Samsung's Armani phone

All hail, all hail, official pics of the Samsung / Armani mashup: the Armani phone. Here's the haute couturey poop: tri-band 900/1800/1900 GSM, 3 megapixel camera, 2.6-inch 262K color QVGA touchscreen LCD, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support, microSD expansion, full Internet browser, and support for H.263, AAC/MP3/WMA audio and MPEG-4 video. Fine and dandy but this little guy also features a haptic feedback user interface like Samsung's SCH-W559 handset loosed long ago in China -- "users can feel an immediate mild vibration when they touch icons on the display." How you like them Apples, Apple? The Prada-esque slab currently measures in at 87.5 x 54.5 x 10.5-mm and 85-grams; less after it starts making regular, post-meal trips to the toilet following its November European release.

Sanyo kicks out two new 1seg-equipped navigators

Unfortunately for those in America, you aren't likely to see either of Sanyo's latest GPS units, but for those dwelling in Japan, here's the low down. Up first is the fairly attractive NV-SD580DT, which boasts a 1seg tuner, integrated media player, FM transmitter, built-in one-watt speaker, 5.8-inch display, and an SD expansion slot. The slightly less stunning NV-SB260DT (shown after the jump) packs a 4.5-inch screen and omits MP3 playback, but retains most of the other features on the aforementioned sibling. Both units are set to hit stores next month, and while the NV-SD580DT will ring up at ¥117,600 ($1,021), the NV-SB260DT will demand ¥103,950 ($902).

Toshiba intros WiFi-less Gigabeat T400

While there's still no official word of a North American release of Toshiba's WiFi-packin' Gigabeat T401, it looks like those round these parts can now get their hands on its slightly less-capable counterpart: the WiFi-less Gigabeat T400. Apart from the lack of WiFi, this one looks to be identical to the T401, with it packing 4GB of NAND flash memory, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, and support for WMV video, along with MP3, WMA, WAV and WMA Lossless audio. According to Toshiba, you can also expect about 16 hours of audio playback and 5 hours of video playback from the player's rechargeable battery. It also looks like Toshiba's decided to tone down the color options from the Japanese release, with the player now only available with your choice of blue, pink, or orange trims, each of which will set you back $120.

Toshiba intros WiFi-less Gigabeat T400

If you've coughed up ~two grand for one of FlipStart Labs' tiny clamshell PCs, we'll wager that you've already got a pretty decent compact digicam in your arsenal, but in case you've been cursed -- as many us have -- with convergencitis, you can now pick up an accessory that turns your FlipStart into a pretty bulky three megapixel camera. As its name suggests, the $150 Snap Camera clips securely onto the unit's lid, immediately ready to capture up to five megapixel stills via interpolation or VGA video at 30fps complete with sound. Downsides include the lack of an optical zoom and the obvious physical protrusion, but we're sure such trifles have never stopped you before.

ViewSonic intros monitors galore for gamers, penny pinchers

Not satisfied with just the TV watching crowd getting their fix today, ViewSonic also introduced a plethora of monitors for the gaming and budget-minded sets. Up first is the 19-inch VX1940w ($249), 22-inch VX2240w ($349) and 19-inch VX1932wm ($249), all of which sport a two-millisecond response time, 300 nits of brightness and DVI / VGA inputs. The latter sports a 1,440 x 900 resolution and a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, while the other two offer up a 1,680 x 1,050 native resolution coupled with a 4,000:1 contrast ratio. Moving right along to the Value series, the widescreen 19-inch VA1926w (WXGA+), 20-inch VA2026w (WSXGA+) and 22-inch VA2226w (WSXGA+) displays all feature 2,000:1 contrast ratios, 300 nits of brightness, DVI / VGA connectors, and five-millisecond response times. Oh, and for those not needing 16:9, the VA926 offers up a 1,280 x 1,024 panel. In order of mention, you'll be looking at $229, $249, $279 and $259 pricetags on the four Value monitors. Phew, got all that?

Headplay's Personal Cinema System finally available

Nearing on a year from its first unveiling, it's nice to finally see the Headplay Personal Cinema System head mounted display "out and about." That Visor headset is stilling rocking support for up to XGA resolutions with a pair of single LCoS micro-displays that are supposed to reduce eye strain, while the Liberator "brains" of the operation accepts composite, component and S-video inputs, while also playing media off of its built-in CompactFlash slot and USB ports.

Finally, the Navigator remote acts as the hook-up for the included earbuds, and allows you to control the system and settings. In addition to plain old flat content, you can view stereoscopic 3D games and movies if you've got the right hardware to plug into. The Headplay is available now online, and goes for $499, or $549 with an internal rechargeable battery. Unfortunately, all we've got for pictures is those same old renders we saw at the start of the year, but hopefully Headplay will hit the true wild soon enough.

Blaupunkt rolls out SD card-based car stereo

It's not the first such unit we've seen, but car stereos with SD card slots instead of CD players are still rare enough to get our attention, which is exactly what Blaupunkt has managed to do with its new Melbourne SD27 system. If that's a bit too limiting for you, you can also make use of Blaupunkt's optional iPod and USB/Bluetooth adapters, which will let you grab music off any suitably equipped MP3 player or cellphone. You'll also, of course, get an AM/FM radio with 25 preset station options, and a plain old 3.5-millimeter auxiliary input to plug in the audio device of your choice. If that's not too much change for you to handle, you should be able to pick up a Melbourne SD27 now for a suggest retail price of $160.

New webCams from Logitech

Logitech has unveiled the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks, featuring lenses designed in an exclusive collaboration with Carl Zeiss, one of the world’s leading optics companies. Logitech’s exclusive collaboration with Carl Zeiss ensures that the QuickCam Pro 9000 and the QuickCam Pro for Notebooks are the first webcams to meet Zeiss’s standards for lens design and manufacturing.

Logitech did not stop with Carl Zeiss optics. The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and QuickCam Pro for Notebooks webcams also use a premium autofocus system for fast, fluid focusing that eliminates the inconvenience of manual focusing. With Logitech’s autofocus system, the webcams compensate for changes in image-edge sharpness. Logitech’s autofocus system refocuses images in less than three seconds and helps ensure that images remain crisp even in extreme close-ups (up to 10 cm from the camera lens). Both webcams work effortlessly with popular video messaging applications, including Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and AIM. The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks are expected to be available in September 2007.

Lenovo Goes Green with ThinkCentre A61e

Lenovo reinvigorated the desktop PC space today with the ThinkCentre A61e ultra small form factor desktop. As the company's smallest, quietest and most energy-efficient desktop yet, it has a footprint the size of an average telephone book, whisper quiet performance and choices of energy-efficient, 45-watt AMD Athlon™ X2 dual core and AMD Sempron™ single core processors.

The ThinkCentre A61e desktop marks Lenovo's first product with EPEAT Gold status, the highest designation a product can achieve in the ranking. Operated by the Green Electronics Council, EPEAT ranks products on a variety of environmental attributes from energy efficiency to materials use to recyclability. Many organizations use this tool to help make purchasing decisions. Recognized for its environmental attributes, the ThinkCentre A61e desktop uses up to 90 percent reusable/recyclable materials as well as 90 percent recyclable packaging. It also can be powered by an optional solar panel. The desktop surpasses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star® 4.0 criteria with its 85 percent efficient power supply. As the first desktop in the industry to run on energy-efficient AMD Athlon™ X2 dual core and AMD Sempron™ single core processors, it can help users save up to 50 percent in energy costs annually over previous models.

Sony intros Blu-ray burning AR50, FZ20, L Series VAIOs

Sony recently took the wraps off a new range of Blu-ray burning VAIOS in Europe, including two laptops and an all-in-one desktop. On the top end of the laptop side of things, the VAIO AR50 series boasts a 17-inch WUXGA LCD, along with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo T7700 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics, with that aforementioned Blu-ray burner conveniently tucked inside.

The FZ20, on the other hand, packs a 15.4-inch display with a mere 1280 x 800 resolution, along with a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 300GB hard drive, and GeForce 8600M GS graphics. Rounding things out, the VAIO L Series all-in-one desktop remains much the same as we've seen before, with it boasting a 22-inch 1680 x 1050 display, an unspecified Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, twin analog/DVB-T TV tuners, and GeForce 8400M GT graphics. From the looks of it, the whole lot is available in Europe now, with the Blu-ray add-ons demanding a none-too-surprising premium over less-equpped models.

New Logitech Cordless Mouse

Logitech has launched its Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks. The mouse’s plug-and-forget nano-receiver provides highly mobile notebook PC and MacBook users with a mouse that simplifies life on the road. Because the USB receiver is so small and is nearly flush with the notebook, people no longer need to constantly plug and unplug it when moving from place to place.

To maximize productivity, the VX Nano mouse features the MicroGear Precision Scroll Wheel. When the wheel is in hyper-fast scrolling mode, people can fly through long documents with the flick of a finger. To shift to the precise, click-to-click scrolling mode, people need only press and click the scroll wheel.