Kenwood’s aiming its new MNA-350 squarely at the Japanese market for tiny cars, or “kei-cars,” but we know plenty of people with double-DIN slots in their SUVs here in the States who would kill for this CD player / GPS nav combo. The 50W unit features a 3.5-inch touchscreen that supports address and phone number lookups, as well as MP3, AAC, and WMA support and optional iPod integration. Those of you rocking to the beat of different DAP can jack in through the front-mounted 1/8-inch aux input, or just play your files through the integrated SD reader. No word on price, but the four of you flying out to snag one of these Japan-only units for your Escalades probably don’t care about that, do you?

[Via Akihabara News]
more info
from engadget

Looks like HP’s HDX has finally poked its pivoting, angling neck out to say hello. We welcome the mammoth, overzealous “entertainment series” laptop, in all its specced out glory. Marvel at its:

• Centrino (Core 2) Duo T7700 2.4GHz CPU
• 20.1-inch 1680 x 1050 “Ultra Brightview” display
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB graphics (DirectX 10)
• 4GB RAM
• Dual 200GB SATA drives, eSATA port
• Integrated ATSC / NTSC tuner with IR blaster
• 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth
• HD DVD (read-only), dual layer DVD±RW drive
• ExpressCard slot, HDMI out

Did we mention it’s 15.5 pounds, 2.3-inches thick, and will bankrupt your family? Seriously, consider this one long and hard. Your kids’ college education is more important than a laptop.

Gallery: HP Pavilion HDX “The Dragon” entertainment laptop announced

  

From engadget

HP’s rolling deep with the lappies today, and while most of them apart from that monster they call the HDX are nothing special, they did announce that new ultralight Tablet PC we’d been hearing about, the HP Compaq 2710P. This one weighs in at 3.6 pounds and has a 1280 x 800 pixel, 12.1-inch widescreen active digitizer display, an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor, 100GB hard drive, up to 4GB of DDR2 SDRAM, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n, optional EV-DO or HSDPA module, and an ExpressCard/54 slot. OS options include Vista, XP, and FreeDOS.

More info
from engadget

Oh my — we’re fallin’ in love. Our always-inventive pals in Taiwan have developed a “PDA Phone” called the Century Sutra 1688 that comes complete with a gamepad controller (not Bluetooth, darn) and an NES emulation system. If you’re fond of “Super Mario Brothers” and “The Legend of Zelda” from the NES craziness of the 80s, you’d probably hand over a month’s paycheck for one of these beauties just to take a trip down memory lane. We know we would. The gamepad for Windows Mobile isn’t exactly a new concept, but add in NES emulation — even though there are a ton of portable NES emulators out there — and we’re sold.

More info
from engadgetmobile

HTC’s 2007 plan is starting to play itself out, and the latest device to make a cameo is this here lovely looking (but only so-so spec’d) “Elf” in HTC-branded P3450 guise. Guts include a rather anemic OMAP850 putting along at 201MHz, 128MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, microSD expansion, a 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth 2.0, and quadband GSM plus UMTS (though it’s not clear whether there are any American 3G bands kicking around in there). The big draw here — besides the presence of Windows Mobile 6, of course — seems to be a shell that clocks in at a rather svelte 14 millimeters. If this all pans out, expect an official introduction in the next couple months.

[Via Slashphone]
more info
from engadgetmobile

The Treo 755p is the latest Treo smartphone debuting on Sprint in the US. The 755p brings together the software and features of the Treo 700p to the refreshed 680/750 form-factor. From the outside the 755p appears almost identical to the Treo 680, however it has a number of distinctive characteristics that set it apart including high speed EVDO support, miniSD memory expansion, out of the box exchange push email support and a larger capacity battery.

Like the 680, the 755p will be available in a few different colors. Sprint will be carrying it in midnight blue and burgundy flavors, shown below. The midnight blue model is a slightly lighter shade of blue than the Treo 750′s navy blue color. The outer casing is made of the smooth and grippy “soft touch finish” material. It gives it a much better fell in the hand and will stick to surfaces better than standard plastic found on earlier devices.

The keyboard and application buttons are identical to the 680/750 and are nice and sturdy. The power and notification LED has been cleverly blended in with the silver finish. It’s still in the same spot above the Palm logo, however it can only be seen it when it is actively illuminated.

Other minor exterior changes include the IR window being moved to the right side and a covered miniSD slot. There is no reset button on the device, so you must take out and reseat the battery to perform a soft reset. The stylus included is mostly black plastic, with a metallic grip at the end.

Size wise, the Treo 755p has dimensions of 4.4″ x 2.3″ x 0.8″ inches (111.7 x 58.4 x 20.3mm) and weighs in at 5.64 ounces (160g). It shares the exact same dimensions as the 658 & 750, and is only a negligible 0.2 ounces heavier.

755p Hardware
Inside, the Treo 755p is powered by a 312 MHz Intel XScale processor. This is the same chip found in the 650, 680 and 700p. It also features the same amount of internal memory as its predecessor with a 128 MB non-volitile (NVFS) chip for program memory of which 60 MB is user-available for storage. The miniSD memory expansion slot can accommodate regular and minSD SDHC cards up to 4 GB in size.

The display is the standard Palm OS Treo 1.74″ x 1.74″ inch, 320 x 320 pixel TFT screen that supporting up to 65,000 colors. The 755p includes a 1.3 megapixel digital camera built into the rear of the device next to the speaker grill. It can take photos at a max resolution of 1280 x 1024 and has 2x digital zoom. It can also record video clips with audio at a 352 x 288 resolution.

The 755p also has Bluetooth v1.2. This allows for wireless accessories such as GPS navigation kits and wireless Bluetooth headsets. Palm says users can expect increased compatibility with Bluetooth devices over previous models. A2DP support is still missing, but there is always Softick Audio Gateway.

The phone uses a (850/1900 MHz) CDMA radio. The 755p can access high speed EVDO wireless data networks and can fall back on a 1xRTT connection when out of range of an EVDO signal. Current EVDO speeds average around 300-600 kbps for general web surfing, and you can get bursts of up to 2 mbps when downloading larger files. Of course speed will vary and depends on a number of conditions and signal strength. You can also use the Treo 755p as a wireless modem for your laptop or desktop computer via Bluetooth or USB cable.

Battery
One unique feature the 755p brings is a larger capacity battery. It packs in a 1600mAh battery. Though this is larger than the 680 & 750′s capacity, it is 200mAh less than the original 700p battery. The battery resides in a slightly deeper battery cavity than its sister models. This new size is unique to the 755p as batteries designed for previous Treo models are not physically compatible. Palm claims a continuous 4.2 hours talk time. Stay tuned for the full review for our take on battery life, as I’ve only had the unit for a few days and can’t comment on real world performance just yet.

755p Software
The Treo 755p runs the Palm OS Garnet operating system v5.4.9. It basically includes the same set of software as the 700p with a few updated apps and added third party extras. One of the nicer features of the Treo 680 was its improved dialing and calling interface. One odd aspect of the 755p is that it includes the same phone dialer and call management software as the 700p and not the new and improved suite from the 680.

The Sprint version I’m currently testing contains a few extra apps bundled in the device ROM. These include a copy of Bejeweled, Google Maps, Sprint TV and On Demand (Handmark’s Pocket Express). Sprint also includes built-in launcher icons that point to downloads of a Sprint IM application, GoodLink and a trial of Mobile Voice Command software. The Sprint IM program supports AIM, MSN and Yahoo accounts and requires a 15 cents per message usage charge. The trial version of Mobile Voice Command supports voice dialing (not from Bluetooth) and some common system commands and shortcuts.

Documents to Go v8 is also in the ROM for Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) file support and PDF Files. A basic version of Pocket Tunes is included on the device for MP3 digital audio and music playback. It also features the same streaming audio and video support that debuted on the 700p.

The latest version of Versamail (v3.5.4) is included for email. This version supports Microsoft’s Direct Push Technology with Exchange Server 2003 with SP2 or Exchange Server 2007. This provides automatic wireless updates of email, calendar and contact information. Blazer v4.5 is included for browsing the web. No changes here as is the same version included the 700p and 680.

Availability
The Treo 755p will be available beginning mid-May from Palm stores and online at Palm.com It also will be available at Sprint stores for as low as $279.99 after available discounts and promotions.

Stay tuned for more in-depth, full PalmInfocenter review soon.

From palminfocenter

Another review from:
Gadgeteer
Read – MobileTechReview (4 / 5 stars, “Another update to an already strong smartphone…”)
Read – MobileBurn (“Highly Recommended”)
Read – SlashGear (4.5 / 5 stars, “…still one of the best smartphones on the market…”)
Read – Brighthand (“…a good buy…”)

more pics after the jump

Continue Reading

Let’s be real: the new Treo 755p is more or less what the 700p should have been. There’s not exactly anything wrong with it, just that it’s been a year since the 700p came out and all the improvements to the 755p are rather minor. Click on for some first impressions of the Treo 755p, as well as a gallery of hands-on shots.

Yeah, it’s a tiny bit thinner (0.8-inches vs. 0.9-inches) and lighter (5.6 ounces vs 6.4 ounces) and they’ve finally lopped off that antenna which has been missing from Windows Mobile-powered Treos for a while now, swapped the SD card slot out for a miniSD card slot, and added a nice, soft finish (we’re not feeling the burgundy, though you might), but otherwise everything’s about the same. It’s the same version of the Palm OS (version 5.4.9), same screen size and resolution (320 x 320 pixels), same wireless radio (EV-DO Rev 0, not even a bump up to Rev A), same Bluetooth (1.2, you’d think it’d kill ‘em to upgrade to 2.0), same 1.3 megapixel camera, same battery life, same processor (312MHz XScale), same amount of memory (128MB of RAM), etc. You get the picture, and to be fair, Palm makes it pretty clear with the model number that this isn’t meant to be a major upgrade.There are a few cosmetic differences worth noting (besides that lopped off antenna). The casing of the 755p is more or less identical to that of the Treo 750, with the memory card slot and IR port moved to the right side of the phone, a larger speaker, and a slight indentation along each side that makes the phone a bit easier to hold. One thing we were hoping is that they would have ported over to the 755p some of the UI improvements they’ve made with the Treo 680, but no such luck. Google Maps does come pre-installed (as well as Bejeweled), but the probably the most exciting new free app they’ve included (well, technically made available for download) is Sprint IM, an instant messaging program from Thumbspeed that’s compatible with AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger. It’s something that’s been way overdue, and the app itself is clean and easy to use (though we weren’t able to successfully log-in with any of our AIM accounts).

The bottom line is that if you already have a Treo 700p, you definitely shouldn’t have any buyer’s remorse — that is unless you really, really hate that antenna — there aren’t enough improvements here to make it worth the money you’d spend. If you’re still holding on to that 650 or (gasp!) 600, and you’re ready to upgrade, you may as well take the plunge and get the 755p.

Click here for the pics!
from engadget