As a Person Living in Japan with Hands on Experience:
Price - 1) You WILL see a price-drop after launch at Amazon etc. In Japan over the last 2 weeks the price has dropped over $60 at online retailers. 2) Price = iTouch = Pretty good value. The stock headphones are about a $50 buck value. Sure if you own a pair of nice cans that doesnt matter. But if your purchasing an apple product, you have to put down some extra dollars straight away for new headphones. Secondly once you see the screen, touch it, and hear it you will fall in-love :)
Reviews: Many sony mp3 products rank pretty well with their owners due to their sound quality, and build quality. All the personal reviews I have seen for this have been great, not a single negative (although I wouldnt get your hopes up over the web-browser, though i havnt tried it). Its currently ranked top on Japans #1 internet sales for owner satisfaction.
X series merits: * Truely Portable, it will go in your pocket. its easy to hold one handed. * Screen - Bright, colouful, and althoguh it has a lower resolution, the videos look superb! * Sound - Amazing, with loads of equaliser settings. Highly configurable. I compared it to the previous S series and its even better (using my Shure 310 headphones). Clarity is amazing, No hiss at low volumes (background noice), Volume rocker has small steps (good for listening to in quiet environments too, bass is really punchy and clear. * Menues are responsive and eqs are modifyable while listening from the now playing screen (as most are today). * If you use your device to show friends pictures, they will look amazing on this, and the picture viewer is fast and easy to use. * Analog buttons * Biggest one - build quality. Not a creak in the chassis.
Compared to Cowon S9: + Slightly more compact + More solid in the hand - by a long way, this is what lets the cowon down for me (cowon feels like it will break within a year) + Screen slightly more vibrant, but not much in it + Better responsiveness, better touch input = Sound is very similar using regular formats - Less customisation - Less format support - Vid conversion required more - Price
Compared to the Spin: + Better interface + Better screen + Better analog controlls + Better touch responce + More storage + Better portability + Better sound = Build Quality - More expence - No subway maps
Comared to itouch: General feeling is, if you are OK with itouch's size, poor sound, poor earphones, complexity, and requirement for itunes then this should be your choice. if you will use the apps, use it as a calander etc then go for the itouch. If you do that on your cellphone and use media player as a media player then the sony is better. + MUCH better portability + Better build quality + Dramatically better sound + More intuitive intervace (out of the box) + Much improved screen + Much better included earphones + Its not apple = Price - Cant use it as gaming device / calender / etc etc.
In the perfect world I would: - Have my blackberry for Business - Have a sony X series for audio needs & movies === best of both worlds
Im actually going to disagree and say that micro-fluidics is still a pretty new industry. Mainly because the MEMS plasma etchers that are used for this are only now getting to the level required for the applications.
I have seen a lot of university interest growing in Micro-fluidics recently. THe technology is very exciting.
If you want you could google STS etchers, Alcatel MEMS, SAMCO MEMS and you will see three of the leading etching companies in the field...
Yea its pretty tough here in Japan too... With the yen sitting at 88 to the dollar down from 120 to the dollar companies are struggling. interest rate is at 0. The company is running deficits... THey dont really have anywhere to turn... Just hoping someone else can pull them out of the hole that wall street and america created.
Kyocera is a great company. There Japanese handsets are some of the best - Im glad they joined with Sanyo because im sure you will see some of the Japanese cellphone technology finally heading to the states.
Now if only americans would realise that they have F**KED the world with their poor leadership, poor lending and immoral behaviour they might learn a little... Dont blame anyone but yourselves. If this was asia (asian crisis in the 1990's you would be all over the asians asking for resignations, opening of free trade borders, but noooo no such talk. America and its free trade people are two faced. Still looking forward to your recovery howerver)
Nice Design / bit boxy but buils well on the current model. Just hope it is better built than the current xps notebooks. I cant believe how good the reviews for xps notebooks are - they are put together with worse quality than a standard hp. Clickers feel cheap, trackpad is small - metal looks like its just glued on top. lets hope this is a step up.
Also like the exact sony keyboard and mouse pad copy copy from the previous sz series - identical shape and size...
Slot drive looks lovely though...
Oh heres a question, do you prefer speaker cable connections on the front or the side. I prefer the side because i cont plug in my desk speakers without them getting in my hands way when typing....
saw this in my local shop. as overpriced as it is damn i was tempted... u can get them with a 9600gt graphics card here in japan... thats plenty... oh and there is no chin... it looks just like a monitor with a slight bit of depth! Who needs a tv! or pvr! or blue ray player!
"What's the best gaming laptop for under 1,500 bucks? I had my eye on the P7805u (Gateway), but it seems Best Buy has run out for the time being. Also, as a secondary question, I like the specs on brands such as iBUYPOWER and CyberPower and the like, but are they reliable? I'm a little worried about buying labels that aren't huge like Dell, Gateway, etc. Thanks!"
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