Hasta La Gadget!

Maybe we’re a bunch of idiots, but while the Flip and its ultra-simple camcorder ilk have certainly made shooting video simpler and more accessible for the masses, we still find many of these cameras surprisingly unintuitive or just “blah” at doing what they do (Kodak’s otherwise excellent Zi8 and PlaySport cameras come to mind) when it comes to UI. After playing with the horrendous Flip Slide HD, we were almost sure touchscreens would act as another obstacle to using these things, but of all people, Sony has come to the rescue. We found the original Bloggie line very unimpressive, but this new Bloggie Touch crop is exactly as easy to use as you’d imagine a one button device would be.

That big record button on the front? You press it, and it records stuff. The responsive touchscreen UI takes care of secondary issues, like playing back that stuff you recorded, swapping resolution (it shoots at up to 1080p), setting a timer, and more detailed settings, with four well placed icons, while a touch slider operates the digital zoom. If you hold the camera like a still camera and tap the camera shutter button now naturally placed on the top you can take 12.8 megapixel stills (okay, we lied, there are two buttons, three if you count the on / off button). Despite the slim, sexy design of the camera, Sony still worked in a pop-out USB plug and a full sized HDMI jack. Even the $180 / $200 price (for 4GB or 8GB of storage) is surprisingly good. Just a reminder, in case you’d forgotten: the Bloggie Touch is built by Sony. We’ll be looking forward to its October launch.

Sony Bloggie Touch preview: an actually simple ‘simple camcorder’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just got to handle the Folio 100, after witnessing it bolted to a wall earlier, and we have to admit that it’s lighter and thinner than it looks at first glance. Unfortunately, it still feels pretty cheap, and we’re not sure how much we trust ourselves one-handing something this large and fragile seeming. Our brief glimpse of Toshiba’s custom skin on here was most depressing — it’s not final, but we’re not sure why Toshiba is even bothering showing anything in this abysmal state. The bits we’ve seen of Toshiba’s market (for music, apps, e-books and so forth) look a bit better, but as far as we know there’s no official Android Market on this thing — a kiss of death for almost any Android device. Toshiba’s biggest failure here, however, is probably the LCD it sourced for this tablet — the screen looks as cheap and low res as could be, and while a €399 list price is decent for a tablet this size, it hardly seems a good excuse to stoop to KIRF-level components. Hit up the gallery for all the angles, along with some comparison shots with the mind share monopolizing iPad.

Update: We just heard from Toshiba’s US team and there are apparently no plans to bring the Folio 100 stateside. Given our lackluster first impressions, we can’t say we’re all that upset by that…

Toshiba Folio 100 preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We told you August 24 would be a significant day for Sony, and sure enough, the company has let the translucent mirror cat out of the bag nice and early today. The A55 and A33 offer Sony’s brand spanking new Translucent Mirror Technology, which allows for such fine things as continuous phase-detect autofocus while shooting at up to 10fps (7fps on the A33) or recording Full HD AVCHD video. A newly developed 15-point autofocus system is also included, with 16.2 and 14.2 Exmor APS HD CMOS sensors for the A55 and A33, respectively. Both shooters come with a fully articulated, 920k-dot, 3-inch LCD screen, while 3D panoramas, automated HDR shot creation, and an Auto+ mode fill out the software goodies. Prices are set at $750 for the A55 in October and $650 for the A33 in September — you can figure out if they’re worth it by checking out the early previews below.

Continue reading Sony Alpha A55 and A33 official: translucent mirror, Full HD video, continuous autofocus

Sony Alpha A55 and A33 official: translucent mirror, Full HD video, continuous autofocus originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Christmas came early at Engadget HQ this year, as evidenced by the picture above — you’re looking at two Dell Thunder prototype smartphones, each with some surprising quirks, and hints that they might include global HSPA, AWS for the likes of T-Mobile, and maybe even a dash of CDMA support. We’ll warn you ahead of time that these are labeled EVT1 for “engineering verification test” and date back to the April leak, so they’re about as early as you can get — don’t expect the final handset to arrive without some significant differences. Good? Then peek the gallery below, hit the break, and let’s get on with the show.

Continue reading Exclusive: Dell Thunder prototype preview (video)

Exclusive: Dell Thunder prototype preview (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve known that proper Xbox Live gaming (powered by XNA) was coming to Windows Phone 7 devices, but we’d yet to see any of that thumb-spraining goodness in action besides a brief demo and a few developer videos. Well, Microsoft has finally come clean with details about its launch strategy for the platform, and from where we sit, it’s definitely looking pretty promising. First off, the company has announced a full list of launch titles for WP7 handsets, including some familiar names and franchises like Castlevania, Halo: Waypoint, Star Wars, Crackdown, and Guitar Hero, alongside a handful of newer properties like the ultra-cute ilomilo, produced in-house by Microsoft Game Studios. In total, the company will launch with over 60 game titles, with new offerings appearing every week in the Xbox Live Marketplace, just like its big brother console version. We’ve got all the details, a full list of the launch titles, and our hands-on preview after the break — so read on to get the scoop!

Continue reading Xbox Live launch titles for Windows Phone 7 finally revealed, we’ve got the full preview

Xbox Live launch titles for Windows Phone 7 finally revealed, we’ve got the full preview originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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