It’s also pretty ‘well-connected,’ so to speak, which makes it as handy around the house as it is on the move. An HDMI out connection if you want to play those movies on a larger HD display, a Wi-fi connection for doing its internet tablet functions, and support for tethering if you want to hook it up with a 3G phone and connect to the net. The wireless connection also allows it to connect to home networks and attached media streamers that support Samba and UPnP protocols.

The Archos 43 runs on a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, support for 3D OpenGL graphics for running some of the more advanced games and apps, which, again, should make good use of the larger mobile screen. The 43 also comes with a 2MP main cam that can record 720p HD videos, and support for FLAC lossless audio playback for audio quality that’s better than standard MP3 files.

The Archos 43 is out now for $250.

It’s called an e-dictionary. We don’t know why, but that’s how this thing is being marketed. While common thinking dictates that a portable media player can also feature a dictionary, it seems like iRiver wants to capitalize on the sudden rush of e-books with this e-dictionary.

Anyway, this small laptop-looking device is called the D1000, a gadget that Korean electronics builder iRiver is labeling as an “e-dictionary.” It’s not just a portable that can find words and their definitions though; it’s also a full-featured MID with a web browser and Wi-fi connectivity, as well as a media player that can play back 720p HD video, just so the 480 x 272 touchscreen doesn’t go to waste (really now, if you just wanted an electronic dictionary, anyone can download any of a number of dictionary apps for smartphones).

The D1000 also packs a standard 8GBs of storage, and a battery that’s listed to last for up to 15 hours of dictionary use, or more importantly, up to 7 hours of video playback—because no one really needs 28 hours of battery life looking stuff up on a dictionary.

Like everything else from iRiver, it’s due out in Korea, with no word on an international release. Oh, and people-behind-iRiver, if you’re reading this, we’re considering this as a portable media player. Not as an “e-dictionary”.

Source: Electronista, Pocketables

In case you’re the type of guy who’s excited about the iPad, you might want to check out Apple’s iPad page, where the first iPad commercial is now playing. First played during the Oscars, the new commercial really didn’t show anything new, although the smooth interface is still pretty cool to watch. Or maybe we’re just hyped about the song. Or how it’s amazing that the screen doesn’t smudge with all the finger-flicking. Anyway, the video ends with a reminder that it’s due out on April 3rd, but if you’ve been following the iPad, we’re pretty sure you already knew that.

It’s a pretty simple setup: this compact device turns a 3G mobile data signal into a Wi-fi connection for everyone else to connect to. It comes with a USB connection for plugging in a 3G USB dongle, a power button for broadcasting that signal quickly enough, and a rechargeable battery that allows for up to 5 hours of remote use. Up to ten people can connect to the Wi-REACH, and it’s built like any simplified Wi-fi router that allows for secure wireless links.

Pretty nifty, right? That’s a mobile office that lets you work with your team from anywhere you can get a signal. Unfortunately, that also means it’s a potential mobile office that won’t give you an excuse to skip working from anywhere. The Wi-REACH costs $99 if you’re interested.

Mozilla has just announced that they’ve released a mobile version of their Firefox web browser. The good news is that we can get a mobile phone-based browser that we’re all (or at least those of us who use Firefox) familiar with. The bad news is that the first version of Firefox Mobile will be for Maemo-based mobiles only, so unless you own a Nokia N810 or N900 (Nokia’s “mobile computer”), you’re going to have to wait for another version.

For those of you who own Maemo-based mobiles, you’re in for a treat. Firefox Mobile promises a closer “desktop-like” experience, with familiar features that include tabbed browsing, bookmark syncing, support for add-ons and HTML5 pages, as well as YouTube playback.

According to the release, Mozilla is currently working on porting FF Mobile to Windows Mobile and Android-based smartphones next. Versions for iPhone and BlackBerry devices might take a while though, thanks to software and distribution constraints for the iPhone and OS incompatibility with Blackberry’s Java-based OS. As for the rest of you rocking a Symbian-based Nokia, they currently have no plans to develop a version for you guys. Nuts.

That pretty much left out a lot of people. What are the chances that you have a smartphone, and it’s not an iPhone, Blackberry, or Symbian-based? We don’t have the numbers, but based on the popularity of iPhones, Blackberrys and Nokia N/E-series phones alone, that sounds like a pretty big chunk of people. Anyway, it’s not really Mozilla’s fault, people. Move along.

Specifically, you’ll be pretty much tied to iTunes for buying and loading content to the iPad. This tablet’s drive—whether you plan to pick up the 16, 32 or 64GB capacity—can only be filled using iTunes, the iBookstore, or whatever third party app from the App store that you might be able to pick up for it. Since it doesn’t run Mac (or Windows, for that matter), you can forget about loading it up with media files and software like you would with a netbook at half the iPad’s $500 starting price.

Options

Ease of use is probably where it shines the most. As a 1.6-pound mobile internet device that you can use comfortably while lying back on a couch, it’s pretty handy. But again, your networking options are limited—I’d rather have a touchscreen device with a full operating system that allows me to pull multimedia content and documents from the desktop PC in the next room. Ditto for the browser; while the previews gushed about the browser’s capabilities, it apparently won’t support Flash objects–an issue that prompted Adobe to suggest that the iPad will prevent people from accessing “70 percent of games” and “75 percent of video.” At the very least, you’re going to have problems with sites such as Hulu and ESPN–both of which use Flash objects.

You want options? We expect to see a lot of hybrid notebook/tablets with detachable screens this year

There are a lot of other tablet or touchscreen options available within the same price range that can give you way more, thanks to the emergence of Intel’s new Atom processor and Windows 7. They’ll be around twice as heavy, but at least you get a keyboard with it. Essentially, for all the neat things the iPad can do (let’s whittle them down to the basics: photos, videos, music, internet browsing, eBook-reading, gaming), you can also do with a full-featured tablet PC. It might not have the nifty interface, the support for the multitouch gestures, or the light and compact frame that the iPad touts, but you get the same features, more connectivity options, and multiple times the storage space (standard hard drives range from at least 160GB to 250GB these days) that you can do with as you please.

And if you really like the concept of having a light touchscreen tablet to carry around the house, we expect quite a lot of hybrid notebook/tablets to come out this year—the type that lets you detach the screen from the keyboard base, but with a more open, full-featured operating system. The Pine Trail Atom processor and the Windows 7 OS is still relatively new, and Google’s own Chrome OS is just around the corner. If you’re a Mac-user or a plain old Apple fanboy, maybe we can hope that they come out with a full-featured tablet that runs on a lighter version of the Mac OS (a hypothetical Mac OS Starter Edition, if you will), hitch it with an Intel Atom, call it the MacPad, and blow us away with a competitive price tag. (And if they ever do, you heard it here first. Because calling it the MacPad would just be too obvious to ignore, right?)

You’re not going to stop at $499…

Unless you’re swimming in disposable income, then you’re thinking about value. Let’s assume that you want to pick up the entry-level model. What do you get for the iPad’s $499 starting price? You get the iPad and the necessary power and sync cables. If you want the Keyboard Dock (for typing text longer than a URL or short email messages), you need to shell out an extra $69. The basic Dock (without the keyboard) for syncs, charging, and adding audio jacks, will sell for $39. If you need to protect your iPad—and you will, if you plan to travel with it—the iPad Case goes for $39. USB ports and SD card readers? You’re going to have to shell out $29 for an iPad Camera Connection Kit to dump photos from your camera to your iPad.

Maybe they'll come out with a full-featured Mac OS tablet, hitch it with an Intel Atom, and call it the MacPad next.

Now, if you’re planning to shell out $499 for at least the entry-level iPad, make sure to save up for at least the $69 keyboard dock and $39 iPad Case for protection, as these are must-have accessories that add roughly $110 to the iPad ownership bundle. And get ready to go nuts shopping at the iBookstore for books, iTunes for music and movies, and the App store for applications too. We’re pretty sure that someone’s going to figure out how to add non-Apple content to the iPad soon, but that involves a little technical know-how as well as a considerable amount of risk. So if all you want is a simple device for books, multimedia, and browsing—without having to fiddle with hacks and potentially risky third-party content, you need to go through Apple’s stores.

Still, we won’t argue with the fact that the iPad is a cool device and we’re not going to deny the fact that if we had an extra $610 (for the base model plus must-have accessories) just lying around, we’re going to join the line in front of the Apple store when they launch. But it’s not a must-have that the iPod—and in some cases, the iPhone—was. Some people can’t live without their iPods, some can’t function without their smartphones, and some people could be fired if they didn’t have a notebook or netbook. But if you already have at least a smartphone and a laptop, you’d be forgiven if you didn’t feel like shelling out an extra $499 (sans accessories) for this cool new toy.

Thanks to a handful of major features, it can’t really be bunched up into a single niche or category; it’s not just a smart device, and it’s not just an ebook reader. It’s a mix of a lot of things, with the iPad designed to act as an eBook reader, a multimedia player with iTunes support, 3D gaming, and H.264 720p HD video playback capabilities, a full-featured internet browser, a photo viewer with album support, and a full-featured personal organizer with a notepad, contacts list, and calendar.

What makes it stand out is that it does everything pretty well (or at least it looks like it based on initial details), with everything done with Apple’s usual flair for creating an intuitive interface that just looks so cool. Page turns during eBook-reading are done with smooth “page-turning” animation, movies are crisp and brightly colored, and the iPhone-like interface makes it pretty easy to get around without having to go through a manual. The bright, LED-backlit, 9.7-inch widescreen (1024 x 768, 132ppi) display helps a lot with the visuals and controls; it supports multi-touch gestures and has a virtual keyboard that pops out for text input, so everything from typing and browsing comes naturally.

The iBooks app makes it stand out from other readers, showing a bookshelf that fills up with book titles that you add to it (making the experience of buying ebooks a bit more addicting). For downloading more books, there’s an iBookstore “behind” the bookshelf that opens up if you need more. Gaming is also pretty cool, with the demo of EA’s Need for Speed shown, where you use the built-in accelerometer for controls. The iPad comes with a link to Apple’s App store, and the SDK has been released, so there shouldn’t be any problem with new content for the long run.

It does a lot of things well, but you have to remember what it’s not. While it runs on Apple’s 1GHz A4 chip, it doesn’t run on a PC or Mac OS, so you don’t get multitasking. It also doesn’t come with a built-in camera, but that can easily be remedied with an accessory. Apple will also offer a keyboard dock accessory if you don’t feel like hammering out a long documents using the virtual keyboard.

The good news is that it’s not going to cost the $1,000 that some rumors said it would. The iPad’s price will start at $499 for the basic kit with 16GBs of storage and a Wi-fi connection, while the high-end model tops out at $829, with 64GBs of storage and Wi-fi + 3G connectivity. The Wi-fi-only units (including models that will sell for $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB) is set to be released in March, while the 3G-equipped units (via AT&T) will ship a month after.

The Dash gives you instant access to thousands of online apps. Handy if you're willing to part with $200.

The interface is widget-based, with widgets that can display fresh online content from Chumby via a Wi-fi connection. The Dash’s design allows it to easily stand on a tabletop as well as lie flat on a lap, with built-in features that include USB ports and speakers for music and video playback. Built-in apps include a clock and internet radio tuner, but thousands of available apps also gives it access to Facebook and Twitter, YouTube videos, email, news and live info sites, and tons of others.

Priced at $200, it’s not a necessary must-have. But having something like this on your bedside table has its advantages. For starters, you don’t have to pull out your laptop every time you need to check on your fantasy sports scores. Tons of apps, with tons of possibilities. At the very least, this un-clutters your bedside table, allowing you to toss out that alarm clock, photo frame, radio, along with other stuff you might keep beside your bed (just leave the rubbers in there. The Dash will not replace those).

Nokia has started shipping the N900, the company’s first smartphone that runs a Maemo Linux operating system instead of Symbian.

It’s much more powerful than the average smartphone though—designed for mobile internet and performance, the N900 is powered by a 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 mobile processor, 256MB of memory, and PowerVR SGX graphics, the N900 sports a full Mozilla-based browser that can handle Flash animations and a 3.5-inch multi-touch screen for easier mobile browsing and portable computing.

The phone also sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for fast data input, and is rounded out by a high-end spec that includes 32GBs of internal storage, HSDPA, GPS and Wi-fi connectivity (that can connect to DLNA-compliant devices), and a 5-megapixel cam with autofocus.