Sony Waterproof Walkman W270s

(again...forgive the screengrab...not my fault!) :)

The very first Sony Walkman was released back in 1979 and took the world by storm. I mean think about it…Portable music! Your own tunes playing in your ears…whether you’re on the plane, bus, train, walking to work and of course the big craze, while you’re exercising!

The evolution of the Walkman to accommodate exercise has been a pretty gradual one and each new leap has seen smaller devices, and longer battery life. But Sony has once again come to the forefront as a possible clear winner with their latest contribution.

It’s called the W270S and has 8 hours of playback time with 4 gigs of space all fitting into a neat little device that wraps around your head. But the greatest feature of all, it’s completely waterproof!

To get started you clip the headphones to a little device which connects to your computer. Your computer will then see it as an external hard drive to which you can add your MP3’s. The controls are fairly easy to use albeit pretty small and you get various sized ear pieces to fit comfortably within your ear. The walkman costs around R1000 (pretty reasonable if you ask me) but if you're looking for something different in the same price range then take a look at this:

It's the Overboard waterproof case. A waterproof housing for your normal MP3 player or even your iPod or iPhone. It has waterproof headphones as well so that you can head on into the surf with no fear of getting any of your equipment wet.

It is particularly handy for surfers, boat trips, fishing and any other watersports, especially if you’d like to keep tweeting while waiting for the next set of waves to come rolling in. It’s not as wearable as the Walkman but you can still strap your device to your arm and away you go. This little guy costs around R1200 and also comes in a variety of sizes that can even fit tablets! Click HERE for their latest specials.
 
For me personally, with it’s big storage space & battery, sleek design & ease of use, the Sony Walkman is the way to go.

Sony Vaio Flip vs Dell XPS 12

They’re not laptops… and they’re not tablets…Say hello to 2 trailblazing flip tablet/laptops.

The Sony Vaio Multiflip 13 & the Dell XPS 12! 

Now many times I’ve been told that size doesn’t count…umm…but  in this case, it most certainly does. In this class of laptops, the Sony boasts a proud 13.3 in touch screen, is 18mm thick and weighs a pretty reasonable 1.2kg whilst the Dell has a 12.5in touch screen, is 15mm thick & weighs a hefty 1.5kg. Although it’s heavier, the Dell  seems to be more portable and feels more rugged.

So how do they perform? 

• Well, the Sony has the Intel core i5 whilst the Dell has the i7. Meaning that it’s quicker! Speaking of which, the Sony only has 4 gigs of onboard ram whilst the Dell has 8!
• They both have 256 gigs of hard drive space, an intel HD 4400 graphics card and a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. 
• The Dell has 2 USB ports whilst the Sony has 3 as well as an HDMI port and SD reader as well. 
• The battery life of the Dell is around the 12 hour mark whilst the Sony has a battery expectancy of around the 7 hour mark. 

As you can see, they’re pretty similar but the catch for me, is the  actual usability of the device. The Sony is difficult to open and the screen is a little heavy to flip and seems a little fragile. The Dell seems more rugged and the screen is really easy to flip. 

Now, the really important question…how much? Well, price won’t 

make a difference in your decision because both retail for around R20,000.

At the end of the day, the pretty Sony Multiflip looks great for entertainment… but if you’re looking for a productivity pumping workhorse… it has to be the Dell…

Drift HD Ghost vs Sony HD Action Cams

The age of the humble betacam hand held recorder was indeed a pleasant one filled with images of bad fashion, bad hairstyles but the best music. Well in my opinion anyway. However an age it was and my goodness have we come full circle. From only being able to record a home movie with a machine resting on your shoulder to the state of the art action cam that’s no bigger than a small rock. With that said, I give to you the brand new Drift HD Ghost & the Sony HDR As15!

The evolution of extreme sports saw the evolution of the action cam, with them becoming smaller, more durable and being tested to their limits on a daily basis. The need to record yourself pushing yourself so that you can put it up on youtube is becoming an absolute addiction and I need to see if it’s as exciting as it looks. 

So I’ve stuck them both on my helmet and am now bike ready to hit the trails of the cyclepark to see which of these make my ride look that much more spectacular and that much more dangerous! Here we go!

I’ve finished my extreme rush ride and now to look at the footage before I put it up on Youtube! Before we do that though, let’s take a look at some of the features of both cameras.

Drift HD Ghost Camera

·      Full HD 1080
·      2 inch Gorilla glass with lcd display screen
·      Waterproof without housing up to 3 metres for 30minutes
·      Built in wifi to play back your videos through the drift app on your smart phone and watch it live 
·      4 hour battery
·      remote control
·      R4650

Sony HDR AS15

·      Waterproof to 60m with supplied housing!
·      Carl Zeiss Tessar wide angle Lens
·      Built in wi-fi (will only work to import videos, pics, etc through the downloadable software off of Sony’s website called: Play memories BUT: if you’re a MAC user then sorry for you. Obviously Sony’s in bed with Microsoft only – ah, monogamy is such a blissful thing hey?) – HOWEVER: you can download the play memories app for your smart phone incl. iPhone.
·      Full HD 1080
·      R3499

At the end of the day they both have their pros & cons and for an extra thousand odd rand, I'd buy the Drift purely because of it's playback screen and it's ruggedness! I mean, I am a man after all...and I am rugged... *ahem*