A Brilliant Monitor

After more than a decade, my trusted SONY SDM-S was starting to show its age. For too long, I was willing to put up with its slow response time and obsolete geometry because it was a solid, reliable PC monitor and it looked great on my home desk, with its total black and clear-cut design. Yet, all good things come to an end. After a number of warning flickerings, I realized the end was nigh. It was time to find a replacement.

After extensive research I knew I had found what I was looking for when I saw this SAMSUNG S24C750P: a brilliant 23.6" (16:9) monitor with a decent response time and the deepest blacks you can find. The later is due to the fact that this is patented PSA LCD (not a IPS, like most monitors nowadays), and this gives it one of the highest contrast ratios available today (2900:1). Take into account that the screen is matte, not reflective, and you can realize why this is such a great monitor for office work and gaming alike.

Its native resolution is 1920x1080 (2HD) and the thin piano-black frame allows you to experience all of it without any distractions. All buttons are tucked in under the right corner (an easy to navigate menu pops up when pressed) and only a tiny and very discreet blue LED stays on when operating. 

The base is of an excellent quality plastic that looks like metal and feels satiny to the touch. It keeps the monitor higher than my previous one (and the height is not adjustable) but I found this height to be perfect. Not too low for your neck to bend, not too high for your eyes to strain. And this is where it gets interesting. 

Some years ago I saw for the first time a PC monitor (a FUJITSU, if memory serves) that could pivot. I found it a brilliant idea! Working on any document (and especially a long one) it is very convenient to be able to see the entire page by simply turning the monitor to its side. This SAMSUNG does exactly that.  

Hidden behind the monitor is a rotating mechanism that attaches to the arm of the base and allows you to pivot the monitor 90o! However, there are a number of downsides to this. First of all, monitors now are much larger than they were ten years ago. So, in order to pivot a 24 inch monitor one has to first tilt it all the way out and then turn it. Forget to tilt it out first and you will be hitting the desk. The accompanying software promised to swift everything on your screen automatically, unfortunately, this does not seem to work for WinXP. I have to do it manually (using the MagicRotation software downloadable form SAMSUNG) – and it really messes up your icons afterwards. I would advise that 24 inches is the absolute maximum for pivoting monitors, larger than this and the whole concept collapses. 

The first monitor I received came with a pixel stuck in blue. True to its zero-pixel warranty (especially true for its high-end monitors), SAMSUNG and the retailer I bought this from had it replaced within days with no hassles. However, a quick reminder to SAMSUNG: this is what you get when you try to cut manufacturing costs too deep: quality control suffers. A stuck pixel can happen to anyone. But there is also the misfitting of the back frame plastics (I cut my thumb reaching for my glass the first day) and the base screw that had to be forced at an angle. It is all those little things that rob you of the quality you got us used to over the previous years.

All in all, the small number of manufacturing imperfections that are not enough to diminish this brilliant monitor. Recommended.

NOKIA Tries To Save Face. MicroSoft Could Not Care Less.

I have been a loyal Nokia customer ever since my first cell phone, the legendary 6110 (and what a great phone that was!). Over the years I have upgraded or simply replaced a number of Nokias and my loyalty may have been tested at times but it was never scorned. Until recently.

My latest 6500s was at its last of its nine lives (after its second battery replacement and numerous drops) so I decided to bite the bullet and go shopping for a smartphone. I have always refused to submit to Apple's fascism whereas I judged Android's deep waters too dragon-rich for me, so a WindowsPhone seemed to be my best option. Or so I thought.

THE PHONE HARDWARE IS GREAT

If I were to review the LUMIA 800 device itself, it would give it an almost perfect score (and my past experience with Nokia products would had made me round it up to full marks). Other than the flimsy USB door (that, in my case, I predict will not survive long enough to see the first snow) and the (cheap) plastic feel of the silver side buttons, the phone is perfect. Reception is good and sound quality (both sending and receiving) is excellent. Unfortunately, no matter how good the hardware may be,a smartphone is as good as its operating system. And the list of my grievances regarding the software is long...

BASIC FUNCTIONS ARE MISSING!

I know all about Apps, free and paid, and how they are supposed to enrich and personalize the experience smartphones get to offer. And after spending several afternoons raking the Windows Phone Marketplace I can tell you this: once a basic function gets yanked out, there is no getting it back intact! No reminders, no appointment book, no presenter - no Golf!

ALARM FAILS

It took me three days to find a CountDown Timer that is able to work after the screen saver lock kicks in. No such luck with the Alarm though. The Alarm will not work unless the phone is turned on. I have tried every suggested Alarm clock app and this problem remains. Apparently this is a well known problem. For over 2 years now!

Think about it for a moment. Either at home or on a trip, you want to set the alarm before going to bed, turn the phone off (not only to preserve the precious battery juice but also to get some hours of privacy as well) and expect your phone to wake you up the next morning. But this is not allowed on a Windows phone! I have updated mine to WP7.8 but this function (as well as all that follow) is missing from the latest WP8 as well.

Just because the iPhone does it this way, Microsoft, it does not mean it is the right way. Wake up! (apparently your alarm clocks did not go off either...)

CHARGES ONLY IF...TURNED ON

When I bought my new LUMIA 800 I went to my cell phone service provider and requested a twin (micro)SIM card. Since I kept my old 6500s, I tried charging my LUMIA while it was switched off (the provider does not allow both SIM cards to be active at the same time). Surprisingly, the Windows Phone either switched back on or (if turned off while connected to the charger) it simply refused to charge!

Again, to appreciate the problem, keep in mind that a smartphone will need to be charged every single day for 2-3 hours.

TOTALLY IDIOTIC SOUND LIMITATIONS

With my old phones if I wanted to use any sound or song as a ringtone, wakeup music, SMS sound or eMail alert, I could just choose one from the phone folders. Any mp3 or wma file would do. And I could transfer them there using a simple USB connection and Nokia's Suite. Well, if MicroSoft has its way, those days are over.

First off, you have to use a PC to install their own suite, Zune. You have to use this interface to transfer and synchronize files between your PC and your Windows Phone. So far, no foul, Zune works fine. And then you decide that the generic chimes provided by Microsoft are crap and want to customize how your phone sounds. No go.

Nokia tried to fix this by releasing a free RingTone Maker (only available for Nokia Windows Phones) but that too comes with ridiculous limitations: only sound files less than 2MB can be used and even then, only a 30 sec soundbyte can be made into a ringtone! Why do we even have 16GB phones if such 1990's limitations are to be in place?

PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR CUSTOMIZATION STRAIGHT JACKET

Smartphones have much larger screens than our old phones. Why can we not choose the size of the font and strain to discern the phone numbers of our contacts? (There is a Big Phonebook App but it has to import all your contacts and it does not auto-update every time it is used).

Smartphones have far greater processing power. Why can we no longer switch our contacts between a list and card format? In the much larger screen I can see less information about each of my contacts than I did with my 6500s.

Smartphones can now project 16,000,000 colours. Why can we not choose to change the colour of each individual tile?

Swiping from the right edge will take you to the Apps list. Why is swapping in the opposite direction not allowed? It is not reserved for anything, so why yet another counter-intuitive limitation?

Finally, where are our easy to use and trusted Profiles!? The movie is about to start, am I to go through the damn menu to silence my phone?

The lack of Applications for the N9 made me choose the LUMIA 800. As the days go by, I start to realize that I did not chose the lesser of two evils. And I have now seen the face of Evil. And its number was 7.8.