Portable Universal External Battery

Fujitsu-Siemens Recalls Faulty Laptop Batteries

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Batteries in some notebook computers from Fujitsu Siemens Computers can overheat, with a risk of fire. The company has recalled the batteries in some of its Amilo notebook computers, and will replace affected batteries free of charge, it said this week.

Customers with batteries affected by the recall should stop using them immediately.

The company recommends removing the battery like Fujitsu Lifebook S6200 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP80 Battery, Fujitsu Lifebook S6220 Battery, Fujitsu Lifebook S2020 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP64 Battery, Fujitsu Lifebook S6120 Battery, Fujitsu N5485 Battery, Fujitsu Lifebook T4000 Battery, Fujitsu Lifebook T4020 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP121 Battery from the computer, which can still be operated on main electrical power.
The rechargeable lithium ion batteries involved in the recall have model numbers ending in G1L1, and were supplied with the following Amilo notebooks: A7640, A1640, M1405, M1424, M1425, M7405, M7424, M7425, and Pro V2020.

The model numbers can be found in the middle of a label on the underside of the computer, the company says.

The batteries went on sale in October 2004, and may also have been sold separately as spares, the company says.

More information about to obtain a replacement battery can be found online.

The company has received four reports of batteries overheating, out of a possible 250,000 units, it says. No injuries have been reported, it says.

In May, Apple Computer recalled 128,000 notebook computer batteries after receiving six reports of them overheating.

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Fujitsu Tech Could Turn Us All Into Battery Chargers

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Energy is everywhere--from light to heat to wind and everything in between. And in this era of high fuel prices, we need to find more ways of capturing it on the cheap. And Fujitsu might have come up with an effective way of doing so. Fujitsu's so-called energy harvesting technology works by collecting energy from various sources, such as ambient light, vibrations, ambient heat, and radio waves.

What makes this technology unique is that, unlike technology like solar cells, Fujitu's technology can harvest more than one type of energy at a time--more specifically, light and heat. Fujitsu based the technology on an organic material that it says is inexpensive to use (thoughFujitsu did not say what this organic matter was).

Fujitsu's press release gives more detail into how this new technology works--give it a read if you're curious about the nitty-gritty.

This sort of technology has countless uses: For example, it could be used in to power medical monitoring equipment without requiring wiring or batteries such as Fujitsu FM-41 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP83 Battery, Fujitsu Lifebook C2320 Battery, Fujitsu Lifebook C6200 Battery, Fujitsu LifeBook P1510 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP102 Battery, Fujitsu LifeBook P1610 Battery, Fujitsu LifeBook B6110 Battery, Fujitsu FMVNBP136 Battery, Fujitsu FPCBP112 Battery, as Fujitsu suggests. Or maybe it could be made into gadget-charging T-shirts--plug your smartphone into it for a little extra juice. And who knows? Depending on how much energy this technology produces, it could be put to use elsewhere, such as in cars.

But don't hold your breath for human-powered gadgets: Fujitsu plans on testing this technology until 2015.

Dell, MSI announce next-gen Atom netbooks

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The 'Pine Trail' netbook announcements are coming thick and fast, following Intel's announcement of its next-gen Atom platform last night. First up, Dell, MSI and Asus.

Asus today admitted it has been working on Eee PC 1005P, 1005PE and 1001P netbooks, all members of its slimline Seashell family.

Asus said they'll deliver up to 14 hours' runtime, though that's almost certainly a result of its Super Hybrid Engine facility, which can over- and underclock the host CPU as much as the use of Intel's new N450 processor.

Indeed, MSI said the N450 alone delivers a battery such as Dell RD859 Battery, Dell PR002 Battery, Dell UD260 Battery, Dell PD942 Battery, Dell Latitude 131L Battery, Dell 8F871 Battery, Dell 2G218 Battery, Dell Winbook N4 Battery, Dell F0590A01 Battery, Dell 7T670 Battery life boost of around 15 per cent to its Wind U130 and U135 netbooks.

Both have the same basic spec as the Asus machines" 1.66GHz N450 with on-board GMA 3150 graphics core, plus an NM10 chipset handling the I/O: VGA, Gigabit Ethernet, four-in-one memory card reader, 1.3Mp webcam, USB ports, 160GB (U130) or 250GB (U135) hard drive, and 802.11n Wi-Fi.

The MSI netbooks have the customary 10in, 1024 x 600 display, as do the Asus products.

The N450-based Dell Mini 10 has much the same spec too, but it's limited to 802.11b/g Wi-Fi. Again, there's a choice of 160GB or 250GB hard drive capacity.

It's also offering an optional Broadcom Crystal HD graphics chip, used to feed a 1366 x 768 display.

Asus didn't say how much its trio of Pine Trail netbooks will cost, but they'll all go on sale in January 2010. So will the two MSI machines, which will be priced at £229 and £279, respectively.

The new Mini 10 will ship in the same timeframe for $299 (£185).

Dell Studio 17 touchscreen notebook

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When it comes to mobile phones, tablet PCs or one of those brightly-coloured public access kiosks you find in airports and shopping centres, touchscreen displays make perfect sense. They do away with the need for a space-consuming keyboard and let the display take up the majority of the device.
But do you really need a touchscreen on a laptop that’s already got a perfectly good keyboard and touchpad? Dell seems to think so, and has decided to release a new multi-touch version of its popular Studio 17 notebook with battery like dell Vostro 1510 battery, dell T112C battery, dell Vostro 1310 battery, dell Vostro 1520 battery, dell Vostro 2510 battery, dell Inspiron 1501 battery, dell Vostro 1000 battery, dell T116C battery, dell Y022C battery, dell Latitude E6400 battery.

Despite Microsoft taking all the trouble to integrate multi-touch support into Windows 7, there are precious few touchscreen PCs to choose from. HP’s been making some touch noise – most recently with its TouchSmart 600 all-in-one PC – but laptops with touchscreens are very rare. So far, we've only seen Acer's Aspire 5738PG Touch- reviewed here. Whether this means there’s a gap in the market - or simply that no one wants them - is up for debate.

The glossy black chassis of the Studio 17 feels reassuringly sturdy, and at 3.5kg the machine is also weighty. Open the lid and the inimitable sheen of a capacitive touch-sensitive display is immediately obvious – this also makes it a nightmare in terms of attracting reflections.
Dell’s gone for a low-profile keyboard complete with numeric keypad. Given the price of the Studio 17, it was disappointing to find that the keyboard flexes quite heavily in the middle. Some people may not mind, but for me a sturdy, unbending keyboard is a good sign that care has been taken over the design of a laptop. And when typing at speed, the constant, albeit small bouncing motion can soon become an irritation.

I also wasn’t hugely impressed with the slightly slippery nature of the keys. Thankfully, the large touchpad is far more welcoming, with its matte texture aiding usability.Should you, for whatever reason, be using the laptop in the dark, the rather nifty backlight on the keyboard means you won’t be fumbling around. Although present on the review unit, the backlight is actually an optional extra, so if you’ve no need for it, £30 can be shaved off the asking price.

Fans of the Context key - you know, the one that lets you bring up a right-click menu - will be disappointed to hear Dell’s seen fit to banish it from the Studio 17. Instead, you’ll need to use the Shift + F10 combo. Dell has also decided the Function keys along the top of the keyboard aren’t as important as its shortcut buttons – if you want to send an F2 command, for example, you’ll need to press Fn + F2, otherwise you’ll simply activate the shortcut to switch off Wi-Fi.

If this bothers you, it can be reversed in the Bios, so that the shortcuts, not the function keys, require a simultaneous press of the Fn key.
Dell’s gone to town with the speaker system in the Studio 17. Stereo speakers at the front combine with a sub-woofer on the underside of the laptop to provide some truly stunning audio. Whack it up to full and it produces loud and undistorted tunes with aplomb.
Unfortunately, Dell’s opted to place the two satellite speakers on the wrist rest. While fine when using the laptop as a portable hi-fi, try listening to music while typing or gaming and you have to take great care not to let your palms cover the speakers. It would have been far better to situate them either just above the keyboard or underneath the front lip of the chassis.

Unfortunately, Dell’s opted to place the two satellite speakers on the wrist rest. While fine when using the laptop as a portable hi-fi, try listening to music while typing or gaming and you have to take great care not to let your palms cover the speakers. It would have been far better to situate them either just above the keyboard or underneath the front lip of the chassis.

The 17.3in display has a native resolution of 1600 x 900 which will no doubt disappoint many potential buyers. Dell presumably wanted to avoid anything higher than this so as to make the touch side of things easier – trying to use one of your grubby mitts to prod a small link or icon is hard enough at 1600 x 900. This resolution also means playing 1080p HD video at full resolution is out of the question, unless you fancy hooking the laptop up to an external display through its HDMI port.

Panasonic HDC-SD900 camcorder

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The HDC-SD900 was the first of Panasonic’s expanded 3D camcorder range to arrive in the UK. It sits below the HDC-TM900 and HDC-HS900 (which offer 32GB memory and 220GB HDD respectively), but shares the same functionality, recording Full HD and 3D video to SD card.

If you’re keen to film in 3D you’ll also need to invest in the VW-CLT1, an optional conversion lens. For a camcorder so feature laden, the HDC- SD900 is a snap to use. A generous 3.5in touchscreen allows easy flipping between a fully automatic IA mode and manual (shutter, iris, WB, focus) controls.

The SD900 offers a variety of 1080i AVCHD shooting options (you can choose from four quality grades distinguished by bit rate, of which the best overall option is probably HG), as well as 1080/50p for the highest possible picture (with a massive 28-Mbps bit rate), plus iFrame for Apple fans. I suspect the latter will be a huge draw for users of Mac editing packages, as it eliminates the need for time-consuming file conversions. Note iFrame records in a 960 x 540/30p format.

Naturally, the SD900 will also shoot digital stills and these clock up a respectable 13.3Mp in size. There’s an integrated auto flash, featuring red eye correction, for when light levels dip. The film/camera mode selector sits near the viewfinder and is easily manipulated. Alternatively, you can grab snaps during live filming. 

Also on-board is Panasonic’s Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) handshake-compensation tech. It’s a lifesaver on the brand’s Lumix compacts and disguises a world of fumbles when you can’t be bothered to use a tripod.
2D Full HD picture quality is excellent. There’s a stunning amount of detail in the SD900’s hi-def images, and colour performance is outstanding. Much of this can be attributed to the 3MOS image sensor, which offers thrice the fidelity of cheaper, single chip 1 MOS shooters. Wildlife footage shot on a crisp, bright day zinged with colour; with big close-ups of hungry swans revealing scads of feathery fine detail.

Positioned above the lens barrel is nest of microphones able to record in a 5.1 sound format. The audio quality from this array is impressive. While the surround sound element is a little thin, the stereo staging is expansive. If you’re lucky enough to shoot when wind noise is low, the results are surprisingly good.
Out and about, the SD900 handles well. It fits snugly into the hand and is nicely balanced. The battery such as canon NB-1L battery, canon NB-2L battery, canon BP-511 battery, canon NB-5L battery, canon NB-4L battery, canon NB-5H battery, panasonic VW-VBD1E Battery, panasonic VW-VBD1 Battery, Panasonic CGA-S002 Battery, HITACHI DZ-HS300E Battery, Olympus FE-230 Battery, canon MV930 Battery runs for upwards of an hour on full charge with near constant use.

Of course, the fact that this camcorder can shoot in 3D is a major attraction. The optional converter lens locks onto the barrel of the HDC-SD900, and once attached must be aligned using a simple cross hair system. Convergence takes little more than a minute to achieve, although you will have to do this every time you attach it. The zoom is disabled when the lens is attached.
The camera shoots in a side-by-side, half resolution, 3D mode. While there is clearly a hit to be taken in terms of clarity, the sense of depth you can achieve is reasonable compensation. For the most convincing 3D effect, you need to frame your movies with a dominant foreground object, close to the lens. This is because the limited interaxial distance between the two lenses on the converter makes it difficult for the camcorder to create a convincing sense of depth from mid-distance.

Cisco Flip Mino HD 8GB video camera

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Appearing in its second-generation guise in March this year, the Flip Mino HD received a few refinements, the most obvious being the larger 2in screen and an 8GB version allowing for up to two hours of video recording. Yet this popular pocket video camera has always lacked image stabilisation, that is, until now.

Both the Mino HD and the UltraHD have been upgraded with this feature, long-awaited by Flip fans. As with other Flip cams with the HD moniker, the 720p HD video is captured in MP4 format using the H.264 codec but it’s now at 50fps in PAL territories (60fps NTSC), up from 30fps.

The 4GB (one hour) Mino HD sports fashionable, metallic finish, the matt black version signifies it’s the revised 8GB model. The on/off button at the side falls neatly under the thumb. Give it a firm press and let go and it’s ready to shoot in a couple of seconds.

On the control surface, the Flip Mino HD has just one big, hard to miss, red button for recording video clips. If you hold this as it powers up you get the setup options for language, time, bleeps and recording light.

Surrounding the red button are illuminated touch-sensitive keys. The forward/backward controls scroll through existing clips or move along the timeline during playback. Use the +/- keys to operate the zoom when recording or vary the playback sound level. Just below the display are two slightly recessed buttons for playing and deleting files.
The screen itself is a big improvement compared to the earlier style models. Bright and crisp, it looks great and, appears a good deal more scratch resistant than others I’ve tried, such as the Sony Bloggie. It also comes with a soft cloth bag, which helps sustain its good looks and is certainly better than nothing, considering that it’s £30 for Sony’s Bloggie pouch.

For a point and shoot camera, the image quality turns out to be surprisingly good – just about sharp enough to live up to the HD tag, and with bold, strong colours. However, in strong sunlight colours could appear washed-out and some detail burnt out too. In fact, up against the same style Mino HD (but lacking the image stabilisation and increased frame rate), the new version seems even more prone to over-exposure, yet the contrast appears less harsh, so there is more detail in the shadows, but the edges aren't so crisp.
Certainly, you can perceive somewhat smoother shooting thanks to both the faster frame rate and image stabilisation. Cisco describes the latter as "Digital with hardware sensors…" The rest of the explanation is a bit of a blur. "With the mechanical gyro sensor we don’t lose the quality that digital typically implies, since we have a sensor that shifts the frame to centre the objects and reduce shaking." Well, it seems to work.

Even so, with its candybar phone size and light weight, the Flip Mino HD is very susceptible to every little move of your hands, and while the results seem more steady now, given the on-the-go nature of the camera, shake is something to expect. Still, if you really need it, there’s a tripod mount at the base, adjacent to the mini HDMI port.

The fixed-focus lens works between 0.8m to infinity (and beyond), and even clips shot within a range of 2 feet were acceptable. Yet used in low light conditions, the results were rather patchy. They don’t look bad on the small display but blown up on a computer screen, the recordings do exhibit a fair amount noise and some colour smearing, exacerbated when using the 2x digital zoom. Still, the Mino HD does well to capture reasonably well-defined footage in difficult conditions, and just about every time gives you something useable, so long as you’re not too fussy.
The Mino HD has a built-in USB connector that, er, flips up from the top – by sliding a switch on the side – and simply folds away again when not required. Dispensing with the need to carry USB cable when travelling, the Flip doesn’t need a separate charger either. Hook it up to a Mac or PC and it starts charging – with a full recharge taking about 3 hours. The internal lithium-ion battery like sony NP-F550 battery, sony NP-FR1 battery, sony NP-FM50 battery, sony NP-FM51 battery, sony NP-F10 battery, sony NP-FE1 battery, sony DSC-T7 battery, Panasonic CGA-S101A Battery, Olympus Li-10B Battery, Olympus BLM1 Battery, panasonic NV-GS10 battery, panasonic VHS-C Battery, canon EOS 400D Battery lasts for about 1.5 hours on a good day, but is non-interchangeable.

Toshiba Satellite Pro C650

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Toshiba has built its Satellite Pro C650 into a chassis that feels rather cheap and not especially cheerful. The deck around the keyboard has a curious textured finish that shows greasy fingerprint marks horribly.
Furthermore, the layout of the hardware appears to be guided by the price rather than by good engineering. The DVD writer is on the right hand side, the SD/MMC card reader is on the front and the handful of ports and connectors are on the left hand side, not that there are many of them as you only get two USB ports and can forget about luxuries such as an HDMI output.

The quality of the screen and keyboard are average but passable.

The C650-121 comes with a number of Toshiba utilities, in particular the Toshiba Bulletin Board that flashes messages such as 'there are three alerts' in much the same way that Windows Updates nags and nags again.

These alerts turned out to be an update for Tempro, a utility the "allows you to fine tune the performance of your laptop", a Bios update and a wireless network driver update, but these are laborious tasks to perform and not for the faint-hearted. For instance the wireless driver update requires that you know whether the adapter like Toshiba Portege M700 Adapter, Toshiba Satellite A10 Adapter, Toshiba Portege R600 Adapter, Toshiba Portege PPR65U Adapter, Toshiba Satellite A75 Adapter, Toshiba Qosmio G25 Adapter, Toshiba Qosmio F50 Adapter, Toshiba Tecra A1 Adapter, Toshiba Tecra A9 Adapter, Toshiba Tecra R10 Adapter, Toshiba Satellite R10 Adapter inside your laptop is made by Atheros, Broadcom, Intel or Realtek. Fine for Reg Hardware readers, less so for their aged parents or young offspring.

The Toshiba doesn't have much to spare in the way of hardware resources and all this software, along with Service Station and McAfee Internet Security, surely doesn't help the cause.

Basic hardware that is topped off with a bunch of Toshiba utilities and then saved from oblivion by a lowish price.

Emulex buys ServerEngines

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Emulex is buying ServerEngines, thus securing its core FCoE technology.

FCoE is Fibre Channel over Ethernet, the sending of Fibre Channel data frames across an Ethernet link. There are two dominant Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) companies: Emulex and QLogic. Both are moving energetically into FCoE and QLogic has an advantage as it owns its own Ethernet intellectual property (IP), whereas Emulex has sourced its Ethernet IP from ServerEngines.

FCoE cards are called Converged Network Adapters such as Dell PA-6 Adapter, Dell PA-9 Adapter, Dell PA-12 Adapter, Dell PA-10 Adapter, Dell PA-3E Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1545 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1525 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1420 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1300 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1318 Adapter (CNA) and are becoming single chip devices with the Ethernet IP at the core of the chips.

ServerEngines Corporation is a privately-held, fabless semiconductor company founded in 2004 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It has approximately 170 employees, mostly engineers, based in Sunnyvale, as well as Austin, Texas and Hyderabad, India.

There are two product lines. The first is the BladeEngine family of 10Gbit/s Ethernet application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) designed for Local Area Network on Motherboard (LOM) applications. Emulex uses this ASIC for its OneConnect CNA. Second is the Pilot family of server management controllers, which reside down on the motherboard and enable remote IP based “lights out” management capabilities. Pilot ASICs are currently being used by Cisco, HP, NEC and Unisys.

Emulex is paying big bucks for this small company: around $78m in cash plus eight million shares of Emulex stock, which would represent an additional $81m. The agreement also provides for the payment of an additional four million shares of Emulex stock, issuable if the ServerEngines business achieves certain milestones targeted for completion by the end of 2011. Emulex will also assume the outstanding ServerEngines debt, including debt owed to Emulex, which is currently $25m, other liabilities, and ServerEngines stock options upon close.

These numbers add up to about $225m, if the ServerEngines achieves the specified milestones, possibly more depending upon the unspecified debts and stock options.

ServerEngines describes its founding thus: "ServerEngines is very much a restart of ServerWorks; a maker of Intel-based server chipsets that was started in the mid-1990's and was subsequently sold to Broadcom in 2001. In 2003, ServerWorks CEO Raju Vegesna, left Broadcom and began deciding what his next company would be. In early 2004, Raju and the other two founders of ServerWorks, Sujith Arramreddy, CTO, and Sai Gadiraju, VP of Engineering, founded ServerEngines and funded the company themselves."

There was a $2.2m equity funding round in March. That $25m debt suggests Emulex has been funding ServerEngines. So it looks on the face of it as if the ServerEngines founders and shareholders will share about $200m between them. Not bad at all for six years' work.

Both the Emulex and ServerEngines boards have unanimously approved the acquisition and it is expected to be completed in July 2010, subject to receipt of ServerEngines stockholder approval and satisfaction of other closing conditions.

Jim McCluney, Emulex’s President and CEO, said: “The combination of ServerEngines’ Ethernet and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) expertise with our own data centre technologies and world-class engineering team in an acquisition provides a significant opportunity to solidify Emulex’s Ethernet-driven network convergence strategy for 2011 and beyond.” With ServerEngines on board Emulex will control its own CNA destiny.

McCluney added this: "We believe that the addition of LOMs and Pilot Server Management Controllers from the acquisition will broaden our strategic position as a key infrastructure provider to server OEMs by providing a single and simplified interface for customers to engage on future development, support and communications as converged networks move out of the labs and into production environments over the next year. We also expect the acquisition will provide a more cost effective model in the 10Gbit/s Ethernet LOM and UCNA markets, as well as enabling us to more effectively address opportunities in the target storage market, as our volumes increase in 2011.”

This is good news for Emulex. It has notched up a raft of design wins for its CNAs, with Dell, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, IBM and NetApp all on board. QLogic has a real fight on its hands because Emulex will no longer be slowed down by having to be dependent on an independent ServerEngines with its own agenda for core technology developments.

Now Emulex's eyes will turn to FCoE adoption as lossless and low-latency Data Centre Class Ethernet rolls out next year. With this acquisition there's around a quarter of a billion Emulex acquisition dollars riding upon the FCoE adoption stakes. It had better be popular. ®

Dell Recalls Portable Power Adapters

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Adapters sold with Latitude and Inspiron notebooks may cause electrical shocks.

Dell is recalling about 38,000 power adapters sold worldwide that can cause an electrical shock if they are used with power cords from third-party manufacturers, a company spokesperson says.

The Dell Combination Auto/Air Adapters such as Dell Inspiron 1000 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1100 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1501 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1520 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 1720 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 2200 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 6000 Adapter, Dell Inspiron 6400 Adapter, Dell Inspiron E1505 Adapter, Dell Inspiron E1405 Adapter were sold between December 2003 and May 2004 as an accessory with Latitude and Inspiron notebooks, says Tom Kehoe, a Dell spokesperson.

The adapters allow those notebooks to use either a standard AC wall socket or a DC power outlet such as a cigarette lighter in an automobile.

If combined with a power cord other than the one provided by the manufacturer, Mobility Electronics, the adapters could pose the risk of an electrical shock.

No reports of electrical shocks have reached Dell, but the company is recalling the adapters to prevent any such problems from occurring, Kehoe says.

Customers will receive a new power cord and adapter inserts that prevent any other power cord from being used with the adapter, Kehoe says. Dell is in the process of contacting customers who purchased the adapters, he says.

For more information, U.S. customers can call (888) 245-3844. Dell is setting up a Web site for the recall that will feature more information and local telephone numbers for international customers.

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Sony PlayStation Vita Review

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At just over 7-inches wide and 3-inches tall, it’s impossible for anyone to mistake the PlayStation Vita for anything other than a handheld gaming machine. Despite its size the device is actually surprisingly light, thanks to a reinforced plastic chassis that’s difficult to bend or flex. It feels solid, and is comfortable to hold for extended play sessions. Our 3G-capable Vita ($300 at time of review) clocked in at just under 10 ounces, making it comfortable for daily carry.The $250 Wi-Fi-only model is lighter still, at 9 oz.

Despite its sleek profile and light weight you’ll likely want to avoid slipping the Vita into your pocket, thanks to the twin analog thumbsticks flanking the 5-inch OLED screen. They jut out about half an inch from the front of the device. Having access to two thumbsticks for analog control (as opposed to the squat Nintendo 3DS Circle Pad, or the flat analog nub on the Sony PSP) makes it possible for Vita developers to publish 3D games with complex controls. But the hardware itself is unwieldy. Unless you purchase a protective sleeve for the Vita (sold separately) you’ll want to carry the device in a purse or satchel to avoid potential damage to the thumbsticks.

The Vita sports plenty of other input options, including a directional pad, four face buttons, Start and Select buttons, and a PlayStation button that you can tap at any time to jump back to the Vita Home screen. Inside the Vita are a triple-axis accelerometer and gyroscope and a triple-axis electronic compass, along with a GPS radio (in 3G-enabled Vita units only). Along the top of the chassis you’ll find left and right trigger buttons flanking volume controls on the right and the power button on the left, as well as two flimsy plastic covers in the middle that conceal a slot for your Vita cards (more on those later) and a mysterious “Accessories Terminal” for connecting peripheral devices, none of which were announced at time of publication. In addition, 3G Vita owners will find their SIM card slot nestled on the left side of the unit beneath a black plastic cover.

Rounding out the unit are a headphone/microphone jack, a “multiuse connector” port and memory card slot along the bottom of the chassis. The multiuse connector port resembles nothing so much as a malformed USB jack, and as of publication it’s only use was as a port for plugging in the PlayStation Vita proprietary charger. The charger itself comes in three parts: a generic North American 2-pin power cord, a Playstation-branded USB cable with a proprietary pin configuration that matches the Vita’s multiuse connector port, and an AC adapter like Sony VGN-FZ Adapter, Sony PCG-505F Adapter, Sony PCG-R505 Adapter, Sony PCG-SR Adapter, Sony VGN-NR Adapter, Sony VGN-FZ11Z Adapter, Sony PCG-VX88 Adapter, Sony PCG-Z1A1 Adapter, Sony PCG-Z505HE Adapter, Sony VGN-AR Adapter with a USB port to unite the two. It’s a bit much to carry just to keep your Vita charged, but you can use the Vita-to-USB cable to connect the device directly to your PC. From there you can transfer photos, movies, music and applications between the Vita and your PC via the PlayStation Content Manager Assistant application (more on that later) or trickle charge the Vita’s battery via USB (as long as the Vita is not in active use).

But enough about ports, let’s talk about the screen. The capacitive 5-inch OLED touchscreen that dominates the Vita is big, beautiful and multitouch-capable. It’s bright enough that most games and movies are playable even in direct sunlight. The excellent viewing angle makes it easy to see what’s going on even at extreme angles, and the glossy finish doesn’t pick up fingerprints or smudge easily. With a resolution of 960-by-544 pixels it’s not quite as sharp as an iPhone 4S display, but it’s the best screen we’ve ever seen in a dedicated gaming handheld (trumping both the Nintendo 3DS and the PSP) and colorful games like Lumines and WipeOut 2048 look fantastic.