Geeky Reviews

Blackberry — No Comments
1
May 08

Blackberry 8820 review

The Blackberry 8820 has been critically acclaimed as god amongst smart phones by many established magazines and reviewers. It was from such reviews that led me to choose this brilliant device.

In the past I had enjoyed the nokia platforms. Based upon the same base operating system, operation is generally easy to pick up. But as my mobile contract with Orange (UK) draw to an end I needed something that would replace my mobile and my Dell Axim 51v. I also wanted emails on the go.

So it did not take long to decide on the Blackberry 8820.

The phone it’s self is well made, it is sturdy and does not have that cheap light plastic feel that many phones have. The screen quality is sharp and good. You can view images and even videos (encoded correctly on a memory card) appear good. Features include, wifi, bluetooth, gprs to name but three.

The functions of the 8820 are aided by the full qwerty keyboard, no more T9 rubbish! Email, texts and phone functions are brilliant.

The added software, free from Blackberry, of Yahoo messenger and Face book, are very useful.

As the Blackberry format is doing so well Google have recognised it and given it Google maps ( see my review).

The phone is an extension of my PC, a computer on the go. In fact I wrote this Blog on it.

Once you have a Blackberry you will never turn back!!

Andy

broadband — No Comments
1
May 08

Vodaphone Mobile Broadband Dongle Review

I have recently returned from a trip to Ireland and while I was over there I was able to use a mobile broadband service.

I have been wanting to use one of these for a while. To compare how it ‘feels’ compared to landline broadband.

In case you are unaware, mobile broadband uses the new high bandwidth High Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA service that is establishing it’s self as a practical means of accessing real internet, not just wap text based pages, on the go.

The service I was using was on a newer model Sony Vaio laptop with Vista SP1. It brought up web pages reasonably fast, not as fast as a landline broadband connection but fast. But unlike the home broadband connection, it is not dependent upon a phone line or a power socket. If you use it with a laptop, you can quiet literally use it anywhere.

As I have mentioned, the speed is not great but it is good enough for most things. Like your mobile phone signal it is entirely dependent upon your mobile phone signal.

It is a good technology although I feel it still needs perfecting as it is prone to disconnection and drop outs in speed.

Andy

ipod — No Comments
1
May 08

iPod Nano 8GB review

I have converted; I have moved over to the dark side, I now own an iPod. Ok, I also have a Macbook Pro but that does not seem to have the social impact.

I was a Creative man, I loved the Creative Touch series and happily would while away hours listing to my entire collection on the 40GB tiny hard drive based device.

But I reached an impasse. I wanted a new, smaller player, which had access to podcasts and could show covers.

It was two events that moved me across the fence.

The first was reading reviews in what you may think would be Anti-Apple (www.pcpro.co.uk) singing the praises of design and value!!

The second: seeing the cover flow feature in real life. My friend had one for Christmas! Cover flow is a way of choosing an album to play by seeing at album artwork. It is very impressive and easy to use !

So I got one from Amazon.co.uk, graphite black I think the colour is. The features available are brilliant. I enjoy the ability to watch video Podcasts – the screen is of such a high quality viewing is very comfortable.

The sound quality is exceptional; I do recommend getting noise cancelling headphones if you travel on the Tube/subway as I do.

The iPod is truly brilliant and a perfect gift for anyone, especially yourself!

Andy

processors — No Comments
1
May 08

Intel dual core 2 E8400 review and musings

This processor was released earlier this year as part of Intel’s refresh of the product range.

The main features are;

Two processors (cores) in one at 3Ghz

Based upon 45nm technology.

(Layman: faster with less power)

6 mb shared cache

(Layman – it can handle multiple tasks and divide it’s resources depending upon the individual processor load.

A £145.99 prices tag from www.novatech.co.uk!

These features translate into real life features. A more powerful cpu, everything is speeder. A quieter system as the new (smaller) fan is very quiet. Less heat, so the entire system runs cooler. A cooler system means a system that will last longer on the whole. Lower power bills and better for the environment as this is a brilliant performance per watt processor

In short, a great processor and at this low price it is worth upgrading now :)

(Check your motherboard is compatible first though)

Andy

Andy’s Web – Web Design and IT Consultancy

skype — No Comments
1
May 08

Belkin Skype VOIP WIFI phone review

The idea is brilliant, use a stand alone handset to call your Skype contacts or any phone number. It connects to a hot spot or your own router and off you go.

But the application is yet to be refined enough for major usage in my view.

I have had this phone for about 6 months. I seen 3 firmware upgrades to resolve problems but still some exist. Contacts can not be added easily, and when signed in the phone does not register as being online all the time!

Also, the call quality is dreadful when even next to the router. It is distorted and too quiet.

The only notable thing about this is the crazily cheap call costs this Skype out. (If I could hear the other person.)

But in short, my phone will be on eBay soon.
Andy Smailes
Andys Web – Web Design and IT Consultancy

addthis — No Comments
1
May 08

Addthis button, Facebook’s and MySpace’s dream?

Social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, want you to live and breath their sites. But a lot of the content is not good, about as good as daytime tv. But now you can easily add quality content you find for your friends to enjoy through Addthis!

Addthis is simple, brilliant and also can increase hits on your own website. It is a good seo tool as well as making it easy for your visitors to bookmark your page in their browser, post it to Facebook or MySpace and add it to social bookmarking networks such as digg.

All you do is sign up, get your free code, and there you go.

I recommend the small javascript button which expands to display a wealth of options. This can be inserted in to your sites template and it is copied to all of your pages!

Is it easy to use for the visitor to the web page?

Give it a go now, it is on this page :)

Andy Smailes
Andy’s Web – Web Design and IT Consultancy

ebooks — 1 Comment
1
May 08

ebooks, the take me anywhere book!

I am a fan of ebooks, I can not deny it.

I enjoy the ability to load them on to my smart phone and read away anywhere.

There is a wealth of free ebooks. Project Gutenberg is one such example. I have read some of the classics from there for free, war of the worlds and the time machine to name but two. The neatly install on to most ebook readers due to the fact they are tiny text files.

So if you have a smart phone or just as desire to read some classics, you can almost ironically use this modern medium.

Try www.gutenberg.org

Or have a look and see what a google search can produce.

Andy Smailes
Andy’s Web – Web Design and PC/IT Consultancy

hosting — 1 Comment
1
May 08

1 & 1 hosting review

Up until about a month ago I was using 123-reg and webfusion for my web design business, www.andysweb.net, but I have since started to use 1&1.

They are, by their own admission, the world’s No 1 web hosting company. And from what I have experienced so far that is a fair assessment. I have mainly used their Linux hosting packages which are aimed at business. They offer 3 free .co.uk domains, free domain transfers and all of the regular features ( ie Perl, cgi script support.) you would expect from a package at approx £10 per month but also more advance features such as two sql databases, support for eCommerce solutions ( I shall be reviewing one soon).

But the main thing is the customer support. They are available via the telephone and reply to e-mails very quickly, in a matter of hours. And the replies are not just answers unrelated to your question from their Q & A section. No they are real replies from Real people. I like a company that values my custom as much as I value my clients.

As a result, I recommend 1 & 1 to my customers who require a hosting solution and I recommend it to you!

Andy Smailes

Andys Web – Web Design and IT Consultancy
andy@andysweb.net
www.andysweb.net

Blogger — 4 Comments
1
May 08

Blogger, on the go…

I have just set up my first blog and reviewed google maps for the blackberry 8820. Now I am trying out the e-mail a blog function.

Being 99.5 per cent geek I have to try this out! It is meant to post the blog straight away. As my mobile carrier, (not tesco.. Lol) orange, does not seem to support the mobile feature I am trying submitting it by e-mail. Thankfully I have a blackberry.

I intend to write reviews and muses on my business activities and experiences regularly.

Until next time…

Andy

Andy Smailes

Andy’s Web – Web Design and PC/IT Consultancy
www.andysweb.net
PS

It works :)

Blackberry / Geeky Reviews — 6 Comments
1
May 08

Google Maps for the Blackberry 8820 Review

Google are often accused of dominating the web, of knowing what you browse and now they could know where you are! This may sound like a concept taken from George Orwell’s 1984 but having your GPS attached to Google maps could arguably make this so. But in reality, I hope, and practicality this will not be case.

Google Maps is in effect a great tool! Not only is it a map, it can direct you to your destination and even give you a satellite view.

I often use it to get from a to b. It is especially handy as you can search for an address on the fly. Bookmark favourite locations, that restaurant that you can never remember where it is!

Being lost is a thing of the past.

Summary

Positive

Google maps for the blackberry 8820 is useful, effective and free. It runs from streaming data (so remember to watch that data being used.) (Google recommends an unlimited data plan.) So no need to worry about storage space.

Negatives: like all software it can crash! So it is a good idea to have a backup solution. Whether it is your cars GPS or an old school A to Z!

Andy

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