Ergonomic remote control; good menu navigation; inbuilt Wi-Fi; accurate colors; monolithic exterior; excellent stylish design; energy-efficient; Yahoo! Widgets; and internet services like Amazon VOD, YouTube and Netflix.

Thumbs Down:

Glossy display screen reflecting ambient light; low screen uniformity; unable to adjust much de-judder processing; darker areas distorted with blue; reproduces light black level; expensive price tag; worst Netflix picture quality.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 is 46 inches wide-screen LCD HDTV based on LED backlight technology. Its 1080p display has 1920×1080 pixels resolution, 16:9 image aspect ratio, progressive scanning and 240Hz refresh rate. The horizontal and vertical viewing angle is 178 degrees. The 46NX800 has V-chip control, 3D digital comb filter and composite video analog signal.

The additional features of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 are Auto power off, LightSensor technology, Motionflow technology and Sleep Timer. Display Menu languages are English, French and Spanish. Television has one analog/digital combo tuner, secondary audio program, MTS stereo reception system and Picture-in-picture multi-channel review. Analog tuner is NTSC and digital is ATSC and QAM. The channel coverage is Cable:1-135, UHF:14-69 and VHF:2-13.

The video interfaces of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 include Composite, Component and HDMI. The television features invisible speaker system, SteadySound audio volume, stereo surround sound, closed caption capability, parental channel lock and onscreen TV guide. Input video format options are 1080/60p, 1080/60i, 1080/24p, 720/60p, 480/60p and 480/60i.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has two inbuilt 10 watt left/right channel speakers. The connectors are 1 x Network ( RJ-45 ) – Rear, 1 x USB 2.0 ( 4 pin USB Type A ) – Side, 2 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) – Side, 2 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) – Rear, 1 x Audio line-in ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) – Side, 1 x VGA input ( 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) ) – Side, 1 x Digital audio output (optical) ( TOSLINK ) – Rear, 1 x Composite video input ( RCA phono ) , 1 x Composite video / component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ), 1 x Audio line-out ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Rear, 1 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Side and 2 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Rear

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 supports JPG images; MPEG4, AVCH and AVC videos; and MP3 audio. The PC connectivity options are: wireless, Ethernet and USB. Connectivity protocols are: IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b Wi-Fi and USB.

The television has Sony RM-YD037 remote control and swivel stand. The operational power consumption is 158 watt and sleeping/standby consumption is 0.17. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 is complaint to the EPA Energy Star and HDCP. Sony provides one-year limited labor-and-parts warranty with the television.

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 is 28 inches tall, 44.5 inches wide and 2.5 inches deep and weighs 54.7 lbs. With stand, it is 29.2 inches tall, 44.5 inches wide and 12.6 inches deep and weighs 63.5 lbs. Sony has revamped the exterior in monolithic style of some space theme like orbiting Jupiter or Tycho crater. The backside is glossy black. The input connector panel is hidden behind removable cover at back. The swivel base stand is attached at the bottom. Moreover, you can mount the television on the floor or table using stand at the back.

Inside Dope:

Sony has launched its LED-based Bravia KDL-NX800 series LCD TVs. The LED backlight technology comes in some different varieties. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performs better than other LCD TVs in its class including Samsung’s UNB7000 series. The KDL-46NX800 has inbuilt Wi-Fi to access Internet services as found on Sony’s 2009 models. It designed for people for whom style comes first.

Sony has also revamped the remote control of its Bravia KDL-46NX800 and this remote is the best one we have ever used. It has perfect arrangement of buttons with their logical size. All the keys are sleek and flush. The remote control has concave shape which makes the buttons easy to use. The company has also added blue backlighting to the remote control.

The company has added its XMB interface to Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 with some new features. This interface offers inputs, settings, widgets and Internet services in logical fashion. We would prefer to more customizations in this interface. In addition, the dashing navigation looks reminiscent of the PlayStation3. We like that manufacturer has included separate Favorite section that consists of frequently accessed inputs. You can also manually add some options to this section. There is an Options section that provides instant access to Netflix options, MotionFlow settings and scene modes.

Sony has used energy-efficient LED edge-lit technology instead of CCFL backlights, which also helped in keeping thin TV panel. But it has affected the picture quality and performance as compared to local dimming technology in Sony XBR-NX800 series.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has inbuilt Wi-Fi to connect to internet via your local wireless network. The company had started offering Netflix in 2009 and it did not have any new addition. On the contrary, Samsung, LG and Panasonic announced to include Skype service in 2010. Vizio and Samsung are also going to introduce platform based applications. Following the same tradition, Sony is going to launch QRIOCITY – online movie service.

Netflix will draw main attention in various features of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. But it did not produce appreciated image quality in our tests. While playing one streaming video, it provided soft video with more artifacts and pixilation than LG 47HL50 and Roku Player. Moreover, the streaming bit rate was also low. These results were same for both wireless and wired network. We also tested Amazon VOD and YouTube. The streaming video quality for Amazon Video on Demand was good, but not for YouTube contents on viewing at full screen.

Sony has also added keyword search for extracting the information from TV Guide EPG. It will be more useful if company encompasses the search for Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. You will also find Yahoo Widgets for Dallas Mavericks, FrameChannel, TV Guide, USA Today Sports, Quizzmaster, Sudoku, Yahoo sports, Yahoo video, finance, news and local weather. We did not see first two widgets on any Yahoo specified TV. FrameChannel provides contents from numerous outlets such as CNET Crave blog, BBC, NewYork Times, People magazine, Picasa, Facebook and forth. Sony had not updated the Yahoo! Widgets which resulted in slow performance. You can move Yahoo! Widgets around the screen without any problem. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has more widgets than LG, but still lesser than Samsung.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has Slacker Radio – music service instead of having Pandora found on Mitsubishi LT-249 series. But it is capable of streaming videos, music and photos from networked computer via their DNLA standard software like Windows Media Player 11.

Like Vizio, Sony is providing inbuilt Wi-Fi and Ethernet on its KDL-NX800 series including Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. It was child’s play easy to setup both Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks. Most of other televisions require USB or Ethernet connection to setup wireless network, but the 46NX800 performs it directly using integrated Wi-Fi antenna.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has 240Hz refresh rate like other high-end LCD TVs launched this year. Unlike the implementation of Toshiba and Samsung, you cannot take its benefits to reduce blur without engaging de-judder processing also. Sony includes and calls the de-judder processing as MotionFlow that is available in two types. You can also turns off the MotionFlow.

Sony had also re-structured the picture setup memory scheme and added a capability to apply user-defined settings to either all inputs or current input. The user-defined customizations will be applicable to any one of basic picture modes including Standard, Vivid and Custom. For each input, you will have three different selections of picture options. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has seven Scene modes including PC, Cinema and Game. However, these modes cannot be accessed via main picture menu. You can press the Theater mode button for entering Cinema scene mode.

You will also get various advanced picture settings such as seven step gamma control, CineMotion option, two noise reduction options, full white balance, four temperature controls, a Reset option for both advanced and standard options and more. Sony has also added text explanation for each of the option.

For high-definition sources, Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has four aspect ratio options plus one Full Pixel option for displaying 1080p content without over-scan or scaling. You can use this Full Pixel option on noticing some interference across the screen’s extreme edges. The user-defined settings can be applied to only current setting or to all.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has Eco menu – power saving option that limits the brightness level. This LED based LCD TV also has room lighting sensor, mode to turn off TV after being inactive for particular period and one mode to turn off screen without turning off sound. Not only these modes, but you will also get a power button to eradicate its power standby mode and enables to remain awake for downloading automatic updates.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 also has onscreen Electronic Programming Guide that display information about cable channels and antenna. It will be the additional benefit for the users who are only using guide of their satellite or cable box. The television also has onscreen user manual to explain all of its features. It will be useful for everyone to select the options easily. In addition, it will also provide the support information section containing phone numbers and Web site for service center. This section also displays the software version and serial number of the product.

There are plenty of connectivity options available on Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. The side panel has an AV input with composite or component video, USB port for sharing, VGA analog input and two HDMI ports. Other two HDMI ports are located behind a cover on the back. You will find few analog audio ports, Ethernet jack, RF input for cable or antenna connection and composite video input on rear panel.

We were disappointed that Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 did not perform better than other LCD TVs in its class. The color accuracy was overall good and solid. The picture is equal to Samsung edge-lit LED TVs. The most accurate setting was only in Cinema scene mode. The display screen provided 2.2 gamma levels, but maintained to have smooth grayscale. Occasionally, it dove in blues in some dark areas.

We played a movie on Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 and compared it with dimming KDL-52XBR9, LG 47LH90; plasma Pioneer PRO-111GD and edge-lit LED based LG 42SL90 and Samsung UN46B7000.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 delivered some light black shades after calibration, whereas SL Sl90 was worse overall. The B7000, the XBR9 and Pioneer plasma delivered darker shadows and black areas than the 46NX800. Moreover, Sony model provided more natural look in details than the XBR9, but not better than others.

On disabling Auto Contrast Enhancer, we noticed an improvement in black level performance of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. It provided dim backlight in dark scenes, but increased in bright light, like Samsung B7000. The bright areas and lighting looked dull in dark scenes.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 provided solid color accuracy except bluish black areas. This problem was similar to other LCDs during test, but the 46NX800 displayed blue tinge crawling only into extreme dark areas and shadows. On the contrary, the colors and skin tones looked natural with rich color saturation. Its secondary and primary colors were solid.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 provides only High, Standard and Off options for MotionFlow de-judder processing. We preferred to turn off this processing for Blu-ray movies. Like Samsung and LG, the lowest mode – Standard provided less video like look. Unlike Sony NX800, Samsung allows to tweak the smoothness. There were noticeable artifacts in each de-judder modes; still the Standard mode had less artifacts.

The motion resolution tests revealed that Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performed better than other 240Hz TV sets like the XBR9. The KDL-46NX800 registered 900 to 1000 lines with MotionFlow engaged in any mode. On turning off the MotionFlow, it resulted in 300-400 lines. The 1080i de-interlacing handled both video and film based sources.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 could not maintain the same image across the display, unlike its competitors. Sony has selected glossy screen instead of matte one. As a result, it shows the reflections of room objects, unlike LG LH90 and the XBR9. This reflection was less than that of LG SL90 and Samsung screens. Moreover, the KDL-46NX80 preserved more black levels than LG SL90, but lesser than the XBR9 or Samsung.

For standard-definition sources, Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performed average. The details were softer than Samsung UNB7000 while playing a DVD video. The noise reduction was good to remove artifacts and noise. It also engaged 2:3 pull-down with some delay as compared to others.

In high frequency test patterns, we received excellent look with a bit flicker on Sony Bravia KDL-46NX80 via analog RGB. But we did not get any flicker via HDMI output.

Nitty Gritty:

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performed good in our tests. If you do not mind the light black levels, glossy and reflective screen and few settings for de-judder processing, then you can buy this LCD HDTV. We will recommend you to check other edge-lit LED based LCD TVs also.

V-Mode Remix Remote earphones has secure fit and stylish design. It offers great bass, integrated microphone and remote control for Apple iPod and iPhone.

Thumbs Down:

It is not comfortable for every person. The audio quality is not completely clean and balanced.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

V-Moda Remix Remote earphones are manufactured mainly for use with Apple iPod and Apple iPhone. It consists of 34 inches cord, integrated controls and microphone, 13 inches Y-cable and two ear-buds.

Accessories supplied inside the package are carrying pouch, numerous silicon ear clips and removable clip.

Razzle Dazzle:

V-Moda Remix Remote earphones has sleek and stylish design. It has standard gold plated plug encased in L-shaped rubber- housing.  The housing looks like hose spray nozzle and is more rugged as compared to that of most earphones.

Inside Dope:

V-Moda is one of the most reputed companies to manufacture low profile and stylish ear-buds. The company has launched its latest product – V-Moda Remix Remote earphones for $99. This earphone offers inbuilt microphone and remote for controlling iPod and iPhone. It can withstand wear and tear. The audio quality of Remix Remote earphones is clean and balanced, but not the best amongst other competitors in its cost. For your Apple iPhone and iPod, V-Mode Vibe II earphones is a decent choice.

34 inches thick rubberized cord follows the housing of V-Moda Remix Remote earphones. The cable splits at plastic module housing the integrated iPod controls and microphone. There is a 13 inches Y-cable after the plastic module, which leads to two ear-buds.

V-Moda Remix Remote earphones is available in Nero color that features chrome accented black color. The overall design from engraved ear-pieces to gun like plug looks sleek, but the cable connection seems little flimsy. We received secure fit, but barrel-shaped and large aperture earpieces provided uncomfortable pressure on our ears after continuous listening up to one hour. We also received some distortion occasionally. The overall sound quality was acceptable.

You will receive good sound isolation and low oomph from V-Moda Remix Remote earphones. During some silent segments, you will get noticeable sound from cable rubbing against your body. It is noteworthy that V-Moda Remix Remote earphones are a better choice than the one supplied with your iPhone or iPod.

Nitty Gritty:

V-Moda Remix Remote earphones does not provide completely balanced and clean sound. If you do not need crystal clear playback, then you can purchase Remix Remote earphones. However, we will recommend you to purchase V-Moda Vibe II for your Apple iPod and Apple iPhone that provides better bass, more features and stylish design.

Improved and better printing speeds and photo quality than previous ESP models and other printers in same range. The printer features bright 2.4-inch LCD display and user-friendly Kodak software.

Thumbs Down:

Fickle and useless paper input tray; does not have auto-document feeder and expensive price tag.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Kodak ESP 5250 is an All-in-one inkjet photo printer. It has two ink cartridges: one for black and another one for five basic colors. The ESP 5250 uses CIS scan element and its scanner has 1200 dpi optical resolution. The printer has 2.4 inches LCD display and expansion card slot that supports SDHC Memory card, Memory Stick Pro, SD Memory Card, MultiMedia Card, Memory Stick and miniSD.

Maximum copying speed is 30 pages per minute (PPM) for mono and 29PPM for color. The maximum document enlargement is 400% and maximum reduction is 20%. Kodak ESP 5250 has BorderFree copying feature and supports up to maximum 99 copies at a time.

Kodak ESP 5250 supports maximum paper size of 8.5×17 inches. Minimum copying size is 3.94×5.9 inches and maximum is 8.5×14 inches. The paper tray can handle maximum 100 sheets.

Kodak ESP 5250 offers Hi-Speed USB and IEEE 802.11 b/g wireless for computer connection. Supported operating systems are Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 and Apple Mac OSX 10.4.8 or later. Kodak provides one-year warranty with its ESP 5250.

Razzle Dazzle:

New, Kodak ESP 5250 is 6.9 inches tall, 16.6 inches wide and 11.8 inches deep and weighs 14.1 lbs. It has black colored matte and glossy body with orange accent and perforated scanner cover.

Inside Dope:

Kodak ESP 5250 is the latest upgrade to company’s ESP 5 series of all-in-one printers. The new model has improvements in the printing quality and speed, but not in design. The ESP 5250 costs $170 and has some major drawbacks. It does not have any auto-document feeder and has issues with paper feeds. These disadvantages are not forgive able at such a high cost. We will not recommend this printer. You can go for Epson Stylus NX515 at $150, which provides better sleek design and good performance.

We will recommend the Kodak to concentrate and improve on the design of its printers. Moreover, all the printers including the ESP 5250 have same design and shape. At least, the design of expensive printers should be unique.

Kodak ESP 5250 has 2.4 inches LCD display on the front. The display size is small as compared to 3-inch screen of ESP series. However, it provides bright and vibrant colors for easy navigation through menu options. The menu options are simple and not sophisticated like HP Photosmart C8180. The Home screen will show dedicated shortcut for copying a document or photo.

The control buttons are located on the top of printer at the right side of scanner lid. We appreciated the Kodak to simplify everything in the vertical strip controls. The photo rotate shortcut, zoom buttons, four-way directional pad and power button are located on the top of vertical strip. The cancel button and “Start” button rounding the cockpit sits at the bottom of same strip. Attached scanner bay and card reader slot are located underneath the panel of controls. The card reader slot supports MMC and MemoryStick.

You will notice a plastic arm braces the cover on raising the printer’s cover for opening ink bay. This opening mechanism will need two hands that consume time. We will prefer the Kodak to include spring mount lid for simplifying the work. Moreover, the top cover of scanner bed only folds with fixed and flexible joint that does not allow putting large books for scanning. The company had separated the ink into two different cartridges: one cartridge for five base colors and another one for black. Kodak ESP 5250 costs 10 cents per photo as per the company’s Website. Kodak also sells black cartridge, color ink cartridges and numerous types of papers.

Kodak ESP 5250 has one paper tray, which provides input feeds and collects output prints as well. This tray can hold maximum 100 paper sheets of various sizes. However, we would expect to have two different trays for output prints and separate individual tray for 4×6 photo papers at this price tag. We faced some paper jams while testing the ESP 5250. We even could not print 3×5 size pages, but after some help we did it. We will recommend you to clinch up the width adjuster of paper tray against small papers. Else the media sensor will not detect the small pages, treat them as standard size and spits out due to paper mismatch. We impressed that the ESP 5250 printer acted well with 8.5×11 inches normal sheet and photo paper. If you are printing the pages of every size, then this printer might not match your requirements.

We like that Kodak ESP 5250 comes with software, which is compatible to both Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X. It has Kodak All-in-One Home Center software, which acts as complete hub for scan, print and copy functions. The copy function is easy to use and offers collate copy feature for copying several images in same orientations like original one. Scanning center is also simple, but lacks options for scanning directly to e-mail and PDF. We disappointed that scanning feature does not meet this industry requirement of PDF and email. You will get numerous printing features in the print center. The Kodak software will automatically scan the computer for all images and provides easy navigation through them.

The image editing options include color restoration, red-eye reduction, color sharpness and Kodak PerfectTouch technology. This technology will combine above three options into one setting. It also allows selecting customized facial touch that analyzes pictures and fix their discoloration and skin defects. We agree that it is not comparable to Adobe Photoshop, but simple and best for normal users.

Kodak ESP 5250 does not have Bluetooth capability, but supports IEEE 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi. Kodak’s auto setup wizard is very easy to use, detects SSID (network name) automatically and allows entering the encryption key. We had setup the Kodak ESP 5250 in just 7 minutes.

The overall performance of Kodak ESP 5250 is fast and impressive. We compared the printer with other printers in sub-$200 price range. The overall performance of Kodak ESP 5250 is better than others. The presentation printing speed of the ESP 5250 is 3.2 pages per minute (PPM). Photo printing speed is 1.13 PPM and color graphics printing speed is 3.42 PPM. The text printing speed is 4.89 PPM.

However, low cost Epson Stylus NX515 performed better than Kodak ESP 5250. Its text printing speed is 13.81PPM and color graphics printing speed is 4.63PPM. Presentation printing speed of the Epson model is 5.53PPM and photo printing speed is 0.83PPM.

Kodak ESP 5250 only overtakes the Epson Stylus NX515 in photo printing speed. Kodak model is not slow as per its prices, but Epson model offers marvelous speed in the low cost. Kodak needs credits for improving the image printing quality of the 5250 as compared to other ESP printers. It produces fantastic image quality. The color text printouts at Normal setting are comparable to laser quality. The full color images printed from media card had nice color blends, smooth shadows and sharp lines. Even the skin tones were well defined with rich color palette. We are sure that you will also be excited to have such a great digital image printout.

Kodak provides one-year warranty for print heads with printer. The ink cartridges are also under warranty for 13 months from manufacturing date. Kodak warranty also contains toll free number support from 9AM to 9PM PT and online technical chat support from 6AM to 3PM PT. You can also download tutorials, software, drivers and user manual for the printer.

Nitty Gritty:

Kodak ESP 5250 is a good multifunction printer, but still has some drawbacks and needs improvement. It provides excellent photo printing quality and good output speeds, still cannot justify its $170 cost. If you can afford the cost and need an expensive printer, then you can go for Kodak ESP 5250. However, we will recommend you to choose Epson Stylus NX515 that offers better performance, good features and attractive design on less cost.

Archos 5 Internet tablet offers high-resolution large display, GPS, integrated kickstand, inbuilt speakers and microphone, Web browser, email client, Bluetooth, Flash video and game compatibility, music and video playback and Wi-Fi. It also supports limited Google Android applications.

Thumbs Down:

GPS signal reception is poor; glossy body attracts fingerprints; Copying and pasting text is difficult; Flash video support is not so good; various popular Android applications are not supported.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Archos 5 Internet tablet has 4.8 inches LCD display. It works as Voice recorder, Digital video recorder, Digital audio recorder, Digital photo viewer, Digital video player and Digital audio player.

The additional features of Archos 5 Internet tablet include FM receiver, FM transmitter, Bluetooth 2.0, and Wi-Fi for IEEE 802.11 b/g/n. The tablet supports still image formats of GIF, PNG, BMP and JPEG.

Supported audio formats are FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, AAC+, AAC, PCM, Protected WMA, WMA and MP3. Archos 5 Internet tablet has inbuilt microphone and speakers.  Its audio features are VBR and CBR. Digital video playback formats include MJJPEG, MKV, WMV, H.264, MPEG48 and MPEG4. Supported operating systems are Linux, Microsoft Windows XP/Vista or later.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has standard lithium polymer batteries. It has three connections for composite video, headphones and USB. Accessories supplied inside the package are DVR station adapter, USB cable and earphones.

Razzle Dazzle:

Archos 5 Internet tablet is 3.3 inches tall, 5.5 inches wide and 0.4 inch deep and it weighs 6.4 ounces. This measurement and weight remains same for 32GB, 16GB and 8GB models. We reviewed the 32GB model. Its body complete body works as fingerprint magnet to capture fingerprint and smudges even on gentle touch. The tablet is small enough to easily fit in the jeans pocket.

Inside Dope:

Archos 5 Internet tablet is better than Apple iPod Touch on paper. It features FM transmitter, Bluetooth, integrated GPS, 4.8 inches screen and 720p high-definition video playback. The interesting factor is that it comes in different specifications starting from $249 for 8GB model with micro-SD card slot and thin body. Its hard-drive version of 500GB costs around $489. Our test model of 32GB costs $362.99.

Every aspect of Archos 5 Internet tablet is so made to attract the die-hard digital media fans and stay away them from Apple iPod Touch and Microsoft Zune HD. If you ever wished to have GPS in Apple iPod Touch, then go for Archos 5. If you ever think about small screen and limited support for video codec in Zune HD, then go for Archos 5. This tablet device uses Google Android platform and provides Archos Download Store. This store has limited variety of applications; still it is comparable to iPhone App Store.

Archos 5 was also launched earlier in 2008. Its success Archos 5 Internet tablet shares some features with its predecessor, but lacks compatibility for Android applications. The new model still has the same defects of its predecessor’s design. Headphone jack is located where you have to hold the tablet. The matte display is reflective like 605WiFi.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has inbuilt metal kickstand on the back. You can flip out this kickstand and use it for standing the tablet on flat surface for continuous usage. For the company, Archos 5 is the thinnest media player and first one to use micro-USB PC connection. You will find the other proprietary connections on the bottom such as battery packs and A/V media docks.

The feature set of Archos 5 Internet tablet includes accelerometer, speaker, microphone, FM tuner, Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi. We will discuss each feature one by one. The features of Archos 5 will attract the technical and freaky users because the normal users will like the simple features and qualities of iPod Touch.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has Wi-Fi that supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/n. Its wireless connection interface is easy to use with hotspot sign pages. In addition, the Archos 5 allows the tethering with your cell phone and piggybacking to other cellular data connection. In simple words, you can use Archos 5 as a modem for connecting to internet at your cell phone and allows the tablet to refuse the connection request of another cell phone. We agree that this feature needs some technical knowledge, but you will get various benefits from it as you can connect your laptop, Netbook and computer in the similar way.

The worthy advantage of Archos 5 Internet tablet over Apple iPod Touch is GPS. We liked the GPS features of turn-by-turn directions and accurate selection of interesting locations. However, the overall GPS experience of Archos 5 is frustrating. We are disappointed that the GPS takes 45 seconds to load. Moreover, the there was some delay on tracking our regular changing positions.

We did not any complaint about the Bluetooth feature of Archos 5 Internet tablet. We paired stereo Altec Lansing Backbeat 904 Bluetooth headset with the tablet. It offers good audio quality even at 30 feet distance. The other Bluetooth 2.0 profiles include HID, EDR and AVRCP. Occasionally, you have to restart the Archos 5 Internet tablet so that it can detect the micro-SD card slot. The integrated microphone and speakers are good additions. We found them to work good while testing.

As usual, the FM transmitter of Archos 5 Internet tablet requires attaching headphones. FM Transmitter did not work fine while testing, whereas its Radio Receiver worked fine. It also offers song IDs and RDS station. The inbuilt accelerometer is good for rotating Web pages, but has slow performance as compared to that of Zune HD and iPod Touch.

The video playback is one of the solidest feature of Archos 5 Internet tablet. It supports Flash video content, H.264, MKV, MPEG4, WMV, AVI, XviD, DivX, BitTorrent and provides resolution options up to high-definition quality 720p. For more support, you can invest $20 for HD plug-in for enabling 720p HD video playback via MPEG2 and WMV HD files. We will recommend this small $20 investment as you are already paying between $249 and $489.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has Android Web browser that supports Flash Lite. Still, the browser does not have predictive text input, multi-touch keyboard and pinch zooming. Most of the Web pages loaded in mobile format and copying/pasting of text is difficult. This support acts as different application outside the browser, so some services and Web sites will not be compatible. YouTube website worked fine, whereas websites like Comedy Central, ABC, CNET TV and Hulu did not work well. This condition was same for flash-based online radio portals like Last.fm, Slacker and Pandora. We would prefer the manufacturer to improve the Flash based interface to overtake the features of iPod Touch and Zune HD. On the contrary, the Android email is a good alternative to iPod Touch.

The inbuilt music player of Archos 5 Internet tablet supports WAV, Ogg, FLAC, WMA, AAC and MP3 files. The WMA support also includes DRM protected files. The tablet can also be set to stream music over Internet radio stations or Wi-Fi connection from nearby phones and computers. The music players features album art, sorting by ID3 tags and ability to bookmark audio files or music tracks. It also offers album art grid-view. However, the tablet takes some time to load thumbnails for album artwork.

Archos 5 Internet tablet has built-in photo viewer that supports PNG, GIF, BMP and JPEG. You can load pictures in this application through Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP), micro-SD card and via PC. It makes large screen, digital and ideal photo album, but still takes few seconds to load and navigate through images. The zoom and resize options are useless. However, you will get advantages of drag-and-drop picture transfer and large screen. The overall photo experience of the Archos 5 does not match the standards of Zune HD and iPod Touch.

To your interest, Archos 5 Internet tablet also has few options for streaming media. You can stream any video and music file stored on networked computer using Windows Universal Plug and Play support. There is a Media Club menu that has Web radio and Web TV directories to access the streaming of local news, global Internet radio stations and video pod-casts via Wi-Fi.

Theoretically, the access of Archos 5 Internet tablet to Google Android Mobile application will be beneficiary for the new product. However, the application selection is limited. The Archos 5 Internet tablet has ThinFree application for opening PDF and Microsoft Office documents, Yellowbook, High Paying Jobs, Moov, Craiglist, Wikipedia, Linkedin, instant messenger, and Twitter. Some applications will only display a normal Web page of their content except messenger and photo viewer. We had the same complaint with the iPhone applications. The other two media applications including Deezer and Dailymotion only works in France (native country of Archos) and not in the U.S.

Android 5 Internet tablet has a life of 7 hours continuous video playback and 22 hours of audio playback. The audio quality is good and comparable to iPod Touch. However, Samsung P3, Sony X-series and Cowon S9 provide superior quality.

The video quality of Archos 5 Internet tablet is superior due to its large support of video codecs, high resolution screen and large display. We agree that it cannot beat a good laptop playing video on VLC, but still the audio and video quality of Archos 5 is impressive.

Nitty Gritty:

Archos 5 Internet tablet offers you advanced Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS capabilities with exciting audio and video performance. However, the manufacturer still has to work hard to improve GPS, photo viewing and internet browsing features. Apart from its drawbacks, it will be the reality for dreams of video cognoscente with its vast video codec supports. We can call the tablet as a rose for video downloader and media crazy persons. If you need a tablet just for great video and music playback and can manage the disadvantages of photo view and browser, then buy this tablet.

FLO TV attracts the television fans to provide uninterrupted great shows without cellular or Wi-Fi reception.

Thumbs Down:

FLO TV does not have features like iPod and Zune.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

FLO TV is a portable television. Its input method is touch screen user interface. It is based on FLO TV Multicast Network. Its software platform is Flash-based FLO TV user interface.

3.5 inches diagonal capacitive touch screen display has a resolution of QVGA 320×240 pixels. It features auto backlight control and ambient light sensor.

The features of FLO TV include inbuilt adjustable stand, integrated stereo speakers, touch screen and Live Mobile TV. It has 1500mAH lithium ion battery that has a life of 300 hours of idle standby time.

Accessories supplied inside the package include TV, battery, 3.5mm headphones, screen cleaning cloth, power adapter, micro-USB cable, quick start guide and promotional insert.

Razzle Dazzle:

FLO TV is 3 inches tall, 4.4 inches wide and half inch deep and it weighs around 156 grams. It is heavier than iPod Touch or Zune HD. FLO TV comes in silver and black colors. Our test model had black color.

Inside Dope:

Everyone likes to have a portable television for entertainment. Some persons record their small programs on Zune or iPod and watch them, but that does not deliver much excitement. Now, FLO TV is available in the market for $199 that includes 6 months of free TV service subscription. You can view maximum 16 channels for $14.99 per month. FLO TV is so build to replicate home television experience at a portable machine. It will appeal all TV fans that need a small television. Zune HD or iPod Touch provide more features than FLO TV at the same price, but they cannot show you TV channels.

FLOT TV has 3.5 inches touch screen display that has 320×240 pixels resolution. The touch screen is capacitive and features ambient light sensor. You will find home button and rocker switch on the front. 3.5mm headphone jack, dedicated mute button and volume button sits at right side. Combined micro-USB port for charging through power adapter and USB connection is also located on the right side.

Battery life indicator button and power button are located on the top edge of FLO TV. There is a black hinged flap kickstand located at the back. You can use this kickstand to place the device on flat surface for watching TV. Integrated stereo speakers are also located on the back and delivers louder sound than speakers of Zune HD and iPod Touch.

FLO TV does not have any internal memory to store your favorite songs, video files and photos. It simply acts as TV tuner for subscription television service. Its service has one package only that offers 16 channels including 2.FLO channel, Adult Swim, CNN, Comedy Central, Disney, MTV Tr3s, MTV, Nickelodeon, TLC, Fox News, Fox, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, ESPN, CBS and ABC.

You can press the button on TV’s front to show a guide, in which you can go through channel broadcasts. You can also schedule a reminder for TV show. On the dark side, the FLO TV does not have on-demand service, recording capability and pause button. It is worth to mention that the FLO TV does not show live TV broadcast, which you find on conventional television. A Program Guide is available online at FLO TV website. You can also apply the parental lock at the mature shows on the FLO TV. We agree that FLO TV works like portable TV; still it does not have some needed functions and internal memory.

The display of FLO TV has low resolution, due to which its video quality also effected. The resolution fluctuates while watching streaming videos, even when we are standing still. The screen brightness is overall conservative. The screen goes into sleep mode occasionally while playing TV shows. There is also no option to disable or adjust the sleep mode inside settings. However, you can plug in the charger to disable the sleep mode.

FLO TV utilizes signal from old UHF TV spectrum that allows it to be consistent. It is better the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or cell phone signal reception, which breaks any where. You can not use the FLO TV on airplane and subways. This point will give a lead to PSP, Zune and iPod for continuous portable entertainment.

FLO TV has 1500mAH lithium ion battery that has a rated life of 5 hours of continuous watch time and 300 hours of idle standby time.

Nitty Gritty:

FLOT TV will attract TV and sports fan who 24/7 need feed of television content. If you need a portable device to watch streaming TV shows, then you can buy this FLO TV.

If you are a gaming fanatic, then Malibal is custom made for you and with its influential desktop gaming performance it surely will please you. Then there is superb support, service, and pricing policies that lures the consumers.

Against:

Deprived speaker performance; small touch pad and keyboard for a gigantic notebook are some of the flaws in the Veda series that might upset a few consumers.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Measuring, 17.2 in width, 11.7 in depth and 1.7 in height and weighing around 12.6 lbs the Malibal Veda series is a gaming laptop from Malibal which is known for making superb custom-made desktop replacements. Veda comes with 64 bit, Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 / 2.53 GHz processor with data bus speed of 1066 MHz.

Other specifications for Malibal Veda includes 3 MB of cache memory, with DDR3 SDRAM – 1333 MHz 4GB of RAM that can be expanded up to 8 GB and storage hard drive of 320 GB – Serial ATA-300 – 5400 rpm.

The screen specs for Veda includes 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA) of Max Resolution for a display type of 18.4 in TFT active matrix. The notebook comes with interfaces including 1 x Display / video – HDMI – 19 pin HDMI Type A , 1 x Microphone – Input – Mini-phone 3.5 mm , 1 x Audio – Line-out/headphones – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm , 3 x Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A , 1 x Display / video – DVI-Analog/Digital , 1 x Audio – Line-in – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm , 1 x Storage – eSATA-300 – 7 pin external Serial ATA , 1 x Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T – RJ-45, 1 x Audio – SPDIF output , 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire).

Razzle Dazzle:

Despite its atrocious size, the laptop with an 18.4-inch LCD is good looking overall. Further you can load it with Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300, 4GB/8GB of DDR3 memory, and dual Nvidia GeForce GTX280M graphics cards. The body might not be flooded with branding, but surely has a pleasing look with its pouring colored light from the rear fan vents, a clannish tattoo-like intend on the lid and the front-firing speaker grills. There is a touch-sensitive key given above the keyboard to let you control the colors, you either can cycle through diverse colors or can shut them off. The high gloss plastic covers entire keyboard including palm rests, the string of touch-sensitive keys and the touch pad.

Inside Dope:

It looks like the boutique notebook developer Malibal is all set to see the desktop pass away. Malibal expertise’s in developing custom-made desktop replacements and with its Veda series which can be loaded with Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300, an 18.4-inch LCD, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX280M graphics cards and 8GB of DDR3 memory. The company brings a top-notch product into the market, and while the components are all superb the design we think could have used a little more help.

In Malibal’s defense all we can say is, that the company has taken good care of what was in its control and the complaints are about things beyond their control, like the design. The system has been designed by laptop OEM/ODM Clevo. But what can be attributed to company is the connoisseur assembly, a guarantee of admirable service and support, generous component offerings, a no-risk purchase policy and most of all its competitive pricing.

Except for the power ports, all the other input and output ports are given on the left and right hand sides, so if at any time you decide to connect it to a speaker or headset, external monitor, mouse, Ethernet and keyboard; you will be having a mess of cables spewing from the sides. Talking about mess brings us to the keyboard, which despite the gigantic size of the notebook had noticeably small keys. But what’s even weird is that the keys actually are pretty good for the gaming purpose, but certainly aren’t ideal for typing. There aren’t any physical borders for the touchpad except for a thin blue line. Also, it’s nice to have eight programmable macro buttons at the left of the keyboard, but they take apparently needless amount of space.

The screen resolution for the notebook is standard for an 18.4-inch wide-screen LCD display and offers a 1920 x 1080 of native resolution. And despite its sleek “Glass View” panel, the performance for the display is pretty well, with decent color and contrast, and exceptional wide viewing angles. Just above the screen is a 3-megapixel Webcam that gave splendid performance in our Skype tests and so did the dual, built-in mics. But, what disappointed us the most was the speaker system, and regardless of having a subwoofer and five speakers, the sound output lacked depth, for movies, music and games. So instead of going for the unimpressive speakers you probably will like to go for the Veda’s S/PDIF output for peripheral headphones or speakers.
The notebook comes equipped with all ports and whether it’s the inputs or outputs, or networking, you name it and its there, so there isn’t anything that we found was missing. The audio I/O jacks are given on the right side amid an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port and a USB 2.0 port. If you want an external tuner to be connected then there’s an RF-in for it. All the other remaining things are on the left side, which again creates a mess if you use all the ports or even have some of them occupied.

While we were getting our hands on every high-end option in the market that can cost more than $5000 for reviewing, the Veda actually started at $2,272. Though, the specifications for that system are significantly less exciting: a 250GB 5,400rpm hard drive, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700, no operating system and a DVD burner. Even the dual cost for Nvidia graphics card is included in that price.

In comparison we had along with 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300, the dual 512MB Nvidia GeForce GTX280M graphics cards and three 80GB SSDs. This configuration performed exceedingly well on our multitasking, audio processing and image-processing tests. But the both the configurations were crushed by AVADirect Clevo D900F, though it had a 3.33GHz Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Quad Core desktop processor.

In our gaming test, Veda definitely did not crushed the competitions, but definitely outperformed many of the other laptops including Alienware M17x, that has the same configuration. However, at 1920 x 1200, resolution the frame rates were predominantly good and provided smooth play on graphically demanding games.

Malibal Veda comes with a standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty, and you can avail the Two- and three-year plans for $149 and $269, correspondingly. Those prices are considerably reasonable, considering the expense of system. The US based support can be accessed through a 24-7 ticket, toll-free phone line, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET and live-chat support. You even can get driver downloads and online knowledge base for free. Finally, Malibal Veda comes with 30-day money-back guarantee, of-course minus shipping charges, a low-price guarantee, and a reduced price for the customers paying through money order, Paypal eCheck, bank wire and check.

Nitty Gritty:

Our final verdict for MALIBAL Veda series will be that it might not be the best notebook to type on, or might not have crushed some notebooks in gaming tests, but definitely can outperform many notebooks and is worth considering.

Includes Ethernet and Wi-Fi networking; nice attractive design; very easy to setup and rapidly prints text and graphical documents.

Thumbs Down:

Slow while printing photos; does not have auto-duplexer; large footprint.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Epson WorkForce 610 is a digital ink-jet printer that is based on Epson Micro Piezo Inkjet Technology. It has a media card reader slot that supports SDHC Memory card, Memory Stick Pro, xD-Picture card, SD card, MultiMediaCard, IBM Microdrive, Memory Stick and Compact Flash. The WorkForce 610 uses Epson DURABrite Ultra inks and it has four ink cartridges: black, cyan, magenta and yellow. Minimum ink droplet size is 2pl for the WorkForce 610.

Maximum printing resolution is 5760×1440 dpi for both color and mono. The maximum printing speed is 38 pages per minute (PPM) for both color and mono. In addition, maximum copying speed is 38 PPM for both mono and color. Maximum document enlargement is 400%, whereas maximum document reduction is 25%. Epson WorkForce 610 copies up to maximum 99 pages.

The color management features of Epson WorkForce 610 include Windows Image Color Management (WICM), Epson Vivid color and Adobe RGB. The WorkForce 610 uses the CIS scanning element for its scanner. Optical scanner resolution is 2400×2400 dpi and interpolated resolution is 9600×9600 dpi. Color depth is 24bit, whereas the internal color depth is 48bit.

Epson WorkForce 610 has inbuilt Super G3 compatible fax machine that delivers maximum transmission speed of 33.6Kbps. It has total memory capacity to store 180 pages. Fax machine has features of color faxing, remote fax retrieval (Polling) and error correction mode (ECM).

Epson WorkForce 610 has input tray that can store up to 100 paper sheets and auto-document feeder stores up to 100 paper sheets. The WorkForce 610 can take both plain paper sheets and envelopes for the print outs. The maximum printing and copying size is Legal (8.5×14 inches).

There are four PC connections available in Epson WorkForce 610: Ethernet 10 Base-T/100 Base-TX, USB Host, Hi-Speed USB and IEEE 802.11b/g/n (draft). The WorkForce 610 supports both PictBridge and DPOF for direct printing.

Software provided inside the included CDs are ArcSoft Print Creations, Presto! PageManager, drivers & utilities, EPSON Web-to-page and EPSON scan. Supported operating system are Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/64 bit XP Professional/Vista/Windows 7 and Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9/10.4.x/10.5.x.

Epson WorkForce 610 compliance the different standards including ENERGY STAR, CSA 22.2 No. 60950, CISPR 22 Class B, FCC Part 15B and UL 60950. Power required by the printer is AC 120V (50/60Hz). The operational power consumption is 20 watt and standby consumption is 2.0 watt.

Razzle Dazzle:

Epson WorkForce 610 has the similar physical design like the 610 except the help button located on left side of the display. You will find same mirrored finish surrounding the control panel that wraps all around the sides of printer. The rest of the body has matte black professional finish. The WorkForce 610 is 18 inches tall, 14 inches wide and 9.3 inches deep. It weighs around 18.3 pound and does not fit in limited space. The size is slightly big because auto-document feeder stands tall on the top of scanner. Extending the front paper-loading tray will increase the size.

Inside Dope:

Epson WorkForce 610 is the successor of the WorkForce 600 and has similar design and features except updated menu layout on its screen. The WorkForce 610 costs around $210 and offers a lot of features like auto-document feeder for hands-free faxing, scanning, copying up to 30 paper sheets; wired and wireless networking; and control panel for one-touch access to all settings. We really appreciate the company for regular improvement in fast printout speeds and easy printer wizard setup. However, we disappointed that the WorkForce 610 does not have auto-duplexer hardware to print on both sides of the paper-sheet. We were expecting this feature to come in a $200 printer.

On the bright side, Epson WorkForce 610 has four ink cartridges bay to provide high quality color and black-&-white printouts. It has various customizable buttons, onboard memory card reader and optional software for closing the loop between play and work.

Epson WorkForce 610 has more robust and better control panel than its cheap $120 siblings, the WorkForce 310. You will get 2.5-inch color-full LCD display that displays wireless and cartridge installation instructions, remaining ink level, print information, and more. You will also get same lot of instructions on screen through Epson drivers. The wired and wireless network users will also appreciate the onscreen display of instructions for connection establishment. In addition, you can also rotate the control panel display on various viewing angles.

You will find these buttons from right to left on the control panel: collection of telephonic function buttons and numeric keys for fax machine, directional pad, zoom and help button, four-way shortcut pad and power button. The controls are easy to use and comprehensive. We prefer the Epson for some user-customizable hot buttons. There is a media card reader at the front panel that supports SD, xD, MS and Compact Flash cards. PictBridge USB port sits underneath for saving and printing images directly from PictBridge compatible camera/camcorder or USB drive.

Two attached bays: one for 1200×2400 dpi scanner glass and another for ink cartridge repository, are located above control panel. The scanning functions allow saving the scanned images to send via attachment to outgoing email message, and to save as PDF file and to a folder. You can organize the scanned images using included NewSoft Presto Page Manager software. We disappointed that its Optical Character Recognition feature results into a lot of character confusions and spelling mistakes

Epson WorkForce 610 has 30-sheet automatic document feeder located at the top. It automatically feeds individual sheets from the stack. However, this automatic document feeder has increased the weight of printer, still it is a good and most liked feature. In the font panel, you can store maximum 10 envelopes of 100 plain paper sheets of 20-pound weight. There is an extendable lip located on the bottom of printer that collects all the printouts.

Epson WorkForce 610 has inbuilt IEEE 802.11 b/g wireless print-server that only needs 5 minutes for setup and print outs. Other printers do not provide the wireless connectivity in $200 price range. Also, most of the wireless printer requires the setup of proxy network. On the other hand, the WorkForce 610 helps you to establish direct wireless connection without any help of USB or Ethernet cable. You will also get an Ethernet port on the WorkForce 610 for wired network.

Epson WorkForce 610 comes with four different ink cartridges for black, cyan, magenta and yellow. We had used Epson XL color and black cartridges to get cost-efficient price per page, and both of them costs $17 and $20 respectively. We estimate a cost of 2.5 cents per black ink page and 3.2 cents per color ink page on Epson’s ink cartridges.

The text printing speed of Epson WorkForce 610 is 13.24 PPM (pages per minute), whereas the 600 was limited to 7.31PPM. The presentation printing speed is 5.55 PPM. The color graphics speed is 4.83 PPM and photo speed is 0.89 PPM. We hoped that the 610 will provide fantastic photo speed being a member of the WorkForce series. However, its photo printing speed is lesser than that of Lexmark Impact S305, Canon Pixma MP560, HP Officejet J6480 and Kodak ESP5.

Epson WorkForce 610 does not provide the printing quality matching the latest standards, but it is still better as compared to public photo kiosk. You can select Best Photo or Photo mode inside the driver settings. The Best Mode will provide the better quality than Photo mode, but takes more time to print out. It also has Text quality setting that offers selection between complex Image/Text mode and simple Text mode. There is a visible difference in printing quality of both the modes.

We appreciated the capability of Epson WorkForce 610 for reproducing fine text lines and colors. However, there are some color blends in our photo printouts and they suffer from under-saturated haze and color blocks. Like the usual case with business class printers, the bright colors do not look pop up.

Epson is providing one year limited warranty with Epson WorkForce 610 including toll-free phone support in weekdays from 6AM to 6PM PT. The company has also published the model specified drivers, their updates, troubleshooting guide and user manuals at it website. The email support is also available online. An additional coverage for one year in $20 and for two years in $30 is also available.

A question to ask – why Epson only provides one year of service with the WorkForce 610 because its other vendors like Artisan series  give two-year warranty. We were disappointed with this.

Nitty Gritty:

Epson WorkForce 610 satisfies all the needs of both home and business class users. The company has a cut above in the competition for all functions including scan, copy, fax and print-outs. If you can fit a large and a bit bulky printer at your desk, then we will recommend you to buy Epson WorkForce 610.

Now, Layar has announced the possibility to sell their experiences for publishers and producers of Augmented Reality. It has also announced the agreement with top three cell phone manufacturers for global distribution partnership. As per the company, this partnership will bring Layar equipped phone to the world market. As a result, Augmented Reality content will be available to masses on their cell phones in 2010.

Layar platform allows publishers, producers, game developers and other brands so that the customers will be engaged in real world experiences. The company has already published 375 layers and more 1200 layers are in production. More than 2000 organizations in 70 countries are taking benefits from Layar platform to develop extraordinary contents.

Layar has not revealed the names of the cell phone companies. In the middle of March 2010, Layar partners will be able to generate income from their investment in Augmented Reality. The partners can offer free and paid content via Layar platform. As per the company’s press release, Layar will facilitate global mobile payment distribution and processing in all currencies. The producers just have to focus on their contents without worrying about developing on multiple mobile platform, financial administration and mass market distribution.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a term to provide indirect or direct view of a physical real-word whose elements are virtually augmented or merged by the computer technology. In other words, Augmented Reality Browsers are providing real-world scenes on real-time basis like sports scores on TV during match. You cannot say that the currently running video is completely virtual, but it has little modifications to provide real-time broadcast

By this announcement, Layar has opened the doors of Augmented Reality for mainstream business for all.

User-friendly design.

Thumbs Down:

Not a lot of upgrade options, slow performance.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y is powered by AMD Athlon X2 7550 2.7 GHz processor and NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE chipset of 3600 MHz data bus speed. The memory is 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, which has 800MHz memory speed. The Slimline s5120y has 500 GB Serial-ATA hard drive of 7200 rpm and LightScribe enabled SATA DVD±RW(±R DL)/DVD-RAM.

The onboard graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE (UMA) and integrated sound card is Realtek ALC888S of High Definition Audio standard that supports 5.1 channel surround sound. HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has 56kbps PCI Express data/fax modem and integrated network adapter that follows standards of Ethernet/Fast Ethernet.

The pre-installed operating system is Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit. The installed software includes Trial version of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Trial version of Norton Internet Security 2009, Microsoft Works Suite 9.0, CyberLink DVD Suite, Muvee Reveal Basic and Adobe Reader.

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has 6-in-1 card reader that supports MultiMediaCardPlus, SDHC MemoryCard, Memory Stick Pro, xD-Picture Card, SD Memory Card, Multimedia Card and Memory Stick.

The interfaces of HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y are 1×Headphones – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1×Microphone – Input – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1×Audio – Line-out – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1×Audio – Line-in – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm, 1×Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX – RJ-45, 1×Display / video – VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 6×Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A (2 front, 4 rear), 1×Keyboard – Generic – 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) and 1×Mouse – Generic – 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style). There are two expansion bays: 1(0) ×Internal – 3.5″×1/3H and 1(0) ×Front accessible – 5.25″×1/2H. Three expansion slots are 1(0) ×PCI Express x16, 1(0) ×Processor, 1(1) ×PCI Express x1 and 2 Memory – DIMM 240-pin.

Razzle Dazzle:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has black-colored glossy front panel and smaller slim-tower case than that of Dell Inspiron 537s. The design and architecture of the Slimline s5120y are outdated.

Inside Dope:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y costs around $450, which is not worthy after considering its slow performance, limited features and some design gaffes. The Slimline model is out-dated computer like Dell Inspiron 537s. HP is the first company to bring the slim-tower concept to the market. Now, the Gateway has also adopted the same concept.

The older HP Slimline models did not have additional external drive port. Before Slimline series, the previous HP models had a Pocket Media removable hard-drive port at the bottom. HP has removed the Pocket Media Drives and it is probably due to lack of customer enthusiasm. This gives you more free space inside the cabinet for upgrades.

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has 2.7GHz Athlon dual-core processor that provides good performance. It has 500GB hard-drive, which is smaller as compared to 640GB hard drive in Gateway SX2800-01. After looking at all the ports located on backside and front-side, anyone can say that HP needs to improve the design of its Slimline series, especially, of the s5120y.

Analog headphone jack, media card slot and USB 2.0 port are located on the front of HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y. VGA display port, keyboard and mouse PS/2 ports, Ethernet slot, 5.1 analog audio output ports and four USB 2.0 ports are located on the back. The s5120y is not offering any HDMI port or FireWire port. Whereas, the Gateway SX2800-01 offers all above ports with HDMI port, eSATA, mini-Firewire and double the number of USB ports as in the s5120y. We hope that HP can also revise the tower design and architecture like Dell.

It may be possible that HP has used an old motherboard to support an affordable and fast CPU processor. Due to which, the ports on the HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y are outdated. We tested the s5120y with the Gateway model, Dell Inspiron 537s and Asus CM5570-AP002. The Slimline s5120y did not perform well as compared to other models. The Slimline computer is perfect for basic tasks like video/music playback, word processing and Web browsing. However, it is much slower when compared to Gateway SX2800-01. This Gateway model will offer you latest design, more memory and ports, and fast performance in just $60 more as compared to HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y.

The users with limited budget will be attracted towards HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y. You cannot upgrade the Slimline s5120y as there is no slot for increasing internal memory and only two slots for RAM. The annual power consumption cost of the s5120y is $35.62, which is more as compared to that of both Asus CM5570-AP002 and Gateway SX2800-01. The Athlon CPU and AMD chipset motherboard consumes more power, but does not provide high clock seed and good power supply.

HP is providing one year labor-and-parts warranty on the Pavilion Slimline s5120y with 24/7 phone support at toll-free number. The chat technical support is also available at the website. You can find the necessary FAQs, drivers and utilities at the HP website. The s5120y computer comes with HP Health Care and self-help software.

Nitty Gritty:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5120y has a slim-tower design, but does not have good performance. Even at low price, the Slimline s5120y can not beat the design, performance and connectivity options of Gateway SX2800-01, which costs only $60 more.

Accurate colors in the Custom-mode by manual adjustment; great black-level performance and perfect shadow details; handles 1080p/24 sources excellently without much flickers; wireless connection between the components and the TV works fine; very slim panel design; improved bright picture quality; solid color saturation; a lot of connectivity features – one computer-input and four HDMI slots; and VieraCast to access Internet services.

Thumbs Down:

Little video-processing problems; more power consumption than other HDTVs; limited picture controls; expensive; not much accuracy in secondary and primary colors in non-THX modes.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 is a member of Viera series.  It is 32.3 inches tall, 51.3 inches wide and 1 inch deep without the stand. The TV with stand is 35.2 inches tall, 56.3 inches wide and 15 inches deep. This plasma TV has a 54.1 inch widescreen display based on Plasma (PDP) technology that has 1920×1080 pixels resolution. The total pixels of the display are 2,073,600 and the display format is 1080p. Image aspect ratio is 16:9 and image contrast ratio is 40000:1.

The widescreen modes include Conventional 4:3, Normal, Zoom, Just and Full. The pixel pitch is 0.624mm. The additional features are Progressing scanning (line doubling), 3D-Y/C digital comb filter, Motion pattern noise reduction, VieraLink, VieraCast, Viera Image Viewer, Ultra-thin design, backlight life of 100,000 hours and Screen coating filter. The display menu is available in Spanish, English and French.

The analog video signals are S-Video and composite video. The digital TV tuners are ATSC and QAM, and the analog TV tuner is NTSC. There are four supported video interfaces: Composite, Component, S-Video and HDMI. The analog video input signal is NTSC. Input video formats include 1080p, 1080i, 720p and 480p.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has 4×left/right channel speaker that are surround sound and detachable. The TV has BBE ViVA HD3D sound effect. The total output is 20 Watt and the audio controls are Treble, Bass and Balance.

The connectors in Panasonic TC-P54Z1 are 1×digital audio output (optical) (TOSLINK), 2×Component video input (RCA phono×3), 1×VGA input (15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)), Audio line-in (RCA phono×2), 1×S-Video input (4 pin mini-DIN), 1×Audio line-in (Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm), 2×Composite video input (RCA phono), 1×HDMI output (19 pin HDMI Type A), 1×HDMI input (19 pin HDMI Type A), 3×HDMI input (19 pin HDMI Type A), 1×VGA HD-15.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 also has closed caption capability, HDCP compatibility, parental channel lock function, digital video playback and digital photo playback. The supported video formats are MPEG2 and AVCHD, and supported picture format is JPG. The HDTV supports the EPA Energy Star and UL6500/C-UL energy standards. The power consumption is 293 watts. The accessories supplied inside the package are reference material, stand, power adapter and remote control.

Razzle Dazzle:

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has black colored glossy plastic finish over silver metal-strips below and above the screen. In addition, the vertical bands are also glossy black combined with silver color to create an illusion of one wider – wide-screen TV panel. The P54Z1 has classy unique appearance that conveys the luxury in high price-range. Both the speakers and the stand are detachable.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 is just 1-inch deep and thinnest plasma TV available in the market after beating Samsung PNB860 series by 0.2 inch. The other major difference between the TC-P54Z1 and flat-panel TVs is color quality. The detachable speakers have the same silver color like the frame and contrast the black glossy vertical strip. Wireless receiver sits underneath left-side of TV panel. The stand also has the same silver color as per TV’s color theme and supports the thin TV panel, but doesn’t have swivel feature.

Inside Dope:

Panasonic TC-PV10 was our favorite in plasma TVs. Now, Panasonic come up with TC-P54Z1, which is the most expensive TV to date, by the company. The TC-P54Z1 is one inch deep is one-inch deep panel and has wireless capability which is the reason behind its high cost. The Z1 is a good combination of style, picture quality and features, which is enough to earn high scores. Panasonic deserves the credit for presenting a great plasma art in all its models, especially in the TC-P54Z1 and TC-PV10 series. The design and most of the features are same in TC-P54Z1 and TC-PV10 series.

The included wireless access tuner box has a size like standard Blu-ray player or DVD. Wireless transmitter looks like small antenna. Moreover, wireless receiver sits on the rear-side of the TV panel and glances out beneath its left-side. This receiver increases the TV depth by one-inch.

Remote control of Panasonic TC-P54Z1 communicates with tuner box through radio frequencies, but it does not use infra-red. It has extensive backlighting and glossy finish, unlike previous Panasonic models. The three new prominent buttons – VieraTools, VieraCast and VieraLink – sits above the cursor control. The style, shape, color and size of the buttons on remote control gives an impressive look. It cannot control other gadgets through infrared, but you can control some compatible devices via VieraLink, which are connected to Z1 TV.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has better menu design than its predecessors. It has similar yellow-on-blue color-system format and straightforward navigation. However, main menu has new icons. We would like to see onscreen explanation for the menu options. There is a new addition – Tools menu, which have all the settings including VieraCast and THX mode.

The most expensive Panasonic plasma TV, the TC-P54Z1 has wireless connection between TV panel and source components. External tuner’s box contains Ethernet, AV, HDMI and other ports for the TV. It communicates with the TV display via wireless transmitter. The TV has a similar receiver that pipes the signals to TV’s HDMI and then to speakers and screen. There is a requirement of line-of-sight between the receiver and transmitter.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has some identical features of V10 series. The screen refresh rate is 96Hz and allows maintaining the film’s cadence from 1080p/24fps source, especially from Blu-ray player. For non-1080p/24fps sources, the refresh rate is 60Hz. There is another 48Hz setting that can flicker the screen. Like all plasma models of Panasonic, the spec sheet of the TC-P54Z1 mentions a 600Hz sub-field drive to display a bit improvement in the motion-resolution, but this effect is not visible.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has THX Display-Certification. You can select THX picture-mode to improve the shadow detail, color accuracy and various other picture settings. This THX mode will provide the best default setting without any manual adjustment. The THX-mode is similar to “one-step calibration”, but it is not so effective as compared to Pro adjust and Custom settings.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has a Digital Cinema Color to show wide color space as compared to that of other traditional HDTVs. The VieraCast is a Panasonic interactive TV feature that was introduced for the first time in TH-PZ850U in 2008. VieraCast offers the access to local weather, headlines and stocks from Bloomberg, photos stored on your Picasa account and YouTube videos. It also connects to Internet through Ethernet port, which is located at the backside of TV. The company has not included wireless capability and also does not sell any wireless dongle for the TC-P54Z1. However, the wireless adapters or bridges from third party will work for the TV as per Panasonic.

Panasonic has included VieraCast with which you can view Amazon Video on Demand and access high-definition content through it. It also integrates the TV service and pay-per-view service in the TV. VieraCast provides large catalog to supplement the satellite PPV or supplant the cable offerings. We appreciate that Panasonic’s VieraCast allows previewing the content before purchase, unlike other implementations of the Amazon VOD. VieraCast disables various aspect-ratio settings and THX picture-mode, which is its only one drawback. However, all other picture modes are available and completely adjustable. Panasonic Viera TC-P54Z1 offers the capability for connectivity with compatible network cameras to enable complete TV system for the household monitoring.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has few picture adjustments as compared to other HDTV models. However, it has advanced adjustments including the menu for Pro Setting.  We liked five-global picture modes with Studio Ref., THX and Standard mode. The other sixth Custom mode is independent-per-unit. The Game mode of Panasonic is a picture mode basically, but does not extinguish the video-processing like that of other HDTV models. Studio Ref. mode delivers image quality of one studio monitor and it is not available on other HDTVs.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has five presets of color-temperature and out of which, the Warm2 is close to D65 standard. Pro Setting menu is available only in Custom mode and has white-balance function to set grayscale, but this control is not complete like other HDTVs. Pro Setting menu also has gamma control function with other settings to improve the picture quality on TV.

In each picture mode, the adjustments are available with a C.A.T.S. function. This function senses an ambient light and then adjusts picture quality accordingly. There is one toggle for Color management that makes color-decoding worse and one trio of Off/On settings that affects video noise. There is also a setting for controlling the 2:3 pull down that affects both high-definition and standard-def sources.

There is a selection of five aspect ratio options for high-def sources that includes Zoom mode to adjust the vertical and horizontal position. If you choose HD Size 2 option in Advanced Menu, Full mode matches the pixels of 1080p and 1080i sources. In THX mode, HD Size 2 option is named as THX. We recommend you to use this setting when you see any interference around the extreme-edges.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has options to avoid the temporary retention of image. An orbiter pixel slowly shifts picture around the display and allows it to happen in user-defined periods or automatically. You can select dark or bright gray bars across any 4:3 program. You can also sweep white bar alongside the black screen and clear it after sometime. We liked that screen-saver to come up after leaving the VieraCast menu in idle and inactive state for few minutes.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has NEO PDP panel that consumes more power. There is an ECO menu that only turns off the automatic functions and does not offer power-saving specific mode. The TC-P54Z1 cannot freeze picture on temporary basis and lacks in the area of picture-in-picture. It accepts SD cards into the expansion slot located on left side that allows to playback the digital photos on the screen.

Panasonic TC-P54Z1 has four HDMI input ports: three at the backside of tuner box and one underneath the flip-down cover at the front of the box. The other connections on back-panel are an RF input for antenna or cable, AV input with S-Video and component video, RS-232 remote port, digital audio output, Ethernet port and two component video inputs. Moreover, the front panel of the box has VGA style computer input, SD card and second AV input with composite and S video.

The transmitter, receiver and tuner box of Panasonic TC-P54Z1 consumes more power, so this TV is not so energy efficient as Panasonic 54-inch S1. The annual power consumption cost of the TC-P54Z1 is $59.40 for default picture setting and $69.55 for calibrated picture settings. This power-consumption cost is much more that that of Panasonic TC-P54S1 and Samsung PN50B650.

Nitty Gritty:

Panasonic’s flag-ship model, TC-P54Z1 falls beyond the price range of most buyers. It is the thinnest model available in the market and the only plasma TV to provide wireless communication to its components.