Updated: The best Xbox 360 deals for Christmas
The Xbox 360 has fast become the best value console on the market, and there are some fantastic deals around for this next generation console.
With competition steep between the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, it's not difficult to grab some bargains on bundles, games and peripherals.
Pixmania is selling the Xbox 360 Elite with 120GB hard drive for an extremely reasonable آ£179, which cements its place as the best value next-gen console on the market.
At Game a bundle means you can can get significantly better value for money than a standalone console. It's bundling the Xbox 360 Elite with Mirror's Edge, FIFA 10 and the Wireless Entertainment Pack consisting of a controller, Lego Batman and Pure for just آ£199.
However, if there's one Xbox 360 bundle which catches our eye this Christmas, it's this Xbox Elite with Modern Warfare 2 and Forza Motorsport 3, two of the hottest titles at the moment. This آ£200 deal from Game comes with some of the finest games in terms of graphics and gameplay and shows why the Xbox 360 is such a dominant force. When you consider the آ£44.99 cost of MW2, you really can't argue with the price.
Shoot-'em-up fans looking for great gaming bundles could also consider the Xbox 360 Elite Halo edition, which comes with both Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST. Not the best bargain out there at آ£229 at Pixmania but a good deal none the less.
Choose your own pack
Amazon has taken choice to a new level this Christmas, and they've introduced a mix and match service, with a range of peripherals and games to choose between. When buying the console for آ£189.99, you can choose two free games including Left for Dead 2, Forza Motorsport 3, FIFA 10, the Wireless Entertainment Pack, and a host of other games.
This beats PC World's competitive آ£179 bundle, which offers the Elite console with the Wireless Entertainment Pack who in turn have out-priced Play by آ£20.
Amazon is also offering top deals on the Xbox 360 Arcade, offering one free game from the same list with a آ£149 console, but with the added lure of a 120GB hard drive and an extra game for just آ£40 more, the Elite seems like a worthy upgrade.
If a free game doesn't lure you into buying the Xbox 360 Arcade, then perhaps آ£149 for the console with the Wireless Entertainment Pack at Curry's and PC World stores will. If you're looking for a low cost way into gaming this Christmas, this deal coupled with cut priced games will save you around آ£50.
Special editions
If you're not looking for the biggest capacity on your Xbox 360 this Christmas then GameStation has a great value bundle for action-shooter lovers. The Gears of War pack gets you the 60GB console with Gears of War and Gears of War II for آ£189.99.
Alternatively, it's offering a special edition Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 Elite console with extra controller and the game for آ£249.99. Not a fantastic deal when considering Game's bundle, but hardcore fans will love the customised console.
For those tempted by the Wireless Entertainment Pack it's worth noting the great deal over at Zavvi. The price of this pack is astounding, and is half the price advertised on Amazon. آ£23.95 gets you a wireless controller, as well as the addictive Lego Batman and Pure. Who said the recession was all bad?
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Universal unveils Blu-ray/DVD flipper disc
Universal has unveiled its latest Blu-ray plans and it looks like the company is harking back to 1997, with the launch of flipper discs.
'Flipper' is a dirty word in DVD circles, as it harks back to a time when a movie would be spread over two sides of a DVD, meaning you had to flip over half-way through a film to finish watching it.
Luckily there will be none of that this time around, as Universal is putting a DVD version of the movie on one side and a Blu-ray version of the same film on the other.
In a time when movie distributors feel the need to give away a separate disc for 'digital copies', it does make sense that Universal would want to save on creating unnecessary discs but flipper discs, really?
Future proof
"Universal's flipper discs are the perfect way for consumers to future-proof their collections while still enjoying their favorite movies on all their existing DVD players," said Craig Kornblau, President of Universal Studios Home Entertainment – who probably never had the joy of using past flipper discs.
"The flipper disc offers an easy way for viewers to convert to Blu-ray now or at any time in the future, confident in the fact they will be able to experience their home entertainment purchases in the highest quality picture and sound when they do."
There's no UK release date for the discs (we're hoping never) but those in the US will be able to purchase the dual format from 19 January 2010, with titles like The Bourne Trilogy getting the flipper treatment.
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Review: Arcam FMJ AV888 and P777
If you sat on the sumptuous leather sofa of power at Arcam HQ, what would you do to top the success of the AVR600 receiver? It had all the major features required, consciously left out a lot of the trinkets and tinsel, and concentrated on sound quality. It is a true multipurpose hi-fi stereo and AV amplifier.
Clearly, the answer was to punt up and down the Cam all Summer with a jugful of Pimms, and set about further improving premium-quality, style-tastic high-end audio. The result is the FMJ AV888 processor pre-amp and the monster FMJ P777 multichannel power amplifier.
A two-box beast separating the delicacies of the DSP engine and low-voltage source signals in the processor from the Frankenstein level voltages in the power amp.
Features-wise, see our review of the AVR600 because they are all but identically 'lite'. What separates the manly pre-power from the boyish integrated is the attention to detail at every level. That and over 300 hours of listening tests to nail the final tuning.
The AV888 pre-amp is quite different from the likes of Denon's AVP-A1HD, and not just because the Denon outguns the Arcam on features at a ratio of about ten-to-one.
The AV888 uses quasi analogue input switching and a 'direct' mode that directly couples the input board to the output stages (via the volume control) with a short, flat link cable.
Its D/A converter configuration also breaks from the norm of eight discrete DACs and uses four high-end stereo devices from Wolfson, each with its own local sub-regulated supply for optimum sound quality.
The AV888's outputs can be configured as fully-balanced over XLR connections to reduce cableborne interference – this also offers installers the option of much longer cable runs. Speaking as a big fan of balanced interconnects at lengths of 5m or greater, that gets a thumbs up from me.
Other hi-fi-derived luxuries include a mechanically-dampened chassis, a data reclocking system to reduce jitter over HDMI and Arcam's Mask of Silence. No, it's not something for when the wife is nagging, but a host of technical features and shielding, implemented to ensure that no component, signal path or cable in the design has any detrimental affect on another.
Interestingly, the Mask of Silence extends to the radio tuner – or rather the lack of one. Not having a tuner avoids any stray RF wandering around the pristine internals of the AV888. It does, though, offer audio media streaming from a PC and access to the wonders of internet radio via the Ethernet port. This gives you access to thousands of stations globally, so it's not all bad.
The other kick-butt features include decoding for all common HD audio codecs, three-zone multiroom, and, er, erm... Well, there's Dolby Volume to reduce the audio levels on those pesky loud adverts.
No messin'
Yes, the AV888 is pretty bare-bones in terms of features. Even the interface is presented as basic text menus, rather than the fancy GUIs found on even budget AVRs these days. Nor does it succumb to badge-fest trumps either – so no THX or Audyssey legends on the fascia – although you do get a very accurate auto set-up system courtesy of Analog Devices' Auto Room Tuning code.
Tweaked by Arcam, this offers 1cm speaker distance and 0.25dB adjustment increments and a single-state EQ system. As 1cm equates to a complete half-phase at 20kHz, I can see why such accuracy is so important.
The P777 power-amp is just as much a product of Arcam's hi-fi heritage – only in seven-channel guise. It's a brute, too. A pair of massive power supplies run through a soft start routine when powering up, to save taking out your house fuse, and promises over 1.6kW at full bore.
You get fully-balanced XLR and unbalanced phono configuration with loop-throughs, lots of high-end audiophile components and a 12V trigger. But there is no getting away from the fact that the P777 is a damn great powerhouse. And there ain't nothing wrong with that, baby.
Another area the Arcam pre-power differs from its peers is in the ease of use. I own a Denon AVP-A1HD and its operational complexities are up there with piloting a space shuttle, blindfolded. Not so this Arcam pair.
The setup is straightforward, although likely to be done by your Arcam dealer, and the day-to-day operations are largely one-button simple. This is one of the few high-end AV devices that could conceivably be used by the whole family.
Rich and weighty
Then again, your mother isn't going to like what it is capable of. The AV888 has a rich and weighty balance that just begs you to give it a handful of volume – and the P777 seriously delivers when you do.
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army on Blu-ray is ideal fodder, and the Arcam duo turns the soundtrack into a monster of solidity and presence. This pairing's speed, scale and dynamic impact is a positive adrenaline rush compared to Arcam's traditionally 'safe' balance.
Engage the EQ and it does the AV equivalent of knocking back five tequila slammers and a Red Bull chaser. It's ludicrously potent and a rip-roaring ride that does real justice to big-budget blockbusters.
Better still, unlike some of the larger Japanese integrated models, it isn't all about big-bang action movies, either. The Arcam duo manages subtlety with a smooth and even hand, managing to sound robustly high-end even at low volumes and with more pedestrian movies.
The sound is never harsh or brittle, never has you reaching for the volume to knock it back a couple of clicks, yet happily ekes out little details and subtle dialogue inflections. With any disc from The Matrix Trilogy on Blu-ray, Laurence Fishburne's incredibly expressive vocal tone is crafted with absolute precision. 'Do you think that is air you are breathing?' No, probably not, Morpheus – I was holding my breath with excitement.
In terms of home cinema fireworks the 777/888 combo does remain a little less frisky and a little less edgy than the range-topping Pioneer Susano (integrated) or the Denon A1HD pre-power. But this is a matter of preference (and speaker partnership) rather than qualitative finality.
While the latter two amps can show the Arcam a thing or two about searing top-end detail and sheer size of soundfield, the AV888/P777 is smoother, richer and easier to listen to across a wider range of movies. If they were cars, the Arcam would be a top-spec S-Class Mercedes to the Denon's Audi R8 and the Pioneer's Nissan GT-R.
And then we get to the Arcam's trump card – music. Or rather, real hi-fi sound with music. There are very few AV amps that cut it as genuine high-end hi-fi amplifiers as well. The AV888/P777 is firmly in this exclusive club and vying for a position on the board.
Leonard Cohen's Live in London CD is immaculately recorded and the Arcam creates every ounce of the passion and feeling of the event (and I know… I was there). Cohen's voice is reproduced with amazing depth and integrity, allowing his aging tones and subtle inflections to infuse every lyric.
This is the sort of 'warts and all' accuracy only normally available from serious stereo amplifiers. Engage more channels with music and it gets even better. I spun up Oh My God from the Kaiser Chief's live Elland Road concert Blu-ray and just revelled in the Arcam's scale and passionate rendition of this anthem.
It had me leaping up and down on the sofa singing along with the chorus. In all my years reviewing amplifiers, this is the first Arcam I would have ever said that about. Brilliant.
A bug's life
Criticisms? Yes, there are a couple, and not just the deliberate dearth of fancy features. Our review sample had a few bugs here and there that should have been ironed out; the subwoofer thumped when I powered off the processor, every speaker thumped if I turned off the processor without turning off the power amp first, and there was occasionally a long delay in the HDMI handshaking to the display device.
The AV888/P777 system also had more than its fair share of pops, clicks and ultra high-pitched sounds when I switched various features on and off. None of these happen once it is all setup and you are watching a movie, but bugs like this bug me – as you virtually never get them with the top-spec Japanese amps.
Arcam, however, says all these irritations have now been fixed via a firmware update.
That aside, I couldn't help but nod appreciatively at Arcam's AV888/P777 pairing and believe that the extensive time, effort and tuning lavished on this pair has all been worthwhile.
Despite its high-end status, this is an all-round everyday amplifier solution that is pretty much idiot-proof and sounds absolutely great with both movies and music.
The fairly frugal features-count isn't going to appeal to die-hard kit enthusiasts, but if you want top-flight AV performance without having to become an AV geek then Arcam's sumptuous pre-power combo has no equal.
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Sony Ericsson Satio 'fixed' - not back on shelves
Sony Ericsson has reportedly managed to solve the problem affecting the Satio - and it's a simple firmware fix, despite earlier hinting over the air solutions aren't available.
The problems caused the phone to shut off in certain instances, which obviously frustrated a number of users.
Reports are now coming in of a fix, although those able to find and use the new update appear to be fairly low in number, and appears to be only those with unbranded models.
Situation unresolved
We've spoken to The Carphone Warehouse, which has confirmed the issue is ongoing:
"The Sony Ericsson Satio is not back on the shelves, however we're working with Sony Ericsson to get a resolution in place as soon as possible."
Whichever way you look at it, the damage being done to the reputation of Sony Ericsson's flagship handset keeps growing as the problem continues - here's hoping it gets resolved in the near future.
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Facebook: FarmVille is bigger than Twitter
Facebook has released some startling figures today, which underlines just how big the site has become.
Speaking to journalists at the UK headquarters, with TechRadar in attendance, Facebook revealed just how many people log on each day and the stats are pretty mind-blowing. The company also noted that one of its apps, 'Farmville', is more popular than its major rival in the social-networking world – Twitter.
Here come the numbers: worldwide Facebook is clocking up 200 billion page views a month, with 350 million users globally logging into the site.
When it comes to the site's online chat function, 1.6 billion messages are sent every single day and 1.4 million photos are uploaded a second.
Facebook is also now hitting 23 million unique users a month in the UK, with each of those people logging on spending around 25 minutes on the website a day.
With so many users, Facebook is keen to push itself beyond that of a place that you come to see what your friends are up to.
Part of the movement
In a video, founder Mark Zuckerberg called Facebook "a movement not a website" and noted that now is "a magical time for the company, as we are way closer to the beginning than the end."
This was re-iterated by Facebook's Head of Strategy and Planning, Trevor Johnson, who told TechRadar: "The Facebook experience for every individual is different. We have changed the site a lot, and we hope users keep up with these things.
"The site's now made up of many elements – apps, homepage, games, groups."
To prove the popularity of these extra-curricular sections of Facebook, Johnson explained: "Applications make up a huge part of Facebook. There are over 90,000 applications on Facebook.
"69 million active users are using FarmVille alone, that's more users than Twitter."
Interestingly, Facebook noted that its demographic is getting older, with the 35+ category growing the fastest and 53 per cent of all those who log on in a month come back on a daily basis.
"Facebook is not just about adding photos and gaining friends, it's integrated in lives," notes Johnson.
Twitter may well be the website of the moment, but one glance at these figures show that it's still got a long way to go if it wants to truly dominate in this social-networked world.
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Google plumps for HTML 5 over Gears succesor
Google has abandoned work on Gears 2, choosing to push forward with HTML 5 as it looks to bring web applications to the fore for things like its Chrome OS.
Gear was launched two years ago in order to allow web apps to have a local cache – and adding offline functionality to programs like Google Calendar and Gmail.
However, with the HTML 5 standard arrives the same functionality along with many of the tools you would expect in aqny successor to Gears.
Gears 2 *IS* HTML 5
Thus it makes perfect sense for Google to back HTML 5 and put any thought of a Gears successor aside.
"We're very focused on moving HTML 5 forward, and that's where we're putting all of our energy," Linus Upson, Engineering Director at Google, told PC Magazine.
"When we started the Gears project, we did it because we couldn't get the browser vendors interested in building offline applications.
"And so, so we said, okay, we'll build a plugin that could do it. And lo and behold, once we shipped Gears, suddenly the browser vendors got very interested in adding capabilities to build offline applications.
"You can almost think of what's in HTML 5, with app cache, and database, and those things, as essentially Gears 2, and that's how we view it."
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In Depth: Top 12 Christmas gifts for Wii owners
The thing with the Wii is less about identifying 12 of the best accessories as avoiding the teeming legions of rubbish ones.
It seems like everyone's had a crack at moulding white plastic into funny shapes you can then pop a Wiimote into.
Here, however, are a few of the ones which are genuinely worth cracking open that much-abused Christmas wallet for...
1. The House Of The Dead: Overkill Hand Cannon, آ£11
There's no shortage of pretend guns on the Wii, but there's only one that's called a Hand Cannon. It may be officially designed for the House of the Dead, but it'll give you that oh-so-macho Dirty Harry look with any shooting or lightgun Wii game.
2. Speedlink Contact-Free Wii Remote Charger, آ£35
The fiddliness of recharging Wii remotes has always been a little at odds with the Everything Is Easy nature of the console and its games. This, from Play.com, takes the hard work out of it - a tray that surrounds two remotes with an induction field rather than requiring you connect 'em in a certain spot. Best of all, this means there's no need to remove silicon skins, nunchucks, Motion Pluses and the like. Just drop the lot onto the tray and leave it to it.
3. 4Gamers Wireless Sensor Bar, آ£3.75
For a console that's all about being wireless, that thin, trailing cable to the sensor bar sure is ugly. This bizarrely cheap wireless replacement may require a meaty six AA batteries, but it'll make the space underneath your telly a whole lot neater.
4. Pair & Go Vibrating Wheel, آ£10
Vibration can be a pointless gimmick, but it's in racing games that it really proves its worth - it gives a sense that you really are trying to throw several tons of protesting metal around. The infinite crowd of clip-on wheel accessories thus fall short - without vibration, you really are just waving a plastic disc in the air. This battery-powered one vibrates angrily once you rotate it past a certain point, adding just a dash more gritty reality to, er, Mario Kart and the like.
5. Logitech Cordless Keyboard, آ£22
Make the best of the Wii's surprisingly powerful web browser with this mid-sized, colour-coordinated keyboard. It's not simply a PC keyboard slightly tweaked - buttons you'd never realistically use on the Wii are removed to keep the thing dainty. It's also handy for typing out in-game chat messages, as it works concurrently with a Wiimote.
6. Mad Catz Official Rayman Raving Rabbids Dual Charger, آ£29
Either absurdly cute or just a little bit frightening - depending on where you stand - check out this tribute to Ubisoft's mad bunnies, accidental unofficial mascots for the Wii. This plastic statuette charges two Wiimotes at once in the Rabbid's hands, and its crazed, staring eyes indicate the level of charge.
7. Wiipoints, آ£various, everywhere
Ideal stocking-filler stuff - essentially a gift voucher to buy games and downloadable content from the online Wii store. No Wii owner would grumble about getting a few hundred points for Chrimble.
8. Gioteck Stagelight, آ£20
This battery powered lightshow doesn't require any kind of connection to the Wii itself - it just picks up on sound. Specifically, all the sound and fury of a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game, dynamically throwing up flashing colours in response to music. If you're really serious about this band fantasy thing, you'll really get off on this.
9. Datel Wireless Duo-Fx Nunchuck, آ£15
That short cable strung between the Wiimote and a Nunchuck can cause all end of twisty, tangled problems. This third party alternative may not be quite as pretty as the official Nunchuck, but it ditches the wire in favour of a small box that plugs into the Wiimote so it can talk to the 'chuck cable-free. Gives you a lot more room to wildly wave your hands.
10. VGA cable, آ£23
Ain't it annoying when someone's watching telly, so you can't play on your Wii? This cable means you don't need to buy a second TV for the bedroom; instead, you can connect your console to your PC's monitor. It's also useful if your HDTV's component or SCART ports are being taken up by something else.
11. CTA Bowling Ball, آ£20
One of oh-so-many contendors for Most Ludicrous Wii Peripheral, but it's incredibly alluring nonetheless. It cracks in half so you can insert a Wiimote, and houses its own buttons on top. Other than that, it's, as it claims, basically a bowling ball. Oh - and only 1.2kg, so don't worry about shattered kiddy-wrists.
12. Gamecube Wavebird Controller, various
Now out of print, but readily available second hand on eBay. A piece of gaming history - one of the earliest wireless game controllers, and one that remains curiously ageless thanks to excellent build quality and being based around the much-missed Gamecube controller. It works perfectly with the Wii, for both GC titles and retro purchases from the Wii shop - just pop the receiver module into one of the Gamecube slots underneath the top hatch and you're away.
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Facebook reveals its 'biggest-ever' privacy shake-up
Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has released an 'open letter' to the members of the social-networking site, where he outlines the biggest changes in privacy the website has seen so far.
In the letter he explains that Facebook is putting an end to regional networks – something that has been rumoured for some time – and streamlining the privacy options, to make them clearer to the user.
Zuckerberg notes: "We have focused on giving you the tools you need to share and control your information. Starting with the very first version of Facebook five years ago, we've built tools that help you control what you share with which individuals and groups of people. Our work to improve privacy continues today.
"Facebook's current privacy model revolves around 'networks' – communities for your school, your company or your region. This worked well when Facebook was mostly used by students, since it made sense that a student might want to share content with their fellow students…
"However, as Facebook has grown, some of these regional networks now have millions of members and we've concluded that this is no longer the best way for you to control your privacy. Almost 50 per cent of all Facebook users are members of regional networks, so this is an important issue for us. If we can build a better system, then more than 100 million people will have even more control of their information."
Everyone's invited
The new system is based around the idea that content to be available to only your friends, friends of your friends, or everyone.
And, to go alongside this new privacy plan, each and every bit of content you add to the website can be toggled to go out to everyone, or to a selected group of people – including status updates.
TechRadar visited Facebook at its UK offices today and Richard Allan, Director of EU Public Policy, for the site told us: "This is the biggest exercise in getting users to gain control of their privacy settings that has happened.
"The key within this is the removal of regional networks. The pictures of the MI6 boss in his trunks happened because of a mix-up with regional networks.
"At the beginning it was fine to have a London network, but now there is several million people [in that network] so there is no real privacy.
"So now there is a clear everyone setting. If you don't want everyone, then you can narrow this down."
Temporary licenses
Allan also wanted to clear up a few myths about the website when it comes to privacy, telling us: "Facebook is very clear on privacy for the user. It doesn't sell personal information to advertisers, so brands don't get data about people and individuals, but aggregated stats. We have no commercial interest in doing so.
"Also, any information on the site is owned by you. Facebook has a temporary license [of this information]. But at any time you want to take that content off, you deactivate it or choose to delete it. Our privacy policy clearly states this.
What we have noticed is that the vast majority of users do deactivate, then reactivate again at a later date."
When asked about the some of the stories that have appeared about Facebook being a hot-bed for crime, Allan noted: "Facebook has become like Hoover – it's now a generic name for social networks. So when bad things happen somewhere else, Facebook is usually to blame. We work with law enforcement effectively."
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Player 'completes' World of Warcraft
A Taiwanese player has (sort of) completed World of Warcraft – doing every quest, collecting virtually everything he can and going everywhere – at least until the next expansion hits.
According to MMO Champio, a Tauren Druid called 'Little Grey' has 986 out of 986 achievements on his armory page, along with *deep breath* collecting 100 mounts, 75 pets, completing every quest, visiting every location, and defeating every boss.
PVP champ
And before you scoff and point to the player versus player side of the game, Little Greay also has 100,000 pvp kills, and achieved at least a century of wins in every battleground.
Of course, Little Grey may well be eager to get his hands on the next expansion for World of Warcraft - called Cataclysm – to arrive.
Although, by the sounds of things he may be too knackered to actually click his mouse button when it does.
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Internet replacing the pub for Britons?
New research has shown that Britons are no longer chatting over the fence with a neighbour, instead looking further afield via the power of the 'net.
According to the research, commissioned by LG, the power of social networking is such that online community is replacing that 'traditional' idealistic view, where we would all leave our front doors open and play hoopla in bare feet.
The study doesn't state how many people were surveyed, so it could just be three people researchers met in an internet cafأ©, (update: we've just been told it's 1005 - although the possibility of them all being in said cafe wasn't denied) but apparently 41 per cent of people said they use technology to create new communities and eight per cent having no clue about their neighbours.
You wrote LOL - drink!
And the report points to the fact 52 pubs are closing every week as a reason people are starting to look elsewhere for chat - although online drinking probably doesn't hold the same thrall for most people.
"People are forming online communities, fitting with their demanding lifestyle and busy schedule – and the advent of social networking on mobile phones has made this even more popular and accessible," said John Barton, Sales and Marketing Director for LG Mobile.
"Being part of a community is important in maintaining emotional wellbeing, and having a supportive group of friends and family around you helps give you those life's good moments – and this research clearly supports this."
And - would you believe the coincidence - LG has also pointed out that it has a whole range of devices for social networking, under the new 'InTouch' moniker. Isn't that handy?
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Pandora boss on how to attract advertisers
Pandora's founder has explained how online music services can appeal to advertisers, in the latest developments in the so-called 'freemium' music industry.
Pandora founder Tim Westergren says the company still wants to get statutory central licences – a move that would help to offset its "current punishing licensing rates."
Scale to survive
"To be attractive to advertisers you have to have scale" is the message he has for online music services on the advertising side of things.
"The big challenge in the ad space is that to be attractive to advertisers you have to have scale and it's difficult to go from zero to scale because your ad capability can't keep up with your growth. It's a Catch 22..."
The Pandora founder also gives a nod to Spotify and other new competition in the online music space, noting that: "Companies are coming along with different spins, different approaches and I'm rooting for them all."
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In Depth: 10 gadgets that changed the game
These are the top 10 tech creations that shaped our world. They came, they disrupted and they changed our lives - despite their initially high RRPs.
You may have lost the connector for it. It may only last for two minutes on a full charge and they might even have stopped making the kind of batteries it takes.
But these monumental gadgets will stay with us, thanks to the way they showed us the future before the future was due to arrive and pushed us into the tech world we live in today.
10. Sony Walkman
Without the Walkman would the concept of portable music have torn through society and embedded itself into our every waking moment? Would you have bounced in to work this morning skipping effortlessly from that Kasabian track you swear someone else must've put on your MP3 player and your own self-curated Girls Aloud hits selection?
WALKMAN: 500 limp relaunches of the Walkman brand later, this remains the only worthy incarnation
And would we still be stuck buying physical media from HMV for آ£15.99 a time if the original Walkman hadn't set us on the path of always accessible, portable music? We'll never know, we can only imagine a depressingly silent alternate time-line where people in a Walkman-less universe still listen sombrely to LPs at home on their static hi-fi systems.
9. Asus Eee PC
A white dirty bomb that tore through the offices of laptop manufacturers the world over. The likes of Sony, Samsung and Toshiba, so happy to charge us آ£1,500 for their top-of-the-range ultraportables, suddenly had a capable competitor hitting the shops for آ£220 and blowing their business projections for 2007 to bits. It was positively rude of Asus to disrupt the status quo so aggressively.
EEE: Disruptive technology at its finest. Vaio is still in tears over it all
Simple Linux tools sliced Microsoft's usual commission off the price of an Eee. It also booted in seconds, lasted for hours, could survive being sat on, and made the other laptops of the day - some struggling laughably to run Windows Vista - look like rubbish old dinosaurs. It's effect is still reverberating.
8. iPod
Here's a good pub quiz question - what was the world's first MP3 player? That table full of drunk women won't have a clue and will write down "iPod". The group of men taking it very seriously will think it was something from Creative or Rio. In fact, Chinese firm Saehan was first to market a portable MP3 machine, in the form of its MPMan F10 - which packed a tiny 32MB of storage, enough for about eight songs.
IPOD: When Dominic Mohan started boasting about his iPod in The Sun, the country lost some of its innocence
The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player and first-gen models only worked with the Mac so it certainly wasn't the most versatile, but iPod mania exploded as Apple refined its design, rolled out PC-compatible models and introduced USB support. It also helped that, either by accident or clever marketing, the iPod brand became "cool" giving it the sort of celebrity endorsement sheen Twitter has today.
7. Sat nav
The one reason the world should be glad America exists - GPS. Its global military satellite system was designed to help its soldiers more accurately and precisely kill the soldiers of other countries in the battle for oil and sand, with the fortunate side-effect of helping us lot manage to get from Hemel Hempstead to Brighton without using a map and avoiding the M25.
SAT NAV: "Take the second exit and fire the pipe bomb"
GPS is yet more proof that the best toys are invented in the name of war, and a great reason to kick off World War III - imagine how much exciting new tech we'll get to play with once that one's over. If there's anyone left alive to manufacture it.
6. Mobile phone text messaging
SMS text messaging gave the gift of non-verbal communication to a generation of shy Brits. No longer did awkward 14-year-old boys have to pen lengthy love letters outlining the reasons Sarah Williams should go to the cinema with them on Saturday night - a simple "R U UP 4 IT 2NITE?" text conveyed the same subtle meaning, desire and intent, without any of the pain of having to make eye contact and do some speaking.
TXT: IS DA BEST 4 U INNIT
We are also funnier in texts, thanks to being able to spend more time composing our words. It makes telling the boss you're sick today easier. It's the proof of concept that Twitter is built upon. Simple communication on the cheap that has changed our lives beyond measure.
5. Canon Digital IXUS
The switch to digital snapping freed us to document every inch of the world without a care. We take more photos of nothing now we don't have to worry about film's 24-or-36 limit and paying for developing. It's certainly made the act of taking a photograph seem like less of an art form - indeed the results are so simple to share, duplicate and edit it's hard to imagine how we bored people with cat and baby photos before the digital switchover.
IXUS: Pleasing weight. Hard body. Design classic
Sure, a hard drive crash may result in you losing your snaps from Ibiza 2003, but chances are you've uploaded the best ones to various bits of the internet - so digital photos will live on inside Google's memory for eternity, long after all hard copy prints have turned to dust in the nuclear wars. Canon's metallic IXUS wasn't the first digital camera, but it was the one that took the concept and made it small and sexy - and history tells us small and sexy is often more important than timing. Isn't that right, Apple?
4. Nintendo Game Boy
Launched here in 1990, the Game Boy dominated portable gaming for a decade. A few challengers came and quickly went in the form of SEGA's bulky Game Gear and SNK's Neo Geo Pocket, but nothing made a dent in Nintendo's portable monopoly. A Game Boy and a copy of Tetris was all you needed. A rubbish black & white screen was all you needed for Tetris. Tetris was all you needed.
GAME BOY: Immense, both physically and in status
Then the all-colourful Game Boy Advance came along in 2001 and Nintendo had our money all over again. What suckers we are. It wasn't until Sony's launch of the PSP in 2005 that Nintendo's portable family had a proper battle on its hands. And even then it was a battle it laughed off, like a giant flicking an ant off its leg.
3. USB thumb drives
How many gigabytes have you got in your pocket? We've got four, despite only needing a quarter of one. You can carry backup emergency music, all your favourite applications, a couple of films and even entire "spare" operating systems on a lump of USB memory, with enormous amounts of space yours in an indestructible format for under a tenner. You never have to be separated from your essential 1980s synth classic MP3s again.
USB DRIVES:Boring but essential. A modern public service utility
We should also make a nod to the creation of the USB format itself, for freeing us from a nightmare of enormous SCSI and RS232 connectors. The only downside is the invention of the USB gadget - how many of you are getting a USB Cup Warmer for Christmas? Oh yes you are.
2. Wireless ADSL router
Always on. No more listening to the little chirpy-chirpy modem song. No more having to pay for it by the minute like a strung-out data addict, panicking as emails take forever to arrive. No more dropped lines. The arrival of broadband made the internet an accessible tool for the masses. Instead of logging on once every few days, the internet became something that was always there, always ready.
ADSL: And the music industry did cry a terrible cry
You could bear to visit complex sites after BT hooked you up with 512Kbps of pipe. Downloading files became possible and with wireless we could (theoretically) be anywhere in our homes. The only disadvantage is the possible damage a 24/7 connection to the internet is doing to our brains, but we'll address that in a separate and much more seriously researched feature at some point in the future.
1. iPhone
No, seriously. This isn't a sell-out nod to the modern world - the iPhone pulled all the pieces of the 'smartphone' jigsaw together and made everything - literally everything it does - work perfectly and make complete sense. How many companies failed to make portable applications work over the previous decade? How many broken firms lie bankrupt from trying? How many rubbish styluses lie unused in office desks? Millions.
IPHONE: Smartphones finally became properly smart
iPhone kicked smartphones into the public domain, and our lives and minds are changing to accommodate Apple's pocket internet revolution.
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10 million mark for Freeview as HD 'technically' arrives
Freeview HD is all set for its technical launch today, and in a burst of fortuitous timing, the Freeview service has just arrived in the 10 millionth home.
Freeview HD's first public broadcasts will be at some point today, although with no equipment actually commercially available the service will only be viewed by a handful of testers.
However, the standard definition service has now reached a massive landmark, with the news that the service is now the main-set TV service in 10 million UK homes.
How that figure is arrived at is a little confusing, with many people having televisions with Freeview built-in, but also a satellite or cable box – but it's certainly a key moment for the popular free-to-air digital terrestrial television service.
Great way to end the year
"Becoming the main digital TV service in 10 million homes is a great way to end the year and a fabulous early Christmas present. Freeview is a British success story, and it is a testament to both the simplicity of the service and the hard work of the team that we have hit 10 million so soon," said Ilse Howling, Managing Director of Freeview.
"With over 50 channels Freeview already offers great choice and quality – but we have bold plans for 2010, with the launch of Freeview HD and Freeview+HD, bringing high definition to millions of homes by the time of the World Cup."
Technically launched
Freeview is playing down the launch of Freeview HD at the moment, although that has been partly forced on the platform by the lack of any equipment – probably until early 2010.
The 'technical' launch has been marked only with a small media event, not least because it is limited to the Granada region and London at the moment.
However, Freeview does have major plans for the service with the release reiterating: "Freeview expects 50 per cent of UK households to be able to access Freeview HD by the World Cup in June 2010 and the first new Freeview HD receivers will go on sale from early 2010, with more products available as the year goes on."
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Apple and Psystar strike deal over cloned Macs
Apple and Psystar have struck a deal to settle out of court over the dispute about non-Apple branded machines running its operating system.
Psystar has agreed a settlement to pay damages to Apple over the computers it sells with the company's software on it, but will only pay up once all appeal routes have been explored.
It appeared Apple had crushed Psystar's bid to keep selling the machines earlier this month, but the new deal means there's a ray of hope for the small US firm yet.
Shifting responsibility
According to Computer World, Psystar may now look to still sell the machines but make it the responsibility of the consumer to install the OS on the computers.
Instead of shipping Psystar machines with OSX installed, the company wants to simply sell the hardware and its Rebel EFI software, which facilitates the installation of Apple's OS on the computer.
This would mean the consumer would have to go out and obtain a copy of the OS themselves, thus relieving Psystar of the burden.
"Psystar and Apple today entered into a partial settlement that is embodied in a stipulation that will be filed with the Court tomorrow," the motion read.
"Psystar has agreed on certain amounts to be awarded as statutory damages on Apple's copyright claims in exchange for Apple's agreement not to execute on these awards until all appeals in this matter have been concluded. Moreover, Apple has agreed to voluntarily dismiss all its trademark, trade-dress, and state-law claims."
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Spotify launches Premium Xmas gift cards
Spotify has launched Premium Subscription e-cards in time for Christmas – perhaps the ideal gift for music-loving friends and relatives this coming holiday season.
You can buy the e-card vouchers in three different shades - one, three or six-month options – priced at a tenner a month, which means your loved ones will get ad-free access to Spotify on their computers and/or iPhones or Android smartphones for that time.
A tastefully designed email
"You'll be able to purchase either one, three or six month premium subscriptions and send your loved ones a tastefully designed email or print out the gift to place under the Christmas tree this holiday season," Spotify informs us via its blog.
In other news from the streaming Swedes, Spotify has revealed that Oskar Stأ¥l is its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO), joining from mobile payments firm mBlox, where he was director of development.
Paid-for subs on mobile devices is obviously key to Spotify's long-term success and profitability. Somewhat strangely, Spotify's blog also highlights Stأ¥l's love of the C64.
One of the few machines which does not have the capability to stream music. Yet.
Want to give the gift of music this Christmas? Head over to Spotify's gift a premium subscription.
Plus, as well as removing those annoying ads, the premium service also lets users select an increase in audio quality from 120kpbs up to 320kbps – a boon for the audiophiles out there.
Via the Spotify Blog
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Freesat: Canvas could bring us HD VOD
Freesat's managing director Emma Scott is hoping that the first Freesat box that utilises the Project Canvas protocols will bring progressive HD downloads to the platform.
Although the iPlayer is launching in beta on Freesat before Christmas, and ITV Player will launch in the next six months, both of these services will, at first, only bring standard definition programmes.
However, Scott, talking to Digital Spy, believes that the introduction of the IPTV standards that the BBC are currently trying to push through the BBC Trust as Project Canvas could eventually bring higher quality video on demand.
Ambition
"As the BBC has said, the ambition is certainly to get more HD content through on-demand but that depends on the broadband networks in this country," said Scott
"When we produce the Canvas Freesat box, next year hopefully, maybe some progressive download might be something that will eventually come to pass.
"I think there is functionality to do it but it's down the other end of the chain in terms of the broadcaster's willingness to meet the costs of transmission."
Freesat has been keen to remind people that it is in a position to combine its satellite platform with Project Canvas – should it be approved, with the platform already beginning to utilise its Ethernet port for its on demand content.
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Tories want ratings for music and sports videos
Tories have called for music and sports videos to be given film-style ratings to protect children from inappropriate sexual and violent content.
Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt unveiled the Conservatives media policy at this week's Manchester Media Festival, highlighting a loophole in the current law that means that music and sports videos are effectively exempt from classification and age-ratings.
Hunt wants to amend the recently introduced new laws to classify video games to incorporate similar age-ratings on music and sports DVDs and videos.
OTT sports and hardcore rap
Wrestling DVDs such as the OTT Ultimate Fighting Championship and hardcore rap music DVDs in particular are those that are causing concern.
"It is good news that the age rating of potentially harmful video games is being put on a statutory basis," said the Shadow Culture Secretary.
"However, it is really worrying that the Government hasn't done more to close some serious loopholes for other harmful content. No one wants children to get hold of graphically violent or sexual content, but shockingly in some cases it is actually legal to sell this sort of thing to them."
"We have an opportunity to put a stop to this so I hope the Government listens."
TechRadar recently informed you of the various tech changes to expect if we get a Conservative government in power at the next general election.
And in the meantime, we'll await X-rated challenges in football actually being X-rated challenges.
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Bug mars Super Monkey Ball 2 iPhone launch
A bug has marred the launch of Sega's latest Super Monkey Ball 2 on iPhone this week.
While we were more than happy to see the latest outing in Sega's sublime monkey rolling game franchise arrive on the app store this week, reports are quickly emerging from some users experiencing teething troubles with the game on iPhone 3GS.
Disappointed monkey rollers
Users posting reviews on the game's App Store listing are reporting that Super Monkey Ball 2 is not starting properly on the iPhone 3GS.
One App Store reviewer rickomonwise writes, "This game doesn't work, it keep [sic] showing me a flashing screen on my 3gs, please fix."
We've been playing the game all morning quite happily, so we're alright jack!
However, if these problems continue and Sega fails to make a quick fix, there could be a lot of disappointed monkey rollers out there this month!
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PrevX apologises for Windows 'Black Screen of Death' blog
After launching an investigation into a report of the Black Screen of Death in Windows, Microsoft has announced that the problems were not caused by the latest round of updates and accused PrevX of 'inaccurate' reporting.
Security company PrevX reported Windows lock ups to a black screen – and the news swept the planet, not least because of the 'black screen of death' label.
However, PrevX has been forced to apologise for the blog that started it all after Microsoft found inaccuracies in its findings.
Inaccurate reports
"Microsoft has investigated reports that its November security updates made changes to permissions in the registry that that are resulting in system issues for some customers," said Microsoft.
"The company has found those reports to be inaccurate and our comprehensive investigation has shown that none of the recently released updates are related to the behaviour described in the reports."
"While we were not contacted by the organisation who originally made these reports, we have proactively contacted them with our findings. Our support organisation is also not seeing this as an issue.
"The claims also do not match any known issues that have been documented in the security bulletins or KB articles."
Apologise
PrevX's apology was fast in coming: "We apologise to Microsoft for any inconvenience our blog may have caused. This has been a challenging issue to identify.
"Users who have the black screen issue referred to can still safely use our free fix tool to restore their desktop icons and taskbar.
"We have always strongly recommended keeping Windows and all other software up-to-date to reduce the window for exploitation by new threats. We'll keep you updated with further progress if we find anything new."
So perhaps black is not the new blue.
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Nintendo scales down Wii production
According to the latest reports coming out of Japan, Nintendo is scaling back on Wii production, cutting the number of consoles being manufactured.
Nintendo's suppliers - Mitsumi and Hosiden – now face huge drops in revenue linked to the Wii's "declining fortunes" and the resulting "drop-off in orders from Nintendo to assemble game systems" claims the Nikkei.
Supplier profit's tumble
That report adds that the two suppliers face a massive drop in net profits of over 50 per cent.
This coming Christmas will be Nintendo's fourth holiday season with the Wii. It will be interesting to see if retailers report stock shortages, as they have done the previous three Christmas periods.
Developers, publishers and analysts alike have all recently commented on declining quality in Wii titles, with some claiming that the Wii bubble is about to burst.
TechRadar will be watching out for those post-Xmas Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 sales figure breakdowns in earnest!
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Twitter tops Michael Jackson on Google Zeitgeist
Google has released the top fastest rising searches of the year, with Twitter outperforming the dead 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson in this year's 'map' of the zeitgeist and elderly singer Susan Boyle topping the UK search charts.
Michael Jackson rules this top as well, but the queries following are, surprisingly or not, some of the hot social media services of the year, Facebook and Twitter which came in at number two and number four
Zeitgeist surfing
Google has set up its zeitgest website to chart and map the year nearly over in terms on online searches.
"It's because of curious searchers like you and the billions of searches you do throughout the year, that our annual Zeitgeist has become an insightful look into a global mindset. So please check out our Zeitgeist site, which showcases many of these interesting trends across various categories and countries, and more about how we create the lists," said Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products and User Experience.
As for the United Kingdom's current zeitgeisty search terms, Google notes that "Facebook, eBay and Spotify all featured in the year's fastest rising searches. People searched to learn about new sensations like Lady Gaga and Susan Boyle, but they also turned to the web to learn about the deaths of Stephen Gately, Jade Goody, and Michael Jackson.
"Meanwhile, the recession ensured that bargain hunting was alive and well in the UK, with people searching for cheap holiday options in particular."
We noted earlier this week that Facebook topped the list for most searches in 2009 in the UK, closely followed by the BBC, Youtube and Hotmail.
Google UK spokesman Anthony House said: "People searched about new sensations like Lady Gaga and Susan Boyle, but they also turned to the web to learn about the deaths of Stephen Gately, Jade Goody and Michael Jackson".
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Google sets new limits to free online news
Google is set to limit the number of free articles users can access from online newspapers.
Newspaper publishers will get an option to set limits limit on the number of news articles people can access via Google and Google News, before being re-routed to a payment area or subscription page.
The UK's leading regional newspaper groups, Johnston Press, recently made the controversial decision to charge users آ£5 for three month's access to its local news sites.
First click free
Google is calling the programme 'First Click Free' – part of a move to placate newspaper publishers that are concerned about Google's growing dominance in the online news arena.
"Previously, each click from a user would be treated as free," said Google Senior Business Product Manager Josh Cohen.
"Now, we've updated the programme so that publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing."
While hardly a groundbreaking move, 'First Click Free' is surely in part a response to Rupert Murdoch's recent war on free online news.
Google users may start seeing registration pages appear when they click for a sixth time on any given day at websites of publishers using the program, according to Mr Cohen.
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Review: Samsung Omnia Lite B7300
Samsung has been busy of late updating it smartphone portfolio, with the Omnia Lite B7300 one of several recent Windows Mobile 6.5-powered handsets to line up in its Omnia range.
The 'Lite' moniker may suggest a lower spec'd, handset, and Samsung bills it as a 'simple all-rounder'. But running the latest version of Microsoft's smartphone operating system, and ticking off plenty of features, the Omnia Lite B7300 has much more gadgetry under the bonnet than its name might suggest.
The Samsung Omnia Lite Windows Phone uses a 3-inch touchscreen, with Samsung's TouchWiz 2.0 Widgets-enhanced user interface brought in to skin the Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS.
It supports HSDPA high-speed mobile data connectivity and has Wi-Fi onboard too.
It's equipped with A-GPS satellite positioning technology, working with onboard Google Maps software, and comes loaded with a decent suite of Windows Phone applications, including Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, Powerpoint Mobile, Outlook, Internet Explorer and Windows Live, with support for Microsoft Exchange for push email from corporate servers.
Samsung has brushed up on the multimedia side of things with a media player that includes support for DivX and Xvid video file formats, while an additional Opera browser supplements the Microsoft Internet Explorer online browsing efforts. Its camera is a mid-range 3.2-megapixel shooter, though, rather than one of Samsung's more up-market snappers.
The Samsung Omnia Lite is a reasonably sized touchscreen phone. It adopts the regulation black slab that's become familiar post-iPhone, although the casing of this model is less curvaceous than recent Samsung touch-phones such as the Omnia 2, Blade and Jet, and more like the Tocco Ultra.
It measures 107(h) x 51.8(w) x 13.3(d)mm and weighs 109g, so it is suitably Lite in your pocket.
The black casing is offset by chrome trim around the sides – all tastefully done. The front panel physical keys are typically minimalist, with a Call and End button flanking a central Back button.
This may look like a navigation pad, but it isn't. It will, though, launch the Task Switcher function – enabling to see what features are running by pulling up open apps in panels on the screen, allowing you to tap to select the one you want to use. A secondary camera for video calls sits above the display.
Side buttons includes a screen sleep/lock/unlock key, a camera button, volume rocker keys and a Menu key for accessing the main menu.
There's a MicroSD card slot on the side too (though no card is supplied, the Omnia Lite can support MicroSDHC cards up to 32GB), while up top is a multi-connector microUSB socket. A standard 3.5mm headphone socket isn't included on this model, however.
A miniscule reset button on the side is provided though in case the device freezes on you.
The main action, of course, is via the touchscreen. The screen is a WQVGA (240 x 400 pixels) 65K-colour TFT resistive display, measuring 3 inches diagonally.
While Windows Mobile 6.5 has supposedly been developed to be more finger-friendly than previous versions of the Microsoft mobile OS, a stylus is included in-box – which is certainly required for some on-screen tapping action.
Instead of a slip-in slot for secreting the stylus in the casing, Samsung has built a tiny hook into the top of the body, which you can string your stylus onto. Not ideal, and not exactly snag-proof, unless you carry only your phone in your pocket or handbag…
We found that we needed the stylus more than we would have expected. The resistive screen was fine for general scrolling, stroking and so on. But when it came to precision tapping, we found it wasn't as finger-friendly as we'd like.
Tapping the thin bars at the top and bottom of the display, for instance, sometimes required stylus precision or we'd open up the Widgets toolbar by mistake.
The close apps button too requires precision. And in some functions we felt our fingers sometimes were too big for accurately tapping an option – when texting, the soft QWERTY keypad numbers around the edges of the display proved a bit fiddly to select with fingers.
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Samsung has layered its TouchWiz 2.0 UI over the Windows Mobile 6.5 Today home screen, so the initial experience is much like you'd see on other recent Samsung touchscreen phones. Out of the box, as well as pressing the side unlock key, a sideways finger swipe on the screen is needed to unlock it.
The Today home screen is designed in three interconnecting panels you can swipe between with a sideways finger stroke. It offers a selection of on-screen Widgets – mini app shortcuts that can be dotted around the home screen space, allowing you to access certain features in the phone or online services with just a quick finger tap.
Touch the screen and a side toolbar pops up full of icons, showing the Widgets available for dragging and dropping onto the display. The Widgets can be arranged exactly how you like, and easily dragged on or off the screen as you require.
Widgets range from such features as calendar, clocks, image viewers, music player and memos to links for YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, an AccuWeather weather forecasting app and Google Widgets that bundles together Maps Mail and Search options.
A shortcuts panel is available for the home screen too, which can be customised to the app you want to have at your fingertips.
The TouchWiz Widgets home screen gives the Omnia Lite quite a user-friendly default look for consumers that's consistent with Samsung's recent touchscreen range.
This being a Windows Phone, however, you can delve into the settings to customise the Today screen to how you want it to look, so you can shelve the Widgets for a default Windows Mobile 6.5 appearance with scrollable options, or populate the Today screen with selected function and status information.
Whatever way you want to set up the Today screen, you can tap the top bar of the display to get status updates on the phone (battery, network, connectivity, ringer volume and so on), which also enables you to quickly make changes to the relevant functions (such as selecting Bluetooth or Wi-Fi).
Windows Start button
Pressing the Windows Start icon in the top left of the display immediately opens the applications home screen, with icons representing functions presented in a typical Windows Mobile 6.5 offset grid pattern. Here you can scroll down with finger or stylus, dragging or swiping.
The three-column grid offers enough space for fingers to do option selection. A long press on the display in some areas also pulla up additional options to general menu selections.
As an alternative to hitting the Start button, pressing the Menu button on the side of the phone brings up a regular 4 x 3 grid view of applications, arranged under four category headings (My Menu, Multimedia, Internet and Office) that can be swiped between.
Items on the menus can be deleted or replaced, from a list of Others, with a press of an Edit softkey; this Others list of extra apps can also be accessed with a tap of a softkey.
It's easy enough to modify, but the arrangement of the apps is sometimes curious and the 4 x 3 grids seem an unnecessarily rigid structure. For instance, there are two empty spaces for icons left in the Internet category, but the Internet Explorer app is languishing in the Others section, and similarly the Multimedia screen has a blank while in the Others section you get the choice of Facebook, YouTube and several other apps.
Granted, this allows you to customise the menus to how you want them, but it can seem odd to users not familiar with the layout – who may not expect to have to hunt around rather than having all multimedia apps under Multimedia, and so on.
Although Microsoft has shifted Windows Mobile on with version 6.5, it doesn't feel like a new, from-the-ground-up user interface. The icon-based main menus and Start menus take you into familiar lists of options, some with icon buttons and tabs for additional lists or options.
For phone buyers who are trying a touchscreen smartphone for the first time, it's a functional rather than iPhone-like slick experience. Sure, there are plenty of customisation and user configuration options, but they're not always presented in the most intuitive or easily accessible way, and are sometimes buried away in the settings.
Running on an ARM 667MHz processor, with 512MB ROM and 256MB RAM, the Samsung Omnia Lite isn't the speediest smartphone on the block. Commands sometimes take a few moments to be implemented, and opening multiple apps can slow down the device.
The lag can be off-putting, and generate unnecessary extra button presses as you wait for it to respond – leading you to unwanted options or undesired screens. We also had a problem with messages in the inbox not showing when some apps were open.
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Making and taking calls generally is quite straightforward on the OmniaLite, and call clarity and audio quality is perfectly acceptable. The touchscreen locks when a call comes in, so you don't accidentally activate it with your face.
A simple press of the Call button pulls up a numberpad on the screen that's adequately spaced for comfortable finger tapping. A row of buttons on the bottom of the display allows you to select from the call log, phone book or compose a text message, while you can also hide the keypad to see your recent calls listed.
As you tap in a number, options are presented from the contacts list to speed up dialling. The phonebook is neatly arranged, although scrolling through lists isn't as well controlled to swipe through as some of the other touchscreen devices we've encountered, including the iPhone and other Samsungs.
Receiving calls, Samsung has included an Etiquette Pause option among its motion sensor accelerometer settings. This can mute the call ringer simply by turning the phone face down. It also works for other apps, such as the music player and alerts.
Messaging
Out of the box, messaging is a couple of clicks away. All your text message accounts are presented under one screen here, including Outlook email or other email accounts you're using (settings details for other web-based email providers – including Yahoo, AOL and Google Mail are included, though other POP3 and IMAP4 accounts can be added).
Your messaging inbox is presented in a similar folder layout to a desktop app, with inbox, sent items, outbox, draft and deleted sub folders listed. As you view incoming messages, they are arranged in conversation strings, so you can follow communications with the sender.
The out of the box default set-up for messaging and email is using a soft QWERTY keyboard. An accelerometer inside the phone enables you to use this landscape or portrait.
The QWERTY keyboard seems quite cramped in portrait mode, and the stylus will be required if you want to get up any speed – or accuracy - when you're typing. The lack of screen responsiveness around the edges doesn't help matters though. Landscape mode isn't too bad however, even for thumb typing. It's not a bad action as these things go.
The out of the box messaging setup provides XT9 predictive text, which is configured for spelling correction as well as text prediction.
This can be handy though sometimes irritating, but if you don't want it interfering with your typing, you can switch it off (among other options, including next word prediction) in the XT9 menu settings.
The phone also automatically saves any new word you've added into its onboard dictionary, which can be edited and words deleted if necessary.
The keyboard can be called up or removed by pressing the central button on the bottom of the screen. And if you prefer, by hitting the XT9 Mode key you can switch text input modes, replacing the QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode either with a nicely usable phone keypad-style arrangement or semi-QWERTYoption (with mostly two characters per key, like on the BlackBerry Pearl and Nokia E55).
The Omnia Lite is well equipped for push email. It has Outlook Mobile software onboard which desktop PC users should feel comfortable with using. It supports syncing via MS Exchange ActiveSync and IBM Lotus Notes.
The handset offers a sophisticated and user-friendly email experience that's well integrated. Emails are well presented with HTML support and a easy-to-use interface with plenty of user options, including a search facility, and configuration settings to tailor it to your usage.
Windows Live is included here too, which enables you to sync contacts and manage your account on the phone. As well as accessing your Hotmail account, Windows Live Messenger instant messaging is supported, with desktop style set-up options including presence status and the facility to get IM notifications on your Today screen.
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The Omnia Lite has Wi-Fi onboard as well as HSDPA high-speed 3G data connectivity (up to 3.6Mbps) so is geared up for browsing and other online applications.
An Internet Explorer Mobile browser is included, which provides a reasonable, if not compelling, browsing experience. Pages download pretty quickly and are rendered full page on the screen, which you can scroll through by finger dragging.
You can zoom in or out with a long press on the screen and activation of the zoom slider, or you can use the option buttons at the bottom of the display – which also include a back button, favourites key, keyboard option and menu button for the browser.
It's not as intuitive or smooth an experience as the iPhone or Android touchscreen browsers, though, and didn't respond as nimbly to controls as we'd have liked. Microsoft's Bing for Mobile is used as the default search engine.
Opera Mini
Samsung also includes Opera Mini browser software for touchscreen mobiles, which provides a faster all round experience, with up to three 'tabbed' pages and a user-friendly interface that feels more responsive than the Internet Explorer app, including one-touch zooming in and out (by pressing and holding the screen and moving up or down).
As well as the pair of browsers Samsung has crammed in, it also serves up a selection of online-based applications and services.
A Samsung RSS reader app is included which has a selection of feeds pre-loaded, and a podcast app is also included, allowing users to search for, subscribe to and play podcasts.
A Rich Internet function onboard enables you to browse online for additional content – from ringtones and pictures to videos and games.
See all Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 deals:
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While Samsung has previously delivered touchscreen phones with impressively heavyweight cameras attached, with the Omnia Lite image making takes a more back seat role. The 3.2-megapixel camera on the back panel is equipped with an autofocus system, but has no flash built in, so low-light shooting is pretty hit and miss.
Shooting quality is limited, and it's not the best-equipped cameraphone in town, but it is intuitive to use and can take a reasonable snap under the right conditions.
Pressing the side camera button, the camera takes 3 seconds to spring into action, filling the viewfinder with a landscape view. Large control buttons are in columns on either side of the screen, so it's easy to select options you want when readying to take a snap.
A set of scene options are available for varying lighting and exposure setups – portrait, landscape, sports, night shot, sunset, dusk and dawn, text and back light – which appear as large, well labelled buttons on the screen.
You can regulate brightness with a slider, activate a timer control and adjust the resolution and quality settings. Additional settings are provided for white balance, ISO levels and colour effects. You can also set the phone to geo-tag pics, using a GPS option.
Also included are a variety of shooting modes, including multi-shot and mosaic modes, plus Samsung's neat accelerometer-aided panorama shooting option, and a Smile Shot mode – which releases the shutter only when a smile is detected.
The autofocus system can be switched between on/off and macro – so you can get decent close up snaps.
However, the autofocus system is less flexible than some two-step button press cameraphones. When you depress the shooter button, it focuses and takes the shot immediately – you don't get the option to hold focus and adjust the camera view before taking the shot.
Image quality is decent enough for a 3.2-megapixel shooter, and you can take crisply focused images. Colour rendition is pretty good too and images are well exposed, the camera responding rapidly to changing lighting conditions.
As you might expect, shooting results in dark environments aren't great without a flash, and night shot mode adds a bit of gain, but doesn't solve the low-light issue.
There's some pleasant photo-viewing features, using the large screen, which you can zoom in and out of with the touch controls, while there's a bunch of editing tools to let you play around with images post-shooting. The connectivity to online services adds another sending option – you can upload shots and video directly to web services.
You can also use Bluetooth, MMS, and with its its Connected Home DLNA option it can share content with other networked home devices via Wi-Fi.
The Samsung Omnia Lite also lets you shoot video; it can capture images at maximum VGA resolution at up to 15 frames per second, and picture quality is average looking for a mid-level mobile phone – acceptable for clips but nothing special. Variable speed playback is offered if you want basic slow-mo, and there's some user friendly video-editing software on the phone too, though, so you can tidy it up before uploading clips online.
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Video playback options are nonetheless plentiful on this device, which supports DivX, Xvid, H.263, H.264, WMV9 and MPEG4 file formats. Windows Media Player 10 Mobile is pre-loaded, alongside a separate Samsung media player application that takes care of music and video playback.
The Samsung media player can be updated with a quick search, and new content is quickly detected and categorised when transferred over to the phone or a memory card. You do have to repeat this search process though if you switch to the Windows Media Player app (which is much slower to update from a card).
The Samsung media player interface is user-friendly; the media library is organised under tabbed lists, so you can view categories by all music, albums, artists, videos or playlists. MP3, AAC, AAC+, and WMA music files are supported.
Flip the phone from the functional portrait view to landscape, and the media player browser displays a Cover Flow-style flickable 3D-alike carousel of album covers or video clip thumbnails, which looks very swish. When playing, the user interface is intuitive, with large buttons, options for volume control, cover art displayed (if available) and various sound equaliser effects.
DivX and Xvid video file support means you can transfer and play these encoded files directly on the phone without needing to convert them.
The Windows Media Player's media listings look typically Windows Mobile, arranged as lists of folders – My music, My videos, My TV and My playlists. Click on these and you go through sub-folders in the usual way until you find content. It's not exactly visually rich, and realistically requires a stylus to operate, but does the job in a functional, Windows type way – considerably less fluidly than the iPhone.
The player interface buttons are sensibly laid out, and there are pop-up lists of settings options you can go through to adjust standard settings, such as allowing full screen view of content. Naturally, you can easily sync content with a PC, using the provided USB cable, though you can also copy via Bluetooth or slip in a MicroSD card.
Video plays back smoothly and looks good on the screen, though some may prefer more display real estate to enjoy a bigger screen mobile video experience.
The media player offers decent quality music playback through the earphone headset supplied in-box, with a reasonably good mid-and high-range with solid bass. It can sound a touch toppy at higher volumes but is an acceptable performance for this grade of handset.
No 3.5mm standard earphone socket means you can't easily slip in better quality regular earphones to improve the audio performance, which is a shame.
One slight quirk – the phone has to have the ringer volume activated for the media player to play through the earphones. While this may not seem strange, it means you can't leave your phone on vibrate or silent while playing tunes, which might be a bind if you're listening somewhere where you'd like to be discreet.
An easy to operate and tune FM radio – which has a neat finger-stroking tuner in landscape mode - آ is included too, with a recording function to capture songs or radio clips. Samsung has also included ArcSoft Streaming Player software for online video and audio streaming.
A music identification application, Midomi, is pre-loaded that goes one stage further than others like Shazam or Sony Ericsson's TrackID – as well as being able to analyse and identify music you hear around you or on the radio by interrogating a remote database, it also tries to identify any songs you sing or hum yourself.
We were surprised when it worked first time with our dodgy singing, though consequently it had variable success with other warblings; we still thought it was quite a neat idea though.
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There's plenty of functionality going on in this smartphone to potentially sap battery life but the Omnia Lite isn't an exceptionally power hungry handset. Samsung reckons the 1500mAh battery pack can deliver up to 7.5 hours maximum talktime or up to 500 hours of standby, and in our tests, we found ourselves recharging every other day with a hefty amount of usage.
Of course, more use of power hungry features will reduce battery life, and how it performs in real life will depend on how you want to use the phone.
Organiser
As a Windows Mobile 6.5 device, the Omnia Lite comes equipped with a hefty amount of organiser functionality and Office tools, and is easily synchronisable locally with a PC or remotely with a corporate server.
Microsoft Outlook Mobile software is embedded, and the Office Suite delivers mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Documents can be created as well as edited from desktop files sent to the phone, and it offers a really good out of the box package for users who want to carry out some desktop-style work action on their smartphone.
The apps offer touchscreen toolbars which make them comfortable to use, though again the stylus will come into play for accurately pressing the tiny icon tool boxes.
However, the accelerometer doesn't automatically switch documents into landscape view when tilted, so you don't get a QWERTY keyboard automatically appearing, which isn't ideal, particularly if you want to do more serious quantities of thumb-typing or view documents like spreadsheets in landscape.
Other organiser software and tools are included, such as a scheduler and calendar functions, a memo feature – which allows hand-written notes to be saved – an Adobe PDF reader, a Smart Search facility that enables you to search for something either on the phone or online, or both.
A useful and pretty accurate Smart Reader function uses image recognition via the camera to read business cards or documents and translate them into text or business contact cards.
Other regular tools that are nicely implemented for the touchscreen interface include a unit convertor, calculator, voice recorder, notes, tasks and task manager options. You certainly get plenty for your money.
Connectivity
The Omnia Lite isn't light on connectivity options either. It's a WCDMA 900/2100 device, incorporating quad-band GSM, with HSDPA mobile data connectivity (up to 3.6Mbps) with GPRS and EDGE support.
You can get online via Wi-Fi or high-speed HSDPA on 3G networks. You can also hook up via Wi-Fi to connected home media devices that support DLNA.
Bluetooth is included too, which can be used to sync with your PC, transfer files and other content and stream music to stereo headsets. Setting up and using the connectivity modes, you can tap through the settings menus to select and switch on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, though a more speedy option is to tap the top bar of the phone, which enables you to select the option for connectivity.
A simple button press then switches it on or off, and you can swiftly negotiate multiple Wi-Fi network options if detected with another pop-up.
As mentioned, the Omnia Lite can be synced remotely with a server over the air or locally with a PC via Bluetooth or USB connection, and content can be backed up remotely using Microsoft's My Phone service. The phone can also switch to mass storage mode when connected to a PC, so you can transfer and store files in that way if you're using a Mac.
Other
The Omnia Lite is equipped with A-GPS technology for satellite location finding, and comes with Google Maps version 3.0.1.6 software loaded up. This works very well on this touchscreen device, running smoothly and efficiently.
It locks on to satellites and finds positions very quickly. The Google Maps app onboard offers the usual fine array of search options for addresses, businesses and so on, plus route planning for directions by car, walking or public transport.
It also has a Street View option, so you can see locations on the map. Google's Latitude location service is also supported, should you wish to share your location details in real time with friends or family. It's all neatly done and is a very useful app to have as standard.
Among the software you get out of the box, Qik provides an option for you to stream video taken from your phone on the internet for friends or family, or store it for viewing later. There's a AccuWeather.com weather forecasting application onboard, while MSN Weather and MSN Money offer online updates in real time for weather and financial information, respectively. Three games are also included.
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The Samsung Omnia Lite is no lightweight when it comes to its out of the box functionality. There's plenty of features and applications pre-loaded, and the hardware includes comprehensive connectivity options, satellite location finding and a comprehensive suite of office tools.
The Windows Mobile 6.5 touchscreen user interface isn't the most intuitive, though. It offers plenty of configuration options and functionality, but touch-phone usability isn't at the heart of the UI.
A little way under the revamped surface graphics it feels functional and not particularly user friendly. And with the layout of some menus, combined with the screen space and responsiveness, you may be using the stylus a fair amount rather than simply tapping with your fingertips.
We were also disappointed with the sometimes languid performance when responding to button pressing and experienced slow running of certain apps when several were open. This was frustrating, particularly when it interfered with something as basic as text messaging.
We liked:
The Omnia Lite has plenty of features and functionality packed in to a refined looking touchscreen device. High-speed data connectivity via Wi-Fi and HSDPA was welcome, particularly with the variety of online-based applications onboard. The synchronisation options too offered a good way of backing up and synchronising your phone on a PC or remotely.
The communications and messaging facilities are extensive and well implemented on the device, and we liked the media player options and playback.
There's a very generous selection of useful out-of-the-box apps included, ranging from office tools and online media functions to entertainment and communications functionality.
Some users may also find that the widgets-based TouchWiz Samsung interface offers an alternative user-friendly way of maintaining the Today screen.
We didn't like:
The Windows Mobile 6.5 user interface still isn't as touch friendly as it would like to be, which is highlighted on a compact screen device like this.
The screen was sometimes imprecise around the edges, which could be awkward when using the QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode – requiring the stylus rather than finger pressing to ensure accuracy. Tapping the top screen panel was problematic for the same reason – which meant closing down apps or pressing the Start button often required stylus intervention.
This could be frustrating when looking to do something quick with a finger tap.
While there's plenty of applications action, the phone was sometimes ponderous when carrying out commands, which could be frustrating.
The accelerometer didn't switch the screen automatically in all apps, which was irritating in some such as the Office Mobile suite where it should really be a default option.
As usual, we were disappointed not to see a 3.5mm headphone jack on the bodywork as standard on this sort of device.
Verdict:
The Samsung Omnia Lite has plenty of features and a generous amount of applications stacked up inside. The Windows Mobile 6.5 increases usability a bit from previous versions of the OS, but it's not a great leap forward in terms of overall user-friendliness.
It's far from as intuitive or slick to use as some Android phones and the Apple iPhone, particularly with its sometimes languid responsiveness.
It does pack a very decent helping of useful software, communication capabilities, back up and configuration options, so you do get plenty of functionality for your cash.
Its feature firepower is no doubt attractive for a Windows Phone at this level, but it's not really enough to make us warm to the Lite.
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Sky News to run Friday technology show
Sky News is to run a special technology news section in a Friday evening slot, with the broadcaster pointing to the increasing importance of technology.
Presenter Martin Stanford is a familiar face to millions as the face of tech coverage on Sky, and he will cover the latest developments in 'mainstream' technology.
Friday night tech
"Technology is so mainstream nowadays - at work, at home, at school– all our lives are affected by, or in thrall to, the onward march of technology - and it's important we try to keep the Sky News audience abreast of developments," Stanford said.
Technology Unplugged will see Stanford joined for a half hour show by high profile guests and a 'tech review' panel of journalists and practitioners will discuss the latest phones, computers and software.
The show starts on Friday, 4 December and runs weekly from 7:30 to 8pm.
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Cambridge Consultants unveil Suma the squeezable mouse
A new intuitive, low-cost user interface device (read: mouse) has been shown off by Cambridge Consultants who hope to 'squeeze' into what is a tough market.
Codenamed Suma, the device "translates the three dimensional deformation of a squeezed object into a software-readable form". So you touch it in such a way, and your gestures are fed into the computer.
Capturing complexity
Its makers are hoping that Suma will be a low-cost alternative to the cumbersome motion-capture technologies that our out at the moment.
"Although gesture-based control is a huge step, even this does not convey the subtlety and flexibility of what our hands can do," explains Duncan Smith, Head of Consumer Product Development at Cambridge Consultants.
"By capturing that complexity, Suma enables product developers in a range of industries to greatly enhance the experience of their users, adding multidimensional interaction to both existing and new applications."
3D trends
So, what would we use the Suma with, well Smith explains that: "Emerging trends like 3D displays and augmented reality are bound to stimulate interest in Suma's unique capabilities, where the emergence of next generation applications is limited only by the lack of suitable input devices.
"But it's also just as relevant and exciting for existing 2D applications and web-based services, where squeeze-to-click can now become squeeze-to-control."
There's no release date as of yet but Cambridge Consultants will be showing off the device at CES 2010, so expect a TechRadar hands-on soon after.
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