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Sony 'Prototype-SR' spotted at TGS 2012: the HMZ-T2 tacks on a camera, plays with user perception (video)
Remember the Sony HMZ-T2 3D head-mounted display that we tried on back at IFA? Well, it's being prominently featured here at TGS, too. Tucked away at a smaller, much more modest booth around the corner, however, is something a smidge more interesting. Kept behind glass and a safe distance away from our grubby mitts and sweaty foreheads resides the "Prototype-SR" (Substitutional Reality) that was outed on YouTube last week. Essentially, the unit appears to be the HMZ-T2 with a front-mounted camera for head tracking and camera functionality -- the sort of thing that will provide what's being called a 360-degree immersive entertainment experience. From what we can tell from the booth monitors, the unit displays 3D video overlaid in real space for the person wearing the device. Details are scarce and extremely limited demos were available in an apparent lottery (no luck here). You can rest assured that if we're able to snag one, though, we'll be sure to offer up some impressions. For now, take a look at the camera-wielding set of hi-tech goggles in the gallery below and the aforementioned video awaits just past the break.
iPhone recreated in wood (and a toy iPad for the taking)
How great is this wooden iPhone, complete with special block icons to get moved around on the "touchscreen"? I'm not quite sure what it says about our culture that we're recreating Apple's magical device in this way (though it should be noted that this is an art project, not an actual "wooden blocks" toy for children), but I like it a lot. The icons are great, too -- simple and close to the real thing, but not quite. And speaking of less-than-faithful recreations of Apple devices, I found the "App Calculator" pictured below in a Santa Monica toy store this last weekend, perched high up on a shelf. For the low price of just $15.95, you too can play with a device that's not exactly at all like an iPad, but happens to be shaped exactly the same way. On the other hand, if you want to give your loved ones a real surprise, trick them with the fake iPad toy, and then surprise them with the real thing.
HTC Omega spotted in the wild on Algerian auction site?
Just a few days after its renders first leaked, the HTC Omega has apparently been spotted in the wild, on an Algerian auction site, of all places. French blog Mon Windows Phone claims that the rumored Mango device may sport a Snapdragon MSM8255 1.5Ghz processor, 512MB of RAM and a 3.8-inch LCD, though it's hard to glean too many specifics from the blurry images featured on the auction site. The blog also spotted an eight megapixel camera around back, along with that front-facing shooter that Microsoft's been touting, while the listing claims that the phone boasts up to 8GB of storage capacity. The white-and-gray Omega is rumored to debut at this week's HTC event in London, though details on price and availability remain unclear (the highest online bid, for what it's worth, is currently at around $540). Hit up the links below to see the full array of images. [Thanks, Gilles]
HTC EVO 3D and EVO View 4G tablet spotted -- on Sprint's website, where else?
Oh, you know all about them, that much is true, but have you yet seen the HTC EVO 3D and EVO View 4G tablet? No, we hadn't either, until this very moment when another premature information upload on Sprint's website revealed their appearance. Two pre-registration pages exist for the as-yet unannounced products, one for the 1.2GHz dual-core EVO 3D smartphone and one for the 1.5GHz single-core EVO View 4G tablet. Both run Android and are unquestionably set to feature as Sprint's flagship devices in their respective categories. Beyond confirming that the EVO looks like an EVO and noting that the EVO View seems to have a black case rather than the silvery one that the HTC Flyer (the product it's based on) comes with, there's little new here -- you'll have to wait till Sprint finally makes all this hardware official over at CTIA to learn more.
Sony's VAIO P spotted for sale in Hong Kong, price tag spotted too
Just last week our hopes for an affordable VAIO P were quickly dashed as Amazon's UK site fixed what was apparently typo, setting the price on Sony's "don't call me a netbook" ultraportable to over $1,000. That's in-line with what we've been expecting for the US release, but still we'd held out some hope for a last-minute price cut. Now, like a twist of the knife, we have photos of the machines for sale in the wild -- with a wild price tag to match. Kip HT took these pictures (one above, one below) at a Hong Kong retailer and passed them along, sending word that the top-spec model was going for the equivalent of $2,188.48. No word on a price for the cheapest model, but it seems we now have confirmation that the Sony tax also applies overseas.[Thanks, Kip HT]
iPhone in the wild: French edition
In a testament to the global nature of Apple's hype power, even French speaking citizens of the world are tracking and tagging iPhone users in the wild (even if they do just happen to be visiting Cupertino). Here we see an innocent, mild-mannered iPhone test subject caught candidly making a call (to John Appleseed, we assume), while walking down a sun-filled, money-lined avenue in the sleepy burg. The photographer manages to steal a moment with the gentleman for a close up shot, and hey -- that screen looks pretty good in the sun. Check the link for translation and photos.
Sony Ericsson K850 / K530 handsets get spotted
No sooner than Sony Ericsson goes and makes the K850 and K530 (amongst many others) official, it looks like there's already been some hands-on action with a pair. Reportedly snapped at the recent Sony Ericsson product launch in Hong Kong, the five-megapixel K850 cameraphone was oohed and ahhed over, but the not-exactly-soft soft keys and lack of backlighting seemed to be a bit of a drag. The K530 was admittedly in early prototype mode, so not much was known other than it still sported the generic model designation of SE123. But hey, at least the photos waiting after the jump will somewhat quell your insatiable desire for more details about these mobiles.Read - Sony Ericsson K850Read - Sony Ericsson K530
Nokia's E61i, up close and shiny
Not a whole lot more info than we had last time around -- in fact, zero more info for anyone keeping track -- but we haven't managed to get close to the E61i before now. No real surprises here, and this is just a dummy unit, so we don't even have any screen brightness to assess, but hey, beggers can't be choosers, and those additional smart buttons and spiced up d-pad look promising, even if the phone for the most part seems relatively unchanged. Peep the back of the phone (including camera hawterness) after the break.[Via Ring Nokia]
Tatung's mysterious Windows Mobile-powered UMPC / PPC hybrid spotted
We're really digging these UMPC / PPC hybrids that seem to be popping up every so often, and even though those full-fledged (and overpriced) first generation UMPCs didn't exactly shake up the mobile computing world, we're a forgiving bunch. Presumably similar in function to HTC's Athena X7500, this mysterious Tatung device will apparently sport a longer battery life than those tried-and-true UMPCs, have "instant on" capabilities, and feature Windows Mobile 5.0. We can only hope that it sports at least a few connectivity options, but until CES (hopefully) discloses a bit information, the pics snapped (click on through for more) at Computex will have to do for now.[Via PocketPCThoughts]
OLPC's XO-1 gets its first "unboxing"
Sure, the unboxing of a hand-assembled kind-sorta prototype might not totally count as an "unboxing" in the proper sense, but it's fun to watch all the same, and it's definite proof that the little machine from OLPC is really coming along. Hit the read link for the whole gallery, complete with action shots of adults completely dwarfing the "B1" (yeah, we thought it was called the XO-1 now, maybe B1 stands for Beta 1 -- we can only hope), or keep reading for the juicy box-related pics.
Nokia "E62i" spotted?
Sure, Nokia knows how to make solid phone, and we hear they even manage move a few units, but if there's one thing Nokia hasn't quite nailed yet -- for whatever reason -- is that thin is in. Well, it doesn't look like they're planning on winning any prizes in this arena just yet (though that N75 is dang close), but some blurry camphone shots of a supposed "E62i" successor to the E61/62 qwerty handhelds points to a marked slimming of the phone, and every mm counts in a world of smartphones like the Excalibur, Q and Pearl. From the pics, it's apparent Nokia has also added a couple of face buttons, swapped the 5-way joystiq for a welcome new flat button, and added a camera. It's hard to tell from the pics if any other dimensions have gone under the knife in the interest of making this thing a bit more pocketable, but we definitely like where this one is headed. We're otherwise in the dark for specs, but supposedly "confirmation" is headed our way near the end of November. Keep reading for a couple more pics.[Thanks, JC]
PlayStation 3 gameplay preview
While Ryan was busy at SCEA playing with the shiny box itself, our NY peeps headed over to a little Sony event where we could get a bit of quality gameplay time. Sony had a good majority of their launch lineup on display, and seeing all the games in the same room gave us a solid impression of the varying quality of the titles. The good news is that all that horsepower isn't just being wasted on 1080p, a lot of these games looked dang impressive, though +$200 impressive might be stretching it a bit. Unfortunately, a few of the games looked no better than their Xbox 360 counterparts, and we're not sure how noticeable some of the differences would be without a fancy, bigscreen 1080p setup. There's also the question of the controller -- Sony's SIXAXIS controller feels just like the Dual Shock of yore (minus the shock, of course), and this blogger finds fragging quite a bit more attainable on that cozy Xbox 360 controller from Microsoft. Keep reading for pics of all the games, along with some of our impressions.
Classmate PC live and in the flesh
Sure, we've seen it under those shiny stage lights, but this is the first time we've spotted the Classmate PC up close and personal. We can't say it looks quite as edible as OLPC's XO, but it also seems a bit more solid than its cheaper progenitor. Apparently the PCs won't just be limited to 1GB NAND, but will feature "several GB of memory, depending on the needs." The Classmate PC is also now being labeled as "sub $300," which is getting dangerously close to the XO pricetag, which seems to be creeping towards $200. Be sure to peep the read link for plenty more pics.
Nokia 870 surfaces in the wild?
Alright folks, it's a blurry camphone pic, so take this with a grain of salt, but it looks like we've just got our first glimpse of the Nokia 870 in all its shininess. The followup to the 770 (and potential big brother to the 330) supposedly hides a webcam in that little lump to the left, and should have some fancier VoIP functionality, but otherwise it's mainly looking like a facelift so far. A slide-out keyboard? We're not holding our breath.[Via CrunchGear]
Hands on with Nokia's "multimedia computer" behemoths
Sure, it wouldn't hurt if Nokia shaved a few grams and/or inches off a couple of these, but we got our hands on the new "Music Range" 8GB N91, the N75 which packs WCDMA and quite a bit of screen for a flip, and the utterly decked N95, and we can't say it was an unpleasant experience. Both the N75 and N95 were quite impressive in the LCD department, and the N95's sliding action couldn't be much smoother. Anyways, we know you're not here for our half-baked opinions, so go ahead and peep the pr0n after the break, we don't mind.
PlayStation 3 and packaging spotted in the wild
Oh deary us, pictures of the PlayStation 3 before it's launched? Looks a lot like some Sony dudes setting up at TGS when these were snapped, we can't imagine anywhere else in the world right now that would require such a setup. So what if we want our cake (Wii), and to eat it too (PS3) -- we could live with all three next-gen consoles.[Thanks, Iboro Ekpo]
Venzero ONE media player spotted, snapped
The last time we saw a Venzero ONE, it was at a café in New York and was in severely pre-production condition; a little rickety, a little shaky, but still showed some real potential. Now, from here it's a little difficult to tell of these new shots of the ONE in the wild indicate that it's much closer to completion than it was a few months ago, but we hope they move fast and get this thing out because in a couple months the Zune and the MusicGremlin (and maybe even the wireless iPod) could make this device's big selling point, the Shareport USB file swapping system, a little shall we say, démodé.[Via DAPreview]
