Electricpig » IFA 2010

Google TV: voice control and app store promised

Mic Wright — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:02:35 +0000

Google TV is hitting the US in the autumn and the UK early next year. To whet our appetite for the Google living room invasion, Eric Schmidt rolled up to IFA to show off a new Google TV demo and reveal more details than we got back at Google I/O. He didn’t exactly sell it perfectly though: “Once you have Google television, you’re going to be very busy. It’s going to ruin your evening…”

Google TV will arrive in a Sony Google TV, a Sony Blu-ray player and a Logitech set top box at launch. We’re promised that they’ll come packing “incredible remote controls” and the ability to search the web, live television, recorded shows, on-demand programming and more from one box.

The Google TV demo at IFA 2010 showed it being controlled with a full QWERTY keyboard and a pointing device with television specific buttons but there’ll be some clever control methods too. Google says you’ll be able to use your Android phone (and potentially you iPhone) as a Google TV remote. That’ll bring Google voice actions integration, finally making screaming at your TV a worthwhile pursuit.

Google TV won’t launch with apps to battle the new Apple TV but they’re planned just in time for its International launch. Schmidt didn’t go into details about how they’ll be delivered. It could mean a set of pre-approved apps like those on Apple TV or an entire app store in the mode of the forthcoming Chrome web apps store.

YouTube will get special treatment from the Google TV hardware with a graphics accelerator to make HD videos pop on the big screen. The arrival of the YouTube Movies store also suggests we’ll see a full-on film rental service from the search giant very soon.

Let us know what you make of the Google TV plans. Does the idea of pairing your current DVR with Google TV appeal? Or are you going to grab the new Apple TV instead?

Out 2011 | £TBC | Google (via Wired)

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Samsung Galaxy Tab: hacked and rooted a month before launch

James Holland — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:00:04 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy Tab has been bested by hackers already, and it’s not even out yet! German Android developers Sera-Apps have nabbed a Galaxy Tab and rooted it to gain complete control over the device, proving it’s the most flexible tablet yet.

Sera-Apps industrious coders even managed to hack a Galaxy Tab at the IFA trade show. Of course, there’s now a danger that Samsung will lock down the Galaxy Tab with more stringent security before it goes on sale officially, although Sera-Apps haven’t yet made public their rooting method, simply showing a screen demonstrating superuser rights to do anything with the Galaxy Tab’s underlying code.

By gaining root access to the Galaxy Tab, hackers have the ability to tinker with its most intimate settings, potentially enabling them to improve its performance, install custom versions of the Android OS (or any OS, for that matter) and even tweak the Galaxy Tab’s multitouch, camera or 3G settings.

Should Samsung welcome the attentions of tablet hackers? Shout up in the comments section.

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Techie Breakie: Samsung Galaxy Tab on Vodafone, IFA booth tours and Windows Phone 7 Zune Pass pricing leaks

Ben Sillis — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:04:04 +0000

Morning all! Hope you had a nice, lazy weekend, because it’s all about to kick off again at breakneck speed. All the latest gadget news is set to come bursting on through, so before it does, grab everything you’ve missed right here in our techie breakie roundup.

First up, some tasty news for you on the mobile front. Nokia and BlackBerry maker RIM are backing a new wireless power standard that’s almost good to go, and speaking of BlackBerrys, we got an early look at a Torch 9800 model for the UK. Microsoft meanwhile is preparing to launch Windows Phone 7 soon, and we got some tasty new info early: how much the Zune Pass music subscription may cost in the UK.

At IFA meanwhile, we took a look at the booth tours of some of the world’s biggest gadget vendors, including Toshiba and Samsung. The latter company has turned heads in the last week with the debut of the Android slate Galaxy Tab, and we revealed that it’s set to go on sale with Vodafone in the UK soon.

Still want more news? Head on through to the homepage and help yourself to it all as it breaks!

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IFA 2010 roundup: What you missed

Stephen Ebert — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:00:47 +0000

This week the Electricpig team has been busy pottering away at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin getting hands and eyes-on on all the latest tech, with breaking news and photos daily from Europe’s biggest gadget expo. Missed any of it? Don’t worry. Read on to catch up on some of the best bits from the show so far.

Over at IFA we got to see all manner of future tech we’re sure you can’t wait to get your hands on. From televisions to tablets to projectors. There’s been loads on show. Take a look:

LG 31-inch OLED TV is mad thin!
The high cost of OLED TVs will have put many off from getting on the OLED bandwagon, but seeing them as thin as this makes us want to raid the Electricpiggy bank. It displays full 1080p HD video and is just 2.9mm thick.

Sony launches VW90ES 3D projector
Sony’s latest assault on home cinema – the VW90EScan output full 1080p high definition video, in 3D! It’s gorgeous. Hit the link to check it out.

Samsung Galaxy Tab officially launched
After much teasing, the Samsung Galaxy Tab launched in Berlin, as promised. The 7-inch tablet runs Android 2.2 Froyo and comes with 16 or 32GB of internal storage. Find out more here.

Toshiba Folio 100 Android Tablet
Earlier in the week Toshiba launched its Folio 100 Android tablet with full Flash 10.1 support, Android 2.2, an SD card slot, twin USB ports and a HDMI output for full HD. Impressive stuff we’re sure you’ll agree.

Samsung C9000 TV looks a beauty
It’s a super-slim telly with an equally super remote that acts as a second double screen with a 3-inch display meaning you’ll never miss a thing, even when you pop to the bog.

Sharp Quattron 3D launched
Sharp finally launched its Sharp Quattron 3D colour reproduction to deliver 3d 1.8 times brighter than rival 3D screens. We got to see it in action at IFA, and we were rightly impressed.

Sharp show-off how to do 3D without the glasses
Sharp – the company behind the glass-less 3D in the Nintendo 3DS showed up at iFA with some 10.6-inch 3D screens. And guess what, it really works.

Sony’s first 3D VAIO laptop
We got to see it in third dimension action at IFA, word is it’ll be available in just one size – think around the 16-inch mark.

Sharp’s skinny 3D Blu-ray player
Due in November 2010 the Sharp BD-HP90S is a thin, glossy Blu-Ray player ready to display 2D and muscle flexing 3D images. Also packed in is built-in Wi-Fi for the latest BD-Live content.

Toshiba Regza VL TV features Jacob Jensen design
The Toshiba Regza VL TV looks as good off, as it does switched on. It features an exterior design by Jacob Jensen and features a Freeview HD tuner, four HDMI ports two USB inputs.

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IFA 2010: Samsung booth tour featuring Galaxy Tab, and yet more 3D

Jennifer Allan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:50:11 +0000

The Samsung hall at IFA, like many of the big stands here, is full of 3D. 3D gaming, 3D TVs, 3D Blu-ray players. But one thing that caught our eye was an enormous 3D glasses-less screen. In terms of what it was like, because obviously we can’t show it you in pictures, we’d say it was very different from polarised or active shutter 3D. It had lower resolution, and seemed more blocky – it was like a giant Nintendo 3DS screen. Click through for a full booth tour…

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IFA 2010: Toshiba booth tour – Folio 100, Jacob Jensen and a few extra treats

James Holland — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:43:23 +0000

Toshiba’s IFA 2010 booth is a beauty. Large, roomy, and with some extra special touches like graffiti walls and tech museums. Oh, and cutting edge Android tablets and designer TVs too, of course. Come and take a peek!

Click through the image gallery above, and check out our other booth tours from IFA 2010 below.

IFA 2010: LG booth tour – 3D Xbox and oversize OLED

IFA 2010: Sharp booth tour – 3D surprises in store

IFA 2010: Sony booth tour – 3D overload!

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IFA 2010: LG booth tour – 3D Xbox and oversize OLED

James Holland — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:32:09 +0000

We’ve just taken a whistlestop tour of LG’s IFA 2010 booth. Come with us, see the sights and marvel at LG’s monster 31 inch OLED TV, 3D Xbox games, thin TVs and the world’s largest LED 3D TV!

Click through the photos in our gallery and you’ll see what we saw while schlepping through LG’s IFA 2010 set up. It’s a huge booth, packed with attractions, so we’ve plucked out a few of the best.

Want to see more IFA 2010 booths? Check out a handful of the companies below.

IFA 2010: Sharp booth tour – 3D surprises in store

IFA 2010: Sony booth tour – 3D overload!

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Samsung HMX-T10 HD camcorder

Jennifer Allan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:12:10 +0000

The Samsung HMX-T10 HD camcorder has a tilted lens, designed to let you hold the camera more naturally. We tried out the Samsung HMX-T10, and found the lens tilt to be a nifty but simple little adjustment.

The Samsung HMX-T10 lens is tilted at a 20 degree angle – take a look at the image with the ships, and compare the angle of the camera with the image on the Samsung HMX-T10 display screen, to give you an idea of how it alters things.

The Samsung HMX-T10 is very dinky, and is compact and light when the screen is folded in. It has 1920×1080 60p full HD video recording and 4.7MP stills. The LCD display is a 2.7” touchscreen, and it has 10x zoom with image stabilisation.

It comes it at around £200 ($299), so if you’re looking for a simple, portable camcorder, it’s a steal.

Out September | £200 | TBC

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Toshiba Regza VL hands on photos: Toshiba TV with Jacob Jensen design

James Holland — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:02:44 +0000

The Toshiba Regza VL is different to all of Tosh’s other tellies. Its exterior design is the work of Jacob Jensen, the design gurus responsible for Bang and Olufsen and Vertu’s best-looking products. What’s it like up close? Take a look in our hands on photos.

Unlike some Jacob Jensen products, the Regza VL is understated. Introducing it to us at IFA, CEO Timothy Jacob Jensen explained that Toshiba’s design brief had called for “global appeal” so wacky flourishes are out of the question. Instead, the Regza VL is a minimalist panel that ticks all our boxes for style and specs alike.

There’s a thin metal bezel wrapped around the edge of the screen, and a backlit control panel with touch-sensitive controls at the front of the TV. The edges of the screen are slightly angled, and there’s an angular stand too.

See all our IFA 2010 coverage

The back of the Regza VL is as smart as the front, with easily reachable connections one of Jensen’s main influences. A new wall-mounting system lets the TV sit flush against a wall too.

Inside there’s a full HD screen with Freeview HD tuner, four HDMI inputs and two USB inputs for playback of JPEG, MP3 and DivX HD files. There’s also Ethernet sockets to hook up to the web, and built-in YouTube and BBC iPlayer.

Toshiba Resolution+ technology is tucked away inside the Regza VL range too, automatically upscaling any non HD sources.

Out October 2010 | £TBC | Toshiba

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IFA 2010 diary: IFA is fit to burst with 3D, but what about the limitations?

Jennifer Allan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:01:08 +0000

So far at IFA I’ve seen a Sony press conference in 3D, which launched cameras, laptops and pushed screens and shutter glasses, I’ve seen Samsung talk 3D, and right now, writing this, I’m sat in one of the many 3D cinema booths in the Sharp exhibition space, doing a bad job of pretending to watch a demo video whilst piggybacking on the Wi-fi.

But for all this talk of 3D, there’s been almost no mention of the swathes of the population who can’t see 3D, and all the children who are under six who, it is recommended, should not be watching 3D, or the real lack of content to play on 3D ready devices.

The stats from the Eyecare Trust say that around six million people in the UK can’t see 3D because of poor binocular vision, and when the PS3 added 3D capabilities, it came with a warning about consulting a doctor before letting your child use 3D. Compared to blindness, this is enormous. In 2008 just over 150,000 were registered blind in the UK.

It makes me wonder whether anyone will ever talk about it. Of all the people in the room at press conferences, has anyone asked about this, or has the question got old and been brushed aside already? Perhaps the most sense has come from Epson, who’ve said this IFA, that they won’t be announcing a 3D projector, because it’s not time yet. The market isn’t ready, so they’ll be holding off, thanks.

Epson are right – it doesn’t seem many people are ready to have a 3D TV as their next TV, and why should they be? There’s not really much that’s very good in terms of content to watch. An Amazon search for 3D Blu-ray brings up 70 results, and most of those titles are IMAX-style 3D films – under the sea and Grand Canyon films.

Of course, the tech companies pushing 3D have to have 3D technologies, as it’s in their interests to be forward thinking companies, but the degree to which it’s being touted as having arrived, seems far removed from the time scale we’re currently looking at for large scale consumer uptake.

I’d like to think that there’ll eventually be a way to watch the same screen in 3D and 2D simultaneously, but if there is, then it’s on the other side of the 3D spike. Right now, we’re climbing up a slope to a tipping point, and it might take until we’re coming down the other side, or climbing up the next slope, for manufacturers to start thinking about getting 3D and 2D in their tellys simultaneously.

There’s already been patents filed by Sony for screens that show multiple channels at once, and filter each channel with active shutter glasses so that you can be watching Hollyoaks, a football match and Gok Wan all at the same time, however unsavoury that combination might seem.

IFA has been dominated by tablets and 3D, and maybe in 12 months I’ll be eating my words, but widespread 3D uptake seems a long way off yet.

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