One of the busiest weeks in consumer technology in Australia is under way with manufacturers announcing several new offerings for the local market.
It starts with today's launch of the WB250F, the first of six in Samsung's new range of WiFi-connected compact cameras. Last year the Korean manufacturer brought out its Samsung Galaxy Camera - a large, Android-driven WiFi model. Samsung now is offering WiFi connectively in smaller, cheaper cameras that don't use Android. The WB250F is expected to cost about $280.
Tomorrow it will be the turn of another South Korean manufacturer, LG, with the Australian launch of its new flagship Optimus G Android smartphone. It has a 4.7-inch high resolution screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 13 megapixel camera and features such as QSlide, which lets users watch a video while accessing other phone functions.
Then on Friday morning (Australian time), Samsung is due to announce globally the long-awaited Galaxy S4 smartphone. It's heavily rumoured that the S4 will feature touchless gesturing, which involves hovering your finger over the screen to control it rather than just touching it. Other rumoured features include an ability to control the phone by moving your eyes and head.
The S4 is rumoured to come with Samsung's Exynos 5 processor with 8 cores, and 2 gigabytes of internal memory. Samsung's new flagship will be pitted against the iPhone 5 in the smartphone market.
On Monday, BlackBerry in Australia is launching its long-awaited BlackBerry Z10 smartphone with chief executive Thorsten Heins out here for the occasion at Sydney's Star Event Centre.
In terms of regaining any market share, the Z10 is widely regarded as BlackBerry's last throw of the dice. It features a 4.2-inch screen, 2 gigabytes of memory, 16GB of internal storage and an SDcard slot for extra storage.
