Hasta La Gadget!

We didn’t spot this one at CES where the phone-like RMC30D and standard remotes were the only options, but it looks like Samsung has an alternative Bluetooth remote planned for its Smart TVs (but not any Google TV products judging by that Yahoo! button on the remote side) that features standard buttons on one side and a full QWERTY keyboard on the other, much like the Boxee Box’s remote. Judging by the ruler in the remarkably unflattering FCC photos, this one appears to be a bit larger and it’s not immediately clear what that display on the QWERTY side is for. Obviously, if there’s any chance users will be logging into their various Twitter or Comcast/Time Warner accounts on the TV they’ll need something better than T9 to do it, but we’ll have to wait to get our hands on this one to know if it’s an improvement. Check the gallery for a few more pictures, we’d expect some kind of announcement on the RMC-QTD1 before Samsung’s 2011 line of TVs hit stores.

Samsung’s new dual-sided QWERTY remote for Smart TVs revealed by the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that SFQ-01 Bluetooth audio system you were swooning over late last year? If you twiddled your thumbs on buying one, here’s a shot at redemption: Soundfreaq has just pushed out a limited edition red and black version just in time for Valentine’s Day, and outside of the color change, everything else remains the same. It’s up for pre-order now at Amazon for a penny under $200, and trust us, your significant other will love it. Even if said SO is… you.

Continue reading Soundfreaq’s SFQ-01R Sound Platform goes red and black for Valentine’s Day

Soundfreaq’s SFQ-01R Sound Platform goes red and black for Valentine’s Day originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With a fantastic Bluetooth headset on the market and a pumpin’ portable speaker to blast out jams, how could Jawbone improve their product lineup? Well, we still think a stereo headset might be swell… but that’s not what the company delivered today. No, this is the Jawbone Era, the world’s first Bluetooth earpiece with a built-in accelerometer for motion-sensing apps, and plenty more improvements where that came from. There’s a new version of the company’s NoiseAssassin noise-canceling algorithms that adjusts inbound volume and equalization to let you hear better, an extra-large 10mm cone speaker with a larger range of frequencies, two processors, more memory, and an hour of extra battery life compared to the Jawbone Icon, to be specific. With only two motions currently recognized — a double-tap to begin / end / switch calls and a rapid shake to pair — the accelerometer’s a bit of a gimmick for now, but Jawbone suggests more gestures are probably on the way. In the meanwhile, the other advancements might make the Era worth the price of entry — which is $130, by the by.

We’ve spent about five hours with the headset already, listening to music and taking calls, and while the accelerometer seems almost wasted at present, there’s no discounting that new 10mm driver and the audio it can pump out. While no substitute for a set of quality dedicated earbuds, it sounded worlds better than the Jawbone Icon’s tiny, tinny drum, and playing Pandora tracks we no longer felt an overpowering desire to take it out of our ear — making a cyborg existence all the more bearable, we suppose. We’ll bring you a full review soon, but if you’re already sold, you’ll find four different Era designs on sale at Jawbone’s online store… oh, right about now. PR after the break.

Continue reading Jawbone Era sticks an accelerometer in your noise-canceling headset, we go hands-on

Jawbone Era sticks an accelerometer in your noise-canceling headset, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That didn’t take long. ID8-Mobile, which creates accessories for mobile devices, just released the MoGo Talk XD2 for the Verizon iPhone 4. It’s a Bluetooth headset and a case all in one. The included MoGo Bluetooth headset stores and charges on the iPhone. The case now features a sleek industrial design with a carbon black headset and case. It will begin shipping on February 3, 2000, to ensure that new Verizon iPhone 4 users will have it already when their new iPhone ships.

The whole package gets you the MoGo talk headset, the Easy-Grip case, six different earbuds, a microUSB charging table, and a quick start guide. Look for it to list for $99.99.

The Olympus PENpal is a Bluetooth widget that beams photos from your camera to your computer. It slides into the accessory shoe on the top of the Olympus PEN E-PL2 camera and is controlled by the camera itself.

This ingenious dongle integrates with the camera’s own menus, and sends images to any device compatible with Bluetooth file transfers (which counts out the iPhone and iPad, as we noted in our full review of the E-PL2). It works like this: Browse your photos on the camera’s screen as usual and then hit the menu button. From here, choose the “Send a Picture” option and you’re done. The photo will appear on your computer a few moments later.

The PENpal will also resize photos before sending. Depending on your settings, it will shrink pictures to 1280 x 960, 1920 x 1440 or 640 x 480, and can store up to 2,600 pictures in its own memory.

This seems like an ideal solution for crappy cellphone cameras. You can take a snap with a proper camera and then send it to your phone for editing and uploading, letting both devices do what they’re good at. This seems to be a trend in consumer electronics in general: We’re moving away from convergence and the do-everything machines that entails, and coming to small ecosystems of networked devices. Camera, computer and tablet are all beginning to talk to each other.

It’s just a shame that this won’t work with the iPad, which really needs a camera, and that it is Olympus-only. At least it’s cheap, though, at just $80.

Olympus PENpal [Olympus via Derek Story]

See Also:

• Looxcie, A Futuristic Wearable Bluetooth Camcorder
• Siemens Bluetooth Box Beams Music Direct to Hearing Aids
• Olympus Pen EP-2, Now in Retro-Tastic Silver
• New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks