Gadgetstronics

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 8th 2008 at 6:34PM
Someone clearly didn’t want Microsoft fans being left out at this time of extreme Apple coverage. In an interview with SFGate, Robbie Bach manages to deftly deny the rumored Xbox / Blu-Ray match-up, deny a Zune Phone is coming anytime soon (although he intimates Zune software may come to phones), but still cleverly suggests that a Zune Touch could be in the offing. Of course, by “cleverly suggest” we mean he mentions the possibility of a device with touch capabilities, which is like saying Dell might release a laptop with a keyboard. Is that device pictured above? No silly, that’s just someone’s Photoshop work. Steve Jobs — anything to say about this?

[Via wmpoweruser; Image courtesy anythingbutipod]

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Filed under: cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jun 8th 2008 at 12:26PM
Here’s a little something that might put the brakes on some buyer’s 3G iphone dreams this week — a real, live shot of the forthcoming blackberry touchscreen phone, the Thunder. There’s not much info to glean from this image, save for the fact that it will be practically loaded with buttons (including send, end, back, menu, dual convenience keys, volume, lock, and play / pause) and will be headed to Verizon. If the UI is a spin-off of the one we’ve seen on the Bold, RIM could be striking gold here.

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Filed under: cellphones

Live leaked images are typically something that come as a welcomed event, and in the case of the X800 from Philips the handset has a decent look but sadly that is where it stops. It simply does not have the specs to match the design as its missing some important support.

The handset is missing something that many have just come to expect, especially considering it offers such a large (2.9-inch) touchscreen display. It is lacking support for WLAN, 3G and even EDGE.

This handset was officially announced by Philips back in May, along with the Xenium X-Connect, but they have still not released any further information regarding pricing or availability. This, as listed below in the specs is certainly not a handset that we can get all that excited over.

• General: 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
• Display: Type TFT touchscreen, 256K colors
• Size: 240 x 400 pixels (Wide QVGA), 2.9 inches
• Screensavers and wallpapers
• Ringtones Type: Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3
• Customization: Download
• Vibration: Yes
• Memory Phonebook: Yes
• Call records: 30 received, dialed and missed calls
• Card slot: microSD (TransFlash)
• Data: GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
• HSCSD: No
• EDGE: No
• 3G: No
• WLAN: No
• Bluetooth: Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
• Infrared port: No
• USB: Yes
• Features Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS
• Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML
• Games: Yes
• Colors: Black

Via [JAMPB] Via [BGR]

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The Eclipse Intuit Phone may very well be just a concept, but its one that is hard to deny has some good looks. In the past, as nice an idea as a solar powered gadget would be, the overall look has not really been visually pleasing, however these images hardly reflect that feeling.

In addition to the “chemically based thin solar skin” that will be able to power your phone, the Eclipse Intuit also a 5-megapixel camera with built-in photo editing software, a large touchscreen display, slide-out QWERTY keyboard with tactile feedback.

The Eclipse Intuit also appears to offer up a variety of ‘buttons’ on the top depending on which mode the handset is in. Everything ranging from left/right buttons with a navigation pad to dedicated camera buttons when in camera mode.

Sadly this is nothing more than a concept, but this is one that would be really nice to see come to life.

Via [YankoDesign]

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 8th 2008 at 10:16AMNormally we get excited when a slab of silicon makes our games run at 60 frames per-second, but in this case we’re impressed with a new chip that filters out cancer cells. The device, created by some impressive souls at Princeton and Boston University, directs and focuses streams of cells in a liquid. Like a change sorter, it then separates regular cells form unusual ones. The silicon wafer is tacked with tiny pillars that catch abnormal cells that are, in the end, potentially cancerous. The device hasn’t been used to any major extent, but we’ll keep an eye on this promising discovery.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

If you’re tired of boring gray and black electronics this cute little butterfly will be a refreshing change.  That is if you’re female, I doubt many guys would be overly pleased by a brightly colored butterfly webcam.  Then again I’m sure there are at least a couple exceptions to that.  The webcam easily attaches to the back of your laptop and peers over the top of it to catch a glimpse of you while you type away at whoever you may be broadcasting to.

It also features a nice bendy neck giving you angles that some webcams might not want to bend to catch.  In addition to being able to fasten to your laptop it can also sit on its stand.  Which isn’t really all that different from every other webcam on this earth.  The cam comes in both blue as well as green and is USB powered.  Thankfully, it isn’t overpriced either.  It’s being sold for $20, so anyone with the urge to have such an overly girly webcam won’t have a problem dealing with the price.  You can pick it up at USB Geek which seems to have every possible bit of USB devices you could possible desire.

Source: geekalerts

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While the FCC images usually keep most of the details tight and secure, this latest bit of information seems to be holding a little more than usual. We have here what we can only guess is the successor to the Shadow, which is officially known as the HTC CONV100 and will hit the market as the Shadow II.

While the details are light, it looks like the Shadow II will offer up a nice set of improvements and include an 1100mAh battery, as well as Windows Mobile 6.1 out of the box. In addition, it is also expected to include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and come in either silver or black. As you would expect with the FCC information, pricing and availability timeframe still remains as much as mystery as it was before.

Via [IntoMobile]

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It looks like blackberry users will now have one more reason to use and enjoy Flickr. RIM and Flickr have partnered up to offer a new upload tool in the form of a native upload app.

Overall, it seems a simple but effective program. Users can grab it from the BlackBerry mobile startpage, assuming they are running OS 4.2, have at least 65k of free memory and a camera. The upload app allows users to upload images, add any tags before sending them off and even adjust the size of the image. Users who have a built-in GPS can also take advantage of that functionality and geotag their images.

Read [BlackBerry]

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 8th 2008 at 7:11AM
Here’s a survival product combo we never thought of: an LED flashlight that talks you through the basic steps of CPR. It sort of makes sense, at least: high-efficiency LED in an ultra-compact AAA battery-based design that will talk you through an important emergency skill while the world crumbles around you. The whole flashlight measures 4-inches in length and sports push-button on/off and CPR read-off. Images of armageddon and self-taught nurses abound.

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jun 8th 2008 at 12:34AM
The good folks at HTC left this little gem (pun totally intended) on our doorstep today, but as cool as it sounds to have one of the world’s great Windows Mobile torchbearers just drop off its hottest new handset to us like it’s an extra large pepperoni and mushroom, it’s a bittersweet gift at best. Why? The Touch Diamond lacks both HSDPA 850 / 1900 and GSM 850 in its current incarnation, leaving it to cling to what 1900MHz EDGE towers it can find. That makes it an untouchable product for all but the hardest-core North Americans who are willing to throw both high-speed data and maximum signal coverage out of the window just to be able to put the pinnacle of WinMo 6.1 engineering in their pocket. Are you in that one percent? Or perhaps even better, are you in Europe where the usable 3G flows like running water? Click through to Engadget Mobile’s hands-on to get the lowdown!

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Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds