Casio Launches Mercury Free 3D Projectors in India

Japanese consumer electronic giant, Casio has recently launched the world’s first mercury lamp-free, high-brightness data projectors at an event in New Delhi. Casio has launched three top models of its projector series which are Short Throw, Pro and Standard models. Speaking at the launch of these projectors Mr. M. Naka, Managing Director of Casio India Company said that their eco-friendly projectors promise to revolutionize the Indian market with never before features such as projection in a 3D format as well as converting the projection screen into an electronic blackboard by mouse operations and writing on the projection screen with the optical interactive pointer.  Mercury free 3D projectors from Casio now in India The Standard Model has features such as: Mercury free ANSI lumen up to 3000 Compatible with 3D content Wireless LAN function with MobiShow compatibility USB 2.0 host function Wireless connection with a smartphone or mobile device AV terminals such as HDMI and S-Video PC input terminals The Standard Models of projectors from Casio range from Rs. 66,995 to Rs. 99,995. The Pro Models have features such as: Mercury free ANSI lumen up to 3000 10W monaural speaker Compatible with 3D content A mouse compatible interactive pointing function supporting writing Wireless LAN function with MobiShow compatibility USB 2.0 host function Wireless connection with a smartphone or mobile device AV terminals such as HDMI and S-Video PC input terminals The Pro Models of projectors from Casio range from Rs. 1,19,995 to Rs. 1,34,995. The Short Throw Series has features such as: Up to 3000 lumens is equipped with a set of applications Equipped with a short-throw lens for projection of 60-inch images at a distance of 80 cm 10W monaural speaker Compatible with 3D content A mouse compatible interactive pointing function supporting writing Wireless LAN function with MobiShow compatibility USB 2.0 host function Wireless connection with a smartphone or mobile device AV terminals such as HDMI and S-Video PC input terminals The Short Throw Series of projectors from Casio range from Rs. Rs 1,29,995 to Rs 1,34,995 Average lamp-life of new projectors is 20,000 hours, approximately 10 times higher than conventional mercury projectors. These projectors are available at select stores across India and come with a three-year limited warranty. For more information on these projectors, click the linkhere.

Denon AVR-1611 AV Receiver

Japanese electronics company Denon, is one of the most popular brands specializing in professional and consumer home cinema and audio equipment including A/V receivers, Blu-ray players, tuners and wireless music systems. The company is extremely popular and widely known for their high-end and enthusiast level AV receivers.

Denon recently launched a mid-range AV receiver, the Denon AVR-1611 which is targeted at those willing to have an assembled home theatre system yet wanting to spare the change in their pockets. Today, we will be looking at this feature-rich five-channel, 3D capable AV receiver.

Large display and controls for various modes

Design and Build Quality
The Denon AVR-1611 is an attractive looking receiver, oozing class and power. Though it is a mid-range receiver, it has the look of the brand’s higher end models. The first thing noticeable on the receiver is the huge LED display which displays all the modes and functions the receiver is in. On either side of the display are dials for volume and input selection, which like the receiver and display, is on the larger side. Below the display are various buttons for controlling different settings including video select, iPod play and tuner. There are a total of nine of these buttons at the bottom of the display but are well concealed because of their all black layout. One may find them difficult to locate. A mic input, various setting options as well as video and auxiliary inputs are also featured on the front of this surround sound system.

The receiver features the connectivity options on the rear side and the first thing that one notice is the four HDMI ports. These ports are aptly marked for different add on I/O devices like Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, PCs or televisions, etc. Other connectivity options found on the rear are the connections for surround sound speakers which are of pin type, composite video and audio I/O, coaxial and a port for attaching a subwoofer. The layout of the remote control is loaded with functions and the overall build quality of the remote is sturdy.

Remote control with buttons nicely spaced out

The connections are somewhat limited as compared to the brand’s costlier models, though it must be said that these connections are adequate for a person willing to upgrade to an assembled home theatre system on a limited budget.

Features The Denon AVR-1611 is pretty loaded with features and with 3D being the norm with most manufacturers outing their 3D players and televisions, Denon has made this receiver 3D capable. The 1.4 HDMI ports located at the rear of the receiver are able to send 3D content from a 3D player to a 3D capable television. The AVR-1611 has a variety of surround sound decoders Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats which are found on Blu-ray discs. It also features Dolby Pro Logic IIz which can take two-channel stereo, Dolby Surround and Dolby Digital 5.1 source material and up-convert it to 6.1 or 7.1 channel surround sound. In addition to the above features, the receiver also has a Denon’s Compressed Audio Restorer which restorers compressed audio formats such as MP3, AAC, etc as close as possible to the original by interpolating and generating the missing data during compression. Denon claims that power output per channel is 75 watts. The Denon AVR-1611 also features Audyssey MultEQ dynamic room acoustic correction system where a provided microphone can easily auto-calibrate the speakers. This sets it up accordingly to the size of the area the surround sound system is located in. Four HDMI ports found on the rear The interface of the setup screen is absolutely bare with the font in white with a dark grey background. In this time where most interfaces seen have some amount of style to it; this setup screen looks like something from a past decade. Though the styling of the interface is bad, the layout is easy enough to maneuver through. Performance We paired the Denon AVR-1611 with a five channel Paradigm Cinema CT90 surround sound speakers, a Philips BDP2700/12 Blu-ray player and a notebook PC using HDMI. The setup process was fairly simple and to put the playback experience in one word – Outstanding. Being a mid range player, we did not truly expect to experience the results we saw. The receiver did an outstanding job of channeling the minutest of tones to the various speakers. The playback volume was really good and it was quite difficult to find any flaw in it. After playing a variety of formats through the laptop and player while pairing it with a HDTV we were left quite impressed. Playback of Blu-rays was really good with each channel emitting the volumes clearly. As with most home theatre systems, the good thing witnessed here was the minutest of tones audible through the rear channels. Designed for performance Verdict The Denon AVR-1161 is sold at a max retail price of Rs. 31,900. While this may be mainly for those interested in assembling a home theatre system on a constrained budget  and willing to upgrade their system; this receiver will surely satisfy most audiophiles out there with its 3D playback capabilities, brilliant audio as well as video playback and its various other properties. So if one is searching the market to assemble a home theatre system, we would advise the AVR-1161. However we would suggest to pick up a powerful speaker system to go along with it.

Toshiba Launches Industry’s Smallest 8MP CMOS Sensor

Acouple of days back, Toshiba announced the world’s smallest 8MP CMOS sensor with 1.12 micrometer pixel size. Even with this size, it still manages to capture great quality, thanks to the back side illumination (BSI) technology, similar to the sensor currently being used in the iPhone 4. The smallest one yet Packing 8MP into a sensor that small would usually mean degradation in image quality due to the way in which the lens are packed which limits light absorption. Positioning the lens in the rear, boosts light sensitivity and allows finer image pixels in a smaller CMOS sensor. Toshiba have managed to pack in 8.08 million pixels in to a ¼-inch sensor.  This will most likely be used in upcoming mobile phones and tablets, but it could very well be used for compact cameras, as well. The new sensor will go into mass production from the end of 2011, so it doesn’t seem like the iPhone 5 would be packing one of these, or would it?

Zebronics Announces Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Combo

Zebronics is pretty well known for their low-priced computer accessories and peripherals and the company has brought another low-cost peripheral in the form of a wireless keyboard and mouse combination. A friend with no strings attached Called Wireless Companion 2, the keyboard and mouse combination look pretty decent. The keyboard is powered by 2 AAA batteries whereas the mouse uses a single AAA battery. The keyboard also has 13 multimedia keys at the top for various shortcuts. The combo can be connected to a PC through the Bluetooth dongle that’s supplied along with it. Apparently, Zebronics has implemented a Smart Power Management to help increase the battery life of the combo, but that’s something we can only know when we review the keyboard and mouse combination.

Zebronics Launches New Headset - ZEB3100-HMV

Zebronics has been a brand synonymous with PC peripherals and they've now launched a headset - the ZEB3100-HMV - claiming that the headphones have an enhanced bass feature. Lets hope it gives us a value for money-like performance The headphones are of the circum-aural type and have an extended mic along the left earpiece. It uses the traditional 3.5 mm audio jack, so you can use the ZEB3100-HMV for a wide range of devices that have the necessary port. The headphones also have a volume control unit to lower or turn up the volume as required, it definitely adds to amplifying the sound a little more. From what the company claims, these headphones have a frequency response of 20 Hz – 25,000 Hz and also have noise-isolation. These headphones, like most of Zebronics’ products are low-priced. At Rs. 525 and with a 1 year warranty, they definitely seem to be a good option for those with a low budget. But you can stay tuned to Tech2 for a full review on the ZEB3100-HMV.

Smartphone Slider Device Can Detect Early Cataract, Inexpensively

One of the major causes of blindness, which have been worrying the medical experts, worldover, is the clouding of the lens of the eye, better known as Cataract. In response to the growing number of cataract affected, there hasn’t been much of a relief as far as costs go. And not everyone can afford getting a cataract removed. A few enterprising researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have brought forth what they believe to be an inexpensive way of detecting cataract, especially when it is in its early stages. Cataract diagnosis in progress.. The device, essentially a slider eyepiece that can be easily attached onto a smartphone, has been developed by Media Lab Camera Culture group director, Ramesh Raskar. Called the CATRA System, the device enables users to peer through the eyepiece. Users can press a button, almost as soon as they start finding their vision getting cloudy. On the press of a button, the device begins scanning the lens of the eye, basically to generate a map of the same. A prototype of the CATRA System   The CATRA system, as opposed to the slit lamp theory uses the forward scattering technique, using which the patients respond to what they see. The device, in a very systematic manner scans the lens, each section at a time. And, it is during this process, that the user presses the buttons as per the light movements that he can see. It is these feeds from the patient that the device uses to draw up its diagnosis. In the promo video below, it is visible that the CATRA treatment can, in a matter of minutes; reveal details such as the position, size, shape and density of the clouds, thereby helping the preparation of an accurate diagnosis.

Lenovo Launches IdeaCenter A320 in India

Touted as India’s slimmest All-in-One PC, Lenovo India launched the IdeaCenter A320 for a price tag of Rs.50,990. This will be available at all Lenovo stores and outlets like Croma and Reliance. This lightweight and slim PC is targeted towards those looking for a hassle free setup.

Stylish looking

There are multiple configurations available and customers have a choice between a Core i3/i5 processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 750GB hard drive among other features like USB 3.0, 7-in-1 card reader, Bluetooth, 802.11 ‘n’, all packed behind a 21.5-inch LED screen. Unfortunately there’s no mention about a discrete graphics card, so don’t expect to do any serious gaming. The A320 looks very stylish and won’t occupy much space, plus there are no messy wires to deal with.

Axis Introduces World's Smallest HD Security Cameras in India

Axis Communications, a global market leader in network video and security have unveiled the world’s smallest pan/tilt/zoom dome cameras. The M50 PTZ Dome Network Camera series is designed for business managers who need a discreet, yet affordable solution for remotely monitoring stores, banks hotels, lobbies, restaurants, etc. The series features two models, the M5013 which is priced at US $499 and the M5014 which is priced at US $599. Can you see me? The new line up is sleek and discreet giving the user 360-degree surveillance of his surrounding in HD. Store owners can now use the pan/tilt/zoom features for a perfect view of any suspicious activity going on. Due to its design, it can be used to monitor any part of the store with out the need of re-installing it. Other than surveillance, it can also be used for inventory checking without having to be physically present at the warehouse.

Limbo Coming to PC and PS3

Developer PlayDead’s visually striking, action platformer, Limbo is making its way to PCs (via Steam) as well as the PlayStation Network. In case you missed out on the game nearly a year ago when it was an Xbox Live exclusive, Limbo is the story of a young boy who goes through a world of pain to rescue his sister. The game was praised for its striking art style, innovative puzzles and subtle depiction of brutal violence. It went to sell over half a million copies over XBLA, an impressive feat for an indie game.

Sure is lonely out here

This bit of news was confirmed by the studios’ CEO, Dino Patti via Twitter but beyond that we get no details nor do we get a release date. Going to the game’s official site just reveals a giant LIMBO logo along with the words “Coming Soon” so that’s 3 seconds of my life I’m never getting back.

Thanks to Cinemabland for the heads up.

Inspan Launches Genius HS-300A Multimedia PC Headset in India

In Feb of this year, we reported that Genius, who specialize in PC peripherals, had announced  new lightweight multimedia headphones called the Genius HS-300A. The HS-300A has finally made it to India in an official capacity through Inspan Infotech who is one of the big name IT distribution companies for motherboards and hardware components. The Genius HS-300A is a rear band PC headset that’s designed for Internet chatting and listening to music. The special design should give users a personalized fit and the rear band form should provide a slightly better level of comfort as compared to the traditional style. The ear pads are designed to prevent audio leakage and offer good sound for music. The Genius HS-300A also features a rotational microphone. The single-sided cable reduces tangles making storage more comfortable. Colorful and comfortable? The Genius HS-300A headphones come with a sensitivity of 108dB +/- 3dB, frequency response of 20Hz~20KHz, unit driver at φ30mm, impedance of 32ohm and cable length of 1.8 meters. The Microphone is omni-directional with a sensitivity of -36 +/- 3dB, frequency response at 50~15KHz and impedance of 2.2k ohm 2VDC. Genius has priced their HS-300A headset at Rs. 579 (MRP) with a 1 year warranty. The HS-300A will be available in 2 colors – silver and blue, ex-Stock.

Techcom Launches HD TV Tuner for Just Rs 1,295

External TV Tuner boxes have been a big hit in India, especially since you don’t need a computer or a TV, but any PC monitor would do making it a very cheap and feasible solution. Now that LCD monitors go for throw away prices, the older Tuner boxes aren’t able to scale beyond a fixed resolution which didn’t matter much on a CRT but on an LCD, the quality isn’t too great. Techcom has recently launched their Ultra HD TV Tuner – SSD TV 725 which supports a resolution up to 2048x1152 for just Rs.1295 INR and a one year warranty. No more blurry video The HD Tuner supports Full channel scan for PAL-DK/1, PAL-BG/1 and  NTSC system of cable TV & air TV. It supports all popular monitor resolutions and different aspect ratios as well, like 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10. It also supports PIP (Picture In Picture) functions. The following are the requirements for the TV Tuner Receivable channel: DS1-57 CH, Z1-38CH(470MHz full TV Channel) Frame Frequency: 60Hz/75Hz Line Frequency: 31KHz-80KHz Antenna: 75 Unbalanced mode Note that the picture quality will still be limited by your cable operator, although the box should upscale the picture to fit your monitor’s native resolution. So, the overall picture would be slightly better than using a regular TV Tuner box.

Get Gadgeted Under Rs. 90,000

In a budget of Rs 90,000, one could go all out and buy the best possible gadgets out there, computers, MP3 players, HDTVs, speakers or even a complete home theatre system. The best part is that if you've just set this budget for a complete gadget overhaul, here's a blend of gadgets that you want to really consider.

If you think last week’s budget of Rs. 60,000 had some great products, wait till you see what we’ve got in store for you this time, as we have taken it up a notch to Rs. 90,000. Read on and drool!

Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 - Rs. 36, 172

•�� �Weight: 2.6 kgs
•�� �Screen size / resolution: 15.6-inch / 1366 x 768
•�� �Processor: Intel Core i3-350M, 2.26 GHz
•�� �RAM: 3 GB
•�� �Hard drive: 320 GB
•�� �Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 310M
•�� �Operating system: Free DOS

Lenovo's IdeaPad Z460 and Z560 series of laptops are great choices if you're looking at entry-level multimedia laptops. The IdeaPad Y series are better in terms of performance but they're slightly more expensive and even look rather jazzy in comparison. The best part about the IdeaPad Z560 is that, for less than 37K you're getting a 15 incher with discrete GPU, 3 GB RAM and enough muscle to run mainstream applications. You can even play games at low to medium settings (depending on the game). So all-in-all, despite the absence of a Windows OS, we'd say that at this price, the IdeaPad Z560 is a good deal.

Benq-MK2432 Full HDTV – Rs. 18,999
This 24 inch TV is definitely one of the best deals you can get, as it supports a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (Full HD). With a host of video outputs like HDMI, component, composite S-video, DVI and analogue, you can hook this baby up to your DVD player, PC or even your laptop via HDMI. And with a response time of 5 ms, watching action movies, sports and even gaming will be a real pleasure. It also has 5 watt speakers so you don’t have to turn on your home theater system every time you want to watch some regular TV. To sum it up, this is a great LCD TV to have, and at this price, it’s an absolute bargain.

Philips-HTS3555 - Rs. 5,900
What’s the point of having a brilliant full HDTV, when you haven’t got a home theater system to go along with it? The HTS3555 is a great value for money option for those who want a complete 5.1 home theater package with an HDMI output.� Apart from all the usual functions that a DVD player has such as a stereo audio input and a digital coaxial jack, this one has a couple of extras such as support for DivX files via the USB port and a docking system for your iPod or Philips GoGear portable media device (yes, you read that right!). For a home theater system that costs this much, the HTS3555 sounds great, and is an absolute steal.

Western Digital-My Passport Essential WDBAAA5000ABK – Rs. 3,700
There’s nothing like 500 GB of extra hard disk space to go with your spanking new laptop, which is why we’ve included this one. This version of Western Digital’s My Passport wins over the rest because of its affordability, at the cost of just Rs. 7.4 per GB of storage. Needless to say, the WDBAAA5000ABK has all the features of a modern day plug and play external hard drive such as automatic continuous backup, password protection and such. Western Digital is known for their quality, and for this kind of space, you couldn’t really ask for a better deal.

Samsung Wave S8500 Mobile Phone - Rs. 16,875
The Samsung Wave is a great multimedia handset, that won’t be too hard on your pocket. It is comfortable and lightweight, with a very smooth and easy-to-use user interface and has some awesome features including 720p playback, great camera and a powerful battery that lasts for around two days on a single charge. Even the audio quality from the built in MP3 player is really good, with a customizable EQ option that includes 5.1 surround sound settings.� Apart from all this, the Wave handles 3G connectivity, supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP and USB 2.0. All in all, this phone is a great option for those who love entertainment on the go.

Transcend-MP860 Portable Media Player (4 GB) - Rs. 4,230
The Transcend MP860 is a really versatile device, and it comes with a lot of features for a really good price. It supports a bunch of formats such as MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC and OGG for audio and MPEG4 SP (XVID) and FLV for video. It also has a line in so you can record audio from an external source. Apart from all this, it comes with built-in FM radio, voice recorder, text file reader and a facility that synchronises lyrics on the display and supports 13 different languages. And that’s not it. Not only does this little wonder boast of over 22 hours of continuous music playback, but it also has provisions for expandable memory. Now that’s what I call a really good deal!

Logitech G330 Gaming Headset - Rs. 2,500
The G330 is definitely one of the most comfortable gaming headsets and has great sound to boot. What sets this baby apart from the rest is the width-adjustable design that goes behind the head. It also has an adjustable boom microphone and a USB dongle adaptor.

Kingston – DT100/16GB Flash Memory Drive - Rs. 1,850
Now, we had a little money left over, so we’ve added this 16 GB pen drive even though it’s gone a little over the budget. This is a handy little drive to have around, is quite spacious, and is definitely worth the money with its fast transfer speeds and reliability.

Be it for gaming, watching movies, listening to music, working from home, and storing data, this list of gadget will take care of everything. While this list tells you what all you can get in a 90K budget, the scope for changes and replacements of gadgets in this list is endless, especially when you already own one or more of these products. Instead of choosing a home theater system you could go for a better more powerful laptop. As opposed to an MP3 player and headset, you could choose a high-end iPod dock, and so on.

So now that you've seen what you can get with various budgets ranging from under Rs. 30,000 - Rs. 90,000, it should be easier for you to go on a gadget-buying spree.

Cowon C2 - For the Audiophile on a Strict Budget

When it comes to portable music Cowon has an awesome reputation amongst most audiophiles. The C2 succeeds the D2 and is made specially keeping the budget conscious in mind. So will the C2 continue Cowon’s legacy to deliver stellar audio quality? That's what we're here to tell you, read on to find out just how it fared in our labs.

Design and Build Quality
Since I’ve seen the Cowon X7, I can say that the C2 definitely bears a resemblance to it. By no means can you call the C2 a slim, you-wont-feel-it-in-your-pocket kind of  a PMP. The bezel at the vertical ends are quite slim but is a tad thicker at the sides. It’s a little strange but Cowon’s given the front a rather dull matte finish whereas at the back it’s all dark chrome-like. Not that it matters a lot, but one would expect the attractive side to be facing front, right?

Daily Life UI pretty cool and intuitive to use

There’s the 3.5 mm audio jack at the left side and on the right, there’s a flap to cover a MicroSD card slot (memory expandable to 32 GB) and Cowon’s proprietary USB slot meant for charging and transferring files to the device. The flap fits in well enough and ensures that both these openings stay safe from dust that you’re bound to encounter during everyday travel. At the top there are four buttons, one of them can be used alternately as either a Screen Lock or Microphone button. The next is the menu button which brings you to the main menu no matter how deep you’ve lost yourself into some folder. Following this are the volume control buttons. At the back, there are tiny stereo speakers situated at the top right corner.

The bundled earphones that come with the C2 compliment the device as well. They are not in-ear phones but have a nice, well-built base made of hard plastic and are capable of dishing out clear and well defined audio. I didn’t like the fact that the wire is thin but the good thing is that it doesn’t entangle easily. There’s no noise cancellation or isolation as such, but the playback is very good. I’ll stick to the fact that you can get a much better experience if you invest in a better quality set from another company.

MicroSD card lets you increase capacity, USB/AV port for charging, transferring data and TV Out

The design is not extraordinary as such, but the build quality of the C2 is top-notch. Right from the buttons, the flap and the ports underneath it to the grill speakers at the back, all of them will not give you a cheap feel.

Features
Interface
The C2 has an interface that’s a little similar to the X7 but operates very smoothly. The 2.6-inch screen has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, which is not too impressive. Then again you can’t expect much from a screen of this size. Users can choose between two different themes called the Visible Layered UI which has all the icons listed in a grid form and the second called the Daily Life UI, which has six different animated menu screens (for some reason Cowon’s site lists it as a UI) for different parts of the day. It’s not meant to be very interactive, but they do add to the coolness quotient of the device. Navigation between menus is absolutely fluid and despite being a resistive touchscreen, it responds very well.

An alternate UI is a good addition

While that’s what is good about the interface, I must add that the UI is not completely flawless. The navigation buttons - like going back one menu or going to the previous list are very tiny. More often than once I ended up pressing the bezel around the screen because trying to press the option directly wasn’t responsive. Also, once you dump some more media onto the player, it takes a little too long to update the database. Other than these issues however, I don’t have anything else to complain about.

Media
Impressive looks, sturdy design and an easy to use interface but that’s not what the C2 is all about. The feature that quite literally sets it apart from most other PMPs in i's segment is the media playback. The C2 like most of Cowon media players, has a  wide range of support for audio formats like MP3, WMA, WAV and to add to this there’s support for OGG, APE and FLAC as well. The video formats (AVI, ASF, WMV) it supports is not as impressive and that’s because the C2 is aimed at those interested in audio rather than video.

Stellar audio quality

Starting off with the audio quality, the C2 affirms how Cowon sticks to making products with exceptional audio quality. The JetEffect 3.0 settings comes with 35 presets and 4 user presets to choose from. Good enough for tweaking your way to the ultimate music experience. In normal mode also, the audio quality is brilliant. The highs are just a wee bit faint, but the same doesn’t go for the mids or the lows. The bass in particular feels awesome with just the right level of boom and thump. As spoken of earlier, if you like it any other way you have 4 presets (5 band equalizer settings)  to customize it as per your requirements. Plus there’s the usual BBE+ settings that include BBE, Mach3Bass, 3D Surround and MP Enhance. The C2 also has special effects like the Stereo Enhance and Reverb as well. All in all, your ears will attain Nirvana after a nice lengthy session with the C2!

There are some more settings as well but that’s not to enhance audio experience, it’s more to add to the ease of use of the device. Settings like Bookmarks and Favorites let you choose a particular track as your favorite. Cowon’s added an A-B Loop option for listening to a section of a track on loop. This is of course handy when listening to audio recordings. Video performance is quite average The video quality doesn’t quite match up to what the audio has to offer but whatever it can do, like playing AVI or WMV files, it does decently. At the same time, I wouldn’t recommend it for watching full length movies, but music videos or clips that are about 10-15 mins are not too bad. The C2 also has an FM Radio that plays quite clearly and at such times, you’ll be thankful for the plethora of EQ settings that can be used to make listening to even FM an even better experience. There are 24 preset stations and the player can automatically scan and pick up the channels quickly. Miscellaneous Features The C2 is no iPod touch but I don’t think that Cowon was aiming the device to be like one either. Nevertheless it has its own little features to boast of. There’s a calculator with basic options that works pretty well as the virtual keypad is big enough to quickly punch in numbers. The same cannot be said for apps like Notepad and Typist. The former lets you scribble stuff quickly on a page that saves automatically. The problem is with such a small resistive touchscreen it’s quite a task to scribble anything, let alone do it quickly. Typist is a nice idea for an app, but unfortunately it’s riddled with issues. Sometimes your press will be registered twice and some other times it won’t be registered at all. Add to that, the tiny little keyboard that can be very cumbersome for people with stubby fingers. There’s a recorder as well as a stopwatch app which is nothing out of the box for PMPs to have. Virtual QWERTY keyboard is tiny The C2 can read documents as well but only in the TXT format but Cowon should have added support for PDF documents as well. The Flash player is meant to play flash files but it couldn’t do much with a couple of SWF files that I had dumped in the player. So when it comes to extras, the C2 doesn’t really have much to talk about but again, it’s not that I was expecting much either. Battery Life Cowon claims that the C2 can go on for 55 hours non-stop playing audio while the video playback was clocked at 10 hours. Audio playback did not really match the standards they claimed and the battery conked off in about 35 hours. Now that kind of battery performance is definitely not bad at all. Video performance was pretty good, with the device playing for 7 hours. Will give you an Eargasm! Verdict The C2 is priced at Rs. 6,725 for 4 GB, Rs. 8,250 and Rs. 9,250 for the 8 and 16 GB versions respectively. You can add another 32 GB to the in-built memory via the MicroSD card slot. There were some quirks here and there like small icons on the UI or for that matter, a small screen for watching videos. However, the positives are that you have a player with a superb DAC that can play a wide range of audio formats. Plus, the C2 will ensure that all this entertainment lasts for a whole day and a half, nonstop! At Rs. 6,725 look no further, the C2 is a good buy. We'll miss you C2, for sure!

Dell Inspiron 15R (N5110) - Good Value for Money

Dell’s Inspiron range has always been the go-to notebook whenever you’re looking for something cheap, but reliable. The series has always managed to offer a great balance of features and performance without costing a bomb which is why it's so popular. The Inspiron line up gets its annual dose of upgrades and every year we see a refreshed design with new internals depending on what Intel has to offer. At the start of 2011, we reviewed Dell’s new Inspiron 15R notebook, which featured a funkier design (huge upgrade from the old drab one) and new innards at an attractive price.

Dell recently launched a slightly tweaked version of the 15R and for reasons unknown calls it - New! Inspiron 15R. Silly as it sounds, the ‘new’ series brings with it quite a significant change compared to its predecessor. Let’s see if this offers a better bang for buck.

Design and Build

Fashionable look

The design hasn’t changed all that much and from far you won't be able to tell the two apart. The new addition is a removable faceplate which can be swapped for a variety of colors and designs. There’s a little button added below the lid that lets you unlock the faceplate. Installing a new one is pretty simple, simply allign the hinges and it snaps into place.

USB 3.0 ports offer good future proofing

The ports have also been shufled around a bit. The right side now has the DVD burner, headphone and microphone jack and a USB 3.0 port, a first in the Inspiron series. The rear has another USB 3.0 port along with LAN jack, charging port and a VGA port. On the left, we have a multi-card reader, a USB 2.0 port and an ESATA/USB port, which can also charge any USB device when the notebook is off. There’s nothing on the front other than the status lights.The build quality very good. Although, it’s primarily plastic, I didn’t find any creaking parts, or too much screen flex.

The screen has a glossy finish to it which makes the picture pop a little, but also introduces reflections. The area around the keyboard has a matte finish and there’s plenty of space around the palm rest for the largest of hands. Dell has included a chiclet keyboard which makes typing very comfortable even for long durations. The keys are sized well and have sufficient spacing around them. They also have a better response than the older Inspiron 15R and the flex issue is slightly reduced. The trackpad is very large giving you ample room to work with. 

Features
The changes to the Inspiron 15R are not merely cosmetic. It packs the latest Sandy Bridge Core i3 2310M running at 2.1GHz. Along with that, we have 4GB of memory, a spacious 320GB hard drive and an Nvidia GT 525M with 1GB dedicated memory. Coupled with Windows 7 Home Premium, it seems like a very potent notebook for multi-media.

Large screen is perfect for movies

The 15.6-inch screen gives you plenty of real estate to work with, although we wish the resolution would have been a little higher than 1366x768. It also features Intel’s WiDi (Wireless Display) technology which allows you to mirror your screen on a compatible HDTV. Along with this you get the regular software suite from Dell like PC Restore, DellSafe, Dell Webcam Central, McAfee Antivirus (trial), etc pre-installed.

Performance 3DMark Vantage - P3840 3DMark 11 - P888 SiSOFT SANDRA 2010 Processor Arithmetic Dhrystone (ALU) - 34.5 Whetstone (iSSE3) - 24.5 Processor Multimedia Integer (x8 iSSE3) - 62 Float (x4 iSSE2) - 85.8 Memory Bandwidth Int (iSSE3) - 9.45 Float (iSSE2) - 9.46 Dirt 2 (1366x768, all High, DX11-On) - 35FPS General and Multimedia usage The N5110 may be built well, but it's also quite heavy to lug around. At roughly 2.65kg, it’s not really light and you’ll certainly feel the weight in your backpack. It’s ideal use would be at home, perhaps as a desktop replacement. The glossy screen makes quite a difference when viewing web pages, photos or videos, everything seems richer and more vibrant. I quite enjoyed using the keypad and while the feedback from the keys feels a little spongy, it's not a deal breaker in anyway. Keys have a good feedback The trackpad was very problematic, though and refused to work properly. There is quite a bit of lag when you use it and many times it would just behave erratically. We tried re-installing the drivers, but didn’t have much luck. Another odd thing we noticed, was that both the display adapters (Intel and Nvidia ) are active which is something we usually see in Optimus enabled notebooks. After a little digging around, I found that the GT 525M does indeed support Optimus, but it’s up to the manufacture to implement it. Dell doesn’t seem to have bothered with this and it’s a real shame, since the resulting product could have been so much better. Swappable faceplates HD movies look really good and the sound is not bad, either. The speakers are placed in the front towards you and are SRS certified which makes them really good for music and movies. The sound does tend to distort a bit at high volumes and the bass is virtually non-existent. The vertical viewing angles aren’t the best, but the horizontal angles are good enough for watching a movie with a couple of friends. Finally, I wanted to try Intel’s WiDi technology, but sadly you need a WiDi compatible box to be connected to the the TV first to pair both of them. Battery Life The N5110 is fitted with a 6-cell 48Whr battery, which managed to give us a battery life of just 1hr 30min in Battery Eater Pro. This is with the notebook set to ‘Balanced mode’, Wi-Fi off and the screen brightness set to full. If Dell had used Nvidia’s Optimus technology, we could have seen a much better battery life. Verdict The configuration we received works out to Rs.40,150 from Dell’s website and is inclusive of shipping and delivery costs, which is a very aggressive price. With this kind of feature set and components, you’re set for the next two years, at least. Dell has taken an already popular series of notebooks and just made it even better by offering a better processor, USB 3.0 and a discrete DX11 graphics card – all for a lower price as compared to its predecessor. My main problem with this is the annoying trackpad, average battery life and lack of Nvidia’s Optimus implementation, which is what’s stopping the new N5110 from being a real steal.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FT3 - For the Great Outdoors

Panasonic are big players in the compact camera market and are most popular for their Lumix series of cameras. Cameras, being electronic gadgets are susceptible to natural weather conditions and also calamities due to clumsiness on the part of the user. Panasonic have taken all these factors into consideration and launched the LUMIX DMC-TS3(FT3), which is specially geared for active outdoor use.

12.1 megapixel CCD sensor on this rugged camera

This is not their first venture into the rugged camera terrain as they have sported previous versions of the DMC-FT3, which are namely the DMC-FT1 and FT2. Panasonic is also known for other similarly designed products such as the Toughbook.

Design and Build Quality
The Panasonic Lumix FT3 we received was orange in colour. Customers have the choice of three other colours, as well - silver, blue and red. The camera is made entirely out of hard plastic and is a bit bulky but that’s a given with rugged cameras. The look of the FT3 has not changed much since the previous versions, rather, the FT3 is a bit bulkier than the FT2. We noticed that the review sample that we received had bits of colour paint wearing off.

The DMC-FT3 is fitted with a 12.1 mega pixel CCD sensor and features a 4.6x optical zoom lens. The lens is tiny and is part of the body of the camera. There is an auto focus assist light located next to the the LED flash at the front of the camera. A 2.7-inch screen is also present, which is pretty good in clarity and colours. The controls for the camera are all positioned to the right of the screen. The spacing of all the buttons at the rear of the camera are nicely spaced out but at the same time look a bit chunky. Panasonic have added separate buttons for the zoom control as opposed to the conventional rocker or trigger controls.

Buttons are nicely spaced out

A common feature we’re noticed is the dedicated button for video recording. The spacing of all these buttons is good and all the controls are easily accessible. On the right of the camera is the battery bay and along with the battery, the bay houses the memory card as well as the ports for HDMI and digital AV out. The battery bay has a locking system which prevents it from opening by accident under water.

The overall design of this camera has a very sporty and rugged feel to it. Panasonic claims the camera is shockproof up to 6.6 feet and waterproof upto 40 feet. The casing of the product does suggest this to be true and we did try out the shockproof-ness of it. The camera is on the bulky side, but since it is a compact camera, it can easily fit in one’s pocket and can be used easily with one hand and due to the fair amount of spacing, one can easily manage to use the functions buttons.

Designated video recording button

Features
The Panasonic Lumix FT3 is a camera that is abundant in features. We have come to see over a period of time that Panasonic have been adding a whole lot of features in their point and shoot range of cameras which definitely heats up the competition. The camera features a LEICA 28mm wide angle lens with folded optics technology. The Lumix FT3’s main features are its rugged qualities.  Apart from it being shockproof up to 6.6-feet, waterproof up to 40 metres, Panasonic claims that it is freezeproof up to minus 10 degree celcius and something that was not seen in their previous versions - dustproof. The company explains that there is a rubber padding and reinforced glass inside the camera that results in an airtight body protecting against water immersion, dust and sand.

Though the rugged features of the DMC-FT3 may be the selling feature of this camera, the other very interesting features include GPS, 3D image capture and 1080p HD video recording in AVCHD format. The AVCHD format features almost double the recording time in HD quality compared with conventional Motion JPEG. Other features seen on this model, which were not present earlier are the decrease from 14 MP to 12.1, larger form factor and a significant bump in video recording from 720p.

HDMI connectivity option is available

The interface is simple to maneuver around in and is similar in design layout to the higher end Panasonic TZ series of cameras. The iAuto mode is the camera’s intelligent Auto mode and like most cameras, tweaking of settings is very limited. Ability to switch on or off the LED auto focus assist, burst mode and GPS is also available through this setting. In the normal mode, one can easily customize the settings according to their choice. This is basically the camera’s manual mode for capturing images. There is the ability to tweak points of focus, ISO sensitivity, white balance, enable GPS settings and other settings.

Lock for the cover to protect against water seepage

In the 3D shooting mode one can capture images by panning the camera 10 cm to the right. These images however, cannot be viewed on the camera itself because the screen is not 3D enabled. To view these 3D images, one has to connect it to a 3D ready television. Overall, the amount of features seen on this camera is very impressive.

Performance Being a rugged camera meant for the great and wild outdoors, we put it through some rather different forms of testing apart from our image and video quality tests. Since the camera is shockproof we tossed it in the air and let it drop to test its mettle. It not only survived the fall but also came out mostly unscathed. We also dunked the camera in a bucket of water and shot images from it. No surprises here, the camera survived the task and shot well with a fair amount of detail being observed. We tested the camera using the Underwater mode and the detail noticed was really good. We also tested it under water using the iAuto mode and it shot well, however, unlike the Underwater mode, the ripples of the water could be made out. Natural outdoor colours The pictures shot really well during our testing which was done outdoors. All images shot in low ISO sensitivities shot rendered well with colours appearing as they should. The greens all looked natural and there was no colour fringing or image noise. At higher ISO settings we noticed that there was very little image noise. Overall images shot outdoors did well. Black and white macro image quality provided depth While shooting pictures indoors we noticed that there was very little noise and images did not appear grainy. There was no colour supplementation and colours appeared as they should. While enabling the flash of the camera, it illuminated an area of around 10 feet. The flash was not that bright and no shadows were cast. Macro images shot really well and there was a lot of depth of field noticed. Camera worked well under water We paired the camera with a Samsung UE55D8000 to check out the 3D image capabilities this camera offers. The 3D images that we shot had a fair amount of depth. However there was some graininess noticed as well with a couple of pictures. The GPS feature of this camera did not seem to pick up the area we were in. So we were not able to test this feature even after repeated trial attempts.The Panasonic DMC-FT3 has a 940 mAh lithium - Ion battery and the company rates the battery life at 310 images. Sport looking with funky colours Verdict The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3 is priced at a market operating price of Rs. 27,200. This is on the pricier side of point of shoot cameras. Though it has some amazing features and delivered on all performance fronts, the price is a bit of a let down. However, if a person is really into heavy duty out door activities like mountain climbing, snorkeling and adventure sports in general and has no issues with the cost of the product; this may be the ideal camera.