This week everyone's eyes
turned to tech as Facebook purchased the photo sharing app Instagram for $1
billion and the Department of Justice sued Apple and other major publishers for
allegedly fixing the prices of e-books. However, a bit more quietly, some
interesting gadgets were arriving.
From a touchscreen watch
that can help you find your phone even if it's on silent or buried in the
couch, to the newest Nook that lets you read e-books in the dark, some truly
practical new gadgets were announced. Click through to check out more of our
top gadget picks this week.
Sony
SmartWatch
Sony's new SmartWatch is
just like its names says it is -- smart. The touchscreen, Bluetooth-enabled
watch does nearly anything your smartphone can, and even some more. The
SmartWatch syncs with any Android phone using a free app that can be downloaded
from the Google Play store, and then the watch can be configured to get your
emails, texts, Tweets, and even Facebook updates. Even better, if you can't
seem to remember where you set your phone down, your SmartWatch can lead you
right to it. Hopefully someday it will help us find the remote and the car
keys, too. It is on sale now for $149.99.
Samsung Galaxy Player 3.6 and 4.2
Samsung's trying to go
head-to-head with the iPod Touch again, this time with some newer, cheaper
Galaxy Players. With 8GB of memory, a 2-megapixel camera, and a single-core
1GHz processor, these Players are nothing revolutionary, but they might be just
what people who prefer Android devices over Apple products are looking for. The
Galaxy Player 3.6 and 4.2 will run for $149.99 and $199.99, respectively, which
is quite cheap considering there's no monthly data plan like there is with some
phones. It will be valuable for pre-order starting May 4.
Sprint LG
Viper 4G LTE
This week Sprint's newest
LTE phone, the LG Viper 4G LTE, became available for pre-order for just $99
with a two-year contract and a $50 rebate. Even though the price is decent,
you've got to be willing to make some sacrifices -- it's running an older
version of Android (Gingerbread), only has 4G of memory, a 5-megapixel camera,
and a battery that only has 5.3 hours of talk-time. On the upside the Viper has
NFC (Near Field Communications) technology so you can pay with your phone, but
only at supported retailers. It's standout feature? It supports Sprint's LTE
network, though it's not up and running yet. Still, you might just want to wait
for the HTC EVO 4G LTE.
Toshiba Excite
13
Bigger is always better, at
least that seems to be what Toshiba is banking on with its newest line of Android
tablets, the Toshiba Excite. The Excite 13 is Toshiba's biggest tablet yet, and
it rocks a massive 13.3-inch display, a quad-core Tegra 3 processor from
Nvidia, 1GB of RAM, and a 1600 x 900 resolution. The Excite 13 might be great
for home and entertainment use, but it is far from practical for work since
it's nearly the size of a small laptop. The price tag fits the entertainment
niche too, at a whopping $649.99 for the 32GB version and $749.99 for 64GB.
Both are available on June 10.
Nook Simple
Touch With GlowLight
In 2004, EInk screens were
first introduced to address the biggest complaint with early e-readers, eye
strain from looking at a back-lit screen. The technology makes the screen look
like a page right out of a book, but the development brought with it the
age-old problem of not being able to read in the dark. Barnes and Noble's new
Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight comes with an adjustable, glare-free light
that makes the e-reader useable both indoors and outdoors. The newest Nook is
currently available for pre-order for $139, and will ship in May.
