Best Gadgets World

Remember that Optimus Maximus keyboard auction we showed you a little while back, well the auction has ended, keyboard has sold and we can only imagine the seller was very pleased.

With a final bid of $2,750 it has sold for quite a bit over the regular retail price of $1,564.72. Wonder if the buyer will follow through with the purchase or if this will have to be re-listed for another attempted sale.

Read [eBay] Via [Engadget]

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Posted Feb 12th 2008 6:40AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: StorageGranted, there are other 32GB SDHC cards already announced. But those pups dawdle along at Class 4 speeds. Panasonic just announced a Class 6 card, baby, blazing a 20MB/s max transfer rate when it rolls out in April. That’s about four hours of 1920 x 1080i, compressed AVCHD video. Surely you have $699 lying around, right? Shirley?

Posted Feb 11th 2008 11:46PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Gaming, Home EntertainmentAccording to a blogged up blog post on the interblogs, a Netflix survey that’s supposedly been making the rounds suggests that the service may be coming to both the Xbox 360 and playstation 3. If you believe what Seanbajuice has to say, the survey asked, “If as part of your Netflix membership you could instantly watch movies and TV episodes on your TV with your PS/3 or XBOX 360, how likely would you/anyone in your household be to do that?” The survey then goes on to state that both the PS3 and the 360 will be able to play streaming media by using a “special Netflix disc.” Here’s the kicker: there won’t be any extra fees besides the $3 charge for the disc. Of course, nothing is mentioned about how the PS3 will handle the Microsoft-based DRM, and while the whole thing sounds too good to be true, there have been rumblings about this recently, so let’s just cross our fingers and make a wish, okay?

Posted Feb 11th 2008 11:10PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: cellphones, Storage
Seeing as cellphones are usually connected to mobile networks, we’d think the problem of content distribution would basically solve itself, but a company called Vmedia Research is at Mobile World Congress with a new type of optical disk designed just for phones. Using a blue laser, a 1GB, 32mm MiniDisc-esque Vmedia cartridge can hold a full DVD-res movie using H.264 compression, as well as limited special features. Vmedia’s demoing the tech on an upcoming Spice GSM handset, which has a 2.8-inch screen and a PSP UMD-like door for inserting the disks. The system is going to debut in India and southeast Asia with 40 Bollywood films available at launch for just $5 each, but Vmedia and Spice say they’ve got 1,000 more content deals in the works. No plans have been announced for the rest of the world as of yet, but we’re not holding our breath.

Read - Vmedia press release
Read - Spice Movie Phone

Posted Feb 11th 2008 6:56PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Laptops
Somewhat lost in Sony’s massive CES VAIO spec bump was an update to the super hot (but generally overlooked) top-end VAIO TZ that features both an SSD and HDD, which allows you to speed up booting and other system tasks that rely on quick random reads by running Windows off the SSD while still being able to lug all your data around on the traditional hard drive. The no-compromises model got bumped to 64GB of SSD and 250GB of HDD, up from 32 and 160, but we didn’t know a ship date until now — looks like Sony’s taking preorders now on sonystyle.com for delivery in March. The new model also includes 2GB of RAM, a Sprint EV-DO card, fingerprint sensor, and external dual-layer burner, as well as the TZ’s usual 11.1-inch XBRITE screen and 1.33GHz U7700 Core 2 Duo processor — looks like the TZ isn’t going to give up that “hottest ultralight” crown to the macbook air so easily, now is it?

[Thanks, Tim]

Posted Feb 11th 2008 5:32PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Peripherals
You may remember seeing an eBay auction for a NIB Optimus Maximus keyboard a few weeks ago on Engadget. As you can imagine, the news generated a lot of excitement — particularly from the folks at eBay, who decided it would be a sweet item to feature on their homepage. Thus the auction was ended quickly and relisted in accordance with special rules and regulations, and now some poor, poor soul (or wealthy, as it were) is the proud owner of an auctioned Optimus Maximus. Hey, it only cost $2,750… or just a little bit less than double the list price ($1564.72). Oh you crazy eBayers.

[Via TG Daily]

Posted Feb 11th 2008 5:55PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Laptops, WirelessIt’s not all just cellphones at Mobile World Congress — HP and Qualcomm have just announced plans to ship laptops with Qualcomm’s Gobi dual-3G chipset that supports both EV-DO and HSPA. That means you won’t be locked into a carrier when you buy a laptop with an integrated WWAN modem — and hardcore road warriors with multiple subscriptions will even be able to switch on the fly to the network with better coverage. HP says Gobi (officially the MDM1000 chip, but that’s no fun) will be available on a range of laptops from ultraportables to high-performance models later this year, but there’s no word on pricing just yet — let’s hope it falls into the “might as well” range, eh?

Sony Ericsson has added two new models to it’s Cyber-shot lineup, the C902 and the C702. Starting with the higher-end model, the C902 has a slide-out lens cover making easy to snap those quick pictures, illuminated camera touch-keys, Photo Flash and a 5-megapixel camera with face detection and auto focus. The C702 features a 3.2-megapixel camera with digital zoom and face detection, built-in GPS with Google Maps for Mobile pre-installed. The C702 is designed for single hand use and is also both splash and dust-resistant.

The C902 and C702 both offer just 160MB of internal memory but have a Memory Stick Micro card slot for additional storage. The C902 will be available in Swift Black or Luscious Red while the C702 will be available in Speed Black or Cyan Blue.

Keep reading for a few more pictures of the Cyber-shot C902 and C702…

Read [Sony Ericsson]

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Posted Feb 11th 2008 1:29PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Cellphones, HDTV
On the same day that Texas Instruments chose to showcase a new chip that would enable HD recording capabilities on cellphones, On2 Technologies is taking a moment from its hectic day in Barcelona to trumpet an all new 1080p hardware RTL video decoder. The Hantro 8190 reportedly supports Adobe Flash along with H.263, H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark and VP6 video formats, and it can even handle JPEG images up to 16-megapixels. According to On2, the device was created to be easily integrated with ARM, MIPS and “other embedded CPU and DSP cores,” and can supposedly decode 1080p H.264 video at 30 frames-per-second using a clock frequency of just 165MHz. As it stands, the Hantro 8190 is currently available for licensing, but only time will tell who’s going to bite.

Posted Feb 11th 2008 1:10PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds
Getting the high-end G810, F480, G400, and F400 out of the way, Samsung has (expectedly) rocked Mobile World Congress with a boatload of devices to fill every last segment of the market. Let’s have a look, shall we?

• The i200 (pictured) is a relatively simple Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard candybar with a 2 megapixel cam, 3G data, microSD expansion, and the typical QVGA display. It should break below the €200 mark and will hit shelves in spring.
• The L170 is a thin candybar — just 10.7mm — that fills in the low end at a €175 asking price with a 2 megapixel camera when it launches in March.
• The J150 goes even further downmarket than the L170, but manages to squeeze its guts into a 9.9mm shell with Bluetooth, an FM radio, microSD slot, and a 1.3 megapixel camera for €125-130.
• The J700 is a relatively attractive slider with a 1.3 megapixel camera, 160 x 128 display, and microSD slot, while still staying on the low end at €130-140. It’ll be available in March.
• The L770 kicks up the style factor a couple notches and throws UMTS into the equation, along with a 2 megapixel camera, FM radio, and availability in a range of colors when it hits in April for €260-280.
• The E251 is a slider that’ll ring a bell for many Samsung owners, looking a heck of a lot like the E250 it replaces. In fact, it’s the same thing — it just adds a dedicated music key. Whoopee! It’ll be available for €120-130.
• The W350 is a mobile TV clamshell supporting DMB — not a lot of good for DVB-H-loving Europe, but appropriate for South Korea. If you’re cool with the 2.2 inch display, anyway. No word on release or pricing for this one.
• Speaking of DVB-H, the P960 is just such a device with a healthier 2.6 inch QVGA display, slider form factor, 3 megapixel camera, and support for picture-in-picture. This one apparently hasn’t been blessed for release yet, and there’s some debate as to whether it ever will be (yes, please).

More details on the whole range as we get it!