Chargers on the go - Motorola P790 vs. Exspect ReCharge4
Review Mobile battery backup for your... er... mobile's battery
Are you one of those people who live and die by your mobile phone? Or your PDA? Or your PSP? Does the world collapse around you when it runs out of power? Fret not, as from now on this is only a distant memory. Both Motorola and Exspect are now shipping mobile battery chargers, but are they all they're cracked up to be... …
Rock Pegasus P665-T76 Core 2 Duo laptop
Review Rough diamond?
Rock may not be up there with the Dells and HPs of this world, but this UK laptop manufacturer has been around for almost 15 years and has a proven track record of producing high-performance notebooks, especially for gamers. The Pegasus P665-T76 isn't a hardcore gaming laptop per se, but with a top-of-the-range Core 2 Duo …
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core CPU
Review Two cores bad - four cores good?
So here we are, not quite four months since Intel launched its Core 2 Duo processor and we're already moving up yet another level. Intel will today officially announce 'Kentsfield', aka the four-core Core 2 Extreme QX6700. Some may claim it isn't a true quad-core CPU as Intel has fitted two Core 2 Duo CPUs together in a single …
Virgin Mobile Lobster 700TV
Review Pocket TV over digital radio
Portable TVs are evolving and moving into the digital age, not least with the help of 3G data streaming to push programming to mobile phones. However, Virgin has taken a different approach: a technology called DAB-IP. You might be familiar with DAB, which is a standard for digital radio, but what the heck does it have to do with …
Abit AW9D-Max 975X-based mobo
Review Abit rises from the ashes?
Abit was synonymous with top-performance motherboards, but of late its products have been less than impressive. Abit has set out to correct this with its latest line-up of boards, including the AW9D-Max, designed to be a top-of-the-range Core 2 Duo mobo based on Intel's 975X chipset. But does it live up to the expectation? …
Mobiboo UTstarcom F3000 Wi-Fi VoIP phone
Review It flips, it SIPs
Most Wi-Fi VoIP phones on the market today are designed to work with Skype, and almost all of them a candybar handsets. Not so the UTstarcom F3000, which UK VoIP company Mobiboo is pitching as the Mobiboo 3000. It not only works with the standard SIP VoIP protocol but it's also a clamshell handset...
Mobiboo_F3000
If you …
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro
Review Way better price:performance than its predecessor?
ATI's Radeon X1950 XTX proved to be an excellent performer, but the price tag was high, which put it out of reach for most of us. Today, ATI launches the X1950 Pro, a cut down version of the X1950 XTX. It comes in at an amazing price point and it's also got a couple of new features, in particular internal CrossFire connectors. …
Netgear SPH101 Wi-Fi Skype phone
Review VoIP without a PC
To date you've been very much PC-bound if you wanted to use Skype for making VoIP calls, something that has limited its appeal to a degree. Not so any more, as the first set of Wi-Fi phones for Skype has hit the market and Netgear was the first to submit one to Reg Hardware for review...
Netgear_sph101_left
The not so …
Supermicro PDSBA G965-based mobo
Review Intel's latest integrated chipset arrives
Intel's G965 chipset has finally arrived, and the perhaps unlikely mobo maker to have the first product based on it is Supermicro, better known for its server boards. The rather un-fetchingly named PDSBA is also Supermicro's first Core 2 Duo-enabled motherboard. It's also the first mobo we've come across that doesn't support IDE …
Ageia preps PCI Express games physics card
PhysX SDK updated for Linux
Physics processor chip specialist Ageia is about to launch a PCI Express version of its PhysX card, the company told Reg Hardware today. Considering that Ageia had PCI-E and PCI production samples in March, it's a wonder it has taken them this long to announce product.
Ageia admitted there won't be any performance benefits from …
Sony Ericsson and Fossil launch Bluetooth watches
How about a snazzy name next time?
Today Sony Ericsson announced its MBW-100 Bluetooth 2.0 watch which it has developed together with Fossil. The watch features analogue dials and a small OLED screen. With the MBW-100 you can accept incoming calls and control the MP3 playback features of your Sony Ericsson Bluetooth-equipped mobile phone.
Sony_Ericsson_MBW-100 …
T-Mobile launches Motorola KRZR in the UK
And the Samsung E870 in champagne
T-Mobile is the first network in the UK to announce the new Motorloa KRZR - or the K1 as it's also known. Just 4.2cm wide, this slimmed down version of the RAZR offers superior features such as a two megapixel camera and Bluetooth wireless stereo.
motorola_krzr_open
At a mere 10.3 x 42 x 1.6cm, the KRZR is a dinky phone, but …
Nokia opens up on N75 multimedia flipper
Music and video clamshell
In addition to the phones announced earlier today, Nokia also unveiled the N75 in New York. This S60 phone has front mounted music controls and an external 1.36 in (160 x 128 pixel) display which allows you to control your music playback without having to open the flip. The N75 will play back MP3, M4A, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA files …
Asus Lamborghini VX1 laptop
Review Zoom, zoom, zoom?
It seems that having a laptop stamped with an Italian sports car brand is the in-thing these days. Acer has been hanging around the pit-lane with Ferrari, and Asus has teamed up with Lamborghini to create the VX1. It comes in a choice of black or yellow trim - Lamborghini's corporate colours - although there's more to the VX1 …
Shuttle XPC SD37P2 CrossFire-ready SFF PC
Review Small yet powerful?
The SD37P2 is the first Core 2 Duo-ready small form-factor XPC from Shuttle, but it has far more than support for Intel's latest processor on offer. For anyone looking at building a high-end SFF system, the SD37P2 supports ATI's CrossFire - the first SFF PC to do so - although you're limited to single slot cards. Is this the …
Akasa Integral P2 LAN
Review Easy to use networked storage
Network attached storage – or NAS as it’s widely known – isn’t the easiest thing to set up, but it can be very useful, especially if you want to be able to share data between several computers in an easy and affordable manner. Enter NDAS - Network Direct Attached Storage – a much simpler way of getting shared storage onto your …
Nokia to integrate satnav into N-series devices
Built in GPS in N-series phones
Nokia last week kicked off its plan to build GPS-based satellite navigation technology onto its N-series "multimedia computer" handsets with the acquisition of German route-planning software developer Gate5.
Gate5 has produced route-planning software since the late 1990s and has developed software for several platforms …
ATI shows Dell XPS 700 with X1950 XTX CrossFire
IFA 06 Dell XPS gets CrossFire treatment
Reg Hardware spotted a Dell XPS 700 powered by an ATI X1950 XTX CrossFire setup on ATI’s stand at IFA. Rather interestingly this configuration is not as yet available from Dell and indicates the use of a different motherboard than the Nvidia one in the current XPS 700 systems.
Dell_XPS_CrossFire
Current models of the XPS 700 …
LG shows off 32in 3D display
IFA 06 Three-dimension screens go large
3D displays have been long coming, but the models so far have been fairly small in size and have been fairly unimpressive. However, LG showed of a 32in 3D display at IFA in Berlin which did quite a good job of adding to the depth of field.
LG_3D_TV
The only downside was the 4m ideal viewing distance, although this shouldn't …
Sandisk unveils V-mate MPEG-4 recorder
IFA 06 TV straight to flash memory
Sandisk_V-mate
Sandisk has launched its new V-mate MPEG-4 video recorder for mobile devices this weekend at IFA. It allows you to record your favourite TV programs or any other kind of video straight onto a memory card, much like the Neuros MPEG-4 recorder. The V-mate offers the ability to select the playback device and will …
LG shows off skinny HSDPA clamshell
IFA 06 Out by Xmas
LG has presented its upcoming 'super 3G' clamshell handset - a slimline phone that may ship as part of the company's Chocolate line - at a sneak peek event it the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
LG_U830
The U830 is a very thin clamshell model with HSDPA support. It may well be Chocolate-branded by the time it …
Logitech VX Revolution 'freewheeling' cordless mouse
Review The laptop mouse for the connoisseur?
If you're an avid laptop user, you'll know how clumsy most notebook touchpads and thumbsticks are and that you really can't go wrong with a good mouse. Enter the VX Revolution, Logitech's latest laptop-friendly input device. But this time there's more on off than just a fancy new design: specifically, the mouse maker's new …
Orange SPV M3100 3G handset
Review The ultimate smart phone?
Although the Orange SPV M3100 is a version of the HTC TyTN, Orange has come up with a better-looking design. That said, the two devices are otherwise identical. The black device with silver trim looks great and that's only the beginning of it, as this is a really terrific smart phone...
The SPV M3100 has taken all the good …
Pioneer BDR-101A internal Blu-ray disc burner
Review Europe gets its first retail BD-R/RE drive
It's now well over five months since we reviewed the pre-production version of Samsung's Blu-ray drive and there's still no sign of retail units. Fortunately, if you really must have a BD drive for your PC right now, Pioneer has the goods and you can have one today - if you can afford it...
The Pioneer BDR-101A looks very …
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 XTX
Review (Another) world's fastest graphics card
Although today is only the paper launch of the long anticipated ATI Radeon X1950 XTX, it's worth waiting until 14 September when you can actually buy one. Not only is it ATI's fastest card, but it's also incredibly affordable and, thanks to a new cooler, it has put the noise problems the plagued past ATI cards behind it... …
FSP Booster X3 GPU-friendly power supply
Review Some extra juice for your graphics cards
Upgrading your PC? Want to fit two graphics cards, but you don't have a powerful enough power supply? Well, PSU-maker FSP may have just what you need. The Booster X3 is a supplementary PSU that slots into a 5.25in drive bay and is used exclusively to power your PCI Express graphics cards...
The X3 is about the size of a …
Sony Ericsson M600i smart phone
Review Sony Ericsson challenges RIM's BlackBerry
UIQ never really took off as an alternative to Nokia's Series 60 Symbian user interface and only Sony Ericsson and Motorola UIQ devices have ever made it to the European market.
But Sony Ericsson has finally brought its first UIQ 3 device to the market, the M600i. This is the first of three new UIQ 3 smart phones to arrive this …
Acer Ferrari 5000 dual-core AMD laptop
Review No driving licence needed, but only Tifosi need apply...
Acer's Ferrari-branded notebooks have always favoured AMD-made engines, and the very latest model, the 5000, features the latest Turion 64 X2 twin-core processor. This fifth-generation Ferrari laptop brings yet more features, as well as higher performance, but like the titular sportscars, you'll need quite deep pockets to be …
Intel Core 2 Duo vs AMD Athlon 64 FX-62
Review Ding! Ding! Round One...
Although Reg Hardware published benchmarks for the new Intel Core 2 Duo and Extreme chips almost two weeks ago, it has taken that long for Intel to launch the product formally. If you've got the cash, you should be able to pick one up today. But the question many folk - particularly those with a preference for AMD's processors …
Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS-based fanless cards
Review Asus and eVGA set out their passively cooled wares
They may have been quiet but passively cooled graphics cards have generally been pretty poor performers or needed complex and costly heatpipe designs. But with the arrival of Nvidia's GeForce 7600 GS this has all changed, and you can get decent performance at a decent price without the decibels...
Asus_passive_7600GS
What we …
Alienware Area 51 m5500 notebook
Review Upgraded before it even shipped...
Anyone planning to buy a hardcore gaming laptop will almost certainly have Alienware on their list of possible suppliers. Casual gamers and mainstream users might be put off by the machines' let alone the price, so Alienware's assembled the more mid-range Area 51 m5500. It doesn’t look as dull as your average laptop and offers a …
Intel 'Conroe' Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme
Review Intel's next-gen architecture - it's here
It's been a month and ten days since Reg Hardware previewed Intel's Core2 Duo processor, but now we have the official, shipping, ready-to-slap-in-your-PC product. So is it really as good as the early numbers indicated? Read on, read on...
To test its new baby, Intel sent out one of its own D975XBX motherboard with a beta BIOS …
SanDisk Sansa e250 MP3 player
Review Has the proverbial iPod Nano beater arrived at last?
There's no denying that Apple's ownership of the MP3 player market, but it's far from the only contender. SanDisk has been making MP3 players for quite some time, like the c150 I reviewed not so long ago. However, the new e200 series is a direct competitor to the iPod Nano, so let's see how well it compares...
SanDisk provided …
Nokia N80 3G phone
Review Wi-Fi, 3G and three megapixels
The N80 is Nokia's latest attempt to offer a "does everything" phone. It's also one of the company's first handsets to incorporate Wi-Fi and to take the camera resolution to three megapixels. It's an all-singing, all-dancing phone, and it certainly cuts a dash. But does it hit the right notes?
Nokia_N80_open
This is Nokia’s …
PowerColor X1900 GT ATI-based graphics card
Review Plenty of performance for under £200
Competition is meant to be good for the consumer and one market where this seems to be more true than anywhere else is if course computer components. There is a never-ending price war between the various manufacturers, but this has never been as apparent as it currently is when it comes to graphics cards. As long as ATI and …
VIA socket-479 CPU appears in Japan
Works with Intel chipsets
VIA has been very quiet recently, especially in the UK. Although it had a stand at Computex this year, there was really very little in terms of new products on display.
Then, out of nowhere, this socket-479 processor appears on a Japanese website, without any mention of it from VIA.
Admittedly, VIA seems to have been planning …
JVC Alneo XA-F57 'basic' MP3 player
Review Low in features, but not in price
JVC isn't the first company that springs to mind when shopping for an MP3 player, although I'd happily consider many of its other products.
The Alneo range of players consists of two models, the XA-F57 at 512Mb and the XA-F107 at 1GB. It's seems strange to launch such low capacity players when the company's competitors are …
Sony unveils world's smallest projector
If only I had bigger pockets...
We're still a while away from a pocket projector, but Sony's new pint sized offering isn't far off the mark.
At 410cc it fits easily in the palm of your hand and would tuck away into most brief cases or handbags. The projector uses 14 LEDs as its light source, which means it will draw a fairly small amount of power compared to …
Akasa Combo multi-format memory card reader
Review Leave the adaptors at home
Memory card readers come in all shapes and sizes, and it can be a challenge finding the one you need.
Multi-format models tend to be the easy answer, but even then you can't be sure it supports all the memory cards you have. Fortunately, Akasa has come to the rescue with the Combo card reader, that not only supports most memory …
Watercooled motherboard from Asus
Computex 2006 For enthusiast boards only
Asus has managed to find a cooling solution for its next generation high-end motherboards, using a very small integrated pump and water reservior.
The rather large radiator also works as a heatsink for the MOSFETs, which are part of the power regulation on the motherboard and generally get very hot.
asus_watercooled_chipset …
AverMedia shows Mac USB TV-tuner
Computex 2006 Drivers coming soon
AverMedia is one of the first companies to pick up on the increasing ease of making Mac-compatible products, and announced it will soon have drivers ready for one of its USB TV tuners to allow it to work with Macs.
avermedia_mac_tv_tuner
AverMedia claimed the product is the smallest USB TV-tuner to date. It looks much like …
Adata shows solar powered USB memory key
Computex 2006 At least, it powers the LCD screen
So you'd thought there wouldn't be any new ideas for USB memory keys...think again.
Adata showed off a solar powered model at Computex, though the solar cells only power the small LCD display - but as this only draws tiny amounts of power to show you how much capacity you've got left, there's no need for a battery. …
Working dual X1600XT from GeCube
Computex 2006 Single slot solution
GeCube joined Asus in showing a dual X1600XT at Computex, but says its card could hit the streets as soon as next month.
Reg Hardware was informed that GeCube's design (which differs to that used by Asus) means the card can actually work in CrossFire mode, something the Asus card currently can't do.
Interestingly, the GeCube …
Nvidia talks Purevideo HD
Computex 2006 GeForce 7950GX2 first HDCP enabled Nvidia card
Nvidia was talking up Purevideo HD at Computex last week, saying you can now purchase machines that support the Purevideo HD technology.
Nvidia's GeForce 7950GX2 seems to be its first product that is universally enabled for HDCP.
The reason for this is quite simple. Nvidia has had HDCP compliant GPUs for some time and most of …
DVB-H on display
Computex 2006 Telly on your phone
Philips ran live DVB-H demos during Computex, showing just how close the technology is to entering at least a test phase with operators.
The picture quality on the devices was impressive, but far more interesting was the fact that Philips has an SDIO solution for devices without a built-in tuner.
philips_dvb-h
The SDIO …
PC-less VoIP Wi-Fi phone
Computex 2006 The easiest way to VoIP yet?
A little-known company called BCM used Computex to show a multi-format VoIP Wi-Fi phone based on the Windows CE kernel. The WLAN800I is compatible with Skype, SIP services, MSN Talk and MSN Messenger.
WLAN800
There’s no need for a PC for it to function, all you need is an 802.11b/g wireless access point connected to the …
Shuttle readies CrossFire XPC
Computex 2006 But only for Intel
Shuttle's new XPC SD37P2 with CrossFire support - the follow-up to last year's SLI-enabled XPC - was shown up and running at Computex this week. It’s built in the new P2 series of chassis. it’s based on the i975X chipset and it features dual x16 PCI Express slots.
There are also four DIMM slots for DDR 2 memory, it’s Core 2 Duo …
Intel does HD with G965 chipset
Computex 2006 Integrated graphics with HDMI support
Although Intel officially announced the P965 chipset yesterday, today's press briefing contained some further information about the other chipsets in the 965 family, aka 'Broadwater'. Intel talked about the G965 for Viiv and Q965 for vPro. As we reported earlier, the integrated graphics core will indeed be known as GMA X3000 for …
Leadtek rebuts Foxconn handover claim
Computex 2006 Not quitting graphics card business
Leadtek has denied claims it is to quit the graphics card market in favour of manufacturing partner Foxconn, which yesterday used the Computex 2006 show in Taipei to announce it will begin selling Nvidia-based cards under its own name.
In an email sent out by a Leadtek today, the company quoted a message posted on a DailyTech …
Nvidia nForce 590 mobos shown by ECS and DFI
Computex 2006 Reference boards only
ECS and DFI were the first motherboard manufacturers to have Intel-oriented nForce 590 SLI-based boards on display at Computex. ECS has one board mounted on the wall together with an array of other motherboards, but it was clear that this was not an ECS motherboard due to the colour scheme. ECS openly admitted that it was indeed …
