Category Archives: Video
Hands on with a Samsung Galaxy Beam at MWC 2012
I’m in Barcelona this week at Mobile World Congress 2012 working with Samsung.
Described as the Cannes Film Festival of the mobile phone world, it’s packed with brand new handsets and tablets.
Some of the smartphones here even feature the odd surprise – such as this Samsung Galaxy Beam (the video of which we produced for Samsung).
Not only is it a fully featured Android smartphone but Samsung has managed to squeeze in a projector. Yes, that’s right, an actual projector that’s bright and full integrated with the phone, potentially very handy for fun or work. Take a look:
More videos from MWC 2012 coming soon.
Reimagining Interactive TV – with an LG Light Pen?
LG brings the light pen into the 21st century, but is it really a light-year leap from its first appearance in 1967?
Recently I wrote a piece for the Wired UK GeekDad column about interactive television and my daughter’s failed attempts at touchscreen tactility with Igglepiggle and Upsy Daisy from BBC’s In The Night Garden.
Click to read article at wired.co.uk
The post coincides with IFA 2011 in Berlin where LG announced the PenTouch TV (PZ850T) which, as the name might suggest, lets you draw on the screen using a special USB pen.
Of course, this is nothing new: owners of the BBC Micro will remember the ‘Light Pen‘ from nearly 30 years ago, and the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World first reported on the light pen in this fascinating report from 1967.
The software bundled with the LG set does look pretty handy though, and whilst the pen to screen response does look a little laggy and certainly not to industrial standards, LG has done a pretty good job of integrating it with PC, printer and so on.
Here’s a handy hands-on video from IFA 2011 of the LG PenTouch TV by T3.com‘s Rhi Morgan:
My hunch is that whilst this tech won’t be a huge consumer hit, it may get some good traction in educational environments.
What do you think will be the next breakthrough in interactive television? Further online connectivity? Touchscreens? Embedded apps? Let us know in the comments below.
Exclusive: Microsoft / Nokia ‘Mokia 7650′ Windows Phone 7. Well, perhaps not…
Exclusive top-secret footage of Nokia’s newest Windows Mobile 7 toting handset the ‘Mokia 7650′. Honest guv.
At this point I should add that this video is decidedly and deliberately a hoax to coincide with Nokia’s announcement earlier today that it will be collaborating with Microsoft to bring the Windows Phone 7 operating system to its handsets, elbowing aside both Symbian and MeeGo.
Nokia’s hardware platform has traditionally proven itself more reliable and sturdy than most (as the video above featuring the 9-year-old Nokia 7650 that we’ve featured before here at techspot.tv testifies) and the integration of Microsoft’s much-lauded new mobile operating system could prove a real winner for both parties.
Personally, I can’t wait to see what the partnership brings. Like many, I find that I have a fondness for Nokia that transcends its poor showings of the last half-a-dozen years, at least partially due to handsets like its 7650, 7110 and 7280 which were every bit as exciting and groundbreaking back in 2002 as the HTC and Apple handsets are today. The inclusion of Microsoft’s slick and visually appealing software platform onto Nokia’s hardy handsets may help the Finns to re-engage with some of their recently defected customers.
As for the ‘Exclusive Footage’ above, the Windows Phone 7 images were simply sent by MMS from an iPhone and then displayed in full screen mode on the 7650 to create a ‘Mokia’ mash-up video.
Video Review of the Parrot AR.Drone
In November 2010 the team at the NFTS asked if I would review Parrot’s ground-breaking new boys’ toy, the AR.Drone, for their live at 5 magazine show, The Loft. Never one to shirk a tech challenge, I accepted.
Armed with nothing more than my trusty iPad, here’s how I got on.
Plug-in and Power-up: 1985 Compaq Deskpro 8086
25 years after it first hit the shelves, and 10 years since it was last switched on, we plug-in and power-up this vintage Compaq Deskpro 8086 IBM Compatible PC complete with original green screen monitor, 20MB Winchester Hard Disk Drive, 300 baud modem and even a real-time clock card.
In the video we find some interesting educational software installed – green screen strip poker anyone…?
This system has since been donated to the kind chaps at the Centre for Computing History where it will enjoy many more years of tender loving care – you can see its entry in their database here, along with further photographs and detailed system specifications.
Nokia Nostalgia – Nokia 7650 Cameraphone (2002), a smartphone ahead of its time
*** UPDATE May 2011 ***
Click below for an exclusive Techspot.tv ‘Retro Review’ video of the Nokia 7650:
Still recovering from the torrent of mobile telephone tech unfurled at Nokia World earlier this week? Calm yourself, put down those paracetamols and take some deep breaths because here at the Techspot.tv Surgery we have concocted the perfect antidote…
Back in the heady days of 2002, Japan and Korea hosted an enthralling football World Cup, Tom Cruise’s hit Minority Report inspired a generation of user-interface design, and the all-conquering Nokians from Finland were at the top of the mobile pile with their four digit handhelds.
Nokia 7650 in action
Amongst Nokia’s headline acts was the 7650 which introduced a number of ground-breaking features to the consumer mobile market: it was the first Nokia camera phone (in fact Nokia was one of the first consumer mobile makers to combine phone and camera), one of Nokia’s first colour screens, their first Symbian OS phone and the first in a long tradition Series 60 devices still going strong today.
We’re suckers for a spot of tech nostalgia here at techspot.tv, and with Nokia attempting to rock the world with their tempting new releases, we had all the excuses we needed to dust off, charge-up and power-on the vintage Nokia 7650 to see how it compares with the current crop of smart phones. A day’s use down the line, and this is how it fared:
Features – undoubtedly, this handset was way ahead of its time. Aside from featuring a camera (heralding a new age of MMS bullying and citizen papping) which could record and send both still snaps as well as movies (which Apple’s God-phone didn’t get around to until 2009), it also featured downloadable applications and a multitasking OS. Above all, the Symbian S60 operating system made – and still makes – it a pleasure to use.
Battery Life – surprisingly good: still sporting its original battery, after an overnight charge it lasts all day having made a few calls, taken a few snaps and played a few games of the timeless classic Snake.
Pocketability – it is a tad bulky, but no more than many of Nok’s newer smarties; the compact slide-out keyboard stows away tidily and, despite the lack of touchscreen, many functions are fully accessible when the keys are hidden.
Killer Apps – “What do you mean, your phone has a camera? It’ll never catch on.”; Snake.
Eight years on and the Nok's still got a solid slide
Multimedia – A let-down by today’s standards, its Achilles heel being its proprietary headphone socket and a meagre 4MB of RAM. But perhaps this isn’t surprising: Creative’s DAP MP3 player was still niche in 2002 and Apple’s iPod was still Mac/FireWire only, so solid state music hadn’t captured the public imagination quite yet.
Connectivity – Bluetooth, Infrared and GPRS GSM; unfortunately 3G wasn’t yet a feature on phones of 2002 (and still isn’t on some Blackberrys of today) and Wi-Fi was just beginning to gain acceptance. It is email capable but web-browsing was courtesy of a the hapless WAP. Nevertheless, it featured both Bluetooth and data-cable tethering to a PC via the Nokia Data Suite, along with phone backup, syncing etc.
Screen – retina display it ain’t, but a bold bright and colourful display it is, blowing away the mostly monochrome mobile market of the time.
Cool Factor – the phone benefitted from being promoted in one of the top-grossing sci-tech films of the year, Minority Report, and its quirky retro-future looks still imbue it with gallons of geek chic.
We’ve loved having this phone out and about for the day. No, perhaps it’s not the all-singing, all-dancing and all-enveloping mobile experience to which we’ve slowly grown accustomed but, perhaps surprisingly given its age, in many areas it can still stand proudly on its own as a remarkably capable smart-phone. We look forward to seeing if the newest bevy of smart phones announced by the Finnish wizards earlier this week will still fare as well in another 8 years’ time.
Do you have an old mobile sadly gathering dust in the cupboard that could give some of today’s super-phones a run for their money? Leave a comment below and let us know…
