The Gadgets Guide: September 2005

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

New RAZR...Finally

Motorola has finally revealed new details on its RAZR V3x, a similar looking slim phone to the normal RAZR, but with 2-way video calling. Using SCREEN3 technology, it will also give you news, sports and entertainment info. And it has a dual cameras.

# posted by GWHSE : 10:05 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Look Out! Here Comes The WiFi Phone

The LG-CL400 is the first dual-mode phone offering WiFi and GSM/GPRS networks. LG partnered with US-based Kineto Wireless to make the tri-band GSM phone, which will still have a camera and MP3 player, but will also come loaded with Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology.

# posted by GWHSE : 4:09 PM 0 Comments

Nokia Delays N91 Music Phone

I can't help but wonder whether the tepid reception to the ROKR influened Nokia's decision to hang back on the N91 music phone until after the new year.

# posted by GWHSE : 3:58 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Is It Real? The Trend toward the Authentic in Product Design

Until recently, designers and manufacturers have been constrained in the materials they could draw from to respond to the consumer demand for authenticity. Plastic, the magic material of the 1950s, has dominated product design with its synthetic versatility. With its ability to mimic almost any material, the choice for designers has often not been which material, but which plastic?

# posted by GWHSE : 9:14 PM 0 Comments

Windows MCE on Vista

This came out last week, but it's still interesting enough to take a peek at. You're looking at a sample of Windows Media Center Edition on Visita. MS is taking the whole "translucent bezel" idea to its obvious conclusion: "translucent everything."

# posted by GWHSE : 9:05 PM 0 Comments

Friday, September 16, 2005

New Blackberry Electron Coming

We first heard whispers of this in May, but it appears things are shaping up at RIM. Their new gadget, super gadget nicknamed the "Electron," is on its way. The form of the new gadget will be the same, but the Electron will support EDGE, EVDO GSM and CDMA technologies, plus it will include integrated GPS.

# posted by GWHSE : 2:47 PM 1 Comments

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

6682 a Go-Go

It's been talked about, and reviewed as a good-looking, powerful smartphone running on the Symbian Series 60 OS, but Nokia has finally announced availability for the 1.3 megapixel camera phone—selling with Cingular service.

# posted by GWHSE : 2:19 PM 1 Comments

Nokia N90 Review

As if we weren't coveting this already. InfoSync World got their hands on the crazy-awesome swivel-camphone, the Nokia N90, and summarily said to it: We love you, and want to have your babies.

# posted by GWHSE : 2:11 PM 0 Comments

Qoolqee X3: Yet Another iPod Shuffle Contender

It's screen-less, it plays MP3s (along with WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, and files with Microsoft's DRM), it's tiny (weighs about 30 grams), and it has a Shuffle mode — yes, the Qoolqee X3 is yet another iPod Shuffle contender.

# posted by GWHSE : 2:08 PM 0 Comments

iSkin: Silicone Snake Oil?

I've been hearing about the iSkin for a couple days now. Here's what I don't get: iSkin makes much to-do about its two layers of silicone that "combine to create the ultimate barrier against dust, dirt and even moisture." They go on to boast that the idea is being patented, and even show a model in a bikini wearing one of these around her neck. But nowhere does it say this thing is water proof, or even water-resistant.

# posted by GWHSE : 1:57 PM 0 Comments

Sanyo W31SA II OCR Phone

New hotness from Sanyo. All of the standard bells and/or whistles are here. LCD screen, color, music player, SD memory, blah, blah. However, this phone has a 1.3-megapixel camera that also supports OCR software.

# posted by GWHSE : 12:55 PM 0 Comments

Central Park Gets WiFi-nally

New York City Parks will become hot-spotted by mid-October—now that summer is over. The free online access, supplied by WiFi Salon, was originally supposed to be in place by this July.

# posted by GWHSE : 12:52 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Mazda's USB Starter Key

Mazda is trying to bond with its future drivers by installing a "USB stick key"—or flash drive—instead of the traditional cylinder lock key system. Yes, this means you'll be able to start your car with a USB dongle as well as transfer driving directions and music to the internal hard drive of this concept car, dubbed the Sassou.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:33 PM 0 Comments

EBay Buys Skype, Leaves Positive Feedback, Gets Blue Star

After some speculation, it seems eBay is going to pick up Skype for a few billion. Why, you ask? So millions of weird ashtray collectors can call each other immediately when they see a rare, near mint snoopy acrylic for sale in Auburn. It will also allow these selfsame weird ashtray collectors to stalk each other, thereby turning eBay into the world's largest flea market/speed dating site.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:30 PM 0 Comments

Sony RDR-AX75 DVR Dumps PSP Compatible Video

Thanks, Sony, for making us think that you just may be on our side sometimes, Sony has given us a little gift with its RDR-AX75 DVR. As well letting you store MPEG-4 videos to its 250GB hard drive and burn them to Dual-Layer DVDs, it also lets you copy these files to Memory Stick Duo card to later play on your PSP.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:28 PM 0 Comments

CEDIA News: HP Launches Wi-Fi Capable LCDs

Crashing Dell's party in the computer/TV biz, Hewlett-Packard introduced a new line of LCD TVs, along with announcing a plan to bring out LCD-TV models with integrated Wi-Fi capabilities in 2006. So look for 26-inch, 32-inch and 37-inch LCD-TVs with ATSC tuners, digital CableCARD slots and detachable side-mounted speakers.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:26 PM 0 Comments

New HP Handheld? In Poland?

Who woulda' thunk it, but these images came straight from our friendly allies Poland on the country's PDA Club site. Though there is basically no solid information on these new HP wireless smartphones, but it's nice to dream—and look at Polish photos. Rumour has it that if we do see these devices, they will be powered through Windows Mobile 5.0 with no integrated GPS.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:23 PM 0 Comments

Hitachi W32H to support FeliCa

FeliCa is Sony's contactless IC card system. It is a card that essentially controls everything of your life. The FeliCa card provides access to many different services and contains information regarding pretty much everything about your life. The card is extremely secure and has high speed processing.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:18 PM 0 Comments

Monday, September 12, 2005

Nokia 770

Awesome news for those in the US who are fidgeting to get their hands on the Nokia 770 "coffee table" PC; the FCC just gave the go-ahead for the Nokia to go into production here. Here's a brief review of the specs on this thing: the Nokia 770 is sort of like a toned-down tablet PC, made specifically for Internet usage.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:12 PM 0 Comments

XBox 360 to Launch on November 25?

The latest US launch date rumor for the Xbox 360 is November 25. Yep, that's the big Black Friday when over-fed consumers everywhere try to burn off Thanksgiving dinner calories by going berserk at malls nationwide.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:09 PM 0 Comments

Samsung E888 - Awful Small

This wee Samsung E888 is actually a welcome return to the tiny phones of yore. It comes with a strange reversible 1-megapixel camera and the keypad pops out like the Nokias of yore. Quite a nice departure from the clamshell glut we've been seeing lately.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:06 PM 0 Comments

PS3 to Support Keyboard and Mouse; PSP as Remote

Sony has officially released some details about the PS3, which include seven Bluetooth 2.0 compliant controllers, and six USB slots -- of which you can plug in your favorite keyboard and mouse.

# posted by GWHSE : 6:03 PM 0 Comments

Sony LocationFree: Big Brother Anywhere

So you've just returned from a long weekend at the beach house thinking: 'If only I could have watched Big Brother from inside the cabana.' Well, lucky for you Sony has just updated its LocationFree line with the LF-PK1 place shifter. Unlike the previous LocationFree devices, which were essentially WiFi TVs, this does not have a screen. It wirelessly beams the signal to a PC, much like the Slingbox.

# posted by GWHSE : 5:59 PM 0 Comments

Haier Pen Phone, smaller is better?

Haier Mobile has introduced another new pen phone. The P7 pen phone was originally given to the glamorous presenters at the Golden Globes, but they have finally made this phone available to the public.

# posted by GWHSE : 5:57 PM 1 Comments

The Motorola ROKR

The Motorola ROKR E1 is here. And it's the image we've been seeing for months. I liked the fake iPhone images better—how about you?To clear up the first big question: 100 song capacity, and it uses an iTunes-like interface. It's a tri-band GSM phone, color screen, built-in camera with stereo speakeres and a mobile headset. One button access to iTunes, USB 2.0 connection for transferring songs and random autofill or manual fill.

# posted by GWHSE : 5:56 PM 0 Comments

Nanoo-Nanoo to the iPod Nano

Stack the iPod Nano against the ROKR and which would you take? My pocketbook is voting for the Nano right now. It's thinner than a no. 2 pencil and weighs 1.5 ounces. But it's also got a color screen for displaying photos.

# posted by GWHSE : 5:54 PM 0 Comments

ScotteVest Version 4.0

I wasn't going to post about this new update to the ScotteVest line, because, well, as space-saving as it is and all, the ScotteVest clothing line still doesn't strike me as too fashionable.

# posted by GWHSE : 5:47 PM 0 Comments

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Exclusive: Pret-a-PSP Sneak Preview

Sony generously beamed us a peek at some of the PSP fashion cases that will be shown at tomorrow's V.I.P.-only Pret-a-PSP fashion event in NYC. The one on top is by Earnest Sewn, the fur coat thing—which will drive the ladies crazy, you must admit—is by Lulu Guinness. There will also be cases by L.A.M.B., Anna Sui, Christian Louboutin, Tommy Hilfiger, J. Mendel, adidas Respect M.E. by Missy Elliott, and Martine Sitbo.

# posted by GWHSE : 5:09 PM 0 Comments

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