Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve ever stared at your phone and thought, “this thing really needs a full keyboard,” you may need to buy a netbook. If you’ve ever stared at your iPad or Android tablet and thought “this thing needs a full keyboard,” you might be on to something. That’s why Cervantes Mobile made the Journo portable Bluetooth Keyboard, a fold-up model that includes a cradle for your mobile phone or tablet that will keep it upright and in either portrait or landscape mode while you use it.

The Journo is designed to be as portable as your mobile device, which means the keyboard folds down to be remarkably small when not in use. Aside from the portability and the included cradle, the most notable feature is that it claims to support just about any mobile device with Bluetooth, meaning iPhones, iPads, Android devices, and more. The Journo will be available for $99 list price early next year, but you can pre-order one now for $79. 

You’re sick of audio docks, we know. So are we. But as much as we wanted to skip merrily along beyond Logitech’s S715i set, we couldn’t help but note that it’s something of a rarity. Whereas most other iDevice speakers tend to keep themselves safely tethered to the nearest wall plug, this unit claims it can get an ambitious eight hours of music playback from its battery, while boasting a whopping eight drivers (two rear-firing ones on the back) in total, including a pair of “laser-tuned” neodymium 3-inchers for midrange delivery. We could hardly gauge audio quality in our noisy environment, but we’ll say this much: Logitech isn’t fooling around with the volume the S715i can put out. Even our video after the break doesn’t do justice to the surprising roar you can generate from this otherwise compact package.

A standard 3.5mm audio input will let you stray outside of the Apple product family if you wish, and there’s a bundled remote too. Yet, in spite of all these goodies, we still can’t recommend this as a sage purchase at Logitech’s lofty $150 price. Don’t get us wrong, the S715i looks neat, just not that neat. We also managed to grab a few images of its family mate, the Z515 Bluetooth speaker, which similarly rolls on its own power (for up to 10 hours, it’s claimed) and captures tunes from your nearest Bluetooth-equipped device. It’s another well built and easily portable little thing, priced at $60 $100 by Logitech.

Continue reading Logitech S715i and Z515 portable speakers hands-on (video)

Logitech S715i and Z515 portable speakers hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Sep 2010 07:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading AIDACASE brings Keycase Folio Deluxe iPad case to the US

AIDACASE brings Keycase Folio Deluxe iPad case to the US originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Looxcie wearable camcorder
is the first in what may be a new category of gadget: the combination
Bluetooth headset and camcorder. Soon to be available through Amazon,
this 1-ounce video headset is a sleek- and shiny-looking unit that will
both turn heads and record their reactions.

As a Bluetooth headset, the device is a monster, weighing nearly
three times as much as the
svelte BlueAnt Q2, and costing quite a bit more. Unlike the average
Bluetooth, however, this device records everything you see at 480×320
pixels and 15 frames per second.

The makers of the Looxcie (pronounced “Look See”) claim it can record
continuously for up to 4 hours, provided you don’t use the headset for
taking a call. Using the Looxcie app on your Android smartphone, you can
save and edit your video, or “instant share” bite-sized 30-second clips
straight to YouTube.

While other wearable cameras on the market are sold to the extreme
sports crowd, the Looxcie doesn’t appear to offer the rugged durability
that snowboarders and mountain bikers need. With its sleek lines and
shiny white exterior, it looks more like a delicate prop from the latest
Star Trek film.

Ultimately, the Looxcie doesn’t offer much beyond a low quality
novelty camera, paired with a middle of the road Bluetooth headset.
Whether this unique gadget fills an untapped niche remains to be seen,
but for most headset users, this is an opportunity to hold on to your
money.

Looxcie looks more like a prop from Valve’s game Portal than what it actually is: a non-nerdy wearable camera, or a distinctly nerdy Bluetooth headset.

It works like this. You jam the Looxcie in your ear and switch it on. A reversible earplug means it’ll fit in either ear-hole. The camera then runs continuously and buffers up to five hours of video. If something cool happens, you hit a button and it sends the last 30 seconds via Bluetooth to a companion app on your Android phone, from where you can edit and upload it. This app also acts as a live viewfinder for the camera.

If you only use it as a Bluetooth headset, it will last for 10 hours, and if a call comes in while you are filming, the video recording is muted.

Then we get to the rub: The Looxcie costs $200, and the camera quality is crappy: your phone’s camera is undoubtedly better than the measly 480×320 pixel resolution and 15fps. On the other hand, it does look like a gun from Portal, so that might make it worth the price as a novelty Bluetooth headset for a really rabid fan of the game.

Available “soon”.

Looxcie product page [Looxcie]

See Also:

• Mini, Wearable Camcorder Will Complement Nerdy Apparel
• Wearable Camera

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