Xperia Play: Coming this March!

Despite of the mourning upon the strike of the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and having the closure of six major factories throughout the mother country Japan, Sony somehow managed to come out with a statement mentioned the details upon the Xperia Play's released date on UK!

The Sony Ericsson's marketing director for UK and Ireland, David Hilton stated that the long waiting for the region will be last until this March 31st, packed with six pre-installed games! ( Bruce Lee Dragon Warriors, Tetris, Star Battalion, Crash Bandicoot, FIFA 2010, and the famous The Sim 3)

Also being mentioned is the news regarding more than 50 games will also be available for download via the Sony Playstation's Suite, which will include the classic PSOne titles and current smartphone games built exclusively according to the specification made for the phone.

The director also mentioned the massive commercial planning expected to coming on the following days, "We are currently still in commercial conversation, but I’d be surprised if we didn’t see Xperia Play appear in other channels.", he said. "All the mobile operators and retailers are selling it. It is rare these days to get a product that is sold everywhere, but this is one of those.This will be the biggest marketing campaign we have had in the UK".
 
The released date of the other regions will be announced sooner. Stay tuned.


Source: OJ.net, engadget

The iPad 2 is here!

BREAKING NEWS!

From the Apple's iPad 2 event, the ultimate MacOS company starring Steve Jobs himself,  is currently releasing the latest official debut and information about the next generation of iPad, and yes, this is no joke! Full credits to the engadget teams for the news and the picture!

The iPad 2 will be packed firmly with the dual-core A5 chip, new CPU with twice the speed, enhanced graphic performance exceeded up to nine times better than its predecessor, HDMI output ready, and hell yeah, it finally comes with front and rear cameras! 

However, there are things that will be left untouched, such as the power requirements, and the 10 hours compromised battery power, exactly  the same as the first iPad. But what a surprise, the pricing will be statically unchanged and seemly unaltered at all! The price will be approximately at $499 (converted to Malaysian Ringgit, it will be RM1518.33)  at the least! Also, the gadget will comes in a rather thinner shape with two colors, the black and white.

The iPad 2 will be starting to sail and meet the stores at March 11, 2011.

(will be updated more, stay tuned!)

Source: engadget.com

Nintendo 3DS hacked!

It's been only 5 days from the first Japan's shipment of the Nintendo 3DS; being wiped out of all 400,000 units for the first 24 hours of launching, and few days later, of course, something to be predicted already, booyah! The device ,somehow, is successfully hacked!

Nintendo does giving its best shot on the attempt to firmly secure 3DS from any piracy approach, however, things that happened suggest a rather more distraught and stressful outcome. Videos concerning a hacking demonstration through the use of an R4 card  has been world widely watched through Youtube, with an exceeded 77,524 viewers already! (based on the time this article is written)




"Dude,what is an R4 card?"

The R4 card is also best known as the R4 DS or R4 Revolution, commonly used for Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite or Nintendo DSi to play game, music, and many other tasks. It works like the UMD for PSP, or the tape for Gameboy. The R4 card comes in a size of a regular Nintendo DS cartridge.

Although some of the community resisted to accept such demonstration is a way of the hacking procedure, but inevitably we have to admit that this will be assumed to be the starting line between the hacker lovers and haters. Let the game begins!

Sources: Tom's Guide, articlebases.com

PSP Go is still alive!

Okay,we might probably heard the news that the first shipment of the newly released Nintendo 3DS, which has been launched just 5 days ago in Japan, sold out completely. Well, it is a common thing to happen (especially for the Japanese hardcore gamers) whenever new console arrived in town,isn't it? But here, we'll not be talking about the 3DS, but instead, the spotlight for now is the so-called-failed-product, Sony PSP Go, believe me guys, it got sales boost! Credits to QJ.net for such an awesome expose!

The list indicates the hardware sales for the week ending February 20th based on Media Create chart :

• PSP – 63,330
• PS3 – 25,242
• Wii – 12,221
• DSi LL – 10,037
• DSi – 8,022
• PSP go – 2,487
• Xbox 360 – 2,183
• PS2 – 1,863
• DS Lite – 973

 For the sales of PSP Go, yeah, we know that 2,487 would be probably counted as shits, but hey, look at what happens to the sales of the same device last week!

• PSP – 106,893
• PS3 – 26,766
• Wii – 15,028
• DSi LL – 12,069
• DSi – 10,039
• Xbox 360 – 2,118
• PS2 – 1,665
• DS Lite – 1,003
• PSP go - 10

For those who think that 10 is not a big deal, well, to my own rationality, it is a big number since we have the consistent rumors, saying people will waste no more dollars on PSP Go, unless they know nothing about the device at all. The purchasing are still going, at the least of 10 units last week!  it is the best thing could really happen to the device! Yet, from the list, the most easiest conclusion we could suggest so far would be the nigiyaka (lively) sales for the Sony's ultimate gaming device are due to the fact that people still love to play the PSP, even the Playstation 3 just managed to come out as the second.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in another happening news, the SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) is expected to come out with surprises for the PSP,of what they claimed as the "exciting PSP plan". However, there will be no telling about what could precisely included in the manifesto. Despite of not knowing the truth yet, some accounts from the source website have already predicted the possibilities of the content in the plan!

"The announcement for Europe is probably PSP drop price. $129.99 converted to pounds is £79.92 but it'll end up costing about £100.00 or so. I wish it'd really cost £79,92 (around this price) and not £100,00 but it's due to extra charges." - Owner1

"i bet they're gonna have a price drop of their own as well, but not the directly converted price from the US. but i do hope these "exciting plans" are indeed worth looking more into" - Glenn M

"gtfo troll. The NGP probably has the ability to play the lesser resource using ones and why would it have OOS when it is Sony you are talking about? Back on subject, I get the feeling that the exciting plans might include a price drop for PSP-Gos and probably something to do with PSN." - Etnas Prinny

Based on the comments, i'm pretty sure as well that the plan should be covering the strategy for the price drops. This is a great approach though since people are getting sick day by day just to wait for an original UMD without a jaw dropping price tag, especially the ones with PSP Go.

Sources: QJ.net, Media Create

Xperia Play versus iPhone and NGP?

 From the way we're seeing the current issues regarding the smartphone competitions nowadays, to those who may concerns, it is obvious that the latest rivalry may be erupted between the newly upcoming Sony Ericsson's phone, the Xperia Play, and the one we may recognized as the world most ultimate smartphone so far, the iPhone. The official winner will be announced sooner the Xperia Play hits the store approximately next month (March 2011), but of course, we may yet to predict which one is better.

Xperia Play VS iPhone

Based on Sony Ericsson's UK Marketing Manager David Hilton, he stated that due to the few special reasons, the Sony Ericsson is firmly back on the track of smartphones games, "It puts our smartphones out there with the latest Android technology, the benefits of that coupled with the best of Sony technology that make using a Sony Ericsson much more satisfying, much more enjoyable and frankly much more cool than using an iPhone.", he added.

In another debatable point, he stressed that Xperia Play may not only concern by the looks and fabulous integrated technology in term of specification, but also through the pricing tagged on the mobile device. For now, there is no telling about the actual price yet, but Hilton did reveal some hints about it, saying that it will cost "the same or probably a little bit less" than the iPhone's. Of course, the winner will be determined by the technology AND the price relevance. Hence, if Xperia managed to come up with a lower better price, than it is obvious to see whose gonna be the one to burst out the champagne on the stage.

But hey, this is not the only main topic to be discussed here, since there will be another competitor that capable of challenging the Xperia Play; it is its own distant brother, the Next Generation Portable alias PSP2!

 

Xperia Play VS Next Generation Portable (NGP)

"If someone wants the ultimate gaming machine and is prepared to wait until later in 2011, then the NGP might be for them - but they would have to carry another smartphone and many people don't want to do that.", so David Hilton pointed out that way.

Some of the community said that the way Sony introduced both of the gaming devices at a nearly the same time, it might lead to the condition where the customers might be confused on which one to pick, since they are from the same company, with possibly within nearly the same specifications! Well, to give credits on which one should be purchased, it is a very hard job to be done, but within a few measurements we'll be discussing now, the customers will hopefully eventually find out the right one to have the rights to be in their pockets.


The customers will be given options of priority; first phase, are you more into the casual or hardcore gaming experience? If you chose to be the casual ones, then the Xperia Play will be the good thing for you. It comes with great specifications and features, including motion and gesture-based gaming features, and yeah, it should be enough to power up the 3D games. The released 50 titles for the phone aren't sound bad at all, especially the well-known Assassin's Creed, Battlefield, and Dead Space franchises. Of course, you can't expect the graphic to surpass the NGP, since the handheld portable will be using a different engine and features, but it is satisfying enough for a casual gamer. For more details on the Xperia Play, click HERE.

But if you're about to gain the hardcore gaming experiences, then NGP is definitely the right thing for you! Why? Because it comes with tremendous special features and capabilities, where from that point, you can pleasantly choose which pleasured you the most. For instance, you may choose to play the games with the d-Pad, or simply using the touch screen or track pad on the back of the device. For specific info about the NGP, click HERE.


Second phase, the price. If you got bunches of dollars in the wallet, then you will face no problem, go for both of them! But, if you're losing money, i'm suggesting you to wait for the NGP, since the price may seems to be a little bit higher than the former PSP and shouldn't be expecting to exceed the price of an iPhone. And, if you're ready to go for dollars, then pick the Xperia, since we have already known from Hilton's statement; the price might exceed or less than the iPhone. (in other word, it will stays costy)


To conclude these, we just have to wait for them to show up, and sooner the elimination of options will be taking the places. :D

The New MacBook Pro, with Thunderbolt Technology!

Since the moment Intel first announced the releasing of brand new processors for PC, i always wondered just why the MacBook Pro didnt jump through flows, but yeah, I know this was coming! Apple just released its new customized MacBook Pro with highly better specification, and yes, it also comes with a brand new technology which could potentially lead the new way of people seeing and speculating upon the Apple world!

Okay, let's cover the specification first, the new released edition officially comes with the new Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors, AMD Radeon HD 6000M graphics,FaceTime HD cameras, and the newly released ultra super fast Thunderbolt I/O transfer speed! So here, we should be seeing the NVIDIA no more for now.

"What the heck is the Thunderbolt I/O transfer rate?"

Good question there, i believed the majority over here acknowledged the term poorly. So now i'm going to explain a brief introduction and include opinions from other people about the system. Need more details? Wisely use your Google toolbar.

It is the new technology that capable to challenge the USB 3.0, compromising of giving a transfer rate up to 10gb/second; in other saying from Intel itself, such rate allows the transferring of 10 to 20gb basis in size, full-length movie HD movie in less than 30 seconds! Apple stated also that the Thunderbolt will be running on copper and not the optical cables due to the reason of obtaining the capability to support bus-powered devices.

Based on the statement made by Imran Ghauri from engadget.com,

"Architecture - FireWire vs. USB 2.0

FireWire, built from the ground up for speed, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer

USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower, less-efficient data flow control)

Thunderbolt is "Peer-to-Peer" architecture "

Get the picture already?
Sounds really shitty cool, isnt it? Now, are you ready for the prices?



13-Inch (RM3,699.00)
- 2.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
- 4gb 1333MHz
- 320gb of HDD (5400-rpm)
- Intel HD Graphics 3000
- Built-in 7 hours battery




13-Inch (RM4,599.00)

- 2.7 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
- 4gb 1333MHz
- 500gb of HDD (5400-rpm) 
- Intel HD Graphics 3000
- Built-in 7 hours battery




15-Inch (RM5,499.00)

- 2.0 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
- 4gb 1333MHz
- 500gb of HDD (5400-rpm)  
- Intel HD Graphics 3000
- AMD Radeon HD 6490M with 256mb GDDR5
- Built-in 7 hours battery


 

15-Inch (RM6,799.00)

- 2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
- 4gb 1333MHz
- 750gb of HDD (5400-rpm)  
- Intel HD Graphics 3000
- AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1gb GDDR5 
- Built-in 7 hours battery



 15-Inch (RM7,699.00)

- 2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
- 4gb 1333MHz
- 750gb of HDD (5400-rpm)   
- Intel HD Graphics 3000
- AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1gb GDDR5 
- Built-in 7 hours battery

Start saving your money, people.  :)

Source: engadget.com

iPhone 5: Now with a slide-out keyboard?

June is just around the corner, but for the Apple freaks and fanboys, the feeling to wait for it just resembling a one year waiting time, it seems from my observation, they just failed to bear any patience and seriously cant wait any longer for the release of the next upcoming iPhone 5! Settle down boys, here comes the latest news for your 3-months-later gadget. "Throw your iPhone 4G away,it's a piece of shit~"  :D

The news exploited by a Taiwan website, concerning the shocking company's revealing. Surprisingly, many rumors bursting the saying of Apple has already done building three hardware prototypes, one of them suggests a different conceptual shape by adding up a real slide-out keyboard feature! How cool is that? This might be due to the reason of many demands on something other than the touchscreen feature have been made for the past few years.

Another prototype suggests a similar look of the previous iPhone 4, except for the improved battery life, empowered 8 Megapixel camera, and of course, the improved overall  internal hardware. However, there is no telling about the third prototype, instead the website just mentioned about the upcoming iPad 2.


There are also rumors concerning the expanding of the phone's screen resolution which may exceed up to 4 inches! Wow, guess Apple has already figured the fact that the they are a little much behinds the track in the "big is better" competition.

A full credit to the Tom's Hardware for such a fantastic news!

Xperia Play: The Playstation Phone is close!

As we had already been informed well about the existence of the newly made Playstation Phone, Sony has already come out with statements concerning the approximate day of releasing, the detailed specification, and the expected games to run through the phone!

Okay, first,we'll be covering the release date phase. Sony stated that the device will be hitting the market pretty much on the upcoming March of 2011, however they did not released any words mentioning the actions on whether they want to launch it worldwide, or just addressing few regions as early steps. Till this moment, the date will remains ambiguous. Well, March sounds better than December. I just hate to wait that long.

Second, the full specifications made for the phone. Okay, i'll be listing each one of them based on the list made by QJ.net, a full credit to them for such a fabulous expose.

Camera

• 5.1 megapixel camera
• Auto focus
• Flash / Photo light
• Geo tagging
• Image stabiliser
• Send to web
• Touch focus
• Video light
• Video recording
• Video blogging

Music

• Album art
• Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
• Google™ Music Player
• Music tones (MP3/AAC)
• PlayNow™ service*
• Sony Ericsson Music player
• Stereo speakers
• TrackID™ music recognition application

Internet

• Android Market™*
• Bookmarks
• Google™ search*
• Google™ Voice Search*
• Pan & zoom
• Web browser (Webkit)

Communication

• Call list
• Conference calls
• Facebook™ application (from Android Market™)
• Google™ Talk*
• Noise Shield
• Polyphonic ringtones
• Speakerphone
• Sony Ericsson Timescape™***
• Twitter™ application (from Android Market™)
• Vibrating alert

Messaging

• Android Cloud to Device messaging (C2DM)
• Conversations
• Email
• Google Mail™*
• Instant messaging
• Picture messaging (MMS)
• Predictive text input
• Sound recorder
• Text messaging (SMS)

Design

• Auto rotate
• Keyboard (onscreen, 12 key)
• Keyboard (onscreen, QWERTY)
• Picture wallpaper
• Touchscreen
• Wallpaper animation

Entertainment

• 3D games
• Dedicated gaming keys
• Flash Lite™
• Gesture gaming
• Motion gaming
• Video streaming
• YouTube™

Organizer

• Alarm clock
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Document editors
• Document readers
• E-Manual
• Flight mode
• Google Calendar™
• Google Gallery 3D™
• Infinite button
• Phone book
• Set-up Wizard
• Widget manager

Connectivity

• 3.5 mm audio jack
• aGPS
• Bluetooth™ technology
• DLNA Certified
• Google Latitude™
• Google Location Service
• Google Maps™ with Street View
• Media Transfer Protocol support
• Micro USB Connector
• Modem
• Synchronisation via Facebook™**
• Synchronisation via Google Sync™
• Synchronisation via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
• Synchronisation via Sony Ericsson Sync
• USB 2.0 high speed support
• Wi-Fi™
• Wi-Fi™ Hotspot functionality

* The service is not available in all markets.
** Requires Facebook™ application installed on the device.

Google™ services*

* These services may not be available in every market Android Market™ Client

• Gmail™
• Google Calendar™
• Google Gallery 3D™
• Google Latitude™
• Google Maps™ with Street View
• Google Media Uploader
• Google Music Player™
• Google Phone-top Search
• Google Search widget
• Google Sync™
• Google Talk™
• Google Voice Search
• Set-up Wizard
• YouTube™

Screen

• 16,777,216 colour TFT
• Capacitive multi-touch
• 4 inches
• 480 x 854 pixels (FWVGA)

In-box

• Xperia™ PLAY
• Battery
• Stereo portable handsfree
• 8GB microSD™ memory card
• Charger
• Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
• User documentation

Facts

• Size: 119 x 62 x 16 mm
• Weight: 175 grams
• Phone memory: 400 MB
• Memory card support: microSD™, up to 32 GB
• Memory card included: 8GB microSD™
• Operating system: Google™ Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Processor: 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7

Talk time and Networks

• Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 8 hrs 25 min*
• Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 425 hrs*
• Talk time UMTS: Up to 6 hrs 25 min*
• Standby time UMTS: Up to 413 hrs*
• Talk time CDMA2000®: Up to 7 hrs 40 min*
• Standby time CDMA2000®: Up to 405 hrs*
• Game play time: Up to 5 hrs 35 min*
• MP3 playback: Up to 30 hrs 35 min*

Networks

• UMTS HSPA 800, 850, 1900, 2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• UMTS HSPA 900, 2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• CDMA2000®, cdmaOne, EVDO

Colors

• Black
• White

Okay, let's go to the next chapter, yet the most interesting part to me! Yeah, the expected games to run through the phone. Sony claimed that there will be at least 50 games to be introduced in the phone debut session. The 50 games will come from over 20  infamous developers such as Namco Bandai, EA, Gameloft, and PopCap. Well, how about the titles? It is very likely to see the sightings of Assasin Creed, Guitar Hero, Battlefield, and even the most wanted game, the DEAD SPACE. Not enough with the good news, here comes another better news, the phone is predicted to be capable on running the PS One games, just like the former PSP! 

Yeah! It is about time to kick some iPhone asses! I'm pretty much annoyed to face the fact of Dead Space has gotten into the iPhone gaming list. Hopefully these news will turn to be the real things. Okay now, i've prepared the commercial ads for the phone, enjoy buffering the video first. :)


Source: QJ.net

iControlPad the savior

Sick of getting your fingers blocking your view on the iPhone screen? Settle down, the savior is here. With the new iControlPad, you can leave the touch screen controls a goodbye kiss. Guess someone just did something upon hearing the complaints regarding how sucks an iPhone could be without the d-pad system. :D

What is that thing anyway? It is a gamepad adaptor for iPhone exclusively, and priced approximately $75 (converted to Malaysian Ringgit, it will be RM228.34) . The adapter will comes with a digital d-pad, two analog nubs, six front buttons and two rear buttons.Please take a note, this is for iPhone only, sorekara, if you are planning to put this into your Blackberry phone, think twice.

So what do you think? Are you buying? Well, just for your reference, i just put various comments from Gizmodo regarding this release. Happy reading. :)

I really think Apple should release this kind of thing officially for the iPhone.You have the main phone doing just as it always has, which is great, but then you have the option to expand it's control with an official controller add-on that all developers can support in their control schemes for their games.I don't see how that could hurt any, unless Apple thinks it undermines the phone somehow that they even have to offer an extra control option, but I really just think it would be good...Like people having to buy arm straps so they can carry their phone in a useful way when jogging for example. - iNCEPTIONAL

The only thing the Playstation phone has that the ICP doesn't is touch analog sticks. Which kinda defeats the purpose of putting buttons on the thing. The ICP has actual sticks. - Jason Dupree

Not all emulators work.No shoulder buttons.The thing is HUGE.Why should anybody buy this? - Gary Blake

The clamshell would limit the devices without it having a heavily engineered design. This is a design that allows for simple modifications by anybody and the most flexible device coverage rather than just a few phones with certain dimensions.At worst this is a expensive bluetooth gaming controller. At best, any future phone upgrades you have this will work with.- Noisome

Holy crap, this is expensive - Eric Arrache Goncalves

Aaaaw it's only $75. Not an arm or leg or anything SMH - Robhatesbuttons

This looks like some old Nintendo from 20 years ago. I think I'll just wait for the Android/PSP hybrid thingie.- Chris Connor

How cool would it be if you could (on a jailbroken phone) define geometrical spaces on the screen where the virtual controls for a particular game were present and then have button presses simulate a touch to that area? This wouldn't solve the problem completely since it would require jailbreaking but at least developers would not have to build in support for the device. Not sure how feasible it is.... - bensashi

"we're told not all games and emulators will work with the thing"
This is important. Game pads are not part of mobile device design, support will have to be added by each developer of each game... this is the same problem the xperia is going to have. I would love to see a list of game that WILL work with this for any and all platforms, I suspect it will be very very tiny... love the concept but they need to do some serious promotion with developers to make it actually DO something when you connect it up...- ima747

For the size and price I could just use one of the Nyko mini Wii remotes with my Droid. It's cheaper, and I know that the 3 major emulators I play will work with it. - MaxwellMudd

oh, this is gonna be awesome! - Spine

Either thats a bad picture of it or that device is really overpriced. - Gregory Pierce

Yup, looks like a $2 China gadget. That said, for $10 I'd buy one... hell, even $40 would be okay, because the battery can be used to charge the phone (great for extended gaming sessions). But with shipping to Germany they're like $100, so... no. :( - Simon Broenner

Looks like it costs about $4 to make. - Xephrey

Sony Playstation Portable stays

  Usually, when Sony announced a new enhanced device of gaming platform, we can easily predict what would happen to the previous version of the console. Well, they'll just sack them away eventually. For instance, look at what happened to the noble Playstation the 2nd once the 3rd one hit the market. The games got lamer and lamer, and most of the famous ones will cease to exist. But hey, things aren't work the same in the Playstation Portable legacy. Why the hell was that? Keep reading.

The president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studio stated to Edge that although the NGP will comes by the end of this year, the company doesn't plan to halt the business standpoint of the former PSP, which has been six years in the sales since the first debut made on 2004. Although the sales of the handheld weren't quite in the picture of Sony might want it to be, but based on the statement made by the company previously, claiming that they have the ten-year plans for their gaming console, they just want Sony PSP to be a part of it.

 Another thing to be discussed is about the specific pricing of NGP, which hasn't been mentioned by Sony yet. But indeed, the president just spoke a word or two, "In terms of pricing, we can't sell the NGP for the same price as a PSP. The PSP has become very affordable and popular, especially with younger generations," he said. 

Yeah, we know, it would be ridiculous to sell NGP at the price of current PSP, but we'll definitely have no tolerance with any handheld console at a price of an iMac for sure. Bear that in mind, Sony.


Source: QJ.net

Acer ICONIA: Double Screens for Double Goods?

Oh God, it is true? Am i the only one to miss the spotlight of Acer's latest innovation so far? Or can i just assumed that the newspaper is lamer and outdated? I was shocked to know that there's a new invention from Acer via a today's newspaper (which i didnt even know), and instead when i perform the double check on Google, then news has been alive like months ago, and listed on Wikipedia already! What the...?

Never mind that, here's Acer ICONIA, the not-so-latest invention of "touchbook" from Acer, and where's the real spotlight here? Well, to those who thinks it is obvious, the laptop comes with a DUAL SCREEN; one on the top, and another one is on the surface where keyboard was once there. To my first glance, i was thinking about Nintendo, why? It is because the portable gaming console Nintendo Dual Screen works just the same. Except for the stylus.

Based on Acer's official website, the touchbook comes with a package of new applications like Acer Ring, Social Jogger, Gesture Editor, and Virtual keyboard.  The Acer Ring works just like the Window's Media Player, or iTunes, except for the capability to move our fingers around the player window. Social Jogger allows us to view a website twice the size of a regular window! Get the picture? Next, the Gesture Editor allows us to make our own gestures on the screen, works just like editing your own shortcut on the keyboard. Last, ICONIA do own a keyboard, but a virtual one.

However, there's a bad side for this kind of innovation. For instance, engadget reported that the screens are glossy, leading to the factor of light reflection on the second screen, and yeah, it annoying to see glares on your virtual keyboard, no?

Here's a footage for the actual ICONIA in action. Check it out yawl~



(P/S: ICONIA has been announced on engadget since November 23rd 2010)

Playstation Phone official commercial leaked!

Now, now, i think everybody must expecting to know better about the so-called Playstation Phone,no? Well, it seems to me that Sony Ericsson shouldnt be the one to attempt much efforts of announcing the device since it has been leaked for months, yeah,i said it,for months already! So basically we have already know what should a Playstation Phone looks like, and the overall knowledge about its benchmarks.

Just to get yourself clear, there's been a number of pictures, details, and hand-on impressions have been made few months for the one they called as the Xperia Play. Now here comes the latest one, being uploaded to the youtube by a Norwegian site (Droidnytt.no), the first commercial ever,leaked! As the video shows,it features an Android mascot is currently going through a surgery of getting extra thumbs in order to use the phone's analog touchpad!

Buffer the video below to see it for yourself.



Well, Sony will be expected to announce the device official revealing this Valentine's Day, when the Mobile World Congress expo taking place on February 14 to February 17 in Barcelona.Go for it people!  :D

Source: 1up.com

NGP will comes in 2 versions, undetermined pricing

Due to the recent succession of publishing the latest invention of the next handheld gaming console, i've been thinking a lot of cool words of compliment to be matched with Sony, not until this morning, i got a news concerning about the decision made by Sony; planning to release two different versions of Sony Next Generation Portable (NGP), one with the 3G capability and the other one without, and now it confuses me, leading to a question; are you sure about making this stuff?

A report from Eurogamer claimed that Sony stated the uncertain decision was not made clear during the announcement presentation last January 27th; not all of Sony's handhelds with have function of 3G functionality, but according to SCEE boss Andrew House, the Wi-Fi capability will have no changes in planning, assuring that all devices will have the built-in Wi-Fi. It is due to the fact that Sony wants to secure the 3G partnerships leading to such decision, and the service will be charged based on the usage capacity.

About the price tag prediction, the device will not expecting more than $599 ( if converted to Malaysian Ringgit, it is RM1830.24 excluding the tax), as quoted by Shu Yoshida, the SCEE executive, "From the very beginning of the project, pricing was one of the considerations that we had. Hopefully when we announce the price, people will see the proper value." He mentioned about it after being reminded of how expensive the PS3 the first time its launched many years ago.

 
Okay,enough with the report, personally i do really think that Sony will face more intricacy if the issues of what version to be made bumping the company, they should be thinking more deeply before going for a huge presentation. I hope Sony do not plan to boast and said only cool things which are too good to be true during last the presentation because it really sounds pathetic. Man, it is not like i want to complain everything, just to voice out my worries upon the flow of the device development. Sony shouldnt be messing up things in order to gain more attention from everyone.

About the price, i got nothing much to say, but based on the general comments from most forums, the people predict it will be ridiculously expensive.Although the representative just considered to tag a relevant pricing in the future, there will no guarantee on how "relevant" it will be.

Source: IGN

LG expected to lead the 3D phone!

Yeah,there's nothing wrong with the title, as we can see today,almost everything around us, somehow attempting the possibility to be ignited through the all new 3D-based technology; the wide-screen television, the cinema, the computer, the portable gaming device, pornography adult movies, you name it. And for now, whether you wanna take this as a joke or not, here comes the first phone in 3D!

Sources stated that LG will become the first developer to actually build a working phone without any special 3D glasses. The prediction is based on the invitation content the company begun to send out regarding the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, mentioning something about "Into the New Dimension. Experience the new world that LG is opening.' Well, for some people, it is obvious, LG is thinking about the 3D stuff. It's a contemporary trend anyway.

For the locals, usually The Mobile World Congress never get too much attention, but due to the 3D speculation, somehow it is this year that the perception might changes. It is expected to be huge! We can say that people hate to wear glasses just to get a better view of the 3D screen, and it seems to be a trend nowadays to not to wear anymore glasses. This is perfect for LG to prove that the mobile got what it takes to handle the 3D stuff without wearing any weird stuff.

The event will be held exactly on Valentine's Day, so if you really care about making something special or romantic to your spouse, well, i just gave you a hint; you might be thinking Barcelona right now, make her smile and say something like, "George, promise me that you're gonna buy the 3D LG for me pleeeaase??"  :D


Source: I4U News

Sony "PSP2" is finally here !

Gosh, the time goes really really fast, seriously,thought i just updated the last post about the so-called PSP2, then today, the news about the real look of PSP2 is finally revealed! Thanks to my friend Nizam for your quick response! I owe you one, dude, and i want to extend my thanks to IGN for such a breaking news,and cool pictures!  :D

So, today is the day when Sony finally showed us the real thing! Sony stated that the device would be given a codename NGP that stands for Next Generation Portable, and it will be hitting the market approximately by the end of the 2011. However, there would be no telling about the pricing yet.

According to the sources, NGP will come up with a small flash memory based card, exclusively for NGP software titles, and the card is capable to store full game titles and add-on game content or save data. They added that capacity of the card can be enhanced in the future in order to store more game data. The device also supports Playstation Network Trophies.


And hell yeah! The best part of the news, NGP will be equipped with a touch screen on top and a touch pad on the bottom! This allows the players to interact with games through tricks like touching, grabbing, pushing, tracing, and pulling, simply from the fingers!

These are the specification made for the NGP:


CPU:
ARM Corte-A9 core (4 core)

GPU:
SGX543MP4+

External Dimensions:
Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)

Screen:
(Touch screen) 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED Multi touch screen (capacitive type)

Rear touch pad:
Multi touch pad (capacitive type)

Cameras:
Front camera, Rear camera

Sound:
Built-in stereo speakers, built-in microphone

Sensors:
Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer)
Three-axis electronic compass
Location
Built-in GPS
Wi-Fi location service support

Keys/Switches:
PS button
Power button
Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
Right stick, Left stick
START button, SELECT button
Volume buttons (+/-)

Wireless Communications:
Mobile network connectivity (3G)
IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1x1)
(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR (A2DP/AVRCP/HSP)

The list of the games confirmed to be loaded through NGP soon:

Hot Shot Golf Next
Killzone
Little Big Planet
WipEout
Resistance
Hustle Kings
Uncharted Portable
Llittle Deviant
Gravity Daze
Reality Fighters
Smart As
Broken

Want to see the video review? Go ahead!  :)




Source: IGN

iPad 2 & iPhone 5: On the Track!

 Holy mother, they ARE for real this time! Those two sacred gadgets are about to hit us real soon! Be prepared to spare more money or simply throw your former iPad or iPhone 4G to eBay or Amazon to gain the extra ones. Want to know more? I've prepared the text, so help yourself!

A contemporary shocking news about the iPad 2 existence exposes by Monday China's Commercial Times, reporting that Apple's manufacturing partners will begin the iPad 2 production next month, but mentioning about giving it just a "little space".It was expected to see more productions by the second quarter of calendar 2011. Apple express their decision to keep Foxconn as its largest manufacturing partner while Pegatron and Apple's other suppliers will be focusing on the process of manufacturing.

As far as i've already known based on the information gathered, the new coming iPad 2 will come up with a resolution of 2048 x 1536, however, the exposes are still in ambiguous, as IDC reseach manager Tom Mainelli said that such report was a bit premature, and not yet to be confirmed. What is shocking, that resolution is supposed to be for the next iPad 3! So, without any prior notice to the public they have already make up the planning, which seems to be too far  to be good. (well,that's my personal opinion,at least)

The Commercial Times also reported that Apple's partners are expected to enter the volume production,so they said, of the 5th generation of iPhone 5 this May, leading to some predictions that Apple might roars the announcement of unleashing the next generation of the infamous iPhone approximately in June, the month Apple always used to refresh the device each year.

Sources: Tom's Guide

PSP2: Things you should know

* This picture do not reflects the exact conceptual shape of the real PSP2

Okay, here's a question before proceeding,are you a serious gamer?if you arent, then i pleased to ask you to make a move to the other topics,because this section is strictly for the serious ones only. Sorry for being rude, just to get yourself informed that most of the information extracted for this particular topic might end up useless for minors.

 

* This picture do not reflects the exact conceptual shape of the real PSP2

So, the rumors are seems to be strongly correct, PSP2 is going to hit us by the end of the year, but Sony have already get ourselves warmed up with some announcement to be made regarding the greatest handheld console invention-in-waiting. Sony defines that this January 27th, the four days ahead us, might be the day where a special meeting in Tokyo concerning the "business overview and strategy" and the day where PSP2 secret of existence will be unveiled, as claimed by the MCV and VG247's sources. But dont get pretty excited yet, the meeting might not having some major trade show meeting, just some boring speech stuff from the CEOs.

  * This picture do not reflects the exact conceptual shape of the real PSP2

Sony have already take part in showing off some prototype, claimed to be the PSP2 hardware and roughly mentioned about the similarity of size to the previous PSP 3000.As mentioned by earlier by Mortal Kombat's developers, Shaun Himmerick of Netherrealm Studio the machine looks powerful and might exposes the possibility of theirs to trust into the the future handheld gaming console, where a new Moral Kombat might be heading to PSP2. However, they planned not to have the attention of being amongst the first batch developers on the first day of launching.

Everybody literally loves touch screen based system navigation and gaming, but unless someone can miraculously  found a scientific breakthrough of getting some technology that enable the gamer to see things through their fingers, then playing serious games through a touch screen system might inevitably look ridiculously hard to accomplish the real satisfaction. Thus leading to some thoughts by many developers including the Apple, to put the touch sensitive section on the back of the device. Strong rumors regarding this innovation have claimed that Sony might take this thing seriously. Even though there's no official release statement concerning the way sensitive touch section getting its attention on the console, it is indeed not impossible for Sony to accomplish it.

* This picture do not reflects the exact conceptual shape of the real PSP2

Not enough for the rumors about the touch screen whatsoever, there are still rumors regarding the incoming PSP2 twitted from a Japan's Nikkei newspaper reporting the console to come with a crisp OLED touchscreen and 3G data from NTT DoCoMo when it arrives later this year, enabling multiplayer action and even full video and game downloads over the specifically Japanese cellular network. The paper also mentioned about the size of the screen might physically looks larger and will be powered by some potent new silicon! Well,this is a good news, most of the gamers love the PSP just for the large screen, and the little brother might follow the legacy with a brand new bigger screen gloriously!

One thing to be sure, Sony have learned from Nintendo's mistake, never put any tape or UMD or shits like that into the machine, it brings misery without mercy to both of developers and consumers. Face it, and get real.

Sources: engadget.com , nikkei.com

PSP with homebrews (read: heaven)

You know what people, the best thing happens on Playstation Portable which surprises the hardcore gamers are their playable homebrews and emulators; one of the reasons on why did i pick up the PSP rather than DS or other handheld gaming consoles.


For those who do not know what is the term homebrew refers to, it is about software that applied to video games or any other related software produced by the consumers themselves, targeting the proprietary hardware platform, enabling the system to play modded games or applications. The best homebrew ever created was for PSP. Some people considered to call homebrew as freeware, and Japanese usually address them as Dojin Soft.


Do you remember your classic moments with Megaman X, Mario, Pac Man, Spyro or other familiar Playstation One games? Well, PSP is one of the platform that give you that feeling of being in the games again. Needless for consoles anymore. It's like having a Playstation One in your pocket!


Well,good news for the NES lovers, NesterJ launched a new version of NES emulator for your PSP,called NesJ 1.12 v0.70. As QJ.net say, this updated version of the unofficial "Enhanced Chinese" NesterJ mod adds the following (Google-translated from Chinese). Be the first to get it! 

Get yourselff a copy HERE

Nintendo 3DS is now available for pre-orders

Being released on March 27th in the United States, Nintendo is giving a chance to the lovers for pre-orders on Amazon. The new 3D Nintendo DS will be available on both Amazon and Walmart just to make sure that you might be the luckiest number one customer to purchase such a great invention of the century! Nintendo is also planning to launch the 3DS on February 26 for Japanese version.

The handheld gaming console will also be available at Aqua Blue and Cosmo Black, where the pricing will be at approximately for $249.99 (if converted to Malaysia Ringgit,it would be RM774.97 approx.)The console is already a bestselling video game item on Amazon although the release date is still two month away from now. So what are you waiting for? Go for it,tiger!

For more info,visit the official Nintendo website.  :)

When a mouse becomes a joypad

 Sometimes, people are lot more crazier than we expected. So do their invention, when some of the geeks out there managed to combine both mouse and joypad into something cooler! Well, how could that possibly be? Just take a look at those photos. Special dedication to engadget.com for such an expose.

Shogun Bros. Chameleon  X-1, that's what they called. When flipped, you can find yourself twelve buttons and two miniature analog sticks on the bottom. It works as a gamepad, obviously, and can be changed into a one-handed multimedia remote control,which is awesome to me.

 

 The appearance seems like a normal,common cheap mouse, but yeah we cant judge something just by looking at it,we need to turn it around, and boo-yah! A surprise on the bottom! If you pull the rear panel under the X-1 logo, you will found yourself compartments for a single AA battery and the wireless USB dongle. The mouse seems to be powered by alkaline cell, but the usage of any other rechargeable unit instead doesnt make that thing blown to pieces,gladly. It also comes with a mini-USB port underneath the cover.



 

Well,thinking about purchasing a brand new joypad? Think again. Your mouse can really be the savior this time.  :)