Gadgets Future

I’ve written before about the HTC Touch Diamond a number of times. In my initial review I pointed out a number of issues I was having with the device, including connectivity and general UI issues. HTC released an official ROM that fixed a number of my biggest gripes, but a bunch still remained.

Earlier this week HTC provided me an updated ROM (1.93) for the HTC Touch Diamond. Does this latest ROM finally deliver the perfect mobile device? Read on.

Device sluggishness
While the previous ROM made the majority of the sluggishness disappear, this latest version allows the device to perform like it does in the commercials. There’s absolutely no delay between transitions in TouchFLO 3D, and touching the screen works the first time, every time. I even treated my son to an impromptu photo slideshow this morning–something I never would have tried before since he is only four and doesn’t have the patience for interface delays.

I’m also noticing that launching applications is among the fastest I’ve seen on a Windows Mobile device. I downloaded and then launched a 160 page Word document. It took about 10 seconds to fully load up, which is on par with how long it took my desktop to do the same. Navigating it once loaded is exactly as one would hope–fast!

Connectivity
Thankfully this latest ROM seems to still work really well with my Wi-Fi access point. Not only that but it did a great job of recognizing and connecting to my local Panera’s free Wi-Fi. It actually performed this feat faster than my iPhone does, even though I have 3G on the iPhone and don’t really need the Panera Wi-Fi for it anymore.

Speaking of 3G, the Touch Diamond still doesn’t do 3G in the United States but this latest ROM does enable the 850 MHZ GSM band, bringing it up to quad band spec.

Opera
I’m not sure if it’s just overall speed improvements but Opera is even faster now. I would say that it’s probably rendering some sites faster than Safari on the iphone at this stage.

Interface for Weather
They fixed it! Gone is the pain of scrolling through tons of countries, where I inevitably hit the wrong one. Instead I can see my country right away or click on the appropriate letter on the right band. I still would like to just type in a zip code, but this new interface will do just fine.

In addition to the above fixes, HTC fixed the following in this latest ROM:

- Fixed no signal issue
- Fixed no action while touching navigator control in camera mode
- Fixed some files in internal storage which could not be listed
- Fixed SMS sound alert notification delay issue
- Improved audio quality after audio booster is enabled
- Turned off 5-second auto screen off function when screen is turned back on by pressing power key during a voice call. Screen off timeout will follow system power setting now.

NOT FIXED

Alert notifier / icon

There are still a couple of extra steps involved when you want to clear or see what a notifier is all about. It’s still working the same way, so be ready to either ignore the “new e-mail” icon, or go through multiple steps to clear it.

Overall, this ROM is delivering the HTC Touch Diamond the way it was meant to be enjoyed. The device finally performs as advertised, and in my tests works exactly like the promotional videos and commercials you have seen. The device is no longer sluggish and the interface is perfect for touching. Even the on-screen keyboard seems to be more responsive. I now think that the Diamond is a serious contender to the iPhone.

Here’s more skinny on the upcoming Lenovo netbook - it will be available in a couple of models, bearing 8.9″ and 10″ displays. Apart from the difference in screen size, both of them will be Intel Atom-powered, featuring LED backlit panels and a 160GB hard drive. Good to know that hard drives are being used instead of SSDs, as the latter would have surely driven the price out of the affordable netbook range. Word also has it these Lenovo offerings will come in four different colors, and we could possibly be looking at a price range that falls between $399 and $599. With so much competition in the marketplace, consumers win.

This makes me so sad. Robots in general have always made me sad, and it only got worse after I saw AI. In movies, relationships with robots are often doomed, and remind us of that sorry state of being where you love something that can’t love you back, whether the unrequited one is the human or the robot.

In Japan, they’re developing robots to care for the elderly, in anticipation of the aging of the population, which will be 40% elderly by 2055. This inevitably means that many, many senior citizens in Japan will be living alone, which is hard to imagine, considering that in Asia today, adult children typically take care of elderly parents. The University of Tokyo is leading this project to create these helper robots as part of the Information and Robot Technology Research Initiative, in conjunction with Toyota Motor Corp. and other private companies.

by Richard Lawler, posted Aug 1st 2008 at 1:18PM
Need some early impressions of how LG’s BD300 Blu-ray / Netflix combo player feels from the couch? Crave got some seat time in front of the device last night, finding its handling of Netflix streams basically the same as the Roku Netflix Player, unfortunately with a much larger price tag. The remote’s home button may also link up to music and photos from a PC or the USB port, while BD Live support is present and accounted for. Hit the read link for a few more details ahead of the September launch, and hope “well under $500″ is more like $399 at most.

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Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

The original Eee PC 701, its an almost forgotten model of the Eee lineup, which is sad because its not a bad model, but Asus has since taken the Eee name and filled it to the breaking point with newer, better, slightly bigger and of course more expensive models.

However it seems there is some hope for that good old Eee PC 701, the latest info is coming courtesy of some leaked slides, but it looks like Asus will be returning to the 701 model with the introduction of a 701SD, 701SD (30GB) and 701SD (4GB).

We don’t have any news to report on pricing, but we can only hope that Asus will be returning to where they began and are looking to get back on track as far as offering a low-priced netbook. Lets hope they can get down to a $299 or even lower price tag and really shake things up like they did in the beginning.

Otherwise, the details are light, however we do know that the new 701 models will be available in white or black and they are wearing the Eee badging as opposed to the Asus badge. The only real difference we can tell from the slides in terms of design is the button below the trackpad is not a clear left and right instead of the one long button that was on the original 701.

As more information comes available, you can be sure we will let you know.

Read [Laptop Mag]

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Fans of High School Musical will definitely be looking forward to the third movie, but they can go the extra mile of declaring their love for the franchise by picking up this 15″ Disney-themed High School Musical LCD TV which is disguised as a red locker. Capable of fooling most adults at first glance, this locker LCD TV even comes with spare storage space to keep CDs, DVDs and gym clothes - or virtually anything else you bring to school. You will be able to pick this up and make a teenager happy for $299.99.

Sanyo’s upcoming Xacti DMX-HD800 camcorder will make high definition video recording accessible to the masses, although it won’t support full HD resolution (1080p) just yet. It has a release date of August 22 in Japan and will support 720p HDTV resolution. The DMX-HD800 will succeed its predecessor, the DMX-HD700, and will be the first model of its kind in the series that will feature a 3D noise reduction function that helps movie quality go up by a notch. Other features of this $462 camcorder include a 8 megapixel CMOS image sensor, face detection capability and chaser functions.

Source: Tech-On

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Canadians will soon be able to enjoy the Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1 notebook that is tough enough to withstand the rigors of everyday use without failing on you. This diminutive UMPC will be powered by Intel’s latest Atom processor and prides itself in reinventing the handheld computing arena by cramming in features that were previously available in full sized PCs in an ingenious method, allowing you to take your computing experience to just about anywhere. According to Susan Black, National Sales and Marketing Manager, Communications and Computer Systems Division, Panasonic Canada Inc., “The CF-U1 allows the mobile field workers to connect to critical information and applications in real time, thus improving organizational efficiency, increasing information accuracy, and enabling field-based decision-making. We are constantly collecting input from our customers and that feedback illustrated the need for a handheld PC, so Panasonic responded with the CF-U1 which was designed with a wide variety of industries in mind.”

The Toughbook does not really need to prove itself - after all, that’s where it got its name from, after surviving numerous “tragedies” (at least to lesser notebooks) unscathed and working properly. The Toughbook CF-U1 won’t break a sweat even in environments such as construction sites, mining operations, oil and gas refineries, manufacturing facilities, railroad yards, city streets and storage warehouses, going where no ordinary notebooks want to tread. In addition, it has enough muscle underneath the tough exterior to be used by number crunching-heavy jobs like insurance adjusters, building inspectors, police officers, firefighters and other first responders. The Toughbook CF-U1 boasts a fair number of docking options that make it a snap to dock in various places like a vehicle, at a desk, or on the move.

The Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1 UMPC will hit the Canadian market this fall for $2,399 upwards, depending on the configuration.

Press Release

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by Darren Murph, posted Aug 1st 2008 at 7:24AM
Nintendo may not have been totally forthcoming with third-party devs about its MotionPlus add-on, but no secrets (okay, maybe a few) were withheld from AiLive. As it turns out, said outfit actually collaborated with Nintendo in order to create the MotionPlus hardware, and it’s extra kindly offering up LiveMove 2 “to help game developers take full advantage of its capabilities.” According to the company, LiveMove 2 can slash up to half a year off of the time required to tie basic functionality of the device into a game, though we’re obviously in no position to confirm / deny. For the small minority that cares more about how MotionPlus works rather than just accepting the fact that it does, check out the read link for a few geektastic vids.

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

We know all about fast, exotic cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but this piece of news really irks me. In an age where most people are working together to preserve what’s left of the earth by minimizing our carbon footprint, along comes a sheikh who has more money than sense to fly his Lamborghini all the way fro Qatar to Britain - for an oil change. Of course, he had the help of Qatar Airways in shipping his Murcielago LP640 for approximately a 6,500 mile round trip that cost him around $39,000, but that obscene waste of money is the least of his concerns - what about the environmental crater he left behind? Ironically, the servicing cost a “mere” $7,030.47. I know this isn’t really tech-related, but the next time we go out and buy our next gadget, let’s try to make an environmentally positive choice, why don’t we?

Source: Wired

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