The LG CF360 (pictured) replaces the LG CU515.
(Credit: LG)
We told you about the LG CF360 yesterday and how its launch was imminent. Well, it just launched, and, indeed, it has all the features we mentioned and even more. These include but are not limited to a 1.3-megapixel …
[Via Android Authority]
Filed under: Cellphones
General Mobile Android-based dual SIM DSTL1 to hit Barcelona originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This is the Android-based, 3-inch Sharp touchscreen, General Mobile DSTL1. And it is everything the T-Mobile isn’t: A stunning design and features combination that may convince regular consumers to choose the Android platform over iPhone.
Seriously, while the T-Mobile G1 leaves me completely in a blah state of mind, DSTL1 actually makes me horny in a “I wish this thing vibrates really hard” kind of way.
Look at it. It’s like the Battlestar Galactica designers took the iPhone design and passed it through their Colony-Design-a-thon, adding angled corners to it but keeping the same black glass, chrome accents, black plastic, circular home button, ear speaker grill, and volume controls. The result is a design which looks extremely familiar to the public, yet adds enough changes to appeal to people who want something cool looking, but different. And with better specs too:
Technology
Double SIM, Linux 2.6 Kernel
Platform
Marvell PXA 310 (624MHz)+NXP 5209
Bands
900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Screen
TFT/ WQVGA/ 260K Colors/ 3.0″ Sharp Brand Touchscreen Display/ 240 x 400 pixels
Wi-fi
802.11 b/g
GPRS
Yes
EDGE
Yes
WAP
Yes, HTTP/WAP2.0 support
MMS
Yes
E-mail
Yes
Bluetooth
Yes / BT 2.0 + EDR, SPP, A2DP, AVRCP, OPP, HFP
FM Radio
Yes
TV
Java
Yes ( MIDP 2.0, CLDC 1.1 )
MP3/MPEG4
Yes/Yes
Face to Face videoconferencing
Yes
Weight
135gr
Dimensions
112 x 54 x 16 mm
Memory
4GB internal memory, 256MB flash + 128MB SDRAM ,”Up to 8GB T-flash Card Support”
Camera
5MP Auto Focus with Flash Sharp Brand Camera
Voice Recorder
Yes
Talk Time
240 minutes
Standby Time
150 hours
Battery
1200 mAh
Accessories
Extra Battery, USB Cable, Earphone, AC Charge Adaptor
Others
Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF document view MP3/ WAV/ MIDI/ AMR support 3GP, MPEG4, AVI (DIVX),QVGA recording 30fps, decoding 30 fps JPG/GIF/BMP/PNG Business card reader support Anti theft support Video chat support
Impressive. Apparently the DSTL1 it will be at Barcelona’s 3GSM in February and I will be there to see if all these features are the real thing and how much this beast will cost. But on paper and renderings, it may be the first phone that would make me drop my iPhone. The only “but” for me: It’s 0.63 inches thick (16mm). Too much of a brick after being used to the ultra-thin iPhone. [General Mobil via Android Authority]
The last time we talked about the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285, it was being hailed as the fastest single-GPU graphics cards on the market. The gang at TweakTown decided to take it two steps further and linked up a trio of them to test. So how synergistic is the tri-SLI set up? Probably not enough to pay well over a grand for everything. Aside from price, you’re also gonna need a overclocked / top-of-the-line CPU to enjoy the triplets, and expect enough heat emanating from your rig to melt Alaska. If you’ve got the many Benjamins lying around and are looking for some serious performance, hit up the read link for a more thorough analysis.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 in tri-SLI reviewed: great performance, not so great price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ever notice that a printer–a multifunction printer in particular–shows up in Windows as five or six different parts? And they seem completely unrelated, too: Launch a scan and it’s as though Windows has no idea you’re already printing. Microsoft aims to unify those features in Windows 7, through Device Stage, a new visual interface that makes it easy to find and launch the tasks you want from your devices on your Windows 7 PC.
Most hardware at present isn’t set up for Device Stage, which requires the manufacturer to create a series of XML files that define functionality and include all those pretty pictures. And no, the camera, phone, printer, monitor, or whatever you currently own probably won’t suddenly grow this extra functionality when you install Windows 7. But the Canon MP980 works with it, out of the box. Simply plug the multifunction printer into your Windows 7 PC; the Device Stage files are located as part of the device driver installation, and load seamlessly in the background. The MP980 doesn’t install a taskbar icon by default, as the Nokia N95 I tested did, but it was easy enough to add: Just open the printer’s window from the Devices and Printers control panel, right-click the window in the taskbar, and select “Pin this program to taskbar.”
More details about this new functionality, after the jump.
(Credit: Panasonic)Call them refreshes, call them line extensions, or simply call them new, Panasonic announced six snapshot cameras Tuesday with a handful of unique features that’ll hopefully have you running with your wallet out to buy one come April.
Joining the two, Lumix FS-series and LS-series cameras announced …
[The rumored device, in all its blurred glory.]
Let’s get what we know so far in order here. First, Amazon’s followup to the first Kindle is largely expected to arrive early this year. Second, Amazon is holding a press event in New York early next month. Third, said event is scheduled for the Morgan Library in midtown Manhattan.
What could this possibly mean? Your guess is as good as ours…
LeapFrog, ever one of the most innovative of today’s tech-toy companies, announced today the release of a new, toddler-sized “book explorer.” Following the success of the Tag Reading System, designed for children ages 4 to 8 years old, the new Tag Junior was created especially for children ages 2 to 4 years old.
Toddlers can use the character-based handheld device to interact with specially-printed board books. The toddler simply touches the base of the Tag Junior anywhere on the page, and can then hear each page read aloud, hear sound effects embedded in the pictures, and listen to music.
Like the Tag Reading System, Tag Junior “reads” with a small infrared camera that recognizes what’s on each page, like letters, words, and symbols. Parents can download audio for each of the nine books in the Tag Junior library using the PC-and-Mac-compatible LeapFrog Connect Application. It’s as easy as managing your MP3s or photo files. Although there are nine available books, the Tag Junior only holds five at a time.
It’s nip-and-tuck time as Amazon’s popular e-book reader is set to get a face lift.
Amazon will host a media event in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City on Feb. 9. The timing and the venue strongly suggest that Amazon will use the event to announce Kindle 2.0, which industry watchers say will likely be a slimmer and better-designed device, aimed at spurring adoption by more mainstream users.
"The holidays are still eight months away, consumer spending is down, and we are in the middle of a recession," says Josh Martin, senior analyst with the Yankee Group. "But if they offer customers a good deal in terms of cost savings, the time may be right."
Kindle is already a sleeper hit. It launched in November 2007, more than a decade after the first e-book readers, and more than a year after the launch of Sony’s critically acclaimed Reader, from which the Kindle borrowed an extremely legible E-Ink display. Kindle was widely panned by critics for its fugly, plasticky white looks, but heavy promotion on Amazon.com, plus an endorsement by Oprah, helped give it legitimacy — and the e-books business, too. Although Amazon has never released sales figures for the reader, the company has said that it was frequently one of the best-selling consumer electronics devices in its extensive catalog.
The Kindle has been sold out on the Amazon website, through which it is retails exclusively, for weeks now. Amazon declined to comment on the upcoming event or its plans for the next-generation Kindle.
For months now, analysts and bloggers have been speculating about a redesigned Kindle. Kindle 2.0 could be slimmer, have a better screen and be higher on the style quotient, all at a lower price.
"They have a whole bunch of user interface things they need to fix in the Kindle," says James McQuivey, principal analyst with the Forrester Group. "Beyond that, people are looking for improvements in the screen, size and speed."
A new redesigned device could just be what Kindle needs to bulldoze its way into America’s heartland. Kindle got a boost ahead of the holidays with daytime-television queen Oprah Winfrey calling it her "favorite new gadget" but it is still not a common sight on subways and buses.
Kindle 2.0, when it releases, will offer a clearer look into Amazon’s strategy for the book market. The company could target the academic text and business books market and go for a larger screen device or just create a smaller, sleeker second-generation version of its current model, says McQuivey.
"You are looking at two distinct markets here," he says.
Meanwhile, competition for Kindle is heating up as newer entrants take a shot at the business. Plastic Logic, a new startup showed a prototype of its sleek, 8.5-inch e-book and newspaper reader at the DEMO conference last year. Plastic Logic gained laurels for its sleek and well-designed reader and has said it hopes to launch its e-reader later this year.
Ultimately what Kindle’s success proves, say analysts, is that while beautifully designed gadgets or innovative new ideas may get the buzz, all consumers want is a device that does the job well.
"Looks matter when there are a number of alternatives out there," says McQuivey. "But even a poorly designed product that is functional will sell well as long as it is functional."
Photo: Kindle (txkimmers/Flickr)
It’s always fun to root for the little guy, but more importantly, it’s fun to root for the $200 unlocked Android phone with 3G, right? It wasn’t clear what would become of Ruslan Kogan’s dream of building his own Android set after Google apparently told him the Agora’s design wasn’t such a good idea, but let’s be honest: the dude probably didn’t build his Australian off-brand electronics empire by giving up every time he hit a bump in the road. We talked to Ruslan today to confirm reports that there’s a new model in the works, and he assured us that his company is “certainly in the process of redesigning and launch [sic] the improved Kogan Agora” — which presumably means he’ll be putting a phone onto the market that’ll overcome the app compatibility issues that kept the original model from shipping this month. We don’t have a timeframe yet, but considering how quickly he was able to pump out the first draft, we wouldn’t be surprised to see something within a handful of months.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Back to the drawing board: Kogan working on a redesigned Agora originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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