Samsung K5 MP3 Player With Slide Out Speaker

Samsung MP3 players may not be as widely purchased as iPod, but they tend to offer excellent design and superb features for a not entirely unreasonable price tag. The Samsung K5 is an excellent example – modern and stylish in design, it also offers an excellent slide out speaker for when you don’t want your personal MP3 player to be that personal.

Available on Amazon for less than £100, the 2GB model is a snip compared to some of the more over priced alternatives on the market. Its ultra slim design make it practical for carrying around and the slide out speaker is an excellent addition feature for those that believe music is meant to be shared.

The supplied headphones are reasonable as far as MP3 included headphones go. The speaker itself isn’t designed to supply music to a large auditorium with reasonable sound quality at low to medium levels. If you turn it up a little too much you will begin to notice traces of distortion.

As well as being an MP3 player, the K5 also has a built in FM tuner and can be used as a portable photo viewer. All in all, it looks a great product at a reasonable price and offers a superb alternative to the iPod bandwagon.

Merida Matts Trail 850-D Review And Specification

As an Internet nerd I spend quite a lot of time sat on my backside on my computer. The unfortunate result is that I do not get a great deal of exercise and have put on a few pounds! As the summer has finally arrived (sort of) I thought I would get myself a new bike and get back in the saddle.

I used to go cross country riding and have been known to thrash my bike through my local woods and hills so I knew a good mountain bike was the only way to go.  The model of choice was the Merida matts 850-D and I have been thouroughly testing it for two weeks now.

I started off purely on the road to build up my fitness and the bike handled it well because it is light and the tyres have quite a shallow tread.  The Rock Shox forks have a lock out system on them which is great for road riding and allows you to maintain a good pace.

The sloped frame is more than accommodating for the smaller person (I am only 5.6) but will easily hold a 6 footer as well!  After a week or so I was able to take the bike on to some rough stuff in my local woods and the 850 handled it well.  The Rockshox recon forks handled the rough terrain well and were more than adequate for my use.  Pro riders have informed me that the 850 is good at handling the rough stuff apart from chaos drops. However this is a trial bike and was never intended for that in the first place!

The shimano xt gears and quick shift is ace and I have no problems with them whatsoever as they change so smoothly.  The disc brakes are equally as sweet and provide excellent stopping power without the drama of bikes without quality breaks.

The main thing that I love about this bike is that it is light and looks great, the equipment is high spec and delivers a great trial ride. I will keep you posted on the 850 and let you know how it performs on the really rough stuff in a few weeks.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 Digital SLR Camera Review

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 is the second digital SLR camera that Panasonic has manufactured and this second model is packed full of easy to use features that help take stunning photographs.

The L10 is a modern looking digital SLR compared to it’s predecessor which was modelled a traditional SLR camera. The result is a better looking camera which is easier to use and handle as the size and ergonomics are not overbearing like some other cameras on the market. Panasonic have also included some new features which I like. This includes the new 2.5 inch flip out screen which rotates so you can use it like a normal digital camera or to take self portraits. The LCD screen has an auto focus system which adapts when you alter the zoom and focus with perfect accuracy. When you flip the screen back in the optical view finder comes back into use - it is very simple but also very clever.

The 10.1 mega pixel L10 has also benefited from some of the new features from their new LZ camera range. This includes automatic facial recognition and mega O.I.S image stabilizing which can easily be switched on with a button on the side of the lens. The O.I.S has three settings depending on what you are shooting at the time, we found that the system worked well to reduce shake and to test to the max we took pictures on board a high speed rib on the River Thames.

The L10 is very easy to use and is aimed at users new to digital SLR cameras. The selection dial on the top of the camera is a nice touch and includes five programs that can easily be selected depending on what you are photographing at the time. Panasonic have also included the new Intelligent Auto technology (IA) on this camera which makes point and click photography possible for the first time with digital SLR’s.

The intelligent auto feature automatically removes red eye, handles scene selection modes, adjusts light configurations, reduces colour bleed and noise reduction - the results are amazing and show that Panasonic have developed their IA technology a great deal since their last model.

To demonstrate the new technology we took some pictures with the L10 in London, some were taken on the River Thames and some were taken on land.

Click for a larger image:

We were very impressed with the L10. The pictures were taken by a colleague of mine who had never used a digital SLR camera before, we only had around 35 minutes to take the pictures and as you can see the results were great (bearing in mind most of them were taken at high speeds on a speed boat).

If you are thinking of venturing into the world of digital SLR then we would highly recommend you give this camera a look, it is easy to use and delivers great looking pictures from either extreme close up or from a distance. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Panasonic HDC-SD9 Camcorder Review And Specification

A few weeks ago we were invited to Panasonic’s imaging event in London to test the latest cameras and camcorders Panasonic has to offer.  Today we attended the event at the perfect venue to test cameras, the Dali universe (which is next to the London eye, houses of parliament, near tower bridge etc). So there was plenty to snap away at.

I reviewed the Panasonic HDC-SD9 camcorder and today I am going to show you some of the stills that were taken whilst speeding along on a boat - this was the perfect test for the Panasonic’s OIS camera system which automatically reduces shakes caused by a wobbly hand!  First of all I would like to tell you some facts and my thoughts on this camcorder.

The Panasonic HDC-SD9 the smallest and lightest full High Definition camcorder in the world. It records in 1920×1080 at 25P.  In layman’s terms that means it records in the same true to life format as you would see on Emerdale or Eastender’s compared to the standard movie format of 24P.  

Another neat feature is the face detection and intelligent shooting guide which makes filming as simple as pie. Here is some blurb from the Panasonic site that explains what technologies the camera offers  “It also offers Panasonic’s original 3CCD camera system, Advanced O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer), and a Leica Dicomar lens – three technologies that team up to deliver full-HD images of exquisite beauty. Viewed on today’s high-quality large-screen TVs, video clips shot with the HDC-SD9 are simply breathtaking”.  This means you can record professional looking movies in full HD at the click of a button.

Another feature that I like is the fact that the HDC-SD9 uses dual memory of a SD card and an internal 60 GB hard-drive.  This means you can easily upgrade the memory in the future and you also gain all the benefits of having SD memory (easy to share, easy to transfer and more versatile when you come to print and SD cards are now cheap as chips). 

As I mentioned earlier I took quite a few still pictures with the camcorder. The reason for this was that I believe this type of camcorder is a great replacement for a standard digital camera. The photos were sharp and as clear as the video, this is a great point and click camera as well as a camcorder. One nice feature (which has become standard on most camcorders now) is that the HDC-SD9 has a dedicated photo button at the top back of the camera, this can be quickly used between filming without having to change filming modes. All you have to do is pause filming and take the photo - it’s so simple but extremely effective.

The camera records in 5.1 channel sound and one thing I noticed from the dismantled demo they had on show was it also has five microphones. This sound quality is great and when matched to the picture quality makes a really decent film on the simplist point and click settings.

In summary I feel this is a great little camcorder with some outstanding features, I love the compact size and ease of use and the HD film it delivers is amazing.

Here are some digital stills taken with the Panasonic HDC-SD9 camcorder:

Here are the links to the images if you want them in 1920×1080:

Big Ben and houses of parliament  | London eye photo | Tower Bridge Photo | Views From The River Thames | Tower Bridge Full Size Photo | The Carrot Building in London | Big Ben London | Houses of parliament | Royal Naval War Memorial London

Picoo Z Micro Copter Review | The best Gift For Men This Valentines Day

The description

The smallest, lightest helicopter in the world fits in the palm of your hand and flies in the smallest of spaces - from playrooms to offices! With a blue LED strobe light you can create fantastic flight paths in the dark. Comes ready to fly for up to 10 minutes with a 30 minute recharge time. Length 17cm. Also available in silver

Age 8+ Adult supervision advised

Our review:

I was lucky enough to receive one of these micro copters for Christmas from my sister and was so happy to get it (it is true men are the biggest of kids). The helicopter is small enough to fly indoors but I found it better to give it a go in the back garden (less things to hit).  The picco copter actually only takes around 15 minutes to charge and will fly for around 5 - 7 minutes. I love this little gadget and whole hearted recommend it as a gift for any man of any age!