It's an Ipod, It's a Phone.... No it's Iphone (Unveiled)

Apple unveils it's new product: The Iphone! Now, I'm not a huge Apple follower but I have to admit that they have done a brilliant job with this latest Ipod incarnation. If they keep this up, they may very well turn me into another loyal customer... must fight it.. must... but so pretty... so damn cool looking... what? Touch screen? Wifi?.... okay, I want one :)

Yes, among it's other features are the abilities to play video, music, and of course make and take phone calls. The touch screen is a cool new feature but I think some will definately miss the circular click wheel. Plus, wouldn't the thing get dirt and prints all over after just one day? Does it come with a free pair of white gloves? heh heh. Oh did I mention that the screen intelligently flips and adjusts the image depending on how you hold it? It even turns the screen off automatically if you hold it like a phone to your ear to save power.

Does this mean that Apple will take over the cell phone market as well as the mp3 market? Well... not yet as the price is slated to be $499 for the 4GB version and $599 for the 8GB. I have one question for Apple: why even have the $499 version? If you have $499 to shell out for a cell phone/mp3 player, wouldn't you just pay that little bit more and get twice as much storage? Then again, they probably thought of that and are banking that most will go for the more expensive model. Also, there are rumors that the price will fall quickly after it's release.

The only problem I have with this thing is that it should have more storage for such a device that does so many things. If it can play music and video, then you have to give the customers enough memory to actually put some music and video on it. I think it should have a bare minimum of 30GB of storage. Of course knowing Apple, they probably won't have a 30GB version until the 3rd generation of this thing. I hope not though. For everything else Apple, I tip my little hat to you.... this time!

Note to Microsoft: What is wrong with you guys. All you came up with is a stupid outdated mp3 player with a stupid name... and it came out too late in the game! Fire all of your marketing guys and hire me on. You guys are far behind the big "Apple". Start "Innovating" already! Too bad Walt Disney's not around when we need him. Now he was a genius! If he were still here, "Tomorrow-Land" would be here today and we'd all be riding flying cars.... Yay! Flying Cars, Woo hoo!

The New RZR ... uh... I mean "KRZR": First Look

The new "KRZR" cell phone is here and it's basically an upgraded "RZR" phone in a new prettier and shinier package. Most of its features are the same or similar to the RZR phones. So here I'll discuss the upgrades. First off, I have to point out that there are at least 3 different versions of this phone out there: The K1, K1m, and K1m Asian version. I will only discuss the K1 and K1m here. The photo above is of the K1... the first version, if you will.

Here's how the KRZR differs from the RZR: It sports a 2-megapixel (K1) or 1.3 megapixel (K1m) camera, mini-SD expansion (up to 1GB) slot near the battery cover for expansion, a bit taller(Height) and thicker (width) than the RZR. But from side to side (Length) it's skinnier. It's also a tad heavier than the RZR. The increase in thickness and Height may seem like a step backward, but it is reportedly more ergonomic and feels better in your hand. The K1 (above) is only available in Cosmic Blue. Also both versions have a front that is covered with a layer of glass that makes the phone shinny with its glossy beauty. Both versions can play MP3 files and can use the mini-SD slot to expand music capacity. The K1 is currently only available if purchased by itself unlocked for use with any carrier. An important note is that the K1 does not have the touch sensitive "play" buttons on the front that the K1m does.

Cost of K1 "KRZR" Retail: $400-$600

The K1m (below) has most of the features of the K1 except that it's camera is only 1.3 megapixels resolution and it's internal screen resolution isn't as great. One cool addition it does have that the K1 does not, is the cool glowing touch sensitive play buttons on the front. The K1m is only available right now in the dark silvery gray color shown below, and only through Verizon cell phone carrier.

Cost of K1m "KRZR" through Verizon with Contract: $99-$199

First Impressions:

This phone looks stunning and is sure to appeal to the same crowd that loved the Rzr. The touch sensitive play buttons on the front (on the K1m) is really the most impressive innovation besides the gorgeous design. The mp3 function with expandable memory is a selling point to those of us who had the version of Rzrs lacking these features. My bet is that it's looks alone will guarentee this phone's success.

Tech News Headline: Japan's 3D laser projector

Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology or AIST has come up with a 3D image projection system that uses precision lasers to project luminous dots in 3D space. The system uses lasers to focus and ignite pockets of nitrogen and oxygen in the air to create plasma emissions that release light. Using very quick bursts of laser light, it can create numerous dots of light to create shapes in 3D space. The system creates a audible crackling noise from the tiny controlled micro-explosions it creates in the air. Future improvements with this technology may yield a wider range of colors as well as extend the distance for projection.

Motorola Q Smartphone - First Look

The folks at Motorola have integrated the good looks and design of the Rzr phone into this slim smart-phone. At only 11.5mm thin, it may be one of the most slim & portable smart phones available to date. It's features include an electro-luminescent keypad, 320 x 240 resolution(65k TFT screen), 1.3 megapixel camera, mp3 and video capability, and bluetooth. It also has an expandable mini-SD slot. Plus, it's pretty affordable at $200 with 2 year contract with Verizon. That's pretty darn impressive considering you're getting an mp3 player, video player, camera, cell-phone, and Pocket PC in one small package. If the Rzr was a supermodel, then the "Q" would be it's "smarter" sister. Hopefully it will be available on other networks (like T-mobile) soon.

Ipod (new) Nanos - First Look

The new Ipods are out, including the new and improved Ipod Nano. They now sport different colors and are available up to 8gb of memory. The memory is flash-based, so if you need an mp3 player for use with your excercise routine, these are much more stable than hard-drive based players (since they don't have any moving parts). The main improvements over the old ipod nanos includes a slimmer body and aluminum casing (basically a Nano-sized Ipod Mini with a color screen). The screen resolution still remains at 176-by-132-pixels but the backlight is now brighter. Battery play time has also improved to up to 24 hours playback, according to Apple.

One thing that is sort of strange about these new Nanos is that even though they sport different colors, you are limited to certain colors for certain memory capacities. Meaning, that you can't select any color for any memory sized Ipod you want. For example, the black Ipod Nano only comes in 8GB. Though, I'm sure Apple will realize the ridiculousness of this concept and eventually let you choose whatever color/capacity combination you'd like... hopefully. Here are some of the specs. I'd love to test one of these guys out... if anyone would like to send me one :)

Creative Zen Vision W - Hands-on Review

The new Zen Vision W (widescreen) is out and is not to be confused with the old Zen Vision that came out a few years ago that was only 4:3 aspect ratio. The old Zen Vision suffered from bad viewing angles, and this new Zen now fixes that problem. The older Zen vision had a 640-480 resolution while the new one has a 480 x 272 resolution with 4.3 inche widescreen dimensions. Other than that, the 2 devices are very similar. Oddly enough, the new Zen W is actually larger and thicker than the older version. Both of these devices should not be confused with the Creative Zen M, which is much smaller and lighter and has a 320 x 240 resolution screen... but has many of the same functions of this player. The following review was one that I initially wrote for Amazon.com:

The first thing you'll probably notice about this player is it's gorgeous widescreen. How big is it? Well, technically speaking it's 480 x 272 resolution, 4.3 inches wide diagionally, and capable of displaying about 262,000 colors(same as Zen M). For those of you who now own a Zen M, to illustrate how big the screen is on the Zen W: You can lay an entire Zen M on the Zen W, and the entire area of the Zen M is about the size of the screen of the Zen W. For you Psp owners out there, the Zen W screen is exactly the same resolution and size as the screen on the PSP. Although, the PSP screen is actually more advanced and can display over 16 million colors. Though both of these screens are much better than the screen on the video Ipods(which is only 320 x 240, and only display 65,000 colors). The screen on the Zen W does the job very well, and you can adjust the brightness levels. Even at %50 brightness, it's adequate. Though it outshines the Zen M in screen size, I noticed that it's not quite as sharp and the colors are not as vivid as on the Zen M. Also, I noticed that while playing Divx video, the Zen W doesn't play the video as smoothly as on a computer. The video frame-rate seems to look more jerky and less smooth. Although the pre-installed videos looked fine in Xvid, so this may only apply to Divx videos. Some other great features about the player are it's built in FM radio, voice recorder, custom sound equalizer, built in speaker, and Compact Flash slot. The built-in speaker can get surprisingly loud and is adequate for watching videos... But if you're an Audiophile, it's not good for listening to your music. It's sounds quite tinny and is only a single speaker. One huge improvement over the Zen M is that you no longer need to carry a stupid adapter to charge or upload songs or media. The mini-usb power, and A/V out ports are already built in to this player. Also the magnesium casing seems much sturdier than the Zen M's plastic casing... and probably not as prone to scratches. The thing looks and feels very solidly built. The interface is also simple and easy to figure out and very similar to the Zen M interface.

The only big difference is that the Zen W uses buttons instead of the touch thumb-pad on the Zen M. I think they should have tried to integrate the thumb-pad somehow because it worked so well on the Zen M. In this respect, the Zen W buttons seem like a step backward in progress. However, I do like the fact that they made all the buttons on the right side so you can effectively use the player with only your right hand. (sorry lefties).

The built in Compact Flash slot is also a very cool idea. You can backup your compact flash or microdrive photos onto the player with the slot. The only thing is that you can't use the compact flash as a secondary hard-drive... meaning you can't just slip a compact flash card with video on it and watch it straight from the card. You must import it onto the player first before you can play the media. You can't play mp3s or browse photos straight from the CF card either. All the files must be imported onto the hard-drive of the Zen W first. This seems pretty lame to me because you're not using the slot to it's full potiental. Hopefully there will be firmware upgrades that will let you do this in the future. Another thing about the player that needs to be improved is it's thickness. The second thing you'll notice (after the lovely huge screen) is how thick this thing is. I mean, it's barely pocketable. So it's not quite as portable as the Zen M. How think is it? Well, it's nearly an inche thick... a little less thick than a PSP. If they could cut the thickness in half, it would make this player much more portable.(not to mention sleek and sexy). Here's a quick run-down on Pros and Cons.

Pros:

-Gorgeous 4.3 inche (480x272 resolution) screen that displays up to 262,000 colors. Movies look so much better than on a 320x240 (Ipod)screen. And if you like to watch Anime, you'll have no more problems reading subtitles.

-Built in mini-usb port, power, and Audio/Video out port(for tv output).
-Sturdy magnesium casing and solid feel.
-Lots of extras like FM radio, organizer, calendar, voice recorder -Audio/Video cable included, plays Xvid and Divx files.
-Built in compact flash/microdrive slot for photo backup.
-Removable battery (yes, finally!)
-Optional wireless Remote control available (built in IR reciever)
-ZenCast organizer (allows you to download/organize Podcasts to Zen W)

Cons:
- Pretty thick at almost an inche thick. (barely pocketable)
- Divx playback (Frame-rate) a bit jerky. Screen not as sharp-looking and colors not as vibrant as Zen M. (I'm nit-picking, you may not even notice the difference...especially if you don't have a Zen M)
- No video line-in for video recording. It would be great if they had this built in and you could record from any video source... don't know why they don't.
- When viewing files on Compact Flash using CF slot, you must first import/upload files over to the Zen W drive first to view.

In conclusion, this player packs alot of punch for the money. And almost everything it does, it does very well. If you love movies and music like I do, you will definately enjoy this device. It's very impressive and looks and feels sturdy. The biggest flaw/turn-offs to me is it's thickness. A device made for portability should be ... well, more portable. In a world where other mp3 competitors are sizing down their players, creative seems to be sizing their's up. If they could somehow cut the thickness of this player to half while not sacrificing any of it's other features, it would be perfect. Still with it's minor imperfections, this player is still worth every penny and outshines it's competitors. If you value portability over video capability, I'd go for the Zen M. The Zen M still plays video... but on a smaller screen. (And it's cheaper too)

Approximate Retail prices:

Zen Vision - Retail: $359
Zen Vision W 30GB- Retail: $299
Zen Vision W 60GB- Retail: $399
Zen M - Retail: $259

Sony Mylo

The Sony Mylo is a portable instant messaging device that is geared for college students and teenagers. It allows you to use open unsecured wifi hotspots to browse the web, send email, text messages, or even talk to others (using VOIP). It also plays mp3's and video files. Yahoo messenger and Google talk are already supported. Best of all, there are no monthly fees for any
these services since you'd be using free wifi hotspots.

Price: $350
For more info visit:

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/itpd/mylo/prod/index.html

Sony Electronic Ink E-book released

Finally, electronic ink is here. Sony has finally released an ebook that uses electronic ink technology... but it comes at a hefty price $350 to $400 and only displays black and white. They will eventually come out with color models though. This reader is smaller than the average paperback and only uses power when you flip the page. The internal rechargable battery lasts up to 7,500 page turns and this ebook also plays MP3's as an added bonus. It can also display PDF files and Jpeg files.

My Opinion: Personally, I'm very excited about this new technology but there are a few things that I wish this ebook could do. First, black and white is boring... we need color. And second, nobody thought of adding a back-light for reading in the dark... come on! Also, there's no option to browse the web...even if it's just in black and white. I'm sure they could add these features now if they wanted to, but Sony is probably milking it's profits from this basic model first, and adding some of these features to the next upgraded model. The $350 to $400 price tag is too much for just a basic black and white ebook reader. For that amount of cash, I could get a Psp(which can read text files and ebooks...among other things) or the New Sony Mylo(see next post). It probably won't catch on until the price point is around $150.

Still, if this catches on it can potentially save lots of trees and prevent a lot of needless waste.


For more info visit:
http://products.sel.sony.com/pa/prs/reader_features.html