It’s a question that’s been thrust at the iPad since day one: is it a proper computer? Certainly, one of the Apple tab’s biggest bugbears is that typing anything of length is akin to miming War & Peace: laborious. But can a keyboard, and a place to keep the iPad upright, change that? We’ve been using the iLuv Workstation to see if it can turn Apple’s pride and joy into a proper PC.

Build and design

Remember the Amstrad E-m@iler? It was, shall we say, a bit ahead of its time. The phone-come-computer tried to bridge the gap between the two, at a time when nobody was really ready for it. But that’s exactly what the iPad is, so when it’s housed in a device with a keyboard, it’s little surprise that the E-m@iler immediately springs to mind.

But let’s be kind: it’s not as ugly. If you’re designing a product that needs to hold an iPad, conceal a keyboard and face it predominantly with a speaker, your design options are going to be fairly limited.

The Workstation isn’t a centre piece for your room. It’s not a B&W speaker. It’s made of plastic. But it’s by no means hideous, and it’s reassuringly heavy. Add to that the fact that the grip holds an iPad snugly, and can by tilted back and forth, as well as between portrait and landscape, and overall it’s a nice bit of engineering. It’s neither astounding nor cheap, but you do get a remote control with it, which is a nice touch.

Sound

The speaker on the Workstation is pretty hefty, and has no problems filling a room. This is impressively over-achieving, given that the idea of the Workstation is to have you sit right in front of it. As it is, there’s ample bass and the sound doesn’t buzz when you turn it all the way up.

There are better sounding docks out there, but not by a huge margin at this price ($150, £129.99).

Keyboard

Let’s get to the meat: the keyboard is the only reason you’d buy the Workstation over any other dedicated speaker dock. Concealed and released by a satisfying spring-loaded mechanism at the Workstation’s foot, the keyboard’s designed to make life easier when you’re using an iPad at a desk. And does it?

Well, it certainly works without any qualms. The dock insists that it needs an app to work, but it actually doesn’t – just plug your iPad or iPhone in and type away. Wherever the onscreen keyboard would pop up, it now won’t. On top of that, there are some shortcuts for ‘home’ and volume, etc.

iPad 3 review: Fulfilling the tablet’s destiny?

But it’s by no means perfect. The width of the dock dictates the width of the keyboard, which is unfortunately a wedge narrower than the keyboard found on the 11-inch MacBook Air – which would have been perfect here.

As such, the keyboard’s a little cramped. It’s got fine travel and, despite being plasticky, isn’t flimsy, but it is cramped. You can get used to any keyboard size and shape, but some quicker than others – this is just a little bit too small for our liking. Also, it’d be nice if the keyboard were wireless and could fully leave its housing, but that would undoubtedly drive the cost up.

Verdict

So if the keyboard’s cramped, is it really worth the asking price? That very much depends on what you expect to be able to do on an iPad. If you want to write novels, we’d still say you’d be better off with a laptop. But if you want to have somewhere to station your iPad – as a secondary device – and fire off emails, this is one of the best options going.

Apple’s device is only really as limited as your tolerance or patience in this sense. Dreams of using the iPad as your primary computer can come true, but only if you really don’t expect to be doing much on a primary computer.

But, if you’re just looking for something that, say, makes it easier to comment on Facebook or to search for a song on Spotify, the iLuv Workstation dock is your best option. It’s appeal over other docks is very niche, but there is an appeal all the same.

Link: iLuv

The Amazon Kindle Fire hasn’t even been given a UK release date yet, and our US gadget-loving brethren don’t get their hands on it until tomorrow. But news has emerged from the Far East of plans for a follow-up. Read on to see just what’s planned for the Amazon Kindle Fire 2.

It seems Taiwan’s Quanta Computer has landed the order to produce the Amazon Kindle Fire 2, according to a report in Apple Daily. The new version of the bargain bucket tablet will be released in the second quarter of next year, which starts in April.

Sadly, specs and price plans remain thin on the ground, but perhaps the Kindle Fire 2 will come with a skinned version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Either way, you can expect it to offer more grunt, but with the same peerless access to Amazon’s myriad services.

Are you planning on snagging a Kindle Fire when it launches in the UK? Or are you happy to wait until its successor is officially revealed? Tell us in the comments now.

Via Digitimes

Let’s get this clear from the start: this is for runners only. There are no profiles to cater for cyclists and swimmers. This is as streamlined as GPS watches get – and it’s all the better for it.

Just hold down the yellow button and start running

You’ve got a big screen (that you can even slap to mark laps), a slick neon strap that stays on and stays comfy, and just three buttons. Your functions are limited on the watch itself – you can’t even set the time without hooking it up to your computer, but it’s clear Nike’s thought about every aspect of this, right down to the heart rate monitor compatibility and the cable included incase the USB connector on the watch strap itself is too wide for your laptop. You just hold down the select button on the watch to turn on the TomTom powered GPS and start running.

See where you - and otheres - have run from the comfort of your browser

When you’re done, you simply stop it and enjoy the Nike+ SportWatch proverbially patting you on the back with encouraging messages and important milestones (fastest mile, say). Then you plug it in and sync your data to the cloud via the Nike+ Connect software for PC and Mac, and see where you ran, how far and how fast – even where others around you have been running, via a crowdsourced “heat map”.

That’s when it works, of course – with no cell towers or wireless networks to assist it as you’d get on a smartphone, the GPS can take some time to lock on. We frequently struggled to get a fix in central London, even in an open space.

Even in the open, in London, we struggled to find an initial signal

Eventually the Nike+ SportWatch found us after thirty seconds standing in the middle of Blackfriars Bridge, and once it did, it held on, even through the high rise streets of the City. If you run in wide open areas and parks it’s not an issue, but if you live in a major conurbation, you may want to test out smartphone GPS tracking options first – they may not have you waiting around so long to start with.

Of course, when you do lose reception, you can fall back on the Nike+ sensor that comes in the box, and which can be tied to your laces, or even better, popped comfortably into the slot under your Nike Pegasus’ sole. This links up in seconds, and seems to track your distance very well, but of course you don’t get the benefit of the social aspect GPS tracking allows.

The Nike+ SportWatch is a simplistic fitness tool, but that’s the point, and crucially, it’s well-priced. If you’re after an (ugly) low end Garmin Forerunner for just tarmac treading, go with this instead.

The Nike+ SportWatch is on sale at the UK Nike online store, and will be made available through other retailers in the coming months.

The cases are polycarbonate, and will set you back £40. Gear4 are the same folks who’ve designed the Angry Birds iPhone 4 cases we saw before Christmas, and which were expanded at the beginning of the year with the addition of the black Angry Bird.

Is an Angry Bird iPad 2 case going straight to the top of your wishlist? Shout out in the comments!

[via ChipChick] ]]> http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2011/03/11/angry-birds-ipad-2-cases-touchdown/feed/ 2 http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2010/10/19/amazon-kindle-review/ http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2010/10/19/amazon-kindle-review/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:45:57 +0000 Jennifer Allan http://188.65.36.75/?p=95318 When asked to review the new Amazon Kindle, I expected to find myself tearing it apart. Truth is, despite my love of gadgetry, I’ve always been skeptical of e-readers. I love books, for all the same reasons lovers of books tend to: the physical object, the smell of old pages, all that romanticised guff that’s been said before. And so in my previous encounters with e-readers I have mostly found myself unimpressed, turning my nose up at the dreary grey e-ink screens. Not this one though. No, no. Read on for the new Amazon Kindle review and find out why.

What’s it like to use the new Amazon Kindle? Its six inch eInk screen is sharper than the previous Kindle. It is sharp, and it also feels far less grey than other e-readers, closer to the creamy colour of the printed page. There’s something reassuringly analog about this Kindle, in a way that makes it feel closer to a book than to other digital devices. This could be because of the flatness of the unlit eInk page, or because of the nearly black, beiges and cream of Amazon’s design. It’s certainly far less bricky than Sony‘s equivalent Readers.

The new Kindle is incredibly slim

The size of the Amazon Kindle is certainly one of its most appealing features. The build is solid, and it’s so compact as to be hardly there at all when you’re carrying it around: as you may have been informed by the myriad advertising hoards, it is lighter and slimmer than many a paperback. As someone who commutes with a rucksack packed full of heavy gear, I can say this is a dream.

As before, the Amazon Kindle requires no contract for 3G, and indeed it was impressively nippy pulling books down over the air – I had a new virtual tome up in front of me in less than a minute. I could follow a whim, and be reading a four-chapter free sample of a book in no time at all. Then if you have your Amazon account synced (also equally easy to set up – all you need to do is log in to your account), it’s one click to buy the whole book. So while you can’t lend on a Kindle, you can act on a recommendation within a minute, which goes some way to easing that niggle.

The screen is now sharper, and eminently readable, even in broad daylight

The screen on the new Amazon Kindle is sharp, and readable (yes, even in bright sunlight). It’s also easy to navigate the simple menus, which are obvious and uncluttered. My Clippings holds all the bookmarks you’ve made, whether these are for future reference or just where you last stopped reading.

To e-reader newcomers, the page refresh is strange at first: the way it works is the eInk is pushed into microcapsules, and magnestism defines whether it is black or white. So a page change is pigment being de-magnestised and re-magnetised, and the process is slow enough to be visible. This is also the root of why the Kindle has such a lengthy battery life. On around 30 minutes of charge we got over four days of power out of it. The official estimate says that a full charge can last around a month, which seems very feasible.

How to buy: Best eReader guide

The keyboard has a slightly rough texture, and the body is smooth. The buttons to turn the page are along both sides of the screen about half way up, although it feels like this isn’t the best place to put them, and they either need to be higher up or lower down to be in a sweet spot.

Amazon has added some “experimental” extras on this Kindle, one of these being a browser, and a player to listen to podcasts. This seems to be in an effort to make the Kindle a multifunction device, but as with other eInk rivals, in reality it’s a futile attempt. The eInk screen cannot deal with a web page, and the BBC website looks like it’s been reinterpreted by Picasso. In practice, this feature is useless, and unless the Kindle drops the easier-on-the-eyes eInk screens, it isn’t going to get much better. The audio is surprisingly rich and sharp, coming from such a dinky device, and puts up a stonking show against a laptop, and is better than most smartphones.

Some serious one on one time with the new Amazon Kindle has almost changed my mind. I say almost, because there are still two key niggles I have, that I want to be resolved. Firstly, I cannot digitise my existing book collection without buying it all again. This is different to other e-readers, like the unfussy Sony Reader series. I can digitise my existing music collections for example, whether it’s CD or vinyl. Secondly, sharing. Music can still be shared, by and large I can burn an MP3, but I cannot lend someone the book I’ve just read on a Kindle, they have to buy it again.

These problems have existed with the Kindle for years, and yet with the new Amazon Kindle being so cheap (£109-£149 for 3G as well as WiFi), and with the advertising push feeling like it’s having a second coming, they seem more pressing than ever.

So long as you're not already attached to a library of eBooks, the new Kindle is perfect

So, after almost a week with the new Amazon Kindle, I can say I’m almost converted. It is easy, so easy, to buy and read a book on it, and as much as I love books, you don’t get less immersed in a novel on a Kindle than its physical equivalent. It indulges my whims at the click of a button, and yet is barely there. Whilst I’ve loved reading on a Kindle, the appeal is for those who travel a lot or for long periods of time, and those who don’t want to carry around any more weight than they have to – or  don’t have an existing library of books, paper or digital, they’re already attached to.

The new Amazon Kindle has made our Top 5 lists of best eReaders, which is why we’ve given it our Recommended rosette. Check out more Top 5s here and find out more about how they work with our Top 5 guarantee.

Anyone who’s ever tried to take detailed notes of a meeting, interview or lecture, without hours of shorthand practice, will know how hard it can be to keep up, and stay accurate. That’s where Livescribe’s smartpens come into play: through the magic of an IR camera hiding behind the nib, they’re capable of not only logging your notes, but recording audio, and pairing the two together, letting you skip to find out who said what and when quickly and easily. And in this, the Livescribe Echo, like the Pulse before it, excels.

In fact, if you’ve ever used the Livescribe Pulse, you’ll take to the Livescribe Echo in no time at all: in its basic functions, it’s identical. You power up, and take notes on the special paper that comes provided, choosing what you want to do with the control buttons printed at the bottom of every page, and start jotting. When you’re done, you can playback what you recorded and what was being said as you wrote a specific word just by tapping on it: it’s astonishingly fast, and the Livescribe Echo never fails to respond. Minute taking has never been so easy, or so accurate.

The desktop offerings for the Livescribe Echo too, are identical to the Pulse, which is by no means a bad thing. You can digitise your notes through desktop software for PC or Intel Macs, store them and the accompanying audio online or even download apps for the Livescribe Echo (Though unless you like plinking out tunes with an instrument made of paper, or hear your pen say foreign phrases at you, these still aren’t hugely appealing).

So what’s new? The basic premise of the Pulse didn’t need fixing, but Livescribe’s managed to shove more tech into the Livescribe Echo this time around. Storage is bumped from 2 or 4GB to 8GB (Up to 800 hours depending on the settings, but more than enough), and full sized ports have now been squeezed into the top of the pen: there’s a micro USB slot so you can plug it straight into a computer, and 3.5mm audio for the recording headset.

The design of the Livescribe Echo has also been changed, though we’re not sure if this is necessarily for the better. It’s a chunkster of a pen, and though the rubber grip is comfortable, it just looks like a pen nicked from a hotel lobby more than the previous Pulse did. You’ll want to keep hold of the lid too (You get two in the box) as it’s not attached to the pen’s body, and the camera needs protecting for keys and paperclips in your bag.

This time round, you also get an A5 sized ring bound notebook to start things off with the Livescribe Echo, rather than a bloody great A4 block as you did with the Pulse, which will certainly appeal to journalists, if not students. When you run out, you can print more off at no charge.

Check out our Livescribe Pulse review now

The Livescribe Echo also boasts a few software tweaks, like quicker application launch by drawing, and one interesting upgrade option reportedly coming down the line: the ability to act as a USB input device. This could make for an incredibly portable graphics tablet alternative, but the software update enabling it isn’t out yet.

We’d say the extra convenience of the ports and storage on the Livescribe Echo justify the price over the Pulse, but it’s not entirely without its problems, and most of these are caused by what’s not in the box.

There’s the issue of having to buy more refill paper and cartridges with the Livescribe Echo, but what’s most odd is that this time around, a recording headset isn’t included in the box (it is with the Pulse), so if you need one for recording phone interviews, you’ll need to hand over another £29.99. The Livescribe Echo is great at handling audio otherwise though: there are settings for “conference room”, “lecture hall” or automatic, so as long as you don’t set up in a noisy coffee shop you’ll be fine.

Luckily, there are plenty of other accessories to be had too, for cheaper – a quick perusal on Amazon will let you pick up Livescribe Echo supported notepads in all shapes and sizes, along with carry cases and ink cartridges. Some, like the Moleskin-esque pads, will set you back a fair wodge, but some are pretty reasonable (see this flip notepad 4 pack, working out at £2.50 a pop).

The one killer feature that’s missing in the Livescribe Echo however, is a quick way to convert your handwritten notes into text. We’d prefer to see this feature built in for the large price of the Livescribe Echo, but as it stands, you’ll need to seek out separate MyScript software to do this, and trying to find a way to buy it through the partner company’s website (visionobjects.com) gave us a migraine.

But this is a minor fault, and it’s hard to levy at the Livescribe Echo when no other product can do what it does so seamlessly already. The Livescribe Echo is overkill for most people, but for those who put pen to paper on a daily basis, it’s brilliant.

Is it another triumph over turbulence, or is the floor-standing behemoth of breeze a load of hot air?

More to the point, how many more of these wind gags can we squeeze in before you start complaining? Read our full Dyson Air Multiplier AM03 review to find out!
Unpacking the Dyson Air Multiplier AM03 is more exciting than is should be. Dyson has split the AM03’s construction into four parts, which you’re required to slot together in order. It’s a little bit like expensive Lego, and thankfully completely fool-proof.

Once assembled, the Air Multiplier AM03 stands proud at just over 1.4 metres. It’s large enough to dominate any office, and skinny enough that its height doesn’t look silly. That’s not to say this is demure though, it’s lollipop design drew more than a few giggles as we unpacked it.

In operation, the Air Multiplier AM03 is far from quiet too. In fact, it’s very loud at full pelt, which is the speed you’ll need to run it if you’re hoping to move air more than a meter or two. Sit next to it, and you’ll be livid within minutes. If you’re working in a quiet office, it’s obtrusive to say the least.

However, if you’re looking for something to blow air across the desks of a couple of workers, and they’ll sit quite near the fan, it’s ideal.

Expect arguments over who controls the Air Multiplier AM03 though. Dyson has positioned its speed and oscillation controls at the very bottom of its base, where they’re tricky to reach.

Read our original Dyson Air Multiplier review

There’s salvation in the shape of a cute infra-red remote that’s magnetised and curved to sit on top of the fan when not in use. It’s not dissimilar in design to Apple’s remote controls for its Macintosh computers, but it’s an add-on just begging to be lost, or squabbled over in an office full of even the most restrained gadget fans.

As with the smaller, desk-top Dyson Air Multiplier, the power of the Air Multiplier AM03 is surprising. It’s able to kick out a fair gust, and if noise isn’t an issue, it’s a belter. Like its predecessor, that draught is smooth and free of “buffeting” caused by traditional fan blades.

Which leaves us with just one issue to contend: the Dyson Air Multiplier AM03’s price tag. At £300 it’s going to be hard to justify for all but the most design-conscious offices. If you’re looking for a cheap cooling solution, there are air conditioners available for less, and although Dyson has eco-friendliness on its side, there’s considerably more bang for your buck to be had elsewhere.

Let’s face it though. If you’re even considering an Air Multiplier AM03, it’s the design rather than the function that you’re after. What you’ll get, at tolerable operating volumes, is a slight breeze, with peerless design, careful attention to detail and talking points aplenty thrown in. It’s more than a beige box kicking out cold air, and for that, you’ll pay a premium.

What you may be surprised to find if you’ve only seen the Parrot AR Drone flown indoors, is that it’s almost two different vehicles in one, by way of the two different hulls it uses (and which come in the box). It comes with a light, flexible polystyrene bumper to protect the blades, and it doesn’t feel like it can be torn in anyway. A simple tap of the launch button on the app, it floats up to a metre, stabilises and then you’re off. That’s enough to have you pestering everyone around the office, hovering above their heads while they try to file that report, and that’s a blast in itself.

Indoors however, you’ll never build up any speed before a wall, filing cabinet or litigious employee gets in the way. Outdoors, with the bumper off, the Parrot AR Drone is a speedier, scarier, beast altogether. It looks like something else entirely (The Starbug from Red Dwarf, actually), zipping around in every direction at a frightening pace. You don’t need to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot either – the Parrot AR Drone creates its own. And yes, outdoors, it’s even more fun.

Controlling the Parrot AR Drone is utterly intuitive on an iPod touch (or iPhone) – though we’re not quite so sure the same is true of the larger iPad, as we weren’t able to try this out. The first few tries will end in crashes as you adjust to the concept, but a few goes in, something will click, especially if you’re a gamer. A Parrot rep told us that the aim is to get so good at flying the Parrot AR Drone that you only need look at the screen. We didn’t get to that stage – he admitted even he hadn’t yet either, but we can certainly see that being possible with practice, on calm days when the wind isn’t likely to abruptly place it over a highway without you noticing.

The app itself is impressive, if very functional looking. Text and menus are ugly, but that’s besides the point when you can see out of the Parrot AR Drone’s two cameras on it at all times – we tested to see how long the delay was in the stream and it was only a few fractions of a second. Controls work by holding down the left side of the screen and tilting to push forward or back, or tilt left and right, while the right side of the screen brings up a thumbpad you can use to rotate the Parrot AR Drone. It takes a bit of getting used to, but is definitely easier than the X and Y axis controls you might have used on other remote control toy choppers.

We found having to reconnect sometimes by having to turn the Wi-Fi on and off on the iPod touch was a bit of a chore when the Parrot AR Drone needed restabilising, but naturally this becomes less of an issue as you get better and fly for longer continuously. The app will available for free on the day of launch, along with an augmented reality game, but it’s not available to test yet.

Of course, that it uses an iPod touch could itself be seen as a drawback. It’s the only way you can control it, so if you don’t have an iOS device, that’s at least another £150 you’ll be spending in order to play with the Parrot AR Drone. It’s a shame as back in January, Parrot was talking up potential Android integration for the quadricopter – that’s not come to pass sadly, and the company has nothing to announce on that front.

The range of the Parrot AR Drone was impressive, and as advertised: around 50 metres or so. We decided to see if that was true going upwards as well, and reached about 20 metres up – which is much, much higher than it sounds. We were testing the Parrot AR Drone in Regent’s Park in central London, and to see the view above the skyline appear on an iPod touch was utterly fantastic.

Then we hit a slight hitch when a gust of wind blew the Parrot AR Drone into a tree. It crashed to earth, and one of the plastic rotors broke in half, ending our flight session.

To be clear though, this is far from a flaw. We flew the Parrot AR Drone into a massive tree, it fell the height of a seven storey building to solid earth, and the only thing that snapped was half a plastic cog. Which you can replace. That’s it, and given the model we tested is the only one in the country right now, it’s already notched up its fair share of Parrot staff crashes. The Wi-Fi was still working and we could still see out of the camera. You can even set a height limit on the app to stop it from soaring up to the heavens.

The point is, you’ll struggle to break the Parrot AR Drone unless you really, really try, especially on a calm day, and with the plastic bumpers, we’re pretty sure it’s nigh on impossible to bust indoors.

The real obstacle is the price. For the power, ease of use and sheer enjoyment, the Parrot AR Drone is reasonably affordable at £299, but even if you have an iPod touch already, you’re going to run up against the battery issue. There’s just one in the box, and it lasts as long as Parrot claims – 12 or 13 minutes of flight time, with 90 minutes or so’s charging needed to go again. Realistically, to get maximum enjoyment from the Parrot AR Drone, you are going to have to buy yourself a couple of batteries (Price TBC but they will be sold separately, as will all the parts, from day one).

But if you can slap down that much cash for what is essentially the ultimate boy’s toy, you’ll be strapping yourself in for the ride of your adult life.

The Elgato EyeTV Netstream DTT is a svelte slab of silver, packing connectors in its rear for a single aerial connection, used to pick up Freeview signals, a power socket, to keep the box ticking, and an ethernet socket, to connect up to your existing router.

Once hooked up, the Eye TV software for Mac OS or TerraTec Home Cinema for Windows will auto detect the Netstream box, whether you’re connected via ethernet or Wi-Fi.

So far, so mundane. But fire up the software and you’re in for an eye-widening treat. Hooked up to a rooftop aerial and routed through an Apple Time Capsule our MacBook and MacBook Pro both connected flawlessly over Wi-Fi, with full resolution Freeview signals leaping into life after a short scan of the airwaves for channels.

To put this in perspective, the Elgato Netstream has effectively made the rooftop aerial available to every room in the house, as long as there’s a computer in it. Kiss goodbye to wobbly pictures from a set-top antenna, this is full quality Freeview for every room in your home.

Of course, these are optimum conditions. Our roof aerial provided almost perfect signals for the Netstream to repackage over our network, while Apple’s router pumps out Wi-Fi in super-speedy N flavour. We tried the Netstream with its included aerial, but it failed to pick up a single channel. Surprising, given our location in London’s bustling Zone 2, but hardly a deal-breaker. This is a streamer designed for permanent installation, and as such it’s reasonable to expect its use with fixed equipment.

Assuming you can furnish the Elgato Netstream with a decent signal and a speedy home network, you’re in for a great experience. Despite being tiny, the Netstream packs in two Freeview tuners, letting two computers watch TV at once, or letting a single computer watch one channel while recording another.

It’s even possible for a PC or Mac to record two shows at the same time, all without hooking up a single USB adapter.

The Netstream has a firm place in our hearts. It’s already found a permanent home behind our TV, sharing the standard aerial connection with four computers, and never once skipping a beat. Leave a computer running EyeTV software when you leave the house, and you’ll be able to tap into its signal from afar too, using an iPhone or an iPod touch.

Our only gripe with the Elgato Netstream is that it’s so far unable to send signals outside the home without the help of a PC or Mac. It’s a minor quibble however, and barely detracts from the Netstream’s standard abilities.

If you’re looking for a solution to flaky Freeview in all but a single room, and you’ve got a laptop or back bedroom computer, the Elgato EyeTV Netstream DTT really couldn’t be more perfect.

Its 8.4-inch, 800×600 screen is bright, and the viewing angle of 65 degrees from above and either side (45 degrees from below) is well suited for viewing on a shelf or with friends on the couch – the rechargeable battery can power the frame for just under an hour. But picture detail seems even worse than the 400:1 contrast ratio would suggest and colour reproduction is atrocious – dithering was evident in all content we viewed. Despite the surprisingly clear internal speaker, the unacceptable picture quality precludes even attempting to play videos on this device.

The clumsy interface on the Toshiba Journe Air 801 doesn’t help matters, resembling a 1990s era BIOS in appearance and an unintuitive arrangement of touch-sensitive buttons making navigation and text input a chore – it took us three minutes to enter an email address to sign in to Picasa.

Read our LightSleeper review now

Read our SmartControl universal remote control review now

This could have been done so much better: with support for up to 32 Flickr or Picasa accounts, automatic synchronisation on the Toshiba Journe Air 801 would have enabled this device to surprise you with new photos as friends and family uploaded them.  Sigh.

In theory, the Subview feature allows you to connect the Journe Air 801 to a Windows PC for use as a second monitor, but why you’d want to use an 800×600, low colour device to display content – when a far superior screen is likely right in front of you – is beyond us. If this feature functioned over WiFi, we’d see the point. Sigh again.

However, we were impressed with the bundled 3D Albums software, which pre-renders your photos as a stylish MPEG video that can then be transferred to the digital frame. The included themes – which show photos on pages turning in a book or as pictures hanging in a gallery – are an easy way to really show off your shots. At least, they would be if the rest of the Toshiba Journe Air 801 wasn’t such a shambles.