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Tech Toys For Your Summer Road Trip, Part 2 Last week, I talked about the portable PC firepower in the fabulous Tech Trailer, which, as you read this, is already outward bound on it’s maiden voyage into the nearly uncharted territory of America’s RV parks. |
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As I have written in the past, the Sprint PCS Vision service provides a great alternative to dial-up just about anywhere Sprint’s digital mobile network is available, which covers quite a bit of territory. I’ve had excellent success using it along California’s major highways, and in cities across the United States, so I was pleased to discover that the rugged Itronix GoBook tablet PC came with a Sprint PCS-capable Sierra Wireless AirCard 550 bolted into its weather-sealed PC card slot.
In addition, I’ve been testing the BroadbandAccess CDMA service from Verizon Wireless, which boasts wireless downloads that average 300 to 500 kilobits per second (kbps), and bursts that can hit 2 million bits per second (Mbps). Not bad for a dinky little PC Card! The BroadbandAccess network is currently available in San Diego and Washington, D.C., metro areas, with plans to roll it out nationally. However, if don’t happen to be in one of those two cities, it still works at the slower, “NationalAccess” speed (average downloads at 40- to 60 kbps and bursts up to 144 kbps) anywhere on Verizon’s network. Both Sprint and Verizon are currently offering unlimited wireless data access for about $80 per month.
Video Players
While surfing the Internet can be entertaining, connectivity for this road trip is more about access to e-mail and information – or even updating my Web site from time to time. The real focus of this voayage is naturally on leisure activities, and I’ve assembled some electronics in this category that are sure to please.
At the top of my list – and heading the “so-new-you-can’t-even-buy-one-yet” category – is the Creative Zen Portable Media Center. The 20GB media player can hold more than 80 hours of high-quality video, 5,000 songs, or 50,000 pictures – all in a sleek, black-and-silver package that weighs less than a can of Coke and is small enough to slip into your pants pocket.
Of course, the pleasant exterior isn’t what this device is all about. It’s an on-the-go entertainment powerhouse. The video, recorded from cable TV on a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC and transferred onto the portable via USB cable, is crisp and bright. The accompanying audio, delivered via headphones or earbuds, is equally satisfying. And just like it’s Media PC “big brother,” the Zen’s simple interface makes it easy to combine and customize your media experiences. As I write this, I’m enjoying a multimedia slideshow consisting of some beautiful nature photos, set to a Sarah McLachlan soundtrack. I achieved this by simply navigating to the My Music menu via the Zen’s directional control buttons, selecting the artist I wanted, then returning to the main menu and choosing a photo slideshow from the My Pictures interface. I’m so pleased with the results, I want to share it. No problem! I just connect the Zen to a television set using the included A/V cable, and everyone can watch and listen along with me.
If there’s any downside to the Zen, it’s the hefty price tag: You can preorder a unit today for about $500 from Amazon.com, for shipment in August. It will be interesting to see how many people are willing to shell out that kind of money for the Zen, or similarly priced units coming from Samsung and iRiver. My guess is that the early adopters – mostly commuters, frequent travelers and so-called “entertainment junkies” -- will not be disappointed.
Looking for a more conventional portable video experience? Sony’s Dream System DVD player is designed for the car or camper, or use in the home. The 6.5-inch LCD screen folds out on a swiveling stalk that pivots into a variety of viewing positions. Perhaps the most clever feature is the built-in FM transmitter that lets you play the audio through your car’s speaker system. The $400 device also has a built-in speaker and two headphone jacks.
Since this road trip will involve a large family gathering where we plan to show a video, it was also necessary to pack a multimedia projector. If you’re a seasoned road warrior used to hauling around an arm-stretching projector of old, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by some of the newer entries in the portable and ultraportable categories. Weighing in at 6 pounds, Toshiba’s $1,700 TLP-S71U Mobile Projector is full-featured, even including a detachable document camera for projecting 3D objects, fine print or photographs from across the room. If you really want to travel light, check out the 2.4-pound Olympus VP-1 Data Projector. About the same dimensions as a daily planner, this projector is “the bomb” for people who really believe that size matters. The price, unfortunately, is not little: about $2,500.
For a quick splash of summer fun, try rigging up a screen in your backyard and connecting the projector to one of the video players mentioned above. On a recent evening, I strung up a $2 Walmart shower curtain liner (purchased expressly for this purpose) with bungee cords between two palm trees, and played “Finding Nemo” for kids and guests while they frolicked in the pool. (My quick-witted 8-year-old coined the perfect name for the experience: a “dive-in movie.”)
Audio Players
Relaxing with a video is perfect for the downtime on your road trip, but for the rest of the journey, the real world around you will be providing most of the visuals. Sometimes, all you needed to make the moment truly magical is an appropriate soundtrack to match your mood. I’ve been enamored for several months with the iRiver iFP-390T digital music player. Tiny, yet not so small you need a magnifying glass to find the controls, this well-designed $180 unit molds to the palm of your hand. With 256MB of storage, it holds 8 hours of music, and higher capacity models are available. What originally caught my eye is the built-in FM radio tuner and recorder. If you hear a song you like coming on the radio, just tap the record button – a handy and easy way to add new content to your music collection, legally.
For about the same price, you can also pick up a Sony MZ-NH600D MD Walkman. The attraction here is the inexpensive, high-capacity removable Hi-MD MiniDisc cartridges. At $7 for a 1GB disk -- each capable of storing about 45 hours of music -- it’s easy and economical to create a huge library of highly portable tunes. As with the iRiver device, you’ll get about 24 hours of play time on a single AA battery.
Cameras
No road trip worth its asphalt would be complete without documenting the entire journey with copious and highly incriminating photos. Once again, I turned to Sony to equip me with a selection of innovative digital cameras suitable for taking still and moving pictures, on dry land or even beneath the waves.
After spending years in “photojournalist mode,” perfecting my ability to switch lenses and F-stops with split-second accuracy, the rearing of a family made me realize that there were more important things to carry around on trips than 20 pounds of SLR equipment – like diapers and extra sunscreen, etc. Even now that my kids are safely potty-trained and big enough to carry their own Coppertone, I’m still a great believer in the principle that the smaller and simpler the camera is, the more likely you are to carry it along and actually get the shots you want.
That’s why I love the way camcorders keep shrinking, and for my money, no one does this better than Sony. Take the diminutive DCR-PC109 MiniDV Handycam, for example. This $1,200 marvel packs an extensive feature set into a tiny 13.5-ounce package that you can grip like a baseball. It takes professional-quality full-motion digital video, as well as still pictures and MPEG movies. It offers a multitude of inputs and outputs, an infrared “NightShot” mode, 10X optical zoom with an additional 120X digital zoom, and much more.
For high-resolution still photography, the DSCW1 Cyber-shot 5.0 Megapixel Digital Camera is a solid choice. For $650, the camera aims to solve many of the problems associated with digital photography, such as short battery life, long and exasperating wait times between taking photos, small, hard-to-see LCD screens and grainy photos. The 2.5-inch LCD display is practically as big as the camera itself, while the rechargeable batteries offer about 3 hours of picture taking time, and the shutter interval between photos is only slightly above 1 second. In addition, 5 megapixels means never having to say you’re sorry because the picture is too fuzzy to enlarge. You can also record MPEG movies with sound, courtesy of a built-in condenser microphone.
Finally, if you’re heading for the sand and surf, or you just want a rugged camera that you can hand to a 5-year-old without reservation, consider the all-weather DSC-U60 Cyber-shot. Retailing for about $250, this 2.0 megapixel device takes still photos and MPEG movies -- even up to 5 feet underwater!
Well, it’s time to hit the road. Can you think of any important gadgets I’ve left behind? If so, or if you have any questions on the devices listed above, send me a note via steve@TVTechToys.com.
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FOR MORE GADGETS — INCLUDING LAPTOPS, GPS AND MORE, GO TO PART 1. . . |
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Wireless Internet
Before I start detailing the entertainment-related gadgetry I’m also hauling along, I’d like to address the concerns of AnchorDesk readers who sagely queried how I would achieve Internet connectivity while tooling around the country in the Kovsky Kabana. As you might have guessed, I’ll do it wirelessly.
I thought momentarily about unbolting my DirecWay satellite broadband dish from the roof and toting it along. While this would guarantee relatively fast upload and download speeds just about anywhere with a clear view of the southern sky, it doesn’t really fit my mantra of trying to travel light. Instead, I’ll be relying on the excellent CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) offerings available from Verizon and Sprint PCS.
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