2008 August 18 | Men Gadgets

Archive for August 18th, 2008

Researchers create solar tie that charges, carries cellphone

Monday, August 18th, 2008 73 views

There’s certainly no shortage of folks working to incorporate solar cells into clothing and accessories, but a team of researchers from Iowa State University now look to have devised a way to make the wearable technology slightly more discreet, with them using digital textile printing to print fabric that matches the pattern of the solar cells. The solar cells themselves are then attached using a “liquid stitch” method, although that apparently presented its own set of problems, as the application of the cells made it difficult to tie a knot. As the researchers helpfully point out in thier paper, however, a clip-on tie would solve that problem. Combine that with the special pouch for carrying your cellphone, and you′ve got a combo that can’t be beat.

[Via textually.org]

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Tags: community, gadget, apple, ipod, blog

Posted in Cell Phone Apps, Cell Phones, Cell phone Accessories, Communicators, Docks, GPS gadgets, Native Applications, Tools&Utilities, apple iphone, iPhone Webapps | No Comments »

Sanyo Katana Eclipse hands-on

Monday, August 18th, 2008 107 views

Filed under: Handsets, Features, Sanyo, Sprint, EV-DO, CDMA

Sanyo handsets are like cats: you either love them or you just really, really loathe them with every fiber of your being. Sprint and Sanyo both seem to be pretty okay with that; clearly, not every phone in Sprint’s lineup is going to be for everyone, and the Katana Eclipse is no different. Sanyo fanatic or not, though, our gripe list added up pretty quickly with this one, so would-be buyers might want to put it through a good workout in store before taking the plunge.

The phone’s hinge design causes the upper half of the phone to rest behind the bottom half; that is, the intersection of the planes containing the two halves is not the center of the hinge (think MacBook, for example). We thought that felt a little weird against our face and made it more difficult to get a good seal between the earpiece and our ear. Also, the front of the phone — arguably the most attractive of any Katana to date — isn’t the most user-friendly. The tiny external display was difficult to read even in a moderate amount of shade, and the music controls are nearly flush with the shell which makes actuating them trickier than it should be. Speaking of displays, the primary one is pretty small, leaving a huge gray bezel with no function whatsoever (don’t be fooled by the white dots at the bottom, they serve no function other than to make you think that they’re touch-sensitive soft buttons, which they’re not).

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The dedicated speaker key is a nifty parlor trick, you′ve got a 1.3 megapixel cam in there, and it does stereo Bluetooth. Plus, it’s a Sanyo, and we know that for a few of you out there, that’s all that matters. For you guys, you’ll be able to pick up the Katana Eclipse immediately for $99.99 with a new two-year contract.

Gallery: Sanyo Katana Eclipse hands-on

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Tags: blog, ipod, russia, iphone, apple

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Support for Access Linux Platform waning in the wake of Android?

Monday, August 18th, 2008 85 views

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Orange, Linux, Symbian, ALP, Android

Without much fanfare, the Samsung i800 was canned at the tail end of last month. When asked why, Orange simply noted that it was pulled in order to “prepare a more competitive Linux mobile.” A recent writeup at Ostatic takes a hard look at whether this simple withdrawal is really a sign of things to come, and it suggests that ALP could see support fade as the major players in Linux (and maybe even Nokia) step to the plate. One analyst was even quoted as saying that “having Google’s brand behind Symbian could very well mean ‘game over’ for mobile Linux in the mobile phone market,” and we honestly can’t disagree too vehemently with that assertion. Of course, the LiMo Foundation has stated its intentions to not back down from the mighty Google, but sometimes, even the best intentions fall through. Guess time will tell, huh?