By Yardena Arar
November 19, 2009

Word 2010
In the venerable word processor, OpenType typography takes the spotlight in an Advanced font pane that supports new font-manipulation options, such as the ability to add ligatures and to choose from several style sets. For more-adventurous designers, a new Text Effects pane lets you apply artistic effects (fills, outlines, and the like) to any text–and still edit the text afterward, which you can’t do with the Word Art in previous versions. (These features also appear in Publisher 2010.)

Searching documents becomes easier with an upgraded Navigation bar that appears on the left when you initiate a search. Results from keyword searches appear highlighted in the main screen (a nicer experience than clicking Next to jump from location to location).

Excel 2010
Microsoft continues to expand and refine the visualization tools in its popular spreadsheet application. The biggest innovation is a feature called Sparklines that lets you create miniature charts within a single cell, a way to instantly show multiple trends across several contiguous data sets. For sophisticated users, PivotTables and PivotCharts allow you to create highly customizable tables and charts from existing data sets with a few mouse clicks. While PivotCharts aren’t new to Excel, the ability to create filters on the fly is.

PowerPoint 2010
If you’re giving a presentation to an army of laptop users, wouldn’t it be nice if your presentation could appear–while still under your control–on the laptop displays of your audience (or, perhaps, on desktops in the room)? PowerPoint Broadcast Service, one of the more impressive PowerPoint innovations, lets you accomplish this with a minimum of fuss and nothing to install. Simply click on the Broadcast Slide Show button in the Slide Show ribbon, and PowerPoint uploads your presentation to Microsoft’s free service and creates a link for distribution (via e-mail or copying) to your audience members. They then click on the link and see in their browser the same slideshow view that you do–with you driving.

Embedding video in a presentation requires only a click or two, whether you’re drawing from your own library or a site such as YouTube. Presentations using a Web video will warn you about the necessity of a live Internet connection; if you use your own video, PowerPoint permits you to edit it down to a desired length, add fade-ins and fade-outs, and otherwise perform minor editing tasks before packing it up with the presentation.

As usual, PowerPoint jocks also get assorted new transitions to play with. My faves include Ferris Wheel, Shred, and Vortex.

OneNote 2010
OneNote, Microsoft’s note-taking application, has acquired new powers in Office 2010, primarily through the addition of conduits that relay data from (or otherwise link it to) other applications. Among other things, you can send documents to OneNote using Office’s print function, which presents OneNote as an alternative to hardware printers, PDF creators, and the like. If you choose that option, a dialog box appears showing your OneNote file structure, so you can place the content in the right location.

You can also take notes in OneNote while working in Word, in PowerPoint, or on the Web. Clicking Linked Notes associates what you’ve written in OneNote to the location in the source document. Internet Explorer 8 has a similar feature, OneNote Linked Notes, under Tools (near the option to e-mail a page to OneNote).

Outlook 2010
Microsoft’s personal information manager receives a ribbon that fans of that type of interface will like and detractors won’t. Several additional tweaks (support for transcription of voicemail, for example) depend on use of Microsoft Exchange and/or Communicator, but everyone can benefit from other new features such as a calendar preview (to check for conflicts when receiving invitations).

More-dramatic changes are in Business Contact Manager, with assorted features designed to manage not only customers but also projects. Potentially the biggest news is Outlook Social Connector, a feature that’s supposed to let you follow status updates from third-party social networks that create feeds using Microsoft APIs. The feeds will appear on the e-mail reading screen.

Access 2010
Microsoft continues to fight the good fight to make its database app more, well, accessible. In addition to new templates to help you get started, Access now offers Application Parts and Quick Start features to help you create database forms by picking and choosing the fields and features you need.

And while it isn’t listed with other Office Web Apps, Access now lets you create a Web database, either from scratch or by importing an existing one. This feature, however, depends on SharePoint support.

By Yardena Arar
November 19, 2009

Web Applications
The Office Web Apps collection, Microsoft’s eagerly awaited answer to Google Docs, Zoho, and other Web-based productivity tools, is still a work in progress–not surprising since the current apps are prominently labeled as technical previews. Microsoft says that all of them will be finalized and available–to consumers via SkyDrive (Microsoft’s free online file storage service) and to businesses via SharePoint 2010 server software–when Office 2010 ships in the first half of 2010.

However, judging from the preview versions I tried through a SharePoint site that Microsoft set up for reviewers (and through the technical beta program on SkyDrive), they’re no match for the competition. For example, Excel can’t create charts, Word has no support for revision mode, and the slide-creation tools in PowerPoint pale next to the wealth of choices in Zoho Show.

SharePoint’s interface for document sharing isn’t particularly intuitive: You can’t create new documents on the Web (although Microsoft says eventually you’ll be able to)–instead you must upload them from desktop apps. And regardless of location (SharePoint or Windows Live), Office Web Apps will work only with documents in Microsoft’s XML file formats (.docx, .xlsx, and so on). But in my tests, at least, Office Web Apps generally delivered on fidelity, meaning that what you see online is what you get on the desktop and vice versa, which isn’t always the case with other Web apps that support the Office formats.

Though all Windows Live users will have access to Office Web Apps, the offerings’ lack of features suggests that Microsoft isn’t trying to create a Web-based productivity ecosystem so much as it is attempting to give customers a Microsoft option for basic editing when they don’t have access to the desktop software.

Starter Edition
Other news relates to how Office 2010 will be delivered on new PCs. Instead of the free limited-period trial commonly available now, Microsoft will make a free, ad-supported Office Starter Edition available to PC manufacturers (this will replace Microsoft’s low-end Works suite, too).

But it’s a stripped-down freebie, consisting of basic versions of Word and Excel that each lack three of the seven tabbed main-menu items in the full versions. In Starter, Word won’t have the Reference, Review, and View tabs; Excel will omit Reference, Review, and Data. Both apps will have a taskbar on the right side containing a small ad toward the bottom for the full versions of Office.

More annoyingly, because the Starter apps don’t support revision mode, you won’t be able to accept, reject, or even delete revisions in documents created in the full versions of Office, which renders Starter Edition useless for any sort of collaboration.

Available Packages
Microsoft is offering the 64-bit version of Office alongside the 32-bit version; you can make your choice during installation. The additional addressable memory that 64-bit PCs and apps support will primarily benefit people who work with huge spreadsheets.

Generally we liked the innovations of Office 2007 (although many other people did not). In this new version, Microsoft has made a lot of usability and design improvements that individually may not bowl anyone over, but as a package–especially as the Web apps mature–are solid and welcome. No pricing has been revealed for the editions announced earlier this year: Office Home and Student (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote), Office Home and Business (which adds Outlook), Office Professional (which adds Access and Publisher on top of the rest), and the two volume-licensing editions, Office Standard (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Publisher) and Office Professional Plus (which builds on Standard by adding Business Contact Manager CRM features to Outlook, as well as Access, InfoPath, Communicator, SharePoint Workspace, and other enterprise-specific extras).

If Microsoft doesn’t make the cost of upgrading from 2007 prohibitive, I’d be inclined to move up to this new Office.

November 19, 2009

Microsoft Office 2010: An Intriguing Beta
By Yardena Arar

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta
www.microsoft.com

With the release of the Office 2010 beta, the general public finally gets to check out how Microsoft plans to deliver on its promises for the next edition of its flagship productivity suite–namely, close integration with lightweight Web versions of core apps (Excel and PowerPoint Web are the first to debut for consumers via Windows Live, with Word and OneNote available only in the business-oriented SharePoint 2010 server beta), better multimedia support, a subtle interface refresh, and a slew of features designed to make document creation and sharing easier. But there’s some news too, most notably support within Outlook for tracking feeds from social networks.

Suitewide, the most immediately apparent change is the departure of the round Office button that brought up commands for saving and printing documents as well as for changing application-specific settings. Instead, Microsoft returns to a familiar menu convention: a File tab that brings up a full screen of commands and information. Microsoft calls this screen the Backstage View.

The left navigation bar in Backstage View holds many of the commands, but most of the real estate is devoted to big panes filled with document-specific items such as editing permissions, links to autosaved versions, file size, and even a thumbnail. (Businesses can customize Backstage View to integrate their workflow processes.) It’s a nice idea in many ways–the ability to return to previous unsaved versions is especially good–but it can also be a bit disconcerting since you completely lose sight of the original document (except for the tiny thumbnail).

One of the cooler suitewide tweaks affects a simple task that most people perform every day: cutting and pasting text. Having observed that in many instances users immediately undo their paste, Microsoft engineers have added a paste-preview feature that lets you see the results before you commit (similar to the mouse-over previews of font changes and other edits available in the ribbon). You even get to choose between previews that apply different formatting options, either maintaining source formatting, merging with destination formatting, or removing all formatting.

Improved picture-editing tools allow you to preview and apply cropping (and many new adjustments and effects) on the fly as you insert images into Office documents.

The ribbon interface introduced in the key Office 2007 apps goes suitewide in Office 2010, with more contextual changes. Application icons are chunkier and restricted to one letter, which invites confusion in the case of PowerPoint and Publisher, and bemusement in the case of Outlook and OneNote (the latter’s icon is the letter N, one leg of which looks like a 1).

Other interface changes include a new color scheme, with classy muted grays that make the sky blues of past editions seem almost boisterous, and an orange logo instead of the multicolored one of years past.

October 31, 2009

Tiny Wireless Keyboard For The Home Theater
By Luis Anthony G. Oliveros
Published in the November 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

Logitech diNovo Mini
P9,599
www.logitech.com

The Logitech diNovo Mini is a pint-sized wireless keyboard designed specifically for pairing with home theaters PCs and the PlayStation 3. It’s for those who need an input device but wouldn’t want a full-sized keyboard parked in their home theaters or living rooms. It comes in a compact 152x90x27.5mm clamshell design at only 175g so handling feels very comfortable with the curved lower corners nestled comfortably within the palm of both hands. This easily makes handling it comparable to using a handheld gaming device or a landscape oriented mobile phone where you type with your thumbs.

Underneath the lid, the keyboard is made up of sensibly tactile keys that offer good feedback. These keys are mostly nicely sized although we would’ve preferred a larger CTRL key which had been minimized to make room for the Windows button on its right side. Also, adequate spacing between each key would’ve helped a lot to enhance usability as we’ve managed to commit several typos during our test period. A circular touchpad is positioned to its right, which doubles as a five-way direction pad to supplement navigation. This keyboard also has a backlight, making it easier for use in rooms with less than desirable lighting conditions.

The diNovo Mini connects via Bluetooth which means it’ll work at up to 10 meters away from the computer. This seems apt since a good parking space for it would be a home theater or a living room’s coffee table near the general couch vicinity. Indeed, quite a comfortable area for multimedia buffs and gamers alike to enjoy their videos and games. A USB dongle is also included in the box should your machine lack the wireless connectivity.

October 5, 2009

Dell’s Reliable All-in-One PC For The Office
By Luis Anthony G. Oliveros

Dell Vostro 320 AiO
P34,950
www.dell.com

Despite the mainstream consumer demographic all-in-one PCs (AiO) have been generally known to target, Dell has relegated the Vostro 320 AiO under its Vostro banner of machines geared for the business segment. This is an apt route for the compact desktop since it does carry a good set of features to match the range of all-purpose business needs and a space-saving form factor to boot.

At 386.39×477.39×103.98mm, it has a particularly small footprint which allows it to be perched on any table top while still leaving enough room for its mouse, keyboard and other office table accouterments. And since it comes sheathed under black hard plastic exteriors, it practically looks at home in most business environments with a significant aesthetic bump provided by its glossy finish and softly contoured corners. 

Tucked neatly around its slick chassis is an array of connectivity ports neatly laid out for easy access. The right side panel houses three USB ports and the audio in/out jacks accompanied by the power button and the onscreen display adjustments, while the slim-tray DVD-ROM is sitting by its lonesome on the left side panel. At the back is a VGA output for connecting to an auxiliary display panel, three additional USB ports, an auxiliary audio jack, the RJ45 outlet and interestingly enough, two PS/2 ports for accomodating legacy mice and keyboards.

The review unit we tested came with a 19-inch WSXGA+ LCD screen which yielded clear images with good black-white contrasts and brightly rendered hues. It also has a matte finish to reduce screen glaring and reflections. This, along with its built-in 1.3megapixel Web cam, mic and speakers, also easily makes this desktop a good VoIP communication tool. Additionally, variants with 17- and 18.5-inch screens are also available.

Its integrated Intel GMA4500 HD graphics chip isn’t exactly the best in the market but it proved to be more than adequate for basic productivity functions like word processing and Web surfing. While it also did a decent performance rendering mainstream casual games and playing videos (both streaming online and via its slim-tray DVD-ROM), the Vostro 320 AiO is no gaming powerhouse so don’t expect it to flawlessly run FEAR or Left 4 Dead.

Packed within is an Intel Celeron 440 processor clocked at 2GHz and 2GB memory. This coupling enabled this machine to run smoothly during our tests which involved multitasking with a handful of word processors, Web surfing with a few browser windows and an IM client running in the background. Handling storage in our review unit is a conveniently partitioned 160GB HHD; while it may not at all sound spacious at a glance, it’s actually sufficient given this AiO’s intended mainstream business uses. However, Dell also threw in a 250GB storage option if you need a bigger space; either that or you can supplement it with an external HDD through one of the USB ports. Similarly, an 80GB model is also available for office departments with less than average storage needs. 

September 15, 2009

An Excellent First Step
By Luis Anthony G. Oliveros
Published in the August 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

Lenovo IdeaCentre A600
P63,900
www.lenovo.com/ph

Joining Apple, HP, Dell and Gateway in the all-in-one desktop space is Lenovo with the IdeaCentre A600. As such, it possesses the characteristics typical among its competitors in the desktop subsegment: an all-around PC with a good lineup of specs in a space-saving form factor that foregoes a CPU chassis and molds everything, save for the input devices, into the monitor. However, unlike most of them and their clean-cut, minimalist design approach, Lenovo pumped just a little oomph in the design process and came up with a distinctly slick machine that has a bit of glam but at the same time employs hints of the whimsical aspects of modern avant garde industrial design.

Overall, it has a polished all-black exterior that measures an inch thick at its thinnest with the LCD screen up front and a two-megapixel Web cam above it. Its body fluidly bulks up towards the bottom and is softly angled towards the back, giving the impression of a slightly bent display panel. This is where all the ports and accoutrements have been placed. And instead of utilizing the usual array of horizontal bars to serve as grilles or a series of circular holes for openings such as air vents and the built-in speakers, Lenovo saw this as another practical design application and used a pattern that clearly resembles a maze.

On the left side panel you have the power button, a multicard reader, two USB 2.0 ports, input and output 3.5 audio jacks and a FireWire port, while the right side panel hosts the slot-loading DVD-RW drive. The rear is where you’d find a series of ports; namely, the AC, the RJ45, four addition USB ports and one for connecting a coaxial cable for the built-in TV tuner.

While in front, a touch panel is situated just below the LCD screen; three for adjusting the onscreen display and one to eject an inserted disk from the optical drive. The entire setup is resting on top of a flat sturdy base that allows you to tilt the screen five degrees forward or 15 degrees backward.

One of the things we liked about the A600 is its LCD screen which measures an expansive 21.5 inches diagonally and offers a full 1080p hi-def resolution. These two factors alone make it a very competent entertainment machine which easily kicks it up a notch in our books with enhanced visuals that are absolutely bright, well detailed and yielding colors that pop. This makes it a great weapon of choice for playing mainstream action games and for watching movies, as we had done during the testing period, setting up a mini theater within the confines of the PCW test lab.

A 2.1-channel speaker system has been built in which employs Dolby’s Home Theatre technology. It does a pretty good job, producing balanced audios and a decent subwoofer and proved to be a lot better than most integrated speakers we’ve seen in the past. However, it still had some tinny quality to it, so hooking up external multimedia speakers would be advisable if you prefer a more engaging audio experience to match its excellent video quality.

During the test period, the A600 ran smoothly with its intended all-around usage with activities like word processing, Web surfing, multimedia playback and mainstream gaming in both standard definition and hi-def thanks to the 2.20GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 coupled with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 graphics card at its core. These are supported by 2GB of DDR3 memory (with the option to upgrade up to 4GB) which showed the system’s deftness for running multiple applications. Also in the system is a healthy 500GB of storage, which is more than enough even for advanced users to cram in their work/school files and multimedia contents.

This desktop includes a wireless laser mouse, a keyboard and a multipurpose remote controller. The keyboard is thin and very light with a hard plastic body that bears a brushed texture with adequately spaced keys that are large, flat and adequately tactile. To its right is a touchpanel that gives you quick access to the multimedia settings and playback controls, volume adjustments and launches Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook; while below it is an auxilliary touch pad and its matching left and right click buttons. Meanwhile, the wireless laser mouse also comes in a matte-glossy black duality and an orange scroll wheel to match the thin orange outline around the keyboard. It offers nice feedback and is sufficiently sensitive.

Perhaps one of the most interesting inclusions to the system is its multipurpose remote controller. And it’s only logical for Lenovo to include it to the package since the A600 is also being touted as a multimedia center. First off, it lets you simply navigate through the system’s multimedia contents through Windows Media Center or used the traditional manner for the built-in TV tuner should you decide to include either during purchase. It also functions as a gyroscope mouse to navigate through Windows Vista Home Premium (the operating system that came with our review unit) and for playing games ala-Wiimote. Finally, it also serves as as handset to pair with VoIP applications.

August 5, 2009

Total Mobile Computing in A Neat Form
By Billy Joe I. Allardo
Published in the May 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

MSI PX200
P59,500
www.msi.com

While most notebooks tagged as desktop substitutes feature large screen sizes that give users a better view of the documents or images they are working on, the MSI PX200 goes against the grain with its form factor. At 12.1 inches, it packs in components that you’d normally see inside a full-fledged desktop PC and sometimes lacking in some bigger notebook PCs. The unit features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 GDDR3 discrete graphics chip, with 4GB of memory components and a 320GB hard drive.

What is more important is that, with these specs given and its size in mind, the MSI PX200 stays true to the mobile computing concept. It’s easy to pack, brought about by its slim profile and a total weight that amount to only 1.8kgs.

Underneath the matte black cover is a modish interface of gray and black bezels. In between the display and the keyboard is a glossy patterned function panel that houses the power button, as well as the Wi-Fi and camera shortcuts keys. It also harbors the Eco Engine Power Management System (EEPMS) knob that enables switching through different power modes, directly affecting battery life and the overall performance consequently. EEPMS figures well for users who need to go around a particular area but needs to bring along the notebook PC with them, giving them relief from also carrying the charging pack, which is a tad bulky and heavy.

Meanwhile, the keyboard is tactile and the size of the keys is good, at least for this writer. A slightly depressed frame marks where the touchpad area is, while its buttons appear like embossed regions of the lustrous gray shell. Unfortunately, the latter is a bit stiff and somewhat unresponsive at times. In between the touchpad buttons is a fingerprint reader that provides extra security.

Theer are only two USB ports available, which should be easily fixed with the addition of a cheap USB hub. With its HDMI port, the MSI PX200 can connect to consumer electronic devices that use the mentioned standard, such as video game consoles and audio/video receivers. This notebook PC can also make use of eSATA devices, despite the scant number of devices available that use it.

The glaring downside with the MSI PX200 is the heat it tends to generate. This is perhaps the result of it being compact, with not enough room for the heat to circulate and the scarce space allotted for its cooling vents and pipes. The sound quality via the built-in speakers isn’t that good but is made up for by the display. Despite its size, it was able to come up with crisp images and smooth video, the product of having a discrete graphics chip. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 GDDR3 also enables it to use its total memory solely on data processing, which in turn translates to speedier transition among files and tasks.

The kit we got has a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor and a hefty 4GB 800MHz DDR2 memory, as well as a spacious 320GB hard drive. These parts, along with abovementioned graphics chip, is clearly up to the task of running even a number of resource-hungry applications such as the Adobe Creative Suite and games like Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. Adding a cooling dock to solve the heat issue and a USB hub to enable support for more USB devices are perhaps key things to do in order to fully utilize this notebook PC, which is well-above other desktop replacements and ultra-mobile PCs when it comes to specs, performance and, most importantly, price.

August 3, 2009

Full Featured Under The Gloss
By Luis Anthony G. Oliveros
Published in the May 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

Canon IXUS 110 IS
P23,950
www.canon.com/ph

Barely two months after it was launched along with other point-and-shooters in Canon’s stable of digital cameras, the Canon IXUS 110 IS has stepped up to the platter with nice specs, good image output and a compact body. Simplicity is obviously the main design principle implemented here, subtly complemented by well-rounded corners and sides that taper softly towards the edges. These are further augmented by an eye-catching glossy faceplate that comes in pastel shades of pink, blue, silver and old with a dull silver rear and matte black sides balancing the general look. Chrome-plated buttons and lens rings complete the cam’s overall accoutrement.

The controls at the back have also been kept to a minimum with just the Menu and Gallery buttons flanking a ribbed five-way click wheel for navigation and for tweaking settings through the cam’s GUI. Interestingly enough, it also has a built-in accelerometer which shifts between panoramic and portrait screen orientations in both photo and video playbacks and lets you navigate the gallery by flicking the cam upward or downward.

The absence of the deluge of buttons crowding the rear provided enough space for Canon to slap a 2.8-inch LCD screen onto it. It displays clear images with vibrant colors and has a scratch-free coating with a matte finish that prevents reflections; this along with the sufficient brightness settings make the cam ideal for outdoor use. In this case, it would be a good idea to stock up on SD, SDHC, MMC, MMCplus or HC MMCplus cards because this compact cam doesn’t have any actual internal storage.

Naturallly located at the top is the shutter button along with the zoom ring around it, next to the power button and mode switch. This switch lets you toggle between shooting videos and taking still photos in either user-defined standard mode or in Auto mode, which lets the cam do all the tweaking by first analyzing the photo subject and its environment and then auto-selecting the optimum scene preset for best quality. And while the inclusion of this toggle is definitely not a new feature, it’s still a nice touch that contributes to the cam’s ease of use instead of having to dig through the interface just to switch shooting modes.

Its well constructed 97.9×54.1×22.1mm body feels absolutely solid and comfortable in your hand with the well rounded corners resting snuggly on the palm during use; especially since it only weighs a mere 145g. While it’s nowhere near being indestructible, its solidly built shell still feels sturdy enough to take on daily use; great if you;re doing a Project360 type of phlog activity or running around the Metro shooting videos for a school documentary or making a vlog. However, we also noticed that the glossy front panel could get slippery at times; securing the cam to your wrist with the included lanyard easily solves this minor issue.

The buit-in lens offers 4x zoom and includes optical stabilization, which means that the lens mechanism itself compensates for erratic movements. This works really well, sparing our deliberately shaken pics from ending up as blurry outputs.

There are 19 presets scene modes that include the usual array of options like Portrait, Night Shots and Digital Macro. These are joined by three interesting and useful ones like Color Accent, Color Swap and Stitch Assist that lets you create artistic shots. Color Accent lets you choose a particular color that would be retained while the rest of the hues would be flung to monochrome, nicely duplicating the effect so commonly utilized in movies like Sin City and indie art house byproducts. While Color Swap, quite meta, lets you choose a color and swap it with another; Stitch Assist creates a panoramic shot from a series of separately taken photos. Needless to say, we actually wasted time having fun playing with these features.

At the heart of this cam is Canon’s latest image processor, the DIGIC 4, which is also found in the brand’s latest slew of cameras including the EOS 50D and EOS 500D DSLRs. And one of the most significant benefits of this processor is the improved noise reduction which is a common snag when shooting in high ISOs. During our tests, we took photos with the highest ISO setting (1600) in a room with less desirable illumination and we saw this feature in effect. Not that all traces of noise were removed, there are still a smattering present, mind you, but not enough to obscure image details and are only visible when you zoom at higher magnifications.

Powering up the 110 IS i very fast; you’re good to go in less than a second. During use, there’s roughly a second of lag between shots and a few milliseconds past a second when using the Continuous Shots feature, which averages at six photos in 10 seconds.

With a 12.1-megapixel resolution, it’s suitable for making large print outs up to A4 (4000×3000), in addition to handling smaller outputs such as postcards (1600×1200) and an e-mail suitable size (640×480). Indoor use yielded nice results with the warm tones prominently popping out of the shots, particularly the reds and the maroons. Cooler tones like the blues and the greens, on the other hand, are also well defined though not as rich as the other shades. We also noticed  that the blacks weren’t as dark or as bold as we liked. Tweaking the settings further remedies this, resulting in impressive photos with vivid hues and great detail definitions that cleanly displayed the gradients in the background.

Outdoor tests displayed the sky with a nice tinge of blue and the nearby trees looking lush; though the pale copper colored rooftops nearby looked a tad bit bland than they ought to be. Nevertheless, the photos still came out with good quality with the details cleanly defined.

Videos also showed the same high quality outputs at 30fps, from the smaller 320×240 and standard definition up to 720p. There are seven White Balance presets and 11 scene modes you can choose from. These include the customary Sepia and Black & White and is joined by the Vivid array of submodes aimed to give you enough leg room for enhancing our videos. Among these are the Positive Film feature geared to emulate the quality and color saturation produced when shooting in film. While the Vivid selection of submodes emphasize the contrast and boost saturation on specific colors to make them pop out of the scenes, Neutral does the exact opposite by reducing color intensity but still retaining quality.

July 15, 2009

Limited Format Support, Great Performance
By Luis Anthony G. Oliveros
Published in the July 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

Philips GoGear Aria (4GB)
www.philips.com

Philips recently rolled out their latest line of multimedia players under the GoGear banner, mostly carrying the series’ signature black and gray hard plastic bodies and good audio outputs. One minor but notable change in this new lineup is that they now have actual names that are easy to recall instead of the previous batches that employ what may seem to consumers as a series of random model numbers.

In the middle of this new lineup is the Philips GoGear Aria. We received a 4GB unit in the mail for testing and we took it around the Metro to do so. Additionally, it also comes in 8- and 16GB variants.

This midrange player is nowhere near being an eye candy because, as mentioned, it has a monochromatic physical orientation. It does, however, have its own brand of polished sense of chic with glossy black exteriors, rounded corners and contrasting matte gray sides. Its 84x47x10.7mm profile makes it easy to store and slip into any pocket although you may want to get some sort of protective case since it’s definitely a fingerprint/smudge/scratch magnet.

The Aria features a straightforward text-based graphic user interface via its two-inch LCD display with a 220×176 resolution which displays texts, photos in JPEG and BMP formats and videos at 24fps. Navigations comes by way of the using a somewhat re-imagining of the five-way direction pad. First, you get a four way button pad that only handles the Left and Right functions as well as the Back and the Options keys. It frames a chrome-plate vertical rocker for handling Up and Down; and nestled right in the center is the Play/Pause/Enter button. This configuration could get a little confusing at times and may take some getting used to especially if you’re new to the Philips MP3 player terrain. For instance, when viewing photos, you have to use the Up and Down buttons, despite the fact that instinct would naturally instruct you to hit either the Left and Right keys. Doing so would rotate the photo you’re viewing.

One downside you’d find on the Aria is the limited format support. While video playback here only supports the SMV format, audios can only play MP3s and WMAs, foregoing the other standards like OGG, AAC, AAC+ and FLAC. Though the packed disc may offer some semblance of convenience by including an audio/video converter, it’s still one step more that may cost a bit of both your patience and time. Needless to say, you’d first have to convert contents previously ripped in other formats before loading them onto the player.

Despite the limited format support, we found the audio output to be pretty impressive. We loaded our standard test playlist that consists of audios from a variety of genres, audiobooks, podcasts and TV episodes.

There are over seven EQ presets here to give you enough leg room to modify your listening experience. Aside from these, Philips incorporates their own sound enhancing technology called FullSound which restores the sonic details lost during sound compression minus the distortions.

As such, sound quality was very good during our tests, with squeaky clean high tones and well defined mid-tones. The low-end sounded full-bodied and boldly thumped prominently in the background. This was especially evident in the tracks from the shoegazer/New Wave inspired band Taken By Cars where the Aria served up a full roller coaster of audios from the sound spectrum without compromising the sound details, which also proved to be good. In tracks like “Logistical Nightmare,” “Stereolove” and “The Blackout,” we really enjoyed the soaring guitars with the mono-sounding backing vocals adding a sound dimension and the great bass depth.

The sound details were also worth mentioning, as we’ve come to notice when we played Love Me Butch’s “Barricade” where the band’s excellent instrumentation was deftly churned out. We easily heard the textured layers each of the instruments contributed, even vocalist Syarul Reza’s range and parts of the playful lead guitar-bass interplay we hardly notice when playing the same track with other players.

However, if you’ve gotten tired of your playlists, you can always turn on the Aria’s FM radio tuner which allows room for 20 radio stations. It also has a recording feature that lets you record songs and radio talk show discussions to MP3 for playback. This recording features also works with the built-in microphone located on the unit’s right side panel next to the lanyard eyelet. The mic records sounds at around seven feet away though it can pick up less than discernable sounds approximately past a12-foot mark. The test recordings came out relatively good and clear though a bit tinny and it had some humming sound in the background.

Included with the Aria is a decent pair of sound isolating earphones and two extra pairs of rubber earbuds. This particular pair feels very comfortable and produced above average results in keeping some of the outside noises off your eardrums and funneling in hi-def audios. As you can imagine, we took the player out to the streets and along our daily commutes and the earphones worked well blocking out most of the engine noises while we were on a public transportation and while walking along crowded streets. This apparently isn’t such a good idea because you should be aware of your surroundings whenever you’re out and about.

Aside from listening to music, we also played John Hodgman’s “Areas of My Expertise” audiobook as well as Distorted View, Buzz Out Loud and The 404 podcasts. Here, the voices, music backdrops and sound effects sounded nice and natural.

July 6, 2009

Stylish Speakers for the Room
By Billy Joe I. Allardo
Published in the May 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

Altec Lansing FX2020
www.alteclansing.com

The Altec Lansing FX2020 kit comes in the form of two cylindrical speakers garbed in shiny black hard plastic casing. Black cloth meshing provides immediate protection to both three-inch drivers with a silvery ring accentuating the two.

Meanwhile, the translucent front plates serve to not only doll up the speakers, but also act as their stands. Rubber footings are present on both plates to provide traction and indicate, alongside with the brand name, how the speakers should stand up.

Since both look the same, you can interchange which speaker goes to what side. Yet this decision can boil down on the proximity of the controls and the connectivity jacks to the user, which are all located on one satellite, as well as the power jack to the nearest power socket. The volume keys are on top with the power LED between them. At the back, the power button sits atop of the unit, auxiliary and power jacks.

The cable that connects the speakers is long enough to suit one’s positional preference. Each speaker has a 7.5W output nd produces crisp audio. However, since it lacks a separate subwoofer, don’t expect a powerful low-end bass from this desktop set.  It does offer a good amount of balance though, which should be good enough for a small room or desktop use.

Although the Altech Lansing FX2020 is somewhat a desktop space-eater with its size and unconventional shape, having a bulky bass boomer defeats the purpose of having it. The kit figures best inside a confined area, such as a bedroom or home office space, where bass is not much of a requirement for obvious reasons.

With its appearance, the Altec Lansing FX2020 is clearly a superior two-piece speaker kit when compared to the looks of other brands. The sound output is still a-ok, clear and subtle, something you expect from the maker. People looking for a powerful low-end might want something with a woofer, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if Altec Lansing comes up with an FX2020 kit with a subwoofer.