MSI launches Radeon HD 545V-boasting CX705MX laptop

MSI's just outed a new 17.5-inch (1600x900 resolution) laptop, the beautifully named CX705MX. This one's got an Intel Core 2 Duo under the hood, an up to 500GB hard drive, a 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI and VGA output, three USB ports and an Ethernet port and Windows 7 Home Premium. Most notably, of course, is that it's packing ATI's brand new Radeon HD 545V discrete graphics chipset, giving this bad boy HD video capabilities. We don't have specific information about availability or pricing yet, but we'll let you know when we do.

Soure

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Apple iPad vs. Dell Mini 5 / Streak... fight! (Bonus: smartphone pile-on!)

Occasionally we've had strangers -- very likely non-Engadget readers -- coming up to us and ask, "Sorry mate, but is that the iPad?" To which we reply, "No, it's the Dell Mini 5." This may sound like a silly boo-boo to make, but there is this common misconception of the iPad being just "a bigger iPhone" while not knowing how much bigger it is (despite our best effort). To clear this up once and for all, we've brought the two devices in question together -- the Mini 5 / Streak smartphone on the left, and the iPad on the right. Now it's up to you guys to spread the love.

As a bonus, we also threw in various phones -- HTC HD mini, Nexus One, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, and HTC HD2 -- to pile on top of Apple's latest toy, just to kill the Sunday afternoon. No magical and revolutionary devices were harmed in the making of this article.

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FCC Approved Toshiba TG02 Smartphone

FCC has approved the successor to the Toshiba TG01 smartphone. Dubbed as the Toshiba TG02, the phone sports WiFI 802.11b/g and Bluetooth connectivity. However, the Toshiba TG02 doesn’t support 3G. According to rumors, the TG02 is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and a 4.1-inch LCD display. Stay tuned for more updates.

-- Post From My iPhone

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The Qisda QCM-330 is gorgeous, headed for Vodafone, and quite possibly Android-powered

When it comes to bar-shaped smartphones, it takes a good amount of effort to design something visually appealing. There’s really only so much you can do with a flat slab – and whatever can be done likely already has.
With that said, there’s just something about this handset, the Qisda QCM-330. I’m not sure what that “something” is, but I like it.
The QCM-330 has emerged as one of the winners of an iF mobile design contest, though the awards won’t be passed out officially until CeBit in March. Congratulations and all that to the design team for snatchin’ up a trophy, but we’re far more interested in the handset itself.
Check out the beast of a display on the front; not only does it measure in at a massive 4 inches, but they’ve also purportedly managed to crank the resolution on that thing all the way up to 1280×1024 (though, with a widescreen like that, it’s more likely to be running at 1280×720). That’s a considerably higher resolution than we’ve ever seen on a smartphone, as far as I know. The recognizable home key on the bottom right gives us high hopes that this thing is rocking Android, though they’ve yet to confirm as much.
What has been confirmed, however, is the WiFi, HSDPA, 3 megapixel camera, and accelerometer packed inside. The only thing we don’t like about this handset? There’s no indication thus far that it’ll be heading stateside.
If you’re a Russian reader, the guys over at MobileReview have the scoop on a handful of other (considerably less exciting) design contest – but if you’re English-only, Unwired View has a pretty exhaustive write-up in your tongue.


-- Post From My iPhone

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HTC makes the HD mini official

Only when you’re talking about a phone designed in the same vein as the massive (though drop-dead gorgeous) HTC HD2 with its 4.3 inch display would you ever call a phone with a 3.2″ display “mini” . That’s exactly what HTC’s doing this morning in Barcelona, with the announcement of the Windows Mobile 6.5.3-powered HD mini.
Given the announcement of Windows Phone 7 series, yesterday, it may be a bit hard to get the ol’ salivary glands tickin’ over a WinMo 6 phone. With that said, remember: we’ve still got at least 7 or 8 months before the first WP7 handsets hit the market, and that’s a really, really long time in the Smartphone world.
Hitting Europe and Asia (No word yet about the US) sometime in April, the HD mini doesn’t seem quite as powerful as the device from which it gets its name – in other words, size isn’t the only thing they toned down here. The 1Ghz CPU of the HD2 has been replaced with a 600Mhz model, and the 3.2″ screen is 320×480 rather than 480×800. It’s got a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, though without the flash found on the HD2.
Lowered specs aside, I still expect this to be a damn decent handset. We’ll be spending a bit of time with it (and all the other HTC handsets announced today) later for a hands-on, so check back for our impressions.


-- Post From My iPhone

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HTC announces the Nexus One’s slightly cooler twin, the Desire

What’s in a name? Would a Nexus One by any other name still be as sweet? Yep. In fact, it might just be a bit sweeter.
Though it lacks almost any indication as such, Google’s Nexus One is actually made by HTC. HTC reserved the rights to the hardware design, and today they’re making good use of that decision with the announcement of the HTC Desire. It’s essentially the Nexus One reflavored to HTC’s liking.
After the Nexus One launched, a good number of gadget geeks went clamoring to HTC in hopes that they (or Google) would release a compatible port of the custom user interface overhaul that can be found on nearly any recent HTC-made Android handset. Alas, it’s not going to happen – the Nexus One is Google’s phone, and thus will always be 100% vanilla Android, just as Google intended.
The HTC Desire, however, is a different story. Sure, it may look almost identical to the Nexus One – and sure, it might be an almost spec-for-spec match. But the Desire is HTC’s phone, and thus, it runs Sense. Its got everything you might expect from a Sense-enabled handset, from multi-touch all around the OS to Flash in the browser.
Like the Nexus One, the Desire runs Android 2.1 on top of a palm-meltingly fast 1 Ghz CPU. Its got the same (stunning) 3.7″ AMOLED touchscreen, and the same 5 megapixel camera. The only real physical change is the jump from a standard trackball to an optical trackpad, just as we saw with the also-just-announced HTC Legend.
While HTC’s not sharing any details on when us folks in the US can get our mitts on it, Europe and Asia should see it hit by sometime in April.


-- Post From My iPhone

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T-Mobile gives an HTC HD2 reminder, now with more fun!

As promised, T-Mobile announced new features for the HD2 at Mobile World Congress today and I’ve gotta say, it isn’t all that thrilling.
If you’ve ever held the HD2 in your hands as I have (jealous much?), you’ll notice that the screen is unusually huge and vivid. The 4.3-inch WVGA display is perfect for games and movies. Coupled with Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor, this phone has a lot of multimedia potential. So that’s exactly what T-Mobile is doing — pumping up the media and fun.
The HD2 will come with Blockbuster On Demand so you can download videos wherever you are, and you’ll also be able to view that content on your TV, Blu-ray player and PC with Blockbuster software. To get the ball rolling, the HD2 will come pre-loaded with “Transformers” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” right on the 16GB memory card.
Goodies thrown into the package are MobiTV, free Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi for up to six months, and Barnes & Noble’s e-Reader app. Did I say this device wasn’t that thrilling? I take that back. The only reason not to get one of these bad boys is if you have a serious aversion to Windows Mobile, especially with Windows Phone 7 coming later this year. Otherwise, if you find yourself drooling over this phone’s features, you’ll be waiting in anticipation until an official release date is announced.

-- Post From My iPhone

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Zune HD Ipod touch contender

Now that we've got that out of the way, let us move on with just exactly what the Zune HD brings to the PMP battle, and what you should expect from it.

The Zune HD is the next-gen, touch-screen update to the Zune series of players, and takes full support of the brand new Zune 4.0 software. Microsoft started the Zune brand with the hopes of making it a multimedia stamp that crosses through all of their platforms, from audio, video, to games and devices. The Zune HD is the first device from them to really include full support towards that goal.

First step, full HD tv and movies, with 1080p downloads for your PC and Xbox 360, and a 720p version for your Zune HD. While the device itself does not display in HD, because that screen just ain't big enough for that, it does output to 720p to your TV or monitor with the appropriate accessories.

With a very vibrant OLED screen, the most vibrant I've seen on any handheld device yet the picture is very bright, high contrast, and totally sharp. While this screen does tend to get very dirty and smeared with lots of finger pressing and touching, it is easy to manage and wipe off. It is also very responsive, though does take about as much to get used to typing on in the web browser or other search engines the device uses.

The WiFi performs quite well, as does the direct marketplace downloading when the Zune HD is connected directly into an on-line PC while not in the Zune 4.0 software. Yes, you can download to your player and buy apps, music, etc. while not in the actual Zune 4.0 software, all straight from the player's screens. Very nice and handy to use while at work and just want to get stuff and set it to download while you're busy.

Ok, so now back to what you really want to hear about. No, I'm not talking about the really intuitive Quickplay and Smart DJ that have been introduced in 4.0. Nor am I talking about the HD Radio channels, which offer quite an expanded alternative to the regular FM dial. Also, I know you don't care that much about how small this thing is, while still giving you a great screen to display and use. You want to hear about the games.

Zune games for the HD are in their infancy, with really only a handful of them freely available. Though we do know that Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, Vans Sk8: Pool Service, and Audiosurf Tilt will all be coming to the platform, you can get Hexic, Sudoku, Chess, and the generically titled, yet full featured, Space Battle 2. These free games all have sharp colors, but utilize 2D graphical space that doesn't showcase the 3D graphics we will be expecting from the Nvidia Tegra chip set it comes with. Some of the games are also multi-player, using the Zune HD's WiFi capabilities to bring you the multiplayer gaming joy that even the Wii has had trouble handling.

All in all, the Zune HD packs a lot of power in a very tiny and pretty package. While the price may seem a bit off now, thanks to the video and radio inclusions of the new iPod Nano series, the plus of the Zune Pass and ever expanding Zune Marketplace and future compatibility with the 360 make it quite a tempting offer. If you don't want an iPhone thanks to AT&T, and you are terrified of buying iTunes merchandise, only to lose all of it if your computer dies, then you really have no argument against the Zune. If you're still not sold on the device because of the 16G and 32G sizes not being enough for you, then you'll probably only have to hold out a short while before those sizes are expanded. Beyond that, with the capability of managing your library so easily with the device, you can add and remove albums and songs without having to worry, making space and size not that much of an issue.

Oh, and expect more games!


-- Post From My iPhone

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Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD Webcam HD Webcam

Those days of grainy webcam images belong in the dark ages of the internet and yet we still come across them even though out broadband existence deserves much more. Enter Microsoft to save the day (for a price, of course) with the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD Webcam.


The Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD Webcam allows you to shoot your personal (and not so personal) shenanigans in a respectable 720p HD quality video. Other features include USB 2.0, 1280 x 720 HD resolution at 30 frames per second, auto focus, 4x digital zoom, a noise-canceling mic on top, and the expected proprietary Microsoft software ‘ClearFrame’ for smoother video, allegedly.

Windows 7 compatibe straight out of the box, the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD Webcam will set you back $80 when it is released come September 9th.


-- Post From My iPhone

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