http://phys.org/electronics-news/consumer-gadgets/ en-us Phys.org Phys.Org provides the latest news on consumer electronics, electronic gadgets and electronics. Will gamers want One? After four years of development, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One entertainment console and touted it as an all-in-one solution for playing games, watching TV and doing everything in between. Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be central to your living room and packed the new Xbox with such features as the ability to change TV channels through voice commands. http://phys.org/news288420960.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-22T05:56:08-07:00 Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. Tuesday's unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony. http://phys.org/news288374760.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-21T17:20:01-07:00 The NFL and Microsoft, through its next generation Xbox console, are combining to enhance interactive TV viewing of pro football games. http://phys.org/news288367404.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-21T15:03:38-07:00 Microsoft thinks it has the one. The company unveiled the Xbox One, an entertainment console that wants to be the one system households will need for games, television, movies and other entertainment. It will go on sale later this year, for an undisclosed price. http://phys.org/news288362802.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-21T13:46:51-07:00 Microsoft offers a glimpse Tuesday at a new-generation Xbox as videogame consoles evolve into home entertainment centers and adapt to competition from smartphones and tablets. http://phys.org/news288328723.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-21T04:18:50-07:00 A group of ex-Nokia employees who quit over the company's decision to abandon the planned MeeGo operating system in favour of Windows presented their own smartphone on Monday, hoping to rival the sector's giants. http://phys.org/news288273122.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-20T12:52:19-07:00 (Phys.org) —Pink is the color of princess fairy-tale gowns, magic slippers, upscale cupcake icing, and everything else favorable to girls who just want to be girls. "Ladyphones" appear to be concepts for female-targeted phone designs, and now NEC is joining manufacturers fashioning pink smartphones as a female fashion accessory. But this would not be a females-first. In 2011, Fujitsu announced an ARROWS smartphone with gem-cut buttons that shine when the user gets a call or a message. Earlier this month, NEC announced its NEC Medias X 06E, readied for NTT DoCoMo's summer phone lineup, for sale in Japan at the end of June. The Medias X 06E from NEC will come in two colors, white and pink, with an attached light-pendant. The promoted features of the new phone are running in two directions, (1) the feminine design and (2) the news that the X 06E smartphone is the world's first liquid-cooled smartphone. http://phys.org/news288248697.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-20T06:05:09-07:00 It's almost time for a new Xbox. Eight years have passed since Microsoft unveiled the Xbox 360, double the amount of time between the original Xbox debut in 2001 and its high-definition successor's launch in 2005. With the next-generation Xbox expected to be revealed Tuesday, anticipation for the entertainment console's latest evolution is running high. http://phys.org/news288243741.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-20T04:42:32-07:00 HTC's new One is a smartphone I like to hold but don't like to use. I love its design and some of its top features. But I found other key features disappointing, including the One's revamped interface, which is a confusing mess. http://phys.org/news287897280.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-16T04:28:13-07:00 T-Mobile has quietly increased its price of the iPhone 5 by $50, raising the down payment to $149.99. http://phys.org/news287811230.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-15T04:34:20-07:00 BlackBerry maker Research In Motion says it will offer its once-popular BlackBerry Messenger service on competing devices. http://phys.org/news287757703.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-14T13:41:48-07:00 Nokia Corp. on Tuesday unveiled its first Lumia smartphone with a metal cover, low-light camera features and new social network apps. But the new model failed to impress investors, who sent the company's stock down more than 5 percent. http://phys.org/news287747660.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-14T11:20:04-07:00 Research In Motion unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry aimed at consumers in emerging markets on Tuesday, and said it will offer its once-popular BlackBerry Messenger service on iPhones and devices running Google's Android software. http://phys.org/news287747586.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-14T10:53:16-07:00 BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry that is designed for emerging markets. http://phys.org/news287734576.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-14T07:16:46-07:00 Chinese tech giant Huawei said Thursday it would launch its first Windows Phone 8 smartphone for US users later this month. http://phys.org/news287337404.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-09T17:10:01-07:00 Amazon, long rumored to be developing its own smartphone, is working on a screen that allows people to see 3D images without glasses, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. http://phys.org/news287336521.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-09T16:42:20-07:00 When Samsung announced its new Galaxy S4 in March, it put some serious doubts into this longtime iPhone user. http://phys.org/news287310872.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-09T10:10:01-07:00 Back when she was in college, software developer Monica Wilkinson says, she used to dream of "being able to carry a computer in my head," instead of lugging her books and laptop all over campus. As she tried out her new Google Glass recently, Wilkinson said, it felt like that fanciful idea had become real. http://phys.org/news287310318.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-09T09:26:22-07:00 Struggling Finnish mobile giant Nokia unveiled Thursday a $99-touchscreen smartphone as it battles to gain traction in India and other emerging markets to reverse falling sales. http://phys.org/news287305500.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-09T08:05:58-07:00 If you see someone wearing Google Glass wink at you, you might want to get out of the way because they're probably not flirting with you. http://phys.org/news286821661.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-03T18:10:01-07:00 It's not a "Star Trek" tricorder, but by hooking a variety of gadgets onto a smartphone you could almost get a complete physical - without the paper gown or even a visit to the doctor's office. http://phys.org/news286778111.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-05-03T05:35:24-07:00 Wacom today announces the Cintiq 22HD touch, a new addition to its expanding interactive pen display portfolio, now featuring multi-touch. Combining multi-touch with Wacom's renowned pen technology, the new Cintiq 22HD touch offers an immersive on-screen experience and a more intuitive and natural way to work. Additional features including a 21.5 full HD display, an ergonomic rotating stand and 16 customizable ExpressKeys, make the Cintiq 22HD touch an ideal creative platform for graphic designers, animators and game developers. http://phys.org/news286532391.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-30T09:20:06-07:00 (Phys.org) —If you did not hear it from somebody else, you probably asked the same question yourself: What would I really do with a smartwatch, if it's for viewing only, when I need something for text entry too? Viewing is only half of the equation, when you need to find the location of a school or key in any urgent instruction. After all, text input on a watch screen? No way? Way. A Carnegie Mellon team has come up with a concept translated into something called ZoomBoard, a keyboard that zooms when you tap it. ZoomBoard enables text entry on ultra-small devices, such as a smartwatch screen, using what the team calls "iterative zooming" to enlarge tiny keys to a size that is comfortable for the user. http://phys.org/news286523947.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-30T07:20:01-07:00 (Phys.org) —Just days after landing in the hands of developer's, Google Glass has been hacked and rooted by at least two well known "hackers." The first comes courtesy of Jay Freeman, who most know online as Saurik. He claims in a Twitter post that he was able to get root within two hours of receiving the device while having dinner with friends. Another well known hacker, Liam McLoughlin also announced he'd hacked the device. Neither development is a surprise to Google apparently, as shortly after Freeman and McLoughlin boasted about their success in circumventing Google Glasses' security measures, Google technical lead on the project Stephen Lau, posted a statement saying that Google had left the device easily hacked for the benefit of developers. Another staffer at Google, Tim Bray, in responding to news of the hacking tweeted simply, "Duh." http://phys.org/news286448406.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-29T10:20:01-07:00 Consumers can expect to wait a while before they're able to lay their hands on Google's much-hyped Internet-connected eyewear, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said Friday. http://phys.org/news286223351.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-26T19:29:24-07:00 Samsung said Thursday that unexpectedly high demand for its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, was behind shipping issues that delayed scheduled sales in the US market. http://phys.org/news286082743.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-25T05:10:01-07:00 Microsoft is expected to unveil in May a successor to Xbox 360 videogame consoles that have been evolving into hubs for home entertainment in the digital age. http://phys.org/news286039540.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-24T16:25:47-07:00 In an age when most people carry smartphones that can tell the time—on top of hundreds of other applications—watch makers are increasingly focused on selling their goods as luxury items. http://phys.org/news286021264.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-24T11:40:06-07:00 The BlackBerry has finally caught up to the world of touch-screen smartphones. It took time—six years, from the launch of the first iPhone—and it may be too late to save the company that makes it. But the BlackBerry deserves to be taken seriously again. http://phys.org/news285996878.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-24T04:34:49-07:00 I've seen Android phones get better and more powerful over the years, as Google and phone manufacturers pack devices with more and more features. There comes a time, though, when less is more. I'm afraid we've reached that time. http://phys.org/news285996805.html Electronics - Consumer & Gadgets 2013-04-24T04:33:53-07:00