Handheld

People who often find themselves undertaking research in a library or museum could well encounter a text written in a language different to their own. While online translation solutions are now readily available, retyping the word, phrase or page onto a smartphone using a virtual keyboard can quickly become a tiresome task. The Quicktionary TS Premium from Wizcom Technologies allows the user to scan the text into the device and a built-in word and phrase dictionary offers up the translation on the included screen. The pen-like device also has a built-in speaker to help those who want to learn how to pronounce the scanned word or line of text. Read More

While mobile devices have attracted a large part of the casual gaming market, PC games still offer a depth and adaptable user interface that is impossible to match on mobile phones, tablets, or even consoles. With that in mind, gaming-oriented peripherals manufacturer Razer has unveiled a concept device at CES 2011. Called the Razer Switchblade, it looks to bring PC desktop gaming to a portable form factor. Read More

WikiReader, the palm-sized device that makes Wikipedia entries available offline, has gone multilingual. In addition to being able to store the more than three million English language Wikipedia articles, users can now download any of 14 other language versions of Wikipedia along with the virtual keyboards with characters to support them. Read More

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, you might have heard that Apple has released its iPad. But what’s an iPad without accessories and, you’ve guessed it, they’ve already started hitting the shops to make the most of the hype surrounding the iPad's release. So far, there’s a nice keyboard dock, a camera connection kit, conventional docks, power adapters and chargers, and roughly as many different styles of carry bags and cases as there were units sold on the first day. We’ll give you a look at a few must-haves Read More

Panasonic has announced a new field-ready addition to its Toughbook range, the Toughbook H1 Field tablet computer. Built with highly mobile professionals in mind, the new weatherproof and shockproof model benefits from a dual battery setup that should help ensure power is always available, a sunlight-visible touchscreen interface, reinforced solid state storage and a molded hand grip for extra comfort. Read More

From identifying anemia by counting red blood cells to tracking the growth of cell/ tissue cultures in a laboratory, counting cells is the basis of many life science activities. Designed to replace the process of counting cells manually under a microscope using a hemocytometer or an expensive desk top automatic cell counter, Millipore's Scepter crams cell counting technology found in much larger instruments into a hand-held device the size of an automated pipette. Read More

With the development of the ZMS-08 system on a chip, ZiiLabs is aiming to bring high performance media processing to low power devices. As well as allowing full Blu-ray quality 1080p video playback, the chip supports simultaneous HD encode and decode, 3D and 2D image processing and advanced audio. Read More

Allcam has crammed a lot of technology into a very small space to create the CP1 - a handheld computer/pico projector that runs Windows CE and is designed for the business professional who conducts presentations on-the-fly. It's got a built-in mouse-pad, but it also has mini-USB connector for keyboard and mouse (or any other USB device). There's also it a speaker, around four hours of battery life and it weighs just under 1kg (2.2lbs). Read More

It seems strange to think that in today’s age of ever advancing technology, it’s been over 100 years since Nikola Tesla began developing theories for wireless power, and though researchers at MIT have picked up the baton in recent times, we’re still waiting for an efficient, mass-market way to abolish reams of unsightly cables from our homes. The Powermat, demonstrated at CES 2009, is one product that threatens to kick-start this revolution. Another early mover in the market is WildCharge and we've been testing one of these devices to find out first hand what all the fuss is about. Read More