w820
Latest
Huawei's HIC tablet for Vodafone has all the beauty of an industrial-grade nav unit
Considering the cheap plastics and giant white logos, our first thought when we saw this unflattering shot in the FCC's filing system was that we were looking at some sort of connected navigation unit for delivery trucks -- but alas, as far as we can tell, the so-called HIC is a "tablet" from Huawei that doubles as a phone for Vodafone. Besides a triband 3G radio, this hot mess gets you a 7-inch WVGA display, a front-facing camera for video calls, and an integrated kickstand around back for setting it on a countertop. The style of the power adapter leads us to believe that the HIC might be intended for permanent use in your home, which would explain why it bears so little resemblance with something we'd want to carry around -- but still, couldn't they have made it a little prettier? No word on when (or to which of Vodafone's markets) it'll be coming.
Samsung's Armani alliance soldiers on with W820 / W8200 slider
So far, "understated" isn't a word we've been comfortable associating with Giorgio Armani's telephonic ventures with Samsung -- particularly the flashy Night Effect, featuring a glowing Armani logo on the side. We'll go out on a limb and say the latest effort out of South Korea isn't quite as insane as the Night Effect, but a gold finish is always a step in the right direction if attracting as much attention as humanly possible with a piece of electronic equipment stuck to your face is your goal. It looks like the slider will find a home on domestic carriers KTF and SKT, and as far as we can tell, it's not the rumored WinMo-based Armani 2 -- but it does have a 5 megapixel cam, WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, T-DMB tuner, and the adoration of... well, someone, we're sure. Let us know when you find 'em. No word on pricing or a release date, but take this as a sign that the Armani lovers out there have nothing to fear if they're looking to replace that tweaked F480. [Via Samsung Hub]
Hands-on with Kodak's latest and greatest
We got a nice look at Kodak's newest gear from this morning, and while it's an uneven showing at best, there are certainly some gems. The real standout of the bunch is the Kodak Theatre HD Player, a teensy box with all the right ins and outs, a purtiful interface, and a glorious motion-sensing remote. We really haven't had this much fun with a peripheral since the Wiimote came along, and Kodak has somehow managed to best that in the role of couch-based cursor positioning. Kodak was a bit coy about what exactly goes on inside the thing, and we're even more curious as to whether somebody can produce a dongle to let it operate a PC, but it's a marvel all the same. Next up -- in importance, anyways -- is Kodak's new Zi6 HD pocket video camera, a transparent bid to cut in on those Pure Digital dollars. It's a bit of a bulky beast, and the image quality is hardly an improvement over the competition, but it certainly works as advertised: it really couldn't be simpler to turn it on, shoot a video, and upload that video to the internet. Perhaps our biggest gripe is that it looks like it was built by some second-tier consumer electronics company, and shares zero design language with Kodak's other products -- many of which have really matured in the looks department of late. The Z1015 IS we didn't spend as much time with, but it seemed nice, light but not too light, and has a gorgeous screen. Finally, the new W820 and W1020 wireless photo frames were on display, with some prototype software showing off some add-ridden FrameChannel content (seriously Kodak, what were you thinking?) but loved just about everything else on the frames.%Gallery-27314%
Kodak bumps out a pair of new Flickr-friendly Wireless Digital Frames
Kodak's new W820 (8-inch) and W1020 (10-inch) are the latest in the company's charming line of Quick Touch Border digital photo frames. Quite similar to their M820 and M1020 (pictured) counterparts in most respects, the new frames add WiFi, which brings with it services like Flickr, FrameChannel and Kodak Gallery. Unfortunately, the only way to add generic RSS feeds is FrameChannel, and all FrameChannel subscriptions include a monstrous banner ad across the bottom of each frame -- at least Kodak's partnership with Flickr is separate, so those subs are clean. Each frame includes 512MB of storage in addition to memory card slots, and they should be out next month for $250 and $280, respectively.%Gallery-27291%
