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The Nokia 6212 Classic is obviously not about the looks. And with a 2-megapixel camera, 2-inch TFT screen, 3G connectivity, built-in FM radio and mp3 player, it’s hard to say that it’s rocking high technology inside too. But what it does have that separates it from the gajillion other mid-level market handsets out there is the fact that it has integrated NFC or Near-Field Communications technology, which enables it to connect to other NFC-enabled devices and make content transfers easier than ever.

NFC-capable handsets such as the Nokia 6212 classic, according to Jeremy Belostock, the Head of Near Field Communications in Nokia, are set to change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings. Other than being an NFC-enabled handset that can exchange files like photos and MP3’s with other NFC-enabled devices by being near then and just one touch, you can also make payments with it by having it scanned by a sensor of sorts. And while I’m sure this will save some time for more than a few people, it’s a whole new kind of technology that the not-so-tech-savvy are going to have to learn to appreciate. Which could be bad news, depending on how you look at it.

The Nokia 6212 Classic is set to be released by Q3 2008 for about $320 USD. And with other features like support for MicroSD cards up to 2GB of memory and Nokia’s well loved UI, it’s a safe bet for your next budget handset.

Product [Nokia]

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Nokia developed and licensed a technology called Wibree a few years ago, and intended it to be an alternative for the current generation of Bluetooth technology. Wibree requires only a tenth of the energy consumed by its counterparts, and was developed for short distance communication between two devices, like say a Bluetooth headset and a mobile phone. And recently, a company called CSR demoed a new device powered by Wibree at a medical conference in Luxembourg.

What exactly did CSR demonstrate? Well, for one, they demoed an “ultra-low-power” version of the Bluetooth system required in pairing a BT headset and a mobile phone, claiming that their device can run up to 10 years on one button cell battery. Now while this is certainly not the first time that we’ve heard of something that last for years without charging, it’s hard to say something developed by Nokia would be bogus or unreliable.

Still, it would be interesting to see this technology developed in its full potential, since the current generation of BT headset’s batteries could really use a boost. Maybe we may even see the day of disposable BT headsets. That’s worth a try.

Via [Crave]

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by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 16th 2008 at 8:06PM Sure, there’s plenty of far fetched concept devices from big players like Nokia, but it’s nice to see that folks without millions of dollars in research funding can also come up with equally unrealistic devices, as evidenced by this so-called “Scroll” contraption created by 13 Tech Design. What’s more, this one doesn’t get by on looks alone, with it packing a touchscreen-based cellphone, a 10 megapixel camera and 1080p camcorder, various media-playing features, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, and a full-fledged computer that runs on Vista or XP. That’s right, it seems that even fantasyland gadgets need to fall back on XP.

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Filed under: Handhelds

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It looks like the Toshiba Portege R500 is getting all beefed up with a new 128GB solid state drive. Weighing in at less than 2-pounds, the newly updated Portege is expected to cost more than its present $3,000 price tag.

Additional features include a chip upgrade to a 1.33GHz U7700 processor from the current 1.2GHz U7600 Intel Core 2 Duo. The Portege, being one of the lightest laptops that actually has an internal DVD writer also comes with a PC card slot, Firewire port and has three USB ports. The R500 also has a 12.1-inch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution, 2GB of RAM, Bluetooth connectivity, Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics and of course Wi-Fi.

The Toshiba Portege R500 currently ships only with Windows Vista Business edition, which is a major downfall for many, we can only hope they decide to offer an option to have Windows XP instead. 

Via [Gizmodo]

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by Darren Murph, posted Apr 16th 2008 at 10:03PMWe know, it’s a dream of yours to one day hear what Neanderthals from eons past sounded like when they conversed of DAPs possessing a few kilobytes of storage space and longed for computers that wouldn’t take up entire caves. Okay, so maybe that’s a stretch, but an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University has seemingly figured out a way to actually recreate what ancient human speech (probably) sounded like. By utilizing reconstructions of a trio of Neanderthal vocal tracts, the crew was able to engineer what a spoken “E” would’ve sounded like via a computer synthesiser; in time, they’re hoping to construct an entire Neanderthal sentence. Of course, not everyone’s convinced that the discoveries made thus far are entirely accurate, but be sure to hit the read link a take a listen for yourself (hint: it’s nothing like those Bud Light commercials).

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of ABC]

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Filed under: Misc. gadgets

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The first thing to mention about the KF600 is the unusual touch-screen interface. This is clearly the unique selling point of this phone, and whether you enjoy using it will depend on how much you like this feature.

Put simply, around a third of the screen (a section that LG is calling the ‘InteractPad’) is touch-sensitive, displaying a set of up to six virtual buttons. These are context-sensitive and change depending on what features of the phone you are using at the time. When not displaying the full six buttons, the pad displays only four buttons (one in each corner) with a set of directional buttons set inbetween them. This is an innovative use of screen space and is very easy to understand without any reference to the manual. The phone vibrates slightly when a button is pressed on the pad, giving a good sense of physical feedback – no wondering whether or not the button-press registered.

All of the menu navigation is done via the InteractPad. Simple icons represent the features of the phone, and any lists (for example, lists of contacts) can be scrolled using the directional buttons on the InteractPad. There is good consistency in the layout of the InteractPad, with the ‘back’ button always appearing on the top right of the pad, for example.

The KF600 something of a hybrid – it has a touch-sensitive area, but the majority of the screen is not touch-sensitive. It also has a slide-out keypad for entering phone numbers, which marks it out as a compromise between traditional design and full-on touch-sensitivity. It’s a combination that works well, limiting the touch-screen to simple navigation tasks, whilst preserving the keypad for the task of entering numbers or text. The only flaw with the keypad is that it is very flat and the buttons can be hard to distinguish from each other – ironically, this is a problem that the InteractPad doesn’t suffer from. It can sometimes be annoying to have to switch from the InteractPad to the keypad – perhaps full-screen touch-sensitivity might have been a better option – but overall it’s no disaster.

The second point to make about the KF600 is that the interface is visually very attractive. The default white-on-black theme is pleasant enough, but the real treat is a set of themes based on the artwork of Keith Haring. These brightly-coloured themes show off the bright, crisp screen and add some fun to the otherwise serious-looking phone.

Of the core phone features, there’s not much to say. Audio quality during calls was good – crisp, clear and no distortion, albeit a little quiet in crowded or noisy areas. The standard contact management features are all present, with little innovation but no glaring annoyances either.

The phone has a decent 3.0 megapixel camera – nothing special, but it’s easy to use, with some useful features including a timer. The mp3 player is better than on most phones, allowing easy creation of playlists, with shuffle and repeat modes. Annoyingly, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack, requiring the use of an adapter to use your existing headphones. MP3 audio quality was reasonable, although not quite matching that of a dedicated MP3 player.

Physically, the phone feels solid and well-designed. The sliding mechanism is spring-loaded, snapping satisfyingly into place once pushed. The weight of the phone is well-distributed and it feels good in the hand. The screen has a clear plastic covering which feels sturdy and does not smudge easily – though, inevitably, fingerprints do appear after handling. The rear of the phone has a rubber coating which gives the phone a slight grip on any surfaces that it is placed on, which helps to avoid accidental knocks sending the phone flying across a desk or table.

In conclusion, the KF600 is a solid, if somewhat unimpressive phone. It does what it does well, but it doesn’t offer anything inspirational. The InteractPad – the only really innovative feature - works well, but it is still hard to resist the temptation to try touching other parts of the screen when menu items appear, and it’s frustrating to realise that this doesn’t work. The slide-out keypad gives the phone a less cutting-edge feel.

Good

• InteractPad is responsive and easy to use
• Solid, sturdy build quality
• Good MP3 player

Bad

• Why can’t the whole screen be touch-sensitive?
• Keypad buttons are too flat
• No other ‘wow’ factor

Overall: a phone that won’t disappoint, but won’t set the world on fire either.

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Another day, another compact camera announcement. This time it’s Panasonic, which is faithfully following the industry-wide tradition of releasing new models with tiny, almost unknowable feature differences. The DMC-TZ50 is not much more than a TZ5 with added WiFi.

The twist is that the camera comes with access to T-Mobile’s Hotspots, which means there’s about to be a whole lotta pictures of coffee shops up on the web. The service sends direct to Google’s Picasa photo service, although we’d have preferred Flickr.

One year of T-Mobile service is included in the price, and that year begins the first time you access the network to upload (the offer expires on August 31st 2009). It’s also possible to browse your online library direct from the camera, a neat antidote for those people who never upload their pictures to a computer and always use the camera itself for slideshows.

The TZ50 includes everything else you’d expect in a 2008 digicam: face detection, auto ISO shift and automatic scene selection (the camera guesses what you are snapping and sets the exposure mode for you). The $450 cam has a 9.1MP sensor, a 28mm (135 equivalent) lens, a 10x optical zoom and records video in HD.

The TZ50 shows us where the industry is heading. The megapixel war is all but played out, and manufacturers need new gimmicks. These are the Gadget Lab predictions for camera trends in the next year:

WiFi. You’ll start to see it everywhere, if it’s not incorporated in the hardware then perhaps cameras will ship bundled with an Eye-Fi SD card.

GPS. Somebody like Eye-Fi will work out how to put faux-GPS, or WiFi access point triangulation, onto a memory card and then GPS will explode. Currently, connecting to satallite signals is slow and costly in terms of battery drain.

High ISO. Nikon’s D3 and D300 SLRs both have stunning low light performance. Expect this to trickle down.

No Shutter Lag. This is a wish more than a prediction. Almost all compact digital cameras are hopeless in this regard, and the delay between pressing the button and snapping the picture makes action and portrait photography almost impossible.

Did I miss anything? What do you see creeping into the mainstream this year?

Press release [Panasonic]

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13 Tech Design has come up with a Scroll concept device which crams in a fair bit of impressive features, including a touch screen-based cell phone, a 10 megapixel camera and a full HD camcorder for you to record all your favorite memories. Heck, it will even feature WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, with a full-powered computer that is capable of running Windows Vista or XP. Call me skeptical, but how are you going to include the processor, memory and storage space inside such a tiny device? And as for the display, it looks too tempting to not puncture it with one’s finger or pen, which will lead to a massive heartbreak for the owner after forking out a massive sum for it.

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by Darren Murph, posted Apr 16th 2008 at 4:00PM
We applaud the effort, we really do, but even $499 for a projector touting a lowly 800 x 600 native resolution, 2,000:1 contrast ratio and 2,200 lumens is a tad steep in our eyes. Then again, you’ll likely find ViewSonic’s 5-pound PJ513DB marginally cheaper on the street, and of course, it’s quite obvious the outfit was aiming this one at those deep-pocketed boardroom bigwigs and district superintendents. Nevertheless, this DLP PJ promises to toss up a visible image even in well-lit rooms, and you’ll find composite / S-Video / component inputs ’round back to go along with the VGA in / out ports and the audio input. Knock off another Benjamin or up that resolution a hair, and maybe then we’ll talk.

[Via Electronista]

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Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

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Hauppauge’s new WinTV Nova-S USB2 targets users who already own a satellite dish connected to the main TV, where this device will then function as a secondary tuner for casual viewing. This tuner also allows a PC to view HD content, as long as your PC is pretty beefy and has the necessary software installed. You can also use the WinTV Nova-S USB2 to record TV programs onto your PC’s hard drive whenever you’re not around, turning this into some sort of impromptu set-top box too. The WinTV Nova-S USB2 retails for £79.99 a pop.