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z5

ZTE officially unveils high-end Nubia Z5

Though it isn't slated for the U.S. anytime soon, ZTE's ultra-high-end device, the Nubia Z5, finally launched today.

The handset comes in black or white, and has a 5-inch 1080p touch screen with a 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution and 443ppi. The display itself is manufactured by Sharp.

Its aluminum uni-body design measures 5.43-inches tall, 2.71-inches wide, and has a thin, 0.3-inch profile. And at 4.44 ounces, it's more lightweight than most standard 5-inch smartphones.

The Nubia Z5 runs on Android 4.1, and it's powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core processor … Read more

Samsung Series 7 laptop: First 5 minutes

I've been a big fan of Samsung's laptop designs, going back to the QX401 last year. While I had spent extensive time with the sleek Series 9 and diminutive Series 3, I was away on vacation when the Series 7 was first introduced. Now that one has arrived at CNET's offices, it seemed like a good time to do a quick first take, based on my first few minutes with the laptop.

Sleek metal: clean cut, brushed lines, very solid. The Series 7 is more impressive than I expected, more along the lines of an Apple MacBook Pro, and the way the HP Envy looked to our eyes for the first time. It's also a wide laptop, but that keyboard goes edge to edge. … Read more

Hitachi unveils new 7mm laptop hard drives

Standard laptop hard drives (2.5-inch) come in three tiers based on their thickness: 9mm, 12.5mm, and 7mm.

The first one, such as the Seagate Momentus XT (500GB), is the most popular and used in most notebooks and other 2.5-inch-based storage applications. The 12.5mm standard, such as the 1TB WD Corpio Blue, is a newer standard that offers higher capacities but can only fit in later models of laptop computers. The third, 7mm tier is used for ultraportable applications, such as Netbooks or tablet PCs. For a long time, this ultracompact tier of internal hard drive was … Read more

Logitech's Z-5 speakers: Not in the same league as Z-10s, but decent for the price

A couple of years ago, Logitech brought out the Z-10s, an interesting set of PC speakers that featured USB connectivity and a digital readout on the front of one of the speakers. They looked good, sounded decent, and were cutting edge in their nod to visually incorporating digital-music playback--though the touch-sensitive controls did cause issues for some users. Now the company is serving up the Z-5s, which don't feature the fancy digital readout, but offer some intriguing design elements and the same USB connectivity.

Read the full review of the Logitech Z-5 USB PC speakers.

Logitech introduces new omnidirectional Z5 USB PC speakers

A couple of years ago Logitech brought out the Z10s, an interesting set of PC speakers that featured USB connectivity and a digital readout on the front of one of the speakers. They looked good, sounded decent, and were cutting edge in their nod to visually incorporating digital-music playback. Now the company is serving up the Z5s ($99.99), which don't feature the fancy digital readout but offer some intriguing design elements--including omnidirectional sound--and the same USB connectivity.

The black Z5s have a simple, clean, modern look, but aren't quite the knockouts that the Z10s are. From afar … Read more

Sony's HDV camcorder for the indie crowd

Sony's HDR-FX1, a camcorder popular with indie videographers looking for HD on the cheap, shipped almost four years ago; that's a pretty long product cycle, even for the semi-professional class it inhabits, especially given that Canon's competing entrant, the XH A1, shipped almost two years ago. So it's just a tiny bit disappointing that the FX1's replacement, the Handycam HDR-FX1000, merely offers parity with the XH A1 rather than leapfrogging it.

First, some basic specs compared:

  Sony HDR-FX1 Sony HDR-FX1000 Canon XH A1 Sensors 3 1/3-inch 1,080x960 Super HAD CCDs 3 1/… Read more

Camera falls victim to Hello Kitty

Usually the gadgets we see that have been conquered by the Sanrio empire are of dubious quality, though that obviously matters not to its loyal subjects. But Hello Kitty Hell, the spiritual leader of The Resistance, has come across a new item that has gotten some early nods from a few consumers.

Fujifilm's "FinePix Z5," which has received a few high marks in reader reviews, is the latest victim of Hello Kitty subjugation, festooned with Swarovski crystals, a gold emblem and, of course, the trademark Pepto-Bismol pink. All this for $500 on the Japanese market.

This is … Read more

If it's gold, we've got it covered

We've been accused of having a gold fetish, something that we resoundingly deny. It's mere coincidence that we've recently had occasion to mention gold phones, cameras, watches, printers, USB keys and, most recently, styluses (styli?).

Crave covers items made with all minerals, precious or otherwise. So it's simply out of obligation that we must now write about Samsung's special auction to mark the millionth sale of its "Z5" MP3 player. Up for sale: 10 of the players with 18k gold casings, each with a signature of designer Paul Mercer (of iPod fame) etched … Read more