Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

The Sony Vaio J11M1E/B(try and remember that) is a brand new 21.5” Full 1080p HD multitouch screen all in one PC, just in time for the revised iMac and for all of us who opt for the traditional PC over the Mac. If you’re looking for a PC with looks and certainly saves on bulk space this could be for you.

Inside the all in one body the Vaio J specs speak for themselves. Not quite a top of the range PC but sufficient for everyday use.

• Intel Core i3 Processor
• 4GB RAM
• 500GB HDD
• Nvidia GeForce 310M Graphics
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• WiFi, Bluetooth and DVD writer

The main draw to this system though is the screen. a Full 1920x1080 affair so there’s plenty of room for plenty of windows. Sony has also developed a Media Gallery on the PC to make full use of the multitouch functions, allowing the user to browse its content with finger gestures, flicks and rotating motions. YouPaint is also an interesting software addition allowing you to paint and draw with your hands all over the screen.

Out next month there’s no price as yet, but we imagine you’ll need to invest in some screen cloths for those fingerprint marks

With smartphone tech getting so good one often doesn’t need a PC to do his/her job or social networking, your phone will pretty much be able to cope with everything. It appears Sony are trying to grab some attention from the market with its new ultra-portable, small and light(only 600g) P Series notebook.

Firstly the basic specs. Now obviously with a lot more power than that of any phone, the Vaio P runs with an Intel Atom processor and 2GB of RAM. With an 8” screen running Windows 7 the Vaio P also has 64GB of Flash memory to keep it light and power-use friendly. Now what they’ve added to the Vaio P to give it smartphone-esque functionality is touchpad, GPS and an accelerometer. You can flick the pad through images and also turn it into portrait mode for easy viewing of things like ebooks. It’s also packing Everywair 3G allowing 7.2Mbps internet use wherever you are.

Available in an assortment of colours (green, pink, orange, black or white) it should be availbale around June time. No price details are available now but when the last P series came out they started at £849 for the lowest specced model. Expect extortion again.

Quite possibly the best thing i’ve heard this year and if it’s true i may actually wet myself. The Zune is Microsoft’s answer to the iPod. Despite the Americans getting every version we here in the UK seem to keep missing out on the PMP. Now it’s rumoured(quite strongly) that Microsoft will be bringing out a phone equivalent and hopefully this will be revealed at Mobile World Congress in a fortnight.

NVIDIA have supposedly confirmed that they will be attending the the Congress with Microsoft (reports come from MuyComputer). Now NVIDIA make the TEGRA chip which powers the latest Zune HD. Also it is believed that Windows Mobile 7 will be launched at the congress too so it certainly looks promising.

Taking into account what the Zune HD does you’ll be looking at a very good phone, depending on Windows Mobile 7 software being good, but should pack a lot of features better than what any current iPhone could achieve. The UI of the Zune HD is easy to use and will look great on the low power, sharp OLED capacitive touchscreen (Multitouch oooo yeah!). Powered by the TEGRA chip HD content and multitasking will be done effortlessly and can be shipped to your TV via its HDMI out. If it’s planning on going into the gaming world like the iPhone, Zune is already a part of Xbox Live and that would mean a very large market of gaming enthusiasts with access to content and massive multiplayer functions.

Will keep you all updated if and when i learn more.

Microsoft and Nokia joined forces today and had a brainstorm. The software and mobile giants have confirmed they will bring a mobile version of Microsoft Office to Nokia’s Symbian powered smartphones.

A few of Nokia’s phones already use Microsoft software (Exchange ActiveSync) so its no big surprise they’re coming together again. Next year will see the phone’s packing Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile. Not the catchiest of names but basically will allow to find work colleagues, instant message and something called “presence information”(ideas anyone???)

Further into the future mobile versions of your favourite office programs, Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc so you can view, edit and send documents from your mobile.

Source : Electricpig

Today Microsoft has revealed official release dates and for its forthcoming OS. The release has been set for October 22nd so not long now till we get the opportunity to ditch Vista (yay!)

Like Vista, 7 will be coming in a Home Premium package for £149.99, a Professional package at £219.99 and Ultimate at £229.99. Don’t worry though you wont have to pay the full amount as Microsoft are offering an “upgrade” price up until 31st December. You can upgrade upgrade to Home Premium for £79.99, Professional for £189.99 or Ultimate for £199.99 (not a massive saving but better than nothing).

However if you pre-order Home Premium you can pick it up for £49.99 or Professional for £99.99. This offer starts on 15th July and Ends on August or “whilst stocks last” (can’t see the world suddenly running out of discs in a hurry) also if you buy a Windows Vista PC after June 26, you’ll get a free upgrade to Windows 7.

We already new that Windows 7 would be released in 2009 and we have previously speculated it would be available on 23rd of October, but now Microsoft has given us an official date of October 22nd.

This is one version of Windows I think we will all be happy to upgrade too.

The senior vice president of the Windows Business at Microsoft, Bill Veghte, has confirmed that Windows 7 will be available to customers in time for the holiday shopping season. He said:

We're tracking well to deliver Windows 7 in time for holiday availability based on the groundswell of feedback we received from the partner ecosystem, customers and through our own internal testing from pre-beta to now.

Microsoft have been coy about the release date of Windows 7 and have only stated that Windows 7 would be available no later than three years after the general availability of Windows Vista - 30th January 2010.

Many people seem to believe these dates to be quite conservative. The beta of Windows 7 was released in January and it was the only Beta to be released. The beta has been widely praised with many users commenting that it was faster and more stable than its predecessor even in its beta stages.

The Release Candidate has recently been released which will be the only RC release unlike the usual 2 or 3. The RC release has improved on the beta even further (obviously) with most of the bugs ironed out and new features made available.

Acer also previously leaked that the Acer Z5600 all-in-one PC, which is due for launch on October the 23rd will be bundled with Windows 7.

Microsoft will start offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 on new PCs shipping with Vista.

I have to say I am quite excited about Windows 7, I think most people agree that it looks like it will be the best Windows release for a long time. RC1 has been teasing us even more with some cracking new features such as XP Mode and streaming your library over the net. So it is no surprise we are all a little eager to find out when Windows 7 will be released!

Well good news according to Bobby Waltkins, marketing director of Acer UK, the Z5600 all-in-one PC, which is due out on October 23rd, will come pre-loading with a genuine copy of Windows 7.

Granted this isn’t confirmed by Microsoft but we can hope it is true.