Consumer Technology Review with Ciaran O'Byrne

17th December 2009 - Samsung GT - S 9110 "Montre" Watchphone
Only from The Carphone Warehouse - €449 sim free

In our Consumer Technology Review, Ciaran O'Byrne thinks he is 007 today, and is testing out a Samsung "Watchphone".

The idea of a watchphone or wrist communicator has been around since Dick Tracy was a comic strip.

And various James Bond's have had fantastic watch gadgets, now you can too, if you want to splash out.

The Samsung GT - S 9110 "Montre" watchphone is only available from The Carphone Warehouse, and is apparently the world's thinnest watchphone at under 12mm thick.

It has a 1.7 inch colour touchscreen - which is easy to view, and operate. It fits a 12 button key pad on the screen, and to access the menus, you slide the screen sideways, and up and down for your contacts.

Features include MP3, voice recognition, voice memo, speakerphone support, Bluetooth and an internal memory of 40MB.

It weighs around 91g which I don't think is too heavy. The size of the phone takes some getting used to though, bigger in length than a calculator watch, but you've got a phone, an MP3 player and a web browser crammed in there, so you can't complain too much.

There is no camera on it though, while the LG equivalent does have one.

Advanced features include:

And SOS message feature!! - In case of emergency press the "dial" key 4 times and it will send a text message to selected recipients from your contacts list! In these kind of circumstances, I'd probably select the Irish Army Rangers as a contact!

Mobile Tracker - this is probably an feature for trying if someone steals your watchphone - when someone inserts a new SIM card in your phone, the mobile tracker feature will automatically send the contact number to two recipients to help you locate and recover your phone.

You can even try to carry out conference calls on your watch - which probably looks strange if you have 3 or 4 people gathering around your wrist to talk to 2 or 3 parties on the line.

The watch does come with its own Bluetooth headset so you don't have to walk around with your arm cocked out at an angle and talk to your hand.

Other "watchphones" have been developed over the last two years from the likes of LG.

There have also been phones recently that detect open WiFi zones or use Bluetooth signals to tell you who is ringing your mobile without you having to look at it.

Verdict:

It is a slim piece of tech crammed with enough features to keep you happy, and headphones and Bluetooth set as well, so you don't have to talk to the hand!

But, you wouldn't want to be shy about carrying a gadget like this, and the demands of the battery of advanced pieces of tech mean you will probably have to charge your watch every day or so - which is the same as smart phones, and it costs in the neighbourhood of one as well, at €449 only from www.carphonewarehouse.ie

10th December 2009 - Digital Radios

Pure Sensia Internet/DAB/FM/Streamer - €299

Cross between a rugby ball, a giant ostrich egg and an i-Pod, but it is a fascinating development in Digital Radio.

With it, you can receive DAB radio, internet radio through Wireless Broadband, and you can stream audio from your computer through it.

The 3 ½ inch touch screen is easy to read, but the sensitivity of it could be improved. Having said that, the model I had is a pre-production model, so this may be addressed in the final version.

A piece of designer tech that you would probably plonk straight in front of the coffee table or on a display shelf.

There's very good sound of it though, solid speakers, they don't go cut back on the audio quality.

You use "The Lounge" which they describe as a "gateway" to thousands of online radio stations, podcasts and listen again content.

It even streams it's own music channels from Pure, which at the moment include Christmas music, and a lot of different sound effects channels with everything from babbling brooks to chirping birds, and even an angry mob.

Plus the other selling point is the access to online apps - such as Twitter, Facebook and weather forecasts in part of the digital window display.

You can search for Internet stations via genre, location, language etc using the onscreen keyboard.

You register online thru the Sensia system itself, and you can access these additional channels and it will even recommend particular radio stations based on your favourites.

You can stream audio from your computer at home to the Pure using wifi broadband if you have that.

Comes in a Yellow, Black, Red and White trim.

Also comes with a remote control.

It costs €299 and is available now, but in small quantities in Ireland as Pure say demand is huge worldwide.

Verdict - very stylish, big leap in Digital Radio systems with advanced touch screen design, but the keyboard could be more sensitive.

Roberts Streamtime Internet/FM / Clock Radio (€179.99)

Looks a little like a bedside or kitchen radio and so is familiar and not threatening, but gets you access to over 17,000 radio stations worldwide very easily.

Once you have given the radio your wifi encryption key it connects and allows you access to a wealth of stations, including all of RTE's DAB stations, which is one of the selling points if you are not in the immediate DAB signal coverage areas.

You simply search via location or genre, and can access 60's, 70's, 80's music etc, Comedy, News, Talk, Drama, Classical, Christian Radio, Adult Contemporary Rock, Salsa.the list goes on and on.

Goon Show Radio was one of my favourites. All Goon Show, all the time!

Not a DAB radio but you can access all of RTE's DAB stations online using this set.

It has something it calls a "HWS" - or Humane Waking System! Which sounds delightful, like someone quietly bringing you a cup of tea first thing in the morning, but is a description of the various snooze and nap timers on the set.

Only 10 station pre sets which is not huge amount considering the massive range of stations available online, but if you register your radio online, you can store more of your favourite stations in the memory that way.

The Roberts can also stream audio from your computer if using wifi broadband.

Verdict: Very easy to operate, once it has been set up. Could do with more preset station memories.

Sony DAB/FM/CD player (XDR-S100CD) (€219 from Peats)

This is a big solid wooden body with fairly straightforward controls.

It is heavy enough - it's not a lightweight radio, that you would lug around from room to room.

20 pre set stations on FM and DAB.

Very easy to operate - you switch from DAB to FM to CD and sit back and listen.

It also has a pause and rewind function for DAB listening. It can store the DAB output for about 25 minutes depending on the bit rate

It has an EPG or Electronic Programme Guide, which will give you details of what programmes are coming up on the DAB station that you are listening to.

It has a top loader CD player - but you load the CD down vertically into the player, so it keeps the unit compact.

The Sony also comes with a remote control.

Verdict: Nice to have a DAB/ FM set with CD player, with good sound, display and operation, but heavy and slightly big.

More details from:

Touchmyradio.com (Pure Sensia DAB / Internet Radio)

Peats.com (Sony DAB / FM / CD)

Robertsradio.co.uk (Roberts Internet / FM Radio)

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Mid-Priced Media Mobile Phones

This week, Ciaran O'Byrne looks at some affordable mobile phones crammed full of the latest features...

What have you got there?

There are a huge amount of mobile phones being pushed out there in time for Christmas, but we are just having a quick look at two.

From the Nokia Illuvial range - 5530 Xpress Music "Pixie Lott" edition.

She had a number one in the UK with "Boys and Girls.and a number 4 here.

And the Sony Ericsson Aino slider and touchscreen phone.

We've spoken before how the mobile phone manufacturers and network providers want to give you direct remote access to Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and photo sites such as Flickr, while you are out and about and on the move, as it is now very big business.

The Nokia Illuvial is also going down the route of the pop star and popular culture tie-in.

Pop star tie-ins - Lady Gaga Headphones - which, like the singer, look a bit odd.

Ed Hardy graphics on the Sony Ericsson -which celebrates the work of legendary tattoo artist Ed Hardy.

Nokia Illuvial range - 5530 Xpress Music "Pixie Lott" edition, which looks a little like a scaled down Nokia N97 smart phone, except it doesn't have a slide out keypad.

It is touch screen only, and has a sliver and pink trim with a kind of floral yet modern motif on the back of the handset. It is without shame - a girlie phone - it also has a matching pink and white soft suede-ette pouch and handstrap.

Nice touches are the new Contacts bar allows for 20 of your most popular contacts to sit on a scrolling bar (just like a news ticker on TV news channels) and there is a media bar which drops down from the top right of the screen, and brings you straight to your favourite apps.

You can also, like a number of similarly targetted phones now, directly post photos, videos and sound clips to online sharing sites. The camera is 3.2 megapixel - not massive but fine for snapping away.

It's a fairly light phone - not the most robust, so don't drop it on the floor.

€159.99 "pay as you go", or from free on a pay monthly contract - from The Carphone Warehouse

The Sony Ericsson "Aino" was launched only a month ago here.

It's not a full-on smart phone - but those lines have been blurred recently, as the latest phones will have internet access, and widgets that take you straight to your Facebook page or Twitter site, aswell as access to movies in this case.

It is a slider with what they call "partial touchscreen" - which means the touchscreen operates when the slider is closed, but not when it is opened, when you have to use the keypad only.

You can answer the phone by either sliding your finger along the screen or just flicking the phone open, but while closed, you only have immediate access to the multi media functions.

Physically it is a slimer model than the Sony Ericsson Walkman phones - with fewer buttons along the sides - it's an attractive colour - "obisidian black" - and has a solid feel to it, and comes with useful accessories such as external stereo speakers and a nice little bluetooth headphone set as well.

It has an impressive "Media Go" suite - which includes a very good 8.1 megapixel camera and a very clear large 3-inch touchscreen. Along with Wi-Fi, GPS, Track ID, and it can even act as a remote control for a Playstation 3.

Sony Ericsson offer access a range of movie that you can watch on your handset only from their Play Now arena - you can select from a range of movies from Sony, download them and watch them for a 90 day period. Only on your handset, not on your laptop.

The keypad is fairly compact - it shouldn't be a problem to make a call, but some of the menu buttons are small.

The Aino costs from between €79 on O2 contract, and €149 on Bill Pay.

The Carphone Warehouse is stocking both the Sony Ericsson Aino and the Nokia Illuvial range - www.carphonewarehouse.ie

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Console Games for Christmas

We are taking a quick look at three very different console games that are very likely to be the top sellers this Christmas, from GameStop stores.

It's old style fun with the "New Super Mario Bros" for the Nintendo Wii

Gritty first person shooter "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" on the Xbox 360, as well as other platforms...

And I've been trying to replay the World Cup play-offs on "FIFA 10" on the Playstation 3

New Super Mario Bros first - this is a character who just won't die - Mario the plumber first appeared in 1981 in the arcade classic "Donkey Kong", and went on through the 1980's to become a game in his own right, on hand held game units to the bigger TV consoles, over the past 28 years!

This incarnation is a near perfect fit on the Nintendo Wii console.

It has a retro feel to it as it has reverted from a 3D game to a 2D game, and previously the character has done everything from fighting to racing carts to solving puzzles.

The Princess has been kidnapped by Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings, and it is up to Mario and friends to get her back.

And to do that you jump, run and fly your way through the various levels in the various different world, through the desert, cities, in caves, on ice and under water.

You use the Wii-mote controller to run across the screen, and you can burst bubbles by shaking the wii-mote and pressing a button at the same time. It's fairly easy to get to grips with.

It's looks somewhat similarly to Mario 3, and also plays a little like Super Mario World, but that shouldn't put you off and make you think you're getting something old-hat that will bore the kids over Christmas.

You can play the story mode alone, but it's much better fun in multiplayer mode - it gets almost frantic if you have the grown-ups who mean well, but mess things up and the kids are getting exasperated with them for not collecting enough stars or power-ups or getting the Propeller Hat!

The story mode won't be beaten really easily so it should last a while, and there are various mini games within it as well, so it should last well past St Stephen's Day, and will sustain many goes.

Price of Super Mario Bros - €40

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" is a very different animal and is a direct follow up from the very successful Modern Warfare 1 - the whole Call of Duty series has been very popular, initially set in World War II for several games, and for the last two games set in contemporary times.

It's what's called a "first person shooter", so you are the soldier or special forces op engaged in a mission, and you have the head on view of the world.

It was one of the most eagerly awaited games of the year, and has made an amazing $550 million so far in sales. It sold around 1.2 million copies in the UK in its first day, and they expect 13 million copies will be sold by the end of 2009.

Hardcore gamers queued up over night here to get them first.

Part of the hype was connected to a controversial scene in it, where in part of the story mode, you play a CIA undercover agent who is tracking a rogue Russian villain, who kills innocent civilians at an airport. You are undercover pretending to be part of their gang, and you have the option to shoot them too.

The game publisher said that "Players have the option of skipping over the scene. At the beginning of the game, there are two 'checkpoints' where the player is advised that some people may find a forthcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can't be disabled."

There are also Family Settings on it, that can block under 18s from playing the game, if you want to set that up.

But let's face it, the controversy adds to the publicity surrounding the game, and that has helped it sell truck loads.

It has an 18's certificate from PEGI, the Pan-European Game Information rating system, and that, and the general shooting mayhem, is the reason.

The story mode features fantastic graphics showing a shootout in a Rio suburb, freeing hostages from an enemy infested oil rig, and a huge, frenetic battle in the centre of a Washington DC.

The game can look like something from a TV news report - in one level, you man the turret of a Humvee patrolling the narrow streets of an unspecified Middle Eastern city.

The downside of the story mode is that it is shorter that it's predecessor - hardcore gamers will finish it in a day or two - maybe 7 hours game play time.

But after that, the multi-player, and co-operative missions are very good.

You can either have a whole gang of friends playing on line on xBox Live - which is always popular - and they probably could be a popular as the online Death-matches from Gears of War, and Halo, or some of the Tom Clancy Las Vegas title, which would be a pretty good result.

So besides from the short story mode, and the controversial and muddled story line, the game play has been very well received, and CoDMW2 will be under many a Christmas Tree in 4 weeks time.

Price of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" - in GameStop - €55

Finally, we get to take on the French again, and this time we beat them and make it to the World Cup, in FIFA 10 on the Playstation 3.

Broadly speaking there are two huge football games - Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) and the FIFA franchise - both have been going for years now.

You are either one or the other and Santa will know which you prefer, or if you are getting your brother or sister a football sim, you should know which one they prefer too!

Every season the game makers update the latest new players, strips, grounds etc and release the games around November in time for the Christmas market, but they also try to improve the already very impressive graphics.

Now you can control your player from directly behind his head with a dizzying 360 degree camera angle, personally I don't want to see the back of Wayne Rooney's head that much.

There's a bit of an expanded Manager Mode where you can trade players, manage budgets, as well as sorting tactics and substitutions etc. in the game itself.

Getting stuck in and just playing the game is great fun - and there are leagues from all over the world. I had a great time playing as Shamrock Rovers (with 3 different shirt options), and current players such as Gary Twigg.

There's also an option to load real life data into you game every week, so if you team suffers a lot of injuries, so will you - if you play as Liverpool, unfortunately you'll be having a bit of trouble right now.

That will add transfers and suspensions as well - now you have to purchase that mode - Live Season 2.0 separately online, so there is an added price there.

There's Gameface mode - which is a fairly familiar concept by now - you take a photo of yourself, upload it and it will be stuck on to the face of a pro football player.

You can also play on line using the Playstation Network, and play head to head with someone in a remote location, or have a team game with a bunch of your friends all playing on the same team, although the Playstation Network has just not been as successful as the xBox Live, and I always feel it's much more craic when you are playing the game with friends or family in the room with you.

The game play itself can get very advanced and if you're good enough you can do all kind of skilful moves such as Body Feints, Reverse Step Overs, and Rainbow Flicks.

Overall, the improvements that game designers can make on footie sims, do seem to be getting smaller, but nonetheless it is a very enjoyable game that many people will be looking for this Christmas.

Price of FIFA 10 on PS3 - €50

Price of Super Mario Bros on Wii - €40

Price of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" - €55

All prices from http GameStop - www.gamestop.ie/

Plus you can get discounts if you trade in older games against the new titles at GameStop.

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Smart Phones

What are Smart Phones?

Why are we talking about them?

It's coming up to Christmas, and a lot of phones are being launched, and a lot of other phone manufacturers, and mobile phone providers want a slice of the Social Networking market that the i-Phone has dominated.

Direct remote access to Facebook, Bebo, Twitter and photo sites such as Flickr, while you are out and about and on the move, are now very big business.

That and the "apps" market, which has had a massive effect on the mobile phone market. Apps are basically small applications or programmes that you can run on more advanced phones.

iPhones have this ability and have proved so successful and popular that there are now 100,000 apps available to download.

They cover everything from maps, news, sports results, cookery lessons, comics, jokes, stock markets, planners, horoscopes...

This all continues the idea of "convergence" - the idea that you will carry just one device that can do all of the tasks you want, make phone calls, text, take photos, play games, go on line and update your social network, have almost full access to the internet, and act as a storage/player device for files such as music, text, and photos.

So what are the phones you have been testing that are trying to get a piece of this action?

What do they look like / functions / ease of use?

Nokia N97 - Available from €174 on O2 Bill Pay (18 month contract) at The Carphone Warehouse.

The Nokia N97 is a big screen slider. It has a 3.5 inch long screen on a comparatively big phone, with a slide out keypad.

The keypad slides out from the side, and makes the screen tilt up slightly at an angle. It has a Qwerty keyboard with actual buttons, although they are relatively small buttons, and the space button is strangely placed on the right hand side of the keypad, rather than in the middle of the bottom row, as is normal. It also has a thumbpad on the left of the keypad, which can direct you around the screen.

It has a 5.0MP camera, which can be activated very quickly by flicking open the lens cover on the back - and you can take plenty of pics as it has a 32GB internal memory.

The other selling point for it is the Nokia Ovi store where you can buy or download for free, it comes with You Tube, weather stations, Bloomberg Biz news, AP News, Facebook, and I downloaded frivolous things like a candle app, that you could probably use at a concert, and quench it by pressing the flame on the screen.

It still is a very business oriented handset as it has a PDF reader, Quick Office, and a Zip Manager for compressing large files so you can attach them to an email.

Overall, it is a very sharp top flight handset, with lots of good apps and functions, good camera, although slightly bigger than you might want, but not heavy.

Palm Pre - available on an 18-month contract with the device ranging in price from free to €99 depending on the monthly price plan. The Palm Pre is also available on prepay and retails at €419.

This looks very different to the Nokia N97 or HTC Hero.

It resembles a flat black pebble about 3.5 inches long, with a approx 2.5 inch screen, and also has a keypad, this one slides downward, while the screen slides upwards. The keypad on this also has real raised buttons, and this time the space bar is in the centre of the bottom row, where I think it should be!

The Palm Pre has a very intuitive interface. You call up the programme or app you want, you can even call up several and swap through them by flicking your finger from left to right. Then when you are finished with the app, you flick your finger upwards, and the app disappears. The Pre is able to run several apps simultaneously, which is something the iPhone has not been able to do.

Location services:

Auto Locate - your location automatically provided to applications that request it.

Use GPS - improves accuracy but may impact battery strength.

Geotag Photos - stores the co-ordinates of your location when you use the camera

The Palm Pre also can use the "Touchstone Charging Dock", which powers your handset using magnets! You plug the charger into the mains, and place your Palm Pre on top of it - it aligns itself with magnets and passes the electric charge through the dock to the phone - the dock propping the phone up at an angle. It's a nice gizmo, as well as a technological advance.

Palm App Catalog - this is where you go to get those all important mobile apps - although there are only around 300, which is a very small number, but will grow.

HTC Hero "Android" phone - The handset is priced at €399 on Prepay and from €99.99 on Billpay

Runs on Google Android software - this is the first phone in Ireland to run on this Android software. This is an Open Source Google Operating System.

With access to Android Market, there are thousands of applications available to download. Stock, soccer results, Simpsons jigsaws, even a "Prayer Tracker" which keeps track of who you are praying for! There are

It again looks very different to the two other phones - this one has a cream body (although it also comes in black), it has a 3 inch touchscreen, and a distinctive angled "chin" at the bottom of the phone, than has five buttons and a roller-ball, that is very useful moving through the menu, and scrolling up and down web-pages, without having to touch the screen itself.

There has been a great buzz about this mobile in techie circles, and it has actually won two "Gadget of the Year" awards, from both Stuff magazine and T2 Magazine.

The "Set Scenes" feature

It's not just changing the wallpaper, but moving different apps to the homepage of the phone, depending on what your day will be like - so you don't have to go searching through lots of menus to get to the feature you want to use - eg:

Work: two time zones / calendar / to do list/ email and maps on front page, plus stock and shares just a flick of the finger away.

Social - quick access to Twitter, texts etc,

Play - Photo album, Twitter, weather

Travel - Dual time zones, weather, Footprint

It has an anti-fingerprint screen coating, and apparently the casing is Teflon coated, to keep smudges off the cream coloured shell.

All in all, a very "sexy" phone, if you can call it that - possibly the one to take on the iPhone and bruise it a little.

E-BOOKS

What are e-Books and why is there a battle beginning?

We wanted to have a look at the growing market of "e-Books", I've been using the Sony eReader Touch Edition for the past couple of weeks, and partly because from next week their big rival in this area Amazon is to start shipping their very successful "Kindle" reader

eBook readers generally are the size of a paperback book, but a lot thinner, only about 5-10 mm thick.

The Sony eReader Touch comes in a few different colours - black, red and silver.

The Amazon Kindle only comes in a white colour.

According to the Association of American Publishers, US consumers spent $63m on ebooks in the first half of this year alone.

Ebook readers are expected to be one of the biggest-selling gifts this Christmas. In the United States around 900,000 ebook readers will be sold in the run-up to the festive period, according to Forrester Research, with Amazon's devices taking a 60pc share of the market, followed by Sony's Reader range, which will account for 35pc of sales.

Oprah is a big fan of the Kindle, and almost anything that Oprah says is great, turns to gold!

Are eBooks cheaper than a "real life" book?

You do tend to get discounts - they want to encourage the eBook market.

How many books can you carry on an eBook?

SONY eREADER Touch has a 512mb memory - about 350 books, but if that's not enough, you can expand it, as it has a slot for a standard SD card, or a Sony ProDuo card.

It also works much like a MP4 device and can store music and photos - it has a headphone socket, but the photos will only be viewed in two tone LCD, but does actually store them in full colour.

Slim and weighing a mere 250g, the Reader boasts a 160-book capacity and battery life lasting 7,000 page turns - that's 'War and Peace' five times over

How do you buy a book?

From online, and this is where there is a significant difference between the Kindle and the Sony eReader. The Kindle comes with WiFi and allows you to connect to the net and download from the website, whereas with the Sony eReader, at the moment it does not have WiFi and you have to connect to your laptop and download the book to that first - a bit like an iTunes system, and then download it to your Reader.

How many books are available in the online format?

Amazon say there are about 280,000 books available for their Kindle, while Sony say 10s of thousands of books available from their Sony eBook Store

Can you get free books on line?

www.Feedbooks.com www.Gutenberg.org: free electronic books, around 30,000 and growing, including novels, poetry, short stories, cookbooks, reference works and periodicals. www.ManyBooks.net Choose from over 24,000 eBooks to download for free.

Plus, a nice development is that Irish libraries are already involved with eBooks and eReaders.

*****eBooks for the Sony Reader are now available from South Dublin County Council Libraries and from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Library.

Browse the titles, choose, put into digital basket and proceed to checkout.

Then download titles.

Limit of 10 per card and user defined borrowing periods of 7, 14 and 21 days.

Nintendo 100 classic book collection

What are the prices?

Estimated Selling Price for Reader Pocket Edition is €199 and for Reader Touch Edition is €289. Retailers are free to set their own prices.

Amazon Kindle $279 - 186.705 EUR (plus shipping and import costs of €44) so more like €230

Who might use them?

Besides from antype of reader, students or academics might like using them, as you can contain hundreds of books on one, and also you can make and keep notes in the margins on the screen using a stylus (Sony) or the keyboard that comes on the Kindle

Downsides?

Downside of the Kindle is that it has its own text format, whereas the Sony eBook can handle popular formats such as PDF, text and ePub, which are much more widely available.

How long does the battery last for?

The Pocket Edition device can store approximately 350 standard eBooks and provides up to two weeks of reading on a single battery charge.

6,800 page turns or 7,500 for a Reader Touch EditionT

Other alternatives?

Google Editions - allows you to buy and read the book online, but you don't actually download it to your eReader

Cool-er E Book

Elonex eReader

Bookeen Cybook

Bebook E-reader

iPhone Stanza app or you can get the Kindle app as a free download apparently.

iPhone Comic Zeal app

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For his Consumer Technology Review this week, Ciaran O'Byrne has put his bicycle clips, hi-viz vest and helmet on, and checked out the latest electric bikes..

So when we talk about an electric bike, what exactly are they? How do they operate?

Well, it looks and handles like a normal pedal cycle, but it is assisted by an electric motor. So it is not solely electrically powered, as that would classify it as a mechanically powered vehicle and you would need a licence, tax, insurance etc. You don't need any of that, as you still have to pedal this yourself, and the electric motor helps propel you along.

The visual difference is the battery which powers the electric motor. I reckon it's about the size of a large flask.

Some of the EU legal requirements for an electrically assisted pedal bike is that the pedals must be fully functioning, and that the motor stops when you stop pedalling.

So what types of bike have you been using?

We've been trying out two different models from Ken Bay electric bikes in Tallaght, here in Dublin: a fold-a-way model and a lo-step model, which is basically the same size as a mountain bike but has no cross bar on it.

How did you find them? How fast can it go?

I found that it zips along quite fast, at up to 25km a hour (that's about 15 mph), or maybe I'm a fairly easy going cyclist, but the speed is impressive.

I was flying up relatively long and steep hills around here, and you hardly notice that you are pedalling. You are still pedalling but you would only be putting in about 1/3 of the effort you normally would, I reckon.

How long does the charge last?

If you were cycling along a continuously flat road, the Ken Bay people reckon the charge could take you up to 100km, but more realistically going along hills and flats would get you about 50-60kms. If you do a lot of hill climbs it would obviously use up more of the power.

There is a power gauge on the handle-bars that gives you an idea of how much charge is left in the battery.

You use a key on the battery pack to switch on the battery, but in there will be a switch on the handle bars in the next batch they have.

How long does it take to charge it?

It operates with a "trickle-down" charger, which takes about 5 to 6 hours to fully charge up. They battery can be slotted out and taken inside, where you simply plug the charger into your household power socket. There is a cover on the battery socket itself which is designed to keep the rain out when you are outdoors.

How heavy is it?

They weigh about 23kg, and although they are partly made of lightweight aluminium, they are not lightweight - basically because you have a battery pack on. The battery pack can be removed if you just want to cycle it as a normal bike, and that would take a couple of kilograms off the weight.

The folder is not as light as a normal folding pedal bike, but can be managed and folded into the back of a car or even into a relatively normal sized boot.

And how did you find folding it up?

When you have done it once or twice, it's easy enough. You would just need a Velcro strap to keep it closed, though I believe they will have that on the bike soon.

How sturdy is it?

They seem to be very sturdy. I've cycled very badly over speed bumps, off curbs, and over holes. The only thing I've noticed is that I'm too used to comfortable car seats, and I've had to get used to bicycle seats again.

The folder bike has suspension on the front forks as well.

What difference do you notice when you are cycling up a hill?

You fly up them without noticing it.

The best example is from Sinéad our Broadcast Assistant who borrowed the folder bike. Her normal journey home is mostly up hill and takes nearly an hour. On an electrically assisted bike it took roughly 20 minutes.

How does it compare in terms of weight and price with other similar bikes?

It's competitive, they cost €1100 and other foldaway electric bikes would cost in the same ball park - €1000 and weigh around the same as well - 18 to 23kg.

You can rent the bike for a week, as well, can't you?

Ken Bay will rent you an eclectic bike for €50 a week. The idea being that you use it on your specific route, see how it goes for you on the ups and downs of your way to work, or where-ever, and see how it works out. Then the €50 fee goes toward the overall price of the bike should you decide you want to buy it.

More details from Kenbay at www.electricbikes.ie

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Netbook reviews

What are they?

Well, in appearance, a netbook looks like a shrunken down lap-top.

Where a lap top might have a 15 to 17 inch screen and measure up to one foot by a foot and a half - net books measure about 9 or 10 inches across and have a monitor of 7 to 10 inches.

So they are in effect physically shrunken, but not necessarily stripped of all of the functions that you would mostly need for day to day computer using.

Over the last two to three years, the laptop has been undergoing a revolution - and this type of new lighter, cheaper, stripped-down version has taken hold.

Interestingly enough, what is now a very consumerist item, was first inspired by the charitable One Laptop Per Child project.

That scheme aimed to put low-cost computers into the hands of people in developing countries.

The OLCP laptop was originally supposed to cost $100 per laptop, and caught the imagination worldwide - basically NET BOOKS they stripped out all of the unnecessary features in them, and they don't have expensive processors, and very big batteries, or a CD or DVD drive, but they give you simple access to the net - you can surf, using a nearly full (but smaller) keyboard, you get your access to email, and you have word processor features as well.

The Asus Eee PC, the Toshiba NB 100, and the LG X110, all available from The Carphone Warehouse at present.

The Taiwanese PC maker Asus - were the first to realise people in developed countries could also benefit from netbooks.

When this first came out if got a very positive reception.

Weighing a mere 920g and with dimensions of a small text book, it's the perfect size for carrying around in a small bag or simply by hand. It's small enough too that it can be used in more or less any environment, be it plane, train or bus - so long as you can sit down, you can comfortably use the Eee PC.

When this design first came out in late 2007, it had a Linux operating system, but this version comes with Windows XP.

It is very small and compact - 9 inches across and less than an inch thick.

The screen is only 6 ½ inches diagonally, so it is small, but compared with trying to surf on the latest touch screen phones or PDA handsets, you can use web pages very easily - no straining.

It comes with wi-fi and a web-cam as well - it's all set to roll on the web.

This costs €249 to buy straight - or you can actually get it for just €1 if you sign up to Chorus/ NTL through The Carphone Warehouse this month - there are obviously terms and conditions on that.

It's a nice little netbook - with a 0.3-megapixel webcam and integrated microphone - so you can chat to your friends from the comfort of your seat in a coffee bar with free wireless broadband, while they're probably drinking a latte in another wifi café in another part of the country!

Now it is only 512 MB RAM, so it is not the fastest, and has an 8G solid state storage drive, so you won't be downloading masses of photos or songs.

That's the ASUS, what is the Toshiba like?

The Toshiba is a little dearer, at €349 - released earlier this year.

It weighs in at just under 1 kg, the Toshiba NB100 is very light and would even make a dent in your backpack/daypack. The keyboard is small and will take some getting used to. The touch pad is directly beneath the keyboard, with the mouse keys beneath it, just like a regular laptop would have. All 3 of the net-books we're looking at do. The Toshiba is the only one that has separate right-click and left-click buttons, the Asus and the LG have one central mouse button with a central rocker or pivot on it, that you have to get used to, but it's no problem using.

It also have a webcam and microphone, along with it's wifi software, McAfee virus protection software (You spoke to their International President yesterday!!), and Microsoft Office, and MS Works.

It has a hard drive of 120 GB and 1 GB RAM.

It's a nice looking silver casing with matt black keyboards and monitor frame - though the dark keys might be a little harder to see properly in that shaded wifi coffee shop you are hanging out in with your chocolate muffin.

The Toshiba has a bigger screen too.

And the LG net book?

This is my favourite - and not necessarily because it the most expensive of the three - it costs €399 from The Carphone Warehouse. When it first came out I saw online prices of £800 sterling, so the market is quite competitive now.

It has a lovely black finish on the outside and white keyboard.

It has 1G of RAM which is typical of all three netbooks here, and 160GB of hard drive.

It is also an inch and a half wider than the other two, and has a screen of about 9 ½ inches diagonally, plus a magnifying tool on it as well.

It's keyboard is bigger too and easier to navigate - I like the white keyboard, though you could get it smudged - again with the chocolate muffins in the wifi café!

So are they a replacement for your laptop or your home desktop pc?

Not strictly speaking - they are more marketed as a back up to your main desktop pc or laptop - as they are lighter and easier just to throw in your rucksack or handbag, and take to work, to college or on a plane - you don't want another bag charge getting on that flight, so you?

They don't have a disk drive - which makes them lighter and quieter, but you can't rip music CD's directly to them - you would have to download music directly from the web, or use an external CD drive.

If you really only want a small netbook to surf the web, don't be put off by the hard drive capacity, as you can buy an external hard drive with 500Gigs of memory for €80 at Heatons for instance - which should do you fine.

What do you need to look for when buying one?

Look at the battery time - the Asus runs for about 2 hours or a little more - there battery indicator only works in percentage terms which is annoying rather than hours and minutes.

The Toshiba has at least 3 hours of battery time.

The LG has a battery life of only about 2 hours which is a little disappointing.

Mess around with them in a store and see if the keyboard size works for you.

And remember that they are stripped of high-performance processors in favour of components that weigh less and use less battery power.

And check that your machine boots up nice and fast too!

- Toshiba NB100 - €349
- LG X110 - €399
- Asus - €249 Or €1 if you sign up to Chorus NTL (T&C's apply)

More details from www.carphonewarehouse.ie

The Owl Wireless Electricity Monitor

How does it work?

It has a small sensor which clips around the Live Outgoing Supply Cable to your house - now this is the cable that goes from your electricity meter. It doesn't interfere with your electricity supply but the company recommend you get an electrician to do this for you - as with anything electrical, if you don't know what you are doing, then DON'T do it. Having said that it's a small operation.

The plastic clip has small magnets in it which can measure the small magnetic field that is generated from power cables.

This connects to a small battery powered transmitter - about the size of a cigarette packet which wirelessly sends the data to your display unit.

So what information does the display give you?

It converts the data on the current being used and calculates the amount of power being used, the cost and even the amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

It assumes you are connected to a fossil fuel electricity generating station and gives you a Green House Gas emission figure for that.

What I like about it is that it gives you the breakdown of not just how many kilowatt hours of electricity you are using - which may not mean too much to you, it wouldn't to me - but when you programme it with your electricity tariff, it converts it into Euro and Cents - which is great - and that will give you a land when you turn on the Immersion heater!

It gives you the overall consumptions of electricity in your house, but you can determine how expensive an individual appliance is to run - for example - when you turn on the tumble drier!

So how does it save you money?

Well that all depends on you. What these monitors will do is give you the information and details of how much electricity you are using, what it is costing you and even how much CO2 you are helping to produce.

It's then up to you to decide how many electrical appliances you REALLY need on - but it will tell you how much money it is costing you for instance to have all of those lights on, throughout the house, including empty rooms - and

You could even test for yourself the difference an old CFL bulb will cost you versus the newer long life bulbs.

The other useful aspect is that depending on the model - you can get send the data directly to your PC and you can graphically view and plot your electricity usage so you have a better idea of what your electricity bill will cost you.

The manufacturers claim it could save 27% on your electricity bills, but that all depends on how diligent you are.

Is it easy to install?

You should use an electrician to attach the sensor to the main supply cable.

After that the programming can be a bit detailed - but you really only have to do that once. You input the cost tariff you are on (you can even tell it if you are on multiple tariffs). I think you can even tell it to sound an alarm when you are beginning your peak tariff period!

What does it cost and where can you get one?

The Owl Wireless Electricity Monitor cost €49 and you can get more information from www.theowlireland.com