Sungale’s Sub-par Portable Media Player
I have plenty of questions about the new Sungale Cyberus ID700WTA portable media player. Why does this device have so much trouble connecting to my wireless network? Why do my video clips continually skip and stutter when I’m playing them back? Why is the touchscreen so hard to use?
But most of all, why would anyone pay $279 for this device?
On paper, the Cyberus ID700WTA “Smart Info Engine” sounds great. It’s a portable media player/e-book reader with a big 7-inch color touchscreen. It plays back photos and videos, as well as audio tracks in a variety of formats such as AVI, MPEG4, DVIX, XVID, WMA, JPG, BMP, TIFF and PNG. It has wireless Internet access, and allows you to watch video from YouTube, listen to IP radio, check weather, get news updates and driving directions, check your Gmail, and look at photos from Picasa.
Vue: A Home Video Network That’s Too Simple
Have you ever wondered what goes on at your house when you’re not home? Thanks to Avaak’s Vue personal video network, it’s now easy to find out. This $299 kit features wireless video cameras that you can set up almost anywhere and view over the Internet. It’s incredibly easy to use, and the hardware is well-designed.
Avaak says the system is designed for a variety of uses, including keeping an eye on pets or elderly parents; monitoring vacation homes; checking in on latchkey kids; securing a small business; and more. And it’s so easy to set up that anyone can use it. Unfortunately, the web-based surveillance tools are too limited to be a truly useful remote security system; at this point you can only watch live video, though the company says it plans to add recording scheduling soon.
The kit includes two tiny wireless cameras and a wireless gateway that connects to your router. You just turn the battery-powered cameras on, press a button to pair them with the gateway, and you’re good to go. The four included magnetic mounts are so well-designed — they’re the shape of a ball, cut in half — they impressed me with their simplicity. They grab the camera and hold it securely; it really couldn’t be easier.
I Need a New(TeeVee) Phone. To Droid or Not to Droid?
After slogging through two iPhone-less years, my contract with Verizon is up and finally — FINALLY! — I can catch up with the Techno Joneses and get the Jesus Phone. But with Verizon and Motorola launching their Droid line of phones today, suddenly, I’m not sure what kind to get, especially since I’ll have a newteevee slant to my usage. I could use some help from you, the reader.
To set the stage, I only use my phone as a “phone” for work, for personal use, I generally prefer texting. I’m interested in apps, and I use a Mac and Gmail. Here’s been my initial thinking:
Reasons to Get a Droid:
-Verizon’s network is better (or so the snarky commercial tells me)
-I’m already hooked in with the Verizon system
-Video recording is 720×480 at 24 fps (quite nice for those impromptu video interviews)
-5 mega-pixel camera (iPhone has 3.0), with image stabilization and location tagging
-YouTube baked right in
-I can play my cat videos on a 3.7 inch 854×480 screen (the iPhone is a 3.5 inches and 640×480)
-It’s on an open platform that many people (hopefully) will be developing all kinds of cool stuff for in the coming months
Reasons to Get an iPhone
-Not first-gen hardware
-Plugs into my existing Mac ecosystem at home and work
-Plenty of apps already available
-YouTube baked in
-Video recording with not-quite-livestreaming apps available
I’ve heard mixed things about the iPhone. Om chucked his, but other friends of mine still love theirs and don’t even mind the cruddy AT&T network. With the Droid not available until Nov. 6, I realize that you probably haven’t used one yet, but speaking in broad terms, what do you think? Should I avoid the Droid or does the Droid pwn the iPhone?
Samsung’s Instinct HD: It’s Cool, But It’s No Flip
Can a cell phone take the place of your pocket camcorder? More and more phones are trying to serve as compact camcorders like the Flip models, as are MP3 players like the iPod nano. But few — if any — offer the same video quality and ease of use that you’ll find in a dedicated camcorder. One of the latest phones to attempt this feat is Samsung’s Instinct HD. And, though the Instinct HD does offer a very good camera and camcorder, I wouldn’t trade it for a Flip MinoHD…yet.
Samsung and Sprint, which is offering the Instinct HD for $250, are highlighting the HD features of the phone. And it can capture HD video; in fact, you’re reminded of this every time you fire it up. Before you can capture any video, you have to select your desired resolution: HD (1280×720), VGA (640×480) or QVGA (320×240). I found this constant reminder a bit annoying; I’d rather pick a default resolution and just change it via a settings menu.
HAVA iPhone App Proves Difficult to Control
Monsoon Multimedia’s HAVA products have long been a lesser-known competitor to the Slingbox line of place-shifting devices. I’ve always been impressed with the HAVAs I tested, which were functionally better then most Slingboxes, though a little less refined. The same is not true of the newly released HAVA Mobile Player for iPhone app, which doesn’t quite live up to the standard set by the SlingPlayer for iPhone app.
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The HAVA Mobile Player lets you view the contents of your HAVA-connected TV over your iPhone’s Wi-Fi connection; like the SlingPlayer app, it does not work over 3G connections. It’s available for $9.99 in the App Store. That’s a bargain compared with the $29.99 that the SlingPlayer app will set you back, but it still seems high to me. To use it, you need a HAVA set-top box, the cheapest of which costs $150. I’d love to see the mobile app come with the device.
3M Projector Sacrifices Power for Portability
How much you’ll like 3M’s M120Pro Pico Projector largely depends on your expectations. If you’re looking for a full-scale, high-powered home entertainment projector, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. But if you’re looking for a fun, easy-to-use gadget that will provide a midsized screen in a pinch, 3M’s petite projector will be right up your alley — as long as you can live with some of its limitations.
The M120Pro is 3M’s second pico projector, after last year’s M110Pro, and offers several improvements over its predecessor, including better battery life and a (slightly) brighter lamp, for the same price: $350. Still, despite these upgrades, the second generation of pico projectors isn’t a drastic improvement over the first.
FLO TV Launches Watchman Mobile TV Viewing Device
Qualcomm’sFLO TV is launching the properly-named-but-it’s-kind-of-a-boring-moniker FLO TV Personal Television device for those who want to watch television on the go. But do consumers want to carry around another device and pay another subscription to watch TV wherever they are?
The FLO TV Personal Television plays live and time-shifted video content over FLO’s multicast network, and promises no buffering or downloading to watch your shows. The 3.5-inch touch screen allows users to surf through channels with the swipe of a finger.
FLO TV does have a decent lineup of channels including Comedy Central, ESPN, MSNBC and MTV. But the Personal Television will cost $250 and requires an $8.99 per month subscription fee.
MLB’s At Bat App Downloaded More Than 400,000 Times
MLB.com’s mobile strategy is adding to — not cannibalizing — the league’s traditional web business, according to President and CEO Bob Bowman. Speaking at the Apps for Brands conference in New York yesterday, Bowman shared some stats about MLB’s At Bat app and announced a new feature coming to the service in time for the playoffs (hat tip to Ad Age).
Bowman said that the $9.99 At Bapp app, which allows users to stream live games to their iPhone, has been downloaded more than 400,000 times, and MLB’s free app has been downloaded more than 350,000 times.
Broadcast From Your Backpack With New Livestream Device
The most aptly named live-streaming company in the business, Livestream, is taking the wraps off its new Livepack — an all-in-one, backpack-sized device that enables live, mobile, HD-quality broadcasts.
The ruggedized device requires no laptop and comes with a touchscreen and six integrated 3G/EVDO modems from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint that are bound together in a way to provide the highest possible available bit rate. Livestream CEO and co-founder Max Haot told us by phone that in a good coverage area users can get a solid 700kbps connection (it can go up to 1Mbps), in poor coverage areas, the six modems working together can provide a 300-400kbps.
Vuclip Raises $6M for Mobile Video Search
Vuclip announced today that it has raised a $6 million Series B round of funding led by Jafco Ventures, with existing investor New Enterprise Associates returning. This brings the total amount the company has raised to a little more than $14 million.
Liz did an excellent explainer last year on what Vuclip does, but in a nutshell, the company lets mobile phone users search for and playback video. Vuclip does the transcoding on the fly and on the back-end so all the user needs is a phone with a browser, a native media player and data plan.
Craig Gatarz, Vuclip’s chief administrative officer, told us by phone that the service is getting 4 million unique users a month and delivering a million videos a day to 3,000 different handsets in 150 different countries (the bulk of Vuclip’s traffic comes from India, China and the U.S.).
Vuclip offers both a consumer-facing service with an ad-split revenue model as well as a white-label “powered by” service for the enterprise. The company can stitch a pre-roll to a piece of content on the fly, allowing publishers to target using geography or some other criteria.
The company plans to use its new funding to build out its sales and marketing teams and add to its technology platform.
Based in Milpitas, California, Vuclip currently has 40 employees across the Bay Area, China and India. Competitors in the mobile video space include Skyfire and mSpot.
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