Archive for the “Gadget News” Category

This covert tracking device from Zoombak would have been more useful to Bond in The Quantum of Solace than any of those purposefully placed Sony products. Simply activate the matchbox-sized bug and drop it into your target's pocket to track his progress anywhere in the world on your computer or mobile phone.

And if you're not an international spy, it's perfect for keeping tabs on your car/pet/children/employees/ partner. A SIM card inside the GPS locator gives its location away via the Vodafone network, so that you can log in to the Zoombak website at any time to see its precise whereabouts right down to the same building on Microsoft's Virtual Earth map.

You can even set up safety zones on the website that will trigger an email or text message if the device is carried across it. For instance, if your dog wanders out of the garden and suddenly shows up in France, you'll know that you left the gate open.

Once you've bought the £99.99 device - one option comes with a dog collar and another is bundled with a car adapter - you simply pay a £9.99 monthly fee that includes all the text messages you might send. Then just sit back and plot the progress of up to nine devices from your secret mountain lair.

Link: Zoombak

So the Nokia Tube has finally dropped, and you know what? It's actually quite good. This isn't the high-end N Series touchscreen we all hoped it would be, but it's still a very tasty product with an amazing touchscreen nonetheless. So how does it fare up against its button-forgoing rivals? Here's the vitals stats:

Storage capacity

Nokia Tube: 8 juicy gigabytes to fill up.

Apple iPhone: 8 or 16GB flash options await, but there's no card port for expansion.

LG Renoir: 8GB out of the box, with the option to expand via micro SDHC.

Samsung Omnia: Comes jumping out of the box with a competitive 8GB, but 16 is reachable through micro SD card.

Display

Nokia Tube: 3.2″ 640x360 pixel resolution, 16M colour touchscreen display, with haptic feedback.

Apple iPhone: A glorious 3.5" touchscreen with 480x320 pixel resolution.

LG Renoir: A 3.0" 240x400 pixel TFT number

Samsung Omnia: 3.2" TFT Touchscreen tech running 240x400 pixel resolution.

Camera

Nokia Tube: The Tube isn't the most snap happy of the bunch, but a 3.2mpx autofocus camera with dual LED flash has the iPhone licked.

Apple iPhone: The skeleton in the iPhone's closet, the 2.0 megapixel camera is almost archaically weak in comparison to the others here. There's not even a flash!

LG Renoir: A simply stonking 8.0 Megapixels of photographic prowess nestle in the Renoir's bowels. Auto-focus, face recognition, a 16x digital zoom and Xenon flash also join in for the ride.

Samsung Omnia: A handsome 5.0 Megapixel cam with LED flash produces some top drawer images.

Connectivity

Nokia Tube: 3G UMTS/HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS

Apple iPhone: Super-fast 3G HSDPA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and A-GPS with Google Maps (sadly without 3d mapping).

LG Renoir: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G HSDPA mean Geo-tagging, speedy surfing and GPS are all accounted for.

Samsung Omnia: 3G HSDPA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a custom GPS satnav system with 3D mapping..

Media player

Nokia Tube: As part of Nokia's XpressMusic range, so comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a penchant for tunes, as well as an old timey-FM radio.

Apple iPhone: The meat the iPhone's meat stew, music is handled supremely well by a built in full iPod and connectivity to the all-powerful iTunes. The only gripe is Apple's budget bundled earphones.

LG Renoir: There's no radio, but MP3 and AAC are taken care of by LG's own player. In terms of video, there's DivX playback and Dolby technology.

Samsung Omnia: The Omnia sells itself as a real jack-of-all, so there's a decent music and video player in there for a myriad of file types. The only gripe is the poor touchscreen that suffers from some serious lag.

Operating System

Nokia Tube: Nokias first phone with the S60 Symbian touchscreen operating system doesn't feature multi-touch technology, but is very slick all the same. Big plus points are won for its love of all things Flash.

Apple iPhone: OS X iPhone keeps everything running smoother than a swimmer's cap. The mulit-touch tech makes zooming, pinching, grabbing, turning and surfing so easy it's like you were born with it.

LG Renoir: There's no sign of a Windows OS, SO IT APPEARS THAT THE Renoir is running on a custom built LG OS. Could be a fatal mistake.

Samsung Omnia: Windows Mobile 6.1 makes for smooth operation (apart from the sluggish touchscreen, of course).

Nothing quite says 'classy' like a wooden case - although Yamaha doesn't quite buy into the whole concept with its TSX-130 audio system.

You can take your pick from a dark or light wood top, each with matching (black or white) front and all the audio essentials. That includes an iPod dock, a matching USB port and a CD slot that offers playback of CD-R/CD-RW and MP3/WMA files. The 15W x 2 speakers are unlikely to bother the neighbours, but they should fill a room with sound adequately and there's the usual clock/alarm if you fancy it for a bedside companion.

The TSX-130 has just launched in the Japanese market, alongside a similar iPod/FM unit, Will it make it to the UK? Probably. How much? Cheaper than an all-wood system we hope.

Related Links

Yamaha (via Akihabara News)

We're already pretty enamoured by the Sony Reader, but if we had to have a whinge, we'd point out that there a few too many buttons on there. Make that far too many. It looks like Star Trek prop.

Fortunately, Sony has seen the problem too and is hoping to remedy it with the interface technology of the hour: touchscreen. As you can see from the pic, the new PRS-700 has dramatically reduced number of buttons surrounding the screen, leaving just a big wide space for you to read from without distraction.

The new technology allows to turn pages by swiping your finger across them, just as you would with a real book but with much less chance of ripping it out or giving yourself a paper-cut. The touchscreen isn't just used for navigation either. Using a stylus and an on-screen QWERTY keyset, you can add notes, annotations, highlight passages, and generally do everything that turned a librarian apoplectic in times gone by.

Other improvements include the LED lighting. Of course, the point of E-ink is that you don't need backlighting, which is easier on the eyes and less strenuous on the battery. The trouble is, if you're sat in a darkened space you might actually need some form of light source, for example when reading in the gloom of aircraft cabin.

Even though LEDs are quite efficient, their inclusion does bring a reduction to the battery (down to 4 hours if you crank up the lights to their highest).

Sony has improved the storage capacity and options in the PRS-700 to include both SD and Memory Stick compatibility. Internally, there's storage space for 350 books.

With these new improvements, the price has unfortunately increased. The PRS-700 Reader will be launching in the US in November for $300. We can only hope it doesn't take anywhere near as long for the upgrade to make it here as it took for Sony to bring the first Reader across the pond. Otherwise we'll be expecting it around August. Of 2015.

Related Links

- We love the Sony Reader

- One very promising Reader rival

Sony (via Gizmodo)

The rush for electric-powered cars has produced an interesting offshoot - quirky car design. And in Nissan's case, a return to that 60s favourite, the bubble car.

It goes under the name of the Nissan Nuvu (read as new view), an electric vehicle that's so small, it could fit in the boot of your current motor. Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but at three metres long, it's considerably shorter than a Fiat 500. And it's all made from natural, organic or recycled materials, which should give your greenie points a boost.

Worried about space? Well, you should be. It has got two seats (plus a strange pull-down third seat) and luggage space that 'sufficient for a typical supermarket or shopping expedition', squeezing in next to all the electric kit that powers the one-litre engine. Useable, but it's certainly no family car.

Indeed, right now, it's no car at all. But this concept does share technology with Nissan's 'official' electric car, which is due to get the big launch in 2009. Let's hope the shape is one shared aspect.

Related Links:

- T3 Top Ten: Cool kit for cars

Nissan (via Channel 4 motors)

Ninty overlord, Saoru Iwata, took the wraps off the new DS model, the DSi, which continues the handeld's incredibly boring naming conventions.

The lowercase 'i' could be an acknowledgement of the fact that nothing without that one important letter somewhere in the title has any hope of being recognised as a desirable technology product. Or it could be something clever to do with the two cameras that the new handheld is equipped with.

These cameras, located on the inside hinge and on the outer edge of the upper screen, are only equipped with a weak 640 x 480 pixel sensor. That's nowhere near the level of detail necessary for actual photography so they're only there to give game devs an extra gameplay mechanic to toy with. We expect quite a few DSi specific titles to show up around the new hardware's launch.

The DSi gets a major upgrade to its predecessor's multimedia abilities. While each was capable of playing music and browsing the internet, it was only through third-party tools; Nintendo wanted them to be for gaming only, which set it aside from the multifunctional PSP.

The games industry is changing though, especially when it comes to portable devices. The launch of the iPhone App store has brought an influx of games to the handset, leading some to believe that it will soon be seen as major threat to the handheld console makers, as well as rival handset makers.

The DSi includes an integrated photo viewer, MP3 player and web browser; a major step in the multimedia direction that will challenge new mobile devices. All it needs now is a video player and Skype and PSP will really have to panic.

Furthermore, Nintendo is opening up a new DS Store that will allow you to browse and buy games without making the trip to the shops, which keeps it in pace with the iPhone and Sony's planned PSP Store.

The screen width has been increased by a quarter of an inch, to 3.25". Unfortunately that comes at a cost. The battery life has taken a bit of a battering; on its brightest setting you can only expect 3 hours of gameplay, compared to the 5 hours of the DS Lite.

This might sound pretty bad, but in truth, you rarely need to use the DS Lite's highest brigthness unless you want to punish your retinas. At more restrained settings you can milk as much as 14 hours out of the DSi - easily enough to keep you busy on a trip across the Atlantic.

Related Links

- DSi in surprise unveiling

- Pay attention to the internet rumour mill, it's actually right once in a while

Link: Nintendo

First announced a year ago, Nokia's Comes With Music download service got the official thumbs-up today, announcing partnerships with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with a string of independent labels.

Marking the first manufacturer to launch a fully 'free' unlimited download service, Nokia has promised millions of tracks will be available to download on your PC or phone. The good news is, you can download as many as you want as well - with no restrictions applying, apparently.

Customers who buy a handset compatible with the Comes With Music service will enjoy one year's subscription to the download store, and the songs will be yours to keep afterwards, with no expiry date on them. The only catch appears to be the DRM, which means you can't play them on your iPod or other MP3 player, so you'll need to stick to Nokia handsets for life, if you wish to continue playing the songs.

The first handset available with the service will be the Nokia 5310 XPRESS, with the N95 8GB and new Tube 5800 joining later. Due to launch October 16th at Carphone Warehouse, the 5310 Comes With Music handset will cost £129.95, with the non-Comes With Music phone costing £80 - ultimately valuing the year-long subscription at around £50.

Of course, we've got many questions to ask of Nokia, including concerns over the bitrate and whether the WMA files can be burned to CDs or transferred to other phones or players, but for now, this "all you can eat" music buffet looks fairly tasty to us.

Related Links:

- Nokia Tube preview

- Nokia Tube rumour round-up

Link: Nokia

The ink's not dry on your Nokia N96 contract yet, but the Finnish favourite has thrown another hellacious handset into the mix. Its first ever touchscreen offering!

As expected, Nokia has officially announced the 5800 Express Music phone we've come to know as the Tube.

Launch the gallery

Hot details include a 3.2" full touchscreen it's calling "the best mobile screen of all time."

Interestingly there's four differing input methods to suit all the horses and all the courses. A full-screen qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition, a traditional phone keypad on the screen and a plectrum (it is a music phone, after all).

There's a 3.2-megapixel dual flash camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, and 8GB of storage for your music that Nokia hopes you'll be picking up from the new Comes With Music service. They've also packed in some pretty powerful speakers too and we'll have more on that once we've had a hands-on.

One of the key innovations allows you to store your four favourite contacts, complete with photos, on the home screen storing your entire history with that person. Messages, emails and calls exchanged as well as Facebook status updates through the RSS feed. Neato.

Speaking of the internet, the 5800 is fully compatible with Flash meaning you'll be able to browse "the whole internet". A not-so-sly dig at its biggest rival, the iPhone.

Perhaps the biggest positive is the price. You'll be able to grab this phone now for just 279 Euros on pay-as-you-go. About half the price of the iPhone. Sweet.

We can't wait to get our hands on this phone, and we'll be back with pictures and video, so stay tuned to T3.com

The Nokia Tube 5800 isn't due to be unveiled until tonight, however T3 was granted a sneak peek of the touchscreen device this afternoon. Whilst we weren't allowed to take photos of the touchscreen wonder, we uploaded a hastily drawn picture of what the mobile phone looks like, which you can see in our gallery to the right.

The Tube 5800 will be part of the XPRESS range of handsets from Nokia, joining the 5310. Whilst we didn't find out the exact launch date, we were told the Comes With Music service will be available on the Tube 5800 "in 2009" - whether that means it will launch before then, will be announced tonight.

Design

The Tube 5800 is slim in thickness and in width, much smaller than the N96 which we were expecting it to be most similar to. It's a candybar design, coated in a glossy piano black finish, with a bright red metallic strip around the edge. The front fascia is also glossy black, however the edges are encased in what looks like a transparent burgundy plastic.

Touchscreen

There's a slide-button on the right side of the phone, about three quarters down, which activates the screen. The screen itself is big - 3-inches, we'd say, so a tiny bit smaller than the iPhone's screen. The touchscreen is fantastic though, hugely responsive, and the closest thing to the iPhone we've seen so far. It certainly eclipses the usability of recent touchscreens, like the Samsung Omnia and LG Renoir.

However, the downside of the touchscreen is that it's still prone to fingerprint smears, even more so than the iPhone. The top right hand section of the phone has a touch-sensitive 'XPRESS MEDIA' written on it, and when pressed, launches the music player.

Comes With Music

As aforementioned, Nokia's first official touchscreen mobile phone will be compatible with their Comes With Music service, allowing users to download millions of tracks over a 12 month period, playable on the Tube.

User Interface

It uses the Symbian S60 operating system, however the homepage looks different to other handsets, with an almost iPhone-esque array of icons. Sadly we didn't get a proper chance to look through the entire menu, but it's standard Nokia fare - so easy to use, even your granny will be wanting one.

Price

Due to be confirmed tonight, T3 will hazard a guess at the Tube 5800 costing around £180 - £250 on PAYG, with mobile carriers offering it on contracts from as little as £25. These estimates are based on the handset being part of Nokia's XPRESS range of phones, which tend to be low to mid-end of the scale. The handset we saw this afternoon was on T-Mobile, so we'd say it's almost guaranteed to launch on there as well as other networks.

T3 will be bringing you the full story (and photos) from Nokia's London event tonight, but if you want a closer look at it sooner, watch BBC News tonight from 6pm where we give our expert opinion on it, and the Comes With Music download service.

Related Links

- Nokia Tube rumour round-up

- Will Nokia launch the Tube in October?

Link: Nokia

One of the major limitations in web browsing on the iPhone is the lack of Flash support, used to play videos and games on a massive amount of websites.

Steve Jobs (perhaps foolishly) declared that Flash wasn't up to Apple standards some time ago, so news that Adobe have begun working on an iPhone version of the player may seem like a waste of time.

If Adobe manage to get a scaled down version of the much-used software onto the iPhone, it would allow access to the plethora of Flash based websites, videos and online games currently out of the 3Gesus phone's reach.

Problem is, although this would mean companies would be able to develop software for the iPhone on the web (rather than the App Store), Adobe would still need to get a Flash download into the App Store in the first place - which doesn't look likely.

We'll keep you updated with any further announcements, but for now it's just a case of crossing our fingers.

Related Links:

- T3 Top Ten: iPhone Applications

- T3 Top Ten: Upcoming Android Applications

Source: (via Tech Radar)