Since the original post on how to use Gizmo5 for free calls with Google Voice, many things have changed so I figured that guide could use a bit of an update. When the integration of Google Voice and Gizmo first came about, Google Voice was still in beta and invite only, you could openly register for a Gizmo5 account, and you were able to combine the two to have free unlimited incoming and outgoing calls.  Now, however, Google Voice is open to everyone (in the US), Google acquired Gizmo5 and closed new registrations, and while their combination still allows free unlimited incoming calls, it now has a 3 minute limit for free outgoing calls.

note: outgoing calls here means calls made directly from Gizmo5, or any SIP or ATA device using Gizmo5 servers, when integrated with Google Voice.  You can still, and have always been able to, make free unlimited “outgoing” calls using Google Voice when you start the call from Google Voice’s (or Gmail’s) web interface and have it call a phone of your choice to connect the call (which is the normal way to use Google Voice for outgoing calls)

So what?

You can also configure a softphone to work with it as well, or have your GV calls forwarded to Skype or a different SIP (like Gizmo5) provider. 

So how do I actually get Google Voice to work with Gizmo5?

Just to warn you now, it sometimes can be a bit temperamental to get the initial setup working (during the GV phone verification stage, but I will explain shortly) – that being said, here’s how you do it:

• What you need before you begin: 

  – You must already have a Gizmo5 account.  As mentioned earlier, new registrations are closed (though, there appear to be a few Gizmo5 accounts on eBay – however, proceed at your own risk with those). 

  – If you don’t already have a Google (Voice) account, get one. 

  – If you want to use a landline phone, you will need an ATA device.  Some popular ones are the Linksys PAP2, PAP2-NA, SPA1001 (most of which you can find on Amazon or eBay).  If you want to use your iPhone, I highly recommend Softphone by Acrobits (yes, it’s $8, but totally worth it) or you could also try Fring or Siphon if you are jailbroken.  Then there’s Sipdroid for Android phones.  And if you want to use a softphone on your computer, X-Lite is always a good choice.

• Login to your Gizmo5 account to figure out what your Sip Number is.  As soon as you login, you can find your Sip Number near the top of the page under “Account Overview”:
  
• Head over to Google Voice (and login) and click Settings near the top right and select “Voice settings”.  You should then be brought to the “Phones” settings tab:
  
• From here, click on Add another phone at the bottom:
  
• Enter a Name you want to call it, your 10-digit Sip number from earlier, select “Gizmo” as the phone type, and then click Save.
  
  Once you click save, a “Verify your Phone” window will pop up.  What this will do when you click Connect (don’t click it yet) is call your Gizmo5 number and you will need to enter the code shown to you in the box.  Google Voice needs to make sure that you actually have access to this forwarding number (so, for example, you don’t have calls start forwarding randomly to someone else’s number).  Again, don’t click connect quite yet…
• What we need to do now is setup a phone in order to answer the GV verification call and enter in the 2 digit code.  To do this, the easiest way will probably be to go Gizmo5’s web based phone at http://www.gizmocall.com and login using your Gizmo5 credentials. 
  

  (Once you login, you may get an Adobe message asking you to to enable hardware acceleration, go ahead and check the box and click close). At this point, it may be easier to click the “Open in separate window” link so you can have the phone window within view when you click the “Connect” button on the “Verify your Phone” window from earlier (you’ll have to log back into GizmoCall and the adobe message may pop up again):
  

• Warning – this next part is where it can be a bit temperamental.  As others have experienced (including my self once or twice), you may need to try to connect a few times before the GizmoPhone actually gets the call, and sometimes entering in the verification code doesn’t work.  All I can say is that if this happens to you, keep trying… (though, the last few times I’ve done this over the past couple weeks, I haven’t had any issues)

  You are now ready to click the connect button.  Once you click connect, it will show a message about verifying your phone,
   
  and you should receive the call on your GizmoCall phone.  When you click Accept, you may get Flash prompt asking to grant microphone and camera access to the GizmoPhone.  You’ll want to click allow and this will likely cause the call to disconnect before you have a chance to enter in the code:
  
  Don’t worry, simply go back to Google Voice and click on the “verify” link next to your Gizmo5 phone entry:
   

• You will be back at the “Verify your Phone” window with the “Connect” button.  Click connect again, answer the call on your GizmoCall phone, and click on the 2 digits.   You should hear the Google Voice lady say your phone was verified, and shortly the Verify your Phone window should disappear and your Gizmo5 number should be verified:
   
• Done!  Google Voice will now be able to use your Gizmo5 account as one of the numbers to forward incoming calls to.   At this point, you can now either use the Gizmo5 desktop app or the GizmoCall web app you used earlier to receive unlimited incoming calls or directly place up to 3 free minutes of out going calls.

How do I setup my phone/device to use the GV & G5 combo?

Now with the two happily married, the key to getting any ATA device, softphone, or Sip phone to work is by knowing the Gizmo5 SIP/server settings which are:

• SIP Proxy (or “server” or “proxy”):  proxy01.sipphone.com:5060
• STUN server:  stun01.sipphone.com:3478
• Username (or “Auth ID” or “User ID”):  your 11 digit Gizmo5 Sip Number
• Password:  your Gizmo5 password used when logging in

Here are a few device specific setup guides:

• Linksys/Sipura SPA1001, PAP2, PAP2t-NA, PAP2-NA (they’re all basically the same): Log into it by typing in the IP address in your browser (if you don’t know it, you can plug in a landline phone, dial **** and then 110# and the IP address will be spoken to you).

  Click on Admin on the top right, and then click the Line 1 tab.  From here, edit the following settings:
  *  Proxy:  proxy01.sipphone.com
  *  Display name, User ID, and Auth ID:  your 11 digit Gizmo5 Sip number
  *  Password:  your Gizmo5 password
  *  Use Auth ID and Register:  yes
  

• Softphone (by Acrobits) iPhone App:  I’ve got to hand it to Acrobits for making it so easy to use with many VoIP/SIP providers.  With the app running, tap Settings –> Sip Accounts –> the + on the top right –> choose Gizmo5:
  *  Username:  your 11 digit Sip Number
  *  Password:  your Gizmo5 password
   
• X-Lite:  one of the better, free desktop (windows/mac) softphones available.   Open up X-lite, right click on the “display” and select “SIP Account Settings…” and then Add.  From here, enter in the Gizmo5 settings mentioned earlier and pictured below:
  

And that’s it — you now have a working Google Voice and Gizmo5 solution!   Remember, you can receive unlimited incoming minutes but are limited to 3 minutes of calling when you make calls from one of these devices connected with Gizmo5.  However, if you start the call from Gmail/Google Voice and select your Gizmo5 number (and answer your connected device when it rings), it will be an unlimited call just as if you had it ring your cell phone, or other phone. 

What is it and how does it work?

What this device essentially allows you to do is have outgoing calls that start with either 00 (international), 1, or just 0 be automatically dialed through a calling card or VoIP access number instead of direct.   This paper thin device actually fits between your SIM card and your phone in order to “capture” what you are dialing, then dials the access number first when necessary:

Usually, when dialing internationally direct from your mobile phone, you will be charged fairly high rates per minute from your carrier such as £1.45/min calling from Tesco UK to US or $1.49/min calling from AT&T US to UK.  Then, of course, you have local calls which will either be part your monthly minute plan or generally a much cheaper per minute rate.    

With international calls, you can traditionally get around these higher rates by using a calling card with a local access number that you can call as a "local number" from your cell phone (UK landline numbers if you live in the UK or any US number if you live in the US).  Then, dial the international number through your calling card and get charged "local minute rates" from your cell carrier plus whatever international rates you get from your calling card.  

For example, say I wanted to call home to the states from my mobile phone in the UK.  Normally I would dial 001 999 999 9999, with the "00" meaning international, "1" meaning the states, followed by the number.  With my particular cell carrier (Tesco), this would cost me £1.45 per minute, but with my calling card, it would cost me £0.01 per minute – quite a big difference! Using the Rebel Sim Call through SIM, it will see that the number starts with 00 and it will instead dial the access number for my calling card when I press send to dial that international number.  Once the phone has dialed my card’s access number, it is then able to automatically send the digits (via DTMF*) of the number I actually dialed thus completing the international call via my calling card as opposed to directly from my mobile carrier.  My call will now cost £0.01 per minute plus minutes from my monthly minute plan as opposed to £1.45p per minute. 

(* less technical explanation:  Think about how you normally use a calling card. You call the calling card number, it prompts you for the number you want to call, and then it connects the call.  The RebelSim Call through SIM automates this process by “seeing” that you dialed 00, then dialing the calling card number, pauses, and then dials the original out going number)

How to setup:

• First off, this won’t work if you are using a micro SIM – sorry iPhone 4 users – because the RebelSim is of “normal” SIM size, but it will work for any phone that uses a normal size SIM.  Also, the latest (v2) firmware also does not support entering an ID or pin number, so you’ll need a provider that works by caller ID (you call the access number, and it recognizes your caller ID for authentication for your account); that being said, v2.1 will be released soon which will allow the use of an ID/pin, as well as additional configuration options than the ones discussed later on below.
• What you have to do first is punch a “hole puncher” size hole in the top plastic part of your SIM card. This is for the chip on the Rebel Sim Call through SIM to fit in between your phone and your normal SIM (you can either buy a RebelSim cutter, or use your own hole puncher).  Don’t worry, it’s just plastic on the top of your SIM card – it won’t damage anything and you can still use it even if you are not using the RebelSim.

• Then, of course, you need to put them in your phone.  The manual suggests putting the Rebel SIM in first, then sliding your normal SIM in on top of it – I’ve found it easier at times to just put them in together at the same time, but I suppose it’s just a matter of how easy/hard it is to access your SIM slot
  
• Next, you’ll need to have a calling card or VoIP service that has an access number.  Any calling card has an access number, as that’s how they’re setup to work, but not all VoIP providers have one.  Personally, I use a VoIP provider as they usually don’t charge connection fees, their rates are easy to understand, and they can be used with a SIP/Soft phone as well.   I personally use VoipFone (rates and access numbers) as they allow pin-less usage but there are plenty of others such as Call Centric (rates and access numbers) if you are in the States and  VoipTalk (rates and access numbers) in the UK (once v2.1 comes out for the RebelSim Callthrough).

  Note:  which ever calling card or VoIP provider you use must have an access number that doesn’t require you to use a pin since the current firmware of Call Through only supports dialing the access number. 

• And last, you need to add the access number and configure the options on the Rebel Sim.  When you turn on your phone with the RebelSim, you should see a new menu option.  On my Pirelli DP-L10 wifi phone, you can see this on the main menu, with other phones it will probably show up in different locations but either way a new option will appear somewhere and will have the same configuration options/steps:
   

  Select the new RebelSim option and you will be brought to the configuration page with the following options:
    – Disable (don’t use the RebelSim)
    – *Enable (use the RebelSim)
    – Editing Number (edit the access number)
    – Dialing Rules (4 options on when to use the RebelSim: when there is a 00, 1, or 0 in the beginning of the dialed call, or use it always)
    – Dialing Speed (this is basically how fast the number is dialed once the access number is called – I haven’t had an issue using it on “Fast”)
    – Dialing Mode (two options, don’t really know what it means, but ICC2 is said to be needed for the iPhone, and ICC1 works on my Pirelli phone)

  All you should have to mess with here is the Editing Number and Dialing Rules.  Select Editing Number to change the access number and Dialing Rules to determine when the RebelSim should be used.  For my particular usage, I use Dialing Rule “00” to use for international calls and Editing Number “02070990707” as the access number for VoipFone.co.uk.

  Then, dial out!  In the picture below, you can see that I dialed a random international US number (001 770 123 4567), and when I pressed send, you can see that the phone automatically called the access number instead (02070990707):
  Once the call is connected, you hear a dial tone from the speaker (which is VoipFone saying it’s ready for a number to connect to).  After a couple of seconds, the dial tone goes away which is when the RebelSim dials the number I actually entered (you don’t actually hear anything until you hear ringing which means the number you dialed is ringing) – and that’s it, you just made a cheaper international call from your mobile phone.

Final thoughts:

Using the Rebel Sim Callthrough SIM is a great way to make dialing international numbers from your cell phone cheap and easy.  Could you simply remember to dial the access number and skip the use and purchase of the RebelSim?  Yep!  Could you opt to just use a smartphone app to use a data connection and use Voip?  Yep!  That being said, I like the idea of this “working in the background” because I could then give it to a friend, family member, etc and not have to explain to them how to make international calls or have to worry about someone, or myself, accidentally making an expensive £1.45/min call.  

Another useful aspect about this particular Rebel Sim (“Rebel Sim II”) is that you can load 3 different types of firmware on it (providing you have one of their programmers):  the Call Through (v2), Call Back (v3), or their HTC unlocking firmware (v1).  Plus for £7 + shipping (worldwide), it’s not too bad of a deal!

Pros:

• Set it up and forget it approach for cheap international calls from mobile phones
• Cheap
• Will work with any phone that uses regular size SIM cards (the phone can be locked or unlocked, from anywhere in the world, on any carrier, etc)
• Can be repurposed with 3 different firmwares ( one for call through, one for unlocking HTC phones, and the other a different approach for cheap mobile calls)
• Simple to configure

Cons:

• Latest firmware does not allow to use access numbers that require you to enter a PIN or ID number to use (though it can with firmware v2.1, which is to be released soon)
• Can be a bit tricky to sandwich it with your existing SIM card and push into the SIM slot on some phones
• Doesn’t work with micro SIM cards (won’t work with iPhone 4)

Have a locked iPhone but don’t have a SIM card that is associated with the carrier it is locked to to activate?  Using a RebelSimCard iPhone Activation SIM, you can use it to simply bypass the activation screen and in turn be able to access the phone’s features and potentially move on to perform a Spirit jailbreak (though, only on the 3GS and older with 3.1.2 or older at the time of this posting).

Video review:

Written review:

All you need to do is take your non-activated iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS, or 4 and leave it unplugged from iTunes

Then, take the activation SIM and place it in the phone (if working with an iPhone 4, you will need to cut it down to a micro-sim if you did not specify RebelSimCard to send you one pre-cut):

Finally, plug the iPhone into iTunes (your computer) and the activation screen will then be bypassed, thus giving you access to the phone:

NOTE:  this does NOT actually active the iPhone, nor does it unlock it.  It only bypasses the activation screen to allow you to use it at least as an iPod Touch (until an unlock is available for iPhone 4 / iOS4 if you are in that situation).   To show this, once I put an O2 sim card in my iPhone 4 (which is locked to O2), I then get an “iPhone is activated” message:

Coupon!

Have you decided to go ahead and buy an iPhone activation SIM from RebelSimCard?  Be sure to use coupon code “jrin” for 10% off your entire order!

The Streak is the new big smartphone from Dell.  With a huge 5” screen and powered by Android, the Streak (currently only available on O2 UK) is a bit of an anomaly in the smartphone arena.  Why?  Because of it’s size – at roughly 6” x 3.1” x 0.4”,  it’s quite a bit larger than your average smartphone.  Is it too large?  Do any benefits come from having a larger screen?  Is there an increase in specs and features to fill up the larger size?  Read on to find out (note:  I have been a iPhone 3GS user since June of 2009, so much of this review will end up being a comparison to the 3GS)

Specifications:

Before we begin, let’s go ahead and lay out all the specs of this phone:

• 5” Multi-touch, capacitive multitouch screen
• 800×480 resolution
• 5.0MP rear camera with duel LED flash, 0.3mp front camera
• Android 1.6
• 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250
• 512MB ROM, 512MB RAM, 1 MicroSD Slot (ships with 16gb card), 2GB internal memory (not user accessible)
• Network Bands:  UMTS 900/1200MHz
  850/900/1800/1900MHz GSM/EDGE
• 3G/HSDPA for HSDPA 7.2Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
• Up to 9.8hrs talk, 400hr standby with 1530 mAh battery
• Sensors:   ambient light, proximity, accelerometer, capacitive sensor keys (the three buttons on the screen side)
• Location:  e-compass, GPS

In the box:

• Dell Streak
• Soft fabric pouch with draw string
• Headset with 3 sizes of ear buds
• USB charger with UK and EU plug adapters
• USB sync cable with plastic clip to neatly wrap the cable
• Multilingual startup guide and other paperwork
• 1530 mAh battery
• Battery cover
• 16GB MicroSD card (preinstalled)
• The box

Look and feel:

Here we have different views of the Streak:

And of course, an unboxing video:

First thoughts?  It’s big.  At first, it seems a little awkward to hold and use as a phone, but after a couple days of using it you get used to it and it doesn’t feel as foreign.  The one thing that is the most different compared to other phones is the fact that it’s more of a “two-handed” device than any other phone/smartphone I have used.  With the iPhone, there is still a lot I can do with one hand.  With with the Streak, however, I find my self having to hold it with both hands to do many tasks (though, dialing – if you are able to swipe to the phone app one-handed – can still be done).

Size compared to the iPhone 3GS:

The Streak is quite larger than the iPhone (well, larger than most phone for that matter); however, it is slightly thinner:   

The main chassis of the phone is a matte (non-glossy) finish so it is not prone to attracting fingerprints and I feel slightly more at ease that it won’t easily slip our of my hand. 

Along the right side, you can see all 4 “physical” buttons:  camera, power, and volume up and down.  You’ll also notice that the headphone jack is on the side which can pose to be a problem if the headphones you are using have a plug that doesn’t bend 90 degrees – and even if it does, there’s still the “added width” of the plug that you then have to deal with in your pocket.  I would have much rather had the jack on the top or bottom :-\

Camera(s) and Media Playback:

The pictures and videos it takes are pretty good – not spectacular, but pretty good.  When compared with the iPhone’s pictures, they’re a bit sharper (less blurry looking) and larger resolution – Streak on the left, iPhone on the right:

Video quality seems to be a bit better on the iPhone.  On the streak, the video playback is a bit choppy as though it doesn’t have as high of a frame rate and it is slightly more pixilated. 

Here are some sample videos taken with the 3GS and Streak.  One taken from outside my window and another taken at the Knaresborough Bed Race:

(download the original videos:  iPhone:  video 1, video 2, Dell Streak:  video 1, video 2)

Web browsing:

With it’s large screen and resolution, web browsing on the Streak is quite nice; you are able to zoom out all the way (so you don’t have to scroll horizontally) and still able to read most, if not all, of the text on the page:

however, it does not resize the text to fit the current zoom level like the iPhone (notice how there’s less words per line on the iPhone – not that one way is better than the other, it’s just different.  The Streak’s resolution is high enough that it isn’t particularly necessary to re-size the text):

After using the iPhone for almost a year, I was a bit dismayed to find out that you can double tap to zoom in to a particular area of a web page – perhaps with Android 2.2?

Other than the mentioned items above, browsing is a pleasant experience – zooming in and out is smooth, jumping between tabs is easy and fast, and I have yet to find a (non-Flash) page render incorrectly. 

Battery Life:

For being such a large device, the battery does last a good while – from 7am to 10pm, I have on average 8% battery life , and that is with heavy 3G/WiFi usage through out the day (email, web browsing, downloading from the market place, etc).  I also average about 15 minutes of calling via VoIP and 5-10 via “regular voice minutes”.   However, it doesn’t take long to charge back up to 100% – from around 5%, it’s charged back to 100% in about 1hr 10min. 

Keyboard:

Now this just may be an issue with Android in general (sorry, I am not up to speed with Android), but I very much dislike the out-of-the-box keyboard when compared to the iPhone.  Even after a week or so of usage, I still make way more typos than I feel I should be making.  That being said, I won’t dwell too much on this downside since there are many readily available alternative keyboards that you can get in the marketplace (such as the Swype keyboard, which I can’t recommend enough for using the Streak in portrait mode). 

(in the pictures above the default android keyboard is on the left, Swype on the right)

Calling:

One thing that stood out the most was the quality (loudness) of the speaker phone.  I’ve always been plagued with not-quite-loud-enough speakerphones on every phone I’ve owned, including the iPhone, but not with the Streak – it’s speakerphone is loud and clear!  However, less impressive is the dialing skin – not that it affects the phone quality in anyway, it’s just not that aesthetically pleasing

…an interesting observation…

One thing I wanted to point out that I found a bit funny (and slightly misleading), is the picture of the Streak on the box.  When it shows it’s thickness, it’s spot on – exactly the thickness in real life:

However, the front of the box shows the actual screen being edge-to-edge with the bezel, but in reality it’s not:

just thought it was interesting that they chose to do that…

Final Thoughts:

Deciding to get the Streak will highly depend on what sort of device you are looking for.  Without taking price into consideration, if you want something like the quality of games and apps in Apple’s App Store, then you’ll want to stick with the iPhone.  If you want a device for media playback with more of a tablet-esque experience (you are looking for a larger screen to watch movies and browse the web), I would go with the Streak.  

Pros:

• Crisp screen and high 800×480 resolution
• Dual cameras with good photo quality
• Speakerphone works very well
• Good battery life for size and feature set

Cons:

• Expensive, £400 (~$600) with no contract
• Camera not as good as expected (slightly better photos & slightly worse videos when compared to 3GS)
• Out of the box keyboard isn’t so great (but other keyboards are easily installed)

Update — 1 July 2010: after a few days using this, and from other people’s reports, it looks like there are issues with the RebelSim II being able to receive/make calls while connected to 3G/HSDPA (as well as connecting to the network in general). However, tt appears to work alright if you keep the phone in 2G (GSM only) mode (see comments below). I will report back when/if any updates occur!

So you just bought a new Dell Streak but you want to use it with a network other than O2 either because you are in the US, UK, or elsewhere, or simply don’t like the O2 network. Unfortunately, there currently is not a software unlock solution available (once one is, I’ll update this post!).  However, you can still use it on other carriers by either A) use the GiffGaff (UK) network or B) use a RebelSim to “bypass” the simlock:

How-To Video:

Either watch the HD below video, or continue on with the written guide afterwards:

Use the GiffGaff network

If you are using, or thinking of using, GiffGaff as a carrier, they are actually powered by the O2 network, so using a GiffGaff SIM will work out of the box (it’s what I am currently using on my Streak).  A quick plug about GiffGaff:

They actually use the O2 network but are a pre-paid network offering “Goody Bag” packages such as £10 for 100min, £15 for 300min, or £35 for Unlimited minutes – and best of all, all three packages come with unlimited data and texts – and since it’s pre-paid, there are NO contracts!   (This of course assumes you like O2’s coverage and data speeds – where I am located, they’re great).

Use a RebelSim

For everyone else (outside the UK, or those not wanting to use O2 or GiffGaff), you can pop over to http://rebelsimcard.com and purchase a HTC Rebel sim II (v1.1) card (currently £9.99/$14.96, plus shipping), combined with whatever sim card you use, to bypass the sim lock on your phone!

Basically, the RebelSimCard is a paper thin PCB with a small chip that is the thickness of a SIM card that acts as a middle man between your phone and the your SIM card (yes, it really is that thin!)

It effectively bypasses the carrier lock on your phone, making your phone “think” the SIM card you are using is for the network that the phone is locked to.  There is only one “physical” modification you have to do and that is to punch a hole in the plastic part of your existing SIM card – meaning – no damage or “tech” modifications are done to your SIM card, only the plastic part which isn’t used by any phone is messed with a bit. 

How do you get the RebelSim to work with the Dell Streak?  First thing is that you have to buy the “HTC” RebelSim as it is the version that will allow the simlock to be bypassed on the Streak.  

You can order it with or without with the “SIM Cutter” tool that RebelSim offers, but it’s not absolutely necessary.  The tool comes with an insert that will guide you to punch the hole in the exact spot for the tiny chip on the RebelSim to fit into

(imagine if I flipped the SIM card on top of the RebelSim in the picture below; the black chip would fit inside the punched hole in the SIM card)

However, this SIM Cutter is basically just a hole puncher (with the ability to put a “SIM card guide plate” into it).  If you happen to have a single hole puncher already, you should be able to just punch a hole in the top-middle of your SIM card yourself and be fine

Now, with your SIM card having a hole punched in it, you want to start by placing the RebelSim on the bottom of it, like so:

Now, carefully slide it into the SIM slot on your Dell Streak.  This can be a bit tricky and frustrating, so take your time and don’t push the SIM card + RebelSim combo in the slot if at any time they come apart or are not flush with each other (you may risk damaging the delicate RebelSim). 

I have found the easiest way for me to do it is to start pushing the bottom-left corner into the SIM slot first – first starting on one of the phone’s SIM contacts and slightly pushing it into the corner, then by pushing (rotating) in the other corner until they are both going in together.  (In the picture below, that corner is probably pushed in a bit too much to actually be able to rotate the other corner in…but just keep trying until it works :)  — it’s hard to explain, so if you are not following, watch the video above)

If you start to push the SIM card in and the RebelSim is not flush with the SIM card, pull it out and try again:

Once you have them going into the SIM slot straight and together, I find it easiest to use another SIM card (or something similarly flat and sturdy) to push them in together at the same time:

Once you’ve got them both all the way in, and the RebelSim isn’t sticking out at all (if it is, remove both and try again!), like so…

…boot up the phone and enjoy your Dell Streak on a non-O2 carrier!

Do you know of a better way to use the Streak on different carrier?  Have you seen a way to sim-unlock the phone?  Let us know in the comments!

The SoundGate M2 Mobile Mount is a universal docking solution for mounting your mobile electronics in your car.  On one hand, there are plenty of slightly cheaper universal mounts out there such as ones that clamp on either side of the device and then mount to the windshield or cup holder:

but these are usually quite bulky and not very aesthetically pleasing (at least in my opinion!).  On the other hand, you can always buy a vehicle and device specific solution such as mounts made from Brodit, and while these are very sleek looking and work great, they are quite expensive and don’t usually work if your device has a case. 

This is where the SoundGate M2 comes in – it’s cheaper than the specific device mounts (such as Brodit) yet sleeker than your everyday universal mounts while still relatively cheap.

Video Review:

How it looks:

It’s sleek, small, and unobtrusive – just what I want in this situation.  There are no bulky plastic cages to hold it in place, no long flexible necks to hold it down from the windshield, and it’s likely to be smaller than any device you end up mounting it with. 

The plastic discs that you have to stick on your device (discussed later) are also very small – just slightly larger than the size of a US penny:

And with your device mounted to it, it looks like it’s a natural part of the device and doesn’t take up much space:

(Here is a sample of how it looks in the car with my iPhone):

How it works:

Inside the package you’ll find the mount itself, mounting hardware, mounting discs, and a cleaning pad:

The mount attaches to your dashboard by way of a super sticky rubber pad – one side sticks to the dashboard and the other to the metal mounting plate which the mount is then screwed onto.

Once installed, you can adjust the mount by loosening the two allen bolts and swiveling the device until it’s at the right angle, then tightening again:

Then, you stick the mounting disc to your device.  Again, it’s great that’s it’s very thin and small, but you do indeed either have to stick it directly to your device, or (what I recommend) stick it to a hard case that you use with your device.  For example, I attached it to my iPhone hard case (the Incipio Feather case which I love):

Then you are good to mount it – just simply slide it into the mount at a 90* angle, rotate it (so the little nub on the disc locks it in), and you’re done!

Final thoughts:

Simply put, I would have no problems recommending it to someone looking for a small and sleek way to mount their mobile device in their car.

Pros:

• Cheap (currently $25 new on Amazon, cheaper on marketplace)
• Well built
• Once mounted, you can adjust it’s position
• Sleek and refined look

Cons:

• Requires you to adhere a flat disc to your device and the mount itself to your dashboard
• It would be nice if it included more than 2 mounting discs (but with two, you can almost think of it as being two mounts instead of just one)

The Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 is Dell’s first netbook to utilize Intel’s latest Pinetrail platform by using the Atom N450.  Does the N450 result in a significant improvement over the previous Dell Mini 10/10v’s Atom N270/N280/Z530?  Yes – better battery life and better performance.  Is the 1012 any better than the 10/10v?  Yes, keep reading to find out more:

Specifications of reviewed system:

• Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz, 667MHz FSB, 512K L2 cache
• 2GB DDR2-667 Memory (upgraded from 1GB)
• 10.1” 1024×600 Widescreen display
• Intel NM10 express chipset
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150
• 6 Cell extended battery
• 1.3M webcam
• 160GB SATA 5400RPM Seagate hard drive
• Windows 7 Starter
• Dell Wireless 1397 802.11b/g
• 3-in-1 memory card reader
• 3 x USB2.0, 1 x 10/100 Ethernet, 1 x VGA, 1x Mic + Earphone

Unboxing and ports:

As with the Dell Mini 10/10v, not much comes in the box with the netbook – just the various CD’s (MS Works, drivers, OS, etc), the small charger, and the netbook itself:

Here you can see images of the different views/ports:

In the video above, you can also see the new hinge design of the 1012.  Instead of the hinge being at the far end like most other netbooks, it is rather about a half inch from the back.  My guess is so that this way they were able to make room for the 6 cell battery to be “part” of the normal chassis, instead of seeming to stick out (but of course, that’s a total guess!):

Upgradability:

Unlike the original Mini 10, the memory is upgradable to 2GB (up from the standard 1GB) and thankfully does not require you to fully dismantle the entire laptop like you do with the Mini 10v; however, there is still no easy memory access door.  Instead, you have to simply remove three screws on the bottom of the netbook as well as the keyboard and then you will have relatively easy access to the memory (green) and hard drive (red).  

On the other hand, if you want to upgrade your wireless card, wwan, hd decoder, etc – you will have to remove a few more screws and then pry off the palm rest (and it’s honestly not too difficult).  See my previous post with an HD video and picture guide on how upgrade and dismantle the 1012.

Screen:

Viewing angles and brightness are both very good.  Using the netbook on my lap or a table, I did not have any problems having to look at it at just the right angle or anything like that – slight movements of my head (or lap) didn’t require me to adjust the angle of the screen in order to see everything “normally”.  

There are 16 levels of brightness and I found that I was comfortable at keeping it at about 8/16 brightness most of the time.  In direct sunlight, having it at full brightness allowed the screen to be visible (albeit with a bit of reflection from the sun):

The lid (screen) is fairly thin – as thin as any other netbook screen – and while it doesn’t open a full 180 degrees, it does open wide enough for normal uses:

Performance:

Below are some tables comparing the Dell 1012 with other netbooks and laptops:

Windows 7 (Vista) Scores:

Super PI 0.99b:

Flash/Hulu playback:

A big question of mine with every netbook is how it handles flash/Hulu playback and the Dell Mini 1012 is finally one that can handle it quite well.  I’m not sure if it’s more due to the new Flash 10 beta 2 or the Atom N450 processor (probably both), but it was able to handle full screen Hulu just fine (except high resolution full screen, but in my opinion, it’s not really necessary on such a small resolution screen):

 
You’ll notice in some of the screen shots/videos that I installed Windows XP – this is because I was going to run 3DMark and PCMark benchmark tests, but I unfortunately was unable to access an external monitor to meet those software titles’ requirements of having a screen resolution of at least 1024×768 – so I was unable to get any of those “official” benchmark numbers.  That being said, the 1012 is definitely a bit more powerful than it’s predecessors simply though it’s ability to playback Flash better. 

Battery:

I can’t say enough how much I applaud Dell for improving on the aesthetics and design of the extended 6 cell battery for the 1012; Instead of keeping it as it was with the Mini 10/10v, protruding from the bottom and effectively adding an inch to it’s thickness:

they made it flush with the rest of the netbook – nice, clean, and pretty:

As far as the time that the battery lasts, they improved that too!  The following tests were performed with brightness at half (8/16) and wifi on.   The two tests I perform are 100% full screen hulu playback, and then 100% automatic refreshing of 3 news sites at 10s, 15s, and 30s intervals (separate tabs in Firefox).  Since hulu/flash still demands a pretty good amount of CPU power, I use this as my “worst case scenario” and the auto webpage(s) refreshing as the “usual/best case scenario”.  (all tests below are with 6 cell batteries)

Keyboard & touchpad:

Dell continues to make good keyboards for their netbook (well, except for the Dell Mini 9).  The keyboard is 92% the size of a regular laptop keyboard, there is virtually no flex, and all the keys are in the right place:

On minor thing to note is that Dell is starting to swap around the default behavior of the F1-F12 keys.  Instead of the F1-F12 keys actually being “F1, F2, F3, …, F12” when you press them, they are instead the “screen on/off, wireless toggle, brightness, volume, etc”.  In other words, to get F1-F12 functionality, you have to press the Fn key – notice how they’re both in blue font: 

It’s really not a big deal, as you can change the default behavior in the BIOS, but it’s something to be aware of.

The touchpad, on the other hand, I’m not so crazy about.  The touchpad mouse buttons are not separate pieces of plastic from the rest of the touchpad:

That, coupled with the fact that it is multi-touch, causes issues (at least for me) because I tend to rest my index finger on the left touch pad button and then move the cursor with my middle finger – in the process, my index finger will slightly move at times when moving the cursor with my middle finger, thus causing the cursor to do crazy stuff like move half way across the screen/etc.  (Anyone know if it’s possible to disable the multi-touch capability?)

Miscellaneous:

A few people may be concerned about whether the memory card will fit all the way inside the netbook, or if it sticks out:  it sticks out

Final thoughts:

In my opinion, this is the best 10” netbook Dell has come out with.   The Dell Mini 1012 combines the better features of the Mini 10 (HD screen and many pci-e card options) and the Mini 10v (upgradable memory, extra USB port), while improving upon the 6 cell extended battery.  The Atom N450 helps push this netbook into a more “usable” realm of portable computers now that it can better handle Flash playback while keeping it’s power usage down to allow good battery life. 

Would it have been nice to have HDMI? Yes, and when I’m buying a laptop these days, I won’t buy one if it doesn’t have HDMI – but I don’t feel as strongly about it when it comes to a netbook.  I guess that since a netbook isn’t as powerful as a laptop, it’s not a laptop/desktop replacement, so I don’t see it as being an “hdmi media playback” computer.   I also wish Dell would quit using the touchpad they’ve had in these netbooks, or at least have a way to disable the multi-touch capability.

All-in-all, starting at $280 you can’t go wrong choosing this netbook over others in this price range; you will get great battery life, good performance, and many upgrade options (hd accelerator, high resolution screen, TV card, etc).

Pros:

• Excellent battery life (7+ hrs)
• Good upgrade options (hd screen, hd decoder, TV card)
• Atom N450 processor + Flash beta = smooth full screen Hulu

Cons:

• Not the best touchpad
• All color options have a white bottom half

Just purchase a Dell Mini 1012 with the new Atom N450 chip? Want to upgrade the memory, hard drive, or pci-e cards but realized that Dell did not provide a service manual to assist in dismantling it (like they have for most other computers they sell)?  Luckily, it’s as simple as removing 4 screws and the keyboard to replace the memory, and then 5 additional screws and prying off the palm rest bracket to get to the pci-e slots! 

(note — should you decide to follow this guide, do so at your own risk – I take no responsibility for anything you may damage in the process :))

HD Video Guide:

Don’t want to watch the video guide?  Continue on with the step by step picture guide below!
 

Remove the keyboard

The first step is to remove the keyboard.  It is held in by (3) screws on the underside of the laptop, as well as it’s data cable.  Start out by flipping over the netbook and removing the battery by pressing the clips left and right [blue] to unlock it (then, remove it).  Next, remove the (3) keyboard screws [red] – the one in the middle may not easily come out, but you need not worry about it as it will fall out once you actually remove the keyboard. 

– while you’re at it, go ahead and remove the (4) bottom screws as well (green) – these hold on the palm rest and you’ll need to take them out eventually anyway —

With the screws removed, flip it back over and open the screen to like a 90 degree angle and rest the laptop on it’s side.  Take a small screw driver (or anything similar) and stick it through one of the left or right (depending what side the laptop is resting on) screw holes.  This will push the keyboard out a bit so you can grab a hold of it on the other side in order to pull it out.  Don’t pull the keyboard too far away because it is connected to the motherboard by a cable.

With the keyboard a bit loose, make sure it is free from the two clips on the left and right (red circles), and then flip it back over onto the palm rest (so the keyboard keys are resting on the palm rest / touch pad), again, remember that it is still attached to the motherboard via the data cable. 

Now, we’ll remove the data cable – just simply push these two tabs out a bit (1mm or so?) to release the data cable and remove the keyboard entirely.

Remove touchpad and power button cable

Simply pull out the power button cable from the motherboard (just pull up on the cable) – it is a little snug, so it will take a little bit of force,

Then, pull/push up the latch holding down the touch pad data cable, and then pull it out:

Remove the memory, hard drive, and remaining palm rest/bezel screws

Remove the (1) screw holding in the hard drive [red] and slide the drive to the left and pull it straight up and out as well as the (1) screw holding on the memory access door [green]:

Remove the memory (and later replace this 1GB stick with a 2GB stick!) by pushing the (2) clips away from the stick (and the stick should then pop up).

Remove the palm rest bracket/bezel

You will probably hear a lot of snapping and cracking during this process, but it will be okay!  Start out by getting a credit card, lift up on the middle left part of the bezel (from the “inside”) and stick the credit card in the left side:

Continue to slide the card all around the palm rest with just the tip of the edge/corner of the card – this is when you’ll probably hear some snaps, crackles, and pops.  It’s just the palm rest being released from the clips.

At this point, the palm rest should be fairly loose and you should be able to lift it up (from the front) only about an inch or so, as it is still attached near the screen:

Now, all you need to do is simply raise it up a bit more until you near it snap/crack, which should just be it being release from the clips at the screen, and then pull it free:

Congratulations, you now have access to the motherboard where you can replace/remove the mini pci-e cards / etc!  To put it back together, basically do everything in the reverse order. 

Unfortunately, I did not order mine with Bluetooth, TV tuner, hd decoder, etc so I am unable to show you what those look like – but as you can see, there are locations on the mother board for those headers (keep in mind, it appears that if you don’t order the netbook with bluetooth or the mini pci-e cards, the headers will NOT come on the motherboard, meaning, you cannot easily upgrade in the future):

for those of you looking for cheap 2gb memory sticks, all of the below options will work:

Sounds off in the comments about how dismantling and upgrading goes for you or if there are obstacles not mentioned here due to other pci-e cards being present — Good luck!

Dell recently released the Dell Zino HD
, their own “nettop” (mini desktop), and being an owner of the Zotac IONITX-A-U Dual Core Atom N330/ION motherboard, I had to give this a spin and see if it was any better.   I was excited to learn that it had a graphic cards I have used in the past (the HD3200) which I had good experience with, a 3.5” desktop hard drive (allowing large space and fast speed) as well as Bluray drive option.   How does it stack against the Zotac?  Not as good as I had expected, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad machine – read on to learn more:

Unboxing:

For being such a small computer, it came in a surprisingly big box (but then I remembered it comes with a keyboard/etc too haha):

It comes with the computer itself, small external power supply (hmm no Dell logo), laser mouse, usb keyboard, Win 7 installation CD, and manuals/pamphlets:

Features:

The Dell Zino HD comes with a variety of configuration options – below are the options of the reviewed system (in bold) as well as the other options (The Zino here is the Zino HD 400):

Upgradability:

As with most other desktops, you can easily upgrade the memory, hard drive, optical drive etc (except there are no pci slots, so there are no options to upgrade the video card or add a pci tv tuner). Dell has a very useful step by step illustrated guide for dismantling the computer, or you can follow below to remove/upgrade the optical drive, hard drive, mini pci-e card, or memory:

• Optical drive:  First, push the button on the back to release the top cover. (If you have a built in WiFi card, you will need to unscrew the antennas from the bracket – I did not have this option, but it will be obvious where to unscrew). Then remove the single screw holding on the top bracket and pull it straight up to remove.
  
  Next, remove the single screw holding the optical drive in, slide it out a bit (towards the front) and remove the single cable connect to the back.  That’s it.
  
• Hard drive:  Continue on by removing the single screw securing the power button to the drive bay.  Then remove the two screws securing the drive bay (one is located along the front edge on the right, and the other along the left edge near the front):
  
  With the screws removed (or loose, since it’s hard to get your fingers down in there to remove them), slide the drive bay a bit towards the back and lift up. 
  
  With the single cable (power and data) that is plugged into the drive now accessible, remove it and pull the drive bay out of the machine. Remove the four screws holding the hard drive to the drive bay.  That’s it.
• Mini PCI-E card:  with the drive bay removed, you now have easy access to the single screw holding in mini pci-e card.  Simply remove the screw, and pull it out.  That’s it.  (I did not have a wifi card, so you don’t see one in the picture!)
  
• Memory:  Flip the desktop over, so you can see the bottom.  Two of the feet have screws – simply unscrew them and lift off the bottom cover.  Unclip the memory sticks and pull them out.  That’s it.
  

Power Usage:

Hooking this up to a P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor, I measured the following power usage during different usage states:

• Sleep: 1 watt
• Idle: 24 watts
• Boot:  41 watts
• Watching HD: 50 watts
• Under load (using HyperPi):  53 watts

This system uses the same, or more, power than the IONITX-A-U setup I reviewed the other day.  However, keep in mind that this Zino uses a 3.5” 7200RPM hard drive and, I’m not sure if it matter, but 8gb of memory – as well as the AMD HD3200 is not as “low power” as the nVidia ION. 

Performance:

There are no options to overclock the processor like there are for the Atom N330 in the Zotac IONITX board, so I felt that the Zotac (at 2.0ghz) already had a leg up on the Zino’s AMD 6850e.   But what do the benchmarks say?

According to the Windows 7 scores, it appears that the ION graphics are better than the AMD HD3200, but the AMD Neo 6850e processor is better than the Intel Atom N330.  However PCMark and 3DMark seem to say the opposite with the IONITX receiving higher 3DMarks but lower PCMarks.  And then we have the hyperpi results which show about twice the performance for the Dell.  I don’t really have an explanation for the conflicting reports, or which one is more reliable (my guess would be pc/3dmark), but I can say that through all my testing of both machines, the IONITX system felt faster. 

Bluray playback:  It plays back just fine on my LG 40LH47 @ 1080p – no stuttering/skipping/etc – as long as you don’t move the mouse to make the PowerDVD menu pop up.  As soon as you do anything except watch the movie, it will start to stutter.  That being said, when you are watching a movie, you aren’t doing any other foreground task, so you’ll be fine. 

Using Media Center to watch/record:  Like watching Bluray, if you are just simply watching HD or SD, you’ll be fine.  However, if you are navigating through the Media Center menu or guide with TV playing in the background, it will get a bit laggy / not very smooth.  However, if you are recording and the menu is lagging, the recording will still be fine;  It’s just a bit annoying when the menu lags at times.  Watching a recorded show or live TV while recording a different station works fine – the live/recorded playback is smooth and the recording is good too.    For reference, I was using a Hauppauge HVR-950Q USB QAM HDTV tuner (it works great, and all you need to do is plug it in and windows 7 automatically installs it – oh how I love simplicity)

HDMI & Connecting to an HDTV:

Upon connecting it to my TV for the first time, I immediately had two problems.  1) the audio wasn’t working and 2) it wasn’t showing full screen.

The audio problem is an easy fix, just simply go to the sound settings and select the HDMI audio as the default sound device :)

The second issue however has been a pain in my neck since I received the computer.  No matter what I do (other than turning on “zoom” on my tv), I cannot get the display to fill the screen!

I’ve tried uninstalling and updating to the latest Catalyst drivers, going through all the setting options in the Catalyst control center – nothing works.  I tried plugging it into my 720p 26” as well, and same issue.   To make sure it wasn’t some crazy setting on the TV’s, I verified again that my Inspiron 14z, Studio 15, and Zotac all displayed in full screen just fine on both TV’s.   (I’ve waited in dell chat support for a bit but gave up as I didn’t have time when I’ve tried – and I’m already a bit upset about them cancelling/replacing the order for this and therefore invalidating my, and many others’, Bing.com cash back).  Hopefully I’ll be able to figure out a solution (any suggestions?).

In the meantime, however, I am able to select a zoom type of setting on my LG and everything looks fine (though I can see that there is still a column or two of pixels that aren’t being used on the screen) so it’s not QUITE there.  I’m going to give Dell the benefit of the doubt that it’s something I’m not doing right…

Noise levels:

It’s quiet (enough). Yes, if you really try to listen for it, you can hear the fan – but if you stick it in your tv stand / next to the tv / etc and you are sitting on the couch, you won’t notice it if you’re not looking for it (at least, I didn’t). The fan is at least quieter than the fan included with the Zotac. The Zino looks to be using a 60mm x 60mm x 25mm fan, the key here being the 25mm thickness — the fan on the Zotac is 10mm thick (thin), and I assume it has to therefore spin faster to get more airflow (because of smaller fins), which causes more noise.

The optical drive is also quiet – during playback of Transformers Bluray, I never once noticed any noise from the bluray drive.

Size Comparisons:

Just to try to get a better feel for how big the Zino is, here’s a few pictures with it next to other devices (iPhone 3Gs, 3.5” desktop hard drive, and a M350 mini-itx case):

Final Thoughts:

I love how the “mini desktop” is starting to take off, and even more glad that Dell as jumped in (because they will soon show up in the outlet, and you can usually get in on great outlet coupon deals!).  The Dell Zino HD 400 is a good fit if you are looking to use it to watch HDTV and Bluray, record HDTV, playback general media files, etc while keeping it in a small, sleek package to compliment the style of your home entertainment center. 

Compared to similar setups you can build yourself however, I don’t see enough of a performance boost in these low power AMD chips (which are supposed to compete with the Atoms) to justify the higher cost in the Zino.  The Zotac dual core Atom with ION did not choke in any of my bluray, hdtv watching/recording tests – but the Zino did (keep in mind, however, the Zino did fine when you weren’t navigating the media center menu while watching/recording). 

In short, if you can get a good deal on a Zino and you plan to use it basically as a “tivo box”, then go for it.  If you happen to have a spare mini-itx case, hard drive, and/or memory laying around, I would suggest looking into the Zotac line of dual core atom with ION setups, as it feels like it performs better (at least in the media tests I threw at them). 

The Zotac IONITX-A-U is a motherboard + cpu + graphics combination that is perfectly suited to meet most HTPC needs:  It uses very little power, has HDMI – DVI – VGA – eSata – Optical/Coax audio – Wifi – 6 USB, nVidia ION graphics, comes with a power supply, and has the added benefit of being of the mini-itx form factor.  But can such a small package deliver where it count?  Yes!

Background and general info:

I bought the IONITX-A-U to serve as my HTPC, and more specifically to be an HD-DVR.  Previously, I was using a bit more powerful of a setup:

• AMD BE-2400 low voltage dual core (45w) processor,
• BIOSTAR TFORCE TA780G M2+ Micro ATX AMD Motherboard (which has AMD HD3200 graphics and hdmi)
• 2x500gb Seagate 7200.10 7200RPM 3.5” hard drives (RAID 1),
• in a huge (compared to this) Antec NSK2480 HTPC 380W case

Running 24/7, using a Kill-a-watt power meter I figured out it was costing me about $135 a year to run that system.  Since all I was really using the computer for was to be a DVR/media box and for nightly backups of my computers, I soon decided it was a bit overkill on horsepower and energy usage.  At the time, I had just begun to hear about ION and it’s ability to handle 1080P HD and such so I figured I’d give it a try;  the potential of having an HTPC that sips power at the mini-itx size was just too temping for me.

The Zotac IONITX-A-U comes with the mini-itx motherboard and dual core Atom N330 (hdmi, eSata, mini pci-e wifi, optical/coaxial audio, gig-e), built in ION graphics, and power supply for $180. 

In the package, it comes with the motherboard/cpu combo, sata cables, power supply, I/O shield, sata power cables, and CPU fan (fyi, the IONITX-D-E is the same as the A-U, just without power supply and is a bit cheaper).  The fan supposedly isn’t required assuming you have the proper case fan setup, but seeing as how I am using a tiny case with everything packed in tight, I wasn’t about to try:

(The case):

You can’t buy a mini-itx motherboard and not get a mini-itx case, it just seems to defeat the point.  Unfortunately, you can’t really find a cheap $20ish mini-itx case as you can with standard ATX/mATX cases.  After looking through dozens of cases, I finally decided to go with the Mini-Box M350 case:

What made me choose this case was mainly it’s TINY size of 7.5” x 8.3” x 2.5” which nicely complements the IONITX-A-U.  Also, it has VESA mounting holes which would work great for mounting it to the back of smaller TV’s (larger TV’s have a VESA hole pattern larger than the case itself).  It is also pretty open, and by that I mean there are many holes, which has been working just fine for my setup (temperature wise) — though others suggest it hinders proper air flow.   I could write much more about this case – and I will in a review following this one – just know that for this Ion setup, it works great.  However, if you want a built in optical drive you’ll have to find a different case as there is no room for one in this case.  I opted to instead buy a external slim usb blu-ray player so I could travel with it should I ever want to. 

Full specifications of reviewed system:

• Zotac IONITX-A-U Intel Atom N330, nVidia ION chipset (up to 512mb shared graphics memory)
• 2x2GB DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix 4-4-4-12
• HITACHI Travelstar 5K320 320GB 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive
• M350 Mini-ITX Case
• Windows 7 Home 64bit
• HDHomeRun for HD source
• Generic slim profile USB bluray player
• (using a LG 47LH40 47-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Gloss Black )

Power Usage:

One of the main advantages to using this as an HTPC as opposed to building a “normal” computer is for it’s energy savings. In Baltimore, I am paying about $0.20/kWhr including service and delivery so I’ve started to be conscious about my energy usage. (out of curiosity, what does everyone else pay??).  On paper, the processor itself sips along with a TDP of a mere 8 watts — compare that to the latest “normal” low power desktop chips:  Intel Celeron 430 35W or AMD Sempron 140 45W). 

• Sleep: 2 watts
• Idle:  21 watts
• Boot:  25 watts
• Watching HD:  26 watts
• PCMark Vantage test (under heavy load):  29 watts

in comparison, here are some energy measurements of my Dell Studio 14z, Core 2 Duo P8600 laptop:

• Sleep:  1> watts
• Idle:  17 watts
• Boot:  29 watts
• Watching HD:  30 watts
• Under load:  35 watts

Performance:

Okay, so the main questions that I had before buying it were:

• Can it record and playback HD at the same time?  Yes, it works perfectly using Windows 7 media center.  I use HDHomeRun (which is a dual HD tuner that you connect to your network), and I can watch and playback HD content at the same time with no skipping while @ 1920×1080 resolution. 
• Can it do full screen Hulu and YouTube?  Yes (using the latest beta Flash player with GPU support).  However, playing back 1080 youtube full screen still skips frames here and there, but it’s still watchable (disclaimer – I can deal with skipped frames here and there, so maybe others may not agree here!).  Using Hulu desktop client seems to make hulu watching a little bit better (I assume there’s less processing power to run hulu desktop than it takes to run the browser?)
• Can it playback bluray at 1080p?  Yep, again, no problems at all watching at 1920×1080. 

You may also be wondering if it can play a variety of games and the like, but this setup is not meant for gaming (the processor just really isn’t powerful enough).  Sure, you could play with the lowest settings and resolution with older games  – but don’t plan on doing any “real” gaming with this rig. 

Now for some actual benchmarks, courtesy of FutureMark software (for 3DMark, “P” means performance test, “E” means entry test):

• Video memory set to 128mb in bios:
  • PCMark Vantage score: 2365
  • 3DMark vantage score: P409,  
• Video memory set to 512mb in bios:
  • PCMark Vantage score: 2184
  • 3DMark vantage score: E2803, P471

At times, however, I do notice a bit of lag when performing normal tasks.  If I am browsing around the web and open multiple tabs, it is a bit sluggish when switching tabs and loading websites with a lot of rich media (flash, etc).  I’m not saying it can’t even handle web browsing, I’m just saying that compared to my core 2 duo laptop, I do notice a slight hesitation when switching between multiple tabs/etc. 

That being said, all the menu navigations in Win7 media center, menu navigation/playback within Media Player / Power DVD for movies (dvd and bluray) are also fine, etc. 

Two build issues:

1. The I/O shield.  I had to take my dremel and cut away some of the metal around one of the circular port holes. The hole where the included WiFi antenna is supposed to go was cut by the factory to be not-so-quite round (notice the flat edge on the right of the right most column of circle cutouts).  I had to take my dremel and basically file/cut it down so it would be circular enough to fit the nut of the antenna mount:

Now, this is kind of a big deal – without this being cut out correctly, the motherboard can’t sit up in/against the i/o shield properly – notice the gap:

Hopefully, I just got a bad i/o shield due to random manufacturer “errors”, or perhaps, they’re all like this – I don’t know – just be prepared to maybe have to do this too!

2. 3xSATA power cable.  The included SATA power cable is a Molex connector on one end, and then has 3 rather long SATA power connections sprout from it.  However, this will only be an issue depending on the case and number of devices you install — with the M350 case I was using, there just wasn’t enough room to have 3 SATA power cables running around inside:

So, I had to get some spare sata power cables and splice and dice em to make one that was just long enough to go from the motherboard connection to the hard drive:

Again, this isn’t necessarily a “fault” with the product, it’s just another thing you’ll want to keep in mind when building such a system!

Final thoughts:

If you are looking for an HTPC setup that has a small footprint, uses little energy, and doesn’t cost TOO much (probably cheaper than a year of HD TiVo + the TiVo box, not including a usb bluray player), then a Zotac IONITX-A-U build is definitely something you should consider.  Using it as an HTPC you will have no problem with watching and recording SD and HD, playing back DVD | Bluray | Amazon Video on Demand | Netflix Streaming, listening/streaming music, and web browsing.   Using it as a “basic usage” computer would also be fine, such as word processing, web development, very light gaming, chatting, light photo editing (resizing, touching up, etc), and even light video editing (windows movie maker) and you’ll be fine.   It’s when you want to start video editing (adobe software), play games with any advanced graphics, heavy photo editing (photoshop-eque programs), is where you will start to exceed the ability for this setup. Could you still do all of that? most of it, yes  if you don’t mind things being slow.

*Note – the speed of the hard drive I am using is likely causing more lag than would normally exist with a 7200rpm or SSD drive, which in most computer setups, the hard drive is one of the speed bottle necks.  That being said, even with my 5400rpm drive, I am still able to perform media center tasks just fine. 

In short, if you are looking for an HTPC, this will work great – just be sure to get a mini-itx case to complement the setup!

Pros:

• Low power usage
• Very small size
• Connectivity: HDMI, DVI, VGA, eSata, usb, coaxial/optical audio, gigabit ethernet, and mini pci-e wifi
• ION Chipset (allows 1080p / HD/ Bluray playback)

Cons: 

• For the same price, you could built a much more powerful machine
• Still can’t quite handle 1080p Flash flawlessly
• no pci/pci-e slots if you need them