Here are some interesting things from DigitalLook, but not exactly interesting enough to be their own article (no offense to the vendors, who were all awesome)
Note that I do have photos, but I seems to be mangling the photo functions of the blog, so I will be holding off on adding them.
DeLorme was showcasing their PN-40 & 30 ruggedizedGPS devices How rugged? They’ve gone on two North Pole expeditions. There’s also a PN-20, but it’s older tech and not really being pushed. These devices have a dual-chip system that’s rather neat – one chip is dedicated to connecting to the GPS satellites, while the other handles the device functions. The 40 also has an accelerometer, barometric sensor, and electronic compass. The 30 is the same as the 40 without the barometric device and the compass. Very cool for hardcore GPS enthusiasts.
Still, even more ruggidized is Sonim’s XP3 cellphone, designed for both people in the construction or extreme sport enthusiasts. They have an awesome video of this thing being knocked around, ala Samsonite. Dust proof, shock resistant, and waterproof for up to one meter for about 30 seconds. A far cry from the average cell, which dies with a raindrop. This is an unlocked GSM phone.
Kyocera had a bunch of cute feature phones, like the NEO e110. See that blue line in the picture? It glows when you flip the thing open or when you shut it. Trippy.. The outside and inside screens are OLEDs and it’s new on MetroPCS. Also I want to note that Kyocera had great booth reps… and was giving away Jelly Bellys. Mmm (yes, that’s right, give me candy and you buy a mention. I have no shame).
The Sprint booth was showing off the Blackberry Tour and the HTC Snap. The Pre was nowhere in sight, unless you mentioned it. At that point one of the rep’s whipped his Pre out and showed it off. As both HTC and RIM were there, he spent a lot of time showing that Pre. What caught my eye was their Solio charger – it will charge iPods, Cells, Laptops, etc. That includes power hungry devices like the Pre or a Blackberry. Impressive.
Pharos was showing off their Traveler line of GPS phones, running Windows Mobile. These are unlocked GSM worldphones all, with their “low end” Traveler 619 rocking Quadband 2.5g, and a 200MHz TI chip. That one sells for $219.95. The 117 caught my eye though. A slick, very touchable 2.8″ VGA screen with a camera way too sharp to be 2 MP (but that’s what the box says!). They have an HTC Home-esque interface over Windows Mobile 6.1, and I found it very responsive. There’s an accelerometer for sensing portrait or landscape (is it just me, or is this becoming standard on a smartphone?).The Traveler 127 is basically the little brother of the 117, with a QWERTY kb and a 320×320 keyboard. Due to being inside I was unable to test the GPS functionality, but they all look like well-made phones. They’re available through general retail outlets like Best Buy or Amazon, as well as through T-Mobile’s Business plan.
Not mobile, but CMS was hawking a backup solution that was basically Time Machine for PCs. Interestingly enough, they’re building a Mac client… to do what is built into Mac OS, but with more steps. Not sure why.
Mio was showing off two new Mio’s: the S401 and S501 – introduced about a week ago. They’re priced at $199 and $179, which isn’t the worst price for a light and thin GPS. It felt great in the hand (although how often is one’s GPS I one’s hand?) and and the UI was simple and very responsive. I know it’s trendy to say something was iPhone influenced, but the UI really feels iPhone-esque to me. Sadly, this unit does not come with the voice of KITT.
Another non-Mobile product that I felt rates a mention: MOEN had a very posh bathroom system. Seriously. We’re talking a high-end digital shower system and a bath system. You can digitally set temperatures water levels, and other settings, have it “learn” what you like, pre-set it like a car radio, and has a child lock so your kid won’t push the buttons and scald themselves. The most luxurious (ie, slightly lazy) aspect? The tub has a remote control, so you can run yourself a bath without touching the buttons. Or, one assumes, have your butler do it for you.
Iomega was displaying their eGo drive, specifically a model with Firewire 400, 800, and USB.
I’m not a Blackberry user, and wasn’t that impressed by the Tour. It’s slightly higher resolution than the Bold, but is physically pretty much the same (Bold on left, Tour on Right). Oh, except the space bar area is different. It’s a nice phone I suppose, and is available on Sprint and Verizon. Cooler was their speaker phone, which is a Bluetooth stereo.
On the topic of devices I have no use for, Acuterra has another GPS app, this time for iPhone. Their focus is national parks and geocaching. Basically they have very specific park maps, where you can get detailed info. You can tag items like “the spot I saw a bear” or “good fishing”. Useful for someone.
MWWV was showing off their eco-friendly packaging, which gets a mention because I’m a sucker for ecofriendly products.
Wi-Ex had their Zboost cell extenders for home and auto. They offered to send MoPocket some test units. I hope they do, as it’s something I would love to try. I live in a low coverage area. Conceptually, I just like the idea that they’re dual-band, so they work if you’re CDMA or GSM.
The PSP Go has been reviewed and Hands-on’ed to death, so I’ll just note that when you put a PSP Go and a Lilac PSP next to each other, they look like they’re vaguely uncomfortable just being there.
Belkin has a bunch of products, including a Belkin TuneCast with Geocaching function. Basically, you can set it to remember what transmission frequencies are best in what local. Interesting, yes. Useful? Time will tell.
Fujitsu was showing off their insanely cool scanning system called ScanSnap. It’s a scanner (with a portable version, so it counts) that scans both sides of a document, and is intelligent enough to do things like (1) note when a page is blank and ignore it (2) Scan only the actual paper size (3) sort in batches. This is good for a home office.
Sony Erricson had a ton of phones, to the point of being information overload. Most interesting was the Aino, a phone with an interface that borrows from the PS3 crossbar and also can stream from the PS3. Then there was Satio, which no-one could agree on the pronunciation for, which has a slick 12 PM camera and Wifi. It may or may not support social media sites like Facebook and MySpace. Most Potential award goes to the Yari, which is a gesture-based phone with a camera in front for hypothetical video conferencing. I say hypothetical because I don’t think any carriers support it as of yet. Still, kewl.
