The Cybershot TX5 from Sony is just 17.7-mm thick and adds to that slim profile a lot of proofs: waterproof (down to 3m), dust-proof, shock-proof (can be dropped from a height of 1.5m), and freeze-proof (chilled to -10°C). A 10MP Exmor R CMOS image sensor coupled with the BIONZ processor enable 10fps continuous shooting and very good performance in low ambient light conditions. Unfortunately, there have been some reviews that show the Exmor R not doing as well as Canon compacts in bright conditions; the reviews state less sharpness.

The TX5 can shoot 720p movies, features 4x optical zoom and makes use of a fairly large 3-inch resistive touch TFT LCD. That means you can use the display with your gloves on, unlike an iPhone (read iPhone: Sausage as Stylus). All 2010 Cyber-shot models, including the TX5, can take SD/SDHC in addition to Memory Stick cards. But what is most impressive is the ruggedness of the TX5 in such a pretty package. You’ll have to wait until the end of March 2010 but that’s at least a couple of months before you’ll need to pack the TX5 for a fun time at the beach. Image & Data Source: DPReview

HTC’s Legend is an Android smartphone that ups the ante compared to the company’s Hero: Android 2.1, updated Sense UI, more RAM (384MB vs. 288MB), and Adobe Flash 10.1 support. I wonder how good the Flash experience will be considering the Legend has a 600MHz CPU. But what really gets me is the smallish 3.2-inch 480×320 AMOLED multitouch display. Let’s get rid of that huge bottom bezel, the button and instead add a bigger display with more pixels. Keep the physical buttons; I like those. Source: HTC

The iPad version of Wired is developed using Adobe’s AIR platform. Adobe promises its Packager for iPhone will allow easy porting of AIR apps to run on the iPad. Check out the video showing off Wired iPad version: looks very nice. Source: Wired

On February 16, 2010, Apple has been granted US Patent #7,663,607 titled “Multipoint touchscreen”:

A touch panel having a transparent capacitive sensing medium configured to detect multiple touches or near touches that occur at the same time and at distinct locations in the plane of the touch panel and to produce distinct signals representative of the location of the touches on the plane of the touch panel for each of the multiple touches is disclosed.

The patent application was filed on May 6, 2004. I haven’t read the entire patent (it is fairly long) but it seems to cover broadly displays and systems based on capacitive multitouch technology. It will be interesting to see how others will be able to work around this patent; I think it will be difficult. Source: USPTO via Patently Apple, iLounge, Engadget

SLIDER: There are slider mobile phones where the keypad slides in and out. The reasons are to reduce the length of the device and simplify the front face to just the minimum number of buttons that most people use. I guess it isn’t surprising to see this on an e-book reader: Samsung’s SNE-60K. In addition to the slider design the 6-inch E Ink-based e-book reader sports touch capabilities and handwriting recognition. Unfortunately there isn’t a QWERTY keyboard, just a d-pad with a few additional buttons. Other specs: WiFi, Bluetooth, MP3 playback. Might as well go all the way: I think it would be interesting to have a touch-typable full QWERTY keyboard slide down when in landscape mode. But, my preference is a single button without anything sliding.

DIRTH & IPAD: Samsung teamed up with Kyobo Moongo (“Kyobo Book Center”) the largest brick-and-mortar bookstore in South Korea. Samsung’s e-book reader can access Kyobo’s digital library via the online store that is pre-installed with access to about 65,000 e-book titles. The number of e-book titles are small due to widespread skepticism about e-books by many authors because of the potential for piracy. It is interesting that Samsung is already in a defensive posture in light of Apple’s iPad. We can assume the iPad will be coming to South Korea in the near future. I wonder who Apple will be working with. Price for the SNE-60K is KRW429,000 (about US$375). Source: Korea Herald via E-Reader-info, Engadget

Yummy. Specs: 1GHz Freescale i.MX51 3D CPU, capacitive touch TFT LCD, WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, 720p HDMI out, accelerometer, 5MP autofocus camera with flash, 3.5-mm jack, FM receiver & transmitter, Android 2.1. Source: Lumigon

Mitsubishi has upscaling technology that takes 1080p content to 4K2K. Exciting! But don’t get carried away: Blu-ray content upscaling to 4K2K is not yet. HDMI 1.4 is supported though. Expect future Mitsubishi TVs to sport 4K2K displays and the technology to upscale 1080p to fill all those pixels. Source: Akihabara News

If money grew in your backyard, pay attention to this 3D monitor: the BT-3DL2550 from Panasonic is a 25.5-inch IPS (In-Plane Switching) TFT LCD monitor that does 3D. The pixel format is 1920×1200 (16:10 aspect ratio) and works its 3D magic via a Xpol polarizing filter so you’ll be wearing some passive polarizing glasses. Connectivity options include two HD-SDI ports, a single DVI-D, component and composite. The HD-SDI ports are used to directly connect to Panasonic’s Full HD 3D camcorder. Six color settings are included: SMPTE, EBU, ITU-R BT.709, Adobe 2.2, Adobe 1.8, D-Cinema. I believe this is a first: A three dimensional lookup table for calibration. And finally the insane price: $9900. The BT-3DL2550 has been added to the IPS LCD Monitors database. Source: Panasonic via Akihabara News, Engadget

Yuck. Use a single screen and via software split it in half. Source: Engadget

Would you pay $30 per month for the iPad edition of the New York Times? The New York Times’ print die-hards are afraid that if you get the same thing on the iPad as on printed paper, you’ll cancel the printed version. So they want to charge $30 for the iPad version. Crackbrained.

But, they shouldn’t be afraid since anyone who is still subscribing to the printed version will most likely not even know what the iPad is. But let’s say the iPad accelerates the death of the printed version. I think that’ll be good for the New York Times as it will force the paper to fully embrace its digital future. If a printed paper is so important, add a print feature on the iPad app so anyone can get a custom printed version in the mail for $5 or so, and give it to the print side of the company to make them happy. Source: Valleywag via Daring Fireball

DisplayBlog is written and produced by Jin Kim. Subscribe via RSS.