Hasta La Gadget!

Bluetooth headset maker BlueAnt is here at CES, showing off their newest model: the Q1, which rolls together voice control, noise cancellation and a sleek design to try to knock Aliph’s New Jawbone off its pedestal as the top Bluetooth headset in the US.

The Q1 uses both mechanical and digital noise cancellation to knock out wind and road noise. It’s BlueAnt’s first headset to use both methods of noise cancellation, company spokeswoman Lauren Sell said.

The Q1 also includes the built-in voice commands that we first saw on BlueAnt’s V1, which essentially adds voice dialing to phones that don’t have it already. The headset has about 4 hours of talk time and 120 hours standby on a charge, according to BlueAnt.

The BlueAnt Q1 will cost $129.95 when it comes out in the second quarter of this year.

For PCMag’s full CES coverage, go to http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,2235882,00.asp.

HP’s doing it, Dell’s doing it — heck, everyone is pumping out 13.3-inch laptops these days, so it’s quite refreshing to see Gateway finally joining the fray. The UC Series is getting birthed today with the introduction of the UC Series notebook, a 5.2-pound ultraportable that packs a Core 2 Duo / Pentium dual-core CPU, 1,280 x 800 resolution panel, ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 graphics (switchable to GMA 4500MHD), 160/250/320GB SATA hard drive choices, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 4-in-1 multicard reader and support for a slot-loading DVD / Blu-ray burner. You’ll also find the usual 1.3-megapixel camera, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Ethernet, built-in speakers, three USB 2.0 ports, VGA out, audio in / out, a 6-cell Li-ion battery and an HDMI 1.3 connector for good measure. It’s slated to start shipping this month for a completely reasonable $799.99, though we imagine the nicer configurations will look a lot uglier in terms of value. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Gateway’s UC Series contains its first 13.3-inch notebook

Filed under: CES, Laptops

Gateway’s UC Series contains its first 13.3-inch notebook originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

We haven’t heard much from SPOT since its Messenger was initially launched in August of 2007, but the personal tracker is finally seeing an update courtesy of some swank new functionality. Announced here at CES, SPOT Assist is meant to provide GPS-based roadside assistance, a first for a portable device such as this. Users who purchase the upgrade will be able to slam the above pictured Help button in order to receive roadside (or jungle-side, as the case may be) service around the clock in the continental United States (and Canada later this Spring). SPOT even notes that OnStar relies on positioning data received through cellular networks, though a bona fide GPS lock should provide a much more accurate indication of your true location. The Messenger is currently selling for $169.99, while SPOT Assist service will run $129 per year; full release is past the break.

Continue reading SPOT Assist brings GPS-based roadside assistance to Messenger

Filed under: CES, GPS

SPOT Assist brings GPS-based roadside assistance to Messenger originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ah, ha! Now we’re cooking with gas. iriver teased us here at CES with a few ho hum offerings, but the real punch comes courtesy of its new networked line of devices. The outfit is getting super official with its long (long!) awaited W10 WAVE WiFi phone, which will boast a 3-inch WQVGA (480 x 272) touchscreen, 4GB of NAND memory, USB 3.0 connectivity, an FM radio module, web browser and all the usual cellphone amenities. Moving on, we’ve got the P35 PMP, which brings with it a 4.3-inch WQVGA touch panel, the outfit’s SPINN platform, built-in mic / speaker, TV output, 16GB of storage, a microSD slot, USB 2.0, WiFi, DMB mobile TV (in certain regions) and support for basically every file format imaginable. Lastly, we’ve got the totally intriguing D50N Multimedia Networking Device. The MID-like unit serves primarily to surf the web and facilitate IM conversations, as it touts a 4.8-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard, 16GB of NAND Flash and an e-dictionary (among other things). Pricing / availability have yet to be announced, but all the other juicy details are just beyond the break.

Continue reading iriver gets proper with WAVE WiFi phone, D50N PMP and P35 MID

Filed under: Cellphones, CES, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Networking

iriver gets proper with WAVE WiFi phone, D50N PMP and P35 MID originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

We just spent some quality time playing with GiiNii’s Movit Mini WiFi Android tablet, which might be one of the best things we’ve seen at CES so far — think of it as the Android version of the iPod touch and you’ll get why we’re so stoked. The unit features a 4.3-inch, 480 x 272 resistive touchscreen (sigh), and it’s got a soft keyboard for text entry — they couldn’t tell us if it’s running Cupcake or not, but the keyboard worked just fine as we were playing with it. A built-in mic and front-facing camera lend themselves to out-of-the-box Skype support, there’s also Bluetooth and a built-in speaker. Sadly, there’s only 256MB of internal storage, but there’s an microSD slot for expansion. All we got for pricing was “less than the iPod touch” — we’ll see how close GiiNii gets when this guy and the planned 7-inch Movit Maxx hit sometime in the middle of the year.

Filed under: Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

GiiNii’s Movit Mini WiFi Android tablet hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments