Ahead of IFA this week, where 3D TV is going to be a big tech topic, the Blu-ray Disc Association has announced that it’s right behind the concept.
Unlike the movieIQ system (covered in yesterday’s Take Ten article) which is already a part of the specification, a 3D standard hasn’t yet been devised for Blu-ray.
You’ve had a peek at pictures of Nokia’s X3 and X6 handsets, now read on for the details.
Nokia has announced two cellphone handsets in its new X Series range.
The Nokia X3 is primarily aimed at music lovers, and is the first S40 device to connect straight in to the Nokia Ovi Store as well as the “Comes With Music” service.
Audio-wise, it features a music player, FM radio with RDS, stereo speakers and Bluetooth headset compatibility.
It’s also set up for social messaging, including Nokia Chat, Windows Live! Messenger and Yahoo Go!, plus email, web browsing, games and maps.
You’ve already seen the photos and videos of Nokia’s latest cellphone offerings. Now here’s a closer look at the N97 mini
Everyone wants to target “social networkers” these days, it seems. If you spend your time on Facebook and Twitter while on the move, Nokia wants to sell its latest N97 mini handset to you.
Based on the Nokia N97, but marginally smaller and lighter, it packs in a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss Tessar lens with autofocus and flash, VGA video capture at 30fps, A-GPS, and 8GB of internal memory expandable up to 24GB via microSD card.
Every Tuesday, Gadzooki takes a look at ten top tech stories from the past week and serves them up to you in manageable chunks for easy digestion. Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed or Twitter account so you don’t miss them.
Apparently it’s been happening for some time, but Sony has been preloading some of its US-destined VAIO laptops with Google’s Chrome web browser.
That’s a great result for Google, even thought VAIO’s aren’t necessarily the most popular laptops going and that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox have a huge market share in comparison (~70%/20%).
Is this a sign that Sony might be keen to get Google’s forthcoming Chrome OS on board? It would be interesting to know, though hard to measure, how much damage PC manufacturers have suffered as a result of sticking Windows Vista on their computers. Windows 7 might be better, but perhaps Chrome OS will join Linux as a credible alternative OS — even as a build option rather than by default — for hardware vendors wanting to distance themselves from Microsoft.
Chrome might only have about two percent of the browser market share at present, but I just get the feeling that share will grow as more deals are done and the word gets out to Joe Public.
Samsung has just announced its rather nice looking WB5000 compact digital camera, featuring an impressive Schneider-KREUZNACH 26mm wide angle lens, 24x optical zoom and 12.5 megapixels.
Samsung has effectively launched a hybrid camera here, taking the best bits of a compact camera but including features that are standard on a DSLR but you wouldn’t expect on a compact, such as that massive zoom range, lots of manual shooting controls and the option to store files in RAW format.
Sony’s new Alpha DSLRs are very nice, particularly if you’re a megapixel hunter, but it’s the Canon EOS range that gets me excited.
Today, Canon has introduced the EOS 7D, offering a huge range of features that should keep enthusiastic amateurs and professionals satisfied.
First up, because they’re mentioned so much, the megapixel count is no pushover at all — 18 megapixels crammed into the APS-C CMOS sensor in fact — and yet the mechanics and processing speed are fast enough to capture up to eight frames per second in burst shooting mode.
Though traditionally Sony was not a name I associated with DSLR cameras, the company has been pushing out some quality products of late.
The latest α (Alpha) trio of DSLRs is no exception, with the top-end α850 and α550 / α500 just announced.
OK, first up we know that camera quality goes far beyond its megapixel count, but having said that, when you’re faced with a camera boasting 24.6 MP, you have to sit up and take notice.
The α850 features an Exmor CMOS sensor and dual BIONZ processors which together promise high sensitivity (up to ISO 6400) quality images.
It’s a busy old time for Nokia at present. After the stunning Booklet 3G announcement and new 5230 touchscreen phone (plus the introduction of Nokia Money) comes the new Nokia N900 handset boasting a new version of the Linux-based Maemo mobile operating system.
Claiming to offer a PC-like experience on a handset-sized device, the Nokia N900 is an evolution from Nokia’s previous Internet Tablets and runs Maemo 5 which allows multiple applications and windows to be open and running at the same time (take that, iPhone)
The N900 runs on an ARM Cortex-A8 processor, comes with up to 1GB of application memory, features OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration, 32GB of storage (expandable to 48GB via microSD) and a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics.
Microsoft has announced that the Xbox 360 Elite games console has dropped in price by $100 so that it’s now $299.99. In the UK it will now cost £199.99.
The Xbox 360 Pro will be phased out, with remaining stocks priced at $249.99, while the Xbox 360 Arcade will retail for $199.99 (£159.99).
I’ve always been a fan of Sanyo’s “pistol grip” high definition Xacti camcorders, and there are now reports that those lucky Japanese will be the first to get hold of the new Xacti CG11 HD.
Looking at the basic specifications, it’s not a huge step up from the CG10. It still shoots in 720p HD using the H.264 format — you’ll need to pay more if you want full 1080p recording — and can take SDHC cards up to 32GB.