Hasta La Gadget!

3.5’s the magic number with Pharos’ new Windows Mobile-based offering: 3.5-inch display — wide VGA, no less — and 3.5G data. The Traveler 137 rolls deep with the best HTC has to offer (owing in no small part to their ODM partnership with Inventec, we figure) with 512MB of Flash, 256MB of RAM, AGPS, 7.2Mbps HSPA on T-Mobile USA (seriously!) and European bands, WiFi, 3-megapixel cam, and the kitchen sink thrown in for good measure. Kinda sounds like a keyboardless X1, doesn’t it? Look for it to hit retailers this quarter for a nickel under $600.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Pharos rolls out Traveler 137, coming this quarter for $599.95 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can you say “diversify?” WowWee can, and it’s saying it loudly and proudly here at CES 2009. While the company has surely dabbled in areas outside of straight-up robotics before, it’s never taken it upon itself to product a suite of pico projectors nor pets designed solely as sleeping companions. No need to wipe the sand from your eyes — the same company responsible for Mr. Personality is dish out a Cinemin line of micro PJs (powered by TI’s DLP technology) here in the desert. Moving on, we’re also informed of the Spyball spy-cam, a remote controller, WiFi-enabled robotic ball that strangely reminds us of American Gladiators. The company’s got plenty more in its bag of tricks too, including the Joebot and Roborover robots, FlyTech Lightstar flyer / Hoverpod racer, four new breeds of Alive Cubs and a fresh line of “pajama pals” dubbed Sleeping Cuties. Hop past the break for details on the whole crew.

Filed under: CES, Robots

WowWee mixes it up at CES: Cinemin pico PJ, new Alive Cubs and more originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Energy efficient, thin, bright. These three qualities perfectly describe a woman I know, and no, I’m not trying to get any brownie points here. But it’s not a mistake that makers of television sets are also eager to embody such a description for their improved designs. Simply, a set that is well-put together rises above the crowd.

But thinness only? That usually matters only to the eye of the beholder.

At CES this week, we’ll see plenty of manufacturers trying to reach ever thinner levels, while daring discriminating techies like us to find a loss in visual quality.

JVC will preview, in a private event outside the show floor, what it is calling the ‘world’s lightest 32-inch LCD TV’ at only .28 inches (or about 7mm). According to the company, designers managed to build this small set by offloading many of the heavy duty components to a separate box and by building a new optical back light system.

Apparently, JVC designers created one of the thinnest LED back lights out there and placed it behind the LCD panel for a more efficient application and quality contrasts. Other TVs use thicker LED modules with fluorescent lights. By focusing on the LEDs, the set is physically smaller and uses less harmful materials.

As for the cool-looking swirl that serves as the base of the set, we don’t know what it is made out of but it certainly lends it a futuristic air.

But Samsung is apparently willing to battle JVC for the thinnest LCD TV at the show. Early reports say that the Koran giant will show a 6.5mm-thick LCD, also using the same type of back light technology,

Both of these would beat Philips’ 8mm LCD prototype that was shown earlier this year. Still, none of these will likely beat the OLEDs that are in store for the show.

As we’ve noted before, the physical construction of OLEDs allows them to be thinner than any other display as well as more colorful. Since each pixel makes its own light, there’s no need for extra bulk. Both Samsung and Sony are expected to show larger OLEDs at CES, between 18-inches and 37-inches.

We swore we wouldn’t fall for tech demos of Toshiba Matsushita Display’s sexy optically compensated bend LCDs and their CRT-like ultra wide viewing angles and high refresh rates ever again but by adding autostereoscopic 3D (read: no glasses necessary) we’re falling in love all over again. By adapting a 3D film for use with 3- and 9-inch displays, this year’s CES demo promises simultaneous 2D and 3D viewing on the same display in high res. How close is OCB’s curved, rather than horizontally or vertically aligned liquid crystal approach to reality? Your guess is as good as ours but for now we’ll wait for some eyes-on time and throw it on the wait-and-wait-and-see heap with SED and the rest.

Filed under: CES, Displays, Home Entertainment, Portable Video

Toshiba Matsushita Display teases handheld, high res, no glasses 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PC startups, take note — this is how you cut through the noise and get recognized. Rather than simply copying Alienware or some other boutique gaming outfit, BFG Technologies is introducing its first line of high-performance PCs with quite the unusual extra. Sure, the 3.2GHz Core i7 965 Extreme Edition is totally expected, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 GPUs aren’t all that shocking, but the complementary concierge service is certainly a step in a new direction. With each Phobos purchase comes six months of said service, which includes “expert in-home installation and a six month follow up maintenance visit.” Check the full release after the break for all the deets, but you can count on spending at least three large to get in.

Continue reading BFG Technologies’ Phobos gaming PC packs Core i7, personal concierge

Filed under: CES, Desktops

BFG Technologies’ Phobos gaming PC packs Core i7, personal concierge originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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