In case you were sleeping, Windows 7 officially landed today and is already a record breaker
Mr Postman arrived today with two shiny copies for me, but these didn’t count towards the record set in the UK where Windows 7 became Amazon’s biggest selling pre-order product of all time there.
I have a feeling it might go on to become the best selling OS of all time too. I already posted my comments on Windows 7 way back in Jan and Feb this year based on pre-release versions and, as you probably know from the overwhelmingly positive media reviews, it rocks. So what are you waiting for? Go and get yourself a copy to try it out already!
Neil Berman
EFO iPassport wireless controller review
Oh aren’t living room computers just the best idea! There’s nothing like having a huge keyboard on the coffee table hugging that hardcover copy of ‘Finest landscape photography’, and how about that wireless mouse which can double up as a paperweight for the New York Times when the windows are open.
Hmmm…someone needs to make a cute, tiny and usable media center keyboard and mouse which can be hidden away real quick when necessary.
To be fair there’s already one solid player in this market, the Logitech diNovo Mini, which at $150 is just too darn expensive to merit widespread consideration.
Fortunately there’s now a more affordable contender in the form of the iPassport. Available for around $40 plus shipping, this mashup of a smartphone-style thumboard and notebook trackpad aims to take two familiar input methods and turn them into a tiny wireless solution for controlling a computer…and it works.
Unboxing the iPassport
The iPassport ships in retail friendly clear plastic (which can easily be opened without needing a saw, yay!), and includes a USB dongle and separate USB charging cable. The main unit sits comfortably in the hand and is exceptionally light. Some may find it lacks a quality feel, although the plastic body seems fairly sturdy. The keys are rubber with similar travel to a typical smartphone. The keypad also has a backlight, which is a nice touch and essential for theatre-style viewing.
The trackpad buttons have a similar feel to the keypad buttons with minimal travel, but the trackpad itself defaulted to tap-to-click upon install which improves the experience in my opinion. The one feature lacking from the trackpad is a scrolling area, so you’ll need to call upon the arrow buttons on the keypad. There’s no multitouch support either, so no MacBook-style two finger scrolling which is a feature every trackpad should have.
Installing and using
I installed the iPassport into my ancient living room Pentium 4 which is running Windows 7 RC, and the OS had installed a device driver in the five seconds it took me to get back to the sofa, seriously! Everything worked just great and my previous (very nice) wireless keyboard with its built-in trackball started the process of gathering dust. The included documentation notes that recent Windows releases and Linux are supported but according to the reseller’s website the iPassport also supports Mac, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.
Now this device might not be the best choice for everyone. If you struggle with the keys on smartphones then you may also find this thumboard tricky to handle. Equally if you type a lot then you will probably get more words per minute with a larger keyboard on your lap. Personally I find myself using my living room media center for watching media and surfing the net, neither of which requires a huge amount of typing.
Some compromises have also been made regarding the selection of keys on the device, probably due to the size of the unit. For example there are neither F1-F12 keys nor a Tab key, which I missed when navigating web forms. Other keys are curiously placed, such as the Enter key which is near the middle of the keypad instead of being on the right. The arrow buttons straddle the Space bar instead of being clustered on the right and the numeric keypad is in two rows on the left instead of being grouped in threes. I would have preferred to see a layout closer to a typical BlackBerry thumboard, or one inch of extra width added to the iPassport to accommodate more keys. Text selection can also be a bit finicky as the arrow keys sometimes behave erratically.
The other caveat is around the design of the iPassport. This device is likely to live on a coffee table and get plenty of curious attention from visitors. Put simply the Logitech diNovo Mini kills it in the looks department, so if you’re a design conscious person then the iPassport might not meet your expectations. It does come in white or black, but it goes about its business in a more functional than designer way.
Is it worth a try?
Overall I’ve been impressed with the iPassport. Aside from a quirky key layout, for the money it’s a fun and unique controller. The backlight and multi-platform support are the icing on the cake.
Neil Berman
Does Core i7 Mobile bring us closer to the final destination for desktops?
Intel hit up the market with an (expected) bombshell on Thursday, bringing the Core i7 platform to notebooks.
If you’re thinking this is just another development in desktop chip design shoehorned into laptops then think again. Core i7 is sick in desktops and super-sick in laptops.
Why the fuss? Like its desktop sibling the mobile version has four cores capable of running eight threads (a thread is a stream of execution instructions sent to a core). Both also ship with large amounts of level two cache, starting at 6MB, and can support mega-performance memory on the motherboard.
Kicker number one for the mobile version thought is a sort of ultra-speedstep technology called Turbo Mode which massively varies clock speed based upon processor demand. This allows the cores to function at anywhere between around 1.6GHz and around 3.2GHZ depending upon the model.
Kicker number two is that the mobile version can idle unused cores at almost zero power usage, which should mean great shakes for battery life if you’re performing simple tasks.
How much difference does Core i7 make compared to previous generations of mobile processors? It appears to be simply staggering from the benchmarks taken by various reviews published this week. The price? Not quite as heart-stopping as you might think; Dell announced it would sell a Studio 15 model fitted with a Core i7 for $999.
So are we going to be seeing Final Destination: Desktop Massacre? Core i7 Mobile should give us desktop replacement power without the weak battery life of some previous mobile powerhouses. Consequently more people might feel they no longer need a desktop.
In permanent installations however, such as corporate or home media center environments, desktops will probably continue to have a place for a while to come. But even in those scenarios the votes are increasingly going towards notebooks. After all, why choose a desktop when similar power is available at a similar price but with more flexibility?
Neil Berman
Zune HD is a sellout, but is it better than an iPod Touch?
Early indications tell us that the Zune HD has been selling out at Amazon, BestBuy and Newegg. Is it actually a more desirable device than the iPod Touch or is this just an initial flurry of fan purchases?
I’m not going to review the two devices here, as plenty technical articles have already been written about how the Zune HD has both the design and quality playback edge over the iPod Touch. From a pure stored media reproduction perspective the Zune HD seems to be the superior PMP with slicker hardware and cooler software.
But consumers now expect more than just media playback, and this is where the iPod Touch fights back. Yes the Zune HD has a browser, but Safari on the Touch is better. The Touch also offers an email client and YouTube playback. The Touch might not have got it’s camera yet, but let’s not forget it is a gaming platform.
This flexibility, rooted in the App Store, ultimately makes the iPod Touch a stronger platform than the Zune HD. The Zune HD does have a selection of applications available, but its ad-based revenue model makes little sense in the face of ad-free 99 cent apps for the Touch.
Ironically the largest thorn in the side of the Zune HD’s third party app growth may be Windows Mobile. It makes every bit of sense for the Windows Mobile and Zune platforms to merge, just like the iPhone and iPod touch share the same OS. But right now Windows Mobile and Zune feel too far apart, which may ultimately harm third party app growth on both platforms.
As I said prior to the Zune HD’s release, the device brings technical superiority, but the iPod Touch is probably a more fun and flexible platform even without the camera we were hoping for. Ultimately the buying decision depends upon what you want to do with your device, but it’s now a harder decision than ever.
Neil Berman
Red rings, yellow lights; what no blue mouth?
We know all too well about the Xbox’s infamous red ring of death and now the PS3 seems to want a piece of the action with its yellow light of failure.
This kind of attention is not necessarily the best type of attention, but they always said that any publicity is good publicity. So what about it Nintendo, are we going to see a ‘blue mouth of MotionLess’?
Neil Berman
Wii might drop to $199
First ToysRUs and now BestBuy ads have been spotted listing the Wii at a possible future price of $199. It’s pretty amazing that the console has gone so long at its original price, with such strong sales, especially having been christened with such a peculiar name. Who would have thought it possible way back in 2006!
With the PS3 Slim now out at $299 and looking like a good value proposition with its BluRay drive compared to the Xbox 360 Elite, battle is now formally joined at the top end of the 3rd gen tree. It’s therefore not entirely surprising to see rumors appearing of a Wii price reduction as at $249 it must now be coming under significant pressure.
Nintendo must be pretty happy about the great run it’s had so far, well done to them for making this a three horse race. Back in 2006 many of us feared you might walk in the footsteps of Sega.
Neil Berman
theONbutton
Turning the world on, one gadget at a time.
