Hasta La Gadget!

Wondering where you’ve heard of Berkeley Bionics before? These are the same whiz-kids who produced the HULC exoskeleton in mid-2008, and now they’re back with a far more ambitious effort. Announced just moments ago in San Francisco, the eLEGS exoskeleton is a bionic device engineered to help paraplegics stand up and walk on their own. It’s hailed as a “wearable, artificially intelligent, bionic device,” and it’s expected to help out within the hospital, at home and elsewhere in this wild, wild place we call Earth. Initially, the device will be offered to rehabilitation centers for use under medical supervision, and can be adjusted to fit most people between 5’2″ and 6’4″ (and weighing 220 pounds or less) in a matter of minutes. We’re told that the device provides “unprecedented knee flexion,” and it’s also fairly quiet in operation; under ideal circumstances, speeds of up to 2MPH can be attained, and it employs a gesture-based human-machine interface that relies on legions of sensors to determine a user’s intentions and act accordingly. Clinical trials are going on as we speak about to begin, and there’s a limited release planned for the second half of 2011. We’re still waiting to hear back on a price, so keep it locked for more as we get it live from the event.

Update: We just got to see the eLEGS walk across stage, and you’ll find a gallery full of close-up pics immediately below. We also spoke to Berkeley Bionics CEO Eythor Bender, who detailed the system a bit more — it’s presently made of steel and carbon fiber with lithium-ion battery packs, weighs 45 pounds, and has enough juice to run for six hours of continuous walking. While he wouldn’t give us an exact price, he said they’re shooting for $100,000, and will be “very competitive” with other devices on the market. Following clinical trials, the exoskeleton will be available to select medical centers in July or August, though Bender also said the company’s also working on a streamlined commercial version for all-day use, tentatively slated for 2013.

Continue reading Berkeley Bionics reveals eLEGS exoskeleton, aims to help paraplegics walk in 2011 (update: eyes-on and video)

Berkeley Bionics reveals eLEGS exoskeleton, aims to help paraplegics walk in 2011 (update: eyes-on and video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That front-facing camera, optical trackpad and Genius button are all in plain sight, but we’re afraid we didn’t get to give them a try — the screen on this T-Mobile myTouch is pitch black because it’s just a hardware prototype. That didn’t keep us from snapping plenty of pictures when we spotted the Froyo-filled HSPA+ handset at the carrier’s booth, though — including a few of the phone side-by-side with its predecessor, the myTouch Slide. First, you’d probably like to hear about the hardware on display, so here’s the executive summary: the device feels fairly solid, it’s got a neat two-tone design with a fancy metal battery cover, and there’s a nice big shutter button. The myTouch also sports a set of three copper contacts on the side almost certainly destined for a landscape dock, though nearby T-Mobile representatives quickly disavowed knowledge of any such product. They did confirm we’ll see the phone by the holidays, though, so we won’t have long to wait.

Update: As it turns out, this particular myTouch is actually the white one, as the handsets all share the same black and chrome styling up front. Want to see what it looks like with a red back, though? See for yourself at the tail end of our first gallery below.

T-Mobile myTouch hands-on (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Perhaps our eyes are just too untrained for such tasks, but we didn’t much miss the 24ppi or so difference between the iPhone 4’s retina display (326 ppi) and Hitachi’s 6.6-inch IPS panel (302 ppi). The CEATEC prototype panel is just gorgeous and crystal clear (as much as Shakespeare and Kanji-laden articles can be, at least). Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anyone to answer our questions as to when it might hit mass production, so for now, just enjoy the view.

Hitachi’s 6.6-inch / 302ppi IPS panel gets eyes-on treatment, locks eyes with iPhone 4’s retina display originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The low-end Android game just got real, folks, with Sprint’s introduction of the LG Optimus S, a $50 (on-contract, post-rebate) Android slatephone running Froyo on a 3.2-inch HVGA screen, with mobile hotspot functionality for up to five devices, 802.11 b/g WiFi and a 600MHz processor to run the whole shebang. As you’d expect in a world of 1GHz smartphones at the $200 price point, it’s not quite up to spec, but that doesn’t keep it from having a super-solid build, durable and weighty, that belies its low price. It honestly feels much like a Nexus One in the hand, though with nice big physical buttons instead of capacitive function keys, and of course a lower-quality LCD screen. There’s an auto-focusing 3.2 megapixel camera on the back and a fairly responsive capacitive touchscreen up front, and though browsing was a little painful on the low-res screen, the Android 2.2 device sped through the UI without skipping a beat. If this device impresses as much after we throw it through a barrage of tests, I’ll be hard to imagine ever spending a cent on a regular ol’ featurephone again.

Update: We’ve just been informed that the Optimus S has 256MB 512 MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM, an MSM7627 chipset and Bluetooth 2.1, but there’s more — it pulls a respectable 430 in the Quadrant benchmark thanks to Qualcomm Adreno 200 graphics, and we’ve got visual proof. See some direct-from-device screenshots and a couple sample pics from the Optimus S’s camera in our second gallery below!

Update 2: Video after the break!

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading LG Optimus S, first hands-on! (update: video)

LG Optimus S, first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re the sort who fancies a digital picture frame and a stereo dock for your iPhone, Panasonic‘s new MW-20 might just be the thing to converge and satiate those needs. The 9-inch frame can display pictures via SD card, 2GB internal memory, or an iPhone / iPod touch via the bundled dock — and if you’ve got the device connected, you can also play music video via the frame’s internal stereo speakers (there’s no indication of any audio out for using your own speaker system, however). Additionally, the MW-10 successor has a touted 15 different display patterns, including some calendar and clock functionality. Pictures taken with a Lumix camera? The MW-20 has a function that’ll group photos by style (i.e. all nighttime scenery). Look for it during your haze of Christmas shopping in late November for — and here’s the part that’s gonna sting — just one dollar shy of $250. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Scenes from the CEATEC show floor below.

Panasonic MW-20 is a digital photo frame, iPhone / iPod touch stereo, and money burner all in one originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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