Several tiny projectors have appeared recently. I was amazed at a trip to PC World when I saw a really small one on sale. The thing was tiny, or so I thought. Along comes the Explay Projector. It is the size of a mobile phone and can project an image from a source such as an iPod video at a low resolution of 320 x 240. This is not the max size though as Explay promise that higher resolutions are on the way. The projector uses a mixture of laser and LED to create the image and to save on battery life as well as heat. The image size isnt huge, but still a lot larger then your mobile phone or iPod screen. This is not bad for a projector that could be carried in your pocket. More information will be available later this year and we look forwards to this projector and seeing how it progresses through out 2007.
This 3G phone is the next in Nokia’s powerful lineup of phones. The display is capable of 16 million colours with a nice 352 x 416 resolution. Memory is at 70Mb for internal and of course, expandable via a microSD card slot. Connectivity is not lacking here either. GPRS, EDGE and UTMS can connect this device to a network as well as wifi, bluetooth 2.0 and IRDA (who uses that any more?). This phone seems to be a great option in the slider range of phones. Quad band GSM also means that this phone can be used anywhere.
A few weeks ago noticed over on the Skype blog that some pricing was changing. Our first thoughts were “great… calls will cost more”. This is true to some extent but the pros seem to far outweigh the cons of this deal and I am impressed with the charges and how they are working and what new services will be introduced.
The pricing changes started a week or so ago on the 18th Jan 2007 where a connection fee is now charged at 0.039 Euros which bills after the 5th second on a call. This is true in all but a couple of cases. The fee does not apply on on Skype Unlimited plans in the US or Canada, or the Talk for Britain plan in the UK. Also, this connection fee does not apply to toll free calls and you can still make toll free calls with out credit and no charges will apply.
Now the bad stuff is over (if it really is that bad) lets get to the good news. Several regions (Czech Republic, Guam, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Puerto Rico and both Alaska and Hawaii in the United States) have been added to the 0.017 Euros per minute global rate.
This is cool in it’s self making it cheaper to call different parts of the world. Among this addition there is also a new service due to launch soon called Skype Pro. The cost of the service will be just 2 Euros per month and the benefits appear to be great. Domestic SkypeOut calling in a number of countries will be charged at just the connection fee with no per minute billing.
No doubt to some these changes could slightly increase the cost of your bill, but from what I can read it seems like the benefits are way better allowing more calls to be made at cheaper rates. Skype will be announcing Skype Pro in a few weeks and we will post back when more details arrive.
Willcom have introduced the WX321J which incldes a fingerprint scanner for security reasons. Also packed in to this phone is a 2.4 inch screen, 1.3 megapixel camer and a microSD slot to increase the available memory and store music etc… It will be interesting to see the fingerprint scanner and if it secures the whole device, or certain functions.
Sony have introduced the VAIO G1 in Japan recently. This laptop from the screen shots looks very impressive. It weighs just 2.1 pounds and has a 12.1 inch display. This laptop is truly for those who seek after a real portable solution. Unfortunatly the screen is not an XBRITE display, but putting that asside we still see some very impressive specs. The hard drive can hold 80Gb of data, the small 2.1 lbs VAIO also holds an integrated DVD burner. The processor is a Core Solo which is low powered to help save on battery life. Standard memory in the VAIO is 512 Mb but can be upgraded. For 2.1 lbs of VAIO the price tag is no doubt going to be high… well, it is at $2599.
Wifi streaming is going to be growing in your home soon. Long gone will be the cables that run from room to room to get a signal to your screens. The Aston Bee Box ses the VLC media playback software which can then stream on to 4 TV’s with in range of the transmitter. The media streamer is set to cost $130 and be available in Europe from March and seems like another possible contender in the media streaming market.
Technology is shrinking again and it makes you wonder on this one if it is actually a good idea. The Vavolo PCPAL wireless mouse is small enough to fit in to a PCMCIA slot. This is great for travelers to cut down on the space needed to carry something around. It just makes you wonder how functional a mouse that size can be. If you are from Vavolo then feel free to drop a sample
As well as being a small mouse that fits in to the PCMCIA slot, it also has a wireless adapter, is a laser pointer and TV remote control. Apparantly a keyboard is in there somewhere but we are not 100% sure where this is yet. It will be interesting to see though.
Overall this device actually seems quite good. It would be interesting to get hold of one of these to just see how small it actually is, and how functional it is too. For $39.99 you seem to be getting a good deal on this item!
All About Symbian got their hands on a Nokia N95 and gave it a thourough review. For those of you who are not aware what the Nokia N95 features then read on. The N95 has built in GPS, it’s a dual slider, has a 5 megapixel camera and a HUGE screen. The N95 is set to be a great phone with all its extra features and fairly slim profile. The GPS software is something to look out for. Having this built in to your phone turns it in to one seriously useful device.
The N series Nokia’s get better and better each time they launch. But, ufortunatly the N99 is just concept at the moment. If it were to be real then it would feature a full qwerty keyboard as well as a touchscreen display. Also a hefty 8 megapixel camera was thrown in there and it has a 3.2 inch wide screen display. Ok, that is not all. GPS is included as well as wifi and lots of other stuff. Should this appear soon then we will let you know more details closer to it’s arrival.
Samsung have created a nice looking GPS device called the STT-D370 which has a 3.7 inch TFT screen, Bluetooth, SD memory and a removable battery. Looking at the screen it seems like it features a 3D mapping system which even shows a selection of buildings. No doubt this will be reserved for busy cities. It will be cool if they can allow users to submit 3D models to download to your device. The device will cost around 600 dollars when it is released in Korea but hopefully it will reach this side of the world soon.
Game and Watch games were huge in the 80s. I remember spending hours on the game that I had. The dual screens added more interest to the game and it was cool to carry one around. The old Nintendo dual screen games are what of course inspired the new Nintendo DS although the new Nintendo DS is obviously a tad more powerful
These game and watch keychains are ideal for those who want a reminder of the past. They are the original games crammed in to a keyring sized console which you can carry around. At $8.99 they are a bargain and well worth checking out.
The other iPhone from Linksys was recently reviewed by the tech lounge. This iPhone is the CIT300 dual mode Skype phone and the review shows that the iPhone is an excellent device. The CIT300 costs around 80 – 90 dollars shipped and can use both SkypeIn and SkypeOut which allows you to call out of the skype network and also receive incomming calls from outside the skype network. The CIT300 phone seems to do what it should according to the review and has all the features that are expected in a VoIP phone. The only problem with the CIT300 is that it does require your PC to be on while using the service. However, if you choose to go for the CIT400 then this can be used over wifi and is totally indipendent.
Both of the above PMPs come with a 1.5 inch 128 x 128 LCD and are capable of playing MP3, WMA, SMV, JPEG and BMP. Included also is an FM tuner and usb 2.0 connectivity allowing you to transfer your music files as quick as possible. The battery poweres the device for around 10 hours and this is also removable. Nothing is really too exciting about this PMP but it does look great. Two models are available which are the 1GB N0041 and the 2GB N0042. The cost of these devices starts around 90 dollars for the smaller of the 2 players.
If you are still using slightly older technology such as PS/2 ports on your keyboard or mouse then this USB Hub could be an ideal option. If you are lacking the connections for PS/2 then this hub comes with 2 of those connectors built in and allows full connectivity for those older devices. At $12.50 it is priced well too.
UberGizmo were lucky enough to get their hands on a Pharos GPS 600 for review. The phone features a 2.8 inch display, has a matte aluminium finish and is powered by Windows Mobile 5. As the title of the phone suggests, GPS is built in in the way of a SiRFStarIII chip and the Pharos software called Ostia utilizes this very well. Integrated GPS is finding it’s way on to a few phones these days and it is very welcome as having this in your phone means that it’s less to carry and more functionality in your pocket. Connectivity is not lacking either and GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth and Wifi are all built in providing some very nice access to the internet from any location. Unfortunatly this is not a 3G phone though. With a nice array of features this mobile/gps device is well worth checking out when it arrives in the shops next month. For the full review, check out UberGizmo.
