Gadget Quake

Sprint’s Samsung Instinct and Treo 800w: will you be a customer?

Gadget — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:04:39 +0000

The cell phone market is a busy one and today nearly everyone has a cell phone, from your children to the oldest person in your family. Technology is really moving ahead and the biggest brands are launching high-end handsets full of the best gadgets, this means you got to be extra good to attract consumers. It’s been reported that Sprint has lost many customers for different reasons but now we see two new phones hoping to get users back.

The Sprint Samsung Instinct and Treo 800w could help bring people back to Sprint; will you keep being a customer or become a new customer thanks to these two phones on Sprint?

Today we are hearing that the Sprint Treo 800w will be released a week before many previous rumors, the date is said to be July 13th. The Treo 800w features Live Search for Windows Mobile, Built-in GPS functionality that will allow points of interests searching and mapping, WIFI, EVDO Rev A data speeds and Windows Mobile 6.1. The unsubsidized price is well over $500, making this phone far from cheap unless you get a good deal.

The Samsung Instinct seems to be the popular of the two phones and has even been matched up to the 3G iPhone, the phone features a 3.5mm headset jack that means you can connect headphones without the need for any adapters, the Web browser is excellent and has some cool browsing features.

The call quality and navigation is very good but on the downside you get no tethered modem support, onboard memory is lacking and the Samsung Instinct has no IM client, which is a great feature in this day and age of keeping in touch with Wi-Fi.

The Instinct was released this month for $230; you can see the full features on both these phones on Phones Review.

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Very Thin Laptops: HP Voodoo silicon, MacBook Air & ThinkPad X300

Gadget — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:02:08 +0000

When looking at all the latest thin laptops you will be forgiven for thinking that they look almost the same, the main three are the HP Voodoo Envy, Apple MacBook Air and the ThinkPad X300. Yes they are all thin, but it is not just in looks where they are the same, when you look inside there are many more common features. When it comes to the processing power, the Hewlett-Packard Voodoo silicon shares the same one used in the MacBook Air, this is the low-power Intel SP7700 and SP7500.

Don’t try looking for these processors on any price list from Intel; these CPU’s were designed especially for the MacBook Air. The processors have a thermal envelope of just 20 watts at 1.8GHz and 1.6GHz, CPU’s which run at those speeds usually have a power rating of 35 watts. The ThinkPad X300 uses a different processor, an Intel SL7100. This CPU still comes in a small package, but has a lower clock speed of just 1.2GHz and only uses 12 watts of power.

One thing that we notice about these CPU’s is the fact that they are the older 65-nanometer “Merom” processors, we would have thought that they would have used the newer 45-nanometer Penryn generation. There are rumours of an upgrade of these processors coming, which will be able to fit into these slim notebooks.

There are also a number of other similarities with these laptops; all three use the Intel X3100 integrated graphics as well as offering a choice of 80GB hard disk drive (4200RPM) or a 64GB solid state drive. One thing is certain about the HP Voodoo silicon, MacBook Air & ThinkPad X300; they are the future in laptops.

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T-Mobile launches $49 Samsung T339 for HotSpot@Home

Gadget — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:57:59 +0000

T-Mobile have been committed at launching cell phones that support their innovative wireless service HotSpot@Home, and a year on they now launch a new cheap handset called the Samsung T339. This phone will cost $49 with a 2-year agreement and although its features are nothing special, you can get a lot of free calling.

The Samsung T339 features up to 11 days standby time and up to 6 hours talk time, it weighs 3.3 ounces, measures 1.8 x 3.6 x 0.8 inches, the phone book stores names and numbers for easy retrieval and dialing, speakerphone gives you convenient talking with no hands and the music player lets you play your favorite music wherever you are. You can use Caller ID pictures to see who is calling, Bluetooth for computer connections and stereo headsets and a 1.3 Megapixel camera.

The Wi-Fi and Mobile Calling is where this cell phone really shines, with this feature from T-Mobile you can use a T-Mobile HotSpot@Home wireless router for making unlimited nationwide calls over Wi-Fi. The wireless network calling is not just for home; you can also use any U.S. T-Mobile HotSpot.

T-Mobile has build a large portfolio of handsets to support the HotSpot@Home wireless service, the Samsung T339 is one of the more basic handsets in this range. The benefit of these phones is mainly taking advantage of unlimited nationwide calling.

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ECS A780GM-A 780G Motherboard: not same level as GIGABYTE and ASUS

Gadget — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:43:43 +0000

This is the ECS A780GM-A 780G Motherboard and although it’s not on the same level as GIGABYTE and ASUS, ECS are still producing some impressive boards. While it does run equal in performance to the 790FX, its feature set leaves a bit to be desired. Given the lack of digital features, this board best serves in the mid-range to value oriented market.

Tweak Town have given this board a review and covered the results over 16 pages, in their final thoughts they said “AMD’s Phenom platform in its current state is definitely not going to push Intel off any performance crown, not until AMD is able to increase its clock speeds from its current stand point of 2.5GHz. While it’s not a monster performer, it’s a definite choice for a power conscious gamer that just wants a good all round system without burning a hole in their wallet.

So far the boards for the Phenom range are starting to finally emerge, and ECS has done a fantastic job on its 780G installment. It is fast, supports all the Phenom processors and has a reasonable array of features.

However, there are a few issues we have. First off, the lack of BIOS overclocking rules it out for hardcore users, or even the average tweaker. There are no dividers to control the CPU FID or the Hyper Transport link speeds, making it virtually impossible to get any real speed out of the system. Next is the feature set; missing FireWire means that if you have any FireWire devices (I know I have at least three) you’re going to have to get a separate controller. This should be a standard feature on every digital home board these days.”

Read the 16 page hands-on review.

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3G Apple iPhone: more details revealed

Gadget — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:13:19 +0000

When the first Apple iPhone was released it was the hottest handset on the market, and no one could stop talking about it. Well now there is the new 3G version which will be coming on the market very soon, and once again this is the hottest handset, one that everybody wants to know about. As yet we do not know much about the new updated Apple iPhone, we do know that it will be a 3G version, but the rest are just rumors or speculation.

Here we have yet another few rumors just to wet your appetite, the first is that it will be lighter, also the ultimate handset will come in a choice of other colors, however it is not sure if the other colors will be released as soon as the new 3G handset comes out. As always the phone will be centred on the multimedia aspect, the handset will come with better video recording as well as video conferencing.

Pricing rumors say that the 16GB version will cost $499 and the 32GB should cost about $699, ok the price is a little steep, but maybe that might come down a bit. As we know the new 3G Apple iPhone will use the same screen and resolution, the recessed headphone jack will now be a standard one. The 3G is able to be switched of and use the standard 2G.

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AMD only partner Sapphire with Radeon HD 3870 Ultimate Edition

Gadget — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:11:57 +0000

AMD only partner Sapphire release another stand-out graphics card with the Radeon HD 3870 Ultimate Edition, the cooler is top notch quality and the performance is still nothing to sneeze at, but with all good products…getting your hands on one will be the problem.

If you’re looking for a HD 3870 with something unique, then Sapphire’s passively cooled Radeon HD 3870 Ultimate Edition could be what you want. Tweak Town have given this card a full hands-on review and covered the results over 17 pages, in their final thoughts they had this to say “I really am quite a fan of the Sapphire HD 3870 Ultimate; the design of the cooling is excellent and hopefully they do something similar come launch of the 4K series of cards from AMD.

The HD 3870 is still a very capable card, and with the popularity of the Intel chipset Crossfire is a more likely dual GPU setup then SLI. You do have to feel a bit sorry for Sapphire; with AMD being so slow in the market at the moment, a company like Sapphire who makes some excellent products hasn’t really been able to shine. Fingers crossed that this all changes when the 4K series of cards start appearing later this month.

The only real problem with the Sapphire HD 3870 Ultimate; its kind of funny because it doesn’t really seem to show up much in the retail channel. The chances are that Sapphire got a bit bored waiting for new models to come out so they decided to do something different with the current line-up.

The HD 3870 continues to be a great card, but it’s probably something worth picking up second hand these days instead of being a brand new purchase. If you could hunt down the Ultimate version from Sapphire, we would say go for it. Silent performance is always a great feature.”

Read the 17 page review.

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Hands-on: XXX Alpha Dog GeForce 9600GT Graphics Card from XFX

Gadget — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:22:50 +0000

This is the XXX Alpha Dog GeForce 9600GT graphics card from XFX, it’s fast and offers an awesome bundle. The only problem would be justifying the high cost of this card. XFX have not released a product in a while and now they are back with a 9600GT and this model is far from ordinary, you can put this version of the 9600GT at the top of its class.

Tweak town have given the Alpha Dog GeForce 9600GT a hands-on review and covered the results over 17 pages, in their final thoughts they said, “The 9600GT from XFX is nothing short of blistering fast. It’s really able to nip at the heels of the more expensive 8800GT 1GB most of the time. Performance is what this card is all about and it does a damn good job at it. What’s also surprising is the impressive bundle; with a full version copy of Company of Heroes and a few extra goodies it really does stand out from the pack.

Not everything is perfect with the card though; the aftermarket cooler is loud and doesn’t cool as well as the stock ones. If XFX wanted to stay with a single slot design, we probably would have opted to stay with the reference cooler which is pretty good.

The other downfall to the product is the price; it’s one of the most expensive 9600GT cards on the market. Only you will be able to justify the cost to performance. For the price, you’re entering the realm of 512MB 8800GTs with stock clocks.

There’s no doubt however that if you’re looking for the fastest 9600GT on the market, this is the card to get. We do wonder though that at this price point your money may possibly be better spent on a different model.”

Read the 17 page hands-on review.

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First ever Blu-Ray record Divertimenti released is Norwegian? Trondheimsolistene the Trondheim soloists

Gadget — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:20:31 +0000

The latest news in the way of Blu-ray is that of Norwegian record label 2L releasing the first ever in the world a Blu-Ray record, oh and it’s Norwegian. “Divertimenti” is a milestone in many ways and it’s the 50th record release which marks the 20th anniversary of the Trondheim soloist whose concert in Selbu Church is captured on “Divertimenti.”

It is a label that is always at the forefront technologically, 2L (Linberg Lyd) found the occasion right to make “Divertimenti” a milestone also in format. Moving onto the Blu-ray technology, it makes use of five separate sound tracks which are complex indeed with a mixture of complex recording and mixing process which as been condition by very sophisticated equipment, 2L has cooperated with equipment manufacturers and the record now available is the fruit of a combined effort opening up new vistas of sound rendition. This is something special that is nothing you have ever heard before.

You will hear that each instrument has been clearly positioned which creates a multidimensional listening experience of stunning clarity and obviously with many not having the proper equipment to play Blu-ray discs you will never hear the clarity, this new release also includes a SACD disc, playable on all standard CD players and computers. Trondheimsolistene known as the Trondheim soloists is said to be one or the finest orchestras in Norway and under the leadership of Øyvind Gimse they have developed something special into an ensemble of international renown, and undertaken successful tours all over Europe, in America, Japan and Brazil.

The repertoire on “Divertimenti” is as follows: Bejamnin Britten: Simple Symphony,
Grazyna Bacewicz: Concerto for string orchestra, Terje Bjørklund: Carmina and Béla Bartók: Divertimento for strings.

You can see the PDF file here

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Side by Side: HTC Touch Diamond, 3G iPhone and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Gadget — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:39:53 +0000

All the brands are producing cell phones with the latest technology and gadgets, with each new major release of the brands latest design it comes with fancy features that we all want and 2008 is shaping up to be the best year yet for cool phones.

This year will be a major battle between the big names in the phone business and three of the biggest phones would be the HTC Touch Diamond, Apple 3G iPhone and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. For the first time ever, you can see these phones side by side. Check out the photo above and the ones below to get a comparison of design between these phones and feel free to share your comment on your favorite.

What phone will you choose to be in your pocket in 2008?

The photos give a design comparison side by side, on top of each other (nothing like getting close), and on their own. Personally I still prefer the Apple iPhone for style and design, the HTC Touch just seems too square for my liking and the Xperia X1 has a Nokia N95 look to it, which I dislike.

When comes to flush lines, you cannot beat the iPhone in my opinion, but I am sure some users are dedicated to another brand. If you do find it a tough choice when upgrading your cell phone this year, then why not dig deep and buy all three…well at least it’s a dream.

When buying a new phone, what’s more important to you, the style and design or features of that phone?

See the full features and photos of them on their own, visit Phones Review

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Dell Mini Inspiron First Look: like Asus Eee and HP 2133

Gadget — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:36:11 +0000

Its great when we get to see a new product in the wild and today we are hearing that Michael Dell bumped into the Gizmodo Staff at All Things D, now that might be good for them but what’s good for the gadget loving world is what photos they have shown us. Michael briefly showed them the laptop he was carrying, as you can see in the photos it’s much like the HP 2133 and Asus Eee.

This is a first look at this laptop and its never been seen before Michael Dell showed it, he confirmed that it’s a “low-cost notebook meant for developing countries” and it could be a Dell Mini Inspiron, although we have no official name yet.

Currently we have no word on pricing or what OS it’s running, but we do know this Mini Dell Inspiron does have Ethernet, VGA out, a card reader, three USB ports and that bright red shell. The screen size is anyone’s guess and it would be interesting when we find out the exact size as this determines which other UMPC’s it will compete with. This new mini Dell laptop will certainly be in competition with HP 2133 and Asus Eee PC. The photo below is one that was released after they saw the laptop.

It’s great to see more companies producing cheaper laptops for developing countries, there are some really great minds in these countries and we need to help them get connected with the rest of the world. What do you think of this new UMPC and it’s position in the market place?

Source: Read

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