Best New Technology

What can $7 get you today? Other that two cafe du jour from Starbucks or seven Double Cheeseburgers from McD’s Dollar Menu (before taxes), you can also sign up with Rogers and Fido for their unlimited mobile browsing plan that comes with a 3-year contract. What’s the catch? Well, this plan is reserved only for “PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible.” In addition, hooking up with third party apps is also forbidden - other than browsing, data usage will set you back by $0.05 per KB. That pretty much sums up how sucky and draconian the measures are, that you’d be better off without it IMHO.

In September I posted about Creative Lab’s Aurvana X-Fi Headphones and called them nirvana. I didn’t think they could improve on them, but this brand-new model, Aurvana Live! , is just as good, only without the noise-canceling feature.

Featuring natural, “live” sound and rich bass tones in comfortable, lightweight design, the headphones are a steal for $149. (By comparison, the Aurvana X-Fi costs $299.)

The true sound is due to a powerful Neodymium magnet driver with ultra-thin bio-cellulose diaphragm plus in-depth acoustic tuning,so you hear every drumbeat and every strum of the guitar, the way the artist intended it.

If the nosie-canceling feature isn’t important to you (though I love it for plane travel), then these are a great pick. There’s a handy comparison chart on this page so check which features matter to you, and pick the ones for your lifestyle.

Nokia has added the N82 to their website in a nice new color, black. While its a nice handset to see offered, its not the 3G capable model that many are hoping for. The newly colored N82 is listed on the Nokia website and is retailing for $629, but will not be available until after February 12, 2008, so you still have a few days to wait. The Nokia N82 features a 5 megapixel that has a xenon flash, microSD storage, FM radio, GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA.

Keep reading for a few more pics of the black Nokia N82…

Read [Nokia N82] Via [Engadget Mobile]

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Motherboard makers are affirming that Intel’s delayed x48 chipset is still on tap for mid-March along with the Core 2 Extreme QX9700 that will support it. The chipset was scheduled to head out back in December to replace the x38 chipset. The x48 chipset allows for a 1600MHz bus / DDR3 speed, while the x38 chipset is limited to 1333MHz bus but also uses DDR3. Read more at TechReport.

Although it may have been fun for overclockers, the Core 2 Extreme QX9700 that will support the speedier bus and memory speeds will not be out until March. Is this a marketing delay that would happen if AMD was firing on all cylinders? It’s not clear. Although I’m thinking that Intel is releasing new tech at an adequate pace, it could be coming out faster instead of letting motherboard makers clear out of inventory for three months. That’s just silly.

NXP Semiconductors is currently sampling its GNS7560 GPS chip which is touted to be the smallest and lowest-powered of its kind in the world. This chip takes in a mere four external connections while offering Windows CE and Windows Mobile drivers, capable of altering sensitivity and tracking based on signal strength, multipath and velocity. It measures a mere 3.6mm x 2.4mm x 0.6mm in size and sips less than 15mW of power in 1Hz tracking mode (that means the map is updated every second). Required connections are RF and clock inputs, a serial interface to the host and power. Guess this means we will see more and more GPS-enabled convergence devices in the future - does this mean that standard GPS navigation systems have finally reached the end of the road?

Looks like the XDA Orbit 2 has just been launched into, well, orbit by O2 in the UK. Its predecessor, the Orbit hit the market a couple of years’ back, so here’s a new one for those who want to stay ahead of the technology curve. Some of the features available on this Windows Mobile 6 smartphone are :-

• Weight: 130g (including battery)
• Measurement: 110 (L) x 58 (W) x 15.5mm (T)
• GPS in-built (Global Positioning System)
• GSM: quadband (850/900/1800/1900)
• UMTS 2100/850/1900MHz
• FM Radio: 76-108MHz
• Standby time: upto 400hrs for GSM, upto 450hrs for UMTS
• Talk time: upto 7hrs on GSM and upto 4hrs on UMTS
• Media playback: up to 8hrs for WMA and 12hrs WMA
• Operating system: Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• Screen: 2.8″ 240 x 320 QVGA touch screen
• Internal antenna
• Memory: Micro-SD, RAM 128MB, RAM 256MB
• High Capacity Micro SD support (up to 32GB HC)
• Built in Bluetooth 2.0
• Camera: 3MP, auto-focus
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Navigation software: Copilot Live 7

April Music unveiled its Aura Note all-in-one player that manages to cram in a fair bit of high end specifications into a package that does not break the bank. Manufactured in South Korea, you get the following specifications :-

• A high-end CD player
• An integrated FM tuner
• A power amp with 50W per channel (20-25,000 Hz)
• Two USB 2.0 ports
• Compatibility with MP3, WMA and OGG files

The Aura Note will retail for $1,850.

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The PSP is rapidly gaining my attention of late and my excuses for not going out and buying one are rapidly disappearing. While I would have been hard pressed to buy one simply for gaming, they now offer communications thanks to Skype and I am betting that a mainstream e-mail client is not too far away. Throw a 2200 mAh battery into the mix and you have a real DS Lite killer. The new battery is good for seven to eleven hours of continuous gaming action and seven to nine hours of continuous video playback. That is more than enough time for me to survive the majority of flights that I have to endure.

The new battery adds a bit of a bulge to the otherwise slick form factor, but who cares? From the looks of things it provides a comfortable piece of equipment to hold onto and you cannot go wrong with that length of play time.

The price is as reasonable as one would expect for a quality battery, about $50

Source: New Launches

Circuit City made claims in the upcoming weekend circular that they will soon restock the Wii. This is welcomed news for buyers that would easily purchase a Wii given the chance. The top selling gaming system for over a year in the US has been elusive suffering major shortages for buyers and with the US release of the “Wii Fit” game, the gaming system will surely see a rise in demand. You better get to Circuit City early because the exact number of Wiis that will be made available are unknown.

If you’re interested in the Wii or are wondering what all the fuss is about, check out Jennifer Buckendorff’s “Endless Ocean” video game review which shows just one example of the innovative games for the Wii.

More leaked pics of forthcoming Sony Ericsson phones to whet your appetite, this time showing the new Sony Ericsson Bei Bei smartphone. Of course, it won’t actually be called the Bei Bei when it’s launched - like all Sony Ericsson phones, that’s just its codename, based on women tennis players. It’s also not a real picture, but a Photoshop mockup of what the real phone will look like.

Don’t let the Photoshopped image put you off, though - although a mock-up, it’s based on the actual phone itself, rather than some fan-boy’s fantasy.

Bei Bei will be a smartphone running the UIQ 3.2 user interface, the same Walkman player that’s used in the Sony Ericsson W960, radio, MP3 player (naturally), and a huge 5 megapixel camera.

Expect the Bei Bei to be on show next week at the Mobile World Congress (which is looking more exciting by the day!)

[Source: Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog, Esato]