Overall this is a nice looking device that has a decent price tag for what it offers.  It is small, portable and easy to use.  It will never replace a full size projector but if you want to impress your friends at home, or fancy using this at the office, then it has potential.

The 3M MPro150 is the latest pocket projector to be released by 3M, building on the previous MPro 120.

The MPro 150 is essentially the same as the MPro120 but with 1Gb internal storage, improved file format support, a USB mini out port and a MicroSD card slot.  The only downside is reduced battery life.

The full specifications page provides further information if you want to compare these two models further.

Box Contents

In the box you get the following:

• MPro150 projector
• 2Gb MicroSD card
• Battery
• Wall charger with adapters (US, EU, UK)
• USB to mini USB cable
• Composite video cable (RCA)
• 3 x RCA Gender Converters
• VGA computer cable
• Tripod
• Soft protective pouch
• Quick start guide

First Impressions

Out of the box the MPro150 is surprisingly light, weighing only 160 grams.  It is small enough to fit in a suit or jacket pocket.  The MPro150 exterior looks well built and feels good to hold in your hand.

On the top of the device are controls for adjusting volume and for navigation around the menu systems, a zoom button and an on/off switch.

1Gb of memory is built into the device and a 2Gb MicroSD card is included should extra storage be needed.  Personally we would have preferred a standard SD card, we find the MicroSD variety too small and fiddly for our liking.

The front of the device holds the projector screen and a dial focus control.  The rear of the device holds a VGA/AV port and a mini USB port.  Again we would have preferred a standard USB cable connector.

The MPro150 connects to a variety of devices such as digital cameras and MP3 players, but the box only includes an RCA cable with a variety of gender connectors. 

That only provides half of the connectivity you need though.  If you want to connect one of these to your iPod Touch or digital camera for example, then you’ll need to buy additional cables that connect to the provided RCA gender connectors.  So it was a shame we couldn’t hook up these devices out of the box.

Performance

Setup is straightforward, simply connect the MPro150 to your laptop or PC and transfer the necessary files onto the internal memory.

The MPro150 supports a variety of file formats, including Microsoft Office (DOC, XLS, PPT), Adobe (PDF) as well as BMP and JPG image formats.  MP3 audio and MP4 video formats are supported.

A small three legged tripod is provided to enable the projector to stand safely on a desk.

Once the projector is turned on a menu system is projected allowing a user to navigate and operate the projector.  The menu system is not the most intuitive and could be made easier to use, but after playing with the system for 10 minutes we felt comfortable working our way around.

A fan kicks in when the projector is initially switched on but soon switches off again.  We saw no signs of overheating or a noisy fan continually coming on.

Brightness or power is clearly not up to par with a dedicated full size projector, especially in brighter rooms, but if you can find a sufficiently dark room it is pretty good.

We tested out some Microsoft Word and Excel documents, these projected pretty well in small size rooms where we were sitting close to the projector.  Sitting further away and the brightness was not really sufficient to read text clearly, the font sizes became too small, so this projector won’t really scale up for larger size meeting rooms or for complex business documents containing a lot of text or graphics.

The MPro150 is more suited to small meetings or for simple PowerPoint presentations with a few bullet points on each page.

We also tested projecting some JPG photos and these worked well.  Picture quality was pretty good and if you move the projector sufficiently far away from a wall then you can enjoy photo slideshows occupying a whole wall.

Summary

Overall this is a nice looking device that has a decent price tag for what it offers.  It is small, portable and easy to use.  It will never replace a full size projector but if you want to impress your friends at home, or fancy using this at the office, then it has potential.

We’d like to see a more generous selection of cables inside the box, improved brightness and resolution.  We give this a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Enter a competition for a chance to win

Fancy winning one of these pocket projectors?

To enter, visit the mobile u web site and simply tell in 50 words or less the most memorable, funny or embarrassing presentation you’ve delivered or seen.  One winner will win £500 worth of  iwantoneofthose vouchers and an MPro150 as well as a short viral video being made, which the winner can star in if they wish.

Buy the 3M MPro150 Pocket Projector from Amazon.

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Technical Specifications

Size & Weight

• 60mm x 130mm x 24mm
• 160 grams

Power & Battery

• Battery Life: 120 minutes
• Battery Type: rechargeable lithium polymer battery

Memory

• Internal: 1GB
• External: Micro SD Card slot (free 2GB card included)

File Format Support

• Business Tools: DOC (MS Word), PPT (MS PowerPoint), XLS (MS Excel), TXT, PDF (Adobe)
• Image File: BMP, JPG
• Movie & Audio: MP4, MP3, PAL, NTSC, H.264, AMR, AAC

Inputs / Outputs

• VGA
• Composite Video
• Component Video
• USB Mini 2.0 (Data Transfer)
• Audio Out (3.5mm Stereo Jack)
• Micro SD Card Slot

© Dean Taplin - Gadget reviews from Technical Itch.

For the last few weeks we’ve been playing with the LG GW620, the first Android phone from LG.  Here is our quick review on how we got on.

Summary
The LG GW620 is a decent entry into the Android phone market.  The Google integration is excellent and there are a large selection of free applications you can install.

It needs a more responsive touch/slide interface, a larger screen, improved browser and an upgrade on the installed Android 1.5 firmware.

If LG can improve these areas this would become a very attractive phone.

First Impressions

Out of the box the phone looked good and of a decent build quality, nothing too flimsy and the phone looked like it would survive a few knocks and bumps quite easily.

The phone was a bit chunkier than we were expecting but nothing excessive, the phone easily fits in the palm of your hand.  Considering the slide out keyboard the overall dimensions of the phone are pretty good.

The touch/slide interface at times is fiddly to use, and is not as responsive as the iPhone interface.  You have to press the screen quite firmly before you can scroll the screen.  This can make it difficult when navigating a list of options, you can end up selecting an item from a list when all you want to do is scroll down the list.

Our other minor niggle was the proprietary USB port on the phone.  For a phone that is trying adopt open standards we would have liked a standard USB port like those used on other devices like digital cameras for example.

Other phone manufacturers are equally to blame in this area but it would be nice to see some standards between manufactures here.  It certainly would save having different flavours of USB cable scattered around your home.

We were disappointed to find that under the covers the LG GW620 is only running Android 1.5 (Cupcake).  We would have preferred an Android 2.0 phone.  The 2.0 version is better, more robust and provides a greater selection of applications.

Since this is an Android phone the integration with Google services such as GMail and Google Maps is excellent.

GMail contacts can be synchronised with the phone.  This can provide a very powerful contacts management system on the phone, especially if you hold information like a person’s address and web site within your GMail contacts list.  You can select a contact on the phone, click on their address and Google Maps will automatically start up and show you their location on a map.  Click on a person’s web site URL and the browser will display their web page.

There are a good number of applications available, both free and non-free, via Android Market, such as the BBC iPlayer.  Android Market works pretty much the same way as the iTunes store does on an iPod, just search for an application and install it on your phone.

The LG GW620 provides good integration with social network sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Twitter applications like twidroid can be downloaded from Android Market.

The built in browser worked well in our tests.  Web pages don’t render as well as the iPhone and the LG screen size could do with being a bit larger, but it’s not a bad effort.

Text messaging works slightly different than some other phones.  Text messages are displayed on screen as if you were having an instant message conversation with a person, which can make tracking conversations easier.

The keyboard on this phone is pretty decent overall, it is easy to use and keys were just about sufficiently far apart to avoid hitting the wrong keys.

Our only gripe was the delete key positioned directly above the enter key.  We had a tendency to press the enter key by mistake on a number of occasions, this was most annoying when performing tasks like updating your Facebook status.  The result being a half finished sentence posted to Facebook.

The LG GW620 sports a 5 megapixel camera with a good selection of options available to tweak items like exposure and metering mode.  The quality of photos taken with this phone was very good too.

Summary

Overall this a decent phone from LG with some really nice features, but it needs to improve in several areas before we would consider buying one.

If LG can provide an Android 2.0 phone with a touch/slider interface to rival the iPhone then we’d seriously consider buying one.

Buy the LG GW620 from Amazon.

What we like

• Google integration excellent
• Good selection of applications from Android Market
• Decent sized QWERTY keyboard
• Good 5mp camera

What could be improved

• More responsive touch/slide interface
• Better browser
• Larger screen
• Latest Android firmware
• Standard USB port

Gallery

Technical Specifications

• Slide Phone
• QWERTY Keyboard
• Dimension: L x W x D (mm): 109 x 54.5 x 15.9
• Android Cupcake
• Bluetooth
• Touch Screen
• Camera Resolution: 5 megapixels
• Video
• External Memory: Micro SD up to 16Gb
• 3.5’’ Audio Jack

© Dean Taplin - Gadget reviews from Technical Itch.

This review looks at the Vexia Econav 380 Sat Nav.  Vexia is a name you might not immediately associate with the sat nav market, it is a Spanish brand developed in 2008 to encourage eco friendly GPS navigation.

The Vexia Econav works like any traditional GPS navigator, but with features built-in to encourage you to drive more economically and thereby save money on your fuel bills.

The eco market is an area several manufacturers have moved into over the last 18 months, both Garmin and TomTom have developed systems which allow a user to navigate using the most fuel efficient route.

Vexia take this a step further.  Not only can it calculate the most fuel efficient route, but it also provides visual and voice instructions indicating when to change gear.

It does this by storing the vehicle profiles of over 11,000 models of car.  You simply select your car model and make when first setting up the system.

In addition to giving instructions on when to change gear, it also provides visual warnings if you accelerate or brake too quickly, as well as displaying the safe stopping distance based on current speed.

We reviewed the Vexia Econav 380.  There is also an Econav 480 if you prefer a widescreen version.  Both the 380 and 480 ship with either UK and Ireland mapping, or for a higher price European mapping.

Navigation

We tested the Vexia on the same routes we use when reviewing other GPS systems.  On the whole it performed pretty well, selecting appropriate routes.

Route recalculation when taking a wrong turn worked well most of the time, although on one occasion it got completely messed up, first telling us to turn right onto a dirt track, and when we ignored that instruction it told us to turn left into a caravan park.

The Vexia displays the speed limit of the road you’re driving on and in our tests it did an excellent job.  The correct speed was displayed on all the routes we selected.

Issues Found

There were a number of issues we did run into whilst testing, none of these were major, but they are areas we’d like to see improved:

• There is no visual or audible warning if you take a wrong turn, the system will silently recalculate the route for you.  If you’re quick and glance down at the screen you will see a progress bar as it recalculates the route, but it is very easy to miss that.  We’d like some kind of warning when taking a wrong turn.
• We couldn’t enter a destination until a satellite signal was established.  This can be particularly annoying if you want to check or program a route indoors before a journey.  Other manufacturers provide an “offline” mode where you can calculate a route without a satellite signal.
• We found the screen too small.  The information bar displayed at the bottom of the screen showing details like time of arrival and current speed was too small to read.  It’s possible things are slightly better on the Econav 480 which has a wider screen, but we feel the display needs redesigning to improve readability.
• The left hand side of the econav screen tries to convey too much information in our opinion making the screen look cluttered and unreadable.  The right hand side of the screen looks much better. 

  We also found ourselves looking at the screen more often than a traditional GPS navigator to read this information, which could prove a distraction when driving.  Sometimes less is more, and we’d like to see less information on this screen.

• At slower speeds, such as driving in urban areas, you may find the Econav is continually asking you to change up and down gear.  In our tests we were driving at 30mph in a built-up area, and it kept asking us to change up to 4th and then back down to 3rd, since our speed was drifting a couple of mph either side of what it felt was time to change gear. This got a bit annoying after a while.

Econav

We tested the Econav 380 on a 2007 Honda Civic 1.8 Sport, which itself includes a series of lights on the dashboard that indicate efficient driving, so it provided a good comparison with the Econav 380.

Overall it did a decent job of telling us when to change gear.  Of course the Vexia has to use satellites to compute your speed, so you may find a 1-2 second delay before it realises you need to change gear.

There are times when the gear change instructions don’t make sense, for example when driving up or down a hill it makes sense to stay in a lower gear, so on these occasions it is best to ignore what the Vexia suggests.

The Econav 380 provides a nice series of reports where you can view how efficiently you’ve driven for a particular day, week, etc.

Safety Cameras

Safety camera warnings are pre-installed and in our tests it worked fine with fixed cameras.  We did not get an opportunity to test whether it will detect mobile or red light cameras.  Safety camera updates are available from Vexia.

Points of Interest (POI)

The points of interest (POI) was surprisingly good, offering a good selection of categories and providing accurate listings for our local area.

Summary

The Vexia Econav is an innovative looking device with some nice features to encourage more eco friendly driving. 

As a navigational device we’d still recommend either Garmin or TomTom, both perform better overall, although the Vexia is not far behind.  Some people could also argue that driving sensibly is common sense, most people already know that if you don’t accelerate or brake too hard you can save fuel, you don’t need really need a GPS device to tell you that.  So we’re not totally convinced this device will catch on.

There is a move to making GPS devices more eco friendly though, and this device offers some potential and advantages over the likes of Garmin and TomTom in this department.  If Vexia continue to be creative and innovative in this marketplace this could be a device to watch.

Buy the Vexia Econav from Amazon.

© Dean Taplin - Gadget reviews from Technical Itch.

As we wrap up another year, here is a look at the top 10 most popular reviews on Technical Itch. This list is compiled based on the number of people who have read each review.

• Garmin Nuvi 250W Sat Nav
• Sony NV-U53 Sat Nav
• Garmin Nuvi 255WT Sat Nav
• Navman S50 Sat Nav
• 3 Mobile Broadband
• Sony NV-U73 Sat Nav
• Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet
• Garmin Nuvi 770 Sat Nav
• Sansa Fuze MP3 Player
• Apple iPod AV Connection Kit

We hope you’ve found these reviews useful and we’re looking forward to publishing more reviews in 2010.

© Dean Taplin - Gadget reviews from Technical Itch.

This review looks at the Garmin Nuvi 1490T.  This system is one of several new releases by Garmin this year. The Nuvi 1490T is aimed at the higher end of the market offering features like lane assist, junction view, route planning, speed camera warnings, traffic alerts, bluetooth, ecoRoute, public transport and pedestrian modes.  It also sports a large 5 inch screen.

Box Contents

This is what you get in the box.

• Garmin Nuvi 1490T with preloaded maps of UK and Europe
• Suction cup holder and cradle
• Power cable
• TMC traffic antenna and suction cups
• USB cable
• Dashboard disk
• Quick start guide

First Impressions

The Nuvi 1490T looks a nice system out of the box and is well constructed.  Despite the large 5 inch screen it is surprisingly easy to carry around with you and is only 15mm thick.

The suction cup, cradle, power cable and traffic antenna are the same design as other recent releases by Garmin.  The traffic antenna and power cable are two separate cables, with the traffic antenna plugging into a small socket on the power cable.  This means you have the option to take the Nuvi 1490T out on the road without the traffic antenna cluttering up your windscreen if you wish. This is an improvement over earlier models like the Nuvi 770 where the traffic antenna and power cable were one unit.

Setup in the car was a hassle free process and we found the suction cup and cradle easy to use.  Initial satellite acquisition was also quick.

Navigation

One of the features offered by the Nuvi 1490T is junction view and lane assist.  When approaching a complex junction the screen will switch to junction view for a few seconds to help you get in the right lane.

Out on the road we found the lane assist worked well.  Signposts displayed on screen were identical to the real ones on the road and plenty of warning was given when required to change lanes.

The Nuvi 1490T includes a subscription-free traffic alert service.  This service will warn you of any traffic problems on your route giving you the option to take an alternative route. 

As with other systems we’ve reviewed over the years we found the traffic alerts to be a bit hit and miss.  Sometimes it would be spot on in warning of upcoming delays.  On other occasions it would warn of queuing traffic ahead only for there to be no delays at all.

It is also worth noting that on a couple of occasions the traffic receiver was unable to pick up a signal, and this lasted for several miles before reception was regained.

So our advice would be to not expect perfection from the traffic alert service.

As far as speed camera alerts are concerned the Nuvi 1490T was very good.  It excels best with fixed cameras, in our tests it passed with flying colours in this department.

It did a pretty good job spotting mobile and temporary speed cameras too, but there were times where it could have done better.  This is to be expected though.  Temporary speed cameras, such as those in motorway roadworks, are always on the move and it is important to update the speed camera database on the Garmin from time to time.

Speed camera updates can be done via the Garmin web site.  There are also a number of 3rd party web sites offering the same updates, often at a cheaper price, such as the Garmin speed camera plugin from SCDB.info.

You can also see in the screenshot above that the Nuvi 1490T displays the current speed limit for a given road in the bottom right of the screen.  This can be useful, especially when driving on unfamiliar roads where you’re not sure of the speed limit.  In our tests the Nuvi 1490T did an excellent job displaying the correct speed limit.

Points of Interest (POI)

As with all Garmin systems we’ve reviewed the Nuvi 1490T includes an extensive points of interest (POI) database. 

The Nuvi 1490T also includes a feedback feature where you can report any anomalies you find, such as a point of interest in the wrong location.  This is a fairly new addition to the Garmin range and was introduced to compete with similar offerings from TomTom, like the TomTom Go 740 Live we reviewed earlier this year.

Issues

We tested the Nuvi 1490T over the course of a week.  During this time we ran into a number of issues.  None of these are major but when put together it does raise concerns over the build quality.

We ran into the following issues:

• Around day 3 of testing the speaker would not work when the unit was switched on.  We would be driving several miles and then realise there was no audio for the voice directions.  We checked the volume settings and the volume was not muted.  We found that by either increasing or decreasing the volume the speaker would suddenly kick back into life.  This problem occurred every time we used the system thereafter, even after doing a factory reset.
• On one occasion the unit got stuck in USB mass storage mode whilst in the car.  This basically means the Nuvi 1490T thought it was plugged into a computer rather than a vehicle meaning we couldn’t navigate anywhere.  The Nuvi 1490T just displayed a computer icon on the screen and we couldn’t do anything.  We found that once we started driving the unit would reboot itself and then return to normal navigation mode.  This problem only occurred once but was not something we expected.
• The first time we plugged the Nuvi 1490T into a computer using the USB cable it would not connect properly.  The Nuvi 1490T repeatedly rebooted itself and in the end we just disconnected it from the computer, then tried reconnecting and the second time it connected successfully.
• We ran into a couple of issues with the mapping.  On one occasion it directed us through a town centre rather than using a bypass and another time the directions had the wrong road number.  We’ve run into these type of issues when reviewing other systems, so we were not particularly concerned.  Over the course of a week of thorough road testing these were the only two mapping issues we discovered.  In our experience no sat nav system is perfect in this area, so don’t let this issue put you off.
• One other minor niggle.  There were a couple of times where we felt the Nuvi announced upcoming turns too early, which in a busy city centre could result in you taking an earlier turn by mistake.  For the majority of our tests though we didn’t find this a problem, but worth noting nonetheless.

Part of us would like to think that we simply reviewed a dud model, but we ran into a few issues when we reviewed the Garmin Nuvi 775T earlier this year too, so we feel there are a few question marks over build quality recently, especially when you consider the price tag.

Summary

The Garmin Nuvi 1490T is a nice looking system that performs well as a navigation device.  There are a few question marks over build quality though and we’re not convinced this is a good buy when you consider the price tag. 

Our advice would be to shop around for something cheaper.  If you don’t need the route planning or bluetooth then the Nuvi 1340T is quite a bit cheaper and worth a look.

Get a price on the Garmin Nuvi 1490T from Lemon Digital.

© Dean Taplin - Gadget reviews from Technical Itch.

The Mio Moov Spirit V735 is the first satellite navigation system to include a built-in Freeview TV tuner.  The idea is an interesting one, there has certainly been convergence in the electronics industry of late, with devices serving multiple purposes.  The V735 is another example of that.

You may also see this product described on various web sites as the Navman V735.  This is a result of Mio acquiring Navman.

Specifications

The specifications can be summarised as follows:

• 7" colour touch screen
• Freeview TV tuner
• FM transmitter
• MP3 and video player
• 600MHz processor
• TMC: optional
• Width: 196mm, Height: 105mm, Depth: 16mm, Weight: 320g
• Micro SD slot

First Impressions

Opening the box we were surprised at the size of the V735, it is a beast compared to other sat nav systems we’ve reviewed.  The 7’’ screen is certainly the biggest we’ve seen to date. 

Despite the size it is relatively light at 320g.  The V735 seems reasonably sturdy and looks well constructed.

On the left hand side of the device is a USB port.  There is also a SD card slot, but disappointingly this is the micro SD variety, rather than the standard sized SD card you may use on other electronic devices.

On the right hand side of the device is a telescopic TV antenna.  There is also an external antenna socket which can be used in areas with poor TV reception.  Behind this external antenna socket is small plastic flap which hides the TV card.  If you slide this flap back you can then slot in the TV card.

There is also a socket for connecting an TMC antenna and a DC In socket for charging the device from an optional AC charger (not included in box).

On the rear of the device is a small speaker which seemed to do an adequate job.

The following accessories are included in the box:

• Car mounting bracket
• Car charger
• External TV antenna
• USB cable
• Remote control

Installation

Installation wasn’t a straightforward process.  We just found the V735 too big for our liking.  It is not easy to find a location on your windscreen to attach a device measuring almost 20cm across.  You may find it difficult to find a spot that allows you to view the device without obstructing your vision of the road.

The windscreen mounting bracket is a pretty large piece of kit too, and although it does a good job of holding the V735 in place, it lacks the simplicity and elegance of either the Garmin or TomTom suction cups.

User Interface

The user interface looks very similar to the Navman S100.  This is not surprising since Mio now own Navman.

When we reviewed the Navman S100 we were not at all impressed with the GlideTouch interface.  It was a pain to use and pretty much unusable.

Thankfully the V735 is an improvement.  The screen is more responsive when gliding your finger over the screen, making it easier to move the screen up or down.  It can still be fiddly at times though and there were times when the screen seemed unresponsive or lagged behind when we pressed the screen.

If you don’t like the glide interface then you can select button scrolling instead.  When this option is selected a set of up and down arrow buttons appear on the right hand side of the screen

But we couldn’t understand why only a down arrow is provided on the main screen.  This means if you move past the screen you intended, there is no button to move back to the previous screen.  You have to cycle through all the remaining screens, get back to the beginning and start again.  It does make you wonder how much usability testing is done with these devices prior to shipping.

Overall we still found the user Interface too fiddly to use and not as easy or intuitive to use compared to Garmin or TomTom systems we’ve reviewed.  We’d like to see further improvements in this area.

Map Coverage

The following countries are covered.

Europe (23 countries): Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Italy, Ireland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Vatican.

Navigation

Although we found the screen too big from an installation viewpoint, it does offer you a lot of real estate when viewing the maps on screen.  We found the maps clear and easy to read.

GPS acquisition after first use is very quick. We were impressed with how quickly it locked onto a satellite.

We were disappointed by the route selection. It is blighted with the same issues as the Navman S100.  This is not surprising given that is probably uses the same mapping software.

We use the same routes for all our sat nav reviews so we can form a benchmark and compare how each system performs. The V735 focuses too heavily on motorways. In our tests this resulted in a route calculation over 40 miles longer than an equally fast alternative route chosen by other systems we’ve reviewed.

The V735 offers several routing profiles, but none of them made any difference.

The only routing profile that resembled those of other sat nav systems we’ve reviewed was the shortest route profile, but being a shortest route profile it navigated us through all the back roads and housing estates and was not very practical.

The V735 now includes lane assist and junction views.  This was a necessary move to allow it to compete with similar functionality offered by its rivals.  It also offers an economical routing profile designed to compete with Garmin’s ecoRoute.

The junction view on motorways worked well.  The V735 can also display the speed limit for the road you’re currently on, handy for avoiding a possible speeding ticket on unfamiliar roads.  In our tests it did a good job of showing the correct road speed.  Pre-loaded safety camera data is also included.

TV

The V735 includes a built-in Freeview TV tuner.  Unfortunately we are unable to provide any feedback on this side of the device since we could not get a TV signal.  Apparently the TV will only work in areas where the analogue signal has switched over to digital.

Summary

The Mio Moov V735 is an interesting device with potential although it still lags behind Garmin and TomTom, both in terms of usability and routing performance.  We also feel this device is too big to use on a day to day basis as a navigation device.

The user interface and routing performance will need to be improved further before it can mount a serious challenge to either Garmin or TomTom.

Prices

Get a price on the Mio Moov Spirit V735 from Lemon Digital.

Compare Mio Moov Spirit V735 prices on Amazon.

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© Dean Taplin - Gadget reviews from Technical Itch.

Summary

They’re certainly not the best looking speakers out there, and sound quality may not be as high as some other Edifier systems we’ve reviewed, but those other systems are considerably more expensive than the E3350. 

If you intend to use the Edifier E3350 as a set of desktop speakers for your PC then they are a pretty good option, but if you’re looking for something for your MP3 player we feel there are better speaker systems out there.

Buy these or similar speaker systems from Amazon.

The E3350 marks our 4th outing into the world of Edifier speaker systems, having previously reviewed the Luna 5, MP300 and Luna 2..

The E3350 are part of Edifier’s Life Style range of speakers.  They are designed to be used either with a desktop PC system or standalone with a MP3 player.

First Impressions

Having reviewed several Edifier speakers before we had high expectations of the E3350 in the design department.  Opening the box we were a little disappointed.  The E3350 are not a bad set of speakers visually, but they don’t grab your attention like some of the other Luna speakers systems do.

The speakers themselves have a nice sturdy feel to them and are heavy enough to sit firmly wherever you place them.  There is also a decent amount of audio cable provided to enable you to place the satellite speakers apart.

The speakers consist of a pyramid shaped subwoofer capable of delivering 32W, two 9W satellite speakers and a wired volume controller.

The speakers have dimensions of 96 (w) x 234 (h) x 118 (d) mm, which we found about the right size when used as a set of desktop speakers.  If you want to use the speakers in a living room they are also small enough to fit away somewhere without taking up too much space.

The subwoofer itself measures 248 (w) x 199 (h) x 294 (d) mm, which again we found was small enough to tuck away under our desk.

The rear of the subwoofer provides an input for the wired volume controller, more on that later, a Line In for you PC or MP3 player, Speaker Out for connecting the satellite speakers, and finally a power input.

There is also a dial where you can adjust the amount of bass.  We turned the bass up to the maximum level for our tests.

The E3350 includes a wired volume controller.

This volume controller has several advantages and disadvantages. 

As a set of desktop speakers the volume controller works well.  We could place the controller wherever we liked on our desk.  We liked this setup, sometimes it can be difficult to reach over to volume controls directly on a speaker, especially if you those speakers are right at the back of a large desk. 

We found the separate wired volume controller an advantage.  We could place it in a suitable position where we could control the volume without moving from our chair.  It is also small enough so that you don’t lose any valuable desk space.

On the downside the volume controller is connected directly to the subwoofer, again we didn’t find this a problem when the speakers are used with a desktop PC.  But if you intend to use these speakers in a living room you may find the amount of cable between the subwoofer and the volume controller insufficient, depending on the audio setup you want.  There is also no remote control.

For our first set of tests we connected these speakers to a desktop PC system and played a variety of tracks from our PC hard drive.  We found the sound loud and clear, sufficient to fill a room.

We then connected an iPod to these speakers and compared the sound again.  We observed quite a bit of distortion in the bass department.  Vocals also lacked the clarity we’ve seen from other iPod speakers we’ve reviewed.

Placing the E3350 speakers side by side our set of Cygnett Unison speakers we could clearly hear the E3350 struggle in comparison, although the Cygnett Unison are considerably more expensive.

Summary

They’re certainly not the best looking speakers out there, and sound quality may not be as high as some other Edifier systems we’ve reviewed, but those other systems are considerably more expensive than the E3350. 

If you intend to use the Edifier E3350 as a set of desktop speakers for your PC then they are a pretty good option, but if you’re looking for something for your MP3 player we feel there are better speaker systems out there.

Buy the Edifier E3350 speaker system from Amazon.

Technical Specifications

• Power output : RMS 2 x 9W + 32W subwoofer
• Signal to noise ratio (amplifier) : 85dBA
• Gross Weight: 5 kg

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The Luna 2 marks our 3rd outing into the world of Edifier speaker systems, having previously reviewed the Luna 5 and MP300.

The Luna 2 are a set of USB speakers for connecting to a desktop PC system.  They also include 3.5mm stereo and optical fibre inputs which means you can connect other devices to the speakers like an MP3 player.

First Impressions

Having previously reviewed the Luna 5 and MP300 speaker systems we knew that Edifier has a flair for designing speakers that make a statement and stand out from the crowd.

The Luna 2 continues this trend, resembling the looks of its larger sibling the Luna 5.

Out of the box the Luna 2 speakers looked good, they were solid and well constructed.  Weighing 2kg each they are certainly the heaviest desktop PC speakers we’ve used.

The speakers have dimensions of 194 (w) x 195 (h) x 118 (d) mm, so they are quite chunky, but fitted well on our desk either side of our LCD monitor.

The rear of the speakers provide a USB port for connecting to your PC, as well as a Line In socket for plugging in an MP3 player.

The speakers pack a punch too with a Class D amplifier producing 50W of power.  This kind of power is probably too much when sitting right in front of the speakers, but they’re good if you want to setup a music system from your PC.

We found the sound as good as the Luna 5 we’ve previously reviewed.  We hooked up an iPod and cranked the volume up and let it bang out a couple of hours of solid dance music and it didn’t disappoint, although again the Cygnett Unison speakers we’ve previously reviewed produce a better performance in the bass department.

The Luna 2 has an interesting set of controls when playing music via a media player on your PC.  You can swipe your hand from left to right over the volume controls and it will fast forward to the next track, swipe your hand the other way and you can rewind to the previous track.  If you place your hand over the controls for a few seconds you can also turn the speakers on and off.

We found this control setup interesting but thought it was more of a gimmick, we’re not sure people would find it really useful.  It’s nice to see a company experimenting in this area though and trying to produce a device that is a bit different.

Summary

The Luna 2 continue the trend of other Edifier products.  They look great and deliver very good sound overall.  Our only concern is the price.  The cheapest we’ve seen them available is around £200.  At this price it could encourage buyers to look for cheaper alternatives.

If you’ve got the cash and want some powerful desktop speakers then these are worthy of a closer look.

Technical Specifications

• USB 2.0 PC speaker
• CapSense touch-sensitive user controls
• Input Type: USB, 3.5mm stereo or optical fibre
• Solid cast alloy in the base
• Class D 50W amplifier
• Total Power Output : RMS 30W x 2
• Dimensions: 194 (w) x 195 (h) x 118 (d) mm
• Net Weight: 4.0kg

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This review looks at the GrooveTransmit FM transmitter from Cygnett. This small gadget allows you to play your iPod or other MP3 player through your car FM stereo.

Main Features

• Play your iPod or iPhone music and audio books through your car FM stereo
• Easy auto-tuning technology finds the best FM frequency for optimum sound
• Strong & flexible gooseneck cradle for secure & adjustable positioning
• Automatically charges and connects iPods and iPhones – no batteries required
• LCD display for easy night viewing
• Plug in other MP3 Players or Mobile Phones via 3.5mm Audio in Socket
• Stores up to 4 of your most used Channels
• Wide transmission range (88.1 – 107.9MHz)

Box Contents

This is what the box looks like.

Opening the box reveals the following:

• Cradle
• Gooseneck for plugging into cigarette lighter socket
• Audio cable
• Quick start guide

Installation

Setup of the GrooveTransmit firstly involves adjusting the cradle to match the size of your iPod or other MP3 player.  The cradle looks like this.

On each side of the cradle are up and down arrows which can be used to select an FM frequency.  There is also an auto-tune feature where it will automatically select an available FM frequency on your car stereo.

There are 4 preset buttons for storing favourite frequencies.  These can come in useful when driving along if a radio station starts to interfere with the transmission, you can switch to another preset frequency.

At the bottom of the cradle is an audio in socket, using the supplied audio cable you plug your iPod or other MP3 player into the cradle.

At the top of cradle are two small foam pads for keeping your iPod or MP3 player in place.  These foam pads retract out as follows to accommodate different sizes of MP3 player.

In the centre of a cradle is a small circular pad which is adjusted from the back of the cradle.  This is used to further hold the MP3 player in place.

The back of the cradle looks as follows.  There is a small release button for adjusting the foam pads on the front of the cradle.  There is also a small turn button for adjusting the circular centre pad mentioned above.

At the bottom of the cradle is a slide in socket for connecting the gooseneck.

Setup of the GrooveTransmit was so far so good with our iPod held firmly in place.  Installation in the car was another matter though.

The first problem we found is that the gooseneck was too big for our cigarette lighter socket.  We found it a very tight fit, in fact when we tried to remove the gooseneck it literally pulled out the cigarette lighter socket with it.

We’ve tested numerous other gadgets in the same car, such as sat nav devices, and never encountered this type of problem before.

The second issue to bear in mind is that device is not really suited for vehicles where the cigarette lighter socket is next to the gear stick.

In our car it was very difficult to change gear with the GrooveTransmit in place.  We tried moving the GrooveTransmit in various different angles but could not find a decent position where you could safely operate the gear stick.

This device is best suited for vehicles where the cigarette lighter socket is positioned on the dashboard, as shown below.

Even though this device wasn’t suited for our vehicle, we were still able to test it out.

The auto-tune feature worked first time.  The GrooveTransmit selected an available frequency, we tuned our car FM stereo to the same frequency and we were then able to listen to our iPod.  Sound quality was excellent with no interference.

Summary

This is an interesting looking device that works well, but if the cigarette lighter socket in your vehicle is anywhere near the gear stick then we’d recommend not buying it.

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For the last few weeks we’ve been testing out the Ricoh CX1 digital camera which is one of the new additions to the Ricoh camera range.

Features

The key features of the Ricoh CX1 are as follows.

• 9.29 megapixels
• 7.1x zoom lens featuring a focal length in 35mm format equivalent to 28-200mm
• Movie mode
• Vibration reduction function
• Face recognition
• Macro shooting at 1cm
• Continuous 4fps shooting mode
• Dynamic range double shot function
• Multi-pattern auto white balance
• Multi-Target AF
• Easy mode for beginners
• 3 inch LCD display
• Edit pictures directly on camera

Looks

Out of the box the Ricoh CX1 looks well constructed and feels solidly built.  It looks like the type of camera that could survive a few knocks.  It is compact too measuring just over 101mm wide and 28mm wide, just about the right size to fit in your hand.  Weighing in at only 180g it is also light and easy to carry around.

The top of the camera features a function dial where you can select various shooting modes, power and shutter release buttons and a small microphone. 

The side of camera holds a small plastic flap, which when pulled back reveals a USB port and AV output terminal.  There are two eyelets for attaching a camera strap.

On the underside of the camera is a sliding flap which tucked underneath holds a rechargeable battery and SD card.  There is also a tripod screw hole.

The rear of the camera contains a 3 inch LCD screen.  There is also a small joystick control which allows you to perform functions like toggling macro mode and changing the flash settings.  There are also playback, menu, self-timer/delete and function buttons.  A small speaker is located at the bottom right of the camera.

Usability

Overall the Ricoh CX1 seems well designed with just enough buttons to perform most common actions, but not too many to baffle beginners.

Time taken to switch the camera on and off is pretty quick, useful if you want to quickly snap a photo.  Time taken to focus was fast too.

There are a few touches we like, including the image auto-rotate feature.  If you view a photo in landscape and then rotate the camera 90 degrees, the photo will automatically shift into a portrait position.

When viewing photos there is an option to delete either a single photo or multiple photos, you can also delete photos within a given range by selecting a start and end photo.  This can be useful for deleting multiple photos in a single batch.

The Ricoh CX1 includes a built-in spirit level which is designed to help you take level photos, rather than the camera pointing up or down.  A visual display on the LCD screen indicates when the camera is level.  We’re not convinced this is a useful feature, or that people will take much notice of this, but it is there if you need it.

The small joystick button on the back of the camera allows you to perform various functions:

• Exposure compensation – this option allows you to compensate for photos that are either over or under exposed.  You can dial in between +2.0 and –2.0 to increase or decrease the exposure.  There is also a very useful histogram displayed on the screen.

  Anyone who has used a DSLR camera is probably already aware of the histogram but it is nice to see it appearing in a point and click camera like the Ricoh CX1. 

  The histogram is basically a graph on the screen which you can use to determine if a photo is under or over exposed.  You can then use this to adjust the exposure for your next photo.

• White Balance – here you can use one of the preset WB modes: auto, outdoors, cloudy, incandescent lamp, fluorescent lamp or manual.
• ISO – you can select IS0 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600.
• Image Quality – you can select various sizes for your photos, from VGA up to 9 megapixels.
• Focus – you can choose between AE/AF, AF, AE and Off.  There is also a crosshair on the LCD screen which you can move with the joystick.  This enables you to tell the camera which part of an image to focus on.  Quite a useful feature if the camera won’t focus on the area you want.

There is a button on the back of the camera for viewing photos.

There is a display button which you can use to view more information about a photo.  Pressing this button will display the exposure histogram, focal length, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, flash mode and the date and time the photo was taken.  Pressing the display button again allows you to view white saturation.

We liked this information screen and thought it was well designed, providing a quite overview of the photo metadata.

The camera supports an “easy” mode for simple point and click photos, plus there are manual options where you can customise some of the camera settings.  These are obviously not on a par with the manual controls offered by a DSLR, but they do at least offer you some flexibility in getting the picture results you want.

Picture Quality

The lens supports a 35mm equivalent focal range of 28-200mm which should satisfy most people.  There is also a digital zoom which can take you up to 960mm although it is quite fiddly to use.  It also has a decent 1cm macro mode too.

Macro mode delivered some pleasing results with an excellent level of detail, even picking up the tiny indentations of an individual key on a computer keyboard as in this example.

Picture quality at both the 28mm and 200mm of the focal range was pretty good and seemed on par with other point and click photos we’ve used.

These two examples show photos at 28mm and 200mm respectively.  These were taken out of the box using the default settings.

Noise was noticeable in low light conditions, and at the longer focal range the flash struggled to compensate.  Although to be fair our test photos were merely point and click photos taken at the default ISO-200, hardly an ideal setting for low light.  So it is worth experimenting with the settings to get better results.

These two photo show picture quality with and without the flash.

Summary

The Ricoh CX1 looks solidly built, has a decent set of features and on the whole is pretty easy to use.  Picture quality out of the box is pretty good too and if you’re prepared to spend some time tweaking the settings then you can be rewarded with good results.  Overall this is a pretty good camera with some nice touches.

We feel it is a little on the expensive side though for a point and shoot camera with prices around £270.  At this price range it could encourage buyers to seek cheaper alternatives.

Buy the Ricoh CX1 from Amazon.

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Detailed Specifications

• External Dimensions
  101.5 mm (W) x 58.3 mm (H) x 27.9 mm (D)
• Weight
  Approx. 180 g (excluding battery, SD memory card, strap), Accessories approx. 23 g (battery, strap)
• Number of pixels
  9.29 megapixels
• Image Sensor
  1/2.3-inch CMOS
• Interface
  USB 2.0 (High-Speed USB)
• Lens Focal length
  f=4.95-35.4 mm (equivalent to 28-200 mm for 35 mm film cameras. With Step Zoom set, option of seven fixed lengths: 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 85 mm, 105 mm, 135 mm, and 200 mm)
• f-aperture
  F3.3 (Wide) – F5.2 (Telephoto)
• Zoom Magnification
  Optical: 7.1x zoom (equivalent to 28-200 mm focal length for 35 mm cameras)
  Digital: 4.8x up to 34.1x (equivalent to 960 mm) when used with optical zoom
• ISO Sensitivity (Standard Output Sensitivity)
  AUTO, AUTO-HI, ISO80 / ISO100 / ISO200 / ISO400 / ISO800 / ISO1600
• White Balance Mode
  AUTO / Multi-Pattern AUTO / Outdoors / Cloudy / Incandescent / Incandescent 2 / Fluorescent / Manual, White Balance Bracket Function
• Flash
  Built-in flash mode
  Auto (during low light and when the subject is backlit), Red-eye-Reduction, Flash On, Slow Synchro, Flash Off

  Built-in flash range
  Approx. 20 cm – 3.0 m (Wide), approx. 25 cm – 2.0 m (Telephoto) (ISO Auto/ISO 400, from the front of the lens)

  Flash compensation
  +/-2.0EV (1/3EV Steps)

• Shooting Mode
  Auto Shooting Mode / Easy Shooting Mode / Dynamic Range Double Shot Mode / Continuous Shooting Modes (Continuous, M-Continuous Plus, Ultra-High-Speed Continuous) / Scene Modes (Portrait / Face / Sports / Night Portrait / Landscape / Nightscape / High Sensitivity / Zoom Macro / Skew Correction / Text) / My Setting Mode / Movie Mode

© Dean Taplin - Gadget reviews from Technical Itch.