Handy Gadgets

The Gadgeteer have published a review of Apple's Bluetooth Headset which extends wireless capability to users of bluetooth enabled cellphones. 'Apple's Bluetooth Headset easily paired with all the bluetooth enabled cellphones I have tried it on; Motorola Razr, Treo 680, and Blackberry 8800. The headset has a single function button that controls pairing, connect/disconnect of phone calls, and on/off of the headset itself. The sound quality is the best of any device I have ever used. Its in-the-ear design does a great job of blocking out ambient noise, making the calls much easier to hear. As the pictures show, the device is small, black, made of aluminum, and definitely precision engineered. The headset does not have built-in volume control, you control its volume via the cellphone, Blackberry, or smartphone.'

Read: Apple iPhone Bluetooth Headset - The Gadgeteer

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 5:03 PM | Permalink

A review of the Mio DigiWalker C720t portable navigation device has been posted over at PC Mag. 'Before deciding if the C720t is for you, you should check to make sure that there's live traffic data available in your location. Current coverage information can be found here. The Radio Data System traffic receiver bundled with the C720t is built into the mounting cradle. When you snap the C720t into the cradle, it picks up power and data through connectors located on the bottom of the device. This is a more-effective configuration than ones that require you to connect both a power source and the FM antenna each time you insert the device into the bracket. Still, it's not as clean an installation as, say, Garmin's nüvi 760, which combines the RDS-FM receiver and antenna with the DC power cable that simply plugs into its bracket. With the C720t, the FM antenna is a long piece of wire with suction cups that attaches to your windshield. Though the Mio's RDS receiver works well, Garmin still has the best receiver/antenna implementation on the market.'

Read: Mio DigiWalker C720t - PC Mag

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 9:25 PM | Permalink

A review of the Philips AJL308 7" Digital Photo Frame / Clock Radio has been posted over at CNET. 'On the clock radio front, there's an FM radio with 20 presets (the presets are a little bit of a pain to set, but 20 is a lot), plus two alarms, a sleep timer with interval options between 15 and 60 minutes, and a dimmer/snooze bar conveniently placed at the top of the frame. Beyond its photo capabilities, the AJL308 also plays back MP3 and WMA files and select video files from your SD/MMC card or thumbdrive. By select we mean limited--we didn't have any luck with videos that we'd shot with a handful of cameras from leading manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Olympus) and the one video that did start playing (from a Samsung camera) didn't have any sound. You're supposed to be able to play back MPEG4 files, but the frame didn't recognize a CNET TV video that was an MPEG4, so we assume it plays back only certain flavors of MPEG4. We had better luck with DivX. The "One: Space Odyssey" short we downloaded from the Stage6 Web site played fine, and DivX aficionados should be quite pleased with this feature. It's also worth noting that the frame is compatible with the DivX VOD service, which means it can be registered and used to play back DivX files you'd rent or buy (download) from an online DivX VOD service.'

Read: Philips AJL308 Digital Clock and Photo Frame (7 inch) - CNET

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 9:11 PM | Permalink

14U News have published a review of the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod Dock. 'The B&W Zeppelin is a very simple looking design with no LCD screens and no ports visible from the front of the device. The only thing you see when you walk up to the B&W Zeppelin is the shiny polished stainless steel and black speaker along with the iPod dock on the front of the device. A red LED glows behind the black cloth speaker grills to show when the unit is in standby mode, dock your iPod and the red LED turns blue to let you know you are ready to listen. The B&W Zeppelin charges your iPod at the same time that it plays tracks. A tilt pad is provided that raises the front of the speaker allowing you to see track information on the iPod more easily. A power switch is located on the front of the B&W Zeppelin hidden in the polished stainless steel trip on the front of the dock. '

Read: Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod Dock Review - 14U News

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 10:12 PM | Permalink

Captain-Odegard have published a review of the PSP Slim portable unit. 'Officially, the PSP Slim support MPEG-4 LC and h.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main profile. In real life, video is such a hassle there really is no way of knowing what it will accept. For a long time, video files could only be up to 368x208 or 320x240 pixels, which means it didn't cover all of the PSP's 480x272 screen. It also required you to name the files in a very confusing way and use specific folders for each codec type. Luckily those days are over. The PSP now support fullscreen video, and you can name the files what you want and put them in the VIDEO folder. It's still picky about the codecs, and I've encoutered a number of errors while trying to get video onto it. Luckily, there are programs out there that will convert video for you, and these will correct most troubles that I had converting the files manually. You don't get the same quality as with a manual conversion, but it will do.'

Read: PSP Slim: PMP review - Captain-Odegard.com

Posted by Handy Gadgets Admin at 10:34 PM | Permalink