A great idea or just another pointless use of wireless technology? I’ve spent a few months using the Sony DR-BT30Q stereo Bluetooth headphones, and thought it might be useful for some people for me to post my thoughts on this desirable gadget and my views on the technology behind it.

A2DP, more commonly known as Bluetooth stereo, still has a way to go before it’s considered mass market. Will it ever get there? I don’t know. What with Apple refusing to allow it’s Bluetooth 2.0 equipped iPhone or Bluetooth disabled iPod Touch to make use of the technology, and mobile phone manufacturers not making a big deal of it in their specifications it could remain a niche market for a while to come.

The best feature of Sony’s DR-BT30Q is that it cleans up its own mess. Push a button, and the cord connecting the two earpieces automatically winds up, the remainder being very compact. In general though, how does this Bluetooth headset perform?

As Bluetooth headsets go, the DR-BT30Q is pretty versatile. Designed for avid phone users, the headset allows users full control over music playback, and has a button on the right earpiece for answering calls. There are also two buttons to set volume, which are positioned for easy use along with the rest of the headset’s controls. Audio quality is decent, typical of Bluetooth headsets. Listening to music through wired earphones or headsets is still a better experience.
Product Features

The NW-S200 series WALKMAN combines sports-friendly features, ranging from a stop watch to a G-sensor to measure steps, distance and calories, in a stylish water-resistant body, boasting a unique easy to use design. The NW-S200 series WALKMAN is a compact, sophisticated digital music player that allows you to get on with life. You want something that won’t slow you down or break your concentration. The new WALKMAN is lightweight with an aluminium body which is not only tiny, but completely seamless and water-resistant. Whether you’re hitting the slopes, riding your bike off road or battling the rain, the NW-S200 series won’t ever skip or drown.

Throw in a bright display, and you’ve got one seriously hot-looking WALKMAN. It’s the first WALKMAN to boast this stylish new look. The easy-to-use navigational facility means you can quickly skip to the next cool track without ever missing a beat. All functions are easily operated via the jog dial shuttle.

Navigating the NW-S200 is pretty straightforward, and certainly more intuitive than with the NW-E000. The mode button takes you to the main menu, where you can select from several icon-based options. Twisting the aforementioned knob flips through the selections: search, sports mode, stopwatch, all songs, FM, playlist, and settings. If you push the knob all the way in toward the player, it activates the hold function; if you pull it all the way out, you can use it to navigate by album. (In the neutral position, it scrubs through tracks.)

One look at the NW-S200’s extras immediately reveals its athletic intention. The player is packaged with an armband and sport-style earbuds. And it’s water resistant, so it can withstand sweat and even rainfall. But the star of the show is the built-in G-Sensor, which allows you to use the NW-S200 as a pedometer. Of course, you can also input your height, weight, age, and stride so that the player will keep track of calories burned. And there’s a built-in stopwatch with interval capability, which will automatically stop your music when a time-related goal has been reached. In sports mode, a short push of the mode button let’s you shuttle between steps taken, calories burned, and time remaining.

The new Sony UX5 Handycam camcorder model exemplifies the ClearVid benefits of smooth slow record and dual record modes. With the smooth slow record function, you can create slow motion video by playing back short video clips at 240 frames per second. Newly added this year is a voice memo so that you can playback those clips with audio recordings. The new Sony HDR-UX5 AVCHD DVD video camera can produce a 2.3 Megapixel photo in this mode.

he AU$1,799 HDR-UX5, which features a 10x Carl Zeiss T* zoom lens, brings the price of high-def recording well and truly under the AU$2,000 barrier. The HDR-UX1’s design has been updated with relocated controls and an exterior furnished with ribbed metal on the lens barrel, and a mix of black and silver plastic elsewhere. It feels nice and substantial in the hand, with the major controls being easily operated by one’s thumb and index finger.

In sliding under AU$2,000, the HDR-UX5 had to shed a few features seen in its predecessor, namely optical image stabilisation and the large 3.5-inch touch-screen LCD. Carried over are the 4-megapixel CMOS sensor, dual recording, 5.1 channel surround sound recording and smooth slow record. With dual recording you can take 2.3-megapixel stills while taping video, although the buffer only holds three stills per recording session. In smooth slow record mode, up to three seconds of action can be slowed down to a quarter the normal speed, which is perfect for analysing your golf swing or perfecting your Baywatch-style beach run.

There’s no doubt that Sony is seeking to making their name synonymous with HD in the home, and their current product line may make that a reality. “Full HD 1080” is the tagline Sony uses to describe their HD strategy, which goes beyond the camcorder market into televisions, Blu-Way, PlayStation 3, and computers. AVCHD was met with some skepticism last year when editing solutions failed to materialize before the camcorders were released. A number of NLE software manufacturers have signed on for licensing, though updates that can work with AVCHD have only begun to trickle into the market. As a result, Sony has been eager to push the AVCHD-compatible products that are available, including Sony-branded Blu-Ray disc players, Vaio computers, and PlayStation 3 consoles, as well as Blu-Ray disc players from Panasonic and other AVCHD licensees. Sony’s own consumer HD camcorder line spans three recording formats: DVD, HDD (both in AVCHD), and tape (in HDV). Several HDV camcorders are also available in the professional video line.

The Sony HDR-HC5, a high definition camcorder using the tape-based HDV format, is a key model in the company’s lineup. While the HDR-HC7 ($1,299 MSRP) is the flagship HD camcorder, the HC5 is priced at $999, just below that magical $1,000 point at which consumers can still credibly consider the purchase. A casual glance through the big-box store Sunday circulars points to the fact that camcorders priced over $1,000 rarely get play. Even compared to the HC7, the HC5 is one of the best HD camcorders on the market. While it lacks the bells and whistles that make other Sony HD models more alluring, the performance is outstanding.

The incorporation of x.v.Color technology is also new to the HD Handycam camcorder line. Based on the new international xvYCC color standard, Sony x.v.Color supports a much wider data range of colors compared to the conventional sRGB standard. According to the National Physical Laboratory in the U.K., this wider range is closer to colors that the human eye can recognize. “x.v.Color-compatible camcorders and displays will have a huge impact on home moviemaking,” said Linda Vuolo, director of camcorder products at Sony Electronics. “They will bring exquisite color reproduction to your home movies like you’ve never seen before.”

Although the handycam supports up to 80x optical zoom, digital zoom is limited to 10x, which may be a little short for some viewers. This is fairly standard with MiniDV cameras. Video quality dropped noticeably at high zoom levels, which is of course to be expected, however the high resolution of the camera made this less critical, and footage shot in full, 80x zoom was still watchable. Unfortunately the shake at this level of zoom makes getting a steady picture difficult without a tripod. Audio quality was good, and the camera’s inbuilt microphone was powerful enough to pick up sound at over ten metres quite easily.

The HC5E is a little more bulky than several other models, due to its MiniDV format, but nevertheless rests comfortably in the hand, and at approximately 1kg with tape and battery, it isn’t too heavy. Button layout is standard and the on-screen menu is very well laid out, with customisation options allowing users to set up their own “quick menu”. The touch screen works well, with big buttons and words; we didn’t find ourselves having to squint too much to see what we were selecting.

ony’s HDR-HC7 ($1399 MSRP) was to be one of the best, if not the best, consumer camcorders of 2007. It was certainly priced as such. But it didn’t work out that way. First off, while the video quality in bright light was great, we have once again discovered a high-priced camcorder with seriously deficient low light performance (the last being Canon’s HV10). There are other contenders out there for best consumer HD camcorder. Sony’s top AVCHD camcorders, the HDR-UX7 and HDR-SR1, offer a better manual control interface. By default, the HDR-HC7 is the logical choice of serious users who want to edit their video; but it’s handicapped by a manual control dial that’s inferior to the full-sized ring on the SR1, and even the bigger dial on the UX7. Why would Sony equip their top camcorder of the year with the worst multi-function controller in their line-up? Your guess is as good as ours, but our hope is that there’s a new suitor waiting in the wings, a camcorder that brings it all together.

In fact, it’s impossible to know how the new color space, branded “x.v.Color” by Sony, will actually fare; though the HC7 can record it, no device can display the video properly as yet. Absent that distinction, the HC7 simply continues the tradition of Sony’s excellent series of consumer HDV camcorders. Incorporating Sony’s 1/2.9-inch 3-megapixel ClearVid CMOS sensor, the HC7 outspecs its 2-megapixel predecessors and the HC5 to rise to the top of Sony’s single-chip consumer HDV camcorder line. It’s not alone up there. With the exception of recording media type and the resultant design issues, the HC7 is essentially a twin of the DVD-based HDR-UX7. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the eventual follow-up to the hard-disk-based HDR-SR1 made them triplets.

The sensor and a few random features differentiate the HC7 from the HC5. They share the same Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 10x zoom lens, though the tiny difference in sensor sizes results in a relatively insignificant disparity in focal lengths. In contrast to the HC5, a dial on the HC7 lets you assign one shooting adjustment setting–manual focus, exposure compensation/exposure shift, white balance shift (toward red or blue), and shutter speed–to control via the rather slippery dial. And the HC7 supplies a microphone input and headphone jack.

The Sony HDR-HC7 looks like so many other camcorders with its horizontal configuration and silver-toned body with black accents. In fact, it looks similar to the Canon HV20 except the tape compartment is slightly more compact. The two companies are fierce rivals so the look-alikes must come from different factories, right? The HC7 measures 3.25 x 3.25 x 5.5 (WHD, in inches) and tips the scales at 23.2 ounces including battery and Memory Stick Pro Duo card. Tiny it isn’t but it feels very substantial.

The front is dominated by a 10x Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* optical zoom with a reasonable 20x digital zoom; still we suggest you disable the digital zoom since quality drops a bit from pure optical. Below the zoom is a stereo mic and next to it is an input for optional microphones that fit in the hot accessory shoe. You’ll also find an infrared port that beams light when you’re in the NightShot mode. With this feature you can record subjects in complete darkness but they’re a monochrome green. My cat’s eyes looked pretty cool but this is best used for sleeping babies or you can use it as a light walking in the dark, checking things out on the LCD screen! Next to the Nightshot sensor is an auto pop-out flash for still images.