Gadgetory

this week on the scene that tech review Google TV is ready for primetime a whole slew of new phones from ctia the best and worse from the paris motor show and samsung makes a case for adopting 3d TV it's all coming up right now hi everyone I'm Brian song and welcome to the cnet tech review where we collect our hottest videos of the week and tell you what's good and what's bad in the world of tech and offer some unique tech wisdom in the form of the bottom line let's start off with the good back in May google announced something called google TV promising and combine everything we love about TV and the internet this week the google TV had its premiere via a new set-top box called the logitech revue and we were on hand for its debut so the logitech revue with google TV brings together the very best content from the web from broadcasts from your apps from your personal media it brings all of this content together and presents it in one unified interface on the very best screen in your house now i can bring down that search on top of anything apps TV home screen it doesn't matter it's universally available and i can just search for whatever it is that i want to want to watch so for example i happen to like to show top gear i'm going to search for that now now notice as i type that in how we see a range of different results right these are just the instant results that happen immediately for us notice that the first one is from DVR recordings so that's what I have on my dish box the second one is from youtube right so that's online that's web content then I can do a deep search of all I can exhaustive search of all the content that's available everywhere online I have top gear here it looks like it's coming up on BBC at six o'clock today so I could record that if I want to let's start with the youtube link so I'm going to click on that chrome browser pops up and I'm instantly taken to youtube right i'm now watching this video i have the full power of the web at my disposal on my TV right i can watch it in HD i can watch it in full screen this time let's choose the DVR recordings I'm instantly taken to my DVR recordings there they are so I'm going to press the Dual View mode button and you can see that my DVR or my live content is now in the bottom right and what I have behind that is a browser so if I search again for top gear now we come the results and let's go to the site so I can find out some more information and there you have it we're watching TV and we're finding out more information about the show now of course review comes preloaded with a lot of apps a lot of great apps that can pull in all kinds of great content for us so let's take a look at some of these so we have CNBC we have the gallery so we can have pictures not only on our phones and our pcs but we can have those shared with our TV as well where their best viewed we have chrome of course where we can go to any site online we have the help assistant in case we need a little extra assistance we have the media player and vid and we're going to show you both of these in just a second we have NAB stir NBA gametime Netflix Pandora amazon right and the list goes on so now with logitech TV cam that we're introducing today in logitech revue and logitech vid HD on Google TV we're able to bring a more comfortable video calling experience to your living room let me show you what the experience looks like we have amazing jacadi and consume and showing the house impeccable it is it's clear it's Christmas technology could be better with a lot of ways to be and you can see I'm zooming has to us we need and until then patent code and measuring or get back to full screen and watch the kids there on how it's a fantastic while I hope so como zoo in additional logitech google has also partnered with sony to offer TV sets with google TV built-in sony has a press event scheduled for early next week so be sure to check out cnet com for a coverage and reviews in other product announcement news cell phone manufacturers gathered at the fall installment of the ctia conference here in San Francisco this week to show off some new handsets our crack team of reviews editors trekked almost two whole blocks down to moscone center to check out these new phones firsthand here's a sampling of what they found hi I'm pintura and senior editor at cnet com i'm here at CTA fall 2010 in san francisco i want to show you the motorola defy it is one of the very first really rugged android phones motorola actually showed a video where the people were throwing in the pool they were using it in water and it kept on ticking so does have a bit of a sturdy feel does have a soft touch material on this backside let's have a little rubber siding so feels pretty solid a little lighter than i have experienced from a lot of rugged phones but still think it should stand up to a lot of bumps and bruises pretty small display actually so not the biggest phone around but Motorola says they designed for just real usability functionality it's kind of a low-end as for our speakers go it is android 2.1 as a McMissile camera is all the usual Android features you're going to look for so it has the virtual keyboards there's no physical keyboard normal phone dialer so pretty standard as far as features go but it just has that nice rugged design does feel a little different it is going to be out pretty soon again that's with t-mobile and will hopefully get a review model very quickly so we can take a further look hi this is jessica's Alcorn senior associate editor for cnet com i'm here at ctia fall 2010 taking a first look at the samsung transform for sprint this is an Android smartphone running android 2.1 of the operating system it is a touchscreen phone here pretty nice touch screen it's got a full slide out qwerty keyboard a front-facing vga camera 3 point 5 megapixel camera on the back with a flash one of the interesting things about this phone is that it is one of the three that will have the new sprint I Z sort of theme pack it's a Content package that you can access with different pre configurations possibly for email theme skins widgets things like that there will be 13 of these content packs launching with the phone the transform will be available on october 10th and sprint retail stores and online will cost 149 99-100 dollar mail-in rebate i'm jessica delcourt from cnet this is your first look at the samsung transform I'm Nicole Lee senior associate editor for cnet.com and this is the first left Eddie Motorola flip-out for AT&T and the frontier is a very small square a 2 point 1 inch display but it flips out as the name suggests to reveal a full qwerty keyboard underneath that you do get the very small and tiny little navigation pad right here as well on the top here is the screen lock key as well as the end key you also get a 3.5 millimeter headset jack on the back is the 3.1 megapixel camera lens the motorola flipout comes with android 2.1 with motoblur that is the new moto blur with all the motorola widgets that has includes the facebook widget or your social networking widgets and so forth features of the phone are fairly basic are they include the usual android webkit browser you also get stereo bluetooth on here Wi-Fi gps and AT&T 3g network pricing is still and nobody will be available before the holiday season this year I've got the casio gzone ravine this is a new phone for verizon it is a rugged phone built to military specifications that means it is shock proof its water resistant and it's also dust proof you can see that it's got a very flat back and kind of like a rubberized feel around it so that you can wear it if you're in an industrial environment wearing gloves it is a flip phone it does have 3g capabilities as well it's got this very spacious keyboard with some spaces between the keys and the keys are domed they almost have a triangular peak on them so that you can be able to press them pretty easily again if you're wearing gloves what you'll see on this phone like all the other phones in this line is support for push-to-talk so that's like a walkie-talkie future there is also on this and a standard micro USB charging port on the back you'll find a 3.2 megapixel camera with a flash and this phone will be available very soon for 149 after a fifty-dollar mail-in rebate hi I'm interim and senior editor Christina calm and here at CTA fall 2010 in San Francisco and i want to show you the HTC Desire HD this is more or less an international version of the HTC evo 4g so it's going to be available in europe and asia you could probably get it unlocked here in the US if you like but it's not available with a US carrier on a hobo it does you see a little bit of that evos design it's about the same size for it got a 4.3 inch screen it's got a similar web profile you won't find that kickstand on the back like we saw in a sprint phone but you do have the protruding camera lens and then some of the panels are different you can remove this and the SIM cards there you can remove this side and the battery pops out does have a nice feeling in the hand you know some people might find the phone a bit big I don't necessarily mind that because I like that big touchscreen but is very colorful it's very bright you get up to seven home screen so you can customize those as you wish with the normal Android fashion this is running the latest version of HTC Sense so that of course is HTC's interface it sits over android a little bit it doesn't really interfere with android too much doesn't drill down to the menus and really change how they look but it is a nice way to get a little bit customization to the phone overall the phone does that most the Android features you'd expect it's going to bluetooth it's going to have productivity features all the Google applications GPS does have an eight megapixel camera given their side camera lens and there's a flash next to it the desire HD also runs froyo there's a latest version of android OS that's android to dot too so a pretty powerful phone bill tim has had a similar to the HTC evo 4g but with a few refinements and this is phone is primarily available outside the united states I'm Ken Sherman and this is the HTC Desire HD as usual you can find our complete coverage of these phones and many more at you guessed it cnet com next up we're off two fronts for the 2010 paris motor show to survey some of the new production models concept cars even some electric scooters here are some of the headlights I mean highlights not sure there's been a Lamborghini this striking since the original Countach now not so much is it a styling breakthrough as it is an interpretation breakthrough because this car has a carbon fiber shell and underneath a carbon fibre tub which is forged not laminated as is typical with that material that technique was developed in concert with Calloway the golf club folks and not just for looks by the way Lamborghini says the future of supercars is weight control not really power improvement this concept ways just 2200 pounds and would be fitted with the company's existing 570 horsepower v10 that's a power-to-weight ratio of around 3.8 pounds per horse for comparison a current murcielago saddles each horse with over 6 pounds about a forty-five percent difference yes weight reduction could be the next big thing in going fast you could stand right next to this car maybe not know it's a Jag Wow it's the sea x 75 concept that's concept with a capital C this one is way out there it's conceived as an electric super coupe 778 horsepower and get this 11 hundred and seventy eight foot pounds of torque going out to motors that live at each wheel that's the combined total it'll get you to 205 miles an hour or 60 in three and a half seconds what's really fascinating is where the electricity comes from a pair of turbines basically little jet engines in the back but not pushing the car like a plane instead spinning generators at really high rpms to create a lot of volts in fact this cars track mode would power those four in wheel electric motors directly not via the battery because those turbines can spend those generators so hard I just want to hear what that would sound like in more sober conditions jaguar imagines this car would have an electric driving range of 560 miles it's a range extender architecture kind of like a Chevy Volt well sorta don't look for this one in showrooms anytime soon but jag is working on a hybrid that will be for sale the new and very euro Ford Focus coming to the US and early 2011 and among its variants down the road will be this hot rod version the Focus ST it just debuted at Paris 2010 a two liter four under the hood but with twin turbos and direct injection that's for its EcoBoost combo giving you 250 horsepower and 260 six foot pounds of torque one gearbox a six-speed manual of course the suspensions been hotted up by ford's RS team the rear end has all the usual stuff the wing the air flow diffuser senator ported exhaust all part of current tuner thinking on all four corners 19-inch wheels inside recaro seats and a pod of additional gauges for boost oil temp and pressure that completes the story this guy doesn't it show rooms till early 2012 but finally our focus will get the guts the rest of the world's been enjoying bit of a counterintuitive trend at the paris auto show was the big presence of electric scooters first here's the MINI Scooter II a concept from mini that has a smartphone dock which functions as the way you turn it on the gps nav the media center the hands-free communications reg because art phones do all that it will also let you know when other scooter a drivers are near you even flash its lights at them when you pass 3 styling versions have been mocked up all distinctly retro in that mini way expect 50 or 60 miles on a charge that takes maybe four hours to do over its smart they too were on the e scooter bandwagon with this concept that looks more stylish than funky could be branded as the 41 when it comes out get it also a concept though it's envisioned as doing 62 miles on a charge but like the mini it won't go highway speeds this isn't a round city vehicle the smart would have blind spot detection solar cells for trickle charging and even an airbag and if you think these two companies are nuts know that Renault Honda pujo are among the other companies that have scooters planned as well Audi doesn't have a lot of single-digit model numbers left after the Paris debut of the a7 slotted more near the eighth than the six it's a big elegant four-door coupe hatchback that excuse the rather pudgy look of the Mercedes CLS or Porsche Panamera has a tautness more in line with an Aston rapide though not quite we'll see a supercharged v6 version right off the bat and almost certainly a v8-powered s7 version down the road all-wheel drive will be an option of course it's an Audi automatic gearbox or a 7-speed dual-clutch look for the latest in Audis excellent mm I interface Bose audio at base an egregiously price to be a no audio rig optionally possible tech toys in the u.s. could include a head-up display and mobile Wi-Fi pricing starts at an equivalent of about sixty seven thousand dollars in Europe but that pricing is still TBD for the US where it doesn't hit until mid-2011 not all the cars rolled out at Paris could be winners though we'll have more of the duds later in the show but right now it's time to take a break we'll be back with more Cena tech review right after this welcome back to the Cena tech review our weekly video digest of all things good and bad we've seen here at Cena TV continuing on in the good if you're not ready to jump on the google TV bandwagon but still want access to tons of web content on your TV take a look at this new series of plasma screens from samsung hi there David Katz Meyer here from cnet com and this is the samsung pnc 8000 series video review this is the 50 inch version of the series there's also a 58 and a 63 inch version we expect similar picture quality from all the sizes so this review will apply to all of them this is Samsung's flagship plasma TV for 2010 that means it has all the features that the company can offer and that's quite a few but we'll talk about that a little bit styling here is the first thing on the menu you can see the TV is not your standard glossy black around the edge of the frame it's actually a gray or color relatively light gray with the kind of transparent border around the edge here and equal width on all sides we really like the look of this TV it's a very slick look there's a little bit of accent provided here by the stainless steel top stand and of course it does swivel that feature set does include 3d compatibility meaning if you connect a 3d compatible device and 3d content and watch through 3d glasses you can enjoy a third dimension television on this TV the TV also converts 2d content to 3d which isn't found on all 3d TVs available it does allow you to play around with a couple the settings with 3d as well so I'll told a 3d feature set on this TV is as good as it gets although it does not include a free pair of glasses another prominent feature on the Samsung is the Apps suite if you connect the internet to this TV via a wire or an optional dongle for Wi-Fi you can get access to a whole bunch of apps Samsung currently has the most apps of any TV provider that includes netflix and hulu plus in addition to youtube and a whole bunch of other video eat streaming apps there's also a separate yahoo widgets section that can be a little confusing because there's apps and widgets on this TV widgets will include facebook and there's also a facebook app so again if you want your facebook you get it in two ways on this set we did like the apps implementation overall however and it's nice to see all that content Samsung does have a 3d streaming video content app for example that allows it to show some video previews and stuff like that so we look forward to seeing what else the platform can bring more features include some of the best adjustability we've seen on any TV that includes a ten-point grayscale adjustment gamma and color management system you can also play around with D judder on this TV it's the only plasma on the market with DJ other processing that's not really good thing in our opinion but if you want to you can engage a DJ in a couple of presets and see how smooth the picture looks if you turn off DJ arrival you'll find that the Samsung is one of the best performing TVs on the market we really did appreciate its deep black levels although they're not quite as deep as some of the other TVs does have excellent color and the video processing is very good you can actually get it to a handle 1080p 24 content correctly again if you turn off d judder another highlight on the Samsung is its excellent bright room capabilities it will preserve black levels a lot better under the lights than most plasma TVs it also reduces reflections relatively well although All Things Considered it's not as good as a matte screen LCD for a bright room and of course like any plasm it beats LCDs in terms of uniformity and being able to view the picture from off angle finally in terms of 3d performance the Samsung was one of the best we've seen so far it had very little crosstalk compared a lot of the LCD models this year and color accuracy was quite good in the presets of course you can adjust a lot of picture parameters in 3d which is really nice there's also four hdmi inputs on the back panel in one component video input that's a little bit less analog connectivity the most TVs in this price range also pair USB inputs on the back it's nice to have a second one in case you use one for a Wi-Fi dongle that's a quick look at the samsung pnc 8000 series and I'm David cast iron cats were actually called this Samsung the second best TV the year and I bet they could have had a shot at being first if they had gone ahead and thrown in a pair of 3d glasses or two come on samsung now are you guys ready for some more cars then get ready to dig into the bad let's return to the paris motor show for a handful of cars that really weren't anything to write home about if Nissan's leaf and cube hooked up for a night this might be the outcome the town pod concept electric vehicle it's for the entrepreneur nissan says with a highly configurable interior or whatever kind of entrepreneur you do you configure various modules around the car via these rubbery pucks that are molded for different tasks one could hold your iPhone another one could be a hook for your bag a couple of them could support a little desk in the corner good luck getting that by federal safety regulators and nissan hopes a vibrant aftermarket would arise making such pucks and presumably paying nissan some sort of license fee everybody taking a page from apple's playbook these days of course those dual touch screens are envisioned as communicating with the drivers PDA says Nissan I hope they meant smart phone and all that frankly sounds a lot like a feature already coming onboard sink okay this one I'm not sure whether to drive or put it on and lace it up it's the Kia pop a city car concept that's one of the big eyeball grabbers at the 2010 parents show it's a three seater the sort of thing concept cars can get away with via one curvy purple bench seat that lives under a very cool glass roof which is also the windshield it's electric because that's the theme at Paris this year has the face of an octopus maybe that's just me it's only a tiny bit larger than a smart fortwo so you could make room for it in the garage or in a closet VW says this new European cassatt isn't necessarily our new Passat but it might be there being cagey since reaction to this design has been real lukewarm it picks up a lot of the styling cues of the newly redone Jetta which has been very heavily mainstream interior restyled as well nice looking but the big idea for VW in the u.s. going forward is to do battle with Camry and Accord so they've also released sketches of what could be a different passat for the US market which they just called the new midsize sedan for now whatever becomes the new Passat for the u.s. is expected to start closer to 20 grand not around the current 27 grand engines will include a two and a half liter 5 cylinder we know that one a v6 we know that one and a two liter TDI we know that one the coolest piece of tech easy open trunk with your arms full of stuff but the key in your pocket just waggle your foot under the bumper the trunk pops open way to push the envelope there VW the next thing you know you'll be offering a built-in vase for flowers or something oh yeah you guys already did that did at you let's just move along to the bottom line remember about 20 minutes ago when we had the unveiling of the logitech revue box with Google TV well Matt Mackowiak got a sneak peek at the box and here he is with the first look hi I'm Matthew miskovic senior associate editor at cnet com and we're here with the logitech revue with Google TV this is a set-top box that you're going to put in your home theater system it costs about three hundred dollars and it's coming out in October and the idea is is you're going to bring the functionality of google into your living room if you have content that you want to watch this on the web whether you have content that's on your DVR you're going to be able to bring up the google search bar and find whatever you want to watch the system consists of a set top box so you put under your TV as an HDMI input for connecting say a cable or satellite box and also has an HDMI output would you connect to your TV now in a system like this it all comes down to control there are three different ways that you can control the logitech revue now it comes with an RF based keyboard and what you have is you have a full keyboard like you had of your computer so you can search google but you also have a touchpad for navigating the screen like you would on a browser and you have remote based controls as if you were controlling a TV so you have pause play channel up channel down and volume if the keyboards too big there's also a mini controller that's sold separately for 130 dollars and it basically just shrinks down the full-size keyboard into something more compact now if you have an android-based smartphone or an iPhone there's also an app so you can just take out your phone and you won't have to deal with say the bulky keyboard and you can do all the same functionality right from your phone another cool thing you can do it your smartphone is if say you're watching a YouTube clip you can push it to the TV and watch it on your big screen instead of watching it on your phone now the logitech revue with google TV has an extensive set of content that you can access you can be able to bring up your EPG from your cable box or satellite box and you're going to be able to access services like amazon netflix pando aura and in the future you'll even be able to take android based apps and look at them on your TV now the big question a lot of people are going to be asking is will hulu work on google TV and the answer is not right away that's something that could change in the future but right now you're not be able to access some of the free hulu content that you enjoy on your laptop finally like a lot of other network streaming boxes it also has the ability to pull content from your PC so if you have music stored on a pc with a DLNA server you're going to be able to stream your music collection your photos and even video to the Google TV and that's all searchable from that search bar as well now it can access content from a cable or satellite box and it can also control it as the logitech revue has built-in IR blasters so it's going to be able to control other devices just as if you had say a harmony universal remote all together in our quick demo with the logitech revue with Google TV it feels like it has a lot more content than say the just recently released Apple TV so well it does cost more if you're someone that watches a lot of web video and you just want an all-in-one solution this is something to look forward to and we're eager to get our hands on a review sample i'm matthew miskovic from cnet com and this is the logitech revue with google TV the bottom line this week don't cut that cable just yet now even though Google TV brings a lot of content from the internet to your TV you'll get even more out of it when you use it in conjunction with your cable box and DVR and if the three hundred dollar price tag seems a little steep hey at least you get access to cnet videos and that's got to be worth something right okay folks it's time for me to go but join us next week when we'll have our first look at the long-awaited windows seven phone and of course the sony internet TV with google TV built in until then there are tons of great videos available every day at CNN TV com see you next time and thanks for watching