Here’s a little something for the solar power proponents in the CG audience. Chinese electronics manufacturer HTW announced the S116 Solar Mobile phone at CeBIT and it seems pretty promising. Unfortunately there wasn’t an actual working model or any model available for display. A 40 minute charge yields 20-25 minutes of talk time, but does anyone carry their phone where it can be exposed to direct sunlight? The S116 includes a 1.3-megapixel camera, external memory card slot and so-so QVGA display. Pricing was unavailable, but it drops in China next month. HTW S116 Solar Mobile Phone [Unwired] → Read More
TV obsessives take note: the fine folks at Technovision unveiled a 205-inch Luxio LCD TV at CeBIT. (And to think people were drooling over 108-inch TVs at CES earlier this year.) You may well need to move into a bigger house just to be able to fit all 8.3 x 15 feet of the TV. The Italian manufacturer didn’t specify how much the TV would cost, but I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that you’ll need a job that pays a little more than minimum wage in order to afford it. Count me out, then. Tecnovision Lancia Sul Mercato Luxio [Technovision via Ubergizmo] → Read More
Some exciting news has come out of CeBIT this morning from Samsung, STMicoelectronics and Metalink. They’ve collaborated on a set-top box that they are hoping will revolutionize the way you watch TV. The SMT-H6155 will support HD TV based on the 802.11n wireless IPTV standard. HD video decoding is taken care of with the STMicroelectronics STi7109 chipset and multiple HD video streams are delivered over wireless LAN thanks to Metalink’s 802.11n WLANPLUS chipset. The SMT-H6155 is a crossbreed set-top box that handles IP and DVB-T reception. It will also support VoD and IP multi-casting. The revolutionary SMT-H6155 combines MPEG-4 AVC/H264/C1 capabilities on a single chipset produced using STMicroelectronics’ SoC platform, and supports Wireless Digital Video home Networking using 802.11n . No word on price or launch date. Press Release → Read More
I was avoiding the Samsung Q1 this week simply because I think the form-factor is a failure. However, Vincent at SlashGear offers up this easy-to-digest video so we’ll have at it. via SlashGear → Read More
Did you fly to CeBIT to see the iPhone up close? Did you dream of the iPhone in your small Hanover hotel, idly stroking your Nokia N80, dreaming of multi-touch? Well, sucks to be you because Apple didn’t exhibit the phone at CeBIT and MyiPhone thinks its because the iPhone lost to Joost as CHIP magazine’s top whatever of the year. Pretty petty, but I wouldn’t put it past old Apple to play Nastyman to CeBIT’s Wonder Boy. Apple iPhone at CeBIT – well technically it isn’t [MyiPhone] → Read More
Mio makes, like, a lot of GPS devices of various shapes and sizes and just showed off three hot little numbers at CeBIT. There’s the C320, C520 and C520T, all of which have a 4.3-inch widescreen, touchscreen display and the latest Tele Atlas maps. Awesome. Mio’s also quite proud of its new split screen interface, which supposedly helps show more information on the screen than ever before. The C520 and C520T distinguish themselves from the C320 by including Bluetooth; the “T” in C520T stands for Traffic Message Channel, which, as you might guess, provides real time traffic info to drivers. All three of these GPS devices will be available in April, with the high end C520T costing nearly $600. Yikes. Hope the C520T also comes with a golden ostrich egg. Mio via Ubergizmo → Read More
The Samsung USB monitor we told you about some time ago is at CeBIT and it’s way better than we thought. It was reported that only three to five peripherals would work from one USB port, but it’s been confirmed that six is actually the number. A Samsung rep stated that a setup with 2GB of RAM and a dual-core processor running at 2GHz could easily support six monitors. There was no word on price, but they will drop in May. Samsung’s UbiSync monitor rig: all USB, all the time [Engadget] → Read More
Samsung introduced a new LED backlit 30-inch LCD, the SyncMaster XL30, at CeBIT today. It features 123% color production and DLSR cameras users will be happy to hear that it puts out emerald green, dark red and other natural colors in their true form. Samsung’s proprietary software, Natural Color Expert, is included to ensure exact color matching as well as Eyeone Design & Eyeone Photo. Monitor settings can be set to Adobe RGB and sRGB depending on the color range you choose to work with. It even comes with a detachable hood to help block out unwanted light. Inputs are connected via USB and DVI-D. The XL30 also features HDCP for HD viewing. Price or launch dates were not announced. Samsung Exhibition [via Electronista] → Read More
We told you about Commodore coming back to the gaming world last week and now we’ve got some specs for you. They were just announced at CeBIT and they’re hot. The first thing you’ll notice are the badass graphics that you can get for your machine that range from graffiti, photography, PC artwork and other licensed images. The Commodore’s come in four varieties for whatever level of gaming you enjoy: Cg, Cgs, Cgx and Cxx. Vista runs the show on the 64-bit CPU with DirectX 10 taking care of the gaming interface. Included in the fans for your geeky pleasure are two multicolored LEDs that can be independently controlled for whatever mood strikes you. Keep on truckin’ for full specs and pics. → Read More
Samsung just showed off three new HDTV models in London on the eve of CeBIT. The Tulip line of LCDs comes in 37-, 40-, 46- and 52-inch sizes and fully supports 1080p. They’ll be the successor to the Bordeaux line that tore up the LCD charts last year. The Tulips all have three HDMI ports (two in the back, one on the side), while the three largest ones also feature a 15,000:1 contrast ratio and what Samsung calls MoviePlus technology. Hooray for the complete lack of explanation of what that does! There’s also a 9-in-1 memory card reader. On the plasma front, Samsung’s got the Q, available in 46- and 50-inch sizes. Same deal here: three HDMIs, MoviePlus, memory card reader and 15,000:1 contrast ratio. Hopefully we’ll get better shots and U.S. release date and pricing info in the days to come. Samsung M87, R87, Q97 televisions announced [Pocket-lint.co.uk] → Read More
The crack CrunchGear team is on the ground and headed all over the world to grab the latest and greatest for you, our kind readers. Blake is at the GDC and Josh is at PMA this week then we’ve got Blake and I at CTIA in sunny Orlando, Florida. Finally, we’ve got a stringer rocking CeBIT in sunny Germany where we expect big things out of the strudel industry. That said, things might get a little hectic around here and — as evidenced by the above picture at some trade show I’ve since forgotten — angry. We’ll try to tone down our pain and focus more on the launches, but if someone posts an expletive-filled rant about moronic booth staffers or fat guys wearing fishing vests and hogging three network connections in the press room, I won’t stop them. Remember: CrunchGear — flying coach, eating bad food, and being trampled by freebie-hunting vendors… so you don’t have to. → Read More
