Microsoft SideWinder Gaming Mouse

Microsoft is again showing its gaming peripherals the light of the day; SideWinder - the gaming brand from Microsoft lives again. They have a mouse which has a 2,000 DPI, a wired critter, and sports a Quick Turn feature which lets users check their perimeter at any angle. It has a weight cartridge system with a variety of feet to get the best gaming comfort.

It also has a cable management system to boot, and on-the-fly DPI adjustment with an LCD to display the current DPI set. Microsoft claims that this is the first gaming mouse to arrive with an LCD built right in, which allows users to "easily keep track of key gaming actions, including their DPI and steps for recording macros." The mouse will be released in October with a price tag of $79.95 (Rs. 3,200).

5 megapixel camera phone from LG Electronics

LG Electronics today announced the LG-KU990 (LG Viewty) mobile phone with a 5.1 megapixel camera.

LG Electronics today announced plans to launch 'LG Viewty' (Model: LG-KU990), its very first professional-level high feature camera phone, destined to steal the spotlight.

LG Mobile, which led design innovation in the mobile handset arena last year, is once again turning the tables on mobile phone trends by expanding their product category to introduce series of high feature phones.

The 'LG Viewty', the first handset representing LG Mobile's new feature-oriented category, combines ultimate functionality with sensational style that one can expect from LG Mobile. The name 'LG Viewty' has been chosen to encapsulate the enjoyment of viewing and sharing high-quality photos. This is made possible through the large LCD screen and extensive functionality of the camera phone.

Users of the 'LG Viewty' will be able to enjoy a complete mobile digital imagery experience. Boasting its 5.1 megapixel camera with manual focus and image stabilizer features, the 'LG Viewty' takes high quality photographs with endless possibilities to allow users to enhance their images through the extensive editing features of the phone.

The sleek handset, whose size defies its amount of features, introduces world's first 120 fps video recording feature in a mobile camera phone. A single-click connection to YouTube allows users to share their very own film moments with others on the internet.

Dr. Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company says "This is a very exciting time for LG Mobile. The LG Black Label Series and our collaboration with PRADA have cemented our position as an innovator in design and style. With the launch of the new 'LG Viewty we are now also proving our commitment to technical enhancement and look forward to taking the feature phone category by storm."

The 'LG Viewty' which will be available for buy from October, will first be revealed during the IFA 2007 in Berlin on August 31, 2007.

Toshiba announces 16 GB & 32 GB SD High Capacity memory cards

Toshiba adds new SD High Capacity (SDHC) cards and microSDHC card to memory card line-up.

Three new cards were announced, including the worlds first 32-gigabyte (GB) memory card in this high density. Alongside the 32GB SDHC card, Toshiba also announced a 16GB SDHC card and an 8GB microSDHC card. All the new cards meet the Class 4 specification in the SD Speed Class, ensuring they deliver the high level performance and functionality essential for advanced mobile phones and other personal digital products.

The 16GB SDHC card will be available worldwide from October, and the 32GB SDHC card and 8GB microSDHC card will be launched worldwide in January next year.

SDHC Memory Cards can be used with devices that support the SD Memory Card Ver. 2.00 standard. They are not backward compatible with standard SD Memory Cards. Toshiba say that they have only been able to produce standard SD cards up to a maximum size of 2GB. In order to meet high-capacity needs, the new SDHC-standard cards was presented. SDHC cards use the FAT32 file system and are high-capacity.

The market for high density memory cards is growing fast, driven by increasing demand for personal digital equipment able to handle motion pictures and high resolution images. Demand for high density microSDHC cards is expected to emerge in the mobile phone market, as on-board cameras advance multi-megapixel capacities, and demand for music and motion pictures are expanding as well.

The expanded new card series will be featured at the IFA 2007, in Berlin, Germany from August 31 to September 5.

Sennheiser RS130

Sennheiser is a world-renowned brand when it comes to manufacturing quality audio products and is known for letting their products do the talking instead of heavy marketing. Today what we have for you is one of their wireless options - RS130.

This headphone works on radio frequency instead of Infra-red, just like most wireless headphones. The RS130 boasts of being a comfortable wireless solution for couch-potatoes, providing quite a good range to cover a really large room. Along with gratifying the the comfort aspect, it also has SRS Surround with enhanced bass for a complete music experience. You'll learn more about this and more ahead, so let's get on with putting this product to test.

Bundle

Base Transmitter

Base Adaptor

RS130 Headphones

6.5mm Audio Jack

2 NiMH AAA batteries

Manual

Specifications

Frequency Range: 18 Hz - 20 KHz

Range: 150m

RF Frequency Range: 863 - 865 MHz / 926 - 928 MHz

Modulation: FM Stereo

Weight: 280 grams

Soundwave's Transforming MP3 Player

Takara Tomy have an MP3 player that is built on the craze of the latest Michael Bay creation - The Transformers. This MP3 player can actually transform into Optimus Prime.

If after the 90 minutes of the action movie you still want to feed your craze, go ahead and pick one of these, and fill it up with the Transformer OST.

Fiire - Linux based Media Center

Having Linux based Media Center doesn't burn a hole in your pocket, but enables you to have a good rig to sizzle your entertainment. Fiire is a company doing just that - it sells media boxes and remotes. Their rig is based on the FiireEngine; it's a $799 (Rs.33, 237) box which packs an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, a 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, RAID support for 6 eSATA drives (that would take the total capacity to 6TB), with a motherboard having an on-board the NViDIA 6200 graphics chipset. The system has DVI, VGA, S-video, but unfortunately no HDMI.





The FiireEngine accesses the company's FiireStation ($499-$899) set-top box to provide entertainment to wall-mount units. The remote provided, FiireChief ($149) controls the media center. You can have a "follow" wherein you can play a video in one room, move to the next room, and continue to watch the same video on a different screen in a different room. How cool is that? But I can see those dollars summing up to a way bigger amount. Well a cool concept with a high price tag, and still no HDMI is degrading.

Sony s Swarovski Crystal DAP (E010)

This isn t the first player to come studded with some exotic stones. Sony has teamed with Abiste Corporation to role out the limited edition of the Walkman E010 in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities. It is available in pink, violet, black, blue, and gold colors, and has a removable cap is where all of the Swarovski glass crystals are placed. When you place an order for any of these chic DAPs, they take two months to reach you.





The 1GB will run you $134 (Rs. 5,400) while the 2GB will cost you $160 (Rs. 6,400) and as for the 4GB, it's $210 (Rs. 8,400). Take your pick quickly before the stock runs out as it is limited edition.

Sony Ericsson K770i

The K770i is a CyberShot camera phone. It has a 3.2 MP module and includes the Photo fix function.

The specialty of the K770i is that it's the first of the really slim CyberShot range of phones from Sony Ericsson.

It is expected to launch in the Europe in the next couple of months; expect it to hit the Indian markets next year. The price of this product is not known yet.

Parrot Bluetooth Car Kit from IDLDPL

IDLDPL has launched the Gen-Next "Parrot 3200 LC-COLOR PLUS' in the Indian market. "Parrot 3200 LS-COLOR PLUS" is a Bluetooth-enabled, full-featured installed car kit with a large bright color TFT screen, and full duplex audio.





It pairs with up to 5 phones, stores up to 1,000 contacts, and supports 150 voice tags for true voice-controlled and hands-free calling. Once paired with a Bluetooth phone, it automatically synchronizes with the cell-phone address book. And while calling or receiving calls, the screen displays the person's name, phone number, and his/her photograph. According to IDLDPL, the device makes for voice not to get distorted at all times, the reason being Parrot's latest digital signal processing (DSP) technology called Parrot Beamforming. Parrot Beamforming utilizes advanced noise and echo cancellation technology in combination with two highly sensitive microphones, which help the system to identify and eliminate unwanted background noise while isolating the driver's voice. The LS-COLOR PLUS looks almost like a MP4 player and has a TFT color display unit integrated with a pair of external microphones. The TFT can be adjusted for brightness and contrast. The color and user interface can be customized as per user preference. Speaking on the occasion, Surinder Saini, brand manager for Parrot, IDLDPL, said, "Parrot 3200 LS-color plus Bluetooth car kit enriches our portfolio of Bluetooth devices. I think it is the perfect blend of technology and aesthetics at good price. Every self-driven car finds a definite value in 3200LS-color plus. The driver does not get distracted while talking through this wonderful Parrot device, thus concentrates on the road." The product is available through most large retail stores and B2C Web sites for Rs 16,690 a piece.

Lenovo 3000 Y300

Lately, there has been a drift in the computers market - There are many people seeking to buy a laptop instead of a desktop. Most of them are not professionals and they don't demand high computing. Instead, they delve for a good laptop for around 30K. Sometime back, we reviewed an Acer, quickly followed by a Compaq laptop. Both of these were value-laptops, and we stated that the Compaq V3228AU was the best among the 2. Now here's one from Lenovo that claims to be a value-laptop as well - the Y300. The earlier 2 were AMD solutions, while this one's an Intel. So can this Lenovo replace Compaq from its number one VFM position, or will it just be another mere competitor?

Bundle

Lenovo Y300

Power Adaptor & Plug

Software CD & Manual

Carry Bag

Specifications

Intel Centrino Duo Processor T2250 1.73 GHz (1 MB L2 Cache 533 MHz)

Windows XP Home Edition SP2

512 MB DDR2 RAM (533 MHz)

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950

Intel High Definition Audio

Storage

80 GB SATA HDD (5,400 rpm)

CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive (24X/24X/24X/8X Max)

I/O Devices

15.4" WXGA VibrantView TFT (1280x800)

12-inch keypad with 84 Keys (US)

Touchpad with 2 buttons and 2 way scroll

Communication

Modem: 56K Internal Modem

Ethernet LAN 10/100 LAN

WLAN: Lenovo 802.11b/g Wi-Fi wireless

Consumer IR

I/O Ports

3 x USB 2.0 Ports

1 miniUSB 2.0 Ports

Card Reader 5 in

1 (SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro, XD)

1 VGA Port 1 PC Card Slot Headphone/Line-out & MIC/Line-in,

Dimensions

Depth: 275 mm

Height: 38 mm

Width: 364mm

Weight: 2.71 Kg

Hitachi Blu-ray camcorder

Couple of days back there was a Panasonic HD camcorder released which used SD and SDHC card formats. Today we have Hitachi offering us a Blu-ray camcorder.





It's expected to be launched worldwide by October. There are two models: DZ-BD70 and DZ-BD7H, both with an 8-cm BD writer.





The tech-specs include a 5.3 MP CMOS senor delivering 2.07 MP videos and 4.32 MP stills. Translating to the number of hours of recording, attainable videos at 1,920 x 1,080 MP4 could be up to 4 hours. Both the camcorders feature HDMI and USB 2.0 jacks. The DZ-BD70 and DZ-BD7H are priced at $1,347 and $ 1,600.

Asus P535 (PDA)

Asus is one of the top-rated motherboard and graphic card manufacturers in the world. They manufacture and distribute various computer peripherals, which includes a decent range of phones that they have recently launched in India. The first handset that we received from them is P535, a PDA with GPS, and a full touch screen interface. Let's see how it compares to the likes of O2s and i-mates that are widely available and accepted by the public.

Bundle

Asus P535

Accessories

Magnetic Pouch

Stereo Headset

USB Cable

Standard Charger

Car Charger

Car Holder
Desk Stand

Manuals & CDs

User Manual

Quick Start Guide

Microsoft Windows Mobile v5.0

Skype for Pocket PC

P535 Bonus Software CD

Specifications

Band: GSM 900/ 1800/ 1900 MHz

Dimension: 109mm x 59mm x 19mm

Weight: 145 grams

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0

Processor: Intel XScale 520 MHz

Battery: 1300 mAh

Design

Asus P535 looks like an elegant rectangular metal-block. Available in two colors - white and silver, the phone has a large 65K 2.8-inch screen that supports resolution up to 320 x 240 pixels.

There is a 5-way D-pad below the screen, and menu keys are placed on its either side. The calling buttons are large and easy to access. Just above the screen towards the left side, there is a small LED which blinks green most of the time. In case of a missed call, SMS, or Wi-Fi disconnection, it blinks red. While when Bluetooth or WLAN is connected, it blinks blue. The phone has a standard set of buttons on the sides, except for one.

On the left side of the phone are the Volume Control and the Camera hotkey. There is also a Reset fissure which requires a pin for access, just one hit and the phone will go back to defaults.

The right side has the Voice Recording button and a hold switch. The Hold switch is something similar to what we see in MP3 players. This is the default way to lock the phone. This neat option makes it easy to lock the keypad, instead of a couple of taps on the touch screen.

At the top of the phone is the power button; the space is also shared with a miniSD memory card slot that doesn't have a dust cover (it comes with a dummy card in the slot).

The bottom of the phone consists of 3 ports - a stereo jack, a miniUSB, and a Mic. The miniUSB port also doubles as a charging port. The back of the phone has a 2.0 MP camera and the phone speaker. Also, there is a neatly covered GPS port in the corner. The remaining space in the back is used up by the phone's battery.

Camera

The Asus P535 has a 2 MP camera with auto-focus. It is one of the best I've seen in a PDA. The auto-focus camera does a neat job of capturing images, where the maximum image resolution can be set to 1600 x 1200 pixels. It has a single LED flash which works well at night. The flash isn't very powerful and doesn't reach long distance, so it is recommended to click images at a closer range. The video recorder of the phone plays videos at 30 fps. Standard set of image and flash options such as red-eye elimination are also provided. This camera does a more than satisfactory job to fulfill basic photo skills.

Interface

The Asus P535 comes loaded with Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0. It was quite stable almost all the time that I used it. The phone hung only a few times while starting (probably you can expect a BSOD on Windows Mobile as well?). An Intel Xscale processor 520MHz takes care of crunching the numbers in the background. The processor is supported by 64 MB of RAM and has 256 MB of NAND memory. From the 256 MB, only around 180 MB is usable for storing data. The miniSD card slot arranges for additional storage capacity. The Windows mobile interface isn't any tougher than the desktop version, anyone can figure his way out and accomplish the tasks easily.

Under business tasks, the phone has a couple of extras to help out. There is a Business Card Recognition feature similar to the one seen in the Motorola ROKR E6. Also, the Remote Presenter for Powerpoint presentations via Bluetooth is possible. The PocketOffice pack also comes preloaded; therefore you can work with Word and Excel documents when on the move.
The standout feature of the Asus P535 is the GPS receiver with SiRF Star III chipset. You can connect it to the car adaptor and use it for directions, though we don't have full fledged GPS service in India yet. For media playback, you have the evergreen Windows Media player v10. The provided stereo headset is decent enough but if you are looking for more then you can always connect your own headphones via the 3.5mm jack.

The phone has Java J2ME loaded, so you can install loads of Java applications that you download from the net on to this phone. Also, the phone has advanced contacts with support for photo-call. It has other features like Notes, Calendar, Alarm, Calculator, File Manager, IE for browsing, MSN, Skype clients for chatting, and VoIP calls are the standard tools as seen in most phones. Asus has its own set of tools called the Asus Status which gives information about the running applications, system, battery, etc. There is an Spb Backup to maintain backup of the system and other trial software that comes bundled in the phone.

Connectivity

Asus P535 has most of the connectivity options, except for EDGE and 3G. List of connectivity options include GPRS Class 10, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, and USB 1.1. The missing 3G support will call for concern in the international markets, while no EDGE would create sales troubles for it in India. The phone has USB 1.1 and file transfers happen through Microsoft's ActiveSync.

Battery Life

The Asus P535 has a decent battery life. Its 1300 mAh battery provided backup of over 2 days. The phone did well for 2 days with a lot of WLAN usage. I did put the phone into power-save mode for the two days. The screen brightness and the back light on time were kept dropped to the minimum. Even then the display was readable, though not under sunlight. Even if you keep it at the defaults of power-save, it will still give you two days of backup.

Conclusion

The Asus P535 sells in the market for around Rs. 32,500 with a one year warranty. The contents of the package are a lot more than what other phones in this price range come bundled with. To add to that, Asus is now offering a 1 GB card as well as a free upgrade to Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 which makes the package complete. It's got all going for it - a good package, good looks, power, and also GPS. All in all, Compared to the likes of the O2s and the i-mates, this phone is really good.

Sony Ericsson Unveils the P1i

Sony Ericsson has unveiled its newest pocket-sized smart phone, the P1i.

Based on Symbian OS (v9.1), the P1i has a 2.6-inch touch screen and a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera.

The P1i smart phone packs a number of interesting features such as: 3-way text input including a QWERTY keypad plus handwriting recognition; and WiFi, VoIP, and GPS support with external GPS receiver, Bluetooth, and BlackBerry support. The hi-speed UMTS and WiFi ensure high-speed Web browsing and download, the company said; while the pre-loaded Exchange ActiveSync and BlackBerry Connect allows push email for managing messages. The smart phone also integrates a digital music player, a preset stereo FM radio, and expandable memory slot with 1GB card bundled. It has an internal phone memory of 160MB. With Mobile TV - H.264 playback, mobile TV can be streamed to the mobile screen. Along with business tool applications, the P1i also bundles a voucher worth US $175, which can be used to buy applications from www.p1-choice.com. The Sony Ericsson P1i smart phone comes with a price tag of Rs 24,000.

LG Philips flexible OLED

LG Philips has recently applied for a patent on a bendable OLED screen technology which would use oil and water to produce images. Current flexible OLED displays are hampered by the fact that the OLEDs get hotter than the plastic substrate, making it difficult and expensive for manufacture.








The new process that the company is developing would circumvent those problems by making pixels out of oil and water connected to plastic electrodes. The opaque oil would float on the water and obscure a colored surface beneath. When an electric charge is applied to the field it would reveal the surface and change the color of the pixel. This process is believed to be cheap and simple and hopefully means a future of reading a completely digital morning paper for all of us.