Joy of Gadgets

The folks at In Store Solutions have sent me a rather interesting piece of gear for review: the Yamaha PSG-01S, which is a USB speakerphone that is compatible with Skype. When plugged into the computer with the USB cable, the operating system treats it similar to a USB headset and is recognized instantly as an audio and microphone device.

I don’t normally go with speakerphones, mostly because I don’t want to disturb people around me and I don’t want to sound bad to the other person. The Yamaha PSG-01S solves at least one of these problems. If you’re about 12 inches from the microphone or so, you sound as if you’re on a wired headset to the other person! If you’re a little farther away, you still sound like you’re on a speakerphone, but the echo is greatly reduced.

This device is peculiar in that it has an accelerometer in it. If you turn the device on its side, it beeps and the microphone portion of the device mutes. You can then just listen to the folks on Skype (or your favorite music, if you prefer). If you set the device vertical, the top of the device lights up, beeps, and the microphone is active.

As you can see, the device is brick-shaped and roughly the size of a Grande at Starbucks. It’s very lightweight, but solidly built.

There are also buttons on the side of the device. Theoretically they will go “on hook” and “off hook” for Skype, but I did not test this on a Windows machine, where there are drivers you can install that do this. On the Mac, they are inactive. However, the volume button and Rec/Mic button work on the Mac (the latter functions as a mute button).

The audio quality of the device was fantastic. Both sides of the conversation were outstanding audio quality. Considering how much I generally detest the audio on speakerphones, that’s saying something. In music playback mode, the device also sounds superb.

While I’ve said a lot of good things about this device, I personally wouldn’t buy it for two reasons. My own personal usage patterns don’t lend themselves to speakerphones, so it’s not a kind of device I would seek out in the first place. The second, and perhaps more important aspect, is the price. At $219 in the US Skype store, it’s well outside of my price range. However, if you need an excellent quality speakerphone and money is less of an object, I’d say get it.

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Tuesday, I received my white Nokia E71. The phone’s been out a while, as I’m sure anyone who follows a Gadget blog or reads Wired can tell you. Since I work for Nokia, you should realize the following is my own opinion on the Nokia E71 NAM, i.e. E71-2, RM-357, or at least one other name I’m not allowed to use in public.

The first thing I noticed when I opened my package was how small the box is compared to even the N96 I received not too long ago. It’s about half the size. Inside the box, pretty much everything inside that wasn’t shrinkwrapped was cardboard instead of plastic, making the packaging a lot more recyclable. Very green, even if the inside of my box is mostly black

Inside the box, I got the phone, battery, 2.5mm stereo headphones–more on that in a minute–power adapter, micro USB cable, manual, CD. Pretty much everything I expect to come with the phone, though the matching wrist strap and carry case were nice bonuses.

I had seen and even handled some pre-release versions of this handset, but they are never as good as the production units. This one felt wonderful. Solid construction, not too big. The keys are crammed together, but it’s pretty easy to push the right ones.

Continue reading ‘The Nokia E71 NAM: The Good, Bad, and Uglyrgb’

Image via Wikipedia

When I went to a trade show in March, I was at the San Jose Civic Auditorium attending a party. I came across this phone booth (pictured left) with something important missing–a phone!

Why is this useful? If you’ve ever attended a concert at the San Jose Civic, you know it’s loud! If you want to make a phone call, you might use your mobile phone, but you need something like a phone booth to dull the noise.

In a place like London, phone booths have a very distinctive look. However, like everywhere else, they are going away thanks to the proliferation of mobile phones. Those phone booths that still exist probably aren’t getting used all that much. However, it’s nice to have just a booth for privacy or asthetic reasons. You may even want a completely functional phone booth “just in case.”

British Telecom is allowing local councils the ability to pay an annual maintenance fee of £500 (or about US $888) for the privilege of having a fully functional telephone booth, roughly half if they only want the structure. Of course, some phone booths are considered landmarks and can’t be removed without approval from the local authorities.

I think it’s a good idea to keep a couple of phone booths around. Not everyone has mobile phones and they don’t always work as you expect. It’s a public safety thing and would be rounding error in a city budget.

Cellular News via MobHappy

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