Ricoh finally unveiled its first digital system camera, the GRX. It’s an interchangeable unit camera system in which lenses are changed by using a slide-in mount system to attach camera units to the body. The lens, image sensor, and image processing engine are integrated into the camera units so the body itself does not contain an image sensor.

There are two units available: GR Lens A12 50 mm f/2,5 Macro with 23.6 mm×15.7 mm (APS-C size) CMOS, 12 MP sensor and RICOH LENS S10 24-72 mm F2.5-4.4 VC with 10 MP 1/1.7-inch CCD sensor. The body comes with HD 3.0-inch 920,000-dot VGA LCD display, built-in flash and accessory shoe, HDMI connector and optional electronic viewfinder. Prices: $549 for the body, $830 for A12 50 mm unit and $440 for S10 24-72 mm unit. Electronic viewfinder will cost you $257.

iBiquity, the developer and licenser of HD Radio Technology, introduced Gigaware Navigation Control HD Radio Receiver accessory and the HD Radio application. The accessory/app combination enables iPhone and iPod Touch to tune into HD Radio broadcasts. Adding HD Radio Technology to the iPhone and iPod touch (compatible with models updated with 3.0 software) is a two-step process: 1) Buy the Gigaware HD Radio accessory, designed for and sold exclusively at RadioShack for an MSRP of $79.99, 2 ) download and install  the free application from the App Store (under the Music category). The app enables you to preview content currently airing and directly select a main station or multicast channel stream, in addition to bookmark your favorite stations and multicast channels. An iTunes Tagging button on the Gigaware navigation accessory also allows to “tag” songs for future review and purchase via iTunes. It gives you access to more than 2,000 HD Radio stations on the air, and 1,000+ new FM multicast channels (HD2/HD3).

(find an iPod on the picture)

“It looks frightening and it is frightening!”, admits Brothers, the maker of the biggest ever iPod accessory. 28 individual speakers (each housed in their own chamber), frequency response of 40Hz – 20.000kHz, maximum power of 125 Watts, 102 kilos of weight and 950 x 1250 x 300mm dimensions make Wall of Sound not only frightening but also one of the most powerful speakers on the market. It’s all hand-built and it’s equipped with a graceful mids and a crystal clear highs. And if you thought the speaker is oversized, here comes the price:  $4495. Surprisingly, the first edition of this monster is already sold out.

This time Olympus additionally offers a stylish retro black metal body reminiscent of a traditional PEN camera, accessory port to accommodate the included detachable VF-2 Electronic View Finder or optional external microphone adapter EMA-1, a Continuous Autofocus (C-AF) Tracking System, two new art filters – Diorama & Cross Process, full manual control of shutter/aperture in Movie Mode and HDMI control of camera’s playback functions using the TV Remote when the camera is connected to an HDTV. Unfortunately, the built-in flash lamp is still missing.

The E-P2 comes with either the small and lightweight Olympus M. ZUIKO Micro Four Thirds lenses: 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 (28-84mm equivalent) or 17mm f2.8 (34mm equivalent) and will be available in December for – watch out! – $1099.99.

New Vivitar camcorder features Infrared Night Vision – night-shooting mode (640×480 VGA, 30 fps) and is waterproof down to 16 feet. That’s already pretty much for $50! But 150 also has 8x digital zoom, 1.8″ TFT LCD, 2 GB NAND built-in memory (expandable via an SD spot), USB 2.0, TV Out (NTSC/PAL), webcam mode and comes in five different colours.

It is now official and will completely change the mobile and PND navigation market:  Google announced Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 devices.

It features 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting, but unlike most navigation systems, the Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of the phone’s internet connection.

And so Google’s navigation comes with recent map and business data (phone automatically gets the most up-to-date maps and business listings from Google Maps), search by voice (speak your destination instead of typing), traffic view (live traffic data over the internet), search along route (searching for a specific business along the route), satellite view (the same satellite imagery as Google Maps on the desktop) and Street View (shows the turn as you’ll see it, with the route overlaid).

The first phone to have Google Maps Navigation is Motorola’s Droid. It hits the U.S. market next week (Nov. 6th) for $199 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate) and will be available from Verizon with voice plan starting at $39 and a web and email plan for $29 per month.

Like other Google Maps features, Navigation is free.

Originally appeared on Smartphone Biz-News.com

Sprint today announced Nov. 15 as the first day of nationwide availability for Palm Pixi. It will cost $99.99 with a two-year service agreement, after a $50 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate.

Running the Palm webOS mobile platform, Pixi comes with two ARM cores chipset, 600MHz applications processor, and a separate 400MHz modem processor, 2.63-inch multi-touch screen with 18-bit color 320×400 TFT display, integrated GPS, 2-megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash, 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR with A2DP, 8GB of internal storage, USB mass storage mode, MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed, light and proximity sensors and 1150 mAh battery.

Also offers gesture area, full QWERTY keyboard, Palm Synergy, true multi-tasking, universal search and intuitive notifications, and adds Yahoo! integration to Palm Synergy, joining Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Exchange ActiveSync and LinkedIn.

Combined voice and data plans for the Pixi are priced starting at $69.99.

To make it clear – it doesn’t come from RIM and it’s not a watchphone. Made by Allerta, inPulse is a BlackBerry smartphone accessory that connects wirelessly to your phone by Bluetooth and can show previews of emails, SMS and other messages (Twitter), together with incoming call details and alarms.

It packs 1.3″ full colour OLED display, Bluetooth v2.0+EDR, 150 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery (~ 4 days), glass lens and full metal body, vibrating motor, micro-USB port (for charging) and supports over-the-air firmware updates.

Works with any BlackBerry with OS 4.3 and above and can be pre-ordered right now for reasonable US$149.

Toshiba finally launched its first, long-expected direct methanol fuel-cell – Dynario. It’s an external power source that delivers power to mobile digital products. It runs on mix of methanol and ambient oxygen, and the chemical reaction between the two in the fuel cell produces electricity.

Once fueled with an injection of methanol solution from its dedicated cartridge, a palm-sized Dynario starts to generate electricity that is delivered to e.g. mobile phone via a USB cable. On a single refill of methanol which can be made in an instant period (around 20 seconds), Dynario can generate enough power to charge two typical mobile phones.

Shipping will start in Japan on October 29. Prices: about $325 for Dynario, and $35 for a set of five fuel cartridges.

RIM today announced the sleek and powerful BlackBerry Bold 9700. It will be the first 3G-powered BlackBerry available through T-Mobile USA, and also the first smartphone from RIM that includes built-in support for both 3G connectivity and voice calls over Wi-Fi, T-Mobile informed .

Rumored as the Onyx, Bold 9700 comes with new BlackBerry OS 5.0, 624 MHz processor, 2.44” light-sensing display, 256MB Flash memory, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video recording, full-QWERTY keyboard, touch-sensitive optical trackpad and micro SDHC 2GB card.

It includes support for 3G HSDPA networks around the world and provides all well known RIM’s mobile e-mail and messaging solution, and access to social networking applications.

Many applications from BlackBerry App World are readily available directly on the 9700, such as Slacker Radio (free music), TeleNav GPS Navigator (turn-by-turn directions), and visual voicemail.

The new BlackBerry is expected to be available in November.