Acoustics on the go

Bluetooth is one feature on our phones that we tend to underuse, and a regular hands-free unit cannot do full justice to its potential. So, I was awestruck by the clarity of sound the Logitech

Pure-Fi Mobile could spew out from its four tiny speakers, feeding on my Walkman phone a few feet away, all via Bluetooth.

It would be insulting to call the Pure-Fi Mobile a set of speakers for you mobile phone, laptop or iPod, it is far more than that. My Goliath like music system was put to shame by this little David—it will easily fit into your laptop bag—who packs a punch much more than acoustic music.

Being a blue tooth-enabled device, once synced with your mobile phone, it can turn into a full-size speaker phone with dedicated buttons for accepting, ending and muting calls. The built-in mic ensures there is no voice drop even when you are a few feet away from it, and moving. Logitech claims the speakers can play music from your with a 10-meter radius, but I did encounter some disturbance after about three feet—could have been interference from electronic/electric fields. But when it is in full sync it is impossible to realise that the music is being transmitted wirelessly. It can also connect to your laptop through Bluetooth or USB and to you iPod using a 3.5 mm jack provided in the box.

However, Logitech has not yet mastered the art of pricing for India and the Pure-Fi Mobile is priced at a steep Rs 10,995, making it almost as costly as a decent mobile. Still a great buy if you are hooked on to music, even on the go.

And the small one

There’s not much to write about the new Acer Aspire One D250 netbook, not because this little work-as-you-move netbook is no good, but because it still as good as the old Aspire One. This one is slimmer though—with thickness of one inch and a 10.1’ LED LCD screen—and cheaper at about Rs 21,000. This David still packs a punch with a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM memory and 160GB hard drive.

However, the keyboard is not for flat-fingered users like me who will end up typing M along with N, and R along with E every time—maybe it is time for some lessons from the neighbourhood piano teacher. There are no dedicated keys here and most keyboard characters are multi-tasking—I think it’s the price you have to pay for going size zero.

The webcam though with the same feature as that of the Acer Aspire 5738Z, just doesn’t do the same trick in low light. Though it carries an Energy Star tag, the battery won’t last you more than a couple of hours. And I still don’t know how this can be a primary computer for anyone without a DVD drive. But for those looking for a second, smaller laptop to take to the coffeshop, or read RSS feeds in the loo, look no further.

Acer Aspire 5738Z: Big screen entertainment

A laptop called Aspire is much like a cricketer called Tendulkar, it comes with an excess baggage of expectations and hopes. So when I got hold of the Acer Aspire 5738Z, I knew I would be reviewing a very good laptop, it was just a matter to checking if it had become any better in its latest avatar.

To start with, Acer has got the act of pricing for the Indian market just right. Though of Taiwanese origin, the company has started thinking like an Indian entity. For instance, any laptop with the configuration and features of the Acer Aspire, would have been priced at least 25 per cent higher, at least they used to be, and wondered were the buyers were. The new Aspire, however, is priced at a stop-and-look Rs 38,000, what any regular laptop would cost.

But the 5738Z is no regular laptop. With a 15.6” 1366x768 LED Backlit screen and two Dolby optimised surround sound speakers which have been augmented by the 3rd generation Dolby Home Theatre audio enhancement, this is a movie buffs dream. For a change, you have laptop with speakers good enough for watching movies with the subtitles safely turned off. However, if you won’t stop short of being psyched by the shrill shrieks of blood-fest movies just plug in a good headphone to feel what Dolby is all about. I nearly fell off the sofa when I check out my iPod earplugs at full volume—don’t try that at home. The knockout dope for multimedia junkies, however, is the Arcade which bring all your movies, music, online media and pictures on a single platform.

But you’d be thinking about the power needed to sustain such performance, well the six-cell Li-ion battery claims to have 3.5 hours of juice in it, more if you use the Acer Powersmart option, which comes with a dedicated button.

The multi-gesture touchpad supports circular motion scrolling, pinch action zoom and page flip, though the last option needs some practice to master. The keyboard is very user-friendly, though I’m not sure the gap between the keys is ideal for dusty Indian conditions. I also found the Bluetooth and Backup Manager buttons very handy.

The 5738Z comes preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium and touts specs like 360GB storage, 3 GB DDR3 1066Mhz memory, a Intel Core2 Duo Processor T6400 2.0 GHz, a decent 1.3 Mp webcam with built-in microphone. It has a DVD-Super Multi double layer drive—the 4x Blu-ray disc option has not made it to India yet—and a 5-in-1 card reader.

The dampener, however, is 2.8 kg that all this adds up to. But I guess you can lug around a bit of excess baggage after all.