Out of the 'Bleu'

GIZMO GALLERY

Sagem's top-end model, Bleu my700x, is compact (106x46x15mm) and lightweight (95g), with a simple no-frills candy bar form factor.

It's a quad-band phone (hence can be used in most parts of the world) with a 1.8-inch, 176x220 pixels colour screen, featuring a music player, built-in graphic equalizer, 3D surround sound, stereo A2DP Bluetooth (for wire-free music), a 1.3 megapixel camera, video player, FM radio, 32MB in-built memory and mini-SD expansion slot (with support for up to 2GB) and USB Mass Storage (1.1 slave).

It's based on EDGE technology that enables faster e-mail access, video-streaming and progressive downloads. The phone comes bundled with a flexible foldable stereo Bluetooth headwrap (v1.2 class 2, 67gms), as also a 512MB mini-SD card.

Verdict - It does not have a friendly user interface although the display is good and so is the camera but the video quality is average. The battery life is decent (about 4-5 hours of music/talktime).

The audio (via the Bluetooth headwrap) is the stand-out feature with hi-fi surround sound. Phone functionality and connectivity is standard. At Rs 13,999, with the approx. Rs 5,000 Bluetooth headwrap bundled in, plus the miniSD card, the my700x is decent value for money.

Logitech's laptop stand

The laptop stand attempts to make your laptop/notebook as comfortable to use as a desktop by elevating the screen to eye-level and dishing-out a full-sized keyboard in lieu of the cramped notebook keypad.

It features a fold-out form factor that provides a USB keyboard and a USB hub on one side and an angled-laptop stand on the other. Folded up, it's quite portable, making it great for travel.

The Alto has three built-in USB ports for connecting a variety of peripherals be it a mouse, a webcam, an external drive or even a printer, to the laptop. It comes with a five-year warranty.

Niggles - For one, it does not include a mouse and when the notebook is propped up it makes the touchpad very difficult to use. Not a problem for home users but isn't the Alto also intended to be portable?

Another grouse is that when you place the laptop elevated at an angle it becomes impossible to use any of the controls in the front. The rubber flap in the middle of the device is a major dust-trap. This turns an otherwise very nifty looking product look quite shabby.

Verdict - Costing Rs 9,995, the Alto seems expensive as you can get a good keyboard, a notebook stand, and a USB hub, plus a 17-inch flat-panel/LCD monitor for around Rs 10,500. You only need to hook up the monitor and keyboard to the laptop and you have a better set-up ready. The only hitch then would be the lack of portability.