PowerMat Wireless Charging Mat: Last year at CES we got a demo of the PowerMat Wireless Charger. It's essentially a pad (a little larger than a mouse pad) that uses magnetic induction to wirelessly charge your gadgets. Put a small adapter (or case) on your iPhone/BlackBerry/iPod touch, place it on the mat (which is plugged into an outlet), and you're charging. The concept was cool, and we were promised a review unit, but nada. The product's launch kept being delayed. Last night PowerMat was at the show and they said they were ready for an Oct launch. The mat will cost $99 and support up to 3 devices at once. There will be device-specific cases/adapters for the iPhone 3G ($39), iPod touch 2G ($39), BlackBerry Curve ($29), Nintendo DSi ($29), and a few others. Charging older gadgets, like say a Motorola Q or RAZR, is awkward as you'll have to plug them into a small device/square and then place that and your gadget on the mat. We hope to get our review unit soon so we can compare it to...
Duracell myGrid: Very similar concept. Slightly better delivery. The myGrid is also debuting next month ($79) and will also charge up to 3 gadgets at once. It'll come with PowerClip tips/adapters so you'll be able to charge older gadgets (like the RAZR and Q) as well as device-specific cases ($34 each) for newer gadgets like the iPod touch, BlackBerry Curve, etc. Price-wise, Duracell has the lead and from the demoes we saw, Duracell's product just looks better. (You can even pre-order it on drugstore.com). Watch out for a review on these soon!
Asus SBC-04D1S-U: Not the sexiest of names, but this device is pretty cool. It's a USB-powered external Blu-ray drive that's capable of reading 4.8X BD-ROM/R/RE and writing 8X DVD+R/24X CD-R formats. No price or availability is listed yet, altho the Asus rep told us it'd come in under $100. If so, sign me up! (Sadly, the EeeKeyboard didn't make an appearance.)
Sprint HTC Hero: Before I comment on the Hero I should start by saying I'm not an HTC fan. Hated the G1's design, hated the Touch Diamond, and hated the Touch Pro. In all three cases, the hardware just seemed frail and cheap. Not to mention those damn "chins" added extra bulk to my pocket or got in the way of typing. That said, we got to check out the Hero last night and it was awesome. It's as if HTC stepped into bizzaro land while designing this phone. First off, it's very light, yet sturdy enough that it doesn't feel fragile. HTC usually does an overlay on top of their phone's OS (in this case it's called HTC Sense) and the Hero's is nice. It makes accessing your favorite apps on the phone easy because they're all front and center. Sliding through "screens" and menus on the phone is very smooth. Not as smooth as the iPhone, but damn close. Every Android phone I've used has been a bit choppy or rigid. The Hero is not. That alone sold me. Sorry Palm, but if you're looking for a smartphone for Sprint — hold off till Oct 11th when the Hero will debut for $179. We took a quick video below.
Palm Pixi: I understand this is supposed to be the Palm Pre's little brother, but man is this phone bland. Sure, it's small and light, but it just feels like the kind of phone you'll regret buying after a month. (Or the kind that'll break if you accidentally sit on it.) The keyboard is super tiny, but not as horrible as it looks. If you type with your fingernail (instead of the tips of your fingers), you should be ok. Personally, I'd pass because I have big paws and tend to text a lot. Palm's reps said it'd be out by the holidays, but gave no hints on price. We've listed the Pre for as low as $100, so I'm not quite sure the Pixi will be any lower. Bottom line, if you want WebOS, stick with the Pre. Better yet, get the Hero.
There's a few other cool gadgets we saw (Seagate's StarDock comes to mind), which I'll post about later. But for now, these were my main highlights.
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