Pre-blog: Nice Cans! AKG K240DF

Although there are better headphones out on the market, these are one of the best for the price. Studio-Reference standard, and one of the very few headphones that passed the broadcast standards set by the Institute of Radio Technology in Munich.

These are from the same family as AKG's K240S (the new consumer version) and the K240M (the original version)... the DF takes the M version higher by calibrating the drivers to sound like you were in a mixing studio (instead of listening from a headset)

These aren't for your average iPod though, (you get AKG's K240S for that) these require a decent headphone amp to power the high impedance drivers.

For those that are starting a home studio... these are the best substitute for near-field monitors.... specially for portable studios.

Pre-blog: The pen is mightier than the mouse

For the past few years, I've been very happy with Wacom's Graphire 3 tablet. Over a mouse, it allows me to draw naturally in my software apps like Photoshop, Painter, etc. Being pressure sensitive, it allows finer control over photo retouching, and other fine pen work... plus unlike a mouse, the tablet is flat so it stores easily in my laptop bag (in one of the side pockets) and isn't bulky at all.

I recently got lucky and got an incredible deal on Wacom's professional Intuos2 tablet... this thing is HUGE!!! at 12" x 18" it gives me actual drawing space ... what I draw, is draw actual size on my computer.

Over the portable Graphire 3 that I use with my laptop, the Intuos 2 feels much more like I'm drawing on paper... pressure sensitivity is much more accurate, and response is much better. Not to mention the pen feels nicer in my hand.

Wacom Philippines was having a sale and offered the Intuos 2 at a great price. With the launch of the Intuos 3, they were trying to get rid of existing models to make way for the new one...so I really felt really lucky since I was eying the smaller 6" x 8" Intuos 3 prior to finding out about the sale.

Now my only problem is finding desk space for this huge tablet!!!! Hahahaha

My little Graphire 3 will still be used more often (since I'm on my laptop more often, and trust me... a little 12" Powerbook looks really stupid plugged to a tablet that's almost 3x bigger than the laptop itself) But at least, now, doing things on my desktop and larger monitor feels a lot better than using the smaller 4"x5" tablets.

For anyone into graphics, photoshop, computer art... I have to strongly recommend any of Wacom's products!

**And for those business people who want some sort of pen input on their computers, Wacom has a really small tablet just for business people called the BizTablet. This allows you to "write" notes in your Word docs, and "sign" PDF files.

Pre-blog: Osim iCare 100

Considering how much time I spend in front of a computer screen, I decided to try this thing out.

Osim is known for their really good (and extremely expensive) massage chairs. Since those are out of reach, I was looking around their shop and came across the iCare 100.

It's not a miracle machine. But it does help. Makes you fall asleep easier... if that was an intended side-effect.... good!

I think Osim has a higher end version (iCare 200) which has heat, and temple massagers as well, but costs 3x more than the iCare 100.

Pre-blog: The Sony Ericsson P910i

Ok, after holding out during the P900 days... I finally was able to jump a small generation gap between my P800 and the new P910.

A few of my friends had the P900 so I was able to compare the P800 and the P900.

I will be making comparisons the both the P800 and P900 just because there are certain things that I feel are relevant to both older siblings.

Now with my P910 I think I can make a pretty good comparison to the phone I've had the longest (almost 2 years)... my beloved P800.

First, the obvious... the screen... it's a whole lot better, even compared to the P900. Contrast is much better and colors are a lot more vivid.

The numeric keypad on the P900 feels a bit better though, more tactile feedback, and it's easier to feel the keys. The P910 keys are good and big, but relatively flat... so there is a greater chance of hitting the wrong key. But it's not that bad... the P900 keypad was just a bit better. I do like the white backlights however. I won't discuss the keypad on the P800 cuz that was just pathetic...whoever designed the P800 keypad should be shot!

It's still running UIQ 2.1 so no jump over the P900. Small things were added.. a dedicated PDF viewer (although even the P800 could view PDFs, it didn't have a cute icon for the app)

Other apps on the CD are mostly demo apps so those are useless.

The sync application is now unified for the P800/900/910 the latest version can be downloaded from SonyEricsson's site.

Now for famous thumb-board. It works really well. Feels weird at first. Specially since I got used to using the P800 without the keypad... I'm still faster with my stylus though. But the keypad is fun to use, entering long messages is a lot easier now. The flip is a lot stiffer than the one found on the P900, but you can still open it with one hand.

One thing that I did notice however is that the phone itself is a lot faster than the P800. I haven't been able to confirm the CPU used on the P910 yet, but I'm guessing it's that the P910 now uses faster memory... probably the same type found on the Duo Pro sticks.

On board memory is heaven... it's like moving from a one-bedroom apartment to a 2-storey mansion! Handy Day memory bars look empty even with most of my apps installed.

The biggest problem I had was transferring my SMS from my P800 to my P910 (ya, ya... I'm an SMS hoarder)

Ok... that's enough of the good news. There are a couple of glitches that I already found.

One being that the P910 has issues with the HBH-30. Since the P910 now supports the new Handsfree/Headset Bluetooth profile, older headsets seem to have a problem keeping paired. My headset works occasionally...but it loses it's connection often now so I can't initiate a voice call from it. According to the new and improved SonyEricsson call centers, the HBH-30 is not compatible with the P900 or P910...duh... whatever. (If I find out that those morons are working in Convergy's, I'm going over there and I'm gonna beat them with a stick!!! HAHAHAHA!)

The Bluetooth issue is the only serious bug I've found so far... the second bug I've found is fixable.

I had issues syncing with Outlook XP. Again, SE Call Center help...was of course... no help at all. I found the solution though, download the latest SP3 for Office XP and it fixes the sync problem. I can't speak for Office 2003 users, but I'm guessing if you have sync problems, get the latest Service Pack from Microsoft.

Over-all, the P910 is a great upgrade to P800 users. P900 users, well, I'd recommend just holding out for the next one... or sell your P900 and add more for the P910. But unless you plan to get the new Duo Pro sticks, the P900 is good enough for most people.

**Wishlist: WiFi, and cheaper memory sticks! (Oh, the P910 comes with a 32MB Duo PRO stick...by... Sandisk! hahaha! I guess Sony didn't meet their deadline)

Pre-blog: Sony Ericsson P800 First Look

Ok, I've had my P800 for about a week now.  Here's my initial review:

It's great!  I tried it out extensively before purchasing it, and I was pleased by most of it's features...and for once, it seems to be an SE product that won't be plagued by too many hardware defects.  (I'll get to the software issues in a while)

The package comes with everything to get you started:

• P800
• 4 styli (1 on the phone, 3 extra)
• 16MB Memorystick Duo
• Memorystick Duo adapter
• USB cradle (it's slow for USB)
• Wrist strap (this clips to a loop inside the battery compartment at the bottom of the phone)
• Nylon pouch (no, it doesn't have a belt loop)
• Stereo headphones/handsfree
• Charger
• Removable keypad w/ alternate cover
• 2 CDs (one for software, the other Multimedia)
• Manual
• Quick start guide
• Accessory brochure.

First, the screen.  It's fairly good.  Don't get me wrong, I don't find anything wrong with it... Colors are a bit washed out for me.  This could be because it's a touchscreen, as I've noticed that most touchscreens (even on PDAs) are a bit lighter than their non-touchscreen counterparts.  I would recommend getting (or making) a screen protector right away since this device will go through a lot of use.

The removable keypad is, well, pathetic.  I don't use mine.  It's ugly, has poor tactile feedback, and the 'bump' on the 5 key is almost invisible so typing/dialing without looking is almost impossible.  And the phone looks way better without it anyway.  BUT... the keypad may have a few uses... one, it can serve as a screen protector when closed.  And two, it does allow one handed operation (SMS, dialing) that is a bit better than using the virtual keypad and your thumb.  It's difficult to use the P800 without looking at it though.

Signal reception is average, about the same as the T68i.  I initially thought I had problems regaining lost signal, but so far, that seemed to be a 'first day glitch' only.  I haven't had any signal (GSM/GPRS) problems since.

Communicam: about the same as the MCA-20 in terms of quality.  But it does offer lower compression, so if you intend to tweak things in Photoshop, you'll have better results using pictures from the P800.

Speakerphone is loud enough to use in a car, or relatively quiet room.  I initially found it strange that it was placed at the BACK of the phone though.  I did find that this setup worked better than the "proximity sensor" setup on the older Ericsson R520 (also found on the new Nokia 7650) as this way, your speakerphone doesn't get turned off by accident, and holding it up to your ear by accident isn't deafening either. (This also is an advantage if you're in a very noisy environment and need to use the speakerphone near your ear just to hear the other party)

Stereo headset jack is proprietary (it has 2 rings for stereo, and 1 for the mic) , but you can use a 2.5mm to 3.5mm stereo jack adapter to plug the P800 to bigger speakers for MP3 playback... you do lose the handsfree function if you do this.

Browser button is USELESS.  Press it with the flip closed, and it asks you to open the flip, since browsing cannot be done with the flip closed.  Open the flip, and you'll need the stylus anyway, so the "shortcut" button is something I wish they made 'remappable'.  The browser isn't the new Opera w/ small screen rendering yet, but it works fine for me...I can wait for the Opera upgrade.

Messaging is unified.  So all your SMS, EMS, MMS, Emails, beamed items (Anything received via IR or BT) & OTA messages are found under this menu. Sending a message is very straight forward, fields are clear and handwriting (Jot) is a breeze.  *Just a note: Palm is now going to license Jot to be used in the Palm OS, rebranded as Graffiti 2.

To send a message, there are two ways: One, go to the messages menu, click on create new SMS.  Two, while viewing a contact, you'll see 2 small envelope icons beside their mobile number... click on the one with the "play triangle" on it to send an MMS to that contact, or click on the regular envelope to send a regular SMS.

Battery life is only about a day or two after playing with the phone a lot. That's great life for a PDA, but only average for a phone.

Ok... now for the software...

Organizer, Contacts, Internet, Speed-dial and Messaging all work great.  I honestly like the look and feel of Symbian over Palm or PPC.  I like Palm OS 5 though.  Although some people had problems syncing with Outlook, I didn't experience any hitches with mine.  Works over cable, IR, or Bluetooth.

The phone is as multi-tasking as you can get given such a small device and the fact that it's PRIMARILY a phone.  While in a call, you can switch to speakerphone mode just by opening the flip...this way you can continue talking, while viewing, reviewing, or entering new info on the phone.  The call won't end by closing the flip, it'll just switch off the speakerphone. The phone actually can perform more tasks at once than a Palm can!  For example, I have TIPICme (this is a unified messenger for Symbian, it handles Yahoo, MSN, ICQ and AIM) running in the background while I'm surfing.  A call can come in, GPRS session is paused, call ends, surfing resumes and TIPICme is still running in the background.

The phone runs on an ARM9 200mHz CPU (yup, 200mHz), has 12MB onboard RAM (It's actually 16, but 4MB is used by the OS), and 16MB on the Memstick Duo. OS is Symbian's new UIQ (Symbian OS 7 Quartz ver 2.0)

The phone isn't perfect (yet)... most of its bugs are software related. Here are some bugs that are universal:

• Warning Triangle flashing (this means a system failure occurred, press & hold the power switch until the phone shuts off, then turn it on again)
• Communicam bug (displays SE logo instead of viewfinder, only restarting the phone can fix this)
• Clock is inaccurate...sometimes late, sometimes fast... I haven't had any problems, but a lot of my friends experience this. -GPRS login inconsistencies... sometimes the phone has trouble logging in even though GPRS is available.
• digitizer 'jumps' sometimes.

I feel I've left out a lot of other features... there are just so many on this phone.  If I remember anything else, I'll send in more info!  Hope this answers some questions.

John Lacson