Content
12 January 2007, 15:18
Computer HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC. Windows Vista™ operating system.
This year may well just herald the rise of the touch screen. We've seen previous attempts at integrating a touch screen in an all in one PC, notably from Pelham Sloane and MPC, but those systems were more suited to dedicated duties like home automation, store kiosks, or receptionist terminals.
 Stay in touch with technology and keep your family connected and organized with the HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC. Simply touch the screen to get instant access to family schedules, TV, music, movies, photos and information on your PC. It’s a perfect fit for the social hub of your home and is easy enough for the whole family to use. Personalize the HP TouchSmart PC to get quick access to your favorite applications. Manage your family’s schedule by updating calendar events and creating your choice of voice, written or typed messages. The fresh, space-saving all-in-one design will look great in any décor.
OrganizationForget sticky notes, messages stuck to the fridge and the wall calendar everybody forgets to check. Organize your life and stay on schedule with programs and special features designed to enhance your PC experience and your lifestyle.
• Enjoy one-touch access to your customizable HP SmartCenter home page of quick links and favorite applications.
• Quickly and easily maintain your family’s schedule, manage events, leave personal written messages and even view your calendar remotely thanks to HP SmartCalendar.
• Upload, manage, edit and print your digital memories with HP Photosmart Touch. An integrated printer station with convenient ports lets you add a compatible HP Photosmart portable printer for on-the-spot photo printing.
 The IQ770 follows the more HP standard dark color scheme, and has a slot below the screen (more on that later). Unlike the Sony Vaio VGC-LS1 and iMac, the IQ770 isn't all built into the screen, but in this case that's not a major drawback.
EntertainmentYour one-touch entertainment options are endless. Watch movies or use the integrated personal video recorder to play, pause, rewind and record live TV. Listen to digital music or the radio on high-performance speakers. Adjust the display’s height and angle for comfortable viewing of digital photos or Web surfing and enjoy it all on your 19" diagonal widescreen BrightView LCD.
 Those LIVE! enhancements (like those of Intel's Viiv) still aren't fully realized yet, but at least they are there. The 2GB of DDR2 RAM and 320GB of hard drive space give you a lot of space to play with, which a big plus now that the system is running the Microsoft Windows Vista Premium OS.
DesignSleek, stylish, space saving, clutter free—the HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC will help you organize your life and shine as the centerpiece of your digital lifestyle. The touch-enabled display is integrated with the PC base, while the wireless keyboard and mouse move freely about. Install an HP Photosmart portable photo printer in the printer station for great prints. Minimize cable clutter with Wireless LAN and Bluetooth® opportunities.
Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Home PremiumYou’ll be ready to start a new era in computing comfort and confidence with the Windows Vista™ operating system. Enjoy innovations in security, reliability and organization and search. Take in the full Windows Vista™ Home Premium experience, including the new intuitive tools of the Windows Aero™ user interface and the impressive graphics from Flip 3D. Your personal computing is more manageable and visually appealing with Vista ™
 The HP PhotoSmart Touch app basically turns your PC into a digital photo print station, kind of like the one you see at your local drug store. Put a HP PhotoSmart a510 or a610 compact printer behind the screen, and the photos slide out of the slot under the screen. Very cool stuff. (You can use any other photo printer with the IQ770, but larger printers like the Epson PictureMate won't fit behind the screen, and thus won't spit their photos though the handy-dandy slot.)
Key features
• AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core TL-52
• 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM system memory
• 320GB hard drive
• Slot-loading SuperMulti DVD burner2 with LightScribe technology
• Touch enabled 19" diagonal widescreen BrightView LCD
• NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics card with 256MB dedicated video memory (Up to 528MB Total Available Graphics memory as allocated by Windows Vista™.)
• Integrated 1.3-megapixel HP WebCam with built-in array microphone
• HP SmartCenter Button to launch interactive mode with one touch
• NTSC TV tuner and over-the-air ATSC high-definition television tuner
• Wireless keyboard and mouse, stylus, and Media Center Remote Control
• 24 x 7 toll-free phone support and 1-year HP limited warranty HP Advisor gives you a quick health check of your PC, and lets you access HP's online help and troubleshooting features. Last but not least, HP's SmartCalendar can replace the corkboard you use as a message center in your kitchen: pluses include the ability to leave voice messages, but the electronic post it notes on the computer still require more steps than a physical paper one.
 The "base" of the system holds a snazzy multi-card reader for your digital cameras' data cards, a slot-mounted DVD drive with physical playback controls (a big plus, you don't need the remote to play a DVD or CD), inputs for Cable/Antenna, an ASTC/HDTV antenna. and FM radio antenna, USB, digital audio out, and connectors for your camcorder (both analog S-Video and digital FireWire). With all these connectors, I forgive HP for not building everything into the screen.
 Speaking of the screen, the 19-inch widescreen (1,440 by 900 resolution) is crisp and clear with both 480p DVD and 720p HD WMV, TV, and DiVX content, but the lack of a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray optical drive is a drawback. Hopefully, later this year when HD-DVD/Blu-Ray combo drives become commonplace, the next version of the TouchSmart PC will have one. CableCard is another glaring omission, but hopefully the IQ770 will be able to interface with an external USB or FireWire reader. One final design note: HP integrated the MCE remote's IR sensor into the front bezel of the IQ770. This is just where the sensor should be on a tabletop all in one PC. Using an external IR receiver on an all in one desktop is just dumb. Yay, HP!
We weren't able to benchmark test the IQ770 with Windows Vista in time for this preview, but stay tuned, I hope to do so in the next few weeks and give the IQ770 a final report and score.
Is the HP TouchSmart IQ770 an iMac killer? In a word: maybe. In its current incarnation the IQ770 certainly outclasses the current Windows-based Editors' Choice the Sony Vaio VGC-LS1. I am going to hold my final judgement on the IQ770 until we put it up against other Vista-based PCs, but so far I like what I see.
Source
See also:
Dell XPS 710 H2C with "Black Ice".Vega super notebook tops out at over $7,000.Apple is working on a 12-inch ultra thin MacBook Pro.Tyan launches Typhoon 600 Series Personal Supercomputer.
Content
11 January 2007, 14:52
Apple's knockout US$500 iPhone
Apple Introducing iPhone
January 9, 2007 Apple today introduced iPhone, and all the anticipation did not dull the event or the remarkable product the company unveiled.
 iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone. The iPhone combines three products - a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps.
iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy all your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies — on a beautiful 3.5-inch widescreen display. It also lets you sync your content from the iTunes library on your PC or Mac. And then you can access it all with just the touch of a finger. The iPhone will be available in the US in June, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for US$500 and an 8GB model for US$600, and will work with either a PC or Mac.
Music
Scroll through your songs, artists, albums, and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is dramatically presented on the large display. And now use Cover Flow to browse your music library by album artwork for the first time on an iPod. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple's new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers.
 Video
iPhone’s stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display is the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies from the iTunes Store on a pocketable device. Just tap the touch controls for play/pause, chapter forward/backward, and volume. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.
iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows you to make a call by simply pointing your finger at a name or number in your address book, a favorites list, or a call log. It also automatically syncs all your contacts from a PC, Mac, or Internet service. And it lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email. "iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We are all born with the ultimate pointing device -- our fingers -- and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse."
 Receiving and making a call
With iPhone, making a call is as simple as touching a name or number. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and quickly merge calls together to create conference calls. iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone
iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number.
Visual Voicemail
An industry first, Visual Voicemail allows you to go directly to any of your messages without listening to the prior messages. So you can quickly select the messages that are most important to you. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you.
 SMS
iPhone includes an SMS application with a predictive QWERTY soft keyboard that prevents and corrects mistakes, making it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.
Photos
iPhone features a 2-megapixel camera and a photo management application that goes far beyond anything on a phone today. Sync photos from your PC or Mac, and you’re ready to browse or email them with the flick of a finger. iPhone's pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages.
 iPhone features a rich HTML email client and Safari — the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device — which automatically syncs bookmarks from your PC or Mac. Safari also includes built-in Google and Yahoo! search. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background over Wi-Fi or EDGE. Just like email, iPhone's Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.
 Safari Web Browser
With its advanced Safari browser, iPhone lets you see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, then easily zoom in by simply tapping on the multi-touch display with your finger. iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.
Mail
iPhone uses a rich HTML email client that fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.
Google Maps
With Google Maps and iPhone’s amazing Maps application, you can view maps and satellite images, or get directions and traffic information, all from iPhone’s remarkable, easy-to-use touch interface. iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple's exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.
iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers "touch" their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone's large and vibrant display.
Widgets
iPhone even has widgets: small applications that give you helpful information like stock reports, weather reports, and more in real time. iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple's amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position.
 Multi-touch
iPhone features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It’s an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers. So you can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flip through photos and email them with a touch, or zoom in and out on a section of a web page — all by simply using iPhone’s multi-touch display. iPhone's stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TV . The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos.
Intelligent Keyboard
iPhone’s full QWERTY soft keyboard lets you easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. And the keyboard is predictive, so it prevents and corrects mistakes, making it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user's iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store.
iPhone is a Breakthrough Internet Communications Device
OS X
All the power and sophistication of the world’s most advanced operating system — OS X — is now available on a small, handheld device that gives you access to true desktop-class applications and software, including rich HTML email, full-featured web browsing, and applications such as widgets, Safari, calendar, text messaging, Notes, and Address Book. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background. This software completely redefines what you can do with a mobile phone. iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.
 Yahoo! Mail, the world's largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free "push" IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user's iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple .Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services.
Wireless
iPhone uses quad-band GSM, the global standard for wireless communications. It also supports Cingular’s EDGE network, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, which links to Apple’s new, remarkably compact Bluetooth headset. iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safari web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone's multi- touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. iPhone's Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer.
Built-in Advanced Sensors
iPhone’s accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.
The proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away.
An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time. iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google's groundbreaking maps service and iPhone's amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone's remarkable and easy- to-use touch interface.
 iPhone's Advanced Sensors
iPhone employs advanced built-in sensors - an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor - that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone's built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.
Technical Specifications
• Screen size 3.5 inches
• Screen resolution 320 by 480 at 160 ppi
• Input method Multi-touch
• Operating system OS X
• Storage 4GB or 8GB
• GSM Quad-band (MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900)
• Wireless data Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0
• Camera 2.0 megapixels
• Battery Up to 5 hours Talk / Video / Browsing
• Up to 16 hours Audio playback
• Dimensions 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
• Weight 4.8 ounces / 135 grams iPhone's built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone's built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display's brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.
Pricing & Availability
iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple's retail and online stores, and through Cingular's retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple's new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.
iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR wireless technologies.
iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June.
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Content
10 January 2007, 17:18
i.Tech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard – play with laser.
i.Tech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard
In this business I come across many different types of products – some of them are functional, some are revolutionary and some are just dull and utilitarian. But once in a while something lands on my desk that is just so damn cool that I can’t help but want it, whether I need it or not.
 Every so often, a device comes along that causes even hardened technology veterans like us to drool, Homer Simpson style, all over our desks. The Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard (VKB) from iTech certainly is one such gadget - and it definitely has the 'wow factor' about it. To put it in a nutshell, the VKB projects a 'virtual keyboard' on just about any flat surface, detects your typing, and displays the characters on your phone, PDA or PC, via a Bluetooth connection. Essentially, it eliminates the need for a cramped keyboard on your mobile device, and allows you the freedom of typing on a complete QWERTY keyboard. One of those super-cool products is sitting in front of me right now, and there isn’t a single member of the TrustedReviews team that hasn’t expressed a desire, nay, a need for one of these babies. The i-Tech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard is one of those devices that you may have imagined was still in the realms of science fiction, but it’s real, it’s here and it works.
While iTech claim that the unit is about the size of a 'cigarette lighter', it is in fact larger than this, but will still fit easily into a pocket. The VKB works by utilizing both laser technology to project a keyboard, and infrared to generate a plane of light just above and parallel to the projected image. When a user touches a position on the surface, the light is reflected and the selected characters appear on your mobile device. Unlike any other keyboard, the i-Tech doesn’t actually have any keys. In fact it doesn’t resemble a keyboard in any way – instead looking like a prop from 2001 A Space Odyssey. But thankfully, you’re not going to find homicidal apes bashing each other to death around the i-Tech.
 Looking like an extra terrestrial black monolith may be part of what makes the i-Tech cool, but it’s actually the functionality that’s the really cool part. Stand the i-Tech on a desk/table/any flat surface and press the button on the side – instantly the image of a keyboard will be thrown onto the surface in front of it. Press the button again and the keyboard disappears – magic!
We see the main beneficiaries of this device being PDA or mobile users, as while the VKB can be used with a PC, you might as well use a normal keyboard. PDA manufacturers face a constant problem in trying to balance size and functionality. For example, while many PDAs ship with Microsoft Word, it's not exactly practical to use a PDA to type up large documents, and most people just use their PDAs to view, rather than create, document. This is because PDA screens may be too small, PDA keyboards are not comfortable and handwriting recognition is still a somewhat hit and miss affair. Of course just having a keyboard projected onto your desk isn’t much use unless you have some kind of device connected to it. Here i-Tech has pulled the stops out and gone for a Bluetooth connection method, allowing the keyboard to be connected to a multitude of devices, without the shackles of any wires.
 There’s a list of compatible devices on the i-Tech website here. Here you’ll find that the keyboard is compatible with Windows 2000 and Windows XP if you’ve got a Bluetooth dongle of course. There’s also a list of Pocket PC, Palm and Smartphone devices that are also compatible.
The VKB does alleviate some of these problems, as you can now type on a full size QWERTY keyboard, making working with word processing and other documents, a much more practical affair. But the VKB is not without its problems, and this is an early generation of this technology which isn't for everyone. I decided to test the keyboard with a couple of devices that aren’t on the compatibility list – an Orange SPV C500 and a Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720. Although loading the driver and configuring it is definitely a pain, once correctly setup the i-Tech worked perfectly with both my test beds – so don’t despair if your PDA or phone isn’t on the list.
Firstly, you'll have to install the software on your Bluetooth-enabled mobile device. Secondly, like any Bluetooth device, the VKB has to be paired, and we found this to be a confusing and frustrating process with our Nokia N70. The manual does have some detail in it, but is not particularly well structured or clear, meaning you will be fiddling with the unit for some time, trying to get it to work Once the i-Tech keyboard is connected up to your device of choice via Bluetooth, it’s just a case of opening a text editor application (such as Word) and tapping away at your desk. Typing on the i-Tech is a bit tricky at first, and you’ll probably find yourself making quite a few mistakes at first.
 The biggest issue is that there’s obviously no key travel, since there aren’t actually any keys. There is a reassuring click, every time a key press is registered to give you some piece of mind when typing.
Once paired however, the unit is a breeze to use. You simply stand it upright, turn it on by pressing the switch on the side and start typing away. A micro-switch is placed at the bottom of the VKB, and if lifted, automatically switches the device off, so you'll have to keep it flat all the time. An indicator light has been placed on top of the unit, and this flashes different colours when the unit is ready to pair, in use or in need of charging. A power socket is on the side, which hooks up to an AC adapter. In our tests, typing on the VKB was just about average. We experienced missed keys, double characters and incorrect presses, although these did reduce significantly as time went on and we became accustomed to the peculiarities of the device. We would say the VKB is useful for slower single finger typers, but touch typers will have problems if typing at any speed. In any case, using the VKB, while not perfect, was much easier than using a phone or PDA keyboard. Although there is definitely a learning curve with the i-Tech, once you get used to it, you can achieve a decent typing rate. Also, it’s worth remembering that this isn’t supposed to be a replacement for a conventional keyboard, instead it’s a pocket size keyboard for devices that don’t have simple text input methods. Anyone who has tried to compose long emails on a PDA or smartphone will know exactly what I’m talking about, and will be able to appreciate the convenience offered by the i-Tech.
 Of course the other big advantage with the virtual keyboard is that I can almost guarantee that wherever and whenever you take it out of your bag, people around you will just stop and stare – ideal for showing off in the executive departure lounge.
iTech has also included a variety of customizable options which the user can set, such as the keyboard sensitivity, light intensity and auto-repeat of keys. These settings help in alleviating any typing problems and you should adjust the sensitivity until you are comfortable. Users can also control the sounds emitted by the keyboard as well as the intensity of the projection, which is important when outdoors. With dimensions of 90 x 34 x 24mm (LxWxD) and a weight of only 80g, it won’t be too much of a chore to carry the virtual keyboard around with you. There’s even a protective carry case supplied in the box, to make sure that you don’t scratch or bash the i-Tech while you’re transporting it. Also in the box you’ll find a power supply to charge the integrated battery, and a driver CD.
One of the better features on the product is the implementation of the power saving options, and these are important as the VKB only has a measly 2 hours of batter life. The first option allows you to set a timer for the keyboard projection to turn off. Thus if you are typing, but stop for a minute or so, the keyboard projection will turn off, but the unit itself will stay on. Then, if movement is detected again, the projection will reappear. The second option is another timer, which turns the unit completely off. We liked the flexibility of using both timers in conjunction, setting the projection timer to one minute, and the power timer to five. Still, two hours of battery life is nowhere near enough, especially if you are typing up long documents. Talking of battery life, the quoted usage time is two hours of continued typing. Strangely, that’s the same quote as the wired version of the virtual keyboard – considering the extra power drain from the Bluetooth transmitter I would expect a difference between the two battery times. In use I found that I got between an hour and a half and an hour and three quarters of continuous use.
 There’s no denying that the i-Tech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard is an incredibly cool product, but as is often the case with cool products, you’re going to have to pay a high price. The review sample was supplied to us by Virtual-Laser-Keyboards.com and although it’s a US based company, it does ship world wide. Taking shipping into account the Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard will set you back Ј125.44, although it’s worth remembering that you might get stung for VAT by UK customs.
Would we buy one of these devices? Probably not. This is both because it would be yet another thing we would have to carry around, and this technology is still in it infancy and typing is rather mistake-ridden. We would love to see this integrated into a PDA if possible, thus making it much more practical. If you want to turn heads and impress your friends though, the VKB should be on the top of your list. If you can swallow the high price, the Virtual Keyboard is a great gadget to pair up with your smartphone or PDA, but it’s not going to keep you typing all day.
Verdict
I can’t help but love the i-Tech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard, and I’m almost tempted to gloss over the high price or limited battery life. Ultimately though, battery life and price are real world issues, and can’t be ignored. But if you’ve got deep pockets, don’t need long battery life and want the coolest input device on the planet, this is the product for you.
Specifications:
• Operating system: Blackberry, Palm OS 5, WM 2003 for PPC, WM 2003 for Smartphone, S60 (version 3 or higher), UIQ 2.x, Window Mobile 5.0, Windows 2000/XP;
• Interface: Bluetooth 1.1 Class 2;
• Supported profiles: Bluetooth Serial Port Profile (SPP), Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID);
• Battery: built-in Li-Ion 450 mAh, time of continuous typing – 120 minutes;
• Light conditions: up to 600 lux;
• Power consumption in typing mode: 12 mA;
• Projection size: 295x95 mm;
• Number of keys: 63;
• Temperature range: from +10 to +35 degrees C;
• Dimensions of the block: 34x90x24 mm;
• Weight: 80 g.
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