Category: Video Reviews
Video Review – Motorola Dext
Motorola's Dext sure is packing in some cool features. But is a great keypad and the Motoblur UI enough to save the smartphone from its cripplingly low battery capacity? Anna from Shiny Shiny goes hands on and gives her…
Shiny review Veho Kuzo pocket HD camcorder from IWOOT
It has less storage than the Flip Mino HD, but is cheaper and has a few extra features.
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: LG Viewty Smart
I’ll make this easy for you. If the camera is the most important feature of a mobile phone for you, then you should probably buy the LG Viewty Smart. Here’s why:
A lot of phones tout their picture taking abilities but the Viewty Smart is one of perhaps three I’ve ever used that’s got anything like the hardware to back that claim up. With its top notch lens, an excellent interface, proper chipset and very impressive sensor, it really does the job. Hours of fun.
Like with all compacts, sometimes it requires a little patience with the auto-focus and there is an inevitable shutter delay but it’s as good as you can get right now. The only two slight complaints I have about the phone are that there’s no lens cover – poxy as they are, this is a piece of glass worth protecting – and that the phone feels a bit too light, almost like it’s going to squirt water at you when you try to make a call.
But, if you like cameraphones, or if you like LG, then look nor further for your next handset. The interface is a little on the meh side and no one’s going to be impressed when you pull it out your pocket but, then, that’s because no one’s going to know what a good piece of kit it is.
Pick it up here for free from £20 per month.
SHINY REVIEW: iPhone 3GS
I had no idea I could talk for eight minutes on a handset that’s largely the same as the model before, so I’ll try to keep it short now. The bottom line is that the iPhone 3GS is a great phone. There’s no two ways about it. It’s a pleasure to have in your pocket and, just like the previous incarnations, it’s achingly slick.
To be picky, I’m not convinced on the usefulness of the voice control or how well it works on the street. The camera is a vast improvement and although it would be nice to be able to change the focus mid-action, the video capture works very well too.
If you have the money, then I would recommend this phone above any other I’ve used – bear in mind I’ve yet to get a proper hands on with the Palm Pre and Toshiba TG01 – but it does come at hefty price above and beyond any other smartphone out there. Probably the only mobile phone I’d bother insuring and certainly the only one I’d ever shell out up front for too.
iPhone 3GS on O2
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Nikon D5000 DSLR
I love a good camera and that’s exactly what the Nikon D5000 is. I can’t say I was too impressed the first time I picked it up. You don’t feel like you’re getting an aweful lot of bang for your quite considerable £639.93 buck whch was more like £700 plus when it was launched a few weeks back.
This one is a real grower, though, and, if it weren’t for the disappointing kit lens, I’d say get your wallet out now. There is always the body only option though.
If you want to see that video I shot with it, press play on the frame below.
I felt like there were quite a few gimmicks to suck the family in with the D5000 and it made me resist its charms at first. But, one day, I’m going to have to buy a camera that I want to use, that my kids – should I trust them enough – can operate too. This DSLR does offer that.
I would never bother with those scene modes but the tilting screen did come in handy once or twice when sitting at the back of a press conference and I’m gutted at having to go back to the old Nikon less graphic interface.
If you’ve got a lens or two, or don’t mind picking some up, then I’d say you could do a lot worse than this piece of photographic hardware. Just the body, remember, not the kit!
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Nokia N97 – part 1
So, here we are. The Nokia N97 review. Can’t say I was waiting too anxiously for this one what with the Pre and the Jobs 3.0 on the horizon but, as it turns out, well, watch the vid first, eh…
So, very impressed. Big, big grower the N97. It’s a little unfair in some ways because, on the surface, it doesn’t have the sex appeal of the other mega handsets of the summer, largely because of the OS. The Palm OS is new, Android’s still fledgling, iPhone 3.0 plugs all the holes we’ve been waiting to be filled but S60 is, well, S60. It’s been around for bloody years. It’s even on a whole bunch of very average phones out there.
Once you get over that, the N97’s a bit of a dream though. It’s not a simple phone to get to grips with. It’s straight forward in its design and lay out but there’s a lot to it. It’s not a small piece of kit either at 150g but I really feel like it could become the kind of indispensable pocket computer I’ve been waiting for. Just a question of downloading your own browser, maps and other software of choice.
As I say, though, it’s the apps that this thing needs to be a real iPhone killer and, sadly, so far, Ovi has been choking worse than when I accidentally breathe beer. I’ll give it another week but the second half of the review will come out then, whether you’re ready or not Nokia.
£499 SIM free
Sony Ericsson W715 – SHINY VIDEO REVIEW
I’m not a huge fan of Sony Ericsson handsets on the whole but that’s got nothing to do with them and more to do with my mind setting like concrete the day I first started using a Nokia. They’re the polar opposites in UI which is a shame really because the Sony Ericsson W715 looks like a really good phone.
The latest in the line of Walkman handsets, it could be blessed with a little more internal memory than 120MB but expanding to a healthy 8GB requires only one of those annoying proprietary SE cards. There’s some very familiar shake-to-control action going on here, so I’ll stop and let Zara give you her verdict before I start getting nasty…
If you’re as pleased as my esteemed colleague is by the W715, you can find it free on Vodafone from £15 a month
Sony Ericsson
Ricoh CX1 compact camera – SHINY VIDEO REVIEW
I’ve always quite fancied the looks of the Ricoh cameras but it was the Queen of the Compacts, Zara from Shiny Shiny, who got to take a look at the £299 Ricoh CX1 and I think she quite liked it.
Yes, it may only be blessed with a 9.2-megapixel sensor but a CMOS beats a CCD hands down in the point and press department. You also get a decent optical zoom range of a wide angle 28mm to an up close 200mm. The 4fps rapid fire will certainly come in handy and the 1cm macro is a bonus too but I’d like to see some more manual control if you’re forking out 300 smackers for the privilege. Know what I mean?
Sony Ericsson C501 – SHINY VIDEO REVIEW
It’s easy to forget about the simple things in the handset world with a constant barrage of phones vying to be the smartest of all. Instead, Shiny Shiny‘s Zara took a look at the kind of model you can get free with a very modest contract – the Sony Ericsson C501. Come to think of it, you can pick it up for just under a ton.
Sony Ericsson
SHINY VIDEO: How to get all the music and software you want for free and legally
If you’re here, it’s because you’re a cheapskate. That’s the words of free software, services and music guru Duncan Geere and if you couldn’t make it to his talk at the Gadget Show Live, then get yourself a cup of tea, a pen and paper and learn how rule the IT world without paying a penny for the privilege.
