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

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.

The world of the SatNav has come in leaps and bounds over the past few years and its hard not to know a car owner who hasn’t got one and now with the increase in well “smartness” of smartphones (most now have free GPS Navigation software) where next for the SatNav. Well it appears this is it.

The Mio Moov V780 is a massive 7” in size and has a capacitive WVGA display. A little excessive you might say for a SatNav but this is also disguising itself as a PMP/netbook. Packing Wi-Fi and optional HSPDA and WiMax for online use, it also has an external TV aerial to catch TV on the move. It also has DivX, MP4 and H.263/264 support allowing video playback obviously for when the SatNav is not needed and the kids are restless in the back of the car. What is odd id the HDMI out which can playback its stored video content at 720p on a flatscreen. Unless you’ve recently been on “Pimp My Ride” i can’t see most average folk having a HDTV in their car.

Going back to its connectivity, the Mio Moov will also have a keyboard dock and as it runs Windows CE, you can access Exchange and GMail to get your email on the move, not recommended whilst driving but I’m sure your passenger can or if you’ve stopped at the services. Expected to debut at CeBit this week, more news on release and price will be available then.

Here’s one for my boss as he loves skiing and for all you other powder lovers. Now you can get a set of goggles with a built in HUD or “heads up display” for the non-techs out there. Designed and manufactured by Recon Instruments the goggles house a 15mm diagonal micro display inside the lens, obviously seen on the inside by the wearer.

The display will show various kinds of information to your eyes whilst you’re careering down the slopes( to me that sounds dangerous, but i haven’t skied since i was 13). With GPS capabilities the HUD can display your speed, jump hang time, altitude, temperature and also has a stopwatch to time your runs. It has also been said Recon are trying to get the display to tell you where your friends are located if they have the goggles too.

Not got a release date yet but you’ll be looking at parting with $350 to $450(£230 to £300 approx.)

The XL 340 is the latest 4.3-inch portable navigation system from TomTom, which comes loaded with full maps of North America, Canada and Mexico (no mention of the UK/EU version just yet).

It has seven million points of interest pre-loaded so you can find information about restaurants, gas stations and attractions in a particular area you might be driving through. The GPS also features both IQ Routes Technology and Advanced Line Guidance. The IQ Routes suggest routes typically only know by locals to a particular area, meanwhile the Line Guidance feature provides you with more detailed information at complex road junctions so you can stay safe while driving in difficult space. The TomTom XL 340 is priced at $230 (£160).

Hacking your EeePC is becoming a bit of a geek hobby at the moment, and this hacked EeePC has to be the ultimate of them all. This hacked EeePC has been documented over at IVC Wiki and takes hacking your EeePC to a new level.

The upgrades include USB hubs, GPS Module, Bluetooth, SDHC reader, WiFi, FM transmittor, modem and a 2 GB DDR2 module.

The cost? Well not that cheap really.

• USB hubs - 11.20 USD
• GPS module - 36.70 USD
• Bluetooth - 5.65 USD
• SDHC card reader - 6.45 USD
• Adata SDHC 8 GB - 74.50 USD
• Corsair VoyagerGT 4 GB USB drive - 90.94 USD
• Switch + Prototypingboards - 2.66 + 30.10 USD
• Intel Wireless adapter - 62.69 USD
• Airplay FM transmitter - 14.98 USD
• Conexant Modem - 11.89 USD
• Crucial 2 GB DDR2 module - 106.62 USD

Totaling 454.38 USD which included the shipping to Europe. More Pictures after the jump or go to IVC for a detailed run down of the mod.

Read the rest of this entry »

Another post on the Nokia N810. There are a couple of good videos on You Tube, and I have to say it does look pretty good. It also does'nt look to large which I am very happy about. Bring on Christmas and upgrade time! Videos after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of speculation of Goolge releasing a mobile phone recently, and it certainly has a lot of people excited. Gizmodo listed some of the features they would like to see on it. Read the rest of this entry »

Mio's not shy about pumping out the GPS devices, and the company tooks the wraps off its latest model, the C720t, at DigitalLife this week. The 4.3-inch widescreen PND hits all the major bases for $599, with a geotagging 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth handsfree capability, a Traffic Message Channel receiver (that'll cost you $65 / year, ouch), and some pretty extensive media-playback options

Read the rest of this entry »