Well this came out of no where. This device is a monster. It's like a super device. If the NGP (PSP2) is priced accordingly, this will be a hit. Form factor is similar to the original PSP. It just thicker and has a 5" OLED display. Other notable things are that it now has two analog joystick, touchscreen and trackpad on the back. This all powered by a Quad-core A9 chip. Supposedly this thing will be coming out during the 2011 holiday season, the only thing is is that it's not confirmed if there will be simultaneous release.
Things are looking mighty fine for tablets in the year 2011. Not only are there an abundent amount of Android tablets, there are also new players in the game like RIM with their Playbook and HP WebOS tablets. Probably the one that is really catching a lot of attention is the one by Asus. Called the EeePad e121, it's a 12in slate tablet that runs Windows7.
The specs are truely amazing for such a thin device. It's got 12" (1280x800 resolution) IPS display that is both a capacitive and a Wacom digitizer. Yeah you heard that right, a Wacom digitizer. Not only that, but it also has a core I5 processor. It's not a Core2Duo nor an Atom processor. A full blown updated (hopefully a Sandy-Bridge) processor. Now the only two drawbacks I see are the Intel HD graphics, but hopefully it's the much newer version that comes out with the new Sandy-Bridge processors. The other thing is the battery-life. It's not the greatest, but it's in line with any laptop these days. From intials testings from people around the web that's got it, it' last around 3-4 hours. I'm not really surprised since it runs an Intel core I5 processor, it has 12" screen with touch and Wacom pen and it's only slighty thicker than an iPad. Did I mention that this tablet is affordable for what you get? It will retail for $1000. That's cheap I tell. Anyways, take a gander at the video below.
With the recent release of Microsoft's Kinect, there have been many people imagining the possibilities of what this device can do other than gaming. Within days or a week of it's release, an opensource driver was created. That driver didn't do much, but abled the user to control the camera and see the coordinates of what's it's seeing. Jump to days later, you've got people who created more code so that it can see you in 3D.
It's amazing how this little device can construct 3D space on what it's looking at in realtime. Not only that, the price is a steal. There are many applications that this can be for. It can be a tool for someone in the creative or scientific field. There are many possibilites for 3D creatives out there. If it can track person, could this be a cheap solution to motion capture? Or maybe you don't what to model a whole environment. Why don't you just use the camera to create the world for you and heck, why not just texture it for you as well. I'm sure there are scientific uses for it, but my mind doesn't work that way so I can't come up anything for it. As good as it is, the only drawback is that it's not in HD. The resolution is far too low. Though it's accurate (able to tell the true distance or length of an object), the image is far to noisy for use in mocap or 3D manupilation. There would be a lot of clean up to get something of a professional look. So in that sense this is great stepping stone, but I'll wait for Kinect 2.
Seems like every major OS will be moving to a touch friendly interface. With Win7 having good support for it. Apple is just starting to create their mac OS like their IOS which is heading into a more touch friendly UI. Now the opensource is getting into the action. Checkout Ubuntu 10.10 with their implemetation of the touch. It's still the full on OS, but it gives you a little bit of an understanding of how it will work. This is great news for everyone. With slate tablets coming out, we'll have another choice of full operating systems other than Windows7. Not saying Windows7 is bad, it's just it good to have options. Another good thing about it is that you can dual boot to either operating systems without much hassel. With the flexibility of Ubuntu, I wouldn't be surprised if manufacturers started using it with their own skins above it. The video below will show a good example of Ubuntu 10.10 touchness.
Are you a photographer? Well, I'm not a photographer and the last point-and-shoot camera I used was the Minolta Dimage XT. I thought it was time for an upgrade, so I used some unused gift cards to purchase one of the latest cameras around: The Sony NEX 5 (with 18-55mm and 16mm lens). I picked the Sony NEX 5 because I wanted a small camera that can produce images rivaling DSLR cameras. I also wanted a camera that can record HD movies. I'm happy to say the Sony NEX 5 was a great purchase. I'm not going to bore you with the detailed specs as you can read all about it from Sony's site (http://www.sonystyle.com/nex). Instead, I'll give a quick review of my experience with the product.
The camera is well built with a metal alloy and its weight is not too light or too heavy. Anyone can carry this thing around with ease. Without the 55mm lens, the camera body is quite small and almost the same size as the Minolta Dimage (see below)! If you don't want a zoom, you can use the 16mm lens, which makes the camera even more portable. Switching the lens involves pushing a button and turning the lens body. I wished Sony made lens that was 16-21mm as I prefer the 18mm angle. The 18-55mm lens makes the camera pretty big. The camera does not come with a case, so I purchased a Sony Handy Cam case which was a perfect fit for the Sony NEX 5 and its battery charger. For those that like to keep their gadgets clean, you can trim a Sony PSP lens protector and use it on the NEX 5.
Usability is great on the camera. You simply turn it on and you can start taking pictures. The physical buttons consist of the power switch, shoot button, view pictures button, a delete button, a record movie button, a menu button, and a dial used to navigate the menu system. All the buttons feel solid. The actual menu system graphics is similar to menus you'd find in the PSP or PS3. If you like to use flash lighting in your shots, you'd have to manually connect the flash to the camera as it's a separate component. I hardly use flash as images look crap. Inserting the SD card is simple and involves opening the battery compartment cover. I used a San Disk Extreme III SD card and it works great. Hooking up the camera to the computer is easy using the supplied USB cable and you'll see the device as a storage drive.
The picture quality of still images and HD movies is simply amazing for me. I can take nature shots that look like Windows Wallpaper. The camera automatically focuses on the foreground object and blurs the background, so you don't have to do anything if you like that kind of shots. For the professionals out there, you can fine tune the image digitally or by adjusting the lens.
All in all, the Sony NEX 5 is a good camera. The Sony NEX 7 is supposed to come out soon, but I have no idea if it’ll be the same size as the NEX 5. Check out the un-boxing images below and some pictures taken with the NEX 5.
So when Microsoft announced that the Courier was just a concept, people were let down. Here comes Toshiba to the rescue. The question is, is it the same as the Microsoft Courier? From looking at other articles on the web, it's heading in the right direction, but no dice. Just hardware wise it has a pretty decent spec. Two screens (capacitive), a decent processor that isn't an atom processor thank god. The Libretto has a very portable design. When folded open, it's as big as an iPad. When folded it's around three or four time thicker that an iPad. The device weighs less than 2 pounds. Probably what most want is a full featured on OS on a device and the Libretto offers that with having Windows 7 Home included.
In my opinion, it's a cool gadget, but I could always get a netbook since the second screen will most likely have the keyboard input. The only thing the second screen will be used for is if you're reading an ebook or looking at 2 documents at the same time or web surfing. You can also view a document or window in full mode that spans the two screens, but who want to do that when there is a huge gap between it. The screen looks really small from the videos. Good for Toshiba for making something totally different, but for portability they would have to design something that is one thin and two have great battery life. I'm sure powering two screens is good for the battery. If you're a gadget freak this is a must, but the for the general public save the cash and just get an iPad or even better just get a netbook for less that half the price of the Libretto.
