New Gadgets

It took Three UK six months to bring the Nokia E7 to its customers, but better late than never, as the E7 is one good Symbian^3 smartphone.

The carrier is offering the Nokia E7 smartphone for free with a new two-year £40 per month agreement called The One Plan.

Potential customers who wish to avoid being tied with a long-term contract can purchase the smartphone on PAYG (Pay As You Go) for £449.99.

With the ‘The One Plan’ that is offered with the Nokia E7 customers get 2000 minutes (anytime, any network), 5000 texts, all-you-can eat data, 5000 Three-to-Three minutes, Voicemail, as well as free PAYG SIM for a friend.

Those thinking of ordering the Nokia E7 from Three UK should be aware of the fact that the earliest delivery for the Symbian^3 smartphone is Friday, 6 May 2011.

As the carrier states, this is a time limited offer that will expire on May 31st.

It is worth mentioning that the carrier also throws in Free delivery for every customer who buys the E7, as well free Skype-to-Skype calls.

However, when clicking on the ‘Pick’ link, the correct image of the Nokia E7 is displayed.

As a side note, Nokia E7 is already available for UK customers, who can purchase the smartphone directly from Nokia’s webstore for £499 off-contract or £469 on PAYG (Pay as You Go). Check out in-depth Nokia E7 review for more info on deals and offers.

Those who are not bothered by a long-term contract can obtain the E7 for free from T-Mobile and Vodafone with a new £35/month two-year agreement.

If you are looking for a home media centre controller with a full QWERTY keyboard which you can rest on your lap, the LuxeMate T810 Media Cruiser designed and created by Genius might well be worth a look.

The Genius LuxeMate T810 Media Cruiser combines three devices into one providing a wireless remote control, keyboard and mouse all-in-one. Its equipped with dual-way wireless 2.4GHz technology, allowing you to control your Home Theater PC (HTPC) from a distance of up to 10-meters away, its also fitted with  an anti-interference function to prevent its communications becoming confused by other devices.

Genius Wireless LuxeMate T810 Media Cruiser is fully compatible with the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system and is also backwards compatible with Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition, and the Vista OS hotkey function.

The new LuxeMate T810 Media Cruiser is  now available to buy for around $89.99.

About a year ago, we covered some concept products known as Cool Leaf, a keyboard with a mirrored surface. Generally, I don’t have much confidence in concept technology, but it is refreshing to see that Japanese company Minebea actually is going to sell the Cool Leaf keyboard.

The Mirrored keyboard is possible as the reflective surface is essentially one big capacitive touch panel. Though you may not hear any clickity-click of the keys, it has haptic feedback to give you a little vibration when you hit the keys.

One of the best parts is the easy clean option. All the user has to do is give it a good wipe, and it is clean. No more dust getting caught in between the keys anymore!

Now for the price. The Cool Leaf is about $318, and will be on sale in Japan for about $318. The Minebea Cool Leaf keyboard is only available in a Japanese variant and only works with a Windows computer, but it will be released with an English, German, French, and Italian layout later in the summer.

I am wondering if the Φ-Calculators and Φ-Remotes will be available soon. Those are calculators and TV remote controls that have that same mirrored surface. Perhaps this reflective look could be a new standard of accessories.

Retina-X Studios just announced the availability of PhoneSheriff for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows smartphones. This parental control service for mobile phones allows parents to monitor, filter, and restrict their children’s smartphone activities. The parent sets the software to record and block activities associated with specific numbers and it can also track locations via GPS.

PhoneSheriff is a stealth application which allows parents to see everything their kids do while on the phone, like every text message sent or received, every call dialed or received and all videos and pictures captured by the phone. Yikes! Then, parents can check the kids actions by logging onto the hidden interface on the phone itself, or in order to be extra sneaky, they can log into a secure Web panel from any Web browser to view the recorded logs and stored GPS locations. Boy I’m glad my parents didn’t have this stuff when I was a kid!

This new program can also block phone numbers from contacting your kid via SMS or phone calls. In addition, applications and websites can be filtered or restricted. Parents can also set a time schedule to allow or disallow use of the phone at certain times. Score one, for total parental control.

PhoneSheriff also allows parents to send secret SMS commands to the monitored phone. This allows parents to track where their child is at any time using the Instant GPS Locate command. This feature also works as an anti-theft element, as parents can locate and monitor the phone even when the SIM card has been changed. Wow… I’m all for keeping track of kids, but isn’t this almost too much of a parental advantage? Not that I wouldn’t use it, I’m just saying if my folks had this, I’d still be grounded.

A one-year subscription to the PhoneSheriff costs $49.97 and works with Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Symbian OS smartphones.

Panasonic has unveiled a new wireless Chargepad, which it has added to its range of products, and allows you to wirelessly charge your mobile charges, by simply placing the mobile charger on top of the Chargepad. Allowing you to easily grab them when you leave the house or office and keep them handy just incase your main mobile phone battery should dry up.

Together with the Qi-certified Chargepad, Panasonic also unveiled two new compatible chargers the 5,400mAh model QE-PL201-W will be priced at $67, while the QE-PL101-W with 2,700mAh will cost $49.

Panasonic  will start shipping its new Chargepad on June 24th from around $61 in Japan. Unfortunately no information on pricing or worldwide availability has been released as yet, but as soon as it becomes available we will let you know.

When Razer called their Hydra a “gaming-grade motion sensing controller”, it left us wondering – isn’t the Wiimote the first gaming grade motion sensing controller? Of course, upon reading the fine print (and being more careful with our eyes), we realized that the Razer Hydra is slightly different from other gaming-grade motion sensing controllers because it is powered by Sixense and has been specially built to draw you deeper into your library of PC games.

Razer has made sure that they worked closely with Valve and Sixense in order to churn out exclusive Portal 2 content so that they can showcase the power of the Razer Hydra in making you feel as though you were really part of the game environment. Before we continue, it must be said that Portal 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to 2007′s game of the year, and the full version of the game including exclusive Portal 2 content can be yours – if you decide to pick up a special edition bundle with the Razer Hydra.

Now, the Hydra in folklore is a creature that has many heads – cut off one and another two will regenerate in its place. Good thing you don’t have to grapple with so many heads on this gaming peripheral, but on the other hand if it breaks, you can “regenerate” it by purchasing a new one.

To put it in a nutshell, the Razer Hydra will allow you to extend your natural body motion directly into your PC games. Portal 2 would be the perfect platform to make sure this happens – letting you intuitively reach out, interact with physics puzzles, shoot portals and leap across wide chasms in a complete 3D environment. Of course, you will realize that Razer’s trademark ultra-low latency and highly precise one-to-one tracking to the exact millimeter and degree is also thrown into the mix, hence maximizing your portal testing immersion experience.

Optimized with more than 125 popular PC games out of the box, you can be sure that the Razer Hydra is going to be worth looking into if you’re serious about gaming and want to move beyond the standard mouse and keyboard combo. The question is, would casual gamers be willing to spend $139.99 on this, or use that money for more useless in-game merchandise?

Sprint has announced the Samsung Restore, an eco-friendly messaging phone destined for the carrier’s pre-paid Virgin Mobile brand. The Restore is constructed with recycled plastics and the phone itself is 83 percent recyclable.

The Restore is the first eco-friendly phone for Virgin Mobile. It features a standard dial-pad and display on front with a slide-out full QWERTY landscape keyboard. It has a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capabilities and also features stereo Bluetooth wireless support. The size of the phone is 4.6in x 2.1in x 0.6in (117mm x 53mm x 15mm) and it weighs 3.7oz (105g). The display offers QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) resolution and measures 2.4 inches across the diagonal. The battery is 1140mAh in capacity and offers an expected 6 hours of talk time.

Virgin Mobile has pre-loaded shortcuts to various social networking sites on the Restore and it supports popular POP3 email services. Google Maps and Virgin Navigator provide directions and navigation.

The Restore will cost $79.99 without a contract. A release date has not been announced.

We have featured quite a few different gaming mods and have seen some SNES consoles turned into portable gaming consoles, but now it looks like one company will be releasing a handheld SNES console, called the SupaBoy.

The SupaBoy is being made my game accessory company Hyperkin, and the console is scheduled to go on sale in the US this summer, and it will be compatible with SNES cartridges.

According to the guys over at CVG, the console is still in the prototype stages, but when released it will features a 3.5 inch LCD display and a built in rechargeable battery.

It will also come with A/V Stereo out, which means you can hook it up to your TV for some retro gaming fun, and you can also plug in two classic SNES controllers to it.

There are no details on pricing or availability as yet, as soon as we get some more information we will let you guys know.

They say that too many cooks spoil the soup, which is why it is advisable to have two cooks at most in the kitchen. What happens when you’re shorthanded and need to whip up a delicious meal for the rest of the family that day? Fret not, the Self Stirring Electric Pot  is here to save the day, and as its name suggests, this electric cooker will be able to automatically stir ingredients, freeing you to prepare other parts of the meal.

A spatula has been specially integrated into the bottom of the pot, where it will continue to rotate autonomously as food cooks, helping you mix ingredients and lifting bits of food which would otherwise stick and burn. The spatula itself can be adjusted to continue stirring until you turn it off, or just intermittently, so that a simmering soup’s ingredients are well incorporated.

Capable of adjusting from 200º F to 375º F, it lets you sauté, sear, braise, boil, or simmer, where the tempered glass lid works great in retaining moisture during cooking. At $99.95, why not get this for Mother’s Day?

If you are going to be a super spy, you need the right gadgets. Just ask Mr. Bond. Without his man Q providing him with a plethora of technological goodies, his charms would have only gotten him so far. One of the most important thing in a spy’s arsenal is a camera.

Of course, lugging around a giant DSLR might yield good pictures, but it isn’t very easy to conceal. That’s why you need a 5.0 Megapixel Digital Spy Camera.

Sure, you could whip out your cell phone to snap a picture, but most phones don’t have the best cameras in the world. Plus, this one is designed with a close focus range, which means you can snap documents close-up without worrying that they’ll turn out blurry. Pictures are stored on an SD card, and you’ll get a nice leather carrying case, a metal carrying chain and an addition module that provides a flash and LCD screen that can be attached to the camera. You’d better have a good backer for your espionage endeavors, as this device will set you back $200.