Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

  This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

Follow to see me call out:

• LG and its ridiculously square phone
• AT&T thinks Android is on crack
• Sprint thinks we want to watch football (American) on our phones.
• Moto wants to be on crack
• and our own Natesh who finds more than his share of obscure gadgetry

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Christmas is for the kids, right?  Better get them crossed off the shopping list first.  I checked out a few of the wish lists floating around and thought I would share them with you.  Wouldn’t you know, they are filled with electronics.  We have plenty of shopping days til the holidays.  That is, unless your kids want Elmo Live, which is already selling out.

What are your kids asking Santa for? Keep reading to see.

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Seems that I am not the only one that reveres Logitech for their well thought out products and supreme ease of use.  The maker of tons ‘o stuff nabbed four Good Design awards from Japan.  The award picks four stand out products from the electronics maker.  This makes a total of 20 designs awarded for Logitech in the past six years; an impressive feat, for sure.

The Good Design Awards is presented for designs that clearly demonstrate merit in the following assessment categories: designs that meet or exceed a certain standard, superior designs and future-oriented designs.

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For those who like to work on their notebooks using a laser mouse instead of the trackpad but keep on leaving their mouse behind, Logitech is making sure that it will never happen again with its new V550 Nano laser mouse. To make this possible, said mouse will come with its own clip-and-go dock for, for clipping your mouse onto your notebook. In fact, the only time that you’d probably forget about the V550 Nano mouse is when you clipped it onto your laptops.

The V550 Nano laser mouse features a Plug-and-Forget receiver which stays in a USB port and sits nearly flush against the side of your laptop. It doesn’t obtrude nor is it a hindrance when you stow your laptop. This laser mouse also boasts of an extended 18 hours of battery life, ensuring that you won’t run out of power during long hours of continued use. Best part is, the V550 Nano mouse automatically shuts off when it’s docked or when the receiver is stored inside the mouse dock.

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Rumors are flying fast and hard as we all gear up mentally for the big Apple party coming June 9 at 10 am.  One I really like is the idea of 2 iPhones being introduced.  Isn’t it more like Apple to whip out something they’ve undersold and surprise us?  Apple knows we love surprises and I suspect they’ll not disappoint this year.

Back in December I squawked about why an iPhone Nano makes lots of sense for Apple, AT&T and consumers.  The family line that helped make the iPod such a raving success could do the same for the iPhone and give us a more comfortable feeling about Jobs claim they’ll hit their target numbers.  A down market iPhone Nano, selling for $199 would sell off shelves faster than water jugs at the start of Hurricane Season (coming Sunday to a coastal town near you).

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Ha, I bet you thought this was about a new iPod nano. Nope! It isn’t even about the integration of the iPod into a car. What is it about then? Its the Tata Nano car and it costs just $2,500, i.e. the price of a lot of the gadgets we have seen at CES this year, and although you may not get much in terms of luxuries associated with the car, you sure do get a lot for your $2,500.

The car is called the Tata Nano and its currently the world’s cheapest car. Amazingly it has four doors and five seats, but with a 33bhp 624cc engine I imagine it will be pretty slow going with 4 adults inside. The car is targeted at the developing countries and has been made with no air conditioning, power steering or electric windows, but, and you have to love this, “two deluxe models will be on offer.“

At 50 miles per gallon it is pretty economical and (as you can see from the diagram above) has been made with very much with cost in mind.

Via [BBC]

• No Fallout 3 for India, mutant cows might be to blame
• Get hopping and start shopping
• Who’s On Crack in tech: 11.07.08 edition

Product: DLO TransDock micro
Price: $69.99
Rating: Excellent 8.25/10.0
Pros: Superior performance, direct connection for iPod shuffle, operates on all frequencies, AC plug-in powers the transmitter and charges your iPod, supports any 1/8” device (other MP3 player, PSP, etc.)
Cons: No direct connection or holster for the iPod and iPod nano, hard to operate while driving, difficult to view screen while plugged in.
Overall: Extremely useful and reliable.  A “breath of fresh air” in the realm of FM transmitters.  Aside from some minor design flaws, a great buy and a product you won’t regret purchasing.

This DLO FM transmitter is a small, black devices that connects directly to your vehicle’s AC adapter.  A dock on the top portion of the device allows for a direct connection for an iPod shuffle via USB.  An included adapter is available for use with the nano, iPod mini and iPod as well as a 1/8” auxiliary port for use with other audio devices such as your PC, PSP, or non-Apple MP3 player as well as a tape deck out if you choose not to use the FM transmitter.  Push buttons to change frequencies are located on either side of the unit.  A small, rectangular screen displays the frequency in use. Supports 4 preset stations for quick station changes as your drive. Finally, DLO promotes the fact that the cable can be used to charge your iPod in home (a $20 value) via your PC but that did not seem to be the case. My computer did not recognize the USB device leaving me with a drained iPod.

Continue reading the performance and design aspects of the review as well as our overall final impression.

Performance – 9.0 - Having struggled with constant interference, static and the other persistent frustrations that are innate to so many FM transmitters, I was delighted to have found DLO’s Transdock Micro.  While driving through rural Indiana, as well as within downtown Indianapolis, the reception was nearly perfect.  I only had to change frequencies once or twice throughout over 12 hours of testing.  Instead of constantly having to change stations, I was able to enjoy my classic rock, blues and jazz without interruption.  What a joy to hear Clapton’s guitar solos without the recurring static that I had become accustomed to with my other transmitters. The lack of PC - iPod charging would not be our reason for not purchasing the device, as it is an added benefit, we just wish it actually was an added benefit.

Design – 6.5 – The device only extends about 2 to 3 inches away from the attached AC adapter and therefore is hard to read when plugged in: it can be positioned 180º up and down but does not swivel left or right.  In addition, the dock only allows direct connection for iPod shuffles.  Having tested it out on my beloved nano I was forced to use the included extension adapter.  This turned out to be a double edged sword as it was helpful in allowing me to view the nano’s screen with ease, while also causing me to struggle with the problem of where to rest my nano when I wasn’t holding it. A velcro patch is included but I prefer not to stick it on my precious iPod.  A major benefit of this AC powered DLO transmitter was that it doubled as a car charger for my iPod nano (which was great considering that I opted to not splurge on Apple’s car charger when I originally purchased it). I did appreciate the 4 presets but did thankfully did not have to use them often because of the clear quality. A brighter or alternative color LCD screen (it is a blue background black text) would make it easier to glance at while driving, but it was not a major flaw.

This is a fantastic product and one that I would highly recommend.  I enjoyed using this transmitter so much that when I’m done typing up this review I am going to order one for my own personal use.  Whether you are hoping to listen to the audio version of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, your own personal music library (or maybe even one of Gadgetell’s useful and yet entertaining Podcasts), DLO’s Transdock Micro Transmitter is a great choice.

Editor’s note - The overall rating was calculated by weighting Performance as 70% and Design as 30%. Adam Jacobs, the Editor-in-Chief of our soon to be announced sister blog, The Final Sprint (oops! I guess it’s out) contributed this review for Gadgetell.

• Logitech nabs 4 Good Design awards for these winning picks
• Get hopping and start shopping
• Who’s On Crack in tech: 11.07.08 edition