Leica M9 Camera Available for pre-order

The Leica M9 is a latest addition to the company’s M series. Evidently, it is the smallest full-frame digital rangefinder camera in the word, integrated with a 24 x 36mm sensor.

The Leica M9 combines Leica’s M System with advanced digital technology. It features a silent, metal-leaf, focal-plane shutter that enables shutter speeds of up to 1/4000 seconds and an ISO range of 80-2500. Other outstanding features include dual image processors, a 2.5-inch LCD screen and UV/IR cover-glass filter. Besides, it supports SD cards up to 2 GB and SDHC cards up to 32 GB.

Sony Ericsson Refines Plans For 2010 with Vivaz and X10

It is safe to say that Sony Ericsson did not have a great 2009. Posting losses of 167 million euros in Q4 they bet the farm on five handsets, three of which had significant issues at their respective launches, with the XPERIA X2 not managing to reach market at all.

Needless to say, back to the drawing board does not even begin to cover it. The Japanese / Swedish manufacturer has however sprung into action this year with an aggressive attitude and a dynamic push towards genuinely innovative phones, instead of the cookie-cutter Cybershot and Walkman devices that clogged shelves and confused consumers alike.

With a rumoured £10 million ad spend for this quarter alone, they are making sure that the Sony Ericsson Vivaz and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 are coming with a bang that the whole world will hear.

The Vivaz stands on the shoulders of the 12-megapixel snapper packing Satio, taking the Symbian software core and swapping the hook from the still to the moving image. The VIvaz has the ability to record video in high-definition, with the 8.1-megapixel lens still way ahead of the curve when it comes to taking regular photos.

On top of the autofocus camera (sporting image stabilization and face detection no less) the Vivaz is full specced-out as a smartphone. With assisted GPS, FM radio, Wi-Fi and a 3.2-inch touch display, the Vivaz is certainly able to hold its own in terms of features.

It is also a looker too, with a tapered body and a range of colours to attract the fashion-forward set. Expect Sony Ericsson Vivaz deals to appear in the tail end of February.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, however, is a phone of firsts throughout. The manufacturer’s initial attempt to bring Android to bear on a device, the X10 wields a heavily customized user interface, presenting a familiar feel in distinctly new threads. The X10 pools the cream of both on- and offline content, whether it be contacts, media or messages, presenting them in a visually arresting style dubbed ‘Timescape’ and ‘Mediascape’ respectively.

The former places recent social networking status updates, messages and alerts in a chronological ‘spline’, with a swipe enabling the user to cycle through and keep abreast of the latest events as they happen.

The intelligent search in Mediascape allows the XPERIA X10 to quietly surf the web and find album art, lyrics, YouTube videos and even suggest movies from the PlayNow Arena to purchase, all based on current media on the device.

Built on top of Google’s popular Android interface, the XPERIA X10 definitely has enough fresh ideas in the UI alone to turn heads, but the device is also a powerhouse with a 1GHz SnapDragon processor, huge 4-inch capacitive screen, 8-megpaixel autofocus camera and 16GB of memory.

Initial Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 deals are only of the SIM-only variety, but numerous pay monthly offers ought to appear soon after its official March / April launch.

With these two strong handsets, expect Sony Ericsson to pose a huge challenge to the smartphone set in 2010, as well as put to bed the demons of a tough past year. We, for one, look forward to it!

Ernest Doku is editor of mobile phone deals comparison site Omio.com

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M10 Smartphone

ASUS has announced their latest gadget, the new Garmin ASUS Nuvifone M10 Series. This new handset from ASUS adopts a 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen display with a resolution of 800×480 pixels, a 5-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WI-FI, 512MB RAM/ROM, a 1500mAh battery, 4GB memory, microSDHC card, Garmin GPS software, a 600MHz Qualcomm processor, and runs under Windows Mobile 6.5.3. It will be released on February 6th with a retail price of $450.

[asus]

Freescale Smartbook Tablet Design

Freescale presents its reference design of Smartbook tablet featuring a 7-inch touchscreen. The tablet is powered by Freescale’s highly integrated i.MX515 processor incorporating ARM Cortex-A8 core, OpenVG and OpenGL/ES graphics cores and HD video decoder. It has 512MB of RAM and up to 64GB of internal storage.

Freescale’s smartbook tablet gets a 7-inch 1024×600 touchscreen and supports GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi 802.11b/g/n. There is an integrated 3 Megapixel camera, speaker, microphone and microSD card slot. 3G modem and RF4CE protocol options are available. Those who need a keyboard can get the optional keyboard accessory. The tablet supports Android and Linux OS.

[freescale]

Ultrasone Edition 8 Palladium Headphones

Ultrasone launches the new Edition 8 Palladium closed-back headphones. This new version has brushed Palladium plated ear cups. On top of that the outer ear cups are emblazoned with a clasp of high tech ceramic.

Lke the original Edition 8, the Palladium version features S-Logic Plus Technology and Natural Surround Sound ULE technology. It comes with 40mm tri-bass-tube titanium-plated Mylar drivers and offers 40ohm impedance, 6 – 42.000 Hz frequency range.

The Ultrason Edition 8 Palladium Headphones cost about $1699. [Product Here]

Samsung HMX-S15 and HMX-S16 Camcorders

Samsung launched its S-series of camcorders at the CES 2010. Three units are available in the S-series including the HMX-S15 and HMX-S16 that are the world’s first camcorders to have integrated Wi Fi and DLNA connectivity and the Samsung HMX-S10 with no WiFi.

Both WiFi capable camcorders, the HMX-S15 and HMX-S16 features the 1/2.3 inch BSI (Back Side Illumination) CMOS imaging sensor that offers outstanding low-light performance, a Schneider Kreuznach Varioplan-HD lens with Samsung’s 18x Intelli Zoom and a 3.5-inch touchscreen with a 3D UI. They both are capable of snapping 10 megapixel photos and record full HD video in 368×208 at 300fps or 192×112 at 600fps.

The HMX-S15 and HMX-S16 comes with 32GB and 64GB SSD respecitvely plus there is a SD/SDHC memory card slot, the Samsung HMX-S10 has all the features of both above but has no Wifi or interanl SSD storage.

[samsung]