eK-gadgets info

That’s right - the A300. The photo gearheads acknowledged the announcement of the Sony A200 with a collective sigh and dove head first into rumors of the Sony A300.

Granted, these rumors have their genesis before the official announcement of the A200 - along with rumors of the A900 (or whatever Sony’s flagship will be called). However, the rumor mill has clearly flourished in light of the underwhelming announcement of the A200.

In case you’re not up to speed, Sony announced the A200 on January 6th at CES in Las Vegas. It’s clearly an entry level DSLR at $700 in a kit with the 18-70mm lens. The price and features of the A200 have spurred the suspicion that Sony has got something bigger planned for PMA.

Several Sony gearheads believe that Sony will slot at least one camera, if not two, between the A200 and the prosumer A700. That’s not just smoking rope and talking smack - there’s a method to the madness. The Sony A200 kit rolls in at $700, while the A700 retail is $1500 in the kit (although the street prices are a little lower). That certainly leaves room for an intermediate model at the popular $1000 price point (think Nikon D80).

Some believe that this image, which has been floating around the internet, is a shot of the foldout screen on the A300. It sure does look familiar. Take a look at the small tabs on the top and bottom of the LCD panel. Now compare those to the notches that you see above and below the A200’s LCD panel (below).

Similarities? Yeah, that and more. Take a close look at the button configuration. The layout appears the same as the A200, meaning it may be the same housing fitted to some upgraded components. Note the button in the top right corner of the purported A300 shot. Many believe that this may be a “Live View” button. Of course, the A300 shot also includes the battery grip.

Speaking of battery grips, the product number for the A200-compatible battery grip is VG-B30AM. Seems rather innocent until you consider that the product number for the A700’s battery grip is VG-B70AM. Why not name it the VG-B20AM if it’s for the A200?

A little deductive reasoning that you got from that college class your sophomore year leads to the assumption that the VG-B30AM is really made for the A300; however, since the A200 and the A300 share the same housing, the VG-B30AM also works on the little brother A200. Sure, that could all be smoke and mirrors. But where’s the fun in that?

Dan Richards over at Pop Photo has added a little more fuel to the fire with his comment in the A200 First Look stating, “And for those who were hoping for yet another slam-bang Sony introduction, we can only say: Keep checking PopPhoto.com.”

The Samsung GX-20 showed up on a Norwegian website amongst the press releases of the new Samsung point and shoot cameras, which were announced at CES this week. (UPDATE: As of 7:00AM on 1/10/07, the reference to the GX-20 has been removed from the website. It was previously positioned above the photo of the NV24HD.) In the midst of all the press releases, the GX-20 appears out of place and there is no other info other than this photo, accompanied by the key specifications. The specs (at least what I can make out of them) are as follows:

• 14.6 MP (CMOS) Sensor
• Sensor-based Image Stabilization
• Resistant to rain, sand and dust
• Double dust removal on image sensor
• 2.7″ LCD
• Live view
• One-press RAW
• ISO 3200

More intriguing than Samsung’s foray into the mid-grade DSLR world is Samsung’s partnership with Pentax. In the previous generation, Samsung DSLRs were basically rehashed Pentax DSLRs. That little nugget leads me to believe that the GX20 may, in fact, be a preview of the Pentax K20D that we’re expecting at PMA.

We’ll know shortly. Stay tuned.

In some more post-CES news, iRiver has showcased their new portable media player, iRiver SPINN. The amazingly sleek design made me think of James Bond in a heartbeat. And yet, unlike some which has form yet lacks substance, it seems the SPINN has both. It features a 3.2-in. touch screen where you can watch clips, view images and choose tracks to play. If, for some reason, you have an aversion against touch screens, there’s always the little analog knob controller for you to use. It also features Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity with a microphone and is available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB variants. No price or release date yet but I bet Bond could get one if he wants to. Lucky bastard.

After the pink 4G Surf EeePC, the Chinese are getting more ASUS goodies like these new F8P notebooks, just in time for the Chinese New Year.These stylish sleek notebooks aren’t just pretty, they also come with a lot of power underneath the hood. The F8P laptops in its two iterations, the F8H75P-SL and F8H725P-SL, come with 14.1-inch screens, a 160GB SATA HDD running at 5400rpm, a DVD Super Multi-Drive, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400 graphics with 256MB VRAM, fingerprint recognition, Bluetooth, and 802.11n WiFi. The F8H75P-SL versions touts Core2Duo T7500 (2.2GHz) processor with 2GB of DDR2 memory while the F8H725P-SL has Core2Duo T7250 (2.0GHz) with 1GB of memory, running Vista Premium and Home respectively. Both are available in graceful white and elegant black hues.The F8P notebooks can define your style statement or even serve as a mid-range gaming notebook with a price tag of approximately $1500 for F8H75P-SL and $1370 for F8H725P-SL. Availability is China only as of now.