Sexy Gadgets, Cool Gadgets and Concept Gadgets

Like its predecessor (the IXUS 300 HS), the IXUS 310 HS boasts curves reminiscent of a sports car clothed in stainless steel. Like most touchscreen-enabled cameras, its huge 3.2-inch screen takes up most of the real estate at the back, though sharing space with a conveniently placed playback button. The camera’s few physical controls are lined at the top and make for smooth handling, and though we lament the lack of a dedicated video button, you do get a touchscreen alternative right after starting up the screen. Canon’s user interface on the IXUS 310 HS was clean-cut and fairly straightforward, though we would prefer a screen that was a little more responsive. Read the rest of this entry »

Like the Olympus, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3 is a weather-resistant, shock-proof camera, which means it comes with the same design constraints. But while it still handles less conveniently than a conventional compact camera, the FT3 handles better than its tough counterpart from Olympus.

The top plate has three of the most important controls; power, shutter and video record, conveniently located together, and differentiated via size and texture. Zoom is controlled by two buttons, and while that makes it less precise than the standard zoom toggle, it works fine for basic control. Using the FT3 is enhanced by the overlay quick menu, which quickly lets you change vital options like ISO settings.

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The Nikon COOLPIX P300 keeps things simple, featuring an alluringly boxy, yet classy design that stops short of being flashy. While it is one of the bulkier cameras in the shoot-out, you do get one that sports good control layout alongside a reasonably large 3.0-inch LCD screen. Given that it lacks a touchscreen like some of the other entries in this shootout, the various buttons on the P300 are well laid out and easy to use. Handling on the P300 is also quite good, as a rubber strip up front helps users get a decent grip. The P300 also features the widest lens of the bunch at f1 .8.

The new PROUNK PHC105 is a surveillance camera with a slight twist: instead of connecting to a local area network, it sends the data over a 3G cellular network. And unlike most entry-level security cameras, you don’t control it via a browser interface on a computer. Instead, your mobile phone assumes the role of control center. Read the rest of this entry »

The spanking new WL-330N3G, which is slightly larger than your average name card case. ASUS is marketing this 1T1R device as coming with “6-in-1″ capabilities; essentially, this trim and white travel gizmo can be configured as a router, access point, hotspot (while tapping into other wireless networks), 3G sharing, universal repeater and the useful Ethernet adapter (aka Wi-Fi adapter) mode. This networking gadget is powered over the Micro USB interface, instead of depending on an unwieldy power adapter, though a DC adapter comes with, handy when USB ports are nowhere to be found. With regards to hardware controls, however, it is equipped with WPS and Reset buttons, but nothing more.

This portable iOS device dock and speaker system offers extra functions through free apps. It can be turned into an alarm clock using Alarm Rock, while Music Mood adds relaxing video. Altec Lansing also provides a handy remote control.

Dual 2in drivers produce clear, sharp sound. The 318x38x130mm speaker can be plugged into the mains when not running off its built-in rechargeable battery. Expect around 7 hours of playback.

Thanks to its very good image quality, wide-aperture lens, and aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes, the 10-megapixel Canon PowerShot SD4000 IS stands out in the compact point-and-shoot class. Its killer feature is its F2.0 tens, which creates impressively shallow depth-of-field effects for a camera this size.

The 10-megapixel, 3.8X-optical-zoom SD4000 IS has chic looks, thanks to a glossy finish. Angular accents on the sides and corners add to its sleek appearance and make it feel comfortable in your hand. Read the rest of this entry »

LG has launched the world’s first single lens Full HD 3D projector targeted at hardcore movie and gaming enthusiasts. It displays 3D content in Full HD resolution and has a 120Hz True Motion technology for clear and smooth movement. It uses two projectors combined with one lens for perfect brightness and contrast ratio. It also has a 3D auto picture calibration that eliminates the need of manual alignment. Utilizing the same polarized technology of its 3D TVs and 3D laptops, it gives flicker-free 3D experience. With 2500 lumens, it has a contrast ratio of 30000:1.

A portable projector isn’t something most of us would carry around—but ask a corporate professional what it means to him and you will admire its utility. The Portronics Smart Projector can easily squeeze into the corner of the laptop bag. It has the controls and navigation pad on the top and comes with a tiny but sturdy tripod. The Android-run device can play files in various formats, including PowerPoint, PDF, Word and Excel. We also played movies and songs in most of the formats. With 30 lumen brightness, it produced acceptably sharp projection. The projection ranges from a minimum of 7 inches to a maximum of 80 inches. Also, it can also be used for browsing the web by connecting over Wi-Fi, only make sure the language option is correct. The 1.5 W inbuilt speaker had enough audio power for presentations in a small room without the need for additional speakers. The battery was good enough to last 70 minutes on a single charge. The gadget comes with 8 GB internal memory and supports a 1B GB memory card.

Slip your iPad inside and it’s held firmly in place by the brackets, while the solid material protects your precious gadget if it gets battered. The edges are left open to provide access to essential ports and switches, so bear in mind that these are potential vulnerabilities too.

Magnets and a flap hold the case closed when your iPad’s not in use. Open it up and you can prop the tablet up at an angle perfect for typing, or also at a near-vertical angle for watching movies or TV shows.

Stand-alone navigators never got their share of success in the Indian market. After we saw the launch of a few mid-segment navigators in the recent past, SatGuide has now come up with one for a common man. By that we mean it is affordably priced at ₹ 6,490. Its name specifies the display size of the device. The big 4.3-inch display is good enough to see details of the maps from a distance. But this is a resistive touch display and cannot be operated with fingers. A small stylus is hidden on the side comer that makes typing and browsing relatively simpler. The device manages a connection with a satellite in less than a minute. By Searching for points of interest or street on the map, you can preview a route and follow the voice guidance. The performance of the navigator often depends on how quickly it can recalculate the route in case of a wrong turn—and this one impressed us with its quick thinking. Considering the 850 mAh battery, we were a bit skeptical about the power backup but at managed to stay active for quite a long trip. Also, essentials such as car charger and navigator stand are included in the box. Other than navigation, you can also store images, songs and videos on this navigator.

Our $1849 review unit of this 23-inch all-in-one included an Intel Core i7-870 quad-core processor running at 2.93GHz, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 1TB of hard-drive space and an ATI Radeon HD 5570 graphics card. It earned a score of 135 in our WorldBench 6 benchmark suite, one of the highest marks we’ve seen for an all-in-one. Read the rest of this entry »

Many people have ditched traditional telephone service for mobile phones, but others aren’t quite ready to make that leap, particularly those with spotty mobile coverage at home. If you’re in this category and have a high-speed Internet connection, NetTALK DUO is a terrific option; in fact, it’s the best Internet-based solution for making calls within the U.S. Read the rest of this entry »

The 24-inch Sony VAIO VPC L218FX/W is a real beauty, but unfortunately it carries a daunting price tag of $2049. Our test model, came configured with a 2GHz Sandy Bridge Core i7-2630QM processor, which features four physical cores that can jump to a virtual, eight thanks to Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology; automatic overclocking—aka Turbo Boost-can power the CPU up to 2.9GHz. You also get a capacious 2TB hard drive and 8GB of DDR3-677 memory. The L218FX/W delivered a WorldBench 6 score of 116.

This powerful, high-end GPS has the best live Internet connectivity we’ve tested yet, and includes lifetime maps, traffic updates, and Google Local, all without annoying ads. It’s not perfect, and isn’t as slim or sexy as the Garmin nuvi 3790T, but it has the best routing, audio, and traffic performance on the market today. Read the rest of this entry »

PLACE-SHIFTING technology allows you to watch your home TV programs remotely by streaming them over the Internet to a PC or mobile device. Monsoon Multimedia’s Vulkano Flow costs about S100, supports high-def video, and works well if your remote broadband connection meets its modest bandwidth demands. But you must accept some image-quality compromises, and its controls for remote access react very slowly. Read the rest of this entry »

A massage at the end of a tiring day was a dream since massage chairs are priced exorbitantly. One way to cut the cost was to make any regular chair into a massage machine. So Osim has the easy-to-operate uRelax to make flesh kneading more affordable. Using the remote, you can choose different massage options—a quick option that gives you a full back massage using all the three modes of Shiatsu, swing and rolling. In quick mode, heat mode is automatically activated to ease backache, muscles fatigue and improve blood circulation. You can select Shiatsu, swing and rolling individually for full, upper or lower back action. When using the rolling mode, the user and adjust the width of the pressure points on the back, whereas in Shiatsu and swing mode, the user can direct the kneading at particular spots. Even as the mechanical masseur knocks the tiredness out of the muscles, vibration through the seat slowly takes away any remnant tension and fatigue. Each massage sessions lasts 15 minutes, but one can even switch it off in between, it comes with a car charger, and so can turn your vehicle stuck in a traffic jam into a moveable spa.

Green Powercell Technology Pvt Ltd, which provides green technologies, has come up with a series of portable charging devices. The ETO 3800 is a power horse that provides more than 100 hours of usage time for mobile phones, Bluetooth devices, and MP3 players and can also provide backup for digicam photos. Others in the series include the ETO 2000, ETO 3000 and the ETO Brute.

With 3G services picking up in the Indian market, D-Link has launched a range of portable routers. Compatible with a 3G dongle, the DWR 131 can support 3G speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps or even connect to the fixed landlines to offer Internet access to Wi-Fi-enabled devices. With the conventional 802.11 wireless access, it is compatible with EV-0/CDMA/HSPA + /HSUPA/ HSDPA/ UMTS networks. It has an inbuilt battery of 1700 mAh.

Garmin offers a huge range of satnav devices – but oddly, only one with live services onboard: the nuLink 1695. Like both TomTom devices in these Labs, it has a built-in GPRS radio, and offers similar features.

There’s Google local search, for when a points of interest search doesn’t find what you’re looking for. It also provides a more reliable means of receiving traffic data than the FM-based TMC system, and its trafficTrends technology works in a similar way to TomTom’s IQ Routes, gathering journey data from other Garmin users to base route choices on. In addition, the nuLink has live airport departure and arrival details, weather, and a Google Latitude-alike service that lets your friends monitor where you are. Read the rest of this entry »