Sep 03

TomTom unveils GO 950, GO 750 and GO 550 with IQ Routes at IFA

Posted in: gps, nav, navigation, Today's Chili, tomtom

Here lately, all of the buzz surrounding TomTom has been focused intently on the outfit’s iPhone app and accompanying car kit. But over in Berlin, the company seems entirely more interested in showcasing some new wares that fall into its core product category. Making its debut at IFA, the GO x50 lineup is comprised of the GO 950, GO 750 and GO 550, all of which tout the company’s IQ Routes technology to get you from point A to point B in the very least amount of time. The trio promises to calculate routes faster than ever before, and they also include the planet’s largest collection of historical speed profiles. Once you’re on your way, the units can tap into RDS-TMC services in order to take current road conditions into account and get you from point A to point B in the least amount of time. Also of note, these three now feature voice command and control, and each ships with an active dock with integrated RDS-TMC information. The x50 lineup is scheduled to ship this autumn for undisclosed amounts, with the GO 950 packing maps for the US, Canada and 45 European nations and the GO 750 / GO 550 offering maps in select regions of Europe only.

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TomTom unveils GO 950, GO 750 and GO 550 with IQ Routes at IFA originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 03

Philips 56-inch 21:9 3D TV’s future is so bright we had to wear shades

Posted in: blu-ray, Features, hands-on, philips, Today's Chili

If you haven’t noticed, 3D is going to be big in 2010. Not at Philips though, at least not yet. Instead of charging in to the market like Sony, Philips is willing to hedge its bets and wait on consumer demand. Consumers, of course, are waiting for content. And hey, maybe everybody’s wrong and quad-HD will be the next big thing to drive TV sales. Regardless, Philips wants everyone to know that its technology is ready when you are so its got a 3D prototype Blu-ray player and stunning 3D version of its 56-inch Cinema 21:9 TV here at IFA in Berlin. While the idea of watching movies in 3D sounds like a novelty, the idea of gaming in 3D is downright compelling — awkward passive polarized glasses be damned!

Gallery: Philips’ 21:9 3D TV’s future is so bright you have to wear shades

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Philips 56-inch 21:9 3D TV’s future is so bright we had to wear shades originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 03

Eyes-on Panasonic’s Full HD 3D plasma and Blu-ray combo

Posted in: blu-ray, Features, Panasonic, Today's Chili

We just got a real eyeful of 3D, courtesy of Panasonic’s upcoming 1080p plasma and Blu-ray 3D setup. The system uses synced shutters, and was easily some of the best “consumer” 3D we’ve seen — almost on par with a theater experience, other than the fact that the screen was a whole lot smaller, at 103-inches. Unfortunately, while Panasonic is heavily touting 3D at IFA this year, just as Sony did at its own presser, there isn’t much hard news to show for it. The plasma and Blu-ray combo was actually announced a full year ago, and the only word we have on release at the moment is “next year.” Obviously, readily available 3D content plays a big part in this, and we get the impression that Avatar is syncing up nicely to be available on some sort of 3D home video format by the time it’s ready for a disc release — we’ve certainly seen enough teaser clips and trailers of it by now, anyway. To be honest, the 3D setup was seamless enough in our demo room that sometimes it hardly felt 3D. Avatar was especially “shallow” on the 3D scale (no pictures were allowed of the presentation, not that they would help), and we’ve yet to see anything mindblowing on that end. If anything, Panasonic’s presentation was more an opportunity to be “blown away” by the company’s awesome PowerPoint skills, if anything, so feel free to follow along in the gallery below.

Gallery: Eyes-on Panasonic’s Full HD 3D plasma and Blu-ray combo

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Eyes-on Panasonic’s Full HD 3D plasma and Blu-ray combo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 03

Engadget German at IFA 2009: early morning roundup

Posted in: headphones, roundup, Today's Chili

Just in case you haven’t heard, we’re letting you in on a little secret here: Engadget German is the official blog of IFA 2009, so we figured we’d give you a small taste of what’s going down in Deutschland in case you’ve yet to make it over. Our well-traveled compatriots have already dug up a few gems at the show, with the most notable being the Dension Wi Drive. Put simply, this system enables users with HDD-based entertainment systems in their vehicles to access files and playlists whilst at home. ‘Course, it seems as if this would be all the more helpful done in reverse, but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere. There’s also a few new headphones from the good folks at Sennheiser, and a new take on the old range booster from Wi-Ex. Have a look through the read links below, and just in case you’re wondering — yes, you can expect English translations directly on their site for the best IFA has to offer going forward.

Read – Dension Wi Drive
Read – New Sennheiser headphones
Read – Wi-Ex zBoost
Read – Creative Inspire S2
Read – New Audio-Technica earbuds
Read – Alien-inspired Altec Lansing speakers
Read – Hello Kitty YP-U5 audio player

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Engadget German at IFA 2009: early morning roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 03

Panasonic adds 58- and 65-inch models to heralded V10 NeoPDP family

Posted in: hdtv, Panasonic, plasma, Today's Chili

To say that Panasonic’s existing lineup of V10 NeoPDP sets were widely adored would be grossly understating things, so it makes sense to see the outfit unleash two new sizes in the family over at IFA. In the midst of mindless bragging about a Full HD 3D system that absolutely no one will be interested in until 3D content delivery is sorted, Panasonic has managed to confess that two new V10 sizes will be produced. If you’ll recall, the set was already available in 42- and 50-inch flavors, but if those just felt too small for your palatial den, the new 58- (TX-P58V10E) and 65-inch (TX-P65V10E) models just might fit the bill. Specs wise, everything here will remain the same; a 1080p panel, 600Hz sub-field drive technology, VIERA CAST functionality for pulling in web content, THX certification and a laughable dynamic contrast ratio of over 2,000,000:1. There’s no exact mention of a price or release date, but you can bet we’ll be hounding the booth attendants for those tidbits as soon as we track ’em down.

Gallery: Panasonic adds 58- and 65-inch models to heralded V10 NeoPDP family

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Panasonic adds 58- and 65-inch models to heralded V10 NeoPDP family originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 03

Panasonic commandeers ‘Avatar’ Powersuit for IFA display of force

Posted in: Panasonic, Today's Chili

Panasonic’s IFA press event is just underway, and you know what that means: a whole bunch of TVs. 3D TVs, to be exact, and Panasonic has teamed with James Cameron’s flagship 3D feature Avatar to push those wares. Best sign of this blossoming friendship? A few tons of movie prop guarding the Panasonic booth entrance. Hide your pristine wildlife and mystical native forms of understanding, people!

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Panasonic commandeers ‘Avatar’ Powersuit for IFA display of force originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 03

Panasonic issues mildly revamped PT-AE4000 1080p projector at IFA

Posted in: 1080p, Panasonic, projector, Today's Chili

Panasonic’s PT-AE3000 has gone over quite well in the home theater space, with its 1080p resolution and gorgeous image quality winning over more than a few projector junkies. But given that there’s always room for improvement, the outfit has today introduced the PT-AE4000, an ever-so-slightly refreshed version that looks essentially identical to its predecessor. The Full HD native resolution and 1,600 ANSI lumens remain unchanged, though the contrast ratio has been bumped from 60,000:1 to 80,000:1 and Panny has outfitted it with a new “red rich lamp” and dynamic iris. Finally, this beamer supposedly eliminates those nasty Cinemascope issues that some users were seeing on the AE3000, though the estimated £2,000 ($3,255) asking price still feels a bit steep when you consider the alternatives.

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Panasonic issues mildly revamped PT-AE4000 1080p projector at IFA originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 02

Video: Sony confirms it’s ‘bringing home 3D’ starting in 2010

Posted in: blu-ray, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

As it turns out, yesterday’s report was spot-on. Sony today announced that it is bringing the experience of looking absolutely ridiculous in 3D glasses home to the living room. The initiative is “starting in 2010” and will expand through BRAVIA LCD HDTVs, VAIO machines, PlayStation 3, and Blu-ray discs… and not in the press release, but we clearly see a CyberShot digital camera in the promotional video (look out, Fujifilm). It’s hard to say from the wording if all the listed product lines will go 3D next year, but from what we gather there’ll at least be BRAVIA sets in time for that Christmas. Curious see the zaniest video this side of the second dimension? Well, we don’t have that, but you can giggle your way through Sony’s promo after the break.

Continue reading Video: Sony confirms it’s ‘bringing home 3D’ starting in 2010

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Video: Sony confirms it’s ‘bringing home 3D’ starting in 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 02

Video: Hands-on Creative X-Fi2, you get what you pay for

Posted in: Features, hands-on, Today's Chili, touchscreen, video

Look, you can’t expect a cheap, touchscreen media player to cut through polygons like a hot knife through butter. That’s just not how it works. And that 3.0-inch screen on Creative’s new X-Fi2? Resistive. We had a chance to go hands on with Creative’s little stop-gap (until the Zii can make it to product) touch-screen player here at IFA and it’s pretty much exactly what we expected… or maybe a little worse. The touchscreen responded so poorly to touch mashes that we asked Creative to reshoot the video out of embarrassment on their behalf. We’re not exaggerating. Still, it’s not a final product (there’s still tweaking to be done to the firmware) and you do get a lot of play for the buck (32GB for $230) if that’s all you’re looking for when it drops later this month. Watch the demo after the break — do it!

Continue reading Video: Hands-on Creative X-Fi2, you get what you pay for

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Video: Hands-on Creative X-Fi2, you get what you pay for originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 02

Sony VAIO X slimster hands-on

Posted in: Features, hands-on, HandsOn, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

Daaaamn. We just got back from our time with the Sony X-series and it’s making us rethink the entire definition of thin as the word is applied to ultra-portable laptops — see how it casually jockeys our 15-inch MacBook Pro workhorse in the pic above. Sony’s X-series is so thin that it’s dangerous: on one hand, it’ll cut a jugular or cake with little effort, and on the other, it has just enough flex to make us worry about its ruggedness. But this isn’t Sony’s first experiment with this form factor and the carbon-fibre frame and aluminum keyboard should help with rigidity when this goes production in both glossy- and matte-plastic finishes. (The displays were all matte, at least for now.) The new X is followup to the rarely seen VAIO X505 that was available in limited markets early in the decade — only then it wasn’t sporting an Atom, 2GB of memory, or a 31Wh removable battery. According to Sony, the choice of an Atom processor is far from decided and is only on display to run the engineering prototypes here at IFA, so there’s still hope for at least CULV internals when this thing ships. Unfortunately, access to the rest of the internal specs were software blocked and Sony was zipped tight on details.

Further visual inspection reveals a pair of USB jacks, SD/Memory Stick slot, WWAN SIM slot, and folding feet on the bottom to prop up the lappie so you can attach an Ethernet cable in the mechanically yawning RJ45 jack or a Kensington lock. Unfortunately, the only video output option is VGA. Nevertheless, the Windows 7 box we tested performed as expected for such a small device — lethargically, but capably for casual internet browsing and tweeting. And honestly, we could see ourselves dropping a premium (less than $2,000 we’re told) for this 11-inch ultra-portable as opposed to the VAIO P. At least now we know what Sony meant when they said they wanted their products to be aspirational. See the new X up close with its X505 cousin in the gallery. Trust us, it’s worth a look.

P.S. It’ll be announced with official specs in October with units available for retail about a week after Windows 7 launches.

Gallery: Hands-on Sony X-series slimster

Sony VAIO X slimster hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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