LG Releasing 12mp Camera Phone This Year

LG has released some pretty popular camera phones in the last few years and aren’t afraid to try and mix it in beating others to the punch on on occasion too. It has been officially announced that they will be releasing a 12 megapixel camera phone before the end of this year. No other details have really been confirmed yet but there’s already some debate over whether we really need and can cope with a 12mp camera phone.

Some sceptics question the increased storage requirements and how feasible it would be to try and send a 12mp photo on the mobile network. However, despite that, the LG announcement is far from being the first and the phone itself looks highly unlikely to be the first 12mp phone released. Sony Ericsson announced in February that they would be releasing the Idou, which is a touch screen 12mp camera phone, sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year so LG would have to really get their skates on to compete with that; if it turns out to be accurate of course.

So it would seem that the race to the finish line is well and truly on. Sony Ericsson has been getting some bad press lately about one of their phones being particularly late released. Maybe they can make amends and match the October release that has been rumoured on occasion. LG’s announcements was that their own 12mp camera would be one sale some time before christmas.

The Micro Electronic Cigarette

Let’s face it, those of us that do it know we shouldn’t and those of us that don’t constantly lecture those of us that do on the perils of being one that does. Those of us that do have even been forced out of pubs, into shelters, and further underground. Could the electronic cigarette be the answer? Well, first things first, you can smoke it in pubs and presumably even at your desk when you’re at work because the smoke that is released is nothing more than a mere vapour and, of course, you have the option of removing the nicotine vapour altogether and using it to help you quit smoking.

First thing you’ll notice is that it’s different to previous attempts at weird smoking substitute pens because it does actually look like a cigarette. Of course, what you won’t have noticed yet is that it costs £50 but this does include enough nicotine to last you considerably longer than £50 worth of Regal would. The e-cigarette is rechargeable and a single charge will last you an age so you don’t have to worry about that either.

You can get light, ultra light, regular, and even tobacco free flavour refills too, and these are only £7 a pop. Both the initial kit, which includes 5 cartridges, and the refills are both available from IWOOT (I Want One Of Those) so easy to get hold of. Refills consist of 5 cartridges and each cartridge is the equivalent to 20 cigarettes so it’s certainly cheaper than smoking.

Sony Announces Release Of Smallest Ever High Definition Perv Cam

Sony has announced that it will be launching the world’s smallest HD video camera that is able to record in full glorious high definition 720p, 30fps video and will have a host of features to help ensure that your voyeur video recording is of a much better quality once you’ve secreted the camera somewhere suitable. The Image Sensing Solutions department claim that it is being aimed at security and industry but we reckon there’s probably some other intended uses for it in various specialist markets.

The camera is smaller than a £1 coin measuring a ludicrously tiny 9.5mm x 7.1mm and as well as boasting 8.3 megapixels it will also offer face recognition, image stabilisation, autofocus, and motion autofocus. The camera is already in mass production and it is believed that it will be placed in security cameras and other devices before hitting the shelves later in the year so not long to wait before you can get one of the world’s smallest and best quality nanny cams ever available on the market.

High sensitivity mode, slow motion, and a 16x zoom are also included as standard but we don’t expect the price to be all that low. One of the great benefits of releasing the world’s smallest, or indeed largest depending on the type of product you’re manufacturing, is that you pretty much hold the keys to the pricing city until other companies jump on the bandwagon and release something equally tiny or even more so.

We Brits Prefer Facebook To Any Other Site

It’s hardly a surprise to many of us but a recent online survey and report have shown that Brits prefer to log on to Facebook than to use any other website. While last year, Facebook browsing accounted for approximately 7% of our Internet usage it has witnessed a massive jump to a staggering 13% this year according to analysts Nielsen Online. More surprisingly, MSN Live took second spot with YouTube, MySpace, and BBC backing them up as our most visited sites.

Other figures released show that we, on average, spend 22 hours a month on the Internet. While Twitter and other social networking websites have gained in popularity it is Facebook that seems to have both the longevity and the staying power as well as the features to keep us on site longer and attract us back more often. Facebook itself has declared that around a half of their 200 million active users log on every day to check messages, chat, and use the numerous applications that are available.

The stats further show that the powerful are getting more powerful because the top ten most visited sites account for yet more of our online website viewing time; a figure that has consistently grown and grown. Apple also performed well indicating that while some of us might gripe over the costs and rigid setup of iTunes and other Apple offerings, they still remain a popular place to be when you log onto the Internet.

Source – Gaj-it

Sony X Series a serious threat to Apple’s iPod?

Sony has just released their much awaited Walkman X Series mp3 player, the details of which were reported globally at the beginning of the year. The Sony X Series Walkman is clearly in the market to compete directly with the Apple iPod Touch, and Sony are clearly hopeful that the new X Series will allow them to regain their edge. Sony as we are all aware were once the leader in the field of music on the move, and the original Walkman was at the forefront of the technology and was considered very much to be the ‘must have’ iconic personal music player.

Times have clearly changed and Apple are now very much the market leader but Sony have not given up the fight to regain their crown. The Walkman X Series mp3 player is available in 16GB and 32GB versions and prices are £209 and £279 respectively. The price is key here as the new X Series is cheaper than an Apple iPod Touch of a similar size, however it may not be enough of a price difference to steal the thunder away from Apple.

The Walkman X Series 16GB mp3 player model NWZ-X1050 sports a 3” OLED Touchscreen and will provide storage of 4,000 songs or 60 hours of video. There is a special built-in noise cancelling technology to enhance the sound quality plus it is Wi-Fi enabled to allow access to the internet when in a hotspot. The Walkman X Series 16GB mp3 player model NWZ-X1060 delivers all the above but will provide a much greater storage of music with up to 8,000 songs and 120 hours of video being able to be saved.

Sony describes their latest Walkman baby as a ‘portable premium entertainment device’, which is an elongated way of saying their best mp3 player, we wonder however if Sony’s best is good enough to make any kind of impact on the Apple phenomenon.

Vodafone don’t want to be left behind so launch App store

Vodafone have clearly been watching Apple and the success of their apps store as they are themselves jumping on the apps bandwagon. With the mobile phone market now reaching saturation it is clear that mobile phone companies and manufacturers need to add value to their operation or risk losing their market share altogether. It is estimated that Apple has managed to provide in the region of $25 billion of apps to their mobile phone customers, of which there are literally now thousands of titles from gaming to social networking and everything in between.

Of course Vodafone won’t be able to compete with such a vast array of titles in the beginning, nor are they trying to. Vodafone would just like to be able to gain extra income and customer loyalty by providing ‘must have’ extras. Vodafone as a leading mobile phone network, has a variety of phones that they supply to their customers therefore the mobile phone apps need to be available for a wide variety of different handsets. A quick visit to their site and it is obvious that at the moment they have a limited number of apps available, they do have the usual suspects Facebook, YouTube, bebo, ebay to name but a few, but many more are expected to be available in the near future. Vodafone have also launched a special API (application programming Interface) which they hope will encourage developers to link their applications to.

The phone makes that are currently available to have app downloads are Blackberry, LG, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, SAGEM, Sony Ericsson and Vodfone. Prices for the current downloads at the Vodfone site range from free to £5 per month and cover interest such as music, games, TV & Video, news, travel, shopping and sport.

Nokia E71i To Include 5mp Camera

The Nokia E71 smartphone has proven to be one of Nokia’s most popular and indeed successful phone releases of 2008, selling around 10 million units in the 2nd half of last year. Following on its pretty impressive success, there’s rumours that a new version, titled the E71i in true Nokia fashion set to be released. The only real gripe that many people had with the original E71 and one of the reasons that even more people didn’t buy it was the fact that it only featured a 3.2mp camera. That’s about to change, with the biggest advance in the E71i being the upgrading to a 5mp camera instead.

Other changes will be fairly minor, although the handset will also feature new software in the form of S60 FP2 which will bring it in line with the software being hocked with the American E71x at the moment and a new colour scheme also looks likely. Other than this, it looks highly unlikely that any other big differences will be noted – it really is a good phone already so why make any potentially damaging changes to a popular and largely well received handset right?

It’s believed, according to a couple of sources, that the new handset will be announced in September or October of this year with some of the more hopeful among us aiming for a Nokia World release (that’s in September, by the way) and the perhaps more realistic with the belief that October is the more likely option. But then, who really knows?

Source – Unwired Review

Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 – An Unusually Clear Naming Policy

It makes something of a refreshing change to see any kind of device released with some sort of meaningful name and while the S10-2 might not initially seem to be a sensible name it is a pretty robust moniker when you consider that it’s the sequel to the popular and impressive netbook called the Ideapad S10 (you see, they just added a – and a 2 – a stroke of genius if you ask us). Sporting the same good looks as its predecessor, there’s really only a few minor tweaks but the S10-2 happily carries on doing everything well that it did last time out so that’s another plus point.

The original S10 was a well received piece of kit and did reasonably well in terms of sales and reviews despite being released along with seemingly countless numbers of other netbooks. The S10-2 takes the formula that worked well with the first and adds a few extras to create this latest incarnation.

An improved screen, larger trackpad, second shift key, and third USB port are the most notable changes – we did say there was nothing particularly ground-breaking but that’s pretty much the essence of a netbook. 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, N270 Intel Atom CPU, and facial recognition software are all included in this, the child of S10.

Again, there will be a choice of colour so you can buy one of each and match them to your mood or just take your pick from the same kind of colours offered by the original; that’s black, purple, grey, or white. No official news yet on when it will be released in the UK, but hopefully we should hear soon enough.

Source – CNET Crave

Sony X Series MP3 Player Released Today

The Sony X Series Walkman, the latest in what is becoming a reasonably long line of touch screen MP3 players, is released in stores today and on the face of it everything looks pretty good. It offers the functionality to, as we’ve come to expect from such devices, listen to music, view pictures, and watch video clips. However, Sony has opted to offer OLED screen and has digital noise cancelling technology as standard and includes an FM radio (for the majority that’s not likely to be a deciding factor, but for others it will ensure that the Sony stands out above the iPod Touch).

The OLED screen is an impressive addition and it will make video clips and high resolution pictures all the better to look at. What’s more, it boasts considerably less power usage and Sony even claim that you will be able to enjoy up to 50% more video playback when compared to the same device without an OLED screen.

The other big boast from the Sony X Series is that it offers noise cancelling technology. Sony mp3 players and audio devices generally pack an impressive audio sound as it is, but this added feature which claims to reduce up to 96% of background noise improves things even further. And while the FM tuner may not be a major selling point to all of us, it will almost certainly be popular with those of us that enjoy listening to the news, weather, and sports while we’re on the move. And, let’s face it, for the minimal cost and effort that it actually takes to add one, Sony has probably made the right move.

Available from pretty much all stores, the 16GB version of the X Series will cost a shade over £200 while the whopping 32GB version will be nearer £270.

Online gaming meets Playboy

For the gamers out there who are also big fans of ‘lads mags’ you will be overjoyed to hear the news that a new Playboy game is in development. The ‘Playboy Manager’ is being developed for Playboy by Jolt Online Gaming and has been billed as a ‘Massively Casual Online Game’. The Playboy Manager game will be available to be played from any ISP and can be added to the player’s favourites, and is designed to be dipped into and played rather than spending hours bum glued to seat playing intensively.

Playboy Manager when released in the summer of 2009, will allow players to act out the fantasy of being a manager for a modelling agency who will promote the career of their model client, with the ultimate aim to have their model become a top Playmate and to eventually obtain residency in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion. The game will be a multiplayer format and more excitingly will be free of charge with the likelihood of income being generated from advertising on the Playboy Manager game’s official site. The game is expected to involve experiencing the virtual world of the Playboy Playmate, from beautiful scantily clad women to celebrity parties and limousine lifestyles. Playboy Manager is not for the fainthearted as the game is likely to contain adult content, it is also reported as being of a trading card style, and is expected to feature videos and photographs.

Prospective players of Playboy Manager can pre-register and will be entered into a competition to win a lifetime subscription of the world famous Playboy magazine. To enter all you need do is visit the site and fill in the online form, and if you would like to improve your chance of winning then give a good reason in 140 words or less of why you deserve a lifetime subscription to the Playboy publication.

<« Previous page — Next Page » 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 « Previous Page — Next Page »