Hasta La Gadget!

Just like the PlayStation Portable before it, the PlayStation Vita comes in iterations. There’s the standard, original Vita, and then there’s the new, even nicer version. Sony unveiled that new iteration recently at a Japanese event, and we got our first hands-on with it today at Tokyo Game Show 2013. So, what’s different? Not too much. As it turns out, it’s still a Vita.

The good news is that it’s a far lighter, more comfy version of the Vita you already know and (maybe) love. Rounded edges make holding the Vita distinctly less abrasive — the sharper angles on the original Vita were pretty from a design perspective, but not so much from an ergonomic standpoint. The buttons have been rejiggered as well, with a solid click for each (the start / select / PS Home buttons are also all now circles instead of ovals). And hey, the micro-USB port for charging is an unbelievably welcome addition. Gone are the days of your proprietary Vita charging cable (though there’s still a port for it as well, should you refuse to change).

And that’s not the only ergonomic improvement: the new Vita is dramatically lighter than its predecessor, making it all the easier to take on-the-go. We’re told that its battery life is also much improved, but we’ve yet to see that play out in real life, so we’ll reserve judgment for now.

Update: We’ve added video just below walking through the new Vita — please excuse us, as we called the new Vita’s LCD screen an LED in the video. Chock it up to jet lag!%Gallery-slideshow89586%

Check out all our Tokyo Game Show 2013 coverage right here at our hub!

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Software, HD, Sony

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Nintendo caught us all by surprise when it announced its — all too literally named — 2DS handheld last week. But are we really surprised? For a company that found its last success with the “family” experience, and loves to create products in families of their own, it’s perhaps surprising that it didn’t create a more affordable, more accessible handheld sooner. Either way, it’s here now, and will be reaching shelves by October 12th — just in time to make those Christmas lists. Our list is getting pretty full already though, so we spent a little time with it to see if it could make the cut.%Gallery-slideshow79312%

Filed under: Gaming, Nintendo

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It’s been a long time coming, close to a year, but OMG Life’s clippable, er, lanyard-able life-logging camera will be available to buy tomorrow. The Autographer launches in the UK (where the company’s based) and most major European countries on July 30th, priced at a rather prohibitive £400 (we’re still confirming a US dollar price, but a later launch has been promised) and pitching itself as “the world’s first intelligent wearable camera.” We’d position it as an addition to your smartphone and/or standalone camera, like Lytro or the incoming Memoto, for those that have the cash.

There’s a curious appeal to it, helped by an attractive design that’s predominantly plastic. We spent over three days wandering around, sometimes with it on a leather lanyard (included) around our neck, sometimes clipped to our belt or shirt pocket. For better or worse, it’s a truly hands-off camera: there’s really no way to frame or even time your captures. The Autographer itself chooses when to take a shot using its five sensors (monitoring changes in color, temperature, magnetometer, motion and acceleration), which means there’s a hefty dose of luck involved in how your photos turn out. See whether Lady Luck was shining down on us (the sun certainly wasn’t) and check out our sample images below and first impressions after the break.

Filed under: Cameras, Wearables

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Source: Autographer

It’s easy enough to describe the Galaxy S4 Zoom, since it’s essentially a Galaxy S4 Mini with a 10x zoom lens stuck on the back. But that sort of summary doesn’t do it justice. When you hold the phone-slash-camera and look at the optically stabilized image captured by its 16-megapixel, point-and-shoot grade sensor, you begin to realize that — at least for those who do a lot of snapping and sending — this combo of components holds some serious power.

Just like the first Galaxy Camera, it’s all about fun and immediacy: the ability to edit, organize and share decent-quality images using Android apps and cellular data connectivity. The key advantages are that the GS4 Zoom can work as a regular phone for voice calls, and that it’s just about portable enough to be used that way, whereas the Galaxy Camera was a lot bulkier. With these gains, the smaller zoom (10x instead of 21x) and lower-res screen (qHD instead of 720p) don’t overly faze us, so long as the final selling price takes it all into account. Ultimately, our only hesitation is the impending arrival of the so-called Nokia EOS, likely due on July 11th, which takes a totally upside-down approach to smartphone photography and is likely to be much more pocketable as a result. Those are two devices we can’t wait to put head-to-head, especially in terms of image quality, but our hands-on gallery (and impending video) might help to tide you over in the meantime.

Update: Hands-on video added.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Samsung

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The Ouya journey, according to founder Julie Uhrman, will never have a firm conclusion. But, we’d say having retail units enter production and shipping to mega stores like Game Stop and Best Buy represents at least the culmination of this particular story arc. With only a few weeks to go before the retail launch, the company brought the final console, controller and packaging to E3 for a press tour. The console itself is unchanged from the version that shipped to Kickstarter backers, except that it wont have contributor names etched on the side. The final tweaks heading into production have focused on the controller and the software. Visually the gamepad is exactly the same, but a number of small changes have be made to the various components to address feedback from early adopters and reviewers. The holes around the four face buttons have been widened to prevent them from sticking and, no matter how hard we tried, we could not get the O, U, Y or A to get wedged under the face plate. The right thumb stick also had a tendency to get caught on early versions of the controller, thanks to a small amount of glue that leaked into the area. That issue has supposedly been resolved, and in our time with the production model we had no problems with the analog stick.

Filed under: Gaming

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