Motorola Sholes Tablet XT701 – More Pics

Motorola-Sholes-TabletYesterday we mentioned the Motorola Sholes Tablet that had a few images leak. We came across some more pictures yesterday that show the device in full along with a few more details that have been revealed.

The Sholes Tablet has been called the XT701 and is similar to the DROID without a QWERTY slide out keyboard. According to the source of this information the Tablet will run the Android 2.1 operating system when launched. Other features include a 3.7 inch screen, has a 5 megapixel camera and from what reports say, it runs very well. [Read more…]

New Nokia Symbian UI Revealed

nokia-symbian-UI_1Nokia have revealed pictures of the new Symbian UI and what they are planning to make it look like. Nokia have mentioned that for next year they are releasing just one Maemo smartphone and will be spending the rest of the time concentrating on the Symbian OS.

Nokia have said that the main problem with Symbian OS isn’t the OS it’s self, but actually the UI (User Interface). What Nokia are planning to do is reduce the number of taps you need to do to get around the menus. Rather than setting up an email address with 4 taps, it will reduce to 2 screen taps. Other menu’s and features will also get enhanced in the same way, such as easy access to music, photos etc… [Read more…]

Another Motorola Android Handset Spotted

moto-android-round-black1This morning we wrote about the Motorola Sholes Tablet that was spotted recently. Since writing about that, another Motorola smartphone has been spotted that runs the Android OS.

The name of the phone is not known at the moment, but from what a tipster at BGR has said, the phone will run an 800MHz processor, have a 3.8 inch display along with an 8 megapixel camera with a dual LED flash. [Read more…]

Panasonic VIERA X1 HDTV Gets 36% Discount

Panasonic-VIERA-X1If you are looking for a decent HDTV this Christmas and want to catch a good discount then Amazon have a Panasonic VIERA X1 HDTV on offer with a 36% discount. The VIERA X1 is a smaller 26 inch screen that is ideal for a smaller living room or perhaps a bedroom and normally has a retail price of $549.95, but has been cut down to $349.98 at the moment on special offer.

A quick run down of specs show that the screen measures 26 inches as mentioned above and can display a HD resolution of 720p. An SD card reader is built in the TV allowing you to share pictures with friends and also a system called VIERA link allows compatible systems to all be controlled through the TV such as a Blu-ray player, sound system or HD camcorder. [Read more…]

Canon Touchscreen DSLR Patent Revealed

Canon-TouchScreen-DSLRA patent has been found that was filed by Canon and provides details of a touchscreen DSLR camera. Filed back in April and approved in October this year, the patent describes a DSLR camera where you can easily manipulate the settings by touching the screen rather than the buttons.

The patent was found to be just 13 pages long. One of the first things that comes to mind with a touchscreen on a camera is that when you look through the viewfinder, your face is actually touching the screen. To prevent settings being changed by accident the system can be programmed with what eye you look through the viewfinder with and when you look through it, the parts of the screen that your face will touch have the touchscreen portion disabled. When moving away the portion of the screen then can be touched again. [Read more…]

HTC Hero 2.1 Firmware Mentions Many Android Phones

Hero-Android-2-1If you remember the last few days you will have seen information revealed about a Hero ROM that leaked which turned out to be Android 2.1. Of course the firmware was quickly investigated and run on a phone to see what it was all about with a version hitting XDA Developers that can be downloaded now to your phone and tested.

After more research was done it has been revealed that a number of phone code names have been included in the firmware that shows a total of 19 Android phone’s could be coming out soon. Details of the phone names after the jump. [Read more…]

Google Create a Public DNS

google_logo_lgGoogle [GOOG] are on a quest to speed up the internet. Just recently they mentioned a new protocol called SPDY they have created that aims to speed up the way browsers get the data needed to render web pages by compressing headers and other functions such as passing more data through at a time. Now they have announced that they have opened a public DNS server that aims to resolve domain names quicker, thus speeding up your internet browsing.

When you enter a domain name such as www.gadgetvenue.com, that name needs to be translated to a number (IP address) that the server is assigned and can be contacted by. It can be thought of as a phone book for the internet. Google have created a DNS server that helps to speed up these lookups by using a number of methods such as provisioning servers where there is a need, prevention of DDoS attacks (that can slow DNS resolution down), load balancing and prefetching of DNS data and storing that data in a cache. [Read more…]

Layar 3.0 brings more Layers to Augmented Reality

abbey-road-realityAugmented Reality is a way of overlaying information on a computer screen on top of real time images. A company in Amsterdam have just released the latest version of Layar called Layar 3.0 that ads more data on to real-world images giving a unique experience when using the software.

The software has already been released for Android 1.5 and 1.6 users with a version compatible with 2.0 coming soon. Also, the iPhone version has been created but is just awaiting approval from Apple which as soon as it gets clearance it will be available for download. [Read more…]

Motorola Sholes Tablet Spotted

leak_motorola_sholes_tabletThe Motorola Sholes Tablet has been spotted. The new tablet based device runs Android 2.0 we expect although it could even possibly run Android 2.1 at the time of launch.

Technical specs show it to have a 550MHz processor that is found in the DROID along with a 3.7 inch touchscreen that has an 800 x 480 resolution.

Other features on the Sholes (codename) tablet include a HDMI output port allowing you to hook it up to HDTV’s along with a 3.5mm headphone jack. The camera is capable of capturing images at 8 megapixels and the flash is xenon based. [Read more…]

Acer to Launch Google Chrome OS Netbook in 2010

acer-aspire-oneDigiTimes are reporting that Acer expect to be the first company to produce a Google Chrome OS netbook with the company expecting them to start shipping the new netbook in the second half of 2010. Acer have been working on the new netbook since earlier this year according to DigiTimes sources.

JT Wang, Acer’s chairman, expects that the netbook will be the first of any Chrome OS netbooks to ship. [Read more…]

iPhone and Symbian S60 get Video Calls with Fring

fring-iPhone-video-callsFring is a free application available for a number of phones including the iPhone and has been available for quite a while now. Fring has now received an update that allows the iPhone and S60 phones to make free video calls over wi-fi

Although a step in the right direction, there is a problem as the iPhone only has a rear facing camera, meaning that the person who you are having a video call with wont be able to see you. If you have an S60 phone with a forward facing camera then 2 way video calls are possible. [Read more…]

Boba Fett Potato Head – Spuda Fett

Spuda-FettIf you are looking for a cool Christmas present stocking filler for someone this month then check out Spuda Fett. Spuda Fett is designed after the famous Star Wars Boba Fett character.

The Spuda Fett Potato Head character ads to a a few other Star Wars potato head characters such as Artoo Potatoo, Darth Tater, Princess Tater and several more. [Read more…]