Stantum multitouch Slate PC prototype hands-on

We’ve had a few run-ins with Stantum before, and never came away less than impressed. This time they sent us their Slate PC concept, which is actually a hacked-up Dell mini 10. The 10-inches of real estate don’t seem to hamper Stantum’s multitouch, ultra-sensitive and pressure-simulating resistive touchscreen technology one bit. Unfortunately, with stock Windows 7 on here we’re not sure this makes much more of a compelling use-case for a “slate” computer than we’ve seen already littering the halls of CES. Read-on for our full impressions and a video tour.

Continue reading Stantum multitouch Slate PC prototype hands-on

Stantum multitouch Slate PC prototype hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aliph Jawbone Icon Bluetooth headset launched in six lush flavors (Update: video!)

Turns out that leak we saw of the Jawbone Icon was for real after all, but it was only one of the six designs straight out of Aliph’s oven: (clockwise from top left) The Thinker, The Rogue, The Hero, The Ace, The Catch and — our favorite — The Bombshell. While these are the smallest and lightest Jawbones ever, Aliph has managed to cram in an allegedly improved NoiseAssassin and simultaneous dual-phone linkage, along with an onboard ‘AudioApp’ which vocally broadcasts battery level and caller ID. If you prefer a visual indication, the Icon also does a battery gauge on the iPhone — a first on a non-Apple Bluetooth headset — and apparently “Apple’s aware of this” so a firmware update shouldn’t kill this Palm Pre-style. We’re digging the MyTALK website — currently in beta — where you can pick and install other AudioApps and DialApps (for the multifunction button; e.g. voice dialing, free directory assistance and voice-to-SMS) onto the Icon, and both will be free except for some DialApps which require subscription. Oh, and there are seven earbud sizes plus an earloop to keep everyone happy too. When you’re done with picking, hit the Verizon stores for the initial launch today and pony up $99.99. Press release and video walkthrough of the MyTALK website after the break.

Continue reading Aliph Jawbone Icon Bluetooth headset launched in six lush flavors (Update: video!)

Aliph Jawbone Icon Bluetooth headset launched in six lush flavors (Update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic 2010 point and shoot line hands-on

We’re just cleaning out the rest of our memory cards from CES, and we totally forgot this moment of unintentional hilarity while grabbing a quick hands-on with Panasonic’s new point-and-shoot line — that’s the new touchscreen DMC-FP3, asking for the name of our baby. Sadly, we were not able to provide it with one, and it responded by continuing to have a somewhat wonky hybrid touchscreen-and-buttons control scheme. We’re assuming some of the lag we saw had to do with an early software build — we’ll see if things are cleared up when this guy ships, since we’re big fans of touch-to-focus. As for the rest, well, they’re Lumix point-and-shoots — they all seemed competent and sturdy, and we can’t wait for the day when Panasonic hires a design team to clean up that straight-from-1983 all-caps interface. Check out the rest in the gallery!

Panasonic 2010 point and shoot line hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inbrics’ SoIP S1 tries to make videophone converts out of us yet

We saw some incredibly cheap, ill-thought, Android-based videophones at CES this year, but this wasn’t one of them. The SoIP S1 from Inbrics is running Android, of course, but it’s under that same fine UI skin that Inbrics has coated its M1 Android slider in. The result is a finger-friendly device with nice software for making calls and sending messages — though it could really benefit from an external text-input device of some sort, and luckily there’s Bluetooth onboard to make that a possibility. There’s HDMI, Ethernet, USB and an SD slot around back, and the device is designed to sling video calls and media playback to a TV over the HDMI plug or DLNA (there’s also WiFi onboard, natch). For VoIP there’s a wireless handset embedded in the base of the unit. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see a demo of the video calling in action, and the big hangup with most of these video calling stations is still here: there’s no mention of the big standards in video calling like Skype, Google Talk or iChat, so it’s hard to see this catching fire with people who actually video chat. Still, at least Inbrics has roughly half of the software problem solved. Check out a video walkthrough after the break.

Continue reading Inbrics’ SoIP S1 tries to make videophone converts out of us yet

Inbrics’ SoIP S1 tries to make videophone converts out of us yet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Viliv N5 MID hands-on, HD5 PMP makes a cameo

For those of you hoping that Viliv’s aesthetic excellence will somehow make magic out of the 4.8-inch flip MID form factor, you might want to look away right about now. We too were hoping that Viliv could somehow sprinkle fairy dust on the errors of something like the UMID mBook BZ, but sadly the N5 is no such MID. It’s good looking, to be sure, and might even be better constructed than UMID’s entry, but it has the same squint-inducing 1024 x 600 display and aggravating optical mouse pad holding it back. In reality, both of these little computers are more akin to “observing” what it’s like to have a full computer running on an impossible form factor, instead of anything appropriate for actually using that computer.

Perhaps the CE-based Viliv HD5 PMP will find a truer calling. We saw the slate unit pumping out some HD video at a steady clip, and its hardware is certainly refined — if only just a little chubby. Unfortunately, none of the buttons were working, so we couldn’t hop out of the video and see what the rest of the player has to offer. At least it’s not Windows XP under there, daring us to use it. Videos of both devices are after the break.

Continue reading Viliv N5 MID hands-on, HD5 PMP makes a cameo

Viliv N5 MID hands-on, HD5 PMP makes a cameo originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wireless power takes another baby step at CES 2010 with Qi standard

It’s our third year visiting with Fulton Innovation and the eCoupled wireless power booth at CES, and once again there’s significant progress to be seen — this time in the form of actual shipping products like the Case-mate Hug and the Dell Latitude Z. Fulton’s really pushing the industry standard angle with eCoupled — it’s a founding member of the Wireless Power Consortium, which is just a few months away from finalizing a standard based on eCoupled called Qi. Qi’s going to be backed by some pretty big names: Motorola, Nokia, RIM, Energizer, Duracell, Samsung, and Philips are all members of the WPC, along with several others, and the goal is for all this stuff to seamlessly play together. Fulton had some pretty hot demos to show off of the standard in action, including a Toyota Avalon interior with functional spots for two phones, a GPS, a Bluetooth headset, and a netbook, a slick first-class airline seat with a charging table, and a hotel room with several power points — including a slick motorized dock built into the desk for the Dell. Our favorite demo, however, was a wall sconce: an eCoupled point in the wall was used to power a light fixture, which was then swapped for a digital photo frame. Nifty stuff, indeed.

Still, the big challenge for Fulton and the WPC is going to be actually shipping a bunch of these products this year — standards are nice, but without gear in hand they’re meaningless, and the rival PowerMat crew has been making a pretty big push of its own. We’ll see what happens in the next few months — and how much has changed at CES 2011. Check a couple videos after the break!

Continue reading Wireless power takes another baby step at CES 2010 with Qi standard

Wireless power takes another baby step at CES 2010 with Qi standard originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hands-On With Panasonic’s Leica-Lite GF1

lumix_gf1

The Lumix GF1 is Panasonic’s answer to the Olympus Pen, and is the second “rangefinder” style Micro Four Thirds camera on the market. It blows away both the EP-1 Pen and also the new EP-2 Pen, and is — amazingly — good enough to replace all but the best of entry-level DSLRs.

The camera has been reviewed across the internet, but oddly some of the most important points have not been written about. These questions are particularly pertinent when it comes to compact cameras, whose performance varies so much more than that of DSLRs. Here we answer those questions, and hopefully fill in the gaps. The GF1 is here paired with the Lumix 20mm ƒ1.7 “pancake” lens.

Shutter Lag

Shutter lag is the best reason to buy a DSLR. Compacts are notoriously slow to fire when you squeeze the shutter release. The GF1 is as fast as a sub-$1,000 DSLR, taking a picture as soon as you tell it to. You can capture a fleeting expression on your subject’s face, and generally trust the camera to take the photo you want. There’s even a satisfying clunk as the shutter closes and opens (unusually, the GF1 keeps the shutter open until you fire it). In short, it feels like using a film camera.

Screen vs. Viewfinder

I was planning on buying an external, optical viewfinder to go with this camera (yes, I bought the camera myself). The optional electronic finder is a fuzzy, distorted piece of junk, and I usually hate composing on-screen. But although the GF1’s LCD panel has only 460,000 pixels (many newer DSLRs have almost a million), the 60fps refresh rate makes a huge difference. You actually feel like you’re using the focusing screen on an old medium format TLR. Weirdly, I actually find it easier to frame shots than with my Nikon D700’s fantastic viewfinder.

Focus

Auto-focus on the GF1 is startlingly quick, and it has been noted by other reviewers that it is in the same class as an entry-level DSLR. This is a surprise, as the contrast-detection used by live-view cameras is a fundamentally slower technology than the phase detection of an SLR. It’s not in the class of a pro Nikon or Canon setup, but it is fast enough, and more importantly, it is not annoying.

Manual focus, too, is handled well. Either switch into MF, or just turn the lens’ wide, well-damped focus ring when you have the shutter half-pressed, and the screen displays a zoomed view. This makes focus quick and, for a camera of this kind, surprisingly intuitive.

Video

This has been pretty well-documented, so I’ll just say that with the ƒ1.7 lens, you get some sweet, shallow depth of field, and the manual focus is ideal for video. A dedicated button will start recording immediately whatever mode you are in, making it a snap to shoot a quick clip.

High ISO

One of selling points of a large-sensor camera is low noise, even at high ISOs. The GF1 runs all the way up to ISO 3200. How does it do?

Pretty well. It’s no Nikon D3S, but noise is perfectly acceptable up to ISO 1600, and even at ISO 3200 the noise is handled well. More importantly, the color saturation and tonal range manage not to fade at higher speeds.

There are two tricks that will take a night-time, ISO 3200 shot and make it look amazing. One is to convert to black and white. This nixes the the offensive colored speckles that are color noise and leaves the pleasantly grain-like luminance noise. It looks like B&W film.

The other is to use Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Here’s a comparison after a conversion to black and white. On the left is the old noise-reduction algorithm, on the right is the new one. Even with this web-sized picture you can see the difference. It works this well in color, too.

iso-noise-comparison

The Bad

These are nitpicks on an otherwise amazing camera. First, it needs more dials. The Canon S90 has a useful dial around the lens collar, as well as a command dial at the back. The GF1 has a single, tiny dial which tends to slide under my normal-sized thumb. Also, there is no in-body image stabilization — it comes in the lens (an the 20mm doesn’t have it). Also found in the lens, inexplicably, is the accelerometer. Again, the 20mm lacks this feature and therefore the camera doesn’t auto-rotate images. And remember, this is a $1,000 device.

panny-cam-1

Last is the battery compartment. The plastic lid feels flimsy on the all-metal body, and the spring inside looks like it came from a $1 flashlight. Poor.

In all, though, this is a camera that feels most like my old Leica M6. If you think of it as a Leica lite, it is cheap. If you compare it to a Canon Rebel, it is expensive. It is also small, and a lot of fun to use. I can’t stop snapping.

And one more thing — I picked up a Micro Four Thirds-to-Nikon adapter. As soon as I get home, I’ll have my entire lens collection to try out, from Lens Baby to a 50mm ƒ1.8 (which will turn into a 100mm ƒ1.8) to an 85mm ƒ1.8, which will become a rather amazing 170mm ƒ1.8 on this camera. I am, it’s safe to say, quite excited.

Product photo: Jon Snyder
Photos: Charlie Sorrel
Top 1/30th sec, ƒ1.7, ISO 125
B&W noise comparison 1/1250th sec ƒ1.7 ISO 3200


Ooma Telo HD, Handset, and iPhone app hands-on

We stopped by Ooma’s booth at CES for a quick hands-on with the new HD Telo and some time with the iPhone app. Voice quality on the service was pretty decent, although we did notice a pretty significant bit of lag — we’re assuming things would work better on a quality connection, as opposed to the slammed pipes here on the show floor. The new DECT handset was also quite nice, although it took a second to figure out how to initiate a call. We also played with the iPhone app for a second — it worked as advertised, although once again we were limited by both the poor network connections on the show floor. It’s certainly an interesting concept, though — we’ll have to wait to see how this all works in the home.

Ooma Telo HD, Handset, and iPhone app hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Liquavista’s monochrome and color e-paper displays get demonstrated (video)

Liquavista's monochrome and color e-paper displays get demonstrated

Philips’ 2006 spin-off Liquavista hasn’t exactly had a lot to show for itself since it earned its independence, but things seem to finally be coming together for the company, which had a suite of e-paper displays to demonstrate at CES last week, a show that was absolutely chock-full of e-readers. Our very own spin-off, Engadget Spanish, got a chance to peruse the company’s suite of offerings, including a prototype device called Pebble. It’s a lovely, thin reader that’s unfortunately not intended for production — at least not yet. The video after the break shows displays that not only redraw far more quickly than existing production screens, but also mix in RGP effects and even multi-color backlighting. It’s good stuff; you’ll want to check it out.

Continue reading Liquavista’s monochrome and color e-paper displays get demonstrated (video)

Liquavista’s monochrome and color e-paper displays get demonstrated (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HD DVD rides again: TCL brings China Blue HD & Blu-ray together for a CES face-off

Ah, HD DVD, our old friend – we thought we’d never see you again. But there was no mistaking it, here’s the logo tucked away in Chinese manufacturer TCL’s booth on a China Blue HD deck next to a similar Blu-ray player. The Blu-ray demo appeared to be down when we stopped by making this not much of a fight — although with recent gains by CBHD like adding studio support from Paramount, it may want to take this challenger more seriously. We’ll move the threat level on this conflict to yellow.

HD DVD rides again: TCL brings China Blue HD & Blu-ray together for a CES face-off originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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