With a 4.3 inch screen, the current release of Mapmyindia’s Windows CE based GPS unit will add a lot to your dashboard. However, its size does have advantages. The multimedia player is back in this edition. But you still can’t use it as PMP, because its battery time is only 1 hour. The overall build is sturdy and the holder for the SD card is more stable in this release. So if a 3-inch GPS was small for you, this is a good option.
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3 October 2009
Kodak Z915
This is one great camera if you are looking for a compact with a high zoom and usability features. And no, the price is not its biggest draw.
Voice notes | video grab | panorama mode | burst mode | Rs 10,999
say cheese
I am not sure what made me fall for it, the retro looks, the 10x optical zoom or the price—but when I held the Kodak Easyshare Z915 in my hands, I immediately thought, now this is a camera I want. But there was more to it. The 10x zoom and the retro looks were definitely the first pull. I loved the way the controls were laid out and the fact that the macro mode, flash settings and custom timer buttons were dedicated and on top of the camera with the zoom controls. The manual mode is very nice and usable (though you don’t get manual focus).
The video quality is limited to VGA (640 x 480) but it can shoot videos at 30 fps. It also supports QVGA format (320 x 240) at 30 fps, so that you can record videos in a small file.
I like the fact that Kodak gave a 3V DC adapter input on the side of the camera. This is good when you are using the camera directly to print pictures or using it connected to your PC to download pictures, etcetera.
The camera ships in three colours: red, blue and black; has a 10 megapixel sensor (maximum print size of 30 x 40 inch), takes alkaline AA batteries; and has an additional 5x digital zoom that boosts the camera to 50x zoom (though I won’t use the digital zoom). Optical stabilisation is built into the camera. The 2.5 inch high-resolution screen is brilliantly bright in outdoor light, and the controls are neatly laid out. I love Kodak for the fact that they’ve stuck to SD cards for this camera.
The Z915 supports ISO settings from 100 to 1600 (though higher settings were very grainy, but when you are shooting in dark places these tend to be handy). Weighing in at a cool 220 gram, this is one great camera if you are looking for a compact with a high zoom and usability features.
Sapra is The Big Geek at System3. He also blogs at TheBigGeek.com
Gadget Buzz
03 Oct 2009 - 9 Oct 2009
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Rs 14,990 -
Rs 69,990What if you could merge a TV and PC into a single entity? Well, Zenith has done that and it’s called the Vu TV. It comes in two sizes, 40 inch and 46 inch. The TV doubles up as a computer with an Atom 1.6, Windows XP Home Edition, 1 GB RAM and a 160 GB hard disk. Its maximum resolution is 1920 x 1080. Though it is one of the largest TVs with a built-in Atom-based computer, sadly it can’t record TV programmes. Also, I am wondering why Zenith forgot to put a Webcam in it. It would have been lovely to do a video chat with my nieces on a 46-inch screen.
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Rs 26,990If you do not mind the slower Atom processor and were just looking at a good and light machine, then you will like the Acer A0751. It has an 8-hour battery life, Atom 1.33 GHz (other netbooks have 1.6), 160 GB hard disk, 1 GB RAM, Bluetooth, webcam and a Dolby 5.1 surround sound input. Though the 1.3 GHz processor may sound slow, the primary purpose of this netbook is to let you manage your online activities, and not really be the machine that has all the power in the world. Though I am not sure why Acer did not ramp up the RAM to 2 GB on this model (which would have been great).
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