New toy

We picked up a Fujifilm FinePix S4400 today, so I will probably be posting some pictures here for a bit as I get to know the camera and learn a little bit about taking photos with something other than a mobile phone.

Rosemary

Same image, closer crop

Messing around

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My husband bought me a server today, and all was good with the world.

First glance: Sony Ericsson C905

I picked up my new phone yesterday, the Sony Ericsson C905.

I chose this phone mostly because of the stunning 8.1 megapixel camera, but was secretly concerned about the interface, especially because my previous phone was a Windows Mobile phone (which I do adore), but have been pleasantly surprised so far.

Rather than the 8-16 hour charge that I am used to for new phones, this one only required a 2.5 hour charge, and I was able to use the phone while it was charging.

Syncing my contacts back from Outlook was a quick and painless process – almost easier than with Mobile Sync Center on first run. In fact, I was up and running within minutes – including installing the software that comes in the box.

The camera is phenomenal. The shutter is fast, the flash not overpowering and the picture quality is fantastic. I love taking pictures, but have struggled with the camera on my previous phone, because most of the pictures were just too blurry to use, even online. I took a couple of pictures last night and this morning, and here are some of the results:

Our tortoise, who fits into the palm of my hand.

The dude’s future garden (where I am trying to grow lettuce, spinach and morogo).

My daughter, hula-hooping.

The phone includes MotionGaming and comes with Need for Speed Prostreet installed. To play, you simply move the phone. I am sure if I had to find a lightsaber app, I could have hours of fun :)

I am a little disappointed that the WiFi only supports up to WEP and not WEP2, because this means I cannot connect the phone to our home network seamlessly, but this is not the end of the world, as the HSDPA connection is blistering fast. And with the Blogger app built in, I suspect I may do a LOT of photo blogging going forward.

First glance score:  4.5/5

Darth Vader Toaster | GeekAlerts

I wants one!!!!

Darth Vader Toaster

When sipping your morning coffee from Darth Vaders helmet, you can now also brand your toast with a silhouette of the Dark Lord of the Sith, using this Star Wars toaster.

This black, ominous kitchen appliance easily leaves the mark of Vader’s helmet in every yummy piece of toast. Slather some Bantha butter on top, or make two pieces for an extra-Sithy BLT. Force power not required to operate toaster.

The Darth Vader Toaster is estimated to arrive in January 2009 and the product can now be pre-ordered for $54.99 from the official Star Wars webshop.

Darth Vader Toaster | GeekAlerts

HTC TYTN II

The husband picked up his new phone, the HTC TYTN II, last week-end. i have had a fair amount of time to play with it, and it is not a bad phone, really.

The Good:

• fast and responsive
• the interface is pretty
• easy to configure
• the touch screen interface is really easy to use (i don't normally like touch screen phones, but as a play toy, this one doesn't bug me)
• 3mpx camera. i haven't seen the quality of the pictures yet (the husband's been slow to download them) but after seeing the quality of the 2mpx camera on my phone, i can imagine that they will be great.
• contact manager is really friendly.
• 3G baby. fast Internet access anywhere you go.

The Bad:

• it is bulky. it comes in at double the size of my phone (HTC Vox)
• the same limitations i found with my phone apply to this one, other than the ability to easily exit applications.
• sometimes, it could do with some more volume. it is fine if one uses the headphones that came with the phone, but as a portable media player (which is one of the good features) the ability to turn up the volume on the speaker would be great.

Battery life could appear to be a problem, but considering the things we have used the phone for, the battery actually lasts longer than, say, a Nokia with the same functions (sorry, but i have fallen out of love with Nokia in recent years)

New stuff

There are some exciting new gadgets and goodies to look out for over the
next couple of months, and also possibly some duds.



I am particularly looking forward to getting more information, and seeing
the Origami Project (www.origamiproject.com
) - which will, apparently, be the Microsoft Mobile offering. I am rather
fond of the Microsoft hardware offerings (especially in appearance - look at
the perty perty Xbox), and have heard only good things about the MS Mobile
OS, so we could either have a smash hit, or garbage. According to the
website, we find out more today (02/03/2006 in international date format)



Of course, the new Nokias coming out are also rather exciting, especially a
couple of the the N-series phones (which, I know, is old news, but has yet
to be released here, so it still keeps us in anticipation)



Not too excited am I about the new Apple offerings. I am not particularly
keen on the iPod - it is over-priced and under-featured, in my opinion - and
the thought of an iPod hi-fi is kind of garish. It would be a hi-fi loved by
16 year old Britney Spears fans and young gay men with an inflated sense of
taste every where.

I might sound a little like a snob, but for me a hi-fi has always been a
functional device of high quality and little visibility. The idea that you
would now be able to get an hi-fi in blush pink, baby blue or lime green is
slightly offensive - almost as offensive as the boom-boxes that have been
passed off as hi-fis in recent years.

And, Mac Mini? Seriously, get a real computer that does not insult the
intelligence. Macs are for stupid people. Or is it that they make people
stupid? For some odd reason, there is this elitist air about those who use
Macs. I am not sure if this is because they truly believe that a Mac is more
powerful than any other computer on the planet, or if it is just because
they were so royally ripped off when they bought it, that they force
themselves to believe that the more you pay the better the thing is.

Nokia 6670

I picked up my new phone on Saturday. I ended up having to go for the Nokia 6670, and, initially, was disappointed that I did not get the Sony Ericsson K750i.

Now, after having used the phone for 2 days, I am pleasantly surprised with how much I like this phone.

I bought a blue-tooth dongle for my laptop. The phone also comes with the pop-port cable, which means my phone can communicate with my laptop in 2 ways. I have managed to send photos, files and contacts to my
laptop with great ease. I have also been able to set up the sync between my
Outlook and my phone painlessly, which means I can manage my contacts through
Outlook (and they are backed up) and my calendar and task items are on my phone
as well, so I can get reminders even when I am not in front of my laptop.

I am a bit disappointed about the fact that the phone
has a RealPlayer installed rather than a player that supports MP3 format, but I
have converted a couple of MP3s to RealMedia format, and the sound quality is
great, and of course, the files are much smaller in size. It just means I have
to convert my CDs to MP3 and then to RM, but since I cannot keep too many songs
on my phone anyway, it is not that much of a problem.

The quality of the camera is quite good. I suppose it
will be even better once I remove the piece of plastic protecting the lens *grin*

I am still looking for an anti-virus to load on my
phone, as this phone runs on the Symbian OS, which is prone to attacks. I am
just not prepared to pay the same for a mobile anti-virus as one pays for a
desktop anti-virus.

I am surprised, however, that the phones do not come
with an anti-virus built in, but then, Windows doesn’t either.