Gadget round-up: Galaxy S III, HP Envy Spectre

High-tech product releases announced this week include the Samsung Galaxy S III, the HP Envy Spectre XT, the world’s first smartphone for seniors, a waterproof Android smartphone, and a tough camera from Olympus.

High-tech product releases announced the week ending May 9 include the Samsung Galaxy S III, the HP Envy Spectre XT, the world's first smartphone for seniors, a waterproof Android smartphone, and a tough camera from Olympus.

A powerful and sleek ultrabook with Beats Audio

Computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) showed off a barrage of new laptops this week, among them the new HP Envy Spectre XT -- an ultra mobile premium ultrabook. HP's new thin, light and ultra portable laptop boasts an all-metal design, Beats Audio, a HD webcam, a 13.3" HD display with slim bezel, 128GB of solid state storage, up to eight hours of battery life, a 14.5mm profile and a price tag of $999.99. The HP Envy Spectre will hit stores in the US on June 8.

A flagship Android smartphone with voice commands, eye-tracking and lag-free photos

Samsung's highly anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone comes with an improved user interface, software optimization, exclusive on-board features and consumer-pleasing specs. The device sports a huge 4.8" HD Super AMOLED (1280x720) display, a 1.4 GHz Exynos 4 Quad processor, an 8MP camera, a 2,100mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. It runs on a customized version of Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and offers added features including Siri-challenging voice commands (S Voice), cloud storage, eye-tracking and lag-free photo taking. The Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone will launch in Europe on May 29 before a wider rollout in global markets. Pricing has not been announced.

The world's first Android smartphone for seniors

The Doro PhoneEasy 740 is an Android smartphone that's built for seniors. Not only does it sport large buttons, loud sounds, large fonts and a magnifier with light, it also makes the smartphone experience easier for technophobes. It features both a dial pad and a touch screen, plus easy navigation with large, clear icons. The smartphone offers a range of different applications designed for older users including a stripped down version of Facebook. The device is due out in September. No price has been announced.

A feature-packed point and shoot built for adventure

The Olympus TG-1 iHS is the world's first rugged camera to incorporate an ultra-bright, high-speed f2.0 lens. It's the camera you want to take on your thrill-seeking adventures as it's waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof, crushproof and dustproof. It features a high-speed 12MP backlit CMOS sensor, 8x optical zoom, onboard GPS, full HD 1080p video recording and a converter ring that enables you to use Olympus's waterproof Fisheye Converter Lens and Teleconverter Lens. The Olympus TG-1 iHS is priced at $399.99 and will be available in June.

An Android smartphone made to meet the demands of real life

Kyocera's Hydro Android smartphone is waterproof to one meter for up to 30 minutes. It features both a high-resolution 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive 480x320 IPS LCD touchscreen and runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 2GB ROM, 512MB RAM and a 3.2MP camera. The Kyocera Hydro will be available in the second half of 2012. Pricing has not been announced.