Archive for September 5th, 2009

Just look at that little bugger. Ain’t it just so cute? All jesting aside, the adorably retro piece of kit you’re inevitably peering at above rings up at $799 to $899, meaning that it’s priced way too high to be slotted in most consumers’ impulse buy category. Olympus’ E-P1 was launched with high hopes, and it pretty much held the weight of the Micro Four Thirds world on its shoulders. During our time with the unit, we found image quality to be satisfactory overall and the design to be simply stunning, but we certainly didn’t come away feeling it was flawless. For those of you who overlooked the entry-level DSLR in order to try something different, how has that decision treated you? Are you full of remorse? Could you not be happier? Spill all in comments below.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

How would you change Olympus’ E-P1? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to simultaneously trick your employees into thinking you love them and keep better tabs on their whereabouts? If so, you should definitely look into handing out Winwatch-approved timepieces as “performance incentives,” which should be sporting an oh-so-telling RFID tag in the near future. The Switzerland-based outfit has just announced plans to patent an RFID-enabled crystal gasket that would be placed in luxury wristwatches, and while they’re pushing it as a way for companies to weed out counterfeit products, we’re sure the privacy advocates in attendance can think of far darker applications. Samples are slated to start shipping out later this autumn, which means your window to snag a non-voyeuristic watch is hastily closing.

[Via ABlogToRead]

Filed under: Wearables, Wireless

Winwatch wants RFID tags in your next wristwatch — what could possibly go wrong? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Video_Nokia_N900_used_to_control_British_art_installation’;
The new Nokia N900 is only a week old, but it’s already being put to some interesting uses — like this nifty little video wall commissioned by Nokia at the onedotzero adventures in motion festival in London. A custom Maemo 5 app sends messages to the display, and then the phone’s accelerometer can be used to control the animation. Sure, it’s not the most super-original phone+art installation we’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly quite pretty — check the video after the break.

Continue reading Video: Nokia N900 used to control British art installation

Filed under: Cellphones

Video: Nokia N900 used to control British art installation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whatever Toshiba can do, Samsung can do… um, equally well? Evidently that’s the game being played over at IFA, as the latter company has issued a 640GB portable hard drive of its own nary 24 hours after Tosh did likewise. The unspeakably cute S2 portable is getting a much-needed capacity bump, making the largest drive in the line 640GB. In related news, the company’s 3.5-inch S3 Station external HDD has seen its maximum storage level creep north to 2TB, though storage freaks will have to wait patiently until “early next year” in order to take one home. Prices for both remain a mystery, but if we had to guess, we’d put the MSRPs about a penny under whatever Toshiba settles on. Call it a hunch.

[Via HotHardware]

Filed under: Storage

Samsung doles out 640GB S2 portable, 2TB S3 Station HDDs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alright, so maybe a square Nokia isn’t your style — we understand. Maybe you’d like something a little more businesslike, something with a little more Exchange ActiveSync flair and a keyboard with room to spare. What you’re looking for, we reckon, is the Touch Pro2 — and now that Sprint and T-Mobile both have it, it’s Verizon’s turn to get real with HTC’s latest QWERTY beast. Knowing full well that this is a businessperson’s dream, HTC and Verizon have gone ahead and stuffed EDGE in there to keep you connected while you’re abroad; otherwise, you’ve got the same WVGA resolution, 3.2 megapixel cam, GPS, and WiFi as the other guys, and just like Sprint, you’re signed up for that all-important 3.5mm headphone jack. Global capability doesn’t come cheap in this case, though: expect to pay $299.99 on a two-year deal before a $100 mail-in rebate.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Touch Pro2 graces Verizon on September 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, maybe Nokia recently announced a 66 percent yearly drop in Q2 profit. And perhaps N97 reviews have been, how we say, less than stellar. But there definitely seems to be a fan base for the handset: according to Mobile News, sales of both this guy and the 5800 XpressMusic combined to total 10 million in the last 10 months, with sales for the former adding up to a whopping two million since its launch three months ago. In fact, half of the XpressMusic sales were generated since the launch of the N97 — certainly suggesting that the younger sibling successfully raised the company’s profile and brought its fellow handset along for the ride. Does this make Nokia the “undisputed leading player in the smartphones space,” as the company’s chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo put it? By sheer volume of devices, perhaps — but mindshare continues to be a problem that we’re guessing they’re eager to see if Maemo 5 and the N900 can solve. The CEO of Nokla could not be reached for comment.

[Thanks, David D]

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia N97 sells two million units in three months, Nokla sells two dozen originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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