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Hands-On: Chumby Classic vs Chumby One

Norman Chan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:30:34 -0600

The newly released Chumby One arrived in the mail today, and we couldn't wait to see how it compared to the original digital connected companion device. The Chumby, in case you haven't heard of it, is a multi-function gadget that can serve as an alarm clock, RSS reader, gaming device, or music player. It connects to the internet with Wi-Fi, and runs user-created widgets to do cool things like read your Gmail or send you Twitter updates. You interact with it through a 3.5 inch resistive touchscreen, but it also has an accelerometer inside, since it's made to be held and encourages user interaction.

We liked the first Chumby an awful lot, and the One doesn't look like it's meant to be a successor or replacement for that. In fact, we're not sure not exactly sure how the Chumby One is being positioned in the marketplace. One the one hand, it's a budget model, sacrificing the original's squishy appeal for a significant price cut. On the other hand, it also adds new functionality that makes it a better device than the Chumby Classic.

First, the ceremonial unboxing ritual. The Chumby One comes in a utilitarian cube-shaped box, as opposed to the cute canvas sack of the original. This may seem like a minor change, but it's representative of the major difference between the two models -- the Chumby one is now housed in a rigid plastic chassis as opposed to malleable Italian leather.

At the top of the device is a large button, which is actually larger than the one hidden under the first Chumby's "skin." Hitting this button takes you to the home screen or turns off alarms. There's also a new physical knob on the right side of the Chumby One, which is very convenient for quick volume adjustment when you're playing music from a connected iPod or Pandora.

Here it is compared to the first Chumby. The One looks and feels much smaller, though without the soft shell, it's not nearly as comfortable to hold in one hand. Since the touchscreen works best when you're gripping the Chumby with one hand and navigating with your other hand, the experience loses a little bit of charm and whimsy. It feels less like playing with a digital pet and more like, well, an alarm clock. Whether that affects your emotional connection with the Chumby is up for debate.

The back of the device has a few minor changes. There's only one powered USB port, and the speaker is positioned above the ports instead of at their sides (a change from stereo to mono). There's still a headphone jack, DC power connector, and power button, but their placement has been optimized to avoid accidentally turning off the Chumby.

On the bottom, you'll find a slot for the removable battery. Yes, the Chumby One comes with a replaceable Fujitsu battery so the Chumby can operate without being connected to a power outlet. We haven't had a chance to test out how long this battery lasts, but replacements sell online for about $15 bucks. Being able to take the Chumby along with use on trips is a definite plus. You can also note the FM antenna cord that comes out from the base of the unit.

For international travelers, the Chumby One also comes with a variety of outlet convertors.

Operationally, the Chumby One functions exactly as the first Chumby does. Since it's powered by a faster 450MHz processor (up from 350MHz), launching the Flash-based widgets, as well as normal menu navigation, feels more responsive. Widgets still take a few seconds to start up, and you still have to set up account-based widgets on the Chumby website. The resistive touchscreen works well enough, but we still wish it was capacitive. Resistive screens tend to "stick" a little when we try to use any kind of gestures -- they're much better for pressing icons than sliding bars.

Even with its faster processor, the Chumby is best used for text and image-based content. Video feeds, like TrailerAddict's widget, still don't seem optimized -- movie trailers we tested weren't silky smooth.

As we mentioned earlier, another new feature is FM radio tuner. You can see the interface below.

Chumby works great as a music player, and come with a wide selection of built-in internet radio feeds. It also plays music off of connected iPods, but won't play from music from an iPhone. One problem we encountered was that we couldn't get iPhone charging to work off of the Chumby's USB port. This wasn't a problem we had with the Chumby Classic, and hopefully it's just a bug.

But the biggest consideration for the Chumby One is its price of $120 (currently on a pre-order sale price of $100). That's about half of the Chumby Classic's $200 price, which put it out of reach for many people. $100 is still a lot of money if you only plan on using it as an alarm clock, but if you're willing to download and experiment with the Chumby widgets, the Chumby One makes the investment a lot easier to stomach.

The Chumby One is available for pre-order now and ships on November 25th.

Hands-On with HP's Envy 13 and 15 Notebooks

Norman Chan — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0500

If the Voodoo Envy was HP's answer to Apple's Macbook Air, than the just-announced Envy 13 and 15 laptops are diect responses to Apple's Macbook Pro lineup. Sacrificing edgy styling and ridiculously-thin dimensions (seriously, who cares anymore?), the new Envys are built more for performance to meet the demands of the high-end market. These are definitely not underpowered thin-and-lights -- the 13.1-inch model packs a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo, 3GB of DDR3 memory, and an ATI Radeon HD 4330 discrete graphics card. The 15.6-inch model is even more powerful. And both support an innovative battery slice add-on for prolonged use.

Envy 13

Full specs:

12.59" x 8.46" x 0.8"
13.1" LED Widescreen Display (1366x768)
1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor SL9400
1066MHz FSP, 6MB L2 Cache
3GB DDR3 System Memory
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 Graphics
250GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Brushed Aluminum with Metal Etching and HP Webcam
Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN
2-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader
Beats Audio
2 USB ports, HDMI, RJ-45
Weight: 3.74 pounds

One thing we noticed was the exceptionally bright screen of the Envy 13. The WXGA LED-backlit display has an 82% color gamut and 410 nit brightness. When paired next to a Macbook Air with the same image on both, the HP's rendering looked more vibrant and full.

Battery Slice

The base of the Envy houses a 4-cell lithium-ion polymer battery, which is good for 7 hours of battery life. But included in the box is a thin battery slice, which extends the battery life to 18 hours (HP's estimates). The battery slice is surprisingly thin, adding less than half an inch of additional thickness when magnetically latched to the bottom of the laptop. Its beveled edges make it non-intrusive, and it has a small button on its base to indicate remaining juice.

The base of the Envy 13 -- note the small magnetic connector for the battery slice.

Size Comparisons

Envy 15

The 15.6-inch model is more than just a supersized version of the Envy 13. It has a different laser-etched design all around the magnesium alloy unibody, housing an Intel quad-core (which looks to be the not-yet officially announced Core i7 part). Other specs include an ATI 4830 graphics chip with 1GB of video memory, up to 16GB of system RAM, and two hard drive bays (no internal optical drive). The Envy 15 has its own battery slice, as well, which adds to it's relatively slim 1-inch thickness and 5.18 pound heft.

One thing we noticed was that the resolution of the Envy 15's screen is the same as that on the Envy 13 -- 1366x768. Hopefully, HP will offer a higher-resolution option.

The system properties window indicates that the Envy 15 is using an Intel Core processor, model Q820.

This label confirms that the CPU is indeed a 1.73GHz Clarksfield part, which Intel is rumored to officially announce at IDF.

Hands-On: HP's $399 Mini 311 Netbook Brings Ion to the Masses

Norman Chan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:10:00 -0500

HP's newly announced Mini 311 netbook isn't the first ION-powered portable we've seen -- the Lenovo S12 and Samsung N150 both equip Nvidia's low-powered graphics accelerator (the equivalent of a 9400M). But HP's 11.6-inch offering is possibly the first accelerated netbook with the potential to break into the mass market. Part of that is due to its aggressive $399 pricing, which isn't shabby considering that the system is equipped with an Intel Atom N270, 1GB of DDR3 memory, 160GB storage, and a relatively high-resolution display. We got some hands-on time with the Mini 311, running several processor-intensive tasks to see if the ION chip makes a difference in real world performance.

First the full specs:

1.6GHz Intel Atom Processor N270
Windows XP Home Edition
11.6" Diagonal HD LED BrightView Widescreen Display (16:9 1366x768 resolution)
Nvidia ION LE with 319MB graphics memory
1024MB DDR3 system Memory (1 DIMM)
160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
HP Webcam with integrated Digital Microphone
802.11b/g WLAN
6-Cell Lithium-Ion battery
92% of full-size keyboard
5-in-1Digital Media Reader
3 USB ports, HDMI, VGA, RJ-45 LAN

Not bad for $399. And in video playback testing, the Mini 311 shines. We watched it play a H.264 encoded movie trailer at full 1080p resolution without any performance hiccups, while only utilizing 20% of the CPU. In addition, transcoding a short high-definition video for mobile playback using Windows 7's built-in utility was an order of magnitude faster than with a non ION-powered netbook. The Mini 311 will also come with video upscaling software (valued at $99) to upconvert 480p video to high def. And while its LCD screen in "only" 1366x768, an HDMI port lets you plug the device into monitors and TVs to watch 1080p content.

The inclusion of Nvidia's ION chip looks to give the Mini 311 a significant boost in video and graphics performance over last-generation notebooks. We're looking forward to more notebook manufacturers giving consumers the ION option (assuming they can keep costs low). We also want to note that the MINI 311 comes with the LE flavor of the ION chip, which is the lower-end version (and lacks DX10 support). Lenovo's S12, on the other end, utilizes the uncompromised ION chip.

Initial impressions show that the Mini 311 is indeed impressive, but keep an eye out for our upcoming full review for in-depth benchmarks and a thorough evaluation.

Hands-On with Spotify Music Streaming Service

Veronica Belmont — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:30:19 -0500

It's no secret that the music industry has been in a bit of a bind over the past decade or so: they claim illegal downloading has lost them millions in sales while distribution deals with companies like Apple have left the labels feeling as though they've lost control over pricing.

The What's New section is a snapshot of the wide range of artists available.

Meanwhile, consumers have seemingly endless ways to download, stream and discover music. Streaming sites like Pandora, Blip.fm, Hype Machine and Last.fm are all great ways to listen to music from your browser while you're online, but picking specific artists to stream can be a haphazard process. Buying music presents a whole new set of problems, with companies (iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Amazon, Zune Marketplace) that all offer different pricing models and collections of artists.

You can listen to all the "country hip-hop punk" you please!

Spotify (Windows, Mac, Linux, Free BSD), which has had a popular debut in Europe and the UK, is a new music service that hopes to streamline the way we both stream and purchase new music. The company was launched with the blessing of several major labels, in a refreshingly forward-thinking move on the part of the music industry. Because of this, Spotify is able to stream full, high-quality tracks from these labels without fear of retribution. Though not yet available in the US, we got our hands on a beta-code to test out the service.

Adjust the cache, change proxy settings and enable scrobbling in the preferences.

The Spotify client itself is a thing of beauty: the interface is slick and easy to navigate, and the extreme lack of buffering when playing tracks comes from a locally stored cache client-side that's expandable based on your preferences (up to 100GB, not that you would). When you first load Spotify up, you're presented with the top tracks and ablums on the service, as well as what's been recently added. After you've been using the service for a while, the recommended artists that are listed also become a valuable way of discovering new tunes.

Probably best to stick to the automatic cache settings!

If you're in the mood to let Spotify entertain you, the Radio Station will pull from it's seemingly endless supply of 160 kbps Vorbis-encoded tracks (320 kbps if you're a premium subscriber) based on parameters that you set. It should be noted that the streaming tracks are saddled with DRM, although customers in the UK, Sweden, France and Spain can purchase DRM-free tracks through media delivery company 7digital. Choosing more genres will add more flavor to your mix, and you can use the slider to pick which decades you want your music to originate from. Comically, we originally thought that the selected genres became “hybrid-genres,” and would only pick music that could be categorized under all selected. Then we realized there probably weren't too many “punk country hip-hop” bands out there to make for a decent mix.

Sharing playlists on social networks is the new mixtape.

Our favorite feature is the ability to create and save playlists for later. This really adds to the illusion that you now have an unlimited music library on your computer (you know, until you're disconnected from the Internet). Searches are also saved, which is a nice feature but can also lead to a bit of embarrassment when someone notices your recent Bryan Adams or Britney Spears search. You can easily share your playlists to Twitter, Facebook and Delicious, and collaborate on playlists with other users.

Save your searches for later, or drag them into a playlist.

Spotify also has a lot of nice social features built in, like the ability to scrobble to Last.fm and to make widgets for your blog. The downside is that it's not quite available here in the US yet; some people are able to use it via proxy, but the company probably still has some work to do in terms of finalizing label deals before they can officially launch. The record labels should take heart: while actual paid music downloads over Spotify are only available in four countries in Europe, Sweden saw the startup sells more tracks for Universal than iTunes this past year. It seems Spotify has created a nice little package of usability and convenience that works for almost everyone. Well, for those of us lucky enough to have it now, anyway!

Check out the hot albums and tracks under Top Lists.

[Editor's note: The version of Spotify we tested was the Mac client, though a Windows client is also available. Both versions share identical features]

First Look: Toshiba's New NB205 Netbook

Nathan Edwards — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0500

Today Toshiba's taking the wraps off its new netbook. That's right, the same people who brought you the original ultra-portable, the Libretto, are rolling out their first sub-$400 netbook! We got our hands on a pre-production sample of the NB200-series netbooks.

Toshiba sat out the first generation of netbooks, so they could address shortcomings with the genre, and at first glance the NB205 seems to make good on that. The main typing keys are full-size and use a chiclet-style design. When paired with Toshiba's standard-sized touchpad (the largest we've seen on a netbook to date), this is an extremely comfortable laptop for typing. Toshiba claims 9.5 hours of battery life (we haven't tested yet, but we'd expect 6ish hours in a real-world scenario).

The 2.9 pound NB205 features a 10.1" 1024x600 LED-backlit TFT screen, a 6-cell battery, 160GB hard drive, and 1GB of RAM (easily upgradable to 2GB). The production model will ship with Intel's new 1.66GHz Atom N280, though the preproduction model we have sports an N270.

Toshiba skipped the fingerprint-magnet glossy lid that other netbook manufacturers prefer in favor of matte plastic in blue, brown, white, or pink. We like the way it looks, and wouldn't mind seeing more matte options from other manufacturers.

The NB205 sports 3 USB 2.0 ports, an SD-card slot, audio in/out, VGA out, and a 10/100 Ethernet port. It also has Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g WiFi. We'd like to see 802.11n, Gigabit Ethernet, and an option for either internal mini PCI Express or an ExpressCard, but these certainly aren't industry standard features yet.

Most of the NB205's features are similar to those found in the best of the current generation of netbooks (Asus' Eee 1000HE is still our favorite), but the NB205 has two features we've missed in other netbooks: a hard-drive impact sensor and a sleep-and-charge USB port so you can charge your USB devices (e.g. your iPhone) while the computer is asleep. Even the mighty 1000HE is missing that feature.

The NB205 will start shipping in Q3 2009 and will retail for $399. A model with a different keyboard and no Bluetooth will be $349. We'll reserve judgment on the NB205 until we get a production unit with the Atom N280 CPU, but from what we've seen so far, we expect the NB205 to match or exceed the best netbooks on the market today. Look to MaximumPC.com for a full review of the NB205 when the hardware's final.

Hands-On with the Plantronics Voyager Pro

Gordon Mah Ung — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:26:51 -0500

Geeks have to be suckers for Bluetooth headsets. Don’t believe me? I have purchased no fewer than five Bluetooth headsets ranging from Plantronics, to Cardo and Motorola in the last two years.

Among the most disappointing was the Voyager 855. Although it fit my tiny ear canals well, the reliability of it was, well, everything you’ve come to expect of a Bluetooth headset. Sometimes it would connect with my admittedly mediocre Windows Mobile phone and sometimes it wouldn’t.

It didn’t help that the audio levels were just too low. At least the noise cancellation was top notch. Still, I had to chuck it for two Cardo units: The S-640 and the S-800. I had the highest hopes for the S-640 clip-on unit and carded ear piece. Unfortunately, incoming sound quality was dismal and the lack of noise cancellation made conversations in my beater with original struts impossible. Did I mention that it too was quite flakey with the Bluetooth connection. The S-800, however, was quite reliable. It locked onto my phone and worked fine. The volume was also almost painfully loud when set to max. The UI was good and the quick dial feature that let you access the first few slots in your speed dial was awesome.

It’s too bad it didn’t fit very well. It felt like someone had wedged a pinkie into my ear canal. Noise cancellation was also just average. I used it for many months until I decided to buy yet another Bluetooth unit: Motorola’s H680. Its rock solid connections to my phone and its dual-microphone noise cancellation made it my favorite Bluetooth headset – for about four months. Sore after four months of jamming the H680 into my ear, I decided to again upgrade on a shopping trip to Fry’s with the guys and bought a Motorola H710. This headset didn’t have the dual-mic cancellation of the H680 (which is why I picked the H680 over it) but it was the most comfortable Bluetooth unit I had used because it sat on the outside of my ear. The volume was very good, the noise cancellation OK, and it always connected to my phone. What was wrong? Battery life. After five months of use, the battery life became dismal.

I only use my headset in my car and turn it off when not in use. Initially I could get a week or two without having to recharge it. That turned into a week and now it seems like it needs to visit the charger every three days.

That’s when Plantronic’s Voyager Pro showed up. Not exactly pleased with the performance of the Voyager 855, I didn’t expect much. The units bulky look and mic boom didn’t exactly win me over either. It’s hard not to say: “Operator, what number please.”

But, at least it’s not as garish as a Jawbone. Wearing the Voyager Pro is actually a delight. It’s comfortable and you could, if you were so inclined, keep it over your ear for hours without it bugging you. Even though it made me feel like an ass, I did just that at the office.

Audio performance is quite good. Plantronics said the design lets it use a very large 13mm speaker as opposed to the 9mm or 10mm speakers that other designs use. This lets it pump the volume and gives it a fuller range.

The larger body also aids in fairly good battery life claims (I haven’t had it long enough to run down the battery) and, according to Plantronics, longer range because it features much larger antenna. In the few days I’ve played with it, connectivity issues – something that pissed me off to no end with the Voyager 855 – was not an issue. Plantronics said the 855’s problems likely came from the immature A2DP profile implementation.

The key selling point of the Voyager Pro is the noise cancellation. No longer do people just want to talk on their phones in quiet environments or the slightly louder car environment – they also want to do the Bluetooth thing while walking down the street on a windy day.

To that point, I can say the Voyager Pro lives up to its name. I simulated a windy environment with a fan our lab and my previous fave, the Motorola H710, was useless in the wind, the Voyager Pro magically made the wind noise disappear.

So it’s comfortable on my ear and in my ear, reasonably loud, reliably connects to my phone and effectively erases background noise without making me sound too much like a robot from a 1950s movie which heavy noise cancellation can do. To me, that’s a win. Even better, at $99, it’s a pretty good deal in this class of headset even if your co-workers may kid you about heading off to your job at the McDonald’s drive-thru window (not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Dell Adamo Unveiled and Hands-On, Just $1999 for the Stylish Thin Wonder

Norman Chan — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:39:13 -0500

Dell teased us with a brief showing of their new Adamo laptop line at this year's CES, but after that first peek, we were all left hanging with only a mysterious website to satiate our curiosity. Today, Dell has finally officially announced the Adamo notebook line, which they call a "luxury brand notebook designed for the luxury conscious consumer." We got to play with the Adamo at a recent press preview meeting, and can confirm that this beauty is indeed luxurious -- easily worthy of envy. We have a ton of Adamo unboxing and close-up photos after the jump, but here are the technical details that you care about:

Adamo's launch models are 13.4" inches (screen resolution is 1366x768) , priced at $1999 for a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U9300 with integrated Intel X4500 video, 2 GB of DDR3 RAM, and 128GB SSD running a custom skinned Vista 64-bit. Dell has also custom skinned the Bios to match the Adamo aesthetic.
External hard drives (up to 500GB) and Blu-Ray drives are also available, both of which match Adamo's styling.
Dell told us that Battery life rated at 4 hours, even though the press release states 5+.
Physically, the Adamo measures only .65" thick (thinner than the Voodoo Envy), and weighs in at 4 pounds. Aside from the Dell and Adamo logos, the notebook's rigid surface --made from aircraft grade aluminum -- bears no other unsightly marks or stickers. Even the Windows authenticity sticker is hidden in a magnetic cover in the back.
Built-in ports include 2 USB (with power share, so you can charge devices even when Adamo is off), one eSATA/USB combo port, Display Port, RJ-45 (Wireless N is included), and a SIM card slot for mobile broadband. The Adamo has no Express Card slot nor microphone jack, though a tiny mic is embedded to the left of the keyboard.
The Adamo is now available for preorder, shipping March 24th in Pearl and Onyx colors. A $2700 model is also available in foreign countries, and sports a 1.4GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a built-in 3G wireless card.

Hands-on with Logitech's G13 Gameboard

Alex Castle — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:45:05 -0600

Yesterday, Logitech announced that they’ll be releasing the G13, a gameboard keypad peripheral designed to streamline PC gaming by allowing one-handed access to dozens of programmable keys. It’s akin to niche controller products like the Belkin Nostromo Speedpad or Zboard Fang. Well, it just so happens that today we got a shiny new G13 delivered to our office, which we were more than happy to playtest. Read on to find out what we thought of the device.

Physically, the G13 is impressive. It’s got a nice heft to it, and just generally feels very solidly-built. Given the punishment we sometimes inflict on our keyboards during heated (read: losing) games of Left4Dead, this is a definite plus. The G13’s ergonomic design feels very natural under the hand, with a traction pad that keeps your palm right where you want it. The keypad is molded with curves along both the horizontal and vertical axis so our fingers rested comfortably on the board no matter which keys we pressed. The keys have just the right amount of travel, although they’re packed a little tightly for our tastes.

When you plug the gameboard in, the mini LCD screen and the (pleasantly subtle) LED backlighting turn on. You can change the color of both with the included software, and we’re not ashamed to admit that we amused ourselves for a few minutes by clicking around the onscreen color wheel and watching the G13 change backlight color in real-time.

The G13 packs 22 keys on the main board, plus two mouse-style buttons and a bindable analog stick located under the thumb. There are three mode buttons above the keys which switch between profiles, changing the binding of the keys and the color of the backlight. All told, you can bind up to 87 different macros onto the G13 at once.

Logitech’s gameboard also includes the little “GamePanel” LCD screen familiar to anyone who’s used one of the company’s G15 keyboards. The screen can show your system’s CPU and RAM usage, can be used as a clock or a timer, and can monitor your email and RSS feeds. If you play a game that supports the GamePanel, you can also have it display information like health bars and character stats, although why you would want to take your eyes off the screen to check out your health or ammo still evades us.

So who’s the G13 targeted at? With indentations guiding your fingers towards the WASD keys, the gameboard seems like a strong fit for FPS players looking for a more comfortable hand position. However, there are no keys above the indented “WASD” keys, so if you’re used to using the number keys to switch weapons or for anything else you’re out of luck. Also, the key meant to act like the space bar felt a little too close to the palm, which might put a crimp in your bunny-hopping plans. RTS gamers can probably find good use for the G13 as well, though if you like to use more than 22 hotkeys in the heat of the moment, you might want to stick with your regular keyboard.

Really, though, the G13 seems like an MMO players dream. Able to bind a huge number of complex macros, the gameboard is well suited for games where you need access to a bunch of skills, but not necessarily all at once. Also, the LCD display seems particularly well fit for games like WoW, where you need to keep track of a lot of data. Of course, if your guild hasn’t made the move to voice chat yet you’ll have to take your hand off the G13 whenever you want to type a message. Perhaps to remedy this, Logitech has thoughtfully included a copy of Ventrillo on the G13 driver disk.

Priced steeply at $80, will gamers adopt the G13? Hard to say, but our short playtest definitely left us with a good impression. Check out the pictures and then hit the comments to let us know what you think about Logitech’s new gameboard.