Sexy Gadgets, Cool Gadgets and Concept Gadgets

The ViewPad 10 not only runs Google Android but also Windows 7 Home Premium. ViewSonic sells this vision as “the best of both worlds”, and occasionally you get glimpses of just how good this idea could be. Android screams along, and this responsiveness extends to web browsing: the BBC homepage took a mere five seconds to appear, half the time of the Apple iPad. Extra flexibility comes via two USB ports, so you can plug in a keyboard and mouse. Read the rest of this entry »

The key to Creative’s Zii0 7in and 10in devices, which will ship with Android 2.1 with the promise of an upgrade to 2.2 “early in 2011″, is that they play to the company’s strengths. The Pure Android audio app is nicely put together, with a Bluetooth device manager directly within for linking to external speakers. For even greater control head to Creative’s X-Fi Crystallizer and Expand enhancements. Read the rest of this entry »

Cowon’s J3, with its brilliant AMOLED touchscreen, literally shines out from this month’s crop of players. The superb 64-hour battery life is another plus point, and as you look down the rest of the feature list it’s hard to find a box that isn’t ticked: audio support includes FLAC, Ogg and APE, and there’s an internal speaker and a microphone. The microSD card slot lets you expand storage, with external items integrated seamlessly into your main library.
There are some esoteric features too: the J3 can display lyrics along with your music, and you can adjust the speed and pitch of songs and videos. The recorder tool can record not only from the radio, but also from a line-in cable that attaches to the data port. Bluetooth support lets you use wireless headphones or hook up to remote speakers, and a built-in Flash player lets you upload simple games, although there’s nothing as advanced as Apple’s App Store. Read the rest of this entry »

Vodafone are releasing a set of 3 branded mobile phones, one of which, the Vodafone 553, will tempt you to sell your mobile and buy the dual input phone. Featuring a touchscreen and qwerty side-slider, the 2.8″ rotatable touchscreen and keyboard allows the user to choose their preferred method of phone usage. The 553 is an ideal phone for email, messaging and mobile internet. Featuring Opera Mini 5.0 for mobile internet browsing, a simple tap of the start-up screen takes the user straight to email or a whole host of social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger. The phone is powered by Vodafone’s 360 People and includes many other fantastic features too including a 2MP camera with digital zoom, Bluetooth, FM radio, media player and Micro SD card slot for up to 8 GB of extra memory.  Available in black, white, silver or pink, users will have the choice of which colour mobile to buy.

Nokia has announced the Nokia X3-02 handset. It’s quite a strange phone from what we can see in that it has a regular numeric keypad on the lower part of the phone along with a 2.4 inch QVGA touchscreen above that.

The touchscreen isn’t a full replacement for the keypad though and essentially makes it easier to navigate around the device which could actually work well.

As well as having a relatively small touchscreen, the Nokia X3-02 has 3G connectivity along with wireless 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 which makes it very connectible. Read the rest of this entry »

Netronix will soon release the PocketBook 602 eBook reader in the US. The FCC just approved the device for launch.

The PocketBook 602 has a six inch screen that uses e-Ink to display text and images. Processor wise it has a 532MHz Freescale ARM11 processor. Other features include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a 3G/3.5G wireless data connection. The OS running on the device is a custom build of Linux.

The eBook reader supports several file formats which include PDF, ePUB, FB2, HTML, TXT, PRC, MOBI, RTF, DOC, JPG, and MP3 file formats.

The Samsung Captivate, a variant of the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone will be available through AT&T on July 18th. The Android phone will sell for $199 with a two year service contract that includes a voice plan, with an additional data plan available for $15 each month.

The Samsung phone sports a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n network connectivity and a 5MP camera with HD Video support. The phone will launch with Google Android 2.1 but an upgrade is on the way.

If you’ve had your eye on a compact clamshell MID and had some interest in the Viliv N5, then your wait is over as it is now available through the online shopping site Dynamism. Pre-orders for the N5 MID have begun with the price set at $649.

On last check, the item was not seen on either the New Egg or Amazon website, but it will most likely appear on these sites shortly. The Dynamism $649 price will get you an N5 that will have a 4.8-inch touchscreen display, Intel Atom Z520 1.3GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, a 32GB solid state drive (SSD), WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS. It is also Flash ready and supports 720p HD video playback.

There is also another model that comes with an HSPA modem, but this one will cost an extra $100.

Unconfirmed reports today have surfaced to provide some insight into Samsung’s new mobile phone, the i9200 Galaxy S2. The S2 which will come with some impressive hardware features when it debuts in 2011 is said to be the replacement for the Galaxy S and all of its variants.

What the rumors reveal is a handset that will include a 2GHz processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB ROM. It will also have integrated 32GB flash memory, a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED 2 touchscreen display with 1280×720 pixel resolution, an 8 megapixel camera with high definition video recording, GPS support, Bluetooth 3.0 technology, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n network connectivity as well as an audio jack and a series of sensors (both proximity and ambient light). We will also see the Samsung i9200 Galaxy S2 debut with Google Android 3.0 (codenamed Gingerbread).

Samsung is releasing a new rugged mobile phone. The latest in the rugged line is called the Samsung Xcover E2370 that has an impressive battery that provides 67 days of standby time. Talk time is also impressive at 22 hours allowing those who like to travel away from power to keep a phone with them.

The phone it’s self is IP54 certified which means it’s protected from dust and water. To achieve the impressive battery life the phone has a relatively small TFT display that shows 128 x 160 pixels. The camera on the back is VGA. It also has an FM Radio, Bluetooth, 5MB of memory and can connect to GSM and EDGE networks.

Storage can be increased by using a microSD card. 2GB capacities are supported on the phone.

When launched, the Samsung Xcover E2370 will cost $96 USD which we believe is not subsidised. It launches this month in Sweden and will follow a couple of months later in other countries in Europe.

Moshi may be a company that is better known for their voice activated alarm clocks, but this time, the gadget maker is back with a hands free speakerphone designed specifically for cars.

The unit is voice activated and is capable of recognizing upwards of 13 different voice commands including the command “Hello Moshi” which essentially turns it on. The rationale in developing this device is the same as with other similar devices and that is the fact that many states have introduced laws that ban drivers from using a cell phone unless it is in hands free mode. Read the rest of this entry »

The Endurance comes with a built in MP3/MP4 media player so you can easily playback all of your favorite movies, music, or photos, all with the simple tap of the touchscreen. Just plug this watch phone into your computer’s USB port and load your favorite media files onto the internal 2GB memory. The audio can then be played through the included Bluetooth earphones or directly through the built in speakers.

Sony Ericsson appear to be adding a new device to the Sony Ericsson X10 line according to a gadgets blog.

The new device is said to be called the Sony Ericsson X10 Shakira and joins three other X10 phones which are the SE X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro.

Just as the other X10 devices, the X10 Shakira will also run Google Android for it’s OS. The device it’s self appears to sit somewhere between the X10 and the X10 Mini and will feature a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The screen will be high resolution although the exact specifications haven’t been revealed yet. Read the rest of this entry »

Only on the island country of Japan will Sony be releasing a new version of their Vaio P laptop computer that comes with a crocodile skin design, making it look more like a high end handbag or purse.

Pricing wasn’t listed for the Sony device, but it’s unlikely to be cheap due to it’s finish. On the hardware side, the notebook will have an Intel Atom Z560 processor and packs a 250GB solid state hard drive (SSD), accelerometer, WiFi and Bluetooth network connectivity and an 8-inch screen display that supports a 1600 x 768 pixel resolution.

The Windows 7 Home Premium laptop will also come with Sony Remote Play software as well as an optional long life battery that will deliver 12.5 hours of up time.

The Sony PSP Go features a slimmed down gaming system with a 3.8 inch screen and is 43 percent lighter than the PSP 3000 and only weighs 3.8 ounces. With features a slide up screen to reveal controls underneath. It will give you 16GB of built in flash memory, which can be expanded if desired via a memory stick micro slot. Connectivity for the Go is Wi-Fi along with Bluetooth for using wireless headsets and phones, which will allow you to enjoy using 3G network for browsing the net when you may not be able to connect to a Wi-Fi signal.

BenQ has announced a new laptop to its lineup. Their latest is the BenQ Joybook R48, a notebook that comes with an Intel Core i3 processor as well as a 14-inch screen display that offers 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio.
BenQ has also introduced Hyper-Threading Technology2 in the R48 which will certainly improve overall performance. Optionally, users can choose both their RAM configuration up to a maximum of 4GB as well as the hard drive size, which can be as large as 500GB.
The R48 also includes the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 GPU, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi support, an HDMI port, 1.3MP webcam, eSATA card slot and optional Bluetooth 2.1 support.
The units are expected to retail throughout China and the Asia Pacific.

The Wildfire is a budget handset that has slightly lower specs than the high end phones such as a slower Qualcomm processor running at 525MHz rather than the Snapdragon 1GHz chips we see in the high end phones.
Virgin Mobile in the UK has announced today that it will be offering the HTC Wildfire on it’s network in the UK. The message came from the official Virgin Media Twitter account where the company announced it is to get the new Wildfire smartphone, but prices are to be announced at a later date. Read the rest of this entry »

Samsung has released a pair of notebooks in Korea that will cater towards Barbie fans and those that would like a laptop with a more feminine touch. The notebook is called the X170 Barbie Special Edition and it will be available in two colors, black (NT-X170-BABIB) and pink (NT-X170-BABIP).
Common to the notebooks is an 11.6-inch screen display with 1366×768 pixel resolution, a 1.3Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CULV CPU, 4GB memory, WiFi, Bluetooth and an onboard GMA4500MHD video card. Also included in the offering is a 500GB hard disk drive (HDD), stereo speakers and a 9-cell battery that can provide up to 9 hours of usage.

Meizu Technology Co, a Chinese portable multimedia device manufacturer, has come out with their Google Android powered Meizu M9 smartphone.
This Chinese knock-off is an iPhone clone that looks just as good as the original and has some impressive features to back it up. The M9 runs on a 1GHz Samsung S5PC110 processor chip and comes with Google Android, version 2.1. For features, the handset includes WiFi, 3G, and Bluetooth support. It also has 512MB RAM, 512MB ROM, 3.6-inch touchscreen display, and a 5MP digital camera with high definition video recording.
The Meizu M9 handset will launch on August 18th for $325. An extra $40 will get you a set of headphones and an 8GB memory card.

Sony has refreshed their Vaio P portable computer lineup. With the netbook market slumping right now, Sony has tried to stay away from categorizing this as a netbook and is instead referring to this device as something between a laptop and a smartphone.
The 1.32 pound device includes 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity and features an 8-inch LCD display with 1,600 x 768 pixel resolution, an Intel Atom Z540 processor, 2GB RAM, 64GB solid state drive (SSD), 2 USB ports as well as a webcam with an accompanying microphone and stereo speakers.
The refreshed Vaio P will retail in June 2010 for $800 and will be available in 5 spring colors, black, green, orange, pink and white.