Hasta La Gadget!

As sure as the sun, Mobile-review’s Eldar Murtazin managed to nab a very early look at the still yet-to-be-announced Nokia N97 Mini, and as if we needed another reminder, the FCC filing wasn’t kidding with that 1:1 scale. Turns out it only takes “around a centimeter” difference to earn the “mini” nomenclature in Finland, and in addition to that peculiarity, the company’s apparently managed to make the keyboard actually worse than its predecessor — no small feat, if you ask us. Of course, we haven’t had a chance to try it ourselves yet, but the prognosis so far isn’t so good. Perhaps more interesting is good ole’ Eldar’s teasing about a number of other touchscreen Nokia devices, some without keyboards, that’d target the same segment as the N97 Mini, including one he’ll be revealing and previewing tomorrow — and no matter what it is, we can all but guarantee with supreme confidence that it’ll have a more compelling raison d’être than this thing.

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia N97 Mini previewed: not so mini, not so great originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Always Innovating sure made good on the promise of removable tablet embedded in a netbook form factor and price — we’ve gone from hardly believable renders in March to a now-shipping $400 ($300 without the base) product as of now. The impressions are already trickling in, but our favorite observation so far is this fridge magnet implementation. The main complaint so far is that the machine altogether is rather heavy for a netbook. It makes sense given that all the computer internals are in the MID-style touchscreen, while the keyboard base adds on 7 hours of purported battery life. So far it doesn’t sound like this is the sexy-slim way to get into the netbook game if you’re not in it for the removable MID capabilities, but for the MID affectionate the Touch Book could provide a nice alternative to the same old same old.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Read – Touch Book first impressions
Read – Touch Book unboxing

Always Innovating Touch Book unboxed, previewed and stuck to a fridge for good measure originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve already read our thoughts on the new Xbox Live dashboard update, and now it’s time for those who put in their name for the preview program to join the fun. Microsoft today began sending invites that’ll get you set up for the download, so that you can enjoy Avatar marketplace and a slew of new Netflix options (and irksome restrictions for Starz Play titles). Registration is still open if you still want a shot at nabbing it before August 11th. Didn’t get an email? A second wave of invites is going out tomorrow, but also be sure to check the Connect site you registered at anyway, as Microsoft notes those who opted out of receiving emails will have no other way of confirming.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

Xbox Live dashboard update preview invites begin rolling out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to be in the envy of all your friends Xbox 360 online friends? As they did once before with NXE, Microsoft is launching an update preview program for its upcoming Xbox Live dashboard enhancements, which for this round includes Games on Demand, Netflix movie parties, and user ratings — better luck next time, Facebook aficionados. A Microsoft Connect account is required for registration, and lucky participants will be notified by July 31st. Hit up the read link to throw your hat (and gamertag) in the ring for a chance to be selected — no promises you’ll get in, but can’t hurt to try, right?

[Via Joystiq; thanks, Ken]

Filed under: Gaming

Xbox Live update preview program now accepting applicants originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s much to love about the new Olympus E-P1, but the hip new thing for the DSLR market is video, and Panasonic has already demonstrated with the Lumix DMC-GH1 that Micro Four Thirds cameras are in some ways even better suited to the demands of high quality point-and-shoot video. The folks at Digital Photography Review have some samples up now of the E-P1’s video performance, and while we’d like to see how the camera fares indoors as well, the outdoor samples they’ve posted are very promising. The colors seem just a touch washed out, but there’s great motion and clarity, and solid manual controls. It is interesting to note that while the camera does include some built-in effects, most of them dramatically reduce the frame rate — making them more or less useless. Most unfortunate, however, is the fact that there’s no auto focus in video mode, which is where the DMC-GH1 still reigns supreme in DSLR land. Hit up the read link for the videos, or if that’s not your style check out the bemusing Blendtec advert for the E-P1 after the break — it’s a real viral meets meta mashup, or something like that.

[Thanks Richard L.]

Update: We’ve heard conflicting word on auto focus. According to Photography Review‘s preview, the camera doesn’t have auto focus in video mode, but according to the Olympus press release, as Super Marxio pointed out in comments, there is auto focus during recording. Perhaps Photography Review was looking at a non-final version of the camera. We do know that the camera does auto focus using contrast detection, like a regular compact camera, and while that’s the same method used by the GH1, DP Review claims it’s slightly inferior — though they did state they were working with a 0.9 firmware.

Continue reading Olympus E-P1 video samples posted, camera turns up in ad-within-an-ad Blendtec spot

Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV

Olympus E-P1 video samples posted, camera turns up in ad-within-an-ad Blendtec spot originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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