Spoteria.com: Laptops, Gadgets, Travel and Lifestyle

I was sourcing for some laptop for my company and I noticed DELL released 8 different set of colored Inspiron laptops. From this Direct2Dell snapshot (I hope would not mind me taking a snapshot of them) you can see laptops that comes in red, blue, green, blue, black and white. You will find the models built with widescreen displays, integrated Wi-Fi and mobile broadband options, and optional 2.0 megapixel integrated webcams with microphones.

The Inspirion Color models do no restrict to single brand processor, you can have options either the Intel or AMD processor. Check out more @ Direct2Dell.

I was doing some online browsing shopping instead of the usual window shopping. I saw this very interesting product and I thought it might be quite interesting to share. The reviews on the iRobot Roomba 4230 Remote Scheduler Robotic Vacuum caught my attention.

Many had commented well on this vacuum cleaner. Traditionally in order to use the vacuum cleaner someone must operate it. Now it did not matter, as long as you programmed the iRobot cleaner remote scheduler, they will do the job when you are not at home or while you are sleeping.

Those who own pet dogs or cats at home were rather impressed on how much this little genius can pick their pets hair for pet owner. OK one thing I do know that the price tag for this iRobot remote scheduler remote vacuum does not come cheap.

Would you like to own one or more?

It was quite disappointing to learn that there were not many reviews and comparison on the Samsung L77 Digital Camera. Two users commented this camera in Dpreview and another one at Amazon.com.

The users in Dpreview commented quite positively on this camera. However the user at Amazon was detailed. He went on and explain on how to operate the EPS function. He did a comparison with the Canon TX1 and how the Canon TX1 did not give him a good flash photos result. Find out more from Amazon.com

Frankly speaking I have not purchased a digital camera before. Whatever shots shown in this blog were taken using Nikon Coolpix 885 (a gift), Canon Powershot A75 (borrowed) and Sony Ericsson P990i camera phone.

I guess is time to get serious and get a digital camera for myself. I started searching, compare and review the camera of my choice. I could narrow my options to Fujitsu F31d, Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 and Samsung L77.

Why Fujitsu F31d? Well one of my friend bought this camera and he gave very good ratings to it. You can call it a personal users choice. He did a comparison between a F40 and F31d before he made any purchased he took a picture of a dark blue box. The F31d picture produced the right color compared to the F40. The F40 produced a black box instead of the actual color dark blue. DPreview.com gave a very good review with this digital camera. The camera is built with rich functions and is really good for photographers who wants a point and shoot camera that comes with other manual functions. The battery lifespan is one of the longest compared to most digital cameras.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3, comes with a 10x optical zoom which is very attractive and desirable to own. The image stabilizer is a must have, as my hands tend to shakes when it comes to photography. Though the two features, image stabilizer and 10x optical zoom attracts my interest, however the overall review of the picture quality does not.

My next option will be Samsung L77. The digital camera comes with a good 7x optical zoom. The built in functions and features are reasonably attractive. One of the attractions of this camera will be the movie clip function. The camera allows you to use the 7x optical zoom while taking movie clips.

I had not come to a decision on which camera to purchase, at this point of time I may drop idea on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3.

I mentioned in my earlier blog that my P990i had a touch screen problem and would require to get it fix at the Sony Ericsson service center.

It will take at least three days to get it repair. Since I do not own any spare phone, I will need to borrow one from them for at least 3 days. They kindly loan me an ancient phone - Model R600! I had no other options but to use that old mobile phone. It was such an old phone and I felt so embarrassed to use it in public. Is a good thing that I carry a messenger bag, it at least help me to use the phone discreetly in public.

Well, is not so much of me having that ancient phone but Sony Ericsson might want to take an opportunity to keep me or other customer in future. Why? When you use a business phone like p990i, you expect a lot from this phone. I would consider that a premium phone compare to most SE models because of the price tag. This phone was purchased late 2006. Such expensive phone you expect good features, applications and stability. Personally I was dissatisfied over the firmware updates, I wonder how many version of the firmware I need to update to get the phone smooth going.

The service staff was polite and professional but the spare mobile phone they loan me does not reflect well on Sony Ericsson. Since I am using a premiere phone, they should at least loan me a set of reasonably good phone.

In my opinion, Sony Ericsson may consider doing the following suggestions to improve their mobile phone loaning service:

1. If phones like P990i, K810 or other new SE models requires repair, don’t loan us an ancient phone like the R600, loan us a better phone or something that was released for at least 2 years.

2. If the mobile phone were sent for service, isn’t a good opportunity for such user to use and review the latest phone from Sony Ericsson. Remember those that buy phone with rich features and applications are the ones willing to pay more for a phone. If the present phone displeases them, they might just move on to the next competitor. Like it or not there are so many mobile phone brands to choose from. Keep your customer make your them happy, loan them a latest phone and request them to fill in some surveys to review the phone. With quality feedback I believe Sony Ericsson will maintain or perhaps increase their customer base.

If Sony Ericsson can improve on the handset loaning service maybe 2 things might happen:

1. You get to keep the customer

2. A word of mouth will spread to others. Isn’t it fantastic to hear SE users telling their friends or share their experience in forums “SE loan me a latest phone; their service fantastic!”

Hopefully I will not return to the service center to fix the phone again. If I do visit them I hope they loan me a better phone or a latest phone for review. I guess I could only hope

I recently got my phone fix from the SE service center. And guess what kind of phone they loan me? An Ericsson R600! Probably this phone was produced before the Sony Ericsson merger. I feel so embarrassed using this phone in public. What an ancient phone!

I replaced my screen from SE service centre and at the same time they updated the firmware.

Few weeks back I complaint on how updating the the firmware to

Phone: CXC162037 R9F011
Bluetooth: CXC162058 R5A01
Organizer: CXC162036 R5A17
CDA: CDA162007/1 R5A13

and it affects the loudness of the alarm. Well the first I did with the phone was to test the alarm function. Indeed the alarm trigger the normal way it should be. No more soft alarm tone.

The latest Sony Ericsson P990i firmware which is avaliable from June 15, 2007:

Phone: CXC162037 R9G007
Bluetooth: CXC162058 R5A01
Organizer: CXC162036 R6D23
CDA: CDA162007/1 R6D23

A snaphot of the new firmware

However I did find out other issue with the new firmware. When you are charging the phone, the vibrating mode will not trigger when there is an incoming call, text message and alarm trigger. So if you are so use to rely on the vibrating alert for any occasions (charging and non-charging) , you will just have to bear with it and hopefully this issue will be solve during the next update! There could be some other bug that I have not discover but we can always visit forum for the latest information on the new firmware.

Sometimes when I access Yahoo applications such as Yahoo Mail, I will be prompted with this pop up message:

Your request can not be processed.

Unable to process request at this time – error 999

One of the reasons given in MurrayMoffat.com explains that:

The most common reason for receiving Yahoo Error 999 is due to some sort of bandwidth limiting system that Yahoo has put in place on their servers. Once you have exceeded your allotted bandwidth for a specific period of time Yahoo gives you this Error 999 message and doesn’t allow you to access the service. People have primarily reported receiving this error when they try to access Yahoo Mail or Yahoo Groups, but other Yahoo services may also be affected.

Here are some suggested solutions:

Clear browser’s cookies and cache

Log into Yahoo using a different country’s server

Use “secure” option when logging into Yahoo instead of “standard” mode

User a different browser.

MurrayMoffat.com provides quite a comprehensive explanation on this Yahoo Error 999 issue. Click here for more information.

I got another problem with the Sony Ericsson P990i. Using the stylus or my fingers touching the Status bar icons (at the bottom of the screen) seem alright, but when I touch the icons above the Status bar and nothing seem to work. Technically speaking if the stylus could not touch the icons it maybe an alignment issue. One of the advantages of this Sony Ericsson P990i is that you can use the keypads and jog mode to control instead of just touch screen. I manage to jog my way to the control panel.

Tools > Control Panel > Other > Setup Wizard > Keypad (Y) > Keypad (Arrow right > Keypad (Arrow right) > Keypad (Arrow right) > Keypad (Arrow right) > Keypad (Arrow right) > Keypad (Arrow right)

When it reaches the stylus alignment screen and tap the center of point 1. It says “Too far from point 1”

I could think of two options:

1. To reformat the internal disk.
2. Send the phone to the local service center.

Is always a good practice and check the forums and see if others encounter the same problem.

Two forums that I always visit for answers: http://my-symbian.com and ttp://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum

I did find someone with a similar touch screen problem. You can find the solution here.

To save time I decided to skip format the internal disk but send the phone to the local service centre.

Sony Ericsson is launching the P1, the 5th generation smartphone and is 25% smaller than the current P990i. The P1 model is probably going to replace the present P990i. It will be available in selected markets from Q3 2007. Find out more from Sony Ericsson press release.