Filed under: Media PCs

In a market becoming saturated with one HTPC offering after another, VidaBox is launching what seems like just another HTPC line-up for those too busy to build their own. Four strangely familiar looking models are headed your way: the ROOMMATE, SLIM, LUX, and MAX, which aside from performing all the usual functions — recording live TV, storing music and photos, and sporting a snazzy case — feature “unparalleled storage offerings.” The LUX and MAX models offer up to 3.75TB of storage and includes their “VidaSafe” technology (which appears to be RAID, folks) to keep the machine running and your files recoverable, even if one of the hard drives fails while operating. As with most pre-built HTPCs, they don’t come cheap, and with prices ranging from $1,499 to near-infinity, the VidaBox line-up can satisfy your wildest home theater desires if your credit card can stand the punishment.

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Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, UTStarcom, GSM, GPRS

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Squeezebox owners, listen up! If you’ve been pining away over Rhapsody access on your Slim Devices music streamers, your time has finally come. the release of SlimServer 6.3 and a Squeezebox firmware upgrade enable Squeezebox 2 and 3 owners to use the service like those Sonos-using next-door neighbors; too bad those Sonos loving friends of theirs they haven’t yet gotten their PlaysForSure on like Slim, but hey, as far as Rhapsody support we’re just about all on level ground now.

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

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Filed under: HDTV, Laptops

Filed under: Handsets, LG, GSM, GPRS

The folks at LG are no stranger to slim phones, and they look to have a winner with their new KG320. Beyond the 0.39-inch thick form factor (the same as Samsung’s recently launched T509) the LG phone features a 2.2 megapixel camera, 176 x 200 pixel screen, Bluetooth and a whole 128MB of memory. Playback isn’t bad neither, with support for MPEG4, MP3 and AAC files. It’s just a tri-band GSM unit, but the phone is headed for Europe in addition to the usual Asian targets, so here’s hoping for a US launch.

[Via MobileKorea.TV]

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM, EDGE

Though always the first to cram a few more megapixels into a cameraphone or shave a few millimeters off a slimphone, Samsung hasn't ever really seemed to try very hard on their UI. Well they're trying something new with their E900 called "Black UI," which looks pretty snazzy and even (heaven forbid) usable. That's not to say they forgot about the hardware this time, the E900 looks to be a respectable slider phone, with a touch-sensitive control pad not unlike that of LG's Chocolate phone. The phone measures 0.65-inches thick, and has a 2-inch display, 2 megapixel camera, microSD storage, and Bluetooth. The phone also boasts music playback functionality, and the control pad switches from phone mode to music player mode based on what you're using it for. We're not sure what carrier(s) are getting this phone in Europe, or the price, but it looks to be a solid contender for at least a few hard earned Euros. Click on for more pics.

Filed under: Handsets, Pantech, Verizon Wireless, CDMA

Forgoing the traditional methods of actually announcing their products, Pantech is content to let the FCC do their PR for them, with the latest example being the PN-320 clamshell. It's not going for the world record or anything, but the 0.9-inch thick PN-320 is still fairly slim for a flip phone, and it's not too hard on the eyes neither. Otherwise, the CDMA phone is pretty lame, with a mere VGA camera and 262k color LCD, ala its PN-315 sibling. There's no branding visible, but the phone looks to be headed for Verizon like the PN-315, thanks to some Verizon-specific wording in the manual. We just hope Verizon users can contain themselves for joy, and the FCC is getting reimbursed somehow.

[Via phoneArena]

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, T-Mobile, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

Nokia has been gaining a bit of a reputation for being on the chubby side of the thin phone wars. So the 14-mm slim, 6126 flip which the FCC just approved, still passes for thin these days in the Nokia camp of plumpsters. Other than the 32MB flash and 16MB RAM we now know this thing packs, the filing doesn't tell us more than we already knew: quad-band GSM/EDGE, a 2.2-inch, 320 x 240 external display, 1.3 megapixel cam, and microSD slot for storage expansion. Worth the wait we guess, if you're a Symbian Series 40 fan.

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung

Samsung just knocked a couple more phone models outta bed to show-off their new SCH-V890/SPH-V8900 cellphone. This slider measures in at 13.8-mm and 85-grams and features a 2.12-inch, 240 x 320, 262K color TFT LCD, Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel shooter, MP3 player and that Nate Drive service popular in South Korea. We're not sure, but we'll bet you can even hold it up real close to your pie-hole for making calls. At least it better for that roughly $525 US equiv.

[via Akihabara News]

Filed under: Laptops

If you like it big and light (but not too powerful) then listen up son, 'cause Averatec just announced their 7100 series of laptops said to be the lightest 17-inch widescreen infotainment laptops available. Ok, considering all those 20-inchers dropping lately, they're not that big, but at 7.2-pounds and just an inch-thick they manage to pack in a 1.8GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-32 processor, dual-layer DVD/CD burner, up to 100GB disk, 2GB DDR RAM, 802.11b/g, and a healthy dose of USB, FireWire, PCMICIA, PC Express, and memory card slots for expansion in addition to that 1440 x 900 pixel display supported by an ATI Radeon Xpress 200M graphics card. These Microsoft Windows Vista Capable machines may not be the most powerful on the market, but at street prices from $849 to $1,199 (depending upon config) they're worth a look for the budget minded.

[Via MobileTechReview]

 

Filed under: Cellphones

Hey check-it fella, there’s a new slimster phone on the block kickin’ about by the name of X828, dig? At 6.9-milimeters (mostly, note that top-end bulge), this new unannounced Samsung shaves a full millimeter off KTF’s previous skinny champ, the EV-K100, which held the record for oh, about two weeks over that 8.8-mm VK 2000 fatty. Now, with those dimensions you’d expect it to skimp on the specs, right? Au contraire mon fraire, the X828 still eeks-out a 1.9-inch 262k color screen, Bluetooth, MP3 player and 3D virtual surround capable speakers, 80MB of on-board memory, and a 2 megapixel shooter. At this rate of slimaturization, we expect to see a cellphone film we can slather across our palms by next year’s CES. Click-on for more pics after the break.

[Via TechTickerBlog, thanks Anish]

Filed under: Cellphones

That 0.39-inch thick SGH-T509 phone from Samsung -- the slimmest candybar phone so far announced for the US -- just got confirmed today, and should be available in the states this May. The phone features EDGE data, Bluetooth 1.2 connectivity, and a camera of undetermined resolution. Samsung actually isn't spilling much info on this phone for as hyped up about it as they are in their PR. We still know barely more than we skimmed off the FCC site in March, but it does look like this phone will be making its way to T-Mobile users. Catherine Zeta-Jones will be so proud.

Filed under: Handsets, Others, CDMA

As a phone manufacturer, it could be argued that one of the first steps you’d better take to get yourself out from under the financial gun is to release some quality products. That’s exactly what VK Mobile looks to be doing here — or trying to do, anyway — in offering the VK-X200 for Korea’s SK Telecom. The smart-looking X200 clocks in at 9.9mm, slim by all but the most extreme standards, and apparently rocks a 2-megapixel cam and media player. Good luck to ya, VK; we hope this thing sells like hotcakes.

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Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM, GPRS

There are slimmer phones on the market, sure, but the 7.7 millimeter, Asia-only Smart S100 has that poorly-faked-iPod look that Samsung simply doesn’t have anywhere in their product lineup. With the exception of the unfortunate dual-band 900 / 1800 GSM radio with nothing more than GPRS to feed it data, the phone’s specs aren’t half bad, with a 160 x 128 OLED display, 2-megapixel cam, and that Nokia 3650-style circular keypad we all love (or love to hate). Without even a single US-friendly GSM band, we think we’ve probably spent too much time on this thing already, but it’s fascinating to know that a no-name phone can beat virtually every major manufacturer in the slimphone game.

[Via Slashphone]

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