Sony has announced speedier memory cards that support the new XQD specification. The recently approved and licensed format from CompactFlash Association, XQD cards are touted for its speed and performance that can capture up to 100 frames in RAW format in continuous shooting mode.

The new XQD card from Sony is compatible with Nikon’s D4 DSLR that promises to give a write and read speed of up to 1Gbps and 125MB/s respectively.

Sony XQD card will be available in 16GB and 32GB capacities at a price of $129.99 and $229.99.

We’ve been Zagg fans for quite some time, thanks to its ultimate gadget protector — Invisible Shield. But this is the first time we are reviewing an accessory from Zagg, which isn’t guarding us from scratches or any other untowardness. We take a look at the newly announced ZAGGkeys FLEX Keyboard for iOS and Android devices.

Design:

The fact that the new Zagg keyboard is an Honoree in the Designs and Engineering category for CES 2012 speaks for itself. In addition to bundling just a keyboard, Zagg ships the wireless keyboard with a case for the keyboard or can double up as a kickstand for the gadget (read tablet) you’re typing on.

The keyboard is made of plastic, which makes it very light and portable to carry. The case on the other hand, adopts a rubbery texture on the outside to give a grip to the gadgets while acting as a stand and has a velvet-material on the inside.

Overall, the complete package is portable that makes it easy to tuck the external keyboard in a small bag.

Performance:
Keyboards on the Mac are one of the best in the industry and this offering from Zagg tries to emulate it and to be honest, it does a very good job. The keys are nicely spaced; tactile feedback is good and can be set to take advantage of iOS or Android-centric features with dedicated buttons. The keyboard has an iOS-Android switch that a user can select, depending on the device.

One thing I would like to note is that the keyboard boasts almost universal compatibility with devices. I tried using the keyboard with HP TouchPad and it worked just fine except it can’t execute certain commands specific to the webOS.

As far as battery goes, ZAGGkeys FLEX has a built-in battery that can be charged via a regular microUSB cable. The battery life is very impressive, which is about 30 days of standby time and usage of more than 20 hours.

The keyboard case which also doubles up as a device stand is good but the viewing angle when the device is placed, is restricted.

Conclusion:
With the increased usage of iPad and Android tablets, most consumers have started to use it as an important communication device and though the touch-enabled keyboard works just fine, it cannot beat the usability of a physical keyboard. Make it portable just like the one Zagg has created and you’ve got an ultimate combination.

It retails for $79.99.

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Rating:
Pros: Excellent Keyboard, Lightweight, Battery Life
Cons: Restricted viewing angle of gadget on the case

Smartphones and tablets have become an integral part of our lives. We create as well as consume an equal amount of content on our mobile devices. Thus having ample storage on the device has become a must. However, with devices like iPhone, iPad or the recent Galaxy Nexus Android phone, users face an issue of limited storage with no external expansion slot. To solve such issues, Kingston has come with a solution called the Wi-Drive.

Wi-Drive basically expands the storage wirelessly so a user can access all the content on his mobile device without having to attach anything to the device. However, Wi-Drive is just not an portable storage device, but its very well pocketable, almost like an iPhone 3G. But is expanding storage wirelessly worth it? We take a look.

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Read the rest of Kingston Wi-Drive Review (548 words)

Creative announced that their EP-series noise-isolation earphones are now available in India, including the EP-660 and EP-600. The EP-series boasts noise-isolation technology that prevents ambient noise and gives users an unmatched listening experience.

The EP-660 and EP-600 comes with a high-quality Neodymium driver to deliver crystal clear playback with deep bass and are designed ergonomically that are suitable for prolonged sessions of music listening. Additionally, the EP-660 features a tilt-pipe acoustic chamber for improved music reproduction.

The EP-series earphones start from an affordable Rs. 700 and goes up to Rs. 1,499. EP-600 and EP-660 are priced at Rs. 899 and Rs. 1,499 respectively.

In addition to unveiling the sleek and sexy Moto RAZR, Motorola also announced a new lifestyle device that combines fitness tracking and music player in one. Dubbed as MOTOACTV, the device is reminiscent to Apple’s iPod nano but comes with a belt that allows wearing on a wrist.

MOTOACTV is equipped with AccuSense and GPS that tracks exact time, distance, speed, heart rate and calories burned which then can be uploaded on motoactv.com.

As for its music prowess, MOTOACTV comes in capacity of 8 or 16GB that can store up to 4,000 songs and has a smart music player that learns what tracks motivate the user by measuring the performance against the music. Moreover, there’s FM Radio as well, in case a user does not want to hear the loaded music.

Other features include a 1.6-inch touchscreen display with Gorilla Glass, Bluetooth 4.0, Android device sync support to receive incoming calls and messages and up to 10 hours of battery life.

MOTOACTV is currently on pre-order for $249 (8GB) and $299 (16GB) respectively and will be available from November 6.

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Creative, off late has been very aggressive in launching wireless portable devices. Latest to add it to their product list are the WP-450, WP-350 and WP-250 Bluetooth music listening and voice communication headphones with invisible mic. Compatible with iPod, iPhone and other smart phones, the WP-series of headphones deliver high quality music, claims Creative.

“We designed the Creative WP-Series of headphones to provide the highest quality wireless voice communications and music playback, so anyone with a smartphone can experience much clearer calling and excellent audio playback quality from just one set of headphones,” said Ernest Sim, Regional Sales Manager for the Indian Subcontinent at Creative Technology Ltd.

The Creative WP-350 and WP-450 headphones offers music playback up to 8 hours and talk time up to 9 hours, supports apt-X Bluetooth codec and comes with on-ear music and call controls. The headphones can be charged via USB cable.

The Creative WP-450, Creative WP-350 and Creative WP-250 headphones are priced at Rs.7,999, Rs.5,999 and Rs.3,599 respectively.

Owning a shiny and expensive DSLR is not the only thing you need for perfect pictures. A memory card is equally important to allow faster processing so that you don’t miss that perfect shot. Today we take a look at SanDisk’s newest memory card that promises excellent read/write speed and see if its worth the spend or not.

At a first glance the SanDisk Extreme Pro may look like another SDHC or SDXC card but is coated with a layer of protection that enhances the card’s durability. The card has a good build quality that SanDisk claims to withstand worst temperatures and is even waterproof, dustproof and x-ray proof.

Performance:
In addition to the rock solid build quality, the Extreme Pro Series is one of the fastest memory cards available. The card is an UHS Speed Class 1 boasting a read/write speed of up to 45 megabytes per second and if we were to put the performance in couple of words — It delivers. The card makes taking burst shots on a DSLR a real breeze as it can write images onto the card quickly. The speed is also evident even when the card is used with a full HD camcorder. However, there’s one limitation to take advantage of the enhanced speeds. A user must have a UHS-interface compatible device. And if you’re out of luck, the card will simply jump back to give Class 10 speeds.

Another advantage of using the Extreme Pro Series is that it comes with 1-year subscription of RescuePRO. The software allows users to retrieve any digital media or data stored on the memory card after it was deleted or corrupted.

Conclusion:
All said and done. Should you get one? The first and foremost criteria is to check if your device supports UHS interface. If not, spending a considerable amount on the new interface card does not make sense as cards with highest speed class support go at a cheaper price. On the other hand, if you’re planning to upgrade in the coming months and will capture a lot of photos at high-speed, this card is worth every penny.

The card retails for Rs. 12,500 in India or for our American readers, you can get it for $140 at Amazon.

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Rating:
Pros: Fast, Backward compatible
Cons: Expensive

Creative has launched a new line of headsets in India targeted at gamers. The line consists of Aplha, Sigma and Omega wireless headsets and are equipped with THX TruStudio Pro audio technology that users advanced algorithms to recreate sound, allowing gamers to hear voices and sound with clarity. All the headsets come with high-resolution drivers for excellent audio output, detachable noise-cancelling mic for VoIP and in-game communications and is compatible with PS3, Xbo 360, Mac and PC.

Creative’s Sound Blaster Tactic3D headsets will be available in India by end of September at prices of Rs. 3,599 for Alpha, Rs. 5,399 for Sigma and Rs. 10,999 for Omega.

In an average consumers drawing room there is a Television set, a Set-top box and a DVD/Blu-ray player. If you are using all the three devices at once, you will surely have a hard-time manning them all. This is the time you would feel the need of a single remote control that can control all your devices. There are numerous Universal remotes available in the market currently, ranging from branded ones to the ones
made from the land of Dragons.

However, if you happen to have an iPhone 4, you no longer need to hunt for an additional universal remote.

Mashed Pixel has come up with a new accessory called Surc that makes your iPhone 4 act as a universal remote controller. We’ve been using it for quite some time and this is what we think.

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Read the rest of Surc iPhone 4 Universal Remote Case Review (678 words)

Otterbox has a great lineup of cases for smartphones. For the iPhone 4, they have introduced a new case series called the Reflex. The Reflex series case comes in the standard Otterbox packaging that includes the case, a screen protector and a small plastic applicator for the screen protector. Unlike other cases, the Reflex series is a simple and easy to install case.

The Reflex series is based on the car crumple zone technology. In simple words, when an car crashes, the crumple zone protects the passengers in the vehicle. Similarly, the reflex case incorporates air cushions surrounding the device, so if you drop the iPhone 4, the case flexes upon impact and rebounds to its original form.

Divided into two halves, the case slides in the iPhone 4 from the top and from the bottom. This installation design makes it easy to dock your iPhone 4 by just removing the lower part of the case. However, you can charge the phone without removing the lower part. The case is made of hard and soft plastic. The hard plastic is found at the back with edges made of soft plastic that give a rubbery feel to the phone, making it less slide-prone.

The case fully covers the back of the iPhone except the camera. The volume buttons are protected by the rubber with the Vibrate button fully exposed. At the top, the 3.5mm audio jack is also accessible with the cut-out but the power/wake button is protected with the rubber button.

Installation of the case is real-simple, wipe off your iPhone with the provided cleaning cloth and install the screen protector, which in my opinion could have been made better. Anyways, once the screen protector is installed, install the top-half of the case by simply sliding it on the phone, repeat the same for the bottom-half. The case installs with a snap.

We really liked the case as it looks premium and uses good quality material that really protects the iPhone 4. The design and installation of the case is also unique that is not found in any of the other cases. The case retails for $44.95 and is also compatible with the white iPhone. You can order one for yourself at the link below.

Product Page

Rating:
Pros: Easy to Install and Remove, Sturdy
Cons: Mediocre screen protector quality