SquareTrade

Sony Ericsson's first American 3G phone is dirt cheap!

Here's some welcome news: the Sony Ericsson Z750a, their first tri-band HSDPA cell phone, is about to make high-speed 3G phones an option for everybody.  See?  We told you everything would be way cooler in The Future.

The Z750a basically hitches a ride on AT&T's High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 3G network (clocking in at 600 to 1400 kbps) and they'll support AT&T's Mobile Email in the bargain.  Otherwise, it's a fairly sturdy beast...  2-megapixel camera (no flash), 26MB onboard memory, upgradable to 8GB with the right card, which you'd definitely want if you plan to load it full of music, video, and Sony's promised 3D games.  Plus it has those cool through-the-clamshell displays we're big suckers for.

Our only regret is that we couldn't find a photo of the Mysterious Purple model.  You'll have to settle for Phantom Gray (Rose Pink is out there, too).

The Z750a is due for release in early April, at the price of $150... but it's coming with a $100 rebate, so you can put it in your pocket for only $50.  And that's when you blow off any kind of cell phone insurance and get your 3-Year SquareTrade warranty for just six bucks.  Hell, AT&T charges almost that much for one month.

So rejoice!  We can all join the 21st Century on a budget now!

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The Samsung L120 puts a manly 10.2 megapixels in your pocket.

Okay, let's put it out there: if your camera packs a single-digit megapixel sensor, it's a wimp.  And the Samsung L120 might not be the spiffiest pocket camera to break the 10+ barrier, but it's got plenty under the hood to keep us interested.

It only just breaks into double digits with a 10.2-megapixel shot and a yeah-okay 3x optical zoom and a 2.5" LCD screen in back. Nothing marvelous there.  And we'd be shrugging out shoulders if it just had standard-issue redeye correction and face detection.  That's just shelf filler.  But the L210 has all that, and it just keeps piling the extras on... optical and digital image stabilization, 10MB of internal storage (before you start using memory cards) and an SVGA video mode.  That's pretty damn good for a $200 camera. 

And you can guarantee it'll work properly for three hassle-free years if you put a SquareTrade warranty on it... with or without Accidental Damage coverage.  Check out the sidebar widget for a quick quote.

After beholding the Samsung L210, we look at our 7-megapixel Pentax SLR from 2006 and feel shame.  Shame!

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AT&T Mobile TV has mobiles to be mobile on.

AT&T wisely decided to not call their mobile television service MediaFLO, with its toilet-flushing connotations, and has gone with AT&T Mobile TV instead.  What it lacks in pizzazz, it more than makes up in descriptiveness.  And they've finally announced what phones you'll get it on.

We all knew the Prada-like LG Vu would be one, and now it's come clear that the Samsung Access is the other.  The Vu is definitely the sports car of the pair, with a wide touchscreen, a 2-megapixel camera, HSDPA, and a microSD slot.  Samsung's Access is likely the budget option, with a much smaller screen and 1.3-megapixel camera. 

AT&T Mobile TV launches with the standard eight chan nels, plus two exclusives to make it different from Verizon's much cooler-sounding VCAST.  We don't know what they are, or what subscriptions will be (it's AT&T, so expect bundles), but that info's bound to show up soon given that these phones are both slated for release within the next month.

Naturally, you can put a SquareTrade warranty on these for about half what AT&T's insurance will run you... assuming AT&T offers insurance, which is not an assumption we'd make with a smart phone.  They're tricky that way, sometimes.

All we can say is Thank Goodness we won't miss The Price Is Right anymore just because we're at work.

   

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Kodak Easyshare Digital Frames get all Touchy-Feely.

We've been pretty clear about our opinion of digital photo frames, but credit where credit is due... Kodak's stepping it up a notch with their new P720, M820 and M1020 Easyshare digital frames.  How?  Same way everyone else is: touch-screen controls.  Sorta.

Basically you've got the same audo/visual features as before with 128MB onboard memory, in 7, 8 or 10 inch frames, only now Kodak's Quick-Touch interface lets you skip through the pics of relatives you don't like just by sliding your finger across the boarder.  That also activates the aforementioned touch-screen controls... except they're not actually touch-screen controls.  In order to prevent you from smudging your pictures every time you go mucking around with them, the controls are all located on the frame itself, corresponding to the icons that show up on the screen. 

Okay, points for putting some thought into this.  And if you're worried about yours going on the blink at some point in the next three years, you can put a SquareTrade warranty on it for not a lot of cash. 

They're due out on April 16, tagged between $120 and $230.

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Thinkware's iNAVI K2 turns your GPS into GTA.

Let's be honest: 2D graphics were outdated back in 1995.  It's the 21st Century, man! We've got laser guns and flying cars and giant robots now!  So thank goodness somebody's bringing the 3D to a GPS format... namely the Thinkware iNAVI K2.

What you're looking at here is a 4.8-inch touchscreen, and yep, it displays a realistic 3D cityscape of the area you're in... the picture here shows it at street level, but it also pulls out so you can see the surrounding area.  By the looks of things, it's also displaying images of businesses that its local search feature would have on tap, in what we'll calmly describe as stunning detail. 

Under the hood you've got a three-axis sensor that dead reckons the position and direction of your car, so what you see on that screen pretty much matches what you see out your windshield.  There's an 8GB SDHC memory card with 256MB RAM, and supports MP3 playback, video, e-books, photos and - you guessed it - games.  Though it might be just a little too surreal if you were playing Grand Theft Auto on this thing.

Sadly, like all things super-cool, it's only out in Korea at the moment.  But the bar's most definitely been raised, and when the iNAVI K2 makes it over to our shores (or when the rest of the GPS world catches up) we'll enthusiastically put a SquareTrade warranty on ours.  Oh, and yours, too.   We guess.

And yeah, those FamilyMarts are all over Seoul.  Trust us on that one.

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ASUS Eee 900 with multitouch is fingerprinted by the FCC.

Guess what just popped up on the FCC website?  Yep, a second-generation ASUS Eee PC, still referred to in the filing as the Eee 900.  Same size, but with new specs and... what have we here?  Why, it's a "multi-finger gesture input" they're trying to sneak in.

So the new Eee trackpad will get a multi-touch sensor that lets you zoom in/out, widen/shrink windows, and amaze your friends with two-finger scrolling.  That's not bad for a cute little 9" PC.  The projections and specs we've heard before say this'll sport 1GB of RAM and 8 to 12GB SSD, though 8 sounds more likely to us.  We've also heard that Microsoft was planning to release an optimized-for-Eee Windows 7, but as-is, we're hearing "Windows-ready" and "Linux is Great!"  The Eee 900 was rumored to launch at $500, but that tricked out trackpad might add another $100 to the picture.

Word is they're targeting a Q3 release for the Eee 900, and assuming it sails through its FCC molestation unscathed, it'll likely make that.  We'll have your SquareTrade warranty waiting for you, with optional Accidental Damage coverage.  It's just a wee computer, y'know.

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Samsung's Anycall Haptic wants Asia's iPhone Cash.

Somehow, we don't think Asia's smarting over the whole "you don't get no iPhone" thing, particularly when Samsung's out there upping the game with their new Anycall Haptic SCH-W420 smart phone. 

Sure, there's the 2-megapixel camera and the Bluetooth 2.0 connectivitiy, but that's not what we're here for, now is it?  No, we want that 3.2" touch-screen, and considering there are only three teeny physical buttons on the whole phone, it's a given that just about everything is going to happen there. 

Then there's that haptic feedback, which doesn't just let you know when you're actually touching a control... there's a 22-sound/vibration vocabulary the Anycall Haptic uses to let you know which controls you're touching and what's happening when you touch them, and that's just five kinds of clever.  We approve.  And they've loaded their new TouchWiz UI onto it with its drag-and-drop customizable widget set, which we've only heard good things about.

Of course, it's only available in Korea at the moment - so any SquareTrade warranty you get for one will be on the unlocked model you bought on eBay - but c'mon now, Samsung... you're really asking $700-$800 for these things?  Let's see you try that in America! 

Please?

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Rock Band to Rock Wii's World in June.

Party Time!  Excellent!  Hot on the heals of Guitar Hero on the Nintindo DS comes word of Rock Band for the Wii arriving on June 22nd... with wireless guitars that probably won't look anything like Gibsons.

Are there downsides?  You betcha.  First, the Wii Store still just doesn't have anything on Xbox Live, so you can forget downloadable songpacks for the foreseeable future.  And still no compatibility between Rock Star and Guitar Hero instruments, so flush that pipe dream away, too.  Right now, Harmonix is talking about a feature set close to the old PS2 version, with no Mii support or character creation.  And you won't be plugging your Wiimote into the gee-tar, but why would you want to?  You've got a gee-tar!  The drum set will come in Wii White, though.

And while you can't get a SquareTrade warranty for the game, because we don't do software, you can protect your Rock Band instruments for pennies a day, and probably even throw some Accidental Damage coverage into the mix, just in case you wail a little too hard.  Check out the sidebar widget for a quick estimate.

Rock Band Wii will go for $170, which is a pretty cheap way to spend your summer.  Check out Joystiq for the full scoop.

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Intel's low-cost 2go PC laptop (sorta) dated and tagged.

It's been called the Netbook and the Eco PC, but now it's the Intel 2go, and the super-geniuses at Engadget just got an under-the-table hint on when it'll finally go live and how much (or rather, how little) it'll run you.

What you're looking at is a 9-inch, CTL-made, highly inexpensive My First Laptop for the kids, or for the cheap kid in you.  It'll sport an Intel (naturally) Celeron M CPU with 512MB of RAM (upgradable to 1GB) backing a 40GB hard drive, with all the ports and slots you've come to know and love.  Even better, it comes standard with Windows XP (yay) with an option for a Linux OS (more yay!) and even has a VGA webcam built in.  Battery life is claimed at three hours.  All together, that makes the 2go far more sophisticated than Our First Laptop, but then, we're older than dirt.  The dirt on a really old rock.

According to their spy, the Intel 2go could wind its way to store shelves within the next 60 days, so that tax refund is going to come in real handy, real soon.  And because it's so affordable, the SquareTrade laptop warranty for it will be equally affordable... check the sidebar widget to find out just how much (or rather, how little) 3 Years of protection will run you. 

You'll even have an option for Accidental Damage coverage, and let's face it... if you are buying this for the kids, it's gonna need that.  They don't know their own strength. 

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Clever Chinese get GPS on their Rear View Mirror.

Sure, everyone driving a motorhome these days has a liquid-crystal rear-view mirror that pops of their dash, but peep the DSUS DS-400GB, a 4" GPS unit that sits flush to the right of your rear-view mirror.  And it's not a concept, either... this thing's live in China right now.

It's a touch-screen unit that synchs to your phone via Bluetooth for a hand-free mode, and comes complete with integrated speakers and an SD/MMC memory card slot for your expansion needs.  Is it safe?  Well, we like it better than the DVD in-dash player a few car makers were pushing a few years ago, and we don't figure it's much different from any other mounted GPS.  We just hope it's got text-to-voice so drivers don't have to keep looking in their rear-view mirrors.  Lord knows we never do.

This might just be a sign of Things To Come, given more fun toys like this are becoming standard issue in more cars, and there's a finite amount of space on the dash.  Sooner or later, we'll work our way up to semi-transparent displays on the windshield itself - probably in our Lexus Flying Car, but this is a nice intermediary in the meantime.  Be sure to pick one up when you're at the Olympics.

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