All 4 Toys

Perhaps you’ve heard that Apple’s investing in digital video distribution at the moment? Perhaps you’ve read that Amazon’s working on a subscription video network, too? Sony makes number three, as the Financial Times is reporting the electronics giant is looking to launch a multimedia platform of its own. Starting with the PlayStation 3 and PSP, and then later extending to internet-connected Sony TVs, Blu-ray players, Vaio computers and phones, the service will reportedly offer both music and video sometime next year in what’s no doubt an attempt to work out deep-seated guilt at the death of Connect. You won’t have to wait nearly that long, however, to find out what’s what — the publication says Sir Stringer intends to preempt Apple’s six-string reveal by announcing the PlayStation Network-based service from IFA 2010 in Germany. Call us crazy, but this sounds like a perfect fit for the Sony’s out-of-the-blue $130 Netbox.

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We told you it was coming, now the Samsung Epic 4G is on sale at Sprint for a cool $249.99 plus two year life commitment. In other words, it’s time to let Sprint know whether this Galaxy S variant (with — gasp — working GPS) is worth the $50 premium over HTC’s EVO 4G. Well, is it?

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Infineon, the company behind the baseband chips inside your super-duper new phone, is about to cash out from the wireless industry courtesy of Intel’s insatiable appetite. The Wireless Solutions Business (WLS), which accounted for nearly a third of Infineon’s €3 billion ($3.83b) revenue last year, is being sold to the American chipmaker for a cool $1.4 billion. For its part, Intel is quick to reassure the world (and its antitrust authorities) that WLS will continue to operate as a standalone business and continue to support ARM-based devices. Chipzilla’s perfectly innocent ploy is to harness Infineon’s knowhow in future smartphone, tablet and laptop products, providing both the processing and wireless capabilities. Specifically mentioned in the news release is Intel’s ambition to “accelerate 4G LTE” through this deal, while also not neglecting its ongoing efforts with WiMAX, with the overarching strategy being described as “a combined path.” We should know more about where this path will take us when the acquisition is completed in the first quarter of next year. Read more »

We’re starting to think Samsung has given up the pretense of keeping the Galaxy Tab’s details secret and is letting them all out now. Accessories for its upcoming 7-inch Android tablet have been spotted on one of Sammy’s many online portals, complete with pricing. The headline act here will be that “table charging station” on the top left, which happens to have a neat set of HDMI and audio output ports, making the Tab a quirky but viable choice for pumping movies into your HDTV. It’s said to be priced at €54 ($69), which we might consider expensive if it wasn’t for the keyboard peripheral costing €82 ($105). The relative bargain of the set is the leather case that doubles as a stand, asking for only €41 ($52). Bear in mind we’ve spotted some non-Latin writing on the front of the dock, so it’s possible we’re looking at localized Asian pricing, which might dip (or rise!) once the Tab and its cohorts make their way westward. Read more »

We’ve already published a pretty exhaustive review of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 some five months ago, but it’s taken until this month for it to reach AT&T’s network and retail chain. A lot’s changed in the mobile phone market since then — the iPhone 4, the EVO 4G, Dell Streak, numerous Verizon Droids, and so on. Does the X10 still compete? Read on to find out. Read more »

We know, half of you aren’t even going to read past the headline before you start angrily banging away about Apple’s admitted antenna gaff and the still-not-totally-fixed proximity sensor, but we’re urging you to look deeper. Think harder. Critique your criticisms. In all seriousness, Apple’s iPhone 4 garnered more attention (negative or otherwise) than any other phone released this calendar year, and for good reason — in fact, Apple itself had to hold an emergency press event just to announce what could’ve been announced in a PR blast: everyone’s getting a free case. That said, Cupertino has still managed to move millions of units in just a few months, and that demand doesn’t seem to be dropping off at any significant rate. If you’re one of the lucky (or unlucky) ones that have managed to procure Apple’s latest iPhone, we’re overly anxious to hear your thoughts on changing it. How would you have addressed the antenna issue? Would you have preferred a less drastic departure from the 3GS form factor? Would you have offered more colors than white and black? Thrown in Bluetooth 3.0 for kicks? Go ahead, the floor’s yours — just don’t abuse it, cool? Read more »

Vodafone is going to release the Nokia N8 Green edition, where it will be available end of this year exclusive from Vodafone just in UK. The highlight features of this new Symbian^3-powered smartphone include a 3.5 inches AMOLED capacitive touchscreen can mesmerize you with high quality images in 360 x 640 pixels and 16M colors, 12 MP 000×3000 pixels camera woth Carl Zeiss optics and autofocus and Xenon flash, high-speed HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, ARM 11 680 MHz processor, 3D Graphics HW accelerator, 720p HD video, and output to your TV through HDMI. To know about the available date, you need to sign up for Nokia N8 updates over at the Vodafone website.

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The last time we plugged in our Nintendo DSi to recharge it all we got as thanks was a little light. It turned on, the electrons flowed, and we continued our humble existence. Just think how much more exciting that menial act could have been if only we had this sucker. Hori’s Pikachu charger accepts a DSi or DSi XL into its faux-poké ball slot and, presumably, jumps up and down excitedly as lightning bolts dance from its maniacal little fingertips to juice up your dead cell. Or, maybe it just pulls power from an AC adapter and sends it through the connector. Either way, it’s certainly more exciting than most other simple charging stands we’ve seen but, at 3,981 yen (just shy of $50), it’s also rather more expensive.
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Well, Sony is a little late to the party on this one, two days behind Panasonic announcing six new BDXL-writing DVRs. But, the company is definitely still on the BDXL bleeding edge, announcing its own suite of six devices, ranging from 320GB to 2TB of internal storage and all but one offering dual tuners. When those tuners have filled that storage they can all write to 100GB BDXL discs, which we’ll remind you one more time are not backwards compatible with current Blu-ray players. Finally, all six of them support 3D playback, because if you’re already jumping on the BDXL bandwagon you surely have your 3D HDTV well and truly dialed in by now. Sony isn’t saying just how much these six will cost, but the premium model with 2TB of storage ships in Japan on September 25. For the rest you’ll have to wait until October 22. Read more »

The Dell Aero is now available from Dell with a priced at $99.99 with a new two-year AT&T contract, or $299.99 without the contract. Measures 122 x 57.9 x 11.7 mm and Weighing at 104 grams, the Aero packed a Gorilla Glass 3.5 640360 touchscreen with 16:9 aspect ratio, Android 1.5 OS, a 624MHz processor, 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, GPS/A-GPS navigation, 2 GB Micro SD card (supports cards up to 32 GB), and WiFi + Bluetooth. There also Full HTML Browser with Adobe Flash Lite, POP, IMAP, Webmail and Microsoft Active Sync E-mail, and support Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) as well as Tri-Band UMTS/HSDPA (850/1900/2100 MHz). No matter how you look at it, a phone with Android 1.5 is going to be slower and significantly less advanced than a device with a recent version of the OS and the specs above, we could be said the Aero is not a high-end android device.

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