Jonzee.com

I was having a conversation with a friend about console gaming recently. The conversation started when we were talking about the PS3. He was looking for a console to get his son for Christmas. He asked me…

"What happened to Sony, the Playstation use to be the console to get but every where I go, no one is mentioning the PS3, seems like its all about the Xbox 360 and Wii"

So we went over all what has happened this generation, talked about the games available for all the platforms, the features and what the word is around the gaming publications etc. At the end my recommendation was this.

1. If you don’t care about Bluray and want the best overall gaming system, get an Xbox 360. 

2. If there is something specific to the PS3 that you want, for example Little Big Planet, you cant go wrong with a PS3 because there is enough gaming "now" to make the system worth the purchase.

My reasoning behind those two points of advice was this. Right now, and pretty much this whole generation, the Xbox 360 is the most complete gaming system. There is plenty to choose from, and most of the better games are on the 360. The online portion of the 360, while you do have to pay to get all of the features, is miles ahead of any other console. The PS3 has been lagging behind so far, but since there is so many good multiplatform games, you can find a good amount of things to play on the PS3 where you wouldn’t feel handicapped if you choose to get that instead of the 360.

Bluray is a big decision. The PS3 probably is the best Bluray player available, and last year at this time, I would have said if you want a Bluray player, get a PS3. I was contemplating getting a PS3 for a Bluray myself. I don’t say that anymore. There are lots of $200 or below options now for Bluray. Yea the PS3 is still one of the best Bluray players, but who cares when your comparing a $181 Bluray player to a $400 (or more) PS3. Thats not to say I think that Bluray shouldn’t factor into your decision on purchasing a PS3, I just think buying a PS3 for a Bluray player (alone) is no longer a recommended option.

Where does the Wii stand? My friend already had a Wii so that wasn’t one of the options. I have a Wii, and while it is the best selling console, I still think it is in the same boat the Gamecue was last generation. Lots of "crapware" and a handful of traditional Nintendo titles (that are ussually pretty good).

Another phone I checked out when I was at the AT&T store the other day was the HTC FUZE. I have to say, this is hands down the coolest looking phone AT&T has to offer right now. Even cooler than the iPhone. When I say cool, I’m talking about look and feel. That’s not to say this phone doesn’t have any cool features, there’s 2 that are pretty interesting to me. For those that don’t know, the Fuze looks a lot like the Touch diamond. It has a 2.8 inch touch screen sporting HTC’s Touch flo interface (over Windows mobile). What sets this phone apart for me is the slide out Qwerty keyboard.

What are the 2 features that has peeked my interest? Well for one, the Qwerty keyboard is a 5 row keyboard. I like Qwerty phones and the 5 row really has me looking into the Fuze. Another feature that I haven’t seen working on any other phone is TV out (tv out cable sold separately). The iPhone has the capability, but as far as I know, it is disabled. According to HTC’s website, you would be able to connect this phone to a television to display your apps and other goodies.

Is that enough to warrant a purchase? Well like I said above, it is basically a Windows Mobile phone. If you can deal with Winmo, this this phone looks to be killer. I don’t have any experience with Winmo so I am a little gun shy about making the switch. But it looks mighty cool.

The HTC Fuze is available at AT&T for $349 ($299 after mir) check out the website for full list of specs

A recent trip to the AT&T store gave me a little bit of a brief hands on time with a few of the phones Ive read. well one in particular that I was interested in. As Ive said before, I have an iPhone (which I’m considering replacing as soon as a Qwerty phone that Im interested in is released) so I wasn’t really looking for myself. basically looking for a phone to five as a Christmas gift. But here’s what I checked out.

AT&T Quickfire

This phone was the reason I made the visit. The AT&T Quickfire is a good "gift" phone as its only $99 bucks with a new 2 year contract. Pretty reasonable for what it does. A Qwerty keyboard and touch screen device. More of a Messaging phone than a smart phone. From reading the info about the phone I would say this phone is probably geared towards a teenager-20something that like to use SMS/MMS capabilities. There are other data features, actually there is a full feature set that makes this phone well worth the bargain price.

This phone in person really reminds me of a Sidekick. It has a sliding screen that hides the  keyboard and has the same feel in my hand as any of the sidekick models. Not really a "pocket" phone as it will cause a bit of a bulge but I wouldn’t call it bulky…well maybe just a little.  All in all, I liked this phone as a gift and if it isn’t sold out by the time I decide to make the purchase, this may be "someones"  Christmas gift from me this year

Samsung Propel

I have to admit, I never liked the vertical sliding phones. If its a slider, I want a landscape slider. The Samsung Propel was one of the phones that had an expressed interest by one of my potential Christmas Giftee’s. As far as features, this is another messaging phone with typical messaging phone features, the best thing about this phone is that it was only $79.99 with 2 year contract. And on top of that, there was a special running where you get 2 for the price of one (with a family plan of 2 people of coarse). The phone itself is an "ok" phone, I cant complain about the features as they are sufficient for what it is. the screen is a little smaller than I like. and of coarse its the vertical slider which I don’t care for. It does have a full qwerty keyboard under that slider.

For the price the Propel is an interesting phone. Wouldn’t be my first choice as a gift but I don’t think you can go wrong with getting this phone, especially if someone request’s it.

Pantech Matrix

This phone is another one that I never really paid any attention until I saw it in the AT&T store. The Pantech Matrix is one of those dual sliders. A vertical slide reveals a number pad, and a landscape slide reveals a qwerty keyboard.  This one edges out the other 2 just a little with its 3g support and video share features. Other than that, its pretty close to the Propel when you compare the rest of the features. The price of this phone is the same as the Propel ($79.00 with 2yr contract)

Conclusion

Out of the 3, I would rank the Quickfire as a first choice. the other 2 would be a toss up but if you have to have 3g or video sharing, the Matrix would be your better bet. As a gift, all 3 looks like good buys. You probably would just do better trying to find out which one the Giftee likes the best and go with that.

Everyone has this person in the family, ussually male, you never know what to get him. He isnt interested in many things. Tools are ussually the only option but this guy has everything already. Here are 3 things that are fairly new that you can get for this guy.

The first item is the Black & Decker automatic wrench. I was at my local Home Depot a few weeks ago and ran across this wrench. Its pretty cool, an adjustable wrench that opens and closes by pushing a button. You know most of these style wrenches has the little gear like wheel that you turn with your thumb to adjust the size to fit the nut or bold your are trying to tighten or loosen. This takes that step out of it. At that moment, I started to buy 3 of them, one for myself, one for my dad and one for my father in-law. Figured Id wait to see if I can find it cheaper online, and I did.

Amazon has them for $23,99

The second item on this list couldve been on yesterdays list. Talk about lazy, this item is almost embarrassingly lazy. Black & Decker’s Cordless Power Scissors. These are scissors that automatically cut whatever it is you are trying to cut with the touch of a button. Yea there are some benifits to using these scissors (other than too lazy to operate a pair a scissors yourself). Being that these are motorized, you can cut through things that normally give you trouble with a regular pair of scissors…IE that annoying electronics packaging. The reason why this couldve been on yesterdays list is the price

Amazon has them for $14.14

Last but not least is this handy cordless saw…also from Black & Decker (Im not getting paid for this…honestly). Its a little smaller than most saws of this type so its not meant to cut anything too big. For small quick jobs, this saw is good to have. It comes with a wood cutting blade and a metal cutting blade.

Amazon has it for $26.99

 Christmas time is coming and its about time to run down a few of my gift categories. One thing I like to do is get gifts that you can give someone as a companion gift or stocking stuffer, but as time goes on, and the more people you meet throughout life, you cant afford to give everyone a BluRay player. So the term "its the thought that counts" start to mean more than it use too. You can give cheap gifts, but be creative. Make sure your gift is unique or useful and I have assemble 5 gifts that would fall into that category…all under $20 bucks.

1

I dont know how practical or useful this little item would be, but its cute. The Coleman Fishpen Is a fully functioning fishing rod that retracts to a very carryable pen size (8 inches). When extended the Fishpen is about 3 ft. Included with the Fishpen is a reel, lures, hooks, and a few other items that will get you started. Truth is, you probably wouldnt use this as your main fishing rod, it probably isnt going to be anyting more than a novelty. But its cute, and its cheap.

Just under $14 bucks at Amazon, but if you look a little harder you can find it for as low as $5.99 (check geeks.com).

2

Digital Photo frames are always good gifts for the holidays, but sometimes you might just want to give someone something a little smaller (in price and overall gift). Ideal for a stocking stuffer style gift is this Colby 1.5 inch digital photo keychain. No its not something you can sit on your desk or hang on your wall. The use for this is carrying pictures that you have taken with your digital camera for that quick picture showing session. Maybe you run into someone you hadnt seen in a while and want to show pics of the kids or a recent vacation. The Colby photo frame is small enough where you can carry it in your pocket, or purse.

You can get the Colby Digital photo keychain at Amazon for just under $13 bucks

3 

A lot of people own iPods, at the same time, there are a lot of people that dont. Of coarse if your looking to buy a cheap stocking stuffer style gift, you’re not going to buy an iPod. But you can introduce someone to the world of portable MP3 players with this 1gb Sansa express from Sandisk. This player has a FM radio with FM radio recording and a MicroSD slot. Dont let the hype fool you, Apple isnt the only company making MP3 players worth buying, Sansa has a decent reputation in thier own right. For a beginner, this player would be perfect.

The best thing of all, Buy.com has this player for $10.99 (refurbished)

4 

Here is a cheap, unique gift that can also help the environment. A staple free stapler. How does a staple free stapler work you say? Well this device somehow cuts a small slit in your papers and folds them on itself, attaching up to 5 pages. How often do you use a stapler now aday. With all of the USB drives, email, and other ways to transfer documents, the need for a stapler has been lessened. A lot of times when times you need a stapler, you are out of staples so its use is still a bit limited. Thats where this stapler comes into play.

ThinkGeek has the staple free stapler for $5.99

5

With the growing popularity of GPS systems, that would make a good gift. But do you have GPS system money to spend? Well how about the next best thing, a Talking Trip Advisor. WIth this device, you can select your city from a list and it will tell you where things are, how far they are from you and other information. Not quite a GPS but it has its own uses. Why would you buy someone a device like this that has features normally included with GPS devices? The price

Get the Talking Trip Advisor now for $9.97 at Amazon

Like many out there in videogame / tech land, November 19 was a big reason for us Netflix hold-outs to finally take the plunge. Why? Well the Update to the Xbox 360 dashboard, the NXE (Or New Xbox Experience) brought Netflix Instant play to the 360. The night before the update, I went over to Netflix.com and signed up for a Netflix plan, I then went over to Xbox live and upgraded my account to a gold account (which I usually have off and on).

So what do I think?

First thing I did once I had NXE installed was signed into Netflix and started adding instant watch movies to my que. As you know, you have to add those movies to your que via the Netflix website before they become available to watch on the 360. So I added about 10-15 movies and happily logged on to Xbox live to check it out.

First disappointment

The very first movie I was going to watch was Superbad. I cycled through all of the movies listed on the 360’s netflix app and it was no where to be found. I Then went to my second selection and that was not showing up on my que. I then did a little bit of research and found out that Sony movies were excluded from Netflix play on the 360. It seems that now you get a message when you add movies to your que that lets you know it will not be available for play on the 360, so you know right away.

Second disappointment

The first movie I did watch (or attempt to watch) was the HD version of The Orphanage. Everything worked out fine (other than I fell asleep on it). I was satisfied with the quality of playback, and I will get to more info on that in a little bit. What disappointed me was what happened the next time I tried to watch a movie. This time I was checking it out with my wife, and we decided to watch one of the old Sinbad comedy specials. When the video went to load, I noticed it put my video quality at basic, which is the lowest quality setting. This was a little odd due to the fact that I have a 20mb cable connection. Normally, I get really good speeds and not having enough net connection to do certain things online hasn’t been an issue for me. At basic, the video quality was horrible, watchable but only barely. Needless to say, we didn’t watch it. Every since then, my video quality/ speed setting has been up and down. Ive watched some movies at the top or one under the top, then a lot of the times I get the bottom. Im guessing it has nothing to due with my internet connection, and more with Netflix. Ive done some testing and when its set to basic by Netflix, I can still do other things online and get top speeds.

Ok, disappointments aside. I think that Im pretty happy with this option of viewing movies. Ive never looked into Netflix much before, but the one thing Ive always heard was that the selection wasn’t that great. I agree, the selection are many time movies you don’t care about, mixed in with a few you are interested in watching. Thats not all though, With the addition of Starz content and other network television content, you can find a lot to watch.  Just about every season of Heroes, and the Office is available, along with other popular TV shows and movies.

Back to video quality. The TV I’m using is the 42" 1080P lcd that I reviewed a little while back. When Netflix gives me a decent quality setting (3 or 4 bars). I’m happy with the quality. I would say that the quality is about dvd quality. The HD content that I have watched seemed a little better than DVD quality but definitely not Bluray (or HDDVD since Im still using my player). Sound is sufficient but nothing to brag about, nothing to complain about either. So far Netflix instant watch on the 360 has been a pleasure, not really any problems, works as advertised (except for the exclusion of Sony movies). Im happy.

Update: Looks like the problem I was having with the connection was a short lived problem. I havent had any problems getting full video quality pretty much since I wrote this blog post.

This may be a little outdated but for the price this Jornada 728 has got me thinking about making that purchase. If you remember, back in about 2000- 2002, there were a few handheld PDAs that did a little more than what was popular at the time (palm). The problem with all those devices, they were a little too expensive for what they did. With a little work, this device can still hold up, as long as you arent too demanding.

A handheld PC style device  with a 6.5 inch screen running Microsoft Windows for handheld PC 2000. A few I/O slots and you got your a portable computer that can do everything you’d need. Well not quite. There is no wifi, but you can get wifi access through an addon card (PC Card type II). There’s no USB but there is a compact flash slot. Lets be honest, this is old tech and there are better cell phones out today. But Geeks.com has it for $139. Very tempting

These little media devices seem to be sneaking up all over. Last week it was the Western digital device, this time its the VuNow media device. There are some differences this time around. For example, the VuNow connects to your network wirelessly (or wired) and have the capability of streaming internet video to your TV. You can also stream media from other PCs on your network, and like the western digital device, you can plug in a USB thumb drive or USB harddrive to view your media stored there.

The VuNow will cost you $99 bucks when it releases in December (15th). It comes in 2 flavors: HDMI only or S-Video only. Check out the VuNow website for more info.

about 2 weeks ago, I pieced together some old PC parts I had (and a few new parts) to make a full time media center pc for my TV. I shouldve waited a few weeks, if I had, I would’ve seen this Gigabyte motherboard on Newegg.com, The GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H. What is so special about this motherboard? well lets see. What I had was a Pentium 4 3.0 processor, 2 gigs of ram, and a harddrive. My purpose was to build a Media center PC that had HDMI out and 5.1 optical out. Right now, I just wanted to play media files and view web video content on my LCD TV, but I wanted something that would be good enough to support a Bluray movie playback if I decide to get one later on.

This Gigabyte board would’ve saved me a bit of cash. First it has built in, a better video card than the one I bought, a Radeon hd 3200 with VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs (I bought a Radeon HD 2600). The second reason is sound capability. Built into the motherboard is 5.1 outputs via Optical out. Most motherboards have some sort of 5.1 output, but not optical out. I bought a separate sound card just to get the optical output. So with this board. I couldve saved about 80 bucks on the video card and sound card.

Well not exactly.

Like I said, I had a Pentium 4 CPU. This board supports AMD processors, so I would’ve had to buy a processor. The upside is that the processor I would’ve bought would’ve only cost me about 60 bucks and would’ve been a better processor than the P4 I have in my machine. Overall, I would’ve got more performance for less money.

The GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H is $79 bucks at Newegg

A few weeks ago, I heard a little bit about this but didn’t look too much into it (was pretty busy at the time). Now that I have some time, I went and checked it out and I have to say I am quite pleased with what I found. Asus’s EEE Top is the next up for Asus’s line of EEE PC’s. What is the EEE Top? Well its an all in one PC, I know don’t get too excited.

The Asus EEE top is currently available for pre-order at Play.com, a UK based online store. The price listed there is £449.99, which is roughly $700 US. Not a bad price for an all in one PC. To be honest, I would expect it to be more along the $300-$400 range. Before we complain about the price, lets take a look at the specs

15.6 screen

1 gig ram

1.6 ghz atom processor

160 gb HDD

1.3 mp webcam

802.11 b/g/n

Windows XP

Ports: USB, Memory card reader, lan and audio

The kicker here (and probably why the price is a little higher than expected) the monitor has a touch screen interface. How the touch screen will work with the windows OS I don’t know, but I’m thinking tablet pc. If touch screen isnt your thing, just plug in your favorite keyboard and mouse

The release date of the EEE Top is scheduled for November 20th, so I’m sure we will be hearing more info about it soon. for now, just visit play.com and dream.