The Latest from GadgetLite

ToneFone case turns your iPhone into a weight
Facebook bags Oculus VR for $2 billion
Mi World Portable Computing System: Compact and portable PC replacement
Samsung announces Galaxy Tab 4 line
Oppo Find 7 is officially announced

ToneFone case turns your iPhone into a weight

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 05:29 AM PDT

We saw all sorts of iPhone cases on the market, and while some of these cases are just decorative, some of them have practical purpose that enhances your iPhone's functionality. Speaking of enhancing your iPhone, today we have an iPhone case that will transform your smartphone into a weight.

ToneFone is according to its creators the world's heaviest iPhone case, and you can choose between 1kg or 1.5kg model. Since most of us use our smartphones on daily basis for several hours, why not add some weight to it and turn something such as as texting or checking social media into a workout? We don't know how effective workout tool ToneFone case actually is, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea in general.

ToneFone case is priced at £22.90, and it's fully compatible with iPhone 5s and iPhone 5, but bear in mind that this case will add some weight and bulk to your device, so you'll probably have some hard time carrying it in your pocket.

[via Ubergizmo]

Facebook bags Oculus VR for $2 billion

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 02:42 AM PDT

Oculus VR grew from humble beginnings, gathering interest and support from their well-known Kickstarter campaign in 2012. Since then, founder Palmer Luckey and his fellow workers have pioneered virtual reality experiences with the innovative Oculus Rift headset, with a real emphasise on changing the way we play.

The CES 2014 got to road test the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype, which eradicated sensor sickness by reducing judder and motion blur. The 360-degree wraparound visual display allowed players to truly immerse themselves in the game, while positional tracking cameras gave them six degrees of freedom to move around and explore the virtual world.

The company also recently announced the release of the Oculus Rift development kit 2, allowing independent developers to create ground-breaking titles for the technology. The potential impact that the Oculus Rift could have on gaming is huge whether it be the ability to bring an online casino to life or transform the battlefields of MMO's such as WoW. Major console developer Sony has even branched out into VR, with Project Morpheus.

It's therefore understandable why the gaming community reacted negatively to the news that social networking giant Facebook had acquired Oculus VR for the hefty sum of $2 billion. Many voiced the opinion that the deal would move Oculus away from gaming and into other more corporate ventures, which would benefit Facebook.

Developer with Die Gute Fabrik studios, George Buckingham said: "I'm irritated. The FB acquisition of Oculus seems 80% likely to kill their momentum… It's probably going to get locked down in annoying ways and stop being a cool weird tech you can freely hack on. I hope someone else comes and makes basically the same thing. Though I guess that's Sony, now."

Other big names in the gaming community also felt the move spelled the end for Oculus' gaming innovations. Creator of the successful hit title Minecraft, Markus Persson wrote: "We were in talks about maybe bringing a version to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out."

However, Palmer Luckey is standing by the acquisition, which will see the company remain independent and focused on gaming for the time being. "Facebook is run in an open way that's aligned with Oculus' culture," wrote Luckey in his announcement on Reddit.

"Over the last decade, Mark [Zuckerberg] and Facebook have been champions of open software and hardware, pushing the envelope of innovation for the entire tech industry. As Facebook has grown, they've continued to invest in efforts like with the Open Compute Project, their initiative that aims to drive innovation and reduce the cost of computing infrastructure across the industry. This is a team that's used to making bold bets on the future."

Aside from the critics, many are praising the acquisition, noting the potential it has to improve and radicalise industries outside of the gaming sector. "[Oculus Rift] has been marketed as a tool for gaming, but there's clearly far more important uses for it, treatment being one of them," said James Crowson, creator of Games of Throne based VR experience The Wall.

"I'm sure that it's going to play an important part in the bridge between technology and health, for example, using exposure therapy to treat people with phobias such as acrophobia. Mark Zuckerberg has already identified uses for the Oculus other than gaming, for education purposes as well as health, so it's clearly on the radar for them."

Mi World Portable Computing System: Compact and portable PC replacement

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 01:24 AM PDT

Our devices are getting smaller, and if you're looking for a miniature PC, you might want to have a look at this device.

Mi World Portable Computing System is a tiny PC and it is so small that you can carry it with you in your pocket. This device can work as a portable computer, hotspot, media server, or even as a gaming device to some extent. In terms of hardware, this device comes with 2.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, micro HDMI output and a built-in battery that can last up to 30 hours. As for the storage, the basic model comes with 64GB of solid state storage, but other models can have up to 512GB of hot swappable RAID storage. As for software, this device comes with custom version of Android, but we expect to see custom Linux-based OS available this summer. There are also plans to enable Windows or OS X using virtualization in the future.

Mi World Portable Computing System sounds great, but it's just a Indiegogo project at the moment. If you're interested, you can pledge $599 to its funding and pre-order one for yourself.

[via Liliputing]

Samsung announces Galaxy Tab 4 line

Posted: 03 Apr 2014 12:56 AM PDT

Folks from Samsung are busy, so it's no wonder to see new line of products from Samsung that comes under the Galaxy Tab 4 name.

Samsung has announced 7-inch, 8-inch and 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 4 devices, and there will be WiFi, 3G and LTE versions of all three models. As for the hardware, all three devices come with identical 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1280×800 screen, 1.5GB RAM, 3-megapixel rear camera, microSD slot for expansion and Android 4.4 with TouchWiz UI. Regarding the storage space and battery, 10-inch model comes with 16GB storage and 6,800mAh battery, 8-inch model has 16GB of internal storage and 4,450mAh battery, while the 7-inch model comes with 8GB and 16GB options for storage.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 line seems decent, although some users might be bit disappointed with the display resolution on the 10-inch model. There's no information regarding the price, but we know that these tablets will go on sale someday in the second quarter.

[via Android Police]

Oppo Find 7 is officially announced

Posted: 02 Apr 2014 08:06 AM PDT

We covered some rumors regarding Oppo Find 7, and if you are the fan of that device, you should know that this device has been officially launched.

Oppo Find 7 is a 5.5-inch device and it comes with QHD display with 2560×1440 resolution. The device comes with 538ppi pixel density and it's protected by Gorilla Glass 3. In terms of hardware, this device is powered by 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset and 3GB RAM. There's also 32GB of internal storage space and microSD card slot that supports cards up to 128GB. Oppo Find 7 comes with 13-megapixel camera with Pure Image 2.0 feature, and 5-megapixel front camera for video calls. There's a 3,000mAh battery with Rapid Charge technology, and thanks to this technology you can recharge your battery from zero to 75% in just 30 minutes. As for the software, this device runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of the box.