With the release of the G1 Android phone, Ruslan Kogan was determined to quickly jump on the Google Android Phone market so he produced the Kogan Agora and Kogan Agora Pro phones powered by Google Android. These will be the second Android phones to be released. The prices are as followes for Kogan Agora AU $299 & US $192. For the Kogan Agora Pro AU $399 & US $256. They are now available for preorder, but will not be shipped out until the end of January.

Kogan Agora features a 2.5-inch touchscreen (320 x 240), 3G networking, a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.0 and a microSD card slot; the Pro adds in GPS, 2-megapixel camera and WiFi.

Windows users now can access Gmail on their desktop. Google desktop now includes a Gmail gadget making it easier than ever to access Gmail. Gmail was also recently improved with new themes among other features. As Gmail is quickly becoming more and more popular for good reason, it is a great email service with lots to offer including and almost unlimited amount of space.

The new gadget will allow users to read, search and send Gmail messages while in Google Desktop, according to Google. Users will also be able to star messages and use keyboard shortcuts.

"It doesn't take up much space in your sidebar or desktop, and you can also resize it to show as few or as many messages as you'd like," said James Yum, developer programs engineer for Google Desktop, in a blog post yesterday. "When I'm at work, I keep two instances of the gadget open: one logged into my personal Gmail account and the other set to my Google Apps account for work-related stuff. Instead of getting lost in a sea of tabs or browser windows, I can bring up the gadgets in an instant."

Google released Google Desktop in 2004. The application is designed to make searching a PC as easy as searching the Web. It provides full-text search over e-mail, files, music, photos, chats, Gmail and Web pages viewed, according to Google. The application includes other gadgets that allow users to be shown new e-mail, weather updates, photos and personalized news.

Yum noted that Google's gadgets team has received countless requests for a Gmail gadget for Google Desktop, and users posting comments to the page for downloading the new gadget had mostly positive comments.

A user posting as "Brett" said that he liked the gadget a lot but would like to have it play a sound when he receives new mail.

"I am still forced to use GMail icon due to the fact of it not playing a sound when I receive new mail," he added. "I have an MP3 file that I have the other gadget play whenever it detects new mail. If this did that, I would be able to get rid of the other gadget."

Another user, "Ashok," said that the gadget has a "nice and intuitive interface" but still lacks the ability to apply labels and doesn't offer support for downloading attachments directly, support for uploading attachments in new mail or the ability to browse through labels.

"Once I've got these, I'm going to replace my Thunderbird client," Ashok added.

Nokias n97 flagship phone looks impressive at 3.5-inchs, 640 x 360 pixel touchscreen display including a QWERTY keyboard. Nokia claims its the "world's most advanced mobile computer."

Other features include an "always open" window to favorite internet or social networking sites, HSDPA, WiFi, and Bluetooth radios, A-GPS, a 3.5-mm headjack, 32GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion (for up to 48GB total capacity), and a battery capable of up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5-hours video. 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss glass and "DVD quality" video capture at 30fps, too. The specs are certainly impressive, let's see if the S60 5th Edition OS can support it. The N97 will launch with a retail price set at around €550 ($693) excluding subsidies and taxes, phone to ship in H1 2009.

See the Nokia N97 Flagship Phone

Good OS introduced Cloud it's new operating system that boots inside a browser and has touchscreen capabilities. It's unique sytle sets it apart from other operating systems and the fact that this is the first of its kind make the Good OS Cloud so unique. It offers Google, Yahoo and Live as wells as easy access to a few other widely used web services such as blogger, youtube, gmail and more. It's due to hit stores in 2009 be ready.

NETBOOK WORLD SUMMIT; PARIS, France — December 1, 2008 — Good OS, most known for its gOS Linux that debuted in Wal-Mart computers, today announced “Cloud,” a new operating system that boots into a browser with Google, Yahoo! and Live in seconds, and optionally boots into Windows. Good OS will preview Cloud on a GIGABYTE Touch-Screen Netbook at the Netbook World Summit and online at http://www.thinkgos.com. GIGABYTE Touch-Screen Netbooks will be preloaded with Cloud and Windows XP together early next year.

“We are excited to preview the GIGABYTE Touch-Screen Netbook with Cloud and Windows together, said a Good OS spokesperson. “With Cloud, GIGABYTE Netbooks will power on to the Internet in seconds, while still supporting killer applications together with Windows XP.”

Cloud uniquely integrates a web browser with a compressed Linux operating system kernel for immediate access to Internet, integration of browser and rich client applications, and full control of the computer from inside the browser.

Cloud features a beautifully designed browser with an icon dock for shortcuts to favorite apps, tabs for multi-tasking between web and rich client apps, and icons to switch to Windows, power off, and perform other necessary system functions. Users power on their computers, quickly boot into Cloud for Internet and basic applications, and then just power off or boot into Windows for more powerful desktop applications.

“Cloud is my favorite gOS product yet,” said David Liu, Founder and CEO of Good OS. “Just seconds after I power on, I’m Googling, Yahooing, and truly Living. I am very excited about the upcoming GIGABYTE Touch-Screen Netbooks with Cloud and Windows. I think the GIGABYTE Touch-Screen Netbook’s forward thinking hardware and software will make it the best Netbook to hit the market!”

More details about Cloud and GIGABYTE Touch-Screen Netbooks will be released on Januaary 8 2009 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Talks continue about Microsoft acquiring Yahoo search, the deal this time around is much different. The radical change in the deal leads us to only question is this deal legit? or is it some poor attempt to get more publicity. This time the price of Yahoo search has shot up and they claim that they are not giving Microsoft complete ownership of the Yahoo search. Does this deal make any sense as to why Microsoft would even consider this proposal?

The UK’s Times Online is reporting that “Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo’s online search business for $20 billion.” The report is filled with lots of juicy, specific details that lend it credence, but don’t make a lot of sense when you drill down into them.

The new deal, according to the Times Online, is a complex transaction that involves Microsoft supporting a new management team made up of former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller and former Fox Interactive Media president Ross Levinsohn, who are investing partners at Velocity Interactive Group. Levinsohn, however, tells VentureBeat there is “no truth” to the story. (Although there were rumors a while back that Microsoft wanted Levinsohn and Miller to run Yahoo, which is where this might be coming from).

And unlike Microsoft’s earlier offer to buy Yahoo’s search business outright, this one is for a long-term operating agreement. In fact, the $20 billion deal that sells the story in the headline is a red herring that refers to a call option that is part of the supposed deal. Here is how the story actually describes the supposed terms of the deal:

Under the terms of the proposed transaction, Microsoft would provide a $5 billion facility to the Miller and Levinsohn management team. The duo would raise an additional $5 billion from external investors.

This cash would be used to buy convertible preference shares and warrants which would give it a holding in excess of 30% of Yahoo.

The external investors would also have the right to appoint three of Yahoo’s 11 board directors. The talks with Yahoo involve Microsoft obtaining a 10-year operating agreement to manage the search business. It would also receive a two-year call option to buy the search business for $20 billion. That would leave Yahoo to run its own e-mail, messaging, and content services.

It is expected that the operating agreement would boost Yahoo’s income by as much as $2 billion per annum.

So the deal is really that Microsoft would put up $5 billion to help a new management team buy preferred shares and warrants that would give it a 30% stake in Yahoo. In return, Microsoft would get a 10-year operating agreement to run Yahoo’s search business.

Let’s just compare this to the deal Microsoft previously offered to buy Yahoo’s search business outright.

That involved an $8 billion direct investment in Yahoo in exchange for 16% of the company, plus $1 billion in cash for the search business. And that was expected to generate an extra $1 billion in operating income.

So how does the new deal generate twice as much income going into an economic downturn? And why would Microsoft agree to anything other than complete ownership of Yahoo’s search business? And how does the search business go from being worth $1 billion earlier this year to $20 billion in two years?

Like I said, it doesn’t make much sense.

Meizu M8 is China's iPhone look-a -like is due to finally release Dec 8th. To view a demo of the Meizu M8 check out the video below. As you can see it is very similar to the iPhone.

Blockbuster has joined forces with 2wire to bring the MediaPoint player. The player is a broadband set-top box that is used to watch movies from the internet on your television. This is a great idea for blockbuster as it realizes the importance of using new technology to combine internet and TV allowing the access to on demand movies all with the comfort of your own home in from of your own tv without having to go to Blockbuster to rent a movie.

For a limited time, the MediaPoint player, manufactured by 2Wire, is available for free with the advance rental of 25 first-run movies, TV shows, foreign or classic films from Blockbuster On-Demand (previously Movielink) for $99.

Subsequent rentals are priced from $1.99 each, and usage of the device, which measures 8” x 8” x 1,” includes Wi-Fi wireless and Ethernet connections and supports high-definition video via HDMI cable, does not require a Blockbuster subscription.

The box is available online at Blockbuster.com and at select Blockbuster stores.

“We are bringing Blockbuster and thousands of movies in our digital library straight to customers’ TVs,” said Jim Keyes, chairman and CEO of Blockbuster in a statement.

Mentioned earlier this month in Dallas-based Blockbuster’s third quarter financial call, the player is positioned as direct competition in the burgeoning slate of devices, including Netflix’s proprietary streaming device from Roku, launched in May.

The market for set-top devices, fueled by the conversion to digital broadcasts and IPTV, among other factors, is slated to peak at around 110 million unit shipments annually by 2012, according ABI Research.

Netflix licenses its streaming technology to Blu-ray players manufactured by LG and Samsung, as well as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and TiVo’s broadband digital video recorder.

Sonic Solutions last week acquired movie download service CinemaNow, which it plans to incorporate in both proprietary and third-party media players.

Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey said the online DVD rental pioneer had no direct comment about the Blockbuster box.

He reiterated that Netflix has relationships with five set-top box manufacturers and is working on others.

“Our goal is to be ubiquitous and not just a Netflix box,” Swasey said. “We think the best thing for consumers is to have a choice.”

Jonathan Symonds, VP, product management and marketing media, with 2Wire, said Blockbuster’s a-la-carte approach to movie streams and the MediaPoint player’s two USB ports and SD card slot did not suggest an apples-to-apples comparison with the Netflix box.

“This is a different [streaming] model,” Symonds said. “[Blockbuster is] going to learn this market better and this is the first step in that direction.”

He said launching the player in the midst of a severe economic downturn necessitated the introductory pricing plan.

“I think there is more risk at the higher end of the [consumer electronics] market than there is for a consumable impulse buy such as this,” Symonds said.

Independent analyst Rob Enderle with Enderle Group said the Blockbuster player, if marketed correctly, could be just what the market is looking for this Christmas.

“This isn’t a bad value and it provides a gift that falls within the $100 window for family purchases though, this year, that window may be much lower,” Enderle said. “It’s the products that cost in excess of $300 where we are likely to see the market pull back.”

Be prepared for your Black Friday shopping experience for Gadgets, Electronics and more. Rather than do a mediocre job at giving you all the details about how to go about planing and attacking best buy, circuit city and other electronic and gadget sellers I decided to show you the fabulous complete list that gizmodo.com created. As they have much more time invested in this to bring you a great guide.

Black Friday is always big, but this year promises to be bigger and messier than ever because of the economic crisis. October saw a record decline in sales for retailers. Several big companies barely survived, while others went under altogether. The fate of numerous other retailers may well rest on these holiday sales, so the pressure is building. Couple that with the fact that more consumers are both conscious of their own budgets and aware that it's a buyer's market, and you have yourself a retail storm brewin'—my trick knee of values is telling me this just might be a perfect storm. In a situation like this, the number one tip is to be prepared. If you haven't done your homework already, just be thankful you have someone like Prof. Dealzmodo here who's willing to do it for you.

Know your Enemy:
Our own survey of gadget shoppers revealed that 17% would hit brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday, 11% will hit both brick-and-mortar and online stores, 17% will focus online only, 28% will avoid shopping altogether and 17% are undecided. Here's how the research firms break it down:

Brick and Mortar: Before we get started, it is important to know what you are up against. According to Consumer Reports, the number of people heading out to the stores on Black Friday will be higher this year—up to 26% vs. 21% in 2007. Of that brave group, electronics will be the main draw with 85% of shoppers looking to pick up a gadget or two. That represents a 10% increase over last year. As the chart above indicates, game consoles are the biggest draw at 46%, followed by MP3 players/iPod at 44%, and flat-panel TVs at 32%.

Online: Research conducted by PriceGrabber.com (download PDF) reveals that 76.3% of consumers will start their holiday shopping either before Thanksgiving (46%) or between Thanksgiving and December 15th (36.3%). As many as 95% of shoppers will look online at one point or another to purchase gifts. Items with free shipping are going to be big—44% of respondents claim that they search for free-shipping items only. Furthermore, because of the focus on cutting spending, 2 in 3 online consumers (66.3%) plan to give mostly "practical" gifts.

That's a lot of numbers, but the point to take away is that competition is going to be fierce, especially for sale-priced items that are in smaller supplies than in years past.

Lay Some Groundwork:
First and foremost, if money is tight, set a firm budget and stick to it. You may be surprised at how well you do.

To get a sense of pricing, try using a price comparison website like PriceGrabber.com, Shopping.com Shopzilla or Yahoo Shopping. If you are wondering which is best, SmartMoney recently did a quick and dirty guide to the top comparison sites.

If you're definitely buying online, you may also want to check out online coupon sites like RetailMeNot.com, MyCoupons.com and DealCatcher.com to try and score some hidden deals.

If it's free shipping you're after, specialized sites like Freeshipping.org and PriceGrabber.com's Free Shipping! can help.

Choose the Point of Attack:
The next step is to decide where to shop and what to shop for. The following links will help you investigate the Black Friday deals going on at your favorite gadget-centric stores.

Circuit City:
• HP Pavilion 15.4" Laptop (Intel DualCore T3200, 2GB, 160GB HD, Vista Home) for $400
• Samsung 8-Megapixel Digital Camera for $80
• Samsung 42" 720p Plasma HDTV for $700
• Samsung 46" 1080p LCD HDTV for $1100
• Toshiba 32" 720p LCD HDTV for $450

Best Buy:
• Samsung 40" Class 1080P LCD HDTV for $800
• Samsung 46" Class 1080P LCD HDTV for $1100
• Toshiba AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Laptop w/3GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive for $380
• Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player for $200

RadioShack:
• SanDisk 8GB Sansa Fuze for $70
• Memorex 7-in-1 HD DV 5MP Camcorder for $80
• TomTom One 125 GPS for $100

Walmart:
• 50" Samsung plasma HDTV for $800
• Xbox 360 Arcade with Guitar Hero III and wireless guitar for $200
• Magnavox Blu-ray player for $130
• HP Pavilion desktop for $400

Target:
• Westinghouse 26" HDTV for $300
• Garmin nuvi 200W GPS for $120
• Super Mario Bros. DS package for $150
• Guitar Hero World Tour (Guitar Kit) for Wii for $60

Gamestop:
• Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 2 for $1 (after purchase of Rock Band game or bundle over $50)
• Madden PSP Entertainment Pack or Ratchet and Clank Pack for $200
• Several Xbox 360 bundles (Arcade, Pro and Elite)
• World of Warcraft Battle Chest for $20

Sears:
• Sharp 46" 1080p set for $900
• TomTom One 125 GPS for $100
• Samsung Blu-ray player for $200

Dell:
• Xbox 360 Arcade With 7 Games Including Rock Band 2 for $200
• Inspiron Mini 9 Laptop for $300
• Dell Inspiron 13 Laptop for $700
• Studio 15 for $700
• Studio 17 for $800
• XPS M1330 for $1,030
• XPS M1530 also for $1,030,
• Sharp 42" 1080p LCD HDTV for $780

OfficeMax:
• SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB Jump Drive for $40
• Epson PowerLite S5 3LCD SVGA Projector for $400
• HP Photosmart C4480 3-In-1 Printer for $50
• Simpletech 640 GB Mini Hard Drive for $90

Office Depot:
• Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse for $5
• HP 15.4" 3 GB Memory 160 GB Hard Drive Notebook Model G50-112NR for $350
• Samsung 23" LCD HDTV Model 2333HD for $280

Staples:
• Brother MFC3360C All-In-One Printer for $30
• Netgear Wireless-N Router for $50
• Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 for $60
• Kodak EasyShare C913 9MP Digital Camera w/ 1GB Card for$80 (Bonus: free Canon photo printer with purchase of any advertised camera)
• HP Pavilion 15.4" Dual-Core Laptop w/ 2GB, 120GB for $400 (Free HP printer included)

Additional deals can be found by following Gizmodo's Black Friday coverage. Naturally, complete Black Friday ads can also be found in their entirety at sites like BlackFriday.info, bfads.net, and Black-Friday.net. And remember—don't be afraid to buy refurbished. Outlet stores offer deals year round.

If you are not sure what to buy in the first place, Electronic House has put together a list of the 15 best deals that this year's Black Friday has to offer.

Sneaky Tricks and Tips:
We all know that on Black Friday it's important to shop early, shop in teams, pack a lunch, etc.—but if you are looking for a few sneaky tips that fall outside the realm of common sense, here are a few gems:

• Mike Elgan of Datamation reminds us that following BlackFriday and searching for 'Black Friday' on Twitter is a great way to get real-time information on the latest deals, inventory numbers, etc. Turning on SMS alerts can also be helpful on the big day.

• 2008BlackFridayAds says to make sure to keep an eye on eBay. If you are fortunate enough to score one of the rare deals, there is always the possibility you can quickly turn it for a profit to buy even more presents. And, as always, it is a good idea to check the site to make sure you can't find better prices at auction.

• Those same guys also suggest two interesting ways to beat the lines. Option #1: If your local electronics store sells appliances, consider hiding your gadget purchases inside to pick up at a later date. This could be used to secure your choices ahead of time or keep your purchases safe until you can come back to the store when the line is shorter. It may or may not work, but refrigerators are not exactly wildly popular holiday items—I doubt anyone would check inside. Option #2: Hire a broke college student to stand in line or even pull an all-nighter for you. If you negotiate for the right price, you may still save money without all the hassle. Naturally, this could backfire on you in a big way if the person you hire isn't trustworthy.

• If stashing your gadgets in an appliance or hidden corner of a store isn't a possibility, a section devoted to Black Friday strategies on Bargainshare.com suggests that you investigate the old return-and-re-buy maneuver. That involves buying your chosen gadget ahead of time at full price then returning it on Black Friday to instantly rebuy at the discounted price. Obviously, this tactic would help you avoid sellouts—but many stores are cracking down on this which is one reason why it is so important to research the store return policies ahead of time.

•Smartphones are where it's at. Remember that all the websites and information above can be accessed on the spot via a web-enabled smartphone. If you don't own one already, maybe it's time you got on board. At the very least, try and find a shopping buddy that has access to one on Black Friday.

Know Your Policies:
As mentioned, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the return polices of the stores you visit on Black Friday—whether they are online or just down the street. It is also important that you determine whether or not the store has a price-match policy in place. Naturally, this information along with knowing which stores in your area are offering the hot gadgets greatly increases your chances of nabbing the best deal. However, many stores suspend their price-match policy on Black Friday: Best Buy and Circuit City both have price matching policies, but they do not apply on Black Friday. On the other hand, Walmart's Ad Match program will be active on the 28th provided that you have an ad for an identical product from a local store with a price that is currently in effect.

Things to Watch Out For:
Black Friday didn't get it's name for being a walk in the park. Deception, delusion and crazy crowds are all part of the deal, in addition to the actual deals.

• As you probably already know, Black Friday is primetime for the dreaded bait-and-switch. If you are re-directed by salespeople to substitute products or advertised prices somehow change at the register because of a "necessary" add-on, you are probably being scammed. In this situation, your best defense is a good offense. Speak up and demand to talk with a supervisor. The last thing these people need on a nerve-wracking Black Friday is someone being difficult. Chances are they will give in to your request to make the situation go away. As a retail sales veteran I can recall countless instances where my judgment was overruled by a supervisor looking to avoid a fight.

• Mail-in rebates can save you money, but you have to take an honest look at the situation and ask yourself, "Will I really fill this rebate out and send it off in the time alotted?" Several studies conducted over the years have concluded that a surprising number of individuals never claim their rebates. If you decide to purchase an item with a rebate offer it is imperative that you fill out the form immediately and send it off. Also, keep in mind that many companies use these rebates as a way of making it more difficult to return items. It is also a great way for the company to collect consumer information. Besides, as the recent bankruptcy of RebateStatus.com proves, in this economy, there is no guarantee you will get the rebate even if you fill out all of the necessary paperwork.

•Don't expect things to go smoothly—bad things can and will happen. Whenever you have a large group of excited people, with a generous number of aggressive a-holes mixed in, tensions are bound to boil over. Because of this, Consumerist publised a list of 28 bad things that will happen on Black Friday which covers at least a portion of the potential pitfalls. Read it.

Don't Worry If You Miss the Deal:
Finally, if you miss out on the deal that you really wanted, don't sweat it. Winning individual battles on Black Friday is not as important as winning the war. Just make sure you stick to your budget and hopefully you will have better luck with the next item on the list. It is also important to note that the prices on popular items like HDTVs and Blu-ray players are rapidly coming down anyway, so there's a good chance you'll be able to realize much of the savings throughout the holiday shopping season. If you are in the market for an elusive Nintendo Wii, GameStop claims that they will have enough to last through the first week of December. If that's true, it's in your best interests to scoop one up right away. After all, the Wii is one thing you are not likely to score a Black Friday discount on in the first place.

Good hunting!

Prof. Dealzmodo is a new regular section dedicated to helping budget-minded consumers learn how to shop smarter and get the best deals on their favorite gadgets. If you have any topics you would like to see covered, send your idea to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Professor Dealzmodo" in the subject line.

Add another phone to the list the HTC Touch Pro. Versions of the phone are carried by Verizon, Sprint Alltel, Bell and Telus. It's a great phone with many great features. Other cool HTC phones include the G1, Touch Diamond, FUZE, Touch Dual, Verizon XV6900 and the Touch. Be sure to visit htc.com to view all the phones and their stunning features, before you make your phone buying decision and consider one of the HTC phones.

Yet another jailbroken firmwire has been released by the popular QuickPwn. This time it's the iPhone Firmware 2.2 and again QuickPwn makes it easy. The amazingly quick jailbreak of the Firmware proves that QuickPwn knows what they are doing. They are showing their domination as the leader in jailbreaking for the iPhone. "The Dev Team (quickpwn developer) is super fast at creaking the code on the iPhone Firmwire" say many iPhone owners that use non AT&T services.

The next question is how fast will the Dev Team break iPhone Firmware 2.3 with QuickPwn 2.3?

The Intouch IT7150 is the most advanced digital photo frame offering touch screen capabilities among other cool features. Features include a touchsensitive LCD display, 802.11b/g WiFi, a usb port for memory sticks the storage in the frame is 128 MB, audio music capabilities including speakers and headphone jack. All withing a 7"(800 x 480) display.

The most unusual feature of this device is a vTuner support, it allows to get access to 11 000 Online radio stations and Online TV. This gadget is accessible with price under 400 USD. And it will be 50 dollars cheaper without vTuner.

View the video to see it in action.

The BlackBerry Storm was released by Verizon and is available with a 2 year contract for $200. Add this to the list of powerful new touch screen phones. With the popular G1 phone among others, touch screen phones are hear to stay. People are loving this BlackBerry Storm read the review to find out why.

By now most of us have heard this story in one fashion or another: when Steve Jobs and Apple were in the planning stages of the iPhone, the first carrier they brought the device to was America's largest network, Verizon. Even if you haven't heard how the tale ends -- Verizon refused and Jobs took his multi-billion dollar ball to AT&T -- you surely know the outcome. The iPhone has soared to become the ultimate smartphone, the must-have accessory that everyone from celebrities to your mom wants -- nay, needs -- to have in their pocket. It's changed the landscape of modern cellphones, put a serious dent in the sales of competing devices (just recently overtaking the venerable RAZR as the best-selling domestic handset), and unquestionably raised the bar when it comes to expectations for features in new handsets.

It may seem unfair to open up the review of RIM's latest BlackBerry -- the Storm -- with a history lesson on the iPhone, but if you understand the market which Verizon and RIM hope to capture, then you understand the Storm, and it helps put this critique in perspective. The Storm, a widescreen, touchscreen device boasts many of the same features as the iPhone, but adds innovations like a clickable display, and comes packed with RIM's legendary email and messaging services. Mainlined into the biggest (and some say best) network in the States, the Storm is an almost deafening blast to the competition at first glance, but does it hold up on closer inspection?

Industrial design

The Storm is a striking device. From the second you lay eyes on it, it's clear that a lot of time and care went into crafting this phone. The majority of the front panel is display, a large 3.25-inch (480 x 360) touchscreen sitting just shy of flush with a silver bezel that runs around the sides, top, and bottom of the device. The bands seem to be plastic, not metal, and trace the outline of the moderately thick (0.55-inch) phone, looping around the back, while the rest of the surface is a high gloss, piano black plastic. Below the screen are four familiar BlackBerry keys (phone, menu, back, and end / power), along the left is a convenience key and a micro USB port (RIM has eschewed the more common mini USB slot for the lower profile of the newer variation, though that seems to be the way the industry is headed), and on the right side is another convenience key, volume rocker, and (yay!) 3.5mm headphone jack. Around back, the battery cover is made from solid piece of brushed aluminum, and the camera and flash sit atop the plate, covered by a glossy plastic strip. Along the top of the phone there's a single LED to the right, and lock and mute keys incorporated into either side of the casing like soft rockers -- a nice touch. Generally, the construction of the hardware and components used seem higher in quality than previous devices from the company, with buttons that click tightly and a heft that tries (and succeeds) to communicate an understated class.

It's not completely rainbows and unicorns, however. We noticed backlight leaking in through the sides of the screen, which partially killed the continuity of the design (and had us raise eyebrows at build quality), and the screen sort of slides around when it's pressed down and held (more on that later). No deal breakers, but certainly a couple minor niggles we wish we hadn't seen.

Touchscreen

The touchscreen is where most of the attention on this phone will be focused, and rightfully so. Unlike similarly stacked competitors (the iPhone and Instinct come to mind) the Storm doesn't just boast a capacitive touch display, it also utilizes a completely unique "click" technology called SurePress which actually allows you to click the screen down like a mouse button. The purpose of this technology, ostensibly, is to provide two aspects to touch screens which are currently lacking in most devices: the ability to "hover" without selecting or moving an on-screen element, and the physical sensation of "clicking" when you type or navigate. The Storm's screen certainly provides those two things in spades, but our question is whether or not they actually improve the experience of using this sort of device -- and in our opinion, they do not.

Before we plunge into why we feel the hardware doesn't work here, we need to preface it with some information about the software. You can't really talk about one without the other.

What you first should know is that the operating system used on this phone is almost identical to previous BlackBerry OSs -- notably 4.6, as seen on the Bold. The main reason for stating that is because you must understand the basis for the UI design. All modern BlackBerrys use a QWERTY or SureType keypad coupled with a trackball for navigation, in addition to heavy emphasis on a pop-up menu accessible by the "menu" key from pretty much every section of the OS. The difference in 4.7 is not a paradigmatic shift away from this approach, rather, the company has added touch and multitouch functionality to take the place of trackball movements. What this means is that unlike the iPhone, which is most certainly the closest competitor on the market to this phone, the Storm's UI is not custom built for touch navigation -- touch navigation is added after the fact. Things which flow naturally on an iPhone -- flicking through lists, scrolling for a contact, moving around in a webpage or looking through photos -- feel inelegant and uncomfortable on the Storm. There's no inertia to movement, no assurance that your finger is the lynchpin to control of the device. The screen is sensitive enough, surely, but how its software reacts to those touches makes all the difference, and here the feeling is that you're never completely in charge of the phone.

BlackBerrys have garnered an almost mythic stature as the phone for email and messaging. One of the components of RIM's success for that model has been the inclusion of QWERTY keypads (and more recently the halved QWERTY SureType keyboards) on their phones. As any email addict will tell you, very few devices can compete. The slant from RIM's PR on the Storm is that the new clickable touchscreen delivers another high caliber typist's dream to their roster -- but that couldn't be further from the truth. Rather than the click making things easier, it actually makes them more difficult. As you press down to engage a "key," you're required to release before moving to another, which means that you can only type so quickly. In our tests, we were constantly frustrated by the staggering, laggy movement when trying to type with any speed. You have to let the click depress before you can strike another character, and that makes for a stuttery input process. Additionally, hovering over characters is represented by a blue glow, which looks nice when moving around, but in practice doesn't do a very good job of letting you know what key you're touching. We had spelling errors aplenty. All of this would be helped greatly by an intelligent software component that guessed what you meant to type -- much like the iPhone's predictive element. Unfortunately, what RIM provides is more of a glorified T9, which means if you type "fo," it doesn't know you meant to type "do." Ultimately we found ourselves slowly and carefully pecking out messages that should have taken less time to put together, clicking screen or not.


Otherwise, there are a few great implementations of the screen -- copying and pasting, which is the norm on RIM phones, is fully represented here with elegant multitouch functionality. You just grab the beginning and end of a section of text you want to snag with two fingers, and a menu pops up along the bottom for copy / paste duties. In the browser, you can hover above a link with your finger before clicking it (a big help on crowded pages), and you can double tap (not click) to zoom into pages, though there's no way to back out other than hitting the minus magnifying glass. We don't think the technology used for the screen is a dead-end by any measure, but it has a long way to go before it's honestly competing with the iPhone for virtual keyboard domination. Right now it's a nice idea with less in the way of usability than we need. If speed isn't a concern, you'll probably find it manageable, but for BlackBerry addicts and those accustomed to typing on the iPhone, this will be a disappointment.

Besides the new technology behind the display, the screen itself is fairly tremendous. Colors are rich, and contrast is solid. The brightness isn't quite as eye-searing as the iPhone at full tilt, and doesn't even approach the supernova 8830 we've got here, but frankly, how bright do you need it? Everything looked sharp and clear, though we've gotten a little spoiled by the Bold's incredible pixel density, and now other phones seem to pale in comparison.

Software

As we said, 4.7 isn't a huge step up over 4.6, but there are a number of improvements worth mentioning. Navigating through menus and the home screen is still very much a typical BlackBerry experience though. The phone has two levels of "application" screens, the initial landing screen, which gives you eight app icons of your choosing, and a deeper level which displays all of your folders and programs. You can use the touchscreen to hover (or select) each of the icons, giving it that blue glow, but we found it annoying that you couldn't drag your finger across the selections and have the glow follow you (as it does when typing). It gets stuck on the first thing you touch, and you have to re-press to move to another icon -- it seems like it would be more convenient to have the selection follow your movements, but the phone doesn't seem to know the difference between a quick flick up or down and a selection. You click down on the screen to launch an app or make a selection in a list, and you can swipe up and down to move through the list of apps, though it's not nearly as smooth as it should be. BlackBerry fans used to a real keyboard and shortcuts might find themselves a bit lost here when trying to get around quickly -- you can set one of the convenience keys to pop open the virtual keyboard, but it doesn't seem to recognize long presses, shortcuts, or find-as-you-type contact searches like traditional RIM devices (typing on the Storm just takes you to the dialer, why we don't know).

Most components of the UI which require scrolling don't seem drastically changed, but you can now jump through lists by up-down gestures. Again, we found that the lack of inertia made this seem stiffer than expected, though it worked well enough when moving around the phone. RIM has added a few visual tweaks to the OS on the Storm, like crossfades and sideways swipes of pages which admittedly give it a bit more polish, although they seem largely superfluous (don't worry, we feel the same way about the iPhone's zooms and scrolls). Overall, transitions between screens and inside of apps do seem a bit more sluggish than the performance on the Bold, but whether this is due to those new effects or a higher CPU load given the touch recognition and screen size, we can't say. We did find ourselves missing the speedy response of a traditional BlackBerry, and also felt like responses lagged behind our movements enough to be annoying. There seemed to be a few noticeable bugs floating around, and at least one that ground the phone to almost a halt -- when quitting the browser on a page that was still loading, it turned the navigation on the home screen to molasses. Another flaw we had crop up was accelerometer related, an irksome bug that rendered the portrait-to-landscape switching (and vice versa) non-existent. We can't say if that was hardware or software related, but the details count, and those little snags take points away.

Thankfully the browser has been considerably updated. If you have any experience with RIM's last attempt at mobile browsers (the Bold), then you know what manna from heaven any fixes would be. 4.6's browser is, in a word, unusable. Load times are painful, rendering is only sometimes accurate, and mostly it's just a tortuous mess to get around in. We can honestly say that the Storm's implementation is leaps and bounds beyond what the company has previously offered. Pages load quickly and are generally formatted correctly, navigation is much snappier (zooms don't take hours to redraw), and scrolling is tolerable, if not as buttery smooth as we prefer. And ultimately, that's a point that must be made -- while the browser is much better than earlier versions, and is an admirable attempt, it's still a bit behind Mobile Safari and the G1's Webkit-based "Chrome light," lacking support for more advanced features like multiple tabs. Why RIM doesn't build something from scratch (or buy a license from Opera) is a question for the ages -- we can't imagine anyone has any real affection for this experience. Still, for casual tasks and most browsing, you could certainly do worse, and it's nice to know that a lot of energy went into this update.

On the messaging and email front, very little has changed here from earlier RIM phones, save for some of that visual flair. Particularly when it comes to email, the use of screen real estate and selection of fonts seems dated when compared with the iPhone. We won't complain about the email service itself, delivery of messages was rock solid (of course), but a quick glance at the iPhone versus a quick glance at the Storm provides a strong juxtaposition of design languages. Reading email on the BlackBerry was an inconsistent experience, and highlighted the feeling that not too much trouble had been taken to freshen up this UI and format it for the bigger screen. Under the hood, we found account management simple enough, but those looking for solid Gmail integration (like, say, all the people Verizon and RIM hope to lure away from Apple's camp) will be seriously let down. There doesn't seem to be any decent alternative for getting Gmail the way you're used to, save for Google's own app (which is remarkably good save for a few issues).

On that note, third-party software is still a bit weak for the platform, and essentially non-existent for the Storm itself. It doesn't look like using this phone will break any (or most) of the software already out for BlackBerry devices, but there's also not much taking advantage of the new format and screen real estate. In particular, something like the Facebook application -- which Verizon and RIM are pushing hard with the launch of the Storm -- is a poor stand-in for the iPhone offering, sporting exactly the same functionality it does on an older RIM device. Reps from the company assured us that their version of the App Store was coming, and they do have a tidy application manager on the phone already, so we're hoping that third parties really step up their game with the introduction of the Storm.

Because the phone is being marketed as a convergence device, it's got an extra emphasis on media functions. In truth, the media players / browsers are almost identical to 4.6's options, though again there's some nice visual flair added. The bigger screen allows for larger artwork to be shown off, and it's a match made in heaven for video playback. Management of media is still pretty standard -- we copied files back and forth between the microSD card (8GB is included with the phone), but there's no flashy Cover Flow or anything. In fact, we noticed a slight graphic glitch when moving from portrait to landscape, which might be nothing, or may be due to the fact the phone has no hardware acceleration for graphics.

All in all, the software feature-set the phone ships with is incredibly strong. There's a broad selection of applications, including the "To Go" suite that allow you to view and edit Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents. Average (and even not so average) users will be hard pressed to find something that's missing, and RIM makes it easy enough to grab key software if someone wants it. You have to hand it to them, they cover pretty much all the bases... save for one nasty omission.

We were a bit stunned to find out that we couldn't sync the Storm with our Mac out of the box. We don't mean "hey we couldn't sync with iTunes" (we're not insane), we mean, "hey, we can't sync this, at all, in any way." For the few Mac users that also happen to dig BlackBerrys, there's a piece of software RIM offers free of charge called PocketMac, which does a half decent job of at least throwing your contacts, calendars, and other assorted must-haves onto your device -- but you're out of luck if you buy a Storm. Apparently, the software needs an update badly, and if you expect to enjoy the same service it provides to something like a Bold, you'll be surprised and annoyed (as we were) to find this doesn't let you sync your data. For that, right now, you're going to have to go download (and pay for) something like Missing Sync. It's pretty outrageous to us that in crafting a device so obviously aimed at the iPhone's marketshare no one thought to make it accessible to Apple users even a little. Look, we know it's not a huge segment of the market, but it's there, and if history has taught us anything, it's a segment to be reckoned with.

Phone / Data

When it comes to sound quality and reception for making actual phone calls, you can't beat this combination. RIM phones generally have loud and clear earpieces and speakerphones, and Verizon -- love it or hate it -- has a great network. Those two facts are certainly apparent when it comes to the Storm. We found the earpiece to be plenty loud, and the speakerphone equally booming. If we had a complaint, we'd say the mid-range was a bit shrill on the phone. The Bold, by comparison, has a much warmer, well-rounded output. Still, that's a pretty minor complaint, and if you're looking for sheer network-clutching goodness, this is a pretty damn good choice. In addition to Verizon's CDMA, EV-DO, Rev. A madness, the Storm sports a GSM radio (a number of them), so you can grab HSPA in the rest of the world, and truck on some sweet, sweet EDGE here in the States.

Speaking of that EV-DO, the download speeds and network stability of the Storm seem pretty tight. Although the phone omits WiFi, as long as you stay inside decent Verizon coverage areas, you won't feel that sting too badly.

Camera / GPS / Battery life

In general, picture quality was excellent on the camera, which offers a healthy 3.2-megapixel resolution. The only problem we had -- and it was a big one -- was the fact that it took ages to focus and snap a shot. There were numerous times when trying to photograph something that we lost the shot because of the length of time it took the camera to kick in. In broad daylight, things fared a slight bit better, but when using the flash, it was pretty hard to get good results. This seems like something that could take a simple software tweak to fix -- we know the camera looks nice, we just need it to take photos faster. A lot faster.

One of the nice things about the Storm is that it's not just capable of doing still photos, but can shoot video as well. Results are mediocre, allowing capture up to 320 x 240, with quite a bit of heavy artifacting. Still, knowing that you can pull this out to grab something reminds us -- yet again -- that this is a necessary basic for modern cellphones.

Using the device for navigation garnered excellent results in terms of signal reception and tracking, but having to slug through the abysmal Verizon Navigator software isn't exactly joyous (dudes, that intro animation is the worst thing we've ever seen). It would be nice to see some third party options on the device for PND duties, though at least Verizon tries to throw a lot of content into the mix (movie times, traffic, local search), no matter how heavy handed it feels (real, real heavy handed).

Since we had a very, very limited time to test the phone, we can't really give you solid figures on battery life. In casual use, however, the Storm seems to be going strong even after a heavy workload: browsing, media player, and phone calls. We've had the phone on and chugging all day, and it's only seeing about about a 30 percent drop in life so far. If this keeps up, you can color us officially impressed with the juice you can pull out of this thing.
Wrap-up

It's clear from the device itself and the massive promotional push that both RIM and Verizon are giving the Storm that they view this as a proper threat to the iPhone's dominance in the smartphone market. Over the last few weeks we've been bombarded with commercials, leaks, press releases, and special events all celebrating the arrival of the Storm, both here and abroad. So it seems fairly obvious that yes, the companies believe they have a real contender on their hands -- and in many ways they do. The selling points are easy: the phone is gorgeous to look at and hold, it's designed and backed by RIM (now almost a household name thanks to their prevalence in the business and entertainment markets), and it's packed with features that, at first glance, make it seem not only as good as the iPhone, but better. The only hitch in this plan is a major one: it's not as easy, enjoyable, or consistent to use as the iPhone, and the one place where everyone is sure they have an upper hand -- that wow-inducing clickable screen -- just isn't all that great. For casual users, the learning curve and complexity of this phone will feel like an instant turn off, and for power users, the lack of a decent typing option and considerable lagginess in software will give them pause. RIM tried to strike some middle ground between form and function, and unfortunately came up short on both.

Going into this review, we really wanted to love this phone. On paper it sounds like the perfect antidote to our gripes about the iPhone, and in some ways it lives up to those promises -- but more often than not while using the Storm, we felt let down or frustrated. Ultimately, this could be a great platform with a little more time in the oven, but right now, it feels undercooked -- and that's not enough for us.

Kingston now will provide a 64 GB flash drive making it even easier to provide more storage for those that need to carry large files in a portable way. Consider the fact that a few years ago the highest flash drive storage was only 2 GB we have come a long way in a short time.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping its high-capacity 64GB DataTraveler(R) 150 (DT150) USB Flash drive. DT150 offers the largest capacity in Kingston's entire line of DataTraveler USB drives and allows users the room and flexibility to backup important hard drive contents, and transport and share complete collections of music, videos, photos and documents in one convenient device.

The new 64GB DataTraveler 150 takes transportable storage to the next level with big capacity in a small package," said Jaja Lin, Flash business development manager, Kingston(R). "As file sizes increase with digital media content such as music and photos, the need for USB Flash drives with high capacities will continue to rise. The DT150 certainly addresses those needs today."

Kingston's DataTraveler 150 is fully compatible with Windows Vista, XP and Windows 2000 as well as Mac OS X 10.3 (and above) and Linux 2.6 (and above). The DT150 carries a fully guaranteed five-year warranty and 24/7 tech support.

About Kingston Technology Company, Inc.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world's largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Through its global network of subsidiaries and affiliates, Kingston has manufacturing facilities in California, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and sales representatives in the United States, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, India, Taiwan, China, and Latin America.

You knew it was coming the first touch screen laptops that is modeled similar to the iphones touch screen capabilites, its the all new HP multi-touch TouchSmart tx2 convertible tablet. This laptop will take a little bit of learning to use. If you love the iphone style you will love HP multi-touch TouchSmart tx2. The only problem is many softwares are not functional with the touch screen capabilites. Windows 7 will be embrasing the touch screen feature and is sure to encourge others to start creating touch screen software and applications.

When the Dell XT debuted with multi-touch drivers last spring we were excited about the ability to use multiple fingers on its capacitive touch screen to rotate pictures and pinch and zoom in on Web sites. But at over $2,000 (the starting price now is about $1,800) we just couldn’t recommend it to the regular consumer. Today’s debut of the $1,299 HP TouchSmart tx2z changes the game for multi-touch tablets not only, because it’s affordable but also because it’s the first multi-touch tablet aimed at consumers.

We got a detailed look at the TouchSmart tx2z and even shot an exclusive video of the multi-touch in action. Read on below to see what we think of the tablet and its touch experience.

Tx2z Design
The Tx2z will live alongside HP’s Pavilion tx2500 tablet and the two look like they could be brother and sister. Measuring 12.05 x 8.82 x 1.23 -inches, the Tx2z isn’t only similar in size but it sports the same chassis as the tx2500 with the same rounded edges, port placement and a durable 180 degree hinge. However, it wears slightly different clothes; instead of the “Echo” Imprint finish on the tx2500, the tx2’s lid sports a newer more flowy Radiance Imprint finish. The model we looked at was adorned in bronze and gold.

We were happy to see that they keyboard has also gone unchanged and that the keys are full size and have a nice coating that make them comfortable and smooth. HP also continued its use of the unique inverted nub design on its touchpad, which provides precise cursor control. The separate column of nubs on the right is great for scrolling.

Touch Experience

But it was our hope that we wouldn’t need to rely on the touch pad all that often and that our fingers could do the navigating on the12-inch, 1280 x 800-resolution capacitive touch screen. Like we saw with the capacitive screen on the Dell XT (that utilizes the same N-Trig drivers as the HP tx2z), tapping your finger lightly works very well. Unlike other tablets that require a firmer press, we were moving through the Vista Start menu and windows with just simple, soft taps.

HP has built in some pretty neat tricks to take advantage of the screen’s mutli-touch capabilities. As you will see in the video, double tapping the screen and then drawing the letter M, brings up the multimedia touch panel, which includes shortcuts to your pictures, music and more. The menu is pretty neat, especially how you access it, but we were hoping for a more compelling graphical user interface, like that on the TouchSmart PC along with some more applications.

We tested out the multi-touch gestures in Microsoft’s Photo Gallery. Pinching in on one of the preloaded Vista images was smooth and panning with just a finger was precise. As we saw with the Dell XT, rotating images took a bit of practice. It is best done by planting one finger on the screen and using another to pivot the image with a circular motion.

We also were able to do some zooming in Internet Explorer even though the Wi-Fi connection was spotty. Zooming in on Web sites was quick and flicking the pages up and down worked for scrolling. Using your finger(s) in the applications mentioned above is the best bet for now or at least until HP rolls out an API for developing software for the touch laptop.

Pen Experience

Those demanding a pen experience still get it with the included stylus that pops out the right edge of the system. As soon as the pen hits the screen, it senses the input and immediately turns off the finger input and enables palm rejection. Writing in Microsoft Works was fluid and the Tablet PC Input panel recognized our somewhat messy handwriting and converted it into digital text.

Early Verdict

Since the debut of the Apple iPhone, people want to use their fingers to control their technology. Touch phones and touch cameras are all the rage, but can you navigate your laptop in the same way yet? Unlike with the iPhone, there is a learning curve when using the HP TouchSmart tx2z and, until additional applications are written for the platform, the functionality is limited. Nevertheless, consumers who are looking for advanced tablet functionality in a very mobile form factor and want to sit back and use their fingers to navigate the Web will be more than satisfied with the HP TouchSmart tx2z.

Could new battle uniforms provide Halo like features? South Korea thinks so, by developing their impressive super tech-ed out uniforms. With a huge list of useful gadgets, video game like combat will be possible in the very near future.

In an obvious attempt to seduce impressionable teenage gamers into their armed forces the Republic of Korea will begin development of their own totally badass science fiction battle uniform early next year. In addition to a whopping 95% increase in awesomeness, the uniforms will feature a number of other technical enhancements, including a multifunction helmet with video transmitter, GPS display and voice recognition, a backpack with command / control and friendly-or-foe identification systems, a BDU that offers protection from nuclear, biological and chemical attacks, and the laser-guided, multi-function XK11 assault rifle, which shoots both standard NATO 5.56mm rounds and 20mm grenades. Did the future just get way cooler, or way scarier? Or both? We're not sure. But you can check that gun out yourself in the video after the break.

Zune has lowered the price on it's flash models and a few other items to prepare for the holiday season. This is a smart move because the new prices will encourage a lot more people to buy these awesome Zunes at a lower price. So here's a list of the price breakdown. These changes will be in affect for US and Canada at all major retailers.

Product New Price Old Price Change
Zune 4GB $99 $129 -$30
Zune 8GB $139 $149 -$10
Zune 16GB $179 $199 -$20
Car Pack $69 $79 -$10
Home/AV Pack $59 $79 -$20
Dock Pack $39 $49 -$10

Gadget News 1 provides the latest news of gadgets including review of the latest gadgets. Please check this site often because new gadget reviews and news will be available on a regular basis.

Submit to our RSS feed to get the latest gadget news and reviews.

We encourage to share our site so that others can find out news about the latest gadget. You can share our site by using social bookmarking sites.

Enjoy Gadget News 1