Sep
15

Archos: Where are you?

September 15, 2008 · Filed Under Gadgets, Web · 1 Comment  · 555 views

I have been a fan of the Archos Media players. Although out-shined by the ever popular iPod series, I still love the way Archos Innovates. Much as equally loved as Creative Labs Media Players, Archos Media players also have killer feature sets. And since it seem to be a trend to have touch-screen, internet-ready all-in-one media machines, Archos introduced their own: The Archos 5. They also started naming their products by the number, as in Archos 5, Archos 7 and the like.

Archos 5

Ultimate Portable Media Device

Their catch phrases found on their site at www.archos.com are the simplified way of showing what it can do. Uncompromised web surfing in the Palm of your hands. (If there is such a word as Uncompromised). Your entire digital library in a thin handheld tablet. (Meaning it is a tablet, which means it has touch-screen and the entire digital library means Music, Photos, Videos and all data files). The ultimate TV experience at home or on the go. (So you can plug it in your TV to watch, and plug in to your Cable box to record movies and schedule them like TiVo when you want to watch your favorite channel programs later at 720p which is technically HD). You can get more details of the Archos 5 on the Official site.

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Sep
07

Nokia Clone Wars

September 7, 2008 · Filed Under Gadgets, Mobile Phones, Technology · Comment  · 510 views

Much like Jango Fett being cloned in the Star Wars saga, it wouldn’t take long from the copy masters from China to copy our favorite gadgets and things. They have cloned Nike shoes, which looks like “real” nike’s. They have cloned bags from prada to dolce, hopefully they haven’t cloned Yao Ming yet.

This is a testament to their craftsmanship, attention to details, intricacy, concentration and discipline. They also need their economy to work, so a bunch of cloning (used loosely, means copying too) shops and factories has sprouted all over China. Before they made crappy copies, and now you can’t even distinguish the Authentic from the clone.

Their next project is due to the ever increasing need for the Techie crowd to always be on top of the Gadget list. So they started to clone electronic gadgets as well. From all types of iPods, iPhones and all types of mobile phones. I recently purchased a Nokia 5310 clone just to give a quality review to the Chinese manufacturing and cloning prowess.

Star Wars Clone Wars

Jango Fett in a Million

First off, Side by side the original 5310 (I borrowed an original from a friend) it looks exactly the same. The paint job, the plastic’s color, the plastics design and even intricate details like the rain-drop style design on the battery cover is to the point, exact. Dimensions are also the same, I didn’t notice a difference in their weight nor the display quality. There is one problem on my clones software version, it was on the cheeky side with custom cutesy icons and I can’t use an mp3 as an alert tone, although it plays mp3’s. I changed my unit with the more standard version of the clone which has the exact software as the original. It even has a memory card slot and it comes packed with a 256Mb microSD. The only thing I noticed that was off is the Nokia logo itself. On the clone version, it was Nckia, with the letter “C” more like an “O” but with a little stripe in the supposed open end of the letter “C”.

Nokia 5310

I was Cloned!

A tell-tale sign for these cloned gadgets is more commonly on the feature set, like most early April release of the cloned Nokia phones has the same default tones and most can’t use mp3’s as message alerts. The batteries are also different on their models. On iPod clones, the screen is a bit murky and the tactile response of the touch-screen is a bit off. So better check your gadgets before you buy them, you might be paying a higher price for a cloned product which is priced two to four times less than the original price of the authentic.

Using the cloned phone for a couple of days, it feels and functions like the original, no hiccups and been solid for a week now. Dropped it twice already and it’s still functioning with not a single glitch. Been playing it’s mp3 a lot on the bus since it’s built-in speaker are much louder compared to it’s authentic counterpart.

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Sep
03

X-Mini: Max Sound

September 3, 2008 · Filed Under Gadgets, Music · Comment  · 1,064 views

Was browsing one of my favorite tech blog for overseas stuff one day and I saw one Advertisement that caught my eye. The Blog was at yugatech. I was curious what this capsule like product is so I decided to click. Then it sent me to it’s homepage where I was presented with two models. One a monaural (mono) version and the other stereo. Mono is where in you only hear one unique sound source while stereo is where you hear two distinct sound source. Currently they don’t have a 5.1 or 7.1 versions. (which defeats the element of portability). It’s pretty small and sleek, although color option for the mono version is available, the stereo version only comes in black. The mono version they call X-Mini Capsule Speakers and the Stereo one X-Minimax. Both boast of their BXS system which is basically the structural bass-boosting effect of their accordion type folding body.

X-Mini

X-Mini as One...

The Stereo version is much more practical, since you can convert each detachable part as a mono version. They are both carry-along because of their individual internal rechargeable batteries, which I guess is Li-ion and not user replaceable. What you see above is the single mono function and it’s accordion bass magnifying body extended a little. Below is when they are attached to each other.

X-Minimax

X-Mini as Two

They are fastened by a magnetized bottom and they have line-in attachments and usb line for charging and attaching to an audio source. It’s a good replacement for other mini speakers out there for your mp3 players like creative, zune, ipod and the likes. You can also make it your PC/Mac speakers for your desktop computers and Notebook Computers.

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