Mendelson Tiu

The new Nokia E63 performs just as good as its older brother, the E71, but sports a cheaper price tag. It may miss out on a couple of good features, but then, who is complaining?

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The E63 sports the same design as the E71 but is a bit chunkier. The E63 is 3mm thicker than the E71 (the E63 is 13mm thick), is 2mm wider (E63 is 59mm wide while the E71 is only 57mm wide), and is entirely made out of hard plastic. The QWERTY keypad is definitely ‘bigger’ than the E71, making it easier for users to type e-mails and SMS. The E63 also comes in different colours (our review unit came in blue), which gives it a more personalised touch.

A 2.36-inch QVGA screen (320×240), light sensor, as well as left and right selection keys, hotkeys (Menu, Calendar, Contact, E-mail), call and end keys, and five-way navigation keys are all located up front, while the unit’s 2-megapixel camera with flash, is located at the back.

The left spine hosts the microSD card slot and micro-USB connector, while a 3.5mm jack is located on top of the phone. What is missing is the volume rocker, which in our opinion, should have been present. Users would now have to press up or down the navigation key to adjust the volume when talking to a person on the other line. Finally, the E63’s charging port is located at the bottom left part of the unit.

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The E63 misses out on HSDPA and GPS (the E71 has it built-in) but still comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. This 3G handset can still push content, but don’t expect downloads to be as quick as other HSDPA-enabled phones in the market. Programs are subdivided into nine different sections (Log, Communication, Connectivity, Download, Tools, Office, Media, Installations, and Web) for easy navigation.

In order to simplify downloading e-mails, Hutchison 3 users can easily download the ‘Email on 3’ program. This will allow the E63 to automatically retrieve e-mails from a Microsoft Exchange server, Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and e-mail services from other ISPs. The unit can even automatically gather your contact list and save it to the device and update your calendar and to-do list.

The phone is very simple to use, with Nokia making sure that every day is a stress-free day. The interface is straightforward, the included programs can help business users to be productive while on the road, and the multimedia programs kept us busy during the long commute. The unit can play video files saved in Flash Lite 3, MP4, and 3GP files as well as music files saved in MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+. The 3.5mm jack is also a good thing as it allowed us to listen to music using our favourite headphones instead of using the stock buds.

Since the E63 is not HSDPA-enabled, web browsing was a little bit on the slow side. But if you are only going to update your Facebook profile or check the weather, then the E63’s 3G connection should suffice.

Battery life is good, with the unit lasting for three and a half days. Nokia says that the 1500mAh Li-Po battery will last up to 18 hours (on standby) and has 11 hours of talk time.

Overall, the Nokia E63 is the perfect smartphone for those who want to receive e-mail on the go. It may not HSDPA and GPS, but since it costs significantly cheaper than the E71, it is not too bad. This phone is currently on 3’s $29 Cap, with unlimited e-mail (Email on 3) being offered by the company for $5 each month. The E63 has an RRP of $509.

Credit: Hutchison 3

See page over for product specifications and final rating.

Nokia E63 Specifications

Size
* Form: Monoblock with full keyboard
* Dimensions: 113 x 59 x 13 mm
* Weight: 126 g
* Full keyboard
* High quality QVGA display

Display and 3D
* Size: 2.36″
* Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA)
* Up to 16 million colors
* TFT active matrix (QVGA)
* Two customisable home screen modes

Security features
* Device lock
* Remote lock
* Data encryption for both phone memory an microSD content
* mobile VPN

Keys and input method
* Full keyboard
* Dedicated one-touch keys: Home, calendar, contacts, and email
* Speaker dependent and speaker independent voice dialling
* Intelligent input with auto-completion, auto-correction and learning capability
* Accelerated scrolling with Navi Key

Colours and covers
* Available in-box colours: Ultramarine Blue and Ruby Red

Connectors
* Micro-USB connector, full-speed
* 3.5 mm standard AV connector

Power
* BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Po standard battery
* Talk time (maximum): GSM up to 11 hours; WCDMA up to 4h 40 min
* Standby time (maximum): GSM up to 18 days; WCDMA up to 20 days;WLAN idle up to 170 hours
* Music playback time (maximum): 18 h

Memory
* microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 8 GB
* 110 MB internal dynamic memory

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Nokia E63 | Free on the $29 Cap; $509 |  | www.three.com.au

For: QWERTY keypad; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; Office productivity software; Battery Life; Affordable
Against: No HSDPA and GPS
Conclusion: An affordable way of keeping in touch.

Hewlett-Packard promises to make ‘on the go’ printing easy and accessible, with the launch of its new Officejet H470b Mobile Printer. The company says that this product is aimed at mobile professionals who want a ‘rugged, high-performance’ printer.

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HP Officejet H470b: Print on the go.

HP’s Market Development Manager for Business Inkjet Printing in the South Pacific, Steve Trang said, “The HP Officejet H470b Printer can print from a variety of sources, from notebook PC’s and PDA’s to cameras and memory cards. Engineered for the rigors of everyday use and allowing wireless printing, the HP Officejet H470b Printer takes convenient mobile printing for the business user to the next level.”

HP claims that the HP Officejet H470b Mobile Printer will deliver printing speeds of up to 22 pages per minute (ppm) black and 18 pages ppm colour, can print borderless 4 x 6-inch photos in 49 seconds, weighs 2.22 kilograms, and has been drop-tested from up to 0.5 metres to ensure durability.

The Officejet H470b Printer features wireless connectivity with the optional Bluetooth printer adapter, or the optional HP 802.11b/g wireless printer adaptor, and easy 3-point Wi-Fi profile switch. It also comes with an optional 12v Auto Power Adapter, and long-lasting lithium-ion battery, which prints up to 480 pages per charge, the company says.

The H470b is compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Palm, Tablet PC, Pocket PC, and Symbian Series 80 and 90 and will have an RRP of $499

See: www.hp.com/au

HP has launched a home server that can store movies, photos, music, and documents, as well as provide easy access to the files though any Internet-connected PC anytime.

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According to HP, the MediaSmart Server is designed to ‘offer maximum capacity, high-performance processors, ultimate control, Mac support and an intuitive user interface.’

The MediaSmart Server lets you store your photos, music, videos, documents, downloads in a central location, which can be accessed remotely online. It also offers a video converter that automatically converts videos that can be played at home or remotely.

Users are able to control how their videos are converted by selecting the device the video will be played on or by choosing specific video settings using the advanced controls features. In addition, the server also automatically collects and organises media files on your PC and streams it across a home network and the Internet.

With the ability to administer the HP MediaSmart Server from a Mac using Microsoft’s new Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2, the Server delivers a true cross-platform experience. The HP MediaSmart Server offers additional features, including administration, media collection and a new disc recovery utility providing bare metal recovery on Time Machine.

In addition, owners of an iPod touch and iPhone can download a free HP MediaSmart Server iStream application from Apple’s App Store enabling them to stay connected to their digital media stored on the Server. Users can easily access their pictures, listen to their music collection and watch their videos – all streamed directly to their mobile device from their HP MediaSmart Server.

Key features of the unit include: Remote access, HP Media Collector, HP Video Converter, HP Media Streamer, Intuitive user interface with web-based home page, Server for iTunes, PC Hard Drive Backup, Server Backup, Smart Power Management, an Intel Atom or Celeron processor, and up to 7 terabytes (TB) internal storage and 17 TB of storage using internal and external drives.

The HP MediaSmart Server LX197 and EX490 with 1 TB of hard disk storage have an RRP of $599 and $899 respectively and will be available from October 22, 2009.

Plantronics has unveiled a new Bluetooth earpiece that comes with a charging case, allowing users to triple the talk time of the device.

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In a press briefing this morning, Peter Petrides, National Retail Sales Manager of Plantronics Australia, said that the new Discovery 975 moves away from the conventional rectangular design and is aimed a consumers who want a lightweight headset that is packed with a lot of features and easy to use.

The Discover 975 picks up from where its predecessor left off, with the new device sporting improved noise cancellation and audio quality. It comes with two microphones that cancels background noise, reduces wind noise with its ‘WindSmart’ technology, and claims to have an adaptive 20-band equaliser that delivers rich, full voice.

The highlight of the Discovery 975 is its carrying case – it comes with an LCD screen that not only displays the earpiece charge level, but also displays the remaining battery life. Once the earpiece is docked, it automatically charges it and will provide users with an additional 10 hours of talk time.

“Consumers expect great outbound noise cancellation in a premium headset, without sacrificing usability, comfort, and quality. We’ve spent nearly five decades perfecting all aspects of headset design from inbound audio quality to fit. For customers seeking the perfect blend of innovative design and advanced audio technologies, the Discovery 975 is the solution,” said Petrides.

The Plantronics Discovery 975 will be available starting 1 April 2010 and through major telco stores and will have an RRP of $179.95.

Looking for a cheap desktop with good specifications? Head to your nearest Aldi store this Thursday (October 1) and pick up the Medion Akoya E7330 D sold for only $799.

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The E7330 D comes with an Intel Core 2 Quad processor (2.5Ghz), 4GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GT220 (1024MB) graphics card, a 640GB drive, and an abundance of ports.

Up front, users can find two USB ports, a microphone and headphone jack, an e-SATA port, as well as a CF, MS/SD/MMC, and SM/XD reader. The back of the unit hosts PS/2 ports for the mouse and keyboard, four USB ports, Firewire, Ethernet port, line-in, front line-out, back surround line-out, side surround line-out, centre/subwoofer line-out, as well as an HDMI, DVI-I, and S-Video out.

Located on top of the case is an HDD bay designed for Medion’s HDDrive 2 Go Ultraspeed hard drive. This drive will be available starting on October 1 for $129 (see more information here), which is good as it can act as a secondary drive to store additional data.

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The unit comes pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 2, but can be upgraded to Windows 7 for free via redemption. Also pre-installed are the following: Microsoft Works 9.0, Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (60-day trial), Windows Live Essentials, Corel Suite (Home Office, Draw Essentials 4, Painter Essentials 4), Cyberlink Power2Go 4, and BullGuard Internet Security Pack (90-day trial).

The E7330 D can be hooked up to any home or office network using the Ethernet port or built-in Wi-Fi (802.11n). The desktop can be connected to a monitor via VGA or DVI port or to a HD TV via HDMI. Users can also experience surround sound by plugging their 5.1 speakers on the audio ports.

During our test, we ran a couple of programs to test its multi-tasking ability. We were able to check various websites without experiencing slowdowns despite the unit rendering videos and playing music.

The E7330 D recorded a score of 15560 in 3DMark03, 5921 in 3DMark06, and 7000 in PCMark05.

The Medion Akoya E7330 D is available starting this Thursday, October 1, 2009, for $799.

WD has unveiled a network storage system that can store huge amounts of data and can act as a centralised storage box for small office and home networks.

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The WD ShareSpace is a 4-bay storage system with Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) interface that provides up to 4 TB of storage capacity and multiple RAID configurations. The ShareSpace network-attached storage system makes it simple for small offices and workgroups to centralize storage for easy accessibility – both within the network and remotely via WD’s MioNet remote Web access service.

According to WD, home users can easily connect the WD ShareSpace system to their home network to centralize their media collections and access them from anywhere in their home. The included iTunes server capability allows a user to play their music on any Mac or PC using iTunes software.

And with the included WD Anywhere Backup software, users choose specific files or folders for backup during the set-up process. Any changes or additions made to those files or folders will be updated and backed up automatically.

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Vice President and General Manager of Western Digital’s Branded Products and Consumer Electronics Groups, Jim Welsh said, “With the WD ShareSpace storage system, small offices and home network users can experience the same centralized storage and data protection often found only in big corporate data centres. The set-up process is a breeze, so you can be up and running in a matter of minutes. This WD ShareSpace system offers big-time storage without the need for a big-time IT department.” 

Other Product Features:

– Small profile with 4-bay storage system
– GigE connectivity
– RAID 0/1/5 capabilities
– MioNet remote Web access service (for PC and Mac)
– Automatic and continuous network backup software to back up 3 computers
– E-mail alert system that monitors drive and system health and sends you an e-mail if a problem is detected
– Microsoft Active Directory directory service support
– One touch USB file transfer
– Consumes up to 33 percent less power
– Download manager that supports scheduled downloads through FTP and HTTP
– iTunes server
– Windows Vista operating system ready
– Built-in FTP server
– 3 USB 2.0 ports

Pricing and Availability:

The Western Digital ShareSpace is available now with an RRP of $749 (2TB) and $1499 (4TB).

See: www.wdc.com

Leading consumer advocate organisation Choice has slagged off printer manufacturers and has accused them of selling inks at exorbitant prices.

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According to Choice, consumers need to be wary of being ripped off by printer inks that cost up to $20 a teaspoon and use microchips to prevent you using cheaper alternatives.

Tests with 13 multifunction printers showed the cost of ink could be extortionate. Choice says that if you printed five B+W pages, three colour pages and one photo every day for a year costed over three years one brand would cost $9436 to run.

And while you can buy cheaper genuine replacement cartridges overseas, you often can’t use them with the Australian-bought printer because the microchip attached to the ink cartridge must match the country.

“They do this to stop legal parallel importation (also known as grey importation). Another effect of the addition of a chip is that third party ink manufacturers have a much harder job competing,” says the report.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said, “The printer manufacturers own the patents for the chips which means third party competitors can’t legally copy them. The competition is frozen out and consumers pay more.”

See choice.com.au for the full multifunction printer review and comparison.