All Portable devices Feeds

Panasonic car navigation knows way round home

J Mark Lytle — 1210750819

Come the end of next month, one of the last refuges of escape from the digital onslaught of the modern world will be cruelly ripped from us, when Panasonic's new, fully connected car navigation system goes on sale.

The two new Strada F-Class models (confusingly called CN-HX1000D and CN-HW1000D) come with the usual array of gadgets - GPS (of course), DVD and MP3 playback, 40GB hard drive, mobile digital TV tuner, iPod link and a 7-inch Viera screen, but it's the Bluetooth link that tips the balance.

Forever connected

Drivers with a Bluetooth mobile phone can order the sat-nav to dial home to check on what's happening there. Panasonic calls this the "From Home to Car" concept, adding breathlessly that it "effectively turns a car into a second living room."

With a prod of the screen, the Strada can operate domestic appliances, such as lighting and air conditioners, or can tune into webcams around the house. It can even sent instructions to a home video recorder to get started on taping that rerun of Morse.

What's the point?

The new Strada models, which differ only in dashboard configuration, are clearly impressive pieces of kit, but do we really need to be 'always on' to such an extent?

Oh, the price? Each Strada will cost ¥355,000 (£1,750) when it goes on sale in June, with a release outside Japan highly unlikely.

Has HBO deal changed iTunes for good?

Patrick Goss — 1210678920

HBO has reportedly agreed a deal with Apple to sell their programmes at a flexible rate on iTunes – which could spell the beginning of new flexibility from the online store.

Time Warner owned broadcaster HBO are already embracing VOD and an agreement with Apple to sell their shows at flexible price points marks a major departure from the norm.

One size fits all

Apple had previously stuck to their rigid ‘one size fits all’ pricing insisting that it was to prevent confusion for their users, a policy that had left broadcasters resistant to the service.

However, if the HBO deal is confirmed it could herald a new era for the iTunes store – already the market leader in online music sales and pushing aggressively into the video market.

Another major US station – NBC – pulled its programmes from iTunes last year because of the pricing policy, but they may well make a return and the UK audience may see an increase in domestic TV stations willing to sell their wares.

HTC's Touch Diamond docks in

Gareth Beavis — 1210671720

The iPod syndrome will likely be with us for many years to come. Words will have small letters before the capitals (the iGrape being my favourite so far) and everything will be made in ‘official iPod colours’ (ie white).

Well, perhaps not in the case of the HTC Touch Diamond. The phone itself is a lovely looking piece of kit, winning in the aesthetic stakes if not the technological ones. It’s the business phone for the businessman who isn’t afraid of wearing a linen suit every so often.

Therefore, it needs a decent array of accessories (obviously in the same colour and style to make sure everyone knows you like your gadgets ‘just-so’) and the HTC Touch Diamond dock (you see what they did there?) is a similarly lovely-looking piece of kit.

You know you’ve looked at the Touch Diamond and felt the need to sync the phone via USB, while listening to your favourite tunes via a headphone socket.

The question is: are you willing to cough up £25 for the trouble? If not, you could always spend your weekends varnishing a piece of slate, cut a hole in it and stick a wire in the back. Nobody would know the difference.

Myvu tries to give video glasses style

Marc Chacksfield — 1210601640

The idea of wearing video glasses is definitely an intriguing one. In theory, they’re great: don them and you turn wherever you are into a cinema. In practice, though, while you wonder at your new portable cinema, everyone is staring at you, wondering who the berk is with the space-age face furniture.

Enter a new piece of video eyewear, the Myvu Crystal. According to the bods who created the glasses, you can “Watch what you love, when you want and look great doing it.” And while we’re not that convinced that you will look great, the glasses do boast some nifty features that may well keep the hecklers at bay.

Points of view

The Myvu Crystal is the lightest and thinnest videowear available, and boasts 33 per cent wider field of view than the company’s Shades 301 range.

Video output is Full VGA quality (640 x 480) and is designed to be worn with the latest iPods. You also get four hours’ battery life, connected earbuds and a remote control unit.

The glasses are available in two colours, amber or black, and are out in the US now for $299 (around £150).

If you check out the website, there’s a 30-day trial, which you may want to use. If after 30 days, the sartorial bullies haven’t mocked you for wearing them, then the Myvu Crytal glasses may be well worth a purchase.

Seven top satnavs for the summer

James Rivington — 1210259626

Five or six years ago, the satellite navigation market was a very different animal. Products were expensive and, frankly, they were a bit rubbish, too.

The dark green screens were hard to look at, voice instructions weren't available on most products, and the routes they took you on were often ridiculous.

In 2008, however, satnav is a booming market. And because the market place is so full of good companies trying to make a buck, prices have tumbled. The days of the £600 satnav devices are over.

So here we have seven great satnavs. There's something for everyone too, with all tastes, needs and budgets catered for. So if you're thinking about buying a new satnav gadget for those long road trips this summer, be sure to check out the following reviews.

Binatone Carrera X430 - £130

Binatone probably isn't the kind of name you'd associate with anything other than fairly basic home telephones.

But here it is, popping up in a list of cool satnav products.

The reason the Binatone Carrera X430 has made it into this list is because not only is it a competent product, it's also cheap.

At £130, you'll not find many satnavs for less. And you'll certainly not find any in the same price bracket that are better. If you're on a strict budget, this one is definitely worth considering. Read our full review

Garmin Nuvi 660 - £175

If you've got a little more money to spend, Garmin's Nuvi 660 is absolutely worth the extra cash.

For £175 it's a great gadget, and its feature set goes far beyond the call of duty.

It's designed to not only sit in a cradle, directing you and your car to your destination, but also to go with you when you step out of your car.

It'll give you street-level directions as you walk around any city in Europe, and it also has a foreign language phrasebook to help you with tricky translations while abroad. Read our full review

Sony NVU51G - £190

Like Binatone, Sony is another brand name in unfamiliar territory here. Sony isn't renowned for its prowess in the satnav market.

But that clearly doesn't mean it's not capable of churning out very competent products in the field.

The NVU51G (if we all spoke the same language we wouldn't have to put up with these annoying product names) is a well-rounded product which performs admirably in almost any condition.

What's more, it's waterproof so you can take it out in the rain and it should make it through the day unscathed.

It's also one of the most sexy satnavs available, so if looks are important to you, give this one a gander. Read our full review

Panasonic Strada CNGP50N - £200

And where Sony leads, it seems, Panasonic is not far behind.

The Strada CN-GP50N is immediately recognisable from its impressive 5-inch LCD touch panel.

Like the Sony, points of interests (POIs) are rendered as 3D models on screen.

And the Panasonic is also notable for its particularly lovely-looking maps.

You can get it now for £200, which is 30 per cent cheaper than when it first launched, so you may find this one too good to refuse. Read our full review

VIAmichelin X90T - £240

Michelin is obviously better known for making tyres and roadmaps. But in the VIAmichelin X980T, it's also managed to build a very competent-yet-curious satnav device.

It almost looks more like a handheld games console than a satnav.

Still though, Michelin's experience in creating maps (in print and online) is evident here, because the maps and POIs are fantastic. As you'd expect, there's emphasis on Michelin Guide restaurants and hotels, but that's certainly not a bad thing.

You can get one for about £240, so it's not the cheapest of systems in this group. But it's still worth a look if you have the money to spend and like the look of it. Read our full review

Garmin Nuvi 770 - £260

RECOMMENDED: And here we have Garmin's current flagship model, the Nuvi 770.

It's one of the best satnavs we've ever seen, and on this evidence it's hard to see why Garmin trails TomTom in the satnav market league table.

It's impossibly thin for such a complex device, it looks great, and works perfectly.

The interface is one of the best (if not the best) we've seen, the screen is bright and crisp, and the feature list is too vast to go into. For £260, this one isn't the cheapest, but it's definitely the best. Read our full review

TomTom GO 920T - £285

TomTom would have you believe that this is the crème de la crème of satnav devices.

The TomTom Go range is certainly the most successful on the market.

It far outsells the offerings by all the other manufacturers. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best.

That said, as you might expect, the TomTom 920T is certainly not a bad satnav gadget. It's actually quite good in fact.

The current £285 asking price might be a bit much though, especially as you can get offerings from Garmin for a bit less. The choice, as always, is yours. Read our full review

Sony Wi-Fi photo frame sups on RSS too

J Mark Lytle — 1210230072

Electronic photo frames with LCD displays for showing off endless loops of photos you couldn't be bothered printing are very hit and miss in general, but Sony's latest has a little more going for it.

The ¥30,000 (£145) Vaio VGF-CP1 goes on sale in Japan next weekend and will hit the West later in the year. For a price that's very much the going rate, you get a 7-inch screen with 800 x 480 pixels and 100MB of flash memory to play with.

Wireless hook-up

There are also slots for all manner of memory cards, so it's not one for Cyber-shot fans only, thankfully. Oddly, though, 15MB of that flash is reserved for audio files and can't be used for photos.

As that last sentence suggests, the CP1 does more than just photos - it can also handle MP3 and WAV files, whether from a memory card or sucked down the Wi-Fi connection built into the frame. Even more strangely, WAV tunes can't be copied to the internal memory.

Regardless, that wireless pipe also brings a clock, weather and news updates and whatever RSS feeds you prime the device to read. In other words, rather than being just a photo frame, this thing's a simple computer. Why couldn't they just say so at the outset?

Japan to introduce iPod tax - who's next?

J Mark Lytle — 1210139814

If it gets its way later this week, the Japanese government looks set to introduce a levy on all portable digital music players and home PVRs that will amount to what many are calling an 'iPod tax'.

The Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs will discuss a draft of the plan on Thursday and is expected to instigate legislation that will come into effect before the Beijing Olympics in August, when home TV recording - and hardware sales - is expected to increase.

Nothing has been decided yet, but speculation suggests each PMP and PVR sold from then on will all be subject to a ¥100 (£0.48) tax at the point of sale.

This will raise about ¥1 billion (£4.8 million) annually, to be given to copyright bodies for distribution to TV companies, musicians and other content creators.

So what?

Although neither the agency nor hardware makers were prepared to comment, Joe Public didn't seem too bothered at the prospect of paying more for his iPod.

The general consensus among the people we informally polled in Tokyo today suggests an extra few yen on already-expensive machines won't alter their purchase decisions.

Tarred with same brush

However, one owner of an iRiver PMP pointed out the fallacy of effectively accusing everyone of piracy.

Hiroshi Nishimura, a medical student, told us: "I listen only to lecture notes and podcasts I've either paid for or which are free anyway. Why should I pay more just to make old men who don't understand the technology feel they've done something useful?"

Previous attempts to raise an iPod tax have floundered in the face of opposition from electronics manufacturers, but the same firms aren't expected to beat the current proposal.

TomTom vs Navman vs Garmin: satnav super test

Rob Mead — 1209744031

Standalone satnavs are fast reaching saturation point in the UK, with dozens of different devices from a wide variety of big name brands all scrapping for their own slice of the pie. Getting the lion's share is TomTom, whose brilliant combination of user-friendliness and innovative features attracted 50 per cent of all satnav buyers in Europe last year.

But with TomTom reporting an 83 per cent profits drop this week, and an over-reliance on frivolous features, has it bitten off more than it can chew?

To find out, we pitted three flagshap satnav systems against each other to see if we could identify a clear winner - the TomTom Go 920 T, the Garmin nuvi 770 or the Navman S90i. The result may surprise you. To find out which was best, read:

TomTom Go 920 T review

Garmin nuvi 770 review

Navman S90i review

Disagree with our verdicts? Or do you think there are better alternatives out there? Let us know - comment below!

Creative successfully sued over gigabyte claims

Patrick Goss — 1209734880

Creative has been successfully sued for telling punters that its mp3 players were bigger than they actually were.

Creative worked on the incorrect assumption that 1GB was exactly one billion bytes 1,000,000,000B rather than the 1,073,741,824B it should be.

Un-classy action

After 2004 Creative made this point clear in its documentation, but anyone in the US who bought a Creative MP3 player before that proviso appeared can file a claim.

So if you are American and feel hard done by, you can now get half off a $35 Creative Zen Stone or get a 20% discount on your next Creative purchase

Mvix unveil portable HD drive

1209733797

Fancy porting around your HD movies and displaying them on your mates’ televisions? Then Mvix’s MV-2500U HD could be just the job for you.

The mini drive, which you can buy with or without the 2.5 inch HDD can store and play back filed encoded in MPEG1/2/4, DVD (VOB, IFO), DivX, XviD, BivX or VCD (DAT) as well as support for AC3, MP2, MP3, WMA, OGG and M3U music files.

HD bonus

The drive will also showcase your jpgs at 720p or 1030i – so you can subject your family to terrible slideshows of your holiday in Fuerta Ventura.

Of course, it is the HD playback that will sell this device to the majority, with suggestions that the component out will let you see your movies in glorious high definition (on appropriate TVs of course).

The device costs $150 without a drive – and we have yet to receive any details on UK pricing.