Welcome, friends, to another installment of Gadget
Dreams and Nightmares, a trip through the land of delightful and
deplorable gizmos.
Among the items to grab my eye this week are portable chargers and
espresso makers, a robot hack, a limited-function radio, and a
bizarre-looking camera.
Ratings denote how interested I am in using each item, and are not an
indicator of quality or how strongly I recommend you spend money on
them. (An early tip: Don't buy the radio thing.)
HTC RE Camera
HTC is stepping so far out of the box with the RE Camera (pictured
above), it's almost as if there was never a box to begin with.
Instead of making us stare through a viewfinder, this minimalist
device almost demands a return to older forms of photography, while
still taking advantage of modern technology.
It looks like a cross between a periscope and an asthma inhaler,
neither of which scream style to anyone who might spot it in your hand. A
Lytro this is not.
There are some positives, since it can capture 16-megapixel still
images and 1080p video while wirelessly transferring the content to a
smartphone. It's likely to be more comfortable to use for extended
periods of time than holding up increasingly larger smartphones to
capture, say, a child's school play performance.
Meanwhile, if one absolutely needs to capture something quickly --
for instance, if a crime is taking place -- the RE Camera might let one
snap photos or start filming more quickly and inconspicuously than a
smartphone would.
Yet I don't really see this taking off. It can't be easier to use
this than to whip out a smartphone and take a quick picture. There's a
companion app that can act as a viewfinder, but that seems somewhat
redundant when at that point you could take a photo with your phone.
It's a poorly timed move, as well, since GoPro just unleashed a range
of new cameras, starting at $130. Shelling out $200 for a simple camera
that aims to keep smartphones in one's pocket seems superfluous. Then
again, if it stops people from taking photos with their tablets, it
might not be such a bad idea.
Rating: 2 Out of 5 Spy Submarines
Pronto Fast-Charge Battery
Carting a two-year-old smartphone around means it's increasingly
unlikely the battery charge lasts a full day. I often have to resort to
Airplane Mode to make sure I can get through an afternoon away from home
and still be reachable in case of emergencies.
It's probably time I picked up an external charger, and the fast-charging Pronto looks like a great option.
