October 20th, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones
Hardware fanatics, listen up — a golden egg has been laid in the form of the Samsung I7110. Arriving with a slightly sleeker design than on the earlier spotted i7110c, this Symbian S60-based candybar has been revealed to the world today in London. Specs wise, you’re looking at a luscious 2.6-inch AMOLED display, FM radio / transmitter , GPS navigation (with geotagging functionality), an accelerometer, “3D graphics,” Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA and WiFi. Additionally, it packs a 5-megapixel camera (with Auto Focus and a LED flash), robust multimedia player (DivX support included), 50MB of internal memory, a microSDHC slot, video recording, 11-hours of talk time and a 12.9-millimeter thin body. Price remains a mystery, but those in Russia will be the first in the know when it launches there next month. As for everyone else? Patience.
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Posted in samsung, wifi, oled, s60, symbian, smartphone, candybar, russia, hsdpa, geotagging, dlna, amoled, i7110 | No Comments »
August 29th, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video
iriver came to IFA with the usual collection of concept gear we crave. Unlike other manufacturers, iriver usually brings its prototypes to market, eventually, so you’ll want to pay attention. First up is a concept horn speaker (pictured top) attached to an iriver SPINN. The device plugs into the existing headphone jack bringing a sense of gramophone nostalgia to this most-modern device.
Next up is iriver’s latest take on the Unit2, the UNIT2-S, a simpler multimedia communications device for the home. Remember, it’s just a concept, but as envisioned, the working prototype functions as a video phone, digital photo frame, web browser, FM radio, flash gaming rig, SMS/MMS receiver, and audio / video player with DMB television tuner. The specs list a 4.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, 30GB hard drive and 2GB of flash (presumably in the base unit and handset, respectively), mic, stereo speaker, and Li-Polymer battery all packed into a 185.4 x 117 x 19.8-mm tower.
Last up is the R1 DAB radio concept (pictured bottom). Again, the prototype is fully functional and capable of playing back internet, DAB, and FM radio or audio streaming from PC or local storage through a pair of 2W stereo speakers. They also included an alarm clock to remind you that these concepts are just part of an iriver dream — for now.
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Posted in dab, oled, iriver, concept, speaker, r1, gramophone, amoled, ifa, ifa 2008, Ifa2008, unit2, unit2-s | No Comments »
August 29th, 2008 by
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
As good as the SPINN is, we can’t rave about iriver’s newest PMP, the P20 launching today at IFA. Looks like our early excitement about the product back at CES was misplaced. First off, it’s big — a true brick by today’s PMP standards. Also, we’re not sold on the implementation of the SPINN interface here. The P20 uses a combination of vertical and horizontally placed thumb wheels, an “ok” button (why not just press in the thumbwheel like on the SPINN?), and touchscreen AMOLED — a heap of overly-complex overkill based on our admittadly, limited time with the device. The touchscreen was also rendered unusable by menus only accessible by the thumbwheels as well as an incredibly high bezel framing the display thus inhibiting screen touches along the edges. As to the specs, it’s everything we heard: 4.1-inch 480 x 272 pixel display, FM tuner, TV-out, voice recording, and integrated DMB TV option, 80GB or 120GB hard disk, and Li-Polymer battery for 12-hours of audio, 9-hours of video, or 8-hours of DMB in a 130 x 97 x 20.5-mm slab. Expected to launch in Korea next month at an undetermined price — rest of world to be determined.
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Posted in oled, hands-on, iriver, amoled, features, ifa, ifa 2008, Ifa2008, p20 | No Comments »
August 25th, 2008 by
While traditionally known as a forum for HDTVs, the big IFA show in Berlin is also shaping up as a showcase battle for Korean DAPs. Hot on the arching heels of Cowon’s S9 Curve comes this, the (re)announcement of iriver’s P20. While we first saw the P20 as a plastic prototype at CES, we’re desperately hoping for a fully functional, 80/120GB media player this time around. The device is still spec’d with a 4.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen display capable of pumping 12-, 9-, or 8-hours of music, video, or DMB TV at a clip, respectively. It’s also likely sporting a SPINN UI judging by that thumb-wheel. Also on deck is the M3 portable GPS navigator / media player with 3.5-inch touch screen LCD. More details on Friday when trade show floor opens its doors.
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Posted in pmp, dap, oled, pnd, gps, iriver, touchscreen, amoled, m3, ifa, p20 | No Comments »
August 25th, 2008 by
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Taste that? It’s the sweet nectar of want for Cowon’s new S9 Curve. This 3.3-inch media player features an AMOLED capacitive touch panel display that spreads 16 million colors across 480 x 272 pixels. Inside you’ll find a 500MHz dual-core CPU, T-DMB digital television tuner, Bluetooth, FM radio, TV-out, and G-Sensor accelerometer. All that and nearly two days (40 hours) of music playback from a single charge. No price yet but we expect to hear more later this week as the big European IFA show kicks off in Berlin.
[Via CNET Asia]
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Posted in pmp, breaking news, BreakingNews, dap, oled, cowon, t-dmb, amoled, s9, 3.3-inch, s9 curve, S9Curve | No Comments »
August 13th, 2008 by
Filed under: Cellphones, Displays
It’s hard to knock Nokia given its market dominating position, outside of the US and Japan anyway. But they certainly haven’t been (b)leading edge when it comes to capitalizing on trends such as ultra-slim handsets, touchscreens, or OLED displays. The use of those 3-inch and smaller OLEDs is just the latest trend that started with Sanyo, Toshiba, and LG all releasing OLED-based cellphones earlier this year. Now, it looks like those brilliant OLED displays, specifically Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED), has a place sometime in Nokia’s future — when is the question. According to DigiTimes‘ sources at handset panel providers, Nokia now requires its panel suppliers to have, “development and volume production plans for AMOLED panels,” before Nokia will sign any long-term partnerships. While it’s no secret that OLED is the future of flat panel technologies both big and small, it’s still nice to see Nokia on the ball with this one even though it doesn’t guarantee a Nokia-branded handset with OLED display anytime soon. Assuming these whispering sources are to be believed, of course.
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Posted in nokia, rumor, oled, display, digitimes, amoled | No Comments »
May 8th, 2008 by
Filed under: Displays, HDTV
Ruh roh. Research firm DisplaySearch has just unleashed a new report that takes an in-depth look at the ultrathin XEL-1, and it ended up finding a video lifetime barely half of what Sony promises. Apparently the company ran a couple of Sony’s OLED TVs for 1,000 hours, after which it found that blue luminance degraded by 12-percent, the red by 7-percent and the green by 8-percent. Extrapolating the data it gathered, it estimated that the unit would lose half of its brightness in 17,000 hours — Sony says you can expect 30,000. Of course, Sony is still standing by its numbers, and even we can see that DisplaySearch’s methods aren’t perfectly scientific, but if you were honestly expecting to watch this thing for the next decade (and not a year less), you may want to hit the read link and snoop around.
[Via Yahoo, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
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Posted in sony, oled, research, xel-1, study, amoled, lamp life, LampLife | No Comments »
March 6th, 2008 by
Filed under: Displays, Portable Video
If you’re fortunate enough to be living in Japan then this new Kodak ELiTe Vision KTEL-30W AMOLED TV can be yours sometime later this month. Measuring just 8-mm thick, this 3-inch 1Seg TV features a mono speaker, headphone jack (naturally), and a lithium polymer battery good for about 3.5 hours of continuous TV playback. Thing is, It’ll cost you about ¥29,800 or about $287 for functionality already integrated into many Japanese phones.
[Via Impress]
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Posted in japan, oled, tv, kodak, amoled, 3-inch, elite vision, EliteVision, ktel-30w | No Comments »
January 19th, 2008 by
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Truth be told, Teclast’s M30 seems be to a real looker at first, but we’re knocking off a few style points due the complete absence of originality. All it takes is a simple glance at the unit’s predecessors to realize that the outfit isn’t exactly going out on any limbs to innovate. Nevertheless, those still interested can look forward to a 2.8-inch 320 x 240 AMOLED display, USB 2.0 connectivity, FM tuner / recorder and support for AVI, RM, RMVB, BMP, MP3, JPEG and GIF file formats. Thankfully, the mediocrity is met with a suitable price tag — just $69 for the 2GB model and $82 for the 4GB edition.
[Via DAPReview]
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Posted in pmp, dap, amoled, M30, Teclast | No Comments »
