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Video: Tonium Pacemaker in action
We've been playing with the Tonium Pacemaker pretty much non-stop since we got it, and while we're not terrible DJs, we thought we'd bring in some big guns for a demo -- so we asked our buddy Carlos from Chicago's CAPCOM crew to come in and spin a few tracks. Check out the video and our in-depth impressions after the break!
LG KM900 Arena hands-on with video
We already had a bit of hands-on time with the LG Arena, which was shown for first time at MWC this year. This phone stands out from the now-crowded full touchscreen phone market mainly by including the new (and attractive) S-Class 3D interface -- and we found that its touchscreen responds well and the included selection of apps is plenty diverse. It's been said before that the Arena looks a lot like an iPhone -- although you'll notice from the video that the Arena's just a hair thinner than its doppelganger -- and if you pay attention, you'll see that the music and photo manager has a sort of Coverflow flavor. Piqued your interest? Follow the break for our latest video quick take -- and head over to Engadget Spanish for the full gallery!
Engadget's delightful cruise on the Ultra Motor A2B electric bike (with video!)
After the death-defying moments astride the Zero S, and the claustrophobia experienced within GM and Segway's P.U.M.A., we were ready for something a little more relaxing in the electric vehicle space: and Ultra Motor's A2B electric bike provided. Not to say it doesn't have any pep -- we took it for a test ride around SoHo, and found plenty of juice to power past those other suckers doing their own pedaling -- but there's something a tad more gentle to this bike than some of the other rough-around-the-edges EVs we've bumped into lately. The best news is that the A2B is available now at various dealerships, with an almost-palatable price tag of $2,600, 20 mile range and 20 mph max electric-assisted speed (limited due to regulations on bikes). Testing it out we found ourselves pedaling just a bit out of habit, and on the short city blocks we rarely got it past third gear, but there's plenty of power for urban transport. The front and rear shocks provide a well-cushioned ride (and are bouncy enough for some easy wheelies), the small wheels keep the center of gravity low and maneuverability high, and the brakes are excellent. Catch the magic on video after the break.
Flip Video Ultra HD video review
What better way to give you a look at Flip Video's new Ultra HD camcorder than by reviewing it on video... shot with the Ultra HD. The specs are simple: 720p / 30 FPS, 8GB of storage on-board, HDMI out, and pretty much nothing else. Still, a camera this cheap ($199.99) and this small definitely has its uses. Of course, you'll probably be distracted (like we were) by the bad, bad image stabilization issues. But don't just read about it -- take a look at the gallery below to scope out what the thing looks like, then watch the videos after the break to hear (and see) our thoughts, and catch the cam in some heavier -- shakier -- action. Needless to say, both videos are available in HD.
T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 video hands-on
Our first glimpse of T-Mobile's new 2009 edition Sidekick LX was all too brief, so we've jumped back in for some in-depth video hands-on (embedded after the break). One word of warning: this screen is truly incredible, and we can't be held responsible for any instances of sudden onset Sidekick envy. Traipsing through the OS, we found most everything to be responsive, intuitive and actually pretty feature-packed. The Facebook and Twitter apps are some of the best we've seen, and Laura our demo person was actually brave enough to shoot, upload and stream YouTube live on video with us. The browser had a bit of trouble with the visceral multimedia experience of Engadget.com, but overall seemed fairly together. The Download Catalog is a little barebones at the moment, but promising. Overall the hardware will be totally familiar to Sidekick users, but there are enough enhancements and refinements to make this lust worthy to folks on both sides of the Sidekick fence. It's comfortable in hand, with soft touch plastic and a super solid build, despite our best efforts at wrenching that swivel-and-tilt screen from its magical hinge. The phone hits T-Mobile on May 13th for $199 after rebates.
Engadget goes legs-on with Honda's walking-assist devices (with video!)
helps with correct stride and assistance for forward movement, and the other which is meant for supporting your weight while doing tasks that require lots of bending at the knee. The former is intended to help the elderly, the disabled and those suffering from muscle or joint weakness walk more easily, and the latter is geared towards workers who are constantly performing leg and knee movements that can cause strain or injury. Since most of the editors at Engadget are unnaturally, monstrously large (like if Frankenstein and The Thing had a child out of wedlock) -- and could therefore only fit into one of the devices -- we brought along our more reasonably sized intern, Kevin Wong, to step up into the other's shoes (which he did with aplomb). Perhaps the most interesting facts we went away with today were about Honda's attitude on their new technology; they seemed adamantly against selling the stride-boosting stilts to the military, but they do plan on selling them at a consumer level (a la car and motorcycle sales), and... they didn't seem too keen on our ideas about outfitting our "gang" with them for help doing murders. Oh well. Check out the wildly entertaining video of all the action after the break, and enjoy a swim in the stacked gallery below. Update: Since some of you have asked, we'll try to explain a little like what walking with the legs (the ones in the above picture at least) was like. Firstly, the leg motors run on a kind of timer, once you start moving, the computer on-board gets a "sense" of how quickly you'll be walking and begins to push and pull the motor to that rhythm. As you speed up or slow down, you can feel that "timer" catching up. The general feeling wasn't that it was adding that much to our movement -- it's obviously intended for those with some issues already, not people who are necessarily walking normally. Still, you could definitely feel the "legs" exerting a kind of tension on your muscles as you moved back and forth, and the feeling of having more power in your gait was absolutely present. Kevin's description of the second unit was that it was more difficult to walk (and there was no push / pull of a timer), but that he could sense the unit supporting his weight -- though it wasn't as if he could simply put all of his weight on the device. That unit certainly seemed to have a more substantial impact for those without a medical issue or related impediment. If you've got more specific questions, feel free to let us know in comments and we'll try to answer them!
LG's GD900 video tour (and shenanigans) at CTIA
We've been fairly intrigued about LG's GD900 since we had a glimpse of it behind glass at Mobile World Congress this year. We were finally treated to a proper tour by LG's Martin Valdez who not only did a bang up job of demonstrating the set but covered up what may be an early build firmware bug with such aplomb he deserves an award for his performance. Notable here is the clear keypad that acts as input device for typing, text recognition, gestures, and the full-on gorgeous UI. While we wouldn't expect this to be a monster seller at the carriers, it will get LG some attention. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a few minutes with LG's transparent beauty and a great showman, Martin Valdez.
Nokia E71x struts its stuff on video
We were never able to track down an E71x with a SIM and an active AT&T Navigator account, but it's pretty clear from our time with the device that AT&T has left its S60 3.2-based core pleasantly untouched. We wouldn't call it "virgin" by any stretch, but the profile can be tweaked to your liking, we weren't able to find any options that were notably absent, WiFi's still there, and you can file all of the unremovable AT&T crapware in a separate folder that you'll never use (and yes, we did verify that it can't be uninstalled, sadly). And let's not forget -- you're getting one of the sexiest smartphones ever made for a penny shy of a hundie, so really, what do ya got to complain about?
Samsung Propel Pro video hands-on, now with more keyboard
A number of folks wanted video of AT&T's Samsung Propel Pro and a better view of the keyboard. We just couldn't get it the first night and coupled with the horrible lighting, the results would have been miserable anyway. So we did one better and combined both in one well lit video. We checked the device's browser, too, but sadly the signals in the building weren't helping us out. Enjoy the tour right after the break.
Sony Ericsson's T707 hands-on with video
Sony Ericsson's presence at CTIA this year is a rather quiet thing, but we did catch up with them at Ericsson's booth as we were hell bent on seeing its newest, the T707. What we found was a fairly simple quad-band GSM / triple-band HSDPA set with the standard suite of Sony Ericsson features and some golly-gee gesture controls. Building on what it already does in the gesture realm we had fun setting up Chris "Amethyst" Ziegler as a contact on the phone -- a necessity to assign one of 5 indicator colors to his contact -- and seeing just what could be done with them. When a contact calls with a color assigned to them the exterior blinks with their color to let you know who is calling, waving your hand over the device can end the call. In the music player and games, the handset can be flailed about to control music volume or a perhaps a car in a racing game. Basic stuff, but nonetheless still a decent phone, here's hoping a North America carrier picks this up. Pics and vid are just after the break.
Video: iPhone OS 3.0 walkthrough
Many of us -- okay, a small handful of us -- wouldn't dream of putting beta firmware on our day-to-day devices, so we wanted to treat that very special group of safety-minded individuals to a once-over with iPhone OS 3.0's finer points on video. Odds are this is about as close as they'll get to the goods until Apple blesses the binary a few months from now, after all, and there's no harm in living vicariously through an Engadget editor's load-firmware-first, ask-questions-later lifestyle -- trust us. Video after the break.
Video: Apple Nehalem-based Mac Pro unboxing and hands-on
Here she is, fresh off the Saturday Express. Apple's latest Mac Pro is said to be significantly more nimble and entirely easier to upgrade than its Penryn-based predecessor, and while it'll take us a few days yet to check out the former claim, we can already assure you that the second one is valid. Upon unboxing this beast (to be fair, it's not all that monstrous), we immediately dug within the cover to see what was up with Apple's new tray system. Rather than forcing users to squeeze their hands into unfathomably tight places just to pop in a new DIMM or add in a fresh 2TB hard drive, the engineers at Cupertino found a way to place all eight RAM slots on a removable tray, meaning that you can actually take that piece elsewhere and operate under better lighting. The tray was dead simple to remove and replace, and while it's a small inclusion, it's definitely an appreciated one. We'll be stressing this thing out and writing up a more thorough review soon, but for now, enjoy the snapshots / video below and after the break, respectively.
Video: ASUS Eee Station PC NAS interface walkthrough
We've spotted ASUS' D200 (or Eee Station PC NAS, as it's apparently now known) once before, but we took the opportunity here at CeBIT to shove our camera all up in the touchscreen in order to give you, the prospective buyer, a look at what this here Atom-based NAS has to offer. The specs on this thing read like a bona fide PC: 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, room for two 3.5-inch SATA II drives, a 3.5-inch touch panel, 802.11n WiFi, DVD-RW slot-loading optical drive, four gigabit Ethernet ports, USB / DVI sockets and a built-in three-cell Li-ion battery to give you 15 minutes of emergency time should your power fail. Our experience with the touchscreen was less than amazing, with the edges seeming to be noticeably less responsive than the middle. Sure, we don't expect you'll be touching your NAS all that often, but hey, there it is. Visually, it was as sharp as it needed to be, and the whole unit just screamed sexy. Mash play above to check out the menus, or dive in below if still photography is what floats your boat.%Gallery-47100%
Video: Nyko Wand Wii remote flung wildly in Wii Bowling
While focused on little gizmos like the Palm Pre at CES, we somehow missed the opportunity to play with Nyko's Wiimote wannabe back in January. Thankfully, the peripheral company was on hand here in Germany with its full lineup, and we dropped in for a few snapshots as well as a hilarious visual demonstration of just how suitable this thing is at replacing bona fide Wiimotes. As you'll notice in the gallery below, Nintendo's version is just a smidgen taller while the Nyko edition sports a covered back that's easier to grip; outside of that, however, the two feel generally alike when held. It should be noted that the Nyko reps had outfitted the actual Wiimote with its backing in order to prevent any unwanted LCD shatterings, and hey, we can respect that. We also threw in a few shots of the Wii Wand strapped inside the now-ancient Perfect Shot gun holster -- for no other reason than to say we wielded a weapon on company time, really.%Gallery-46716%Update: Nyko pinged us to say that the gun we toyed with is actually the newer, more refined version of the Perfect Shot, or more specifically, the Pistol Grip attachment for the Wand. It'll be available this Spring in the Wand Action Pack.
Video: Hama's iPod touch racing wheel exemplifies overkill
While most of Hama's CeBIT booth consisted of random USB drives, cases and other sorts of low-rate accessories, this particular low-rate accessory grabbed our hearts and wouldn't let go. The absurdly titled Game Wheel Speed-X is evidently geared to work with Apple's latest iPod touch, though we reckon an iPhone 3G should slide right in without too much effort. Clearly, this aims to be a Wii Wheel for your favorite Apple handheld, though we have to wonder how many individuals plan on carrying this ridiculously large piece of plastic around with their touch. Actually, we don't have to wonder. Jump past the break for a couple of video demonstrations.%Gallery-46741%
Video: ASUS Eee Stick demoed at CeBIT
We already gave you a sneak peek at ASUS' Eee Sticks yesterday, but we couldn't resist video taping a fellow giving these a go today. The not-at-all-familiar tennis title worked about like you'd expect it to (if you've ever played a Wii, that is), but judging by the pent up frustration we felt from over on the sidelines, the learning curve on these is a bit steeper than advertised. Just mash play to live vicariously through this dude.%Gallery-46719%
Video: Rollin' Justin and DESIRE robots take out trash, follow commands
Future Parc Hall, an out-of-the-way palace where we spotted Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's iPoint 3D yesterday, was also home to two of the baddest, most sophisticated robots we've ever had the pleasure of watching. Tattooed DESIRE (the orange guy) and Rollin' Justin (the blue fellow), these two humanoids were built with the hope of one day being available for sale to elderly and single individuals who need another being around the house to take care of things. DESIRE seemed mighty great at picking up random cans and tossing 'em in the garbage, while Rollin' Justin listened intently to commands from his master, spoke aloud to confirm them, and then obeyed. We captured everything on video for those who couldn't make it to CeBIT, so hop on past the break to have a look.%Gallery-46726%
Video: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's iPoint 3D Pong match gets heated
After hearing that Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft was bringing its newfangled iPoint 3D setup to CeBIT, we simply had to make the 5.9 mile hike from Hall 26 to Hall 9 to check things out. As with most things that this outfit touches, iPoint 3D was also a sight to behold. Without any goofy glasses, players and onlookers alike could easily detect depth in the display, and while we're some of the toughest 3D critics you'll find, even we were taken aback at just how not-gimmicky it was. An overhead motion detecting system fed signals to a nearby computer, which then translated the hand gestures into paddle movements within the simple two player Pong game. The gals we recorded seemed to have a pretty good time with it, and if you don't believe us, just check out the winner's victory dance at the end of the clip -- it'll make your day, and that's a Billy Mays guarantee.%Gallery-46448%
Vue mesh network video system hands-on
We had a chance to play around with Avaak's new multi-camera wireless video system, the Vue, and we've got to say -- it's kind of neat. The technology -- originally funded by DARPA and developed by the company for the military -- uses a mesh network (dubbed FrameMesh) to allow up to 50 cameras to communicate with a single base station. The premise is simple, you connect the included base to your router, then switch on as many of the cameras as you like; each one feeds its signal back home, then straight to your account on the company's servers where you can monitor the videos remotely. Once the video hits the page (the cameras stay off until you're actually watching something), you can record, or share them via Facebook, Flickr, etc. The cameras themselves are tiny things, and each one perches on a magnetized base where they can be adjusted to almost any position. The basic kit will run you $299, which includes the base station and two cameras, and each additional camera is $99. Not the lowest point of entry, but if you're into seriously monitoring some things, this is an insanely simple way to do it -- and we can't wait to see what installation artists get up to with these guys. Check out some hands-on pics in the gallery, then enjoy a brief video demo after the break.%Gallery-46197%
LG Renoir KC910i gets refreshed, and we get it on camera
So out of the blue we hear that the LG Renoir KC910 has become the KC910i. A quick inspection of LG's booth shows this as true, so we just had to find one off the tether to compare with the original -- and a kindly employee's own KC910 was donated for the cause. So what's new? Well, so far as we can see, the housing's changed the tiniest bit in the mechanical iris that protects the lens is no longer there, the handsets is now very black, and if anything, the newer is a hair thinner. Those aside, see if you can't spot some differences in the pics and vid that follow the break, think of it as a game.%Gallery-45269%
