Today’s smartphones are certainly fun. All the fast processing, the apps and games, the high speed data, and the ability to take good snaps wherever we go; all that power in the palm of your hand. And then, the battery dies. But there’s good news for folks in New York City, they will be able to use solar-powered Street Charge stations starting this month, all thanks to AT&T and Goal Zero.

Designed by Pensa, each station has six USB connectors for iPhones and iPads, 30-pin and Lightning plugs, micro-USB for Android and Windows devices, and three female USB connectors. It has three 15-watt solar panels and a 168 watt-hour battery, and each of those cables can provide up to two amps of 5V power.

Street Charge will be launched at Fort Green Park on June 18^th, and in the coming weeks will be available at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Coney Island, Riverside Park, Rockaways, Summerstage in Central Park, Randall’s Island, Governor’s Island, Union Square, and Hudson River Park.

So who’s up for some street charging? Check out the video and share your thoughts below.

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The Ouya has got many fans alright but there is one more Kickstarter-backed Android-running game console out there that is turning heads. The GameStick from PlayJam is different in form factor and specs from the Ouya, and the guys over at Engadget got a chance to play with a prototype of the device at the Game Developers Conference.

The GameStick comes equipped with a dual-core Amlogic processor, which is obviously weaker than the Ouya’s Tegra 3. It is roughly the size of a USB drive and fits right into a wireless controller, though the dev units do not house the GameStick inside. You can connect it to your TV’S HDMI port or if you do not like that idea there will be a dock that’ll be available with the GameStick’s retail version.

According to Engadget, the controller feels comfortable in the hands. It’s coming with appropriately springy buttons and the analog sticks feel responsive, but shoulder buttons and the d-pad did not feel right. PlayJam apparently has promised to improve the d-pad, but nothing on the shoulder buttons.

Its UI has a left rail holding games, media, a profile page, and settings. You will find a popular games section and an all games section in the games section, a Netflix app and XMBC in the media section, and the profile page shows stuff such as your profile (as you might have guessed), in-game achievements and more.

Improvements will certainly happen to the console before the retail version arrives sometime in the future, but the important thing will be content. Currently the games available are not that thrilling, but that will change, hopefully.

What do you think of the GameStick, interested or will the Ouya stomp all over this one?

[Image Source]

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The Sony Xperia S from the company’s Xperia NXT series turned out to be a big attraction at CES 2012, but their newest additions, the Xperia P (pictured above) and Xperia U, into the same family appear to be lacking in lustre. But that did not stop us from taking a closer look at the pretty looking Android handsets.

Confirming previous rumors, both the handsets run 1-GHz, dual-core processors. The Xperia P features an 8-megapixel camera with HD recording capabilities and its 4-inch qHD screen comes with the company’s new “White Magic” screen tech. The technology will automatically adjust brightness to allow for use in direct sunlight. We will be putting that tech to the test in the very near future.

The handset also features HDMI and DLNA connectivity, 16GB of storage, and will be available in silver, black, and red.

The Xperia U that you see above has a smaller 3.5-inch “reality” display, but it lacks the new White Magic feature. It features a 5-megapixel HD camera.

Both the handsets can capture 2D and 3D panoramic images and features NFC. They will be running Android 2.3 Gingerbread when launched sometime in the first half of 2012, but Sony has promised that the upgrade to ICS will arrive by the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the company announced that the Xperia S will go on sale this week in Barcelona. Anyone who wants to play with the device’s impressive 12-megapixel camera should just go for it. Check out the hands on videos (from T3.com) of the Xperia P and Xperia U below.

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