Asus have gone on to say that SonicMaster "isn't a gimmick, but a new professional audio certification programme for portable computers.” Well obviously it’s doubtful Bang & Olufsen would put their name to something that’s average. The technology itself is “large speaker chambers, more powerful amplifiers and extensive software processing”. So what about the laptops themselves.

The N53 is a 15.6” affair whilst the N73 is a whopping 17.3”. The N53 comes with Core i3 or i5 processors with the N73 opting with the latter. Graphics wise a choice of 1GB Nvidia 450M(N53 only) or GT325(available for both) . These are also equipped with the Nvidia Optimus system. This is the GPU switching system so when you’re running low graphics programs you can power down the GPU and save battery life. HDD wise the N53 comes with 500GB and the N73 640GB. Both have 4GB of RAM and both have Blu-Ray drives, HDMI out and USB 3.0.

Available before the year is out you can expect prices of the N53 to start at £650 going up to £1000(depending on options) and the N73 will be around £1100 .

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Asus N53 and N73 : Bang & Olufsen Collaboration

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Both new JVC models are certainly packing. Both can shoot at a wonderful full 1080p and also have the option to reduce to 720p, iFrame format (960x540 H.264), Quarter HD and even has the option for users to take time-lapse style videos. They also have a decent enough 4x zoom, but all these features can be controlled by the touchscreen situated on the rear of the camera. Both also have HDMI output to hook up to your HDTV and both have SD card storage. Now for each model there’s a subtle difference. The FM2 has a pop-out USB port for easy connectivity whereas the WP10 is actually waterproof to 10feet so you could get a couple of snorkelling vids on your holidays or shots in the rain in this country.

Both due sometime this month ther’s no definite prices yet but it’s rumoured around £120 for the FM2 and £180 for the WP10.

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JVC Picsio WP10 and FM2 : Flip Cams

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The clue in what they do is in their name. Active Noise Cancelling headphones basically counteract the effect of background noise meaning that if you’re listening to your ipod in a noisy area like a train, aeroplane or walking down a busy street, the technology will almost fully remove the constant drone you can hear alongside your music. Creative have always been pretty good with their audio goodies so when it says up to 90% ambient noise cancellation, you’re pretty sure it won’t be lying.

Firstly the earphone’s themselves are the in-ear type with the silicone buds that sit on the end. Now these are noise cancelling in themselves to a certain degree as they sit inside the ear-canal and expand to fill any gaps, reducing the background noise getting in and keeping the good sound in the ear. The silicone buds come in three different sizes to suit the user, due to my small stature the small ones were enough for me keeping the phones nice and comfortable in my ear with few slip-outs.

Secondly there’s the active noise cancelling unit. The unit requires a AAA battery to operate and perform the noise cancelling, but the battery life can be up to 100 hours on constant, but you don’t need the noise cancelling on all the time, just in noisy areas, plus the headphones don’t require the battery to actually work so if it runs out, your music won’t suddenly cut out. How does the noise cancelling work? The EP-3NC basically has external microphones that monitor the background noise around you and then produces a sound within the unit that’s in the exact opposite phase which essentially cancels it out. Now by any means it doesn’t cancel every single noise out, but it’s great against monotonous sounds. The first time I used it I was in a room with a refrigerated vending machine which gave out a loud constant noise. Just putting the phones in and switching on instantly cut out the drone(with no music played). I also tried them walking down a main road, where the cars going past could hardly be heard and what I was most impressed with was using them on the train, cutting out the engine noise to almost nothing. Also on the unit is a “Monitor” button. Upon being pressed and held it cuts out the music so you can listen to what’s going on around you without having to stop your music or take the headphones out, obviously something they’ve thought about if you were using the headphones whilst travelling to hear announcements, ticket conductors/stewardesses etc. A nice little feature.

This comes in halfway up the cable and is about the size of my thumb. . The unit itself is quite heavy for it’s size and this could prove a little annoying in finding a comfortable position to place it when using the headphones. It has a clip on it to attach to your clothing, pocket, whatever so it wasn’t swinging freely or dragging the headphones from your ears but with it being in the middle of the cable and the majority of the time I’d have it clipped to the top of my jacket there’d be too much cable at the headphone and not enough going to my iPod in my pocket. Now this wasn’t a major problem by any means, it just took a few goes to find a comfortable place to put everything for when i was walking around. When sat down it wasn’t a problem at all.

The sound quality is another thing I was impressed with too. The EP-3NC gave out rich, bassy sound and when I tried different music types on it they all sounded great. The volume levels are to high standard and didn’t really change at full volume(which was pretty darn loud) If you’re the complete audiophile though these might not be completely up to your standard for music with very high ranges like classical for instance but great for your run-of-the-mill rock, dance and hip-hop.

The conclusion I’ve come to with these is basically they’re great, especially if you like bassy sounds to your tunes and do a lot of travelling. The noise-cancellation really makes a difference and i was truly impressed at how well they worked on a noisy train journey. At around the £90 mark at most retailers these are definitely worth it. You also get a little leather case to put them in when not in use, which I always use due to my proneness of sitting on things and breaking them, plus again aiming for the traveller you get one of those double adaptor for use on some aircraft. Creative again we salute you!

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Creative EP-3NC Noise Cancelling Headphones : Review

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In the old days pay as you go phones were cheap, cheerful and do everything required out of a phone one would need. They text, they ring. Nowadays, although not packing the super technological goods of an iPhone, HTC Desire or Galaxy S they still do their job and have basic extras. The LG “Cookie Fresh” GS290 is just that. As one of the cheapest touchscreen PAYG phones on the market (from £40ish) you wouldn’t expect too much, but if you want to know more on what we thought of it, then please click on and read our review.

Small, light and reasonably thin is the Cookie. Sporting a matte black finish, the one we’re reviewing is the standard all black affair but (as the picture shows) you can get the GS290 with coloured sides if you so desire. Despite it’s small appearance, the phone features a 3” WQVGA or 240x400 pixel display which takes up the majority of the phone, which is great, more screen is better. Below the screen you have the usual concoction of the phone button to pick up/make calls and the call end/power button with a little Home/Menu button sandwiched inbetween. On the sides of the phone you get the volume controls, a camera ready button and a button/screen lock button. There’s also two gated slots, one for your USB charger and the second hides your microSD slot. All in all everything you’d expect so far. On the reverse of the phone is a 2.0MP camera and some script telling you that it’s a 2.0 Mega Pixel camera. Besides that the reverse is pretty boring, not that that is a fault or anything, it’s pretty normal for a phone, anyway enough said about that.

Let’s switch on and go. First noticeable thing that you’ll come across is the screen. Now as it’s a cheap phone the resistive touchscreen is in full effect here rather than the smarter capacitive screen, but when you’re looking at the price range of this phone it should be expensive. As with the majority of resistive touchscreens I’ve come across this is no different. They’re not the most responsive and if you’re used to using an iPhone or other smartphones you may find that trying pinching and multi-touch gestures don’t work. Also a problem I can see arising here is the size of the on-screen icons and the accuracy of the touchscreen. I kept finding myself pressing the wrong button, usually through a little frustration but mostly just because things were a little close together on the small screen. One thing we can say that’s great about it though is that for it’s size and the general price of the phone, it’s sharper than any entry level phone I’ve come across before with very bright colours and very clear, easy to read text.

The interface itself is alright. If you’re used to LG phones you’ll probably know what i mean by it’s homescreens. Much like the iPhone you have screens that can be flicked between each other with a gesture. The first screen is for your apps/widgets. These can be customised and moved to whatever you desire. There are some pre-loaded apps/widgets for you to use but you can also download more if you so wish but remember this isn’t Android or AppStore standard apps but their is a Facebook one which I’m sure the majority of people including myself was happy to see. The second screen is what LG are calling the “livesquare” This is your social networking screen. You can place avatars of your favourite contacts on here and from this it can quicklink to calls, emails or texts to said friends. The third screen is essentially a variation on the livesquare but is solely a speed-dial screen, only a couple of clicks quicker than than the livesquare, so really a bit pointless.

So what’s next, let’s press the menu button. Again if you’ve used LG phones before particularly the S-Class one’s you’ll know the layout and icons. Basically the screen fills with 16 icons broke down into 4 different lines. Each line represents what type of shortcut is represented within it such as communication, entertainment, utilities and settings. If you scroll over to the right with your finger, you’ll notice there’s another screen with another 16 icons for you to pick from. However this is a strong point for the touchscreen to let you down. Scrolling the screens from left to right could sometimes prove difficult and more often than not you’ll be opening programs you don’t want to open etc. Maybe when you get fully used to the response of the screen you might become a master but in reality patience could be lost quite quickly. One good thing about the Cookie Fresh though is it has a multitasking cool which proves to be easier to get the programs you want running. Another press of the Menu button brings up a shortcut screen which lists what’s currently being run at the time. If you keep programs open all you’ll need to do is click on whatever you want to go to on the list and you’ll be transported there quick as a flash, i liked this.

Making a call is pretty much the same with all phones so we can’t really discuss much other than the fact the sound quality was pretty good. The volume controls on the side are easy to use when you’re on the phone and the volume levels are great at no point did i struggle to hear the caller on the other end. Texting was quite basic but very easy to use. The Cookie Fresh has opted for a software alpha-numeric input. This makes sense really. An on-screen QWERTY would be very difficult to use so going back to alpha numeric meant I had to polish off the old-skool texting skills. It worked reasonably well although again you might often find you mis-typing things due to the resistive screen.

Now I didn’t spend lots of time trying all the programs/widgets on the phone as most were rather basic and uninteresting. I’m not completely writing them off, it’s just the phone is rather basic and thats all the apps are. The web browser isn’t fantastic, ok I guess for checking football scores or basic text surfing, but as there’s no WiFi or 3G connectivity that’s pretty much all you’ll be able to do anyway. I had a rather extensive play with the camera in different scenes etc. If you’re in a well-lit room or outside and have a steady hand the picture quality isn’t that bad. However in low light and someone with not so steady hands like myself a bit of blur crept in. Due to a lack of Flash too there’s no real way round it. All in all though the camera wasn’t that bad and I was quite impressed with a couple of the shots I took. The camera also has a video mode. Again similar problems, it’s not super smooth and in low light the picture quality isn’t great.

The Conclusion. Well the Cookie Fresh is what it is, an entry-level phone. We were very impressed with the super bright, sharp display which is usually bobbins on this price-range of phone but LG have nailed this making a non-smart phone look……… smart. The phone itself is aesthetically pleasing it certainly doesn’t offend the eyes in anyway at all and is hardly noticeable in your pocket. Certain aspects of the interface and OS are good like the avatars for your friends and the quick text/phone options. The only downsides to the phone really are the resistive nature of the screen which could make me frustrated at times in trying to open things or flick through the homescreens and the odd text message mistakes. The other problem is the lack of high speed connectivity. Not a problem if you don’t need it, but if you’re an internet addict and need plenty of information then you aren’t going to get it in a hurry from this phone. All in all a great entry level phone if all you want to do is talk and text and for the price it certainly offers everything and more you’d expect from it in comparison to to other phones at that price.

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LG Cookie Fresh GS290 Review

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The 7” tablet PC will run the wonderful Android 2.2 Froyo OS and will feature video calling, HD video playback, e-reader functions and will allow connection to a PC it also has a camera on the back of it, certainly something over the iPad there to take into consideration. If it’s as good as the Galaxy Phone then you’re looking at some serious piece of slate.

Keep your eyes on IFA then(next Wednesday) for all the release details. For the video click this link and enjoy.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab is official!!!

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AS said earlier it’s the first Blackberry release to have it’s all new Blackberry 6 OS. The 3.2” 480x360 touchscreen has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and will also sport 512MB RAM, 4GB of internal storage which can be expanded via MicroSD. There will be Bluetooth connectivity alongside WiFi b/g/n and it will also pack a 5MP camera with flash. Now although the specs aren’t mind-blowing, the phone’s OS should be a big enough draw to it, especially for all the Blackberry fans out there.

Initially Blackberry said it would be weeks after the US release it would reach our shores, sadly it’s now going to be late October. Our friends expansys have the phone up on their website now to pre-order but at a whopping £569.99 it seems quite pricey. Play.com also have the phone listed too, but they’re asking for a much more reasonable £499.99 SIM-free.

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Blackberry Torch 9800

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Now Sony the name we all know and it’s well reviewed Alpha series have brought out two new DSLRs with all the latest goodies for the top end of the home photography market. So what have they got? Firstly Sony has introduced to both the A55 and A33 a new “Translucent Mirror Technology”. A technology Sony says has until now been “unattainable with traditional DSLRs”. So what’s it mean? Basically it means the camera can shoot continuous shots and focus, whether it be stills or 1080p video.

The lower spec A33 stands at 14.2MP and the A55 a slightly higher 16.2MP. Both have a new 15point auto-focus system, the A55 can shoot at a continuous 15fps and the A33 a slightly less impressive 7fps(still impressive though) Another feature likely to interest some of our readers is it packs Sony’s 3D Sweep Panorama mode. Like some of Sony’s other cameras it allows one to take 3D wide-angle shots that can be played back on a 3DTV

Unfortunately no release dates yet or prices but we believed the A33 will probably be around the £600-£700 mark and the A55 will probably set you back an extra 100 notes on top of that.

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Sony Alpha A55 and A33 DSLR

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Update: Wow, we have been impressed with the number of entries! We have now closed the competition and picked a winner by using random.org to select a comment number.

The winner is : Roisin Nuttall

Argos is offering a Mighty Gadget reader the chance to win an 8GB iPod Touch, worth £149.99.

Arguably, one of the best MP3 players on the market this is an opportunity not to be missed. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post.

Please use your real name and give a valid email address and only enter the competition once.

All comments are moderated and we reserve the right to accept or deny any comments made. Once your comment has been accepted you will be eligible to win the iPod Touch.

We will be opening the competition to anyone within the EU and we will announce the winner next Friday (20/08/2010).

This prize has been supplied courtesy of Argos, who provide a wide range of MP3 players, such as the iPod Touch and iPod Nano. Please note Argos only deliver to the UK

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[Competition closed]Win an iPod Touch, courtesy of Argos

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Japan already has the option of a white console, but here in Europe we’ve had to just make do with the plain black console to match our everyday cloud cover. Also on top of that Japan can also get a 160GB console and a 320GB console. Yes a whole 40GB and 70GB respectively more HDD space than what we can get. Well according to UK retail sources, the bigger HDD sizes are coming our way to replace the 120GB and 250GB currently doing the rounds. Whether we get a white console in this country though is anyone’s guess

No dates or prices yet but I imagine you’ll be looking just before Christmas for these to appear, probably at the prices the current 120GB(£249) and 250GB(£299) for the 160GB and 320GB respectively. Also expect any older stock to drop in price to sell through, much like the old Xbox Arcade and Elites have.

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PS3 Slim : 320GB White flavour??

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The Galaxy Q has pretty much all the same specs as the Galaxy S, bt as nothing is actually truly official we can only let you know what we know. a 3” AMOLED screen still powered with the 1GHz processor and 16GB of storage. the other difference rumour is that the Q will be a “candy bar” phone and operate a full QWERTY keyboard (I’m always a fan of these) plus as it’s not out for a few months on release should have had the Android 2.2 upgrade. Couple all this with an 8MP HD video capable camera and a 1MP camera on the front, it certainly looks to be a decent enough downsize.

Sadly it’s all just rumourage, so no price or exact release date but you’ll be looking towards Christmas for the Galaxy Q.

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Samsung Galaxy Q : The S but smaller

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