Palm has just officially announced (or lifted the embargo on media outlets) to unveil the Palm Pixi. TechCrunch had previously reported that Palm was going to release the Pixi sometime this week,and here we are on Wednesday,and the Pixi is announced. Pixi is Palm’s candybar phone running WebOS,the awesome OS that powers the Palm Pre. Engadget has a great collection of pictures and videos of their hands-on with the Palm Pixi. Basically,the first impressions are pretty positive. The phone doesn’t have a sliding mechanism so it’s really thin (just 0.47 inches,which is 10% thinner than the iPhone 3GS,and thinner than all the Blackberry models). It has a capacitive touch-screen,and the similar tough gesture under the screen like the Pre. The keyboard has been improved,and is easier to type on when compared to the Pre. Engadget is reporting that even though the internal hardware has changed (a different CPU chip),the phone is very responsive,and easy to use. Coming in as a low cost solution at just $99,the only disappointing thing with this phone is no WiFi and it’s still only on Sprint. Come on Palm. Where are those GSM phones for the rest of the world? (Photos found on Engadget)
Oh my. While this concept had been around for a while,I hardly thought it would ever come to production. Sony Ericsson has announced that the concept code-named Kiki,will be coming to the market as the Xperia Pureness,and my does it look nice. Easily taking the fight to Nokia’s 8000 series and knocking it to the ground,this phone is like an art piece. It comes with a transparent display,and a opaque keypad. Specs haven’t been released,but does that really matter? (Found on Engadget)
Sony was the Apple of the PC laptop market. And while to some degree they still are,I always associated them with thin,light,powerful,good-looking machines (aka Apple),but in the past few years,they slowly diverged from that. They started building laptops to cater to the lower segements,to the powerhouse/gamers,and shifted that focus. With their new X-series,I think they’ve taken a big step towards their roots. This super thin (14 mm,or 0.5″) carbon fiber laptop weighs in at a meager 1.5 pounds and has a 11.2″screen (just above the netbook category),a SD and Memorystick card reader,2 USB ports,a VGA port,headphone port,and a Kennsington lock point. Other than that,it has a very nice looking chiclet-styled keyboard and a comfortable looking trackpad. Hardware specs and price is still unknown,but rest assured,that it is going to be outrageous. (Found on Gizmodo)
By using a non-Newtonian substance,Tech21 has created what is in my opinion,the ultimate iPhone/iPod case. There has always been a divide between people who want to protect their iPhone’s from light bumps and scratches with the rubber cases and those who want to protect it from proper drops with the harder plastic cases. Tech21′s iBand with d3o technology takes what looks like a rubber case,but instead of being made from rubber,its made from a non-Newtonian substance. What this means,is that when not under pressure,the case is soft and malleable,but when dropped (or thrown or hit with a hammer),the material immediately hardens and absorbs the full energy of the impact,protecting the device from any damage. (Found on Engadget)
Now here’s something I had been waiting for a while to see. A year or so ago,there was a GPS device that came out called Dash that promised to revolutions stand-alone GPS devices. Using mobile internet,it would track the paths you were driving between destinations and the time it took,and then crowd-source that out. Furthermore,it would use the Dash devices to produce REAL real-time traffic reports. The catch being that the company needed the device to hit critical mass and be used widely enough for everyone to be able to reap the benefits.Which was not possible due to it being outrageously expensive. So now it’s interesting to learn Google is looking to implement something similar into their Google Maps to calculate more realistic travel times. Any mobile device with a GPS connection and Google Maps Mobile application will be able to anonymously send location data back to Google,which it can use to calculate traffic and travel time. Brilliant stuff really.
The new Swiss Air First Class is totally rocking the aircraft world right now,what with their solid looking tables,the large Panasonic entertainment systems,but for the most part,the touchscreen interface that controls your seat. I only wish that it was wireless and not wired to the seats. The business class seats look very roomy and comfy,although I must admit the back of the seats remind me of chairs from a old Star Trek set for some reason…but maybe that’s just me? (Found on Gizmodo)
When the first reviews came in for the HTC Hero,HTC’s latest and greatest Android phone,blogs everywhere were praising it as the best Android phone yet,but with one flaw. The Sense UI interface HTC had overlayed the phone with was agonizingly slow. Check it OUT! The latest pre-release update for the HTC Sense UI for the Hero has fixed that and transformed it into a silky smooth interface. That and all the other awesomeness that is Hero has me sold. Now I just need to find a retailer in Hong Kong willing to sell me one. (Found on MobileCrunch)
Facebook is lauching version 3.0 of their iPhone application very soon,and there are some high bars being set by the media. TechCrunch is already calling it one of,if not the,most useful iPhone app yet. With a heavily revised interface and large update to functionality,the new application supports the ability to view people’s news feeds,do ‘likes’and comment,and the very awesome ability to call or text people right from inside the app using the phone number listed in your friend’s profile. The application has already been submitted to Apple and is in the approval process,so look out for your App Store icon reporting available updates soon.
Inspired by,of all things,poor weather reporting/predicting service in his area,the above Window Phone is a beautiful concept done by Seunghan Song. Basically a slab of glass,the Window Phone is supposed to be much more accurate with it’s weather predictions,and will even alter how it looks to reflect the weather predictions (see pictures below. The above is when it is sunny). The last picture shows the call/handwriting mode. Essentially,the glass fogs over when you blow on it,enabling this mode,allowing you to “unfog”the glass as you write out characters. Brilliant concept,but somehow I don’t think I will be seeing this in production anytime soon. (Found on @kevinrose)
So two things are going down today with Sony. First all the existing Playstation 3 consoles they sell right now are getting about $100 knocked of their price. Second,the oft rumored slim Playstation 3 has been finally announced. Retailing at $300 from the first week of September,Sony has finally taken the beamouth that is the Playstation 3 and repackeged it into a device that is 32 percent smaller,and takes 34 percent less power. The console will come with a 120GB drive,and the ability to work with your existing Bravia remote. Kudos to Sony for this,and the price cut. They’re finally competitive enough with the Xbox,but more importantly,making a great case to be my Blu-Ray player. (Found on Engadget)
