Archive for the ‘Accessories’ Category

New Android smartphones: HTC One X and HTC One V

Friday, March 30th, 2012

HTC has launched its One series of smartphones in Singapore. The HTC One X (S$898 without contract) and HTC One V (S$398) will be available in Singapore and the countries around the world from next Monday, 2 April 2012.

The HTC One X handset is available in Polar White and Glamour Grey, while the HTC One V comes in the colour of Jupiter Rock.

The HTC One X handset is available in Polar White and Glamour Grey, while the HTC One V comes in the colour of Jupiter Rock.

At the media launch in Marina Bay Sands Hall A today, HTC showed off the new Android 4.0 (ICS, with HTC Sense 4) smartphones, which boast a superb camera, Beats Audio and greater connectivity.

The HTC One X has a 4.7-inch, 720p HD screen made of Corning Gorilla Glass, while the One V has a 3.7-inch, 480×800 WVGA screen.

The key tech specs can be found here.

Authentic Sound

Beats By Dr. Dre Audio is integrated into the HTC One smartphones for all sound experiences from listening to music to watching YouTube videos or playing games.

HTC’s included Sync Manager software, available in Windows and Mac versions, makes it a breeze to transfer songs, artists and playlists from your music library, whether it is iTunes or Windows Media Player. The syncing can take place wirelessly as well.

Camera
Side views of the HTC One X and V.

HTC One X and HTC One V

With fast autofocus in 0.2 seconds, the camera can take a snapshot in 0.7 seconds.

Simply hold down the shutter button to take up to 99 consecutive shots at 4 frames per second on the HTC One X (HTC One V takes 2 fps to 99 shots).

An f/2.0 lens allows the HTC One X to take pictures in low-light, while HDR technology enables photos in harsh lighting conditions to turn out well.

While shooting HD video, simply press the shutter button to capture a high-resolution still photo without disrupting the video recording. The same can be done while viewing a previously recorded video.

HTC One X will also be available in select 4G LTE markets with a LTE-enabled Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with up to 1.5GHz dual-core CPU’s.

HTC One X will also be available in select 4G LTE markets with a LTE-enabled Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU.

Dropbox integration

To save recorded photos and videos, or any other documents, Dropbox has been integrated with HTC Sense 4 in the HTC One, whose users get 25 gigabytes of free Dropbox space for two years.

Dropbox cloud storage, together with the cloud synchronisation provided by Google via the Android OS has resulted in the recent retirement of HTCsense.com cloud backup services.

Personal entertainment hub

Apart from using the smartphone to make calls, take and view photos or video, enjoy music, surf the web, and play games; HTC is trying to extend the consumption of HTC’s content and media beyond just the smartphone’s screen.

I can see that HTC is positioning the One X as the hub of the modern consumer’s digital lifestyle.

HTC Media Link

If you’re in the living room, you can “throw” the display on your smartphone onto your HDTV with an upward swipe on the smartphone’s screen using three fingers – as long as there is a Wi-Fi network in the vicinity and your TV has an HDMI input which is connected to the HTC Media Link.

The HTC One X is a highly desirable smartphone in a chic package.

The HTC One X is a highly desirable smartphone in a chic package.

The Media Link is a black box the size of a name card box that has a USB power socket and an HDMI socket.The mirrored display is transmitted over the Wi-Fi network to the Media Link. The TV doesn’t have to be DNLA enabled – all it needs is an HDMI input.

For watching movies, the video can be viewed while the smartphone itself is used for other purposes.

HTC Car Stereo Clip

And if you’re in the car, the music or call audio can be channeled into the car’s speakers. Simply plug the HTC Car Stereo Clip into the car stereo’s auxiliary socket. The Car Stereo Clip receives the sound signals from smartphone and pumps it into the car’s sound system.

With a phone holder that can be attached to the windscreen (via a suction attachment), the smartphone can be put into “car” mode.

Only the essential functionalities typically needed in the car are displayed on the smartphone screen, such as Calls, Music, and navigation – with big icons to make it easier to control while driving.

The Media Link, Car Stereo Clip and the car kit are sold separately.

Seagate achieves 1 Terabit per square inch in hard drive storage

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

That’s one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) bits in one square inch of the disk.

That’s more than double the number of stars in the Milky Way, which astronomers estimate to number between 200 and 400 billion.

Seagate has squeezed 1,000,000,000,000 bits into every square inch.

Seagate has squeezed 1,000,000,000,000 bits into every square inch.

Seagate has become the first hard drive maker to achieve the milestone storage density of 1 terabit per square inch.

“The growth of social media, search engines, cloud computing, rich media and other data-hungry applications continues to stoke demand for ever greater storagecapacity,” said Mark Re, senior vice president of Heads and Media Research and Development at Seagate.The technology demonstration promises to double the storage capacity of today’s hard drives upon its introduction later this decade.

Don’t be surprised to see 3.5-inch hard drives with an extraordinary capacity of up to 60 terabytes over the 10 years that follow.

Seagate reached the landmark data density with heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), the next- generation recording technology.

The current hard drive technology, Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), is used to record the spectrum of digitized data – from music, photos, and video stored on home desktop and laptop PCs to business information housed in sprawling data centers – on the spinning platters inside every hard drive.

PMR technology was introduced in 2006 to replace longitudinal recording, a method in place since the advent of hard drives for computer storage in 1956, and is expected to reach its capacity limit near 1 terabit per square inch in the next few years.

“Hard disk drive innovations like HAMR will be a key enabler of the development of even more data-intense applications in the future, extending the ways businesses and consumers worldwide use, manage and store digital content,” added Mark.Hard drive manufacturers increase areal density and capacity by shrinking a platter’s data bits to pack more within each square inch of disk space.

They also tighten the data tracks, the concentric circles on the disk’s surface that anchor the bits.

The maximum capacity of today’s 3.5-inch hard drives is 3 terabytes (TB), at about 620 gigabits per square inch, while 2.5-inch drives top out at 750 gigabytes (GB), or roughly 500 gigabits per square inch.

The first generation of HAMR drives, at just over 1 terabit per square inch, will likely more than double these capacities – to 6TB for 3.5-inch drives and 2TB for 2.5-inch models.

The technology offers a scale of capacity growth never before possible, with a theoretical areal density limit ranging from 5 to 10 terabits per square inch – 30TB to 60TB for 3.5-inch drives and 10TB to 20TB for 2.5-inch drives.

WD ships its first external Thunderbolt hard drive

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Western Digital’s My Book Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system comes in capacities of 4TB (S$799) and 6TB (S$899).

My Book Thunderbolt Duo is Western Digital's first external hard disk based on Thunderbolt technology.

My Book Thunderbolt Duo is Western Digital's first external hard disk based on Thunderbolt technology.

Thunderbolt technology brings a new way to connect high-speed storage devices to any desktop or notebook computer with a Thunderbolt port while delivering unmatched speed for multitasking activities such as, editing video/music, 3D rendering, and completing other high definition graphics-intensive projects.

The new My Book Thunderbolt Duo promises creative professionals and Mac enthusiasts improved performance, double-safe data protection and flexibility.

Additional features found on the My Book Thunderbolt Duo include out-of-the-box compatibility with Mac OS Time Machine and formatting for HFS + Journaled for Mac; capability for multi-stream workflows; and a 3-year limited warranty.

The datasheet for the drive can be viewed/downloaded below:

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WD S25 SAS hard drives for enterprises

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Western Digital is now shipping its third-generation enterprise 2.5-inch SAS hard drive family to OEMs. They will be available from select resellers and distributors worldwide next quarter.

The WD S25 SAS hard drives are available in capacities of 300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 900 GB.

The WD S25 SAS hard drives are available in capacities of 300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 900 GB.

The WD S25 SAS hard drives offer greater support for performance-optimised, mission-critical enterprise server, storage environments.

“Continuing our commitment to the industry’s fastest-growing segment – 2.5-inch drives – WD is updating our small form factor SAS offering with the advanced technology of our third-generation drive, including a new 900 GB capacity point,” said Darwin Kauffman, vice president of enterprise storage solutions, WD.The 2.5-inch, 10,000 RPM hard drive has a high-speed 6 Gb/s SAS interface — offering IT professionals a more advanced array of reliable, efficient, and high-performance storage.

They are available in capacities of 300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 900 GB.

The WD S25 line is designed for the most demanding applications such as online transaction processing and multi-tiered networked storage arrays.

A small form factor allows greater system airflow, resulting in lower cooling costs.

The latest WD S25 SAS drives require less than 8 watts to operate and have a 2.0 M hour MTBF rating — the industry’s highest.

WD’s third-generation of 2.5-inch SAS drives are also its first to include support for T10 Protection Information (PI) for advanced data integrity, and the first to provide optional models that feature drive-level self-encryption that meets the Trusted Computing Group’s specification for Enterprise Class A encryption.

Check out the detailed specifications in the factsheet below.

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IT Show 2012 promotions: Western Digital

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Western Digital will be at the IT Show 2012 in Suntec Singapore at Level 6, Booth 6701.

Click to download/view WD's IT Show 2012 flyers.

Click to download/view WD's IT Show 2012 flyers.

Check out the discounted prices for their external desktop or portable expansion drives, personal cloud storage (network attached storage), and media players.

Down load Western Digital’s IT Show 2012 flyers below for viewing.

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IT Show 2012 promotions: Seagate

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Seagate will be at the IT Show 2012 in Suntec Singapore at Level 6, Booth 6381.

From left: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex UltraPortable (USB 3.0), Desk, Home, Satellite.

From left: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex UltraPortable (USB 3.0), Desk, Home, Satellite.

Check out the discounted prices and free gifts for their range of external desktop or portable expansion drives or network attached storage drives. (*Satellite comes with free Seagate Satellite Hard Pouch worth S$29.90.)

Capacity IT Show 2012 Prices Usual Prices
Seagate GoFlex Home Satellite*
500 GB S$289 S$299
Seagate GoFlex Home network storage system
1 TB S$229
2 TB S$259
3 TB S$329 S$349
Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk USB 3.0 external drive
1 TB S$179 S$189
2 TB S$209 S$229
3 TB S$299 S$309
Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex UltraPortable drive, USB 3.0
500 GB S$119 S$149
1 TB S$189 S$199
1.5 TB S$239 S$259

IT Show 2012 promotions: Samsung

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Samsung will be at the IT Show 2012 in Suntec Singapore at Levels 3 & 4. Check out the promotional discounts and freebies for Samsung’s notebooks, tablets and mobile phones, cameras, printers, monitors and smart TVs.

Check out Samsung's Ultrabooks and its 3,  7, 9 series of notebooks at IT Show 2012..

Check out Samsung's Ultrabooks and its 3, 7, 9 series of notebooks at IT Show 2012..

Check out the new colour for the Multiview MV800 compact camera that features a 3” flip-out Touch display. The stunning pink gives the 16.1 megapixel shooter a fresh look. The camera also comes with 5x optical zoom at 26mm at its widest angle.

You can view or download Samsung’s other IT Show 2012 flyers below.

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IT Show 2012 promotions: Olympus

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Have a photo taken with Felicia Chin at the IT Show 2012 in Suntec Singapore. And check out the hefty promotions and free gifts at Olympus’ booth at Level 4, Hall 404, Booth 8205.

Felicia Chin headlines Olympus booth at IT Show 2012.

Felicia Chin headlines Olympus booth at IT Show 2012.

Local actress and celebrity, Felicity Chin, will make an appearance at Olympus’ booth at the IT Show 2012 on Saturday 10 March from 3-5 pm.

She will have her photo taken together with the first 88 customers who had purchased an Olympus XZ-1 between 1 February and 10 March 2012.

These 88 customers will also redeem an exclusive Feli-XZ-1 mystery gift set.

The Olympus flyer for IT Show 2012 can be viewed or downloaded below.

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IT Show 2012 promotions: Fujitsu

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Fujitsu will be at the IT Show 2012 in Suntec Singapore at Level 4, Hall 401, Booth 8241. Check out the promotional discounts and freebies for its tablets notebook.

In-show Update: Fujitsu LIFEBOOK LH531 is now going at $799 after cash rebate. This is an additional $100 discount!

Check out Fujitsu's laptops, notebooks and tablets at the IT Show 2012.

Check out Fujitsu's notebooks and tablets at the IT Show 2012.

I used a Fujitsu laptop during my year-long stay in Japan. When the rest of the world was still using desktops, the Japanese offices had laptops instead – to save space.

Mine worked fast and never hanged, even though it wasn’t exactly handled with TLC (tender loving care).

You can view or download Fujitsu’s IT Show 2012 flyer below.

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IT Show 2012 promotions: Canon

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Canon will be at IT Show 2012 in Suntec Singapore at Level 4, Hall 404, Booth 8101; with its entire range of digital imaging products. 5 cameras and one professional printer are also making their debuts at the show today.

Six new Canon products are debutting in IT Show 2012: Power Shot G1 X ($999),  IXUS 125 HS ($399),  PowerShot A4000 IS ($299),  PowerShot A3400 IS ($249),  PowerShot A2300 IS ($179),  PIXMA PRO-1 ($1,399).

Canon has 5 new cameras and 1 new professional printer debuting in IT Show 2012

The new Canon products that are making their debuts at the IT Show 2012 are:

  • Power Shot G1 X ($999)
  • IXUS 125 HS ($399)
  • PowerShot A4000 IS ($299)
  • PowerShot A3400 IS ($249)
  • PowerShot A2300 IS ($179)
  • PIXMA PRO-1 ($1,399)

Below is a PDF compilation of Canon’s IT Show 2012 flyers for the following categories of products:

  • EOS & LEGRIA
  • Inkjet & Scanners
  • Inks
  • Laserjet
  • PowerShot & IXUS
  • Projectors

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