When it comes to bizarre robots, you can always count on Hiroshi Ishiguro: the so-called Elfoid, a mix between mini humanoid, telepresence robot and cell phone, is not exactly made by him but based on his Telenoid robot from last year. Developed by Japan Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR), the Elfoid phone is supposed to make remote communication more intimate and personal.

The 20cm long Elfoid features a number of control buttons and a camera that captures emotions on your face and your head movements. The Elfoid used by the person you are talking to replicates the information "in real-time", transmitting not only your voice but also your "feelings".

The ATR hopes to have a commercial version of the phone ready within 5 years. The plan is to equip future Elfoids with a range of motors, sensors and other bells and whistles to boost the level of realism.

Demo Video Below!

In this crazy world of augmented reality, apps galore and silly handset names it may seem that smartphones are ubiquitous. Its not hard to see why if you follow any of the tech blogs, its pretty much all we talk about i.e. Android, iOS, Google, HTC, etc. However, the mighty smartphone is in fact a lightweight when compared to other heavy hitting consumer devices ...

A new data set from RBC Capital Markets paints a picture of smartphone & tablet users compared with the consumer penetration of other major devices and services and quite frankly smartphones & tablets are dwarfed.

Take the total mobile subscriber base, for example, it stands at approximately 5.1 billion, out of a total human population of 6.9 billion. There are somewhere around 2 billion internet users and some 1.2 billion PCs in the world.

Its a relatively paltry figure when compared with the big boys and underscores just how far smartphones have yet to go before they become truly ubiquitous. There is a whole world awaiting them and they have only scratched the surface.

The Nintendo 3DS is the latest gadget to reveal its inner secrets to the guys over at iFixit. In all of its 3D prowess and gaming glory, straight from Japan, this little bad boy has two displays, special gaming controls and a 3D switch. Lets check out what the iFixit team has dug up.

The Nintendo 3DS top display is made of two display layers and relies on a parallax barrier to provide the stereoscopic imagery. Turning the 3D mode to on, you activate both layers with each layer displaying objects slightly offset. When looked at from a specific distance, the offset image on the screen is perceived as multi-dimensional.

The bottom QVGA screen of the device is a resistive touch screen. Its used to control the console and navigate through menus and games. The Nintendo 3DS comes with with a metal stylus slotted in the body of the console to help with the interaction.

The iFixit team does rant a little about battery life, quoting the 1300mAh 5Wh Li-Ion battery at a "measly 3-5 hours in 3D mode". A curious feature of the 3DS is that when you blow in the microphone, the background icons in the main menu spin in a tornado pattern.

Overall the Nintendo 3DS got the average 5 out of 10 repairability score (10 being good, 1 bad). The latest portable gaming console by Nintendo is expected to hit the US market on 27 March.

NVIDIA just went ahead and confirmed the existence of a Tegra 2 version of the Samsung Galaxy S II. The Korean company announced that their Super AMOLED Plus-packing flagship was going to run on the home-brewed Exynos chipset, but supply shortages has forced them to come up with a Tegra 2 alternative.

Samsung I9103 Galaxy S II entered rumor-land back in February. It seems that Samsung will be unable to provide enough Exynos chips for all those Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy S II units it plans to sell. Fortunately NDIVIA doesn't mind helping Samsung out with this one.

The performance of the two SoCs should offer be performance, so those that end up buying the Tegra 2 Galaxy S II shouldn't be too disappointed. After all some of the main rivals of the Galaxy S II (the Atrix and the Optimus 2X) are already using the Tegra 2 so the I9103 will not be, by any means, inferior to them.

Today, Apple announced the iPad 2 and the tech world is buzzing with the details about this latest tablet offering to hit the market. Unlike last year when the iPad was the sole member of this growing class of devices, the Apple iPad 2 will join a growing rank of tablets that come in every shape, size and platform. To help you navigate this complex world of devices, we summarized the major features of the top tablets that are now or will soon be available. Take a look at the devices and see how they compare on paper.

The iPad 2 succeeds the original iPad with twice the number of processing cores, the addition of rear- and front-facing cameras, a new white color option, and an even sexier design. But, as of now, we have no word on how much RAM the new iPad is working with, which could be a potential deal-breaker if its not up to par with the competition multi-tasking apps need lots of RAM, after all.