The Gadget Geek

Bell Canada launches first CDMA BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230

Big day for Bell and smartphones as they add the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 on top of the Pal Treo Pro launch a little earlier in the day. Thankfully the BlackBerry seems to have its pricing lined up and will squeeze your piggy bank for $29 on a three-year contract, a steep $349 on 2, $449 for 1-year and is $499 off contract altogether — though the $29 is apparently only until the end of March. Telus is also prepping this flippier BlackBerry for launch, though no word on a date for that just yet. In case you’ve forgotten the pink or black 8230 features GPS capabilities, 128MB of memory, external 1.6-inch and internal 2.4-inch displays, and the oh-so novel 4.6 OS. Grab it now on Bell’s site if you’ve been dreaming of the same ol’ BlackBerry in an entirely new and interesting package.

Update: Pricing updated as site was updated.

Filed under: Cellphones

Bell Canada launches first CDMA BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung HT-X710T Home Theater System
Samsung HT-X710T Home Theater System

Gigabyte’s M1022, S1024, T1028 netbooks show themselves at CeBIT

Gigabyte said it’d be showing off a trio of new netbooks at CeBIT this week and, lo and behold, all three have now emerged from their less than secretive whereabouts and made their public debut, and the good folks from Engadget Chinese were on hand for an up close look. While all three pack more or less the same standard netbook specs, they do manage to differentiate themselves quite a bit from each other around the edges, with the M1022 “Booktop” in particular coming paired with a rather unique dock that holds the system vertically and lets you hook up a monitor and your choice of peripherals. The T1028 also takes things one step further by opting for a tablet form, as you can see above, while the ThinNote S1024 keeps things a bit more simple with a thin, more business-like design. Be sure to hit up the link below for plenty more pics, and the complete specs for each.

Filed under: Laptops

Gigabyte’s M1022, S1024, T1028 netbooks show themselves at CeBIT originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pioneer DV-490V DVD Player
Pioneer DV-490V DVD Player
Asus’s Cow-Killer Notebook Holds Hella Big SSD
LAS VEGAS — Asus’s latest 12.1-inch notebook is special not only because a cow died for it. More interesting for gadget geeks, the notebook can hold a solid state drive over half a terabyte large. Lined with brown leather, the…

Sony’s GXD-L64H1 LCD survives elemental woes, ignores economic ones

We see plenty of rugged and semi-rugged entries in the portable market, but it’s not often that you see a large-screen HDTV you’d want to touch with anything other than white gloves and (clean) cotton diapers. Sony’s GXD-L64H1 is one of those rare durable displays, a 65-inch LCD that scores an IP54 on the International Protection Rating scale. That means it’s almost entirely dust-proof and can survive a light shower, as demonstrated in a video after the break — at least we presume that’s what they’re demonstrating, as the footage never shows the thing actually turning on again. The set is due to hit the market with a splash (sorry) in May at a price of ¥1,850,000, about $19,300, making us wonder if it can float in these economic times.

[Via Akihabara News]

Continue reading Sony’s GXD-L64H1 LCD survives elemental woes, ignores economic ones

Filed under: Displays

Sony’s GXD-L64H1 LCD survives elemental woes, ignores economic ones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP IQ770 TouchSmart PC
HP IQ770 TouchSmart PC

Motorola with big touchscreen emerges, doesn’t disgust

What’s this, a high-end slate from Motorola that we can all cautiously get behind? Hard as it may be to believe, it seems that Moto might be working on some serious hardware to compete with… well, anything. We don’t have any information on this device we’re seeing here beyond what we can make out from the picture — 5 megapixel Kodak-branded camera, big touchscreen, TV-out, and a xenon flash — but the tip suggests that this could be Moto’s first Android device. We tend to think that’s not very likely, since we don’t have Home or Back buttons on the front (which would also rule out Windows Mobile 6.5 without a Start button), but we suppose they could be hiding out on the side somewhere — and frankly, we don’t see Motorola blowing anyone away with a touchscreen version of its proprietary platform any time soon. At any rate, let’s just hope this shot is real, and the phone’s almost ready for retail.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Motorola with big touchscreen emerges, doesn’t disgust originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Callpod Dragon Bluetooth Headset
Callpod Dragon Bluetooth Headset
Dell’s New Notebooks Take Design Seriously
LAS VEGAS — Dell doesn’t have a booth here at CES, but the company staked out a floor at the trendy Palms casino to make several product announcements — and to try to win a few style points. The stodgy…

Kisai Sensai watch: it’s like cold steel on your wrist

We’re not sure if you’ve noticed, but choosing a wristwatch just might be the most difficult decision a man or woman has to make in their entire life. If you just keep hemming and hawing, why not add a little more confusion to the mix with Kisai’s Sensai? This lightweight piece is constructed from high grade aluminum, and it supposedly uses “positive shapes and negative lines” in order to create a face that’s impossible to ignore. The LEDs beneath the metal tell time in code, a process that reportedly takes between eight and ten decades to master. Thankfully, instructions are provided in both English and Japanese, though native Yiddish speakers may have some difficulty piecing it all together. Purchase at your own risk.

Filed under: Wearables

Kisai Sensai watch: it’s like cold steel on your wrist originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Holiday Video Games: Family
Holiday Video Games: Family
SanDisk Makes Laptops Better, Faster, Stronger
SanDisk dropped a little bomb on the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday: a solid state flash drive for netbooks and notebooks that promise to make our portable computing experience faster, more reliable and more resilient. “We think that this is…

How would you change 3M’s MPro110 pocket projector?

The pico projector market has practically exploded over the past six months or so, but all the while it was 3M’s MPro110 leading the charge. Given that you’ve now had a few months to toy with it, we’re wondering if this thing really has lived up to the hype. Is having a projector in your pocket as awesome as advertised? Is the image quality sufficient for impromptu wall splashings? Would you recommend holding off for round two? We have all ideas we’ll hear tons of “make it brighter!” and “where’s the 1080p version?” type comments, but if you have something else besides that to add, then — by all means — drop some knowledge on us in comments below.

Filed under: Displays, Portable Video

How would you change 3M’s MPro110 pocket projector? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Logitech Squeezebox Boom
Logitech Squeezebox Boom
Dell’s New Notebooks Take Design Seriously
LAS VEGAS — Dell doesn’t have a booth here at CES, but the company staked out a floor at the trendy Palms casino to make several product announcements — and to try to win a few style points. The stodgy…

Samsung: at least three Android phones and a LiMo handset in 2009

While Acer unveiled its plan to launch a pair of Android phones this year via the slightly ancient pen-and-paper method, Samsung used an even trustier method: spoken word. According to Reuters, the company’s head of product strategy Won-Pyo Hong affirmed that Sammy would sell “more than three” Android phones by the end of this year, and furthermore, it would “definitely” unwrap a phone using the LiMo Foundation‘s Linux-based software before 2010 dawns. Hong wouldn’t disclose whether those Google-powered handsets would hit America, Europe or elsewhere first, but he did remark that both the US and Europe would be covered by the year’s end. We’d love to say we’re totally unaffected by such a tease, but c’mon, who has that kind of patience?

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung: at least three Android phones and a LiMo handset in 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Casual Gaming
Casual Gaming
Vintage Radio Case Mod Painstakingly Assembled by Hand
Jeffrey Stephenson, the sole proprietor of Slippery Skip, showed us his Ingraham Nano Case Mod — a replica of the 1946 Stromberg Carlson radio, but with a few minor modifications to the front panel including the gas cap from a…



Who Knew Medical 1984 Could be So Fun!
I kid, I kid. But here’s a product that regulates and records the time and amount of your medication intake. It’s a cute little thing, yes? It’s got a capsule with pills (or shall I say Capshell, the name of the concept), that you load into the holder. The holder …

Samsung’s OmniaHD: world’s first phone to capture 720p video?

We’ve no way to confirm at the moment, but if SamsungCentral is to be believed, Samsung’s newly announced OmniaHD will soon become the world’s first cellphone to record 720p video. Unlike the HTC Touch HD — which had precisely zero high-def amenities — it seems the next breed of Omnia may actually live up to its moniker. Other purported specifications include an 8 megapixel camera and a 3.7-inch AMOLED display, though the resolution of the panel is currently unknown. Have we mentioned we can’t wait to get our paws around this? Because we can’t.

Update: Sammy’s sent out a press release for the OmniaHD and, sure enough, this bad boy’s boasting 720p video recording. Also confirmed: we can’t wait to try this sucker out.

[Via Samsung Central]

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung’s OmniaHD: world’s first phone to capture 720p video? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate FreeAgent Go
Seagate FreeAgent Go
Vintage Radio Case Mod Painstakingly Assembled by Hand
Jeffrey Stephenson, the sole proprietor of Slippery Skip, showed us his Ingraham Nano Case Mod — a replica of the 1946 Stromberg Carlson radio, but with a few minor modifications to the front panel including the gas cap from a…



When Riding A Bicycle Just Isn?t Green Enough
If you’ve ever felt the urge to attach a fender to your bike just so you can wrap it in environmentally-aware bumper stickers, then the Green Shadow might be for you. Developed by Mr. Onuff Studio, the bicycle shouts your deep inner connection with Gaia while simultaneously tracking mileage, heat …

Toyota’s hydrogen-powered FCHV gets inspected

Just in case you haven’t heard enough in regard to green automobiles today, Toyota’s FCHV has been broken down good fashion and photographed by our pals at AutoblogGreen. The hydrogen-powered SUV sports a pretty sophisticated get-up-and-go system, which is comprised of four separate storage tanks in order to keep the hydrogen compressed to 10,000psi. Once the compressed gas leaves those tanks, it passes through regulators that “reduce the pressure to something the PEM fuel cell stack can process.” The bottom line? This thing can traverse some 350 miles on a fresh fill. If your ears just perked up, give the read link a visit to get yourself more acquainted.

Filed under: Transportation

Toyota’s hydrogen-powered FCHV gets inspected originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Klipsch iGroove
Klipsch iGroove
Why the Budget All-in-One Desktop Will Fail
LAS VEGAS Several manufacturers are scooping out the guts of netbooks and implanting them in inexpensive, all-in-one desktop computers. And even though they’re cheap, it’s unlikely these desktops will break into the mainstream. Micro-Star International (MSI), Asus, Viewsonic and…

Engadget’s recession antidote: win an ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics card

Yup, all ’round the globe, economies are taking a hit, and people are losing jobs, houses and investments (take, for instance, the news that Netgear had an unexpectedly bad fourth quarter, as well as the rumors that both Asustek and MSI will be cutting workers). So we here at Engadget are committed to trying to counter-attack a little bit of that suffering by handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we’ve got an ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics card to offer up. Read the rules below (no skimming — we’re omniscient and can tell when you’ve skimmed) and get commenting!

Special thanks to AMD for providing the gear!

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for “fixing” the world economy, that’d be sweet too.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics card. Approximate value is $70.
• Entries can be submitted until Friday, February 13th, 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Filed under: Announcements

Engadget’s recession antidote: win an ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics card originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset
Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth Headset
OQO OLED Notebook Is A Luminous Beauty
LAS VEGAS — Even as inexpensive netbooks have caught the attention of most gadget enthusiasts, their richer cousins from the mobile internet devices (MIDs) category have faded into the background. But at CES 2009, OQO’s smallest PC sporting a OLED…



Better Than Your Desk
A desk made for utilitarian efficiency that isn’t ugly, go figure! The Novanta workstation is some beauty, even if I think it’s a bit chunky. The MDF, aluminum and perforated metal SCREAM “only Macs please” but a sexier PC like the HP Touchsmart could probably move in without ruffling the …