technicalupdates

Apr 9, 2009

Acer launches first NVIDIA Ion-based nettop

Acer is launching what amounts to NVIDIA's first Ion-based nettop beyond those on display at CES and the like. The AspireRevo is debuting today alongside a plethora of other Acer wares, boasting a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 230 processor, up to 4GB of RAM, up to 250GB of HDD space, a 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI / VGA outputs, gigabit Ethernet, six USB 2.0 sockets, audio in / out, Windows Vista Home Premium / Basic and a svelte black and white enclosure that measures just 7.1- x 7.1- x 1.2-inches. The built-in Ion GPU means that this bugger is completely capable of handling 1080p (and thus, Blu-ray) content, DirectX 10 and even mildly demanding games such as Call of Duty 4 and Spore. Acer's staying mum on a price and release date, but we're still hearing that the late Q2 time frame is a safe bet.

Gigabyte posts specs for ThinNote S1024 and Booktop M1022

It's all coming together, folks. Merely hours after Gigabyte hosted up a product portal for its T1028 TouchNote, the same occurrence has just went down for the ThinNote S1024 and Booktop M1022. Both rigs were initially introduced last month at CeBIT, and now you can pretty much bank on 'em shipping stateside within the next little while. As for the M1022, you'll find it bundled with a vertical docking station and packing an N270 or N280 processor, Windows XP Home, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi, optional WiMAX / HSDPA and a 6-cell battery. The S1024 netbook contains most of the same hardware, but you'll have to handcraft your own stand if that you're thing.

Samsung Impression now on sale at AT&T

If you were waiting for a big-ass OLED display before pulling the trigger on a new North American handset, go ahead and get your wallet (or coin purse, or piggy bank, whatever) ready. The Samsung Impression has now officially launched on AT&T, bringing HSDPA, microSD expansion, landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard, and a 3 megapixel camera -- but the headlining feature clearly has to be that gorgeous 3.2-inch AMOLED screen clocking in at 400 x 240 resolution. $199.99 on contract after rebate makes it yours, if you think you can really handle everyone within a 50-foot radius being dazzled every time you turn it on.

Olympus SP-590UZ (and its 26x zoomer) Review

We're beginning to think there really is no number too high for the megazoom focal length. Back in the day, just boasting a 10x zoomer was enough to fall into said category; today, you best top 20x if you even want into the discussion. Olympus' 26x SP-590UZ is definitely amongst the craziest out there, sporting a 12 megapixel sensor, 2.7-inch LCD and a launch price of just under $450. Reviewers over at PhotographyBLOG were duly impressed across the board, with a certain critic noting that "the ability to go from capturing wide-angle landscapes to distant details in a four second zoom of the lens cannot be underestimated, especially as there's little distortion to worry about at either end and excellent sharpness across its entire range." Not surprisingly, the cam notched a "Highly Recommended" badge along with 4.5 out of 5 overall stars

Netgear rolls out 4-bay ReadyNAS NVX

Netgear doesn't exactly go all out with the styling or blinkin' lights on its ReadyNAS devices, but that all-business exterior is no doubt just what some folks are looking for, and it doesn't look like they'll be disappointed by the company's latest ReadyNAS NVX model. According to Netgear, this one offers "double the performance" of previous NV+ models, which is apparently explained in part by the addition of iSCSI support, along with a number of other new features like an improved ReadyNAS "RAIDiator" operating system (fully compatible with Time Machine) and, of course, a whole range of other on-site and off-site backup measures. That won't exactly come cheap, however, as the base 2TB model starts at a hefty $1,500, with an extra $5.95 to $19.95 a month required for Netgear's ReadyNAS Vault backup service.

LG's new W53 SMART monitor

Just when we thought the desktop monitor market couldn't get any more staid, LG comes along and spices it up a little bit. The new W53 SMART Monitors series includes a few "smart" additions like ambient light detection for Auto Brightness adjustment (like some laptops have), a Cinema Mode for blacking out the rest of the screen when video is playing, a timer to remind you to take breaks (like right now, for instance... you feel yourself getting very sleepy...) and a proximity sensor to activate the monitor controls when your hand approaches the display, and hide them when you're not tweaking anything. Sizes range from 18.5- to 27-inches, and the models 21.5-inch and up do 1920 x 1080p Full HD at 16:9. The displays also offer contrast ratios up to 50,000:1, and 2ms response times.

Magellan launches 4.7-inch RoadMate 1470 navigator

We haven't heard a peep from Magellan since MiTAC took over its consumer products division, and quite frankly, we're still waiting for a little trumpet blowing. Sneakily, said company has just launched the well rounded RoadMate 1470 on Amazon, which packs a 4.7-inch touchscreen, NAVTEQ maps of the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, multi-destination routing, highway lane assist, spoken street names, AAA TourBook and a Roadside Assistance menu. Motorists looking for live traffic updates can plug in the optional Traffic Link device, but those kosher with doing things the old way can procure just the PND right now for $229.99.

Nokia's E75

Nokia's E75 S60 QWERTY is now shipping according to a feverish Nokia press release. For Espoo, that leading "E" stands for businEss so this slider is all about corporate eMail -- a first handset to ship with Nokia's new eMail user interface -- as well as getting you connected to your personal accounts from Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail. Unfortunately, the decent quad-band GSM / EDGE and dual-band HSPDA data, WiFi, microSD expansion, 3.2 megapixel camera, and a-GPS specs are offset by that puny 2.4-inch QVGA (320 x 240 pixel) display. For our money, we'll be holding out for the 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel N97 QWERTY slider just peeped in the FCC

Lenovo MRT800 touchscreen

On the surface, Lenovo's MRT800 doesn't seem to have any surprises, but if you look closer... well, it's more or less the same. The touchscreen PMP's got a 4.3-inch TFT LCD with 480 x 272 resolution, a microSD expansion slot, FM tuner, and a voice recorder. Codec support includes RMVB, AVI, ASF, MP4, and FLV for video, and MP3, WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC, and WAV for audio. Mum's the word on pricing, release date, or if anyone else mispronounces its name and gets the urge to watch A-Team reruns.

Archos 2 and Archos 4 flash players

We haven't heard anything official, but images of an Archos 2 flash player have turned up in a few places on the web today, along with word of an Archos 4. The 2's already listed on Amazon -- it's not going to rock worlds, but it's not bad for $60, with 8GB of storage and microSD expansion, a 1.8-inch 128 x 160 display and a voice recorder all in a .35-inch thick package. There's also a 16GB version on Amazon.de for €68 ($92), but that hasn't yet made it to the US Amazon site. The Archos 4 is a little more mysterious -- all we really know about it is that it'll have a four-inch screen and 16 to 32GB of flash.