[PREVIEW] PS Vita

I found myself in the rather fortunate position the other day of having a PS Vita in my house. Alright, fair enough, it wasn't mine, but I got to have a good go on it from the comfort of my sofa while my other half downloaded all the updates and demo software for it on our PS3, ready to take back to the shop.

Having been a lifelong Nintendo fan, I have to admit that the handheld Playstation offerings have never really floated my particular boat, however I won't deny the fact that the Vita is an incredibly good looking machine. Despite a HUGE screen, the Vita is relatively lightweight for its size, probably due to the lack of a disc drive. A quick fiddle with the sticks and D-pad confirms that the controls are going to be top quality - one thing that concerns me however is how well the prominent sticks would stand up to living in my handbag. The original PSPs were prone to losing their shoddy little sticks, these ones seem to be firmly attached, but for how long?

At this point, I decided no preview would be complete without actually turning the machine on, no matter how shiny the exterior. (For those who need to know, it is VERY shiny. Prone to fingerprinting though, but hours of entertainment for those who enjoy polishing their gadgets.) The Husband went through the set-up process rather than myself, but he reported it to be relatively easy, although anyone who owns a PS3 will be familiar with the usual PSN updates before you get to do anything new.

The HD graphics are incredibly crisp and pretty. I played Everybody's Golf (Everybody IS golf? Everybody HAS golf? I dunno.) and the new Wipeout, which ran incredibly smoothly, but was let down by some insanely long loading times. I suppose I'm used to the superfast loading times of the Nintendo handhelds. The PS button returns you to the main menu whilst pausing the game, allowing access to all the settings and various bits and bobs, which looks impressive considering how much it seemed to be labouring over loading levels in Wipeout. The whole package seems relatively user-friendly, with easy access to the PS3 through the Content Manager on the Vita.

All in all, the PS Vita seems like it's going to be a popular machine. However, at £230 for the basic Wifi version and £280 for the 3G version, it's a rather expensive toy, and I won't be buying one for myself. However, if I were to receive one as a gift, I'd be sure to say thank you!

[REVIEW] Kindle Keyboard (Wifi version)

For a while, I was one of those people who didn't see the point in the Kindle. Such an expensive toy when books were so cheap, and how could it possibly replace the feel, smell, and overall experience of a paper book? Afterall, the main reason I don't do all my reading on my laptop is because my eyes get horribly tired peering at the screen for more than half an hour or so. Even writing this is making my corneas itch after a long day at work staring at my computer screen all day, so why would I want to inflict more technological woe upon myself? In all honesty, because one of my uni friends had one, and I was jealous.. All her textbooks have been imported to her Kindle,  and she loves the thing, so on the Christmas list it went, and lo and behold, Santa (aka The Husband) bought me one!

His reasoning behind going for the slightly larger keyboard version, rather than the cheaper Kindle, Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display version was that it would be easier for me to make notes on and navigate, and so far, I think he made the right choice. The keyboard makes it very easy to search within the text - perfect for academic pursuits, although perhaps a tad unnecessary for the casual reader. And how easy is it to be a casual reader! You can choose to have the Kindle flipped whichever way you choose, portrait or landscape (great for awkward PDFs!) and page scrolling is controlled ever so casually by a pair of buttons on the edge of the Kindle. Did I mention there are two sets of these buttons, so you can operate it with either hand? Seriously. Dead easy.

Now onto my most pressing concern - eye strain. I haven't fully researched the e-ink technology behind the Kindle screens but let me tell you, they are strange things to behold. Completely non-backlit, they maintain an incredible level of contrast even in sunlight, the screens are non-reflective and are no harder to deal with than an ACTUAL BOOK. The Kindle is also considerably lighter than it looks, and compared to some of my textbooks, a doddle to carry around. In fact, I can carry around the entirety of the last four year's textbooks now without batting an eyelid, which I've found invaluable for studying on the fly. (In fact, for studying at all given my current hectic schedule!) Again, from a purely aesthetic point of view, I love the cover I've bought it - it matches my Filofax Metropol Personal Organiser perfectly - yes, I know I am a purebred nerd. In fact, apart from a few little things that irk me, such as the shop being a little difficult to navigate (some may say this is a blessing in disguise) the only real downside to the kindle is that unlike a real book, if you're silly enough to try and balance one on your face while you doze on the beach on holiday, you may find yourself with a rather expensive paperweight when it slides off and hits the floor!

4 out of 5 stars for this gadget, looking forward to learning to utilise it properly!

[REVIEW] Orbitsound T3 Portable Speaker

At Gadget Show Live, I was lucky enough to be given one of Orbitsound's T3 personal speakers to test. (Picture pinched from orbitsound.com, hope they don't mind!) The speaker is fairly small at 6cm by 11cm and is powered by an internal battery which can be charged via USB. My previous experience of portable speakers has been somewhat patchy at best, most of the ones I have used (mostly as a kid, to be fair) have been fairly large, clunky battery munching monstrosities, so the light and delicate T3 appealed to me, but I was still fairly skeptical about the sound quality (in particular the bass) that would be produced.

The Orbitsound crew recommended I should test the T3 with a variety of machines:

Laptop: My laptop is my baby. It's fast, reliable and me and the husband find ourselves using it to watch various TV on demand services, movies, YouTube videos etc, especially when the poor overworked tower PC connected to the big screen telly has crapped out again. It's speakers are fairly poor, however, and if we happen to be laughing or discussing what's happening on screen, the audio gets lost. On plugging in the T3, I instantly noticed an increase in the volume and a richer tone in the voice of the scary lady announcing that we're all done for. (Need to load up on stimpaks and rad-away, pronto.) A win for the T3!

iPhone/iPod: Generally when I'm listening to music, it's coming from my iPhone. Time to test out one the T3's major boast, the claim that it can produce stereo sound from just one speaker, using it's "halo" effect. To test this, I chose Zebrahead - Playmate of the Year for it's alternate "Woo!"/"Yeah!" which if you're listening through headphones, you'll notice happens in one ear then the other. To create the effect, the T3 is worn on a lanyard around the neck, and the little side speakers create the stereo effect. Unexpectedly, this works really well, and I was very impressed!

Another great test using the iPhone really explored the power that this little speaker has. The acoustics in my bathroom aren't great, and I love having music while I shower, but the tinny little iPhone speaker tends to get lost amongst the sound of the water. Using the T3 a much louder, better quality sound can be achieved, probably much to the distress of our neighbours who have to deal with my, um, diverse music tastes. The T3's first downfall became obvious here though, as my phone struggled for signal and the speaker burst out into the loudest EM interference noise I'd ever heard in my life. Moving the speaker and the phone further away from each other seemed to help until I received a text message, when it did it again. What I really don't understand is why that never happens in my iPhone headphones! Obviously, all this can be avoided by using an iPod instead, but it's a bit of a pain, considering most of the stuff I want to listen to is on the phone!

Portable Gaming System (3DS): To me, this looks to be one of the most promising categories, provided that Nintendo do actually keep their vague promises to bring lots of 3D video content to the handheld. Yet again the sound is louder and less tinny. My personal preference is to play my games with the sound off, but for cut scenes or movies it is ideal. It seems like it would also be a perfect partner for a PSP as well, particularly for watching UMDs.

The Verdict: Retailing at £50, it's not cheap, however having had my fair share of crappy portable speakers in the past I'd be inclined to say that you get what you pay for. The T3 is lightweight, compact and packs a massive punch for what it is. Battery-wise, I've had the unit for two weeks and I've not yet charged it up again. Orbitsound say it lasts ten hours on a full charge, so more than enough life for a day out picnicing in the park or partying on public transport. The only downsides appear to be the susceptibility to interference and the fact that I felt a bit of a goof wearing it around my neck - but then again, if it's kickin' out some awesome tunes, who cares?

Overall, 4/5. Recommended! :)

[EVENT] Gadget Show Live, 12th April 2011 (Part 1)

A while ago, my partner and I were lucky enough to be invited to Gadget Show Live Professional, a sneak preview of GSL for trade buyers and people in the industry. Obviously, we jumped at the chance to be able to visit this event and hot-footed it down to the Birmingham NEC to see what it was all about.

On entering the first hall, one of the first things to greet me was this super-cute robot from the Future Technology area. Using Microsoft's Kinect, he can sense depth much better than a robot using a regular camera. More on this in a future post!

Walking around the first hall, where most of the home-oriented gadgets and technology were situated, there seemed to be a massive focus on 3D home entertainment, with most of the major television manufacturers represented. All dependant on 3D glasses, the quality ranged from excellent (The Batman demo at the Acer stand was a favourite) to "Oooh no." (A direct quote from myself.) If I had money to burn, I'd certainly invest in a top of the range set, however at the moment 3DTV for me is marked under the heading "Purely Aspirational", at least until the costs come down... or the glasses come off! Speaking of aspirational, one company were exhibiting their top of the range hot tubs, complete with champagne glass holders. As the husband quite rightly pointed out, it's not merely the extortionate cost of such a luxury that prevents us from owning one, it's the fact that we simply don't have room in our house!

Next stop was the Gadget Hall of Fame in association with the Centre for Computing History. A little confusing at first, as we stepped straight into the 1980's exhibit only to be met with a genuine Sinclair C5 and the red JVC camcorder made famous in Back To The Future! Closer inspection of a BBC Micro computer revealed that it contained the text based game Hampstead, and confirmed that twenty years later, I am still  no good at text based games. Around the corner was the 1970's exhibit, faithfully decked out in obnoxious wallpaper, with working Pong machine and an actual Betamax recorder! I had to capture the moment as I doubt I shall ever see one again! The 1990's exhibit was filled with a few more familiar toys such as a Mega Drive, the first iMac and a selection of early mobile phones, but the computers of the 1960's were almost unreal! I found it fascinating, but almost impossible to comprehend how those boxes of circuits relate to the technology of today. Guess I've got a lot of history to catch up on!

After blagging a glass of wine from the lovely people at Orbitsound (Who also gave me one of their T3 personal speakers to test - review to come!) we headed down to the test track, where all kinds of bikes, radio controlled vehicles, scooters and such were being tested out. On the way we met none other than the man himself, Jason Bradbury! He was running around like a bit of a madman trying to get things organised for the live show, undoubtably we caught him at probably one of the busiest times of his life, yet he still gave two minutes of his time to say hello and pose for a picture with us. What a pro! Then onwards to the track, where my other half got to try his hand at riding a Segway!

All in all, an absolutely superb day out, and that's even before I've told you about the Game Zone! But more on that later in the week...