Oh Gadget

Snapshots: The new KRZR K1

This is like the coolest, most elegant, most exclusive phone ever to be born. Vertu? Give me a break. This is the real thing. It's like a RAZR V3, only... Well, you know, not every 8 year old kid has got one. ...well, yet.

That's the main problem about the RAZR's huge success: everybody has it. But not the "cool-go-with-the-flow-iPod" has it, but an "oh, you have a RAZR..." has it.  In other words, if you're a real gadget freak, you can't really walk around with a RAZR V3.

So, Motorola might be basing their entire product line on the famous V3, but this one has something special in it. You have to really hold it in your hand to understand what it is.  It's a unique, high-class, high-end experience that, just like a really good car, if you can afford one - you just have to buy one.

While Samsung keeps trying to break new cellular-anorexia records, Motorola understands that a cellphone doesn't have to be the thinnest in order to be the coolest. Don't get me wrong.  Keeping new cellphones in a thin shape is great, but the overall design and feeling - that's what ultimately gives the device its character. 

Although you have to wipe fingerprints off the K1 about every 2 minutes because of it's finish, the K1's surface gives a unique feeling - something like riding in a Porche. Like being rich and famous. No doubt about it - it's one of those devices that is more than just a cellphone - it's a complete status symbol.

In conclusion, the K1 is nearly perfect: it might have a small screen (at 1.9"), but it has A2Dp support, a great GUI, and cool features to cover for it.

If you can afford it - buy it.

Finally in person: The all-new N83 and N75

Well, its been a year since Nokia first introduced us to their new Multimedia Phone concept called "The N Series".  It turned out to be a huge success - we know because new Nokia N-Series phones just keep on coming.

The latest possible additions are the N75 and N83 - maybe-maybe-not devices pictured on the web.

Tomorrow, Nokia will host an event called an "Open Studio" where they will show something new, probably these new devices. As for specifications, the N83 (besides looking really ugly) is a two-way slider with a 5 megapixel camera, 2.4" screen, FM radio tuner, 3.5mm headphones jack and possibly a hard drive and mini-usb port.  This might be the best cellular phone ever.  (In the real world, that is.  Japan is not included in that category, with its space-launching-coffee-making-ultra-sonic-high-definition-14th generation-cellphones.)

   

   

   

The other one is the N75 and...  Well, that's it for now.  It might be a slim smartphone with a 2.0 megapixel camera, and might not be - tomorrow, we'll find out.

The only thing left to say is kudos for Nokia for keeping the leakers on stand-by mode up until now: Motorola's devices are usually rumored months in advance.

Wooden Mirror

This "mirror" is composed of hundreds of wooden blocks. A video camera hidden in the mirror takes the image it sees and determines how dark each "pixel" (in this case a wooden block) should be. Tiny motors behind each block rotate it to a certain darkness.