APC Back-UPS 625

My APC ES 500 UPS was making a continuous noise the other day. I tried resetting the circuit breaker and re-using it and it still seemed to work. But today, it finally conked out. Even after unplugging all devices, and resetting the circuit breaker, and resting the UPS, it still gave a continuous noisy tone.

I read on some forums that you could try replacing the internal battery of the unit. But if you try to do so, and the unit is still busted, you end up having a useless battery. So I decided to just replace the UPS unit. PC Express only had one APC battery back-up available, the APC Back-UPS 625. Had to shell out 2850. The only thing different with the ES 500 is the lack of an extra outlet. I usually make use of all four of the outlets - tower, monitor, printer, and DSL modem. Now, I have to swap out the printer or the modem.

The APC Back-UPS 625 boasts of  up to 50 minutes runtime in case of a power-outage. It also has a two year warranty, but I wonder if this is vetoed by PC Express' one year warranty. I have been satisfied with APC's performance since I started using it as a battery back-up so I hope this unit will do as well as the ES 500 series. Will give an update in case it under-performs.

Alcatel One Touch T10 Product Review

CONs

• Windows 7 does not detect the device when hooked via USB cable - this makes it difficult to transfer files from your PC to the touch pad. As of this writing, I could not find suitable drivers to remedy this issue. And although there are articles on flashing the firmware - I am not about to risk that on a device that was purchased a day ago.
• Device has no Blue Tooth - still makes it even harder to transfer files. Right now, the only way I can transfer files with large sizes is to copy these files to my mobile phone's microSD, and then transfer that microSD into the Alcatel One Touch - really much of a hassle.
• Built in file explorer takes some getting used to. And it doesn't show the thumbnails of images, making it a painstaking process when determining which images to include and exclude in bulk uploads.
• Camera is placed near the corner and on the same side as the screen. The product developers were probably trying to save with this feature. But the positioning makes it awkward when taking "self-pictures" and even when "skyping" since you have to place the device at a certain angle. And using the device as a camera is no DSLR experience. The resulting pictures are poor in quality compared to a camera phone.
• No memory card included. All it has is memory card support. You'll have to pay extra for the microSD, if you don't have one. And chances are, you'll need one if you'll be transfering files from your Windows PC.
• The hopes of having a tablet capable of working on MS office documents (word, excel, power point) remains just that. Still haven't found a suitable app for editing these types of documents.
• 4GB is the advertised internal storage, but after taking into account the space taken up by the OS, and installing apps from the Play Store, you'll probably have roughly 2 GB of free storage for your files. Not a lot, with today's video and audio file sizes.
• No built in ebook reader. And for some reason, the reader's that I was able to install have failed to recognize the .EPUB format. So while there may be lot's of free ebook titles out there, without a suitable ebook reader software, the T10 can't sub for a Kindle or a Nook. (Unless you want to read PDF versions of the books)
• Not all websites have mobile support. It's no wonder Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and other big names have developed their own mobile app for pads. While webpages are nicely formatted on the PC, some appear - disfigured - out of alignment - etc. when being viewed from a mobile PC. 

PROs

• Although the touch pad comes with few programs out of the box, (and most are just demo versions), there's lot's of free software available on Google's Play store. And even though some of the free apps will fail to install, there are some software gems out there waiting to be discovered. And since this is my first touch pad, it's the first time I get to play Angry Birds on a large screen using my fingers.
• Audio is excellent, making the device a cool mp3 and video player.

And that's my take on the T10. Hope it helps your decision making during the Christmas holiday spending spree.