So I decided there were 2 key features I needed – built-in GPS and a decent camera. Being a long time Sony Ericsson fan, I started my search with their new phone catalogue. The Cybershot phones offered great cameras … but no GPS. In fact not a single Sony Ericsson came with GPS built-in. The search continued.

My GPS requirement seriously reduced my list of options. The only phone on the market featuring both this and a minimum 5MP camera was the Nokia 6220 Classic.

I should tell you I have never been a fan of Nokia. I find the styling dull, the menu complicated and the build quality poor. So of course I bought one anyway! They must have improved over the years – they can’t be the world’s best selling mobile phone for nothing … can they?

The first model I received had a broken key. Unfortunately it was the “*” key, so unlocking the phone was a b*tch. After a long fight with three (3 are possibly the worst mobile network on the planet, but I won’t get into that here) I received my replacement phone. The keys all worked, so far so good.

To my disappointment, the menu was still as convoluted as ever. There seems to be no logic to the placement of key features. But this is something that can be learned over time (a lot of it) I suppose.

The keypad is far too small and fiddly to build up a decent texting speed. The function keys are too close to the ‘menu’ and ‘clear’ buttons. I’m still accidentally closing text message when I’m simply trying to backspace. Very annoying indeed, especially as there is physically space to move the keys further apart.

The camera is actually pretty good and takes clear pictures. Video also provides a decent quality with good sound. I believe the images can be geo-tagged, though I haven’t been able to find that mysterious menu item yet. You’d think it would be one of the camera options …

The GPS gets a lock pretty quickly if you’re outdoors and seems reliable. I don’t like the Nokia maps software and will be looking at replacing it as soon as the free 2 month trial ends. As with all Nokia software, it is clunky and not user-friendly.

The phone is a good size and weight and fits in my pocket alongside my wallet with ease. It’s design certainly isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s okay.

The build quality is a little shaky. I suspect it wouldn’t survive a fall in the way the good old nokia’s used to. The plastic battery cover is flimsy and the plastic catches break easily, making it impossible to put the cover on correctly.

If it wasn’t for the built-in GPS, I would have abandoned this phone a long time ago. Come on Sony Ericsson, built-in GPS is the way forward! Grab one today from Amazon USA / UK

We’ve been pretty excited about this game – it’s been a long time coming. The original Ninja Gaiden games were a trailblazer for this genre and were fantastic fun.

So Ninja Gaiden II is not much different from the original games, which is both good and bad. The bad is that the game doesn’t appear to have taken advantage of the capabilities of the new generation gaming consoles. Graphics, environments and interactions haven’t move along at all and you’d be forgiving for thinking you were playing an extension of the original game.

We got the game just before it was released and it was still pretty buggy, with no updates available yet. Our hero, Ryu Hayabusa, routinely carries on walking when he should have stopped. A number of times I’ve been in the middle of a battle when the next level begins loading, depicting my fallen enemies dead around me. I assume this is being triggered by Ryu moving into a particular area in the game.

And there is unfortunately one more criticism – the camera handling is not the best. In the middle of a frantic fight, it can be really hard to keep your eye on your character. This is a really basic error that should never have been allowed to happen.

But despite all this, the game is immensely playable and great fun. The new weapons are a treat and the fight animations and sounds are better than ever. The early levels are incredibly easy – I don’t think I was killed even once within the first 4 levels. It does get tougher though. There are many more boss battles than in previous incarnations and they vary in difficulty. Some are a real challenge and will really put your skills to the test. Beating a bad boss is incredibly satisfying. Perhaps because we’d all like to beat our bosses in the real world? Or is that just me?

Anyway … if the previous versions of the game hadn’t been so kick-ass, Ninja Gaiden II may have been better rated. The game itself is absolutely one of the best games we’ve seen this year, although it doesn’t have the focus of the earlier versions. With luck, there will be a patch released to fix those annoying bugs.

Go buy the game, you won’t regret it!

The best prices we’ve found for this game are at Amazon. Click to buy Ninja Giaden II (UK) / Ninja Gaiden II (US)

Tech Gift Guide (TGG) finally decided to take a closer look at what is possibly Apple iPod’s biggest rival – the Creative Zen.

Many claim the Zen offers better sound and video quality than its closest rival – the iPod Nano. And we’d agree with that. The audio quality is great and the screen is unbelievably good. Videos and photo’s are crystal clear and colours rendered beautifully.

But the biggest surprise was its weight and size. The Creative Zen is incredibly light – so light we thought the battery still needed to be inserted. But no, it really is that light. I carry a thin wallet that only carried my credit cards, and the Zen was roughly this size. In fact I can quite easily carry both my wallet and the Zen in my pocket together.

In terms of usability, the Creative Zen is really simple to figure out. Menus are intuitive with a nifty alphabet listing making scrolling a breeze (not unlike the alphabet running down the right of the new iPod Touch screens).
Our first thoughts were that the menu’s were almost too simple, not allowing enough user configuration. But after actually using the Zen for a week, I’ve changed my mind. The options are minimal, but so far I’ve been able to do everything I’ve needed to.

If there’s a negative side to the Zen, it comes in the presentation. Don’t get me wrong, the Creative Zen is a beautiful machine. But it just doesn’t compare to the iPod for looks. It also comes packaged in a very cheap looking and uninspired cardboard box. The instruction manual is non-existent, although it does come with an extremely basic ‘getting started’ guide. In fact there were a few copies of this guide in many, many languages.

The software, while a little clunky, does the job with no major hassles. The video converting software is particularly brilliant and beats other software we’ve used for converting videos on the iPod. Be warned – synching your music and video’s on your Window’s machine is not an easy or pleasant experience. Sadly the best solution we’ve find is using Windows Media Player. We know… it’s a sad day when Media Player offers the best option!

So instead of keeping things synched, I’ve just been dragging items in using explorer. It works a treat compared to the complex synching process. Track rating on the Zen don’t seem to reflect back to my computer’s media library, which means I could end up with tracks being rated differently on each device.

The FM radio works well if you’re not moving. Trying to listen to the radio on the train is a trying experience. But when the signal is clear, the sound is great. What’s cool is that you can label your preset stations. Although you only get 6 characters, which makes abbreviations a must.

Overall the Zen gets a TGG thumbs up. Half the price of an iPod and does pretty much the same thing. In terms of video and audio quality alone, I’d choose this over the iPod nano any day. If you want to feel stylish and show off a little, this is probably not the toy for you.

The best prices we’ve found for this media player are at Amazon. Click to buy Creative Zen 8GB (UK) / Creative Zen 8G (US)