I’ve been meaning to get myself an MP3 player for some time now. I used to have a 30GB iPod but it didn’t last very long. Shortly after one year (when the warranty expired… augh, what timing really…), the logic board or dock port or whatever it is conked out. I tried having it repaired but the price I had to pay was the same amount as just buying a new unit.

So, I just left my iPod for dead and decided that I’ll just buy a new one some other time. Of course, my initial choice was buying another iPod. It never really occured to me that there are other MP3 players worth checking out aside from Apple brands.

And then one day, I received a Sansa Fuze from SanDisk for review in my mail!

On to the review!

The Un-Boxing. (Click on images for a larger view)

The UPS package that greeted me when I got home from work!

Things inside the box! The Sansa Fuze and some PR materials that I breezed thru.

Almost there… *giddy feeling* *gadget-gasm*

Manuals, warranty and installers. Comes with a free Rhapsody account which I can’t really use *sad face*

The unit comes with earphones, the USB cables and a cute little black velvet case that I’m actually using now.

And finally… the Fuze!

I was pretty pleased with how the Sansa Fuze felt it my hands. The front part of the Sansa Fuze had a nice smooth, shiny, plastic-y feel, while the back part had a rubbery, sort of iodized aluminum feel similar to an iPod Nano.

User Friendliness.

The Menu Interface

Well, I can’t blame Sansa Fuze for taking on a look that’s similar to iPod’s click wheel. It pretty much makes going thru the menu a breeze. So if you’re familiar with how to use an iPod, you can pretty much say that using a Sansa Fuze will just come naturally, hehe.

One of the things I LOVE most about the Sansa Fuze is that you can actually copy your music FROM the Fuze TO the computer, as it acts like an external storage drive. Unlike the iPod, there’s no such thing as direct iPod-to-Computer transfer. (or is there? Tell me how!)

Basic Features.
Sansa Fuze comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models and you can actually add extra storage since the Fuze has a microSD slot.

The battery life of the fuze is really great. It can last me 2-3 days if I use the player (playing songs, not videos) for around 4-5 hours a day. Charging the battery to full (from empty or near empty status) though can take quite a while, around an hour and a half (1 hour 30 mins) to 2 hours via USB charging.

Photo Viewer.
It’s a pretty decent photo viewer. Not exactly the best. It supports JPEG photos.

Music Player.
The music player supports MP3, WAV files, Audible (for audio books) and WMA.

And I think it pretty much compatible with all earphones and headphones. It works well with my Skullcandy Headphones, hehe.

FM Radio.
A very big PLUS for me. There are just some days that I get sick and tired of playing the songs on my MP3 player that I would love to just listen to the radio and find out which songs are on top of the charts. (so I can download them, bwahahaha)

The signal of the FM Radio is actually quite decent, not that strong but decent enough to get a clear broadcast in an open room. There are times, though, on the first floor of my house where the walls are thicker that the signal is a bit weak.

Video Player
Well, not exactly the best video player around. For one thing, the resolution isn’t all that great and the screen is too tiny (I’d say the same thing for a Nano, I really see no sense in watching videos on a screen THAT small. Eye torture, much?!)

Voice Recorder
I looove it that the Sansa Fuze has a voice recorder. And the quality of the recording is actually quite crisp and sharp. The only thing I don’t like about the video recorder is that it actually picks up the “clicking” sound of the click wheel. So at the end and start of your record, you can actually hear a “click” sound. Hehe.

Sansa Fuze Media Manager
Sorry to say, I wasn’t able to test this out as it’s not Mac compatible. Boo.

My verdict: If there’s one thing I have to say, Sansa Fuze totally opened up my eyes and made me realize that there are other great MP3 players out there!

So if you’re not an Apple fanboy, you might want to get your hands on these babies! I *heart* Sansa Fuze!

My only qualm is that they’re (the Media Manager anyway) not that Mac friendly . But I’m sure someone’s going to come up with a Sansa Fuze Media Manager that’s compatible with Mac soon… I hope!

Price: Starting price of $79.99 for the 2GB model.

Comes in Pink, Red, Silver, Black and Blue.

Post from: Gadgenista

So just the other day when I opened my apple mail, I received a very pleasant email from Eilis of Attila asking me if I could make a review of the X-Mini Capsule Speaker.

And just today, I got the X-Mini Capsule first thing in the morning!

I just couldn’t WAIT to try it out!

First impression: It’s so TINY!

I was pretty much surprised when I opened the box. I knew the speakers were small, but I didn’t know they were THIS tiny! It fits perfectly inside the palm of my hand! (And my hands are pretty small, mind you!)

I mean seriously, for a gadget to look this adorably tiny is already a plus for me.

It’s so small, it’s as big as my forehead, haha!

It also comes with a small pouch so I can just put it inside my bag and just take it out whenever.

It also feels very durable with it’s rubberized finish and definitely does not feel cheap or flimsy at all.

Now for the real (sound) test.

You will NOT believe how GREAT this speaker is. I mean for it’s size, it’s pretty incredible.

The clarity is superb! At full volume, the sound doesn’t even crack!

The bass is also great! (Though I keep on comparing it to the Apple Hi-Fi which I think is a very unfair comparison, so don’t mind that train of thought, haha!)

It definitely doesn’t rattle like an empty can even with the volume on at full blast.

I just wonder how long this speaker will live if I use it every day with high volume. Hehe. But then that’s ok because it also HAS ONE YEAR WARRANTY!

For a price of PHP 1,200 this little gadget is definitely a STEAL.

Just look at how happy I am!

Other Features:

• Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery which you can charge via USB!
• Has retractable audio cable for better storage

Just showing you the retractable cable!

I swear, even my colleagues here at our office want one for themselves. They’re actually plotting to kidnap the speaker, hahaha!

The X-Mini Capsule Speaker comes in three colors: red, white and black.

I swear, if you’re looking for a portable speaker, you definitely HAVE to get these.

Seriously, if I discovered the X-Mini Capsule Speaker ages ago, I probably wouldn’t have bought the Altec Lansing IM3.

And with the summer season just a couple of weeks away, these would definitely be a great thing to bring along to the beach. Portability at its best!

Want one? Place your orders at http://iluvattila.multiply.com!

Post from: Gadgenista

I can’t really say I’m an audiophile but I can definitely appreciate great clarity and kick ass bass when it comes to audio gears!

An officemate of mine owns these spiffy looking headphones and I can’t help but try them out.

Cool Factor: It’s wireless!

I’m not really a fan of wireless stuff because of their short battery life (example: wireless mouse, it’s really such a hassle when the battery runs out) but according to my officemate who owns the headphones, the battery life of the JBL R610 is really good. He uses it daily for around 2-3 hours a day and charges it only once a week! (or was it, just once ever since he got it last Christmas? Hahaha). Either way, that’s still great batt life.

I tried out a couple of songs and I definitely love the boom-boom of its bass and the clarity is superb.

I liked it so much, I want one for myself! Hahaha It’s comfortable, too!

And the best part? It comes in white

Features:

• Midsize over-ear design
• Wired or wireless functionality
• Connects wirelessly to iPod
• Adjust volume, select tracks, play and pause, and browse menus when in iPod navigation mode, all from the ear cup controls
• Genuine leather headband and ear cups

You need to buy an iPod bluetooth dongle to be able to connect it to your iPod though. But it connects perfectly with any bluetooth enabled gadget.
Some vanity photos, hahaha.

Testing out the boom-boom bass! Gee, I look so spacey.

The JBL R610 was connected to a Nokia N95. How cool is that!

Price: Around PHP 15,000

Post from: Gadgenista

Your resident Gadgenista (yours truly) has been fortunate enough to get a hold of this sleek, white, drool-worthy, feature packed gadget – The LIMITED EDITION White DOPOD D810!

I was sooooo excited to play and fiddle with it that when I got it from our resident Cellphone9-er, the first thing I did when I got home from the Timbuk2 Blogger Bag Launch was to unbox this little baby from it’s home.

I was wondering why the box was a bit heavier than most mobile phone packaging. And when I opened it, I realized it was because of the User’s Manual! Pretty thick, and FULLY COLORED. Amazing, haha. Most User’s Manual are printed out in black and white and in thin, crappy paper.

I was also happy to see that the Dopod came with it’s own leather case! Another “plus-points” for me, since the first thing I’d want to have for a new gadget is ofcourse, a protective casing so it won’t get any scratches. Having it’s own leather case in the package saves a day of the gadget possibly getting scratched.

Now on to the phone…

What I REALLY love (ok, one of the many things I love) about this phone is it’s smooth, white finish. The casing is made of the same material of an Apple MacBook. Perfect compliment for the White MacBook but a bit ironic since the Dopod runs on Windows Mobile OS. Hehehehe.

Another big plus for me is the ease of the removal of the back panel when you remove the battery or insert a SIM card. I don’t know about other phones, but it’s a bitch to take out the back panel of my Sony Ericsson M600i! With the Dopod, just press lightly, then push upward! Yay!

Other lovable features about the White Dopod D810:
• Camera – Equipped with two (2) cameras (secondary and primary), the camera of this phone is REALLY good. Equipped with a 2.0 megapixel camera, I had fun taking vanity shots. Haahaha. It takes very clear photos, tho the photos I took don’t do any justice since I took them under a low-light environment. BUT, I’m VERY sure if I go outside in bright light and take photos, I’m pretty sure it’ll take crisp, clear photos.

Makati Skyline from our Studio. A bit cloudy!

Photo of my dog in my low-lit room.

What’s totally marvelous about the camera of the Dopod is it’s secondary camera which you use for video calls. Most secondary cameras of some mobile phones take very blurry, very pixelated photos since secondary cameras mostly have the 320 x 240 resolution.

But the Dopod D810’s secondary camera also has a resolution of 2.0 megapixels! So imagine how clear video calls can be!

Using the “frame” mode of the camera. With the secondary camera.

Portrait Mode with the Secondary Camera.

• Voice Command – I also had fun playing with the Voice Command feature of this phone. Unlike other gadgets where in you have to really articulate every single letter, the Dopod can distinguish each word you say very well. You just have to ofcourse, say it clearly and in a not-so noisy environment. I had fun saying, “Call <contact name>” over and over. Or “Open <program/software name>”
• Handwriting Recognition – Again, another amazing feature. Unlike my m600i where you write per letter using the stylus, the Dopod can transcribe FULL WORDS with it’s Transcriber feature. And it doesn’t matter whether you use script, print or a mix of both!
• WiFi – First time for me to use a wifi on a mobile phone and it’s pretty darn good. Not as fast when you’re using a computer, but it does the job pretty well if you want to surf website and email using web-based emails when you’re on-the-go.

Now even though the Dopod is an amazing gadget, I still have a few reservations about it. And here they are:

• No physical keyboard – Seriously. This is a big thing for me. Here in the Philippines where most mobile phone users are texters, I’d rather have a physical keyboard where I can just immediately type out the message I want to send. It’s a bit of hassle to get the stylus out and write, especially when I’m in hurry, or when the only message I’m going to send is, “OK.”

• The OS is a bit slow. But I’ve heard reviews that when you upgrade the firmware, it should be fine.

• The touchscreen is NOT as sensitive as I’d like it to be.
• The music sound quality is SO-SO. I guess it’s not really built to be an mp3 player but as a PDA phone, hehe. (But my m600i has amazing sound quality for a PDA phone, though!)

So my conclusion…

Side by side with my m600i…

Dopod D810 vs SE M600i.

Dopod definitely wins in tems of looks.

Dopod thickness! Almost the same as my M600i

If ONLY the Dopod D810 had a physical keyboard, I would definitely choose the Dopod D810. But since it doesn’t, my first love is still the SE m600i.

BUT, if you’re going to use a phone mainly for calls and it’s PDA and Internet funtions, then a White Dopod D810 is good choice.

Priced at PHP 45,500 or $1019.

Post from: Gadgenista