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

Lucky for us we won’t all have to change our consoles hopefully for another few years at least, but we’re going to have to change the way we play them and actually do some work…… Thanks Nintendo Wii. With Playstation’s Move controller due soon and rumours of the Microsoft answer turned into reality the Kinect all we were waiting on was the date and price.

We had the new 250GB revamped Xbox and then the announcement of a 4GB console. With that announcement Microsoft told us the Kinect will cost £129.99 on its own or bundled with the new console for £249.99 (4GB console will cost £149.99 on its own) so when bundled you’re making a saving.

Then we were waiting for the date. Well it didn’t come from Microsoft straight away, but HMV and Play.com leaked that it was due for release on the 19th November, just in time for Christmas. A lot of talk between fan-boys though was the sheer price of the Kinect, which yes when compared to the Move controller, it’s more expensive. BUT I’ll defend it here in saying that if you want to play more than one player on the PS3 multiple Move controllers would have to be bought bumping the price up. Plus with the Kinect out before Christmas, you can probably guess if there’s still plenty in stock after Chrimbo, the price will no doubt drop.

At E3 earlier this year Microsoft did say after they announced the new Xbox 250GB Slim that an Arcade version would be in the pipeline, now the new look Xbox 360 250GB has been out less than a week and it appears Bill Gates’ boys are again going to give us the scaled down version for those a little less in the pocket or that don’t require a whole 250GB of memory just to save games. The leak has come courtesy of Amazon(Germany) where a listing appeared for the scaled down Xbox.

There’s no pictures unfortunately but rumours suggest it won’t be any different from the new 250GB model in looks, keeping that black gloss finish (ie no white console) just it’ll be packing a 4GB internal memory, more than adequate for game saves, SD videos and photos.

The release date is scheduled for 20th August, just in time for Germany’s annual “Gamescom” convention. Early indications suggest it will cost around £125.

So the rumours were true and to be fair it’s about time. The Xbox 360 slim console has been made official and will be available soon (July 16th). Playstation 3 hasn’t been out nearly as long as the Microsoft console yet they’ve followed the trend of their previous consoles and released smaller, more compact versions of their consoles. So what have Microsoft finally decided to do it?

In my opinion it’s mainly down to the fact they need to drum up some extra interest in its new Kinect(formerly Natal) motion controller that also became official this week. It’s obviously smaller than the current 360 but has a slight design tweak to it too. It is also supposedly a lot quieter, which in all honesty isn’t that hard. The image also makes it look “glossy” in comparison to the older “matte” consoles. What else is good and finally Microsoft have added it in is N-standard WiFi. You no longer have to buy the £60 wireless bridge.

Again the release date is the 16th July and will retail at £199

We spoke a month or so ago and got a little bit excited about the prospect of a Microsoft Zune phone which I was hoping was going to be a true iPhone beater sporting the new Windows Mobile 7. Originally the rumours were flying about that the phone development was called project “Pink”. Well Microsoft has now announced that Project “Pink” will now be coming this Autumn to Vodafone but has been renamed as Kin but it doesn’t appear that the all singing all dancing Windows 7 Zune Phone is the Kin. Maybe it’s the start of things to come.

Both the Kin 1 and Kin 2 are touchscreen phones with slide out QWERTY keyboards. The main emphasis on these phones is social networking and although the phones aren’t sporting Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 7 or even 6.5 Microsoft has developed another OS that the KIN can call its own, designed to complement it's social networking abilities.

Full specs are a little thin but what we do know is the Kin 1 is the smaller of the two and has a 5MP camera whilst the Kin 2 is slightly bigger but has a better 8MP camera, larger storage capacity and the ability to take videos at HD quality. Both will also pack the Zune HD software, which is great and certainly more than capable of challenging the iPhone’s music abilities.

The software features of both phones sound clever to it can collate all your favourite people’s statuses, messages and pictures all into one place called the Kin Loop. Also if you want to share yours, there’s the Kin Spot. Drag photos, messages and your status updates into it and then choose who you want to distribute them to. Then there’s the Kin Studio. Anything and everything you create on the phone can be sent to the cloud. This can then be accessed in any web browser and shared again to whoever you like.

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.

September 15^th. Mark it in your diaries. Thats the date some leaked Zune packaging was bearing. It’s the PMP we’re all waiting for(if you’re one of these that don’t like Apple especially). Piece by piece fanboys have tried to source the clues and got Microsoft to spill the proverbial beans.

The OLED toting PMP looks nice. It’s specs sound nice, c’mon you know it cant disappoint can it? Well unfortunately the September 15th date is only for the States and Microsoft are keeping quiet as to when us Brits will get a go of it and we havent even got the first Zune which was realeased nearly 3 years ago and has had several models since then too.

Also there’s still no news on a price but a lot of rumours are flying round the £150 mark. C’mon Microsoft pull your finger out and let us limeys in.

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.