Sony Ericsson announces two entry level mobile phones named Mix Walkman and Txt Pro

The two new mobile phone models are low end / entry level models. We do not have any exact price for the two, but we expect the price to be around Euro 230 just like the Xperia X8 when it was new. Both phones will be availble in Q3 in selecte market. Which market this is is also unknown, but we think Asia, Africa and some parts of Europe would be a good guess.

Sony Ericsson is proud of the success they have accomplished on their Facebook page which is to attract more than 5 million followers. Sony Ericsson held a competition a short while ago where four competitors received a free phone in the mail for the purpose of doing a short video review.

Both phones has the now familiar four customizable corner keys we first saw in the Xperia 10 Minis for easy navigation. The operating systems looks like Android but they are not. Txt Pro is running on Sony Ericsson Proprietary OS while Mix Walkman is running on RTKE OS by ST-Ericsson. Besides the OS and the QWERTY keyboard on the Txt Pro, the two phone models have many similar features:

Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman highlights

• 88 gram
• 95.8 x 52.8 x 14.3 mm
• 3 inch touch display, 262,144 colors, 240 x 400 pixel resolution
• 256 MB memory, 100MB available to user. Expandable up to 32GB with microSD card
• 3 megapixel camera, QVGA video recording
• Networks: GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Java
• Zi Quick text
• 1000 mAh battery
• Standby time: 465 hours
• Talk time: 9 hours 40 minutes
• Zap key
• Karaoke function
• Exchangeable colourful rubber bands around the phone

The Mix Walkman has a special key name Zap for a preview of the chorus in the next song in the music queue. Press the Zap key again for play the next song from the beginning

Sony Ericsson Txt Pro highlights

• 4 row QWERTY keyboard
• 100 gram
• 93 x 52 x 18 mm
• 3 inch touch display, 240 x 400 pixels resolution, 262,144 colours
• 64 MB RAM. 100 MB free user memory. Expandable up to 32 GB with microSD card
• 3.2 megapixel camera, QVGA video recording
• Networks: GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Java
• Zi Quick text
• 1000 mAh battery
• Standby type: 400 hours
• Talktime: 5 hours 10 minutes

Club 3D Radeon HD 6570 1 GB DDR3

Club 3D announced the intro-duction of the AMD Radeon HD 6570 video card based on the Turks Pro chipset, AMD’s second generation DirectX 11.

The Club 3D Radeon HD 6570 1 GB DDR3 video card features now the AMD HD3D technology which allows you to have faster access to multimedia applications and gives you all tools to enhanced productivity. Furthermore you can enjoy the latest 3D Blu-Ray movies with EyeSpeed technology.
The new card comes equipped with a nice single slot cooler which makes you enjoy your new video card without compromising on your perfect computing environment.

The card is available from now on for an estimated end-user price of € 55 excl. VAT.

Features

- Second generation Microsoft DirectX 11 support
- PCI Express 2.1 x16 bus interface
- “Eye-Definition” graphics
- AMD EyeSpeed visual acceleration
- UVD 3 dedicated video playback accelerator
- AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing technology
- DirectCompute 11
- OpenGL 4.1 Support
- AMD HD3D technology
- Blu-ray 3D support
- AMD CrossfireX multi-GPU technology
- Integrated HDMI 1.4a with support for stereoscopic 3D
- Integrated HD audio controller

Specifications

Item Code	CGAX-65724ZI
Interface	PCI-E 2.1
GPU Clock	650 MHz
Memory Type	DDR3
Memory Clock	1333 Hz
Memory	1024 MB
Memory Interface	128 bit
API Support	DirectX 11 / OpenCL
Max. Digital Resolution	2560 x 1600
Max. Analog Resolution	2048 x 1536
DUAL LINK DVI OUT	x 1
HDMI	x 1
CRT	x 1
EAN Code	8717249409472
Cooling	Active Single Slot

Nokia C7 Smartphone Review

I thought the Nokia C7 was beautifully crafted the moment I unboxed it and held it in my hands. Its simplicity in design—a sturdy aluminum candybar phone with a sleek black finish, a generous 3.5-inch screen encased with a mirror-like bezel, only 10.5mm thick and weighs 130g made the C7 an absolute wonder to behold (and hold). Of course, as I am naturally averse to anything that doesn’t have a tactile keypad, I was a bit intimidated having to work with a touchscreen. But the UI wasn’t all that unfamiliar and accessing the menu had simply been reduced to just one wide button below the vibrant AMOLED screen and in between the call and end-call buttons.

On top is your on button, 3.5mm jack for head/earphones, and a USB port with cover whereas on the phone’s right side (as there’s nothing on the left) is a voice-command button snuggled in between a volume adjustor, a phone lock switch, and a camera button which activates the C7’s 8-megapixel camera capable of HD-quality 720p video and equipped with a dual-LED flash at the back. The battery, microSD card and SIM card slots are safely kept within a thin, aluminum cover that is just as sturdy as the rest of the phone.

However, despite the phone’s external beauty, it still has a bit of a way to go if it wants to compete with other, more sophisticated smartphones. The performance and response is a bit slow, although I wouldn’t say it’s too significant a lag. The web browser takes a while to load and refreshing it can be a bit tedious. The design of the Symbian system and its core applications make it hard to recommend the C7 as a smartphone for someone with a busy email and social media life. We would recommend it to those who want a basic phone with a good web browsing experience and who likes to listen to music (the C7 makes for a pretty good music phone) especially since it’s got a great battery life that can last you almost two days.

Despite Symbian^3 being a clear improvement over its predecessors, it’s still evident the OS hasn’t been designed to maximize the benefits of a touchscreen. There is no QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode, the keys are fairly small and there are no intuitive, context-sensitive buttons. Symbian^3 also brings up a new screen when you have to enter text so you can’t see the messages you are replying to as you are typing despite already being able to see your messages in “conversation” form.



What’s Hot:

Battery life

Good sound quality

Great design



What’s Not:

Camera isn’t great

Sluggish

Texting is a bit of a chore



Bottomline:

Though we wouldn’t recommend it for business users, the C7 would make a very capable everyday phone for many people.



Specs:

Form factor Candybar

LCD size and classification 3.5-inch OLED

Physical Dimension 117.3 x 56.8 x 10.5 mm

Weight 130g

Band Quadband

Internal memory 350MB; expandable microSD

A closer look at the HTC Sensation

A closer look at the HTC Sensation and you will realize this smartphone packs a powerful dual-core 1.2Ghz Snapdragon processor, a 4.3 inch qHD display and HTC's new Sense user interface, all of this on Google's Android mobile operating system. The exterior is a unibody aluminium construct that feels sturdy in your hands, weighing only 148grams.

HTC sensation specifications:

Processor

Qualcomm 1.2 GHz Dual-Core

Operating system

Android™ with HTC Sense™

Memory

ROM: 1 GB

RAM: 768 MB

Dimensions

126.1 mm (L) x 65.4 mm (W) x 11.3 mm (T)

Weight

148 grams (with battery)

Display

4.3-inch touch screen with 540 x 960 qHD resolution

Network

HSPA/WCDMA (900/2100 MHz) 

GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) 

(Band frequency, HSPA availability, and data speed are operator dependent)

Internet 3G:

Up to 14.4 Mbps download speed

Up to 5.76 Mbps upload speed

GPRS:

Up to 114 kbps download speed

Wi-Fi

802.11 b/g/n

Tethering USB and Wi-Fi® tethering

GPS

Internal GPS antenna                                                                                            

Sensors

G-sensor

Digital Compass

Proximity Sensor

Ambient Light Sensor

Connectivity

3.5 mm stereo audio jack 

Standard micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0) with mobile high-definition 

video link (MHL) for USB or HDMI connection

Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b/g/n

Bluetooth

Bluetooth 3.0 with FTP/OPP for file transfer

A2DP for wireless stereo headsets 

Other supported profiles:

AVRCP, GAP, GOEP, HFP, PBAP, SPP, Service 

Discovery Application Profile 

Camera

8.0 megapixel colour camera with auto focus and dual LED flash

1080p HD video recording

VGA front camera

Multimedia Audio supported formats:

Playback: .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media 

Audio 9)

Recording: .amr

Video supported formats:

Playback: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 

ASP and MP3), .xvid (MP4 ASP and MP3)

Recording: .3gp

Battery Rechargeable Lithium-ion polymer battery

Capacity: 1520 mAh

Talk time: 

Up to 400 minutes for WCDMA

Up to 495 minutes for GSM

Standby time: 

Up to 400 hours for WCDMA

Up to 350 hours for GSM

(The above are subject to network and phone usage)

Expansion Slot

microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)

Recommended 

Windows System Requirements 

Windows7 , Windows Vista or Windows XP with HTC Sync

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3G and Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi

A mini-PC, media player, and e-reader all rolled into one incredible device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is a powerful entertainment device and business tool. Premium features include Google Android 2.2 (Froyo), a 7-inch touchscreen for mobile computing, watching videos, and browsing the Internet, a rear-facing 3MP camera and camcorder and flash, and a front-facing 1.3MP camera and camcorder for video chat, and flexible access to the World Wide Web with 3G or Wi-Fi versions.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab supports Adobe Flash Player 10.1, providing an enhanced content experience by allowing access to thousands of websites with complex Flash-based applications and content while the Samsung Galaxy Wi-Fi allows you to connect with friends and family faster and easier through the Samsung Social Hub. This allows users to integrate social networking services, messages, personal and business e-mail, calendars, and contacts. Information from web calendars, such as Google Calendar and Facebook, are merged into a single interface for easy organization, too.

Source: Samsung

Gift your father with these cool and exciting toys.

This father’s day, give the most important man in your life the gift of being a kid again. Let your favorite big (or not so big) boys relive or simply enjoy their childhood with these cool and exciting toys.
Hot Wheels Custom Motors

Airhogs Sharpshooter
Lock in your spouse heart with this newest Air Hogs Sharpshooter. A micro remote control helicopter and shoots real projectiles. It combines the indoor/outdoor flying capabilities with dual rotor, detailed fuselage, realistic landing gear and a stealthy black paint.

 

Tech Deck Paul Rodriguez Small Skate Lab
If you find your big boy too old for skateboarding having his knees skinned, why not let him still get the experience with the authentic replica of Paul Rodriguez’s first training facility.  Let him hit the killer lines, smooth out sketchy landings and perfect each trick just by fingerboarding.  Collect all the pieces and replicate the complete skate lab of P. Rod.

Hot Wheels, Air Hogs, and Tech Deck are exclusively distributed by Richwell Trading Corporation. They are available at all leading toy stores and department stores nationwide. For more information, call Richwell Trading Corporation at telephone number 732-5141 to 47 loc 211 or visit our website at www.richwell.net.

Nintendo reveal New Wii U Console at E3

Good news for Nintendo fans - the company has revealed a new Wii U console that boasts of HD gaming to match the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The new console will also have a touchscreen based controller, which looks rather like a large tablet with a 6.2-inch screen and the usual buttons that one finds on a game controller. What's more, it seems that you can play games on the controller itself, without the TV, with the game content streamed wirelessly to the controller.

Engadget - Coming in 2012, Nintendo's next home console will deliver "deeper game experiences" that aim to offer "something for everyone." And it'll be called the Wii U! A variety of new controls will be made available by that crazy new controller with a 6.2-inch touchscreen embedded in it. Most importantly, you'll no longer be tied to a TV to enjoy your home consoling action -- the Wii U controller can handle your gaming session when the television is needed for other purposes, while a built-in front-facing cam will let you video chat from anywhere too.

Click here for more details.

Apple iOS 5 features

Among the big news about storage clouds and desktop operating system announced by Apple yesterday was also the expected new iOS 5 operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Steve Jobs didn't have any new hardware to show us this time, so we have to wait until autumn for the next iPhone announcement.

Some of the new features in iOS 5 are

• Twitter integration directly into the OS
• Opening the camera application right from the lock screen
• New photo enchancements such as red-eye removal, auto-enhance and simple edit functionality
• Improved Safari web browser with one-click button for page saving with ads for later viewing.
• Mac and PC Free.
• iOS update over the air without the need of iTunes
• Split virtual keyboard (iPad)
• Wi-Fi Sync. Automatically backup and sync to iTunes wirelessly when connecting the device to a power source.

The MobileMe sync service previously offered by Apple are not accepting new subscribers from today. Instead Apple announced a similar iCloud storage service for all iOS5 devices. 5GB of storage is free for saving documents, email, contacts and more. Everything is automatically syncronized between your iOS 5 devices. If you buy a song from iTunes, it will be stored in iCloud and made accessible to your iPod, iPhone and iPad.

A closer look on Apple's iCloud music service

Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs has unveiled a new service for people to store their photos, music and other data online. Termed iCloud, the service challenges Google's cloud-based offerings, which already use services like Gmail, Calendar, Picasa, and Google Docs to let users see and edit the same document or photo across multiple devices.

Here's looking into what Apple iCloud is all about.

iCloud storage and more
With iCloud, files will be stored by Apple in remote data centers -- known as the “cloud” in technology parlance -- and automatically synchronize. This means the same content is available from any Apple gadget, without it cluttering up users’ hard drives.

The feature will include 5GB of free storage for users’ files, plus unlimited room for purchased apps and books, and recent photos.

iCloud will be supported by new versions of applications like Calendar, Mail, and Contacts, and if information is changed for one contact, the new data goes to Apple's servers and is then pushed to the other devices.

Replaces MobileMe
Apple iCloud replaces the company's MobileMe service. Unlike MobileMe, iCloud will also allow users to sync their apps, documents, music and photos along with contacts, calendar and mails. This means that users will be able to use apps purchased using iPhone on iPad as well as restore them using the cloud service if something goes wrong.

MobileMe allowed users to sync their contacts, calendar, and mail with a virtual harddisk for anywhere, anytime access.

It's free
Unlike MobieMe with iCloud, Apple revamps its approach and is offering the content-syncing service for free. iCloud will be available as a free download when Apple releases iOS5 later this year. MobileMe costs users $99 per year.

Music biggies on board
Ever the showman, the Apple CEO announced that the company has struck licensing agreements with all the major recording labels on the new music synching system.

The company has signed deals with Warner Music Group Corp, Universal Music Group, EMI Group and Sony Music Entertainment.

Goes wireless
All future iTunes purchases also will be automatically sent to all the devices. None of the transfers will require devices to be plugged into a single computer. It will automatically happen over wireless connections.

iTunes Match

Apple has also introduced a new service called iTunes Match. The $25-per-year service is meant for music not bought through iTunes. Apple iTunes Match matches music ripped from CDs in a subscriber's personal music collection and makes it available online.

The service will scan every song in users' libraries and match it with a copy in the cloud. This way customers don’t require to upload all their music song by song -- a requirement on services introduced by Google and Amazon.

The limit of "iTunes Match" is 25,000 songs, and the service will update lesser-quality song files to iTunes standards. Also, iTunes purchases do not count against this limit.

Photos

iCloud offers an app called Photo Stream which will keep users' photos synchronized across devices. This means a photo taken on a yser's iPhone will automatically be downloaded to his computer and iPad. The feature also means that users will not have to do anything new to sync their photos.

PlayStation Vita portable gaming machine from Sony

Sony Corp took the wraps off its next generation portable gaming machine, PlayStation Vita, a touch-interface and motion-sensitive handheld that outdoes its workhorse PlayStation Portable and will go on sale before the winter holidays.

Company executives have called the device Sony's biggest product launch since the PlayStation 3 five years ago.

The device will allow gamers to be connected with one other over cellphone networks and Wi-Fi hotspots, and use GPS location-tracking technology. In the US, Sony is partnering exclusively with AT&T Inc for cellphone service.

The device, available for $249 for its Wi-Fi-only version, was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the video game industry's annual convention known as E3. A version that will also have cellphone service will retail for $299, and buyers will have to subscribe to a cellular data plan.

The handheld has front and back cameras, a touchscreen in front, a touch pad on the back and two knob-like joysticks. It will enable gamers to play against people using PlayStation 3 consoles over the Internet-based PlayStation Network, a system that was recently restored after being shut down due to a massive hacking attack.

The hardware comes with an accelerometer, which means it will also react to being held at different angles and being moved through the air.

"PlayStation Vita will revolutionise the portable entertainment experience," said Kazuo Hirai, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America. "The whole world is really in play."

The Vita is slightly bigger than the PlayStation Portable, which has sold more than 70 million units worldwide since its launch in 2004. The PSP will continue to be sold along with new games.

But the Vita -- code-named "NGP," or next generation portable, until Monday -- will enable gamers to do more.

A Sony staffer demonstrated a version of "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception," in which he used the familiar buttons and knobs but also touched the screen to move the Drake avatar across ledges and attack opponents in close combat.

Another game called "Reality Fighters" will allow users to take a picture and have fighting characters battle each other using objects from the real world.

Along with social games and email, Sony also unveiled a communication service it called "Party" that will enable voice and text chat during games or when using the Web browser.
Users will also be able to sense when other gamers are nearby, what games they have played recently, and enable in-game gifting of virtual items.

Acer Iconia smartphone review

The high-end smartphone space is dominated by premium brands like HTC, Samsung and LG, with a smattering of different form factors and screen sizes ranging from the standard 4-inch Samsung Nexus S and to the relatively bigger 4.3-inch HTC Desire HD. To really make an impact in a market that’s dominated by high-profile brands and devices, you need to be a little bit different. The Acer Iconia Smart is certainly that. Sporting a massive 4.8-inch, 480×1024 resolution capacitive sceen, the Iconia Smart is an imposing smartphone, at least physically.

In a time where smartphones are shedding hard keys and moving into touch-sensitive controls, the Iconia Smart does the opposite. Housed directly below the gigantic 4.8-inch screen lies the home, search, back and option keys.

The volume rocker and camera shortcut keys are all located on the right side of the unit.

The left side holds the USB slot that pulls double duty as a USB charging port and the HDMI out port if you want to export video to your HDTV.

There’s an eight megapixel camera located on the back, as well as a smaller secondary camera on the front. The whole thing weighs in at a hefty 185 grams – which is a bit heavier than your average smartphone. Some may see this is a negative, but I actually didn’t mind the added weight as it gave the unit a bit of heft. Of course, your mileage may vary. The battery is located at the bottom of the unit, and Acer seems to have taken a few design cues from HTC’s unibody devices when it comes to accessing the battery. You have to take off the bottom cover first, and then open the compartment via a small latch to access the battery.

The Iconia Smart uses Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS with UI enhancements courtesy of Acer. The unlock screen slightly differs in that you’re presented with 3 initial home screens that you can scroll through without unlocking the phone – great for checking how many unread SMS messages and missed calls you’ve received, checking to see what track is playing and so on. As with anything on Android, that screen is customizable.

Once you’re past that, you get 7 home screens that you can customize depending on your needs.

The first and seventh screen has Acer’s own quick-access solution that acts like a mini-rolodex of sorts for your media (music, photos and video) for the first screen and websites in the case of the second.

The Iconia Smart is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255-1 Snapdragon Scorpion processor. While I was slightly disappointed that something this large wasn’t powered by a dual-core procie, the performance of the unit made up for it – the device was pretty quick, and it was capable of decent graphics. To scientifically gauge performance, we ran a couple of benchmarking tools on the Iconia Smart – Neocore, a graphic benchmarking tool, AnTutu, a system benchmark that stresses the entire phone from graphics to memory, and  Quadrant Standard, which gives another benchmark perspective into the performance of the phone.

Because of the unique size of the Iconia Smart, the Neocore benchmark only ran in the maximum 480×854 resolution, and not the 480×1024 the screen was capable of. Nevertheless, the Iconia Smart came in at a zippy 57.6 FPS.

For AnTuTu, the results were 1992, which were decent.

Quadrant Standard on the other hand, gave the Iconia Smart 1480 points, which was a bit higher than what the benchmark gave the Nexus One on Android 2.2.
For something that has a huge screen, battery life wasn’t as bad as I’d initially thought. The Iconia Smart needed a sip at the end of every workday (with moderate to heavy use), but considering the screen size I think that’s pretty good. Call quality was good.
Two issues stop me from recommending the Iconia Smart to Android freshmen. Ironically, its biggest appeal is also its biggest stumbling block: size. While the Iconia Smart is easy enough for someone like me to use, anyone with dainty hands (which constitute a majority of Filipinos) is in for rough ride. It’s mainly a personal thing, and as such your mileage may vary. Sound isn’t as loud as I’d hoped, which is a major let down since the device sports Dolby Mobile sound enhancement. The huge screen is such a nice place to view movies, unfortunately the disappointing sound makes headphones a necessity if you want to hear what the actors are saying.

What’s Hot:
Large, 4.8-inch capacitive touchscreen
Large screen makes it a natural for watching movies
Good performance, ok battery life

What’s Not:
Large screen makes it a challenge for people with dainty hands to use
Sound could be better

Bottomline:
The Acer Iconia Smart is certainly different, and if you don’t have issues with a large screen, it just might be your next Android smartphone.