Weekly high-tech product releases: BlackBerry PlayBook, R2-D2 Droid, 3D projectors

High-tech product releases announced the week ending September 29 include RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook "professional-grade" tablet, a Star Wars-themed Motorola Droid smartphone, Sony's first front facing 3D projector, six new 3D projectors from JVC, the world's first near-full HD 3D Notebook, and two full-color e-readers from Sharp.

The first "professional-grade" touchscreen tablet
Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook is a feature-rich tablet aimed at the professional market. The PlayBook has a 7 inch high-resolution 1024 x 600 display, measures in at 9.7mm thick and weighs 400g. It also comes with a 1 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of ram, Dual HD cameras with 1080p HD video recording, microHDMI and micro USB outputs. It supports full web browsing (including Adobe's Flash Player 10.1), true multitasking, advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and runs on RIM's brand new tablet operating system, BlackBerry Tablet OS. The PlayBook tablet is expected to arrive in the US in early 2011 with worldwide launches taking place in the second quarter of the year. As yet there is no mention of pricing.

A special edition smartphone for Star Wars lovers
Motorola and Verizon Wireless are releasing a special edition R2-D2-themed Droid smartphone that is sure to get snapped up by Star Wars lovers across the US. The smartphones packs in the same features as its Droid 2 sibling. The handset comes packaged in a custom "carbonite" box and ships with a Star Wars media dock and wired stereo headset. The Droid R2-D2 will be available in the US from September 30 for $249 on a two-year contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate).

World's first near-full HD 3D Notebook
LG is introducing the first notebook with a near full HD quality cinematic 3D experience, the LG A510. The laptop ships with a 15.6 inch Full HD 3D LED LCD display and comes with a Intel Core i7 Processor, and a Nvidia GeForce GT425M graphics card with 1GB of dedicated DDR3 video memory. Included with the notebook is one set of polarized glasses and a set of clip-on 3D lenses for consumers with their own eye glasses. The A510 will ship to Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa starting in October 2010. No price has been announced.  

Sony's first 3D front projector
Sony introduced its first 3D front projector. The full HD (1920 x 1080)  VPL-VW90ES SXRD 3D home cinema projector comes with Sony's 34p True Cinema technology, 240Hz high frame rate technology, a dynamic contrast ratio of 150,000:1, and uses a single Ultra High Performance 1,000 ANSI lumen lamp. Two pairs of Sony active shutter 3D glasses and a built-in 3D transmitter are included in the package. Sony's VPL-VW90ES SXRD 3D front projector will hit stores in November for around $10,000.

A new range of 3D projectors for home theaters
JVC is upping its commitment to the 3D projector market with six new 3D-enabled projectors. The company's flagship DLA-RS60 and DLA-X9 projectors provide a 100,000:1 contrast ratio, two HDMI 1.4a ports, and a PK-EM1 3D Signal Emitter. The DLA-RS50 and DLA-X7 models support a 70,000:1 native contrast ratio, and the two lower-end projectors (the DLA-RS40 and DLA-X3) have a 50,000:1 native contrast ratio. JVC's 3D projectors will go on sale in November. The flagship DLA-RS60 and DLA-X9 3D projectors are priced at $11,995, the DLA-RS50 and DLA-X7 projectors at $7,995, and the DLA-RS40 and DLA-X3 models at $4,495.

Two full-color e-readers built for Japan's visually-rich book culture
Sharp has jumped head first into the e-reader market with two new Android-powered tablets. The first is a "paperback book"-like pocketable tablet with a 5.5 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel LCD display. It comes with a track ball feature that helps users navigate through content and "flip the pages with one hand." The second model has a 10.8 inch, 1366 x800 pixel HD LCD touchscreen display and has been crafted as a stay-at-home consumption device. The company is yet to announce launch and pricing details for the two tablets.