Hasta La Gadget!

Look at you, you platform agnostic, making room for three current gaming consoles in your entertainment center, looking down with a rueful smile upon those who would waste time arguing about superiority. All three receive your equal love, and so shouldn’t all three get equal share of your ears? They could if you had the F540 Wireless Gaming Headset from Logitech, a new entrant that, at $150, costs about the same as the G930 we recently enjoyed, but does so with mere stereo instead of 7.1 surround. Here you’re paying for the inputs instead of the outputs, with a base containing 3.5mm and RCA plugs enough for three separate sources, plus the necessary outputs to pump voice chat to an Xbox 360 and a PS3. The headset itself has volume and mute controls built-in and charges over USB, offering up to 10 hours of disturbance-free playtime. You can pre-order yours now ahead of an October shipment domestically, or November for European followers of Thomas Huxley.

Continue reading Logitech’s F540 gaming headset connects to three consoles, wirelessly

Logitech’s F540 gaming headset connects to three consoles, wirelessly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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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What’s this? A giant ergonomic mouse? Why no, it’s just the latest Logitech trackball. The Wireless Trackball M570 promises “a different level of comfort and control.” It features a laser tracking sensor, back and forward buttons, programmable buttons for shortcuts, adjustable speed, and a scroll wheel.

Logitech seems especially excited about the small wireless receiver, a little USB nub that’s barely visible when plugged into your PC. The receiver can also be stored in the mouse itself when not in use. The receiver connects via 2.4 GHz wireless.

The trackball runs off of two AA batteries. According to Logitech, it should get up to 18 months on a single pair.

The Logitech Wireless Trackball M570 is arriving later this month for $59.99. You can pre-order it now from the company’s site.

It’s been four months since Google first revealed its Android powered set-top box called Google TV at the company’s developer conference. Google had promised to make the box available in fall.

Now, a leaked internal document from Best Buy shows October 17 as the date when Google TV will hit retail shelves. A part of the document posted on Engadget also says the launch date has been pushed back from October 3.

The October 17 date would put Google TV a little behind Apple’s planned introduction of the new $100 Apple TV later this month.

Google’s attention to the streaming media signals a renewed interest in the category. Google TV combines access to Flickr, gaming sites, music sites and, most importantly, connects all this to traditional cable programming. Google has formed partnerships with Sony, Logitech and Intel to create hardware that will run this “smart TV” Android platform. Separately, Veebeam, a wireless USB-based streaming media player, launched Tuesday. Veebeam’s media player will cost $100 or $140 depending on the model.

While Logitech has offered a preview of the Google TV box, so far it hasn’t disclosed pricing for the product. That leaves the field clear for the bookmakers to place the odds.

Google TV will cost more than the Apple TV but will exceed Apple’s initial launch sales, predicts YouWager.com, a site that usually looks at odds in sports games.

See Also:

• Google Introduces Google TV, New Android OS
• Boxee CEO: Google TV Could Boost or Crush Us
• Google TV: Google, Sony, Intel Team-Up to Make Television
• 7 Ways to Watch Web Video Without Google TV
• Hands-On With New $100 Apple TV

Photo: Logitech Google TV box/Logitech

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and mighty oaks from little acorns grow. What do these two phrases have in common? Not much, really, but we’d say Logitech’s new line of gamepads have rather a lot in common with not only Sony‘s line of dual-analog controllers but also gamepads from Microsoft. Logitech itself says these have a “familiar, comfortable” design, and that’s obviously in reference to the DualShock-aping style. Meanwhile, those buttons are a dead ringer to the Xbox 360’s candy-like inputs, and the shape of the grips looks to have been lifted from there, too. But, hey, nothing wrong with a little inspired design, and the Gamepad F310 is the lowest end, selling for around $25. The Rumble Gamepad F510 offers dual vibration for about $35, and the Wireless Gamepad F710 moves up to 2.4GHz wireless and an MSRP of $50. You can pre-order yours at Logitech’s site — or just connect one of your existing Xbox 360 controllers to your PC and get the real deal.

Logitech’s new PC Gamepads offer a ‘familiar’ design originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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