Pelican offers protection for Galaxy S III with two new cases

Amid the chaos of CES 2013, we discovered that Pelican is plotting to enter the mobile case business. The company was showing off cases for the iPhone 5 and iPad, but it also had two cases for the Samsung Galaxy S III on hand and ready to show off. The cases we saw for the Galaxy S III were certainly impressive, and if you find other protective cases a bit too bulky, you might want to give these a look.

IMG_3621wtmk-w1024

That’s because Pelican’s goal with these cases seems to be to protect the phone from all manner of damage while keeping the overall size down. That’s especially important with the Galaxy S III, which is a pretty thin phone – having a big, bulky case attached to such a sleek phone would ruin the aesthetic, so Pelican is trying to hit the protection bullet points while keeping a thinner form factor overall.

The first case we have is the ProGear Vault Series, which actually requires you that use screws to seal your phone within the case. While that will make removing your phone a bit more difficult than your usual case that snaps together, there are benefits in that it makes the case resistant to “wind-driven rain.” The case also offers protection against dust and scratches, thanks to the fact that its made from magnesium and engineering-grade polymer. This case really locks down every opening you can think of with your phone, with Pelican even placing acoustic membranes over the microphone and speaker openings to prevent water from getting in without hindering audio quality. The Vault Series, which is also shockproof from a height of 72 inches, will be releasing in April or May with a “tentative” price of $75-$80.

IMG_3631wtmk-w1024

Next we have the ProGear Defender Series, which is a little more accessible for folks who want to keep their phone safe without spending an arm and a leg on a case. The Defender obviously boasts fewer features than its more expensive brother, but it’s built with the same engineering-grade polymer and sports a rubber interior to make the case crushproof and shock-resistant. It also has a smooth plastic finish to make it easier to pull your out of your pocket. At the moment, Pelican is saying that the Defender series should launch in April with a price point of $35, but those could change by the time its release rolls around.

So there you have it, a duo of new cases from Pelican for your Galaxy S III. The cases seemed pretty solid when we checked them out, and the felt pretty light to boot, which means that they shouldn’t add too much weight to your phone. Expect to see more of Pelican in the mobile space as moving forward, but for now, be sure to check out our CES portal for all the news you need from the show!

IMG_3621wtmk-w1024
IMG_3623wtmk-w1024
IMG_3626wtmk-w1024
IMG_3628wtmk-w1024
IMG_3629wtmk-w1024
IMG_3630wtmk-w1024
IMG_3631wtmk-w1024
IMG_3632wtmk-w1024
IMG_3635wtmk-w1024
IMG_3636wtmk-w1024
IMG_3637wtmk-w1024
IMG_3638wtmk-w1024


Pelican offers protection for Galaxy S III with two new cases is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

CES 2013 wrap-up: PCs and Windows 8

This year at CES we saw one whole heck of a lot of PCs, quite a few of them working with Windows 8 – but most of them focusing on their unique hardware offerings to the point where Microsoft’s offering seemed almost secondary. One cannot deny the influence of the touch-friendly nature of Windows 8 on the other hand, and starting right away with the very first PC we had hands-on time with, touchscreen controls were right at the center of our attention: the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC is first on our list of hands-on deliveries.

table

The massive beast known as the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC was by far the most unique offering in the PC hardware space at this year’s show, creating not just a massive touchscreen interface, but a table on which you can play games with specialized accessories that come with. Have a peek at the smart dice, game pieces you can use to play table hockey, and more! We’ll be looking for this monster on our review bench soon.

Lenovo also brought on one sharp looking gaming PC known as the Lenovo Erazer X700 as well as a transforming tablet with a keyboard dock known as the ThinkPad Helix. We actually have a short version of the Helix hands-on as well as an extended Lenovo ThinkPad Helix hands-on for more “rip and flip” action than you’ll be able to handle. The Lenovo ThinkVision mobile monitor was also revealed, bringing you Windows 8 touchscreen-friendly action either wired with a brand new USB 3.0 B cord or completely wirelessly and across the room – mirroring or no!

The Lenovo team kept on bringing in hits with the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S, a smaller version of the IdeaPad Yoga 13 we reviewed late last year. Lenovo got sharp a couple more times with the ThinkPad Edge E431 and E531, and kept it mainstream with the lovely IdeaPad U310 Touch as well.

gtx

One of the most important sets of announcements of the convention as a whole came from NVIDIA, their press event revealing first and foremost a system called NVIDIA GeForce Experience, this allowing users to get instant game optimization from the folks who know how to do it best, the GeForce team. Cloud gaming companies also got a massive jolt in the side at the announcement of NVIDIA GRID, stacks of servers made to turn cloud gaming into a real way of the future. NVIDIA also tied mobile gaming to full-power PC gaming with a device called NVIDIA Project SHIELD. We’ll see more information on that system by the time of its release in Q2 of 2013 (this year). For now you’ll have to survive on this simple demonstration video courtesy of NVIDIA:

The folks at 3M showed off their rather sizable 84-inch multi-touch table the night before CES began, here bringing real-deal 4K technology to this emerging market. At the moment this machine is still a prototype, but we’ll be seeing a real product later this year. ASUS took on the Windows 8 world with a unique slate by the name of ASUS VivoTab Smart Tablet, complete with an origami fold-up cover with magnets and a wireless keyboard.

samsung_series_7_chronos_ultra_hands-on_sg_3-580x411

Samsung brought on some heat with the Samsung Series 7 Chonos and Series 7 Ultra, both of them extremely lightweight and bursting with immensely high resolution displays – touchscreens, too! The Xi3 7 series modular computer gained some notoriety this week as Valve was hinted to be working with them in the very near future. Vizio essentially updated their entire PC lineup including notebooks, all-in-one, and and a brand new 11.6-inch Windows 8 Tablet.

panasonic_4ktablet

If you though you’d seen the only massive tablet-like gorilla of a unit of the show up above with Lenovo, you were mistaken. Above you’ll see the Panasonic 20-inch 4K Windows 8 Tablet, a monster with 3840 x 2160 pixels to its name, running full Windows 8 with a release date set some time later this year. Sony also brought on a little bit of heat with the Sony VAIO T15 Touch and T14 Touch, both of them ready with Intel under the hood and Windows 8 for your everyday use.

viao

In short, what we saw this year at CES was a set of upgrades to machines that were already out, touch added to displays that were before without, and some ever-so-slightly interesting innovations in how devices were connected to one another. Let us know what you were most excited about from CES in the PC space below, and make sure not to skimp on the possibilities for the future! Also hit up our CES portal for everything we saw and reported on over the course of the week!


CES 2013 wrap-up: PCs and Windows 8 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

ASUS Unveils World’s Smallest Router

There’s something about miniaturized gadgets that’s very appealing. This new router was unveiled by ASUS at CES 2013, and they claim that it’s the smallest router ever made. They’re probably right, because this thing is tiny.

asus pocket router

The ASUS WL-330NUL Pocket Router is about the same size as a USB flash drive, and it’s basically perfect for anyone hitting the road a lot. It weighs about 25 grams, and the 802.11b/g/n router has an Ethernet port on one end to connect to a wired connection, and a USB cable on the other for leeching power from a computer. It can also be plugged into an outlet. For ultra-thin laptops, it doubles as an Ethernet port, because they usually lack them.

asus pocket router stock cable

Signal range is probably limited with something this small, though, and it might be nice if it had a retractable Ethernet cable built into it. Prices and availability have not yet been announced, but I’m guessing that it will be out a little later this year.

[ASUS via FarEastGizmos]

Distro’s CES 2013 Daily Issue 73.4 is out and so are we

Distros CES 2013 Daily Issue 734 is out and so are we

We’re cracking up over here — literally. It’s our sixth day of coverage live from CES and the long hours and lack of daylight are playing tricks on us. While the working conditions have not been kind, the news is an entirely different story. We’ve seen more, written more and generally dived deeper into the bowels of CES to bring you this, our final CES 2013 Daily. Now please excuse us while we curl up in a collective ball and rock gently back and forth until the screaming stops.

Distro Issue 73.4 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store

Distro in the Windows Store

Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

I Have to Write About These Headphones Because the Company Gave Me a Massage

Tech writing is a filthy trade, with crap gussied up as treasure, marketing sleaze, lies, corporate dinner dates, favoritism, and plenty of capitalist lucre. CES is the prom of it all, so we figured, why not just make an open trade: rub me and I’ll write about you. More »

Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Romotive’s Keller Rinaudo (update: video embedded)

Romotive was on-hand this week showing off the latest version of its Romo iPhone robot. Clearly we haven’t spent enough time with the adorable little guy. The company’s CEO and co-founder Keller Rinaudo will be joining us on stage to discuss it — and the company’s plans for the future.

January 11, 2013 2:30 PM EST

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

Update: video embedded

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Romotive’s Keller Rinaudo (update: video embedded)

Filed under: ,

Comments

Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Indiegogo’s Slava Rubin (update: video embedded)

Live from the Engadget CES Stage an interview with Indiegogo's Slava Rubin

Crowdfunded projects have been one of the surprise success stories of this year’s CES. Thankfully, we’ve got one of the most knowledgeable people on the topic around, Indiegogo CEO Slava Rubin.

January 11, 2013 2:00 PM EST

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

Update: President of StickNFind, Jimmy Buchheim, will be joining us as well!

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Indiegogo’s Slava Rubin (update: video embedded)

Filed under:

Comments

Fitbit Flex Dives into the Wrist Fitness Fray

Now that the Jawbone Up and Nike+ Fuelband have paved the way for wrist-worn fitness monitors in the market, Fitbit has announced their own lightweight exercise monitoring writstband.

fitbit flex fitness tracker

The Fitbit Flex allows you to track your fitness with ease. The compact device will track your steps, distance traveled, calories burned, active minutes, and the quality of your sleep. All of this data syncs up with your iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth.

fitbit flex display

There’s even a vibrating alarm function that you can use to wake you up discreetly, which is perfect if you get up at a different time than your bedmate.

fitbit flex fitness tracker running

The Fitbit Flex will be launched this Spring in a variety of colors and will cost $99.95(USD).

[via Uncrate]

Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Formlabs’ Maxim Lobovsky (update: video embedded)

We’ve already had a handful of 3D printing companies swing by our stage this year, but what sets Formlabs apart from the increasing competition is a focus on bringing professional level printing to the consumer. We’ll be speaking with one of the company’s founders, Maxim Lobovsky about Formalabs’ vision.

January 11, 2013 1:30 PM EST

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

Update: video embedded

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Formlabs’ Maxim Lobovsky (update: video embedded)

Filed under:

Comments

Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Oculus’s Palmer Luckey and Nate Mitchell (update: speaker change)

Is 2013 the year of the wearable here at CES? It’s certainly shaping up to be one of the bigger trends of the show, thanks in no small part to the folks at Oculus. We’ve already spent some time with the company’s Rift prototype this week, and now we’ll be joined by Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

Update: In lieu of Brendan Iribe, we’ll be speaking to Palmer Luckey and VP Nate Mitchell.

January 11, 2013 1:00 PM EST

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Oculus’s Palmer Luckey and Nate Mitchell (update: speaker change)

Filed under:

Comments