Hasta La Gadget!

There are tons of smartphones available these days, and Chinese gadget makers Huawei have just announced a new model which will be released in Germany very soon. If you like what you see, then you’ll be happy to know that this phone will probably make its way into other international markets in a short while as well.

The Huawei Ascend G615[DE] has a 4.5-inch 720p IPS display, a proprietary 1.4GHz quad-core CPU, 8GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and a microSD slot. The phone has a 8MP camera and a 1.3MP front-facing one. The rear camera has a dual LED flash and can record 1080p video. Connectivity includes 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and HSDPA speeds up to 21Mbps. Its 2150 mAh battery is good enough for 360 hours on standby, and 11 hours of talk time.

Unfortunately, the G615 will ship only with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), so it’s two versions behind the latest edition, Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). Though if you can deal with that, and its slightly bulky 1.05cm thick case, it actually looks like a pretty decent phone.

When it’s released in Germany, an unlocked phone will retail for €299 (~$400USD).

[via Android Community]

I know of many people these days who use their PS3 gaming consoles as their main Blu-ray player, but this new standalone player from Sony looks pretty cool too.

Eschewing the curvaceous lines of the PS3, the Sony S5100 Blu-ray Player has a sleek angular design.

The player offers 3D playback and 2D-to-3D conversion as well. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi with improved range, a bunch of apps for content from services including Netflix, Hulu Plus and Pandora, as well as Sony’s TV SideView app that lets Android and iOS users control the box from their device. They are also able to transmit content from their mobile devices the player, a la Apple’s AirPlay.

The Sony S5100 Blu-ray Player will be available this spring. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet.

[via Uncrate]

Rumors were circulating earlier this week that Amazon was set to launch a new service called AutoRip. According to those rumors, the service would provide users with digital versions of tracks on physical CD albums that they purchase and no additional cost. The rumors even went so far as to claim Amazon would be making the service retroactive covering any CD that consumers have ever purchased via Amazon.com.

Honestly, the rumor was a bit hard to believe but Amazon has now officially confirmed the service. Even more impressive than buying a CD today and getting free digital versions of the tracks that you can access on your smartphone or tablet is that the service is in fact retroactive. Amazon will give you digital versions of songs on CDs you purchased via Amazon.com as far back as 1998.

At launch, the AutoRip service is offered for over 50,000 albums on Amazon.com with more on the way. Albums available cover everything from new releases to back catalog albums. Amazon’s new service is made possible with deals with major record labels and music publishers. Deals are in place with EMI, Sony, and Warner as well as hundreds of independent music labels. The service is automatically enabled for any music you purchase and is downloadable via the Amazon Cloud Player at no cost.

[via TechCrunch]

Well another year is over, and it was loaded with triumph and tragedy as usual. But as usual, humankind persevered – at least when it came to their gadgets and geekery.

All tolled, we published over 3,700 posts this year, bringing our total since we launched in 2006 up to over 14,200 posts. And that’s just one of our two sites! We know that not all of you visit Technabob every day (we wish you would – so why not subscribe to our RSS Feed?), so in case you missed any of our biggest stories, here are the 30 most popular articles we posted in 2012…

#1: New iPad Announced

#2: iPhone 5 Announced

#3: Assassin’s Creed Hidden Blade Gauntlet Replica Can Be Yours for a Brotherly Price

#4: Assassin’s Creed 3 Trailer

#5: New 2012 iMac Slims Down

#6: Double Barrel 1911 Semi-Automatic Pistol

#7: Skyrim Canine Costumes: FUS RO DOG!

#8: World’s Coolest Marshall Amp is a Fridge!

#9: Assassin’s Creed Tomahawk Replica: Too Legit to Play with It

#10: New Father Uses Wii-mote, Lasers to Keep His Child Safe

#11: Bandra Ohm is the Coolest High-Rise Ever

#12: GoPro HERO3 Black Edition: Best Action Cam Yet?

#13: A Life-Size LEGO Forest Grows in the Australian Outback

#14: Custom Pokemon Onesies for Being Weird and Reenacting Battles of Old

#15: South Korean Girl Removes Makeup After Two Years, Now Looks Twice Her Age

#16: PS3 Slim Version 2 Announced

#17: Stormtrooper Latex Dress: The Empire Gets Sexy

#18: Brave Robotics Transforming Robot Car Rolls out

#19: Assassin’s Creed Kenway Jacket For All Of Your Parkour Needs

#20: LEGO to Give Away 2 Million Minifig Avengers Posters

#21: Clock Tower Hotel Room: Alone Time

#21: Star Wars Eyeglasses: Use Your Peepers, Luke!

#23: Star Wars Xbox 360 Slim: These Aren’t the Consoles You’re Looking For (Actually, They Are)

#24: Google Nexus 10 Announced

#25: Ferarri Knock-Off Cell Phones Defile the Ferrari Name

#26: Worst Apple Employee Name Ever?

#27: Star Wars Condoms Safely Wrap Your Lightsaber

#28: Torchlight II Hack Allows You to Reset Skills Infinitely: Respec My Dodge Mastery

#29: Retina MacBook Pro Announced

#30: Tongue-Controlled MP3 Player Makes You Look Like a Bond Villain

As you can see, there’s a pretty good variety of stuff, ranging from gadgets and video games, to geeky costumes, to the funny and just downright weird on the list. There’s also a typically large volume of Apple tech, and an atypically large amount of Assassin’s Creed stuff. Guess you guys couldn’t get your fill of Connor/Ratonhnhaké:ton this year.

Technabob continues to grow thanks to you guys. We ended the year with over 8.2 million unique visitors, and just over 15 million pages viewed on the site during 2012. And since we launched in 2006, we’ve had over 30 million unique visitors and 54 million pageviews. The mind boggles.

Thanks for another great year! Be sure to stop back by in 2013 for all sorts of cool stuff.

If you’re going to be doing a lot of traveling tonight to and from the homes of friends and family, you might be looking for some entertainment options to keep you occupied during a road trip. DirecTV has announced that its customers who subscribe to Starz and Encore now have access to the authenticated online streaming services for both pay channels. This means you can watch your favorite Starz or Encore programs or movies on the go.

The Starz Play and Encore Play apps are available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch at no cost on the App Store. DirecTV subscribers can also stream content through Wi-Fi and broadband connections on their computer at StarzPlay.com and EncorePlay.com. Android users will get access to the applications in the future. DirecTV customers simply need to provide their account information to link their accounts and stream the content using the apps.

Encore Play promises about 900 different monthly selections including 300 movies and select original programming. Starz Play offers about 400 monthly selections including 300 movies, some of them being first-run titles. Starz also offers access to its original shows including the awesome Spartacus series.