All My Reviews - Movies, Games and Gadgets

I have been thinking of getting a mouse for my netbook for sometime. Since I have to do some work at home, a mouse will definitely give me the advantage over touchpad. Hence, I looked around for good value mouse and I found Logitech LS1 laser mouse.

Price
At £12.99, I think it is a value mouse. At that price, I could have easily got a Microsoft mouse but as I am already using Microsoft mouse at work, I thought that I should give Logitech mouse a go. On the other hand, most Microsoft mouse is optical technology while Logitech LS1 is a laser mouse. Well, I actually paid £2.99 for it as I have a £10 Amazon voucher.

First Impression
As usual, I checked through every review that I could find on the internet and there have been mixed reviews. Some comments said that the mouse is bigger than expected. However, the description of the mouse did not state whether or not it is a notebook mouse. The package arrived sooner than I was expecting which was about three days. First impression, it looked great but it is smaller than I expected. It is very light but maybe because I am using a wireless mouse for my desktop computer. In comparison, wireless mouse is heavier than wired mouse. I am determined not to get a wireless mouse this time because of the hassle of buying batteries every now and then.

At the side, there are two button-like shapes but the truth is, they are not buttons at all. The scroll is not smooth and it feels like the scroller is going to come out from its place at any time. It has the size of a notebook mouse yet the cable is the length of a normal mouse. The very first thing that I was keen to find out was the noise of the click. One reviewer managed to mention that it was not a noisy mouse. But I guess everyone has different opinion. In my opinion, the clicks are quite loud.

Plug and Play
It does not come with a driver or software CD but as it is a USB mouse, it is ever so straight forward to connect to my netbook. Plug and play instantly. The driver and software are available for download from Logitech website but I never bother. I only need a mouse that clicks fine and move about smoothly. Laser technology means that Logitech LS1 can be used on almost any surfaces. Indeed, it works better than a typical optical mouse. And it does not have that blinking and eye-piercing red light underneath. The glossy finish does not leave any fingerprints on the surface. The rubber-ish material which goes around the mouse makes the grip better.

Verdict
Do not judge a book by its cover. How true is that? Logitech LS1 is a nice looking little mouse. In fact, cute! It is appealing as it has lots of colours to choose. The glossy finish makes it even smarter. However, these are only cosmetic appearances. If you want a mouse that is good looking, this is the one. Otherwise, it just not functions well enough apart from the laser technology which you would probably find it on other brands or models. Given the chance, I think I would have chosen another mouse instead of Logitech LS1.

I just bought a HTC Desire mobile phone yesterday. In fact, it was Mee who helped to buy it as she was in town yesterday. I called the Three Store a couple of days ago but I was told that they may have stock on Friday. Since Mee was in town yesterday, I asked her to ask and maybe reserve a unit for me. I googled a few times and there were news about the inability of Three to keep up with the demand of HTC Desire. Lucky me, I have one with me now. £350 is a lot but I consider it as a way of rewarding myself.

HTC First Impression
Pros
• Read up the specifications and they say it all
• Juddering when switching between screens only when you have dozens of applications running in the background
• The availability of applications that help you to manage your smartphone
• Touch is responsive but need time to get use to. In fact, the whole unit is very responsive
• Connectivity through mobile networks or wireless is easy and fast
• Camera has limited functions but it is very intelligent
• Call quality is excellent. The place I live has low reception and it copes very well. I have not tried the speaker phone though
• Sense UI?

Cons but they don’t bother me
• No secondary camera
• Micro-USB and audio jack are exposed
• No Divx
• Flash is not perfect

Cons and it bothers me
• Only around 140MB internal storage available to use
• Applications and games cannot be installed on storage card (may be fixed when Android 2.2 is released or un-root)

Moving from Samsung Omnia, a Windows Mobile machine to HTC Desire, an Android machine is like a huge leap. The differences are obvious but then Samsung Omnia was born two year earlier.

I mentioned “Sense UI?” in the pros section because personally, Sense UI is like an additional skin for Android. I would much prefer without it as I would be able to update the phone as soon as Google releases an update instead of waiting for HTC to do the update.

Verdict
I am absolutely in love with this phone. Maybe I have been using rubbish phones all this while. I can’t say that Samsung Omnia and Nokia E61 are rubbish phones though. The choice of 8GB and 16GB internal storage of Samsung Omnia just takes some worries away from you. Nokia E61 has a full QWERTY keyboard plus easy SIP configurations on WiFi connection. However, no phone is perfect. HTC Desire is powerful but it has its limitation although not many.

Few months ago, I mentioned that I would update this blog soon. Few months later, it is still the same. Of course, I have watched a lot of movies and played some games during these non-active periods. However, I am very busy at work and I felt that I should take some time off while having my lunch and at home. Having my lunch? Well, most of the time, I type reviews while having my lunch even though I exceeded the one hour lunch occasionally. Unfortunately, this is not a review. Erm…. maybe a review of what I have been doing for the past few months.

I went back to Malaysia and watched Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief. In some countries, it is called Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I was quite disappointed with this movie and at first; I thought that it would match Stardust. Clearly, Stardust was a better movie. To me, Stardust was much more magical and mystery while Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief was more old type stories where special people with special power in a special place training with special people. Except this time, they were half human and half God. Not that exciting for me. However, movie theatres in Malaysia are much better than the movie theatres in UK. I have not tried the two-seater Premier class yet but I am sure I will try it the next time I am in Malaysia. Mee has tried it though and she was very impressed.

As usual, I like to fiddle around with my Samsung Omnia. It is still a good phone and there are much more to play around with it. The original version of Windows Mobile was 6.1 and I have since upgraded it to Windows Mobile 6.5 and now Windows Mobile 6.5.5. I do not feel any difference in performance but that might be because I am using HTC Touch Manila 2D interface. A lot of Omnia users mentioned that Windows Mobile 6.1 is much more stable than Windows Mobile 6.5.5. Since we are able to upgrade it to Windows Mobile 6.5.5, I cannot see why not? I am also in the process of cooking my own ROM. There is so much to learn but I think I will start from scratch. I will try to create a clean ROM and then start removing unnecessary files or programs while adding my normally used programs and see where it takes me.

Till then, I shall update this blog more often but no promises. Hopefully, there will be more reviews and screenshots to fulfil the objective of this blog.