Samsung new Digital Camcorders

The new SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also feature Samsung’s stylish Crystal Design with a touch of color that was first introduced in the company’s line of flat panel HDTVs. With Crystal Design, a hint of color is naturally blended into the deep black body for an attractive crystalline appearance.

The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 are ideal for the on-the-go consumer and offer an impressive 10x optical zoom paired with Hyper Image Stabilization to help reduce blurry footage. Both camcorders also feature a 230,000-dot, swiveling 2.7-inch wide LCD screen, which allows users to effortlessly frame their subjects and review their footage. Similar to the full-HD HMX-R10, the new SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 boast Samsung’s Active Angle Lens. This unique design helps reduce fatigue by allowing consumers to grip the camcorder in a more relaxed manner, easing the overall stress on their wrist and elbow. Unlike traditional camcorders, the relaxed grip also removes the LCD screen from the user’s line of sight, enabling them to always keep an eye on their subject while recording.

"The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 are truly unique camcorders, starting with their eye-catching Crystal Design,” said Sang Ryong Kim, Camcorder Business Team at Samsung Electronics. “In addition to being ultra-compact, ergonomic and stylish, these camcorders offer a host of advanced, yet easy-to-use capabilities that encourage consumers to integrate video recording into their everyday digital lifestyles.”

The new SMX-C14 features 16GB of internal Samsung flash memory and is expandable via an SD/SDHC memory card slot. Thanks to H.264 compression, which drastically enhances recording times when used with standard definition video, users can record over six hours of footage with the highest video quality at Super Fine Mode directly to the SMX-C14’s 16GB of built-in memory. The SMX-C10 does not feature internal memory and requires the use of SD/SDHC media. Both the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also offer substantial battery life, providing more than two hours and forty minutes of record time on a single charge.

The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also incorporate Samsung’s play-edit-sharing program called intelli studio. The built-in intelli-studio program allows consumers to connect the camcorder to any computer via USB and edit and play their video without having to install supporting software. intelli-studio also facilitates the process of uploading users’ content to popular video sharing Web sites. For added convenience, a one-touch “upload” button, available directly on the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10, provides a direct connection to YouTube™, further reducing the number of steps needed to upload footage. In addition, the camcorders also allow basic on-camera editing, including the ability to merge and split video files.

Samsung’s animated thumbnail feature simplifies the way users search for video clips on the SMX-C14 and SMX-C10. Each video clip saved on the camcorder is represented by a small thumbnail on the LCD screen. When scrolling through one’s videos, each thumbnail will provide a short playback of the video file when highlighted by the user. The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 also feature a versatile charging system. Users can either recharge the battery by connecting the camcorder to the supplied AC adapter or via USB while the camcorder is connected to a computer.

The SMX-C14 and SMX-C10 will be available from May in European, CIS and Asian countries.

The Motorola Clutch i465 iDEN Phone with QWERTY Keyboard

"Motorola Clutch i465: Chat the Way You WantText as easily as you talk with Motorola Clutch i465, Motorola’s first device that combines the power of push-to-talk and the convenience of QWERTY. With a familiar design and military-tough durability, Motorola Clutch satisfies the messaging needs of even the most serious texters and talkers.

Instant GratificationClutch is the first Motorola iDEN, full QWERTY device with push-to-talk technology designed for easy texting and talking so you have multiple ways to get the word out. A full QWERTY keyboard with shortcut keys and software upgrades such as IM-style texting helps you multitask like a champion. If your voice expresses what written words can’t, Motorola’s leading push-to-talk technology is your verbal IM for keeping in constant contact.

Mega MessagingIM-style texting makes it easy to respond and follow the message stream. Get the last word in with increased character space and keep your eye on multiple conversations using an all-in-one view of your incoming and outgoing messages.

Motorola Clutch i465 Specs:

Talk and Standby Time

205 minutes/100 hours

Bands/Modes

800/900 MHz

Weight96g/3.4oz

Dimensions

54 mm x 112.8mm x 14.9 (mm)

2.1” x 4.4” x 0.6 (inches)

Battery

1130 mAh

Connectivity

Bluetooth 1.22; micro USB;

5-pole, 2.5mm audio jack (mono)

Display

1.79” 64k TFT; 128x160

Messaging

SMS, MMS, email (POP3), message threading, predictive text

Audio

MIDI, WAV, MP3, ring tones

Video

Capture/Playback, H.263Camera300k resolution with 4x zoom

Memory20 MB user available memory

Form FactorFull QWERTY candybar

Motorola Clutch i465 will be available in Q2.

Asus Eee PC Seashell

The Asus Eee PC Seashell, aka 1008HA is now available for purchase in Japan and overseas. This netbook is powered by an Atom N280, 1GB or RAM, a 10” WSVGA LED Backlight screen, Bluetooth, 160GB of HDD.

The beach brings to mind images of clear blue oceans, soft silk-like sand and, of course, the seashells. ASUS has taken one of nature’s most beautiful designs and combined it with the best of today’s innovations to provide users with the most stylishly functional Eee PC™ yet. Weighing just 1.1kg, the Eee PC™ Seashell is a highly portable companion that users can carry about, allowing them to surf the Internet, watch videos or keep in touch with their friends and family—even while at the beach. Equipped with a more-than-ample 10-inch display, ergonomically designed keyboard, intelligent energy management system and an intuitive multi-touch touch-pad, the Eee PC™ Seashell aims to provide users with the best mobile computing experience, wherever their journeys take them.

LG Versa

The Versa has you covered. Want a phone with a QWERTY hardware keyboard and built-in protective leather case? That's the Versa too. The phone comes with an accessory cover with some intelligence inside. Remove the Versa's back cover and replace it with the QWERTY cover and the phone changes its personality just a little. Thanks to a data connector on the cover and phone, the QWERTY key presses are transferred to the phone. The cover has its own OLED monochrome display, similar to a flip phone's and it displays the time, date, signal strength, battery and call info. It also has call send and end buttons so you need not open the cover to answer or end a call. Close the cover and the display sleeps, open the cover and it wakes. Nice.

The cover attachment design is well done: most every control remains accessible. The only casualty is the microSD card slot which is blocked by the cover. Calling is a bit weird with the cover attached when speaking directly to the handset; it's like holding a tiny book to your face. You can close the cover to avoid the book-like form but then you won't be able to interact with the screen that doubles as your keypad. The good news is that the cover has a port for the earpiece, call send and end buttons and a display so you can can talk with the cover closed as long as you don't need a dialer. The mic is on the phone's bottom edge so the cover doesn't interfere.

The LG Versa supports background music playback. Sorry, there's no 3.5mm stereo jack and no adapter in the box, but the phone does support Bluetooth stereo headsets. It can play locally stored MPEG4 videos as well as streaming V Cast video. The Media Center player does not stretch video to fill the display, rather like the LG Dare, a few on-screen controls and a black border flank the video. The Versa has a surprisingly good web browser by Teleca, and Flash support so it can play some Flash content embedded in web pages as well as desktop youtube videos (you're not limited to the mobile version of youtube). Unfortunately, the frame rate is poor when playing FLV desktop youtube videos-- around 10-15 fps.

The web browser works well with the touch screen and accelerometer, and it renders sites in a more desktop-like manner than most other Verizon feature phones. It even handles Javascript, some dHTML and tabbed browsing along with more common features like bookmarks, cache control, history and SSL. Nice! The email client is Verizon's mobile email client that handles Yahoo, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL Mail, Verizon and "Other" where you can manually enter your email account settings for POP3 and IMAP accounts. As you'd expect, the phone can send and receive text and picture messages, and there's a Mobile IM client that works with MSN Live Messenger, AIM and Yahoo instant messaging.

Battery life is above average for an EVDO phone with a large display and enough horsepower to handle Flash. Verizon and LG claim up to 4.8 hours of talk time and our tests averaged 4.3 hours. Even with moderate use, the LG Versa lasted 2 days on a charge, which is a half a day better than other well-featured Verizon phones. The LG has an 1100 mAh Lithium Ion battery-- fairly high capacity for a feature phone.

Price: $199 with 2 year contract after $50 rebate.

World's first 40nm Graphic Card by XFX

XFX is excited, and well, they pretty much have a right to be that way, as they've just launched the XFX ATI Radeon HD 4770 graphics card powered by the latest 40nm manufacturing processing technology. The following are some of the graphic card's features:

• GDDR5 memory with twice the data per pin at 750MHz
• 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
• Engineered to maximize the latest DirectX® 10.1 games
• ATI Avivo HD video technology allows users to watch Blu-ray movies or other HD content at 1080p and enhanced DVD up scaling.

Built-in HDMI with 7.1 digital surround sound supportXFX ATI Radeon 4770 is available at an estimated street price of Rs. 8,750 & 3 years warranty.

Sony Handycam HDR-TG1

For years Sanyo has been without a doubt the largest and strongest player in the Compact Digital Video Camera world, and crushed competitors generation after generation. Now after the Canon TX1, Sony is at the plate with its HDR-TG1, better know in Europe as the HDR-TG3.A direct challenger to the Sanyo Xacti HD1000, the HDR-TG1 is also a full HD capable device (1080i), but a very expensive one. In Japan it's twice as expensive, is the TG1 really worth it?

HandlingSimilar in appearance to the Canon TX1, the Sony TG1 has a pretty rectangular design with sharp edges and a strange heaviness even though it only weighs 300g with its battery. Housed in smooth, good quality plastic or brushed aluminum, the TG1 offers a nice compromise between style and sturdiness. Thanks to its compact body this new handycam can be easily carried in the front pocket of your trousers, ready to capture anything at anytime. Once in your hand, thanks to its Stand-by mode and “Quick-On,” HD video can be taken in seconds and saved for eternity. If the design of the TG1 is somehow excellent we were quite puzzle and by its poor user interface, particularly the position of certain buttons sometimes making it impossible to correctly record video. Many times we confused the Video/Photo switch with the Zoom, and inadvertently erased some things we took.Despite having a large, bright touch screen control panel, all the TG1 menus are a pain in the ass to use. It seems that Sony concentrated more effort on appearance than on their camera’s user interface, sometimes making it impossible to access certain functions.

VideoOnce you start recording video you'll be stunned by how pictures are wonderfully shown on its little LCD. Once plugged to your full HD TV you'll begin to wonder if you were really recording in 1080. Pictures are without a doubt beautiful, but far from what's to be expected from a 1080 camera. They're perfect if you save your video at 720p on your computer. Like many other compact HD cameras, the TG1 suffers from obvious aliasing on fixed pictures with contrasted lines, or pictures with slow movements. However, these are problems you should expect with something as light and compact as the TG1.The good news is the TG1 overcomes something that many competitors, Sanyo included, are failing at. Image Stabilization (IS) is amazingly stunning and precise whether or not you are Zooming. As far as Auto Focus (AF) is concerned, the TG1 doesn't overkill but offers good performance particularly in Macro Mode which, like the IS, is astonishingly impressive.

While the overall video capability of the TG1 is pretty good, as with the UI we had to struggle to save and edit video on our computer. Like Panasonic SD cameras, the TG1 uses the AVCHD codec, a pretty good codec which is based on the H.264. Although we're NOT strangers to AVCHD, we had the most horrible experience when backing up and saving video to PC... For a reasons we can't explain, Sony decided to make simple things like installing a software a real torture.... WHY ON EARTH is it REQUIRED to have the camera plugged into the PC in order to install and operate the companion software? To simplify the process threw away this piece of crap and used Panasonic's AVCHD to DVCPRO converter software to edit our video on Edius Broadcast... Well done Sony!

Photo ModeSony makes a decent digital camera as well as video camera, but apparently hasn't mastered providing both in the same product. Yes video on the TG1 is great if you're not too picky (like we are, maybe), but lord the Photo Mode is horrible... If you REALLY need to take pictures with the TG1, simply shoot a video and later take a screen capture, you'll get better results.Photo samples in 2016x1134px (9Mo)
Plus:Compact and StylishGood video, once converted in 720pGood AF even in Low LightGreat IS

Minus:Horrible UIHorrible Photo ModeNeeds Sony proprietary SOftware to edit video on your PCNo optional Wide angle lenses

LG Rumor 2

Aesthetically speaking, the LG Rumor 2 looks like a shiner version of the original Rumor and is just slightly longer and wider than the Rumor. It certainly looks more attractive in the new casing and the back plate is now interchangeable with designer plates. Thankfully the back plate doesn’t have a shiny surface so it’s not slippery. When the slider is closed, the LG Rumor 2 looks like a candy bar phone and feels comfy in hand. The front numbers are large and easy to use, but the 4-way directional ring is slippery and narrow. Slide open the phone to reveal the QWERTY keyboard which is one of the best keyboards we’ve used on a phone. The added row of number keys is very handy when dialing, texting and navigating menus. This is definitely a big improvement over the original Rumor which often required too many clicks to perform functions. The QWERTY keyboard has a normal layout and offers a dedicated “smiley face” key.

Mobile users who covet QVGA displays didn’t get their wish with several messaging phones including the LG Rumor, Samsung Gravity and the Samsung Propel. The LG Rumor 2 ups the resolution and offers a 2” QVGA display that rotates when you open the slider. The screen looks reasonably bright and color saturated and is good for viewing photos and videos. Outdoor viewing however isn’t as good as indoor viewing. Phone Features and Applications
Like the original Rumor, the LG Rumor 2 is a digital dual band CDMA phone and has only 1xRTT for data and no EV-DO support. The phone gets great reception but the voice quality can’t compete with the original Rumor. Incoming voice sounds muffled and outgoing voice sounds digitized. We tested the phone with Bluetooth headsets which didn’t help the voice quality much either. Through the Plantronics Voyager 835, incoming voice was better than the phone’s own earpiece, but outgoing voice was very garbled. When working with the Cobra CBTH2 Bluetooth headset, the Rumor had decent outgoing voice but incoming voice was not clear and had low volume.

The LG Rumor 2 has support for most calling management services including caller ID, Call forwarding, call waiting and three-way calling. The Rumor 2’s contacts database can store up to 600 contacts and 7 numbers for each contact entry. You can assign 98 speed dialing numbers as well as special ringers and picture ID. The Rumor 2 has a great voice command application that does an excellent job at not only voice dialing but also searching for names, numbers and web site bookmarks. The voice controls worked well over Bluetooth headsets in our tests. Other applications and tools include Calendar, World Clock, Calculator, Voice Memo, Notepad, D-day counter and Unit converter.

Due to the lack of EV-DO, Sprint TV fans will have to look elsewhere-- the Samsung Rant is a good candidate if you like this form factor. The LG Rumor 2 does have a music player but it doesn’t have access to the Sprint Music Store (again that requires EV-DO). The phone has a microSD card slot that’s easy to access and you can load all your tracks onto a card to play on the phone. The Rumor 2’s music player can play music files in MP3, WAV, MID, AMR and QCP formats. Sorry no iTunes format support here. Music sounds decent through phone’s speaker but the volume is relatively low. Thankfully the Rumor 2 supports Bluetooth A2DP stereo and music playback through Bluetooth stereo headsets sounds quite good though not superb.

Without Sprint TV support, the LG Rumor 2 is left with Sprint’s NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile. These free services give you real time NFL scores, drafts and NASCAR leaderboard and driver stats, and more related info. You can also download games, ringers, screen savers and other content to the My Stuff folder.

Like the original Rumor, the LG Rumor 2 has a 1.3 megapixel camera that takes decent pictures, but it really needs a 2 megapixel camera to make it a better camera phone. The still images taken with the Rumor 2 aren’t bad by 1.3 megapixel camera phone standards and have good color balance. Indoor shots look reasonably sharp given the noise level. The camera phone does have settings for color tone, resolution and quality level, and it has a self-timer and fun frames as well. Unlike the original Rumor, the LG Rumor 2 can’t shoot video.
Battery Life
The LG Rumor 2 has a standard Li-Polymer battery that’s 950 mAh, which is the same as the original Rumor. Oddly the original Rumor had great battery runtimes while the new Rumor 2 does not. The talk time is less than 4 hours and standby time is no longer than 3 days. We charged the phone’s battery quite a few times to condition it, but the battery life didn’t improve.
Conclusion
The LG Rumor 2 feels like the original Rumor in sleeker clothing. While we dig the roomier keyboard with its added number row and the higher resolution screen, we find the phone largely remains similar to the original Rumor. For budget-minded texting addicts, the LG Rumor 2 is a good choice at an affordable price. But for existing LG Rumor users and those who want EV-DO for faster web browsing, tethering, Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store support; there’s little reason to get the Rumor 2.

Pro: Sleeker and cooler looking than the original Rumor. Awesome keyboard and very good reception.

Good messaging support and reasonable GPS performance.

Con: Not much change from the original Rumor. Voice quality isn’t very good. No EVDO.

Battery life has decreased from the original. Can’t record video. No AAC support for music playback.

Price: $49.99 with 2-year contract after mail-in rebate and discount. $249.99 without contract.

Creative Japan to launch its new ZEN MX in May

Creative Japan announced this morning their intention ton sell early may their latest ZEN MX in 8 and 16GB. While the ZEN MX is not something amazingly news to most of the nerds out there, but just in case you were stick in cave for the latest Decade, the Zen MX is a DAP, an MP3 Player(do I need to explain the concept behind the terms DAP or it will be just fine?) featuring a 2.5” LCD, compatible with WMV and DivX Video, MP3, WMA and AAC audio files for just 66g and a size of 83.2x55x11.9mm.

Elecom introduces its latest line-up of Notebook cooler

Tired to see your notebook / netbook melting on your desk every summer? So take action now and offer your computer one of these new Elecom Notebook and Netbook Cooler with USB powered fan…

• Maker / Model E- lecom / Notebook cooler SX-CL07SV
• Interface -USB
• Number of Integrated Fan - Two pieces
• Fan Rotation Speed - 1800(±15%) rpm
• Noise level - 21.53db
• Size - 334 × 274 × 39mm
• Computer Compatibility = 12.1 - inch ～15.4 - inch Notebook
• Power Supply - Via USB Port
• Accessories Included - USB Cable

Eizo's FlexScan EV2023W and EV2303W LCD Monitors with Human Presence Sensor

Eizo announced two new LCS monitors with a “people sensor” that automatically shifts to power saving mode if no one is in front of them, as well as automatically switching when in use.

These LCDs are available in 20” with a 1600x900 resolution,in 23” with a 1920x1080 resolution, and will be sold in Japan at a quite attractive price of just for the 23” (€349).

LG W2243T full HD 21.5” LCD Monitor

From April 30, the LG W2243T is a nice little full HD with LED Backlight 21.5”, which will “only” cost (129€). At this price do not expect much like HDMI port but you will have at least both DVI (HDCP) and D-Sub, a 1000:1 contrast ratio (30000:1 dynamic ratio), a brightness of 300cd/m2 and a view angle of 160/170 degrees.This may be definitively a nice little screen for office usage

Buffalo's Latest Microsoft Live Frame

Here's Buffalo's latest 8” (800x600) digital frame with Wi-Fi B/G support and Microsoft Live FrameIt Compatible Digital Frame.

It's also compatible with JPEG and BMP files, and MP3 and AAC, has 85MB of internal memory and has a memory card reader.If needed you can play MJpeg and 3GPP videos (VGA @ 30fps Max).

Movie CowBoy DC-MC35ULI: The Ultimate DivX Box

The Digital Cowboy announced their latest DivX Box, the Movie CowBoy DC-MC35ULI with iPod supportA perfect all in one for those who don't care to hook up their PC to a TV.

The DC-MC35ULI is a powerful DivX Box that supports any size of 3.5” SATA HDD, as well as MPEG-1/2, DivX, XviD, MOV, RMVB, and MKV(H.264/720p) video files, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, WAV, AC3, and DTS audio files and displays video stored on an iPod on a TV and allows access to audio files.