Well, while there was just one new phone from LG at this year’s CES, their TV division has been working overtime – they showed their 84″ 3D Ultra Definition TV, an 55″ OLED TV, 3D TVs with and without glasses, 2D-to-3D conversion, some services and a new chipset to power their Google TVs.

The most attention-grabbing thing LG showed, however, was the Magic Remote – a Wiimote-like device that lets you control your TV and play Fruit Ninja too. Okay, that’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s start. Read more »

Canon has brought out the big (but compact) guns in the Canon PowerShot G1 X. While it may look like a point-and-shoot camera it nonetheless packs a real punch under the hood. Its huge sensor measures 18.7x14mm, which is larger then the Micro Four-Thirds sensor and nearly as big as the APS-C sensors found in some DSLRs (22.3 x 14.9 mm for Canon).

What sets the G1 X apart from those types of cameras is that it doesn’t have an interchangeable lens – you get the 4x built in lens, covering the 28mm-112mm range in 35mm equivalent with a maximum aperture of F/2.8-F/5.6 and that’s that. Read more »

I guess I’m not the only one who has a relatively new HDTV that doesn’t have fancy “Smart TV” or “Connected TV” functionality and thinks the price of the upgrade isn’t worth it. The Samsung inTouch is a curious Android-powered device that solves this problem by adding such functionality (Skype, YouTube, etc.) to any TV with an HDMI port.

It looks like a web cam and indeed features a 3MP camera that can be used for snapping photos or placing 720p video calls on Skype (the inTouch has its own microphone for that). Read more »

Two years after the original, the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 ascends the CES stage. The new version is easier to fly yet more capable than its predecessor. It packs an upgraded camera that shoots HD videos and photos in-flight, as well as a tougher exterior and new sensors.

The apps which control the drone are getting an update to support the new functionality – the update should hit the iOS and Android versions at the same time. The new app makes sharing the videos you shoot easier – one tap lets you share and upload to YouTube. Read more »

Gigabyte is showing off two new devices at CES – the T1006M, a Windows 7 convertible netbook-tablet, and the S1081, a pure Windows 7 tablet. Both have 10.1″ capacitive multi-touch touchscreens outside and Intel’s latest Cedar Trail Atom dual-core processors inside.

Where they differ is the keyboard. The T1006M has one, but unlike traditional netbooks, you can quickly transform it into a tablet by turning the screen around. Impressively, its 10.1″ screen has a 1366×768 pixel resolution, typically found in larger displays. Read more »

Android has really gotten into the holiday spirit – first Google sold some apps for $0.10 for 10 days straight, then GetJar offers 100 apps for free and now Gameloft announced it’s planning to offer all games in its catalog for $0.99 each.

The promotion will include all games (last time it was just 4) and will last from 10PM Pacific time on December 29 to 10AM on January 5. Read more »

Google may have finally found a solution to the social networking problem that has eluded them for years – Google Plus is populated by 62 million users and will hit 400 million by the end of 2012, according to self-proclaimed “unofficial statistician” Paul Allen (no, not that Paul Allen).

The last official figure we got was 40 million users, but that was way back in October. Allen’s estimates put the growth rate of Google Plus at 625,000 new users per day. At this rate, Google Plus will hit the 100 million users mark before the end of February and 200 million in August. Read more »

HTC’s first Android tablet – the Flyer – started off with a hefty price tag in the UK (£600!), but it has dropped significantly since then. The latest price cut brings it to a manageable £200.

The specs of the 7″ aluminum-clad tablet won’t impress anyone, but with Android 3.2 already rolling out, it’s not a bad piece of kit. Read more »

Dropbox released version 2.0 of their Android app and it promises to make the mobile experience much, much better. Storing files offline, bulk uploads and Ice Cream Sandwich support are just a few of the changes that the new version brings.

Dropbox 2.0 uses a tabbed interface and one of the tabs is Favorites – files marked as such will be stored on the phone for offline use (Dropbox for Android typically doesn’t store files in the phone’s memory). Read more »

The top of the Asha line, the Nokia Asha 303, walked into our office to tell us about its 1GHz processor. We asked it about multitasking, but it quickly changed the subject by yelling “I have Angry Birds!”.

The 303 has several things that elevate it above the majority of other feature phones – from the fast processor, through a capacitive touchscreen and QWERTY to Wi-Fi connectivity and 3G with HSDPA. Read more »

The location-based social networking app, Nokia Pulse, is inviting the Nokia N9 to the party. The app debuted with Windows Phone and Symbian versions along with an in-browser version, but now you can try out the beta version of the native app for Nokia’s sole MeeGo-powered phone.

Nokia Pulse lets you check into places (and maybe post a photo for them to) and discuss those places with your friends. It’s hardly the first app to do that, but Pulse integrates with Nokia Maps. Read more »

Firefox was in a precarious position for a while because the search deal with Google was running out – and that was the main source of cash for the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. Firefox fans can breathe a sigh of relief as there’s a new deal that ensures Google sponsorship for another three years.

After reports that Chrome has surpassed Firefox for the second spot in the most popular browser leaderboard, it looked uncertain if Google still had interest in Firefox. It turns out it does and Google will remain the default search provider for Firefox for the foreseeable future. Read more »

The Amazon Kindle Fire gets listed in the same column as the rest of the Android tablets, but it’s worth remembering that it’s a highly customized version of Android and works differently than the rest. Take the silent auto-updates for example – the Fire will install the latest available firmware version 6.2.1 without asking, which will break root and make the tablet immune to SuperOneClick rooting.

The update does bring several goodies, the most valuable of which is probably the ability to remove items from the homescreen carousel. Read more »

So, you’ve got yourself a cool new droid with a beefy GPU but then you find out that GTA 3 was optimized for common Androids and their paltry graphics. Luckily, it turns out that the game supports much better graphics, you just need to enable them through slightly unconventional means.

It’s as simple as replacing the right file with a customized one and you can get much improved visuals from the game if your phone’s GPU is up to it. There are a couple of more before/after pics after the jump. Read more »

The Kindle lineup has made Amazon proud – over a million Kindle devices are flying off their virtual shelves every week, three weeks in a row now. That includes the eInk readers, of course, but the droid tablet, the Kindle Fire, is doing very well too.

Amazon didn’t give any specific numbers, but said that the Kindle Fire was the bestselling product on all of Amazon for the 11 weeks during which it has been on sale. It’s also the most gifted and most wished for product on Amazon’s lists. Read more »