Panasonic has sat out of the smartphone explosion of recent years, but now it apparently wants a slice of the pie. At a news conference today, the head of Panasonic’s mobile division said that the company “misjudged the speed at which smartphones would be taken up in the Japanese market,” and that “with the rapid shift to Android, we want to catch up quickly.”

Panasonic’s phones will be based on Android, and the company hopes to differentiate them by emphasizing their networking capabilities with other Panasonic devices. Panasonic will kick off sales in Japan next year, with overseas markets following in 2012.

Panasonic has introduced a new compact Blu-ray recorder for the Japanese market. The DIGA DMR-BF200 is a compact device that supports BD-R/RE discs and features a 320GB hard drive, a built-in digital HDTV tuner and an SD card slot. It won’t take up much room either.

It also sports several connectivity ports including HDMI, Ethernet and composite. The DIGA DMR-BF200 will be available in Japan on November 15th for around $860. No word on whether it’s coming to the US or not. Probably not.

The stadium here in Texas where the Dallas Cowboys play football has a massive video wall hanging from the ceiling of the stadium. The idea is to let everyone be able to see what is going on the field even if they have bad seats. NASCA fans that watch at Charlotte Motor Speedway next year will be able to see the world’s largest video wall.

The new wall will be used to show race coverage, leader boards, and other interactive entertainment at the track. The massive screen will be placed between turns two and three on the track. The video wall will be 200-feet wide, 80-feet tall, and will weigh 165,000 pounds.

Panasonic has unveiled a new camcorder that grabs the title of world’s first micro four-thirds camcorder. The camera is rather big and bulky looking and reminds me of the old camcorders from the 80′s with its square design.

The camcorder is called the AG-AF105 and it has interchangeable lenses using the micro four-thirds system. The camera apparently works with the same lenses the still cameras from Panasonic support. The large image sensor allows for wide-angle video.

Panasonic is doing some upgrading. The company has announced some new upgraded notebooks in Japan. The F9, S9, and N9 all have specifications similar to the originals and offer an Intel Core i5-560M processor clocked at 2.66GHz, 4GB of RAM, WiMAX, and Wi-Fi.

Battery life is 14.5-hours, with the F9 is only doing 9-hours. Panasonic allows these models to be customized to your liking, if you want to increase the RAM, hard drive, SSD, or choose an Intel Core i7-650M processor.

Panasonic has launched its new HJC120 and HSC200 headphones. Both are certified for Apple’s iPod and iPhone and both models offer a built-in microphone and remote. They can also access the VoiceOver function of the iPod shuffle, which is nice.

The remote control is water resistant for extra protection. The HJC120 is a canal type of headphone with an ergonomic design and a 90mm OctaRib speaker, while the HSC200 has a water resistant speaker housing with 12.4mm speakers for more dynamic sound.

If you are in the market for a new Plasma HD TV, Panasonic has just rolled out a new HD LCD Plasma TV, called the Panasonic Viera TX-L32D28BP. It fits in with the D28 series and features a 32-inch edge-lit LED TV with a wide 178° viewing angle.

Other features include Panasonic’s Viera Cast internet platform, Ethernet and Wi-Fi. You can also enjoy online content like videos, photos, weather and stock information through the Web interface.

Panasonic has announced its latest Toughbook Permanent Display Removable Computer (PDRC) which will merge a vehicle-mounted display and full-functioning keyboard together for heightened accessibility within public safety vehicles.

Some of the upgrades to the PDRC include a brighter touchscreen display, improved user visibility and less connection cables. This will be add unprecedented flexibility to in-vehicle computing and it will work seamlessly with other Toughbook mobile computers like the Toughbook U1, H1 Field, 19 and 31.

Panasonic wants to improve your living room entertainment options with their RT2B series plasmas which can record TV broadcasts onto their hard drives or Blu-ray drives.

These are also the first all-in-one models that can handle Blu-ray 3D movie playback too. There are 42″ and 46″ versions. Sadly, the likelihood of seeing them on our shores is very small. But we may just see their new 3D glasses, which come in various sizes and can be recharged via USB.

About a week ago Panasonic officially unveiled the FX75 point and shoot digital camera. At the time the price and launch date weren’t offered, just the specs.

If you missed the specs, the camera has a 24mm ultra-wide angle lens with 5x optical zoom. The resolution is 14.1MP and the camera can record HD video in AVCHD Lite format the camera has a wide range of auto modes.

Not all of Panasonic’s Viera TVs are large. Take these guys for example. They have shrank down in size. It’s the new Viera portable TV range featuring Panasonic’s latest 10.1” a-Si TFT displays at 1,024 × 600 resolution. The DMP-BV200 and DMP-HV100 models will let you watch TV, DVD and Blu-ray (only for the BV200) and are compatible with all forms of AVCHD video.

It will also handle DivX files from either a USB device or an SD memory card and you can hook either one up to the Panasonic Viera Home Theater system and DVR with the DY-WL10 Wi-Fi dongle. Same sets, smaller experience.

3D is coming whether you like it or not. Whether it’s a flash in the pan or here to stay, you will still want to get some new gear. Panasonic’s new 3D screen may not be the one. It does sport a 25.5 inch LCD screen and comes with HD support.

Panasonic says that the 3D HD screen is for “reviewing 3D footage at a work station or in the field”. It also features dual HD-SDI so you can connect with other 3D hardware and DVI interfaces. And it comes with a pair of polarizing 3D eyeglasses. But this may not be the one for you due to its $9,900 price tag.

Panasonic has launched their latest Toughbook PC, a rugged tablet called the H1 Field. The Toughbook H1 Field is based around a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor and sports a 10.4-inch XGA sunlight-viewable dual-touch LCD that responds to finger control and input from an active stylus.

It’s rugged enough to survive a 6ft drop, extremes of temperature etc. It’s tough. Don’t mess with it. Harsh conditions are it’s middle name. Some other features include WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and optional Gobi2000 WWAN (for both EVDO and HSPA 3G). There’s also an optional GPS, fingerprint security, 2D barcode scanner, a 2-megapixel camera with LED flash, RFID reader and SmartCard reader.

Well, Panasonic has officially taken over Sanyo and they aren’t wasting any time with a joint venture to develop a lithium-ion storage battery that can store enough juice to power an average home for a week. Sounds pretty impressive huh? We are talking Japanese homes here.

The battery will have a system that allows users to monitor their electricity usage through their TVs. The technology won’t be available until sometime in 2011, but we are eager to see how this powers American homes.

The huge battery recalls from a few years ago showed that a flaw in the battery could have serious consequences for computer makers and consumers. Several batteries short-circuited and caught fire leading to property damage on more than one occasion.

Panasonic has introduced new battery technology that not only offers longer run time for laptops, but promises to be safer too. The new batteries use a standard cell form factor and pack in 3.1Ah per cell compared to the 2.9Ah of current cells.