Canon PowerShot G12

Portable camera with DSLR features

BY YEONG AH SENG

Canon PowerShot G12

ACAMERA equipped with many of the manual functions of a digital SLR while staying light, portable and readily deployable – that is what the PowerShot G12 seeks to be.

While it is true that micro four-thirds cameras like the Olympus Pen and Panasonic G series also fit the bill, the G12 is in a lower category in terms of price and has a fixed lens (28mm wide-angle and 5x optical zoom).

The G12 can shoot in both Jpeg and RAW formats. It also has a new High Dynamic Range shooting mode to allow capture of high-contrast scenes: Three shots of the same scene are taken, analysed and combined incamera to create a single image.

There is also a new front dial for manual settings and a 28- scene Smart Auto mode. The camera has a fairly quick response time and pictures taken are very acceptable. It also features HD (1280 x 720) video recording with stereo sound.

How much: $849

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Sony’s Google Web TV

SAN FRANCISCO

SONY’S line-up of sleek television sets boasting oogle’s Web-surfing system will go on sale on Saturday, testing how much consumers are willing to pay to combine access to the Internet with regular TV programming.

The high-definition sets unveiled on Tuesday evening in New York will have LCD screens ranging from 24 inches to 46 inches, with recommended retail prices from US$600 (S$782) to US$1,400.

Sony will begin selling the new sets in its online store on Saturday, and they should be available in Best Buy’s United States stores by early next week. Pre-orders are being taken on both Sony’s and Best Buy’s websites.

Sony’s price for its Google TV sets is US$200 to US$400 higher than those of comparable TV sets without the highly touted software, a differential that threatens to dampen sales at a time when the still-shaky economy is causing more households to pinch their pennies.

The strong sales of Apple’s iPhones and iPads have demonstrated that people are still willing to open their wallets to buy breakthrough gadgets, but persuading them usually requires a snazzy marketing campaign that shows why the products are worth the extra money.

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said he is not convinced that Sony and Google will be able to make a compelling enough case to turn this new generation of TV sets into a must-have item, even though he is impressed with the technology inside the sets.

“Price is going to be important,” he said. “Google TV is a powerful experience, but most people aren’t going to understand it, unless they can see it in action. And Google isn’t known for its consumer-marketing experience. I think they have the right concept here, but I am not sure about the execution yet.”

Sony is planning a marketing blitz to promote its Google TV sets through the holiday shopping season, although the company is not saying how much it will spend on the campaign.

Google traditionally has refrained from buying TV ads, relying instead on its ubiquity on the Internet and the marketing acumen of its partners.

Like millions of mobile phones that have been sold in the past two years, Sony’s new TV sets will be built on Google’s Android operating system. They will navigate websites through Google’s Chrome browser and rely on Intel’s Atom chips for their processing power.

The system can comb through the Internet, television programming guides and even DVRs from satellite operator Dish Network Corp to find all videos connected to a request entered into a search bar at the top of the screen.

Said Mr Mike Abary, senior vice-president of Sony’s home division: “Finally, you can seamlessly search for your favourite TV programmes and websites on the same screen, at the same time.”
AP

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Microsoft's Kinect gets a local launch date

A date to Kinect

Microsoft's Kinect gets a local launch date
by Sim Cheng Kai
Updated 07:37 PM Oct 08, 2010

Microsoft's Kinect, its motion-based peripheral for the Xbox 360 gaming console, will be launched in Singapore on November 18 - just two weeks after its launch in the United States.

The Kinect peripheral is a sensor bar for the Xbox 360 that features a webcam, depth sensors and a multi-array microphone that will allow gamers to navigate through menus and play games using body gestures and spoken commands.

Retailers will offer Kinect in two packages: a bundle that includes an Xbox 360 4GB console for $469, or the standalone peripheral for $229. Both packages will also include adventure-based launch title Kinect Adventures.



This story is only available online.

http://www.todayonline.com/

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Windows Phone 7: Three local telcos to carry a total of five models

by Sim Cheng Kai
Updated 08:54 PM Oct 12, 2010

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer delivered his Windows Phone 7 (WP7) keynote at a New York press conference streamed live on the Internet last night (Singapore time), netizens here must have been surprised and worried to see the familiar SingTel logo flashed on-screen. Will SingTel be the only telco on our sunny island to carry WP7?

All speculation was put to rest today when Microsoft Singapore announced that it is working with all three telcos - SingTel, M1 and StarHub - to bring a total of five WP7 models to consumers. But SingTel will be the first to retail two of the phones on Oct 21, the day when Microsoft will launch WP7 phones in Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Next Thursday, SingTel will retail the Samsung Omnia 7 ($998 for the 8GB model, without contract) and the LG Optimus 7 (pricing pending, about $900 without contract).

The Samsung Omnia 7 features a four-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 1GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 8GB or 16GB of onboard memory. Samsung said that it is in talks with StarHub and M1 on the possibility of releasing the Omnia 7 through them.

The LG Optimus 7 has a 3.8-inch touchscreen and runs on a 1GHz processor with 16GB onboard storage. It comes preloaded with LG-specific apps that let you beam your photos, videos and music over WiFi to a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)-compliant TV or display, and search for nearby points of interest using augmented reality. StarHub has confirmed that it will carry the LG Optimus 7 soon. LG is also in talks with M1 on a potential release.

Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC will be releasing a trio of WP7 devices in Singapore - one exclusive to each of the telcos - that will feature SRS WOW HD surround sound and HTC-specific apps. These devices will not make it for the Oct 21 launch, but are expected to make retail between the end of October and early November. The trio will be released simultaneously, according to HTC's product marketing manager for Southeast Asia Wayne Tang.

Exclusive to SingTel is the HTC HD7 ($938, without contract), which sports a 4.3-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 16GB of internal storage. Its unique feature is a kickstand on its back that lets you prop the device up on a table for multimedia playback.

StarHub customers can get the HTC 7 Mozart ($868, without contract), which is similar to the HTC Legend and Desire HD in that it touts a unibody concept. The Mozart has a 3.7-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera with Xenon flash, and 8GB of internal storage.

M1 customers can go for the HTC 7 Trophy ($798, without contract), which has a 3.8-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera with flash, and 8GB internal memory.

All three telcos will start accepting pre-orders for the WP7 phones this week via their websites.

WP7 is Microsoft's latest foray in the smartphone arena, and is designed to deliver a consistently smooth experience regardless of handset. The user interface revolves around Hubs, which are apps that aggregate data from a number of sources such as Outlook and Facebook.

For more details on the WP7 user interface, visit our Tech Talk blog at http://blogs.todayonline.com/techtalk/2010/09/hands-on-windows-phone-7/

Look out also for a full round-up of WP7 and the five handsets in the Friday edition of TODAY.

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Laptop Review: Asus NX90

Piece of engineering art


Laptop Review: Asus NX90

by Trevor Tan
05:55 AM Oct 08, 2010

ALMOST everyone who walked by my desk in the office the past few days did a double take. Many stopped to talk ... not about me but about the Asus NX90 multimedia laptop ($3,888) on my desk.

Designed by David Lewis, the man behind Bang & Olufsen trademark products, the NX90 is a piece of engineering art. Polished aluminium dominates the top outer shell and palm rest, while dual touchpads flank the keyboard. Speakers are placed alongside a gorgeous 18.4-inch full high-definition (HD) LED backlight display, completing the notebook's minimalist design and helping to warp sound around the user.

But while the polished aluminum surface looks good (and makes an excellent mirror), it is a smudge magnet and you do have to clean it a lot. The dual touchpads feel awkward to use (we would have preferred to use a mouse) and the keyboard layout is unconventional. For example, the Backspace key on the top right-hand side is replaced with the Delete key. Thus, you might hit some wrong keys. Plus, the laptop's hefty size and weight (4.8kg, with battery) means you will likely use the NX90 as a desktop replacement rather than a portable laptop.

Its specifications are better than those of many desktop computers. The review set sports an Intel Core i7-720QM processor (1.6GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz), 4GB of DDR3 RAM (8GB in retail), 1GB of video RAM in Nvidia GeForce GT335M, a Blu-Ray DVD combo drive, and 1TB of storage space. It boasts a 2-megapixel webcam and USB 3.0, HDMI and eSATA ports.

The NX90 takes around 68 seconds to boot up and about 18 seconds to shut down. In the PassMark PerformanceTest 7.0 benchmark test, it clocks a score of 1055. This is not bad if you compare it to gaming laptop Dell Alienware M17x's score of 1,288.

With a 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, you will also find running multi-thread applications such as Photoshop CS5 fast.

Playing movies on the NX90 is awesome. The sharp, glossy display is not too reflective and the speakers are magnificent. Just don't turn the volume too high, as distortion might occur. Trevor Tan

http://www.todayonline.com/

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Sharp unveils Android phone

MODELS displaying Sharp’s new Android-based smartphone, the IS-03, in Tokyo on Monday. The new smartphone, equipped with a double 3.5-inch high-resolution, low-consumption LCD, and a 9.57-megapixel camera, will go on sale in Japan at the end of this year. (PHOTO: AFP)

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An iPhone dock that lets you customise your alarm with a mobile app

iPhone/iPod Dock Review: iHome iA5

by Trevor Tan
02:10 PM Oct 07, 2010

These days, many people set their wake-up alarms on their mobile phone instead of using a conventional alarm clock. Now, how about using an alarm clock that charges your iPhone and lets you customise your alarm with a mobile app? The iHome iA5 lets you do just that.

Weighing less than 1kg and measuring 237x148x99mm, the iA5 looks like any iPhone/iPod alarm clock in the market and has a big snooze button and an on/off button on top. The speakers and the display screen lay behind a meshed grille, while the dock connector sits prominently in the centre.

The design of the dock is simple and practical. There is no need for adapters with the open dock connector. But at $169, the dock is expensive. And the pricing is even more glaring when you realise the dock lacks an FM radio.

What truly distingushes the iA5 from other iPhone/iPod alarm clocks is the app powering it.

Download the "iHome + Sleep" app on your iPhone or iPod Touch and you can customise your alarms by creating "Sleep Cards", such as 15 mins for your naps. You can specify tunes for specific activities as well. Once that's done, simply swipe your desired Sleep Card into a slot on the app and dock your iPhone or iPod to the iA5. The Sleep Cards will only work when docked.

With this app, you can also sync the time of your iPhone to the iA5, receive weather information, set reminders, and activate "overnight news" (your friends' Facebook and Twitter updates) to be downloaded so that you can read it when you wake up. You can even send messages on your Twitter or Facebook to tell your friends you have slept or woken up!

Despite the wealth of information on the app, there is very little displayed on the iA5's screen, except for the time, an alarm sign and a logo to show the app is running. Even the date is not displayed. But the good thing about the screen is that you can adjust its brightness simply by tapping on the snooze button.

You can play music from your iPhone or iPod when it is docked. Just don't crank up the volume too much as the speakers aren't spectacular.

The iHome iA5 would have been great if it were cheaper and if it included an FM radio. Nonetheless, it's a nice iPhone/iPod charging dock and alarm clock that lets you customise your alarms and broadcast your sleeping habits to your friends. Just make sure your boss is not on your Facebook!

This story is only available online.

http://www.todayonline.com/

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