We’re in place to see what Toshiba’s got for us this year. We’re figuring Cell TV is a must (banners around the LVCC make that obvious) and 3D is a given but we’re wondering if an updated Blu-ray player, or another sighting of last year’s Media Center Extender TV that never appeared are in the card. Just a few more minutes until 10 p.m. pst when we find out for sure.
LAS VEGAS — Sony has joined the growing band of camera-makers that are announcing products at CES this year, instead of waiting for the upcoming PMA show as usual. The Alpha 450 is yet another model in Sony’s DSLR range, confusing the busy line-up even further.
It’s probably easier to tell you how the A450 differs from the nearest models in the range. The new DSLR has the same 14.2 megapixels as the A550, and the same auto-HDR (which combines the exposures of two frames). It loses the flip-out LCD screens of higher-specced Alpha-cams, and drops the “fast-AF live view system” which speeds up the typically sluggish AF in live-view modes. It also shoots at 7fps and has a long battery life due to the tech savings.
I’m pretty impressed with what Sony took out. The flip screen and fancy live-view features are nice, but they’re also frills. Sony seems to have cut back on all the non-essentials but left the good parts intact — the camera will shoot up to ISO 12800, for example, and has the body-style of the semi-pro 400 and 500 series cameras instead of the smaller shape of the 200 and 300 series. This makes it a good camera for the serious, stills-shooting enthusiast. The price has yet to be announced, but we’d take a guess that it will be at least $100 less than the launch price of the A500, which was $850.
AT&T’s first Android phones are official. A set of five from Motorola, Dell and HTC.
• A Motorola smartphone, powered by MOTOBLUR, with a unique form factor and an AT&T exclusive • Dell’s first smartphone, based on the Android platform and an AT&T exclusive • A HTC smartphone, based on the Android platform, and an AT&T exclusive
Motorola’s is up top, which is gonna be a MotoBlur phone. It’ll be first out the gate, apparently. HTC’s phones, plural, are going to be revealed later, not today, though they’re all coming out in the first half of this year, so within the next couple of months. Dell’s is going to be the Mini 3, which is also a new class of phone, a “nice phone”:
LG’s 6.9mm HDTV stole the show, but a bevy of the company’s other new wares were on display (and in action) at its press conference. The Mobile DTV-enabled DVD player was actually streaming live television via the temporary tower established here in Vegas, and the video quality was surprisingly good with no perceived lag or pixelation. We also witnessed a live Skype call, and while the quality was subpar due to the awful WiFi connection, the user interface and actual usability seemed satisfactory. Finally, the smattering of Infinia LCDs were downright dazzling, but given the competition, it’ll still be tough for these to break through in a world full of me-too sets. Have a peek below, won’t you?
Who among us hasn’t tapped our car brakes in near panic when we notice a police car on the highway–and then looked on in envy as we watched the officer point his radar gun’s over-size cannon at the cars whizzing by? Why should he get all the fun? Now you can try your hand at radar speed detection with a pocket-size device creatively called the Pocket Radar Personal Radar Gun, introduced this week at CES 2010 in Las Vegas. Other uses could include verifying that your child’s Little League fastball is, in fact, fast, and that a tennis “power serve” is actually a 20-MPH dribbler.
The technology inside is, according to company execs, exactly the same Doppler radar as what’s used on the pro-models, but in a near-iPod-size and a fraction of the cost. The device can read object speeds at distances up to a half mile, and speeds from 7 MPH to 375 MPH. It runs on two AA batteries.
While devices dedicated to DTV or bulked up for DTV have rarely struck our fancy, there’s something pretty compelling about this new Tivit unit, for whatever reason. A bit like a single-minded MiFi, the device pulls in Mobile DTV video and then pumps it out over WiFi to a single device at a time. Based on how you’re accessing it, the Tivit might appear just as a web page of channel listings to choose from, or in a fancier custom-built app on the iPhone, but to all of those devices it streams h.264 video at a pretty good quality. We tested it with the iPod touch, and while the 20 second channel change times were a little frustrating (they claim they’ll be able to get it down to 8, and that it’s Apple’s fault), everything else worked flawlessly. We had a bit less luck with the Droid, due to what appeared to be a missing codec on our end; we’ll have to investigate further. Perhaps the best part is that there’s no additional power drain on our primary device, though remembering another USB charger at the end of the day might get annoying. All in all we wholeheartedly support an effort such as this to bring new content to our existing phone, laptop and desktop screens, and if they can sell this for the $90 to $120 suggested price range unsubsidized, we might just be looking at Mobile DTV’s best shot at life yet. There’s video after the break of the thing in action.
Seagate has a 2.5-inch hard drive that measures 7mm thick. LG now has a big frickin’ television that’s even thinner. Today at the company’s CES 2010 press event, the “future” of LG’s TV business was briefly unveiled. At just 6.9mm thin, it’s easily one of the slimmest sets we’ve ever had the opportunity to ogle, and when speaking with executives afterwards, they confessed that more details would flow (including a real model name and estimated pricing) later in the year. As for availability? You could actually see this mythical creature and its 10mm bezel on store shelves by the end of this year, though we got the impression that it may ship first in Japan before heading Stateside. Oh, and we’re guessing LG will utilize that newly forged WHDI partnership to get this thing to operate wirelessly. After all, who has room for an HDMI socket when the whole chassis is slimmer than your pinky finger?
LAS VEGAS — Amidst the flouncy, high-glamour at CES, where handsome middle managers trade business cards with other handsome middle managers, Eye-Fi has made a solid, down-to-earth product announcement. The Eye-Fi Pro X2 is the same old Wi-Fi equipped SD card, only everything has been dialed up to eleven.
The only problem with the Eye-Fi cards has been speed, or a lack of. While they were just great for normal use, the write speeds were nowhere near fast enough for the demanding DSLR user. This has been fixed, and the X2 has Class 6 read/write speeds, which means a minimum transfer speed of 6 MB/s. The Wi-Fi is faster, too, with 802.11n inside.
These hardware bumps are enough to make the 8GB card worth talking about, but there is an interesting new software feature, called Endless Memory Mode. This deletes images from the card after they have been successfully uploaded, freeing up card space and effectively turning the card into an infinite buffer for wireless, tethered shooting.
Add in RAW support and ad-hoc networking, which lets you send images direct to a computer without a router in-between and this is a rather useful addition to your camera bag. $150. Now we just need the Compact Flash version. C’mon, Eye-Fi!
LAS VEGAS — How does $200 sound for an unlocked phone? Now make it a Dick Tracy-style watch phone and it’s an accessory you just might put on your wish list.
The W “phonewatch” from Kempler & Strauss combines a touchscreen interface with basic phone functionality so you can use the device while biking or hiking.
The GSM phone can work with both AT&T and T-Mobile but it doesn’t have 3G capability or Wi-Fi. Just open the back and pop in a SIM card there to get started. There is a microphone and a speaker on the device, but the company recommends that the phone be paired with a Bluetooth headset.
The watch phone isn’t intended as a replacement for your iPhone, Droid or your BlackBerry, says the company. Instead it has been created as a companion.
The watch-phone idea isn’t new. Last year, LG’s watch phone was a surprise hit at the Consumer Electronics Show. LG showed a slim watch with a touchscreen phone, camera, 3G and Bluetooth capability. Worn on the wrist, it looks like an ordinary watch displaying the time but when a call comes in, the screen changes. Raise your hand a little closer to your mouth, press a button and you can talk into the watch. That device never made it to the United States, though it eventually went on sale in Europe for around $1,500.
The W phonewatch works similarly. It has a digital clock but a single touch pulls up a basic menu that includes icons for phone, messages, address book and calendar. The device even has a 1.4-megapixel camera that can do both still photos and videos. To answer calls, just turn on your Bluetooth headset.
There’s no data capability so forget trying to surf the internet. But the combination of a basic unlocked feature phone in a wristwatch form factor makes it droolworthy.
Check out more photos of the W phonewatch and the company’s video of the device.
Pocket projectors are going mainstream as HP became the latest company to introduce a compact projector for notebooks.
HP’s pocket projector measures four inches by three inches and weighs less than a pound. It can project an image up to 60 inches from a distance of 8.5 feet, which makes it pretty handy for meetings and for use at conferences. The 858 x 600 SVGA resolution results in crisp images and the 100 lumens bulb, says HP, can offer up to 10,000 hours of usage life.
Though it can work with any laptop with a VGA connection, HP has designed some features that will make it attractive for consumers who already own HP notebooks. The projector’s AC adapter is the same as an HP notebook adapter so you can carry just one while traveling.
The projector ships with a tripod in a neat little bag that’s about the size of a make-up pouch. And at $500, it is a good buy.
The one thing we wish this projector had was battery power. The lack of it means long cords and a scramble for the nearest power outlets, something you can do without while you worry about that presentation to make.
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