Brother MFC-5460CN : The Affordable Network MFD

Print, Scan, Fax, Copy and get photo prints all at a great price – seem impossible? Well, the Brother MFC-5460CN seems to be what you are looking for, at least at the first look. Like all brother MFDs, this one sports a no-nonsense, office look, with rugged built. It is quite small. At the front is a two line, backlit LCD indicator that reports a lot of data and also lets you access the control panel menu. The input paper tray can accommodate 100 pages, just enough for a small to medium office, and the 35 page ADF tray is foldable.
Brother MFC-5460CN
The printer sports a resolution of 6000 x 1200 dpi, fairly high. There are four color cartridges, and access to these is made easy by means of a door at the front of the unit. The flatbed scanner can scan legal size documents. The printer supports most popular memory formats and it even has PicBridge.
Connectivity is via USB and a network interface, but you will need to weave the wires through the provided channel into the heart of the device. The advantage: no accidental disconnections; disadvantages: it’s irritating, and wires may not last long due to all the twisting.
The inbuilt 33.6Kb/s fax can store up to 400 pages and its capable of broadcasting to up to 150 locations. The phonebook memory is 100 numbers.
Printing is slow; the printer took half a minute to print a simple text document in normal mode, and took over a minute to print the same in best mode. Print quality is decent and sharp. There is some amount of graininess in photo prints, but its good enough for the average home users. The copier does an excellent job. The software bundle consists of the MFL-Pro Suite (a short of control center), PaperPort SE with OCR (a definite plus), and even a Presto! PageManager OCR for Mac users.
At its price of $340, I can say, its a good buy, if you don’t mind waiting a bit for the print.

Specifications :
Printer Resolution : 6000 x 1200 dpi
Printing Technology : Thermal Inkjet
Number of Cartridges : 4
Scanner Resolution (Optical) : 2400 x 1200 dpi
Input Paper Tray Capacity : 100 Sheets
ADF Capacity : 35 Sheets
Memory Slots : CF, MS, MS Pro, SD, MMC, xD Picture Card
I/O Ports : USB, RJ-45
FAX Memory : 400 Pages
Auto Dial : 100
Broadcast Locations : 150
Weight : 9 Kg
Dimension : 44 x 39.5 x 22.6 (W x D x H)

Popularity: 11% [?]

BlackBerry Curve 8300 : Business with Pleasure

BalckBerry Curve 8300The BlackBerry Curve 8300 is the littler sibling of the BlackBerry 8800. Most phones from BlackBerry are business centric, but the Curve incorporates multimedia features.
Silver tone makes for a cool, refined look. The slim profile means the Curve 8300 is very comfortable to hold and carry around. Its full QWERTY keys are small yet well shaped out. Tacticle response are brilliant.
The 2.5 inch 320×240 screen is adequately large and the images are crisp, good enough for the intended use: preliminary as a PDA phone. The 2MP gave us good results in daylight, but in low lit conditions, the images are washed out. The flash tends to over saturate the subject to some extent in close ups.
The mini USB port doubles as a charging point. You can use the device as a mass storage and access the 64MB of internal memory; memory expansion is possible via the MicroSD slot. The MicroSD slot, being under the battery compartment, isn’t hot swappable.
Media manager, based on Roxio Software, comes with the BlackBerry Desktop Manager Suite. This allows BlackBerry to integrate multimedia technology and capabilities like ripping audio CDs to the phone, managing playlists on it, and more. BlackBerry Curve 8300 comes with the personal manager and organizer apps that most smartphones come with. Synchronize the calender, memo, task-lists, etc. with your PC via Bluetooth or USB, or even with your corporate network if your company runs a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
The speaker independent voice dialling application called VoiceSignal workes really well. The 8300 performed well in our network reception test, with very few call drops. There is no Wi-Fi or 3G support.
Priced at $599, The BlackBerry Curve 8300 is a good bye for those who demand executive features (PDA Functionality) and a bit of multimedia. However, lack of Wi-Fi should be noted.

Specifications at a glance:
Dimensions : 107mm x 60mm x 15mm
Weight : 111g
Network Support : Quad Band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900)
Display : 2.5-inch, 320 x 240, 16bit
Memory Slot : Yes, MicroSD
Camera : 2MP
Connectivity : USB, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE

Available Memory Cards for BlackBerry Curve 8300:
Micro-SD card
Micro SD memory
Memory Stick Micro
M2 memory
M2 card

Popularity: 14% [?]

LG Black Label Series KE970 “Shine” : if only looks could matter

LG Black Label Series KE970 ShineNot all manufacturers are innovators of style. Ever since it launched the Chocolate a year ago, LG has been on to something is its new classy mobile line-up, of which the Black Label Series KE970 (a.k.a. shine) is what we got to lay our hands on. Encased in a full-metallic body with with a rich brush finish, the K970 is as rugged as a tank. It is wider than most mobiles. The highlight here is its 2.2-inch LCD, which not only looks good while it is on, but doubles up as a mirror when not lit up!
The keys offer good tactile feedback. LG has introduced the scroll button for the first time, but we found it rather inconvenient: it is very frustrating to keep scrolling through long lists and Web pages. Probably because of the scroller, the UI is vertical menu-based rather then icon-based-rather unintuitive. The Shine has an excellent 2.0 MP camera with auto focus. It is certified by Schneidr Kreuznach, the German company that certifies photo-optics. The camera does live up to its hype, and is one of the best we have seen thus far. You can choose from a host of different resolutions and there are five white balance settings, along with a few artistic effects. The camera is a bit sluggish, though. The media player is decent. Bluetooth 1.2 with A2DP support lets you listen to your music in full stereo on a supported buletooth handset.
There is support to view most common office formats, but there’s just 50 MB of internal memory, and you’ll need to use the microSD slot to add more-irritatingly, it’s not hot-swappable. lost Mobile Track (LMT) function is inbuilt to allow you to trace the phone in case you lost it.

Available Memory Cards for LG KE970:
Micro-SD card
Micro SD memory
Memory Stick Micro
M2 memory
M2 card

Popularity: 36% [?]