If you aren’t familiar with the Neonode product, you can’t be blamed. It was one of those devices that everyone oowed and aared at before it was set back so many times, that it didn’t really have the advances by the time it had come out. This time it could be a completely different story with the FCC showing up what will be titled the Neonode N2. What we currently have is that the smartphone will be tiny (under 5cm wide), with a 2-inch touchscreen (I thought my 2.4-inch screen was hard to use, imagine losing even more real estate!), 2 megapixel camera, a miniSD card slot, and quad-band GSM / GPRS capabilities. That is all we have, but you will get your update when I know more.
For more info and pictures, click on over to the Engadget Blog.
I want one. It is a gadget to lust for, to dream of, to leave your whining wife for. The Nokia N810 was official non-rumor yesterday, but today we have all the dirty, dirty details of what it hides under its sleek plastic face.
To start, it does definitely have a GPS inbuilt. It also has the same 4.3-inch display as its predecessor (WVGA with 65,000 colours) , expect it is 20% brighter. Other features include a 2GB internal storage, WiFi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth (2.0+ EDR), 400MHz OMAP 2420 CPU, 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, integrated frontal camera, ambient light sensor, mini USB 2.0, hardware lock switch and did I mention the complete QWERTY keyboard? It natively plays back video: 3GP, AVI, H.263, H.264, MP4, ASF, WMV, MPEG-1/4, Real video; audio: MP3, WMA, AAC, AMR, AWB, M4A, MP2, Real audio, WAV (it is a Symbian, so it can also install 3rd party apps to play other codec’s).
The battery life will hit around 4 hours for movies, internet access, etc; 10 hours music only, up to 2 weeks totally idle time and 5 days active standby (whatever that means). It will weigh 7.97 ounces and measure in at 5 x 2.83 x 0.55-inches. It is supposedly set for a November release and could hit around the $US479 mark. For a GPS, PMP, DAP, PDA and many possible other things, it is a really sweet deal.
On a side note, the guys over at Engadget got a hands on with the N810, and liked the device except for the keyboard. Maybe it is a good time to buy those now obsolete N800’s?
F0r more info, click over to the Engadget Blog.
Looking for a 24″ LCD but don’t want to spend too much, and wouldn’t mind a HDMI port? Seems Benq has got your back covered with their upcoming G2400W 24-inch WUXGA LCD. It does 250cd/m2, contrast ratio of 1000:1, DVI-D with HDCP and a single HDMI port. The best part of this product is the $EU360 (around $US515) price tag, which means it will come in a tad cheaper then your Dell screen.
For more info, click over to the Akihabara Website.
How do the French unlock their iPhone’s? They make a law and Apple unlock them. It seems that part of the deal that comes with Orange selling iPhone’s in France, are that the devices have to be unlocked because of the rule that prevents carriers from tying handsets exclusively to their networks. Orange will now sell an unlocked iPhone in France, along side a locked on for €399 (not for the unlocked iPhone). It isn’t as cute as a 13 year old breaking it, but it is a hell of a lot cleaner.
For more info, click over to The Register Website.
Only a couple of weeks ago now I speculated the rumor of a brand spanking new Nokia N800 tablet replacement being around the corner. Seems the new model is coming, and will be titled the N810. What is new you ask? No full specs as yet, but we do know that there will be a full QWERTY keyboard, and what looks like to be GPS (hopefully real not virtual). You will get more info, when I get more info, but from what I can see it will definitely be lust worthy.
For more info, dance over to Engadget Blog.
For the people who never saw the cool Citroen add with the car (C2) that turns into a robot does a dance and then back into a car, you really missed out. Seems a group of Chinese really liked it, considering they turned it into a sort of reality. It doesn’t move but man does it look cool.
The project supposedly cost $US8000 which isn’t much to get a 14-foot tall, 1,320-pound monument. All it needs now is a big Autobots logo on it and we have a true masterpiece. The original video can be found here.
For more info, dance over to the Autoblog Blog.
To answer the header, I would have to say it is pretty good. It isn’t amazing like the Cowon that can play audio for 60 hrs, but at least it can play audio for up to 30 hrs. It seems though that the video is kind of lacking on all the new Zune’s with only a maximum of 4 hours. It isn’t bad, but on the other hand it isn’t ground breaking. Engadget has more info after the jump.
To jump, go to the Engadget Blog.
I like to give you guys a heads up on reviews, especially seeing I recommend reading even the worst of reviews before buying any new toy. Below is a list of all the reviews I have stock piled this week, with a exert from each.
- First up we have the Samsung YP-T10 Review by the guys over at AnythingButiPod. They believed “the T10 is a good player with a really nice line up of features” and “may not be for everyone”. Not bad for a Nano clone.
- Mobility Site did a massive, gigantic, monstrous review of the interesting HTC Advantage X7501. There are a ton of images and the conclusion they came to was “for business users wanting a powerful mobile device for staying connected with the office and still be able to maintain phone connectivity, or mobile tech enthusiasts wanting a top-of-the-line Windows Mobile device, this would be an excellent unit”. I still prefer a true UMPC.
- Pocketables have done a great review on the new OQO Model 02, which is a tiny little UMPC. They said “the Model 02 is an amazing upgrade to previous models and definitely steps up and delivers on all of its pre-release promises” and only really didn’t like the fact that there was no stylus included in the non Windows XP Tablet edition models and the crappy battery life. The article may contain trace amounts of poetry.
- AnythingButiPod did it again with a great review of the Archos 605 Wi-Fi. They said “605 could be ‘the ultimate PMP’, but it needs a complete overhaul of the interface, making it more usable to the average consumer” and “definitely much less user friendly than what is on the market, but that said, it will make a very nice match for the portable video enthusiast”. Sounds like I’m waiting for the next generation.
- AnythingButiPod have too much time on their hands and have reviewed the SanDisk Clip, which is like a Shuffle, but with a little screen. They liked it saying “its price of $40 and $60 MSRP I can easily recommend this to beginners as well as seasoned MP3 player users as a spare” and “the Clip has found a permanent home in my gearbag”. What happened to the all rounder?
- Lastly we have a review of the Fujifilm’s FinePix S8000FD digital camera by the grand people at Photography Blog. They said “the Finepix S8000fd represents Fujifilm’s best attempt yet to fuse the advantages of compact and DSLR cameras together, rivaling the latest entry-level DSLRs” and “the Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd is therefore both our current ultra-zoom camera of choice, and a viable alternative to a DSLR camera”. Fujifilm have done it again.
Remember to thank these guys for taking their time to write these amazing reviews for you guys and girls.
That’s right, a 13 year old kid cracked this little baby open. Now with this tool called iJailbreak, you can install a bunch of 3rd party applications and tools. Gizmodo even had a chance to talk to the kid, Arix, and have got a complete install instruction for the people who are willing to break their very expensive toy. Good luck and good night.
For the whole shibang, click over to the Gizmodo Blog.
I’m a big fan of the way Creative have gone their new ZEN player. It is still one of the only 16GB players with a expandable slot, and a good one at that (SD, not those silly minimicronano cards). The guys over at Generation MP3 have done a lengthy review on the little guy and had some good things to say. They liked overall quality, ergonomics, usability and price, but disliked small hiss at low volumes, videos must be encoded and battery life not as long as advertised among other things. The review is in french but the guys over a epiZENter have got a nice translation linked up for us English speaking types.
For more info, click over to the epiZENter Website (for English translation), or GenerationMP3 for french.