Digital Tech News - Digital Technology & Consumer Electronics

Sidekick ID gets Colorful

It looks like the new Sidekick ID will come in a variety of colors, but it also appears that the SK ID will lack some of the functionality of the more advanced SideKick 3. Let's call it an entry-level SideKick, but hey, it still has that cool flip screen and QWERTY keyboard that made the device famous. The info was uncovered from a T-Mobile rebate form found on T-Mobile's website. It's said that the Sidekick ID will also have a $50 mail-in-rebate that brings the cost of the device down to $100. An April 18 release date is expected, but let's wait for the official Sidekick ID announcement.

Related:

Sidekick 3 Reviews

JVC XA-AW33 Floating Digital Audio Player

People in Japan can throw out their rubber ducky and make room for the JVC XA-AW33 floating digital audio player. The waterproof music player is a great bathtub companion, with its soothing blue LED that wraps around the device, and small waves made by its vibrating speaker. Well, maybe it's not for everyone, but some people may get a kick out of playing their favorite MP3 music or podcasts, and even radio on the JVC XA-AW33. It supports MP3, WMA, WMA DRM files, and also comes pre-loaded with three jazz tunes. Four AA batteries provide about 15 hours of listening pleasure, so don't zone-out in the tub.

CTIA Wireless 2007 E-Tech Award Winners and Best in Show

At CTIA Wireless 2007, the Second Annual Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards have been announced. The E-Tech Awards honor products and innovations in the wireless, mobile industry, with about 250 submissions in all. Judges evaluated each entry on innovation, functionality, "wow" factor, importance of technology and ease of use/implementation.

DeepFish does Mobile Web Browsing Right

Microsoft Live Labs has announced the public availability of Deepfish, a new mobile web browsing experience that enables you to zoom in and out of a web page on your mobile. Say you're on a website on your mobile device and you want to just access info on the right column of the page.  Deepfish loads a thumbnail of the web page, so you can zoom in and access just the information you need without scrolling around. This approach is said to make for quicker load times for most web pages. If Deep Fish sounds like something you can use, a preview is available for download now for Windows Mobile 5.0+ devices on a first come, first serve basis. 

Nokia 5700 XpressMusic Twisting Mobile Music Phone

You've seen slider phones, but here we have a twister phone in the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, a 3G smartphone that is highly focused on mobile music. It has a specialized audio chip for enhanced music performance and easily switches between four modes by twisting.  Music player, 2 Megapixel camera, video calling and smartphone modes cover all the bases. With an optional 2GB MicroSD card, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic phone supports up to 1500 tracks. You can listen with Bluetooth stereo headphones, or withyour own 3.5mm headphones , as well as through built-in stereo loudspeakers. Supported Digital audio formats include WMA, MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and MP4. When purchasing music online, shoppers again have the luxury of choice as they can select from a range of Internet music stores, also those utilizing Windows Media Player Digital Rights management (WMDRM). The optimized music player in the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic supports album art, playlists, plus a 5-band equalizer and audio visualizations.

iTunes Complete My Album Introduced

How often have you been tempted to purchase an entire album after hearing, or really getting into a single track from an artist? With Apple iTunes new "Complete My Album" service you can now turn individual tracks into a complete album, for less than it would cost at retail because you'll get a full 99 cent credit for every track you've previously purchased from that album.

Complete My Album offers customers up to 180 days after first purchasing individual songs from any qualifying album to purchase the rest of that album at a reduced price. When users buy any song on iTunes the corresponding album will immediately appear on their personalized Complete My Album page with the reduced price listed. For example, a user who’s already purchased three 99 cent singles and decides to buy the corresponding $9.99 album would be able to download the remaining songs to complete the album for just $7.02, without having to buy the singles again.

Ricoh Caplio GX100 10MP Digital Camera

Ricoh has introduced the new Caplio GX100 digital camera with high-speed F2.5 aperture and high-performance 24 to 72 mm wide zoom lens (35mm film equivalent), 10.01 megapixel CCD, and “Smooth Imaging Engine II.” An optional wide conversion lens expands to ultra-wide-angle shooting equivalent of 19 mm.
According to Ricoh, this is the first digital camera to support a tilted and removable electronic viewfinder, which they call the VF-1 LCD viewfinder, included in the GX100 VG Kit. The Caplio GX100 has 2.5" TFT, 3x optical zoom, and RAW DNG support.

The Caplio GX100 with electronic viewfinder will be available at the end of April 2007 for about price of £399.99, which when converted comes out to a steep $785 USD.

Z750 HSDPA Phone from Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson's Z750 3g HSDPA phone is headed to North America, possibly by way of AT&T (Cingular). Features of the Sony Ericsson Z750 cellphone include Quad-band GSM/EDGE plus tri-band HSDPA (850/1900/2100), 2 megapixel camera, VGA video camera, Memory Stick Micro M2 card slot, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR + with A2DP stereo support, QVGA screen with 262k colors, OLED External Sub Display, FM radio, 3D gaming, POP3/IMAP4/Exchange email support, and full HTML browser with RSS reader.

The Z750 phone is expected to ship in the third quarter. It will be available in rose pink and phantom grey colors.

Related news: Sony Ericsson Z610 3G cellphone announced. 

Xbox 360 Elite

Microsoft has officially announced the soon to be released Xbox 360 Elite video game console and entertainment system with a new black finish and metallic detailing. The Xbox 360 Elite package includes a 120GB hard drive, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) port, a high-definition cable, and a wireless controller and Xbox LIVE headset. Microsoft says the Xbox 360 Elite has "enough space for a library of Xbox LIVE Arcade games and thousands of songs, as well as downloadable high-definition TV shows and movies available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace."

The new Xbox 360 Elite will sell for $479.99. If you already own an Xbox 360, the new 120GB hard drive will also be sold as a stand-alone accessory as well. The snap-on 120-gigabyte hard drive sells for $179.99. The Xbox 360 Elite and snap-on hard drive will be available in the U.S. on April 29.

Mototrola MC35 Enterprise Digital Assistant

Motorola's new MC35 Enterprise Digital Assistant (EDA) is a durable, compact,  all-in-one handheld mobile computer and communication device that combines support for high-speed EDGE wireless networks, built-in GPS capabilities, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with laptop functionality, camera, and bar code reader. The MC35 anables users to e-mail, connect to the Internet, use business applications, and capture data, including signatures.