Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Macally has launched their new eco-friendly bamboo lapdesk.
There isn’t much information about the Lapdesk other than what we see in the pictures. From what we can figure out, it appears that the bamboo lapdesk has two sections that slide in to each other to make a smaller unit and open up to create an area for a mouse to be used.
Unfortunately there is no pricing or availability details on the bamboo lapdesk. [Read more…]
Brando come up with some odd gadgets and this next one joins that category.
The USB Port Cleaner has been designed to clean your USB ports on your laptop, PC, Mac and any other gadget with a regular sized port. The reasons for creating this are for the “need to clean them up occasionally in order for them to continuously conduct electricity efficiently and keep data flowing at the satisfactory speeds.”
The small USB sized gadget simply slots in a USB port and cleans the copper pins that are found in there.
The copper used for electrical contacts in the USB ports of your computer is subject to oxidization. Especially for those who always use their laptops at places near the sea, the problem will occur faster. But of course, no matter where your laptop is used, the problem will still occur. Over time, it’ll cause a film developed over the copper that provides insulating barrier, preventing good electrical contact between the USB port and the connector of the USB device.
T-Mobile in the US is launching the myTouch 3G Slide on June 2, a few days before the HTC EVO 4G. The myTouch 3G Slide is an Android OS based smartphone that when launched, will cost $180 after a $50 rebate.
Hardware wise, the phone has a 3.4 inch screen along with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. For times when you prefer to use a virtual keyboard, the myTouch 3G Slide has the Swype keyboard preloaded.
On the back of the 3G Slide is a 5 megapixel camera and with the 3G Slide being Android based, full access to the Android Market is possible. [Read more…]
The Ciphone C9 is a clone of an Apple iPhone. The C9 can dual boot in to OS or Windows Mobile 6.5 and comes with quite a few decent features such as a GPS unit, 2 Megapixel camera, a choice of 4GB or 8GB of storage, GPS, G-Sensor, dual compass, WiFi and EDGE as well as a 3.5 inch touchscreen.
A full run down of the specifications can be found below which show that it’s actually a decent and capable phone. However, we are unsure of the build quality and if it meets that of the iPhone. Also with it running OS or WM6.5, we are not sure how good they are on the device and if it runs quick enough to make the user experience good enough. Chances are it will be a little buggier than the iPhone. [Read more…]
The Asus Eee PC 701 is a netbook that launched a couple of years ago. It had a 7 inch screen when launched and kick started the netbook scene to what it is today.
This particular Asus Eee 701 has been modded and changed in to a tablet form factor. The guy responsible goes by the name of McG and took the Eee apart, made a few modifications inside and put it back together.
Since everything did work well, he went ahead and began to use it for the function it was originally designed for: to read eBooks, watching movies made by DVD Shrink, and to use as a portable media player. In case you would want to mod your EeePC, you could also choose better Touchscreen drivers with 90 deg, 180 deg and 270 orientations.
Lenovo submitted a WiMAX equipped Lenovo ThinkPad Mini 10 to the FCC for approval in late April.
The ThinkPad Mini 10 was first believed to be going to schools in New South Wales, and has now become a netbook being used as a testbed for Lenovo’s new WiMAX module.
The Mini 10 is a smaller version of the X100e that has a 10 inch screen rather than an 11.6 inch screen. It is expected that the antennae spotted are going in to all of Lenovo’s laptop collection which also includes the X100e. Of course when purchasing any model it will be an optional extra in most cases. [Read more…]
Corsair has launched three new SSDs (solid state drives) as part of the Force Series.
The three new drives include the F60, F120 and F240 and each has a capacity of 60GB, 120GB and 240GB respectively. Each drive uses the Sandforce SF-1200 SSD processors that allow superior EXX data protection (in the words of Corsair) and excellent write endurance.
All Corsair Force Series SSDs are built using the Sandforce SF-1200 SSD Processors, which provide unparalleled write endurance, superior ECC data protection, and outstanding performance. Corsair engineers worked closely with Sandforce to implement and qualify firmware which guarantees the unusually fast 4K random write performance of 180 MB/s, measured using the ATTO benchmark. This elevated 4K write speed generates 15K IOPs, resulting in excellent system performance and responsiveness. All Force Series SSDs implement the ATA TRIM command, supported by Windows® 7, which helps to maintain optimal performance over the drive’s lifetime.
Just a few weeks ago we wrote about how someone had managed to get Google Android ported over to the Apple iPhone 2G where the OS was installed in a dual-boot mode.
Porting Google [GOOG] Android on to the iPhone 3G happened after that and now we hear that the Android download is ready for install on any jailbroke iPhone 3G.
Most features and functions work on the Android for iPhone build although it’s recommended that you do not use it for day to day use due to power management features not being full implemented. With these features not configured the iPhone battery can be drained within an hour. [Read more…]
HTC has said that some, but not all phones, will get Android 2.2 that Google [GOOG] announced yesterday.
The update will come to “most phones launched in 2010” by HTC. However, we also hear that Android 2.2 won’t hit smartphones until the second half of this year. This is primarily because of Sense UI and other tweaks that HTC make on their phones.
What we have heard is that the Nexus One will more than likely be the first as it doesn’t run the Sense UI and won’t require any modification to run as such. [Read more…]
Google [GOOG] officially announced Android 2.2 aka Froyo earlier today. The Android 2.2 SDK is now ready for download over at the Android developer site where you can grab the necessary install files and select the latest version to use on your desktop.
Android 2.2 is a minor platform release including user features, developer features, API changes, and bug fixes. For information on developer features and API changes, see the Framework API section.
For developers, the Android 2.2 platform is available as a downloadable component for the Android SDK. The downloadable platform includes a fully compliant Android library and system image, as well as a set of emulator skins, sample applications, and more. The downloadable platform includes no external libraries.
To get started developing or testing against the Android 2.2 platform, use the Android SDK and AVD Manager tool to download the platform into your SDK. For more information, see Adding SDK Components. If you are new to Android, download the SDK Starter Package first.
After months of rumours, Google [GOOG] has finally announced Google TV. The new service will either come installed on new TV’s that have the processing power to run it, or be provided on a set-top box for those who already have a TV without it.
The Google TV service was designed because of how complicated TV surfing can be. With programs being on at a specific time on one of hundreds of channels, Google say we often need to change our schedule to fit in with the TV.
Compare that to the internet where everything is on demand on sites such as YouTube. These services allow users to just type in what they want to watch and then watch it.
Google TV is an attempt at merging the two technologies… ie, the on demand web with the regular TV which is a more fun way to watch TV show. [Read more…]
After a month of rumours and leaks we finally have the details on the latest Android build from Google [GOOG]. Google Android 2.2 is the new version also known as Froyo.
New features include a new JIT compiler that is capable of a 2 to 5x speed boost. A demonstration of a game running, seen above (Lemmings?), was run where Android 2.2 managed to get around 40 frames per second on average with the number never dropping below 30fps. Also a number of new features have been included for those using the device on an enterprise level. Changes to Exchange have been included that improve the experience for those wanting to use Exchange Server on their device. This includes speed performance, auto-discovery and GAL lookup which is handy for those who attach to enterprise servers with huge address lists.
A new backup app has been included that lets you move data from an old to a new device more easily. Google translation services can now be used on the device that let you talk in English to the phone and the phone gives you the selected language back as text on the screen.
Wi-Fi tethering has also been made official with Google performing a demonstration by getting an Apple iPad (wi-fi) version on the internet by tethering the two devices together. [Read more…]
