Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Apple will be introducing a next gen iPhone later this year. Some say it will be arriving in June, while others are expecting to see it in September. Either way, it will be more powerful and more than likely it will be a refined iPhone 4, perhaps called the iPhone 4S.
We hear today that Apple has been handing out a new prototype iPhone 4 that has been described as the 4S in that it looks identical to the iPhone 4 on the outside, but inside it carries an Apple A5 processor to speed things up.
Occasionally we come across very unique apps for the iPhone and iPad. Trimensional is one of those apps which hit the app store just over a week ago. What it does is allows you to use your iPhone 4, iPod touch (4th gen) or iPad 2 as a simple 3D scanner.
The app works by flashing a sequence of four frames on the screen of the iOS device and at the same time, captures images with the front facing camera. By projecting different images from the screen it allows it to create a simple 3D map of a face or any object as pictured below.
A new version of the Google Toolbar has been launched. The latest version is number 7 which brings a few new features. The main new feature of Toolbar 7 is that it now has Instant Search integrated. The service is called Toolbar Instant and allows you to type a search in the toolbar and the results immediately show on the page. If you decide that you don’t want this, you can just hit the escape button to return to the page you were previously viewing.
To active Toolbar Instant you first need to install the latest toolbar, found here. When installed you need to visit the Toolbar Options page and then click the “Enable Instant for faster searching and browsing” option.
Some reports today are indicating that the latest generation Apple iMac models will soon be experiencing some shortages. What this normally means is that Apple is planning on a refresh. The same happened with the iPad when the iPad 2 launched as well as the MacBook Pro back in February when the next gen model was being prepared for launch. It has also happened a number of times before.
So what can we expect from the new iMac range? What we hear is that Apple will likely keep the same design, same screen sizes and same keyboard etc… but will bump up the power of each model to include faster CPU’s, larger storage and we also expect to see the ThunderBolt (first seen in the MacBook Pro refresh this year) port being included in the refresh.
The BlackBerry PlayBook launched yesterday (20th April) and as expected, iFixit managed to get hold of the tablet and take it apart to see exactly what makes it run. The tablet is RIM’s first attempt at the new generation tablet market and from what we have seen, they have done quite a new job. This is in part thanks to the QNX operating system that it uses which helps multitasking run quite smoothly. The design is also excellent and certainly looks the part.
Rovio will be launching another version of Angry Birds in the coming months. The new version will be called Angry Birds Magic and will be designed for phones that utilise NFC (near field communications). The idea behind it is that you need someone else with an NFC device to help you move to the next batch of levels. Rovio is making the Magic version exclusive to Nokia and will launch it on the Nokia C7 when the Anna update arrives.
Vodafone Australia has announced that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v in Australia is now available for pre-order. The pre-sale went live at 8pm today (AUS time) and gives those who registered an interest a change to get one ahead of the launch tomorrow.
Ovi Maps received a large update today that pushes the usual flat 2D mapping system in to the world of 3D. The new Ovi Maps 3D is available in 20 countries around the globe and provides realistic skylines of those cities. Nokia has also announced that more cities will be arriving in 3D over the coming months.
Apple has released an update for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The new version is 4.3.2 which is a minor update that brings a few bug fixes to the OS.
The fixes include the FaceTime problem where a blank screen or frozen video would occur during a call. Also, a fix specific to the iPad WiFi+3G model has been fixed which prevented some users from connecting to networks (international problem only). Finally, a number of other security updates were baked in to the update which we suspect just seal a few security holes, perhaps to help prevent those who update from jailbreaking with the current methods.
Toshiba is working on a new type of “smart” hard drive that can be programmed to either wipe data or secure it in the event of being plugged in to an unknown machine. The drives work with AES 256 encryption and when users move files on to the drive, they can specify if the files are to be kept secure, or if the drive is to be wiped if unauthorised access is detected.
The system works to the Opal specification that lists the standards that corporations work to and this is mostly where the new range of drives will be aimed at… corporations. If a drive happens to be stolen, then companies have more assurance that data will be either deleted or encrypted so that those trying to access the data cannot see it and in turn, it could prevent a data leak.
Today, reports are hinting that a new Nintendo HD could be launching this year. The new console is expected to be announced at E3 this year, and perhaps earlier from what we also hear.
What we expect to see with the new console is of course, HD – high definition graphics. Although the Wii defined a different type of gaming experience a few years ago, one of the problems with it was the lower resolution graphics when compared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Dell has launched the Streak 7 tablet in the UK. The new 7 inch screen tablet launched in the US recently and just like the US based version, this one runs the Android operating system. On this model is Android 2.2 although future updates will be provided over the air, perhaps to 2.3 or possibly Honeycomb if it follows the HTC Flyer.
This version of the tablet has a 7 inch multi-touch display. The device is capable of running Adobe Flash 10.1. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera on the front as well as a larger 5 megapixel camera on the back. The camera on the back uses auto focus and also has a flash. Powering this tablet is an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor.
