ZOTAC introduced the new ZBOX DVD series mini-PCs which combine Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics with a dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor. The new ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series is available in two models: the ID31 and ID31 Plus. The ZOTAC ZBOX DVD ID31 is a customizable mini-PC that lets you select and install the memory and hard drive while the ZBOX DVD ID31 Plus comes with a 250GB hard drive and 1GB of DDR2 memory. Both systems feature an integrated DVD drive, NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology, HDMI and DVI outputs, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and USB 3.0 connectivity.

A power-packed combination of Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics processor and dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor power the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series for superior graphics performance, system responsiveness and energy-efficiency. The Next-Generation NVIDIA ION graphics processor is the heart of the ZBOX DVD series and delivers hardware decode acceleration and Adobe Flash acceleration for smooth playback of online and offline high-definition media.

An integrated DVD drive provides the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series with DVD read and write capabilities at speeds up to 8x with DVD, DVD±R and DVD±RW media. Standard CD-ROM, CD-R and CD-RW media are read and written to at speeds up to 24x with the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series.

“Our ZOTAC DVD series are the perfect mini-PCs for users that demand the best performance and energy-efficiency from a home theater PC for streaming high-definition Internet media while maintaining compatibility with their existing DVD collection,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology with advanced video processing algorithms enables the ZOTAC DVD series to render existing DVD movies like never before with stunning details and vibrant colors for near-high-definition visuals. HDMI and DVI outputs ensure the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series support the latest Full HD high-definition television sets. Users with only VGA ports can use an included DVI-to-VGA adapter to connect the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series to existing displays analog displays.

USB 3.0 technology equips the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series with SuperSpeed expansion capabilities for compatibility with external accessories that rival performance of internal devices. An internal mini-PCI Express slot is available for superior expansion capabilities with the ZOTAC DVD series.

Integrated 802.11n WiFi with dual-stream technology enables the ZOTAC ZBOX DVD series to connect to wireless networks at speeds up to 300 Mb/s for a high-speed network free of wires. Onboard Gigabit Ethernet delivers speeds up 1000 Mb/s for lightning-fast network performance for those that prefer to connect the ZOTAC DVD series to a wired network.

The BenQ P50 Smartphone review and community discussion for the BenQ P50 accessories. Recently developed Digital Assistant technology has spawned the release of the BenQ P50 GPS capable PDA. The BenQ P50 is the first Digital Assistant to combine the power and convenience of hand held communications with BenQ P50 GPS software. The powerful and versatile BenQ P50 WiFi device will make organizing your personal or business contacts, scheduling and communications – all a breeze and keep them in check. With a special cooperative marketing plan BenQ P50 Cingular accessible services will amplify your free BenQ P50 downloads.

The phone’s casing is made of dark grey plastic and it feels good in the hand. The plastic is good quality, and doesn’t show fingerprints. Both sides have rough plastic grips to stop it slipping. It is 60 x 122 x 20mm in size, and weighs 179g. The top houses the Consumer IR window and the power button. The stylus silo resides on the ride side. On the left side there are two volume controls and a voice record button, and on the right there’s a rubber strip covering the Mini-USB sync port and the 2.5mm headset/headphones jack. The SD slot (which supports SDIO), soft reset switch, and charger port are located on the bottom of the device. The front of the PDA has the screen, earpiece, microphone, keyboard, and the application buttons.

Protect your PDA with quality Palm BenQ P50 cases and screen guards. AS stated in your BenQ P50 manual, taking care of your PDA is easy and takes very little time, provided you do it on a regular basis – reducing any service time, and extending the life of your device. This Palm BenQ P50 review has been created with the expectation that you will take advantage of the Global Positioning aspects of the Palm BenQ P50. Taking care of yourself as well – always be certain to keep both hands free while traveling by automobile, and invest in the BenQ P50 car holder. The BenQ P50 dash mount allows you to be safe, while staying in communication with your contacts.

Besides keeping the latest BenQ P50 software on your new assistant, think well about employing any of the Palm BenQ P50 cases to protect your investment. The BenQ P50 case is one of the best BenQ P50 accessories you can possibly purchase, protecting the screen, onboard memory – in effect preventing a required BenQ P50 hard reset. Your PDA has been constructed to go through life with you at your speed, however make certain you do not mistreat your PDA and require additional or spare BenQ P50 parts.

The rw6828′s finest feature is undoubtedly its size. Weighing just 140 grams, the handset cups comfortably in the palm of your hand. It has a remarkable resemblance to the O2 XDA Atom and shares many similar design characteristics right down to its screen and controls.

Compared to many other bulky smart phones in the market, the rw6828 is elegant, compact and stylish. The downside of this is that there is less room for the onscreen keyboard. Therefore the rw6828 isn’t ideal for heavy typing or data input, but this is a small price to pay for its compact nature.

Audio playback is catered for by an integrated FM radio, dual stereo speakers and PocketMusic MP3 playback software. You’ll want to buy an expansion card to stick into the mini-SD slot, however, as the device only comes with 128MB of flash ROM. These audio features are certainly attractive, but make no mistake, it won’t replace the intuitive interface and long battery life of your current MP3 player. But that’s OK, since HP reps said it themselves at the launch event in Hong Kong–”we’re not targeting iPod,” they proclaimed.

Rounding out the device’s excellent multimedia feature-set is an integrated HP 2.0 mega-pixel camera, whose shots trump most smart phones. All of the major connectivity options are present, including Tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) GSM, GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 1.2, Infrared and 802.11b WiFi. Push-email is also available, putting it in direct competition with the BlackBerry.

Specifications:

GSM: Tri-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
Processor: Intel® PXA272 processor 416MHz
Dimensions: 102mm (H) x 58mm (W) x 19.5mm (D)
Weight: 140g
Battery: 1530mHh Rechargeable Lithium-Polymer
Screen: QVGA (240 x 320 Pixels) 256K Colour TFT LCD
Audio: Dual stereo speakers, Voice recording, microphone, built-in speaker phone, headphone input jack, LifeVibes™ Concert sound EX 3D widening/bass adjustment, with FM Radio
Wireless: Integrated WLAN 802.11b
Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB Cable, Infrared
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5
Phone Memory: 64 MB
Memory Card: 1 GB Mini SD card
RAM: 64 MB

The HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion is a sleek device, both as a portable nav system and a PDA. The travel-friendly handheld measures just 4.7 by 3 by 0.6 inches and weighs 5.9 ounces, making it easily portable between your car and for use on foot. We really like its streamlined look and attractive silver casing and burnt-orange accents. In general, the device had a solid construction, but the glossy coating made it quite slippery in the hand.

The GPS capabilities and the travel tools made the reviewers more optimistic about the HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion. It comes equipped with a SiRF Star III GPS receiver and it’s loaded with GPS applications and maps of the respective countries. It can provide text as well as voice-guided driving directions, automatic route recalculation, and a POI database. You can view maps in 2D or 3D mode. A status bar at the bottom of the screen displays useful information, such as the next instruction, remaining distance, and estimated time of arrival. There are also two icons in the upper right and left corners that let you zoom in and out of maps. You can add real-time traffic information, safety camera alerts, and other advanced nav features via TomTom’s subscription-based Plus services.

A SiRF Star III GPS module provides the most accurate navigation currently possible, and we found it to locate satellites within seconds. HP isn’t a satnav company, so it’s teamed up with TomTom to handle the maps side of things. This is a wise choice, opting for the leading GPS player in the market. It comes with full European mapping stored on 2GB of flash memory. As with all Mobile 5.0 devices, a button on the side allows you to switch the display to landscape mode. This is the best mode for maps, as it allows you to get a lot more detail on the screen. Full postcode support makes it easy to enter your destination, and the HP stores a list of recently visited places.

Being a handheld, it’s equally usable for using when walking around as it is when in the car. You’ll find all you need to hook it up to your car, including a dashboard mount as well as a battery charger. What makes the rx5900 so appealing is how simple it is to use. Whether as a PDA or a GPS, it switches seamlessly and never feels as though you are compromising the quality of either.

The price tag is pretty steep for a PDA, but considering that you also get a full-featured GPS device tossed into the mix and that we were able to find it for closer to $450 from a variety of vendors, the price gets a lot more reasonable. If you’re looking for a versatile PDA that also offers GPS capabilities, the well-designed HP iPaq rx5900 Travel Companion is an excellent device to take on the road with you.

The Treo 680 is the fourth and final new Treo promised by Palm prior to the start of 2006. When it was announced it was billed by Palm as a lower cost, more affordable Treo. Palm has hopes that more customers migrate from the realms of feature phones and choose a Treo. To date price, complexity and the larger form factor of smartphones have held back most average users from choosing a smartphone. The Treo 680 addresses these points and debuts with the lowest introductory price of any new Treo smartphone.

The Palm Treo 680 went under the knife to slim down a bit, but it’s only marginally smaller (4.4×2.3×0.8 inches; 5.5 ounces) than the Treo 700p/700w (4.4×2.3×0.9 inches; 6.4 ounces). The 680 is noticeably lighter, however, and it felt more comfortable to hold with its curved and tapered edges. You’ll also notice that stubby external antenna is gone in favor of a more streamlined and sleek device. It still makes for a bit of a tight fit in a pants pocket, but no more than any other smart phone with a touch screen, such as the Cingular 8525.

The Palm Treo 680 is the latest GSM version that’s not exactly an upgrade for the Treo 650, it’s more of another tier in the GSM Treo offerings that targets at first time Treo users. It’s largely similar to its older cousin the Treo 650 with a couple of differences in specs, though the form factor of the Treo 680 has been updated. Like the Treo 750, the Treo 680 has shed almost an ounce in weight and 0.1 inch in thickness. While the length and width didn’t change on the Treo 680, it has chopped off the antenna knob found on all but the Treo 750, making it sleeker with better curves. The Treo 680 is a quad band GSM world phone and it’s available both on the Cingular network and unlocked for use with any GSM carrier on Palm’s web site.

In terms of design, Palm didn’t mess with a good thing, as the Treo 680 sports the traditional five-way navigator button and spacious keyboard. The layout felt a little stiff on our tests, but you’ll pick up speed as you break it in. You also get the familiar 320 x 320-pixel touchscreen, which comes in handy for everything from cutting and pasting text to tapping on the speakerphone icon in the middle of a call. We’re not fans of the flimsy stylus, however; it worked fine but didn’t feel like it would last very long.

The Treo 680′s QWERTY keyboard is largely unchanged from the Treo 700p, but there are some very slight tweaks. The shape of the buttons is more rectangular, and they’re not as raised above the phone surface. Though they’re tactile and well backlit, the spacing between the keys is fairly cramped, so much so that even our smaller hands had a hard time pressing the right keys. It slowed down the messaging process, but we did get the hang of it eventually. We found having nails helps, but customers with larger digits should definitely take it out for a test drive. This is one area where the Moto Q and the Samsung BlackJack with their more spacious keyboards have the Treo beat.