Hands-off with the Philips Aurea

Yeah, this thing is pretty hot. Sure, it helps that Philips commissioned its very own art film to showcase the new Aurea Ambilight TV, but we're pretty sure this unit would be just as at home showing of Saturday morning cartoons or lighting up the home shopping channel. You know you want one.

A New Day For N-Gage

By now everyone should have heard the news about the next generation of N-Gage. But for those of you who don’t want to click around the whole site and read all the press releases and FAQs, here’s a quick recap.

New Devices
The N-Gage is not just one device anymore. We revealed seven devices that are N-Gage compatible, but that’s only the start. Currently these are all Nseries devices, but we will continue to announce N-Gage compatibility with a wide range of S60 Nokia devices going forward.

Current roster:
Nokia N81
Nokia N81 8GB
Nokia N73
Nokia N93
Nokia N93i
Nokia N95
Nokia N95 8GB

New Games

Woot! Too many to list here. Currently we’ve got seventeen games in the Showroom, with a game page for each game, and I am sure we will be announcing many more in the weeks and months to come. There will be new screen shots for Creatures of the Deep and Brothers in Arms up tomorrow, so check the site out then. We’ll also be adding new videos next week, I’ll be sure to let you know on the blog when they go up.

November launch

We also announced our official launch date: November. At that time, the free N-Gage application will be available for download. You will be able to download it from this website, or directly to your N-Gage compatible mobile device. You will also be able to buy games and download free trials on the launch date too. Once you have the application installed, you’ll be ready to go.

So now that you’ve seen and heard everything, let the countdown to November begin! Feel free to post your comments and tell us what you think!

slider is an 8GB N-Gager

Remember the sidetalkin' N-Gage? Yeah... well, this isn't it. This is Nokia's new N-81 gaming device built upon their revamped N-Gage gaming platform. The S60 device packs HSDPA (sorry, no US band support) for on-line gaming, integrated speakers (and 3.5-mm headphone jack), and D-pad navigation for getting your game on. Still, it's not just for gaming as it fully supports all the audio and video you'd expect in a new "pane-driven," UI which carousels your windows instead of lining them up in tabs -- a UI which will evolve in the coming months in line with Ovi. On sale Q4 in Europe in an 8GB flash model (€431/$585) or €360/$490 pre-bunged with a 2GB microSD card.

Panasonic's D-snap now even more cluttered with Bluetooth

If you look closely at the Panasonic SV-SD950N's jumble of controls (go ahead, look, we know it hurts) you'll notice a few new icons: a telephone and Bluetooth. No, they haven't turned their latest D-snap Audio player into a Bluetooth enabled phone. However, they have enabled the A2DP, AVRCP, and HFP Bluetooth profiles allowing their DAP to pair and control your Bluetooth-equipped stereo headset, phone, and handsfree rig in your car or office. Otherwise, we're looking at the same ol' D-snap only with far less juice with Bluetooth enabled. After all, it's Bluetooth 2.0, not 2.1. Hitting Japan on September 21 for ¥25,000 (about $219) with 1GB SD card.

Sony's NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610

So long ATRAC, hello NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610 Sony Walkmans. The A810 we've seen before, twice in fact, but this is the first time the S610 (pictured) has wiggled free from the rumor mill all dolled-up in full specs and pricing. The S610 series packs the same QVGA resolution in a slightly smaller 1.8-inch display and still one-ups the A810 with an FM tuner bunged inside. Both support USB Mass Storage file transfer, AVC (H.264/AVC) and MPEG-4 encoded video, and AAC, MP3 and DRM'd WMA audio formats without bothering us with any of that icky ATRAC stuff or their much maligned SonicStage software. Sony's also making nice by bringing their B100 series of Walkman DAPs to town in 1GB ($60) and 2GB ($80) models. The S610 series starts at $120 for 2GB on up to $210 for the 8GB compared to a $140 to $230 range for the same capacity A810 models. All available in September, pre-sales now.

Nokia enters the GPS arena

Nokia introduces today a stand alone GPS unit, though to be fair they call it a complete in-car solution. Their solution consists of a GPS unit that can act as a media player/cell phone go-between -showing who is calling on the 4.3 inch screen and an easier way to make in-car calls- via bluetooth.

Rumor: Leaked pics of the Sony Ericsson P3i

Sony Ericsson where other brands like Nokia, Palm, and Blackberry have been dominate for years; the smartphone.

Sony Ericsson’s P1i smartphone is still new but there are already news going about of a leak on images that shows a larger and more powerful version that is still under development. It is rumored that the new model will be named Sony Ericsson P3i. The key addition to this new model is a touchscreen. Other features are still uncertain. Communities at large believe that it could come with WiFi connectivity, 3G network and possibly a 3 megapixel camera. Nothing much can be said about this new model until it is officially launched but it definitely will be a strong competitor in smartphone market segment.