Life & Technology

A fair few enquiries with regard to as query I had on the Steve Price Show about travelling overseas with your own mobile and how much it will cost.

Well, it can be expensive, but there is a solution. Once service is called TravelSim, but there are a number of competing brands around.

You buy a SIM card, open an account and attach your credit card to pay for the credit and then start using your phone. When you run out of credit your account is automatically debited to refresh with credit. The benefit is a lower price for calls received and made when you are overseas (and SMS, too).

When you are at the airport change your voicemail of your normal phone to say ‘you are out of the country and this is your global SIM number while overseas’ and people ring you back on the new international SIM card.

It’s easy, it’s cheaper and it means you can have a phone when you go overseas and not get a massive headache when you get home and look at the phone bill.

Had some good questions on the show today and some interesting gadgets. Showed Steve a freebie I got from a PC Tools event I went. A pair of binoculars with a camera attached. You take a look through the binoculars and take snaps of anything that you have zoomed in on – great for sporting events. There are probably privacy issues surrounding this one.

Also had a look the BenQ Joybee mini projector. I really like this unit because when I say it is mini, it really is, mini. A bit pricey, but it has LED technology as a light source, as opposed to a lamp. You can have the screen up to 85 inches, and you can play a digital movie via the USB connection, and also connect to the laptop.

Samantha had an interesting problem in that she had a generic brand of DVD/TV player whereby the disc became stuck at wouldn’t come out. She even got a technician in to try and fix it, but to no avail. I would suggest taking off the screws at the back and try and solve the problem that way. Outside of that, it’s a goner I think.

Irene’s son had a water bottle leak in his bag, which stopped his iPod from working. It still doesn’t work. I have this old trick whereby you get an airtight plastic container, put the wet device in it, and full the container with the silica gel tabs you get when you buy stuff like shoes. You then leave it in their for a couple of weeks – out of the sun, but with a little ventilation – and all the moisture will be sucked out of the device. If this fails to fix the problem, I fear the iPod has suffered a fatal meltdown.

Tracey was asking about a notebook. For the price she was looking at, I suggested an HP, Toshiba or Lenovo notebook for her purposes.

Glenda is going to Kuala Lumpur and was wondering about buying and iPod and buying games. I think that if you want to buy stuff overseas, go for it, but you have to be aware of warranties. Some companies offer international warranties on things, but others do. I suggest that be the most important part of the purchase.

Finally, Tony asked what gaming console would be suitable for his four and six year old kids. I’d go for the Wii, because it has a lot of family-friendly games.

An interesting show this morning with an eclectic bunch of gadgets including LG’s watchphone, a mini projector from BenQ and a mini digital television from Aussie company Laser Corp.

 

LG’s watchphone, while a little expensive certainly seemed to excite Karl. At $2,299 it will certainly pique the interest of those who are in the higher salary bracket. Compared to a smartphone, its features are pretty basic, but I do like the touchscreen aspect of it. Also, one has to remember that these types of products usually start out expensive due to the R&D that goes into them in the first place. I’m expecting features to increase and the prices to go down over the next few years.

 

 

We also looked at Laser Corps mini digital television. I like the little unit, although there is a problem with the picture dropping out on occasion. However, the picture itself is excellent, but you would expect that from a digital signal. Units cost between $200 and $300 depending on the unit you choose to buy. Handy for the caravan, or if you want to go to the cricket and see the replays. Get online here – ShoppingSquare

 

 

Finally, there was BenQ’s Joybee mini projector, which looked really good on the show. It’s a little pricey at $899, and that could turn a few people off, but the technology in it is amazing. It is a DLP, which means there is no lamp, but it does have a light life of 20,000 hours. Like a lot of televisions there is a lot of functionality in that you can plug in a USB with a movie or TV show, or JPEG’s, but with this you can have your screen anywhere from 20 inches to 85 inches. Where this has it over similar media is that it is very small and compact, so that like the Laser mini television it can be taken anywhere.