Gadgets and Gizmos

MSI 12-inch Wind U210 unveiled in India

MSI
has introduced 12.1-inch Wind U210 netbook in India. MSI Wind U210 has 12-inch display and 6-cell battery that promises battery life of four hours. This 12-inch netbook is available through MSI dealers at price starting Rs. 23,500. Weighing 1.3kgs, this ultra thin portable design carrying netbook is aimed at folks on the move like sales personnel and even students.

MSI Wind U210 has 12-inch widescreen display supporting 1366×768 resolution with 16:9 aspect ratio. Users can watch at least 720p HD content on this display. This netbook features AMD ‘Yukon’ MV40 processor that is part of AMD Neo platform announced in January.

Other features include 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, 160GB HDD and AMD Radeon X1250 integrated graphics. Built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam features MSI’s face recognition software called Easy Face for secured login. This Wind 12-inch model boasts of Ergonomic De-Stress (EDS) keyboard that has 51 percent more surface area on face of individual key.

With HDMI out interface, this netbook can be connected to bigger HD displays and get 5GB transmitting bandwidth. MSI promises four hours of battery life when the 6-cell battery is used in tandem with Turbo Battery mode. Ideally, battery life of about 5 to 6 hours could’ve been impressive. Other competing 12-inch netbooks are available from Asus, Acer, Samsung and Dell.

Samsung I8000 Omnia II Arrives in India

Samsung has unveiled its latest Windows Mobile powered smartphone, the i8000 Omnia II in India. The Windows Mobile 6.1-powered device will augment the Omnia range in India, which currently includes the Omnia I900, Omnia Pro and the Series 60 Omnia HD.

The Omnia II is a full touchscreen device that has an impressive spec-sheet. The phone boasts of a huge 3.7-inch AMOLED display with a resolution 800×480 and displays 65k colors (thanks to the Windows Mobile limitation). With 8GB of internal memory and support for micro SD cards of upto 32GB, you will almost never fall short of storage space on this one. The Omnia II also features a 5-megapixel camera and high quality video recording with 720×480 resolution at 30fps. This is only slightly below the Omnia HD that can record 720p videos. The phone is a full 3G device with exhaustive network support. Other features include FM radio with RDS, FM Recording and availability of a 3.5mm jack. It is also quite zippy in nature, thanks to a powerful S3C6410 800Mhz processor.

The Omnia II also features a host of motion-enabled features including 3D photo album, video library, music library, browser bookmarks and FM Radio. Samsungs TouchWiz UI runs atop Windows Mobile and users can use widgets for accessing Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and the likes The phone is priced at Rs. 28,990 in the country and is now available across all dealers.

As of now, there is no word if Samsung will come up with a (sensible) Windows Mobile 6.5 update for this one.

Is Nintendo Making Larger Screen DSi?

Earlier this year, Nintendo had released new DSi handheld console with svelte dual screen. Now, Japanese news service Nikkei has reported that a new DSi console with 4-inch screen is in works and would be available in Japan by the end of this year.

Nikkei newspaper reported that the internal specifications and functions of the new DSi with larger screen will be the same. Also, the 4-inch screen bearing DSi will be sold for same price 18900 Yen (Rs. 9,650 approx.) as the current generation 3.25-inch screen bearing DSi. Nintendo has planned to release the new 4-inch screen bearing DSi this year in Japan. The release time for other regions is still under discussion.

Nintendo US called the news piece in Nikkei newspaper as a rumor and slammed it as a speculative article. The company’s Public Relations department told Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine, “We have not been reporting anything.” Last year, Nintendo had announced DSi handheld in October and released the same by the end of the year in Japan. (more…)

Samsung N140 comes with Windows 7

As Windows 7 was launched last week, we can expect a flood of new devices incorporating it. Amongst these is the all new netbook from Samsung – the N140.

The N140 is equipped with 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor with 1GB DDR2 RAM. Samsung boasts that this netbook has 250GB HDD for storage. It comes with a battery life of 11 hours with a 6 cell battery. Samsung claims that it is the first netbook in the market that has a 250GB Hard Disc Drive.

It is a slim device with 10.1″ LED Backlit display that delivers clear high resolution images. In addition, users can enjoy an enhanced multimedia experience with the good sound quality and SRS effects that produce High Definition 3D sound. Weighing just 1.27 kg, the N140 is compact enough to be carried anywhere. (more…)

BlackBerry Storm 2 to blow in this week

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Storm 2 will be available to Verizon Wireless customers Wednesday, according to the carrier.

Like its predecessor, the BlackBerry Storm 2 will feature a touch screen. Unlike the BlackBerry Storm, though, the Storm 2’s SurePress “clickable” display doesn’t actually move (except for around corners). Instead, the display provides an electronic feedback that mimics the feeling of a click. It also features multi-touch support, allowing users to click two keys (like shift plus a letter) on the virtual keyboard at the same time.

Aside from a revamped touch screen, the Storm 2 offers built-in Wi-Fi and EV-DO Revision A. The Storm 2 provides global support, allowing users to make calls and get 3G data overseas, thanks to an included SIM card. The phone comes with 256MB of flash memory, and 2GB of “onboard” memory. It also ships with a 16GB MicroSD card. (more…)