RIM Tablet

Research In Motion (RIM) announced its Tablet PC, called the BlackBerry Playbook. the device is a a “Flash-loving,” “device-pairing,” “enterprise-ready” tablet with an “uncompromised browsing experience” on a 7-inch screen. It is 9.7 millimeters thick and features a high-res wide screen display that supports 1080p with HDMI and USB ports.

The technical details from the release:

• 7″ LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor
• 1 GB RAM
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
• Ultra thin and portable:
• Measures 5.1″x7.6″x0.4″ (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

The device is expected to be available in early 2011 in the U.S. with rollouts to international markets in the second quarter of next year.

Can it give a challenge to Apple iPad ………… stay tuned !

Dell Streak – Compact Entertainment Gadget

“We fit the whole world into a 5-inch screen”
Dell says this to be The perfectly-sized, go-anywhere entertainment, social connection and navigation device.

• Widescreen display optimally designed for mobile web, video and movies
• Integrated social networking widgets and apps, plus tons of apps through the Android Marketplace
• Crystal-clear damage-resistant Gorilla®  glass screen
• Google MapsTM  with navigation and text-to-voice, turn-by-turn directions with Street View
• Multitasking Google Android OS that gives you the freedom to do what you want

A brilliant 5″ screen lets you surf, watch videos and stay connected1, with less squinting and pinching, plus front-and-back cameras capture photos and videos on the fly with 5MP2 resolution. Watch streaming video on YouTubeTM , then post your own movies directly from your Streak.

With compact 6″ wide x 3.1″ high x .4″ thin dimensions, there’s plenty of space to take full advantage of the multi-touch display, plus the high-quality scratch-resistant Gorilla®  glass means your view stays crystal clear.

Ultra-intelligent facial proximity and ambient light sensors automatically adjust screen brightness, optimizing your battery life. The Dell Streak ensures that you can multitask and play without delay (including music and games), with the powerful yet efficient 1GHz Qualcomm SnapdragonTM  processor speeding things along using Google’s Android-based OS with multi-touch Dell user experience.

3G mobile broadband, WiFi and Bluetooth®  mean you’ve always got an easy way to connect, while swappable microSD memory cards mean virtually limitless storage for movies, music and pictures — up to 42 movies, 32,000 photos or 16,000 songs3 on each of your individual 32GB memory cards.

Facebook® , TwitterTM , Gmail, a phone call — however you like to stay connected5, the Streak keeps the lines of communication open. The Streak is a full-function 3G phone with IM and SMS/text capabilities, plus you can take photos for sharing using the rear-facing camera with dual-LED flash. Integrated real-time Facebook and Flickr® upload abilities put your photo or video online in no time.

BlackBerry’s new Smartphone … Torch 9800

A new BlackBerry called the Torch, with both a touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, was unveiled Tuesday by Research In Motion, which hopes to stop which the bleeding of customers migrating to the iPhone and phones using the Android operating system.

The phone, also known as the Torch 9800, will be available Aug. 12, and cost $199 with a two-year contract with AT&T, which will be the exclusive provider of the Torch.

The device will use RIM’s new Operating System 6, which includes a badly needed re-do of the BlackBerry Web browser, which is painfully slow and frustrating to use.

The new browser is called the Torch Mobile browser. It is based on WebKit, the same engine used by Apple and Google.

The phone, with Wi-Fi, has pinch-to-zoom on the touchscreen, something the iPhone and other devices already feature. It also has a 5-megapixel camera with flash and autofocus, as well as “environment” settings. The camera will name pictures by location.

Rumours, that it is going to be launched soon, meanwhile check this video:

Happy Surfing …

Launched the Windows Phone 7 Series on Feb 17th, 2010

It was announced in the Mobile World Congress 2010 at Barcelona that Microsoft would launch its handsets based on its new mobile phone OS (operating system) christened Windows Phone 7 series. This new operating system will be quite a departure from the earlier versions.

The current windows mobile operating system is based on Windows CE 5 while the latest version will entirely depend on Windows CE 6 kernel such as the Zune HD.  7 Series has rebuilt Windows Mobile from the ground up, featuring a completely altered home screen and user interface experience, robust Xbox LIVE and Zune integration, and vastly new and improved social networking tools. Check the Windows Phone 7 site also.

This new mobile phone operating system is just the beginning for Microsoft. Everything will be new here. From the look and feel of the mobile to downright underlying code- every detail has been revamped and changed. The all new 7 series will boast of altered home screen with more robust user interface experience coupled with better social media optimisation and integration tools.

Here’s a look at some of the minimum specs available so far:

• Large WVGA screen with a single aspect ratio (which means BlackBerry-style devices won’t be readily available to begin with)
• Five specific hardware buttons required: Start, back, search (a dedicated Bing button), camera button, and power — no more, no less
• Capacitive multitouch
• CPU and GPU requirements (beginning with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon as the go-to processor)
• WiFi
• AGPS
• Accelerometer
• FM radio
• High resolution camera

Check out the Feature Demo video, a nice one !

~

Now, the world would wait and watch to what extent Windows Phone 7 Series gives a competition to Apple’s iPhone and Googles’s Nexus One and other Android phones. Keep reading !

Google brings Nexus One to enter into Smartphone arena

Here is the internet supergiant Google in the world of smartphone with its latest product Nexus One and in direct competition with Apple iPhone. Google is now vying the smart phone market and is trying to establish and build its market presence in the world of communication coupled with Web technology.

Nexus One is powered by Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 and Snapdragon 1GHz core processor. It is the look of the latest Google smart phone that is mind blowing. Nexus One is slimmer, slightly thinner as well as lighter than the iPhone. Nexus One measures 119mm in height, 59.8mm in width and 11.5mm in depth. Additionally, the weight of Nexus One is slightly lighter than iPhone that is 130 gms in comparison to 135gms of iPhone. This high-end smart phone from Google is Android’s signature gadget.

The display of Google’s smart phone will be through 3.7 inch WVGA-AMOLED capacitive touch screen with picture clarity of 800 x 480 pixels. It is through this screen that most of the navigation happens and is quite a pleasure to watch. The snapdragon processor is fast and is able to handle multiple applications without much discomfort.

Officially the phone has up to 7 hours of talk time, 5 hours of internet use and up to 250 hours of standby time on 3G, 7 hours of video playback and 20 hours of audio playback.

Now we see how the new Google Nexus One gives competition to other Smartphones, specially with Apple iPhone.

Keep Reading !

First, the question is ‘What is Augmented Reality’?

To explain, Augmented Reality is one of the newest innovations in the electronics industry. It superimposes graphics, audio and other sense enhancements from computer screens onto real time environments. Augmented reality goes far beyond the static graphics technology of television where the graphics imposed do not change with the perspective. Augmented Reality systems superimpose graphics for every perspective and adjust to every movement of the user’s head and eyes.

Development of the needed technology for augmented reality systems, however, is still underway within the laboratories of both universities and high tech companies. It is forecasted that by the end of this decade, the first mass-produced augmented reality systems will hit the market.

Now, slowly we will find products coming in this area. Vuzix is generating a lot of buzz over by their booth at this year’s CES with their new Wrap 920AR eyewear – the first augmented reality sunglasses on the market. Complete with a stereo camera pair, users can view the real-world environment and computer-generated imagery seamlessly mixed together; allowing video game characters to jump out of the TV and come to life in your living room, or magazines and books with animated links back to the web in real time.

The stereo camera pair delivers a single 1504 x 480 side-by-side image that can be viewed in 3D stereoscopic video, while the video eyewear provides an unprecedented 67-inch display as seen from 10 feet. The Wrap 920AR also includes a 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker, which allows for absolute accuracy of roll pitch and yaw and also X, Y and Z positioning in 3D space.

“The Wrap 920AR offers the world’s only sunglass styled Augmented Reality experience” said Vuzix CEO, Paul Travers. “This state-of-the-art video eyewear, offers consumers an AR solution only available in handheld devices to date, merging the real world with the digital in a pair of glasses makes for world changing experiences from industry to gaming,” adds Travers. “With the Wrap 920 AR, Vuzix brings exclusive new capabilities to the consumer.”

The Wrap 920AR’s stereo camera assembly and 6-DoF Tracker will also be available separately for upgrading existing Wrap video eyewear.

Vuzix Wrap 920AR Specifications:

• 1/3-inch wide VGA Digital Image Sensor
• Resolution: 752H x 480W
• Includes 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker
• Frame rate: 60 fps
• Dynamic range: >55dB linear; >80-100dB in HiDy mode
• Shutter efficiency: >99%
• ADC Resolution: 10-bit column parallel
• High-speed USB 2.0
• PC and Mac compatible
• System requirements: Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, Windows7, Mac OS X     10.4.9 or higher
• MSRP: $799.99

Would be interesting to watch, how more and more products come in this area. Keep reading …

Motorola Droid : The latest Android phone

Motorola droid is one of the most hyped and talked about smart phones that is going to make its way to the market on 6^th Nov 2009. The phone is powered with the Android version 2.0 and is expected to show a noticing leap in the over all performance as compared to other android mobile phones. This CDMA phone comes with Verizon wireless network. Let’s see what makes it better or at least at par with other smart phones.

The Tech-Spec:

• The processor: Arm Cortex A8 (600MHz, OMAP 3430). This brings a significant improvement in the speed specially while switching from one app to another.
• It possesses 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM.
• Screen: 3.7 inch touch screen with a resolution of 480 x 854. It is not a multi- touch screen, a point worth noting.
• Keyboard: It sports both a physical and an onscreen QWERTY keyboard. The sleek slide out physical keyboard has a toggle bar similar to RIM’s Blackberry trackball where as there are no enhancements in the onscreen keyboard.
• Camera: It is coupled with a 5 megapixel camera having 4X zoom, dual LED flash, automatic focus, image stabilization, real-time colour effects, scene modes, location tagging, and videos can be captured at 740 x 380 resolution, upto 24fps and playback up to 30fps. It also has image editing tools.
• Connectivity: It has Stereo Bluetooth Technology v2.1, WiFi 802.11, micro USB connector, provides support for Corporate calendar, email and contacts( Exchange 2003 and 2007), Google contacts, calendars, Gmail, Facebook contacts
• Battery power: Up to 385 min of usage time and standby time up to 270 hrs.
• Messaging: Includes email (corporate, Gmail, IMAP, POP3, Attachment and browser document viewer), MMS, SMS, IM (Gtalk), Voice mail.
• Navigation: It has come up with beta version of new navigation service that tells us the real-time direction, turn by turn in collaboration with Google maps. Google provides a good combination of its satellite, map, traffic and location info with text to speech directions. This is considered as one of the major enhancements.

With droid being the first mobile loaded with Android v2.0, it is a much awaited smart phone. Let’s wait and watch how well it grips the market.