Sony Ericsson F305
We just got the Sony Ericsson F305 for review and are pretty dam excited to get our hands on it and play with all the features including the Motion Gaming which will set it apart from all the other mobile phones.
The Motion Gaming does exactly what it says, basically the principle behind it is to allow the user to use his motion to intergrate into their gaming experience.
It comes with Sony Ericsson’s usual goodies like a great media player and 2.0 megapixel camera. Another great accessory to this phone is the optional power pack which allows you to boost your phone whenever you need with this handy device that you can connect to your key ring.
Sony Ericcson Naite Silver
Sony Ericsson recently started their GreenHeart™ initiative which has seen the company transform everything from phone manufacturing to every day functioning into sustainable eco-friendly business model.
The Naite alone reduces its CO2 footprint by 15% and it does this by using a e-manual which is built into the phone, this also makes the packing smaller which saves 90% of the paper used to make normal mobile phone packaging and manuals, the phone is also made from 50% recycled plastics, and lastly the charger uses less power (one of the most efficient on the market). This will really make the phone popular with people focused on creating a cleaner environment which is becoming very popular around the globe.
All the features on the Naite are pretty standard – email, texting, high-speed internet access and fairly rich multimedia capabilities. The Sony Ericsson Naite will become available October 2009.
HTC Snap
At first glance the HTC Snap reminds me exactly of some of the Blackberry phones out there. It is just smaller than the size of an sized average hand, sports a tiny QWERTY keyboard and of course has the 2.4-inch TFT-LCD screen.
However, it is no Blackberry and actually does a great job at what it has set out to do. HTC are about to launch a series of business focues phones which include 2 updates to 2 already successful phones.
Let’s get to the phone. It runs the latest version of Windows Mobile (6.1 Standard) which according to HTC is simple enough for even first-time smart phone users to master yet advanced enough for experienced users to remotely synchronise e-mail, calender and contacts.
A new feature that HTC has introduced is called “Inner Circle”. As the phrase usually relates to the inner circle for friends or colleagues and generally means that these people are the most important, HTC have allowed the phone to make communication received from them more important than the rest. For example, if you hit the Inner Circle button, it will show you all emails and sms messages received from them allowing you to respond to information that is critical to you quickly and efficiently.
The phone also comes standard with what is now deemed to be necessary to compete in the smart phone market. The HTC Snap comes standard with GPS, Bluetooth® 2.0, Wi-Fi and of course 3G HSDPA capable connectivity.
With the advent of rich touch screen mobile phones with all the features the HTC Snap offers I am not sure on how successful the phone will be, but HTC have definately shown their dominance in the mobile market and are competing in every category.
HTC Dream and HTC Magic
We just took the HTC Magic and HTC Dream out their box and are about to give them ago. If you have not heard we wrote about both the phones coming to South Africa 2 weeks back (HTC Magic and HTC Dream).
Both phones are running the Google Android operating system and offer all the Android system has to offer. However they differ in appearance and the HTC Magic comes with a few HTC modifications such as Exchange Active Sync which will give it better thrust in the corporate market.
In depth review in the next week.
Facebook Logo
Facebook announced just a few days ago that they will be offering every user, on Facebook, the ability to register their vanity URL.
What is a vanity URL you ask? Well if you use or have used the popular web services such as MySpace or Twitter you should be familar with it, however if you not then vanity URL’s allow you to assign an address to your profile. So for Twitter my address is http://twitter.com/seagyn and for my space it would something like http://www.myspace.com/seagyn. This makes it much easier to pass your profile address around than reading out http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=604200963.
So Facebook has upped their game and from the first minute of 13 June 2009 you will be able to assing a vanity URL to your profile. This way you can allow people to visit your profile by giving them name you choose such as http://www.facebook.com/seagyn.
Nike Plus(Nike+) Lunarglide Butterfly
Nike+ is a partnership between Apple and Nike that was started way back in 2006. It was designed for the iPod which gave you the ability to connect your iPod to a Nike+ enabled shoe and receive information via your headset whilst listening to your favourite song! You will get data such as distance run, calories burned, running pace etc.
Now Apple is releasing the new iPhone with the Nike+ application installed by default so all you need to do is find a pair of Nike trainers which are Nike+ enabled.
Once you have trained and have all the data read out to you whilst you train, you are able to sync all the data to nikeplus.com and interact with the online community as well as track your data and set goals for your self.
Nikeplus.com has been running for 3 years now and has some staggering figures. Over 900,000 challenges have been created, more than 1.7 million goals and more than 140,000 training programmes have been launched.
A very neat concept and bring the “lazy” internet world to the fit sport world.
Nokia N97 White
There has been a lot of fuss around the new Nokia N97 lately especially with the competition they ran last week. The phone boasts some great features which will most likely meet the expectations of the majority of the public.
With features like a 5 MP camera packing a Carl Zeiss Tessar™ which can also shoot video at 30 frames per second and an option to use the dual LED flash in both video and picture mode. As well as a digital music player, TV (with TV out), maps and navigation, games on the N-Gage system, and what will probably be the most exciting feature, built in social interaction widgets.
What really attracts me about the phone is the ability to capture high quality media and share it instantly from the phone. This is a great tool in a modern society where sharing news and information rich with media is key to success. It also packs a 32GB of on-board memory and as if that is not enough you can expand it a further 16GB via a microSD card.
It of course comes with a 3.5 inch TFT screen supporting up to 16 million colours which along side the great camera will give you a rich mulitmedia experience.
Well when I saw this I immediately realised what it was, a useless and potentially irritating piece of hardware. Combimouse have created a device that will bridge the divide between mouse and keyboard forever!
Combimouse
Great idea we think, but I really can’t imagine typing on a keyboard that has some of its keys moved around might take a bit of getting used to and lets not forget those irritating time when your keyboard thinks it is actually a mouse and doesn’t do what you want to do.
This product was invented by Ari Zagnoev and has already been sent to Wichita State University to be “extensively tested”. I don’t know how well this product is going to do but there may be someone willing to type while the click.
Jiqa Logo
South Africa’s very own local start up, Jiqa, has created a real-time web aggregation browser. The concept is great and will allow endless amounts of data to be collected regarding user habits and aggregating news that is current and more importantly real time.
The product is very much still in Beta and a very young Beta by the sounds of it. It has been built from the ground up though the .Net framework which is interesting seeing that you have numerous options in terms of Open Source browser releases such as Gecko Engine or Webkit which Firefox and Safari use respectively. Creating a product from a pre-built framework with a community backing gives you a head start in terms of stability and of course exstensibility.
The way the “browser” works is that is captures your browsing data whilst your browse and uploads it to a central server where all the work is done. You can then visit the Jiqa home page which allows you to do 1 of 2 things. Either view the hottest articles browsed by the Jiqa browsers or search for articles that are in the Jiqa system. This already supports to important aspects of modern web and those are real time trending topics and real time search.
However, there are two importants points I need to bring up. The first one is there needs to be a whole lot more introduced to the browser for me to think about making a move to it. I have many more options out there such as Chrome or Firefox, both of which I use on a daily basis. I am also not really caught by someone capturing all my browsing data which brings me onto my second point.
Where are Jiqa going to draw the line between privacy and getting the data they need to be successful at any point? That is a very important question they will need to answer and it will need to be done before the stable version gets released to the innocent public. Here is an extract from their download terms:
ANY FEEDBACK YOU PROVIDE AT THIS SITE SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE NON-CONFIDENTIAL. JiQA Information Engine Pty Ltd. IS FREE TO USE SUCH INFORMATION ON AN UNRESTRICTED BASIS.
Update: Kevin Davie, the head of the start up, just informed me that Jiqa does not capture any private info like IP addresses etc.
Having a a huge LCD monitor on your desk is always awesome especially from the 24″ and upwards bracket. However when we saw this 43″ monitor from NEC we instantly fell in love.
NEC 43 inch Curved LCD
NEC just announced their amazing 43 inch curved LCD monitor and is getting a lot of attention, this may b e do to the fact that it is extremely hard to miss. This monstor of a screen will fit nicely across any desk and will set you back a mammoth R80 000 plus, so you won’t be seeing it on many desks around the world let alone South Africa.
Actual specs include an 2880 x 900 resolution (double WXGA), 10,000:1 contrast ratio, DVI/HDMI inputs, and built-in USB hub.
Now just to organise a review…
Here is the American press release:
CHICAGO – June 4, 2009 – NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD displays and projectors, today announced the 43″ NEC CRV43 ultra-widescreen specialty desktop display, designed for use in applications such as professional graphics, higher education, government, financial, command & control and home office.
The NEC CRV43 curved display can be seen at InfoComm 09 on June 17-19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.
The unique NEC CRV43 curved display provides a much wider field of view and greater dynamic range with its double WGXA resolution (32:10 aspect ratio). The user’s taskbar is extended natively and setup is made easy to configure with one input. These features make it an ideal solution for simulation, digital imaging and command & control.
“The NEC CRV43 curved display provides an excitingly immersive viewing experience for any type of user,” said Keith Yanke, Director of Product Marketing for NEC Display Solutions. “Its lightning-fast response time coupled with its seamless curved screen provides enhanced comfort, decreased frustration and increased productivity. The monitor eliminates the bezel and screen gap issues that have complicated users’ work environment for years.”
The NEC CRV43 curved display includes the following features:
* Seamless curved screen, which eliminates bezel and screen gap issues for increased productivity and decreased frustration (according to Center for Human-Computer Interaction – Shupp et al, presented at Graphics Interface 2006)
* 2880 x 900 double WXGA native resolution
* 200 cd/m² brightness
* 0.02ms Rapid Response
* 10,000:1 contrast ratio
* Wide color gamut with 100% coverage of sRGB and 99.3% coverage of Adobe RGB
* Single link DVI-D and HDMI 1.3 input connectors
* USB 2.0 connectivity for easy use of peripherals
* Front panel controls
* On Screen Display (OSD®) and software-based GUI, which enables advanced display control options
USB Vacuum Cleaner
We are a big fan of cool pointless gadgets that offer the most minimal functionality and when we found the coolest little retro USB powered vacuum cleaner we were jumping around with joy.
This little 20 centimeters device is perfect for any desk and will reach every corner with a meter long cable.
Don’t be surprised if you walk in on us doing a bit of desk spring cleaning.
Bing Logo
Google image search is awesome, it generally gives you the images you want and allows for options to filter the search such as size or even colour. Now obviously Bing has now come into the equation and one of the first searches we did was image search to see the results that came up.
I was pretty surprised to see what came up and also very surprised at the functionality that was offered. First off we are yet to search for something and not get the images we want which is pretty dam good.
Secondly the filtering options that are given by Bing are brilliant for a beta and give you quite a few ways to trim down the results you receive. You can cut down the results by size, layout, colour, style and people.
Thumbs up on a great service!
Update: We couldn’t find the Bing logo when we searched on Bing but we did find it on Google’s image search.
Sony Ericsson Aino
We just heard got some awesome news from Sony Ericsson about their new Aino. The phone’s features have set it as a great mobile multi media device. It will be jammed packed with things like one touch media browsing via the touch screen and wireless so you have speedy access to Media Go™.
The coolest feature however will be the ability to control your PLAYSTATION®3 and access its media content on your Aino anywhere, anytime using Remote Play with PLAYSTATION®3. Remote Play with PLAYSTATION®3, initially developed for PSP, enables users to control and access media content on PLAYSTATION®3 from their phone. This can be done via a local network between PLAYSTATION®3 and Aino in your home or via the internet from anywhere in the world. That just sounds to cool!
Aino also introduces Media Home, an application that pulls media content from Media Go™ on your PC over Wi-Fi™ to your phone automatically. Users just insert their Aino in its charging stand and it automatically synchronizes with all the latest media content on their PC. You are always ready to go with the latest content on your phone.
“Sony Ericsson has established itself as THE Communication Entertainment brand and Aino highlights our commitment to bringing the latest communication technology to the market in fun and innovative ways for consumers to enjoy.” says Sonja Shear, Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson South Africa. “Media Home and Remote Play with PLAYSTATION®3, are key steps in broadening the entertainment experiences users can enjoy on their Sony Ericsson phone and gives a taste of our vision of the future”
This is definitely a phone to look at if multimedia is your thing especially if a 8 megapixel camera interests you. Expect to see it in October this year.
Features:
Google Squared Logo
Search has always had its downside, that downside being that you always had to go through the search results to get information. Yes the information is there but Google Squared brings order to the overwhelming amount of information.
Wolfram|Alpha has already a system that brings order to information but does not bring order to search. What Google Squared does is exactly that. Google are taking steps into computing information and sorting it. If you have ever sorted through pages of search results you would definitely understand how complicated it is categorizing the vasts amount of data you can find on the internet.
Google Search definitely brings a new way to search and an even better way to get information with less frustration. It will be interesting to see if Google Squared takes off and if it damages the use of Googles normal organic search engine.
To help you understand what it does we did a few searches that would show you how it organises data into digestable information:
Google Squared SA Presidents
Google Squared SA Accommodation
Google Squared TomTom
What is interesting about the TomTom search is that it brings up information on purchasing the product including what seems to be future support for pricing information etc.
Google Squared is a pretty nifty product from Google but it is still very much in its infancy.
TomTom Go 630
Just unpacked the TomTom GO 630 we wrote about 2 weeks ago and our first impression is great! The device is small and takes up absolutely no space which makes it great for putting in your pocket when you are not driving around.
I was pretty impressed by how easy it was to setup and also how easy it was to connect to your phone via Bluetooth to activate the hands free kit and also allow you to download updates to maps and add additional features. The hands free was also impressive with the option to retrieve all your contact info so that you can have Caller ID as well as allowing to go through the contacts to call.
We also tried out the new African languages and were slightly disappointed. The quality was a bit of a let down which had us putting the GPS onto maximum valume, closing all the windows and turning off the radio; this is not the best way to use a GPS thats for sure! It also does not support the option to read out messages, information and messages generated by the TomTom but that is very understandable.
In the end the TomTom GO 630 is a great product which delivers exactly what you need and actually achieves more. In summary we liked how easy it was to setup (even though the menu was pretty overwhelming – thanks to a million features) and the functionality worked wonders. It will definitely get you to your destination and it will do it in style.
These are the websites that we think will be useful to you
