20 biggest tech launches of 2008

HP TouchSmart tx2

The year 2008 was surely the year of Touch. Touch computing came to laptops with Hewlett Packard's first laptop computer with multi-touch technology, promising users the same fingertip navigation built into previous HP desktops and popularised by Apple's iPhone. Called the TouchSmart tx2, the model has three modes: PC, display and tablet, with a digital pen to sketch or take notes directly on the screen. TouchSmart tx2 features a 12.1-inch diagonal BrightView LED display and convertible design that allows it to be used as a PC, display or tablet. Users can navigate the screen with more than one finger simultaneously, using what HP describes as ‘capacitive multi-touch technology’. Since the laptop recognises input from more than one finger at a time, users can use multiple gestures, such as flicking, pinching and rotating. In addition, the screen, which has a resolution of 1,200 by 800 pixels, swivels and can be laid flat. The TouchSmart tx2 comes preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium, and HP is giving customers the choice of AMD's Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core mobile processor or AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core mobile processor. The system also has ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor, up to 8GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive. Other features include Bluetooth and WiFi wireless technology, an integrated camera and a DVD burner. HP TouchSmart tx2 is priced starting at $1,149. The company has placed its touchscreen laptop in the same bracket as Apple's low-end MacBooks in terms of pricing.

Google G1

Internet search giant Google finally pulled off curtains over its mobile phone entry with the launch of G1. The phone which has Google's operating system Android was launched by HTC on TMobile network. The device combines a touchscreen and a keyboard. G1 is the first phone boasting Android software created by a Google-led consortium. In India G1 is expected to hit stores in early 2009. G1 has a large 3.2-inch colour touchscreen display with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels. Weighing 158 grams, the phone is similar in size to 3G iPhone, just slightly heavier, and narrower at sides. G1 comes in three colours, black, white and brown. The phone's large colour touchscreen slides out to expose a full keyboard. Google's G1 offers a host of multimedia features similar to that of Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry. The phone has a trackball for navigation, high-speed Internet browsing, WiFi, email, instant messaging and SMS texting. The phone functions on 3G network and is specially designed to offer high-speed Internet surfing. It also has a GPS, a 3 megapixel camera with photo-sharing capability and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a feature lacking on the iPhone. Like iPhone, in G1 users cannot shoot video. There's also a feature by which Gmail users will get instant notification whenever they receive a new message in their inbox. Google has made Android software available for free to carriers and handset makers who want to use it to power their own devices. The search giant hopes that the open source software will eventually become the dominant operating system for mobile phones.

Apple iPods

Another big launch from Apple this year: The company refreshed its popular iPod line-up by adding a host of new features in iPod nano and Touch. While the company termed the new nano, “thinnest-ever,” the new iPod Touch is called “the funnest iPod ever." The fourth-generation nano is oval shaped at the edges, giving it a sleeker and slimmer look, unlike the previous compact design. The player has a 2-inch (diagonal) LCD display with blue-white LED backlight and 320 x 240 pixel resolution. Users can now view content in both portrait and landscape modes. iPod Touch too has gone sleeker in design. It now sports a rounded chromed-steel back that wraps around the sides just like the 3G iPhone. The player has a 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen multi-touch display with 480 x 320-pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch. There were strong speculations that Apple will increase the memory capacity of iPod Touch to 64GB. But, both the models disappointed with no memory upgrade. Among key features, the new nano comes with a "shake to shuffle" feature that changes songs as the user shakes the player. Another addition is the built-in accelerometer which flips the screen orientation, a feature already available in iPhone. Users can now view photos and video in both horizontal and landscape mode. The second-generation iPod Touch too introduced many new features: support for on-device Genius playlist creation, Microsoft Exchange Push email, multi-language keyboard, dictionary support, MobileMe, multiple calendar management, contacts search and a scientific calculator. Popularly termed iPhone cousin, iPod Touch now has a volume rocker switch on the sides for making quick volume adjustments without touching the screen. There's also a built-in speaker added. Apple claims the new iPod Touch will support up to 36 hours of music and 6 hours of video.

Samsung X360

Korean electronic maker Samsung unveiled Apple Air rival, sub-3 pound laptop X360 at IFA 2008. The laptop weighs a mere 2.8 pounds (1.27 kg, making it 90 grams lighter than Apple Air. Taking a direct hit at MacBook Air, the tagline for Samsung X360 says "Lighter than Air." The notebook also challenges Lenovo's ThinkPad X300 which weighs 2.93 pounds. With 13.3-inch WXGA (1280x800) LCD screen, Samsung X360 is powered by Intel Centrino 2 ultra-low voltage processor. Equipped with DDR3 1066MHz 1GB memory, expandable up to 4GB, the laptop packs an external DVD super multi-dual layer writer. It has three USB ports, a built-in HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) connection, 34mm express card slot and VGA output. It is also equipped with a 7-in-1 memory card reader, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), 802.11n wireless technology and 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN connection. With 1.3 megapixel digital motion camera, it supports videoconferencing and live messaging features. It has a removable six-cell battery that ensures up to 10 hours of continuous use. To ensure data protection, the laptop has biometric fingerprint and platform module authentication system.

Hasselblad H3DII-50

A Swedish company Hasselblad's announcement of the launch of Hasselblad H3DII-50, featuring a new Kodak 50-megapixel sensor, has pushed the available resolution in digital cameras to a new high. Such high resolution goes beyond the needs of most consumers but professional photographers would appreciate the unprecedented level of detail provided by it. The camera proves useful for applications such as aerial photography as the availability of higher resolution allows the plane to fly higher and the number of pictures necessary for covering a given area is also reduced. The new Kodak image sensor, which produces an array of 8,176-by-6,132 pixels, would be implemented in the same size housing as Hasselblad's existing 39 megapixel H3DII-39 camera. Kodak has also added a set of new features on the sensor, such as new dyes, that would result in richer colours. It also includes quick flush technology that enables faster image capture and lower power consumption, resulting in longer battery life.