Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Sharp and Amimon, an emerging leader in semiconductor technology for wireless high-definition video, have combined their technology to bring wireless HDTV experience to users of Sharp’s LCD display units. Slated for a release in Japan soon, Sharp’s super-thin X-series LCD displays will be equipped with Amimon’s Wireless High Definition Interface (HDMI) 1080p wireless technology. For us users, this simply means that we would no longer have to connect any cables to our TVs since all the necessary wires and cables of the Sharp LCD displays will be tucked in a separate set-top box. 

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Acer has just added two new families of LCD displays to their product line, the Business and also the Value series. Both series boast of Acer’s eColor Management technology, Adaptive Contrast Management, eDisplay management and are energy Star compliant. Although similar to each other when it comes to the presence of Acer’s proprietary technologies, the Business and Value LCD families also have various features which are unique to each series.

The B-series, which is available in various sizes, was designed for professionals who are looking for ergonomics, solidity and long-term productivity features in their LCD. Plus, these displays were developed to sustain extensive daily use. The B-series is available in various sizes including; the B173 and B193 which range from 17 to 24-inches in size, the 19-inch B193W, 20-inch B203W, 22-inch B223 and the 24-inch B243W. These professional looking LCDs sport an elegant black color as well as black bezel and base design. Other features of the B-series include an adjustable display and swivel angle, dual input interface, 5ms response time on all and contrast ratios ranging from 2000:1 to 3000:1. 

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Parrot’s latest digital photo frame is possibly the most expensive digital photo display that you could find on the market today. And aside from the fact that it was designed by an interior designer named Andree Putman, there’s nothing extra ordinary about this frame to merit such a high price tag. Putman was also responsible for interior design works on some posh hotels, so if that fact excites you then you may be pleased by the digital frame she designed for Parrot which is retailing for a whopping $500.

And what do you get from that price? Nothing much really, except for a typical digital photo frame that was built with a large plastic bezel. You’d also get a 10MB of storage capacity for around 400 of your digital photos, an SD card slot just in case the 10MB storage is not enough for your needs, and a power switch that turns the digital frame into a clock.

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Samsung has announced four new desktop monitors bearing their “Touch of Color” product branding; the T190, T220, T240 and T260. All four monitors boast a maximum contrast ratio of 20,000:1 which gives out enhanced picture quality. Aside from high contrast ratio, these new desktop monitors were made to operate with the lowest energy cost as possible. In fact when putting them into standby mode, only 0.3-watts of power is consumed by the monitors. For its GTG response, both the T190 and T200 has 2ms GTG response while the T240 and T260 boasts of a 5ms response.

Other features of these monitors include; MagicColor intelligent color control, MagicBright Dynamic Contrast control, aspect ratio adjustment, multi-screen functionality and an HDMI connection on the T240 and T260. Both the T220 and T190 are now available and retail for $359 and $259 respectively, while the T240 and T260 will be available by end of July for $499 and $599 respectively.

Read [Business Wire] Product [Samsung]

NEC has introduced a new a 22.5-inch TFT LCD to its product line. The 22.5-inch LCD sports a WUXGA resolution with full high-definition 1920 x 1080 resolution, a high luminance of 460 cd/m2, a 97% wide color gamut (NTSC ratio) and a double frame rate of 120 Hertz. The new 22.5-inch model boasts of an excellent picture quality which is geared for preview monitoring and verification commonly used in broadcast stations and post-production studios. Additionally, the 22.5-inch NEC LCD has an anti-glare polarizer surface,12 CCFLs backlight and a built-in inverter.

Together with the 22.5-inch LCD, NEC also released a new 19-inch TFT LCD. This time the 19-inch LCD boasts of a super extended graphics array (SXGA) resolution.

Both LCDs will be launched during the Display 2008 event on April 16-18, 2008 in Tokyo Japan. A US launch will follow on May 20-22 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Hopefully by then, NEC would have already come up with pricing details for both models.

Read [NEC] Via [Far East Gizmos]

AT&T’s new mobile TV service won’t just get new phones on the next update to its handset lineup, but possibly new Panasonic cellphones with low-voltage plasma technology under the hood as well. Details about this move were revealed by the consumer electronics product maker in a recent press conference, where it announced a few revamps to their telecom and HDTV divisions.

Mark Balsama, a Group Manager of the Communications Systems Division, says that these new cellphone plasma displays will “rival OLED displays for brightness, contrast and thinness, and can be manufactured for much less money.” For much less money, eh? But how come they can’t even do it with their Plasma TVs in the first place? Anyway, Panasonic seems really keen on putting this technology to work on cellphones, and claims that they’ve been working on this for about 10 years now. One piece of advice that I’d like to offer, is that they make these cellphone displays touchscreen-enabled. And then strike at deal with Apple. That ought to help them “revolutionize the consumer electronics business.”

Via [PR Newswire]

The Japanese LCD market’s got a new 24-inch LCD courtesy of Green House. Bearing the model GH-TIG243SH-LB, the LCD boasts of HDMI technology for enhanced high-quality picture quality at the native resolution of 1920 x 1200. Complementing the HDMI features is a 1000:1 contrast ratio which facilitates widescreen viewing. And HDMI also means that the LCD supports Blu-ray video input, for how can you enjoy a high definition LCD if you’re not using a Blu-ray player? The LCD is also packed with 2 built-in stereo speakers. 

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Kodak has released two new digital photo frames, the 8-inch M820 and the 10-inch M1020. In addition to displaying photo’s both frames can also play videos and MP3’s, have two memory card slots and has Kodak’s quick touch border with back lighting.

Kodak’s Quick Touch Border with back lighting helps users in viewing and scrolling digital photos. It prevents the main display from getting smudged by the user’s finger. To make it even easier to navigate through the photos, the digital photo frames touch panel is equipped with yellow lighting illuminates to tell users which part of the digital frame to touch. The digital frames also allow users to create, edit and view the photos in slideshows.

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LG has released its new Flatron LX206WU, a new 20-inch LCD that eliminates the need for a new and good graphics card to have it up and running. The Flatron LX206WU LCD connects to a PC or laptop via its USB port. It offers a 5000:1 contrast resolution, a 1680 x 1050 native resolution and a 2ms response time. The LX206WU also has adjustable tilt and an analog/digital terminal support.

Making it even sweeter is that the Flatron LX206WU has two spare USB ports on its side which could be used to interconnect up to six of these LCD’s to be used on a single PC. So that answers your need to blog, to watch Beyonce’s latest video, skim through Google news headlines, and other things that you could possible do with three spare LCD connected to your rig. Now, who would want (or really need) to connect siz 20-inch LCD’s on their working rig anyway? I mean, I could dig tech geeks who use dual monitors on their machines as it has been quite the norm today. But six LCD’s attached onto my PC or laptop is definitely way out of my league.

The LG Flatron LX206WU is now available in the Korean electronics market and retails for 390,000 Won (around $388).

Read [LG Korea] Via [SlashGear]

BenQ wants to define a new lifestyle trend in the design of computer hardware. And as an opening salvo, BenQ has released the 24-inch V2400W widescreen LCD. Fresh from receiving the iF Design Award, which is given to elite computer companies for their outstanding design, the BenQ V2400W gives a sneak peek at BenQ’s newly evolved Kinergy Design, that almost mimic a B-2 stealth bomber.

BenQ claims the V2400W LCD as the thinnest 24-inch widescreen LCD, with only 2.44-inches at its thickest point. This measures more than 21% of the next thinnest LCD monitor available in the market today. It has blue-LED and touch controls that adds to its elegant appearance. And how about durability? Was this not taken for granted in place of design and aesthetic features? Definitely not, as the LCD’s stand can fully support the 24-inch widescreen and even provide flexibility for adjusting viewing angles. This was made possible by the precise torque and friction applied between the metallic parts of the hinges.

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