twist
Latest
Bluetrek unveils twistable ST1 Bluetooth headphones
It looks like Bluetrek is hopping into the Bluetooth headphone game, and while it faces some stiff competition, the ST1 sports a design entirely more pleasing to the eye than Etymotic's ety8 or Koss' Cobalt. Expected to make a showing at CES, these Korean-bound headphones feature a slim, bendable frame made to fit the heads of runners / commuters without gangly adornments cramping your style. It also boasts a trendy black / snow white color motif, Bluetooth v1.2 support, USB connectivity, operates "about nine hours" before its Li-ion needs recharging, and can supposedly last 400 hours in standby mode. Additionally, the play / pause, track direction, and volume controls are handily included on the earpieces, so you can control your playlists (on supported devices) without ever looking down. While we're not sure how much Bluetrek plans on charging for these snazzy wraparounds, we'll hopefully be getting a listen of our own before too long.[Via Engadget Chinese]
Wiimote prototypes
A recent scan from the Japanese magazine Nikkei Business shows a few of the very early prototype controllers for the Wii. The far left version is certainly closest to the final product, though perhaps more TV remote-like. The lower-right shows a Gamecube-like controller that doubles as a throwing disc for your dog, and the upper-right shows some sort of twist-mechanism device. But the center? What in the world could that have been used for? Certainly, Nintendo's mantra of simplicity is effective, but a one-button wonder could hardly have managed Twilight Princess, we think.After the hundreds of fan-made controllers that were going around the web pre-TGS '05, it's interesting to see what Nintendo themselves were dreaming up. Anyone think of something similar?
Sharp 911SH does one-seg for Softbank
Sharp is showing off a nifty little (if you can call 22 millimeters of thickness "little") one-seg clamshell with a pivoting screen for Softbank customers, the 911SH. The phone apparently looks to displace the outgoing (and similarly-styled) 905SH, though it's not much of an upgrade -- the camera remains unchanged at 2 megapixels, Bluetooth carries over, and the Aquos-branded screen rocks the same 400 x 240 resolution, though it gets upped to 3 inches. The major draws here, then, appear to be the switch from miniSD to microSD expansion (if you can really call that an upgrade) and the availability of seven tasty colors.[Via Mobilewhack]
Nokia's L'Amour Collection adds three, sort of
True, the new 7390 is the first 3G capable phone to grace Nokia's L'Amour series of fashion phones, but other than that, we're not too sure what the fuss is about. The 7360 is being re-announced here, perhaps on account of its new color and design options, and the 7373 seems to be a dead ringer for its older sibling, the 7370, with the exception of a upgraded camera. Nokia is calling "tribal art and ethnic decoration" the inspiration for their latest designs, which will be offered in several colors (for those looking for something slightly, shall we say, less pink) when shipments begin this fall.
Hands-on with Samsung's 3-megapixel SGH-P858
Considering what Samsung has managed to do with 9.9mm, we're struggling to understand how they're just now trying to position the tri-band SGH-P858 as their crown jewel -- all brick-like 26.5mm of it. Nonetheless, it's worthy of a review, and that's just what our counterparts at MobileBurn have undertaken. You might recall mention of the P857 earlier this year, and we're told these phones are functionally identical, which means the 3 megapixel camera carries over -- as does the, uh, pleather coating on the phone's surface. MobileBurn's reaction to the phone is overall a negative one, panning the lack of multitasking support, sluggish microSD access, lack of simultaneous vibrate and ring, and generally exorbitant price tag considering its spec sheet. Check a couple more shots of the P858 doing its thing after the break.
