The Pentax K5 is essentially an upgrade to the Pentax K7 which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED.The Pentax K-5 comprises Pentax’s most advanced features to date, all wrapped up into one small, neat package that’s much akin to the K-7 release before it. With a brand new sensor, improved focusing system, super-fast seven frames per second continuous shooting and much more besides, is this strongest Pentax release enough to keep the competition at bay? The What Digital Camera Pentax K-5 review…

The Features Of The Pentax K5 :
• High resolution 16.3 megapixel CMOS sensor w integrated AD conversion circuitry
• High sensitivity 80-51200 ISO range with improved noise performance
• Speedy 7 FPS captures fast action shots
• Highly responsive and accurate 11 point SAFOX IX+ autofocus system with dedicated AF assist lamp and light wavelength sensor
• Widescreen 1080p HD video at 25 FPS, with sound via built-in or external 3.5mm stereo microphone jack
• Large 3? LCD with 921,000 dots of resolution
• Fully weather sealed and coldproof design
• Durable magnesium alloy covers surround a rugged stainless steel chassis
• Highly accurate 77 segment metering system
• Pentaprism viewfinder with 100% field of view and 0.92X magnification
• Pentax body-based Shake Reduction (SR) stabilization system
• A maximum 1/8000 second shutter speed
• HDMI port outputs high definition images and video (and sound)
• Native support for both PENTAX PEF and Adobe DNG 14-bit RAW files
• Improved in-camera HDR image capture
• A wide range of in-camera image processing and special effects filters
• Customizable RAW/Fx button
• Built-in electronic level with tilt scale display
• SDXC memory card compatibility (via firmware update)

Design of Pentax K-5 :

In terms of look and feel the K-5 is barely different from its K-7 cousin. The bodies of the pair are nigh-on identical, though there’s an ever so slight adjustment to the rotational mode dial to the camera’s top right. Despite this dial being slightly taller it still has a lock button to its centre that needs to be depressed in order to release for rotation. Although this is a staple in Pentax design it feels relatively unnecessary and is fiddly to operate. The metering collar that surrounds this is yet more tricky to easily adjust as the textured edge doesn’t protrude from the camera’s edge particularly prominently. Of course there needs to be a balance to avoid accidental and unwanted adjustment, but the controls here feel a touch too rigid.

Elsewhere and the layout is a success: front and rear thumbwheels feature for easy adjustment of options; exposure compensation and ISO quick access buttons sit atop the camera; a rear d-pad and a variety of one-touch and quick access buttons are on the back; and a Raw/Fx button to the front left side of the camera body, just behind the where a fitted lens sits. The top LCD panel lights up for display in darker conditions and is easy to read.

The body itself is weather-sealed at 77 points (as per the K-7 body) and the chassis is made of stainless steel, making it among the most tough and durable in its class. Whereas the Olympus E-5 is also fully weather-sealed, its £1500 body only asking price is considerably more expensive by comparison.As for the internal menu system, this sees little change. Some may argue that this is now dated and old, but it still proves perfectly functional, easy enough to navigate and, crucially, for any existing Pentax users, provides a seamless move from one camera to another.

Conclusion :

At first glance the K-5 may seem a lot like the K-7. While, in some respects, this is true, it’s actually a camera that delivers quite a lot more. Image quality is stunning through a large portion of the ISO range and some of the unique features such as Auto Level Compensation really do add extra value. The fully weather sealed body and WR lenses make for robust use and the 7fps bust mode is great to have. The K-5′s autofocus is the best yet, though we’re still waiting for that truly next generation system to grace a Pentax camera. And while the K-5 may offer 1080p HD video, it’s still some distance behind the competition – something that stills traditionalists are unlikely to be too fussed about. Apart from this and the limitations of an 18-55mm kit lens (we suggest you pick the more expensive 18-135mm kit), the K-5 has bags to offer, is generally good value and arguably the very best digital Pentax camera we’ve ever seen.

The Samsung Nexus S gets points for its slick design, satisfying performance, and authentic Android user interface. But outside of the new Gingerbread OS and a faster processor, it doesn’t offer as many new features as we had hoped.It was almost a year ago that Google unveiled the HTC Nexus One to great fanfare and high expectations. As the much-anticipated “Google phone,” the Nexus One took the OS in a new direction by offering a straight Android experience, a new version of Eclair (2.1), and a unique sales model that required customers to buy the phone from Google. Though it delivered on the first two promises, it was that sales model that ultimately sunk an otherwise satisfying device just six months after its birth.

Features of Samsung Google Nexus S :
• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
• HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
• 4.0″ WVGA (480×800) Super AMOLED Contour Display with curved glass screen
• Android OS, v2.3 Gingerbread
• 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 (Hummingbird) processor
• 16GB storage, 512 MB RAM
• 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
• Front-facing VGA camera
• Wi-Fi b/g/n with DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• Portable Wi-Fi hotspot and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Near Field Communication chip
• Accelerometer, proximity and light sensors
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• microUSB port (charging)
• Adobe Flash support out of the box
• Latest Google Mobile apps

Disadvantages of Samsung Google Nexus S :
• No microSD slot
• No 720p video recording
• All-plastic body, fingerprint magnet
• No DivX and XviD support (no actual video player) out of the box
• No dedicated camera key and no lens cover
• No FM radio
• No smart dialing
• Overly expensive for its feature set

As you can see, the Nexus S shares a lot of the Samsung Galaxy S components. Powered by the very same 1Ghz Hummingbird processor and having the same 512MB of RAM, it feels a bit quicker probably thanks to Gingerbread.The fact aside that our review isn’t exactly on time, this hardware is so 2010, while the imaging department is surely from 2009. We wouldn’t fuss about it was it not for the Tegra 2 SoC and its 1080p video recording, which has the power to be the next big thing in the industry. The emphasis here being on next. Maybe Google should’ve thought of that and instead of rushing to release the Nexus S.If they chose to wait a couple of months, a dual-core CPU could’ve made a lot of difference – especially with Gingerbread. The Nexus S would have been a beast just like its predecessor was, with the first droid powered by a 1Ghz processor on the market. With this hardware, the Nexus S is no more than an overclocked Nexus One.

But wait a minute – maybe not all is lost and the Nexus S will be salvaged by the software. Not only is it the first Gingerbread-powered phone to the market – it can also count on special treatment in terms of getting updates on time.Anyway, when you have a second try at something the results are supposed to be better. Just like when parents raise a second child differently having learned from their past experience. Stick around to find out if the Google Nexus S is the definitive, all-muscle replacement of the Nexus One we’ve all been waiting for.

Conclusion :

We don’t quite know what to make of the Google Nexus S. When the Nexus One came out, it packed some of the most powerful hardware available at the time. The Nexus S is the spitting image of the Samsung Galaxy S, which has been around for almost a year.
That’s not the worst of it either: the Nexus S has actually been slightly downgraded compared to the Galaxy S. We mean the lack of a microSD card slot and 720p video recording, Bluetooth 3.0 has gone missing too. Well, that and you get no guarantees about a SuperAMOLED screen, in some regions it will be Super Clear LCD instead.
Plus, Samsung should be launching the Galaxy S successor soon.
True, the Nexus S will get timely software updates or at least faster than the rest (though the Nexus One is still waiting for Gingerbread) and it does have an LED flash. The curved display is a unique feature for the Nexus S too and most likely to remain so.
But even so, the Nexus S could’ve been at least a little bit more convincing.
The Samsung I9000 Galaxy S is where the competition starts. It’s still a better buy, but not so much of it’s a I9003 Galaxy SL.

Toshiba Satellite C655-S5049 is a 15.6-inch laptop equipped with a 2.2GHz Intel® Celeron® processor 900, 2GB DDR3 memory, and 250GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm). It sports a 15.6? TFT-LCD high-definition widescreen display, Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M, Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive, Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n), Built-in 10/100 Ethernet LAN. The laptop runs on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system. Needless to say, such a configuration is good enough for our daily use, people are very happy with it.On the Toshiba Satellite C655-S5049 laptop, with a multiformat media reader for accessing digital photos and wireless LAN for Web browsing at Wi-Fi hotspots, this laptop makes it easy to enjoy your favorite content on the go. So I think you guys will love this laptop too.The Toshiba Satellite C655-S5049 notebook comes with some very attractive features, let’s take a look.

Features & specification :
• Intel® Celeron® processor 900
• Features an 800MHz frontside bus, 1MB L2 cache and 2.2GHz processor speed.
• 2GB DDR3 memory
• For multitasking power, expandable to 4GB.
• Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support
• Records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media. Also supports DVD-RAM.
• 15.6? TFT-LCD high-definition widescreen display
• With TruBrite technology and 1366 x 768 resolution for stunning detail and clarity. Native support for 720p content.
• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 rpm)
• Offers spacious storage options.
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
• With 128-829MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory for intense detail. Built-in stereo speakers.
• Multiformat media reader
• Supports Secure Digital, Secure Digital High Capacity, miniSD and MultiMediaCard formats (shared slot may require an adapter, not included).
• 2 high-speed USB 2.0 ports
• For fast digital audio, video and data transfer.
• Built-in high-speed wireless LAN (802.11b/g/n)
• Lets you connect to the Internet without wires.
• Built-in 10/100 Ethernet LAN
• With RJ-45 connector for a quick and easy wired Web connection.
• Weighs 5.5 lbs. and measures just 1.5? thin
• For easy portability.
• Long battery life
• Of up to 4 hours and 35 minutes to give you more time away from an outlet.
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit operating system preinstalled
• Provides a stable platform for word processing, Web navigation, gaming, media storage and more.

The Satellite C665-S5-5049 is based on the single-core Intel Celeron 900 processor. It’s clocked at 2.2GHz, which is the same speed as the single-core AMD Sempron V120 chip on the Compaq CQ62-215DX. In labs testing, both systems trailed the budget laptops with dual-core CPUs, the cheapest of which cost $150 to $200 more. The slowest dual-core system, the Dell Inspiron iM510R-1212PBL, was 44 percent faster on the multitasking benchmark than the Satellite C665 thanks in large part to its second processing core.
Putting the benchmark results aside, both single-core laptops felt responsive enough for entry level use, as long as your expectations remain modest. The Toshiba loaded apps relatively quickly, and we didn’t experience any serious lags during basic tasks. Even video files loaded without great delay. Buying this laptop to spend your day using an intensive app like Photoshop would be a mistake (or simply a long day), but for Web surfing, e-mailing, and running Office apps, the Satellite C665 provides enough performance. Think of it as an oversized Netbook, fine for getting online and basic home use but not much more than that.

Price as Reviewed: $359.95

The Nokia N9 seemed forever stuck in rumorland, but never lost its grip on users’ minds. The handset is rightfully enjoying as warm a reception as it would have had if it had been announced a year ago.And you can easily see why: a spanking new OS based on some pretty impressive (and novel!) concepts, sleek unibody design, some decently powerful hardware (even if the N9 missed the dual-core train) and that magnificent 3.9″ curved AMOLED of FWVGA resolution is a package that’s hard to resist.We got our hands on this baby today, and although our meeting was brief, it was enough for it to earn a special place in our geeky hearts.

The Nokia N9 is an excellent device based on an exciting UI concept and boasting some sleek hardware. But what casts doubt on it is the claim that it represents a dead end in the smartphone tree of evolution.But let’s not get all emotional now, the thing isn’t even on the market yet. And it looks like the right thing to help Nokia through the hard transition period in the second half of 2011. What we know for sure is we would love to have more whence this came from.

Features of Nokia N9 at a glance :
• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm, 76 cc
• Weight: 135 g
• Display: 3.9″ 16M-color FWVGA (480 x 854 pixels) AMOLED capacitive touchscreen; Gorilla Glass, anti-glare polarizer, curved display, multi-touch input
• Chipset: 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
• RAM: 1GB
• OS: MeeGo OS, v1.2 Harmattan
• Memory: 16/64GB storage, no microSD slot
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and geotagging; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 2.1, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, NFC
• Misc: Polycarbonate unibody, built-in accelerometer, proximity sensor, uses microSIM cards

On paper, the Nokia N9 looks like solid, if not spectacular. As soon as you set eyes on the real thing though, there’s no mistaking a smartphone that will reach for the top rather than settle for anything less.The premium finish and the outward curved screen are nothing short of outstanding. And the great news is that the good impressions don’t end with the exterior. We were pleasantly surprised by the MeeGo Harmattan platform and starting to doubt whether switching to Windows Phone 7 was the only option available to Nokia.

Design and construction of Nokia N9 :

The bad news – in terms of build and finish – is that the Nokia N9 body is made of plastic. The great news is that it’s a unibody made of premium-quality hard plastic (polycarbonate) so we don’t think too many people will mind. In fact, the N9 is one of the hottest looking smartphones we’ve seen this year. A handset to be seen with, no doubt about that.It also looks extra sturdy so dropping it wouldn’t be as heartbreaking as if another handset is involved. Even more, the Nokia N9 seems to be the first handset with a non-painted body. No such thing as chipping off the paint anymore, the color of the phone is the color of the plastic it’s made of. And even if you do manage to scratch it, you won’t see another color underneath.

Cleverly designed as the body might be, the Nokia N9′s main attraction remains the 3.9″ curved FWVGA AMOLED. If you have been keeping track, you would know that the previous generation Nokia AMOLEDs have been one of the most impressive displays in the mobile world to date.Their only shortcoming was that they were only coming in nHD resolution, which is some way behind the market’s best. On the N9 though, it is one of the most impressive displays we have seen. The Samsung Galaxy S II might be offering a few tenths of an inch of extra surface, but this unit is perfectly able to match its image quality and even throw some extra pixels in.

And indoor image quality is by far not the only impressive part about the Nokia N9 screen. Taking it outside only solidified our belief that this display is among the finest pieces of hardware developed by Nokia.Not only does the screen remain visible in the sun, but its colors also retain most of their punch. The anti-glare polariser that Nokia has installed on top is certainly working well as the N9 is probably the least-reflective screen we have seen.And the impressive marks continue into usability. Not only is the Nokia N9 touchscreen large and super sensitive, it is also curved outwards to make swiping gestures all the more natural. Plus, the display underneath is basically glued to the Gorilla Glass on top, which makes it look almost as if the icons are painted on the surface of the handset when you look from an extreme angle.

Conclusion :

We would kill for a little more time with the Nokia N9. We would’ve liked to feast our eyes on the gorgeous AMOLED screen and handle the impressively sleek unibody just a little bit more. What we don’t need is further proof of the MeeGo and N9′s great potential. It’s good to know Nokia hasn’t run out of fresh ideas as we were starting to fear recently.There is plenty of innovation in terms of both hardware and software in the Nokia N9. The non-painted solid unibody, the top-notch AMOLED, the cool swipe gestures and the unmatched multitasking are just some of the features adding to the N9 hype.

It’s now up to Nokia to capitalize on that and help MeeGo make the leap from a hot prospect to a serious source of income. It won’t be easy as they will need to get the attention of developers and fill the few remaining gaps in functionality before they can even begin to catch up.Let’s hope that Symbian has helped Nokia learn a lesson and this project will be better managed. The Nokia N9 is just too hot to be left to gather dust on the shelves. And we are really hoping that Nokia won’t ditch it in the gutter after it serves its role of a transition period high-end product, but will try and build on it.

HTC announced the new HTC Incredible S at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2011 in Barcelona. This handset is the successor of the popular HTC Incredible smartphone and it currently runs on the Android 2.2 (FroYo) operating system. According to our friends at Mahesh Telecom, a popular retailer in Mumbai, the HTC Incredible is already available for sale in India with HTC India warranty.

HTC has earned a name for itself and there’s no wonder that the launch of the Incredible S was greeted with excitement. Their new potential bestseller is too important a device to go unnoticed even if it tries to be merely an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary step forward.It seems the Incredible S has got the proper set of ingredients to make for a really capable smartphone at a reasonable price (for a high-end device, that is).

Features HTC Incredible S :

• Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
• 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4″ 16M-color capacitive LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
• The best screen on an HTC device by some distance
• Android OS v2.2 Froyo with HTC Sense UI (ver. 2.3 update promised soon after launch)
• 1 GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
• 768 MB RAM and 1.5 GB ROM
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging
• 720p video recording @ 30fps
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (8GB card included)
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Smart dialing, voice dialing
• Front facing camera for video calling
• DivX/XviD video support
• Dolby Mobile and SRS sound enhancement
• HTC Locations app
• HTCSense.com integration
• HTC Portable Hotspot
• Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery)

Disadvantages of HTC Incredible S :
• No dedicated camera key and no lens cover
• Runs Froyo on launch, instead of Gingerbread
• Poor video recording, 720p footage is pretty jerky
• Uninspiring audio quality

2010 was the year of the droid in the smartphone calendar and Google will undoubtedly try to serve us more of the same in 2011. To achieve such an explosive growth is a tall task, but certainly not impossible. There are two things that the Open Handset Alliance will need to achieve in order to complete it.First, they will need to finally grab a sizable share of the lower mid-range market and second they need to maintain their positions in the high-end segment, which has been their stronghold lately.

And while the implosion of Symbian will certainly help the droid army with their march towards lower segments, some serious efforts will be required to keep iOS and the rapidly improving WP7 at bay on the top.That’s why devices like the HTC Incredible S are so important. Not only do they need to generate as much revenue as possible for their manufacturer, but they also need to perform well to maintain the platform’s reputation.
This certainly is a heavy burden, but is the Incredible S fit to carry it? We’ll find out in the course of this review. Now join us on the next page for the unboxing of the beast.

Conclusion :

The HTC Incredible S has all the ingredients of a great smartphone. A large screen with great image quality, powerful hardware under the hood and a decent camera with HD video recording sounds like a great formula for success. It also provides a solid user experience so all seems fine, right?Well, not quite so. See the thing is, while the Incredible S hardware is perfectly adequate for the moment, it’s far from future-proofed. The first dual-core droids just hit the shelves and there’s a whole bunch more to come.

Developers will soon start to make use of the extra processing power and make their apps and games more demanding, which will render them incompatible with the Incredible S. And you wouldn’t want your new high-end smartphone to look underpowered in six-months time, do you?Plus the Incredible S lacks any unique differentiating features. You know, something like dedicated gaming keys (the XPERIA Play), or a Super AMOLED screen that can seal a deal by itself.

All that coupled with a high asking price like this makes the Incredible S a device that’s pretty hard to recommend. Of course, if your carrier offers it at a bargain price you may disregard this argument and get the handset – the solid smartphone experience is guaranteed.The Incredible S main undoing is its creators’ failure to anticipate market trends and equip it with the hardware that would let it remain competitive for more than six months after its release.

Here comes another Hyundai model that is expressing their new ‘fluidic sculpture’ design language. The Hyundai ix20 will join the Sonata, the Tucson, and the Concept RB in the models that express the flowing lines that will be the new look Hyundai wants to be associated with. Hyundai no longer wants to be seen as the brand with the boxy ‘minivan’ look and they are quickly changing the format to make this transition as fast as possible. The Hyundai ix20, a new B-segment MPV model, was the next target and only the second vehicle in Europe to adopt this design language.Hyundai says the new ix20 will offer their Five Year Triple Care warranty as well as “class-leading fuel economy and low CO2 emissions”, but they fail to mention what those figures are. They do, however, mention figures for the i10 city car which will also be joining the ix20 in their Paris Motor Show appearance. The i10 city car will include a new 1.0-liter engine with CO2 emissions of just 99 g/km.

Features and Price of 2011 Hyundai Ix20 :

Hyundai will kick off an intensive period of product launches by unveiling two important new models at this year’s Paris Motor Show.First of these exciting new models is Hyundai’s new B-segment MPV, named ix20. The ix20 is the second European model to adopt Hyundai’s new ‘fluidic sculpture’ design language which helps differentiate it from the boxy ‘minivan’ image typically associated with the segment.

On sale from mid November in the UK, ix20 is expected to attract young families with its excellent all-round package: class-leading fuel economy and low CO2 emissions; the latest in active and passive safety technologies; and the company’s groundbreaking Five Year Triple Care warranty.The ix20 will be joined at the show by the facelifted version of Hyundai’s best selling i10 city car. The new i10 features comprehensive visual and mechanical improvements, including a new 1.0-litre engine with CO2 emissions of just 99 g/km.

Hyundai has announced prices for the new ix20. On sale it will be available with three drivetrain options and three generously equipped trim levels.The three trim grades – Classic, Active and Style – are unique to the UK and have been carefully created to reflect the demands and high expectations of British buyers. The entry level Classic trim provides the key essentials buyers want – and crucially all of the safety equipment that the customer wants, but wouldn’t expect at this level.The well-equipped interior features a height adjustable driver’s seat, ESP, air conditioning, six airbags, active head restraints, radio/CD audio system with six speakers, plus CD, MP3, RDS and USB-/AUX-/iPOD-input capabilities.

Prices start at £11,595 for the 1.4 petrol. Buyers wanting the exceptional economy of the diesel will pay an extra £1,400. The next, and most popular, trim level is the mid-range Active. In addition to the Classic specification it gains a carefully-selected package of goodies that are designed to appeal to a younger family buyer demanding extra style and convenience. Externally there are 16-inch alloy wheels, body coloured door handles and mirrors (which are electrically adjustable and heated) and reversing sensors.

Inside, convenience comes in the form of Bluetooth phone connectivity, electric rear windows and audio controls on the leather-trimmed steering wheel. The Active costs £1,100 more than the Classic, starting at £12,695 for the 1.4-litre petrol, £14,095 for the diesel and £14,095 for the 1.6-litre petrol auto.The range-topping Style specification adds some luxuries that buyers in the real world want, with no ‘fillers’ to pad out the list. As a result, the price walk up from the Active is a very affordable £1,000.The most striking of these extras is a dual-panel panoramic glass sunroof with UV filter, which spans the front and rear seats. The front panel offers a tilt and sliding function to let the fresh air – as well as light – into the cabin.

Sometimes though, you want to keep the light out, which is why the sunroof is equipped with blinds and the rear glass is super-darkened for extra privacy and protection from the sun.To further improve the looks and visibility of the ix20 Style from the outside, front fog lights are standard and the door mirrors are fitted with integrated side repeater indicators. To keep these safe on narrower roads, they fold electrically.The Style range starts at £13,695 for the 1.4-litre petrol, £15,095 for the diesel and £15,095 for the 1.6-litre petrol auto.With such exceptional equipment levels there is little room for options – the only factory-fit extra is metallic paint at £395.

A LG Optimus 3D it has huge high-res screen, a new chipset expected to deliver beyond anyone’s wildest hopes and 1080p video recording: the LG Optimus 3D sounds like a great package and we haven’t even started yet. These are big ones no doubt, but not even close enough to making the headline. Not with a stereoscopic screen and a couple of 3D video-recording cameras at the back.The LG Optimus 3D is flagship stuff, head to toe. A premium package that doesn’t need anything else to be complete. But whether it asked for it or not, the LG Optimus 3D might turn out to be the device of the season, on the shortlist of any self-respecting geek. Just look at those specs and you’ll see what we mean.

LG Optimus 3D at a glance :
• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 21 Mbps,HSUPA 5.76 Mbps;
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone;
• Dimensions: 128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm, 168 g;
• Display: 4.3″ 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) TFT LCD stereoscopic touchscreen;
• CPU: Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP4430 chipset;
• RAM: 512MB, dual-channel;
• OS: Android 2.2 (Froyo);
• Memory: 8GB storage, microSD card slot;
• Camera: dual 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash with 1080p@24fps video recording; Stereoscopic 5 MP photos Stereoscopic 720p@30fps videos; geo-tagging face detection;
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0, standard microUSB port, microHDMI TV-out, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, stereo FM radio with RDS;
• Misc: DivX/XviD codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, front facing camera, video-calls.

2010 was a year of disappointment for the LG mobile division, but they’re looking to turn things around in 2011. Having beaten all the competition to bring the first dual-core smartphone to the market, LG is now racing to get to the 3D checkpoint ahead of HTC.And the really cool part is that LG didn’t rush through the rest of the development in favor of the stereoscopic screen and imaging on the Optimus 3D. Quite the opposite, the phone is touted as the first to feature dual-channel memory, thanks to the brand new TI OMAP 4430 chipset. The only sour note is Froyo. LG are obviously taking their time with Gingerbread and we’re yet to see a single phone of theirs running it.The rest does sound promising though and we cannot wait to see the 3D droid in action. So, without wasting any more time, the hardware inspection is due right after the break.

Conclusion :

Seriously powerful and having that one stand-out feature, the LG Optimus 3D certainly is a smartphone worth a second look. What’s even better is that all the stereoscopic stuff actually works out fine so 3D fans won’t regret their purchase.And for the rest, this smartphone is capable of haunting geeks dreams even if you take the 3D coolness away (and let’s be honest – no one’s forcing you to use it). The only problem is that LG are still dragging their feet about updating its smartphone portfolio to Gingerbread. Even with Froyo though, the Optimus 3D offers a solid enough smartphone experience.In the end, it all boils down to the importance of 3D for you. If you must have it (and take our word, it’s the ultimate show-off feature to get), you probably won’t regret sacrificing an AMOLED screen or the goodies brought by Gingerbread.What’s more, the Optimus 3D is unlikely to get much competition for the 3D crown in the short-term. The GSM-loving version of the HTC EVO 3D hasn’t even been announced yet. So the Optimus 3D will basically be enjoying a free run at launch.We’ll get a better idea of the chances of that happening when we get a retail-ready unit of the Optimus 3D to test. Right now the prospects look bright.

The appealingly edgy BMW F800R has finally made its way to America after an 18-month run in Europe. The 800R naked roadster is part of BMW’s plan to capture a younger audience.BMW Motorrad’s new ethos is to be more edgy and state of the art, much like BMW’s automotive side and exemplified by its S1000RR superbike. Not only has the RR become the best-selling BMW in America, its owners’ average age is just 34 years.BMW placed the F800R as an entry-level, sporty, naked urban machine to slot in amongst myriad of 600cc middleweight bikes eg Yamaha FZ6, Triumph Street Triple, Honda Hornet and so on – even though its engine is 798cc! And we can cheerfully say it fits in. What the BMW conveys is the feel and ride of large capacity bike with a parallel twin engine that can be revved to give the excitement of a sports bike without intimidating anyone.

Features and Price of BMW F800R :

“A runaway success” is how Pieter De Waal, VP of BMW Motorrad USA, describes the S1000RR, especially considering the current depressed market. “When selling something nobody needs,” De Waal says, “you’d better give them a very good reason to buy.”

So, in its quest to get “younger, more dynamic riders,” the futuristically urban F800R is offered to American riders for the first time, replacing the mechanically similar F800S in BMW’s 2011 lineup. The 800ST remains unchanged.

The F800R is essentially a stripped version of the 800ST that earned our respect when it beat Honda’s competent VFR800 Interceptor in a sport-touring shootout.Key distinctions aside from the 800R’s obvious lack of fairings are a double-sided swingarm replacing the ST’s single-sided arm and asymmetric dual headlights sporting H7 bulbs. The ST’s low-maintenance belt drive is replaced with a chain and sprockets in the same final-drive ratio, while gears 4 to 6 are shorter. Its sixth gear matches fifth on the 800GS.At a list price of $9950 (plus a $495 destination charge), the F800R retails for about $1000 less than the base F800ST’s $10,990 MSRP. Deleting the ST’s single-sided swinger and belt drive keeps the R’s price under that magic $10K mark. BMW reps say a belt-drive system costs more than a chain.

As a naked sporty bike, the F800R is a decathlete of sorts, able to barge its way through commuter traffic on Monday then tear up the canyons on weekends. A comfortably upright stance yields accommodating ergonomics, with the one-piece handlebar just a slight forward reach – perfect.

Ergos fall a bit short only with marginal seat-to-peg room. The standard seat sits at a modest 31.5 inches; optional-at-no-extra-charge seats bring it 1 inch in either direction. Adjustable footpegs would be a worthy addition to a multi-purpose bike like this one. Mirrors are mounted a little too low for easy rear views.New to our F800R is updated switchgear incorporating Molded Interconnect Device (MID) switches, in which a laser creates circuits and conductors in the plastic housings instead of using individual wires for each circuit. This allows for multi-function switches within compact dimensions. For example, the functions for the starter and kill button have been combined in a single rocker switch.

Another notable bit of info about switches: The F800R is the latest BMW model to abandon the German brand’s traditional three-button turnsignal arrangement in favor of a single combined switch on the left side like all other bikes except for Harleys. All switches on the 800R feel precise and smooth, and adjustable levers provide variable reach.

BMW’s middleweight roadster feels slim between the knees, aided by the fuel tank being housed under the seat. With its maximum of 4.1 gallons on board, the R is said to weigh a reasonable 440 lbs.

Engine of BMW F800R :

The 798cc twin lump delivers a sweet mixture of low rpm torque and accessible horsepower. The harder you work it the more the body produces adrenaline. Fuelling is perfect around town and will return a very pleasing 54mpg even when ragged on back roads. But with this excitement, from 5000rpm and on, comes niggling vibrations though the bars and pegs. You get used to this.

Ride and Handling of BMW F800R :

The feel of the BMW F800R is taut and precise. The chassis is stiff and the suspension has been developed to work in conjunction with the chassis. Under braking and through the turn the bike is settled and feels compact, solid and… great. The rear shock is a little soft for pillion use but adjustments made (spring preload, damping) actually work. Goodly amount of steering lock and low-ish seat height make the F800R a good traffic-buster.

Quality and Reliability of BMW F800R :

One of the best put together BMW bikes we’ve seen. Everything fits perfectly and the coatings, paint and parts are sweet. But there again most bikes are like this from new. We all assume BMW has a reputation for quality, but there have been a few more complaints over the past 3-4 years, which BMW said it will address. On the plus side the engine is a known quantity because it figures in four other models and is well sorted now.

Equipment of BMW F800R :

To keep the cost down (at £5925 it is relatively cheap for a fun-time BMW) the F800R is as basic as its competitors, suspension and stunning front brakes aside. But if you’ve got the money to spare there’s a ruck of optional extras and accessories available from onboard computer, tyre pressure monitor, ABS, higher/lower seat option (FOC), fly screen, belly pan, panniers etc..

Value of BMW F800R :

Very, very competitively priced to start with and there’s the benefit of BMW machines retaining high resale figures even with high mileage, but only if the service record is up to date.

Conclusion :

We’ve repeatedly extolled the virtues of sporty naked bikes, believing they offer the best compromise of versatility, performance and value. Our time aboard the F800R only reinforced those views. Here’s a do-almost-all motorcycle from a premium manufacturer that retails for less than $10,000. Adding desirable options will bump up that price (as tested, ours cost nearly $12K), but we’re glad so many are available to customize it to its rider.”Here’s a do-almost-all motorcycle from a premium manufacturer that retails for less than $10,000.”

One caveat of our endorsement for the 800R is to note some simmering competition from other parts of the Old World. The BMW just isn’t as glamorous as a Ducati Monster 796, and its fun factor can’t match the riotous Triumph Speed Triple. And let’s not forget the functional exoticness of Aprilia’s Shiver. BMW’s three-year/36,000-mile warranty sets it apart.On its own, the F800R is an entertaining take on the middleweight sports roadster, with a clear advantage in factory options. What’s left is to determine how it stacks up to its class rivals. Do you sense a shootout coming on?

The Samsung SH100 is a new 14 megapixel compact camera with built-in Wi-Fi, allowing you to wirelessly connect the camera to other devices, automatically back up your shots to your PC, or playback on your HDTV. The Wi-Fi capability on the Samsung SH100 also allows you to use your Android smartphone as a remote control and viewing device. Other more standard features include a 5x optical zoom lens, 3 inch LCD with Smart Touch 3 user interface that responds to finger commands, 720p HD video recording at 30 frames-per-second in the H.264 format, and the intelligent Smart Auto feature which automatically adjusts the camera’s settings. The Samsung SH100 is available in black, red or silver priced at £199.99 / $199.99.

Design and Features :

Very pocketable, the SH100 weighs just 3.8 ounces and measures a slim 0.7 inches thick, 2.1 inches wide, and 3.7 inches long. It offers touch screen control plus a handful of physical buttons for mission critical operations: Zoom In/Out, Shutter Release, Playback, and Home Screen. The UI on the SH100 is more colorful than most touch-screen cameras like the Canon PowerShot Elph 500 HS ($229.99, 4 stars), looking more like Samsung’s Galaxy phones, complete with app-like colored buttons against a black background. There are fives pages of these apps to swipe through, including shooting modes, color effect modes multiple Wi-Fi functions.

The 26 to 130mm (35mm equivalent), 5x optical zoom lens has no optical stabilization and a corresponding aperture of f/3.3-f/5.9. Most cameras in this price range offer optical image stabilization, which shifts the lens or sensor to adjust for camera shake to help reduce blur. Without this feature, you need to shoot with a faster shutter speed or a higher ISO sensitivity to prevent blurriness. In well-lit conditions, like outdoors on bright sunny days, this generally isn’t an issue, but indoors you need to use a slower shutter to get the same amount of light on the sensor to form the photo. The 26 to 130mm (35mm equivalent), 5x optical zoom lens has a corresponding aperture of f/3.3-f/5.9 and, as mentioned above, no optical stabilization. Most cameras in this price range offer optical image stabilization, which shifts the lens or sensor to adjust for camera shake to help reduce blur. It’s most helpful when you shoot in low light without a flash, as these shots typically require slow shutter speeds because the sensors must be exposed for a longer amount of time. Stabilization keeps the lens from shifting so your picture comes out crisp. Without it, you significantly increase the chances of ending up with a blurry photo in these shooting scenarios.

The 3-inch touch LCD works well, and provides a good navigation experience. It only responds to one touch at a time, though, there’s no support for multitouch—so you can’t pinch or zoom. The display has just 230K dots, standard for a camera in this price range. The display feels a bit cramped when shooting at full resolution because photos have a 4:3 aspect ratio, but the display is 16:9 widescreen—the live view is just 2.5 of the 3 inches of the screen, pillarboxed by black bars on each side. The Editors’ Choice Kodak EasyShare M580′s ($199.95, 4 stars) 3-inch, 230K-dot screen has a 4:3 aspect ratio so you can use the entire screen when shooting in full resolution.

Samsung has gone above and beyond with Wi-Fi in the SH100. Some of the uses are a bit gimmicky, but several are very useful. You can email photos directly from the camera (though they’re downsized from 14- to 2-megapixel resolution). The feature is easy to use, thanks to the in-camera address book. You can also upload pictures to Facebook, view your uploaded albums, and comment on your photos right from the camera. Videos can be uploaded directly to YouTube, but resolution is limited to 320 by 240, a major downgrade from the camera’s peak resolution of 1280 by 720. The camera can act as a DLNA server through an app called AllShare, letting any DLNA device connected to the same Wi-Fi network browse, download, and even play back photos and videos on the camera.

You can automatically send images and videos to your Windows PC wirelessly, like you can do with the Eye-Fi Mobile X2 SD card (79.99, 4 stars). The camera is smart enough to only transfer new photos, so you won’t have tons of duplicates or endless overwrite prompts on your computer. You need your computer to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the camera and to have special software installed (included with the SH100), but it can wake your computer up from Sleep mode or completely power it up whenever you start shooting. This feature worked flawlessly with my Windows 7 laptop.

Finally, and most impressively, you can use Samsung smartphones to control the SH100 and use the phone as a viewfinder. Currently this app is only available for Samsung Galaxy phones, but Samsung says that may change in the future. If you go into the Android market on your Samsung Android phone and search for “Remote Viewfinder,” you can find and download the free app. When you load it up and set up the SH100 to work with the feature, the two devices will connect and a live view display will appear on the phone. You can snap photos, control the optical zoom, and set the timer, all from your smartphone. The Android app also gives you the option to store photos on both the SH100 and your phone. The entire system works really well and requires virtually no setup.

Performance :

The SH100 can snap a single image quickly, with only a half second of shutter lag. However, it’s sluggish at both waking up and taking multiple shots. According to our tests, the SH100 took an average of 3.5 seconds from power up to its first image capture, and spends an average of 2.7 seconds between each shot.

In the PCMag labs we use the Imatest suite to objectively measure image quality. In terms of sharpness, the camera offered a center-weighted average of 1,876 lines per picture height. This is impressive, considering a point and shoot that costs twice as much, the Canon PowerShot S95 ($399.99, 4 stars), produced 1,858 lines. However like many $200 cameras, the low-light capabilities are very limited. The SH100 can shoot up to and including ISO 400 while keeping noise levels below 1.5 percent (the threshold at which an image typically becomes visibly noisy). The Canon PowerShot S95 keeps levels below 1.5 percent all the way up to ISO 1600. The same-price Canon PowerShot Elph 100 HS ($199.99, 3.5 stars) offered a center weighted averaged of 1,692 lines per picture height and kept noise levels below 1.5 percent up to ISO 1600. Again, since the SH100 doesn’t have any mechanical image stabilization, this hurts its ability to shoot in low light.

Despite all of its nifty Wi-Fi tricks, Connectivity on the SH100 isn’t great. The camera offers a single port with a proprietary cable for connecting to a computer’s USB port. Considering the camera writes to microSD cards rather than standard SD cards, you have three options: don’t lose the cable, only transfer photos over Wi-Fi, or get a microSD-to-SD card adapter for use with a card reader.

The Samsung SH100 could be a good fit for you if you’re a casual shooter who wants the automatic, wireless transfers, but this feature comes at the expense of a basic feature: image stabilization. If you want to do any sort of low-light shooting without a flash, this definitely isn’t the camera for you. If you’re interested in the Wi-Fi capabilities, try an EyeFi card, which will work with any camera with an SD slot, and can wirelessly back up photos to your computer as well as transfer photos to any Android or iOS device.

BlackBerry Bold 9780 is the next logical evolutionary step, rather than a complete makeover that will propel it into the same league as the iPhone and Android. RIM has a loyal core of customers whose bond with the brand goes beyond the obvious business benefits. And devices like the Bold 9780 are certainly part of that bond.From a geek’s perspective, a new generation of gadgets should emerge to a new generation of users. Radical, rebellious, with no sense of history and no respect for authorities. In the world of business, every new generation of gadgets has to make generations of users feel at home.There’s no moral dilemma for BlackBerry in this. They know trying to introduce new features and UI tweaks with each new generation involves substantial risk for some of the changes to backfire. But they haven’t given up on the Torch and the Storm, have they? Though it’s obviously much easier to stick to a tested recipe and only add stuff that’s been proved to work.

Features of BlackBerry Bold 9780 :
• Enhanced email and data security via BlackBerry services
• 2.44″ 65K-color TFT landscape display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels
• Hardware four-row full QWERTY keyboard
• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera, LED flash
• 624 MHz CPU, 512 MB RAM
• BlackBerry OS v6
• Touch-sensitive trackpad navigation
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• DivX and XviD video support
• Decent web browser
• Office document editor
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Smart dialing
• Compact body and solid build quality

Disadvantages of BlackBerry Bold 9780 :
• BlackBerry Internet Service account is a must to enjoy all phone features
• Outdated and unintuitive camera interface
• No FM radio
• No video-call camera
• No built-in accelerometer

The BlackBerry Bold 9780 upgrades the Bold 9700 by a 5 megapixel shooter and the new 6th version of the BlackBerry OS. It doesn’t sound much and when you consider that the 9700 was already updated to BlackBerrry OS 6 there is even less to choose between the two phones.So, will the new Bold 9780 reveal some nice surprises that are invisible to a casual scan of the spec sheet or will it be a mere footnote to the original Bold 9700? We hope to find out when we are done with the review. We start with the unboxing right after the break.

Conclusion :

The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is a pretty solid RIM device. Just like the Bold 9700 before it, the 9780 gives you excellent build quality, smooth performance and the corporate grade email and data security. If this is the kind of phone you are looking for, you might as well stop reading right here.No, seriously, if the BlackBerry service is essential, the Bold is the quintessential phone to go with it. The Curves are just a little bit low profile, the Storm is too eccentric and the Pearls are the compact class.

However, if the security levels of the Blackberry Enterprise server aren’t a must, there are probably better options for you. The 5 megapixel camera and the OS 6 are worthy upgrades but they still fail to give the Bold 9780 enough of an edge against the competition. BlackBerry phones have some advantages but bang-for-buck is just not one of them.

The Nokia E72 for one is a considerably cheaper alternative, providing similar typing prowess in a solid metal case that’s quite thin as well. Or you can save about half the cash and give the newer Nokia E5 a try.Hell, the Bold 9780 price is about that of a Motorola Milestone 2. The Android-powered messenger can run circles around the BlackBerry Bold with its 3.7” display backed up by a full side-sliding QWERTY keyboard (and HD video recording!) We could go on with this list really – there’s no shortage of QWERTY-enabled phones these days and most of them will do no worse a job than the BlackBerry Bold 9780.

Fortunately for RIM, the smartphone business is still far from becoming a zero sum game. There are still enough new customers left to convert and RIM should be busy showing them that BlackBerry is worth giving a try.It will be up to the Storm and the Torch lines (or rather their sequels) to really put the brand on the map for the new generation of users. The Bold will have to juggle old commitments and new ventures. Five megapixel imaging, a knack for media and a refreshed interface may be a small step towards attracting new clients. But that’s as far as Blackberry would go changing the Bold series because otherwise they risk scaring and putting off the regulars.