The computing equipment used to support the Olympic games have always been chosen for their stellar performance and reliability, the same qualities that drive the world’s leading athletes to the top of their game.

As a Worldwide TOP Partner in the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Acer is proud to be providing more than 6,500 pieces of computing equipment and more than 100 engineers and technicians to support the management of what is probably the most complex sporting event in the world.

In addition, Acer is commemorating its partnership in the Olympic Games with a range of special edition products, which are distinguished by the Acer Olympic Games composite logo, showing the Acer brand name and the Olympic rings together.   These special-edition products were designed to showcase excellence in engineering and design.

Below follows more details on Acer’s role in providing IT products and support, as well as information on the new Special Edition notebooks and LCDs, all available now.

During the games, a large number of critical applications will be running on Acer equipment, supporting the delivery of results and updates to the press and fans. Acer notebooks, desktops, monitors and servers will support the deployment of sporting events at 9 competition and 6 non-competition venues over a 16-day period. Many of these systems will have to be duplicated in different cities and all venues will be controlled remotely.

Equipment will be subjected to severe weather conditions, enormous stress and will run continuously for 24 hours a day. This is why products destined for the Olympic Games were carefully chosen to deliver top performance and extreme reliability for seamless, error-free operation at the Games.

Among the computers supporting the Olympic Games IT infrastructure will be Acer Veriton 1000 and Acer TravelMate 6592. With their unmistakable reliability, manageability and high performance, the world’s greatest sporting events will be served by the world’s best-engineered notebooks.

Acer Special Edition Notebooks
• Acer Aspire 4810T – Sporting a glossy silver finish and diamond-cut Olympic Games composite logo (showing the Acer brand name and the Olympic rings together), this special edition of the award-winning Timeline series is a 14-inch ultrathin and ultra-light notebook that combines top performance with more than 8 hours battery life for a full day of computing power.
Based on the latest Intel ULV processors, it also comes with the latest communication options to keep you in constant touch with personal and business contacts.
Ideal for mobile entertainment, the HD resolution LED backlit display with true 16:9 aspect ratio and Dolby Sound Room provides a first class cinematic viewing experience, delivering PC based entertainment at its finest.

• Aspire 1810T — Featuring a sliver brushed metal finish and the diamond-cut Olympic Games composite logo, the 1810T combines extreme thinness and featherweight design with superior performance and more than 8 hours battery life.  It is slim and light enough to be carried along at all times, allowing you to be productive and get more done while traveling or working off site.
Despite its small size (less than one-inch thin and weighing only about 3 pounds), the Aspire 1810T can deliver the power and performance expected from a full-sized laptop for a full 8 hour work day.
Acer Special Edition LCDs

• The Acer G5 series of displays (the G205H and G245H) combine a striking design with high-end features, so you can experience the excitement of true to life quality images.  Available in two screen sizes (24- and 20-inches), both proudly show the Five Rings Olympic logo on the brushed aluminum base and on the rear of the body.
The fashionable G5 displays are designed to deliver a winning visual experience, with full HD or HD resolutions, 2ms response time and advanced digital connectivity thanks to the HDMI and DVI ports.  Enhanced moving-picture performance and an exceptionally high contrast ratio with ACM delivers a dramatic improvement in gradation and detail.

http://www.acer.com

I like gadgets, being a reviewer I’ve got plenty of them, all kinds, some are useful and some aren’t. Cell phone accessories though are either good or bad usually, and a lot of them are very similar to each other, not many offer anything really different than other products on the market.

Today for review I’ve got a neat little product from MobileFun, it’s called the Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit. It’s a essentially a speaker or speakerphone that connects via Bluetooth to your mobile. What makes this product special though is that it features a solar panel for charging the battery. It comes with a mount that has two suction cups on it, you stick it to your car windshield and then use it to make calls, but it’s charging as long as the sun is up. It features 13 hours of talk time and 33 days of standby time as well. So read on to learn more…

Specifications:

Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Solar Edition

From the people that brought you the highly acclaimed Clip and Talk, comes the Clip and Talk: Solar Edition, same great quality but now with a solar panel and TTS functionality!

This sleek and stylish speakerphone attaches to your vehicle’s windscreen and features a powerful built-in solar panel which charges the unit whilst in use. The results are longer talk and standby times and reduced frequency for recharging by conventional means. This speakerphone also features TTS technology which allows you to, once turned on, listen to the instructions which makes pairing so simple, and not only that it allows you to read a text but to hear how the text sounds as well. All examples and conversations can be listened to with their proper pronunciation. Create a conversation and hear it come alive. In addition to in-car use, Clip and Talk Solar can also be used as a desktop speakerphone in the home or office.

Features:
* Solar Powered Bluetooth Hands Free Kit
* No Wires to Distract Driver
* Affix to windscreen with accessories provided
* Fast and Easy Pairing with Mobile phones
* TTS
* Noise cancelling Omni directional Microphone

Specification:
*Bluetooth V2.1+EDR (enhanced data rate)
* Operating distance: up to 10 metres
* Frequency: 2.4 GHz – 2.48 GHz unlicensed ISM band
* Supports headset and handset 1.5 profiles
* Paired device memory: 8 paired devices
* Talk time: Up to 13 hours (excluding solar charging)
* Standby time: up to 800 hours (excluding solar charging)
* Charging time: Using USB/car charger: around 3 hours (18 hours via solar panel)
* Charger voltage: DC5.0V 550 mAh
* Rechargable battery type: 650mAh lithium-ion
* Size: 92.5 x 54 x 15.5 mm

Unboxing:
We’ll start off with the unboxing video and then a bunch of still product pictures:

Installation, Performance, Comparison
First thing you’ll need to do is charge the Clip and Talk, it’s simple I just charged right from my computer. There’s a little red light that comes on to indicate charging and goes off when the battery is full.

I installed the Clip and Talk on the top left of my windshield out of the way, the suction cups hold very well, it stayed there for a week until I pulled it off.

Pairing is easy with the Clip and Talk, I had no problems at all there. I used it with my AT&T Tilt cell phone for a week and spoke to several people with it.

The volume is very loud which is nice so you’ll be able to hear the other party easily.

Call quality though is decent but not that great on my end. It also depends on if the other person is using a Bluetooth headset of not, and the quality of their headset…

I was told by everyone that I sounded fairly clear and fine, they said it sounded like I was talking on a headset, and no one noticed any background noises so the noise cancellation feature seems to work well.

To me though the people I talked to sounded muffled, and it didn’t matter what network they were on either they all sounded the same. The call quality isn’t bad but it’s not great either, you can hold a conversation fine and understand the other party, but as I said it sounds a bit muffled.

It sort of amplifies any bad qualities of the other caller, in that I mean if they’re using a tinny sounding BT headset you can really hear it though the speaker, it’s almost annoying actually.

The standby time on the Clip and Talk is 33 days, I haven’t had it that long to really verify that, but since it’s solar I don’t think that really matters as it will be charging almost all of the time, or at least in the daytime anyway.

Same goes with Talk Time, it’s rated for 13 hours, but if you’ve got it attached to your windshield as I did it will always have a charge from the sun.

The Solar panel is probably the best feature of the Clip and Talk, you’ll virtually never need to charge it as long as you leave it attached to the window.

I don’t really know many people that drive for 24 hours, but 13 hours talk time should get everyone though the night as well, and I don’t know anyone who will or can talk for 13 hours straight either but you never know…

Overall the Clip and Talk is well made, it’s lightweight but yet feels sturdy. The suction cups work very well to hold it in place on your windshield, and if you do need to charge it you can use the included cigarette lighter adapter.

Conclusion:
The Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit is not a bad product overall, you have to like the idea that it never needs recharging, you can just leave it attached to your window forever really.

Call quality isn’t the greatest, but it works, you can understand the other person and they can understand you, it’s a nice option if you don’t like to use a headset while driving.

Pros:
+Easy to use
+Seems well made
+You’ll never need to charge it really

Cons:
-Call quality is not the greatest

Ratings
Overall: 4 out of 5
Performance: 4 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5

I would like to thank MobileFun for the opportunity to review the Clip and Talk Bluetooth Car Kit – Solar Edition and for their support of Bona Fide Reviews.