Posted by: Jane Douglas

I’ve been field testing the Nikon Coolpix P90 for the past couple of weeks.

This is Nikon’s new superzoom bridge camera. That is to say, it is a camera for those people who want something more powerful than a digital compact shooter but who aren’t after the full-on control (and changeable lenses) of a proper SLR camera.

Features
As for the zoom, it is super indeed: the camera has a boast-worthy 24x optical zoom capability, combined with a 12.1MP sensor, vibration reduction, auto scene selection and smile/blink detection.

The continuous shooting mode is perfect for action photography, allowing for 45 photos to be taken in a 15fps burst. The pre-shot cache even lets you capture 10 frames from the moment before you press the shutter button.

Screen
The LCD screen on the device is large (3-inch), bright and sharp. Better yet, it can be tilted up and down to allow for, say, shooting from the hip or up high over the heads of crowds. The electronic viewfinder is less impressive, though useful when shooting in bright sunlight.

As you would expect, the P90 is chunkier than your pocketable compact camera, measuring roughly 8cm by 11cm by 10cm. That’s far from as bulky as a real SLR but large enough to require a case of its own.

Size
For such a size, the Coolpix P90 is a reasonably lightweight 400g,  though that is a mixed blessing: a lighter, relatively compact camera means that steadying it for a shot – absolutely essential at full zoom – is trickier.

In fact, that 24x zoom is tricky in itself. Though it is a top selling point for the camera, grabbing a steady, blur-free photo at full zoom, with the lens extended 6cm from the camera body, takes work. A tripod helps, but would the kind of buyer who wasn’t keen on a big, serious SLR in the first place want to tote around a tripod? Maybe, maybe not.

Superzoom
That said, the P90 did manage some decent, full-zoomed shots without a tripod too, so appreciation for the superzoom may depend on the taste and ability of the photographer. Definitely a case for trying before you buy.

As for buying, Nikon Coolpix P90 is priced at £380 and available in stores now.

What’s new on Tech & Gadgets
We’ve been following the Game Developers Conference over in San Francisco. Could game-streaming services like that of OnLive, one of the stars of the show, make consoles and expensive gaming PCs defunct in the near future?

If cloud-computed gaming manages to shake off issues of lag and become a reliable, mainstream service, all a gamer might need is a screen (huge, preferably), input device and broadband internet connection to play his or her title of choice. That’s the theory, at least.

This week’s highlights

Game Developers Conference: our picks

Top 10 netbooks

8-megapixel camera round-up

The week in tech news

Posted by: Nik Taylor

T&G regulars might remember we recently ran a group test of various noise-cancelling headphones and sound-isolating earphones.

One of the sets we received that didn’t make it into that piece (because they don’t have noise-cancelling technology) was a pair of Ultrasone HFI-780.

Nevertheless, I gave them a good testing and it turns out they better the sound quality of any of the headphones included in the feature.

As ‘phones go, they are reasonably high-end without being obscenely pricey, weighing in at around £150. Having listened to them, I’d say that’s a bargain. But whether they’re for you depends on how you feel about chunky cans.

They can be used on the move with your MP3 player, as the 6.35mm jack plug unscrews to reveal a 3.5mm jack within. But they’re a big set, and their brushed silver appearance ensures they’ll get you noticed. When you’re not wearing them, they fold down for storage which makes them more portable.

Despite their size, I found the HFI-780 very light and comfortable to wear. The headphones sit neatly over the ears, enclosing them completely. Covering the ear cups is some incredibly soft leather, and the headband is padded too.

The headphones are closed, which means the sound won’t leak out. What that also (usually) means is that you get an enclosed, ‘in-your-head’ sound. That’s not the case with the HFI-780. These include S-Logic Natural Surround - something which Ultrasone trumpets as moving the sound “out of your head and into the room around you”. Marketing guff? Undoubtedly, but it’s also true. The best way I can describe the sound is completely natural.

I started off by testing them with the supplied demo CD. This has clearly been put together to show the cans at their very best, with intricate tracks ranging from church organ music to an applauding crowd, but it’s a very useful way to hear what they can do. From the off, the HFI-780 output an incredibly spacious sound. The effect is that of being in the place where the music is actually being played, rather than listening to a recording of it. 

Musically, they’re extremely capable. I can tell when I’m listening to a good pair of headphones as they enable me to pick out elements in the music I might previously have missed. These do just that. 

Using them to listen to My Mate Paul by David Holmes uncovers a rumbling bass line that had previously been lost. Somebody Told Me by The Killers is a revelation – an old song that gains new life thanks to the reproduction of its thumping drum riffs.

Sometimes such precision can make music lifeless, as it becomes more of an exercise in picking out different elements from a tune. That’s not the case with the HFI-780. They produce a vibrant, detailed sound that deals adeptly with everything from high treble to deep bass. 

By now thoroughly impressed with HFI-780, I decided to try them out with a few other sources. First I plugged them into the TV for the Sunday afternoon football. This sounds great – the crowd noise is genuinely involving with the commentary layered over the top, rather having the whole lot mixed up together. It felt like I was sat in the stands, with Andy Gray in the next seat.

Next I tried a DVD. I’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to testing movie sound reproduction and always reach for the lobby scene in The Matrix. This also sounded good, although it was the least impressive outing for the HFI-780. There’s a decent surround effect, but it doesn’t compare to what you would hear in a dedicated surround sound system. Although the precision and quality is there, the sound feels a little confined.

The 780s are happiest with music, so I switched DVDs to Underworld’s Everything Everything. Instantly, they spring back into life, rolling out deep, pure bass and beautifully clear synth sounds.

These are a lovely pair of headphones, with a luxurious look and feel bettered only by their sound quality. If you’re happy with a chunky pair of headphones, you’ll find they make an excellent upgrade.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

I’m not a big player of real-time strategy games on the PC. Not because I don’t like them, just because I don’t have the time to get bogged down in all the necessary intricacies. The sort of RTS games I play tend to be the easy-to-learn console variety, such as Advance Wars and Halo Wars.

Having said that, I do find the depth of PC-based RTS games vaguely appealing in an ‘oh-my-god-it’s-going-to-take-up-my-whole-life’ kind of way. So I was intrigued when I got the chance to take a look at the full version of EA’s BattleForge this week.

It’s certainly an interesting game. The main thing that stands out is… its business model. Now, now, bear with me (and stop yawning at the back). BattleForge is all about online play and so, in common with many other titles in its genre, its developers are after more of your cash once you’ve bought the game, so they can continue to improve it.

Normally, that means you pay a monthly subscription fee to access the online elements. BattleForge has a different take on it. Instead, you can buy packs of (virtual) trading cards. There are eight in a pack and each gives you a different fighting unit or power which you can use in your battles. Those you don’t want can be auctioned for in-game currency to other users on the site.

Just buying the cards is fun, as you get an animated sequence of the pack being opened and then flip the cards over one by one, hoping you might get one of the premium cards. It’s all quite exciting, in a guilty pleasure kind of way, and took me back to buying stacks of football stickers to trade in the playground.

The game itself is, on my first impressions, a pacy, fun RTS. I played through a couple of levels (and exposed a horrible lack of tactical nous on the second) and found it to have that ‘easy to learn, tough to master’ quality. The battles are beautifully animated and require solid tactical thinking (rather than just going gung-ho).

As you’d guess from the cards concept, there are stacks of battle units and spells to be used, though you can just stick to those provided with the game if you prefer. But there’s no doubt trading is really at the core of the game.

You can still sign up for the free beta at the moment, which, if you’re into this kind of game, seems an eminently sensible idea to me.

Top features on Tech & Gadgets this week…

The best ever Xbox 360 games

True tales of people saved by their mobiles

 
Review: GTA: Chinatown Wars

Concept classics

Posted by: Nik Taylor

I’d not heard a whole heap about Dante’s Inferno until recently. After all, the game is still at least a year away from release. But then an email about this EA title popped into my inbox, so I went to the game’s site to take a look.

Now I’m feeling rather excited about it.

Admittedly, such excitement is based on the flimsy evidence of a rather spanking looking trailer, which makes the whole thing look a bit like God of War goes to Hell. But since it’s being made by the same bunch that cobbled together the spookily lovely Dead Space, I think it could be a winner.

Anyway, the point of the email I got was to plug a competition running on the game’s official site. To win, you have to create a brilliant trailer for the game, using either animation or live action. Now, if I had even a modicum of video-editing ability, I’d have a go myself, but I’m pretty sure there must be a Tech & Gadgets reader out there who can take this thing down.

Extra bonus points if you manage to sneak the Tech & Gadgets logo into your entry somewhere. And if you win the first prize trip to San Francisco and are wondering who to take along, don’t forget who told you about it…

What we’ve been up to on T&G this week 

In pictures: the new Nintendo DSi

Winners from the gaming Baftas

10 tips to improve your photography

Review: Resident Evil 5

This week’s top tech stories

Posted by: Nik Taylor

UPDATE: See the full list of winners from the 2009 British Academy Video Games Awards.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is handing out its videogame awards tonight, and Tech & Gadgets will be there to bring you the latest as it happens.

MSN Tech editor Jane Douglas has a front-row seat at the show, and she’ll be sending through Twitter updates as the results are announced. Look for her Twitter feed on the main page of this blog. To see all her updates from the awards show, check her full Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/msntechjane.

We’ll have the results in full on the main Tech & Gadgets site tomorrow.

Call of Duty 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV lead the nominations, with seven each.

Both are nominated for the coveted Best Game award, along with Fable II, Fallout 3, Rock Band and Super Mario Galaxy.

There are 14 other awards to be handed out on the night, including gongs for best handheld game, best gameplay and best multiplayer game. There’s also the GAME Award of 2008 – the only prize to be voted on by the public.

For a full list of the awards and nominees, check out Jane's earlier blog post.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

We’ve already had USB keys made in every conceivable gimmicky shape, from mince pies to amorous canines. But no-one ever thought of doing the obvious: making a USB key that actually looks like a key.

Until now… LaCie has leaped straight into that particular gap in the market, releasing three USB keys that look just like, um, keys. It’s not exactly a tech revolution, but it does mean you can attach a USB stick to your keyring that;
i. won’t fall off.
ii. won’t turn your keyring into a pocket-bulging mess.

There are two basic models – itsaKey and iamaKey. A third – PassKey – has a slot for microSD cards. The first two come in either 4GB or 8GB flavours at £20/£30. The PassKey weighs in at around a tenner, but you’ll need to add that microSD card to make it work.

iamaKey

itsaKey

All three USB keys (that’s a real key on the left, in case you’re wondering).

Posted by: Jane Douglas

This week I’ve been testing a couple of gadgets in tandem: the Voix PYT and the RichardSolo 1800.

Happily, the two devices make a good team: the PYT is a compact travel speaker and the 1800 is a backup battery, both designed for use with an iPod or iPhone. Together they form a handy little kit for the travelling, music-loving owner of a pocketable Apple device.

Voix PYT
First up, the travel speaker. Though there are a lot of these compact speaker-docks around at the moment, there’s much to recommend the Voix PYT, available now for £39.99.

Its four speakers, housed in a 17cm X 17cm piano-black rounded square, are powered by either the AC adapter or AA batteries. The speakers frame the iTouch or iPhone and put out a total 7.5W of power – which amounts to a very decent sound. Podcasts in particular sound great, though expectations for the PYT’s claimed “powerful” bass need to be balanced against the fact this is an (admirably lightweight) 500g device.

It is a nice-looking system, even if it is a tiny bit plasticky when you get up close and personal. I particularly like the way the iPod/iPhone fits snugly into the centre of the arrangement rather than perching on top.

There is a neat rotating kickstand on the back of the device, so the player’s screen can be watched in portrait or landscape. Although the docking space is designed specifically for an iPhone, iTouch or G3 nano, there is a 3.5mm jack (cable included) on the back of the system for hooking up other audio devices at a pinch.

RichardSolo 1800
This backup battery’s name refers to the 1800 mAh capacity of the gadget, which amounts to one full charging of a drained iPhone and then some.

The Apple-certified device is styled to look a little like an iPhone itself, with charging indicator LEDs and, as an odd but appreciated added bonus, a buillt-in LED flashlight and laser pointer.

By my count, it took the RichardSolo about 90 minutes to completely charge a dead iPhone, and a bit over five hours to fully charge itself from mains power. I’m told it can hold that charge for four months, too – which makes it an ideal ‘in case of emergencies’ gadget for the iPhone owner who gets caught out by a 10% battery warning while on the move.

That said, the way the 1800 connects to the iPhone (2G or 3G, or any iPod model except the shuffle) makes it better suited to being placed carefully on a table than being flung into a travel bag when in use: the latching mechanism is fitted to the top of the 1800, making the iPhone-plus-1800 a long, skinny combo.

This is remedied by a plastic security brace that prevents too much of the relative movement that could otherwise break the connection or damage the mechanism – an effective solution, even if the translucent brace isn’t exactly styled to match the rest of the black-and-silver gadget.

The RichardSolo 1800 is available now for £69.95.

This week on Tech & Gadgets...

The best of T3's hot 100 gadgets

The top 10 digital cameras

What's the big deal about Spotify?

Download full PC games direct to your computer
Facebook's new look and layout unveiled
Asteroid 'just buzzed Earth'
Concern after hacking hits Facebook

Posted by: Nik Taylor

Acer, a company best known for making PCs, is jumping feet first into the mobile phone market having announced its arrival on the scene with a line-up of four new phones. These aren’t just any old mobiles though. Acer is only going to make smartphones, and they’re going to be cheap.

I spent this morning at the launch of the debut range, where we saw Acer’s first four handsets. They’re a fairly predictable mix of touchscreen efforts – all with GPS and all running Windows Mobile 6.1. But while the specs might not be eye-catching on their own, the price should be. Although Acer is yet to find a carrier in the UK, once it does Acer’s smartphones are likely to heavily undercut direct competitors on price.

This launch range seems to be about Acer catching up with the competition. Innovation may come later, when another selection of mobiles are launched. We saw some pictures of these today and got their codenames (C1, F1, L1), but there wasn’t much more detail, apart from the fact that they’ll all run Windows Phone (otherwise known as Mobile 6.5) and that’s there’s probably going to be more of them.

The four mobiles announced today were:

DX900

This is a dual-sim smartphone with a 2.8” touchscreen. It’s got a 3.2MP camera with LED flash. Weighs 147g.

F900

This is a touchscreen-only phone, with a 3.8” screen. It has a 3.2MP camera with LED flash. Weighs 155g.

M900

Touchscreen phone with full QWERTY slider keyboard. 3.8” touchscreen. Packs a 5MP camera with LED flash. Also has a fingerprint sensor for locking. Weighs 188g.

X960

Mainly intended as a sat nav phone, the X960 has one-click access to maps. It has a 2.8” touchscreen and a 3.2MP camera with LED flash. Weighs 132.5g.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

I can't quite get used to the idea of buying serious electronics at the same time as my milk, eggs and bread. But since it's become commonplace for supermarkets to offer cut-price gadget deals, maybe stuffing my trolley with gadgets is the way to go.

Even cut-price store Aldi is in on the act, offering a suitably bargainous netbook from Medion among its discounted gizmos. The Medion Akoya E1210 Mini is one of its specialities, and this netbook has just had a revamp. It goes on sale somewhere between the spuds and the Shreddies tomorrow, at the eye-catching price of one penny under £280.

If you're in the mood for splashing out on a mini-laptop, I'd recommend putting this on your shortlist. I've spent the last couple of weeks playing around with the original E1210 Mini and have been suitably impressed. A few key upgrades have been made to that original machine, which puts the new version among the best netbooks under £300.

What I like about the original E1210 Mini is that it's a netbook that feels like a proper laptop. You get a 10" screen - plenty big enough for web browsing or writing e-mails and documents. You also get a decently sized keyboard size (about 95% of full size) with none of the keys put in weird places (something netbook makers have often done to save space). So it doesn't feel too much of a compromise in the name of portability. Size-wise, you're looking at the usual netbook dimensions. It folds into a unit not much bigger than a hardback book (and certainly thinner), while being light enough (1.25kg) to be forgotten about as soon as you chuck it into a bag.

So what were the problems? The main issue was poor battery life. Getting two hours of run-time was typical - something that's just not good enough for a machine that is designed purely for use on the move. That's now been improved with the addition of a six-cell battery that should run up to five hours. That's getting on for the kind of battery life you see on Asus' Eee PC range. Another moan was a lack of Bluetooth connectivity - which has also been sorted (kind of). The new version comes with a Bluetooth dongle - still not as good as having it built in, but at least you get this connectivity included in the box. The other big upgrade is a doubling in hard drive size, now boosted to 160GB.

Overall, the boost in specs puts this machine into the same range as the Asus Eee PC 1000 and the Samsung NC10. Either of those will do a similar job, given the guts of them are essentially identical. But you can't buy the others at the same time as your cheesy Wotsits.

Posted by: Nik Taylor

While we're waiting for the flashy new phones unveiled at Mobile World Congress to come out, I've spent a bit of time using Nokia's touchscreen effort, the 5800 XpressMusic (known as the 5800 for the rest of this review - why didn't they stick with calling it Tube?).

First up, I've got to say I'm a bit of a sceptic when it comes to touchscreen phones. Ditching the keypad gives you a bigger screen, which is fine and dandy, but I'm just a fan of having real buttons to press.

Still, the 5800 does a good job of knocking out a lot of the drawbacks you get with many touchscreens. In fact, I was a little disappointed to see it go back.

Out of the box, the 5800 feels like a decent piece of kit. It's solid but not heavy and there are some nice little touches. For instance, I got as far as flipping the back off and pulling the battery out before I realised the SIM card simply slides into the side of the phone. Nice and easy, though it's the standard (more secure) procedure to remove the card.

Switch it on and that mighty 3.2" screen bursts into life. The sensitivity of the screen is pretty good, although it took me a little while to get used to it. If you have fingers like sausages you might struggle - in that case there's a stylus that slides into the back of the phone. But I found it simple to select items on the screen - even small links on the browser. The BBC iPlayer app comes preinstalled and looks excellent when playing, with the stereo speakers doing a good job of keeping up with the sound. The haptic feedback is nice and chunky, so you get a solid feel when pressing on-screen icons.

Other than the touchscreen, the other big deal about the 5800 is its music playback. This is meant to be a device you can realistically use as a replacement for your MP3 player, so you get an 8GB Micro SD card bundled and a music player that shows album art in a iPod-stylee. Feature-wise, the music player is fairly simple, but its sound quality is good. I thought it shone with dance music and more intricate tunes. However, the default settings seemed a little lightweight for rock and there's not much you can do about that. The bass booster is predictably rubbish, as it is on most players, making the bass boomy and cloudy. There aren't many other changes you can make to adapt the equaliser. Creating playlists is enjoyably simple thanks to the touchscreen. But if you like to listen to seamless compilations, you'll notice a small gap is inserted in between songs.

As a phone, the 5800 works well. Call quality is good and the interface is classic Nokia. You can set the default screen to either be totally clean, or to have four shortcuts, or four contacts. These are all customisable to some extent, but it would be nice to have a mixture of the above - two contacts and two shortcuts, say. Even better would be some kind of tab system so you could switch between them. Creating text messages is simple as you have a full number pad appear on screen. If you find it easier, you can flip the camera sideways and use a full QWERTY keyboard instead. Personally, I'm still quicker with a predictive text keypad. My least favourite out of the features I use regularly was the calendar function. This seems to have been mostly ignored by the touchscreen gurus. For instance, you can't sweep your finger across the screen to move from month to month, you have to tap on a tiny icon at the top of the screen. It all feels a little sluggish, as if it's been designed for a keypad phone and inadequately ported.

Camera-wise, you get a decent but not earth-shattering 3.2MP sensor with the usual Carl Zeiss lens jiggery-pokery. Daylight pictures look pretty good, but things get a bit messy in low light. The main reason for that is that night-time pictures are powered by a couple of LEDs, rather than something more meaty like a xenon flash. Pictures from the pub on a Friday night therefore come out blurry and noisy. Take it out in the day, however, and it works nicely. The camera shutter button is on-screen, which feels better than having a side mounted button as you can press it without shaking the phone about. You can zoom by dragging your finger on the screen, and there's a whole bunch of 'proper camera' features like self timers and ISO settings. These are all accessible through a very clean overlay interface that's hidden unless you tap an on-screen button.

Overall, I liked the 5800. There are some flaws here and there, but its standout features (touchscreen and music player) are impressive. If you're scouting for a touchscreen phone, it's one worth considering.