Huawei SmaKit S7 Android Tablet Coming

Topic: Hot Gadgets

Android tablets are absolutely flooding the market these days. We've seen several $100 tablets introduced, and a bunch of varying devices have made appearances at CeBIT and the MWC and CES. One of the most exciting of them is the SmaKit S7 from Huawei (via Lets Go Digital). Huawei is one of the top Chinese gadget makers, and the S7 is their shot at Apple's iPad.

This tablet has 3G functionality, displays up to 720p HD, has a 7” widescreen display with an 800x480 resolution. It has HDMI-out and has two USB 2.0 slots, as well as a microSDHC card slot and support for up to 32 GB cards. This device DOES have a front-facing webcam, and a battery life of around 4 hours while playing 720p video.

Posted on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:27:25 CST | by Robert Evans

The K-Tcuoh X90: A Contortionist Phone

Topic: Hot Gadgets

Tired of the same old clamshells and sliders and candy bar designs in your smartphones? Want to try something different, exciting, and distinctly more square? If so, the K-Tcuoh X90 (no, that isn't a typo) might be the phone for you. PMP Today reports that this delightful little number will cost you just $138.99 from ChinaGrabber.

Posted on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:20:43 CST | by Robert Evans

Toshiba Will Launch Tablets, Late 2010

Topic: Hot Gadgets

Everyone wants a piece of the tablet game. When he unveiled the iPad earlier this year, Steve Jobs yanked his finger out of the dike. Now a vast sea of tablet computers are rushing out to meet the sudden perceived spike in demand. Fortune reported earlier today on the changes the iPad is wreaking within the industry.

Posted on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:05:01 CST | by Robert Evans

P88 Tablet Rips Off...OS X?

Topic: Hot Gadgets

I'm not sure quite how to qualify this one. Great Long Brother, a Chinese gadget maker with a very disturbing name, threatened Apple with a lawsuit if the every release the iPad in China. They claim that Apple stole the design for the iPad from their P88 tablet. To be fair, the P88 launched 5 months before the official roll-out of the iPad.

Now, GizChina reports, Great Long Brother has just added another baffling chapter to their conflict with Apple. They've ripped off OS X and by altering the everliving hell out of Windows 7. The home screens of their new P88 tablets feature the Apple logo, and the word “Mac”. The UI on these machines looks like the bastard child of Win 7 and OS X, conceived after some terrible bender.

Posted on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:31:17 CST | by Robert Evans

Cast-art is Gross and Cool at the Same Time

Topic: Hot Gadgets

I have done some pretty stupid things in my life. I once jumped off the roof of my house with a trash bag trying to make my own parachute four times in a row before my mom caught me (I was six in my defense). My parents also gave me a three-wheeler (with no helmet) when I was five and two bucks for gas, then left me at home alone during the summer. I think they wanted to kill me looking back. With all the chances I had to break something, I never broke a bone.

If you have a broken bone, there is little cool about the whole situation. A company called Casttoo has something pretty darn cool for your cast though. They offer cast covers that depict the broken bones within. You can get generic covers for short and long casts of the leg or the arm. Read more

Posted on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Samsung Announces E-Reader

Topic: Hot Gadgets

Samsung has just sent out a press release announcing the launch of a brand new e-Reader, Samsung's first such product. This reader has a 6” E-Ink display, supports e-pub, PDF/a, TXT, bmp, and JPG formats. It has built-in speakers and a headphone jack, for ease of text-to-speech use. There's also a built-in MP3 player.

Posted on Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:39:01 CST | by Robert Evans

Freescale Chromium OS Concept Tablet Spotted

Topic: Hot Gadgets

Can't wait for Chrome OS? Don't worry, you're in the same boat as every other open source nerd out there. While we still have several long months to wait before it becomes a reality, proof-of-concept devices running the new OS have already been spotted. Electronista reports that Freescale has just shown off their under-$200 7” tablet, this time running Chromium.

This tablet is a proof-of-concept for Freescale. They want to sell inexpensive, good-quality tablets that run on a variety of systems. The specs for this little tablet are; 512 MB of RAM, Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi, and 3G/RF4CE options. There will be 4 GB of on-board storage, plus a microSD slot.

Posted on Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:27:17 CST | by Robert Evans

HP Slate Demo Video Released

Topic: Hot Gadgets

We still know very little about the upcoming HP slate. It's going to be extremely slender, and it has a design form at least as good as the iPad. While we know roughly what the Slate will be able to do (watch movies, read magazines, surf...) we don't know much about its hardware. Now a new demo video (via Engadget) has emerged, giving us a better idea of how this gadget will work.

Posted on Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:50:13 CST | by Robert Evans

Sockintosh Keeps Toes Warm Using Apple Power Brick

Topic: Hot Gadgets

An Apple loving geeky girl who also has some pretty good knitting chops has whipped up a sock thingy to warm her feet using the power brick from her MacBook dubbed the Sockintosh. The geek girl, officially named Rachel, points out that this was a joke and you shouldn’t try this at home lest you set your feet and house ablaze when the power brick overheats.

Still, the thing is pretty cool and I could totally see Thanko selling something like this. Granted the Thanko device would be USB powered like most of their craptastic heater gadgets. Read more

Posted on Mon, 8 Mar 2010 12:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Ramos T7+: A PMP With 720p Recording

Topic: Hot Gadgets

Having the ability to display 720p videos on your 4.3” PMP is pretty cool. Being able to take them is just..well, a little weird actually. Cloned In China reports that Ramos has just launched an update to their well-known T7 line of PMPs. This device is called the T7+, and it has a camera that will be able to record in 720p.

Posted on Mon, 8 Mar 2010 10:17:10 CST | by Robert Evans

Panasonic Lumix G2 Micro Four Thirds Camera with Touch Control LCD Unveiled

Topic: Hot Gadgets

Along with the new Lumix G10 I just mentioned, Panasonic has also pulled the wraps off the Lumix G2. The G2 is hailed as the world's first interchangeable lens camera with a touch-control movable LCD screen. The camera uses the micro four thirds lens system and the LCD measures 3-inches and has a 460K dot resolution.

The G2 can shoot 720p HD video in AVCHD Lite format. The cameras touch screen letting users touch the thumbnail, image on screen that want to view in playback mode. The screen also allows the user to touch the subject that they want to focus on in an image. Read more

Posted on Mon, 8 Mar 2010 07:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun