Hasta La Gadget!

HTC is holding a special event in NYC today at 10 AM, and it’s all but guaranteed that the company will be showing off its latest flagship smartphone, the HTC One. But we managed to get in one last spoiler, thanks to the release of this final press shot found by French site NowhereElse.fr. The image is a much more polished version of previous leaks we’ve seen, showing the HTC One (formerly known as the M7) in all its glory, in both white and black.

The images, which look like something plucked from an HTC official splash page, confirm a lot of what we’ve seen earlier about the device. It’ll have just a home and back hardware button, for instance, and Sense is getting a makeover with what looks like a focus on a live tile style interface that grabs content from your social networks, apps and media libraries. The image also shows we’ll be seeing HTC’s now familiar Beats audio integration on the new handset, reinforces the strongly iPhone 5-like appearance of the case design with its rear top and bottom “windows” and chamfered edges, and gives us a glimpse at how a phone’s camera library might be organized around events. Finally, there appears to be some kind of music player that pulls in photos related to what you’re playing, maybe for docked playback.

The hardware looks attractive, and likely won’t have a removable back battery cover judging by the apparent SIM slot visible on the right-hand edge of the white vertical HTC One. I think we’ll see something much more in the metal and glass style that Apple has popularized, which will be interesting both from the perspective of how using those high-end materials changes an Android device’s appeal, and in terms of what kind of a response, if any, it might provoke from Apple’s legal team.

Here’s a recap of what else we already know about the HTC One from previous leaks: It’ll likely have a 4.7-inch screen capable of 1080p output, making for a massive 468ppi display density, should have a quad-core Snapdragon S4 1.7GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, and a 13 megapixel camera with a 2,300 mAh battery and either 32 or 64GB storage options.

Of course, we won’t have to wait long to find out exactly what is on tap: the event kicks off in just a few hours, and we’ll have coverage of what HTC is unveiling when it goes down. Whatever HTC is showing off, it needs to be a home run to give the company a boost coming out of a disappointing fiscal 2012.

There are your regular pair of reading glasses, and then there are those that definitely boggle the mind with technology thrown into the equation. With the $49.95 Rechargeable LED Reading Glasses, you know for sure that we are talking about the latter, and it works great even if you do not own a reading lamp beside your bed. After all, putting on this pair of Rechargeable LED Reading Glasses would definitely allow you to see better in low light conditions, as it delivers up to 2.5 hours of illumination on a single charge.

You also need not have to weigh down your head with heavy batteries inside the Rechargeable LED Reading Glasses, since they can be juiced up via AC in an hour, of if you prefer, to use USB connectivity courtesy of the included adapters. A couple of LEDs that are mounted at the temples of the frame will be able to project crisp focused light regardless of where you look. The glasses themselves are made from durable hard plastic with scratch-resistant refractive lenses, and each purchase comes with a hard-plastic travel case.

[ Rechargeable LED Reading Glasses copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

With the difficulty my mom and dad have operating basic flip phones, I shudder to think of what they would do if I placed an iPhone or a new Android device in their hands. Many older people out there don’t want complicated, high-end smartphones, they want something that’s simple to use and just makes phone calls. Orange has just such a device for older people from Fujitsu called the Stylistic S01.

While the smartphone is designed with a simple and uncluttered user interface, it does run the Android operating system. It has a four-inch display and is water and dust resistant. Judging by how many times my parents have dropped their devices, being a bit rugged is a good thing. The phone has a number of features specifically designed to make the device easier to use for older people that Fujitsu borrowed from its Raku-Raku series that has been available in Japan for over 10 years.

The screen has a special feature to make it more like using a phone with physical buttons. The screen requires that the user press as hard on the screen as a user would have to push with a physical button. The goal here is to prevent users from accidentally hitting the wrong key. The device also has a strange feature that promises to slow the speech of talkers who are talking too quickly without changing the pitch of their voice or delaying the conversation.

The phone also automatically adjusts audio quality to help users hear better and has a function that adjust the frequency of the sound based on the age the user enters. The device also has a loud personal security alarm to help alert people if you’re in trouble. The smartphone runs Android 4.0 and runs a QUALCOMM MSM8255 1.4 GHz processor. The device has an 8.1-megapixel rear camera and a front camera for video calling. The device will land on Orange in France this June.

[via CNET]

Orange to offer new Fujitsu Stylistic S01 phone for older people is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google has had success in selling its Nexus line of smartphones and tablets. Google’s head of Google+, Vic Gundotra, recently posted a statement on his Google+ page that future Google Nexus devices would have “insanely great cameras.” The statement about insanely great cameras came in response to a question posted by a reader of the page.

The Google exec was talking about what camera equipment to take on a trip other than his Android smartphone and a prototype Google Glass unit. The commenter on the page mentioned something about being able to only take Nexus devices on trips in the future rather than camera gear. Gundotra replied, “We are committed to making Nexus phones insanely great cameras. Just you wait and see.”

The camera hardware in the Nexus 4 isn’t the best according to many users. That particular device has an eight-megapixel digital camera that is decent enough, but not outstanding. Going by Gundotra’s comment, it sounds as if making outstanding cameras for future smartphones is a major goal for Google.

It would certainly be nice to see Google make good on its promise of a smartphone with the camera so good you won’t need to take camera equipment with you. This goal is something that many smartphone manufacturers have been working towards for years and most people still take a digital camera with them if image quality is paramount.

[via TechRadar]

Google exec brags future Nexus devices will have “insanely great cameras” is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This BMW Z4 GTE looks fantastic. This is a purebred BMW racing car designed specifically to participate in the 2013 American Le Mans Series. BMW is replacing its venerable M3 GT with the new Z4 GTE for the racing series.

BMW relied on the M3 GT for four years with success. BMW says the new racecar is considerably more compact than the M3 GT. The dimensions of the Z4 GTE were modified to comply with ACO regulations for the racing series. The Z4 GTE differs from the similar looking Z4 GT3 in that regulations for GTE racing cars do not allow the use of ABS or DSC.

BMW says that the new racing car took to the track for its maiden voyage in the second half of January 2013. BMW Team RLL participated in the development of the vehicle. The car has been in the works since July of 2012 with BMW Motorsport engineers in Munich.

BMW isn’t offering any details on performance, but they certainly expect the vehicle to do well in the American Le Mans Series. The Z4 GTE will participate in endurance races at both Sebring and Road Atlanta according to BMW. Teams driving the new racecar will also have a new tire partner with Michelin providing the tires for BMW vehicles participating in ALMS.

[via BMW]

BMW replaces the M3 GT with the new Z4 GTE in the American Le Mans Series is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.