LIVEdigitally

Slappa CD/DVD Case Review

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Yes, we are reviewing a CD and a DVD case. Yes, there are plenty of reviews of these exact same cases out there already. So what can we possibly do different? One word. Fire. 

Our review team here at LIVEdigitally decided if we were going to review a “hard-body” case with “DURO-SHOCK” protection and a “heavy gauge zipper”, we wanted to make sure it lived up to its promise. Total Impact Industrial is the manufacturer of the Slappa brand of CD and DVD cases (iPod case coming soon), which promise to “Protect Your Digital Gear.”

Our tests involved a series of semi-typical day-to-day events that a CD case might go through, including: spilling coffee on it, dropping food on it, sitting on it, and a whole lot more. Oh yeah, and fire. Our good friend Ron joined us to put the case through the ringer.

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Sony Ericsson s700i review

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Sponsored by Reyox Hosting

By Asher Saeed
The Sony Ericsson (SE) S700i is a cellular phone that I have been waiting in anticipation for, ever since I ‘played around’ with the NTT DoCoMo SO505i. The SO505i is what the S700i is obviously inspired from. Unfortunately given Japan’s totally different cellular phone network (W-CDMA as far as NTT is concerned) a state of the art cellular phone such as the SO505i is unlikely to launch in any other country except Japan considering the vastly different cellular networks. Moreover, even given the advent of 3G networks in other countries such as the UK, the SO505i still is unlikely to work outside Japan considering how the phone is completely and totally locked to the NTT network.

 

SE, finally having some pity upon our poor GSM-using selves, announced earlier this year the S700i, a phone which shares the same swiveling screen design concept as their SO505i and has a similar 1.3 Megapixel camera with photon flash and memory stick DUO support.

After waiting for several months hoping that a definitive release date would be announced, SE out of the blue launched the S700i in early November pretty much all around the world. The S700i is available from various carriers worldwide as well as completely OEM unlocked (which gives the user complete access to all of the phones features, and is, of course, how I have it).

Now you might be wondering what sets this phone apart from its competition. Well first of all, it is just gorgeous. The S700i boasts an eye-catching metallic type silver finish (which thankfully doesn’t scratch that easily!) and an amazing 262,000 (18 bit) active matrix TFT display. The screen resolution and glossy quality is simply stunning. The phone has one of the best 1.3 Megapixel cameras I have ever used (and I’ve used many). That’s it for the overview. If that’s not enough for you, the phone also features support for memory stick DUO and has an integrated MP3 player and FM radio. Still not enough? It has onboard 32 MB of memory and an additional 32 MB memory card is included with the package.

For the first time ever, we are proud to show off a product review with a video! Watch this 60-second preview of the phone.

In one phrase: “The phone simply oozes sex appeal!”The phone sports a 180 degrees swiveling design. Now what’s different about this design is the fact that it only swings 180 degrees (in case you missed it the first time I said it). Once you flip it to full length you cannot turn the screen ‘the other way’ but must turn it back to closed position the same way you opened it. I actually like this concept; I think it has something to do with hinge reinforcement.

As expected by a ‘swinging phone’ the hinges do get loose after several openings and closings (although not as loose as some Samsung or Motorola I’ve tried).

The front of the phone has a large, extremely bright screen. The facade has four action buttons and a d-pad in the center with a key in the middle of the d-pad. This is quite effective for using the phone without requiring the user to open the flip.

Once you swing open the LCD screen, a set of keys are revealed. The S700i has, by far, the best set of keys I have ever used in a SE phone. The finish is striking, although it might take some getting used to as the keys are ‘inset’ which means they’re not exactly protruding outwards. But once you get used to it, it’s very satisfying to use and easy to “type” with (T9-style input is supported as well).

On the right side of the phone is a soft plastic hatch which conceals the memory stick DUO card slot. As I previously mentioned, SE was kind enough to supply one 32 MB MS DUO card with the package and an adapter for using it with the bigger memory stick card readers. Right above the memory card hatch is the camera button (more on that later), and right above that are the two volume up and down buttons.

On the left side of the phone is the infrared port (pretty self explanatory and very effective as with all SE phones). Above that is the dual function slider button which basically locks/unlocks the keypad and acts as an activator for the flash when the phone is in camera mode.

Once you turn the phone around you can easily mistake it for a ‘real’ Sony CyberShot camera. The camera lens is enclosed in a shutter (finally a camera phone with a shutter!) and the shutter has a sexy silver rim around it which boasts of the camera’s mega pixel strength (engraved). Right next to the rim is the slider switch which opens/closes the lens shutter, as well as the tiny flash. The back of the phone also has the battery hatch cover (obviously) which requires a bit of strength to slide out.

Lastly, the bottom of the phone is what I like to call the ‘port end’. This contains the ports for the charger and the stereo headset. The port end has a soft plastic covering which you cannot take off. But you can slide it upwards, which is better than those removable covers (I’ve lost way too many of those!).

The phone’s internal system is similar to the system that’s in use on the SE K700i. The same menu system, the same features (pretty much)! For those who haven’t read a decent review of the K700i, I’ll recap the features for you.

The operating system (OS) supports a dynamic wallpaper scheme which I like; SE threw in a set of trendy themes which are pretty decent. As with pretty much every other SE phone there are 3D screensavers and after a while the screen turns black (once the screen saver is over).

The menu system has a wide set of features (all you’d expect, and more):

  • PlayNow (music download service by SE, I have not used this)
  • WAP browser (supports XHTML)
  • Entertainment section which features a music DJ, games and the sound recorder
  • Camera
  • Messaging (sports email, SMS and wireless village)
  • FM Radio
  • File manager
  • Phone book
  • Media player (MP3 and video)
  • Connectivity options (Internet profiles, data profiles for GPRS and HCSD, Bluetooth and infrared)
  • Personal organizer (All PIM features, including calendar alarm clock, notes, tasks, stopwatch, calculator, code memo and more)
  • Setting menu (themes, profiles, time date management, voice control, shortcuts, language, ring tones, call lists and more)

SE completely redesigned the menu system and it is much better than the interface used by the ‘now older’ SE phones (like the T610, T630 and Z600, etc). Although the OS maintains the same features, they’re more polished now.The phone offers excellent voice quality, however it is a bit quirky. I recommend you avoid rubbing the phone against your cheeks too much or the other party will most likely go deaf. If not deaf, they will definitely have trouble hearing you clearly. The phone does include a loud integrated loudspeaker which serves well for hands-free use.

The phone has excellent Bluetooth support. After thoroughly testing Bluetooth with the most popular headsets, and with my Sony VAIO’s BlueSpace software, and various other Bluetooth dongles I can safely say that connectivity is not an issue! As usual, SE shines brightly in the Bluetooth department.

The phone has excellent battery life; I use my phone all day and receive calls pretty much every hour. By the end of the day I still have 3/4ths of the battery left. I rarely acclaim or support manufacturer-claimed battery times, as they’re rarely accurate; especially considering each user uses his/her devices differently. For me, the battery life of the phone is just what I expect from a top-end SE phone.

The back of the phone: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

The phone plays MP3s in stereo, and the included set of ear buds are of excellent quality. MP3 playback (according to me, a music aficionado) was very acceptable. In fact, if 128 MB memory sticks weren’t so expensive, this device would serve most music lovers well. The unit also has a 5-band equalizer that does a good job of reproducing bass and treble.

It is obviously unreasonable to compare this MP3 player to an iPod or any other top end dedicated MP3 players. However it does give them a good run for their money and in my case it’s more than enough. Also, you can minimize the MP3 player to the background and play games and listen to music at the same time.

The phone is also able to playback QCIF video (standard GSM quality, about 1/2 the resolution of a TV screen). Frankly, unless you encode a movie especially for playback on the QCIF format, the movie capturing feature of the camera is really only above average. The video feature is something I’ve never really found effective in a cellular phone. The only cellular phone which had the best video capturing and playback was my iMate Windows Mobile Pocket PC. It’s video capturing and playback was truly amazing. I suppose a comparison is not really fair considering the massive power of that device.

As I mentioned before the S700i also has an FM radio, but don’t really listen to FM that much. For the time that I spent trying it out, the reception was crystal clear and quality was pretty good.

The back of the phone: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

I’m willing to bet that this is the part that most users have been waiting for. Without further ado, I’ll get into the details of this phone’s spectacular, yet quirky, camera.First of all, the camera won’t operate if the flip of the phone is open. It must be closed in order for the camera to function.  

The camera is activated by opening the lens cover, which is done by sliding the switch on the back of the phone. Once the cover is open the camera activates itself and the huge LCD turns into an excellent viewfinder.

Upon inspection of the camera’s menu system you’ll notice it is almost identical to Sony’s CyberShot cameras and with good reason too: Sony’s CyberShot division helped SE design this phone’s camera!

Taking pictures couldn’t be easier yet it couldn’t be more difficult! One would think it’s as simple as point and shoot but its not. You need a stable hand in order to take a picture of excellent quality. I cannot emphasize this enough but the lighting conditions must be good or the picture will come out grainy.

If you hold the camera steady and wait until the picture is clearly saved before moving your hand again, it will turn out pretty well. Here’s an important point: do not mistake the shutter sound as the picture being 100% saved, because its not! The shutter sound can be disabled once the phone enters silent mode (for all the perverts out there).

What really makes this camera great yet quirky is the fact that it has a CCD sensor rather than an el cheapo CMOS (carbon metal oxide semi conductor) sensor. However its biggest shortcoming is in the sensor, given the tiny size of the sensor and its auto focusing system you need to be sure that the camera is being held steady before snapping a picture.

Now you might be wondering why earlier I emphasized on the lighting conditions; that was simply because the built-in flash is more or less a joke. Although under some circumstances it does work well, but if you’re expecting to take pictures in pitch darkness you should think again. Unless, that is, you want a picture of perfect blackness. I recommend you look at using the flash as a torch.

 
Sample pix
Click on any of these pictures to see a sample set of pictures taken with the s700i

Here’s a list of some of the other camera-specific features:

  • Spot photometry (which displays a t-bar in the viewfinder and adjusts the light around the t-bar, this is very effective if you want to make a certain object brighter than its surroundings)
  • You can choose the photo size (1280×960 is the maximum and best quality if used effectively)
  • Night mode (this helps considerably if lighting conditions are poor)
  • Timer (great for taking that perfect picture, place the camera on a solid surface, step away, smile, viola! Perfect picture!)
  • White balance options (avoid messing with this really unless you’re an expert photographer)
  • Effects (make the picture sepia colored, pretty cool if you want to give the pictures a quaint look!)
  • 8x digital zoom, the bigger the zoom the worse the picture turns out, don’t use this in all honestly it’s only a marketing gimmick

By flipping the phone’s d-pad to the right you can operate in movie mode. You can shoot a mini movie from here; a very nice touch is the setting that lets movies span the entire length of your memory stick. I’m not going to go into the complete details of the movie recorder because it’s like most other camera phone video recorders, but of slightly better quality.Considering the CCD sensor the phone surprisingly does not lose too much battery life while taking pictures. Of course if you decide to go photo crazy the battery will rapidly drop because of the power-hungry sensor. Remember, the phone’s battery is small (780 mAh) and that CCD sensors are the same kind that are included in good cameras and accordingly use up a lot of battery.

While comparing the camera to other 1.3 megapixel cameras I’ve used (including dedicated ones), the SE S700i shines very brightly (again, if used properly!). The new Nokias with built-in 1.3 megapixel cameras simply pale in comparison to the S700i. And no, I am not a Nokia hater. I’ve used almost all of the top end Nokia phones out there including the 7610, and their camera quality really is average compared to this.

The camera shutter: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

Simply put, the S700i is an excellent phone for all the features it packs (especially the camera). It’s great for tourists who don’t want to buy a dedicated camera, or for other point-and-shoot needs. It’s great for commuters who can listen to MP3s or FM radio while on the go. It has all the expected PIM and connectivity features and much more. In other words this phone packs quite a punch.

Finally, it’s great for the executive who uses the phone a lot (being one myself). You honestly won’t be ashamed to pull this phone out of your pockets in front of clients or colleagues. I say this because frankly, many other phones which try to ‘differentiate’ in design turn out looking just plain weird and sometimes a bit too feminine (like the 7610).

 

Pros and cons

Pro: Excellent quality camera
Con: It’s quirky at the same timePro: Great MP3 player and FM radio
Con: Limited memory expansion (only up to 128 MB)

Pro: Memory is expandable
Con: MS DUO is expensive and this phone doesn’t support DUO PRO which means expansion is limited to 128 MB

Pro: Great talk time and standby
Con: Can’t hold the phone in weird positions and talk properly at the same time

Pro: Intuitive design
Con: Hinge will get loose but not unacceptably loose

Pro: Great keypad
Con: Will take some getting used to

Pro: Nice exterior color
Con: Limited at the same time because there’s only one alternative which is the S700a (for Americas) which is available in black and lacks FM radio but includes EDGE.

Pro: Full featured phone
Con: Massive price tag, $599+

 

Tips and tricks

  • While talking, do not attempt to go ‘hands free’ by supporting the phone against your shoulder and cheeks
  • For the perfect picture, ensure you hold the phone steady and that lighting conditions are bright. For the ultimate sharp picture, put the phone on a solid surface and use the self timer.
  • Get the Noiseware.com noise remover software. That will touch up your pictures considerably. All pictures that I have taken with the S700i for this review have been touched up with the community edition of Noiseware.
  • Get a screen protector immediately, the screen will scratch considering its glossy surface
That’s all for my review, I hope you found it sufficiently in-depth to help make your buying decisions.  

Asher Saeed
LD Reviewer

Here is a picture of the s700i next to a mini-A4 mouse: (click on the image for a full-screen view):

IF YA MISSED IT… Video demo

Eyetop DVD review

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I’m sure many of our readers remembers the IBM commercial from a few years back where a man is walking around a piazza in Italy, issuing buy and sell orders and browsing his Excel spreadsheet all through a screen embedded into his glasses. Well, it looks like the team at Eyetop got inspired enough to try to make part of that vision a reality with their new Eyetop DVD product.  

We define it as a miniature, portable, rugged monocular eyewear display which allows to watch videos, images and others visual information in your field of view while going about your business.

The $599 package includes a set of special glasses, headphones, and a portable DVD player, all nicely bundled into a convenient carrying case.

Here are a couple of pictures of the system (click on the image for a full-screen view):

The setup consists of two main components, the glasses and the portable DVD gear. The portable DVD player itself is stored in the backpack (it’s more of a “side-pack” than a backpack, but you’ll see that in the upcoming pictures), along with the video power and processing unit. This unit requires 4 AA batteries (not included), and provides power to the glasses. Despite the fact that the video power unit only has one button, I spent at least 10 minutes trying to figure out how to turn it on, but this was primarily my fault, as I had taken all the pieces out of the backpack to use at first. Had I left well enough alone, I would have clearly noticed the single button. Good thing I didn’t pull out the screwdriver!

Aside from the comfort and practicality of the backpack, it is also quite useful in that the Eyetop team clearly spent a lot of time designing a system where the wires were elegantly hidden. I especially began to appreciate this after I took all the pieces out and saw how good a job they had done tidying it all up.

The backpack also provided sufficient access to the DVD player for me to control playback. If there was a front-loading portable DVD player on the market, you’d never have to remove the DVD unit from the backpack. My biggest critique of the system was the supplied Shinco DVD player (it was quite janky!). Fortunately, the Eyetop carrying case comes with a special attachment for the battery pack, just to make it a bit more convenient.

Here are a couple of pictures of the equipment (click on the image for a full-screen view):

A good friend of LIVEdigitally, Ron, was available to be our fit model while testing the Eyetop DVD player. At just over 6’2″, the straps on the backpack had to be adjusted to fit his frame, but once this was done, the setup worked quite well.

All the cables were long enough to make the unit work without causing Ron to crane his neck or stand uncomfortably. All-in-all, we were satisfied with the comfort of the backpack.

The glasses headset took a bit more work to get right. The key issue was getting the adjustable nose-piece to fit well while showing the video display at the proper angle (we’ll talk more about the viewing experience in a moment). At first, the nose piece wouldn’t budge, and we were concerned about breaking it. Luckily, after a minor struggle, everything seemed to click into place, and Ron got the headset on properly.

Also built into the headset is a pair of stereo headphones. The in-bud earpieces were just fine, although I would personally substitute my noise-canceling headphones in place of the provided ones.

Here are a couple of pictures of Ron in full gear (click on the image for a full-screen view):
Ron putting on the backpack.

Ron sitting and watching.

Ron on the move.

Eyetop DVD provides what they call a “virtual 14-inch screen”. The system is designed to let you watch through one eye, while still being able to see what’s happening in the real world beyond. I found the experience quite surreal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Salvador Dali surreal, but more David Lynch surreal (yes, yes, I liked Twin Peaks too, but he’s batting about .150 these days).

The viewing area really does appear to be the 14″ screen the company promises, but I found it creates two unpleasant effects:

  • A sense of ‘floating’ inside my vision
  • A minor amount of, what’s the kind way to put it… nausea.I really don’t want to come down too hard on the product, because I like what they are trying to do. However, for those of us who tested out the system, we all felt a bit queasy after watching for a while. I don’t think I could make it through a whole movie, especially not while in a car or on a plane. Then again, maybe your system starts to adjust to it after longer exposure – as a frequent migraine sufferer, I was unwilling to take the risk.Here are a couple of pictures of the virtual screen (click on the image for a full-screen view):


    Overall, I felt the Eyetop DVD was a well-made product, with a lot of attention to putting together a complete package. As far as the viewing experience goes, I found the system to be hard to watch, and have a feeling many adults would feel the same way. Which leads me to think the product might be better suited for teenagers or young adults.

    I also believe the company is pricing Eyetop DVD well – $599 for all the included gear is not a bad deal.

    I guess we’re not living in IBM’s world yet, but as long as companies continue to innovate and deliver products like the Eyetop DVD, I look forward to seeing that vision come true. I just hope it can be accomplished in a way with a few less side effects.


    LINKS:

  • Eyetop home
  • Product page
  • Our review of the Shinco portable DVD player

    • EHX Fall 2004: Pelham Sloane

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    Pelham Sloane is a UK-based company that sells a series of “all-in-one PCs” where the only visible element of the computer is the LCD screen, with an optional keyboard. The LCD features a touch-screen interface, which really does change the way you interact with a PC.Our primary reason for mentioning this unit is to reinforce the message that the face of computing is changing, as PCs are being used for more and more purposes in the home. One of the Pelham Sloane PCs features a HDTV tuner card with PVR capabilities. The other is positioned as a kitchen device.

    If you are interested in a slim-profile PC, or the touchscreen appeals to you, go take a look at what this innovative company is up to. If not, keep your eyes open for more and more creative interpretations of how you expect to see computers in your home in the future.

    Pictures of the products (click on the image for a full-screen view):
    Company booth

    Kitchen unit:

    HDTV unit:

    TV POKER review

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     TV POKER, from Senario, brings Texas Hold’em from the card table to the TV set. The system comes with a small “console” and six controllers, and allows for one to six players to play against each other or the computer. I spent a bit of time trying out the solo play mode, as well as with a few groups of friends, including my weekly poker buddies.

    The unit is nicely packaged, with one section containing the console, and the other the six controllers. Setup is easy, the only parts you must provide are the TV set and the batteries (4 AA, not included) – the console has AV cables built into the unit, which was a nice convenience. The controllers easily plug into the console, in fact the connectors seemed to use the same interface as the old Atari 2600 – probably not intentional, but a nice homage nonetheless.

    The controllers are lightweight, and have a simple LCD interface and a single LED to indicate whose turn it is. Only two buttons are used for the gameplay, “Select” and “OK”, which for the most part, are exactly enough.

    Here are some pictures of the supplied packaging (click on the image for a full-screen view):

    The console:

    Controllers:

    I referenced the Atari 2600 before in a positive way. Unfortunately, when it comes to the graphics and sounds, TV POKER is a reminder of those times. The graphics are very lacking, even for a game that doesn’t really need to emphasize graphics. I don’t really think this is a major criteria for making a quality game, and in fact, I believe that most modern video games are too visual effects driven and lacking in gameplay. However, the poor quality of visuals in TV POKER made it feel somewhat cheap. Not quite janky, but a little too close for comfort.

    Sound effects (again, NOT important in the grand scheme of things) were almost comical. The background music sounded like someone was playing the soundtrack from Seinfeld, in reverse and n the wrong key. The digitized “crowd noise” was a nice plus, although it did get on my nerves after a while, and while you can disable it, you must make the decision before the game starts. I recommend muting your TV volume and playing something else in the background. Or just whistling.

    Here are some screenshots (click on the image for a full-screen view):


    For new players, or for very casual situations, the game play is good enough. As I watched each new user interact with TV POKER, they were generally able to pick up a controller and play with no instruction. The gameplay is very straightforward, with the TV screen showing the “public” action, such as the size of the pot, whose turn it is, and the community cards. Your controller’s LED lights up when it’s your turn, and the LCD screen displays your hole cards. Interaction is pretty easy, you push the “Select” button until the action you want to take is highlighted on your LCD screen, then push “OK”. That’s pretty much all there is to playing TV POKER.

    Here’s our problem area. The gameplay has some problems. Some of them are based in the user interface, and are mere nuisances. The more serious ones have to do with the logic of the poker play itself. For the on-screen interface, my biggest complaint is that, when it’s your turn to act, the display does not tell you how much the current bet is. In fact, there is no way to find this out. This fact, combined with the sluggish response of the controller, caused us to have a lot of erratic folding and calling “all-ins” during our test games. Once we caught on, we worked around it, but it was very annoying, and a glaring mistake in the user interface design. Also, I found it odd that you could only see your hold cards when it was your turn – at all other times, your LCD screen remains blank.

    The bigger issues have to do with flaws in the poker game. If you are purely looking at this for lighthearted play, or want a fun intro to the game, they can probably be overlooked, and you should continue to the next section. However, if you are considering this for any kind of “real” poker play, here are the most critical problems to the gameplay:

  • In solo mode, the computer opponents will call just about every bet, and will often raise completely erratically. I could find no logic or pattern, whatsoever, to the computer play.
  • You are unable to raise when posting the big blinds.
  • In “no-limit” mode, the interface for raising only allows you to raise the amount of the big blinds, or to go all-in. No in-betweens.Here are some more screenshots (click on the image for a full-screen view):


    Let me start by saying, I really, really, wanted to like the TV POKER game more than I did. Some of my friends did get a big kick out of it, and said they would use it some fun play. For me, I felt the unit just had too many problems.

    At the end of the day, as a frequent poker player, I found the novelty of TV POKER insufficient to get me to switch from a deck of cards and my poker chips, but I can see the unit achieving some good success. Especially right now, with the game leveraging some of the most popular trends around.

    If you are up for some fun, want a new toy, and aren’t playing much poker already, then absolutely, give it a shot.

    Links

  • Official Senario site
  • Buy TV POKER
  • Buy Poker Chips
  • Buy Poker Books

    • Texas Hold'Em by Phil Hellmuth

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    Texas Hold ‘Em by Phil Hellmuth (THEPH from this point forward) lets you play Texas Hold ‘Em poker anywhere you carry your cell phone. The game is playable on a large variety of phones from CellularOne, Verizon Wireless, and a handful of other carriers. I used a Motorola V810 phone, with service from Verizon, for my tests of the game.

    For those of you who have not had the chance to see him in person or on TV, Phil Hellmuth is a great player to watch. He’s not just a solid player (he won his first WSOP championship at age 24), but he brings a lot of… personality to the table as well. When I first heard Phil was lending his persona to a cell phone-based poker game, I was quite surprised by it. Hopefully he won’t have the same bad luck the sports pros get when they hit the covers of the EA Sports games (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, to keep it short, many of the players who end up on the box covers of EA Sports’ great video games tend to get injured in their next season – weird, but there is quite a bit of coincidental truth to it).

    The first gameplay mode of THEPH lets you play solo against some virtual opponents. Solo play consists of four modes: limit hold ’em, pot limit play, no limit play, and “Play Phil No-Limit” mode. The first three work as expected, and the fourth is a fun twist on a computer-driven no limit hold’em game: it comes with a very aggressive computer player. I didn’t quite figure out the formula, but basically the “Phil” player had a strong tendency to check-raise, or put in massive raises on the turn or river. Between me and Phil, we muscled out the other computer characters time and time again. It reminded me of Doyle Brunson’s comment about how he could win most ‘home games’ without ever looking at his cards.

    The multiplayer mode worked extremely smoothly, much to my delight. Once you select a type of game (limit, no-limit, etc), you simply browse a list of tables by number of players, select a table, and go. The gameplay was quite fast, fast enough that the action resembled a real poker game. Not only that, there were a lot of people playing, so there was never a delay in waiting for a game. The multiplayer system has some well-designed features for finding your friends or inviting new players to the game. Also, a “Find Phil” option lets you play with Phil Hellmuth himself, but alas, he was not around to point out the massive flaws in my game.

    While I can’t say the solo play mode was a competent technical “trainer”, it was definitely fun, and something I’d continue to play from time to time. I did find myself trying to make sure I was always doing better than “virtual Hellmuth”, and had some satisfaction picturing him tilt on a lucky draw here and there.

    For THEPH’s multiplayer mode, it was definitely a good experience, and if I had no airtime considerations, I think I’d end up playing a decent amount. It was just… fun! I found it especially rewarding when I made the Top 10 list on the company’s Web site – a huge perk (although some cash would be nice).

    If I have to point out a downside to the game, I was a bit disappointed with a few aspects of the GUI. Most important, the game never made it clear as to how much it was to call the current bet – if I looked away for even a moment, I’d often be completely unaware as to whether I was calling a big blind or an all-in. Huge problem, but easily fixable. Some other irritations included not knowing who had bet, and a poorly implemented timeout for betting. Again, all fixable issues, and only the first one was a major obstacle for the game.

    The other problem I had with the game was related to my connection. Maybe it was the phone I was using. Maybe it was Verizon. Maybe it was the game. I have no idea, but my phone kept getting disconnected from the network. Normally this would be a showstopper in my books, but the programmers at Summus were clearly aware this could happen. When the phone disconnected, a few seconds later the game would cause it to reconnect, and the gameplay continued without missing a beat. Nice recovery to a potentially disastrous situation.

    For $2.99/mo, there are very few games or applications available today on cell phones that are a better value than this one. Unless, of course, you intensely dislike poker (in which case, I am impressed you’ve read this far). It’s definitely a better use of your money than downloading another ringtone by Chingy, Usher, or Outkast. Trust me on that one.

    Links:

  • Official THEPH Web site
  • Phil Hellmuth’s site
  • Poker Chips
  • Poker Books

    • Sony LocationFree TV review

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    One of the “hot new things” of this and next year is the ability to watch TV from locations other than the home. A variety of companies are launching new products, services, and even Web sites, all designed to enable you to view TV shows from wherever you are, whenever you want it. Even Sony believes this market is hot enough to launch a new category of devices, called LocationFree TVs. Over the past week, I’ve had the chance to use Sony’s new LocationFree TV (the LF-X1 model, with the 12.1″ screen) to watch TV wirelessly in and out of my home, with mixed results.

    For those of you unfamiliar with the device, it comes in two parts: the LCD screen and a base station. The first is a flat-panel LCD screen, about the size of a typical laptop, designed to enable wireless TV access from any wireless network or wifi hotspot. The base station is connected to your home network as well as your AV device(s) and/or cable feed. I connected the base station to my home wireless network and my DirecTV-TiVo combination unit. 

    In my opinion, the easiest part of setup was the physical connections. The box and connectors were clearly labeled “AV input” and “network”, and used all standard cables. The base station allows you to connect two different devices, such as a satellite receiver and a DVD player, but I chose to just use my DirecTV-TiVo unit. My first moment of disappointment in the experience was when I realized that the unit did not come with any cables (other than power and the infrared emitter). For fifteen hundred dollars, you’d think Sony could include some simple cables. Thankfully, being the kind of guy I am, I went to my storage closet to pull out everything I’d need.

    I connected the output of my TiVo to the AV1 input on the base station, and then connected the AV output from the base station to my AV receiver. The only other connection to the TiVo unit was the IR blaster, which is used to send outgoing infrared (remote control) signals to the TiVo. Setting up the network is likely the big stumbling block for most people. Even though the device offers wireless TV in the home, if you want to watch your LocationFree TV from out of the house, you must be hard-wired into the unit from your home network. Luckily I have Ethernet access near my stereo setup, otherwise I’d have hit a bit of a snag.

    Next, I powered everything up, and turned on the LCD screen. In typical consumer electronics style, I was shown a menu with seven main options (TV/Video, Web, E-mail, Album, Basic, Monitor, Base Station), plus a “back” and “exit” button. At this point, I really think Sony would benefit from a “setup wizard” to guide the user through the setup process. I clicked on “TV/Video” to start, where I had three new choices: Channel Settings, Remote Settings, Picture/Sound. Hmmm. As a person who is very familiar with these devices and technologies, I knew to continue to setup the Remote, but I have a feeling that a lot of users would already be quite frustrated by this point.

    Within the Remote Settings option I was able to configure the IR blaster, using a fairly intuitive screen, and when I was done I encountered another major usability flaw in the Sony user interface (or GUI). At the end of the setup, rather than have a satisfying “OK” button in the middle of the screen, I had to hunt around to find a small “back” button hidden in the bottom left corner. In fact, at no point anywhere in the settings menus does the device ever inform you that everything is set up, or you are done. You must click “exit” from the settings menu to start watching TV, even the first time you use the device.

    Here are a couple of screenshots of some of the setup screens (click on the image for a full-screen view):

    The bottom line: If you are not comfortable hooking up a VCR or a DVD player, you will have trouble with the base station. The LCD setup screens will probably leave you fairly frustrated, but with enough trial and error (and consulting the manual), you’ll probably figure it out eventually. Overall, I felt it was an unnecessarily complex setup process.

    The in-home experience of the LocationFree TV was, for the most part, quite enjoyable. The video signal quality was better than good enough to enjoy (screenshots are below), and the device performed as I was hoping it would. I had a few issues with range in-home, as there were times when the screen would go blank and it would display an error that I was out of range of the base station. Unfortunately, this happened sometimes when I was as close as 5 feet away, so I believe other factors (possibly the microwave, cordless phone, or something else?) that disrupted the signal, although these occurrences were not too frequent. The process of fine-tuning some of the AV and networking settings were very unpleasant, but you are able to configure the device to use specified frequencies or channels if you have the know-how.

    The battery life of the unit was around 90 minutes, which was quite disappointing, because it meant I had to carry the power adapter from room to room. Aside from that, both my wife and I found ourselves using the LocationFree TV throughout our apartment. One big perk for me involved using the unit during a bright day when I wasn’t really able to watch my projector.

    The device has several pre-designed control layouts for interacting with external devices, such as my DirecTV-TiVo. The “DVR” menu has controls to replicate most of the buttons on the remote. When you tap on the LCD screen, a control pane appears to the right of the TV viewing area. Tapping on any control sends the IR signal from the base station to the external device, which then reacts as if you had pressed the remote control. While most of the controls I needed to use my TiVo were present, the ones I found myself needing the most was the page up/down buttons for browsing lists of shows. The most conspicuous missing buttons were the lack of channel numbers, a very bizarre element to leave out. It made manual channel changing impossible, and since I don’t often like to browse the 200+ channels I receive, I really only used the device to watch pre-recorded shows.

    Controlling the TiVo was a bit tricky, since there was a 5 second latency between pushing a button and seeing the result. I typically overshot most fast-forwarding by about 45 seconds and had to hit the “replay” button many times to get to the right spot. Frustrating, but I can’t see much of a way around this issue.

    The single worst experience about the GUI for TV viewing was figuring out how to get rid of the controls pane once it appears. First I tried tapping in the TV area, since that’s how it appeared in the first place. No luck. Next, I tried all sorts of other areas in the top region of the screen, which were all apparently dead spots. After a long while, I realized the “X” in the upper right corner of the pane, which “closed” the controls window.

    This to me represents the consistent flaw in product design for “converged” devices – PC GUI metaphors (such as “back” or closing windows) need to be constantly reevaluated before used in different environments, especially touch-screen or 10-foot-GUI situations.

    Screenshots of watching TV and the controls pane (click on the image for a full-screen view):




    The bottom line: Better than expected picture quality throughout the home, but short battery life and intermittent connectivity issues put a big damper on the value. Again, user interfaces need a lot of clean-up to make the experience satisfactory.

    A big part of the product’s appeal is the ability to use the LCD screen from any wireless LAN or wifi hotspot and watch (and control) your TV. As much as the in-home quality exceeded my expectations, the out-of-home quality was so bad, I can only use one word to describe it: unwatchable.

    First, the process of configuring Internet (WAN) access to the device was definitely not something for the average consumer. If you have never before set up port forwarding, dynamic DNS, or static IP addresses, you will not, under any circumstances, be able to get this thing running. That said, if you are familiar with such terms, aside from the incredibly clumsy and frustrating UI, the setup process was fairly straightforward. Also, selecting and connecting to a wireless network from the LCD unit was pretty simple.

    Once setup, however, figuring out how to watch over the Internet was a bit confusing. From the TV GUI, you have to start by clicking a “NetAV” button at the bottom of the screen. After that, the screen displays “connecting”, “authenticating”, then “buffering” alerts, until the TV streaming begins. The first time I tried, this took about 45 seconds, and then a partial screen image appeared, followed by a bit of audio, then just a still image. About 30 seconds later, I got another frame or two of the picture, with a smattering of audio, then nothing again.

    I proceeded to click the “rate” button, which displayed a dialog giving options from 1 to 5, and a poorly worded warning that switching to/from “level 1” requires a reconnect. Not sure what this meant, I tried level 3. A few seconds later I was treated to a few more video frames, and the audio signal became nearly stable. I dropped the quality to level 2, which wasn’t much better. Expecting the worst, I switched to level 1. The unit disconnected, reconnected, re-authenticated, and re-buffered, and then displayed the TV equivalent of Atari 2600 video quality.

    Screenshots of “level 1” video (click on the image for a full-screen view):


    Level 2:

    Level 3:

    Level 5:

    Some WAN setup screens:

    The bottom line: It just doesn’t work. I ended up trying multiple wifi hot-spots or wireless networks, and could never find a single viable connection, despite having 384Kbps upstream from my DSL line (which is better than the average DSL installation provides). I cannot, at all, recommend using the LocationFree TV outside the home.

    In addition to being a TV, the LCD screen also offers Web browsing, email, photo album, and, of course, painting, capabilities. I’m not quite sure what the paint feature is for, other than for people who are so bored with TV and the Internet that they feel the need to express themselves artistically. I’m not going to spend more time on the paint feature – it’s silly and frivolous, and my hunch is that some engineer said “You know, I could easily build a paint feature” and with the traditional consumer electronics manufacturer mentality of “ooh, more features means better products,” tah-dah, we have LocationFree Paint. You can see my drawing below. For $5 on PayPal, I’ll send you a signed copy.

    The email application is pretty run-of-the mill, and works about the same as any typical Web-based email program. The interface includes an onscreen keyboard (image below), which included a few shortcut keys like “www.”, “.com”, and “http://”. Wow, I thought, some actual GUI design work! Of course, they forgot to have a mechanism for you to indicate you are actually done typing; you actually push a button labeled “close” to enter the text you have typed. I think I’d rather stick to gmail, and use the Web browser interface.

    The Web browser is robust enough for a “lite” application, although no replacement for a full-featured browser. The Flash player worked for the few sites I tried it out, and all Web sites I viewed worked as expected. The UI included a convenient tabbed interface, which leaves me stunned that Sony beat Microsoft to include this in their browser. All-in-all, the browser was good enough to use for most Web surfing needs, but the onscreen keyboard remains the biggest drawback. As a Canadian, I did like the shortcut for “.ca”, although I would love to see Sony let the user customize their shortcuts.

    The photo album feature lets you browse photos or watch slideshows. You can easily combine this feature with the handy “screen capture” button (which is how I generated all the images for this review, by the way) to grab images from your favorite shows. Naturally, as a Sony device, the LCD unit has a memory stick slot, although copying images to/from a memory stick was a little more painful than it should be. Also, while it took about 6 hard-to-follow steps, I was able to email a still image directly from the photo album as an attachment.

    Here are a couple of screenshots of some of the email screens (click on the image for a full-screen view):


    The famous onscreen keyboard:

    Photo album:


    “A Swan at Sunrise”

    The bottom line: I am mixed on all the fringe functionality. If I had no laptops, I think I’d appreciate the email/web browsing capabilities a lot more. I can see some use for the features, and they are fairly well implemented, but they should be regarded purely as extras.

    As an in-home wireless flat-panel TV, it’s a great product.

    As an out-of-home “location-free” TV, it fails miserably.

    The product promises to “set you free to live beyond the living room” which it does to some degree, but definitely not with the ease and simplicity I would hope for. It’s very pricey, and has very limited capabilities.

    For almost $1500, I think it is an absurd value proposition. If I want a mobile solution, I could buy a media center laptop, and get much more functionality and a much better GUI. If I want flat panel TVs in my home, I could buy THREE 15″ displays and put them around my home.

    Fundamentally, even if it was much, much cheaper, I still think it’s a bizarre approach to solving the problem of portable TV access. Am I really supposed to carry this with me on business trips? It’s actually heavier than my laptop, with half the resolution, and none of the functionality.

    With regards to enabling remote access to content, my recommendation right now is to wait. As I’ve stated in previous articles, I don’t think the various “portable media center” or “media to go” solutions are good ideas either, and there isn’t much else on the market just yet.

    The bottom line: Save your $1500 for now, and wait for some more intuitive and natural solutions to getting your TV, location-free.

    Links

  • Official Sony site
  • Buy on Amazon

    • Blackberry or Crackberry?

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    I spent about two years working with a Blackberry email device, and have since decided, “never again.” In this article from the Washington Post, the writer seems to agree with the perspective that checking email in the gym or at a restaurant is an acceptable behavior. I find it appalling. Find me a person who is busy typing away at the device or scrolling the thumb wheel in a bar, I’ll show you a person who probably has some life happiness/satisfaction issues.

    Less than 10 years ago, MOST business was conducted without ANY email. Is this progress?

    Read for yourself – on MSNBC