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Privacy Policy for gadgethome.blogspot.com

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Protect your Blackberry Curve with the Proporta Alu-Leather Case

The Blackberry Curve, also known as the Blackberry 8300, is the smallest and lightest full QWERTY Blackberry device released to date. Like the previous Blackberry Pearl, the Curve falls more into the category of mobile phones than the standard Blackberry device with its business user functionality and compact dimensions. Now Proporta has come out with the Alu-Leather Case to protect your investment.

The trademark Proporta Alu-Leather Case (BlackBerry 8300/Curve Series) is custom made to fit the exact specifications of your BlackBerry 8300/Curve. A layer of rigid, yet light, aircraft grade aluminium is built into the leather which covers the screen to subtly protect it against crushing and impact shocks. Proporta realise the importance of having ultimate view of the screen so the case uses a C-clip to hold the device in place. There is also no need for the device to be removed from the case as all the necessary cut aways allow access to all ports and controls.

In addition, secure internal MMC/SD memory card storage is included in the case and a removable belt-clip is also available on request for quick and easy access to your mobile device.

Finger Folder USB

What happens when Art Lebedev Studios puts a real folder on a device that holds virtual folders?

You get a grade A Gizmodo post, that's what. Well, that, and you get our minds started on philosophical topics like the nature of existence, the authenticity of a copied product and the relative timespan in which we will maintain interest in USB storage when compared to the age of the Universe.

No word on pricing yet, but hopefully it's cheaper than their Optimus Maximus Keyboard.

Voiis Mini Pocket instant message phone

Introducing the Voiis Mini Pocket Messenger. You can connect this gadget to your PC and you can interact wirelessly with Skype, Windows Media Player and iTunes in a 100 meter range. This Voiis Mini Pocket Messenger phone is Bluetooth enabled and with a 1.2 inch color display your Skype and MSN instant message text. It has a built in mic and a 3.5mm stereo mini slot for connecting the headphones of your choice. Powered by an onboard Lithium Ion battery which provides 6 hours of continuous talktime and 72 hours of standby. Unfortunately, The Voiis Mini is currently available only in Japan for Y15,900

Nokia 6500 is a real classic

Nokia have announced yet another stylish new phone sure to compete in the style stakes. The 6500 Classic is made form brushed steel individually polished so no two phones are alike. The Nokia 6500 classic may be a beauty, but there is some substance to this mid-range supermodel. Besides sporting a snazzy smooth casing it has 3G enabling sprightly downloads, quad band GSM as well as 1GB of internal memory.

Taking piccy's will not be a problem either. A 2-megapixel camera is slotted discretely within its size zero-like 9.5mm frame.

The classic will also come in a slide version which has a 3.2-meg picture taker, will also feature 3G and a TV out slot for transferring images and video to your soapbox.

No word on an official release date for now but a September date has been touted, watch this space.

The iPhone

As the release date for the coveted iPhone draws nearer (the latest rumor sets it at June 11), it’s time to examine what we know, what we don’t know, and whether or not to step up and pay the $499 to $599 price tag for what could be the best phone yet to be released on the market. There are many facts we already know about the iPhone, but many details of which we’re unaware. For instance, the touch screen interface is revolutionary, but how well will it work? The widescreen video playback is second to none, but how long will that battery last? Let’s dive into the facts and questions before we decide to dig deep for this, the latest and greatest in mobile phones.

What do we know?

For starters, we know the iPhone will only be available for Cingular users, and then only if you sign a new two-year contract. That’s certainly a downer, but it also isn’t all that surprising in this day and age.

Beyond that, we know that the iPone is feature-rich. First, it’s a widescreen, touch screen, and video iPod with either 4GB or 8GB of storage. This, of course, will still interface with iTunes, which most of the modernized world is comfortable navigating. The screen is 3.5 inches with a 320 by 480 resolution. Not bad. The total size is 4.5” x 2.4” x .46”, meaning it’s relatively small compared to similar smart phones. New to the iPod is the touch screen navigation instead of the well-known click wheel. This could be a huge enhancement, or possible hindrance, to your search and retrieval of music, movies, television shows or podcasts. Finally, the battery claims to have up to 16 hours of audio playback along with five hours of video, talk and browsing (more on that later). So, as far as an iPod goes, the iPhone looks to be a nice step up from previous versions.

As the name indicates, the iPhone is also a phone. However, if Steve Jobs and Apple are right, this isn’t like any other phone you or I have ever seen. If there is another phone out there with a touch screen interface and no number pad at all, I don’t know of it. Instead of dialing with numbers, which most of us rarely do anyway, just point and touch a name or address book entry to make a call. Amazingly, voicemail works the same way. If you have five old voicemails to listen to, just point and touch the one you want to hear first instead of listening to them in order. Switch over to text messaging and use the touch screen QWERTY keyboard to keep in quick touch with friends and family. One cool aspect of the text messaging is that it shows the previous texts in order as if you were having a conversation. Finally, add a 2.0 megapixel camera and you have yourself a pretty cool phone.

The iPhone doesn’t stop there. It also includes an email and internet interface like no other phone today. Apple joined with Yahoo to offer unlimited email messages on the iPhone. Now you have no need to worry about deleting old messages or storing them on your phone. Yahoo will handle the storage, iPhone will handle the sending and retrieval. A full version of Safari is also included with the iPhone. For those of you who, like me, aren’t Mac users, Safari is an internet browser. Instead of having 3G capabilities like most current phones, the iPhone uses EDGE along with Wi-Fi to coordinate all your downloading of email, files and internet browsing. It will be nice to sit in an internet café, local coffee shop or at home to utilize the speed and reliability of true Wi-Fi. Finally, in addition to Bluetooth, the iPhone will also include mapping and widgets. Again, for those of us non-Mac users, widgets are virtual tools where you can track stocks, check the weather and follow the news, among many other things.

Some of the other things we do know about the iPhone are actually what it does not have. First, it does not have the Microsoft Office applications. While this may not be an issue for some, for those of us who send and receive word documents and excel files, it could be a deal breaker. Second, it does not have 3G capabilities. 3G is a superior downloading technology to EDGE and is what most of the world is moving toward for streaming audio and video on mobile phones. Also, the iPhone will not allow third-party applications to be installed on it. Many technology proficient people will frown at this. The last thing we know about the iPhone is that is has no track record. This is the first phone of its kind and the first phone for Apple. Which leads us to think: what don’t we know about the iPhone?

What don't we know?

iPhoneWhile the list above does provide some nice facts and figures about the iPhone, it may be the unknown that influences our decision more than the known. We know it is a widescreen, touch screen, video iPod with phone, voicemail, camera, email, text and internet support. One thing is for certain about all of that: we don’t know how well any of it is going to work.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that the “iPod portion” of the iPhone should work well, at least as it pertains to music playback. What we don’t know is how well the scrolling and visual interface will work. Will it be cumbersome to use? Will it be as slow and choppy as Cover Flow was the first time it was introduced to iTunes? We also will not know how good the battery is until it is thoroughly tested. Will the battery really last for five hours of video playback? Is that enough battery life to watch a movie, listen to some music and still call for a ride when you get off the plane? We also don’t know much about the actual touch screen. How well will it react to the touch? Will it build up dirt, grease and grime from our fingers? Will we always be cleaning it? What happens if the touch screen is scratched or damaged? Unfortunately, those last few questions also pertain to the rest of the iPhone’s features.

The phone interface sounds amazing. The touch screen voicemail system is the first of its kind. The email and text interface look incredible. But how good is the call clarity going to be? Last time I checked, mobile phones are for making calls first; everything else comes second. Even with that knowledge, there are several phones on the market today that offer tons of features but sound terrible when making a simple phone call. We won’t know if the iPhone fits that bill until it is tested. Another big question is the touch screen QWERTY keyboard. With less than 2.4” of space for a keyboard, how mistake prone will it be? Again, what happens if it’s scratched or damaged? Will a scratch, smudge or dirt significantly interfere with texting or internet browsing?

Finally, it has to be asked: is 4GB to 8GB enough space for an operating system, internet browser and widgets, along with music, video and photos? This is the first widescreen video iPod. People are going to want to watch movies and their favorite television shows. Is 8GB enough space to satisfy those needs? How much of the 8GB is usable space after the operating system and internet browser is installed? How much space will we need to keep free for text messaging and internet browsing cache? Speaking of internet browsing, how fast will full sized internet pages load? Is the EDGE technology enough to handle all that traffic? Finally, I have to go back to the battery. Is the five hours of talk, video and internet browsing going to hold up when you’re storing up to 8GB of music and videos? We won’t know any of these things until Apple releases the iPhone for testing, and ultimately, for the real world. Which leads us to the most important question of all: should we go out and purchase an iPhone?

Should we buy?

You have to hand it to Apple -- it took them a while but they finally came out with an impressive iPod-phone with some groundbreaking features. I can’t wait to get my hands on the new touch screen. From scrolling though music, to point and touch voicemail, to the QWERTY keyboard, this could be a huge advance in the gadget world. I’ve also been dying to get a widescreen iPod because, let’s face it, everything looks better in widescreen. Also, having a full version of an internet browser will be so nice while surfing all of my favorites. So, all that said, should we buy?

Ultimately, the decision is up to you. This could be the next great advance in mobile phone…or it may not live up to the hype. Me? I’m going to wait on this one. At least for a little while.

Let’s see it out in the real world. Let’s see if the battery lives up to what’s been promised. Let’s see how the touch screen reacts to dirt, grime and smudge. Let’s see what happens the first time it gets a scratch. Lastly, and most important to me, let’s wait and see how good the call clarity is. Let’s not forget, this is a phone first and foremost. I already have an iPod, and I already have a phone. Do I want an iPhone? Yes. Can I wait and see how all my questions will be answered before I go out and pay $599 for one? You bet your ass I can.

Is That a Projector in Your Pocket or a…Cell Phone?

The small screen on our portable device can sometimes prove frustrating and eye numbing. If Texas Instruments has their way, we’ll all be ‘gorilla projection artists’ and no longer will be all attempt to huddle around small handheld device in hopes of catching a glimpse of ‘Sasquatch’ in the wild. Now, we’ve reported on this before, but at the time there wasn’t a working prototype. Apparently at this year’s CTIA Wireless 2007 show, Texas Instruments showed off its mini DLP projector, called the Pico; small enough to fit in a cell phone – they had it inside a replica device. According to TI the projector will display in DVD quality (course it depends on the source) and is composed of a DLP, 3 lasers, and a power supply. No word when this thing will hit the street, but I’d expect the ‘power supply’ issue to be their last major hurdle.

Creative Released Zen Stone!!

Creative has yet again surprised us all! Only two days ago, Creative announced that the market will have to wait a couple weeks until they can see the players. But in fact, the Zen Stone has been officially released!

The Zen Stone is the latest player from Creative that will directly compete head to head with Apple’s iPod Shuffle. Not only did the Zen Stone adopt the small size, but it also does not have a screen and has controls similar to that of the Shuffle. It also features a shuffle play along with normal list playing.

“The Creative ZEN Stone, at just £27.99, opens up a huge new market for MP3 players,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. “This is an incredible price for everyone to get a high-quality MP3 player capable of holding up to 500 songs. Whether it’s your only player or a second one to take with you anywhere, this price lets you think of MP3 players in a whole new way.”

The Zen Stone will be able to act as your ordinary USB flash drive, as it is a UMS device. But since it is also a music player, it will support MP3, WMA, along with Audible. Its dimensions will be 53.7 x 35.3 x 12.8mm, making it somewhat similar to that of the iPod Shuffle.

Currently the player is only being sold at black. However, Creative (as if acting like their company’s name) have said that they will release more variety of colors to suit the market’s diverse demands. On May 14, a potential buyer will be able to choose from a list of black, white, green, blue, red, and pink Zen Stones.

The question still remains on how the Zen Stone will do in the market. But, from the looks on the picture, it looks as if with proper marketing, Creative will be successful with yet another Zen, allowing them to pull out of the harsh times they have been experiencing lately.

Archos 704 TV headed for France

GenerationMP3 reports that France is set to get its own version of the Archos 704 PMP, dubbed the Archos 704 TV, which'll boast a few notable additions and at least one notable omission. Sure to please folks in France the most are the two TNT tuners integrated into the cover of the device, which will let 'em pick up digital TV signals from the Télévision Numérique Terrestre service -- France's equivalent to Freeview. Unfortunately, that seems to have come at the expense of integrated WiFi, which has apparently been dropped from the device. Otherwise, the device looks to be virtually identical to the regular 704, with the same 7-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen and somewhat hefty 22 ounce carrying weight. If that trade-off works for you, and you live in France, you should be able to grab one by the end of June for 549€ ($736).

Grundig's MPixx 2000-series digital audio players

Grundig probably isn't a premier name that comes to mind when shuffling through DAP manufacturers, but the company has delved into the low-end music player arena with its new MPixx 2000 series. The 2001 FM and 2002 FM only differ by the amount of internal capacity stocked within (1GB and 2GB, respectively), and each sports a 1.8-inch TFT display, built-in photo viewer, USB 2.0 connectivity, ID3 tag support, support for MPEG, WAV, SMV, JPEG, BMP, MP3, and WMA formats, an FM tuner, and a rechargeable Li-ion that supposedly lasts 21 hours or so on a single charge. Unsurprisingly, there's no word on these things ever making it stateside, but Europeans shouldn't have too much trouble scrounging one up for €79 ($106) or €89 ($120) depending on size.

Is it a watch? Is it a phone? No it's the Watchfone

Is it a watch? Is it a phone? No it's the Watchfone

The journey to our favoured watering hole can take us past many strange characters, such as the drunk perched on the park bench talking to his hands. It seems he was getting ready for the SMS M500 GSM Watchfone. As you might have sussed it is indeed a watch with a phone. In true Dick Tracy style users will be able to make a call minus the fumbling through acres of pocket.

Besides being a watch, its other claim to fame is that it is quite possibly the smallest phone in the world. It comes with Bluetooth 2.0, MP4 video playback and will play any MP3's packed into the 128MB of storage. A mini stylus is also provided, which will be a relief to those with obese fingers.

Whether it's a watch that thinks it's a phone or a phone that thinks it's a watch the alleged 80 hours of standby time and 200 minutes of talk time is more than impressive.

No official word on a European release yet, maybe the park drunk knows?

80 GB Portable Media Center from Toshiba

Portable Media Center gadgets become more and more popular nowadays. The new Portable Media Center from Toshiba is on the top of the line thanks to its features. The last two models of this company are: V401 with 40 GB of internal memory and V801 with 80 GB of internal memory.

Its display is the wonder of today's LCD screens out there. It is a 4 inch display with 24 bit color. The resolution is 480 x 272 pixels and there is also a twist to it. This display has a built in light sensor that will help it to adjust the brightness of the screen in various lighting conditions.

It supports WM DRM 10 and WMA 9 Lossless which is enough for most of people. The cool thing about this is that it also features a 1Seg tuner and EPG for digital TV watching. So you can also record what you see with help of it. And you get this all while on the go.

It is very slim and has a thickness of only 0,95 in and its battery life is huge as apposed to other players of its class. It can play audio for 28 hours, video for 10 hours and 1Seg TV for 8 hours continuously.

Don't miss this gadget as it will appear June 1st in Japan. We just need to wait until it gets to us. The price of this thing is pretty high too: You will have to pay $ 409 for V401 (40 GB) and $ 491 for V 801 (80 GB).

Personal Media Player from Blusens

If you want to get a PMP that would have a good base to support many multimedia files and if you want to share your multimedia with others then you might take a closer look at this gadget.

Blusens, a Spanish company has created a better PMP then for example ZUNE I think. Why is it better? Just because you can freely share your multimedia files via wireless connections like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

The main advantage of this gadget is Bluetooth 2.0 and support of Wi-Fi. Using these standards this gadget can transfer files to and from any compatible device like cell phone, PC, other PMP etc. No limits and no protection on the transmitted files.

Blusens G40 is the model that we are reviewing and it has a 2.5 " display. Not bad for a portable player, anyway it is better then iPod. On this display you can watch movies in MPEG 4 (XVid/DivX) format. And if the G40's screen is too small for you, you can watch movies on your home TV thanks to the video output that it has.

You can also view pictures in JPEG. It has a 1.3 megapixels digital camera so it will replace all the gadgets that you used to carry around with you, except for the cell phone. Music is the best part of this all; you can listen to MP3's and OGG files on the Blusens G40.

Where will you store all that? The answer is easy, this gadget comes in 1, 2, and 4 GB versions, the only difference will be the price.

If there is still not enough storage space for you, there is a SD/MMC cards slot. So you can increase the space as much as you want. I think this is a great idea, and very few players have this option.

Multiple files support (Music, Videos, and Pictures), a lot of storage space, and the best part: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi transmission is enabled. What else do you want for a perfect PMP? I think nothing.

Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Wii, what is better

Here are three top consoles nowadays that you can choose from. Sony PlayStation 3 the next generation console that continues a glorious path of PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Xbox 360: the next console from Microsoft is created in continuation of Xbox. Finally Nintendo Wii the least expensive and shows the least performance.

So we are going to review and compare them on several parameters, so that you can decide which is better for yourself.

Hardware

Xbox 360 is on the second place by hardware parameters. First of all there are two models that you can buy. One of them is a regular white Xbox 360 with wired controllers and no hard drive. The upgraded model has wireless controllers and a 20 GB hard drive to save photos, videos and audio files. It also has a standard DVD optical drive that allows the console to show HD videos. The last thing that should you should be notified is that Microsoft will upgrade your Xbox 360 for free for it to support full GD 1080p video output.

Sony PlayStation 3 is on the first place if judged by hardware. It has Blue-ray drive that is not available on basic or premium Xbox 360 (You can buy it for additional $ 200 which makes Xbox 360 cost just like PS3.) Besides, the 20 GB hard drive comes in basic model and 60 GB drive comes in upgrade model. Besides the premium version of PS3 has WiFi built in.

Nintendo being the least expensive has the worst hardware built in therefore it shows the least productivity among Xbox 360 and PS3. It has a DVD drive but there is no ability to play DVD movies on it. However, it has WiFi built in to surf the web.

Games

Xbox 360 and PS3 are somewhat even in this classification because the number and the quality of games that are out there on the market are pretty even. PlayStation 3 is supposed to be better in graphics however there are still no games that would show the full possibility of this console.

Xbox 360 will run most of the games that have been created for Xbox but not all of them. On the other hand PlayStation 3 will run all the games of PS and PS2. However, these possibilities will have only the North American and Japan versions of PS3 but not the European version.

Nintendo supports all the games made for earlier consoles: GameCube, NES, SNES and Nintendo 64. However the graphics quality of the games is not that good as it is in Xbox 360 and PS3 games.

Multimedia

First of all I would like to say that Nintendo does not support of big movies playback or storage, so we will leave this console out of this part of comparison. Although you can view photos, MPEG and QuickTime movies, MP3 music files on this console; and all that only from SD storage.

The real battle comes between the two mega consoles: Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 here. Fist PS3 was the only console that supported full HD, 1080p, but now Microsoft will upgrade all the Xbox 360 consoles to the same HD. So that evens them out.

Blu-ray drive gives an advantage to Sony PlayStation 3 in storing videos and any files on the disc as they can store much more info and a better game will fit on a bigger Disc.

HD Media Center Extender of Xbox 360 beats PS3 in everything that they can offer. It can show live and recorded HDTV over your network, besides it can download movies and TV shows from the web. The other thing that gives Xbox 360 an advantage is a support of Apple's iPod and Sony PSP. It is the only console that supports video and audio streaming from PC.

Audio support: PS3 has a 5.1 Dolby Surround sound which is not bad until you hear that Xbox 360 has a Multi-channel system that supports up to 256 discrete channels. Wii on the other hand supports Dolby Pro-Logic II.

GADGET

A gadget is a device that has a useful specific practical purpose and function. Gadgets tend to be more unusual or cleverly designed than normal technology. In some circles the distinction between a gadget and a gizmo is that a gizmo has moving parts, whereas a gadget need not have them. For example, a nifty digital watch would be a gadget, while an analog watch would be a gizmo. In contrast, a device of clever design that has no practical purpose is called a novelty item. The etymology of the word gadget is disputed. Some sources say it was "invented" when Gaget, Gauthier & Cie, the company behind the casting of the Statue of Liberty, made a small-scale version of the monument and named it after their firm. Other sources cite a derivation from sailors' terminology; the French gâchette which has been applied to various pieces of a firing mechanism; the French gagée, a small tool or accessory; the French engager, to engage one thing with another; or even a diminutive of the Scottish engineering jargon gadge, a form of measuring device. The spring-clip used to hold the base of a vessel during glass-making is also known as a gadget.