It was my birthday month in May, so I decided that it was “Spoil Anastacia” time.

After about a month or so of using the gadget, I think I can give my two cents worth about each of them.

Mouse:   Logitech MX 518 Optical Gaming Mouse When it comes to computer items, I am all for comfort, reasonably priced – not cheap not overbearing in price either.   This mouse is the one model that actually fit the formation of my hands and I found it extremely comfortable when I used it.   It helps if you have big hands to use this mouse.  If the mouse is too small for your hand, this will affect the joints and whatever there but something. The stock of this mouse ran out about a year ago and I looked for it all over. After already giving up on the mouse I was about to buy something similar, when I mentioned that I wanted something similar to the MS 518.  The salesperson surprised me by telling me that he had two  in stock and I took both. If you use your pc a lot, I recommend gaming mouse pads if it’s not an optical mouse and a gaming mouse cause it is built for endless clicking and usage and so you will get more wear out of it in the end. Those crappy mice that come together with your laptop is no good. Neither are the ones that come free with your wireless keyboards!

Handheld Gaming Console:  Nintendo DSi XL My first handheld console I own. I can’t compare it other than with what I read up about the competition consoles out there. What I like most about the DSi XL (also called DSi LL) is the fact that I game anywhere I want, I have two on board cameras – one facing my way and one outward (there’s a word for that but I forget). The other cool thing is that it has wireless connectivity and browsing , chatting etc are all possible. Read Wikipedia for more detailed spec information.

What I love most about the console:

• it kept my six year old nephew busy for hours and he was happy and learning at the same time and also out of our way while we had our family braai
• I can use it on the *cough cough* toilet
• I can take it with me anywhere and record voice or take a photo of someone without them knowing cause they think I am playing a game
• The internet connection, browser, wireless function
• Makes for a good another browser to test on when creating websites
• The games of cause but I rarely play on here anymore – the novelty wore off cause I bought ….

Android Phone:  HTC Desire  I am sure by now you know how brilliant this phone actually is. If you didn’t. HTC’s slogan actually is “quietly brilliant” ha ha. My first impressions of the phone was wow. I was scared to use all the functions and didn’t know what half of it meant. After about a week of using it with no manual, I only then read it and learned about a few new things.

The things I couldn’t figure out on my own were:

• how to delete an sms
• how to delete a widget if i added it to one of the five  my desktop pages or whatever its called
• probably 40% more of its functionality that I am not even aware of yet – I think I got to page 12 of the manual so far
• how to forward an sms
• how to delete a icon from my desktop

What I love most about the phone:

• the fact that my everything is interconnected to everything – I’m referring to my social networking accounts, email, calendar blabla
• i can have anything as an app if its available and immediately have it
• It’s my first android so still overwhelmed by the world of adding apps to a mobile phone
• the camera – so much better than my previous phone but 5 mega pixel only – still trying to get used to point and shoot again though
• finally I can use twitpic again
• the fact that I can change just about everything on the phone as it is and the fact that its an android phone

What I am not so happy with:

• the battery life – yes they say it’s dependent on usage of phone but out of the four people I asked that has the phone, they too only have about a day usage of a fully charged battery
• I can’t buy any pouches, protection sleeves etc in south africa until probably six months knowing this country – it comes with no protection and believe me, it needs it – have found Lab88 so gonna check out their store and buy through them
• wasn’t happy with the standard keyboard, the keys are too small even if you keep the phone landscape – I have since tried Thick Buttons (app), and now trying out Swype
• i still struggle with saving contacts or sending a contact a message cause i have it linked to my Facebook, Twitter and all those accounts so I think my address book became too large to understand it anymore
• I have no idea why if I have a contact saved to my address book, if they call, it does not show the name – advise here please
• If I go to People I sometimes don’t find a contact, then after finding their number elsewhere, I call them then their details from Facebook comes through? Why’s that?

Overall I am a happy chappy – now all we needing is a new pc, new lens for my camera and then we should be sorted for probably only two months – until something better comes out again!

Tags: android phone, Handheld console, HTC Desire, Logitec MX518, Mouse, Nintendo DSi XL, Review

Opinion, Rants, Review | No Comments