You’ll enjoy 720p HD video and speedy responsiveness from the ARM Cortex-A8 processor and 512 MB of DDR2 RAM. Typing messages or notes is simple and easy with the TC970 virtual QWERTY keyboard. It’s outfitted with a 2.0-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

Other features include Bluetooth 2.1 wireless connectivity for hands-free devices and stereo music streaming, Micro SD memory expansion (via optional card up to 32 GB), and up to 6 hours of on-the-go battery power.
Wide, 178 Degree Viewing Angle High Resolution Display
Capacity Multi-touch Panel.

The crisp and vibrant 9.7-inch capacitive touch screen display offers plenty of real estate for even the most demanding tablet users. It’s wide, 178 degree viewing angle let you can share it with someone sitting next to you, and everyone gets a brilliant view. No wrong way to hold it.
Capacity Multi-touch Panel, experience everything with your fingers

Browsing web pages, writing email and sharing entertainment and photos, all come out with your fingers’ tip.
Ultra Portable

This tablet weights 1.6 pounds and just 0.48 inches thin, Le Pan Tablet has a super slim and sleek design and feels very comfortable in your hands with its smooth beveled edges.
Android System

With the Android 2.2 OS (Froyo), the Tablet offers full support for Adobe Flash Player 10.2 for accessing Flash-enabled websites, watching 720P video and playing games. It’s great for multitasking, viewing multiple apps, browsing entire web pages, and sharing entertainment and photos.
Full, Fast Browsing

You’ll enjoy 720p HD video and speedy responsiveness from the ARM Cortex-A8 1 GHz processor and 512 MB of DDR2 RAM.
Crisp Video Calling

Enjoy bright, clear video calls with the front-facing 2-megapixel camera, built-in microphone.
Always Ready

With up to 32GB of storage with external Micro SD card, built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and even GPS, it’s ready for anything and everywhere.
Ever-lasting battery life

The ultra phenomenal battery life means it keeps up with you, no matter what you are doing or where you are doing.
Product Features

Tablet with 9.7-inch Capacity display, support 720P video play
Android 2.2 platform, and ultra-fast Wi-Fi connectivity
Powered by ARM Cortex-A8 Core processor; support for Adobe Flash for viewing web sites, movies, games, and more
Front-facing 2-megapixel camera and microphone for video chats
Micro SD expansion (up to 32GB), 2GB Micro SD card bundled
Up to 6 hours of video playback/Wi-Fi web browsing
Size (L/W/H): 9.29 X 7.44 X 0.48 inches
Weight: 1.6pounds

What’s in the Box?

Tablet, USB to 30-pin connector, Charger, 2GB Micro-SD card, Hand-Ring, Quick user guide.
Product Description
This nice design with 9.7 inch 720 HD touch screen,Android Le Pan tablet keeps you connected and entertained everywhere you go! The touch screen Google Android comes with a built in webcam for video chat, Wifi, and numerous cable ports, including one micro SD slots which support up to 32GB,an audio jack,a connector to USB (for charging and USB drive), and It includes a built in GPS chip, which allows Le Pan tablet to be used as a GPS device. Maps can be purchased online and downloaded to the Le Pan tablet, making it a 9.7-Inch navigator! The Android software delivers multi touch capabilities and access to watching videos, playing games, and browsing the web.

Fun, Customizeable Interface
Improved Interface
The pioneer AVH P4300DVD 7 features a fun and convenient touch user interface that’s a breeze to navigate. Naturally tap, swipe, or drag for intuitive controls. A new pioneer avh p4300dvd 7 touch screen user interface makes direct operation stress-free by eliminating complicated layered selection displays, so access to desired functions is smoother and simpler than ever. You can also choose between Full Operation Mode for more control, or a stripped-down Simple Mode with just the basics.

Direct Source Selection
Switch to another source simply by touching a desired source icon. You can access another targeted source instantly without defaulting back to the menu display.

Make It Your Own
Various customization and digital photo frame functions also make it easy to set up your receiver to your aesthetic preferences. Select among five (Blue/Red/Amber/Green/Violet) colors for the display and 112 different colors to match receiver illumination to the dash. With Dual Decode, the receiver can display JPEG images while it plays music from your USB device or SD memory card. With one touch of the Capture button, you can save a favorite JPEG image as a wallpaper to the receiver. You can customize controls too, creating shortcuts to access frequently used features in the menu display.
Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD 7 Face Angle
7-inch, 16:9 widescreen display with WQVGA resolution and simple touchscreen operation.
Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD Menu
Naturally tap, swipe, or drag for intuitive controls.
Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD Bluetooth
Add the CD-BTB200 for Bluetooth hands-free calling, complete with 10-key dialing via touchscreen.

See the Big Picture
The AVH-P4300DVD boasts a brilliant 7-inch widescreen color touchscreen display, with WQVGA (480×240) resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio, for easy navigation of features and a serious foundation for your entertainment.

Connectivity and Versatility
Versatile Media Playback
lay back your favorite CDs and DVDs, along with various digital files: MP3/WMA/AAC audio, DivX/DVD/VCD video, and JPEG images.

USB Port/SD Card Slot
Connect a USB thumb drive loaded with files, and enjoy playback of files from your digital library. Or do the same with an SD Card, for an even more portable option.

iPod Direct Control
Connect your iPod/iPhone and enjoy music directly from your device, with complete control of unit functions right from the receiver. If you’d prefer, switch over to “application mode” to control from the iPod/iPhone itself.

P4300DVD 7 Pandora Integration
Fans of the Internet music service Pandora, rejoice! The AVH-P4300DVD 7, thanks to Pioneer’s new Pandora Ready feature, can give you direct control of Pandora through your iPhone. Launch Pandora on your connected iPhone, and you’ll be able to experience Pandora through your receiver, complete with bookmarking and thumbs up/down buttons.

Audio/Video Performance
Dual-Zone Audio/Video
This receiver allows rear seat passengers to enjoy DVD or CD content via additional rear screens and headphones, even while the front passenger and driver operate navigation or listen to audio from other sources simultaneously.

Auto EQ
It’s difficult to reproduce music well in a car, because speaker positioning is constrained by interior space and other conditions. These limitations can lead to sound phase distortion, as well as speaker sound reflection against glass and absorption by dashboard and seats. Pioneer’s unique Auto EQ feature tailors specific musical characteristics according to your taste, and uses a microphone (the optional CD-M20) to monitor and analyze acoustics, then automatically fine-tunes all frequency bandwidths using front and rear speaker digital parametric equalization. It’s similar to the setup feature on many home theaters, and will let you dial things in just right for your vehicle.

Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD 7 Sound Center Control
Sound Center Control optimizes the soundstage for different spots in the vehicle cabin.

Pioneer Advanced Sound Retriever
Above–sound quality deterioration from compressed audio files. Pioneer’s Advanced Sound Retriever restores detail, warmth, and clarity.

Sonic Center Control
More audio obsessiveness from Pioneer–unless a listener is perfectly centered in a car cabin, sound heard from some speakers will lag compared to the sound heard from other speakers. This result in unfocused soundstage and instable frequency characteristics. Sonic Center Control remedies this by adjusting frequency phase and acoustic characteristics by up to 15 steps, providing a clearer, focused soundstage.

Advanced Sound Retreiver
Hear the detail, warmth, and clarity that the artist originally wanted you to hear from compressed MP3, WMA and AAC files stored on disc, USB device, p4300dvd 7 ipod iphone, and portable media players. Pioneer’s Advanced Sound Retriever technology restores data (especially high-frequency data) that tends to get lost in the digital compression process.

Eight-Band EQ
With Pioneer’s eight-band graphic equalizer, you can customize the equalization levels to best match the acoustics of your car.

MOSFET Amplification
The AVH-P4300DVD 7 cranks out 4 channels of 50 Watts with efficient MOSFET amplification, and offers three 4V RCA preamp outputs for growing your system.

Bluetooth Ready
Add Pioneer’s CD-BTB200 Bluetooth adapter to allow for safe, simple, hands-free calling and receiving with most Bluetooth wireless-enabled cell phones. Just touch the cell phone icon in the receiver display for direct access to the Bluetooth display. Special symbols will light up when a Bluetooth connection is established, and pairing is is easy and automatic. 10-key dialing via touchscreen is also now possible on Pioneer receivers.

Room to Grow
The Pioneer AVH P4300DVD 7 gives you a great featureset to begin with, but it’s ready to expand to suit your needs. You can add Bluetooth as mentioned above, along with GPS navigation, satellite radio, HD radio, and a rear-view camera in a snap. Start out big, go bigger.

• 10.1” HD Multi-Touch Display: (1280 x 800) resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio
• NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 Dual Core Mobile Processor
• 1GB DDR2 Memory
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU
•  eMMC: 16GB on board
• MicroSD memory card up to 32GB
• Dolby® Mobile Technology
• Dual Analog Microphone
• Dual Speaker
• 802.11b/g/n Wireless(802.11n 2.4GHz only)
• Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR
• 1- Micro USB 2.0 Port
• 1- USB 2.0 Port
• 1- Micro HDMI™ Out (support Dual Display)
• 5MP Rear Facing Camerawith Auto Focus and single LED flash
• 2MP Front Facing Camera
• Sensors:G-Sensor, E-Compass, L-Sensor, Gyro-meter
• Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer Battery
• Up to 8-hours battery life

The Latest  A500 10s16u tablet Android Experience!
Experience crisp, clear HD content anywhere!
The Acer® Iconia Tab A500-10S16u is designed to maximize content enjoyment, providing a rich and vibrant experience on the user-friendly 10.1″ multi-touch screen display, while the orientation-less design ensures optimal on-screen viewing from every angle – up and down or left to right.

The latest build of Android™ Honeycomb™ Operating System combined with Acer UI brings a whole new level of interactivity- you can personalize your Tab by easily resizing apps widgets that are most important to you! In addition, the 10s16u tablet acer iconia a500 Android Market lets you choose from thousands of apps and games, making your Tab uniquely yours.

This latest OS now supports Google Apps! Rent the latest flicks with Google Movies and listen to your personal play lists with Google Music in great Dolby Sound! Port this whole entertainment experience to your big screen TV in full 1080p HD glory through the micro-HDMI™ port.

Experience crisp, clear HD content anywhere! The 10.1″ HD multi-touch display features an astounding 1280 x 800 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio and advanced flash support, displaying all your HD content in crystal-clear form.

Thanks to the USB 2.0 port and the Micro-SD slot, the 10s16u tablet acer iconia a500 gives you the ability to connect USB flash drives, USB media card readers and even a portable hard drive. The expansion opportunities are endless giving you more time to be a master multitasker.

The Power to Play
Enjoy console-quality gaming and fun with preloaded full versions of games!
NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 brings the fastest, most visually-rich tablet experience, and extreme multitasking for effortless multimedia enjoyment. Enjoy the best Web experience with accelerated browsing with full Adobe® Flash® support* and get your heart racing in console-quality gaming with an NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU.

Are you ready for serious gaming? This is the first mobile device to bring an arcade-like gaming experience with 10 point multi-touch control for high-level gaming that’s on par with the best game consoles. And with preloaded full versions of top games like Electronic Arts ‘Need for Speed: SHIFT’ and Gameloft ‘Let’s Golf’, let the fun begin immediately!

The battery provides up to 8-hours of cable-free battery life giving you the freedom to experience the web, email, view photos and HD videos, play high-end games and read ebooks wherever you may be!

Stunning Design & Unique Extras
Stay fully connected with friends and the latest buzz wherever you go.
Stand out with the 10s16u tablet acer iconia a500 designed with an aluminum casing that provides a cool, metallic tactile sensation, while the high-gloss anodized finish with textured engraving portrays sophistication. Additionally, the smooth, rounded surface ensures comfortable handling.

Snap photos, record videos or enjoy online chats with the 5MP autofocus rear-facing camera and 2MP front-facing camera the easily share on line.

SocialJogger puts your social life in one place so you can check updates from your Facebook® and Twitter contacts in a single glance! Enjoy face-to-face video chats and more with the 5MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing camera.

Acer Clear.fi™ allows you to manage, store, share, and enjoy media between any Clear.fi enabled devices, in any room throughout your home.

Acer Sync® lets you wirelessly synchronize your contacts, calendar, photos and video clips between your Acer Tab and PC.

USB ports and Micro-SD card allow for expansion and enhance connectivity.

This review is from: Adobe Photoshop Elements 10
Photoshop Elements (PSE) 10 –like its predecessor versions– is an image editor with a spectrum of features that will rapidly surpass the skills (and time available to tinker) of most amateur digital photographers…even highly skilled ones. The overall interface will be familiar to user of PSE versions as far back as PSE 6 or 7. It incorporates most of the multiple image merge functions familiar to users since PSE 7. As with previous versions, PSE 10 offers this for a fraction of the cost of its big-brother Photoshop CS5. Most amateur photographers –and even some frugal professionals– can perform all but the most advanced digital editing with PSE 10 (and then use the money saved for some nice new hardware!).
Note: This review assumes some familiarity with digital photography and digital image concepts, and previous exposure to earlier PSE versions.

Installation:
-No issues with installation on a machine with a fresh (less than two weeks old) install of Windows 7, a dual-core 3 GHZ processor and 4 GB of RAM.

-Unlike PSE 8, PSE 10 does not require users to decide whether to continue using an earlier version or use the new version exclusively. You have the option to use –or remove– both version 10 and an earlier version (but you can’t do so at the same time: I tried!).

-The license for this product permits installation on one primary and one “mobile” computer, with the restriction not to use on both computers at the same time.

-Total installation time (including entering the registration code and skimming the EULA) took less than 10 minutes. This was followed by PSE 10′s “Organizer” peforming its own indexing of the digital images on my computer. Cataloging nearly 50,000 digital images took slightly less than an hour. If you’re a Windows user and store your images in a non-default “My Pictures” location under your user name: you’ll have to tell PSE where to browse for this indexing.

Function and features:
-The interface, function and features of PSE 10 will be familiar to users of recent PSE versions. The .psd files are still manipulated using layers and selection tools. The complete range of image effects (“filters”), image enhancement and editing tools are essentially unchanged since version 6. Still present are options to open, edit and save in wide range of file formats.

-PSE 10 recognized the scanner on my system, and immediately allowed imports of scanned images using both the scanner’s proprietary interface (Epson software) and the generic WIA Windows Image Acquisition, the successor to TWAIN) options.

-Output to the printers on my system was trouble-free. Accepting the default printing options yielded fine results, but advanced options for those who like to tweak are readily available. PSE 10 successfully offered options to print to the two physical (laserjet, inkjet) and two virtual (Acrobat and Microsoft Document Writer) printers attached to my desktop.

Issues:
-PSE 10 and Adobe continue to assume plenty about user connectivity. All of the help files for PSE 10 are online. Select “Help” in the menu bar (or press the “F1″ key), and you are not taken to local help files…you are taken to adobe.com. This is fine if you are connected to the Internet, but less fine if you are not (and some people are NOT connected at all times). You can optionally download a 27 MB .pdf user guide. This is an option you’ll want to exercise if you anticipate needing help while not online or if you have bandwidth constraints where you work.

-Adobe also continues to also push its online services hard. At install, and *every* time you launch PSE 10, you will be invited to enter your “Adobe Online ID”. If you register (and you’ll probably want to just for update notifications), you’ll get some free services (2 GB of storage and some sharing functions). This seems to be aimed at two things:
(1) tracking use habits of users (my opinion only; but read the EULA carefully!)
(2) enticing you into the $49.99 per year “PSE 10 Plus” services (20 GB of online storage and some sharing and effects services). While I suppose the integration with PSE is nice, you can register your own domain –with unlimited storage– from hundreds of providers for much less than this. Resist!

As long as you download the .pdf file so you have access to help files when offline, and remain aware of what *any* software company may be doing when they solicit you to use the online extensions of their products: these are not serious shortcomings. But my suspicions about how Adobe might track user behavior and over-reliance on online help files are what move this from a 5-star to a 4-star review.

Finally:
-PSE 10, like all of its predecessors is feature dense. Even powerful users will benefit from additional help. In addition to widely available online forums (hosted by Adobe and elsewhere on the web; search popular video sites for step-by-steps on even the most advanced functions), a reference book will improve your user experience. Remember: technology is complicated, and you’re not a dummy! Rather than something in yellow and black that calls you names, consider the Photoshop Elements 10 “Missing Manual” instead.

My copy shipped with a $20 gift card for online printing services from Shutterfly (available with any purchase of $20 or more), a trial version of Adobe Premiere Elements 10 (for video editing; $79 to activate), which installed concurrently (and optionally) with PSE 10. I have a functional earlier version of Premier Elements, so just uninstalled this trial version. Also included in this package was an installation CD for a 30-day trial of Lightroom 3, which I did not install.

The physical media for PSE 10 consists of thee 3 DVDs, One is for Windows users (Disc 1), one for Mac users (Disc 3). I was never prompted to do anything with the mysterious “Disc 2″; perhaps it is Mac-unique?

PSE 10 is a powerful image editing tool priced right for consumers. Purchase with confidence. Is it worth upgrading from version 8 or 9? Probably not. But if you’re ready to do take on some powerful editing of your digital images, PSE 10 is a good choice if you don’t already run a recent earlier version.

Reviewer for Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem: Ayame (Denver, CO)

I have tried both the SB6120 and the SB6121 and the signal levels and speeds were the same on both.
The SB6121 is a little smaller than the SB6120 but runs much warmer than the SB6120. Looks like they tried to cram too much hardware into too small of a space.
My SB6121 did not come with the power save button (it’s listed as an optional feature), so about the only difference between the two models is the design. Both the SB6120 and the SB6121 use the same firmware: labeled SB612X.

So unless you want the different looking LED lights and a smaller and warmer box for a higher price, stay with the SB6120.

As far as speeds are concerned: the multiple channel bonding on these DOCSIS 3.0 modems is nice for sustained constant speeds. It also makes it easier for your ISP to enforce the speed cap if they choose to do so (Comcast in my case does). I was getting 20+ Mbps down and 3+ Mbps up on my old Linksys DOCSIS 2.0 modem, however that was the peak when the transfer first started, then it would taper off.
The DOCSIS 3.0 modem stays right at the 12/2 ceiling of my speed tier, but at least the speeds stay right up there and do not drop off after a few seconds.

Reviewer for Samsung Epic 4G Android Phone (Sprint):  Harkanwar Anand  (New York, New York) -

I have been playing around with both phones and because I belong to Sprint for the rest of my life’s tenure, I shall let you know that these are the two best phones available in the market but let’s compare which is better at what.
Appearance – The Evo 4G does not have a slide-out QWERTY keypad like the Epic. The Epic despite the keyboard is about an ounce lighter in weight and that says a lot about the AMOLED screen and the absolutely flawless design on this phone. The charging port is located on the TOP of the phone and also has a little slide you need to drag open before accessing the MICRO USB/Charger. The phone looks a terrific black (like the best looking iPhone, oh yeah we care, no sarcasm) when the screen is not on. UNLIKE THE EVO, the standby key is on the right hand side of the phone and does the same thing. On first appearance, the design of the Epic is mouth watering. I’ve always found Sidekick like phones cheesy and even that DROID from VERIZON looks very plastic to me but I shall diss no more, the Epic might just win on this account (but I know plenty of Evo users who would disagree but this is my opinion). Because of size, weight, 4-inch screen (Evo’s 4.3), design of the slide out, the Epic wins this round.

Call Reception / Loud Speaker -> While playing music, I noticed the Epic was a little louder than the Evo is but at full volume, it can be a tad too loud too which is obviously such a WELCOME FEATURE. The Evo has a loud speaker alright and also a dedicated home page where you can easily play your music but what matters is the sound because both phones offer excellent customization.

Battery Life – This is one of the primary reasons the Epic is likely to do good. I fume when I hear people say the DROID X has a better battery life than the Evo. On Epic, the AMOLED screen ensures you don’t need to charge this phone more than once a day. I managed to make this last for atleast a day but I did find the battery readings to be inaccurate from time to time. Maybe this happened because I was trying the phone on Airplane mode and then switching to CDMA so that could be it. There was a difference in the battery life, sometimes the bar would be short and sometimes substantially longer. Maybe it is just a software update that is required but at the end of the day, You can have all the features on a phone but what matters a lot is battery life and the Epic takes this round too. By getting the Evo you will need to buy an extra battery unless you like carrying your wires everywhere you go. If you’re getting the Evo make sure you get an extra battery charger and oh save yourself some money and NEVER INVEST ON EXTENDED BATTERIES. You wouuld think Samsung and HTC are more clever than not to have come out with the extended battery in the first place. Feel free to discuss, throw things at me on the comments column.

Screen Brightness – HTC Evo is about AS BRIGHT AS THE SUN, absolutely incredible brightness, it’s like watching the most expensive HDTV sometimes. The phone even on low brightness is surprisingly bright and I always appreciate brightness. While the Epic is not dull, I’ll be lying if I say the screen is as bright as the Evo or even comes close to taking this round. The Epic has a jaw dropping display but the brightness and screen quality while you’re on a webpage makes Evo the winner here. The brightness may come at the price of battery life but when you drive a HUMMER, you worry not about the battery life but about the drive.

Build Quality of Plastic on the BACK – The Evo certain feels a little more solid and smooth. The back on the EVO is better than the INCREDIBLE. Evo’s kickstand is an added feature but the quality of the plastic on the Evo is 15% better than the Epic when you’re holding the back though Epic is quite good as it is. **Caution** Do not remove Epic’s back size by the SPEAKER, you may damage the phone cause you’re such a strong individual, locate a small opening at the end and then LIFT UP the back plastic covering the battery. The back is obviously not RED like the HTC EVO.

Bundled Accessories – Epic comes with a 16gb card, in ear earphones, a thicker BASIC manual I haven’t opened and read yet. The Evo comes with an 8gb card and no earphones. They both come with a Micro USb Cord which coverts into a wall charger. I have tried and used almost all earphones bundled with phones and have never seen any Sprint phone with such good quality “in-ear” earphones which provide NOISE CANCELLATION. An excellent extra for the fifty bucks you pay depending on where you’re buying the phones from. 16gb is like having 2 x 8gb cards.

Mobile Hotspot – DRAW
Task Killer App – If you hold the home button down on the Epic, an excellent task killer pops up. It is so easy and fun to use that this alone was a big big big deal for me. I’ve used it on the Evo before but it’s just so much hassle free and cleaner on the Samsung, it tells you the percentage of the CPU being used for variety of apps in REAL TIME! Deal-MAKER for me. EVO owners, please correct me if I’m wrong.

CAMERA *BIG DEAL FOR ME* – Epic. Epic. Epic. Epic. The customization is Godly. Samsung is slowly becoming very clever. The camera quality is that of a digital camera, I dare say. Also if people are moving and pause for a second, the phone still takes an absolutely astounding photograph. The Evo makes things yellow and although it’s 8megapixel, the camera doesn’t quite seal the deal. The other thing is that the Evo doesn’t have that many customizations for the camera. Samsung has pulled a magic trick with this one. Some envious Evo users tell me that because the screen looks better on the Epic, the images look better but if I were to upload these to my computer, there’d be a difference. This is my response to people who say something like that. How often will I be uploading these pictures? Maybe once in four days, I will be mostly viewing them on the phone so I don’t care about that. Mind you, though I haven’t uploaded anything yet, I shall upload them and send you a sample picture if you request one. PLEASE BARE IN MIND, while the SAMSUNG has more options, it will take a real techoholic to want to figure out each and every feature, I’m still getting WARMED up to it.

Google Sync – The google sync on both phones immediately got all my contacts into the phone, there are a ton of applications so if you have a gmail account even with a blackberry, all your contacts are gonna be SYNCED with either the EVO or the EPIC. Google has a very funny deal-sealing way of having the google sync on the BLACKBERRY. If you’re dumping your blackberry, make sure you do google sync and sync all your contacts before activating the EPIC. Ask a store rep to do it for you before buying it BLINDLY from them.

BROWSING – Browsing on the Evo is the best browsing I have ever seen. It still wins over the Epic by just a single point. Epic still gets a 9/10 while Evo because of it’s multi-touch gets a perfect 10. There is no lag while browsing or using the touchscreen at all. This is a dream come true for people who’ve ever had the Samsung Instinct from two years ago. These two phones make my Blackberry look so bad and that’s one thing to love and admire about Androids, the fact that they have such capable awesomse fast, intelligent browsers. I have no complaints whatsoever. I have an iPod touch and its half as good at best and I’ll tell you the iPod touch is amazing. EVO wins by a life because it’s the best at it. Epic is still about two and a half times as good as my Sprint BOLD.

On-Screen Typing : On screen typing on the Evo is way better because of HTC’s on screen Qwerty. Swype comes built in with the EPIC. I’ve never used it, I don’t believe in it, just looks too cheesy. Evo has a great typing mechanism but EPIC assumes that unless you’re typing casually, you will use the physical keyboard to type. The Evo’s typing is better than the iPhone’s or the iPods. I haven’t played with the iPhone 4 yet.

SLIDE OUT / PHYSICAL KEYBOARD : I will go for the Epic over the Evo because it has a wonderful, non-cheesy, idiot proof keyboard slide out. This is the best addition possible besides the camera and the bundled accessries. I despise the Moment’s keyboard in comparison though Moment isn’t a bad phone. The EVO is supposed to be Sprint and Samsung’s replacement for the SAMSUNG MOMENT.

I’ve been away from my 2 day old Epic. I will discover more things and shall let you know. Any cons? The capacitive keys on the front could’ve been a touch more responsive. On the Evo they seem more responsive. I’m in no hurry for the Samsung Epic to get 2.2 and I’m sure they won’t disappoint.

Wallpapers look brighter, more alive, sleeker, sexier, more sophisticated on the Epic. When you’re in your menu on the Evo you go from top to bottom while on the Epic, if you click Applications you go left right right right. So it’s horizontal menu browsing on the Epic and vertical on the Evo.

There is so much more for me to discover. I told someone earlier this year that no phone will ever match the iPhone but technology has an astounding way of shocking me. I’m an absolute geek and am glad that the Epic exists. It’s like action sequences on the Lord of the Rings : Twin Towers while Evo is like the Matrix chase scenes from Reloaded. Both are feature packed phones but I love to type and the additional keyboard is fantastic for typing.

Wi-Fi Browsing : If both phones were used on the Wifi, the Epic is blazingly fast and obviously an easy hands down winner. I didn’t try browsing on both using the 3G signal in Manhattan though it loaded a youtube video and downloaded an mp3 rather fast.

MISCELLANEOUS THINGS: Epic comes with a game, it also a Samsung HUB, it doesn’t have an HDMI port but has something called DLNA which enables you to wireless connect the phone with compatible televisions and monitors. The AMOLED screen is Samsung’s proprietary format I read somewhere, Samsung will invest $2 Billion in the next year or two for making screen for all touchscreens.

I’m sorry about how random this review might seem but I really wanna go back to playing with the Epic so see you later. My conclusion is obvious from the subject.

**UPDATES**
Samsung Epic has four buttons when you slide out the keyboard. One is for the Home, one is the back key, one is the menu, one is the features Key. These behave just like the FOUR buttons on the front beneath the screen when viewed vertically.

I’m falling in love with the wallpaper options. The HTC Evo has something called scenes and the profile customization is exciting, I wonder how ANDROID 2.2 will look on the EPIC.

Please buy an invisible shield when you buy this phone, I’m looking for an Anti-Glare one for $10. Any suggestions?

I saw a lady with the Samsung Epic today, she had a cheesy black plastic case on her EPIC. POOR CASES can make the Epic look like the Samsung MOMENT (Sorry, Moment owners, no offense, just honesty). I am not going to use any case for this phone, what a waste of a gorgeous phone.

I also thought I should add a note that I have never bothered investing in a SAMSUNG phone for myself but the EPIC really made it an easy decision. The Galaxy S series is remarkable. I live in New York and get no 4G but I do get unlimited data downloads, video calling and that’s all. I don’t mind the $10 extra fee but it may hurt the price conscious user but SPRINT is still a better deal than the other carriers so don’t OVER THINK it.

**11/01/2010 Update**
4G has been launched in NEW YORK and I can download a 3mb song from gmail in 13 seconds.
Shazam takes a second to tell you the name of the song that’s playing.
Does consume a lot of battery though.

UPDATE 05/06/2011 – To people who are thinking about getting the Epic, there is soon going to be a new 4G phone so please RE-CONSIDER because there is the NEXUS S out. It doesn’t have a keyboard mind you and yes it is based on Sprint’s WIMAX 4G.

This review is from: Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 11
The progress in speech recognition over the years has been mind boggling. 1995 was when I first started using IBM Via Voice and you had to speak each word distinctly. Original Dragon product was called Dragon Dictate and then they changed it to Dragon Naturally Speaking in 1997 and I have been using it ever since, faithfully upgrading to each new version. At that time when you called technical support you could even talk to Dr. Janet Baker, the inventor of the speech recognition and founder of Dragon.
With version 4 they started Dragon Naturally Speaking Medical and that helped in that medical terminology was already included albeit several folds the cost of the regular professional Dragon Naturally Speaking.
Each version has improved the accuracy and they have not made the product unduly complicated or cluttered, as is the usual tendency with software upgrades. Version 11 of Dragon is slower and needs more resources, I could not run it in Windows 7 under Fusion and have to use it in Windows 7 under Bootcamp on Mac. The speech recognition accuracy is almost 97% in this version: it still stumbles on small words like two, to, too, 2; of, off; and, on; for, per etc. But upgrading from Dragon version 10, the improvement is accuracy is noticeable enough to make this upgrade worthwhile. Although program gives you the option of adding punctuation automatically, in my experience it does not work well and you are better off dictating punctuation. Tutorial videos that come with the program and on their Nuance web site are very helpful. In the past it really helped that you could print the commands and pin the sheet on the wall so you could reference them while dictating: not in this version, they do not give you the option of printing commands. But at least it was a pleasant surprise to see that Nuance has not ruined Dragon 11 like their other product Paperport 12.

Sitting in front of your computer screen you say “Search Hardware Compatibility on Nuance” – and out pop the results of your search in front of your eyes. The program will open your browser, search Google and bring the results on Nuance web site on your screen. For sure, you will be wowed!

Since it is going to be a while before the Dragon medical comes out, I decided to buy Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth which comes with PLANTRONIC Calisto Headset with USB Dongle – 81493-02. For general dictation the accuracy is fantastic. By letting the program scan my previous documents, I have been able to add a lot of medical terminology and save money by finding no need to purchase medical version when it comes out.

Previously they did not allow the option of using different accents in Dragon Medical but in this basic premium version you can and that has also helped improve the accuracy of speech recognition. So by selecting the Indian accent and adding medical vocabulary manually by scanning my documents, I have not only improved the accuracy but also saved money.

I purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth and the Calisto headset that came with it works really well. Although Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 with Digital Recorder comes with Philips LFH0662/00 Digital Voice Tracer 0662 , if you look at Nuance web site for accuracy of different recorders under “Hardware Compatibility” Sony ICD-MX20 Memory Stick Pro Duo Digital Voice Recorder is the only recorder that gets 6 stars and I have been using it with Dragon.

Nuance’s marketing department is very lazy and they use the same cookie cutter boilerplate text for all the different Dragon Naturally Speaking product lines without differentiating them but if you search “Feature Matrix” on their web site you can find the differences in different lines. The very basic Dragon Naturally Speaking Home 11 cannot be used with a recorder, has limited correction playback ability, and does not share vocabulary with different audio input sources. Then they also describe Dragon Naturally “Professional” version which does not show up on Amazon, as of September 2010, but has the ability to record macros and programming VBA scripts. Most users will need Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. The premium version has text expanding commands, for example you can add a command to insert your full address when you say “home address”. I still cannot figure out whether Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Student Edition has any less features or just a cheaper version of Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11. Looks like anyone can order it and you do not have to be a student. Nuance does not even give you the specifics of Digital Voice Recorder and Bluetooth versions in the product descriptions. What sluggard’s?

The technical support from Nuance stinks – almost non-existent. If you run into any technical problems, you are much better off searching it on Google and using the expertise of other users in different forums. Don’t expect any technical support from Nuance. Even their web site is disorganized and cluttered. They have all the information available on their web site, but just not obvious. Sometimes you have to search Google to find information on Nuance web site. Thankfully they appear to have some wiser voices in Dragon product development which are keeping their eye on the ball and have prevented Nuance from messing up the speech recognition accuracy and user interface of Dragon, so far. Another annoying thing they have started in this version is the pop up ads from software updater hounding you to buy their program Paperport 12.

For getting speech into the software, you have lot of different options that include corded and cordless headsets and microphones and recorders including PDA’s. The whole list of voice capturing products is on Nuance’s web site under “Hardware Compatibility” and they rate each one of them for voice recognition accuracy by number of Dragon’s. Sony ICD-MX20DR9 32MB Flash-Based Digital Voice Recorder has the highest number of six Dragons. But following are what they sell and recommend and have good voice recognition fidelity:

A). Calisto Pro Bluetooth headset which comes with Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium 11 Bluetooth. But you can also buy it separately. In my experience it has the best speech recognition fidelity of all the microphones I have used, including Andrea. Purchasing Calisto Bluetooth as a part of Dragon 11 Bluetooth is a lot better deal that buying the two separately.

B). Philips SpeechMike – SpeechMike Air 3010 which is a wireless microphone but more expensive or Philips SpeechMike Pro Plus 5276 USB which has a cord. Advantage is the programmable buttons. I used it in QuickBooks Pro 2009 because the buttons could be customized for commands like next field, tab, correct, delete line, etc. But voice recognition accuracy is not as good as Calisto.

C). Dictaphone PowerMic II Nuance-Dictaphone that works with Dragon and they sold it previously only with their Medical and Legal versions. SpeechMike and Dictaphone recorders give you the ability to pause, play, fast forward and customize buttons for different commands. SpeechMike (and Dictaphone) are useful if you are going to use speech recognition in programs other than word processing or plain documents.

D). Voice recorders like Sony ICD-MX20, Philips Digital Tracer and numerous others which you can find by searching “Hardware Compatibility” on Nuance web site.

In last 10 years I have mostly dictated on recorders and then done the corrections at the end of the day in Dragon software. Real time correction can be time consuming and interrupt the flow of work; depending upon your line of work and accent too. Until now, I used SpeechMike 5276 for Dragon speech recognition in specialized software like Quickbooks, Quicken etc. mainly because it has programmable buttons – for example you can program a button to insert Ctrl-Delete at the same time. But now that Bluetooth headset is available, I have been using it with keyboard. At this time I am not sure if Philips SpeechMike makes you more efficient and productive than Bluetooth headset but it certainly is lot more expensive. Now that speech accuracy has improved, and the corrections do not take as much time, I have been dictating real time instead of using a recorder.

Irrespective of those dictation modalities, if you need to write a lot in your work e.g. journalist, lawyers, doctors, students, or for other projects, then you will not go wrong with this product. It will save you a lot of keyboard input and time.

This review is from: Microsoft Office Home & Student 2010 – 3PC/1User [Download]
I’ve had an opportunity to use Office 2010 Beta edition for a couple of months now and now that I see the full, final, edition I can say that this is a very worthwhile upgrade. First things first, I am not a techie. I am someone who uses Word, Excel and PowerPoint on a very regular basis, who really liked some of the changes in Office 2007 but who thought some things needed tweaking, so when given the opportunity for the beta edition I jumped on it and have not been disappointed. Office 2010 is to Office 2007 what Windows 7 was to Vista; that is, there are not many breakthrough, drastically different features, but a whole lot of polishing and cleanup to make it easier and more efficient. Overall, the program seems to run faster, incorporates many of the most commonly used options and makes them more accessible (eliminating many dialog boxes and tabs) and allows for more customization.

At first glance it looks very much like its predecessor, the ribbon is back and it is now also found on OneNote. There are plenty of sites that will give you a play-by-play on all the features available in this new version, so I’m just going to mention some of the biggest improvements that I’ve seen.
1) The biggest change is the addition of the web apps. It may not be a true direct competitor to google docs, but it allows for easier sharing of documents, as well as making your documents more accessible.
2) The ribbon is back and it now includes the “File” option and a new feature called “Backstage view.” Backstage view incorporates the most commonly used actions in one place (yay! no more dialog boxes with tabs). You get the usual open, save and print, but you also get several templates for new documents, print layouts and ways to share your work, all without dialog boxes and tabs, everything is much more easily accessible.
3) Another new feature is that the ribbon is now customizable so you can organize it according to your needs.
4) There is a Paste Preview which lets you switch between paste options so you can make sure that your work will be formatted correctly.

Changes in PowerPoint.
You can now edit video directly on PowerPoint. You can trim a video, add effects, fades and even triggers for animations for the presentation. Another new feature is that you can add effects and edit images without the need for third party software.

Changes in Word.
One nifty new feature in Word is called “Navigation pane,” which replaces the old document map. It incorporates minor changes in design that make big changes in productivity and ease of use. It allows you to quickly rearrange the document. Take for example a document with several headings/sections. The Navigation pane provides a list of all the headings. The headings are live, so you can drag them up or down, thus rearranging the document. It also incorporates most of the functions that used to be available in the “Find” dialog box but now they are all visible so you don’t have to go digging through several menus to find the option that you need.

Changes in Excel.
Most of the changes in Excel deal with very large datasets. There is a new PowerPivot add-in which works great if you are dealing with a very large dataset that does not fit in one Excel spreadsheet. PowerPivot pulls the data from multiple sources (several Excel spreadsheets for instance) to analyze it.

Summary:
Overall this is one well planned and executed upgrade that essentially takes all the promises of Office 2007 and makes them a reality. Yes, some things are different, and it will take some getting used to; but, once you realize the improvement in efficiency you’ll agree that the changes are mostly for the positive. The only thing that I truly wish had changed but didn’t is that this version does not include Outlook. That is available in the Home and Business version.

This review is from: Office for Mac Home & Student 2011 – 1 Pack
Having worked with Office 2003 for PC since beta, Word, Excel and PP 2011 feels more refined and a bit more cohesive…barely.

Word, Excel and PP are usable, and in some ways a touch more refined than Office 2003 for PC…perhaps that is just the Mac itself. Overall 2011 is, with only small variations, the same product as 2003. If you require Microsoft specific, detailed functionality then you are likely used to Microsoft and will get something that is all too familiar. If you are not a power user then you might want to try Pages and Numbers from Apple which will cause you much less pain for your effort and feel more like Mac products.
As of the latest updates at the time of this review there appears to be a memory leak in Word that causes it to freeze and requires a Force Quit. When restarted, the “recovered” document is 2 or 3 manual saves behind the actual saved document. So if this happens to you, check your saved version against the “recovered” version to see which is more accurate before assuming that the recovered file is doing you any favors. Having worked with Microsoft products for too many years I instinctively “save” my work with every 2 or 3 changes…like taking a breath between thoughts.

They have incorporated some of the Mac programming standards and ignored others. This doesn’t make the software bad but it does provide a user experience that unintuitive at times for those used to a Mac workflow.

Formatting in Word appears to work more consistently, though Microsoft’s anticipation of user intent is still very annoying and generally wrong….as seen with copy/paste, especially when bullets or numbering is involved. I generally turn off as much of this as possible and just update the formatting manually.

As I said before, Office 2011 is only a slight variation on 2003. All the apps in 2003 required some coding to mitigate the clunkiness of some routines….2011 has only improved mildly on this. Running a Microsoft application on a Mac highlights Microsoft’s inability to design a user experience that is based on the “user”…especially different users. Microsoft’s UI is typical of a developer/Microsoft centric view of functionality. The Ribbon menu system exemplifies this best of all. It is well organized, like a big walk-in closet that rigidly holds ALL of your belongings. But one shouldn’t have to dig through a walk-in closet to get the TV remote control every time they wish to change channels. Microsoft, through the Ribbon, has forced their single use perception of organization on a product that has much more functionality than they seem to understand. Most users have routines specific to their jobs and therefore use only a subset of the menu items. The Ribbon design is unintelligent (not context sensitive) and would be better suited as a tool for aiding in the creation of user/task oriented menus than for actual day to day work. The Ribbon is overkill for the casual user and a tiresome pain in the arse for power users. I had read online that the Ribbon design was result of a legal effort to thwart knockoffs. That makes sense as those that copy usually copy only the good parts…I don’t think Microsoft should ever fear others copying their Ribbon mistake.

VBA code that i have used for years with 2003 has transferred over nicely, though there are issues running the code on docs created with 2003. Docs created with 2011 haven’t displayed any major issues.

Having only used the entire 2011 suite for a few weeks, I have not been able to put Excel and PP through any in-depth testing. I have used XLS files created in 2003 that contain tons of complex formulas and so far have seen no issues…though I have not tested any files yet that contain more rows than one should reasonably use in a spread sheet. Also, I have not tested the pivot table functionality. I read where someone was complaining about Pivot tables in 2011, don’t remember details, but if you are using large amounts of data with a Pivot table you should seriously look into dumping the data to SQL Server or at least Access and not expect the Microsoft Pivot table to function like a full blown BI app.

If you are a long time Microsoft product user then you know that they have not refined as much as they have repackaged over the past 15 years or so. I was very excited about the release of Office 2007 because I had identified numerous things in Office 2003 that could easily be improved upon, then I actually used it…reality can suck at times. Word and Excel are probably the 2 most powerful office products on the market. Instead of refining, improving and innovating on a solid functionality that was released over 10 years ago Microsoft has chosen to just tart up the old product hoping that no one notices the lazy effort. They seemed to have created better products back when their competition was Wordperfect and Lotus 123. Unfortunately they have had very little serious competition for the Office suite since the late 90′s. Most newer, web based products are watered down in functionality and fine for casual users. But if your job and tasks are more complex Microsoft Office is still the only game in town….for now. Hopefully Apple’s swelling presence will force them to actually work on their Office products, innovate and improve them, not just repackage.

Overall, I can use Word, Excel and PP. I am used to being frustrated with Microsoft products and the 2011 release hasn’t yet exceeded my exercized patience. As with all Microsoft products, save and back up your work frequently….Office 2011 doesn’t take advantage of Lion’s versioning capabilities. I typically work with Word documents that are 100 – 200 pages long, include tables, indexes, cross-references, bullets, numbering, header/footer content, etc. I work with Excel files that at times would be better suited for a database and/or some BI software. There are not a lot of choices on the market when it comes to meeting these types of demands. If this were Microsoft’s 2nd or 3rd release I would give them 5 stars and highly anticipate their next efforts. Instead, this is a product that Microsoft started almost 30 years ago, and it leaves me feeling like Chief Dan George’s character in The Outlaw Josie Wales when told to “Endeavor to persevere”. If only I could attack.

NOTE: I tested Outlook 2011 for several weeks and found it to be completely incompetent. This was a major disappointment to me as I had high hopes for Outlook to have become more solid and refined vs the 8 year old version I was running on my PC. They finally ditched the PST files system (at least on OSX), and searches…when they worked…were very fast. But the folder structure is a bit disjointed and the UI didn’t always acurately reflect the folder contents or actions that you selected from the menu. It is very disconcerting when you mail just disappears without the help of David Blaine. It became unresponsive numerous times. I tried Microsoft’s steps for rebuilding the file DB but that only lost data….and the tone of the help file seemed to lean toward a fatalist outcome to begin with so there was no comfort there. Outlook 2003 had a useless search functionality if you retained email, notes and tasks to support your work. If your PST file was ever corrupted you would likely lose some something, though finding out what was lost was informed by chance. That said, if you need Outlook, user any other version than 2011….it couldn’t handle the basics without crapping out and losing data. I’m not sure if the product manager for Outlook just didn’t give a crap or Microsoft just needed some turd, any turd to put in a box and sell, but Outlook was a waste of my time and a disgraceful code release. Again, for casual users, there are tons of free options and what comes with Lion is more than capable.

UPDATE 10/20/11: Word still crashes often. Manual Saves are a must. I have found macros related to cross-references do not work with files created in Office 2003 compatible format….reformatting doesn’t solve the the problem either. My other macros work…so far. And my cross-reference macros are highly specialized, but still there is some incompatibility that screws with the code. The issues with the macros seem to be related to memory management…..I suspect the crashes are related to memory issues as well.

UPDATE 12/02/11: Still no movement by Microsoft to stop the bleeding. CONSTANT memory problems. CONSTANT stream of reports sent to Apple and Microsoft…..though this is obviously not an issue caused by Apple. Word Locks up daily requiring a Force Quit, or it just crashes on its own. The “recovered” file is NEVER as up to date as the last physical save…again, seems to be memory issues. This is THE ONLY application on my Mac that crashes. I have down graded this to 1 star. It is usable as long as you manually save your document after every edit….and you don’t mind the forced intermissions…and you can live with some of the other slights it provides. I design software for a living and have worked in IT for many years….this product should be an enormous embarrassment to all those that took it to market. This is obviously still a BETA product at best. With so many great applications being written for Mac you have to wonder if MS does this on purpose. I will continue to use Office because it is the only option at this time. But if you are not REQUIRED to use MS then I suggest you use any other product out there in order to save yourself some headaches.

UPDATE 12/15/11: MS just issued an update. Still having same memory/force quit issues with Word. The “Recovered” document seems to lag behind the last physical save….which at times doesn’t work. This continues to be a BETA product. If you have a choice, purchase ANY other product. MS seems to have given up on producing quality controlled software.

This review is from: Microsoft Office Home & Student 2010 – 3PC/1User (Disc Version)

I’ve had an opportunity to use Office 2010 Beta edition for a couple of months now and now that I see the full, final, edition I can say that this is a very worthwhile upgrade. First things first, I am not a techie. I am someone who uses Word, Excel and PowerPoint on a very regular basis, who really liked some of the changes in Office 2007 but who thought some things needed tweaking, so when given the opportunity for the beta edition I jumped on it and have not been disappointed. Office 2010 is to Office 2007 what Windows 7 was to Vista; that is, there are not many breakthrough, drastically different features, but a whole lot of polishing and cleanup to make it easier and more efficient. Overall, the program seems to run faster, incorporates many of the most commonly used options and makes them more accessible (eliminating many dialog boxes and tabs) and allows for more customization.

At first glance it looks very much like its predecessor, the ribbon is back and it is now also found on OneNote. There are plenty of sites that will give you a play-by-play on all the features available in this new version, so I’m just going to mention some of the biggest improvements that I’ve seen.
1) The biggest change is the addition of the web apps. It may not be a true direct competitor to google docs, but it allows for easier sharing of documents, as well as making your documents more accessible.
2) The ribbon is back and it now includes the “File” option and a new feature called “Backstage view.” Backstage view incorporates the most commonly used actions in one place (yay! no more dialog boxes with tabs). You get the usual open, save and print, but you also get several templates for new documents, print layouts and ways to share your work, all without dialog boxes and tabs, everything is much more easily accessible.
3) Another new feature is that the ribbon is now customizable so you can organize it according to your needs.
4) There is a Paste Preview which lets you switch between paste options so you can make sure that your work will be formatted correctly.

Changes in PowerPoint.
You can now edit video directly on PowerPoint. You can trim a video, add effects, fades and even triggers for animations for the presentation. Another new feature is that you can add effects and edit images without the need for third party software.

Changes in Word.
One nifty new feature in Word is called “Navigation pane,” which replaces the old document map. It incorporates minor changes in design that make big changes in productivity and ease of use. It allows you to quickly rearrange the document. Take for example a document with several headings/sections. The Navigation pane provides a list of all the headings. The headings are live, so you can drag them up or down, thus rearranging the document. It also incorporates most of the functions that used to be available in the “Find” dialog box but now they are all visible so you don’t have to go digging through several menus to find the option that you need.

Changes in Excel.
Most of the changes in Excel deal with very large datasets. There is a new PowerPivot add-in which works great if you are dealing with a very large dataset that does not fit in one Excel spreadsheet. PowerPivot pulls the data from multiple sources (several Excel spreadsheets for instance) to analyze it.

Summary:
Overall this is one well planned and executed upgrade that essentially takes all the promises of Office 2007 and makes them a reality. Yes, some things are different, and it will take some getting used to; but, once you realize the improvement in efficiency you’ll agree that the changes are mostly for the positive. The only thing that I truly wish had changed but didn’t is that this version does not include Outlook. That is available in the Home and Business version.