For certain fields of consumer gadgets, technological advancement seems to be synonymous with making gadgets smaller. Smarter, smaller electronics along with consumers’ thirst for lighter, more portable gadgets is the major driving force behind the trend for tinier technologies. We have collected a selection of the world’s smallest gadgets – for the time being. Let’s start with the smallest DV camera in the world – the Muvi Micro DV Cam.
The Muvi Micro DV Cam is just 16mm thick and not much longer than a matchbox. Its 2-megapixel lens records in 640 x 480 at 30 frames per second and it has a built-in microphone allowing you to record sound and use voice activated record – all can be saved to the included 2GB microSD card [can be upgraded to 8GB]. Powered by rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery [included], this tiny gadget requires a USB socket for charging [cable also included]. The Muvi Micro DV Cam is available here.
Next is Xun Chi 138 – the world’s smallest phone. It’s a GSM with bar form factor that’s a bit longer than the AA battery. The Xun Chi 138 is said to come with built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, a touch screen with handwriting recognition, a stylus that neatly fits at the back of the phone, an MP3 player and support for GPRS connections. Of course it’s impossible to squeeze all the bells and whistles into a device that only weighs 55 grams and measures 2.64-inches in length. So it doesn’t come with a keypad, Bluetooth, or any expansion slot. And don’t expect the phone to hit the West anytime soon because for now, it only supports Chinese character.
Now, let’s talk about the world’s smallest music player that also happens to be the world’s first talking one – the 3rd gen iPod shuffle. It’s just 1.8†tall and 0.3†thin but with 4GB of storage. Moving all buttons to the right earbud cord shrinks down the size of this new iPod shuffle. And musically speaking, the new iPod shuffle is brilliant – thanks to an exciting new feature called VoiceOver that speaks 20 different languages so it can tell you song titles and artists in the correct languages. So little and yet so much! Get it right here!
And this is TEC’s Lingo mouse that could possibly be the smallest wireless mouse in the world, or at least that’s what TEC claims it to be. I’m pretty sure you won’t be using this for a long period of time considering the 27.5mm x 60mm x 19mm form factor won’t be easy on your hand, but, you surely can’t argue with the 0.8 ounces weight if you’re a frequent traveller. This tiny pointer features 800 dpi, 2.4GHz with a range of up to 32.8 feet, and about 15 hours battery life with automatic shut off if left inactive for five minutes. Sadly, there’s no word on its Stateside release.
Recently also, CompuLab has released the smallest techie computer system in the world – the Fit-PC2 that’s based on Intel’s Atom Z530 processor and US15W chipset. It has 1GB RAM, a 2.5 SATA hard drive, a miniSD card slot, and it offers a HDMI output port. With its 4†x 4.5†x 1.05†size, it has managed to include six USB ports, Ethernet LAN port and built-in WiFi 802.11g connectivity. See also the features of the fit-PC here.
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