Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10 (Pic from Laptop Mag)

Well our finals are finally over, so it’s time for us to get back to “work”. A lot of things happened at CES, and we hope to give you info on the best netbooks, laptops and desktops (aka. regular computers), cell phones, as well as some general cool things we saw  happen.

Let’s start with netbooks, and boy were there A LOT of these. HP, Dell, Asus (the guys who really started the netbook frenzy with their Eee PC line), and a bunch of other companies all came out with some new stuff, so read on for some of the best you should look to see in 2009!

Before we really begin, we’re not gonna put Sony’s new Vaio P (which we wrote about here) into this category, as 1) Sony considers it to be a “ultra-portable” laptop and not a netbook. 2) It costs more than buying 2 of most netbooks, which really gets rid of the netbook idea as a small, low cost (and by this we mean well below a starting price of $900) mini laptops. Now let’s begin.

Here are our top 5 netbooks  that came out of CES:

1. Dell Inspiron Mini 10- This is a netbook that I personally am looking forward to seeing (I hope to buy a netbook for taking to school everyday since my current laptop is way too big ). The Dell called this a “perfect 10″ and after looking at some pix of it, I think it may very well be. For one, this thing is loaded with:

• GPS
  
• TV Tuner-yes you can watch TV on this, and you won’t be disappointed with the quality because it has a….
• 720p (HD quality) 10.1 inch screen- Yes, you read that right. This thing has an HD screen built in (which also should mean less moving your mouse around the screen just to see one website).
• Edge to Edge Keyboard- Giving you the most room to type on, something that is pretty important for those of us who would use it in school to take notes.
• Multi Touch Track Pad- Similar to what we’ve seen out of Apple with their MacBooks, where you can use gestures on the computer like two finger “pinch” to zoom, etc. They even got rid of the usual button underneath, instead having 2 little buttons on the right and left of the track pad, making it look even more Mac like!

Dell’s Inspirion Mini 10 trackpad

• Wireless N Wi-Fi- You can use this on the new faster Wi-Fi networks if you have it (don’t worry, it also works fine with older Wi-Fi networks that are pretty much everywhere- those networks usually are wireless G or B networks by the way).
• Built-in Webcam
• Multiple Colors to choose from- Like a lot of Dell’s new computers, you can customize the design of your computer, like changing the color of the screen’s back etc., something which Dell also made available here.

Unfortunately, Dell didn’t share some of the real important info like pricing and release date, though we  would expect it to come out within the next few months (or so we hope…). But assuming this does come out soon and at a normal price (between $300 and $600 like most netbooks), Dell could have a real winner on their hands.

2. HP 2140- This is an update to one of HP’s netbooks- the Mini 2100, and really bring some nice updates to the line. These updates include:

• Windows Vista or XP- We’d recommend XP, as Vista runs really slowly on netbooks.
• 10.1 inch screen- Like the Dell Mini 10, HP also put on a 10.1 inch screen on this netbook, though it doesn’t come with a standard HD screen like Dell’s.
• Up to 2 GB of RAM and either 80 GB Solid State Drive or 80 or 160 GB hard drive- Basically, enough power like a lot of regular laptops. And a Solid State Drive (or SSD), for those who don’t know, is the more reliable and energy-efficient (=longer batter life) hard drives that uses flash chips– like those found in the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPod Nano lines — that, instead of spinning around like the traditional drive, stays set in place (we’re not gonna bore you with the complicated stuff). The downside of these SSDs though is that these options are usually much more expensive and offer less memory than theor regular hard drive counterparts, but if you plan on using this netbook as a secondary computer and will not need 160 GB, we’d recommend checking out the Solid State option
• Aluminum Casing- This is much nicer than the Dell, and looks pretty cool.

This netbook is expected to come out later this month at a not too bad starting price of $499,  but until then you can check it out at HP’s site here.

HP’s Mini 2140

3. Asus Eee T101H

This is a very cool netbook, definitely different from those mentioned above. So what’s so different? Well, unlike the other, more traditional netbooks from Dell, HP and others, Asus is actually completely changing the netbook game yet again (these guys started the netbook craze as we mentioned above), by putting a 10 inch touchscreen onto the laptop. Oh, and not only is it a touchscreen, but a multi-touch touchscreen that is a tablet which swivels around 180 degrees! Other features we know include:

• MacBook style keyboard- What this means is that unlike other netbooks, where the keyboards are usually cramped or not as easy to use like normal laptops, this keyboard is like the ones on MacBooks where there is some nice spacing between the keys, making typing far easier.
• Windows XP

Not many other features, nor the pricing and release date, are known, but this is definitely a nice lil’ netbook — especially when Microsoft comes out with Windows 7, including  better touchscreen capabilities (we’ll cover Windows 7 in a later post).

Asus Eee T101H

4. Asus Eee T91- This looks the same as the T101 we just mentioned, with a 9 inch multi-touch touchscreen (hence the T91 instead of  T101- the 91 is for 9 inch screen, the 101 is for 10.1 inch screen. Oh, and the T is for touchscreen/tablet) that is also a tablet that swivels around 180 degrees . But here we got a few more cool features…

• 1 inch thick and 2 lbs- Or should we say thin? In short, this thing is INSANELY thin and light.
• TV Tuner- We don’t think this will be as nice as Dell’s but it’s still a nice feature to have
• GPS- Unlike Dell’s GPS, this one we actually can think of a use for. If ASUS makes a little car dock for this, it would not be a bad choice for a car GPS as you can easily have it as just a screen for GPS.
• Windows XP

Again not too many details on this one (especially pricing or release date), but this should be a really interesting choice as you could either go with the bigger screen’d T101 or with the GPS and TV filled T91. Regardless, let’s hope Asus gets both of these out soon and at reasonable prices.

Asus Eee T91

5. Asus S121- Asus really had a lot of interesting netbooks at CES, which is why we’re focusing so much on them. The S121 is a little bit different than the Eee line we mentioned above, as it is usually much more stylish, high powered netbook, but also more expensive. This little guy really looks to push the netbook limit and is something I would consider as a regular, ultra portable PC like the Sony Vaio P (even though this has a 3 inch bigger screen). Why do I say this? Well the specs on this include:

• 12.1 inch screen with a weight under 3 lbs
  
• 8 hours of battery life- Perfect for those of us needing a laptop for school.
• Windows XP or Vista- We’d still recommend XP
• 250 GB Hard Drive or 512 GB SSD- This is what leads me to question whether this is a laptop or an ultraportable. For one, it has that big 12.1 inch screen which is already questionable for a netbook, but the fact that this is packing a 512 GB SSD (which is something regular laptops don’t even have) really is confusing, as something like that will cost you a lot of $$$ (Asus even said so ).
• 1.3 Megapixel Camera
• Wireless N and Bluetooth

This also has “CRYSTALLIZED^TM – Swarovski Elements masterfully imbedded into intricately crafted metallic hinges add a touch of class, reminiscent of a pair of marquis-cut diamond cuff-links on a business suit….” and “a luxurious and elegant leather palm rest” (their words not ours ). Expect to come later this month for who knows how much

Asus S121 netbook/ultra portable laptop

Well there you have it, some interesting netbooks from CES. These are the few we thought you should look out for as they look to be really cool, and we’ll of course keep you updated on these netbooks.

In the meantime, we wanna know what are your thoughts: you like/dislike the 5 we chose, have a different netbook that caught your eye? Let us know in the comments.

Info from Engadget.com

The all new Palm Pre

Arguably one of the most anticipated products/operating systems coming out of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) this year was Palm’s “Newness.”

Palm had already dropped a few hints about it, saying that we would have a phone with a full touch screen as well as a complete slide out QWERTY keyboard. They (Palm) also told us about a completely new operating system codenamed Nova that would blow the doors off of Apple’s Mobile OS X as well as Google’s Android.

These fueled anticipations coupled with the fact that, even before a failing economy, Palm was quickly dropping out of existence, and this CES was a huge chance for the company to turn things around, potentially for the last time.

And boy did they do a great job showing that they’re back and ready to compete with the iPhone, the G1, the Storm, and pretty much whatever else may come out. They delivered a new phone, the Palm Pre, and an all-new web OS operating system. Read on to learn about both!

The Palm Pre

This new phone is simply amazing.

Not only does it have a touch screen, it also has a Blackberry-like trackball and a slide out QWERTY keyboard for all your input needs. It’s kinda cool how the keyboard slides out; it has a small curve to it making it look amazing overall.

It also comes packed with 8GB of internal memory, that’s as much as the 8 GB iPhone!

Which brings us to our next point: this phone has a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, meaning that you can now load up your DRM-free music you bought from iTunes (see here), and listen to those tunes through basically any pair of headphones out there. This may not seem like a big deal, but there are tons of phones without them (G1!).

Palm has also stated that the Pre’s processor, made by Texas Instruments, allows for the Pre to have laptop-type power.

Another awesome thing about this new phone: a completely wireless phone charger. Called the Touchstone, you can simply put your phone atop it to charge. Just like that, no more cables! This alone is a major step for the consumer electronics division. Beyond all this, the Pre also has Palm’s new OS, 3G, Wi-Fi, and GPS.

Look for it to be available on Sprint sometime in the first half of 2009.

Palm’s new wireless charger, the Touchstone

Palm’s new OS

The homescreen of the new OS

So the new Pre isn’t the only big news coming out of CES today, Palm also announced they’re all-new operating system.

This new OS is able to sync all your contacts — from your phone, Gmail, and Facebook — onto one device.

Another cool thing that I think is just awesome: if the user begins to type letters on the keyboard while on the homescreen, the phone will come up with a search of applications, contacts, etc. that begin with the typed letters.

Also, it features a blazing fast web browser and a “deck of cards” style of managing multiple applications running at once (Take that iPhone!).

Palm also added excellent touch capability; it is optimized for touching and has large icons as well as flick scrolling and gesture support– no more stylus’s on Palm phones!

All in all, this is an amazing new OS and will likely force other software makers to enhance their mobile platforms, ultimately ending with us, the consumer, with even better devices which should make us all very happy.

A screenshot of the innovative instant search feature

So what you think– is the Palm Pre hot enough that you’ll jump to Sprint to get it? Would you rather have a Blackberry Bold or Storm, or maybe an iPhone 3G or T-Mobile G1? Let us know in the comments.

Info and pix from Palm.com and Engadget.com

Remember a few weeks back we wrote about Sony’s new netbook? Well they’ve finally been confirmed– the Sony P Series.

Just in case you missed it, here are some exciting features of the P Series:

• The P Series will be the lightest netbook around, tipping the scales at about 1.4 pounds! Oh, and it fits into a regular mailing envelope– take that MacBook Air!
• The LED backlit screen has a 1,600 x 768 resolution, which is one of the best out there for netooks and just stunning.
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• A battery that boasts 4 hours of work time, which could be 8 if you decide to go with the optional high capacity battery.
• Just in case, it also comes with built-in GPS
• Webcam
• A one touch button for access to Sony’s Xross Media Bar interface for your movies and music and internet browsing, which you can start up without going into full Windows (this is known as a “instant on OS”, as your computer goes on in much quicker time than it would to load the regular OS).

Just a small note, this netbook will not include a trackpad but instead have a small track ball in the middle of the keyboard which can be used like a mouse.

The P Series will ship sometime in early February in the very creative colors of garnet red, emerald green, onyx black, crystal white and black hues for $900 and up (way too much for a netbook in my mind– heck, you could get 2 fairly decent netbooks for the price of one of these things!), depending on your specs.

So do you think it was worth the wait? Let your voice be heard in the comments.

Info and pix from Engadget.com

Well, as Chaim mentioned in his MacWorld 09 roundup, Apple today unleashed the restrictions on the iPhone’s wireless iTunes Music Store, letting you finally download songs over 3G! So me being crazy to try this out, took out my iPhone 3G and put this to the test.

I gotta say it works as advertised; I was able to download a 4 minute song in about 1 minute, and my 3G wasn’t even going at its normal speeds! (I think this has something to do with AT&T’s data/internet network going down earlier yesterday morning on the east coast, and it hasn’t fully recovered as of this writing). Anyways, the quality of the songs are the exact same as the ones on your computer’s iTunes, and the mobile iTunes Store even started selling the new DRM free tracks (see Chaim’s post) – which you can also download today.

All the songs you downloaded get transferred to your regular iTunes on the computer the next time you sync and go to File–> Transfer Purchases from “____’s iPhone”, so don’t worry about losing your newly bought tracks

Another pretty important thing worth mentioning here is that the pricing on the iPhone’s iTunes store remains the same. Unlike other carriers’ music downloading services (we’re looking at you Verizon, and AT&T with your non-iPhone phones’ $1.99 pricing per song), you’re not paying more than the standard .99 cents to download a song.

Oh, and for all you original iPhone owners: don’t worry, this works over EDGE as well, but I would recommend sticking to Wi-Fi for your downloads, as you may not have enough time to sit and wait for your song to download (downloading over EDGE is that slow).

iTunes Music Store over 3G on my iPhone 3G. Click on pic for bigger version.

(The song, by the way, is “If Today Was Your Last Day” by Nickelback, and the download is paused so I could take the pic- not because of 3G problems )

I still was hoping (wishing really) that Apple did more for the iPhone today (please, all I want is: a landscape keyboard like in Safari for texting, syncing with more than one computers like a regular iPod, a lil video recording, and some picture messaging. Honestly Apple, is that so much to ask?). But all in all, the “new” iTunes Store over 3G is great, and gives the iPhone yet another edge over the competition as both a music player and phone.

What you think of the new iTunes Store- both the iPhone’s new ability to download over 3G and the new DRM free songs? How the iPhone 3G’s wireless iTunes Store working for you? Let us know in the comments.

Well, it’s January, which means Apple’s MacWorld event is here, and today, at their (last) keynote, they announced a couple of Mac related things (sorry – No iPhone Nano today folks ). For all the details on what Apple did come out with, read on!

iLife ‘09 -

The latest update to Apple’s iLife applications, it includes updates to iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, and GarageBand.

iPhoto ‘09 adds two new ways to sort your photos: faces and places. Faces is a new facial recognition feature allows you to sort your pictures by who is in it — kinda like on Facebook, but this is done automatically. Places, as the name suggests, is sorting by place, working with both Google Maps and, if your camera supports it (i.e. iPhone camera), the GPS data attached to the picture, to identify the location. If it doesn’t manage to work or if you want to override it, you can can enter a location manually, and iPhoto will recognize and organize it.

Also added is Facebook and Flickr support, for not only exporting pix, but updating too. So if someone tags a person on your Facebook profile, it will update in Faces as well. Two other interesting features are slide show themes and a new book available for ordering: Travel Books, which is self-explanatory.

iMovie ‘09- Apple seems to have listened to the complaints on this one. In iMovie ‘08 many users (*cough* me *cough*) were unhappy with Apple’s removal of more advanced features from the program such as advanced video edits. Here they bring in some of those more advanced features, and they also added requisite new themes, including a very cool Indiana Jones-esque map thing, that lets you show where you are going on your trip. A nice update.

GarageBand- Only one really interesting new feature here: the “Learn to Play” feature, which, in 9 basic lessons, teaches you how to play songs on piano and guitar. So whats cool? That real artists (Sting, and John Fogerty) have signed on to this, and you can buy videos of them teaching you how to play their songs ($5 a video, and it’s in high def!).

iWork ‘09 – New iWork stuff, but lets face it, unless you work in business (which you might) you won’t be really needing most of the new stuff here. Those interested, see Apple’s page here.

iWork ‘09

17″ MacBook Pro -

The 17″ MacBook Pro finally gets the new update the other 15″ MacBook Pros got late last year. This machine is much more powerful though, with a better (although non-removable) 7-8 hour battery (yes you get 7-8 hours of battery), depending on the graphics card you’re using; the MacBook has two graphics systems installed on it — the integrated Nvidia graphics, which uses part of RAM for memory and is useful for the less-demanding Word documents, music playback, or web browsing, or the more powerful 512 MB Nvidia discrete graphics, which is handy for graphic-heavy programs like photo editing or even gaming — and since Apple allows you to easily switch between the two, you will drain more battery on the latter than the former, although with superior graphics.

It also comes with a better Intel Core 2 Duo processor (up to 2.93 GHZ- basically desktop power), higher resolution screen (1920 x 1200– basically the most crisp, nicest-looking screen you’ll see today),  up to 8 GB of RAM, and the option of either a 320 GB hard drive or a more reliable, though much more expensive, 256 GB Solid State Drive. This computer really is loaded, and for those heavy photo-editing users out there this is perfect for you– if you can stomach the insanely expensive starting price of $2,800!

The New 17 inch MacBook Pro

Finally, some stuff EVERYONE out there (who has an iPod – as I said, everyone) should care about:

iTunes Music Store -

First, Apple announced that there will be new pricing for songs in the store – 3 levels – $.69, $.99, and $1.29. – since the music companies want more flexibility for pricing (new stuff will be higher, old stuff lower – works out).

Second, Apple announced that iTunes Plus, the section of iTunes that allows you to get higher quality, DRM Free (DRM= Digital Rights Management- copyright protection, what prevents you from sharing music and putting your bought iTunes Store music on different devices like cell phones, other Mp3 players etc.) music, is finally being extended to the rest of the music in the store.  Now when you buy a song from iTunes, you could put it on any device you want (that is, of course, once it fully comes out in the coming months- not all songs are covered right now, but a lot are)!

Finally, Apple announced that the iTunes Music store on the iPhone, which formerly only worked over Wi-Fi, is now being extended to the 3G (and EDGE) networks as well. You can now download music anywhere, at the same price and quality, and its synced over to your computer later when you resync with iTunes. This is something which iPhone users have apparently wanted.

So, all in all, an interesting, if lower key, final Apple keynote. So long, good buddy.

Pix from Apple.com

CES and MacWorld- coming this week!

Yup, it’s that time of year again. The new year and playoff football have begun, and CES and MacWorld — arguably two of the year’s biggest tech shows, in which many of the upcoming years gadgets are announced — kicks off this week.

A lot of good stuff appears on the horizon. Windows 7 looks AMAZING — pretty much all the good Vista was supposed to be — and should receive a lot of attention from Microsoft. All new Palm cell phones should be armed with, by Palm’s hardware standards, a great texting keyboard as well as a new “Nova OS” that should bring the Palm Software up to 2009 and not 2002. We also should be seeing all new cell phones and computers (specifically netbooks), and as far as Apple, you never know with them though we anticipate some nice goodies from their final MacWorld.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to write about all the details right away; CES and the MacWorld both take place during our  finals/midterms week. On the upside though (at least for us ), with finals means that our winter vacation is almost here!

And don’t worry, we will still give you round ups on a lot of the major things coming from these events (yes, there are some things that we find aren’t worth covering — CES is a BIG event with A LOT of stuff!) after the events are over, but don’t worry- we will have some posts daily on some of the  really BIG things arriving out of the shows (such as the MacWorld and Palm conferences). We’ll keep the posting style for the round ups looking similar to last year (organized by best of each catergory) and we hope to have everything covered from both CES and MacWorld up by the end of next week– so keep checking back!

School is almost over, but of course before we can all go enjoy our stress free summer breaks, we need to take our finals. Ours this year start this Thursday and run till Tuesday the 17, so we just wanted to let you all know that we might not be able to get as much out as possible for we do need to take these tests. Of course one of the big things we are missing in this is the Apple WWDC, and the possible intro of a new iPhone that Chaim wrote about here. So for all of you out there looking to see what new thing Apple has released you may wanna check out Engadget.com on June 9-13 when this all happens. We hope to sometime during those days summarize what went on there during the event. So keep checking back and good luck with all your finals and tests.

Ttyl,

Eli, Chaim, Charlie and Tzvi

There were a lot of new video games and related materials announced at CES, here are the interesting ones that we saw.

For the heavy computer gamer: If you are a heavy computer gamer then CES was a good week for you. Three of the top gaming computer makers announced pretty cool new products. We’ll start this list with Alienware who announced a very nice new gaming computer screen. This is not the average screen you have at your home computer, rather its a monster curved gaming screen. This screen has a resolution 2880 x 900 (for those who don’t know what that means, let’s just say it will play you video games in very nice quality), and is over 3 feet wide. It is not out yet but is listed for the second half of this year for price unknown as of now (start saving now- this will most likely cost a lot).

Alienware curved gaming screen

Dell and Gateway also announced new products but theirs are more of actual machines and not just screens. Dell announced a new additions to its high end XPS desktops and laptops, the XPS 630 and something that is not for sure set in stone (only prototype) 16 inch laptop. Not much is known on the desktop other than it will be as Dell puts it “middleweight contender with heavyweight power”, as in it is small in size but still as powerful as bigger desktops like Dell’s own XPS 720. The laptop on the other hand is something that is not your ordinary in terms of screen size. This laptop, though still only a prototype, is a 16 inch laptop that offers Full HD screen quality along with what looks like to be similar specs as that of other XPS laptops, like the smaller 15.4 inch M1530. Since this is still a prototype and is not even a sure deal to be released to the world we don’t know when it will be released and for how much.

Dell 16 inch XPS Laptop and XPS 630 Desktop with screen

Gateway also announced a new high-end gaming desktop, the FX7020. This is also a very powerful desktop that is also moderately priced considering the power inside this machine, and the premium payed for getting a gaming machine. It is loaded in terms of specifications and includes a top of the line processor and graphics card capable of handling all the intense games you want to play. The price on this system is starting between $1,000 and $1,500 depending on the model you chose (as with the Dells, you can customize some of the features on the base model either raising them for power or lowering them for price).

Gateway FX7020 Desktop with screen

For real console style (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) gamers there was things available for you as well at CES. For the Wii there was a new accsory from Nyko that would allow for Wii users to use the Nunchuk controller wirelessly as well instead of having it attached to main Wii controller through a wire. It works the same as the regular original Nunchuck, and according to Ebgames.com, will be available April 7th for around $35. Nyko also announced they would selling their own controllers for the Xbox 360 and PS3, this is good because it is an alteritive in case you are not happy with the controllers that those 2 systems come with. These controllers also add some interesting things to your gaming experience including backlit buttons, a new design, and for the PS3 rumble support. According to Nyko’s website the PS3 version is coming in March, and we assume that an Xbox 360 version should be out also at around that time.

Nyko Wireless Controllers for PS3 and Wii

For those of you who want to know more about new video game products announced at CES click here.

There were many new Mp3 Players announced at CES, and here are some of the interesting ones that we saw.

From iRiver: iRiver announced several new products including the Clix+, B20, and W7. The Clix+ is an update on the original Clix. It’s features include the original styler of navigation of menus by clicking the screen up, down, right and left to move the respective direction. It also has the same 2.2 inch screen, video player, ability to play Flash based games, voice recorder, and an FM tuner. The big changes here is the slimming down of the size, and lowering the price to $149 for 4 GB and $199 for 8 GB. The B20 is also a update on the Clix, but this Mp3 player’s updates focus more on features than design. Its design is the same as the original Clix, but the features include an FM tuner, video player, a micro SD card slot for adding memory, white or black color choices, and a TV tuner wen the product is released in Europe (it is not known whether the tuner will be there in a different form when its released in the US). Just like the Clix+, the price for the B20 is $149 for a 4 GB model.The W7 is a completely new Mp3 player that includes several cool features, that were so cool that they earned the W7 the Cnet Best of CES Award for Mp3 players. Those include a 3 inch touch screen, FM tuner, electronic dictionary, micro SD slot for adding more memory, video player, ability to play Flash games, and something completely new for a Mp3 player: GPS capability. The GPS isn’t included, but can be bought as a car mount which would enable the GPS. It is available in 4 GB and 8 GB, but the price is unknown for when it comes to the US.

iRiver B20, Clix+, and W7

From Philips: Philips also announced several new products including a Bluetooth enabled Mp3 player and a Rhapsody (competitor to iTunes just also allows subscription music downloads- downloading all the music you want usually for about $10, you don’t own the songs but can play on Mp3 players and computer) Mp3 players. The Bluetooth Mp3 player is just like it sounds- a Bluetooth Mp3 player. That means that it will be able to connect through Bluetooth to headphones like a Mp3 cell phone in order to listen to music, and it also allows for someone with a Bluetooth computer to be able to send files like music, photos, and videos over to the Mp3 player without any cables. Other features in the music player include Rhapsody support, video and photo playback on its 2.8 inch screen, and availability in 4 and 8 GB styles for $129 and $169 respectively (for the Bluetooth enabled versions- Philips will also sell a non-Bluetooth version with all the other features for $109 for 4 GB and $129 for 8GB) starting in April.The other device from Philips is the aforementioned Rhapsody Mp3 player. That Mp3 player includes more than just Rhapsody Mp3 support, it also includes a 4.3 inch screen, photo and video playback, ships with high end, in ear cell phones, and ships in July in an 8 GB version for $200.

Philips Bluetooth and Rhapsody Mp3 Players

From SanDisk: Just like Philips and iRiver, SanDisk also released new Mp3 players. 2 notable new ones include the updated Sansa Clip and the Sansa View. The updated Sansa Clip is a very, very low cost 4 GB Mp3 player that is just $79! It includes an FM radio, voice recorder, and a small, shiny, silver design. Though one big thing missing (of course for $79 it seems easy to see why), is a color screen which would support video and photo playback. According to SanDisk’s site this should be released in about a week. The Sansa View is a more powerful Mp3 player from SanDisk and is an update on the original Sansa View. This Mp3 player, like the recently announced updated iPod Touch, receives a memory upgrade to 32 GB of Flash memory. Other features on the Mp3 player include: video and photo playback, a little over 32 hours of battery life, 2.4 inch screen, Micro-SD card slot with ability to add 12 more GB worth of memory, FM radio and Voice Recorder, and ability to connect to a Windows or Mac based computer. The price for this device is $349, and is expected to be released on March 15.

Sansa View and Sansa Clip

For more information on other Mp3 players announced at CES, see CNET’s CES Mp3 page.

There were many new cell phones announced at CES from many companies, but here are some of the more interesting ones that we saw.

From Motorola: The Z10 and Rokr E8. The Z10, in terms of looks, looks like many simple slider phones, but it is actually very different. This phone slides out to, in a way, look like a banana in terms of shape (see picture below for better idea). It is also loaded with features like a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, ability to record movies in regular TV quality, a 2.2 inch screen, ability to add a micro SD card to increase the phones memory to 32 GB ( just a note: at this point cards in that high a memory range don’t run cheap), an FM radio, and Motorola’s Crystal Talk technology for better phone conversations. Unfortunately though according to Motorola this phone will not be launching in the US in this particular design, but will be available to purchase unlocked (buying the phone without a contract, this is usually at much higher price because it has no carrier to bring the price down).

The Rokr E8 is another new phone announced by Motorola at CES, and this is a phone that is generating a lot of attention. It is looking so good that Cnet.com gave it one of its Best of CES awards. What makes this phone so cool and different from other phones? For one it is running a completely different keypad. This keypad is not like other phones in that it stays in “phone mood” regardless of what your doing like listening to music, or taking pictures. The Rokr E8’s keypad actually changes from phone to music controls to picture controls based on what your using it for (see pictures below for greater detail). It’s also is promised by Motorola to be a better music player than regular music only devices. Other features on the phone include a 2 inch screen, 2 GB of built in memory with memory card slot to add more, Motorola’s Crystal Talk technology, and a interesting new feature that will let you read text messages while dialing or on a call.

The Z10 and Rokr E8 (in keypad and music controls)

From Sony Erricson: The W760 and the Z555a. The W760 was a nominee for Cnet’s best of CES awards, and from what this phone has, it is not a big surprise why. The W760 is a slider phone that at first glance looks like a basic slider phone. This like the Motorola Z10 is loaded with cool features. It has motion control (similar to the ATT W580i which uses its motion controls for skipping through music, though the W760 also uses it for other things such as playing games), 3G that would work in America on ATT’s network (not as of now it is not officially on ATT, but the 3G can be used even if unlocked), a 3.2 megapixel camera, Music Player with the aforementioned “Shake control”, and availability in three colors of fiery red, rocky silver, and intense black .

The Z555a is a very stylish flip phone also with some very interesting features. One of those interesting features is “gesture control” which allows a person to silence incoming phone calls or turn off an alarm by just waving a hand over the screen. Other than that and its diamond style design it is a pretty average cell phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera, media player, and availability in 2 colors: black and dusted rose.

The Z555a and W760

From LG: A few new phones but the ones we are mentioning are the LG Vu, the LG Watch Phone and the LG AX565. The LG Vu is an all touch screen phone that is heavily rumored to be coming to ATT. Its features include 3G that would work on ATT’s network, ability to watch live TV with ATT’s upcoming Mobile TV service (just like V Cast Mobile TV), a media player and a megapixel camera. The LG Watch Phone is a prototype of a could be future LG phone. It would be able to read text messages, and make calls with a Bluetooth headset and dialing numbers by voice. The third phone, the LG AX565, is a flip phone that is going to Alltel. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera, a music player, a square touchpad on the front for controlling music, and a micro SD card for adding more memory.

LG Watch Phone, LG AX565, and LG Vu

These are just some of the phones announced at CES, for other information and complete coverage of everything cell phone related at CES, visit http://ces.cnet.com/8300-13855_1-67.html?categoryId=9830920&tag=ces2008_tnav.