Just after Christmas I decided to buy myself a portable DAB radio. I'd been meaning to buy one for a while and having been browsing in John Lewis, I stumbled across this tiny little radio that was, for such a product, relatively inexpensive.
The radio in question is a Sansui DB-100 DAB/DAB+/FM receiver. It's a tiny device measuring just 125x73x23mm containing a single speaker and a small number of controls. This is a pocket set but it's features make it useful in a wide range of situations.
Tuner Specifications and Digital Standards
As a tuner, it is well specified. It will (of course) happily receive DAB transmissions used in the UK but is also compatible with the superior DAB+ format. As a point of interest, this is actually stated on the box. Unlike many other sets that are capable of receiving the newer format, the feature is not hidden away in small print, technical documentation or website specifications. It does not need a firmware upgrade to do this - out-of-the-box it is DAB+ compatible.
Why do I make such a big thing about this feature? DAB+ isn't used in the UK but I hold out hope that perhaps one day it will be. I know a full scale switchover is very unlikely but perhaps a new multiplex will be launched containing DAB+ services. Perhaps it's wishful thinking but at least I know my radio is future proof.
Not only that though, having the additional digital standard aboard means that it has some compatibility with digital services around the world. The tuner will receive signals in Band III blocks 5A (174.928MHz) to 13F (239.200MHz) depending on settings (the UK only uses a small subset of this band for DAB transmissions).
Bedside Radio
So, thanks to it's size, the radio is suitable as a pocket radio and a travel radio. The unit also features a sleep timer and alarm clock. Here's it's third use - as a bedside radio! There's only one alarm that can be set and no breakdown by days (so you have to remember to switch it off for the weekends). The option is also only available after a couple of clicks through the menu so it's obviously not it's primary intention but for me it fulfills the requirement.
Interface, Controls and the Aerial
In terms of the radio's interface, it's fairly straightforward. A button on the right serves as power on/off (by holding for a few seconds) or as a mode changer (a quick press). A large scroll wheel on the front panel allows users to move up and down through stations or menus which can be selected with a button in it's centre. A back button is found at the top of the unit. Volume is controlled by a smaller wheel embedded in the top right corner and works in the traditional way although it is a digital control moving in steps. Two other switches are available, one which mutes the internal speaker and another that locks the controls.
A socket is found on the right of the unit which accepts headphones which double-up as the aerial in the usual method of pocket radios, Walkmen and mobile phones. If you're not using headphones, a short wire aerial is provided. Whilst this works, because it has no rigidity it can be difficult to position.
Other Features
This little unit doesn't just stop at being a receiver of analogue and digital radio. At the base of the unit is a flap that when removed reveals not only a micro USB port, but also a slot to accept a micro SD card - this unit can record!
Actually, for short recordings that SD card isn't needed. There's a small amount of onboard memory (around 128MB) that can be used for short clips. However, using a card will allow larger recordings to be made. DAB stations are recorded in the MP2 format indicating that this is a straight copy of the de-muxed digital signal without being re-encoded.
In addition, the unit can playback those recordings and also any MP3 files found on the card. That makes the Sansui DB-100 a basic MP3 player as well!
Files can be transferred to a computer via USB using the aforementioned socket. Memory appears as a computer drive so there's no issue with installing drivers on modern machines. Linux enthusiasts can rest easy.
Summary
This is clearly a radio thats primary purpose is for slipping into a coat pocket and using when out-and-about. Thanks to its feature set though, it can be so much more. It works as a desk or kitchen radio thanks to the built-in speaker, or as a bedside radio thanks to the alarm and sleep features. I've even jerry-rigged it to use with the hi-fi using a roof-top aerial or a 'rabbit ears' aerial configuration (but I'll write more about that in another post).
The only issue I've noticed (that may be a DAB issue more than a radio issue but I've not been able to check) is a slight glitch on the audio from time-to-time that can only be described like a skip - like the audio has fallen behind schedule and it needs to catch up. It could be very brief forms of interference but without having had the opportunity to test it, I think it's worth noting here.
Other than that, for the few weeks I've had it this has been a great little radio.
The Sansui DB-100 is available from John Lewis for £59.95 (at the time of writing).
Specifications Summary
Dimensions: 125x73x23mm
Weight: 167g
Battery: Built-in, non-changeable 1250mAh Li-polymer
Battery life: 10Hrs (DAB)
Charging Time: 5Hrs (via USB)
Standards: DAB/DAB+/FM (RDS)
Frequency Bands: VHF Band II (87.5MHz - 108MHz) / VHF Band III (5A - 13F)
Presets: 30
Recording: MP2 (DAB), AAC (DAB+)
Playback: MP3, MP2 (recorded), AAC (recorded)
Speaker: 2W
Headphone/Aerial socket: 3.5mm stereo jack
Despite my musings on the subject about 18 months ago, last Tuesday I purchased a Sony PRS-350 ebook reader!
For a long time I've been unsure about the latest medium to go digital. I was staunchly pro paper, concerned about the impact of DRM, multiple formats and cost. However, I decided that now really was a good time to give it a go.
My eBook History, and DRM Troubles
The situation came about a couple of weeks ago when I thought of re-visiting some old ebooks I'd purchased back in 2006 when I experimented with reading on my iPaq PDA. These books were in Microsoft's .LIT format requiring Microsoft Reader to view them and the associated MSN Passport account.
Infuriatingly I found that through lack of use, my Passport account no longer existed and that Microsoft was discontinuing the format. Although I could for the moment still get the reader, I couldn't associate it with a valid account and therefore couldn't get the books.
This is exactly the situation I was worried about - not being able to access books I had legally purchased thanks to over-restrictive DRM.
Fortunately I still had my account details for the store where I bought the books and having contacted them they kindly allowed me to re-download the books in another format - EPUB. Still DRM restricted, but much more accessible being supported by many different devices. Kudos to ebooks.com for their customer service.
So having re-gained access to my books and having discovered how to read them on my Android phone I discovered the benefits of effectively being able to keep a book in my pocket to read whenever I had a spare 5-10 minutes. I found the amount of time I would spend reading significantly increased.
A Dedicated Reader
The big problem now was the screen size, battery life and reading on a backlit screen. It wasn't the most comfortable experience. Not as pleasant as reading paper. So for that reason, and the fact that my real bookshelf is now full to bursting, I decided I might as well get a proper e-Ink device.
There were only two real contenders as far as I could tell based on various internet searches: the Amazon Kindle or a Sony Reader. Not wanting to be locked in to a specific store or device, the Sony seemed the best option. Wanting something pocketable, I chose the PRS-350 - it's smaller than the kindle with a 5" screen and no keypad, and it sports a touchscreen display. Importantly it supports the EPUB format (as well as others) meaning I had a few stores to choose from.
6 Days of Reading
So I've now had the device for nearly a week. I've already read one novel and am half-way through another. I find it very easy to keep with me and to read a chapter every now and again.
The Pearl e-Ink display is a pleasure to read with crisp, clear text; no viewing angle issues and a reasonably quick refresh rate. This particular device having a touchscreen interface makes reading as near to the paper experience as possible with a swipe of the finger across the screen turning the page.
In terms of the experience of reading, I'm really quite happy!
Downsides
There are however a few issues that I believe need to be sorted out, not with the device but with the purchasing of books and their accessibility.
EPUB books are generally sold with DRM restrictions. Fortunately there is a way around this, but whilst the procedure is not difficult I wouldn't expect technically illiterate people to follow it. The Sony Readers can be associated with an Adobe account to permit access to DRM protected books, but I'm wary of doing this based on my past experiences with Microsoft's DRM system. I should state here that I do NOT agree with illegally sharing and obtaining books and I do not indulge in such activities, however I also do not agree with DRM restricting what I can do with books I have bought and therefore have no qualms about de-restricting books I have purchased.
Prices can be interesting. I've found numerous ebooks that are either cheaper than their paperback equivalents or at least on par with them but in some cases, the opposite is true. For example, right now Waterstones are selling Stephen Hawking's 'The Grand Design'. As an ebook it costs £15.99 but as a paperback it costs £8.99 (it's actually £4.99 but that's with a 50% off offer). That is simply crazy and I cannot see any reason for it. Kobo Books is selling the same book for £6.49 so it is available at a reasonable price - why isn't Waterstones (and WHSmith for that matter) also selling at a more reasonable rate?
Related to price are discount codes. Today, Kobo Books has a 20% off code valid for one purchase. Great, I thought, and off I went to purchase Brian Greene's 'The Hidden Reality'. At checkout I was disappointed to note the text 'Due to publisher restrictions Promo codes are not allowed for this product.' This was actually the case for about five different books I tried to use the code with. Perhaps this is an issue with the store in question - maybe they should have a page indicating on what books they code can be used. They didn't however and I can't help but wonder if this is a problem with the ebook system.
The final issue I have is relatively minor and may not be an ebook issue, but it is quality control. I noticed a couple of spelling and grammar errors in my copy of Cold Granite by Stuart Macbride most of which should be detectable using a spell checker. I don't know if these errors exist in the paper copy though so I'm not going to dwell on them.
Conclusion
Overall I'm very happy with my eBooks reader and it has increased the amount of reading I have done significantly.
I hope over time that the issues I experienced above will be ironed out - particularly the DRM issue. I just need to remember to shop around for the best price and be aware that in some cases I may just have to purchase the paper copy where it is significantly cheaper.
I picked up my first high resolution widescreen monitor today, a Dell U2311H 23" IPS TFT screen.
For what must be roughly 18 months - 2 years, I've been using a 15" 1024x768 TN TFT screen and over the past few months I've been getting increasingly annoyed with it's low resolution, making tasks such as photo editing, video editing and coding difficult. For this reason, I've decided to upgrade.
The new monitor is an IPS type. I'm not particularly familiar with the finer points of the different types of TFT screens, but I understand that this is particularly good in terms of colour reproduction making it ideal for photo editing. IPS has a slower response time than a TN screen but I'm not a big gamer so for me it's not an issue. The biggest drawback is the cost. IPS screens are significantly more expensive than their TN counterparts.
Saying that though, the cost of this screen wasn't too bad at around £250, particularly considering that for the 24" version, I would have had to pay nearly double that cost.
It's difficult to make an objective review of this screen since I think that regardless of what I chose, be it a TN screen or IPS; slightly larger or smaller, it would have been a significant improvement over the old monitor. I now have that running as a secondary screen and in a side-by-side comparison, the text is decidedly fuzzy and dull. This new monitor is pin sharp and bright.
I'm yet to do anything complicated with this screen like colour calibration (I've yet to find out how to do this) but using the out-of-the-box settings, I'm very happy. It's sharp, big and comfortable to use. I'm looking forward to getting a second one so I can retire the smaller screen entirely.
One nice feature of this monitor, and I know it's nothing unique, is the addition of a USB hub. It's amazing how such a small addition can make setting-up and using a computer so much better. I've got my keyboard and mouse connected to the two lower USB ports found where the other connectors are; and the remaining two side ports are perfect for plugging in memory sticks or peripheral cables.
Before purchasing, I did have some trouble finding out whether the U2311H was compatible with VESA stands and mounting equipment. Some websites made no mention of it, others said it was compatible but one company who stocks this screen explicitly stated, when asked in it's customer questions section, that it was not VESA compatible.
I can confirm that the Dell U2311H is, in fact, compatible with VESA mounts which is fortunate because I'd like one of those dual screen stands which bolts on to the desk. Much tidier than two stands. The company (who I've used before) with the incorrect information had this screen for about £30 cheaper, but they lost the sale because they couldn't get information correct.
Last Wednesday I added to my collection of computers by purchasing a Samsung N210 netbook - a small, low-power, long-life laptop computer.
My primary reason for purchasing such a machine was for a forthcoming holiday, allowing me to backup photographs, video footage, write a journal and connect to the internet. A standard laptop wouldn't fit the bill - the one available to me was just to big and heavy. My smartphone didn't have the connectivity or storage to allow me to get pictures off from SD cards.
So the netbook option seemed to be the logical choice, and after a lot of searching (it's a crowded marketplace), I settled on the Samsung.
This particular model has a white case, a 10.1" 1024x600 matt screen, 250GB hard drive, 1GB DDR2 RAM (expandable to 2GB), Bluetooth, wifi 802.11b/g/n, built-in webcam, SD card reader and 3x USB sockets. The processor is one of the newer Atom N450 1.66GHz models which features an Intel GMA350 graphics chip as well. This processor, compared to the older Atom N270, features significant power reduction meaning battery life is significantly better than the earlier model.
I had to spend a lot of time seriously considering my requirements and trawling through reviews. Quite early on, I settled for a machine with the N450 processor which fortunately narrowed my search. From here though, machines are very similar with little to tell between them.
What settled it for me was that this model had strong reviews and featured the newest WiFi standard. Although I don't operate a 802.11n network just yet, I'm planning an upgrade in the not-to-distant future and it made sense to future proof the machine as far as possible.
As for my impressions now that I'm using the netbook, I'm very happy. The machine is slightly heavier than I anticipated but compared to an inexpensive laptop, it's certainly small and light. It fits in my backpack easily and I think it'll just fit in to my camera bag. The reduced resolution on the screen is noticeable - particularly in the vertical, but small tricks such as auto-hiding the taskbar and running a web browser full-screen offsets that limitation somewhat. Battery life is impressive and I estimate achieving anything between 5 - 7 hours of uptime depending of course on what it's used for. Admittedly this is short of the advertised 11 hours battery life, but still very good.
There's no doubt that the processor is limited, but day-to-day browsing feels sufficiently fast. Standard definition video files play okay from the hard-drive but I did struggle to use BBC iPlayer through Firefox on the supplied Windows 7 Starter. Video playback stuttered and full-screen use was out of the question.
I've configured my machine to dual-boot Windows 7 with Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04. I've divided the disk into multiple partitions to accommodate the two operating systems, the restore partition and a shared data partition. I find myself booting more and more into Ubuntu. It feels snappy and iPlayer here is much more successful although full-screen playback is still a struggle.
There are a few niggles with the open source system - after installation there is no wireless connectivity until an update is done via wired ethernet, and some additional software needs to be installed to make some special keys e.g., brightness work. I've also noticed the wireless does not always resume when waking the machine from a sleep state although this is intermittent and a reboot easily fixes it. I also needed to enable multiple desktops using gconf-editor which I think is essential on a limited resolution screen. Now it's configured though, I think it's a very usable and snappy system.
The Windows installation needed some work too. As seems to be the case with bought computer systems, a lot of extra - unnecessary - software was pre-installed. It took some time to install this as part of the initial setup and then more time again to remove it. I'm talking about Microsoft Office 2007 (trial), Microsoft Works, various non-standard games, McAfee virus scanner - all applications that hog disk space and have the potential to slow down the machine. Fortunately once I'd cleared all this I was able to take a snapshot of the system with one of the useful pieces of software - Samsung Recovery Solution 4.
So all-in-all, I think this was a sound choice and I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces. As well as the uses I mentioned earlier, I will also see how it performs next to my radio equipment - I wonder if it emits a large amount of RF? As it has a large battery life I'm considering how useful it could be for operating a portable PSK amateur radio station. I suspect that it will be like other laptops I've used - on battery it'll be fine. It'll be the mains adaptor that pollutes the spectrum.
At the time of writing, the Samsung N210 was available at Amazon UK for £278 (white model) or £333 (black model).
My primary reason for purchasing such a machine was for a forthcoming holiday, allowing me to backup photographs, video footage, write a journal and connect to the internet. A standard laptop wouldn't fit the bill - the one available to me was just to big and heavy. My smartphone didn't have the connectivity or storage to allow me to get pictures off from SD cards.
So the netbook option seemed to be the logical choice, and after a lot of searching (it's a crowded marketplace), I settled on the Samsung.
This particular model has a white case, a 10.1" 1024x600 matt screen, 250GB hard drive, 1GB DDR2 RAM (expandable to 2GB), Bluetooth, wifi 802.11b/g/n, built-in webcam, SD card reader and 3x USB sockets. The processor is one of the newer Atom N450 1.66GHz models which features an Intel GMA350 graphics chip as well. This processor, compared to the older Atom N270, features significant power reduction meaning battery life is significantly better than the earlier model.
I had to spend a lot of time seriously considering my requirements and trawling through reviews. Quite early on, I settled for a machine with the N450 processor which fortunately narrowed my search. From here though, machines are very similar with little to tell between them.
What settled it for me was that this model had strong reviews and featured the newest WiFi standard. Although I don't operate a 802.11n network just yet, I'm planning an upgrade in the not-to-distant future and it made sense to future proof the machine as far as possible.
As for my impressions now that I'm using the netbook, I'm very happy. The machine is slightly heavier than I anticipated but compared to an inexpensive laptop, it's certainly small and light. It fits in my backpack easily and I think it'll just fit in to my camera bag. The reduced resolution on the screen is noticeable - particularly in the vertical, but small tricks such as auto-hiding the taskbar and running a web browser full-screen offsets that limitation somewhat. Battery life is impressive and I estimate achieving anything between 5 - 7 hours of uptime depending of course on what it's used for. Admittedly this is short of the advertised 11 hours battery life, but still very good.
There's no doubt that the processor is limited, but day-to-day browsing feels sufficiently fast. Standard definition video files play okay from the hard-drive but I did struggle to use BBC iPlayer through Firefox on the supplied Windows 7 Starter. Video playback stuttered and full-screen use was out of the question.
I've configured my machine to dual-boot Windows 7 with Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.04. I've divided the disk into multiple partitions to accommodate the two operating systems, the restore partition and a shared data partition. I find myself booting more and more into Ubuntu. It feels snappy and iPlayer here is much more successful although full-screen playback is still a struggle.
There are a few niggles with the open source system - after installation there is no wireless connectivity until an update is done via wired ethernet, and some additional software needs to be installed to make some special keys e.g., brightness work. I've also noticed the wireless does not always resume when waking the machine from a sleep state although this is intermittent and a reboot easily fixes it. I also needed to enable multiple desktops using gconf-editor which I think is essential on a limited resolution screen. Now it's configured though, I think it's a very usable and snappy system.
The Windows installation needed some work too. As seems to be the case with bought computer systems, a lot of extra - unnecessary - software was pre-installed. It took some time to install this as part of the initial setup and then more time again to remove it. I'm talking about Microsoft Office 2007 (trial), Microsoft Works, various non-standard games, McAfee virus scanner - all applications that hog disk space and have the potential to slow down the machine. Fortunately once I'd cleared all this I was able to take a snapshot of the system with one of the useful pieces of software - Samsung Recovery Solution 4.
So all-in-all, I think this was a sound choice and I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces. As well as the uses I mentioned earlier, I will also see how it performs next to my radio equipment - I wonder if it emits a large amount of RF? As it has a large battery life I'm considering how useful it could be for operating a portable PSK amateur radio station. I suspect that it will be like other laptops I've used - on battery it'll be fine. It'll be the mains adaptor that pollutes the spectrum.
At the time of writing, the Samsung N210 was available at Amazon UK for £278 (white model) or £333 (black model).
Following my comments about the closure of BBC Radio 6 Music and the availability of DAB receivers for use in the car, I decided to do a bit more research.
Whilst my point about the lack of availability still stands, there are options for listening to digital radio on the move. Rather than limiting myself to searching the Halfords website (who do not stock DAB receivers), I made a wider search and did come across receivers available from stores such as Argos, Amazon and John Lewis.
The choice is still limited. There are not many head units available and those that do exist cost significantly more than analogue radio receivers. There is a cheaper option available though - a receiver which re-broadcasts DAB on to the FM band. I picked up one of these units at the weekend ... a Pure Highway.
This is a unit which is about the size of an old Walkman (the cassette tape variety). It has a windscreen mount to hold it in place and takes power from the car 'cigarette lighter' socket. An internal adhesive aerial is provided which sticks to the windscreen or a fixed window. A few controls provide access to tuning, station presets and a settings menu. Feedback is provided by way of a small LCD screen.
Setting up the Highway is very straightforward; it can be tidily installed in 10-20 minutes. I positioned the windscreen mount to the right of the windscreen, ran the power cable through the fuse box cover and through the centre console to re-appear just before the power socket, and stuck the aerial on the rear right passenger window which doesn't open. The aerial cable is tucked in to the trimming above the door surrounds and is only visible when it appears near the mount.
Initial tuning picks up my local multiplexes: BBC National DAB, D1 National and NOW Essex. Unfortunately reception of the latter is not great and even D1 National has problems in certain parts of the county. BBC National DAB is more or less fine apart from one very small area in my daily commute. Whilst I'm happy with this for the time being; I will probably invest in an external aerial which should improve the reception of D1 National at least.
The Pure Highway incorporates an FM transmitter so that digital radio can be heard via an existing car radio. This works particularly well. On first use, the unit scans the FM band for a free frequency and then instructs the user to tune the car radio to that frequency. On my route I have not heard any hiss or breakthrough from neighbouring FM stations. The car radio RDS displays "PURE DAB" when correctly tuned, although it would be nice if it displayed the name of the tuned station.
If your car radio has a line-in socket, there is no need to use the FM transmitter. A line-out socket on the Highway allows direct connection to the car radio which should offer higher sound quality particularly if the FM band is crowded. My car radio doesn't have this though, so I can't test it.
Another handy feature which I haven't yet tested is the presence of a line-in socket. This allows for the connection of an MP3 player and uses the FM transmitter or line-out to send that audio to the car radio. I no longer need my original FM transmitter since the Pure Highway now fulfills that role!
A final feature that could prove very useful is that the Highway is not limited to use in the car. Of course, any FM radio within it's range can receive it's signals so you could convert an existing home radio to hear DAB signals. More than that though, is that it can be used as a portable receiver. By adding a couple of AA batteries and plugging headphones into the line-out socket, the Highway becomes a handheld receiver. I'm using it in this way as I type this, and sitting at my computer I get perfect reception of BBC National DAB and D1 National. NOW Essex is non-existent however. The lead of the headphones is used as an aerial, so how this will work walking about or on the train, I don't know but in theory at least, this saves the need to buy a separate unit for portable listening.
In summary, I'm very happy with my new purchase. It's brought me back in to the world of digital radio, which I vacated back in 2005 with the loss of my first car and it's DAB head unit (which broke). Whilst I maintain my opinion that there are shortcomings to the DAB system used by the UK, I'm happy to be able to receive the digital-only stations which appeal to me ... BBC 6 Music, NME Radio, Amazing Radio, Planet Rock and Absolute Radio (not digital only, but the only alternative here is AM).
The Pure Highway is available from stores such as Amazon, Argos, John Lewis and Play.com for approximately £80