Feb 21 Consumer Test Lab

 I got the Mcam for iPhone 4/4S B&H 155$US online also check vericorder.com for the other bits

• http://www.actionlifemedia.com/store/p/26-mCAM-for-iPhone-4-4S.aspx
• $170
• Heavy, solid piece of metal
• 37mm screw-in macro/wideangle lens
• Tripod mounts
• Accessory shoe (for light, flash, mic)
• External mic
• I plan to also get the telephoto lens for this, and possibly a better mic
• Not cheap, but if you plan to do video with your iPhone, this will certainly help
• Makes you hold the iPhone in a more comfortable position
• Makes video more stable, you can move the camera in a more steady motion

Air Free Air Steriliser 1400dhs

-for sterilising the air

-no filters

-no moving parts

-maintenance free!

-silent

-anti stress light

ozone, bacteria, pollen, virus, pet dandur, mould

99.9% micro organism destroyed at 204 c

DURABILITY	5just sits on the floor
PORTABILITY	5 Yes
EASE OF USE	5 very simple plug in
Design and Form Factor	5 nice!

DE 400 Atlas Encyclopedia Dictionary translator 314 dhs

-cool!

-geared to someone lerning english

-talking english arabic dictionary

-has idioms!

-basic encyclopedia

-western etiquette tests

-2 aa batteries

DURABILITY	5 fits in a pcket
PORTABILITY	5 Yes
EASE OF USE	3 small keyboard and very basic images at times it was not totally intuitive
Design and Form Factor	3 very practical I would like the keyboard to be larger

Sweex Go Speaker Bar USB (12 watt) 84 dhs

-audio and powerover USB or 4 aaa batteries

-black, on off volume on top.

-nice sound and a good addition to what your PC might have

-good for the price

DURABILITY	5 nice black moulded plastic case
PORTABILITY	5 Yes
EASE OF USE	5 very love the usb or cound cable
Design and Form Factor	5 very nice would look nice with any computer

Feb 7 Test Lab

Viewpad 4 – Dhs.1199
Iomega Media Player – Dhs. 879
I-river MP4 – Dhs.429

iomega ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player

1TB 3 year warranty or 2 TB

Iomega Media Player – Dhs. 879

-can play from home network, a connected USB or the device

Best to connect to TV and Network before powering up as it looks for devices

-you can get a wireless adaptor for it to connect to your internet (not provided)

-no internet cable provided

www.iomega.com/onlinemedia to create online media account and you can add to your player’s content this way by linking to your computer.

-Full size remote with basics on it only!

-supports up to 1080p high definition video running at 24 frames per second (fps), which is the frame rate of Hollywood movies.

-The device also supports other popular formats such as H.264, WMV, AVCHD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and more.

-Delivers online media content and comes pre-loaded with some popular links (US and Europe)

DURABILITY	5 this is a wonderful addition to any home media network be it a stand alone hard drive or networked.  You don’t need to touch it once it is connected to your modem and TV!
PORTABILITY	5 Super
EASE OF USE	3 For the most part this is not a complicated device to use. There is a setup wizard that is very good.  I found the Online media options a bit on the slow side and several options didn’t seem to work in this region. BUT this device’s real value comes in you loading media onto it and in this respect it is super and it it is home networked the whole home can access it.
Design and Form Factor	5 Pretty standard black tower setup.  It blends in nicely which is what you want.  The fan is super quiet.

18/20

VIEWPAD4 by View Sonic

Viewpad 4 – Dhs.1199

I would see this as an entry level smartphone if price is an issue but you are thinking you want to be in the smartphone market this may be your phone.

This is an Android 2.2 smartphone

Has a nice 4.1 inch screen!

480X800 screen resolution

Bluetooth, WIFI and HDMI

5 MPS camera

.3MPS front facing

It is a heavy product  and it tries to navigate that space between a phone and tablet, neither well.

It doesn’t have a standout feature.

DURABILITY	2.5 I worry about this device if it is dropped! It is heavy. On a positive note when you remove the back to add your sim or Micro SD card this phone is solid! Lots of metal!
PORTABILITY	5 4.1 inch screen! I love it!  Would I hook this up to a TV with the HDMI? Not likely.
Ease of Use	3 This is an android 2.2 device. Work pretty well and for the most part it is easy to navigate but it is not breaking any ground.  The operating instructions out of the box are all pictorial and that is nice. Camera is ok, nothing to write home about.
Design and Form Factor	3 This is a little square brick! Reminds me of an LG phone in look!

13.5/20

iRiver S100 MP3 Player

I-river MP4 – Dhs.429

-in usa can access digital radio!

-comes in white black or pink

-4GB internal memory expandable to 32 with MicroSD

-manufacturer say 17 hrs battery life in continuous play music, maybe

-7.5 hrs video

-MP3 (MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer3), WMA, OGG, ASF, FLAC, APE

-AVI, MP4, WMV

-works with windows!   Windows 7 / Windows Vista / WindowsXP / Windows 2000

Small Screen, why you would watch video on this but them people do with BlackBerry, 2.83" (7.2cm) TFT LCD (320x240) 260000 Colours

-ncie clean balck plastic body

small power button on lower left side and then a 5 button pad on the front that is invisible (hot key feature) Intuitive really)

-no touch screen

-FM Radio with Recording!

-easier to work with device if you download iRiver plus4 (only PC) Free

simple not very pretty

Durability	3.5 This is a light plastic case product. The build seems ok but I was worried about losing it and don’t think of dropping it!
PORTABILITY	5 Super
Ease of Use	3.5 It is easy to use but the operating system is so basic it is easy to move away from a function. Love the recording of radio oprtion. no mic, no camera Really need to download iRiverPlus4 to get content on the device
Design and Form Factor	3 Nice screen, small and basic. Micro SD goes int he bottom, ok It looks nice and does what it says on the box. The plastic is light and polished it could do with more weight.

15/20

Jan 31 Consumer TestLab

Mobile  LG Optimus 3D P920)

2,538 dirhams

LG P920W Optimus 3D – Dhs.2699 + Branded Perfume Set OR Pilot Case worth Dhs.350 ( Valid for DSF promo until 5th Feb Only)

Android 2.2.2 (january 2011 release)

-would like to see the operating system updated

-as usual marketplace issues

-3D imaging was cool

-3D games also cool but hard on the eyes after a while

-3D YouTube not available on this region

-all who got hold of the phone loved the 3D

-has an HDMI cable

-love the box it comes in!

-came bundled with

a. car cradle and charger

b.HDMI cable

c. desktop cradle

d.hard case

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
		HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 2100
	Announced	2011, January
	Status	Available. Released 2011, July

BODY	Dimensions	128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm
	Weight	168 g
		- Touch-sensitive controls

DISPLAY	Type	3D LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density)
	Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass
		- LG 3D UI

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory
	Internal	8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM

DATA	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 10, 236.8 kbps
	Speed	HSDPA 14.4Mbps (21Mbps with update), HSUPA 5.76Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
	USB	Yes, microUSB v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	Dual 5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash,check quality
	Features	Stereoscopic photos & videos; geo-tagging
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps (2D), 720p@30fps (3D); video stabilization, check quality
	Secondary	Yes

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), upgradable to v2.3
	Chipset	TI OMAP 4430
	CPU	Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9
	GPU	PowerVR SGX540
	Sensors	Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
	Messaging	SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML, Adobe Flash
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- SNS integration - HDMI port - Google Search, Maps, Gmail - YouTube, Google Talk - MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player - 1080p@30fps (2D), 720@30fps (3D) playback - 3D/2D video editor - MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player - Document viewer/editor - Organizer - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh
	Stand-by	Up to 450 h
	Talk time	Up to 13 h (2G) / Up to 9 h (3G)

DURABILITY	5 This is a phone. The matt case backing seems like it can take a beating and the front is a full screen. It was tossed into my bag and rumbled around without any issues. The test device I had also came in a bundle with a case!
PORTABILITY	4 I think this is a very portable device given that it can be used to play video on your TV, via HDMI cable bundled into the package, but some had issues with the size!
EASE OF USE	4 This is an android 2.2 device that can be upgraded to a 2.3 operating system. It was easy to set up and there were items that could be bought from the Android Market. There are limitations to the YouTube 3D channel and games BUT it was possible to switch back and forth between the 2D and 3D mode. Basic device use was pretty obvious.  I found a few of the functions in the systems folder counter intuitive at first but learned fast.There is still a cartoon feel to these devices.
Design and Form Factor	3 Black is good in the phone industry. 3D on a phone? Not sure that the gimmic is really necessary. There was an issue with using the 3D for extended periods, and the phone warns not to. The display was great but not excellent and there was noticable lag when playing the 3D games. As a game console it would have been nice to be more chunky, I know this is against what we usually ask with phones. Pretty standard LG look and feel if you like your LG you will like this phone!

16/20

DSLR Camera –  Sony SLTA35K)

Alpha 35

3,248 dirhams

Sony DSLR SLTA35K with 18-55mm + 75-300mm Lens Kit – Dhs.3499 + 4GB SD Card + Case + Branded Perfume Set OR Targus Pilot Case ( Valid for DSF promo until 5th Feb Only)

42 minutes of film on a 4GB card

-16.2megapixels

-full-time continuous auto focus

-7 frames per second

-full HD video

-quick AF movie

-15 point Auto focus

-3 inch fine LCD

Alpha lens is the key here!

Alpha lens and the A35 becomes a hybrid: it has the speed and image quality of a semi-pro shooter, and the body of a long zoom digicam

Movie capture. Sony's Translucent Mirror camera design brings its greatest benefit during movie capture, and so it's not surprising that the company's A35 continues to offer Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) video capture, Dolby Digital AC-3 audio, with the video feed derived from 29.97 frames per second sensor data. At lower resolutions, the Sony A35 stores its video in MP4 format with MPEG-4 AAC-LC audio, with a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second.

-USB2 and HDMI

DURABILITY	3 Lovely camera but unlike some of the more common Canon, Nikon and other products, while weighty, left me worried about its ability to withstand the wear and tear of a vacation.  Nice lenses that weren’t too bulky but again they made me feel, and this is only me, that they might not take well to a good rugged run
PORTABILITY	5 this is an easy camera to throw into a manbag and forget about
EASE OF USE	4 This is a camera that pretty much walks you through what you need to know. There are a good series of menus that in some cases were full of information and options that were really not necessary. Try to de complexify even more. Camera options are abundant and the movie option is also pretty easy to activate. The operation of the camera is new world but the buttons and such to adjust things are old school which I would like to see modified, maybe a touch screen and wifi!
Design and Form Factor	5 Everyone who touched this camera loved the way it felt in their hand. From King Kong to Yoda, people with those size hands, seemed to feel at home with the camera and I have to give them credit for putting the buttons where they would be expected to be.

17/20

Dyson Bladeless Fan

Dyson Bladeless Fan with Thermostat control – Dhs.1899

-the Dyson HOT

-air multiplier tech

-long range heat projection

-no burn smell

-very cool looking

-great info on box about how it works

-6X air movement

-osillation and adjustable angle

WONDERFUL packaging

DURABILITY	3 There is a whole lot of plastic here.  I was surprised by the actual base at how cheap it was I was expecting something a bit more durable than a plastic ring that had to lock into the bottom of the unit. Generally this fan is made to last but at that I was also concerned by the number of electronic push buttons, bubble buttons. While this is a well engineered fan I wonder how long these pieces will last and about the electronic heat and fan component.  there is nothing old school here.
PORTABILITY	5 Very!
EASE OF USE	5 Very
Design and Form Factor	5 this blue blade free fan is a work of art!

18/20