SlashGear Week In Review: Week 5 2009
We opened the week withour first-impressionsof the T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900, a surprisingly adept smartphone that’s managed to impress despite the absence of 3G. We’ve alsobeen playing withVuzix’s iWear AV230XL OLED video headset, and the VIA Artigo A2000Barebone Storage Server. Finally, if you prefer your gadgets with a bit of (artificial) flesh on their bones, take a look at ourOrbita Mouse unboxing; we’ll have the full review this coming week.
Netbooks slammed back into the headlines this week, with Acer seizing most attention with the official announcement of their 10-inch Aspire One. We’ve seenthe live pictures, we’veread the specs– includingconfirmed SSD and Linux optionssometime after launch – and you may even haveplaced a pre-order; now we just want the real thing to play with. Meanwhile MSI’s Wind U120got its first review– mediocre at best – while the Samsung NC20impressedwith its HD-capable VIA Nano chipset. Lastly, NVIDIA’s outspoken CEO had someharsh words for Inteland some flattering ones for their rivals, while of course saving the most love for Ion and Tegra.
In other mobile devices, we’re expectingAmazon to announcethe Kindle 2 ebook reader at their February 9th press conference, whilealso predicted for Februaryis the Virgin Mobile Helio Ocean 2. Will it be better late than never for the much-delayed smartphone? Other QWERTY goodness is promised from T-Mobile, withleaked detailsof the Sidekick LX 2009, and Verizon, whose LG VX9600 – complete with trick detachable keyboard module – isexpected on February 22nd.
Elsewhere, the financial bad news continued with surprise announcements from Canon and Sony, theformer revealingan 81-percent dive in profits while the latter reported an even worse95-percent crash. It looks like Canon can’t release thefreshly-teasedMark III N DSLR fast enough.
Finally, if you thought the Palm/Apple IP furore was over, think again – the US Patent Office havefinally awardedApple their multitouch patent, leaving analysts, users and pundits all scrabbling for information over what exactly the Cupertino company hold the keys to. Apple, for their part, seem to be too busy preparingthe successor to the iPhone 3Gto bother filling us in.
This coming week we’ll have the full review of the BlackBerry Curve 8900, together with the Orbita Mouse. We’ll also be looking at the run-up to Mobile World Congress, and wondering out loud exactly what Barcelona has in store. Thanks for reading SlashGear!
