New Gadgets

It sure feels like *–proof cameras are the new black. We’re seeing loads of shockproof, waterproof, dustproof cameras available lately, and Ricoh’s latest PX camera fits the bill. The Ricoh PX is a compact digital camera that packs a 5.0x wide-angle (28mm) and telephoto (140mm) optical zoom, a 16-million-pixel CCD Sensor, and Smooth Imaging Engine IV image processing engine for high-quality photos.

It has a 2.7″ 230k-dot high-contrast LCD display, with a wide viewing angle and anti-fingerprint protection and coating that prevents it from scratches. It is also anti-reflective to ensure that it can be seen under bright outdoor lighting. The camera can also shoot HD movies (1280 x 720) and supports X2-series Eye-Fi SD memory cards for wireless photo sharing. To top it off, the camera has a JIS/IEC protection rating (equivalent to IP68) and can survive a drop from 1.5meters. It is also water-resistant and shock-resistant which makes its suitable for bringing on your adventures.

During the Computex trade show in Taipei on Monday, ViewSonic officially took the wraps off of its ViewPad 7x Android tablet. We had heard mumblings of the device earlier this month, but now we know all of the ins and outs of the tablet: it runs Android 3.0.1 Honeycomb, is powered by a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, has HSPA+ connectivity, an HDMI-out port, rear and front facing cameras, and a 7-inch LED display with a 1024 x 600 resolution.

We hope ViewSonic has plans to update the 7x to Google’s newer Android 3.1 operating system once it launches, but it’s not clear if that’s in the works right now. ViewSonic has not yet announced details on pricing or revealed a launch date, either. Hit the jump for the full release.

ViewSonic promises to shine at Computex
Experience the latest innovation in tablets, smartphones, monitors and projectors

Computex, Taipei, 31 May 2011 – ViewSonic, a leading global provider of computing, consumer electronics and communications solutions, is set to surprise at Computex Taipei 2011 with its strongest-ever audio and visual solutions. It will be showcasing a wide range of high-definition entertainment offerings and the latest innovations. Products released last year have won rave reviews in the industry; this year promises more of the same. Products span from tablet PCs, high-performance smartphones, latest 3D Full HD LED monitors, to projectors, digital photo frames and digital camcorders.

ViewSonic will be located at Booth L0832, 4th floor, Nangang Exhibition Hall from 31 May to 4 June and is inviting everyone to ‘See the difference’.

The ViewPad 7x will be making its first official appearance. The ViewPad 7x is a seven-inch HoneyComb tablet that utilises a NVIDIA dual-core processor and promises users HSPA+ for greater Internet browsing and a enhanced multimedia experience.

The ViewPad 10Pro is the world’s first dual-OS tablet that has both Windows 7 Professional and Android at your service. It is also one of the first tablets to use the latest Intel Oak Trail processor. The new Intel processor is powerful, yet offers amazing power savings which delivers the perfect combination of Windows technology in a mobile touch screen device.

In addition to tablet PCs, ViewSonic is also announcing advanced AV solutions that include the V3D245wm-LED, a 24-inch 3D Full HD LED monitor; the W200, an ultra-thin and lightweight WXGA pico projector; the WFM851, a slim and sleek digital photo frame; as well as a range of HD digital camcorders.

Alan Chang, ViewSonic Managing Director of Europe and Asia-Pacific, said: “ViewSonic is the industry leader in launching a comprehensive range of tablet models. With cloud computing, social networking and streaming multimedia driving demand more than ever, ViewSonic is well positioned as a ‘display solution provider’ that integrates all its products and services into the best possible user experience. We have continued to invest in our strategic partnerships with Microsoft and Google. At Computex, you will see that ViewSonic is not content with standing still and are continuing to innovate with ‘display solutions’, ranging from small as three inch ultra mobile devices to large 300 inch professional display solutions, all brought to the user with the ViewSonic attention to quality and service.”

ViewPad 7x – the 7-inch HoneyComb tablet: Uses a dual-core NVIDIA processor and offers the fastest-ever HSPA+ for a greater Internet browsing experience compared to rivalling products in the same category. Weighing only 380g, with front and back cameras this powerful device provides video conferencing on the go that has to be seen to be believed. The high quality LED display is capacitive 10-point multi-touch, offering far more possibilities than standard screen offerings. Incorporating a HDMI port , DLNA support and SRW TruMedia the ViewPad 7x is a flexible multimedia device that delivers quality in a high quality package.

ViewPad 10Pro – the world’s first dual-OS tablet that uses Windows 7 Professional and Android, and the first to use the latest Intel Oak Trail processor: This tablet, powerful in both hardware and software, is ideal for users who wish to have a combination of entertainment and professional needs. It allows for an instantaneous switch between the two OSes without turning off the tablet – Android for simple tasks such as Web browsing and Windows 7 for business applications.

The V3D245wm-LED – An industry first, a 24″ smart monitor with a built-in 3D emitter: Presenting 20,000,000:1 maximum contrast ratio for great colour accuracy and high level of picture details the monitor features an ultrafast 2ms response time, 16:9 widescreen, Full HD 1080P, and scanning rate at 120Hz. The V3D245 supports the latest HDMI 1.4 input for future proofing realistic 3D content and fully supports current mainstream 3D devices. With the built-in SRS Premium Sound, the V3D245 is the ultimate 3D monitor.

The PLED-W200 – the world’s first WXGA pico projector: pocket-sized projector ideal for slipping into a laptop bag or purse for taking presentations and entertainment on the go. At 200 lumens, with a 2000:1 contrast ratio and display resolution of 1200×800 WXGA, the PLED-W200 packs the world’s highest lumen and resolution counts into a CD player-sized device. It weighs only 420g and boasts long-lasting LED light technology of up to 20,000 hours. Teamed with integrated 10w speakers and a SD/USB card reader, users can present and enjoy everything from image slideshows to presentations in a PC-free environment.

The VFM851 – ultra-thin digital photo frame: amazing design combined with high picture quality. Able to be battery powered offering a cordless experience it has 800×600 screen resolution, supports formats such as MJPEG, MPEG2, MPEG-4 and comes with USB ports (for SD/SDHC/MMC).

The ViewSonic HD camcorder series: The new ViewSonic Camcorder HD series provide a lot of advanced features normally found in professional camcorders but at a fraction of the price. With a 10MP image sensor and 12X optical zoom, these HD camcorders capture great detail even at 200 feet away. And with a 60fps high-definition video available, the ViewCam HD series is perfect for sports and other action shots. The camcorder’s innovative advanced Manual Focus System lets you select what subject to focus on by simply tapping on the touch screen, ensuring what you want to be focused on is captured in detail.

Don’t you just hate it when you try to take a photograph of your child or one of your favorite nephew/niece and they look at everything except the camera? Normally you’d need to wave a brightly colored toy around while you’re taking the picture so the kid will look in the general direction of the camera? Sometimes this can cause your picture to be off focus or shaky. And other times, when you’re out, you might not have a toy handy with you.

Well, Samsung has devised a solution to the problem with their latest 2View camera. Back in 2009, Samsung introduced a new line of cameras that featured dual-LCD displays – one in the front and one in the back. Probably targeted at the younger generation, the cameras made taking self-portraits a snap. Well now, Samsung are back with an update to the 2View camera. Called the ST700, it works like a regular 2View camera with a new addition: cartoons.

By playing back interesting, cute animations on the camera’s front screen, asking a child to look towards the camera is going to be a no-brainer. Just hit play, and you can be sure that for your next photo album, the kids are all going to be looking at the camera – at least until the kids get bored of the cartoons (luckily the camera comes with eight different animations). Users can also record and playback 30-second clips on the front display, or run a slideshow of photos on the camera if the kids have lost interest in the cartoons.

The camera takes images in 16.1-megapixels resolution, has a 5x optical zoom and Smart Auto 2.0 presets to help you automatically optimize your shots in any lighting. The Samsung ST700 is on sale now for $279.99.

Verizon’s second 4G LTE smartphone, the Samsung DROID Charge, is finally available. Here’s a quick refresher of the phone’s spec sheet: it offers a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 32GB microSD card, and an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p HD video.

We recently reviewed the DROID Charge, and with data speeds that hovered regularly around 20Mbps in New York City, we called it the 4G LTE “phone to beat.” You can pick up the DROID Charge in Verizon Wireless stores and online for $299.99 with a new two-year contract.

An International Trade Commission (ITC) judge has ruled that Kodak did not infringe upon camera patents held by Apple. Reuters is reporting that an administrative law judge rejected the Cupertino-company’s claims, with a final decision by the ITC due on September 19th. Kodak, although not as prominent as it once was when film reigned supreme, still holds a treasure-trove of patents.

“Many investors see Kodak’s value in its lucrative portfolio of intellectual property,” reads the report. “It has more than 1,000 patents and it made an estimated $630 million in 2010 from its licenses. But analysts have said this revenue from licenses is unpredictable and the portfolio might eventually dwindle.” Kodak has a pending suit filed against both Apple and Research In Motion, again surrounding smartphone camera technology, that is set to be decided upon on May 23rd.

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.

What do you normally do in order to print photos shot by a digital camera? Usually, you have to pump pictures from the memory of the camera to the computer, and then choose the desired one and print them on your printer.

However, with the Tomy Xiao TIP-521 camera, such a process can be simplified, as this gadget, which can be called Polaroid of twenty-first century, thanks to built-in printer, is capable of issuing printed images immediately after shooting.
The device uses special paper made by ZINK patented technology, made from special composite material containing yellow, red and blue crystals.
Tomy Xiao TIP-521 camera is equipped with a 5-megapixel optical sensor and has a 2.48-inch LCD display and SD / SDHC memory card slot. The sales will begin on November 28 and it will cost about 357 dollars.

Yesterday, O2 announced the XDA Zest, adding yet another smartphone to the range of their phones. As the model is made by Asus, it, of course, works on the platform of Windows Mobile OS v6.1 and has a large VGA TFT display diagonal of 2.8 inches. As you already know from the title, it also boasts the presence of Wi-Fi and GPS-transmitter, working with the CoPilot Sat Nav application, providing first-class maps of Great Britain and Ireland.

O2 Zest is working on a powerful Marvell TavorP processor with a frequency of 624MHz and has 128 MB of RAM and 256 MB of internal flesh.
The smartphone works in GPRS / EDGE triband, supports 3G and HSDPA. 3-megapixel camera with autofocus, Bluetooth v2.0, microSD memory expansion slot and MP3-player only complement the list of its characteristics.
The smartphones will go on sales on Nov. 17 for $ 249.99, or free, in case of agreement signing for several months.

The news of the PDA running on two processors is spread in the Internet. S400 is created by Ndrive company, which has a wide popularity due to its GPS-transmitters. The details of joint work of these processors are not clear yet: whether they will work together or one will be responsible for, say, GPS, and the other- for everything else.

Ndrive S400 Features
OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Processor: Marvell PXA310 624Mhz + Qualcomm 6280
Memory: 256 MB ROM / 128 MB Ram
Networks: Quad GSM / UMTS / HSDPA 7.2MBps
Display: 2.8-inch with a resolution VGA (640 x 480)
Camera: 3.0 megapixel camera with auto focus
GPS: A-GPS
Bluetooth 2.0
Wi-Fi
Expandable memory slot MicroSDHC
Battery: 1500mAh
Accelerometer
FM-radio with RDS

If you think that the office became suspicious, as your pen often disappears, or you want to secretly record an important meeting, then there is nothing better than a spy camera, hidden in a simple calculator.
This little gadget is equipped with a 0.3-inch optical sensor display that can shoot color video with a resolution of 320×240 pixels. Recorded video is transmitted to the wireless receiver at a distance of 15 meters, where you can look at the built-in 2.4-inch screen.

The recorded video is stored in 128 MB internal memory, which can be expanded with SD memory card up to 2 GB. Microphone of this gadget allows you to record sounds in a radius of up to 4 meters.
This spy calculator can be bought for $195.