Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
webOS 1.4.5 has become available for the Palm Pre on both the AT&T [T] and Verizon [VZ] networks.
From what we read over at Pre Central, it appears that the GPS functionality is now fixed as a couple of users have reported that the GPS now tracks them at the correct location rather than a mile away.
Other than that it appears that it’s a fairly standard update that brings the 1.4.5 features to the Pre Plus such as the ability to play games like Angry Birds. [Read more…]
iFixit managed to get hold of an iPod touch to tear down. The iPod touch went on sale this week after being announced just last week at the Apple Special Event.
The iPod touch is very thin and hence, a lower resolution camera was used as the 5 megapixel version from the iPhone 4 just wouldn’t fit with the technology used today.
The new touch uses an A4 processor although it comes packaged with 256MB of RAM (just like the iPad) rather than the 512MB of the iPhone 4. [Read more…]
Motorola has announced that the DROID 2 will be heading to Europe as the Motorola MILESTONE 2, like the Motorola DEFY, it will also be “enhanced” with MOTOBLUR. Unfortunately.
The MILESTONE 2 will launch with Android 2.2 installed which also allows for Adobe Flash 10.1 to be run in the browser. The CPU on the MILESTONE 2 is 1GHz and the device features the same slide out keyboard as the DROID 2. Essentially, it’s the same phone but branded slightly different for whatever reason.
Features of the Motorola MILESTONE 2 include the 3G mobile hotspot capabilities that allows for up to five wireless devices to connect up and share the 3G connection. [Read more…]
Viewsonic has announced a new tablet called the ViewPad 7. The ViewPad 7 is an Android 2.2 based tablet that has a seven inch screen, two digital cameras as well as plenty of connectivity.
For connectivity, it has Wireless, Bluetooth and 3G built in. The cameras are 3 megapixels for the rear and 0.3 megapixels for the front.
For storage it takes a micro SD card. GPS is also built in. [Read more…]
MIT researches have created a device that potentially (when working a large swarm) could clear up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The technology is a prototype at the moment and uses technology that can separate water and oil. The researches behind it have calculated that 5000 of these autonomous robot cleaners would take just one month to clean up the surface oil on the water.
The technology is based on the use of robots, 16ft long and including a 7ft wide solar-powered conveyor belt that is made of an oil-slurping nanowire mesh. The material is capable of isolating and absorbing up to 20 times its weight in oil. The robots will use the principles of swarm robotics, where thousands of such devices will be interacting and coordinating with each other using GPS and wireless technology.
The devices can either burn the oil they collect to keep them working uninterrupted or can break away from their teams occasionally to deposit their oil in large, GPS-tagged floating reservoirs. A large tanker could come and collect oil from these reservoirs.
Dell has today launched the new Dell Aero smartphone. The Aero is an Android based smartphone that has a 3.5 inch screen.
The phone it’s self costs either $299.99 without a contract or $99.99 with a two year agreement with AT&T [T].
The press release makes no mention of which version of Android it is running, but unfortunately we found out that it’s just Android 1.5 for some bizarre reason that we have yet to figure out. There is no mention of any Android 2.1 or 2.2 update in the near future either. [Read more…]
As well as launching the Sony Alpha a560 and a580, Sony is also launching the a33 and a55 digital SLR cameras.
The A55 and A33 digital SLR cameras use a new translucent mirror technology that allows for autofocus to function at up to 10 frames per second on the A55 and up to 7 fps on the A33.
Each camera is capable of capturing full HD AVCHD video. The A55 has a 14.2 Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor while the A33 has a 14.2 sensor. [Read more…]
Yesterday, we came across a video of the Samsung Galaxy Tab being used on a train in Australia. The tablet seen in Sydney was the seven inch version of the yet to be announced tablet device.
More pictures have been revealed of the Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000. We believe this to be a separate model due to different language seen on the screen. The device is said to have a 1024 x 600 resolution screen along with a 3.2 megapixel camera. The case is made of a lightweight plastic. [Read more…]
EKING is launching a new UMPC called the EKING M5. The M5 was launched on to the Chinese market back on August 17 of this year (Valentines Day).
Features included in this device include a full QWERTY keyboard and a tilting screen. It has a 5 inch screen that has a WSCGA resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The screen is backlit by LED and the screen is suplied by Sharp.
The screen is capacitive touch enabled and does support multi-touch according to Pocketables. [Read more…]
Some pictures of a couple of new Digital SLR cameras from Sony have been found by the Photorumours website. The two new models are the Sony a33 and the Sony a55.
Each camera uses a pellicle mirror to split the light in two directions when pictures are captured. For details on what that means, you can check out this Wikipedia article or see a basic break down below…
A pellicle camera uses a semi-transparent mirror within the light path splitting the incoming picture light beam into two separate beams, both of reduced light intensity. Allowing the light beams to be used for more purposes simultaneously.
The Samsung Galaxy S (including variants) has a GPS problem that prevents a decent lock from occurring, especially when in canyons and busy places with a lack of view to the clear sky.
The problem is caused by software which can get a fix on your position, but often shows you a few streets away and in some cases, you could be seen as being in the next town which basically renders the GPS pointless.
It’s not all bad news though as the Galaxy S smartphone will be getting a firmware update that should resolve all the problems. Samsung reports on Twitter that an update is arriving in September. It does mention for the US Galaxy S, but the info does come from the Samsung US twitter account. [Read more…]
Sprint [S] is launching the Samsung Epic 4G on August 31 with a price tag of $250 after a $100 rebate.
The new smartphone is Sprint’s second 4G Android device to be launched. Technical spec wise, it has a 4 inch Super AMOLED screen that is of the capacitive touch variety. It has Android 2.1 (we expect it will be updated to Android 2.2 shortly after launch) and it runs the 1GHz Samsung Cortex A8 processor.
The camera on the Epic 4G is 5 megapixels and is capable of capturing video at 720p HD. An LED flash is also included. [Read more…]
