TechWire

Samsung U600 Ultra: first impressions

Just got this puppy in the door: Samsung's U600 Ultra edition. While I don't like the keypad, the camera (3.2 megapixels) is pretty good, as is the 2.2 inch screen. It has a MicroSD external memory slot, but I'm looking forward to trying out its 'TV out' facility, using Mpeg 4 clips. Best price seems to be Expansys's €330 (€347 including delivery).

Free wi-fi in Radisson SAS, Stillorgan

Following a fairly bad-tempered article about how hotels rip off their clients on broadband charges, the following has come in:

"Dear Adrian, I would like to refer to recent article "realityBytes" in Sunday Business Post article -- March 11th 2007 -- "Thinking of traveling to Dublin on business" and to take this opportunity to update you on free broadband and Wi-fi at Radisson SAS St. Helen's Hotel, Dublin. That's free internet access in all guest rooms via your laptop and free wireless access for conference delegates in meeting rooms and public area hot spots. I would be very grateful if you would kindly include this information at your next opportunity to ensure that our clients traveling to Dublin are aware of this great cost saving we have to offer. Sincerely, Yvonne McNamara, sales manager, Radisson SAS St Helen's Hotel, Dublin."

Moto Q9: first impression

I've just received Motorola's Moto Q9 for review. First impressions: lovely screen, great overall styling. Have to say I don't like the keyboard -- the buttons are too close together and they feel too plasticky -- but I'll wait until I've used it a bit more for final verdict. Turning it on, there's a Vodafone opening sequence -- does this mean I won't be able to use it with a 3 card? (Not that I have one at the moment!) If so, looks like I'm limited to 1.4Mbs rather than 3.6Mbs. It has Windows Mobile on board, but the grey background is rather dull and unattractive. Actually, I've just changed that as I type: to a picture of my messy desk. Think I'll leave it there for the next journalist who reviews it (I'm always getting pictures and other stuff that the Herald's Ronan Price forgets to take off the review model. And a couple of years ago, I even got some pictures of an Irish tech journalist's female partner, asleep on a couch. I've done this too, though: either Charlie Weston or Gordon Smith (I forget) recently told me that they'd received a review model of a mobile phone and about 200 text messages I'd sent on it! They assured me that they'd simply 'deleted' them, so I'll take their word... :) )

Anyway, more on this as I review it. It's to be launched in Ireland at the end of next month, and will probably cost around €500 (sim-free).

** By the way, Computers In Business (you'll probably need to buy the paper as our website's representation of Computers In Business doesn't have much of the magazine's content) this Sunday has a competition to win one of five of these. And it's a damn easy question.

3 Ireland's broadband goes live

3 Ireland has gone live today with its 3.6Mbs mobile broadband service for €20 per month and 10GB monthly data cap (5 cents per MB after that). Even with an upfront cost of €130 for the modem, it's certainly putting it up to the other operators, which will now have to slash their prices if they want to stay competitive. More information on 3 ireland's website.

Charge of the light brigade

Have come across a fairly cool gadget that this Irish website is selling. Basically, it's a solar charger that comes with a bag of connections to charge most popular brands of mobile phone, iPod and Sony PSP. You leave the gadget out in good light for five hours and it provides almost a full charge for your mobile or MP3 player. It costs €50 from solartechnology.ie.

Analysts' bunkum

Ever wonder how ‘analyst companies’ -- quoted by naive journalists, self-serving companies and rabid lobbyists -- come up with their survey questions? Some of them simply sell the survey questions to the highest bidder. I got a call today from a prominent Irish-based research agency offering me the opportunity of buying questions for €1,000 each. No doubt the results will be offered as ‘industry insight’. I’ve rarely ever regarded analyst companies ‘projections’ ("…the blah blah industry will be worth €72 billion by 2012") as worth printing and I make it a practice to delete any such references from freelancers’ copy. Most research firms’ data is simply not worth the 2kb of data it’s e-mailed on.