Samsung Nexus 2 Announcement on November 8th, Shipping with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

According to an anonymous tipster who sent in some info to the TalkAndroid show tonight, the announcement from Samsung on November 8th in NYC will be Google’s next hardware release under the Nexus umbrella, The Nexus 2.  The device is rumored to be the first commercially available device running Android 2.3 A.K.A Gingerbread.
If this rumor is true, this could be one hell of a device.  The Galaxy S is still one of the best all around phones you get right now and if they listened to the feedback from the Android community, this may be the next baseline device to beat.
Anyone else heard anything more about this device?

CONVERGED HANDHELD GAMING CONSOLES

HCL Infosystems has launched coveraged handheld gaming consoles for the Indian kid gamers, Me X15 and Z15. Both the models feature 15 in built games, 16 bit graphics, MP3 / MP4 player, 5mp camera, FM radio, video recording, E-book and dictionary, and built in speakers. The two only different in the  ME X15 and ME Z15.

With these new devices, HCL has certainly tried to maintain the low costs, pricing the consoles at Rs. 3,799 and Rs. 4,990 respectively. The products are built on “green technology”, and are 100% recyclable with ROHS and CE compliance. Check out their specifications below:

HCL ME X15	HCL ME Z15
15 in-built games with expandable memory upto 4 GB	15 in-built games with expandable memory upto 6 GB
16 bit graphics; supports 32 bit	16 bit graphics; supports 32 bit
MP3/MP4 player	MP3/MP4 player
5 MP camera	5 MP camera
FM radio	FM radio
TV out	TV recording and microphone recording
Video recording	Video recording
Inbuilt 2 GB memory; expandable upto 4 GB	Inbuilt 2 GB memory; expandable upto 6 GB
E-book and dictionary	E-book and dictionary
Built in speakers	Built in speakers
Rs. 3,799	Rs. 4,990

 

Samsung Galaxy S2 Specs Will Blow Your Brains Out !

The current generation of smartphones – with their 1GHz processors and 512MB of RAM – are already very impressive at what they can do. But rumored specifications (along with a photo) are spreading of the next generation of Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphone – the Galaxy S2 – and its specs will. freaking. blow. your. head. off.
                      It is supposedly scheduled for release sometime in early 2011 and will supposedly have the following specifications:

• A 2GHz Processor. Possibly the next-generation version of Samsung’s Hummingbird CPU.
• 1GB RAM along with 4GB of ROM. This is, as with the CPU, twice the magnitude of current-gen hardware.
• 32GB built-in flash memory. MicroSD card slot expandable to 32GB making the Galaxy S2 able to hold 64GB of data.
• 8 megapixel camera with full HD (1920×1080) video recording. Current-gen smartphones record video at 720p (1280×720).
• A 4.3” 1280×720 Super AMOLED display
• GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, b/g/n Wi-Fi, accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity / ambient light sensors.
• Run on Android 3.0 “Gingerbread”

While all these specifications are well and sweet, I really, honestly believe smartphone manufacturers, especially of the Android variety, should focus on increasing battery life by optimizing hardware + software instead of just blindly increasing clock speeds and doubling RAM. My HTC Desire still doesn’t last more than 15-16 hours whereas Taimur’s iPhone 4 blows past the 24 hour category without even going below 50%.
And yes, these specs are rumored. But if HTC and Motorola’s intentions of releasing 2GHz smartphones are anything to go by, they aren’t unbelievable.

BenQ Launches Palm-Sized Pocket Projector

BenQ launched the, PC-less, lamp-free GP1 Mini Projector. Based on 3LED technology and integrated USB video reader, the 640g projector is packed with features to run different types of multimedia content. Features include NTSC, 100 ANSI lumens powered by digital LED lighting, Wall Color Correction, built-in 2W speaker, 20,000+ hours light life, iPod/iPhone dock (optional), instant On/Off, and tripod compatibility.

The BenQ GP1 projector is available at the following price Rs.36,600. The model is available across India.  

Does Apple want to buy Facebook?

Peter Kafka at All Things Digital thinks that Steve Jobs might want to buy Facebook. His reasoning is that Jobs, when asked what Apple plans to do with its now $51 billion in cash, said, "We firmly believe that one or more unique strategic opportunities will present itself to us, and we'll be in a position to take advantage of it." Kafka believes that one such "unique strategic" opportunity is called Facebook.

Jobs and Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg met for dinner the other day. Many presumed that they were discussing Facebook Connect and Ping integration, but what if it were something more, like Apple buying Facebook? Kafka thinks that Apple acquiring Facebook makes sense because Facebook doesn't compete with Apple in any significant way, and Facebook is something that Apple couldn't compete against even if it wanted to. Plus, Facebook is already competing with Google, "which has to make Jobs like it even more," Kafka argues.

What would Apple buying Facebook lead to? Every Facebook user would probably automatically have an iTunes Store account. FaceTime chat could be integrated into Facebook chat, potentially leading to increased sales of iOS devices. If Apple continues down the road of using not only phone numbers, but email addresses and eventually Facebook IDs as designated FaceTime "phone numbers," then 500 million users would already have a FaceTime ID to use when all telephony goes VoIP.

Apple has the cash to buy Facebook outright (Facebook is valued at around US $25-35 billion), but will they? Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg seem to share a lot of traits (not to mention both having had movies made about them), but could two of the most powerful people in tech -- with equally powerful egos -- work together?