Lately the SlashGear test bench has been playing home to a number of midrange workstations from HP. The 4600 and 6600 ranges from low end to mid-level quad processor workstations; while the purpose is serious, HP are trying to broaden the appeal with colorful custom graphics skins courtesy of skinit.com. But are these just My First Workstation or have HP got some potential hits on their hands?
With prices of basic standalone PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices) racing to the bottom, and increasing threats from navigation apps on mobile devices, what’s a company to do when they want to make a premium GPS device? If you’re Navigon, and the PND is the 7200T, you stuff it full of real-time updates, 3D visualizations and incredibly detailed mapping, together with a vast touchscreen and slick design. Does the Navigon 7200T stand out or get lost in the crowd? SlashGear decided to find out.
The biggest drawback I have with the iPhone 3G is its battery life when 3G network is enabled. Barely managing a full days standby time with Exchange email syncing switched on, the iPhone 3G clearly needs some extra juice to stay alive; hence why the Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone 3G was developed. Identical in concept to the Juice Pack for the original iPhone, a supplementary battery is hidden inside a partial slip-case.
A GPS unit with classic 80s Knight Rider styling and the original voice of K.I.T.T. to give directions: Mio could’ve filled the box with rocks and still sold thousands to loyal fans of the TV series. Mio insist though that, behind the gimmicks, there’s a solid PND (Personal Navigation Device); SlashGear strapped on a chest-wig, unbuttoned our shirts to the waist and released a hit record in Germany to find out.
Sitting on the SlashGear test bench for the past week or so has been Gateway’s FX6800-01e PC, and boy have we wanted to tell you about it. Outwardly there’s little to suggest – beyond the color scheme, which edges on the vibrant – that the FX6800-01e is anything other than a standard Gateway machine, but the giveaway is the discrete Intel Core i7 badge. This is one of the first systems to use Intel’s next-gen processor, formerly known as Nehalem, marking a significant architecture change from the Core series. The FX6800-01e is based on an Intel Core i7-920 2.66GHz quad-core processor; the biggest question remains, is performance increase as revolutionary as the architecture?
The choice of ASUS Eee PC models keeps getting larger, and the company shows little sign of stopping until there’s a netbook variant for every individual person on the planet. On the SlashGear desk today is the Eee PC 1000HA, part of the company’s largest 1000-series netbooks but coming in at the relatively bargain price of $429.99. Could this be the best balance of budget and functionality to date?
We’ve something of a history with remote control helicopters here on SlashGear. They don’t crop up all that often, but when they do we find that readers go for them in a big way. Developments in contra-rotating blades and other cleverness has done a lot to minimize what user expertise is required, and now WowWee have stepped into the fray with their own, super-simple Bladestar remote control helicopters. Can they carry over their tradition of straightforward, right-out-of-the-box fun to historically finnicky flight? We put on our best pilot’s goggles and silk scarves and took a look.
As Apple’s flagship laptop, the MacBook Pro arguably has an easier time than the MacBook. With a reputation of superlative performance and style, the Pro is targeted at an audience who, to stereotype a little, has higher priorities than budget than those looking at the MacBook segment. It’s a double-edged sword, though: since the last MacBook Pro refresh the laptop has faced fresh competition from Voodoo’s slick, niche range, as well as capable (if a touch more mainstream) models from HP, Lenovo and others. Apple’s retort is a MacBook Air-inspired casing and dual-graphics; is it enough to keep the MacBook Pro on top?
After recent price slashing, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has been quite well in sales. While Microsoft did not reveal on how many consoles were sold exactly, it claimed that the Xbox 360 sales has doubled.
Microsoft initiated the price cut of Xbox 360 on September 5th all across the board. The cheapest Xbox 360 “Arcade” model was priced lower than the popular Nintendo Wii at $200, $80 less than previous price tag. The Elite and standard model was down by $50 to $300 and $400 for the Elite edition.
Samsung has announced a pair of LCD monitors with, it has to be said, moderately misleading names. The SyncMaster 2243Hz and 2233Hz are both 22-inches and run at 1680 x 1050 resolution, but despite what the titles might suggest don’t have any super-speedy refresh rates. In fact typical response time is 5ms under normal use.
SlashGear Japan
