Apr/100
DROID Incredible by HTC Coming by the End of April to Verizon Wireless
With a name inspired right from superhero comic books, the DROID Incredible by HTC is a phone that will very soon reach the American soil thanks to the Verizon Wireless telecom carrier. The phone will start being available at the end of the month, more precisely on April 29, and it is a combination of Android and HTC Sense, all on a Nexus One-like, 3.7-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. This is a phone powered by a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that will run Android 2.1 Eclair and will be making everybody confused as to what the connection between them and Motorola’s DROID is. This one right here is a modern-day “regular smartphone,” like so many others out there now. Between this Incredible model and the Nexus One, for instance, the differences are related to the size of the sensor that their camera have, DROID Incredible by HTC being an 8 MP snapper, or the fact that the Nexus One was very well marketed. Other than that, users will get the same GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g phone, with an optical joystick for easier webpage navigation through all the 480 x 800 pixels. Pre-orders from Verizon Wireless start on April 19 and, as I have already told you, it will start shipping on April 29. The price for one DROID Incredible by HTC will be of USD199 after a USD100 mail-in rebate. This is, of course, if users sign a two-year contract. The rebate will be received by future customers in the form of a debit card. Also, the DROID Incredible users will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. These cost $39.99 and $29.99 per month, respectively. After the phone is released, Verizon Wireless will be making available two new, exclusive apps that will get along just fine with the DROID Incredible by HTC. The NFL Mobile app and the Skype mobile app, which have very intuitive names.
Apr/100
wow Monster and Reve release SuperThin HDMI cables
had a rocky start, but overall it’s been a boon for home theater fans, simplifying bundles of AV cables into one easy cable. While Interconnect Cables has drastically reduced cable clutter, Monster seeks to take that idea to the extreme with its recently announced SuperThin HDMI cables. With the cable measuring only 3.5mm thick, Monster claims the SuperThin cables are 65 percent thinner than a normal HDMI cable, making them easier to carry with portable gadgets like cameras and camcorders. And while the cables aren’t HDMI 1.4 compatible, they do support HDMI 1.4’s maximum transfer speed of 10.2 Gbps, which means it’s possible that they’ll work with new 3D Blu-ray players (although we’ve never tested that.)
Apr/100
LG’s passive shutter 3DTV
Just like everybody else in the display business, LG is trying to figure out exactly how they’re going to position themselves to benefit from the upcoming 3D Explosion! Since almost-sorta-not really pulling out of a deal with Sky TV to supply British pubs with 3D televisions, the company has announced that it will be offering its first 3DTV sets that uses polarization technology (as opposed to that active shutter stuff like NVIDIA’s 3D Vision) to consumers. Presumably cheaper than its active shutter counterparts, the LD950 supports HDMI version 1.4, 1080p HD, external storage via USB 2.0 (with DivX HD, MP3, and JPEG support), and comes bundled with four pairs of polarized glasses. There’s no word on a price or release date, but if it makes you feel better we can reveal that two new active 3D displays, the LX9900 (47-inch and 55-inch) and LX6900 (42-inch), featuring 1080p, Freeview HD, Netcast widgets (YouTube, Skype, Accu Weather, Picasa), and wireless AV link, will be available in May for a price yet to be determined.