Combining the benefits of a tablet with a thin laptop, the Viliv S10 Blade looks like a great combination of the two features. The unit sports a 10.1 inch LCD HD display, touchscreen functionality and is powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom. The base model S10 Blade is currently available for pre-order at the dynamism website for US$699. Here is a fuller list of details on the touchscreen laptop
* Intel Atom Z530 (1.6GHz)
* 60GB HDD (32 or 64 GB SSD options available)
* WiFi 802.11 b/g
* Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
* Webcam
* 260 x 185 x 17~26 mm
* 1.21 Kg
* 1GB DDR2 SDRAM (533MHz)
* 10.1″ 3-Point Resistive Swivel Multi-touch LCD 1366 x 768 Resolution
* 2 x USB ports, SDHC port, headphone, microphone
* Composite / Component / S-Video Output
* Up to 10 hours battery life max
* 7 hour movie playback
Not great specs for $700 you may think but of course the cost is in the multi-touch swivel screen. So if that’s more important for you than basic grunt, the Viliv S10 Blade may be exactly what you are after.
Here’s another SSD for you to feast your eyes over. SanDisk have announced a G3 range coming in two capacities 60 GB and 120 GB, here are the full details on the two units
* 220 MB/sec read
* 120 MB/sec write
* Long-term endurance – can withstand at least 80 terabytes of data written to it over it’s lifetimeiv
* SanDisk ExtremeFFSTM technology has the potential to accelerate random write performance
* Lower power consumption that saves energy and extends battery usage time, and results in cooler operation
* Noise reduction for quiet operation while at home or on the road
* Interface: SATA 3Gb/s
* 9.5 x 100.5 x 69.85 mm
* 65 grams
* Operating temperature: 0˚C to 70˚C
* Power Active: 0.4W
* Capacities: 60GB and 120GB
The price tags on these units are not exactly small at $230 and $400 for the 60 and 120 GB respectively and intriguingly compare to the OCZ Vertex Turbo from last July. So we’re not convinced the G3 range will be winner SanDisk may think it has on its hands.
AMP have just launched the Aviator External USB 3.0 64 GB SSD which is a bit of mouthful to say the least. In a nutshell it’s a 64 GB SSD which utilises the 4.8 Gb/s speed of USB 3.0 ports. Sounds impressive, eh? Here’s the full low-down on the Aviator
* 64GB MLC NAND Flash SSD
* 2.5-inch External Case with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface – backward compatible with USB 2.0
* Typical Read/Write Speeds 150MB/sec; Up to 230MB/sec Read depending on system configuration
* Rugged and stylish Black all-metal case
* 135 x 84 x 15 mm
The availability of USB 3.0 seems to have been a significant boon to the SSD world, with a number of manufacturers now offering units that will move your zeroes and ones at the 4.8 Gb/s USB 3.0 speed. Hopefully consumers will catch on and the SSD marketplace will grow throughout 2010.
If you fancy one of AMP’s Aviator 2 SSDs then stroll on over to Amazon.
Motorola showed the world its new Backflip mobile phone at CES and now you can get your hands on it for a $100. Oh yeah, as long as you sign up for a two year plan with AT&T. The Backflip takes the slider concept a step further with the QWERTY keyboard around the back of the phone when closed. A hinged edge allows the keyboard to be rotated out and around to position the keyboard underneath the screen just like a slider. But here’s the clever bit from the Motorola design boys – the back of the display section has a touchpad module which is accessible whilst the keyboard is flipped out. Otherwise the Backflip sports the usual bells and whistles with software that syncs with Facebook and the rest, full HTML web browsing, etc. Here’s a full list of those features and specifications.
* Always-on social networking synching with Facebook, MySpace and Twitter
* Touch pad, touch display, and back-flip QWERTY with table top mode
* Contacts, including status and pictures, auto-populate from social networks
* full HTML web browsing
* Android Webkit full HTML browser
* Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g
* 3G connectivity
* 3.1-in. HVGA (320 x 480 pixels) touchscreen
* Backtrack navigation tool behind screen
* 5 MP autofocus camera
* Text and multimedia messaging
* Google Talk and IM
* Supports AAC, H.263, H.264, MP3, MPEG-4, WAV, MIDI, AAC+ audio formats
* 3.5 mm headset jack
* USB 2.0 standard micro USB connector
* aGPS, Accelerometer and E-compass
* WCDMA 850/1900/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps (category 7/8), EDGE Class 12, GPRS Class 12, aGPS, v2.0
* microSD slot, 2 GB preinstalled expandable up to 32 GB
* 133 grams
* 53.0 x 108.0 x 15.3 mm
* 1400 mAh battery
* 350 minutes of talktime
* 315 hours on standby
Quite an array of specs and we confess pretty impressive too. The unit is powered by Android 1.5 and when purchased with an AT&T two year contract will set you back $100 after rebates. The Motorola Backflip is available from March 7th and you can sign up now for email updates at AT&T’s website. Whilst we’re never convinced about the wisdom a contractual agreement we must admit the Backflip would certainly make us more likely to sign up for one.
We managed to dig up this video for you showing the Backflip in action from phonedog when they were at CES.
MSI have just cranked out a bunch of new laptops for your perusal. There are three new models in the CR620 range, but we shall take a look at the latest addition to the CR600 range, the CR600-234US model. The new CR600 is powered by an Intel Dual-Core T5400 processor, managed by Windows 7 Home Premium and has a 16 inch LCD display. Other snazzy features include an HDMI output, brushed aluminium touchpad and built-in webcam and microphone. The full details on the CR600-234US are as follows
* Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core T4500 2.3GHz 800 MHz FSB Processor
* Windows 7 Home Premium OS
* Black or Silver options
* 16 inch 1366 x 768 res WXGA LCD 16:9 display
* GeForce 8200M G GPU
* 1W x 2 internal speakers
* 3 GB memory
* 320 GB SATA HDD
* DVD Super Multi Optical drive
* 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet LAN connection
* 802.11b/g/draft n WLAN Card built-in
* 4 in 1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/XD)
* 1.3 MP webcam
* 3 x USB 2.0 outputs
* VGA, HDMI output
* Headphone, Mic-in, Line-in ports
* 14.73 x 9.73 x 0.63 – 1.18 inches
It all sounds quite impressive to us and with price tag of $526.20 at Amazon the MSI CR600
looks very attractive indeed. As we’ve discussed a large number of laptops recently we thought we’d point out a couple of units that are just priced above the MSI CR600. For $800 Alienware’s M11x compares nicely but admittedly it’s aimed at a different market and Lenovo’s IdeaPad G560 with the same $800 price tag sports an extra 1 GB of memory over the CR600′s spec. So if you’re looking for a laptop under $600 then the MSI CR600 seems like a good option to us.
We’ve not really taken a look at camcorders before, but that’s something we’d like to change at Our Picks. So first up is a not-so-cheap yet feature-laden offering from Panasonic, the Hi-Def HDC-HS700K with Leica lens. The unit sports true 1080p HD recording and a high performance Leica lens with 12x optical zoom. Here’s the full run-down on Panasonic’s video-taking beauty
* 240 GB HDD
* SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card
* Recording Format 1080/50p
* 9.15 megapixels (3.05 megapixels x 3)
* F1.5(WIDE)/2.8(TELE)
* Optical Zoom 12x
* Focal Length 3.45-41.4mm
* Filter Diameter 46mm
* 35mm Film Camera Equivalent 35.0-420mm (16:9) [Motion Image], 35.7-428mm (3:2), 35.0-420mm (16:9), 38.8-466mm (4:3) [Still Image]
* Image Stabilizer POWER O.I.S.
* Still Picture Recording:3:2 14.2 megapixels (4608 x 3072), 8.6 megapixels (3600 x 2400), 5.5 megapixels (2880 x 1920) [3:2]
Still Picture Recording:16:9 13.3 megapixels (4864×2736), 8.3 megapixels (3840 x 2160), 5.3 megapixels (3072 x 1728) [16:9]
Still Picture Recording:4:3 12.2 megapixels (4032 x 3024), 7.7 megapixels (3200 x 2400), 4.9 megapixels (2560 x 1920), 0.3 megapixels (640 x 480) [4:3]
* Auto/Manual focus
* White Balance options – Auto/Indoor1/Indoor2/Sunny/Cloudy/White Set
* Microphone 5.1ch Surround, Zoom and Focus Microphone
* mini HDMI output
* USB 2.0 Hi-Speed port
* Microphone (stereo mini) port
* Headphone (Stereo mini) port
* Accessory Shoe
* Weight (w/o Battery) approx. 450g
* 65 x 69 x 138mm
* Effective Pixels Motion Image: 7.59 megapixels (2.53 megapixels x 3)[16:9]
Still Image: 7.89 megapixels (2.63 megapixels x 3 ) [3:2]
7.59 megapixels (2.53 megapixels x 3) [16:9]
6.96 megapixels (2.32 megapixels x 3 ) [4:3]
* Leica Dicomar Lens
* 3.0 Wide LCD display
The price tag on the HDC-HS700K is $1400, so its not for the financially faint-hearted but if you are looking for a great HD camcorder, then Panasonic may just have the one for you.
Kingston have unleashed a 16 GB SDHC card which meets the Class 10 specification. In simple terms a card must transfer data at a minimum rate of 10 MBps to meet the specification. Whilst this all sounds wonderful, here’s an article at CNET which suggests all is not what it may seem. The basis of the article says that even a lowly Class 6 card may exceed the 10 MBps but to qualify as a Class 10 the 10 MBps has to be maintained. Anyway this 16GB offering from Kingston meets the criteria and is a true Class 10 SDHC card suitable for slotting in HD cameras and other megabyte munching gadgets.
Specs
* Class 10
* 16GB capacity
* microSDHC
The card will set you back $138 from Kingston but will be available soon if not now from Amazon, newegg and buy.com.
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