Hasta La Gadget!

Nova Mobile seems to have been churning out a series of incremental upgrades to its original SideArm UMPC for a good long while now, but the company looks to be making a fresh start at CES, where it is set to debut the all new Side Arm 2. Like the original, this one is a fully ruggedized device, and includes a 7-inch touchscreen display, a full QWERTY keypad, an unspecified Atom processor, built-in GPS, a promised 10+ hours of battery life, and a wide range of configuration options, including SSD drives up to 64GB and optional 3G connectivity, to name a couple (WiMAX is apparently also on tap for Q2). No word on a price just yet, but you can be sure that Nova Mobile isn’t going after a piece of the netbook market with this one.

Filed under: Handhelds

Nova Mobile debuts rugged SideArm 2 UMPC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Olympus announced a number of new cameras this week — at least nine, by our count — with models that’ll attract those with finer tastes, frugal minds, and everything in between, which are all launching before March. First up, for the little espionage in training, we’ve got the Ultra Zoom SP-590UZ, a 10 megapixel behemoth with a 26x zoom lens and 5x digital zoom for up to 130x zoom in all. It can record RAW files and will shoot 10 frames per second in three megapixel mode. No price mentioned — for any of these cameras, actually — and according to the presser, it’s set to launch in March. There’s also the 10 megapixel Stylus 550WP that’s water-resistant up to three meters and is coming February in crystal blue, pure white and midnight black. Olympus is touting the Stylus 9000 as the smallest 10x zoom / 12 megapixel camera on market and is debuting in February along with a similarly-spec’d 7000 (pictured) with 7x zoom, while a 5x zoom variant is due out mid-January. The 10 megapixel TOUGH-6000 and 12 megapixel TOUGH-8000 boast Tap control and will hit retail mid-January and February, respectively. Finally, we’ve got three budget-priced cameras, including a (potentially Europe-only) 10 megapixel FE-5000 with 5x optical zoom, a 12 megapixel / 3x zoom FE30-10, and a 10 megapixel / 3x zoom FE-45. All three models feature black or gold paint colors, with the FE-45 having deep blue and FE30-10 magenta options, as well. The latter is coming in March, while the other two will hit late this month.

Read – FE-5000, FE30-10, and FE-45
Read – SP-590UZ
Read – Stylus 550WP
Read – Stylus 5000 / 7000 / 9000
Read – Stylus Tough-6000 / 8000

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Olympus unveils SP-590UZ, bevy of new Stylus and FE models originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LAS VEGAS — James Bond and Dick Tracy fans are likely to queue up for this soon. The new watch phone from LG is one of the coolest gadgets at the CES 2009 show.

At a press event today, LG USA President Michael Ahn showed a working demo of the device. It’s a surprisingly slim watch that has a touchscreen phone, 3G and Bluetooth capabilities. It also has a camera that can take photos and small videos.

Worn on the wrist, the phone looks like any ordinary watch displaying the time but when a call comes in, the screen changes. Just raise your hand a little closer to your mouth, press a button and you can talk into the watch through the speakerphone capability.

The watch phone is expected to go into production mid-year though the company did not offer any details on pricing.

More pics of the watch phone and a video:

Here’s a hands-on video with the phone:

Is it just me, or is this space stuff like, total rocket science? Telescope manufacturer Meade is looking to take “all of the hassle and [put] in all the fun” of looking at cool stuff in the sky, with its new ETX-LS. This massive telescope has a slew of features that bring clear images to users who couldn’t locate a celestial body to save their lives.

The ETX-LS features Lightswitch Technology which lets users align the scope with the flip of a witch, using the Integrated Sensor Module and ECLIPS (Electronically Controlled Locate Identify Position System).

The telescope also features Advanced Coma-Free optics, an ECLIPS CCD for image capture, and the Autostar III hand-held controller, which features a database including more than 100,000 images.

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

I’ve never seen the appeal of sunglasses with built-in earphones. OK, I suppose I get the theory, but in reality, there are time that you want to listen to you music when you don’t necessarily want to be wearing sunglasses–like at night, for example (yeah, yeah, Corey Hart, I know, I know). That said, plenty of companies have been jumping into the space with both feet ever since it was pioneered by Oakley a few years back.

The latest is Step Labs, which is showing off its new TriSpecs at CES. These guys offer “high fidelity,” according to the company, plus Bluetooth for pairing with your handset. The headphones also offer fairly good speech quality–I can attest to that, having tried out a pair last night. Also, unlike the Oakley Thumps, they actually look like something non-crazy people might wear in public.

According to Step Labs, the glasses are available now–well, sort of. The company actually doesn’t have any distribution in the States. So in the meantime, if you really want a pair, be sure to check out the site.

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