Sony Ericsson HBH-300: tech around your neck
Mobile PhonesLately we’ve been testing Sony Ericsson's Akono HBH-300 Bluetooth headset. It's the least discreet of the company's headsets, with a long boom that puts the microphone halfway down your cheek. The position probably contributes to the clear audio, but it does make you feel like a telemarketer -- or one of the Borg, if you're science-fictionally inclined. At 28g it's also quite heavy, and after a few hours you can feel your head tilting to one side.
Sony Ericsson solves both problems by providing a lanyard so you can wear it round your neck. When a call comes in, you press the answer button, then hook it over your ear. Given that it looks like a high-tech take on an ancient fertility symbol, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to display the HBH-300 on your chest -- if you have space. Lately it seems as if every other gadget is supplied with a lanyard.
First Look: Rio Forge Sport 512
MP3 PlayersThe Rio Forge Sport reminds us of the fleshy gamepods from David Cronenberg’s Existenz – those weird semi-organic devices that plugged straight into your body via an umbilical cord. It’s lucky the Rio Sport doesn’t come in flesh colour -- what if you dropped it while out jogging? Your first thought as you stared at the fleshy lozenge on the ground would be 'Has one of my adrenal glands just fallen out?'
The Rio is curvy and has lovely rubber grips which’ll keep your sweaty hands clasped firmly on its body during a work out. On the downside, the Rio Sport is a bit light and hollow feeling. We’re not sure how hard you could knock the Rio before it split -- a metal chassis might have been a better choice for a sports mp3 player.
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Everything new is old again
DesktopsWhile we obsess over all things new and shiny, intrepid modders are packing today's tiny products into the larger, sturdier and possibly more stylish gadgets of yesteryear.
• Matt Billings didn't want to expose his Mac Mini to thieving passers-by, so he tucked it away inside an old Dell desktop. His Flickr photoset documents the build.
Going underground with the PX200s
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MP3 PlayersA stylish choice of headphones is de riguer for the MP3-type around town. For a while we went with the excellent PX100s from Sennheiser, which sound great, are very light, have a sharp silver and black design, and are quite comfortable. They also fold up like spectacles when you’re done. They're great for commuting, because they’re robust enough to cope with being folded up and scrunched into a coat pocket when you emerge blinking from the Underground. They come with a snazzy hi-tech carry case, but we’ve never bothered with it.
However, we’ve spent enough time listening to the tinny crackling from the phones of the person sitting next to us to feel guilty about noise leaking from our open-backed PX100s. Recently we switched to the PX200s (pictured right), which have a closed earphone back to help contain the sound.
When analogue and digital collide...
MP3 PlayersThere are still some fools who clutch at your sleeve and whimper that vinyl sounds better than CD, and that their crackly old valve amplifier has a better ‘tone’ than your iPod. Although these people are clearly deranged romantics, many of their old analogue devices did have one advantage over most of the new digital gadgets: they felt great to use.
Luckily some manufacturers have agreed that the old ways are the best, and have sought to integrate an analogue feel into their digital products. One such analogue-digital crossover product is the Finalscratch system from Stanton. We want one so badly we could cry.
Music on your mobile: absolutely maybe
Mobile Phones"I have absolutely categorically no use for a 3G phone. Fact," says the latest advert from Orange. Sounds clear to us, but the mobile phone network thinks your mind can be changed, so it's offering a three-month trial of all the services you absolutely categorically don't want: video calling, data transfer and music downloads.
So many things to try, so little time. We started with Music Player, an iTunes-alike application that lets you purchase, download and play music. To use it, you download the software to a compatible phone (an SPV C500, Nokia 6600, 6630 or 7610, or Sony Ericsson P910). You can then browse through Orange's library of over 6,000 tracks and choose the ones you want. During the trial period, you get three free tracks each month. Any additional tracks cost 1.50 each.
It sounds good in theory and the music sounds fine when you get it... Continue reading...
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We take the iRiver H320 to the river
MP3 PlayersBill Gates pimped the iRiver H10 at CES in January, fondling the tiny MP3 player on stage and calling it “a very nice device”. But what of the H10’s older brother, the H320? We eagerly tore one out of its packaging and took it for a walk down the Thames yesterday evening.
The first thing that strikes you about the H320 is that navigating tracks is like playing an adventure game. This is clearly what happens when you get programmers to design an interface. Everything here is quite logical to a power-user, but why would the average person want to navigate a UNIX directory structure to get to their music?
Roku SoundBridge: rock on with streaming audio
MP3 PlayersWe looked at an M1000 SoundBridge with a 280x16 pixel display (about 180)... Follow the link for more Continue reading...
Sony Ericsson W800 Walkman phone plays MP3s and AACs
Mobile PhonesWe note a strange omission from Sony's planned Walkman phone. Tucked away in the third paragraph of the W800 press release is the surprising news that it supports the "proven, industry standard MP3 and AAC music file formats". What, no ATRAC? We quizzed the W800 product manager, who assured us that MP3 and AAC are the business, but Sony's beleaguered ATRAC format won't be crossing over to the mobile world.
Die-hard Sony supporters who've filled their hard drives with ATRAC music won't be rewarded for drinking the Kool-Aid. Seems a bit harsh to us. Still, they can console themselves with Sony's candy-coloured flash players, which support MP3 and ATRAC3plus. The new Network Walkman range should be in the shops in April, while its Walkman phone won't appear until July or August.
The Walkman brand marches on
Mobile PhonesSony Ericsson's latest marketing ploy is the Walkman-branded mobile phone, aka the W800. It's a phone, it's an MP3 player (probably), it's a digital camera and it's orange. The colour might not suit everyone, but it works for us, not least because it harks back to the orange headphones that came with the Walkman II.
The WMII wasn't Sony's first Walkman (obviously). It wasn't our first personal stereo, either. That honour went to a chunkier device from a long-forgotten brand. Nevertheless, the WMII stands tall in portable audio history for taking the cool concept of the original Walkman and turning it into a cool product. It still looks pretty good today, despite the scuffs and scratches of five years in the pocket and nineteen in the attic. Continue reading...
Would like to meet... wireless headphones
MP3 PlayersEngadget’s report on the Bluetooth iPod rumours has us wishing for wireless headphones. Twice this week we’ve had our ears assaulted as other commuters departed the Tube without first untangling themselves from our trailing cables, resulting in a sudden separation of headphones and head... Maybe it’s the digital equivalent of getting your dog leads tangled in the park with a beautiful stranger, but so far it hasn’t led to anything beautiful. Wireless headphones might upset Apple’s marketing people -- the white wires have become iconic -- but they’d let us make a dignified exit from a horribly crowded Tube carriage. -ML
Wasp T12- the speechtool revolution has begun
MP3 PlayersForget smartphones. Forget portable gaming consoles. The Wasp T12 is the first of the new generation of speechtool: convergent, contextual, concave.
Wasp is a mysterious company. Best known for the iconic 1978 synthesiser, the R&D labs have been working on secret projects for the Costa Rican military ever since. This is the first commerical use of some of that tech, and it promises a trouser-hung revolution. Continue reading...
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