Gadgets

LG Watch Phone

Dubbed as the James Bond phone (it even has inbuilt speakers which play the theme tune to the classic movie and transport you into Mr Bond’s shoes at the press of a button), this is sure to be at the top of all technology geeks ‘must buy’ lists despite its expensive price tag. It is amongst the top three most expensive phones on the market at the moment but unlike its other competitors, it lacks what in this day and age could be looked upon as essential features such as the internet, and many of the perhaps slightly pointless, but fun applications that iPhone users get so much enjoyment out of.

So what is it that makes the LG watch phone worth its expensive £500 price tag? Well the novelty factor of course; the fact that it is two important gadgets in one, and to be more to the point it just looks pretty sleek and swarve. With it’s touch screen, voice activated device, and bluetooth headset, it does most of the things you require a phone to do, and with its 12 day battery life, it is not all that bad at carrying out its other responsibility of telling you the time on demand.

Pure Sensia

A radio with a twist, that falls into a new gadget category, sitting somewhere between clock radio and computer.
As well as providing access to thousands of obscure internet stations, Sensia uses mobile phone-style apps to show slideshows of your Picassa photos on its full colour touch screen. It also allows you to scroll through music streamed from your computer and willI even let you update your status on Facebook and Twitter using its soft keyboard. ­
It comes with its own processor, a wireless broadband connection and various applications that mobile phones offer.
The stereo speakers use two three-inch cones to disperse the music to a satisfactory volume, making it by far the most advanced radio yet.

Optoma Pico

Small enough to fit in your pocket, this gadget allows you to hold a business meeting on the go, without having to carry around a projector. Better yet, it allows you to watch films on a big screen.
It claims to project an image of up to 60 inches, but the best quality picture will be achieved at about a third of that. Other than the rather poor speaker quality, it performs well, and for the most part works silently. Altough you’ll only get two hours worth of viewing from a single charge, Optoma provides you with a back up battery to see you through most movies. Considering the size and quality of image the Optoma provides, you're definitely getting your money's worth at its respectable £249 price tag. The best things often do come in small packages.

iPod Nano 5G

The fifth generation Nano may look identical to the previous model, but look again and you’ll see some changes. This year Apple has put a lot of attention on the Nano 5G to bring new forms of entertainment and enjoyment to users. This time, the Nano has a finely polished alluminium finish, and comes in nine luminous, luxurious colours with high-end sheen. The screen is slightly larger than that of previous ones with a wider aspect ratio depending on orientation. Apple’s true plans for the new Nano are revealed with the discovery of a lens and tiny microphone at the back. So it’s no longer just a music and video player, but now also a Dictaphone and moviemaker. The video recorder is decent however the quality isn’t that great. The music quality is a little better this time, but it’s a good idea to change headphones.

Nokia Booklet 3G

We’ve all seen so much from the likes of Dell and Asus competing against one another in the market, but with the introduction of the Nokia 3G Booklet, there is sure to be some upset amongst rivals.
Nokia has recently decided to reacquaint itself with the world of computing with a 10 inch booklet that is impressively just 2cm thin, weighs just 1.25kg and comes with a front facing camera and a glass HD screen. Other features include the usual Intel Atom processor and the latest Windows 7 OS, but two things set it apart from rivals. That is the 12hour battery life and a HDMI-out port for hooking it up to your television. Connectivity options are also strong, with a 3G/HSDPA should you be out of reach of Wi-Fi. Its chassis is made from a single piece of aluminum that not only looks good but also does away with the need for a noisy fan.

Asus MS246

Slimming is tough in the electronics industry, but the designers of Asus have put together a fantastic super-thin Asus MS246 monitor. The trick to this success is by removing the power supply.

When you see it, your eyes are drawn to its unprecedented design—a fusion between the contrast of black and white and the harmonious relationship of a line and circle. In itself, it is a work of art that accentuates any living space. The stripped down design includes a neat trick with the stand. By using a circle of plastic bolts onto the back, it keeps the monitor propped up, and allows users to tilt it for comfort. Although the frame around the screen is a little too wide for it to be considered elegant, the plastic at the bottom doesn’t look appealing but it is needed to keep the screen at eye level.

It is, however, fast, with a mere 2ms response time that makes it great for games or 1080p video. Because it's HDMI-only rather than an optional DVI connector. You may run into problems
trying to get the desktop working at its native 1920x1080 resolution. The monitor's intuitive settings can be adjusted with a simple touch of its LED sensor buttons. It is skinny and reasonably priced.

Vivienne Tam Laptop

With the lovely butterflies on Vivienne Tam’s Laptop,
Vivienne Tam and the global leader of personal computer manufacturers, Hewlett Packard, partnered to create the worlds first “Designer Clutch.” The notebook debuted on September 9th 2008 and on Vivienne’s spring 2009 fashion show which then continued on a multi-city worldwide tour. The collaboration set the standard for bringing technology to fashionable women around the world.

The lovely butterflies on the Vivienne Tam laptop are truly a style statement. It being highly stylish makes you wander in fashion shows. Its aesthetic look is for all butterfly lovers who would love to have such trendy laptop. You can fly like the butterflies after this laptop sits in your lap.The design of this laptop is very enchanting and eye-catching. Inspired by the classic Chinese love story “Butterfly Lovers,” this is yet another hyped-up collaboration between the designer and HP, somehow symbolizing “love, freedom, independence and transformation.”

Being released next year, keep your eye out for this off gold Chinese inspiration.

Olympus PEN-EP1

Classic or not, there can be little dispute that the E-P1 has an attractive design. The E-P1 isn’t just about retro style. It fills a gap that camera manufacturers have been trying to plug with high-end compacts since the dawn of digital: a lightweight camera that takes pro-quality shots. With the 17mm "pancake" prime lens that is available it could easily be mistaken for a 1970s-era 35mm compact camera.The E-P1's overall build quality is fantastic, and it has the solid feel of a quality camera, but then it would need to have.

The Olympus E-P1 is currently on sale for a rather breathtaking £598 body only, or £699 including the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. One of the most impressive things about the E-P1 is its ability to shoot in low light. The autofocus hunts a bit in the dark, but pictures shot at ISO6400 are usable, and there's little visible grain right up to ISO2000.

Sony Rolly

It’s time to dance to a different rhythm, the Sony Rolly Sound Entertainment player lets you experience your music on an amazing new level. It fuses sound and motion, spinning and twisting to the beat. You can design your own cool moves and watch it groove in your own time.

The Rolly from Sony is all about fun; it is essentially a robotic MP3 playing robot that dances to the music you play. It comes with Rolly choreographer software to create your own motions. If you don’t want to create your own moves, it comes with an auto and self motion modes which will analyse the music and create the style of dance you request. It also comes with Bluetooth Streaming, 5-hour battery life, 2GB of storage space, high quality speakers of 180 degree baffle effect.

Samsung Tocco

Samsung Tocco’s new Ultra Edition is sleek and sexy with a bright 2.8 inch screen and an megapixel camera. The camera has minimal shutter lag including other advanced features such as anti-shake, and video recording. Unfortunately, the camera does not have a Xenon flash or Wi-Fi.

However, is does combine an option of using the touch screen or the attractive red keypad. This beauty of a phone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack, but like the original Tocco it has the Samsung widgets sidebar hidden just offscreen, giving you easy access to icons like the music player. Though this Ultra Edition might not be a smartphone, it has all the basic multimedia functions. A good choice for a touch phone.

Fujifilm F200EXR

Replacing the F1000FD, the Fujifilm F200EXR is the best model in the popular F-series compact camera range. Although bigger than the average camera, the F200EXR takes amazing low-noise pictures at the best quality and with super-fast focusing. This camera does not have RAW mode or an optical view finder.

It does, however, offer a new 12 megapixel, 1/1.6-inch Super CCD EXR sensor. The F200EXR also offers three modes in one sensor; one capturing the highest resolution, one with the lowest noise, and the last with the most dynamic range. The lens has a 5x optical zoom and the 3in LCD is bright and extremely sharp. An intelligent flash mode for flash-assisted macro shots too.

Asus Eee Sheashell

This new netbook is only 1 inch at its thickest point and weighs only 1.1kg. While it does not have a removable battery, the built in battery keeps it looking slim and smooth, lasting five hours with a lithium-polymer battery. This enhances energy efficiency while reducing the power consumption by up to 15%. The netbook also comes with pre-loaded Microsoft Windows XP Home and Microsoft Works which makes it compatible with devices that require Windows applications. It also has a keyboard which is at 92% full-size with wide well-spaced keys. The LED-backlit screen is very thin and bright, while the 10 inch display and 1024 x 600 resolution, makes working on it an easy task. The Eee PC1008HA provides a lot of storage with a 160GB hard disk drive, and you will not need long to access your documents with a 5400rpm spin-speed. This netbook contains a built-in supporter for 802.11n WI-FI, making wireless connectivity easy, plus a built in webcam and a digital array microphone, which is great for online communication using voice and video. The Eee PC1008HA is not the cheapest available at about £379, but if you can afford it, you can guarantee a stylish design and a solid performance.

Blackberry Storm

Hailed as the smartest phone on the planet the Storm has been released to put clouds over the former Blackberry 9500 series of phones, developed by RIM, it is one of the first phones to be solely operated by touchscreen. The BlackBerry Storm is a world-phone, featuring CDMA with EV-DO Rev. A data, UMTS with HSDPA, and quad-band GSM with EDGE data-access speed.However, the BlackBerry Storm only has European, Oceania, Asia and Brazil UMTS and HSDPA frequency bands. Intended to be a direct competitor to Apple iPhone, the G1 it has drawn a mix of reviews as no one can seem to settle on which phone should come out on top. The web browser, camera and call quality of the Blackberry comes out trumps but if it's sleekness your after, then the Blackberry Storm could do with cutting out some fat, so if you have a earlier Blackberry model don't be too disheartened; your not that worse off as there's no built-in hifi.

Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D

This is the world’s first 3D digital camera and is really like taking a glimpse into the future. The Fujifilm Real 3D W1 is tough to explain – this is a gadget you need to see to believe. The 3D images are captured using two lenses set far apart on the front of the camera, with each taking the shot from a different angle. The two images are then overlaid and then displayed on the special lenticular LCD. This is where the magic happens as the screen shows the two slightly different images from different angles. So one of your eyes sees one and the other eye sees the second image, creating the illusion of depth. However, the 3D images only work best at landscape stills.

Image quality from standard 2D stills is very good in comparison with the Fujifilm Z200fd. Good, punchy colours and excellent detail, with low noise up to ISO 800. Overall, this is a stunning camera. It’s a little big and pricey, but you’ve got a whole new creative dimension to play with, and it’s not just limited to stills – you can take 3D video, albeit only in VGA quality. It certainly gets the most eye-popping results.

Bose iPod Dock

The Bose SoundDock has, by far, the best sound we’ve heard as far as ipod docks go. Absolutely beautiful, clear and rich, with powerful base. It’s too big to throw into your suitcase but small enough to move between rooms or place in the kitchen with minimum upheaval.

By and large Bose products are priced a little on the steep side, but you get more than what you pay for with this dock. If you want great sound, and you’re prepared to part with a few hundred pounds in recognition of the fact that you now no longer need a new hi fi, then this is the most essential purchase you’ll make this year.

Nikon D5000

A speedy, sturdy and simple-to-use DSLR that delivers fantastic photos and one heck of a bonus feature in HD video. Compact and powerful, the D5000 is a remarkable blend of simplicity and advanced D-SLR capabilities with breathtaking 12.3-megapixel image quality.

Video quality is excellent, although as with stills it’s heavily influenced by whatever lens you mount on the camera. Using a high-aperture lens can deliver eye-popping results, with only a small part of the frame in focus and the background smoothly blurred out – an effect usually reserved for expensive camcorders, and certainly beyond any standard consumer camcorder in the D5000’s price range. A notable change on the D5000 is the vari-angle screen which rotates through to 90 degrees in one direction and 180 degrees in the other. This is useful for high or low angle shooting as well as self-portraits and for shooting round corners. The camera also uses Google Maps to locate your images and then uses Wikipedia to suggest suitable keywords for tagging.

Olympus MJU 1030 SW

If you’re into extreme photography, the new Olympus will be the one to weather out the harsh conditions, durable to the max; this is one camera that doesn’t compromise on style. The specifics? While previous Olympus SW models have been waterproof to two or three metres, the 1030 SW has been beefed up to handle depths of 10m, as well as being shockproof for drops of up to 2m, crushproof to weights of 100kg and freezeproof to -10°C.

So this is really a camera for absolutely any situation and will take high quality, rich photos from everywhere. A rugged gadget that would loyally accompany you if travel and the outdoors counts as your favourite pass time and remarkably reasonably priced for a camera you could jump on, submerge in snow and throw across the room.

Dell Adamo

Its 13.4in screen sits in a finely grained aluminium skin and the whole laptop is barely the depth of two digestive biscuits. Everything is near perfect about it: the dark scalloped keys look like they're made of slate, and not even the glossy plastic strip on the lid alters the fact that this machine looks like nothing else out there at the moment.

The multi-touch mouse-pad on the Adamo is smooth and responsive, the screen bright and clear. All the ports are neatly stowed at the rear of the screen. However, the keyboard isn't as comfortable to use as it looks, the solid concave keys don't quite make up for the inherent problem of hitting a neighbouring button that such a tight formation is prone to. After the price reduction, it is a bit tougher to say whereabouts the Adamo now stands in terms of value.

 

 

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