TurboGrafx-16 emulation hits the iPhone

Finally, the ultimate dream of all iPhone owners has come to pass: TurboGrafx-16 emulation. Thanks once again to the massive talents at ZodTTD, Apple's phone has gotten another piece of the emulator puzzle in the form of Temper4iphone, a fully functioning recreation of everyone's favorite under-performing game console. The app can play both TurboGrafx and PC-Engine games, as well as CD-based ROMs. Right now the software is only available to beta testers (and donation-makers), though it's expected to hit wide release soon. Check the video after the break and see for yourself.

Samsung F480

The Samsung F480 is the first in a series of touchscreen phones
hitting the market this year. It will feature a new and unique
TOUCHWiZ user interface. I’m particularly interested in testing out
the 5-megapixel camera featuring auto focus and a CMOS video lens.
CMOS lenses are commonly found in high-end or prosumer DSLR cameras so
it’s an amazing feature to have on a phone, especially one measuring
only 11.6 mm thick by 98.4 mm tall and 55 mm wide. In addition to
CMOS, the F480 also feature automatic face detection technology and a
sophisticated image stabilizer - again, these features aren’t commonly
found on a phone.

The ‘smile shot’ mode is another groundbreaking feature to appear on
a phone, that enables the F480’s camera to detect when your kids,
girlfriend or mom is smiling and automatically take a picture. Other
features include 240 MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot
supporting up to 8GB, HSDPA and USB 2.0. It has a battery capacity of
1000mAh with an estimated talk time of 3 hours and 250 hours of standby.

The quick and simple ‘drag and drop’ GUI feature gives you instant
access to favorite functions at a moment’s touch. A unique menu of
widgets display functions such as the clock, radio player, music player
and more personal elements including photos and birthday reminders,
which you can ‘drag and drop’ onto the home screen. Samsung’s so-called
“differentiated tactile technology” also gives you a “tangible and
pleasing feedback sensation” when items are selected - we’ll have to
see if this haptic feedback is any better than on earlier Samsung
phones, which have tended to just vibrate whenever the screen is tapped.

The launch will be supported with a European advertising campaign.
The F480 will be available from June in major European markets and soon
across other GSM regions. To learn more about the F480 and Samsung’s
mobile technology and handsets, check out www.samsungmobile.com.

Palm Treo 800w CDMA

An image purporting to be a prototype Palm Treo 800w in the wild has turned up,
together with the news that the handset is also going under the moniker
“Zeppelin”. While little of the hardware has been confirmed, bar the
fact that it’s CDMA and that there’s a microUSB plug (rather than
miniUSB), earlier rumors
suggest a 320 x 320 touchscreen and, in prototype form at least, EV-DO
Rev.0. As far as I’m aware, this is the first time the handset has
been seen “in the plastic”.

The journey of the 800w has been a long one. Known to be a Windows Mobile 6.1 handset, it’s also meant to have
Rev.A EV-DO and WiFi. Some estimates have put the eventual release
date at June 22nd. Appearance-wise, it seems to be a blend of the Treo
750’s thumb-keyboard with Centro-like main controls.

Although many expected it back in April, Palm confirmed near the end of March that their Windows Mobile range would be delayed “until the Summer”.

Video demo of Sony Ericsson Paris surfaces

A very short video with a demonstration of Sony Ericsson’s new Paris device has been found on YouTube. The video depicts the handset for very common use, and does not really parade any of the advanced features of the device that we all know it has. The demo is very short, and seems as if it is destined to run as a a commercial somewhere.

As you can see from the screen shot here, they are just showing off its basic touch ability. In this shot, the screen is being used to zoom in on a map, presumably to help our hero in the video navigate his way back to what appears to be his penthouse suite. The theme of the video seems to be work and play, that Sony Ericsson has you covered.

Interesting at the end of the video the flash the man uses to take his picture is very thorough and abrupt. Freezing, zooming in on, and intensely studying the video could not answer my question as to whether this is xenon flash, or a very good LED flash, possibly even a dual LED array. Check out the video of the demo below.

Application store will most likely appear in Android

It's looking like Google will do what it can to provide an application store on Android-based handsets (see that "Market" icon above?). As project lead Andy Rubin mentioned at the Google I/O developer conference, "It would be a great benefit to the Android community to provide a place where people can go to safely and securely download content and where a billing system would allow developers to get paid for their effort". So, two things of note here: 1) He wants to avoid malware and untested apps bricking people's phones, and 2) Google would like a little side action on your transaction. Given the open nature of Android, we fully expect many people to find all sorts of random apps online in the dark alleys of the Intertrons, but a sanctioned store like this seems like a no-brainer for those on the straight-and-narrow.

The AP no likey the Sony Rolly

We've always been skeptical of Rolly's purpose, but Associated Press business writer Rachel Metz isn't pulling any punches when it comes to reviewing Sony's MP3-playing dance-bot. She calls it a mere conversation-starter "if your dancing hamster has run off", notes that the $400 toy lacks a headphone jack, and scoffs at the 2GB of storage. She also offers that while she gets the notion of the Rolly as a programmable bot with its "Rolly Choreograhy" software, she had a hard time justifying the time it took to just get through one song (30 minutes of tweaking for 20 seconds of bot action). We're not about to defend the Rolly's place in life, but let's be fair: Rolly isn't meant to solve problems: it's meant to confuse AP writers, scare cats, and get hacked to all oblivion.

Technorati Tags: The AP no likey the Sony Rolly

TurboGrafx-16 emulation hits the iPhone

Finally, the ultimate dream of all iPhone owners has come to pass:
TurboGrafx-16 emulation. Thanks once again to the massive talents at
ZodTTD, Apple's phone has gotten another piece of the emulator puzzle
in the form of Temper4iphone, a fully functioning recreation of
everyone's favorite under-performing game console. The app can play
both TurboGrafx and PC-Engine games, as well as CD-based ROMs. Right
now the software is only available to beta testers (and
donation-makers), though it's expected to hit wide release soon. Check
the video after the break and see for yourself.

RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120 (AT&T) - Product Summary

The good: The RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120 for AT&T brings Wi-Fi to the slim smartphone, along with an improved Web browser and a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities. The handset also has integrated Bluetooth, strong e-mail capabilities, and solid multimedia features.

The bad: The BlackBerry Pearl 8120 lacks 3G support and GPS. The SureType keyboard still requires a learning curve, and there was a slight background hiss during phone calls.

The bottom line: The addition of Wi-Fi and other enhancements make the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8120 a nice upgrade, but we couldn't help wanting a little more from the smartphone.

Specs: OS provided: BlackBerry Handheld Software; Band / mode: GSM 850/900/1800/1900; Wireless connectivity: IEEE 802.11b, Bluetooth 2.0, IEEE 802.11g