Gorgeous Gizmos : Five gadgets to set your pulse racing
Sunny Sen
For business or pleasure? Both, actually. It turns out that the five gadgets that finally made it to the top of our list are not the most expensive in the market, but are popular because they work when you work, and play when you play. So, here goes.
Bang & Olufsen’s (B&O) latest in world-class music systems is BeoSound 5 — a modern day jukebox that features ‘MOTS’ (More Of The Same) intelligent playlist technology. MOTS is an intuitive graphical user interface, which is able to capture the unique musical identity of a track, and then create a playlist of similar music. Besides, it has a 500-GB in-built memory and can be connected to the Internet. The BeoSound 5 will leave you lighter by Rs 4,50,000, but richer for the experience.
And for your visual senses, the idiot box in its new avatar is a piece of technological art. At 7.98 mm, the Samsung LED Full HD 9000 series is the world’s slimmest full high-definition LED television. It has a chic touchscreen remote control with a three-inch display that comes with Twin View, allowing you to watch television and DVD titles simultaneously. Further, its Qwerty keyboard allows you to update social networking sites. The not-so-cheap Rs 4.4-lakh television set has speakers mounted on stands and a built-in tuner. It is also equipped with four HDMI ports, including a USB port.
In the cut-throat world of high-end touchscreen mobile phones, the Apple iPhone 4 remains the patriarch of stylish, sexy handsets. This phone sports a new design as well as the latest version of Apple’s iPhone operating system — iOS4. Its display with 960x640 pixel resolution makes movies a visual treat. The new phone has a longer battery life and allows high-definition video recording. Moreover, with the new Face Time application, you can also video conference. The iPhone 4 comes in two versions of memory capacity — 16 GB for $199 and 32 GB for $299.
Anything from the Apple stable creates waves and the Apple iPad is no exception. Priced between $499 and $699, the tablet PC got rave reviews globally and is considered a usurper to the netbook throne. The iPad concentrates on communication on the move such as Web surfing and gaming. It is also a wonderful e-reader and the 9.7-inch LED backlit display makes it easy on the eyes. The iPad is well integrated with all Apple applications and comes with memory versions from 16 GB to 64 GB.
If you are a photography buff, the Leica M9 camera has to be on your must-have list. Weighing just 593 gm, it has an easy-to-use viewfinder and a simplified menu, making it faster and easier to use. The M9’s digital sensor rangefinder coupled with enhanced optics gives superb results. All Leica lenses are compatible with the M9, but one has to buy the lenses separately. So the M9 is definitely a good buy if you already have a Leica lens or if you are ready to spend another few lakhs for one. The camera itself costs around Rs 3.6 lakh, but for the truly passionate, no price is too high for a good camera.
http://www.businessworld.in/bw/2010_...us_Gizmos.html
