Those Bluetooth enabled DAP’s we saw a few days ago, are now being priced for the US market. They are priced competitively, with the 8GB (NWZ-A828K and comes with DR-BT21G Bluetooth wireless headphones) going for $US270 and the 16GB (NWZ-A829) going for $US320. Isn’t so bad, with it being $US80 cheaper then similar iPod Touch, but without a touch screen it is so last generation.
For more info, click over to Engadget.
It surprises me that companies haven’t made Bluetooth a standard feature in their ranges of portable entertainment devices (PMP, DAPs, MP3 players)? Sony haven’t added it to their whole range of players, but they have added it to two spunky (yes, I said spunky) new DAP’s. The two offending players are the 16GB NW-A829 and 8GB NW-A828.
The players also feature 2.4-inch display, FM radio and video playing capabilities. It can play MP3, WMA, ATRAC Advanced Lossless, SONY PCM, AAC, HE-AAC audio files plus MPEG4 and AVC video files. The battery is up to Sony’s impressive standards, and gives you 36 hours with Bluetooth off and 15 hours with Bluetooth on.
Look wise the players are clean and small, at only 9mm thick. The players will be priced $US354 for the bigger and $US260 for the smaller. They are in Japan only at the moment, but you can expect them to spread like wild fire.
For more info, click over to Sony. (it is in Japanese)
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.
We had a little view of the M1730 before its recent release and now we have gotten wind of another new notebook for the ever growing XPS range of Dell’s. This will be a little smaller and a hell of a lot lighter then the 1730, with a 15-4-inch screen and slot loading DVD/Blu-Ray Drive.
Unfortunately this model won’t support dual video processors, but it will come with a choice of 2 decent nVidia’s as long as you don’t expect to play to many new games on them. The choices will be either a GeForce 8400M or 8600M GS with up to 256MB of video ram.
Otherwise it is standard affair with a 15.4-inch screen with either a CCFL up to 1680 x 1050 or LED up to 1440 x 900, Intel Core 2 Duo 1.5 - 2.6 GHz (T5250 to T7800), options for 802.11a/b/g/n, WWAN, Bluetooth, finger print reader, built-in webcam and a HDMI port (I will report this until it is standard). It will apparently weigh 4 pounds, but will wait for final word before seeing that as feasible in such a feature rich notebook. No price yet, but should be announced on November 7th.
For more info, travel over to the Engadget Blog.
They might not be an iPod, but they look damn sexy and will probably do a lot more for a lot less. The YP-P2 and YP-T10 from Samsung, are soon to be released portable media devices which have just had their pricing and release details revealed.
The YP-T10 is your Nano competitor, with a 2-inch display (240 x 320 pixels), 4 or 8 GB of flash memory, inbuilt Bluetooth and FM tuner. It can play MPEG-4, WMV and JPEG images for up to 5 Hrs in video and MP3, WMA for up to 30 Hrs in audio. The inbuilt Bluetooth will work for wireless headphones as well as giving you the ability to use the player as a mobile phone headset.
The YP-P2 (very flashy names) will compete with the new iPod Touch, with its featured touch screen display. This player will also come in 4 and 8 GB flavors, feature Bluetooth (no WiFi sorry) and a 3-inch touch screen (480 x 272 pixels). Battery life is 5 hours for video and a great 35 hours for audio.
Both players will come in an assortment of colours and should arrive in the US later this month. Pricing will start at $US149 and $US199 for the 4 and 8 GB T10 and$US199 and $US249 for the touchy 4 and 8 GB P2.
For more info, slide over to the Gizmodo Blog, and the CNet YP-P2 and YP-T10 pages.
Hot on the heals of the new of the Dell XPS SLi notebook, we have the news of the two new Toshiba X205 notebooks. There are 2 models on the table currently, with X205-SLI1 and X205-SLI3 both running dual Nvidia 8600M GT’s (a little less powerful then the 8700’s in the Dell).
As well as the dual video card goodness you also get a Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (SLi1) to T7500 (SLi3), 2GB DDR2 RAM, 17-inch WXGA+ (SLi1) or WSXGA+ (SLi3), 240GB to 320GB, HD DVD-ROM/DVD SuperMulti, Bluetooth® V2.0 + EDR, wireless 802.11a/g/n and HDMI output port. All this can be your for between $US1999 and $US2499, making it cheaper then the Dell as well.
This is a definate desktop replacement, weighing in at a heavy 9.37 lbs. You won’t be carrying this guy very far, unless you are Heman. Unfortunately they still have that stupid numpad that makes the keyboard tiny. If you are still interested, then you can already order it from the Toshiba website.
For direct links to the notebooks, click here for the SL1 and here for the SL3.
By now I’m sure you have all read all the iPhone news thats come out. It isn’t even the latest device anymore with the whole new iPod lineup (for another whinge). You have heard that it can be hacked, unlocked and a slew of other unpleasant things (for Apple that is). The thing is I didn’t get a chance to bag it!
What can I say about the iPhone? Well I am from Australia, so no official release here as yet (apparently some time in 2008). I didn’t order an unlocked one online. It just doesn’t excite me at all, mainly because I have a device that can do more and is a year older then the iPhone.
I can’t bad mouth the iPhone. Apple have been genius with this device, selling over a million pieces in under 75 days. They aren’t a cheap disposable device that is the end all of mobile use and even have less features then some current mobile phones (such as 3G derr). The big selling part of the iPhone is how Apple have packaged it. From even outside the box it is a sexy looking device. The difference between the iPhone and anyone else who make smartphones (such as HTC) is arrange all the parts slightly differently.
Lets make a little more sense out of this. The device features a 3.5-inch display which acts as a touch screen (human touch, not a stylus), 2 megapixel camera, wireless B/G, Edge support for data (around 230kbit/s), bluetooth 2.x+EDR and 4-8GB flash memory. There are a couple of unique components which are probably overlooked by most people, and they are the proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and 3-axis accelerometer, which all help with the user experience and to save battery life.
Everything but those last 3 features have been on smartphones for the last few years (the memory could have been added via slot). Strip away those 3 features and you have a product Apple could have released years ago. The difference though is the OS, the operating system and user interface that Apple always seem to get on the head.
Every mobile company has something to learn from all this. If you can make a user interface that people can actually use, especially one handed or in awkward situations, then you will have a winner.
Microsoft and Symbian have had the supreme smartphone OS for many years now, and have released some great devices. Still I have to say that their OS’s are lacking in many areas. Simply try and write a SMS with fat fingers on any of there devices, and where is the support for the extra cool little things that Apple have included, such as the proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and 3-axis accelerometer?
The iPhone OS isn’t without its faults though. It doesn’t have a true SDK (software development kit), meaning making any meaty applications aren’t going to happen. It requires iTunes to sync with a PC. It also costs you a bit of cash to buy ringtones, which most companies give you the ability to add yourself for free.
To finish I have to say that I am a little underwhelmed in whole by this device. It can do a lot of things, but not much more then a lot of devices before it. It is only a small step forward for what a mobile device is capable of, but if you are going to see a company make the next move, you can be very sure it will be Apple.
For more info, tap on over to the Wikipedia iPhone Page.