Posted 10/01/08 at 02:45:32 PM by Paul LIlly

Battery life isn't just the bane of desktop replacements, but even moderately spec'd notebooks aren't immune from woefully short runs before requiring a recharge. And while HP has laid claim to breaking the 24-hour battery barrier, by and large we're simply not at the point of seeing extraordinary long battery life as a way of mobile life.

That doesn't mean headway isn't being made, and Toshiba thinks it can give traditional Li-Ion batteries a run for its money. Toshiba's calling its prototype the Super Charge Ion Battery (SCiB), which is being designed for notebooks. And by Super Charge, Toshiba says SCiB is capable of recharging up to 90 percent in just 10 minutes or less.

Still not impressed? Not only does SCiB hold the potential for wicked fast recharge times, but its said to both last longer and endure more charging cycles when compared to today's lithium-ion batteries. And it's not even close. Whereas lithium-ion batteries can be expected to last 500 charging cycles on average, Toshiba says its SCiB technology will last anywhere between 5000 to 6000 recharges.

Too good to be true?

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mobile, notebook, laptop, toshiba, battery, li-ion

Posted 09/27/08 at 08:26:09 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Toshiba has announced that it is all set to begin mass production of a new 256GB SSD with MLC controller. The company will also be introducing a few small-sized Flash Modules for UMPCs and other mobile devices.

The high density NAND-flash-based SSD boasts a maximum read speed of 120MB/sec and maximum write speed of 70MB/sec. On the other hand, the small-sized Flash Modules, which support 8GB, 16 GB and 32 GB densities, are claimed to be capable of a maximum read speed of 80MB/sec and maximum write speed of 50MB/sec. Both drives utilize the SATA-2 interface.

Let us see if Toshiba can pleasantly surprise everyone with cheaper than expected prices.

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toshiba, flash, hardware, nand, ssd, Sata 2

Posted 09/23/08 at 06:55:13 PM by Florence Ion

There seems to be no other device more inane than a pocket-sized projector. But then again, the only thing that could save a swanky cocktail party from total failure is whipping out that compact projector and flaunting last Wednesday’s financial report you so diligently put together. Everyone in attendance will be so impressed by your Powerpoint skills (look at the way that text swivels!). And fortunately for you and the rest of those lackluster cocktail parties you’re sure to attend, Toshiba plans on releasing an ultra compact projector the size of an iPod, so it’ll be easier to take your presentations with you on the go.

The prototype was on display earlier this month at Berlin’s IFA 2008, one of the biggest consumer electronics trade shows. The projector is small enough to fit comfortably inside any pants pocket and runs solely on battery. The device radiates a luminance of about 7lm and can display images as big as 50 inches.

Toshiba hopes that it will be successful at introducing the product in 2009. Afterwards, the company can focus on increasing the specs of the projector, gearing it up with more power and more capabilities. The projector may cost an upwards of $400 USD. Specifications may change before the device’s official release.

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toshiba, Projector, hardware, pocket projector

Posted 09/23/08 at 01:20:52 PM by Florence Ion

SanDisk is teaming up with major music labels, including Sony BMG, to offer “slotMusic”; 1GB memory cards preloaded with full length albums.

The albums will be sold at retailers likes Wal-Mart and Best Buy and will be encoded in high quality mp3 format. The microSD cards will have no DRM restrictions, allowing the music to be easily downloaded to a computer or loaded onto an mp3 player. SanDisk also anticipates that be offering 1GB cards, artists will take the liberty of offering more than just an average 11-track album, maybe even venturing to offer music videos, interviews, album art, bonus tracks, and other premium content.

This business venture is an interesting one, especially considering that SanDisk seems to be attempting to revive physical media. This could prove to be a difficult endeavor, especially with companies like Apple being ahead of the game with iTunes. There’s speculation that this is SanDisk’s way of trying to offset the takeover bids from Samsung and Toshiba, though analysts say there is little the company can do to try to stay independent.

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drm, samsung, toshiba, Sandisk, mp3 players, memory cards, mp3s, microsd

Posted 09/16/08 at 10:58:32 AM by Paul Lilly

Move over Acer, Asus, BenQ, Dell, ECS, Everex, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI, and everyone else, and make room in the netbook bandwagon for Toshiba and Samsung. Citing un-named "sources in the notebook industry," Digitimes says both companies will soon jump into the ultraportable fray.

Later this year, Toshiba is expected to launch its 8.9-inch Satellite NB105. Like many netbooks, the NB105 will come equipped with an Intel Atom processor. Other specs include a modest 1GB of memory and 120GB hard drive, with Windows XP at the helm.

Slightly bigger at 10.2 inches, Samsung's nameless model will also sport an Intel Atom chip and 1GB of memory with Windows XP, but will come with either an 80GB or 120GB hard drive. Europe will get first crack at the new netbook next month.

Digitimes points out an interesting side note, in that looking at the top 10 notebook vendors, only Apple and Sony have yet to enter the netbook market.

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mobile, notebook, laptop, samsung, toshiba, ultraportable, rumor, netbook

Posted 09/11/08 at 01:56:09 PM by Paul Lilly

Thanks to Toshiba, geeks will soon have reason to try and get on Santa's 'Good' list this holiday shopping season. The company's Storage Device Division  (SDD) today announced what it claims is the world's first dual-platter 240GB 1.8-inch hard drive for use in portable media players, camcorders, and other gadgets. Toshiba also introduced a single-platter 120GB model.

The two new PATA hard drives take areal density up to an impressive 344 gigabits-per-square-inch. Toshiba said the feat was made possible using its fourth-generation perpendicular magnetic recording technology, which bodes well for future devices utilizing the 1.8-inch form factor.

In addition to offering a higher capacity, Toshiba said its 240GB drive comes optimized for power performance and offers a 33 percent overall improvement in energy consumption efficiency when compared to the company's previous generation two-platter 160GB drive.

No word yet on pricing or specific availability, though Toshiba did say its "new 1.8-inch HDDs will be incorporated into CE and mobile PC products shipping this holiday season."

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storage, toshiba, Hard Drive, HDD, consumer electronics, portable media player, 240GB

Posted 08/18/08 at 11:40:00 AM by David Murphy

Toshiba’s 320GB portable drive is so plain it doesn’t even have a real name. It’s just the Toshiba 320GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive, which doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as well as Western Digital’s My Passport Elite, the Toshiba 320’s primary competition in terms of size, speed, and software (see our review of the Elite here).

The USB-only Toshiba 320 posted the slowest real-world read speeds of any drive we’ve tested. However, these lapses represent only a four percent difference in real-world performance when compared to the fastest non-proprietary drive we’ve tested, Western Digital’s My Passport Elite. Four percent is four percent, but it’s not enough to make a significant difference.

Hit the jump for the rest of the review!

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usb, toshiba, Hard Drive, external, usb drive, hardware, consumer electronics, portable storage, reviews, 320gb, portable drive

Posted 08/18/08 at 09:05:40 AM by Chris Moody

Since Blu-ray won out on the high-definition format war over Toshiba’s HD DVD, high definition on disc has just languished. Blu-ray’s victory has been a hollow one with few people rushing out to replace their trusty old DVD players and DVD collections. The initial assumption that it was the format war that kept adoption of the new standard slow. It turned out to be customers being perfectly happy with standard DVD quality.

Toshiba has been considering it’s next move and has decided DVD is good enough and is jumping on the "upconverting" DVD player bandwagon. They are releasing the XD-E500 DVD player that they says does more than previous models to improve the look of DVDs on high-definition TVs. At a MSRP of $149.99 it is twice as much as regular "upconverting" players, but it is less than half the price of a Blu-ray player.

An Associated Press report said that the XDE player produced a noticeable sharpening of the image over a standard, $70 up-scaling model on side-by-side LCD HDTVs. Toshiba didn't demonstrate the XDE against a Blu-ray or HD DVD player, however. Toshiba did stress that it's not meant to compete with Blu-ray.

Toshiba is playing up to Blu-ray’s marketing weakness, they can’t seem to convince users that there is enough of a difference in between regular Blu-ray and Standard DVD to warrant the expense of upgrading. The appearance of “upconverting” DVD players is only going to further hinder Blu-ray adoption. It might be an inevitability that someday we will have to upgrade. The big question is who will hold out the longest, Blu-ray’s high prices or consumers not wanting to pay those high prices and holding on to standard DVD? Who do you think will win out? My money is on the consumers.

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toshiba, Blu-ray, dvd, HD DVD, consumer electronics, upscaling DVD