Openmoko Neo FreeRunner released

With more than a few people making hefty financial commitments to get their hands on an iPhone 3G, I thought I'd mention a phone that's been long awaited in the Open Source world. The Neo FreeRunner is the sequel to the Neo1973. Although lacking 3G, it boasts some impressive features such as a 2.8" full VGA (640 x 480) touchscreen, 3D accelerated graphics, wifi, bluetooth, motion sensors, GPS and expandable sd memory. Most importantly, all the software is Open Source so developers are free to create any software they can think of and give it away to users all over the world from day one. Take that iTunes App Store!

Komplett Weekly Offers 07/07/2008

More monday offers from Komplett.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA216MB 7200RPM

€ 53.00

-16%

My €0.02
320GB isn't much these days. I guess the price is about right but why bother? They could have priced these lower to clear.

Creative Zen 8GB, SD/SDHC slot, MP3/AAC,2,5" LCD screen, DivX/XviD/WMV

€ 102.00

-9%

My €0.02
Again, €100 + shipping seems normal.
http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?quicklinx=4PBN
http://www.gspot.ie/store/product_info.php?products_id=340&gclid=CNOl3bGKsJQCFQyD1Qodr3fbtA
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Zen-8GB-Player-Playback/dp/B000LXXGZW (won't ship to Ireland)
http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3471519/Creative-Zen-8GB-MP3-Video-Player/Product.html (won't ship to Ireland)

Western Digital My Book StudioEdition 500GB, USB 2.0, eSata, Firewire

€ 113.99

-12%

My €0.02
I think I've been pretty clear on my opinion of 500GB external drives.

Canon PowerShot A590 IS, 8.0MP 4x opt.zoom

€ 144.00

-6%

My €0.02
I'm seeing a lot of 8/10's in reviews online. 4x optical zoom is nice. Expansys want €190. I want to know who buys from them at that price. A.J. Purdy are doing a deal on Canon's, the A590 is £104 with a 2GB memory card and football thrown in. You'll have to ring them to find out the shipping charges though, so I think Komplett win this time.

Games Consoles

So you've got a HD TV or projector, now what can you do to make the most of it? Modern consoles are more than just games playing machines. They can play music, videos, HD videos, photo slideshows, browse the internet, organise your life etcetera, etcetera. Games are of course a great way of showing it off, but you might also use it for watching near-cinema quality films with the added bonus of no chewing-gum riddled, spring loaded, popcorn-salt covered, tatty velour seats. Here is what is on offer:

Wii
Nintendo
Typical price: €270, comes with bundled Wii Sports game

The market leader. Does not play High Definition discs, or any other kind of disc. Does not output resolutions higher than 480p. No internal hard drive. Has wifi. Does play video from SD card. Backwards compatible with Gamecube games and controllers. Downloadable games and retro games. Popular with all ages despite non-HD graphics.

Xbox360
Microsoft
Typical price: €200 for Arcade model, €350 for Elite model

The number 2 console. Play High Definition discs, however only in the soon to be defunct HD-DVD format. Plays and upscales DVDs. Output resolutions up to 1080p. No wifi or internal hard drive on Arcade model. Has ethernet networking. Backwards compatible with some Xbox games. Downloadable games and videos from Xbox Live!. HD-DVD discs are being sold very cheaply.

Playstation 3
Sony
Typical price: €400 for 40GB model

Last place. Plays High Definition Blu-ray discs. Plays and upscales DVDs. Outputs resolutions up to 1080p. Has wifi and internal hard drive. Has ethernet networking. Backwards compatible with some PS1 games. Built in web browser. Downloadable games from Sony Store.

Digital heaven or dismal lemon?

AKA how to spot a dud 101

Sometimes I see a deal that sounds too good to be true. And like all such deals, that's exactly what it is. For example, the 5 Megapixel SD memory video camera in Aldi this week promises to shoot video in 720p for the low price of €100. That is phenomenally good. It is also far, far from the full story. Just in case you are wondering, I did not buy it. I have seen the quality (or lack of) of the budget optical devices Aldi sell and suspected that this was not one of their better offers. A quick visit to hotukdeals.com was enough to convince me to steer clear.

Just remember, 5 Megapixels of crap is still crap.

Camera Memory

A quick one today. The most common question I get asked is why memory for cameras is so expensive. Well, it is if you buy from a retail chain or local electronics store. These are the places you buy cookers and fridges, basic workhorse stuff that can be serviced by a technician. If you want good quality memory at affordable prices I'm going to recommend a couple of places further afield:

• LED Shoppe
• Dealextreme (affiliate link*)

Compare their prices with Argos or even Amazon. An [Integral] 1GB SD micro card (compatible with many cameras and Nokia phones) costs €39.99 in the latest Argos catalogue. The same type of card will cost $7.83 on DX for a Kingston* or $5.99 on ledshoppe for an unbranded model. So for a tenth of the price you can get the equivalent capacity! Despite their hideous countenances, these places are kosher and use tried and tested online transaction systems such as PayPal which gives a strong measure of security. The downside is you have to wait about 2 to 4 weeks for delivery (which is FREE) but then again it's not like there is any rush, right?

They sell other types of memory too, so take a look before you blow your cash at the checkout. Go forth and snap happily!

* Affiliate link. This means if you click on this link and buy an item within a certain amount of time, I get a small reward. It doesn't cost you anything extra, but if enough people do it it means I can save on some of the cost of maintaining this site. Which is nice.