Open Magazine Volume 02 Issue 02

This week in my Open Magazine Article, I look at the Newly Launched

* Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Phone, Sony's First Attempt at the Android Phone
* The MSI Wind U160 Laptop: A Sexy Machine with Intel Pine Trail Atom Processor
* iProf: India's first e-Learning Tablet
* Adidas Senheiser Sports Earphones Your Exercise Companion


To view my article click here to download the PDF or visit the Open Magazine website for a high resolution copy of the article

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The above article appeared in the Open Magazine Issue 02, Volume 02, Dated 16th April 2010

The Right Design - Review Wind U160 from MSI

U160 is an award-winning design, but MSI should have improved on storage
It was love at first sight. Everything about the way the MSI Wind U160 looked, the stylish chiclet keyboard, the shiny brown body with the flash-cut Mac-like MSI logo and the round power button on the side, impressed me. After all, this machine won the iF Product Design Award for 2010.

And it was not all design. The U160 has a dedicated switch for wireless along with the 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth and a LED backlight screen with a refresh rate of 8 ms, one of the best in the netbook segment. Like other netbooks with the new age Pine Trail Atom Processor, the U160 too comes packed with a 1.6GHZ Single Core Atom Processor, with 1 GB RAM, and Windows 7 starter edition. The machine performed pretty well during web browsing as well as office work and stayed cool all along thanks to the special design.

MSI claims the U160 can deliver about 12 hours of battery backup, and I easily managed 8+ hours of work, a great plus point in a portable netbook. However, I would have loved to see a dedicated switch to turn off the display and save some more power. On the other hand, the webcam switch on MSI laptops is a bit of a let down, for every time you are about to chat you realise that the webcam is switched off.

For some reason MSI has chosen to fit the model with just a 160 GB hard disk, among the smallest today. The model is also not high on ergonomics, especially compared to the Asus EEE PC 1005P, the Pine Trail model already in the market. This one was a bit awkward in terms of the hand position, and small keys took some getting used to. But, the chiclet key design works well in dimly lit rooms.

Though the small 2.5” x 1.8” touchpad is nice to touch and bumpy, the single metal button is a bit of an irritant, as you often end up touching it inadvertently. But unlike MSI’s X series which has very stylish white LEDs, this one has irritating red, yellow, green and blue LEds all over the place. Plus, the U160 seems to have a weak Wi-Fi reception and it could sense just 50 per cent network signal strength where my iPod showed 80 per cent.

While like many other netbooks, MSI too has done away with the page up / page down keys, it was nice to see an additional Function key on the right hand side next to the arrow keys which makes it easy to go to the top or bottom of the page and is more ergonomic. But this also means you have a smaller shift key to work with on the right.

The 10” screen runs at a native resolution of 1024 x 600, so some sites don’t open up properly, but then this is a problem with most netbooks. The machine looks slim from the front, but is thicker towards the rear to give the battery air room to cool. The U160 sports three USB ports, headphone and microphone jacks, a VGA port, and an Ethernet port. There is also a Kensington lock port if needed.
The MSI U160 will cost Rs 24,999 when it is launched in India mid-April.

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The above review appeared in the Indian Express on Sunday 4th of April 2010

The X Factor - Review MSI X430

The X430 from MSI is finally here. This netbook uses the latest second generation AMD Athlon Neo MV40 Dual Core Processors with the brand new RS780MN and SB710 chipsets that support HD and DirectX 10 technologies to provide unbeatable visual and usage performance often lacking in this range.
The machine comes in white and black, but the former tends to get dirty under the body in Indian conditions and you need to keep cleaning it. But the plastic on the top shell is shiny and does not attract scratches so easily.

The 14” high definition LCD is standard across their series and is fitted with a great 1.3 mega pixel web camera. The HD display supports a brightness of 220 cd/m2 and is formatted using a 16:9 widescreen ratio and displays images with increased clarity and distinctness. The microphone on the machine picked up my voice for a Skype call, though I did have to speak up a bit.

The machine is 24.5 mm thick at the front, but towards the rear, where the battery is located, the machine is thicker. There is an optional eight-cell battery available, but the standard four-cell will support the machine for about 2.5 hours of usage. Though MSI has a 500 GB hard disk option, only the 320 GB version is available here now.

Weighing a cool 1.5 kg, this machine is easy to carry and use on the road. The units feature a full-size keyboard. However, I did not like the placement of the home / page up / page down keys. But having those keys as standard and not as function is a welcome thing.

MSI has also used white LEDs for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, sleep mode, battery charge, caps lock and other indicators as well as on the power button. These also make the machine stand out in a crowd. When the lid is closed the white lights in the front and the wedge that MSI has created to open the lid gives the design a futuristic feel.
On the flipside, the built-in memory card reader supports only MMC and SD cards. It does not have a multi-touch touchpad, but the large button for left and right click and easy to use keybaoard with the large palm rest make up for this.

The unit comes with two USB ports, earphone and microphone connectors and an HDMI output. There is also a standard VGA output so that you can easily hook it up to an external display or projector. Also featured is a Gigabit Ethernet port in case you are going to be using it in the office, and an 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN for high-speed communications.

The X430 comes in two variants, the only difference being the option of Windows 7 Starter Edition (1 GB RAM) or the Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (2GB RAM). The one with the starter edition is priced at Rs 32,000 and the premium edition ships for Rs 35,000.
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The above review appeared in the Indian Express, on Sunday 14th March 2010