Kindle Touch

The Kindle Fire may be absent from the UK but Amazon rewarded those who ordered the UK version of the Kindle Touch by besting its promised release date by a week from 27 April to the 20th. There are reports that those who electronically queued up to order on the first day got their Kindle Touch either on the 20th or the next day after. Early returns seem the mirror the American experience, except for a few forum posts claiming the touch screen is a bit laggy compared to the basic Kindle, confirming the recent review in the Telegraph. While that is true, it seems to be relative. Individuals who have never used a prior generation Kindle don’t seem to notice the lag.

The big difference between the basic Kindle and the Kindle Touch is the touch screen. THe touch screen not only makes navagation easier, but opens up the e-reader to additional roles, such as the possibility of acting as a notetaker for handwriting recognition in addition to the virtual keyboard, and the X-Ray advanced search feature that allows for many books to be searched based on the context of the word rather than the characters (lengthwise vs wise for example: X-ray is smart enough to know you wan the term “wise” rather than pulling up every match of the grouping of w-i-s-e) In my opinion, those two features are worth the extra twenty quid.

If you are new to the Kindle line, be sure to check out the “experimental features, which include a very basic browser, text to speech and an audio and mp3 player, although if you want to download podcast files you need to do so with a USB connection. In addition the the above features you can email and annotate personal texts and pdfs as well. In fact, the Kindle Touch or any of the keyboard enabled Kindles can serve as very rudimentary tablets in a pinch even to doing email for web based mail services such as Gmail. However, the situation needs to be truly dire as the web browser is quite slow compared to a LED screen.

The price of the wifi only Kindle Touch is £109 and the wifi plus 3G data version is £169.  The smart buy is the wifi only version, especially if you also have a smartphone that is capable of acting as a wifi hot spot.  Unless you have some sort of very odd situation, you should be able to either load content with a wifi connection,  or plan ahead for that trip to the Shetland Islands  by taking advantage of the Kindle Touch’s approximately 3,000 book capacity.

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Kindle Touch arrives early to UK

Apple has announced its third generation iPad, the world went wild,  and now its back ordered.While the retina display has been widely hailed as the best tablet screen ever and the voice dictation, faster processor, plus new camera and iPhoto are real lures for an upgrade, if the prospect of LTE speed is what gets you ready to hand over your hard earned quid over to Apple think again. The LTE standard being adopted by the United Kingdom and Europe is not compatible wit the latest iPad.

The first indication that LTE compatibility might be a problem  was during the Apple iPad announcement when it was revealed that there would be separate LTE iPads for American wireless carriers ATT and Verizon. ATT uses the 700Mhz and 2100Mhz bands and Verizon uses the 700 Mhz band. At this point, the UK telecommunications body Ofcom has not even auctioned LTE spectra yet and when it does, it won’t be either 700Mhz or 2100 Mhz. Of course, the Apple site makes that very clear, just go down to the bottom of the page at footnote 2 “ Data plan is sold separately. 4G LTE coverage is not available in all areas and varies by carrier. See your carrier for details” 

The question of purchasing the new iPad should not just turn on LTE. The display is quite the thing, and the voice dictation looks like it will be a winner. Those features alone could be enough to update from the first generation iPad. The additional features are even worth jumping ship from the iPad 2, if your purse is up to it. Of course, you can just skip the LTE issue and save £100 to boot by going with the Wi-Fi only option. At the rate Ofcom is moving on LTE implementation, you may well be ready to hand the third gen iPad down to your teenage niece by the time the UK gets LTE. You know, the niece still in nappies right now.

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What does the new iPad really bring to the UK? Not LTE

Lost in the meda frenzy over the passing of Steve Jobs was Microsoft killing off the Zune HD. No, that was a mistake its alive. Yes, it is dead. Nope, that was another error. Apparently, at least as of this writing, the Zune HD is in fact discontinued.

“We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players.”

Bear in mind that this is found on the Microsoft’s Zune support page. You can find a big  BUY NOW button at the entry for the Zune HD. Following that link takes one to the American retailer Wal-Mart. The Zune UK web site has nothing on offer, nor does Amazon. Further complicating matters is that whoever runs the Twitter account for Zune support seems to have missed the memo as well.

The story here is not so much that the Zune HD has been discontinued, its not surprising as sales have been lackluster at best and Microsoft wants to steer users to Windows Phones as their all in one media consumption device, but that the announcement was so badly handled. It is quite obvious that the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing here. The timing was also interesting in that the original announcement was made the same day that Apple announced the iPhone 4S.  That was a good move on Microsoft’s part as the ending of the Zune HD was pretty much lost in the iPhone coverage.  However, the “red light, green light” of the days after not only ruined that, but given that journalists were looking for something to move on from the death of Mr. Jobs, Microsoft’s indecision has become more newsworthy with each change in direction.

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“Its dead Steve”

The worldwide press is saturating all media with the death of Steve Jobs, who passed away Wednesday from complications of pancreatic cancer. Rather than repeat all the typical reporting of his passing, it is better to focus on a celebration of his life and his many, many accomplishments that has shaped and changed the world everyone lives in today.  The list is long, the Apple I, the Apple II, the Macintosh, the Lisa during his first stint at Apple. During his time away from Apple he founded NeXT Computing and created Pixar out of pieces that he bought from LucasFilms. Pixar under Jobs became the gold standard for animated films, and is widely credited as revitalizing the genre and the fortunes of Walt Disney Studios when Disney subsequently purchased Pixar for almost ten billion dollars.

All this seemed to be only a prologue for the return of Mr. Jobs and what was arguably his and his teams greatest contributions to the way the world consumed its music, media, and used its phones. Starting with the iMac, Mr. Jobs and the people he surrounded himself with, went on to revolutionize the way we consume music, the iPod and the Apple Music Store.  Starting in 2001, the iPod completely changed the music industry and in all likely hood stated the death spiral of music CDs.  Moving from that the iPhone in 2005, and then the iPad in 2009. It is easy to forget that Apple did not found any of those product categories. Music players, smart phones and tablets all came about well before Apple entered the scene. The tribute that should be rendered to Steve Jobs and his team was that in each product area, Apple came along and arguably perfected the category.

What are your thoughts of your experience of Apple and thoughts on Steve Jobs?

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A Celebration of the Life of Steve Jobs

Connectivity between your devices and your TV especially those with camera/video functions is a must these days with new PMPs and mobile smartphones with HDMI out ports so you can see your images and videos in fullscreen, HD goodness. This has eluded portable Apple owners for sometime although there has been the component out lead which retailing at £39.99 was neither cheap nor the simplest form of outputting your goods to the telly. FINALLY Apple is releasing a HDMI adaptor. Yes that’s right lets not incorporate it into our future products, make the customer buy yet another accessory for their iPod, iPhone or iPad.

With the iPad 2 showcased last week Apple also demonstrated its new HDMI adaptor basically plugging into the Apple adaptor port at the base with a HDMI out port then attached to the adaptor. Supporting iPhone 4, 4th generation iPod touch and both the original iPad and the future iPad2. The iPad2 will output at Full 1080p HD whereas the others will only get up to 720p due to the fact the iPad2’s new A4 chipset will give the Full HD support whereas the older chipsets in the iPhone, iPod and iPad can’t handle it.

On the Apple store the HDMI adaptor is listed as the “Digital AV Adaptor” set as coming soon and with a RRP of $39 so if the American price reflects the UK price it’ll be a reasonable £25 or so which is a lot cheaper than the current price of the component lead.

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Apple HDMI Adaptor : iPad 1/2 iPod touch and iPhone supported

Another review to do another Creative product for us at MightyGadget to tell you all about. Today it’s the Creative Zen Style 300, a compact mp3 player on the low cost side that still offers plenty of options. For anybody familiar with Creative’s Mozaic mp3 player this is the newer version of that but not all that different. Click on to read the full review

The first notable difference between the Zen Style 300 and the Mozaic is Creative have gone back to a less eye catching affair but in reality of size and shape it’s not all that different. The player itself is available in 3 colours which are black(what we got) white and blue. The 1.8” screen isn’t big by any means but neither is the player and the 4 buttons are laid out nicely underneath the screen and are big enough to not have multiple button presses. Below the 4 main function buttons is a 5 button directional pad which is very easy to use when navigating the menus.

The very top of the player has a built-in microphone so you can record memos or whatever. The bottom has the standard 3.5mm headphone jack and a mini-USB port. On the side is a tiny reset button in case of a system crash and that’s it. There’s no dedicated volume controls power button or lock/hold which is always a let down but not the end of the world. On the reverse of the player is the built in speaker. Now I know this is standard with today’s mobile phones but on a small mp3 player such as this, to me seemed a bit pointless especially when it’s that small the sound quality is awful. I can only guess this is for the voice record playback or for the annoying folk that sit on public transport that insist we listen to there “tinny” music.

Ok so let’s switch it on. The play/pause button is the power button. Power up is relatively quick. The user interface is the same as the earlier Creative models and is easy to use. The direction buttons obviously navigate the menus and the middle button selects. The UI in general is very responsive and works a treat. The buttons have little pictures on explaining there function. So the menu starts with Microphone, Photos, Music, Videos, FM Radio, Extras and System.

The microphone as stated before is on top of the player and can pick up sound relatively well. Playback wasn’t too quiet on the on-board speaker but wasn’t great either however as it saves te recording onto the player these can be extracted onto your PC for clearer playback.

Photos. To be completely honest a bit pointless on a low-res 128 x 160 1.8” screen. Pictures look very grainy and you’ll have to squint to make out what they are. However you can change the background to a picture of your choice and the album covers feature when you’ve got music on is always a bonus to see what you’re playing but again the quality of the images isn’t fantastic.

Music. Now this is what you’ve bought it for, this is where the Creative Zen should make it’s money. File support sits at mp3, wav and wma. Ok not necessarily suitable for the iTunes crowd(which you can rip cds to mp3 with anyway) but certainly suitable for all the Apple haters. Creative have never let themselves down with the sound quality of their products (see our E3-NPC headphones and Zii Sound Speakers reviews) and this player as always doesn’t disappoint. The first thing you need to do however is ditch the headphones you get with it and get a decent pair (maybe even the Creative E3-NPC headphones) Playback of the music generally was good for your everyday music needs. Obviously if you’re a complete audiophile you’ll notice that at the extreme ends of sound  playback the Zen Style 300 is a little rough around the edges, but this isn’t a top of the range hi-fi. For what it is, it does the job perfectly.

Video. Again same as photo, small  low res screens aren’t ideal to watch your videos. Not only that the Zen Style 300 doesn’t have a broad range of file playback. In order to see video you’ll have to convert whatever it is on your computer into the Creative CMV format, using the Creative Centrale software provided.

FM Radio. Is what it says, a radio. Not a lot we can say about radio really. It’s been around forever and hasn’t really changed.

Extras., The extras function is just a couple of widgets you can use like a calendar a contacts list and a tasks list. These can be synced to your Zen Style using the Centrale software again.

System. All the settings one could possibly want to change.

All in all the Creative Zen Style 300 does the jobs it set out to do. Be an mp3 player. It doesn’t exceed itself in the extras it offers but certainly delivers where it’s needed. We were a little disappointed with the screen quality for photos and videos and the built-in speaker sound isn’t great. What we were impressed with though is the music playback, the speedy easy-to-use interface and the battery life (over 30 hours of music playback on a full charge). If you’re after a small lightweight mp3 player then for around £60 this is certainly worth taking into account. It’s better than an iPod shuffle due to the capacity and the fact it has a screen etc. Although not as good for the extra functions as an iPod Nano, it’s half the price and certainly matches it’s music playing abilities.

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Creative Zen Style 300

Update: Wow, we have been impressed with the number of entries! We have now closed the competition and picked a winner by using random.org to select a comment number.

The winner is : Roisin Nuttall

Argos is offering a Mighty Gadget reader the chance to win an 8GB iPod Touch, worth £149.99.

Arguably, one of the best MP3 players on the market this is an opportunity not to be missed. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.

Please use your real name and give a valid email address and only enter the competition once.

All comments are moderated and we reserve the right to accept or deny any comments made. Once your comment has been accepted you will be eligible to win the iPod Touch.

We will be opening the competition to anyone within the EU and we will announce the winner next Friday (20/08/2010).

This prize has been supplied courtesy of Argos, who provide a wide range of MP3 players, such as the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. Please note Argos only deliver to the UK

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[Competition closed]Win an iPod Touch, courtesy of Argos

There’s obviously a lot of mp3 players out there after the top dog spot that Apple selfishly keep with their pricier players so how can the other big players mix it up. Sony’s new Walkman E450 matches the specs of the iPod Nano but what does it do to further itself from the Cupertino music box.

Firstly it’s cheaper, always a bonus and always a good selling point. Starting from £70 it comes in three adequate sizes 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. Housing a 2” sharp QVGA screen it’s certainly on the smaller side and is only slightly thicker than the current generation Nano. Playback wise it’ll play all your usual suspects of mp3 and AAC file formats with a supposed battery life of up to 50 hours.

What makes it stand aside from the iPod though is its Karaoke mode. Providing you’re hooked up with the .lrc lyric file with your music files, the lyrics will actually appear on your screen. Not only that it takes it to the next level and the player can actually knock off the singing in the track allowing you to essentially Karaoke over it without distorting the track.

Available in an assortment of colours this PMP should be on our shores come September.

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Sony Walkman E450 : Karaoke time

iRiver has been a leader in the mp3 player market since they first began and always stood out from Apple and Creative by having  a slightly better imagination department when it came to looks. The new T8 seems to buck the trend however and iRiver are obviously looking at a simplistic player to offer the market with a basic USB dongle shaped player.

Although not quite as small and thin as its market leader the iPod shuffle at least this one has a screen but still keeps it more than small enough for your pocket without being too noticeable. It’ll playback most of your favourite file formats MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, OGG and FLAC, comes in two sizes 2GB and 4GB and its obviously connected by the USB sticking out of it, no need for extra wires etc. Now our info didn’t state what colours it might come in but knowing the way the market is and what iRiver usually produce, expect an array of assorted colours to choose from.

No exact date or price to report however it should be available sooner rather than later.

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iRiver T8 Music Dongle

Sony also announced this little gym friendly Walkman the W250 designed to take the full force of gym sweat(ewww) by being splash proof and rinse proof.

Like last-years W-series releases, the W250 has that all in one wireless design where the body clips together in the middle when not in use and when in use the walkman splits and each half sits in your ear. Now obviously if you’re a fitness fanatic, the W250 doesn’t require pockets or a silly armband to use, it just sits in your ears and can be used completely hands free. Inside it’s packing 2GB of storage and charges super fast, 3 minutes of charge will give you 90 mins of playback.

Other good things about it include the dock that comes with, that both allows you to charge the walkman and add songs to the library whilst it’s plugged in. The main emphasis of this walkman though is its splashproof, sweat and a quick rinse will be fine just don’t take it swimming or submerse it in the bath. Due out next month unfortunately we don’t have any price but it’ll probably be in Ipod Shuffle territory.

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Another Sony Walkman W250 : Washable!