Isaiah's Tech

This Samsung Q1EX UMPC was first introduced in CES, earlier this year. The Q1EX went full touchscreen with this device and it's going to run on Windows XP Tablet Edition. The 7-inch 1,024 x 600 screen is accompanied with some superb hardware inside it, including a 1.2GHz VIA Nano ULV U2500 processor, 2GB of DDR2 memory, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, SD card clot, a 60GB of HDD space and a 4-cell battery that Samsung says will last up to 4.5-hours. Unfortunately, i think it seems a bit pricey at $775 USD according to some online retailers. There is no word on its availability right now, "but it can't be long now can it?" This looks pretty good but i would have much preferred a slide-out QWERTY keyboard somewhere.

Some new pictures of the Blackberry 9630 Niagara have been leaked. The Niagara actually looks skinnier than the Bold if you blow up the left picture. This Blackberry is said to be a World Edition and will have GPS and a 3.2MP camera with a bunch of other features. But, it looks like WiFi has been dropped from the product, "quite possibly at the request of Verizon." You can blame them (for now) for not slapping on the WiFi, but it still looks quite sexy.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 is nearing its release and people are saying that it could possibly be in a "neck-and-neck" battle with Safari 4's speed. Although i still believe that Chrome's dev build (2.0) is still the fastest, the tests were done strictly between Firefox 3.1 vs Safari 4. Personally, i like Safari 4, but i think all they need to change is the tab management to make it more like Chrome's (since they took everything from Chrome anyway). One more thing actually, they also need to change the ugly gray colour of the bars at the top of page. I don't want to be reminded of a Mac while using it on Windows. Gray just seems so boring and dull. The Firefox 3.1 Beta is expected to be released on March 10.

Warning: this is not a new phone. It's just the HTC Magic in black, codenamed Sapphire. In the article, it mentioned that HTC "believed deeply" in Android. If this is so true why don't they release more Android phones instead of running WinMo 6.1 or 6.5? Come on HTC, if you really believe in Android, prove your love. Anyways, there's no word on the pricing or the availability of the black HTC Magic, but i'll be sure to deliver the news when i find it. On a side note, let's backtrack to the white version. It will be released through Vodafone this April. The HTC Magic is a slight "improvement" from the T-Mobile G1. The Magic is thinner, about 40 grams lighter, has 2 hours more talk time, a bigger ROM and also has an extra HSDPA band (900 and a 2100). I put improvement in quotes because it does have one disadvantage off the top of my head, and that being the lack of a physical QWERTY keyboard. Anyways, it will probably be hitting the US market as the T-Mobile G2.

The Dell Latitude is almost here and it is starting at a steep price of $2,399 USD. I've talked about it before , but now the real specs come into play. For the base price, you get a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo SU9300 processor, 1GB DDR3 of RAM, an 80GB HDD, Intel's GMA 4500MHD graphics card and a 4-cell battery. If you're willing to upgrade (and pay $3,783 USD) you can upgrade the system to a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo SU9400 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, Bluetooth with the awesome 10-hour XT2 Slice battery. Keep in mind that this is a tablet laptop, so it has a 12.1-inch LED-backlit, capacitive touchscreen. It is scheduled for an April 9 shipping date; it's almost here.

Samsung Q1EX (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/05/samsungs-nano-powered-q1ex-umpc-loses-its-qwerty-at-the-fcc/
Blackberry 9630 Niagara (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/05/photos-of-the-blackberry-9630-niagara-emerge/
Firefox 3.1 Beta: http://www.betanews.com/article/Firefox-31-could-catch-up-to-Safari-4-in-beta-speed-duel/1236203202
HTC Black Magic (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/05/htc-black-magic-sapphire-hands-on-a-vodafone-exclusive/
HTC Magic Coming To Vodafone: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_magic_coming_to_vodafone_as_soon_as_this_april-news-820.php
Dell Latitude XT2 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/05/dell-latitude-xt2-multi-touch-tablet-now-shipping-april-9th/

GameStop has released their latest flyer and it mentions that Starcraft 2 will be released on PCs and Mac's on June 2. I highly doubt this happening because GameStop's dates are fairly inaccurate and because it just seems too early. Less than 3 months for Blizzard to get this game out to the public? I wish it were true, but i'm going to have to say that it is false. Man, oh man, if Blizzard confirms this, you will see me at the Best Buy midnight line-up.

A Nintendo Power article has just mentioned that the long-awaited release of Wii MotionPlus will be arriving before Electronic Arts' upcoming Grand Slam Tennis game. This means that Wii MotionPlus will be hitting consumers anywhere from now until June 18 which is when Grand Slam Tennis is scheduled to be released.

Firefox 3.0.7 was released yesterday (Wednesday) and it fixes six critical security issues that were found in Firefox 3.0.6. The download link is here (for Windows) just in case you can't wait for Firefox to prompt you to download the new version. I don't use Firefox anymore, thanks to Chrome, but it's good to see that Firefox is still doing well. It is currently ranked as the second most widely used browser. Second to Internet Explorer 7 which holds 40% of the market share.

The God-like Panasonic Z1 will be released in June for a price tag that will hurt your wallets and feelings. The 1-inch thick plasma TV from Panasonic will cost $6,000 USD. The Panasonic Z1 has a contrast ratio of 40,000:1, has "THX certification" and also comes with a separate box which is the wireless HDMI receiver. In the dying plasma market, this may be the last sexy plasma you ever see. This picture doesn't even look real, i mean look how damn thin this plasma is. Damn, Panasonic.

Meet the Vaino laptop. It kind of looks like a Sony Vaio P, doesn't it? That's because it's a knock-off of course. The Vaino actually has a bigger screen (10.2-inches) and a faster processor than the Vaio P does, so take that Sony. It also has a 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, an integrated 1.3MP webcam and, obviously, WiFi. While it may look like an identical Vaio P clone in the left photo, it shows its true looks in the right photo. Personally, i would rather have the Vaio P, but if the price difference is significant then why not opt for the Vaino. Maybe because at first glance it looks extremely similar to the Vaio P and you will look like a douche for having a knock-off.

Starcraft 2 Release Date!? (and picture): http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/693731/StarCraft-2-Coming-on-June-2.html?utm_source=g4tv&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=TheFeed
Wii MotionPlus (and picture): http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173093
Firefox 3.0.7 (and picture): http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10188952-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Panasonic Z1 (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5164630/sexiest-plasma-still-alive-panasonic-z1-priced-at-6000
Vaino (and pictures): http://i.gizmodo.com/5164237/vaino-is-like-a-fat-sad-sony-vaio-p-knock+off

Facebook will be changing their Home page layout. When i logged on today, i actually got a message saying that they will be changing the Home page layout, so it's good to see that Facebook is keeping its users up-to-date. This could be Facebook's answer to Twitter. I have a Twitter account, but i still don't know exactly what i can use it for. Twitter is basically made up of Facebook statuses and Facebook inboxes. Nothing else. Maybe i'm using it wrong or something, but i don't really see the point as to why its population is growing. I also don't know why this would be Facebook's "shot" at Twitter because Twitter is way behind Facebook in almost every aspect. If anything, Twitter should be trying to take Facebook off of it's throne. All of that said, Facebook has decided to take off the 5,000 friend limit and they've changed the overall layout of the home page. There is also word that instead of updating your home page about every 10 minutes, it will do so at a much faster pace (live updates?). If you want to read more about Facebook's changes, go to the links below.

Go Canada! RIM has released the app store for their Blackberries. It is called... wait for it... BlackBerry App World. Who needs an App Store or an Android Market when you've got the world. +1 RIM.

Just in case you cared about Windows Vista [still], Microsoft has released the Vista SP2 RC to the public. Everyone just do yourself a favour and get your hands on the Windows 7 beta because Vista is officially dead.

Some of HTC's upcoming phones have been revealed. Partially, that is. Some new leaks have revealed some new specs for 5 devices / phones, including: Whitestone, Firestone (supposed HTC Touch HD successor), Thor (or Thoth or Athena 2), Twin and Maple. Keep in mind that [i think] these are just codenames. Anyways, let's start it off with the Whitestone. This phone will have a 3.6-inch touchscreen, a Qualcomm 7600 528MHz processor, a 5MP camera and will run on WinMo 6.1 Pro (sucks). This will be available in September through Verizon. Next up is the Firestone which will have a 3.6-inch touchscreen, a Qualcomm 8250 600MHz processor, an 8MP camera and will run on WinMo 6.5 which is a slight improvement. This phone is said to be the HTC Touch HD successor, but i still prefer the Touch HD's looks over this one. This phone will be available in September also, but the carrier is unknown. The next device is the Thor. I call it a device because i'm not sure if it is a phone, seeing how it supposedly has a 4.8-inch touchscreen (could be a typo from Boy Genius Reports). Anyways, it has a Qualcomm 8250 1GHz processor, a 5MP camera and will also run on WinMo 6.5. Again, it will also be released in September, but the carrier is unknown. The Twin looks like it is the most basic phone out of all of the aforementioned ones. The Twin will have a VGA display (size unknown), a Qualcomm 7501A 528MHz processor and a 3.2 MP camera. Availability is unknown. The last phone on the list is the Maple which i've already talked about before. It will have a 2.4-inch screen, a Qualcomm 7228 528MHz processor, 2MP camera and will run on WinMo 6.1. It is scheduled to be released in May. This phone could also have the QWERTY keypad and "Inner Circle" that was also mentioned in my other post.

Facebook Redesigning Home Page (and picture): http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/04/facebooks-response-to-twitter/
Facbook Changes The Home Page: http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/03/04/facebook-relaunching-home-page-news-feed-going-live-next-wednesday/
RIM's App Store (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/04/rim-names-its-app-store-blackberry-app-world/
Windows Vista SP2 RC: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2224
HTC's Lineup Partially Revealed (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/03/04/htcs-2009-line-up-gets-specd/
HTC Firestone picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5164375/htcs-2009-lineup-leaked-includes-touch-hd-successor