As Online 'Home,' E Villa Has Leaks
Posted by: david on 07/18/2001 - 10:07 PM
E Villa is certainly the best looking of the Net appliance lot. At the core of the handsome silver-tone machine is a 15-inch, high-resolution monitor, positioned portrait-style (vertically) so as to render more of a Web page on-screen. On the front of the device are decent sounding stereo speakers and a slot for the chewing-gum-size Memory Stick cards to store and share pictures and videos, music and e-mail attachments. The volume control, power switch, and buttons for taking you directly to the Web, the e Villa home "neighborhood" and e-mail are easily accessible.
But I ran into numerous snags, large and small. The images on the display appeared ever so slightly tilted, even after I tooled around with the monitor settings. And e Villa is a bruiser, more in the size range of PCs than the toaster-like Net appliances aimed at kitchen countertops. At nearly 32 pounds and about 16 inches deep, e Villa seems more suited for the desktop.
But I ran into numerous snags, large and small. The images on the display appeared ever so slightly tilted, even after I tooled around with the monitor settings. And e Villa is a bruiser, more in the size range of PCs than the toaster-like Net appliances aimed at kitchen countertops. At nearly 32 pounds and about 16 inches deep, e Villa seems more suited for the desktop.