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Samsung PMA roundup: hands on HMX-U20, eyes on AQ100 and SL605
Samsung's curvaceous HMX-U20 was on display at PMA, but unfortunately one of its key selling points -- the optical 3x zoom -- was not working on the floor model.The picture itself was hard to see from the small LCD, so for now we're just gonna comment on the shape, which though unique and purported to be more ergonomic, to us seems like it'd be a pain in the pockets (of course, they didn't let us pocket it to find out, but we digress...). Also at the show were the waterproof AQ100 and scratch-resistant SL605, but unlike Sony's frosty setup, these weren't touchable. Don't let that stop you from enjoying the pictures below -- and don't forget our earlier hands-on impressions of the TL350 and TL500! %Gallery-86246% %Gallery-86248%
The perfect clothing accessory for your iPad
The geek clothiers at SCOTTEVEST keep coming up with great ways to stay in the news, and their latest tip is, not surprisingly, iPad-related. One of the first products from the company was the Travel Vest for Men (US$100), which has been a popular way to hide every piece of tech gear you own in plain sight since it first appeared in 2000. What's great about the Travel Vest, as well as most of the rest of the SCOTTEVEST line, is that they're perfect for traveling with a lot of tech toys. You simply load up all of the 22 pockets with equipment, spare batteries, cables, or SDHC chips, walk up to security, put the entire vest into the bin for x-raying, and you're ready to go. Well, someone at the company was thinking, and as soon as the dimensions of the iPad were verified as being about the size of a Kindle (something else you could stash in one of the bigger pockets), SCOTTEVEST proudly announced that they're the first clothing line with a pocket for the iPad. This attempt at free PR definitely worked for SCOTTEVEST, as a lot of the Apple media has been picking up on this story. We're all just thankful that it's not another series of bad movies with Woz. [via The Business Insider]
Sanwa's ultra-cheap pico projector available, probably worth the money
We're kind of fans of pico projectors around here, even if finding a way to justify spending big cash on them is occasionally a little hard. Sanwa's just unleashed a cheap little pico that may just be worth the money. There's nothing terribly standout about the Sanwa 400 PRJ-001 -- a Himax LCoS projector with a 640 x 480 resolution, USB connectivity and the little guy weighs in at only 85 grams. The best part of the story here, is of course, the price -- for $119, well, maybe we'll grab two. We can't be sure it's the cheapest pocket projector in the history of micro projecting, but it's pretty close. Hit up the source link to buy one for yourself.
D-Link announces Touch and Pocket 802.11n routers, Rush wireless accelerator
D-Link just dropped a bunch of new 802.11n gear here at CES -- a couple of new routers and the intriguing Rush accelerator pictured above, which is basically a powerful 4x4 access point. It's switchable between 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and it can do up to 600Mbs over 802.11n. As for the routers, there's the new D-Link Touch, which sports a three-inch touchscreen for configuration and simultaneous dual-band 2.4 and 5GHz support for up to 450MBps transfers, and the Pocket, which is designed as a quick'n'dirty travel router. Sadly we don't have prices for any of this stuff, but we'll find out more closer to the middle of the year when it all goes on sale. Pics in the gallery, PR after the break. %Gallery-81596% %Gallery-81599%
Unichal unveils portable, pocketable DIXAU DX3 dictionary
At first glance, this looks a tiny bit like a flip phone of yesteryear, sure. Closer inspection, however, will prove it to be... a tiny dictionary! Korean company Unichal's recently shown off its newest pocket dictionary, the DIXAU DX3. This tiny source of knowledge boasts a built-in camera which can scan unknown words and deliver definitions on the front facing stylus-enabled touchscreen. The unit boasts a microSD card for multimedia storage, and is also equipped with the ability to speak back words to you -- in case you really can't be bothered to read them for yourself. It's available now in Korea, and though we doubt it'll ever make its way to the US of A, we'll keep watch for you. There's one more shot after the break.
Survey: Less than half of touchscreen users prefer touchscreen
Here's a few interesting stats from a survey recently conducted in Europe. These aren't specifically about the iPhone, but given that smartphones relied on buttons almost exclusively before Apple's handheld came along (and nowadays, everyone's bragging about their touchscreen technology), a temperature-taking on what people think of touchscreen controls is more or less a referendum on what people think of Apple's influence. At least in France, Germany and the UK, reactions are mixed. While 38% of those surveyed say they were planning to get a touchscreen on their next mobile phone, only 47% of people who already owned a touchscreen said they would get another one. In other words, less than half of touchscreen owners thought they'd stick with the technology on their next purchase. Apple remains an anomaly -- both HTC and Apple have a higher amount of current customers planning to stick with their touchscreen interface (with the full numbers being released at a conference later this month), but the fact remains: current touchscreen users aren't anywhere near 100% on living button-free forever. Especially as a gamer, that makes a lot of sense. Touchscreens are great for a lot of things -- they allow for limitless flexibility in the kinds of interfaces on offer, and especially with multi-touch, a lot of the controls on the iPhone are extremely intuitive (you automatically know now that pinching equals zooming, and so on). But as nice as touchscreen is, there are a lot of functions on mobile phones, from adjusting volume or changing music tracks on a phone out of sight in your pocket, to hitting exact button controls while twitch gaming, that work much better with tactile feedback. Steve, as he always does, made a big deal about the iPhone being a one-button interface, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see future iterations of the iPhone include either a few more buttons, or, even better, a few more haptic interface technologies.
Pocket steel drums aren't made of steel, aren't really drums (video)
You'd be surprised how many requests we get for more gadgets that help our readers celebrate their love of the Caribbean culture and music. Luckily for us, the kids at Vat19 are now hawking a mini steel drum set that seems like it just might do the trick (that is, if the 'trick' can be 'done' by putting more red, yellow, and green-colored crap on your desk). By all accounts, this thing is pretty unexceptional -- it'll let you bang out an 8 note major scale, let you record your performance, and that's about it. Hell, it doesn't even really sound like steel drums! But the distributor did manage to get it to play Just A Friend by the incomparable Biz Markie -- and in our eyes, that's definitely worth a mention. All the same, we're rather have the Stylophone Beatbox. Yours for $18.95. Video after the break.[Via Engadget German]
3M debuts MPro 120 pocket projector and awesome ad simultaneously
As you may already be aware, we're part of an elite minority who are generally smitten with pocket projectors. Sure, they haven't found their niche of "usefulness" with the wider world, but that doesn't stop them from being cool to us. 3M's just debuted a new one -- the MPro 120 -- a follow-up to the MPro 110. The MPro 120 projects 12 lumens of brightness (with VGA resolution), a 4:3 aspect ratio, and up to 4 hours of battery life. The MPro is currently pre-ordering for a September 10th delivery in the UK, for £260 (about $423). No word on availability in the US, but we are extremely fond of the projector's rather insane ad, which is after the break.[Via Engadget Spanish]
ViewSonic debuts WPG-350 for WiFi video streaming, PJD2121 for portable SVGA projecting
Don't let your instinctual attraction to glossy items fool you. While the PJD2121 pico projector on the right is certainly the shiniest, it's ViewSonic's WPG-350 wireless gateway that we're digging the most. Assuming you've pre-installed the appropriate software onto the pertinent Windows / OS X machine, connect the bridge to a VGA display of some sort, and stream all the 1024 x 768 presentation content you want over 802.11b/g/n WiFi. Sure, it's not HD, but at $199, it's not the worst value, either, and it's still half-lustrous on the top. Looking back at the projector, the little DLP shiner boasts 800 x 600 output, 400 lumens, and a 1,800:1 contrast ratio. A $499 price tag definitely undercuts the Samsung offering we saw yesterday, but it's still way pricey for SVGA. Read - Press release Read - PJD2121 product page Read - WPG-350 product page
Neo Geo mini-arcade consoles fit on a bookshelf, set our hearts a-flutter
We've variously lusted after a number of homebrew stand-up arcade consoles recently, but what about those of us whose free space is better measured in inches than in feet? A gentleman in Spain who calls himself Pocket Lucho has been building Neo Geo mini-consoles for a while now, and has recently demonstrated his latest creation on "the YouTubes" for our viewing pleasure. With the sort of attention to detail that makes these things as attractive as they are playable (including a coin slot and light-up marquee) the devices feature a video out and a second controller input for bringing a friend in on the action. Hit that read link for the detailed step-by-step, but not before peeping those videos after the break. [Via Hack A Day]
Kodak's Zi8 HD pocket camcorder hits the 1080p mark, adds Facebook uploading
The Zi6 is still fairly fresh in our memory banks, but Kodak's already looking ahead with its newly unveiled Zi8 pocket camcorder. The Flip Ultra HD competitor boasts 1080p recording this time around, in addition to usual features like face tracking, image stabilization, a 2.5-inch LCD display, and SD card slot. YouTube uploading is back, and joining it Facebook support, too. It'll be out in September in blue, red, and black colors for just a hair under $180.
BeamBox Evolution R-1 pico available for pre-order, shipping April 1
BeamBox has just announced it's taking pre-orders for the Evolution R-1 pocket projector. If you've forgotten, the R-1 boasts an LCoS chip, with a brightness of 30 lumens, a 200:1 contrast ratio and VGA (640 x 480) resolution. The little guy has up to 4GB of onboard Flash memory, plus a microSD slot. It weighs in at about 175 grams, and will run you £260 (about $364), and is expected to ship on April 1st.
Castrade intros CV-MP02 pocket projector
Castrade, previously known for the CV-MP01 pico (you remember: the one that famously fits inside a wine glass) has just announced the CV-MP02, a larger but still decently small pocket projector. This little guy looks a lot like 3M's MPro 110, but the VGA (640 x 480) projector boasts 10 ANSI lumens, uses an LCoS display, and the use of LCD lamps should reduce heat and sound coming off the projector. It's got two ports (composite and VGA), and uses a lithium-ion battery for about an hour of running time before needing a charge. It's a Japan only release, and will cost ¥35,000 (around $400).
Adapt MPJ-101 pico projector: tiny, cute, available
Go ahead, you can admit it: you're really, really into picos -- the best of us are. Adapt's update to its pocket projector, the MPJ-101 -- which is nearly identical to the previous model -- shouldn't fill us with joy, but it does. This little (125 x 55 x 23 mm) monster's got 1GB of built in memory, an SD slot, and two .5 watt speakers. It projects up to 10 lumens of brightness at a resolution of 640×480 from around 6 to 50 feet. All this excitement doesn't come cheap, though -- expect to shell out about a thousand bucks for this teeny bundle of joy. Oh boy.
VAIO P doesn't have nothin' on these other awesome pocket-friendly PCs
We can't decide what's more hilarious: these pictures, or Sony's attempt to convince us we can fit the VAIO P in a jeans (or Jimmy Fallon's jacket) pocket. Comedy ensues after the break.
Adtec announces two adorable, tiny projectors
With nearly every company (seriously, basically all of them) rolling out a tiny projector, it's getting pretty hard to stand out from the crowd -- and Adtec's two new MP15A Series projectors don't look like they're going to push the envelope in any way. Specwise, they're going to be nearly identical to the rest of the bunch, with 15 ANSI lumens, a 200:1 contrast ratio, and VGA 640 x 480 resolution, and they'll boast an LED lamp with about a 20,000 hour life. The two models -- the 15AW is white, 15AB is black -- will be available in December and January, respectively, but only in Japan. No word on a possible release in other, pico-starved areas of the globe yet. [Via About Projectors]
Kairen's Projector X Pro920M is small, but not impressively so
The tiny projector craze has really been heating up as of late, and the introduction of the Kairen Projector X Pro920M only promises to increase the insanity. Measuring a diminutive 3.5 x 1.73 x 3.15-inches (not nearly as small as some), we hear it's got 10 lumens of brightness, a contrast ratio of 100:1, and a resolution of 640 x 480. The little projector... um, projects a 25-inch image from of a distance of up to 1 meter. It's going to be on sale in January 2009 in Japan for $400, and we can only hope it makes its way to North America at some point. Until that happens, we'll just have to make do in our wasteland of medium-sized projectors.[Thanks, Lenny]
Dell's M109S pocket projector gets itself a ho-hum review
The portable Dell M109S projector which we saw a while back has just been reviewed over at Laptop Magazine. Similar to other pocket projectors, the verdict seems to be that the quality is nothing to explode in excitement over, but is impressive for such a small machine. Laptop praised the projector's LED as one of the "brightest in its class," though they seem disappointed with its non-standard native resolution of 858 x 600. They also laud the simplistic design of the projector, but found the buttons on the box "hard to use," and complained about the lack of remote control capability. Ultimately, they conclude that the size -- not as small as pico projectors, but not large enough to compete with higher-end models -- makes the M109S an awkward middle child. If you want the full rundown, however, hit the read link.
FreeHand puts a pocket on your wrist, L on your forehead
This day and age, there's really no excuse to have too little room in your average pair of cargo shorts for all the gadgets needed in a day. Convergence and shrinking PCBs have left us with do-it-all handhelds that can fit in the rear pockets of size 2 jeans on a size 4 gal, so really, you have exactly zero reasons to actually buy that abomination pictured above. If you must know, the FreeHand is a wearable neoprene pocket that keeps your keys, flash drives, RSA token and chump change within easy reach, and if you're lucky, you may be able to convince the boss it's being worn to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Folks who haven't listened to a word we just said can ignite a Jackson right now -- or spend $19.95 on this, same difference.[Via Coolest-Gadgets]
DS Daily: Pocket-sized?
The original DS Phat, of course, was a veritable brick, fitting only into the baggiest of cargo pants. The redesigned DS Lite was far slimmer, but ever since the Game Boy Advance SP, we've been having trouble seeing it as a truly pocket-sized device. Sure, it fits, but it's hardly comfortable when walking or sitting. Students can use backpacks, girls can use purses, fancy business people can use their sport jackets ... how do you carry your DS Lite, especially when you just want to take it with you without anything else? Our own optimal solution involves a tesseract, but that's neither here nor there. Get it? It's a spatial relativity joke. Never mind.Food for thought?
