Top new tech products: DSLR for astrophotographers, Star Wars-themed Xbox 360 Kinect, eco-friendly smartphone

ETX Daily Up

High-tech product releases announced the week ending April 4 include a DSLR that can take photos of stars in the sky, a video game console pack for Star Wars fans, an eco-friendly Android smartphone and tangle-free wireless earbuds.

A DSLR camera built for taking pictures of the stars
The Canon EOS 60Da is not like other digital SLRs, it’s optimized for astrophotographers. It has a modified infrared filter and a low-noise sensor with heightened hydrogen-alpha sensitivity (approximately three times higher than that of a normal Canon DSLR camera) to make it possible to capture photographs of "red hydrogen emission" nebulae and other cosmic phenomena. The Canon EOS 60Da comes with an 18MP CMOS sensor and a 3” LCD flip-out screen. The EOS 60Da is available later this month for $1,499.
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/professional_cameras/digital_slr_cameras/eos_60da

A video game console for Star Wars fans
Microsoft’s limited edition Kinect Star Wars console bundle is being launched to celebrate the release of the Kinect Star Wars game. The pack includes an R2-D2-themed 320 GB Xbox 360 console (complete with sounds from the Star Wars movies) a Stormtrooper-white Kinect sensor, a gold C-3PO-themed Xbox 360 wireless controller, and an Xbox 360 wired headset. The bundle is available now for $449.99.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Xbox360/Consoles/Kinect-Star-Wars-Bundle

An eco-friendly 4G smartphone
The LG Viper is an ULE Platinum Certified 4G Android smartphone that features a casing made of 50 percent recycled plastics. It runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and comes with a 4” display, a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5MP rear camera and front-facing VGA camera, NFC, mobile hotspot capabilities, and a microSD card slot. The LG Viper is priced at $99.99 on a two-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. Handset pre-orders start April 12, the release date is not yet announced.
http://www.sprint.com/viper

Tangle-free wireless earbuds
The Plantronics BackBeat Go earbuds are lightweight headphones that can wirelessly connect to your smartphone, tablet or music player via Bluetooth. The compact earbuds weigh just 13 grams and feature up to 4.5 hours or listening or talk time and 10 hours of standby time. The BackBeat Go earbuds are available now for $99.99.
http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/backbeat-go