Image credit: Urban Outlaw | Creative Commons

Around 1 in every 7 people that I know has a DSLR camera. You know that big camera for professionals that you only see in studios about a few years back but has now found it’s way dangling around necks of people you see in malls?

As a blogger, you might think that I have one. But in reality, I don’t. I find it expensive and too bulky to carry along so small cameras are best for me. Maybe I just don’t need one at the moment but I’m not saying that I won’t buy one in the future. For now, I’d rather be in front of the camera lens.

But with so many guys treating these professional cameras like ordinary cellphones and gadgets, bringing them everyday (with multiple lenses) wherever they go – do you think that it’s for their passion in digital photography or for fashion and style?

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This year, if I were to buy an average-priced music player, I will be confronted by two tough choices – that is between Apple iPod 5th Gen Nano and Creative Zen X-Fi 2.

Apple iPod 5th Gen Nano

My girlfriend recently bought this new Nano and when I first heard that it had an FM Radio as well as a video camera, I had to confirm over the Internet if this was true to make sure that it’s not a generic mp3 player from China.

It looks like Apple has heard my voice requesting for an FM Radio. Hmmm, I know what you must be thinking. What’s with the FM Radio and why can’t I live without it? Well it’s because I love music and I get easily bored with old songs so I need to stay-tuned to music charts to get my daily dose of hits while on-the-go.

Anyway, here are some features of the iPod Nano 5th Gen

• Built-in Speaker
• Pedometer
• Voice Recorder
• Video Camera

One thing that bothers me with the camera is that it doesn’t capture still images. It’s all video. Weird.

Creative Zen X-Fi 2

(click image to zoom)

I first heard about this from an officemate. He wants to buy it but too bad it’s not yet available in the Philippines. This product looks promising to me because it’s not too expensive but it’s already touchscreen. Here is a list of some of the features of Zen X-Fi 2:

• X-Fi (Xtreme Fidelity) audio technology
• Built-in speaker
• A/V cable connection for TV
• Expandable microSD memory card slot
• FM Radio

I haven’t seen a live demo of this product but based on the reviews I read on the Internet, the user interface and touchscreen can be quite problematic. I’m not sure how true and how bad it is but it’s pretty understandable since I think this is Creative’s first touchscreen product. I just hope that they will be able to fix these issues in future hardware and software upgrades.

Given those two choices above, I will stick with my old reliable Creative Zen for now as it still serves me well and I don’t feel the need to upgrade right away. After all, what will I do with my old Zen if I buy a new one? But maybe if you are the one looking for a new music player this Christmas season, you might include these two among your choices.

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*Image credit: Creative.com

Image credit: Nokia

It astonished me to see the cellphone maker now creating mini laptops. One would initially doubt Nokia in making laptops because their forte is in making cellphones. However, the features of the Nokia Booklet 3G just seem to be too good and really convincing as it really suits my need for mobility. Here are just some of the specs:

-12-hour battery life (means that you can leave the charger at home)
-Powered by Windows 7 Operating System
-A cool and stylish aluminum design
-Unlimited connectivity by WiFi
-3G/HSPA with hot swappable sim card (not yet sure how this will work)
-1.3 MP front camera with microphone
-Global Positioning System (A-GPS)

Just take a look at the video here which is guaranteed to give you goosebumps on all its impressive features.

They say that this will be priced at 575 Euros (roughly 40,000 Pesos). At such an expensive price, I will have to stop drooling and will think more than twice before buying. How about you?


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When you first see the new iPod Shuffle, you will never know what it is until you see Apple’s logo on it. It’s so small. It’s about the size of a paper clip or a locker key at 1.8 inches tall and 0.3 inch thin. It has no buttons in front.

Why is it the talking iPod? Well since it has no LCD display to show what’s the song currently being played, it makes use of a voice-over instead to say what’s the title of the song or if you are already running low on battery. Nice one huh?

So if there are no playback controls then how do you control it? Actually, there are playback and volume controls, not on the player but on the earphone – something which might be a drawback in case you would want to use a different earphone from a different manufacturer.

Anyway here is a photo comparing the old 2nd generation iPod shuffle with the new one.

Even if I find the voice-over and the size very much astounding – I don’t think it’s for me. If I would buy an iPod, I’ll go for the higher-end models. So how about you? Do you think this iPod is for you?


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*Image credits: Apple and bfishadow - License

It has been like ages waiting for 5800 Xpress Music phone from Nokia and I’m very happy that it is finally here. Surprisingly, it’s not as expensive as I thought it would be.

At only 18,000 Pesos, it is hard to imagine that a new phone from Nokia containing cool music features would cost only this much. As what I have seen in the past from Nokia, I expected it to be more or less 30,000 Pesos. Anyway some of 5800’s nice features are:

3G with HSPDA
Touchscreen
Accelerometer sensor for screen auto-rotation
Up to 16 GB Memory Card (original package has 8GB Memory Card and 81MB internal memory)
Wi-Fi and bluetooth
3.15 Megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss lens and auto-focus. Has a secondary camera for video call
GPS receiver
Plays MP3, WMA, WAV, EAAC, MP4, WMV, 3GP

While the features are really nice, the only thing that makes me wonder is why the internal memory is only 81MB? I think they should have added more since this is a music phone. But no need to worry since it has a memory card slot of up to 16 GB anyway.

And for some reason, I don’t understand why all music phones that come out are being compared to the iPhone? I don’t know but I think it’s weird. It just makes the iPhone more overrated. Just take a look at a spoof ad I found below from BlueTrigger.

Between this and the iPhone, which one would you choose?

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Image credit: Sony Ericsson

I bet that a lot of guys out there never switch their home or car’s radio to the AM frequency band. Don’t worry, I’m one of them. Let’s face it. It’s boring. I’d rather listen to music than listen to radio news. But don’t get me wrong, I get news info from other sources – TV, newspapers and even the Internet. But just not on my music player or even my cellphone. It’s just not my thing.

However, Sony Ericsson seems to have revolutionized radio for our mobile phones especially for those who love news on the go.

So let’s meet the SE R300 – a cellphone unlike the ordinary. It has both AM/FM radio frequency band. So whether you’re a music lover or a news town crier, you’d surely love having both frequencies! If I’m not mistaken, it’s even the first mobile phone to have a built-in AM Radio and it’s very suitable for a lot of students who are always wishing for class suspensions during the rainy days.

Here is a list of other features of the R300. It’s really a minimalist yet unique phone!

-2G Network
-Polyphonic Tones
-1000 contacts
-8 MB internal memory – no memory card
-Bluetooth
-VGA Camera
-Music player
-FM/AM radio recorder

There’s also the SE R306, also a mobile phone with AM/FM radio but the only significant improvement to this is that it has a clearer, 1.3 Megapixel camera instead of a VGA one.

Question is, do you really need an AM radio in your phone?

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It appears to me that this is now the successor of the P-Series from Sony Ericsson. And guess what? This is the first-ever mobile phone from the company that uses Windows Mobile instead of Symbian Operating System. So what do we expect from SE’s new phone?

• Windows Mobile 6.1 – new OS means better features? Well we have yet to see because as far as I know, Symbian is the most dominant OS in the mobile phone world so it has more support and more applications. The drawback with Symbian is that it’s a little bit slow. Perhaps Windows Mobile can change this?
• Touchscreen – nothing really new about it since the P-Series used to have one. Remember the P900 phones? Nevertheless, touchscreens have become a standard these days.
• QWERTY Horizontal keypad – this one’s unique and it made the overall look of the phone an eyecandy. Take a look at the photos below
• 3.2 Megapixel Camera – I am surprised that Sony Ericsson included only 3.2 Megapixels for this phone when their competitors already have 5 megapixels. Think about N95 and Samsung’s Omnia.
• Expandable Memory
• Bluetooth
• GPS
• USB 2.0 – allows your phone to be a mass-storage device
• WiFi – for mobile Internet in the city’s hotspots
• Music Player and FM Radio – for audiophiles!

While there’s no doubt that this phone is beautiful, the features are comparable to common phones today. I think Sony Ericsson is still trying to get used to the new Windows OS. According to SE, this will be released end of September 2008.

How about you guys? What do you think about this new phone?

Image credit to GSMArena

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It’s too bad that I wasn’t able to watch Miss Universe in full last week because I was a little busy. But if I had the chance to go to Venezuela to meet her – oh I wouldn’t have second thoughts. This girl is truly a hottie!

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*Photo credit: HinhXinh

Luckily for those who are itching to buy a new touchscreen gadget, we have here a new one known as the Samsung i900 Omnia. It’s a touchscreen phone powered by Windows Mobile Operating System and promises to be a strong competitor to the 3G iPhone.