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Right next to the Ferrari boutique headphones was a Ferrari 458 Italia.Lee Hutchinson
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Saturday, January 12, 2013
Australia gains its first ever ‘adult’ game
The Australian Classification Board has received years of criticism for banning those games that contained adult content inappropriate for its MA15+ rating. While the tight controls were laudable for ensuring that young gamers weren't subjected to games too violent for their age, the lack of an "adult" category resulted in mature gamers missing out on the original content of a host of games, including Grand Theft Auto III in 2001 and Mortal Kombat in 2011.
Those developers whose games were refused an MA15+ rating but still wanted to see their games arrive on Australian shores were previously forced to go through the arduous process of censoring and modifying their games for the Australian Classification Board.
Huawei Ascend G350 hands-on (video)
Because of the phone's durability, the G350 is on the pudgy side at 12mm thick. However, the 4-inch WVGA display makes it a little easier to maintain a good grip, so it's not overwhelmingly large by any means. If anything, the biggest issue we had with the phone was the dim display; cranked up at full brightness on the show floor, we still had an incredibly difficult time seeing anything with clarity. No pricing or availability has been announced yet, but we suspect that this device will be a lower-end phone geared toward anyone working in extreme weather or other harsh conditions. Check out our photo gallery and video overview below.
Continue reading Huawei Ascend G350 hands-on (video)
Konka Expose 970 hands-on
Konka Expose 970 hands-on:
Konka phones rarely (if ever) grace our desks at home, but the company certainly makes a solid effort to show them off to the masses at trade shows like CES. The latest device featured at Konka's booth is the Expose 970, which offers a 4.5-inch qHD IPS screen, dual-core 1GHz unspecified CPU, Android 4.0, 8MP rear camera and 2MP front-facing cam. We took a few minutes out of the last day of the show to stop by and peek at the 970, and our experiences are just about the same as what we anticipated: the qHD display was clear and bright, the screen was actually quite responsive and the processor seemed to perform pretty well for a lower-end dual-core. The Kanzi UI is pretty easy to figure out -- the icons are very reminiscent of what you'd find on Meizu's Flyme OS. The phone is a little thicker than we'd like to see, and the back cover is definitely on the glossy end of the fingerprint magnet spectrum. If curiosity gets the best of you, head below to scope out a few images of the latest Konka.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth (update: video embedded)
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth (update: video embedded):
Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth has a long history of disrupting the industry, and this year's CES is no different. The entrepreneur / space tourist will join us to day to discuss his company's swipe at the smartphone space.
Update: video embedded
Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth (update: video embedded)
January 11, 2013 7:00 PM EST
Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!Update: video embedded
Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth (update: video embedded)
Spnkix motorized skates crash the final Engadget CES podcast (video)
Spnkix motorized skates crash the final Engadget CES podcast (video):
Right in the middle of our final CES podcast, we were mildly interrupted by a man on battery-powered heels. These are Spnkix, a pair of wheel-toting heels that can be lashed to your shoes (Men sizes 6-14, Women sizes 7-15.5). You can expect to push out around 7 miles of coverage on a single charge -- depending on your weight and angle of the surface. Charging takes around 4 to 5 hours, while the battery units are removable if you reckon you'll be making an extended journey. Speeds top out at 10mph, while a wireless controller (that also takes removable batteries) allows you to manipulate the speed, while a stopper on the heel will be familiar to anyone who's roller-skated before. Spnkix Pro, seen here, will set you back $699 and they're available to buy at the source below.
Continue reading Spnkix motorized skates crash the final Engadget CES podcast (video)
Continue reading Spnkix motorized skates crash the final Engadget CES podcast (video)
BBK Vivo X1 hands-on
BBK Vivo X1 hands-on:
Even though we focus a lot of our CES coverage on the biggest (read: flagship) products announced at the show, we revel in the opportunity to find the little gems scattered in various corners of Las Vegas that may not receive quite as much attention. One such product is the BBK Vivo X1, a phone that was recently launched in China but hasn't seen any time on this side of the Pacific. Up until this week, this particular piece of circuitry was the title holder for "world's thinnest smartphone," measuring in at 6.55mm thick. (The Alcatel Idol Ultra now claims this title at 6.45mm, although it's technically not on sale yet.) Despite the small package, it also professes to pack a hefty audio punch, boasting a pair of Beyerdynamic MMX 71 iE earphones and Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC.
We weren't able to test the audio prowess of the device in our brief interaction, but it felt reasonably good to hold in our hands overall. The Vivo X1 is one of the more sleek phones we've played with recently, but there's one piece of baggage that comes with that statement: it's slick. Our small concern with smartphones this thin is how well we can hang onto the ¥2,498 ($400) handset without dropping it on a regular basis, and its incredibly light chassis combined with its smooth plastic back add to that worry. At the very least, the 4.7-inch frame is easy to grip despite its slippery material.
Spec-wise, you aren't looking anything out of the ordinary: a dual-core 1.2GHz MediaTek MT6577T processor and 1GB RAM help the phone get stuff done; it's powered by a non-removable 2,000mAh battery (rather large for such a slim phone) and offers a qHD IPS display, 16GB internal storage, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 8MP rear-facing camera and 1.3MP front cam. This device is geared primarily for China, so it's quite likely that we won't see it in many other parts of the world. But if you fancy a closer look at the Vivo X1, take a look at our extensive gallery of images below.
We weren't able to test the audio prowess of the device in our brief interaction, but it felt reasonably good to hold in our hands overall. The Vivo X1 is one of the more sleek phones we've played with recently, but there's one piece of baggage that comes with that statement: it's slick. Our small concern with smartphones this thin is how well we can hang onto the ¥2,498 ($400) handset without dropping it on a regular basis, and its incredibly light chassis combined with its smooth plastic back add to that worry. At the very least, the 4.7-inch frame is easy to grip despite its slippery material.
Spec-wise, you aren't looking anything out of the ordinary: a dual-core 1.2GHz MediaTek MT6577T processor and 1GB RAM help the phone get stuff done; it's powered by a non-removable 2,000mAh battery (rather large for such a slim phone) and offers a qHD IPS display, 16GB internal storage, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 8MP rear-facing camera and 1.3MP front cam. This device is geared primarily for China, so it's quite likely that we won't see it in many other parts of the world. But if you fancy a closer look at the Vivo X1, take a look at our extensive gallery of images below.
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