Todays & Tomorrows Technology

We’re not entirely convinced by the name 22Moo, but now that iPhone OS 3.0 supports third-party peripherals we’re sure we could find some bag-space for their GameBone Pro controller. Intended to be used with an iPhone or iPod touch, the GameBone Pro hooks up via Bluetooth or Apple’s dock-connector, and has an 8-way D-pad plus six buttons.

There’s also a 2,000mAh Li-Ion battery, which not only powers the GameBone Pro’s functionality but – if you use the wired connection – can recharge your iPhone or iPod touch, too. A row of LEDs shows charge status.

The controller also has integrated speakers, a microphone, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It’s set to hit shelves in mid-September, but we don’t know price yet; 22Moo are asking potential customers to suggest what they’d pay for the GameBone Pro, which seems like an obvious way to find your shiny new peripheral now costs fifty cents.

AT&T have announced the Motorola Karma QA1, an entry-level slider with full QWERTY keyboard and homescreen access to Facebook and MySpace. Aimed, unsurprisingly, at teenagers and young adults, the Karma has a 2.5-inch 240 x 320 display, 3.6Mbps HSDPA, a microSD card slot and 2-megapixel camera with video recording functionality.

There’s also A-GPS, and AT&T load their Navigator PND app onto the handset. The media player supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, RealAudio, XMF and MIDI files, together with H.263 and MPEG4 video, and the Karma has both a 3.5mm headphone jack and A2DP stereo Bluetooth 2.0 support. You can also access AT&T CV video.

Video hands-on after the cut

The Karma has a full HTML browser, with a dedicated shortcut key, together with threaded messaging, mobile email support including Yahoo!, AOL and Windows Live Mail, and can send and receive SMS and MMS messages. There’s also a speakerphone, speech recognition, CrystalTalk active background noise filter and voice-memo recording.

AT&T will be selling the Motorola Karma QA1 from June 28th, priced at $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. You’ll also need to budget for a minimum of a $39.99 voice plan and $20 data or messaging plan.

Since many states are passing laws that prevent people from talking on their cell phones while driving, more and more hands-free devices are hitting the market. The latest, however, is officially from RIM and called the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone.

This gadget lets you play music from your phone over your car speakers wirelessly. It also lets you receive and make calls via your car’s stereo, so there’s no more taking your eyes off the road or your hands off the wheel.

Featuring Bluetooth, this speaker phone simply attaches to the visor in your car and you’re good to go. You can get the BlackBerry Visor Mount Speakerphone now for $99.99, which I guess isn’t too bad you simply must receive your calls in stereo.

Plantronics Voyager PRO Bluetooth headset was good enough to make even Vincent look twice at his Jawbone PRIME, and it remains the SlashGear choice if you’re looking for a sturdy, long-lasting hands-free kit with excellent audio quality. Now Plantronics have announced European availability for the Voyager PRO, with the headset going on sale for £79.99.

It’s not a small headset, but it does come packed with audio-processing cleverness. Plantronics’ AudioIQ2 DSP system includes wind-cancellation and ambient noise removal, together with WindSmart thanks to dual-microphones and acoustic fabrics. Battery life is estimated at up to 6hrs talktime or five days of standby.

In the UK, the Plantronics Voyager PRO will be available from the company themselves together with carrier Orange and Apple stores. If you’re in the US, you can already pick up the Voyager PRO for around $100.

Motorola have unveiled a new Bluetooth headset, the Endeavor HX1, which the company claims to be the “only Bluetooth headset to use true bone conduction technology”. That’s likely going to raise some eyebrows over at Aliph, whose Jawbone headset is known for using a vibration-sensing system; in the HX1’s case, a new Stealth Mode shuts off the standard microphone and solely uses a bone conduction sensor in the earpiece.
That, Motorola say, is good enough to minimize the impact of even the most violent wind and ambient noise, and in fact can allow you to be heard even while standing in a concert. If you’re leaving the microphone switched on, then Motorola’s CrystalTalk system is also onboard for some more traditional noise-reduction.

Battery life is apparently good for seven hours talktime, and the HX1 can connect to multiple devices simultaneously making it handy for both cellphone and VoIP use. There are even voice-prompts, BlueAnt-style, to guide you in setting up Stealth Mode and pairing. The Motorola Endeavor HX1 will land in Asia come July; no word on pricing, nor when it might arrive in the US or Europe.

T-Mobile have officially announced the Dash 3G, the HTC-made Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, with a full QWERTY keyboard and WiFi b/g. The Dash – which is also known as the HTC Snap - has a 2.4-inch 320 x 240 non-touchscreen display and trackball for navigation.

There’s also Bluetooth and WiFi b/g, together with GPS and support for T-Mobile USA’s MyFaves service. Around the back there’s a 2-megapixel camera that supports video recording, and assuming T-Mobile have requested no changes, inside 256MB ROM and 192MB RAM plus a microSDHC card slot.

The standard battery is a 1,500mAh pack, which HTC have previously rated for up to 8.5hrs GSM talktime (5hrs WCDMA) or up to 15.8 days GSM standby (20 days WCDMA). No word on pricing, but the T-Mobile Dash 3G will arrive sometime in June.

ASRock have announced a new ultraportable, the Multibook G22, and while from the outside this might look like a standard netbook its specs make it something more unusual. Not only does the 12.1-inch 1366 x 768 G22 have an integrated DVD Supermulti drive, but it uses Intel’s dual-core Atom 330 processor paired with NVIDIA’s Ion graphics chipset.

Atom-aficionados will know that the 330 is more usually found in nettops, and that Intel never really intended it to be used in portables. Here, the 1.6GHz CPU is paired with 2GB of DDR2 RAM (up to 4GB is supported), a 320GB hard-drive (up to 500GB supported) and of course the 1080p-capable NVIDIA Ion. Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n and gigabit ethernet, plus Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and there are VGA, HDMI, audio in/out, ethernet, modem and three USB 2.0 ports.

The trackpad recognizes multitouch gestures including pinch-zooming and chiral-rotating. Throw in a 10-in-1 memory card reader, 1.3-megapixel camera, stereo speakers and a microphone, and you’ve pretty much summed up the Multibook G22. No word on where it’ll launch, nor for how much, but it’s certainly unusual enough for us to keep an eye out for.

Sony is showing off a new bluetooth mouse that’s super compact. It’s called the VGP-BMS10 and it’s made to go perfectly with the VAIO P ultraportable laptop. Now, apparently you can have the complete package.
The compact mouse has an aluminum cover that slides to switch it on and off. This also works to keep the scroll wheel protected when it’s not in use. Plus, buttons won’t be pressed and poked when the mouse is tucked away in your bag.

Other specs include an 800dpi laser with a 10-meter range, which is pretty good. You’ll be able to get the VGP-BMS10 in August for the equivalent of $67 in Japan. But it seems to work with Windows only.

Sprint and Verizon may be keeping relatively quiet about the BlackBerry Tour 9630’s functionality, but unsurprisingly RIM themselves are pretty keen to get the news out there about exactly what their new “world phone” can do. The smartphone is primarily intended to use CDMA EVDO Rev.A connectivity, but it also packs UMTS/HSPA 2100MHz support and quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE for use when abroad.

Elsewhere there’s a 480 x 340 resolution display, 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and image stabilization, and 256MB of onboard storage with a microSD card to augment that. The Tour 9630 also has GPS with support for photo geotagging.

BlackBerry Maps is pre-installed, and there’s a mediaplayer with support for non-DRM iTunes synchronization. Bluetooth 2.0 including support for the A2DP stereo profile is there, plus a 3.5mm headphone socket, and there’s obviously the full QWERTY keyboard and trackball. RIM rate the battery life as good for up to 5hrs talktime or 14 days standby.

No specific release dates for the smartphone, but Sprint have suggested it will come “later this summer” priced at $199.99.

The ASUS Eee PC T91 has made its official debut on the company’s US website, and according to one dealer it’s apparently set to hit stores this week. The 8.9-inch convertible touchscreen netbook is already available in the UK, with Intel’s Z520 1.33GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD.

There’s also ASUS’ Super Hybrid Engine, which can be used to boost battery life to up to 5hrs, and optional HSDPA cellular connectivity. Standard wireless includes WiFi draft-n and Bluetooth. Other options are a TV tuner and GPS receiver.

So far we’re unclear on how much the Eee PC T91 will cost in the US. UK pricing for the convertible netbook is around £449 ($684) but the company has not yet commented.

Photos of LonMID’s M100 engineering prototype showed up before Computex, but now the convertible MID phone has made its official appearance on the company’s site. The obvious change is the color-scheme (the prototype was black and gold) but there are other differences too, not least the fact that the external phone keypad has been omitted.


Still, it’s a 6.2 x 3.5 x 1.1 inch chunk with a 4.8-inch WVGA touchscreen inside and a smaller, 2.4-inch QVGA display inside. Underneath there’s a flat panel which could use backlit, touch-sensitive buttons; LonMID haven’t released close-up images of the M100 turned on yet.

Other specs confirm the same 800MHz Intel Atom Z500 processor, paired with up to 1GB of RAM, a 4GB SSD and the Midinux Linux OS. Wireless connectivity includes WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and some sort of 3G modem, judging by the SIM slot, while there’s also a microSD card slot, USB 2.0 port, miniUSB port and a headphone jack, plus a microphone. No word on when we expect to see it go on sale, nor where.

If having your run of the mill Bluetooth headset is not enough for you, then you might be interested in the BT2080 from Jabra, which actually features a built-in LED lights for easy battery life and pairing detection.

The whole idea of a Bluetooth headset is to make your life easier by keeping your hands-free to do other things while taking those all-important phone calls. But this latest Jabra headset strives to make your day even less complicated with the addition of an on/off switch that’s separate from the volume and answer controls.

The LED lights positioned on the side of the device also make it easy to see how much battery life is left and if it’s properly paired with your phone. It has an expected battery life of 6-hours for talk time. You can get the Jabra BT2080 in southeast Asia soon and in the U.S. shortly thereafter for $39.