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Mark G.

Mark G.

Joined on 06/04/06

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 17
Most Favorable Review

First review of a 2 year old disreputable phone? Yes!

Dell AERO Unlocked Cell Phone w/ Android OS / 5MP Camera / GPS 3.5" Black
Dell AERO Unlocked Cell Phone w/ Android OS / 5MP Camera / GPS 3.5" Black

Pros: WiFi, GPS, Android and unlocked for < $100. That's not only hard to beat, from my experience it's currently impossible to beat. Bought for my daughter as her first smartphone, it's good looking and functions. Frankly I keep GPS turned off, seems like a waste of battery without a good need for it. And we turn off wifi if she's not actively using it. Touchscreen seems good. But really, for what it IS, it's a pretty darned good smartphone.

Cons: Don't expect any upgrade from Android 1.5, it's all but abandoned by Dell and deep searches on Google all failed in finding any reliable method of upgrading it on my own. But it's < $100. Battery is very limited. Expect to charge nightly (if not more often!). But it's < $100. Camera is poor. But it's < $100. Single USB connector for headphones, charger AND computer connection. Not a big problem, but you can't charge while listening to music. But it's < $100. Also the AC has an odd adapter that's required to plug in and thus hangs out of the outlet precariously. But it's < $100.

Overall Review: My daughter is at the age where texting has become a requirement and thus she needed a decent phone. Her grandpa gave her $100 recently so we were looking for a phone with a hard limit of $100. Also one with wifi as I'm not going to be allowing data over cellular for cost reasons. This phone had all the requirements I needed, and some features that I'd hoped for. While I don't believe that a touchscreen is optimal for texting, it works and certainly beats the phone-keyboard on her old "dumb" phone (hit 2 three times to get a C etc.). It's also one of those phones that change to "landscape" mode when you turn it on it's side so the keyboard is easier to use. Bottom line - I gave it 4 stars because it has many flaws BUT it's < $100, has WiFi and runs on (old) Android. Others hate this phone, I know from research, but my daughter is quite happy with it.

Mine's working fine after 8 months

PNY Optima SSD7SC240GOPT-RB 2.5" 240GB SATA III Synchronous-Mode Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
PNY Optima SSD7SC240GOPT-RB 2.5" 240GB SATA III Synchronous-Mode Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Pros: I can only review my own experience, and I've had nothing bad to say about this drive. Probably not the fastest SSD out there, but the space is much better than my old 128GB one, speed seems just as fast, and the price was right. I have been rigorous in backing up this PC to both an external and internal HD almost daily. I feel that's a prudent precaution when using ANY SSD drive.

Cons: Cons? Only that other reviewers have not had my experience so it may be a luck-of-the-draw thing. But no cons here.

Overall Review: Granted, I mostly play games on this PC so I don't really worry about losing data - and any important data I back up routinely. But what can I say? Mine has worked fine for 8 months with not a hiccup.

Working fine here after a month

ZyXEL BRG35503 DOCSIS 3.0 Residential Cable Modem Up To 160 Mbps Down and 120 Mbps Up RJ-45, Gigabit Ethernet DOCSIS 3.0, 2.0 and 1.1, Euro-DOCSIS 3.0
ZyXEL BRG35503 DOCSIS 3.0 Residential Cable Modem Up To 160 Mbps Down and 120 Mbps Up RJ-45, Gigabit Ethernet DOCSIS 3.0, 2.0 and 1.1, Euro-DOCSIS 3.0

Pros: Inexpensive and works. Heat not a problem here. I've so far had to reset it once (could have been my router though - didn't bother to isolate it as I just reset them both.) Using comcast and getting tested speeds of 30Mbps and only paying for 25Mbps (Comcast/Xfinity). Quite happy with results - night and day between this and the AT&T DSL (3Mbps on a good day and common outages). Of course, that's more to do with service than the modem - but I'm quite happy with this!

Cons: Nothing I can think of. I did need to tweak my router a bit when I found my Wifi wasn't showing the speeds my wired connection was - but that's not due to the modem. Never mattered before, I couldn't get anywhere near the speed to notice the problem!

Very pleased!

PLANTRONICS M50 Bluetooth Headset
PLANTRONICS M50 Bluetooth Headset

Pros: Pretty comfortable. Volume sufficient. Long battery life and quick recharge.

Cons: I may be a bit sensitive - or my ears may just not be made for headsets. But it does get a bit annoying after an hour or so. I can't, however, blame it on the headset as they probably ALL would get annoying and this likely less than most.

Overall Review: This is my first bluetooth headset ever and I've been very happy with it. But that also means I have no experience with any others, which renders my review somewhat less than ideal. Still, I'd happily buy another. Plantronics is a name I've very familiar with, having worked in the telco industry, and I do trust their products as they've been building headsets for DECADES so they probably know what they're doing by now!

Update after 1 week

Blu Life Play S L150U Dark Blue 3G Quad-core 1.3 GHz Unlocked GSM Dual-SIM Android Cell Phone
Blu Life Play S L150U Dark Blue 3G Quad-core 1.3 GHz Unlocked GSM Dual-SIM Android Cell Phone

Pros: Still an awesome value for the hardware!

Cons: Can't replace battery (well, not via user-acceptable procedures. Can always disassemble). Confirmed by tech support.

Overall Review: Just a quick update to my review of this phone now that I've had it for a while. I still give it 5 because the value is so good, but: A - Battery is NOT user-removable (heard back from their tech support). In theory you could disassemble the phone though. Appears previous BLU Play Life version (with plastic back cover instead of aluminum) allowed that. That's a step in the wrong direction IMHO. B. I said it wasn't blue. In the proper light, it does have a slight very dark blue to it. But most would just call it black or dark grey. Still looks good though. Their documentation clearly states to remove the battery when replacing SIM/SD cards, but that's impossible so it needs updating. But if iPhones can get away with a non-removable battery, I can't really ding BLU for it with this cheap of a phone! I still remain quite happy with my phone, but honestly I think the longevity of the phone is limited since the battery can't be changed (all batteries die eventually as evidenced by every laptop I've ever owned!) So still 5 eggs with a caveat that it wouldn't be if the phone weren't such a danged good phone for the price! *And I wish Newegg let me edit my previous review after some time goes by and experience teaches buyers more about the products.

Good Bluray choice

Sony Smart Wi-Fi & 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Sony Smart Wi-Fi & 3D Blu-ray Disc Player

Pros: First thing I did once I got it online was to update software version. Don't even think about not doing that. Can't say I've used much of it's available features, but for playing Bluray disks it's been perfect. I've an older Toshiba that I now find very slow to react to button pushes etc. that this doesn't exhibit. I'm afraid BD players are getting pretty commodity items. This one is at least a good commodity with plenty of other features that I likely won't use. I did like the fact that I can see my shared files from other PCs on my network though. I'll definitely investigate that more!

Cons: That funky top. I don't plan to put anything on top of this, but still - that's just weird and unnecessary. I'd like it better if it was a simple rectangle like it should be. I'm not knocking an egg off for design though - the only reason I don't give it 5 stars really is... well... I don't KNOW why. It's perfect for my needs anyway! I suppose an ideal BD player would have more outputs though, but welcome to the HDMI era.

Overall Review: I didn't buy this through Newegg. Bought it locally from a big-box store that usually COSTs less, and frankly I think it was cheaper than through here, with no shipping costs or time. Also, mine DID include an HDMI cable (after I'd already ordered one from here, but hey - an extra HDMI can be handy to have). Interestingly, it didn't include remote batteries. I've gotten used to that, though I had some on hand anyway.