This past Tuesday I was invited to Best Buy's Holiday Media Preview event by a very good
blog friend. It was the first technology event that I attended on my own and it was definitely more then I expected. Product displays lined the perimeter of the room and Best Buy employees were readily available to demo each for you. It was such a weird yet amazing feeling having people wait on you.
all of the products that I saw were innovative in their own respect but there were two that truly stole the show.
Google and HTC's newest creation packs a punch. It will be T-mobile's first HSPA+ phone, which in layman terms means it will have 4G data speeds; but unlike Sprint you won't need to pay for this extra feature. It comes standard in the data package you already pay for.
The phone features a crystal clear 3.7 inch capacitive touchscreen, 4 soft keys beneath it, an optical trackpad, Android 2.2 out of the box, an 800 MHz processor, a slide out 4 row QWERTY keyboard and a 5 MP camera with LED flash.
The screen was amazingly vibrant and was extremely responsive. Although the phone only has an 800 MHz processor Android 2.2 ran smoothly. Apps were snappy and page turning was a breeze.
The G2 boasts a lush 4 row QWERTY keyboard. It usually takes a bit of time to get used to a new keyboard but I was instantly typing out full length sentences with few errors.
The slide out mechanism was also a welcome surprise. The top of the phone actually lifts off of the base as it slides back.
The 5 MP camera looks nice on the back of the phone but the photos are nothing to brag about. If you are looking for a phone that can also be used as your go-to digital camera then this isn't the phone for you.
The G2 has an expected release date of October 16 and will retail at $200 with a 2 year contract.
I brought a Wii about two months after it's initial release and I loved it from day one. Although the graphics weren't great, the fact that it was an interactive game made it amazing. As soon as I heard of the X-Box Kinect I knew it would instantly fail. It was just going to be a mindless copy of the uber successful Wii.
While at the event I was asked to demo the product and boy was I wrong! The Kinect combines the amazing graphics of the X-Box and today's innovative motion sensing technology. Even without a remote the motion sensor was more sensitive than the Wii. While playing Kinect Adventures even the slightest lean (or misstep! ha) was recognized. I was actually able to pay closer attention and excel in the game because I didn't have to make sure that I was pressing the right button, or play in fear because I might lose grip of the remote and break something.
I found it amazing that on top of all of those great features the Kinect can track 3 people at a time and can be placed above or below your TV without being affected (the motor within the device will orient the camera and motion sensor to best capture your movements). In conjunction with X-box Live it can also be used as a webcam.
Upon release, on November 4th, the Kinect will retail at $150 (just $50 short of a full fledged game system) but for the amount of features that it has, the price is reasonable.
Are you thinking of adding any of these products to your holiday wishlist?
Let me know in a comment!
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