Lenovo Multimedia Remote..

Over a year ago we cut the cable/dish around here and began using Home Theater PCs, and various extenders and it has worked out much better than I had hoped. My wife and two sons have been delighted with the selection of content available and we’re saving almost $125/month by not having DirecTV.

All went smoothly in the transition, building the HTPCs was easy, putting the Rokus, Popcorn Hour, Microsoft XBox360 and Thecus NAS on the network wasn’t a problem either. The only real issue we had was finding the right remote keyboard. I tried a slew of them and could never find one that was easy to use, small enough to fit in one hand and accomplished all the functions necessary to fully utilize the Windows 7 based PCs that were acting as the heart of our system.


Along came the Lenovo Multimedia Remote, a fan-shaped, gem with a roller-ball and qwerty-keyboard. It was almost perfect except for two things: 1. The keys weren’t back lit so it was very hard to see, and 2. There was no way to easily scroll (wheel) through web pages. Well, it appears my desires are about to met as Lenovo has introduced the Enhanced Lenovo Multimedia Remote Keyboard (N5902). The new model incorporates a scroll bar, touch pad rather than a ball, back-lit keyboard and, it appears, a little nicer overall look. It’s going to sell for $79.99 and should be shipping September 1. I promise a review as soon as I can get my paws on one.

It’s really refreshing to see a company that has listened to its customers and made changes to an already pretty-good product. I’ve included a short video highlight the keyboard and the changes that Lenovo made.

Samsung Galaxy Note Announced..

Along with the Galaxy Tab 7.7, Samsung also unveiled a new phone…err…tablet…umm…something in between, the Galaxy Note.  Samsung calls the Galaxy Note a handset, and this device comes with a gigantic 5.3-inch display! The 5.3-inch Super-AMOLED display has a disappointingly low WVGA (480×800) resolution. With a 5.3-inch display, the Note successfully manages to blur the line between a handset and a tablet.

The Note is powered by a 1.4GHz dual core processor (Exynos SoC), and packs 1GB of RAM. The handset is also pretty thin and light at just 9.65m thick, and weighing in at 178 grams. The usual Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS with A-GPS, HSPA+, microSD card slot, FM radio, 3.5mm audio jack and a bunch of sensors are all present. Being called a ‘handset’ by Sammy, the Note runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread with TouchWiz 4.0 on top of it. The back of the device sports an 8MP camera with an LED flash, and a 2MP camera resides in the front of the phone. A beefy 2500mAh battery powers the Galaxy Note. 

The highlight of the Note is the S-Pen, which comes with the Note. This pressure sensitive stylus will help Note users to easily take down notes on their handset. Samsung will also release the S-Pen SDK to developers, to that more applications can make use of this feature. With the Galaxy Note, Sammy is trying to open a new segment, residing between the handsets and tablets market. The Note will be ideal for businessmen’s and college going students, for taking down quick notes. While some people may like the Note, I highly doubt it’s going to be a major success. Nonetheless, it is still nice to see Sammy innovating, instead of just releasing run-of-the-mill Android handsets and tablets.

Top 5 gadgets you can expect to see at IFA..!!

It’s been a fairly quiet few weeks leading up to the start of September, but most of this is because of IFA, one of the biggest international trade shows for gadgets and tech. We’ve already seen a few announcements from some of the biggest manufacturers, but what else can you expect over the next few days? Join us after the break to find out.

Trade shows are the most exciting few days for new launches and the latest gadgets, and IFA is no different. Expect to see some of the most innovative products launched, along with gadgets that were leaked months ago. We’ve listed some of the top tech below.

Sony S1 and Sony S2 Out of all the tablets that we’re excited about seeing, the Sony S1 and S2 sit at the top of the list. With a choice of stand-out design or innovative dual-screen layout, the S1 and S2 tablets split opinion like no other, but they definitely look interesting. Sony has yet to reveal the full specs, however, and hopefully it will do at IFA this year.

Mango Windows Phone smartphones We’ve been waiting for the latest Mango Windows Phone handsets all year, and IFA is hopefully the location and time that we’ll see the first devices. Expect to see handsets from HTC, Samsung, LG and perhaps even more manufacturers.

HTC Puccini The HTC Puccini was rumoured ages ago, with details of the device first leaking out back in May. It seems like now is the time for the 10-inch tablet to be announced, however, and you can expect it to sport Android Honeycomb and a 1.5GHz processor.

Ultrabooks Although Samsung and Google are hoping that the slimline and cheap Chromebook is the future for laptops, Intel and manufacturers like Acer are pinning their hopes on the Ultrabook design, with higher quality materials and fast components that rival the Apple MacBook Air. Either way, we’re in for a treat, with loads of great products making their way to the marketplace.

Samsung Galaxy Q The Samsung Galaxy Q is another device that’s rumoured for release at IFA this year, and it’s set to fill the hole left by the Dell Streak 5. We’re not entirely sure there’s the need for another 5-inch tablet/smartphone, but it seems that Samsung feels differently. Oh well, if it’s anything like the existing Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S models, at least we know it’ll be a cracker!

Motorola Droid Bionic Gets Shown Off On Video Again..

Last week we saw a brief video of the new Motorola Droid Bionic in action, now another video has been put together which gives us a better look at the Motorola Droid Bionic.

With the Motorola Droid Bionic launch just a few short weeks away on Verizon, the anticipation is mounting. What is the exact release date? What is the official pricing? What are the official specifications? We have theories, but nothing is official yet. And while we have those theories and a ton of evidence to back them up, before today, we hadn’t yet had a clear cut video of the Droid Bionic in action.

Yes, Phandroid has managed to procure a video of the Droid Bionic in action and it shows off a couple of things that are going to get you excited. First, the bootloader. We see that the usual dual-core logo and then we see that red eye that we saw pop up on video awhile back. We also get a quick look at the new version of MotoBlur that will be coming with the 4G LTE smartphone and we also get a taste of Verizon’s next-generation network’s speeds.We’ve already seen how blistering they can be on the Droid Bionic so this is just reaffirmation.

The video shows us another 4G LTE speed test, plus the handsets wallpapers, and boot animations, plus the pre-installed applications that will ship with the Droid Bionic. We are expecting the Motorola Droid Bionic to go on sale next month, after a long wait, and the last date we heard was the 8th of September.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE And Galaxy S II LTE Announced..

Earlier we heard that Samsung may be launching an LTE version of the popular Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone, Samsung has now officially confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE will debut at IFA in Berlin later this week, along with a  new Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE.

Both new galaxy devices will feature a dual core 1.5GHz processor, and the Samsung Galaxy S II will feature a larger 4.5 inch display as we mentioned earlier.

“With the introduction of GALAXY S II LTE and GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE, we will take the capabilities of these devices to a whole new level. LTE redefines the user experience made possible by these devices and opens entirely new possibilities in terms of content viewing, sharing, quality and connectivity,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.

We will see both devices, along with their full specifications later this week at IFA Berlin.

Sony S2 Will Be Called The Sony Tablet P..

We have been hearing more and more about Sony’s new Android tablets the S1 and S2, and now the guys over at Engadget have got some more information on the Sony S2 tablet. According to the report the Sony S2 will be called the Sony Tablet P when it launches next month, and it will feature dual 5.5 inch multi-touch displays, and with come with 512mb of RAM, 4GB of storage with a 2GB SD card included, 4G and WiFi connectivity, plus an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor.

Sony Tablet P weighs in at 370 grams – less than the iPad 2′s 601 grams, features 512MB RAM only, 4GB internal storage and 2GB SD card, 1GHz dual core Tegra 2 processor, and a 0.3mp front camera. The tab will come with WiFi or 4G connectivity via AT&T’s HSPA+ network. Other differentiating features include LED-lit TruBlack displays, Qriocity media support, built-in infrared remote for controlling your TV or BluRay player, and a removable battery on Sony Tablet P. Both Honeycomb tablets are PlayStation certified and will include the PlayStation Suite.
 
Sony Tablet S and Sony Tablet P are expected to release in September. We still don’t have official confirmation on the pricing and release date though we don’t think the price should exceed the going rates. In fact, they might be lower to be competitive. Lots of exciting tablets are expected in September. It’ll be interesting to see their impact (or lack of it) on the market. As yet, the tablet market still belongs to the iPad.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Leaked..

Last week we heard that Samsung intends to launch a new range of devices at this years IFA, one of those is the follow on to the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, and it will be called the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7.

The guys over at Android Life have managed to get their hands on some photos of the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 which you can see below, and it will feature a similar design to the Galaxy Tab 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy tab 7.7 will come with a 7.7 inch multi-touch display, which may be a Super AMOLED Plus display, although this is yet to be confirmed.

As soon as we get some more information on the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 we will let you guys know.

More Photos Of The HTC Holiday Leaked..

We saw some photos of the HTC Holiday a few weeks ago, the device pictured at the time was a prototype of the HTC Holiday, and now the guys over at Engadget have got their hands on some photos of the actual final HTC Holiday.

According to the report the HTC Holiday will feature a 4.5 inch qHD display, plus a dual core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, there is also an 8 megapixel camera with an LED flash on the back and a 1.3 megapixel camera up front.

Other specifications include 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and four capacitive buttons at the bottom of the display, it will come with Android 2.3.4 plus HTC’s Sense 3.0 and it will be available on AT&T’s LTE network.

As soon as we get some more information on when the HTC Holiday ill be available we will let you guys know.