Garmin Oregon 200 - Bluetooth Device Reviews

FOR those who need a touch screen on their handheld GPS device, Garmin's Oregon 200 is the cheapest option out there. Although it is still relatively expensive, the device offers a decent amount of functionality for recreational use.

The unit boasts a 3” touch screen and a rubber and plastic case built to IPX-7 waterproof standards. As with the Colorado 300, the Oregon 200 utilises a metal clasp on the back to seal the body, bypassing the fiddly threaded screws used by competing handheld GPS devices.



Apart from its yellow trim the Oregon 200 bears a striking resemblance to the Oregon 300. This is no surprise: they’re basically the same device. In order to warrant the relative price difference there are some functionality changes. The Oregon 200 lacks shaded relief mapping, wireless sharing, an alarm function and a barometric altimeter.

The Oregon 200 also shares some of the Oregon 300's flaws. The screen is difficult to read. Although it is of an acceptable quality, the plastic layer that provides protection for the screen washes out its brightness. With no brightness settings on the device itself to compensate the result is rather inadequate for recreational use.

FEATURES :
GPS accuracy: 3m
Screen resolution: 240x400
Screen size: 3"
Supported memory media: Micro-SD
Battery size: AA

Pros: Responsive touch screen, great design, turn-by-turn navigation, 3-D view

Cons: Display is unreadable in sunlight, slow satellite acquisition, well-detailed maps are optional extras

The final word: The Oregon 200 is a stripped-down version of the Oregon 300. It has many of the same benefits and flaws of the more expensive model. If you want to save money and don't need wireless sharing or relief shading, go for the Oregon 200.

Nokia 2760 Reviews

A BASIC budget clamshell, Nokia's 2760 adds a touch of style to the low end of the market. Available exclusively on Vodafone prepaid, the 2760 bundles a VGA camera, video recorder, Bluetooth and mp3 ring tones for less than $100.

Aesthetically, the 2760 attempts and largely succeeds in adding a bit of style to a market segment dominated by bland handsets. Available in metallic brown or blue colour schemes, the 2760’s appearance is dominated by sleek curves and stylish chrome edging. Despite the budget price point, the handset feels solid overall and the flip mechanism is sturdy. A minor annoyance, however, is the fact that it is troublesome to flip open using just one hand.

The controls are near perfect. The keypad in particular is well designed, with large, slightly raised keys providing excellent tactility. For general browsing, a five-way navigational pad does the bulk of the work, supported by two selection keys and answer and end call buttons. Our only complaint is that the S40 user interface can be a little slow; slight keystroke lag is evident during text messaging, for example.

Being a flip phone, the 2760 possesses dual displays. The internal display is just what we’d expect from a sub-$100 handset. While it does a reasonable job, mediocre viewing angles and poor performance in direct sunlight are negatives. On the outside, a black and blue external display shows caller ID and time information.

Obviously, features aren’t going to be extensive on a handset in this price range, but the 2760 does include Bluetooth and an FM radio – two features that are sometimes omitted in budget phones. Holding down the asterisk key for two seconds launches the radio application, though you’ll need to use the included headset as this acts as an FM antenna. The HS-105 headset, which is included in the package, also doubles as a hands-free device and features a call-handling button and a shirt clip built into the cord. The radio offers reasonable but not outstanding quality. Auto-tuning is available by holding down the up button on the navigational pad. Up to 10 presets can be saved and then accessed by scrolling through using the left and right directional buttons, or pressing a corresponding number on the keypad.

A VGA camera with 4x digital zoom doubles as a video recorder; as long as you aren’t expecting reasonable photos, it works fine for wallpaper images. SMS, MMS and e-mail messaging with T9 predictive text input are all standard, while up to 11MB of user memory is available for storage. Unfortunately, there is no microSD card slot.

Other features include a range of PIM (Personal Information Management) functions such as a calculator, converter, a basic spreadsheet application, countdown timer, calendar and a stopwatch. Call quality is fairly good. The hands-free speakerphone works well and produces reasonable volume, though the cheaper Nokia 1650 comes out slightly ahead in this regard.

Vodafone offers the Nokia 2760 in a Prepay Pack for $99. The pack is worth $249 and includes handset with a Vodafone SIM card, $29 Jumbo Cap with $150 credit and the choice of $5, $12 or $25 Vodafone live! and Extras credit to access a range of downloadable content.

Samsung M8800 Pixon 3G Phone Review

he Samsung M8800 Pixon is a super looking 3G phone which comes with a touch screen & high quality imaging features. The Samsung M8800 Pixon may also been known as the Samsung M8800 Bresson or simply the Samsung M8800 but whatever it is named it still equates to an outstanding 3G phone designed by Samsung. The M8800 Pixon is similar in looks & design to the popular Samsung i900 Omnia, Samsung F700 & the Nokia N96. The M8800 Pixon comes with a huge touch screen which makes viewing videos, pictures, the Internet, emails & much more a pleasure for the user of this beautiful phone. The screen is 3.2 Inches in size which displays up to 262k colours for the user to enjoy on a 240 pixel by 400 pixel high screen resolution display. The screen has touch screen capabilities which allows the user to simply control all their phones features on a large screen. The M8800 Pixon is a solid handset which weighs 121 grams & measures approximately 13.8mm deep by 108mm long by 54.6mm wide. This stylish touch screen phone can be held in the users hand comfortably when in use & the user can make features & function selections using the simple to use touch screen controls. The phone comes with two hundred megabytes of built in memory & has an expandable memory card slot which allows the user to insert a memory card which is eight gigabytes in size. The user can add & insert a memory card to suit their storage needs.

This imaging focused handset comes with a fabulous 8 megapixel digital camera feature which supports still image capture & high quality video footage capture. The camera lens can be found on the back of the handset & the 3.2 Inch high colour touch screen works as a large viewfinder when the user is in camera mode. The camera comes with many user friendly imaging features which allow the user to capture the best quality still image or record the perfect video recording on their mobile phone. The user can take a picture or record video in darker or duller conditions as the built in flash will brighten up the surrounding for a perfect capture or recording. A built in auto focus feature allows the user to capture clear & well focused shot whenever the camera feature is used. The user can enjoy features such as a face detection feature which automatically focuses on the face of the subject when the user takes a shot or the panorama feature which allows the user to capture a panoramic shot if desired. The Samsung M8800 Pixon supports video playing in many popular formats including MPEG4 & WMV to name a few. The user can store, play, download & share video recordings on their M8800 Pixon.

The user can take a call over the phones loud speaker which is known as a hands free call which allows the user to rest their Samsung M8800 Pixon on their lap, table or desk when talking to their contact over the loud speakers. The user can access call logs which include details of calls made, calls received & missed calls which is useful for the user on the move. The M8800 Pixon supports a document viewer which allows the user to view Office documents including Word & Excel on their phone. A messaging service known as SMS messaging allows the user to create & send a message containing text & symbols to any SMS compatible contact. The phone also supports a MMS messaging service which is a picture messaging service which allows the user to quickly & easily share their pictures & video clips with other compatible contacts in a simple MMS message. The Samsung M8800 Pixon also supports a mobile email service which allows the user to communicate via email to contacts with an email address. The handset comes with a WAP Web browser which allows the user to access the Web when searching for new ringing tones, music, games & much more. The user can enjoy a XHTML & HTML Web experience on their Samsung M8800 Pixon. A built in GPS receiver complete with A GPS function allows the user to gain directions to desired locations on their phone.

Samsung M8800 Pixon Specifications & Features

Screen
3.2 Inch TFT 262k Colour Touch Screen (240 x 400 Pixels)

Imaging
8 Megapixel Camera
Auto Focus
Flash
Panorama Shot
Face Detection
Image Stabiliser
Image Geo Tagging
Video Player (MPEG4, WMV, XviD, DivX, H263 & H264)
Video Record (QVGA)
Video Clip
Second Camera
Video Call
Picture Wallpaper

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Email
Predictive Text

Sound
Music Player (MP3, WMA, eAAC+ & AMR)
Surround Sound System
FM Radio RDS
Equaliser
Polyphonic Ringtones
MP3 Ringtones

Entertainment
Java™ Games
Downloadable Games
Embedded Games

Organiser
Phonebook
Calendar
To Do List
Clock
Alarm
Calculator
Voice Dial
Call Log
Handsfree Speaker
Document Viewer (Office)
GPS Receiver
A GPS Function

Connectivity
3G HSDPA
Bluetooth®
USB
EDGE
GPRS

Network
Quad Band (GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)
UMTS 2100

Internet
WAP 2.0
XHTML
HTML

Memory & Talk Time
200 Mbytes plus MicroSD™ Memory Card Option up to 8 Gbytes
3.5 Hours Talk Time
290 Hours Standby Time

Weight & Size
121 g
108 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm

BlackBerry Storm 9500 3G SmartPhone Review

The BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500 is a gorgeous touch screen 3G Smartphone which comes in a sophisticated black coloured casing. The casing is elegant in design with its smooth & curvaceous silver coloured edges. The overall size of the handset is well proportioned for ease of use which measures 14mm deep, 62.2mm wide & 112.5mm tall. The BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500 is not an ultra lightweight handset but that is due to all it's built in features & technologies but it certainly will not weigh its user down weighing 155 grams including the fitted battery. The Storm™ 9500 is a member of the BlackBerry family which includes other 3G Smartphone's with business focused features including the BlackBerry Bold 9000. This business phone comes with a fitted battery which is rechargeable & when fully charged the battery can provide approximately five & a half hours of talk time depending on other features being used by the user. The rechargeable battery provides up to three hundred & sixty hours of standby battery time when the phone is not is use which means the user will not be forever recharging their Smartphone throughout the day.

A large coloured touch screen dominates the front of this beautiful handset & provides a high resolution display for the user to control their features as well as viewing a clear colourful display. The user can enjoy viewing the user friendly menu system & feature options on the 3.2 Inch screen. The touch screen comes with a QWERTY keyboard display which allows the user to input text & numbers using the touch screen controls. The screen will auto rotate depending on the features being used by the user. The BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500 supports SureType® & multi tap input on this stunning touch screen handset. The user can select & change the font size to suit their needs. This Smartphone comes with a user friendly organiser & calendar feature which allows the user to plan their appointments & diary dates with ease. A built in Global Positioning System known as GPS works with a BlackBerry® maps application, which allows the user to find the quickest routes possible to desired locations.

The 3G HSDPA technology allows the user to enjoy multitasking skills such as the user can be on a call whilst the user is sending an email or surfing the Internet. The 3G technology also provides the user with high speed Internet connectivity & fast speed data transfers when the user is transferring files between the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500 & other compatible devices. The Smartphone supports quad band technology which allows the user to use their BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500 worldwide but the full network coverage is dependent on the users chosen network service provider. The user can transfer files between their Smartphone & other devices such as the user's personal computer, laptop, PDA & printer using either a cabled USB connection or by using Bluetooth® technology which provides a wireless connection between devices which are up to ten metres apart. The EDGE technology & GPRS allows the user to experience fast data transfer rates when transferring files between two compatible devices. The 3G Smartphone comes with 128 megabyte of Flash type memory plus 1 gigabytes of on board memory. The user can expand the handsets memory further by adding a MicroSD™ memory card which can be up to 8 gigabytes in size which will provide the user with a large amount of memory for their storage needs.

An integrated media player allows the user to enjoy music playback in many music formats which include MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA & WMA ProPlus formats. The media player supports a music management feature known as Roxio® which allows the user to create playlists & manage their music easily on the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500. The handset comes with a built in microphone which allows the user to record voice, music & sound clips. The user can enjoy adding & changing their handsets ringing tone to suit the user's style & taste. The Smartphone supports MP3 & polyphonic ringing tone sounds. An integrated 3.2 megapixel digital camera feature allows the user to quickly & easily capture a still picture or a video recording when the user is out & about with their stylish BlackBerry companion. The camera comes with useful camera features which allow the user to use their Smartphone as a portable digital camera which includes an auto focus feature & a flash feature. The user can enjoy capturing both pictures & video with a clear & high quality performance. The video can be recorded, stored, shared or played back on the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9500. The user can playback their video recording or video which has been sent to them from others which can be played in either MPEG4, H263, H264 or WMV video format.

BlackBerry Storm 9500 Specifications & Features

Screen
3.2 Inch 65k Colour Touch Screen (320 x 240 Pixels)

Imaging
3.2 Megapixel Camera
Auto Focus
Flash
Camera Settings
Camera Key
Video Player (MPEG4, H263, H264 & WMV)
Video Recorder
Video Streaming

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Wireless Email
Email with Attachments
Email Integrated Accounts
Instant Messaging

Sound
Media Player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus)
MP3 & MIDI Ringtones
Polyphonic Ringtones
Roxio® Media Manager
Microphone
Mono & Stereo Headset

Entertainment
Downloadable Games

Organiser
Phone Book
Organiser
Calendar
To Do List
Alarm Clock
GPS Navigation
BlackBerry® Maps
Touch Screen QWERTY Keyboard
Touch Screen Font Size Selectable
Auto Rotate Touch Screen
SureType®
Multi Tap
Vibrating Alert
Voice Dialing
Voice Mail
Conference Call
Speakerphone
Facebook® & MySpace® Compatible

Connectivity
3G HSDPA
Bluetooth®
USB
GPRS
EDGE

Network
Quad Band Technology (GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)
HSDPA 2100

Internet
HTML
RIM® Wireless Modem

Memory & Talk Time
128 MB Flash Memory & 1 GB Memory plus MicroSD™ Memory Option up to 8 GB
5.5 Hours Talk Time
360 Hours Standby

Weight & Size
155 g
112.5 x 62.2 x 14 mm

Sony Ericsson C905 3G Phone Review

The Sony Ericsson C905 is a beautiful 3G camera phone which comes with high quality imaging & communication features. The C905 is a member of the Sony Ericsson C range which includes other camera focused handsets such as The C905 is a slide opening handset complete with a large colour screen which works as a perfect viewfinder when using the camera feature & the user can slide open the handset to reveal the neat keypad which is well spaced out for easy text & numeric enter. The handset has a sturdy feel as it weighs 136 grams & measures 1.8cm deep by 4.9cm wide by 10.4cm tall. The coloured screen is a TFT QVGA type screen which is 2.4 inches in size & takes up the front of this handset when in its slide closed position. The user can access the navigation key & shortcut keys when the handset is in its slide closed position. The user has a choice of three casing colour options which include a sleek midnight black coloured casing, a subtle ice silver coloured casing or a sophisticated copper gold coloured casing. The C905 comes with 160 megabytes of internal memory plus it comes with a memory card slot for further memory expansion in the form of a Micro™ M2™ type memory card. The user can add the relivant sized memory card to suit their storage needs.

The main feature on the Sony Ericsson C905 is its amazing 8.1 megapixel camera feature, yes 8.1, that is not a typing error. The camera comes with many user friendly camera features to ensure the perfect picture is capture when using this amazing 3G camera phone. The camera is a Sony Ericsson cyber shot™ camera complete with a xenon flash for brightening up those dark surrounding. The user can use the 16 x digital zoom to get up close to their subject. The C905 comes with an auto focus feature complete with a face detection feature which will automatically focus on the subjects face when a shot is taken. The 8.1 megapixel camera comes with an anti red eye feature & has a built in image stabiliser which avoids the user producing a wobbly image. The user can use the BestPic™ function when taking a photo which will allows the user to take up to nine shots when only pressing the capture key once then the user can chose the best picture out of the nine to keep or to add to their blog site. The Sony Ericsson cyber shot™ 8.1 megapixel camera supports video capture as well as still images. The built in image stabiliser allows the user to record a smooth video clip complete with a video light to brighten up the recording.

The C905 works on a GSM network which covers four GSM network bands as well as UMTS 2100. The battery can provide up to nine hours of GSM talk time or up to four hours 3G talk time from a fully charged battery. The battery standby time is between three hundred & sixty & three hundred & eighty hours from a full charge. The Sony Ericsson C905 comes with EDGE technology which provides fast date transfer rates for the user to enjoy when transferring files between their 3G phone & other devices. The built in 3G HSDPA technology allows the user to experience high speed internet connectivity as well as enjoying a 3G video call feature. The video call allows the user to see their contact on the large screen & enjoy a face to face conversation with compatible contacts. The user can transfer files & data via the USB cable connection or using a wireless connection via Bluetooth® technology. The Sony Ericsson C905 comes with an Access NetFront™ Internet browser which provides the user with mobile Internet access on their handset.

Sony Ericsson C905 Specifications & Features

Screen
2.4 Inch 262k TFT QVGA Colour Screen (240 x 320 Pixels)

Imaging
8.1 Megapixel Camera
Cyber-Shot™ Camera
16 x Digital Zoom
Auto Focus
Xenon Flash
BestPic™
Photo Fix
Image Stabiliser
Red Eye Reduction
Picture Blogging
Video Record
Video Light
Video Stabiliser
Video Player
Video Clip
Video Streaming
Video Calling
Picture Wallpaper

Messaging
SMS (Text Messaging)
MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
Email
Exchange ActiveSync®
Instant Messaging
Predictive Text Input
Sound Recorder

Sound
Media Player
Album Art
TrackID™
PlayNow™
FM Radio RDS
Bluetooth™ Stereo A2DP
MP3 & AAC Music Tones
Polyphonic Tones

Entertainment
Java™ Games
3D Games

Organiser
Phone Book
Alarm Clock
Calculator
Calendar
Notes
Stopwatch
Tasks
Timer
Speakerphone
Vibrating Alert
A GPS Navigation

Connectivity
3G HSDPA
A GPS
EDGE
Bluetooth®
USB

Network
Quad Band (GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800 & GSM 1900)
UMTS 2100

Internet
Access NetFront™ Web Browser

Memory & Talk Time
160 Mbytes Memory plus Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) Support
9 Hours GSM Talk Time
4 Hours 3G Talk Time
380 Hours GSM Standby
360 Hours 3G Standby

Weight & Size
136 g
104 x 49 x 18 mm