Things Of Desire
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday December 7, 2002
These goodies are small enough to fit in a stocking but there's nothing trivial about what they do, or what they cost, writes Bill Bennett.
PDAs
Personal Digital Assistants are handheld computers that manage your life. Most can track appointments, list tasks and store phone numbers and addresses. You can generally jot down short notes and perform simple calculations. More advanced models can run games and cut-down PC applications and play music or videos.
If you're buying a simpler, organiser-style PDA, don't accept anything less than 8MB of RAM. This minimum requirement rises to 16MB if you plan to run third-party programs on your machine.
The more complicated pocket PC devices are pointless with less than 16Mb of RAM. You'll need at least 64MB if you plan to listen to music or view movies. You'll almost certainly want to do more with your PDA as you gain experience, so it is important to
buy one which has at least one memory expansion slot.
Screen backlighting isn't optional either - eventually you'll need to read information where there's not much external light. At the same time it's worth checking you can read the screen with the backlight switched off.
It sounds obvious, but make sure the PDA connects to your desktop computer and that the included software is compatible with your operating system.
Wireless connectivity - Bluetooth, GPRS or WiFi - is not essential, but these technologies will transform your PDA into a much more powerful tool.
Colour screens are much better than monochrome, but they add a lot to the cost. Look for higher-resolution displays, but remember colour depth is also important. You'll get a lot more use out of your PDA if you choose a model with rechargeable batteries. Lithium polymer batteries last the longest, the next best are lithium ion. The best PDAs have docking stations that double as chargers.
We like the look of:
Sony PEGSJ30G CLIE
Price: $649
Details: www.sony.com.au
Toshiba Pocket PC e310
Price: $849
Details: www.isd.toshiba.com.au
Smart phones
There are handheld computers that can make phone calls and mobile phones with PDA-like features. Both classes of product can be described as smart phones. With them you can make voice calls, write SMS text messages, send and receive everyday email, browse internet pages and run simple computer-style applications. Most smart phones can also act as wireless modems for mobile computers.
Usually you can buy a smart phone for data communications: so choose one equipped for the GPRS network. GPRS delivers data at around 40kbps - in round numbers that's close to the speed of an everyday modem connected to the terrestrial telephone network. Better still, GPRS smart phones have "always on" connections.
Make sure your phone has a decent screen with backlighting but check the screen is readable in daylight when the backlight is switched off. If you expect to view a lot of text, you'll need a display with room for at least six lines of type. If you plan to view web pages then choose a colour screen - in that case don't settle for any less than 100 by 100 pixels.
Avoid phones offering less than four hours of talk time. Look for easy-to-use keyboards and simple navigation - a jog wheel or a joystick allows you to move quickly through menus.
You can get away without Bluetooth, but it's a nice feature to have. It's a wireless technology that lets you connect your smart phone to devices such as computers, PDAs and even headphones. Put a Bluetooth transceiver on your notebook computer and you can surf the web and read email from any area your mobile phone service covers.
We like the look of:
O2 xda
Price: $1699
Details: www.mmo2.com
Handspring Treo 270 communicator
Price: $1599
Details: www.handspringaustralia.com
Digital Camcorders
Want your own virtual Hollywood? Shooting and editing movies is no longer the preserve of professionals. With a digital camcorder, a decent PC and some software you too can shout, "Lights, cameras, action!"
Choose a digital camcorder with an LCD that is a least 2.5 inches and make sure you can see the display in full sunlight. You'll spend a lot of time looking at this screen so a decent size makes it easier to check what you are filming and play back scenes while you are on the move.
Audio is very important but it can be neglected by camera makers. Poorly mounted microphones mean poor-quality sound: make sure your camera has a front-mounted microphone and a socket for an external mike.
Eventually you'll want to do close-ups. Don't pay too much attention to digital zoom; look for a camcorder that offers a minimum of 10x optical zoom. You'll also need to shoot in poor light, so choose a camcorder with both infrared and long-shutter mode.
Unlike many digital consumer devices, digital camcorders are not fully solid-state: they store movies on tape. At the time of writing there are at least three commonly available tape formats.
Unless you have special reasons to do otherwise, insist on Mini DV - it's the most popular format and you'll find it easier to buy spare tapes and swap movies with friends.
You can get by with just one CCD (charge coupled device). That's the chip inside the camcorder that captures images. However, you'll get much better colour and far sharper images if you choose a more expensive camcorder with three CCDs.
We like the look of:
Sony DCRPC101
Price: $3199
Details: www.sony.com.au
Panasonic MX500
Price: $4399
Details: www.panasonic.com.au
Digital cameras
Digital cameras offer instant gratification: point, click, connect to a PC and be holding decent quality prints in less time than it takes to load film into an old-fashioned camera.
Buy a camera with a resolution of at least two megapixels. Resolution measures the amount of detail a camera can capture: two megapixels will give you decent-looking postcard-sized prints. More megapixels will give larger prints, but higher-resolution images take up more memory so you'll be able to store fewer pictures.
Get a minimum 8MB of on-board memory; anything less won't be able to store many decent quality pictures.
You need a minimum of 2X optical zoom. Don't worry about how much digital zoom a camera offers, only optical zoom delivers worthwhile results. If you can, try to buy a camera with fast shutter speed - it's difficult to do this because manufacturers rarely mention it in product specifications.
Avoid cameras without an LCD display - if you can't review pictures on the spot you are missing one of the big advantages of digital photography.
Make sure your camera comes with high-quality image editing software and a practical way of transferring pictures to your computer.
Removable memory isn't vital, but it is good. It allows you to increase your storage capacity when you're out and move pictures to a computer more quickly. But avoid floppy or CD storage; they are slow, bulky and unreliable.
Some digital cameras are capable of capturing sound and short bursts of video. These are nice extras but they are not essential - if you need video buy a digital camcorder instead.
We like the look of:
Ricoh Caplio RR30
Price: $799
Details: www.ricoh.com.au
Canon Digital Ixus V3
Price: $999
Details: www.canon.com.au
MP3 players
MP3 players are portable music devices that store songs in a compressed digital format. The most popular players are tiny, storing a handful of songs in flash memory chips. MP3 jukeboxes are bigger and more expensive, storing gigabytes of music on tiny hard disc drives. Somewhere in between are CD players that can play conventional discs and home-made discs full of MP3 music.
If you buy a flash memory player, you need a minimum of 64Mb Ram. In the MP3 world, memory is everything. More memory means more songs and less compression, which translates to better quality. Most people store songs at 128 kbps where 1Mb equals roughly one minute of music.
Some flash memory players have removable media that can hold up to as much as 1Gb of music. Some removable-media formats and PC software packages place restrictions on the kind of music you can store - avoid digital music players that don't allow you to store music in the MP3 format or otherwise limit your music choice.
Uploading music from a computer can take a long time; at a minimum your player should have a USB interface. If you buy a jukebox, look for FireWire or USB 2.0. Managing large amounts of music can be difficult, so make sure your player has a decent display and easy-to-use navigation controls. If you buy an MP3-compatible CD player make sure it offers at least 300 seconds of skip control.
It's not essential, but rechargeable batteries will make a huge difference to your enjoyment. Look for players that can recharge while you're uploading music.
We like the look of:
Apple iPod
Price: 5Gb $645, 10Gb $845, 20Gb $1045
Details: www.apple.com.au
Creative Nomad MuVo
Price: 128Mb $350
Details: http://australia.creative.com
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald
