Hot Stuff Gadgets for February 2010

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by admin in Hot Stuff Gadget Review

Every month the editors of Stuff magazine choose the latest pretty, shiny gadgets for you.

Apple iPad
The one we’ve been waiting for?
from $500 | www.apple.com

iTablet, iSlate, iThing, iPad… Before Apple unveiled its 9.7in (22.8cm)-screened
e-reader-cum-giant-iPod-touch, it had already gone through more names than Prince. The iPad marks a tipping point for touchscreen gadgetry.
With its 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities, silver back and 12.7mm waist it makes current tablet PCs look as alluring as Jeremy Mansfield in stockings. And although the screen doesn’t use eye-friendly E Ink, Apple’s deals with publishers could spark a sea change in the way we read books, papers and perhaps even Stuff. Besides, what’s in a name?

Parrot AR Drone iphone-controlled ’copter Rtba (due mid 2010) / www.parrot.com In the Stuff office is a cupboard filled with clapped-out radio control helicopters. We’d like to say we destroyed them in epic combat, but we just pushed them to our limits. That’s why we’re so excited about Parrot’s easy-to-fly RC chopper. It’s controlled via Wi-Fi by tilting and twisting your iPhone or iPod Touch, beaming live video back as it flies. It even switches to autopilot if it thinks it’s about to wipe out. You can download games, battle other AR.Drones or just use it to snoop on your neighbours. Which we haven’t done. Honest.

Toshiba Cell TV supercomputer super-telly Rtba (due mid 2010) / www.toshiba.co.uk When we saw the presentation for Toshiba’s new Cell TVs we were so happy we cried a little bit. The specs haven’t been finalised yet, but we could see 65in (168cm) sets with LED backlights, 1TB hard drives, Wi-Fi, video conferencing capabilities, processors 143 times faster than those in current tellies (the same chips used in the PS3, in fact) and the ability to show ropey YouTube video at full-screen in decent quality. You want more? They might even be able to convert normal 2D pictures to 3D. Now the tears are welling up again…

Plastic Logic QUE proReader e-book with brawn as well as brains from $650 / www.que.com If trees had eyes, could read and were interested in technology, they would have been delighted by this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, for among the slew of new e-readers was this: the QUE proReader. It has a massive 10.5in (26.3cm) 150ppi touchscreen, weighs just 482g, has up to 8GB of memory and packs 3G and Wi-Fi for downloading content. Impressive, nê? But what’s really cool is the TruVue format it supports, which lets you view publications in their original format, albeit in greyscale of course. Newspapers: prepare for format transmutation.

Google Nexus One The day the Androids took over $530 / www.google.com/phone The Nexus One isn’t the second coming. It’s not Google’s first phone (it’s made by HTC, like the T-Mobile G1), and it won’t do much that the iPhone can’t. So why is it such a hot property? Well, what’s underneath the 3.7in (9.3cm) AMOLED touchscreen should stimulate anyone’s gadget gland. A nippy Snapdragon chip propels the latest version of Android, and Wi-Fi, HSDPA and GPS all make an appearance. But it’s really here because it represents a change in The Big G’s attitude. It bears the company’s name. A company that stuck two fingers up at the Chinese government. And if it can do that, we think it’ll take a chunk or two out of Apple, don’t you?

Hands-on with the Google Nexus One


The Nexus One’s 1Ghz Snapdragon chip makes it extremely well-oiled and responsive in the menus. Despite the lack of a snazzy interface skin there are some nice visual touches, most notably the live, interactive wallpapers. There are also now five home screens rather than three, so that’s more screen real estate to fill with widgets. The 480×800 display is on par with Motorola’s Droid, much sharper than the iPhone’s slightly smaller screen.
If its 5MP snaps improve on those of HTC phones such as the Hero, we could be on to a winner.