High end smartphones like the Nokia N95 and N96 will have to be on their toes from now on as Samsung attempts to break into this market with their latest release, the InnoV8 - also known as the i8510 which we covered just last week. Powered by Symbian’s S60 operating system, the InnoV8 is no slouch when it comes to performance, but I shan’t bore you with detailed specifications today (you can refer to those in our InnoV8 coverage). Instead, it will be interesting to see how the InnoV8 pushes the envelope when it comes to high end handsets, and how will it’s presence make other cell phone manufacturers react in their future offerings? (Read the full post about ‘Samsung InnoV8 Under Scrutiny’…)
by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 5th 2008 at 11:31AM Seriously, we’ve been hearing about the EOS 7D for well over a year now, with the chatter predictably heating up before every major trade show — and with just over a month before Photokina, it’s happening all over again. (Read the full post about ‘Canon EOS 7D rumors heat up again’…)
Kingston hails its new stylish and small DataTraveler Mini Slim flash drives to the market, and I suspect that a good percentage of its owners will eventually lose them no thanks to the extremely diminutive size that makes them perfect candidates from getting misplaced. Available in black, blue or pink colors, the DataTraveler Mini Slim measures a mere 1.5″ x 0.6″ x 0.25″, and could stake a place for being the smallest USB flash drives currently available. You will be able to pick up the 2GB and 4GB models for £4.60 and £7.90, respectively. Is that super cheap or what? (Read the full post about ‘Kingston DataTraveler Mini Slim’…)
by Darren Murph, posted Aug 5th 2008 at 10:22AMThere’s no doubt that both of HTC’s forthcoming handsets (yeah, the Touch Diamond and Touch Pro) are coming to Sprint and Verizon. What we’re still curious about, however, are the respective launch dates and the eventual names. phoneArena has it that the Touch Diamond will go by HTC Victor on Sprint and HTC Diamond on Verizon, with the former packing a slightly speedier CPU, an aluminum frame, accelerometer, 4GB of internal memory and EV-DO Rev. A support. As for Verizon’s, expect it to boast half the RAM (128MB), a wimpier CPU, microSD expansion slot and a stainless steel frame. (Read the full post about ‘More details on HTC’s Touch Diamond / Touch Pro for Verizon and Sprint’…)
There was a lot of talk about who would take the biggest blow in the smartphone world with the intro of the iphone. A Changewave study shows this chart. What’s interesting isn’t the data the graph is making obvious, it is the totals. If you add up the % of the smartphone market, you’ll find the total market segment being served by Palm, Rim and Apple throughout this period isn’t changing. It is staying relatively flat at about 2/3rds of all smartphones. So this would suggest, the merry trio are not bringing new folks into the smartphone market, rather just cutting up the pie differently. (Read the full post about ‘Palm’s heart monitor just started beeping’…)
Elvis Presley is not really gone, as he is consistently one of the top earning dead celebrities in the world despite passing away in the last century. ZVUE has not forgotten about The King, and will be selling an exclusive Media Player that comes pre-loaded with 10 music video clips from two concert specials starring Elvis Presley - “68 Special” and “Aloha From Hawaii.” Known as the Elvis Presley Media Player, this will cost $49.88 and can be picked up from any Wal-Mart stores nationwide from August 12 onwards. Elvis fans will note that this comes just in time to coincide with Elvis Week at Graceland in Memphis. Well, I’m sure the Elvis estate could do with yet another dollar in their coffers… (Read the full post about ‘ZVUE Loves Elvis’…)
Despite having the best of intentions to alter your driving habits in order to save on gas, sometimes it’s difficult to change your ways. Well Nissan has designed a gas pedal called the ECO Pedal to help you with your lead foot. When it senses you’re accelerating too quickly, it will begin pushing back. Which if you prefer a car that has the ability to get up and go, it’s going to become a bit obnoxious. They do claim the it will increase fuel efficiency by 5 to 10 percent. Which would definitely cut down on all that money you’ve been forking out for gas. (Read the full post about ‘Nissan’s ECO Pedal pushes back during acceleration’…)
Memorex has just announced their new lineup of portable hard drives, aptly named the Essential TravelDrives. The new lineup will be good for the person on-the-go as the drives are USB powered, which means at least one less power cord to carry around. Boasting just the essentials, these drives include backup software to keep your data safe along with a blue LED that flashes when the drive in use. They will be available in a selection of “nature-inspired colors” that include spring blossom, tropic green, caribbean blue or cool silver. The Essential TravelDrives are available in a variety of storage sizes to include a 160, 250 and 320GB option and are priced beginning at $89.99. (Read the full post about ‘Memorex intro’s new Essential TravelDrives lineup’…)
Somehow the term fast and cheap doesn’t seem to gel well together when it comes to Solid State Drives (SSDs), but somehow or rather Micron aims to marry the two adjectives with their new C200 line of multi-level cell (MLC) flash storage. This drive is able to hit a theoretical read speed of 250MB/s, while offering write speeds of up to 100MB/s. Notebook manufacturers can choose from 2.5″ or 1.8″ versions, where the former can hold up to 256GB of data while the latter has a maximum limit of 128GB. The C200 SSDs will connect to the corresponding notebook via Serial ATA, and they ought to ship sometime this fall. There is no word on pricing, but as with anything new, they ought to cost quite a pretty penny before the law of mass market economics kicks in. (Read the full post about ‘Micron Hails Fast and Cheap SSDs’…)
by Ryan Block, posted Aug 5th 2008 at 3:00AM
It’s been a while since Sonos last had a significant hardware announcement, so welcome into the world their new ZP120 ($500) and Z90 ($350), as well as the $1,000 BU150 bundle (which includes both the new devices and the same original controller). The main difference, which we’d already heard: they now both support SonosNet 2.0, which uses MIMO to double the wireless distance between nodes. (Read the full post about ‘Sonos gets official on ZP120 and ZP90, but no new controller’…)
