MRGizMo, the Gadget Specialist » Handhelds

Expressing More in Digital Video Memo

jenne — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:54:48 +0000

Someday, notepad is not needed anymore, piece of paper and a pen will be ancient. Start stepping into the 21st century with the Digital Video Memo with magnet. All you have to just record any message you’d like to sent then…stick it to your fridge door.

You can record a 30 second video message on. Just look into the camera, press the record button and leave whatever message you want. It’s designed to be as simple as possible so it only records one message at a time to avoid confusion. Let the kids know where you’ve hidden their dinner on the 1.5 inch LED screen, remind the other half to take the dog for a walk or just tell your wife that you love her – all of this is possible with this nifty fridge magnet. When it runs out of juice just hook it up for a quick recharge via USB and it’s good to go again. Isn’t the future a wonderful place?

Via RGS

New E-Book Reader Pocket Edition from Sony

jenne — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:02:51 +0000

Sony announced that it will release the Reader Pocket Edition by the end of August. Like the Kindle and Sony’s previous Readers, the Pocket Edition will come with an “electronic ink” display, which shows dark gray text on a lighter gray background. As the word “pocket” implies, its five-inch screen will be smaller than that on the Kindle and other Sony models.

Unlike other Readers, the Pocket Edition won’t play digital music files, and it won’t have a slot for a memory card to supplement internal storage that can hold 350 books.

It will retail for $199, a third off the price of the basic Kindle model and about $80 less than Sony’s PRS-505 reader, which will be discontinued. Color choices include blue, red and silver.

Sony is also announcing on Wednesday the release of a $299 touch-screen model to replace its existing $350 touch screen PRS700. The Touch Edition will have the same six-inch screen as its predecessor but not the PRS-700’s built-in light. Haber said removing the light will correct some screen clarity problems it has caused.

With the PRS-700, users can highlight text and take notes with a touch-screen keyboard. On the new model, users also can write notes with a finger or a stylus that is included.

The new model has a built-in dictionary and is faster at changing pages when readers swipe a finger across the screen. It will sell in red, silver or black and can hold 350 books in its built-in memory or more on a memory card.

A big difference between Sony’s Readers and Amazon’s Kindle has always been the lack of wireless access for quick and simple downloads of books. The new models are no different: They have to be connected to a computer to acquire books.

For the first time, they will be compatible with PCs and Mac computers, though. Sony will offer current Reader owners a software update to make theirs compatible with both.

Via CBS News

Peek Pronto,Increase Email Up to Five Accounts

bermandt — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:31:15 +0000

Wired Favorit Gadget of 2008’s Peek recently introducing Peek Pronto. The Peek Pronto is the perfect solution for mobile professionals who need messaging wherever their travels take them, . Building on the successful original Peek mobile email device, the Peek Pronto adds new features and faster performance, so you’ll be able to keep up with all your email accounts and send and receive text messages wherever you are.

This Peek for business,Peek Pronto features are,

2.5-inch full color screen
Full QWERTY keyboard for fast text input
Acces for up to five email accounts
No contracts
Support push email and Microsoft Exchange
Simple set up – ready in 2 minutes
No hidden fees – $19.95/month
Save $100s over a smartphone
Easy to share between staff
Safe and Secure

Watch this testimonial video from John Peters,CEO of Tripology,who using Peek Pronto for his business.
Click here to view the embedded video.

Now you can own Peek Pronto on sale for $79.99.

Product Page

Amazon Kindle 2 Available for Pre-Order Now for $359

bermandt — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:17:02 +0000

Amazon unveiled the Kindle 1 in November 2007. Interest at first was lackluster, but about a year after its release U.S. talk-show host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey promoted the device, which sent sales surging. Amazon couldn’t handle the demand her endorsement inspired and Kindle 1 has been out of stock since November.

Amazon will continue the best-selling Kindle 1 by launched Kindle 2 on February 9,2009.

PCWorld.com had hands-on experience with Amazon Kindle 2. Here’s the story..

Critical design changes make the Amazon Kindle 2 more appealing than the preceding model—but while Amazon has succeeded in enhancing its e-book reader, it has done little to advance the device to the next
stage.

The first-generation Kindle weighed 10.3 ounces and offered a paperlike E-Ink display that keeps eyestrain at bay (as compared with the backlit displays of cell phones and other mobile devices).

The first Kindle was readable in sunlight; it also offered long battery life and allowed you to look up words on the fly, as well as to take notes and highlight passages at will.

The Kindle 2 retains all of those capabilities, in a slimmer form (it’s 0.36 inches thin). I appreciated the thinner profile: The new device felt better in my hands, and I could see that it would be easier to pack alongside the other devices in my gear bag. At just 10.2 ounces, the device’s weight is virtually the same as before.

Enhanced E-Ink screen
The 600-by-800-resolution screen is the same size, measuring 6 inches; but now, packing the latest E-Ink technology, it gives you 16 shades of gray versus the 4 shades available on the original Kindle.

The improved screen technology is somewhat noticeable on text—I found text on the Kindle 2 slightly crisper and clearly tighter, with less ink-like bleed-in to the virtual page behind it. But the real difference was evident in images, which had far greater gradations. The background of the screen itself has changed, too:

Before, the screen appeared to have a slight texture, almost like newspaper, but now the surface is completely smooth. As for the purported speed boost (pages supposedly turn 20 percent faster), I can’t say I noticed more than a subtle difference between Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 in turning pages. (I was not using identical content, though. When PC World receives a review unit, I plan to put the

Kindle 2 through more-detailed comparisions.)

Design changes
Aside from the screen, the Kindle 2 packs a slew of design changes. The power switch moves to a more convenient location at the top of the unit (previously it was on the back—an awful place for a power switch). But the handy wireless off switch, which was also on the back of the first Kindle, is gone entirely; now you must turn off the wireless radio in the Home menu (annoying for us frequent flyers who will do so far too often). The volume buttons are no longer on the bottom of the device; instead, the rocker switch is at the right spine.

A closer look at the Kindle 2’s interfaceThe navigation keys have been completely redone, too. At left are
Previous and Next buttons, with the former half the length of the latter; at right are a Home button and another Next button. The Next button ran the length of my thumb, and it was comfortably situated
in relation to where my hands rested while holding the device at its midsection.I can’t say the same, unfortunately, about the new five-way navigation joystick. In my brief hands-on, the joystick felt stiff
and awkwardly placed relative to where my hand was for the paging buttons. The scroll wheel moved much more smoothly; I’ve used other joystick designs that operate more smoothly than the one on the Kindle As for the menu interface, though, I preferred the new device’s approach: No longer do you have an awkward column on the right of the screen, with a sliver of silver denoting which line you’re about to select. Now, the E-Ink screen technology’s speed is fast enough to enable the joystick to move through options directly on the screen, highlighting your selection as you go along. Huge improvement.

The keyboard has been completely redesigned, to more closely resemble what you find on a cell phone with a QWERTY keyboard. I found the circular keys easy to press and incredibly handy. In my brief usage, the closer spacing worked better than the angled spacing and more-rectangular keys of the Kindle 1.

Some Kindle features added, others missing

One addition is text-to-speech capability. This feature, powered by technology from Nuance (makers of Dragon Naturally Speaking) and accessible either via a menu option or a keyboard shortcut, offers two digital voices—Tom and Samantha—and up to 3X reading speed, in case you’re fast-forwarding. The voices are clearly computerized but tolerable; I could see using the feature in a pinch, such as if you’re following a recipe or needing to be lulled to sleep.

The Kindle 2 now powers up from USB—a boon for all of us who hated carrying an extra charger with the original device. The mini-USB port at the bottom works not only for power but also for allowing the Kindle 2 to act as a USB mass-storage device, in the event you want to drag and drop files to the handheld.

Regrettably, Amazon has ditched the SD Card slot; instead, you get 2GB of on-board storage (a typical audiobook ranges from 40MB to 80MB, while a typical Kindle book ranges from 700KB to 800KB, perAmazon’s own estimates). Amazon claims that the Kindle 2 will hold over 1500 books. Your book selections are stored in the cloud on Amazon’s servers, so if you ever have to erase something to free up space on the unit, you can redownload books later as needed.

You don’t get a case anymore, either. Instead, the Kindle 2 has two holes on its right edge; those holes allow the unit to snap into any of a selection of third-party cases. The design effectively creates a hinge, which makes handling the Kindle 2 easy. Amazon’s no-frills leather case will sell for about $30.

Another drawback is that Amazon hasn’t changed the device’s file handling. That means you still have to go through the awkward conversion process of sending a file (such as a PDF or a Word document) to yourself if you wish to view it on your Kindle.

At least that leaves Amazon room for improvement on the Kindle 3.

Check out this video to have an idea how good is Kindle 2.
Click here to view the embedded video.

Now Kindle 2 is available for pre-order now for $359, the same price as its predecessor. Shipping will begin Feb. 24.

Via PC World

Foxit eSlick, The Cheapest E-Book Reader with Built-in MP3 Player

bermandt — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:04:09 +0000

Why spend more money to buy Kindle, if you can save money to buy more e-books.

You save at least $129 to buy Foxit eSlick at $229.99. Compare to price of Kindle$359.00. Let’s say average e-book’s price is $10, so you can buy 12 e-books.

Yes, Foxit eSlick doesn’t have Kindle’s wireless capability, but there are many e-book store on the internet, such as ebooks.com. All you have to do is purchase e-book and download, transfered to Foxit eSlick via USB port. That’s it!

Foxit eSlick has 600×800 pixel resolution, similar to Kindle’s.But Foxit lighter than Kindle, it has 6.4 ounces compare to Kindle’s weigh 10.3 ounces. Also thinner, Foxxit 0.4″ and Kindle 0.7″.

View your existing PDF files and TXT, also you can convert any print-able document like TXT, PPT, DOC, XLS, HTML to PDF to be viewed on the eSlick. Comes with free software and accessories: Foxit Reader Pro Pack/Foxit PDF Creator.

For storage memory, eSlick has 128MB internal memory and 2GB SD Card (included) up to 4GB capacity.Imagine how many ebooks you can carry.

Based on the revolutionary E-ink technology, eSlick does not use any power to maintain a page display, only uses power only when an image is changed. Also, a single battery charge provides up to 8,000 pages of continuous reading. That is to say, you can read your books for an entire evening on a very low battery life indicator. eSlick can be fully recharged in only three to four hours.

With a built-in MP3 player, Foxit eSlick enables you to enjoy your favorite music while reading your favorite books or documents. After downloading your MP3 files to your computer and transferring them via USB to your eSlick, you can simply press the “Music button”, go directly to the MP3 folder and select the specific music to play.

You can own Foxit eSlick on pre order sale for $229.99 ($259.99 MSRP) at Foxit Online shop.

Product Page via Wired

Peek E-mail Device Admired by Wired as #1 Gadget of 2008

bermandt — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:26:52 +0000

Peek is simply email.Simply is the best. Admiration came one by one from well-known institutions.
Here are the lists :

Peek included by The O list as Gifts Under $100
David Pogue from New York Times said “An easy, cheap way to keep in email contact.”
Wall Street Journal said “Stylish and simple”
Peek has been rated highest rank at TIME Magazine’s Gadget of the Year pool.
The latest was admired by Wired Magazine as #1 Gadget of 2008 ( December issue )

From maker of Peek, Amol Sarva said :

Wired Magazine has had a huge impact on me over the years; I remember the first issue I ever saw. I remember dreaming of doing something that might merit them writing about it.
So we were honored when Wired’s editors selected Peek for their holiday wish list, and chose us to be featured in their tightly-curated Wired Store in New York this year.
But….when we got December’s issue, it floored us. Peek is Wired’s #1 Gadget of 2008.

If you don’t have a BlackBerry, or otherwise don’t want a smartphone with an expensive contract, its super. There are just two serious issues: (1) deleting email is slow, making busy or spam-infested account management a pain, and (2) it does not have IMAP.

Peek continue develop its capability.Recently ability to send an SMS by typing a 10 digit number using email system and image attachment viewing (JPG,BMP,PNG,GIF). No updated software is required on the Peek device itself, the new features should just work.

Peek , GeekyPeek Via Boingboinggadget

Peek Pronto,Increase Email Up to Five Accounts (0)

Nintendo DSi Launch and Unboxing in Japan

bermandt — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:56:11 +0000

Today Nintendo DSi release in Japan.The retail price of Nintendo DSi is 18,900yen ($180). As for the non-Japanese markets, this new product will be launched in 2009 and details shall be announced by local markets later. Pictured below is the queue outside and inside one of Tokyo’s electronic store.

For the detailed image, here are Nintendo DSi unboxing and side by side comparison with its predecessor the DS lite ( on the right side).

Launch : Newlaunches
Unboxing : Newlaunches

LG 3D TV Available in 2009 [Video] (0)

Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition gives you $50 direct discount

bermandt — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:33:01 +0000

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition started jump to market on early April ‘08. The Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition Internet Tablet is now listed at the Nokia USA Shop as in stock and shipping for $443 after an automatically applied $50 discount. Now you can get lowest price $404.99 at Buy .Probably this is an anticipation of Sprint’s XOHM WiMAX network, which was just launched in Baltimore, will be rolled out to DC and Chicago next.

Just a glimpse of specs:The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition features an integrated slide-out QWERTY keyboard and touch screen.The N810 WiMAX Edition lets you stay connected on the go with WiMAX and a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone. The hi-resolution 4.13″, 800 x 480 screen and the integrated web cam add to the internet experience. The Nokia N810 WiMAX also has an integrated GPS receiver which allows you to pinpoint your position and find points-of-interests using pre-loaded maps

Via Pocketables Shop Nokia USA

BenQ S6 MID is going global, based on product page

bermandt — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:34:30 +0000

Start launched in Italy, S6 Mobile Internet Device (MID) will release to other markets soon, as indicated
by BenQ’s global product page for the gadget. Further evidence of the S6’s expansion outside of Italy comes via the spec sheet, which reveals the S6 will support 2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA networks in addition to 900/1800/1900MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies.
The gadget uses Intel Atom processor running at 800MHz and a 4.8-inch, 800×480 touchscreen. A stylus is included with the S6, as is a three-axial G-sensor that allows web page scrolling and other functions by just tilting the MID.

An 802.11b/g Wi-Fi module is also included for accessing networks, while Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR allows syncing with compatible devices. The S6 acts as a multimedia player as well, Watch video, browse photos, or listen to digital music. The possibilities are endless, and endlessly entertaining. You can also use MicroSD cards to store your favorite content on the S6, as well as view and edit Office files. No word on release or pricing information, although the S6 is currently available in Italy for the equivalent of about $580

Via Electronista , Pocketables

USI showcased MID-160 ‘worlds thinnest MID’ plus WiMAX-ready (0)

Sony PRS-700 : The new model of Sony’s Reader Digital Book

bermandt — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:08:18 +0000

“Readers now have another choice in digital books,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s Digital Reading Business Division.”This new model has the eye popping design and intuitive functionality that people have come to expect from Sony.” The new model, PRS-700, will join the PRS-505 model in the Reader family to give consumers a choice of how they would like to read electronically.

A sizeable 6-inch ,same size with 505 model,but interactive Touch screen capability that allows book lovers to flip pages with the slide of a finger. More Capacity to store about 350 ebooks (PRS-505 hold approximately 160 ebooks). Using optional removable Memory Stick Duo media or SD memory cards, this Reader can hold literally thousands of books and documents. In addition, readers can easily search terms within a document or book, create notes using the virtual keyboard and highlight text with the included stylus pen. The new Reader will be available next month for about $400. ( PRS-505’s price $299.99 at Sony style )

Source : Akihabaranews, Sony

MRGizMo, the Gadget Specialist » Handhelds

Expressing More in Digital Video Memo

Related Posts :

New E-Book Reader Pocket Edition from Sony

Related Posts :

Peek Pronto,Increase Email Up to Five Accounts

Related Posts :

Amazon Kindle 2 Available for Pre-Order Now for $359

Related Posts :

Foxit eSlick, The Cheapest E-Book Reader with Built-in MP3 Player

Related Posts :

Peek E-mail Device Admired by Wired as #1 Gadget of 2008

Related Posts :

Nintendo DSi Launch and Unboxing in Japan

Related Posts :

Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition gives you $50 direct discount

Related Posts :

BenQ S6 MID is going global, based on product page

Related Posts :

Sony PRS-700 : The new model of Sony’s Reader Digital Book

Related Posts :