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Lenovo's IdeaPad S9 Lite gets a site, more specs, and discounted pricing... in Hong Kong
If you've been making a mess of the floor (you know, with drool) waiting for Lenovo's IdeaPad S9 netbook to come flying in your direction, here's a little something to further whet your appetite. A "Lite" version of the device appears to have gotten official pricing, specs, a site, and apparently a deal if you buy three at once (at least in Hong Kong). The diminutive laptop will feature that Intel N270 Atom CPU (at 1.6GHz) we've already heard about, an 8.9-inch SWVGA display, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD, and will apparently utilize a Linux build. That last point is of note as this model was previously believed to be carrying around an install of Windows XP. The new literature also suggests that the S9 (and presumably the S10) will pack a multi-touch trackpad, and be available in white, red, or pink. The S9 Lite will be launched next month, and prices run from HKD 2,899 (about $371) for a single model down to HKD 1,933 ($247) if you pick up three at once. And hey, who doesn't need three small laptops?[Thanks, Joe; Via UMPC Fever]
Lenovo's 8.9-inch S9 netbook is not for you
We mentioned it briefly the other day, but just so we're clear: Lenovo's S10 (pictured) won't be alone this fall. The company is also pushing out an 8.9-inch version for a few non-US markets, and dubbing it the S9. According to Digitimes, the S9 will be running an 8GB SSD instead of the 80GB HDD of its big brother, but specs otherwise will be pretty much the same. The laptop should retail for 12,900 Taiwan dollars, about $420 US (though we can't really rely on a straight exchange rate for this), but a decent bit cheaper than the 17,900 Taiwan dollar S10.[Via TG Daily]
Motorola gets into biometrics, touch control with new patents
What do you do as a handset maker when your design team can't get past one product design? You turn to new and strange patents and hope nobody notices your flagging product line, of course. Motorola has decided that monitoring vital signs via a Bluetooth headset and watch-like device combo and a new iteration of its S9 headset is where it's at. The headset -- and watch? -- will apparently gather data like heart rate, body temperature, and such, zap it to your headset and on to a server for further processing. The S9 seems to be mostly unchanged save for some touch control panels for adjusting volume, answering calls, and wandering through your tunes. Not sure if we'll ever see the first of these in any real world application, but we expect the new MOTOACTV S9 headset will appear at some point.
Hands-on with Motorola's S9-HD stereo Bluetooth headset
As mentioned a couple days ago, Motorola pushed out a pretty minor revision to its S9 stereo Bluetooth wraparound headset. We bumped into one while wandering the booth and snapped a few pics of it before it wandered away. First impressions -- without actually using it, cause, that's kinda gross -- are that physically, it looks just about identical to the previous effort with the small exception of the minor visible changes to the buds.%Gallery-13231%
Motorola sets ears on fire with S9-HD Bluetooth stereo headset
Motorola launched a slick headset today as a follow up to the original MOTOACTV S9 we saw this time last year. Form looks unchanged on this outing, but Moto has opted to add high-definition sound with SRS WOW HD and fixed the issue we had with background noise by improving the earbuds. Battery life is touted as 6 hours of play time on a single charge -- but of course your mileage will vary -- and weighs in at a measly one ounce. If you've been looking to upgrade your current sweat damaged S9 set, this may well be a worthy upgrade for you.
Motorola and ARIA release MOTOROKR Z6 DUO ARIA Edition
What's better than the music-centric MOTOROKR Z6 slider you ask? One that is brought to you in conjunction with the Australian Recording Industry Association -- think RIAA, but Australia's version -- of course. Released exclusively through Crazy John's on a minimum plan of AUD $35 over 24 months (that's AUD $840), this fella definitely doesn't come cheap. Included as pack-ins are the MOTOROKR S9 Bluetooth stereo headphones, a 1GB memory card, and a $25 ringtone and wallpaper pack. The impetus behind this partnership -- other than to collect info about all your stolen music and get you busted (wink, wink) -- is to give Z6 owners direct access to ARIA's music chart from their handset and hopefully give Moto's flagging sales performance a much needed boost. Nice handset, nice headset, but these two may make strange bedfellows -- at least in the public's eyes -- if the ARIA is as unpopular as the RIAA is over here.[Via mocoNews]
Hands-on with Motorola's MOTOACTV S9!
Why hasn't stereo Bluetooth become ubiquitous? The promise of cutting the wire from the player to the ears sounds seductive enough, but for a variety of reasons -- poor support and lack of quality product chief among them -- the technology has failed to catch on en masse with the listening public. When we first saw the S9 debut at CES last month, we've gotta confess, we were less than enthused; we figured we were in for more of the same awkwardness that has plagued A2DP peripherals to date. To be blunt, it looked big, heavy, awkward, and altogether a little uncomfortable. A month later, we're delighted to report that we're eating those words right up.
Motorola RIZR being given way at the Oscars
Maybe our good friend Boy Genius has a crystal ball to see into the future or maybe he just has all the right connections, but either way he's on point again. Motorola announced that they will be giving a customized MOTORIZR Z3 to the top 25 nominees from this years Oscar awards. As it turns out, the winners of the soon-to-be released (stateside) slider will come in a custom made box with the nominees name on it along with H800 and S9 Bluetooth headsets. Now, if the nominees were getting that svelte Z6 slider we've been talking about, we might just have to make a move for one of them.
Motorola's MOTOACTV S9 Bluetooth headset
Introduced at Ed Zander's CES keynote, Moto is positioning the A2DP-compliant MOTOACTV S9 as a shout out to the athletes (and fitness freaks, and... uh, pretty much anyone that works out once in a while) by making it fairly robust -- by wireless headset standards, anyway -- while phone controls and a mic will let you take that critical call without getting off the Stairmaster. The inner part of the device seems to be available in black or red, though the outside (that is, the only part others will see) will only come in black when it rolls deep later this half. Click on for live pics!
Nikon Coolpix S9 compact reviewed
The digicam-happy folks at Digital Camera Review recently got a chance to give Nikon's Coolpix S9 compact digital camera a thorough going over, finding it fairly well-suited to those looking for a simple, inexpensive camera, but obviously not intended for more demanding photogs. The camera itself packs a 6.1 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, and 2.5-inch LCD into a compact 3.6 x 2.3 x 0.8-inch, all-metal package, though it lacks the WiFi connectivity of some of its Coolpix brethren. Performance-wise, the S9 came through with generally good image quality, though Digital Camera Review found the reds a little to orangey for their taste. They were also disappointed with the cam's lackluster battery life (enough for about 100 shots) and surprisingly noisy zoom motor, as well as lack of manual exposure controls. At least it won't put too much hurt on the old bank account, retailing for $250 with a number of retailers already offering it for closer to the $200 mark.
Nikon intros five new Coolpix models
With the Photokina trade show just around around the corner, we've been expecting an onslaught of cameras, and Nikon today proved that its no slouch; the venerable manufacturer has introduced a total of five new members to its lineup of Coolpix consumer cams. We'll start out with the S7c, a compact 7.1 megapixel shooter highlighted by a huge 3-inch LCD, maximum ISO of 1600, and like the previous P3 and S6, that sweet WiFi radio for wirelessly sending your winning shots over the internet (including through email). You're also getting 30fps VGA movie capabilities (with sound), electronic image stabilization, 14MB of internal memory, but as usual, only a 3x optical zoom. Keep on reading for pics and deets on the rest of the new Coolpix posse...Update: Oh, and did we mention T-Mobile Hotspot users will also be able to use the S7c with their WiFi account using at Coolpix Connect feature? Because they can. Not bad.
