Hasta La Gadget!

The iPhone 3GS during a talk time test. The "Watchmen" DVD is merely there to simulate a user holding the phone to their ear, thereby shutting off the screen. Music from the Zune is being played through both phone mics.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CNET)

Last year I had a bone to pick with Apple for not including a call duration feature on the iPhone. Not a big deal to most people I’m sure; however, when it comes to testing talk time here in CNET Labs, I can’t think of a more useful feature.

With last year’s iPhone 3G, I was able to circumvent this inconvenience by tracking the phone’s “Time since last full charge” duration. This number, as you might have guessed, tells you the amount of time that’s passed since the phone was last fully charged. So, all I had to do was charge the phone fully, start the test, wait until the battery died, plug it back in, and check that number.

This worked fine last year, but with the current round of iPhone 3G and 3GS testing, I’m getting extremely varied results–so varied, in fact, that I can no longer trust this method.

No matter, though, since the latest iPhone OS 3.0 added a call duration feature. I figured I’d just set up the talk time test–which involves taping earbuds from a MP3 player to the mic of the iPhone and a landline phone, calling the landline phone, and waiting for the battery to die. Then I’d come back several hours later and have delicious results waiting for me (kind of like an iPhone-testing-results Crock-Pot).

Once again, I’m slapped back to reality as, unfortunately, the couple of times I’ve tried using the call duration feature on the 3G and 3GS I’ve had little luck. Apparently, if the phone’s battery dies in the middle of a call, the duration of that call isn’t saved on the phone.–yet another roadblock.

…

We’ve held onto our hats for quite awhile waiting for this day to come, but at long last, Viliv is dishing out the final specification lists and prices for its remarkably striking S7 UMPC. First shown way back at IDF 2008 as a prototype, this QWERTY-packin’ machine has matured quite nicely over the months, with a trio of models on tap to showcase its mobile prowess. The entry-level I-LOG HX is equipped with a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, a battery good for 9.5 hours of use and Windows XP, while the mid-range I-LOG 3X steps up to a 32GB SSD. The flagship D-LOG 3X even gets an internal DMB TV tuner, while WiBro (South Korea’s WiMAX) is an option on all three. We expect the 7-inch device — which is priced at ₩729,000 ($572), ₩799,000 ($628) and ₩849,000 ($666) in order of mention — to ship in its homeland soon, though no official release date has been made public.

[Via SlashGear]

Update: jkkmobile has it that international versions could feature processors as speedy as 2GHz along with Vista and a free upgrade to Windows 7.

Filed under: Handhelds

Viliv S7 UMPC gets final pricing and specifications originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m extremely tempted to pre-order this USB-powered chainsaw, just to see what my $60 will buy me. The i-Saw product page is a master-class in deadpan, explaining in straight-faced detail everything from the USB 2.0 compatibility to the precision engineered chain itself, with a lot of guff in between:

Current materials used on bodies of chainsaws are too heavy for office use. Lighter materials, however, could cause the vertical axis of the guide bar to shift when pressure is applied onto the saw chain. Research and development introduced several innovations to offer an optimal blend of tough plastic and lightweight alloy.

Everything explained, that is, except the power chain. Other than the fact that the saw has “patent-pending technology” which “allows for an unparalleled distribution of power,” we have no idea how a five-volt trickle is turned into the Ikea-chair shredding torrent of destruction shown in the video. We have the feeling that the “i-Saw” may just be a real chainsaw with a USB cable glued to the side, although we hope, desperately, that we are wrong. Shipping September.

Product page [USB Chainsaw. Thanks, Shawn!]

This wall mounted charging dock, made from an old shampoo bottle, is so very simple that you probably don’t need instructions on how to make it. In fact, the hardest part is probably remembering not the throw the empty bottle away when the soap finally runs out.

But simple is, in this case, good, and I shall be fashioning one myself to hold both cellphones and battery chargers. What you can’t see in the picture is the group of three holes which slide over the prongs of the plug to keep it in place.

Should you find it difficult to imagine, you can head over to Make where there are step-by-step instructions, as well as a link to a commercial version, which all of our DIY-hating readers can click instead of leaving a comment.

Make: Projects – Outlet-mount device charging pocket [Make via Lifehacker]

Look, it’s not like Apple’s iPhone 3GS is really equipped with the necessary hardware to shoot your next feature film, but given the high-profile nature of the device, it’s no surprise to see a veritable cornucopia of video mounts making their way onto the scene. Just weeks after a completely over-the-top shoulder mount emerged, we’ve now got a pair of handheld grips ready for the amateur crowd. Both Zacuto’s ZGrip iPhone Pro and OWLE’s BUBO are designed to steady one’s shot when capturing clips with Apple’s freshest handset, though we tend to prefer the dual grip design of the latter. Hit the read links below for more information on each, and jump past the break if you’re looking for samples to absorb before you buy. Oh, and yes — both are guaranteed to draw unwanted stares and cause intense embarrassment when used.

Read – Zacuto’s ZGrip iPhone Pro [Via TUAW]
Read – OWLE BUBO [Via iClarified]

Continue reading Apple’s iPhone 3GS gets two more handheld video mounts

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

Apple’s iPhone 3GS gets two more handheld video mounts originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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