On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Is Samsung showing a large smartphone or a small tablet? That's the question on everyone's lips following the Galaxy Note reveal at IFA 2011.

The Galaxy Note is a smartphone (not a tablet) in a new form factor-- a 5.3" 1280x800 resolution Super AMOLED display.

The touchscreen is pressure sensitive and handles stylus input (a rarity nowadays), as Samsung appears to be pushing the device for handwritten note-taking and sketching use.

Inside are a 1.4GHz dual-core processor and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), as well as Bluetooth and wifi connections.

Completing the package are 2 cameras-- 8MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing.

Samsung offers no launch date or pricing details yet, but we expect those will be available soon enough.

Go Samsung Galaxy Note

Improv Electronics presents a new version of the Boogie Board eWriter at IFA 2011, adding one previously missing feature-- the Boogie Board Rip, with save capabilities.

If one remembers, the Boogie Board is a bare-bones writing pad with a pressure sensitive reflex LCD for users jot down notes on before erasing everything with a button press (just like chalk boards from pre-electronic days).

The 9.5" Boogie Rip (Rip stands for "Record. Image. Preserve.) has an internal memory, on which it saves doodles and notes in .pdf format, before users export to their PCs via mini-USB port and included software.

It still uses a reflex LCD display-- using power only to erase for erasing, with a battery Improv says lasts over a week per charge.

The Boogie Board Rip should start shipping from November 2011.

Go Boogie Board eWriters

Gavio opens its aviary at IFA 2011 with its bird-shaped portable speakers, the Wrenz.

The award winning speakers (best product design at Computex 2011) are small enough to fit in one's hands (being 107mm long and 65mm tall) and pack a 32mm micro driver (with 2.8W sound output and 100Hz-25KHz frequency response), class-D amplifier and vacuum bass.

The company says integrating a cone deisign with its custom-built speaker produces a 360-degree sound field, projecting sound in all directions.

The back plate is in polished aluminium, while the "feet" and tail end are in clear rubber.

Users can daisy chain several Wrenz speakers-- forming their own audio aviary connecting with the included 2-headed 3.5mm audio jack.

The Wrenz will be available from September 2011 in chrome.

Go Gavio Wrenz

Verbatim will debut its next generation SATA SSD range at IFA 2011, offering an alternative to standard HDDs with high data transfer rates and energy efficiency.

The SSDs offer data read speeds of up to 250 MB/sec and write speeds of up to 180 MB/sec, with 64GB, 128GG and 256GB capacities.

Verbatim's SSD kits include cloning software and an enclosure allowing users to turn their previous HDD into an external drive once removed from their machine.

Go Verbatim at IFA 2011