Tech Guard

A month ago before the Sony Vaio in my previous post was bought by my friend we took a look at the ones available in the stores. We found the Sony Vaio VGN-P15 and VGN-P13 in Trinoma AV Surfer store. The sales guy was busy processing one of their customer's purchase and we found ourselves on our own in exploring the capabilities of these amazing devices. To our surprise we were greeted by the security guard and asked us of how he can be of service to us. Surprised and stunned, I asked for the specifications of these two netbooks. He said that he will try to ask the store cashier if they have the tech specs but first is that he will take all our questions first and hoping that he can give us an answer. Surprisingly he had all the basic tech specs in his mind and even know what free stuff we can get if we buy it immediately. I guess this guard is doing multitasking by entertaining customers and answering queries regarding the products that his store sells. Now this is what I call dedication. Another thing is that if he cannot answer a question he tries to find the answer using the netbook's wifi connection. My friend told him jokingly to quit being a security guard to lessen the risk of being shot. Suddenly I came to think if the store is cutting cost or that this guy is just really a techie like me. Whatever is the answer to this I leave it to AV Surfer to answer. But for me I salute you Mr. Techie Security!

SF on Win7 Works!

I thought I would never make SF (Special Forces from MyGame) work in Windows 7 until I did it today. It took me some time to learn how to actually make it work. I thought that Windows 7 is not compatible with this game but it turns out to be a discover it yourself kinda thing. What I did was copy the whole folder from a Windows XP computer and put it in the Program Files of Windows 7. Then run the DFPatcher.exe found in the SF folder and after it downloads some patches it launches the application instantly. I was so happy that I won two complete rounds. Its like a fire in the hole to me. I've been trying to install the program so many times using it's downloaded installer but it fails to launch the game console after installation. What Windows 7 do is just terminate the program. I thought I had the reason to move back to my old OS but suddenly it vanished in thin air. I hope somebody will find this helpful since I haven't found a single post in the SF forums that tells how to make the game work in Mocrosoft's newly polished OS. As for now I'll enjoy my time throwing flashbangs and shooting at enemy troops.

Sony VAIO VGN-P688E

The unit was bought in the US just this month and yes it was cheaper compared to the ones being sold locally. The one who bought it said that it was a 4th of July sale in Best Buy and even his friend bought one also. The netbook is extremely small that it could fit right into my cheap clutch bag. It has a Maroon shiny Lid and metallic interior on the keyboard side. Located at the front left are two card slots one is for an SD Card and one for a Memory Stick. Just on top of it is the Wifi switch. On the right side is the power switch which is a sliding type and not a push button switch. On the right side of the device is a proprietary connector and one USB slot. While on the other left side is the power jack mating connector and another USB slot right beside it. There is nothing at the back but just the battery.

This baby packs a 1.33MHz Intel Atom Z520 processor with hyperthreading technology. It has 2GB of RAM which makes it faster than other netbooks and a 64GB of solid state hardrive which makes it more robust since there are no moving parts. It also has a built-in VGA webcam, which I really don't appreciate since I rarely use webcams. The unit came with a power adapter, two extra track points, one cleaning cloth and the rest are papers consisting of users manual, License Key for the GPS software and a track-it certification in case you left your netbook somewhere and a kind hearted person returns it to sony.

Despite the fact that it's a netbook it is quite smaller compared to its competition. It has an 8 inch backlit LCD screen to stare at. Although it’s very small the fonts and icons are still very clear. If you have difficulty seeing texts on your cellphone then this device is not for you. But if you dont have any problems staring at tiny screens for a long time then you won't have any trouble. For me this is the smallest PC screen that I have put my eyes on. I myself had a hard time adjusting to its minuteness.

The keyboard is not the full size type but you can type on it decently. The Track Point is quite responsive and is not strenuous to the tip of the fingers. The mouse buttons are located just below the keyboard and it feels plastic when you press it. I hope Sony will improve this by giving it the soft press buttons like the ones you can find in IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads. Additional function buttons are found right beside the mouse buttons. One is the zoom button and the other one is what they call quick function button. Using this button you are able to view your photos, watch videos and surf the net without even booting in Windows. The quick launch interface is similar to a Sony Playstation OS. You have to put all your media files in the designated folders in order for you to access them using this interface. Although its supposed to be faster than loading windows I find it a little slow upon start-up. I did not have enough time to use it since I am supposed to give it back to the real owner later that day. That is why I concentrated on the Vista OS instead. It runs on Windows Vista which made me doubtful of it's speed since it is known for it's being a resource hogger. But guess what, it was not that bad at all. It was fast compared to other netbooks. It seems that Sony asked Microsoft to tailor made it's OS to fit their product. If there is a Vista Lottery then Sony might have won it.

This netbook is good for travel and is a head turner when you are in a coffee shop. But if you will use this for business you gotta spare extra cash for the Ethernet connection and the VGA output since it doesn't have any. When this was bought it went only with the basic and don't come extra free stuff like the pouch and the LAN/VGA adapter. The LAN/VGA adapter costs Php3,499 and the original Sony pouch costs Php3,999.

First impression does last and my first impression on this netbook is quite good. At first, to me it’s just one of those expensive toys thay Sony sells but after using it for sometime it really is a good thing to have this one. My Asus A8He looked gigantic after using this amazing device from Sony. But when talking about the price it really doesn't fit my wallet's qualifications. A Php50,000 on the price tag is an overkill me and I'd rather purchase an HP or a Eee PC which is way more cheaper and already comes with the basic Ethernet and VGA out. If you have lots of cash to spare and want a really small PC to carry around then this one is for you. But if you have your tight budget in mind then this will simply be at the bottom of your list.

CDR King Wireless FM Transmitter

I bought this FM transmitter from one of the brances of the famous CD-R King store. They sell really cheap tech products and they are quite useful. The prime purpose of buying this is to hear out my iPod with the use of my car's speakers. I hate dangling wires that is why I opt for wireless devices and an FM transmitter is one thing I dream of having. This is really not a need for me that is why I refused to buy expensive ones worth a thousand or so. But when I saw this FM tuner from CDR King's website I was anxious to buy it since it was so cheap dropping one zero from the pricetag of competing products. I saw one of these in Electronics Boutique and it costs around Php1,500 while CDR King's only costs Php150. What a huge difference and it just fits my wallet's qualification. My Dad bought an FM transmitter from Belkin a year ago for his iPod and it costs almost Php4,000 since it was bundled with a car charger. It does work fine but the bucks doesn't make it a better product for me.

The unit consists of only two switches, one for the power and one for the frequency selector. There are only four channels to choose from that is why I cannot use this on my Dad's car stereo which was imported from Japan. The Japanese stereo's frequency selector can only reach 100MHz while the FM tuner's frequency starts from 106.7MHz. So before buying this device I recommend to check first if your FM tuner if its made from other countries which has a limited frequency selection. The unit gets the source from its built-in standard 3.5mm stereo jack pigtail. This is good news since you can almost feed different types of devices aside from an iPod. It is being powered by a single AAA Battery. I cannot estimate on how long the batteries last since I do not use it everyday but it already served me a couple of times already including three full two and a half hour movies. I use my laptop to play movies in our LCD TV and feed the sound to our Stereo system which do not have a built-in Line-in or Audio-in that is why this device really come in handy. Although the distance of the antenna of the FM receiver should be near to the device to get better reception.

Since were talking about FM you cannot avoid getting disturbances from other sources of noise. So you should position your transmitter to get the best reception. What I did is that I searched for the perfect position of the transmitter where there is less distortion and as soon as I found it I placed a velcro sticker right on the spot and the other to the device so that I would know where to put it by the time I plug in my iPod. Another velcro sticker was placed on my iPod and a spot on the dashboard where I can easily view videos especially when I'm stuck in traffic. Although my iPod Nano has a very tiny screen, the sound is clear and pretty much audible. Another cheap device very well used and has freed me from wires ever since.

iPod Touch 2G - A Lot of Touching

The iPod touch was received with it's full pckaging still intact. The unit came with the standard Apple iPod proprietary connector, earbuds, users manual, cleaning cloth, and a piece of it's docking device which I have no idea how to use. Apple does a good job in packing their iPods. It's quite intuitive and very presentable as well. There are no polybags, corrugated carton, tie wires, and silica gel. It's perfect for displaying in stores since customers can already see the product without removing them from the packaging.

The cable that came with it was truncated loosing the clip release button. The earbuds were standard but it would be great if it already came wth the foam since this somehow improves the sound quality most especially the bass. I love to listen to high quality music that is why I choose players which deliver deep bass with rich high and midtones.

The capacitive display is very responsive and does'nt seem to loose its integrity. Compared with my HTC Touch Viva this device is meant for entertainment. Its large 480-by-320-pixel LCD screen is perfect for viewing pictures and videos. The pan & zoom function is an awesome way to view pictures and is quite responsive in every way. When viewing videos the orientation is always a default full screen mode. You cannot rotate it if you want to view it in portrait mode. But there's no problem in doing playback you just tap the screen then appears the controls and the volume slider control. One thing I love about this device is it's ability to automatically adjust the screen brightness depending on the ambient light so this helps prevent eyestrain.

I tried using the Wi-fi and found it quite slow compared to my HTC Touch Viva. It also has a built-in Youtube program. It loads video thumbnails quite slower than the Viva. The built-in Map is very useful and faster than other internet programs. I found the map of our house in no time. Other programs are also useful like Notes, Calendar, and contacts but I'd rather store these types of information in my Viva instead.

The music function is the most important thing since it is the soul purpose of the device, to play music. The sound is sparkling to the ears compared to my Creative N200. Although it came with the standard earphones I still recommend buying a more high performance earbud or headphones maximizing it's standard 3.5mm input jack. For cheap and high quality earphones I'd recommend Sony MDR-E818LP series. Since these are older models they are much cheaper. I bought mine in Hong Kong for around HKD35 (PHP250) and it had never failed to impress me. Compared to other higher priced equivalent, to me, it still sounds better. My friend bought a pair of Senheiser and another bought a Pioneer both costs around PHP700 but still my Sony Earphones sounded superior. Just always install the included foam for a much richer bass experience.

The Touch is quite big and a slight discomfort in holding it was observed. But maybe this is due to the thin and flatness of the device which takes getting used to. It requires to be operated both hands to get the correct function you want. Although you can still use one hand but to me it seems not quite comfortable. Most especially the playback controls which requires the lcd screen. It would be more better if it had external controls just in case you need a backtrack of something. The back of it is a stainless steel covering and is a fingerprint magnet. The model labels were laser printed and is not a hinder to the beauty of the device.

The iPod Touch 2G is an ultimate portable entertainment device and can also be a personal organizer. It has capabilities that other media players don't have. Despite Its gorgeousness, it is difficult to operate when not looking on the screen so you'll be forced to use both your hands. The automatic screen brightness adjustment function works perfect and really is eye friendly. This baby is quite expensive but does it's job well but if you love viewing in a bigger screen with higher definition then this device is for you.