ugly one. I didn’t actually go out to buy one, mind you – I did it the conspicuous consumer’s way and went to Future Shop to try it out.
- It’s huge.
- I’m not even the pickiest person here: as long as it fits in any of my pockets, I’ll be fine with it. Too bad it doesn’t – it’s dimensions are amazingly huge and its really thick. Er, AnythingbutiPod would call it “clunky”, and I’m going to have to agree with that.
- It’s ugly.
- Not that I’m shallow about it, but it really isn’t a looker. The Archos 605 Wi-fi goes for the “retro” 1980s styled look with rectangular buttons on the side. Why the heck would you need buttons if there is a touch screen? You should only need one button, and that’s to get to the
iPod Touchmenu.
- Not that I’m shallow about it, but it really isn’t a looker. The Archos 605 Wi-fi goes for the “retro” 1980s styled look with rectangular buttons on the side. Why the heck would you need buttons if there is a touch screen? You should only need one button, and that’s to get to the
- It’s got nothing on the iPod.
- Combining these two features and contrasting them with the iPod Touch really kills it. The iPod Touch is well-known for its sleek, slim, flawless design. Where the iPod whispers elegance, the Archos 605 Wi-fi shouts clunk. Where the iPod can be looked upon, the Archos 605 Wi-fi can’t. I’m sorry to be the one to say this, but even if it was a universal remote control that came at half a bill, I’d still have to pass on such a horribly-designed unit.
Source: http://regmedia.co.uk/2007/06/15/archos_605_3.jpg
So will the Archos 605 Wi-fi be a great iPod Touch alternative? Yes, and no. It’s got the stuff on paper, but it really doesn’t have anything that can compare to the iPod Touch in the looks department, I’m afraid. Archos, please revise the design and I think we might have ourselves a winner. Er, if you want, you could send me a sample and I’d be more than happy to help suggest improvements. 
Haha, stick around for the next iPod Touch alternative, folks.
Oops, forgot to mention, you can usually find this device for less than $300. Not a bad deal, to be honest.
Other iPod Touch Alternatives:
- Olympus M:Robe 500i
- Archos 605 Wi-fi
- Cowon Q5W
- Archos 706
- Samsung P2
Runner Ups:
- Cowon iAudio X7
- iRiver Clix 2
- Microsoft Zune
Take Better Pictures with your Camera Phone!
Feb 23rd
Today, I was invited to a family dinner that was slightly to slow-paced for my taste. The food ended up taking an hour to come, and the conversation dragged on from purchasing glasses to Chinese names. I have hardly any experience in the latter category, so you might imagine I grew quite bored. I drew out my Sony Ericsson w600i, which does happen to be a camera phone like all phones made in the last two years, and began fooling around with the camera. Luckily, the restaurant was very well designed and decorated, so I had many items to try it out on.
Before continuing, I’d like to disclose some information:
- My own Sony Ericsson w600i is almost two years old – it has been released for nearly the same amount of time, so as you can imagine, the camera quality will not be as great as one of a w810i or the world-class camera phone complete with Xenon flash, k790i.
- I am not a professional photographer – quite the contrary; I’ve got the interest in photography but definitely lack the skill and experience.
- I am aware I probably looked like a doofus, especially to people who walked through when I was taking a picture. However, my sense of boredom overcame my sense of shame and I decided to go along with such a scheme anyway.
- If you’re looking to put stuff in your portfolio or your school project or even something just as simple as remembering precious family moments, don’t use a camera phone.
We’ll start with my main point: every camera and phone is different, so you’re going to want to experiment. It takes time to find out the optimum settings to take pictures. I realized soon that the maximum resolution was sacrificing response time, so I decided on lowering it to a moderate 640×480 (the w600i has a 1.3mp camera, meaning it has a maximum resolution of 1280×1024). I switched the quality to Fine and mainly tampered with the White Balance, shifting from Incandescent to Fluorescent and then Cloudy. Here were the results; you tell me which one you thought was best.
The next step: how you hold the camera phone will affect the result. If you’re going for the “fly” look and hold it with one hand, it’ll show. If you’re holding it like a normal person with two hands, it’ll show. Some will look much less blurred, some will look like they were taken with a real camera! Because the average human’s got pretty jittery hands, you’re going to want to hold it with both hands, even if it makes you look like a nimrod (unless you’ve got really steady hands). Also, pull the sniper-trick – I read about this in Wired once, if I’m not mistaken: breathe in for five seconds, hold your breath for five seconds, and breathe out for five seconds. Repeat. This is supposed to slow your heart rate (assuming I remember correctly) and calm you down a bit, meaning you’ll have steadier hands.
If you’re going to turn a deaf ear to my advice, and want to replace your camera with a camera phone, common sense will tell you to invest your money in a powerful camera phone. Something like a Sony Ericsson k790i, k850i, or a Nokia N95 costs a sure heck lot more than a normal camera, but if you really want results from a camera phone, then this is what you’re going to want. Higher resolutions, Carl Zeiss lens, Xenon flash, and all the trimmings. Not to mention they’re pretty powerful devices that can do pretty much anything you want them to do.
There really aren’t any universal tricks to taking better pictures, as it’s already pretty subjective to compare which photo looks better from a camera phone: you have to take into consideration the focus (or lack thereof) and the colour capture, not to mention a whole mountain-sized pile of other things. To recap, if you’re resolving to take better pictures:
- Experiment with your camera phone. Perhaps practise, even.
- Throw away your dignity and hold the camera phone like a normal person.
- Invest your money in a stronger camera phone.
- Thank Herbert Lui for such a wonderful and common-sense filled tutorial.
Have fun snapping those shots away.
Olympus M:Robe 500i
Feb 22nd
First up for the list of the iPod Touch alternatives, the M:Robe certainly is nothing new to the game. I’ve wondered to myself why I haven’t heard more about the Olympus M:Robe 500i, I now realize that it is because the M:Robe 500i isn’t being sold by Olympus anymore! What a shame, I think to myself – it certainly is a jack of all trades.
The M:Robe 500i features a 3.7″ display, completely touch-compatible, as opposed to the iPod Touch’s 3.5″ widescreen, crisper-looking display. It’s got a 20GB hard drive, whereas the iPod Touch ranges from 8GB, 16GB, and now 32GB flash drives, which are considerably faster than the hard drive. The M:Robe 500i can play music and photos, but it can’t play videos! Galling, but true. Thanks to the early development of the M:Robe 500i (we’re looking at the iPod Photo days), it’s still stuck with just photo and music compatibility. It definitely does not compare to the iPod Touch in these aspects. So what’s it’s killer feature?
The camera. Yep, the M:Robe 500i features a 1.3MP camera; this was in the age when camera phones were just catching on, so imagine how useful it would’ve been (and still can be). Does your average iPod Touch have a camera? Nope – nor will it ever, I’m afraid.
Asides from that, the iPod Touch definitely dominates the Olympus M:Robe 500i, so we won’t be able to find a competitor here. It’s got a nicer screen, more applications, more features, and faster hard drive speeds with higher capacities. Not to mention it’s an iPod, so it just happens to always be able to get along with consumers very quickly.
Er, I’ll also have to reinforce the fact that the M:Robe 500i isn’t exactly available anymore. So what’s next?
Other iPod Touch Alternatives:
- Olympus M:Robe 500i
- Archos 605 Wi-fi
- Cowon Q5W
- Archos 706
- Samsung P2
Runner Ups:
- Cowon iAudio X7
- iRiver Clix 2
- Microsoft Zune
Five Alternatives to the iPod Touch
Feb 22nd
As of recent times, the iPod Touch has presented itself as a typical, world-class iPod product. Usually with such scenarios, there are many other devices out there that can outperform for a smaller price, and we aim to find one such device to fight the iPod Touch. Examples of successful iPod competitors would be Creative’s Zen Vision:M, Creative’s Zen V Plus, Microsoft’s Zune, Toshiba’s Gigabeat, just to name a few.
What classifies a product as an iPod Touch competitor? First and foremost, they have to have a touch-screen – and such a unique requirement already weeds out a good portion of the portable media player market. Next, they had to be dedicated digital audio players, meaning that PDAs and cell phones are going to be left out of the picture (yes, even the Walkman). For the products that I felt couldn’t be left out of the picture, I put in the Runner Ups – they’re all what I’d consider to be somewhat “Touch-impaired”, but still worth taking a look at.
Source: http://www.menstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/ipod-touch-16gb.jpg
Throughout the next couple of weeks, we’ll be taking a look at some of these iPod Touch alternatives and I’ll be telling you what I think of them. Do they stand a chance? You can bet your behind they do.
Runner Ups:
- Cowon iAudio X7
- iRiver Clix 2
- Microsoft Zune
WiiFit…doesn’t make you fit?
Feb 21st
When the Nintendo Wii comes to mind, we can’t help but think that it’s a new way to burn calories. So when WiiFit comes to mind, it just reinforces our belief. But contrary to what the name suggests, Nintendo’s new game for the Wii called WiiFit doesn’t actually make you fit, says Shigeru Miyamoto, designer on the project.
“I forgot to mention something important earlier: I don’t think Wii Fit’s purpose is to make you fit; what it’s actually aiming to do is make you aware of your body,” he said. “That’s why we wanted people to talk with their families about Wii Fit, and become aware of these things together as a group. If you’re standing still, and it tells you “Your body is swaying”, you can see on the training results screen that your body has been shaking. But I think you’d never realize that your body is shaking in day-to-day life. I think becoming aware of things like this about yourself is quite interesting.”
Source: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/miyamoto-wii-fit-is-not-designed-to-make-you-fit/19355
I’m willing to admit it myself – I’m a bit upset, but also a bit relieved. Let me explain: I’m as health-concerned as the next guy, but I still don’t think that video games will ever help you to stay fit (prove me wrong). I was just pleasantly surprised as, a few months ago, the folks at Nintendo wow-ed me with such a production – however, with such a statement from the designer, I feel a bit let down. Alas, I also feel as though things are the way they should be – you should have to go outside or to a gym or something else to stay healthy – not down to your basement to play the Wii. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s still a video game nonetheless, just a new way to interact it.
Source: http://e3nin.nintendo.com/_img/media/wiifit_sslg3.jpg
What Miyamoto said was what I’d consider a pretty wise observation. I think that the Wii would help more with hand-eye coordination than with physical fitness – training the connection between the mind and the body, as opposed to making the body healthier and stronger. Of course, this does provide advantages, but it still doesn’t exactly make you fit. A game of Wii Sports tells you this – you can play Wii Boxing as much as you want, you’ll never actually become as strong as a boxer that trains: because there’s no physical resistance, and because it’s just detecting motions, not the actual depth. However, you do have to make the right gestures in order to hit the right way, meaning the mind will learn even better how to hit in order to do maximum damage – on the Wii anyway.
Source: http://blogs.sun.com/ChrisM/resource/wiifit.jpg
For example, why was the news about doctors using Wii’s so significant? The Wii’s didn’t make them superhumanly strong. They didn’t get much healthier, or fitter. No, what happened was they gained more control over their body – specifically speaking, their hands. This might not seem too important to us average joes, but when you’re a surgeon operating on people and you’ve been away from work for a long time, the Wii’s a much better way to recuperate your operational skills rather than with an actual victim person.
What does WiiFit do? It does what the Wiimote and Nunchuk do with hand-eye coordination – it improves your leg-eye coordination (sp?). It also allows for a whole new dimension and layer to be added to the realistic physicality of the Wii gameplay, making it ever so valuable. One thing would be nice – why not change the name to…WiiBoard or WiiBalance or something? WiiFit just seems pretty useless now that the designer said what he did.
Monthly $5 Fee to Save the Music Industry?
Feb 20th
As of recent times, the music industry has really been cracking down on P2P users. But, as the saying goes, “When you can’t beat them, join them,” – and I think that this is a much more constructive and productive method to encountering this situation. Rather than start suing little children and other practically harmless individual P2P users, why not make them pay a reasonable sum? On a small-scale, that might not work – but with P2P growing ever so popular, I think it’ll work pretty well on a larger scale (even though we only have 30 million people up here in Canada).
The fee is expected to be charged to consumers’ Internet bills, similar to World of Warcraft, and is expected to rake in $500 million to $900 million, which is to be distributed to the artists. Not a bad concept at all, but will it wreck the entire delicate balance of Canada? First – is the $5/month fee mandatory? I think that we can safely assume it is – because P2P is so widespread in our country that it’d be difficult to verify whether someone was actually downloading music or not (even if they claim to not be downloading so as to avoid the $5/month fee).
This then, would result in a chain of crazy events; music retailers selling CD’s and the such will be seeing their loyal buyers flee away to their own desktops, and will soon meet their downfall. Call me old-fashioned, but I like my music on a CD – it’s just got that much more character, as opposed to some downloaded cyber-shot of album art, its real paper and real plastic.
I like things the way they are – people either do what is right, or what is wrong (morally speaking, legitimately we are all covered by the Canadian umbrella). It’s a choice that everyone will have to make, and brushing it away might be a solution to this problem, but the P2P sharing will eventually grow so popular that movies and games will be pirated even more, leading to more fees? What can we expect then?
I really don’t know if this is as great an idea as it sounds. I’m sure I will miss my CD’s, but if this is the only means that artists can collect their royalties, then I’m afraid I’ll have to pack up my CD case and get on a computer. I believe in people getting what they deserve, whether it be good or bad.
Ericsson Kicks Walkman Up a Notch
Feb 18th
I’ve been relatively quiet about mobile devices for the longest time, but I’ve decided to return to the CutEdge tradition and blog about the Sony Ericsson w980i. Originally announced February 10, 2008, I sure decided to take my sweet time in considering what I think about it. After much deliberation, I’ve come up with a little list of my own.
The W980 Walkman® phone really sets a new standard for music on your phone,” said Ben Padley, Head of Music Marketing, at Sony Ericsson. “We wanted to design a leading music player that we could combine with a feature-packed phone, all the while pioneering an audio experience that always left you wanting more. The W980 will surpass all expectations.
Source: http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/5299/w7ts5.png
I was thinking that I could expect quite a bit from the phone, as it aims to combine both the functions of a digital audio player and a phone together – something that the entire Walkman line aims to do, actually. Having owned the w600i, I can say that it plays music quite well, and I can only guess how improved the quality will be in the w980i, since time improves all cell phones. With 8gb of storage, it’s relatively measly compared to a dedicated digital audio player, but who cares? No one but professional DJs actually need 160gb of storage. Transferring will be a breeze via the USB cable, and unlike a certain Apple product, it can be accessed as a removable disc, meaning its not restricted to a single computer and you don’t have to use bundled software. And like many Ericsson phones, the w980i comes with FM capabilities, which is great, as even the iPod lacks such a feature by default (Creative digital audio players have this built-in, fyi).
Even though it’s not a camera phone, its camera is not necessarily the dimmest in the pack. With the k850i taking much of the spotlight, the w980i sits backstage with a still-impressive 3.2 megapixel camera. However, don’t expect much – the primary function of the w980i is to be a digital audio player, not a camera replacement. It comes in a Piano Black, but I’ll expect more variety soon enough (just as with the w810i). Something interesting (to me) is a Video Blogging and Picture Blogging ability – hey, as a blogger I have to keep an eye out for this stuff.
Source: http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9674/w6ca0.png
Last, but not least, we’ll take a look at the screen – which one though? The w980i comes with a mindblowing internal 2.2″ 240x320px screen and an external 176x176px screen as a side dish (which is nearly my main screen resolution) capable of replicating the Walkman without forcing you to flip the phone open. Beautiful, just beautiful.
No extra memory slot? No wi-fi? It makes me a bit iffy, but I have to say that the w980i does what it claims to do best – play music. I might not get the chance to try it out myself, but based on prior experience, I have a hunch that Sony Ericsson will once again create an underrated high quality product. Even though it’s not exactly what I’d consider a looker.
Microsoft runs to Blu-Ray with Open Arms
Feb 18th
Apparently, since the life span of HD-DVD seems to have nearly run out, Microsoft has decided to make its way to the winning side and incorporate Blu-Ray with the Xbox 360 – in forms of both a player add-on similar to the HD-DVD add-on (so even the users of the current Xbox 360 can purchase this and watch Blu-Ray movies I believe), and a revised Xbox 360 with a Blu-Ray reader integrated into it. Gutsy, right?
You bet. Not only does Microsoft risk its ego in appealing to Sony for a Blu-Ray license, it also spatters its reputation by admitting that the opposing side had better technology. I think it’s repulsive to jump off the sinking ship when you’ve supported it for so long, but also admirable to continue evolving its console. Besides, it doesn’t seem like they’ve got much of a choice anymore – Toshiba’s already jumped off the ship itself (so much for the captain going down with the ship), just unofficially. Either way, this past week has been a huge one for the whole industry and the outcome of the format wars.
I can’t say this doesn’t affect me, as a friend of mine had wagered that HD-DVD would come out as the winner and has been a diehard supporter (although he did purchase a PS3 for the sake of being able to play Blu-ray movies, for the sake of insurance). In fact, this whole month has been pretty Microsoft-y, with the whole Yahoo! situation, Danger Inc. and now the fall of HD-DVD. Interesting.