TV to go, if you can hack it

In today's paper, read a review of Creative's Zen Vision portable video player. Much revised from last's year pug-ugly and overweight Portable Media Center, this tasty little PVP would have a real chance of selling ... if only it weren't so damn hard to get video content into its belly. Too much geekiness is required of the common man to convert TV you might have taped with your DVD recorder.

In games, Black and White 2 (PC) is another attempt at the god game genre which doesn't quite satisfy while Spider-Man 2 (PSP) is a short-lived if entertaining rewiring of the web-slinging, thug-fighting epic from the big consoles.

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (PS2/Xbox/PSP) deserves a paragraph of its own for sheer awfulness. Another potentially brilliant licence is wasted by lazy programming and brainless combat.

Low-cost laser

If you need the speed and quality of a laser printer but have always been put off by the cost, check out today's review of the Dell 1100, a perfectly serviceable laser for the surprising price of about €130 (though it varies by a few quid from hour to hour with Dell). Of course, it comes with a few caveats, primarily the hidden extras (no USB cable included plus cost of the replacement toner ain't so cheap).

Also reviewed is Nokia's 6101, a creditable attempt to address complaints (primarily from me!) about the Finns' predilection for crazy/unusable keypads. This phone has no airs and graces about it, it's just a straight-down-the-line clamshell handset for the masses.

In games, Far Cry Instincts (Xbox) continues the fine lineage of the FC series - ostensibly it's the same game as the PC hit, but it's been retooled and honed for the Xbox to fantastic effect. Tiger Woods 06 (PSP) plays a mean game of golf, though the swing meter is a bitch to master. And the Sonic Gems Collection is an unnecessary scraping of the barrel in the light of the Sonic Mega Collection Plus from earlier this year.

Internet, meet telephone

While we wait for the inevitable day when all (landline) phone calls are free thanks to this interweb business, the gap is slowly narrowing between interim geeky solutions and punter-friendly, easy-to-use hardware which works like a conventional phone. In today's paper, read about Siemens' Gigaset S440 and M34 USB adapter.

Together they allow you to make calls via Skype (ie, cheap or even free) while using a standard cordless phone. It's a bit of a bitch to set up and it's far from idiot-proof but it does show that with a little more effort, this could be one for the masses.

Also reviewed is the Fuji Finepix F10, a six-megapixel digicam whose signature feature is its sensitivity in low light. It's not as if you'll never need the flash again but the F10 takes a lot of the heartache out of amateur photography.

In games, Burnout Legends rips up the PSP the way sibling Revenge is setting the big consoles on fire. Terrific stuff. Also reviewed is FIFA 06 (PS2/Xbox) - update may be too subtle for many - and Fahrenheit (PS2/Xbox), an inventive take on the discredited interactive movie genre which demands much patience but delivers its rewards in spades.

In and out of tune

Four years ago, Log On reviewed the first mobile phone to play MP3s, the Siemens SL45. It seemed like a revolution at the time, coming before the launch of the iPod, but phones have singularly failed to improve their music-playing experience.

Now two serious contenders have come along in 2005, Motorola's Rokr E1 and Sony Ericsson's W800i Walkman moby. In truth, neither is an iPod killer but, as you can read in today's paper, the W800 does a far better job of handling the transfer and playback process. The Rokr has iTunes on board but fails to press home its advantage by making a series of elementary mistakes.

In games, Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix (PSP) is a mouthful and a handful. It's almost identical to the excellent console version but packs too much detail into that small screen. Also reviewed is Madden NFL 06 (PS2/Xbox) - the annual update adds little new - EyeToy: Kinetic (PS2) which is not a game at all but a competent keep-fit workout and Everybody's Golf (PS2), a cutesy but highly playable sim that makes for a nice antidote to po-faced Tiger.