We are well aware that high end smartphones are now capable of producing very good snapshots and decent videos.  This time, Polaroid’s SC1630 camera is blurring the line.  It runs Google Android phone OS . Hence, it’s a camera that can make phone calls. In this respect, Polaroid prefers to call this device a “phone camera” (stress on “camera”), and not your regular “camera phone”.

Let’s see what is known about the “camera” part first. It’s a 16 Mpix shooter for stills that is also capable of shooting HD videos. The lens has an optical 3x zoom (6.5–18.5 mm which translates into 36–108 mm when compared to full-frame format). It also has 5x digital zoom, but as usual, we don’t go there.

The camera face of the device looks like your ordinary digital shooter, with a regular flash strip. Zoom level can be chosen by convenient “hardware” slider, and the shutter also has a dedicated “hardware” button. Camera view can be adjusted with the help of 3.2 inch multi-touch widescreen display. There are 18 shooting modes to choose from, plus face and smile detection for portrait mode. Transferring photos to Polaroid printers can be made via WiFi, or Bluetooth, or saved on camera with up to 32 GB microSD card.  All in all, it’s your regular 16 Mpix shooter.

The Android face of the Polaroid SC1630 leaves many things to be desired though. First of all, there’s this delay of no less than 5 sec between stand-by and readiness to shoot that precludes many on-the-go and paparazzi-style shots. Demoed on-board is a customized Android version (must be built around Android 2.3 Gingerbread, or even Froyo.) Polaroid hopes to put Ice Cream Sandwich on the camera at the point when the SC1630 will be released at $299.

The “phone” part of the camera has also a 3G radio but apparently no carrier commitment just yet. At CES 2012, this “phone camera” has got a lukewarm reception at best, but who knows, maybe you will like the idea much better? Here’s a clip from our friends at Phandroid that may help you decide:

The post Polaroid Reveals First 16MP Android Smartphone Camera appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Samsung Series 9 notebooks are well known products, you can fetch one right now at Amazon, for example. This past week at CES 2012, we saw the second generation of this notebook, a totally revamped Series 9 Macbook killer.

This time, Series 9 notebook from Samsung has an amazing Duralumin (aircraft grade aluminum) unibody with a total thickness of just half an inch. That might just fit inside a brown paper envelope.  Samsung is setting the bar for the new ultrabook class, although Samsung doesn’t like the “ultrabook” moniker, we’ll just let it be the Samsung Series 9 notebook to make them happy.

It’s powered by a hefty Intel Core i5 processor and comes with USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and an SD Card slot. As shown, it has a 13.3 inch matte screen sporting a 1600×900 resolution and weight of just 2.5 pounds. Original Series 9 notebooks had 2.8 pounds, even if it was outfitted with plastics here and there instead of the aluminum unibody shell like here.

What was not shown off was their 15-inch version of the same notebook.  Described as the fitting the same form factor, this model sports the same 1600×900 resolution. But with a bigger screen brings more weight, it’s still just 3.3 pounds, and the thickness is still that awesome half of an inch.

This new generation of Samsung’s Series 9 notebooks may try to suck air out of Apple’s MacBook Air. But they will need to improve on a few things before that ever happens, for one: battery life of these Samsung models is still a mere 3 hours compared to the Air’s 6 hours. Pricing of $1399 for 13.3 inch model and $1499 for 15 inch model could be just a $100 or so less than equally equipped MacBook Air, which could prove insufficient incentive to buy Samsung Series 9 notebook instead of the Mac OS X totting Air.  Expect it next month through Samsung’s typical channels.

Update: To straighten out any confusion, Samsung is taking an Apple-esque approach to their names.  We’re used to PC manufactures incrementing and updating their model numbers every time a new version is released.  Not with Samsung and the Series 9, the model discussed in this post is the 2012 version.  Jump here to press release for unconvinced eyes.

The post Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook Closest To MacBook Air Killer appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Phandroid is visibly pressed with no basic specs sheet given to them in the making of the video. Engadget is reporting a little more data for this mysterious prototype as the following:

• Model T98 with 16 GB internal storage and microSD card slot;
• 7″ IPS-type 1280×800 screen;
• Tegra 3 quad-core SoC clocked at 1.3 GHz;
• Front/rear 1.3/5 Mpix cameras, no LED flash on rear camera (but it’s a prototype that some Ainol/Aigo may furnish with one);
• possibly a 4100 mAh battery;
• SIM slot

From my view of it, I doubt it runs “stock 4.0″ Android, it’s more like AOSP 4.0.1, and not full Android 4.0.3 “Final” version, so there should be no certified Android Market and Google Apps just yet.  Anyway, it’s a prototype, so who cares. It didn’t show awfully fluid swipes, or transitions, in fact, none of these videos show these at all.

The post ZTE 7-inch Quad-core Tablet Runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Withings is best known for their “adult” WiFi-connected scale which enables you to track your weight and fitness level through an easy-to-use app that works with the PC or their favorite iOS mobile device. Now they introduce a scale that is designed for infants and toddlers.

That is, the Baby Scale has an upper limit of 55 lbs, accurate to 0.02 lbs, works on 3 AAA batteries and collects its precious weight measurements into a Whitings weight-watching app.

Cédric Hutchings, Withings co-founder had this to say about the new product:

“We are very excited to announce our Smart Baby Scale and offer parents an amazing new way to take care of their newborn or young child. The success of our WiFi Body Scale has proven the benefits of connected weight tracking on adults and we were eager to also bring these benefits to babies and children.”

Withing’s Baby Scale is priced as a $179 WiFi-connected device, which is actually $20 more than its “adult” version.

[ source ]

The post Withings Announces New Smart-Scale For Babies appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Motorola Mobility has announced two new smartphones to launch this spring, the Motoluxe and Defy Mini. Both devices will be available in China, Europe and Latin America, with no word on U.S. launch. The larger Motoluxe will feature a 4-inch display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1,400 mAh battery and a VGA front-facing camera. Branded by Motorola as being “life proof” DEFY MINI is water resistant, and dust and shock proof. This smaller, rugged device features a 3.2-inch display with a 3-megapixel rear camera, a 1,650 mAh battery and a VGA front-facing camera. Both devices will be on display at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) and will be running Android 2.3 with a variation of Motorola’s custom MotoBlur skin that apparently has got a new monicker: “MotoSwitch”.  MotoSwitch is focused on a user’s social graph. The more frequently a user communicates with someone, the bigger their icon becomes on the homescreen widget.

‘No matter what device you choose, Motorola’s MotoSwitch user interface changes the way you manage your life. With MotoSwitch, your smartphone learns who you talk to and which apps you use and keeps all of that information front and center. The Social Graph feature gives you easy and fast access to the people who really matter. It learns who’s most important to you and uses that information to populate the home screen. The more frequently you communicate with someone, the bigger their icon becomes. The Activity Graph gives you quick and easy access to your favorite apps, automatically changing to reflect the apps you use the most.

Motoluxe also offers another interesting feature: a lanyard slot that has a lighting effect, such as you can see when you’ve missed a call, received a text or have an email waiting for you.

No pricing for these phones was disclosed just yet.

[Source]

The post Motoluxe and Defy Mini: Two New Budget Motorola Androids appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

According to NotebookItalia, who got this leaked rendering, ASUS will officially announce a 7-inch version of its successful Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The rendering makes it look like it’s running Android Honeycomb, and at launch time it’s quite possible, as no recent ASUS Android devices were launched with Ice Cream Sandwich just yet. Apparently it will sport the same mighty Tegra 3 processor as its bigger brother. However, here’s where this rumor gets quite unclear: a 7-inch tablet from ASUS was demoed at CES 2011 where it was called ‘ASUS Eee Memo Pad’ and was said to be based on a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.2 GHz processor.  Some models of that Memo (or was it ‘MeMO’?) might even be set with glasses-free 3D screens, but it didn’t happen just yet.

Whatever the discrepancies between the two proposed pocketable  ASUS tablet prototypes, the same press photo leak source has its price point pinned at $299. Will it be based on Tegra 3, or Snapdragon S3, or even S4, will be established at CES 2012.

The post The Rumored ASUS Transformer Prime Mini/Memo 7-Inch Android Tablet appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Engadget has got this story first, basing it on a Russian source NoMobile.ru. They obviously used some online translation service, like Google Translate. Or something else. Which actually looks quite good when discussing specs for a device in question: “1920×1200, 10,1 дюйма” was translated perfectly into 1920×1200, 10.1″ screen for this Acer A700 intercepted in Russia when on its way to CES. All other claimed by NoMobile.ru specs do look good, too:

The post Acer A700 Tegra 3 Android Tablet spotted in Russia appeared first on Mobile Magazine.