Archive for Hardware
April 18, 2013 at 7:52 am · Filed under android, Cameras, design, gadgets, Geek toys, google, Hardware, High Tech, News, photography ·Tagged google glass
Google Glass, the wearable internet is finally here. The first batch of glass have been release to developers and so far they all seem very happy with the device. For those who do not know, google glass is basically a pair of glasses where a display device is located just above the right eye where information like images, data, text can be shown. Imagine a window where information is displayed on to it along with the outside world.
So how about the specs? The display has a 640 x 360 resolution with a 5MB camera capable of recording at 720p. There is 16GB of storage but 4GB is reserved for the OS. Sound is transmitted via conduction through your bones!! How cool is that, no need to wear headphones. there is wifi and bluetooth for connectivity and when you pair the glass to an android phone, you can access it’s GPS and SMS too. Charging is done via usb and should last about a day.
So far, all the info on the net are mainly people taking videos and pics from the device, sort of like a bird’s eye view of their world. I am not sure if I want to broadcast my life this way, I am sure it may come in handy to capture special moments or events but this means I will need to wear this thing all the time. I do see some benefits especially for navigation as what I normally do now is to check my location on google maps constantly when trying to find a place. It would be great to have this information available all the time without me looking at my phone.
If you are the type that constantly keeps up with notifications, this would also be a great tool, not sure how distracting it may get tho, google have warn users to be careful while driving with glass on. I can see potential in this device especially in the medical field or any work that requires information to be available in front of you but it could also be a distraction in many ways. Anyway if you are interested please can check it out here.
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April 17, 2013 at 9:02 am · Filed under Hardware, mobile phone ·Tagged android phones, mi 2s, xiaomi
A Little know company called Xiaomi has been making a big splash in the mobile phone market. This relatively new company which only started back in 2011 has been producing top spec Android handsets in China. Their secret sauce is that they haven been selling their handsets at cost price with no markups! Impossible! they claim they making their profits off selling accessories for their handsets!
This basically means you can purchase a highly spec phone for cheap, for example, their latest release is the Mi 2S which comes in either 16GB or 32 GB internal storage, it runs on a quad core snap dragon 600 at 1.7GHz (which is what the HTC one and the new Samsung S4 are using). 4.3 inch screen size at 1280 x 720 (342 ppi compared with iphone 5 at 326 ppi), 2MB front facing camera and 8MB (16 GB version) or 13MB (32GB version) back camera. Battery is a tat weak at 2000 mAh and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly bean, another downer is no LTE support (understood for China as they have not launch their 4G networks). Some of the other features are wifi display (output to TV with wifi support), F2.2 aperture lens, HDR camera with 1080p recording at 30 fps.
Currently these phones are only available in China but they are hoping to expand into Taiwan and Hong Kong to tapped into more westernized countries. The handsets looks similar to an iphone4 but they do have their own twist on the design. I mean for the price of $1999 yuen (approx USD$324) you are getting a top of the range handset with everything on it (except LTE of course). Browsing through their website, they do sell a lot of accessories ranging from wallets to shirts to RC cars to colored batteries. I can understand how they have build a marketing world around the handset and it seems that this model is working. They have claimed to have sold over 7 million phones in 2012 without any formal marketing or promotions!!
I might pickup the Mi 2S when they launch in Hong Kong just to see what the fuzz is all about, and if this kind of thing interest you please check out their website here. Go browse through their accessories section, you will be pleasantly surprised what is on offer, oh don’t forget to use google translate on the site unless of course you are well versed in Mandarin.
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May 18, 2011 at 4:12 am · Filed under google, Hardware, Laptop, Software ·Tagged ChromeBook, google
Google is about to sell a netbook running its Chromium OS, aka ChromeBook, it’s basically a Netbook running Chrome, I feel like i’m repeating myself. Well, what’s the difference between a normal netbook with the Chrome Browser and a ChromeBook, as far as I know, absolutely no difference. In fact, with the current Chrome Browser, you can already run webapps, which I realized are basically glorified shortcuts/bookmarks to websites. You don’t need a ChromeBook to do anything different from any normal computer. So, do yourself a favour, just get a Netbook and use Chrome, its the same thing. Although I do find the Netbook kinda nice looking, good job Samsung. Check it out here.
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November 30, 2010 at 12:57 am · Filed under accessories, apple, Hardware, iphone, ipod, mobile phone ·Tagged iphone, portable speakers
Here’s a neat idea, design a iPod/iPhone portable speaker without using power. Here’s how it work, using the natural resonance frequency of the iPhone, all the sound is amplified through a series of tunnels and chambers (like a trombone). It probably won’t be very loud but it will definitely look cool. Check it out here.
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October 15, 2010 at 7:17 pm · Filed under android, google, Hardware, Laptop, Tablet ·Tagged android, Augen, Genbook, google, ipad, Netbook, tablet
Spotted these at a local K-Mart, first is the 10.2″ Augen Genbook running Android 2.1, on the side it says resolution to be at 800×600 and cost $189.99. The second is the Genbook at 7″, not sure if it’s running 2.1 as it doesn’t say on the box and cost $109.99. Last but not least, the Augen Gentouch 7″ Tablet running Android, again not mentioned which flavor and cost $179.99. There seems to be some in stock so if you’re out for a cheapo Android device, get them while they last.
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September 26, 2010 at 5:02 pm · Filed under Cameras, Hardware ·Tagged cameras, Leica, M9 titanium
I Thought the standard M9 is already out of reach (USD$6,000), now Leica have decided to release the limited edition (500 only) of the M9 Titanium that will cost a cool USD$29,600. My car cost less. check it out here.
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September 26, 2010 at 4:50 pm · Filed under Hardware, music ·Tagged foxl, sound matters, Speakers
I travel quite a bit and loves music, so I’m always hunting for the perfect travel speakers that does not compromise on sound quality. So far, the ones that I considered are either too big, sounds bad (tinny and lack of base) or too expensive (yes, I’m talking to you Bose Music monitors…). After months of search (actually almost 1yr), I finally found something worthwhile of my efforts. Introducing the Foxl V2 by Sound matters, this thing is small, I mean really small, roughly 3 chocolate bars stacked together. The sound… unbelievable, I have not heard anything this small that produces such great sound and clarity, the bass is by far the best I’ve heard from a speaker this size, deep and rich (have to be realistic here, it’s no boom-box). It really takes an rocket scientist to design stuff like this (I’m talk about Owner Dr. Godehard Guenther – a physicist and former NASA engineer). I absolutely love it and have named it Tiny. Check it out here.
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September 2, 2010 at 1:38 am · Filed under apple, Hardware, ipod ·Tagged apple, ipod
Today Apple announced their new range of ipods, from the shuffles to the nano to the touch. Starting from the shuffle, which used to look like a stick of gum now goes back 1 generation with buttons. I guess the people have spoken, they want buttons, nothing special there. The nano on the other hand is brand new with a multi-touch screen and a smaller form factor. Also known as the mini-me of the touch. Personally, I probably will give that a miss and I much prefer the previous version as it has a larger screen and camera. Lastly the new touch, this is by far the best iteration of the multi-touch device. It now supports the retina screen like the iphone4 and also have the front & back cameras. Facetime is now possible via wifi and runs the A4 processor too. I have been hanging out on this as I was thinking of either getting the iphone4 or wait to see that the new touch was like. I’m glad it went my way, I’m happy now. Check out all the features here.
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