Sony Minimalist BRAVIA DAV-X10 Home Theatre System
This home theatre system could sell on looks alone. Although it only has two speakers, Sony’s BRAVIA DAV-X10 system still performs through S-Force PRO Front Surround Technology with the system requiring 480 W of power. There are hidden touch controls on the main system, as well as a Bluetooth adapter. The system also upscales old DVDs to 720p or 1080i, and should work nicely with other Sony BRAVIA products. Expected launch date is in September; no word on pricing, yet.
PS3 Price Drop at Circuit City
Circuit City has dropped the price of the PS3 $100 to $499. When you include the 5 free Blu-Ray movies that Sony’s giving every PS3 buyer, the time to buy a PS3 has never been better.
RIM BlackBerry 8820
RIM has officially announced the BlackBerry 8820, their first smartphone with integrated WiFi. The BlackBerry 8820 is also the company’s thinnest BlackBerry to date, and also has GPS, EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, and an expansion slot that accepts microSD cards and microSDHC cards. The BlackBerry 8820 will be available via AT&T: the price and launch date are still unknown.
LG’s VX8550 Chocolate 2 Reviewed
The LG VX8550–a recent addition to the chocolate lineup–was reviewed by PhoneArena. The Chocolate 2 has a media player, a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x digital zoom, a microSD slot that holds up to 4GB, V Cast Video, EV-DO, and “Trace Motion” (a lighting feature that interacts with the navigational wheel). The LG Chocolate 2 is available in Original Black, Black Cherry, and Blue Mint.
PhoneArena reports that, “We are overall pleased with most of the changes that have been incorporated into the new VX8550. The phone has a more stylish look to it and weighs slightly less. The Touch-Sensitive Navigational Pad has been replaced by a Navigational Wheel, but moving the wheel for accessing menu selections can be troublesome. Because of this, we recommend pressing the wheel in the up, down, left, and right direction. The main keypad now has the Send, End, and Camera buttons located at the top, and the Numeric buttons are now larger and easier to use. Music playback and Speakerphone quality have been improved by using a larger speaker that causes less distortion to be heard. Call Quality in the earpiece is clearer and also lacks any noticeable distortion. The Camera now produces better looking images, but still is limited to 1.3MP resolution and lacks a flash or autofocus.
The VX8550 is a definite upgrade from the original VX8500 Chocolate. If you liked the original, you will love this even more, but if you didn’t like the Chocolate, you should give the new version a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.”
Sidekick 4: Shuriken
Hiptop3 reports that the Sidekick 4 is not the Motorola Zante, but rather a device code named “Shuriken.” The Sidekick 4 has a 3 inch widescreen display, microSD slot, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and will be produced by Sharp. It measures 131×61x17.9 mm. The Shuriken Sidekick 4 will launch in quarter 4 of 2007 first in the US, then in Australia, and then in the UK and Germany.