April 28, 2005
The N91, Nokia’s newest Symbian smartphone, features a 4 Gigabyte harddisk, capable of storing up to 3000 songs. Obviously the device is meant to be a top multimedia device, with a standard 3.5mm stereo headset jack for the included stereo headset with remote control and optional accessories from sound experts Bose, Harman Kardon, JBL, and Sennheiser. Throw in WCDMA, WLAN and Bluetooth connectivity and a two megapixel camera, and you have a great entertainment system, diguised as a stylish cellphone.
April 26, 2005
According to Engadget, the European launch for the Playstation Portable has been postponed to September 1. I don’t get what Sony is up to with a decision like this, as the Nintendo DS is readily available over here, and it might take a lot of the market share that the PSP would aim for. Well, maybe they hope nobody is interested in that ugly Nintendo device anymore by fall.
April 19, 2005
The fourth German Casemod Championships have just been finished. First place winners were Benjamin Franz (CaseModification) and Maico Bensien (CaseConstruction). The audience award went to Dirk Wand with an awesome wood and glass pyramid construction. Wood based cases have been very popular in this years competition.
April 16, 2005
Tired of typing SMS on that crappy numeric keypad? While some mobiles offer querty keypads now, this doesn’t seem to be the perfect solution either. With the P207, Samsung takes a different approach: Integrating text to speech in the phone. The device also features a 176 x 220pixel 262K color display, EDGE and a VGA quality camera.
April 14, 2005
According to Brighthand, palmOne’s next to be released high end PDA commonly referred to as LifeDrive is expected to hit the shelves as Tungsten X. It is also reported that the device will be equipped with 64 MB RAM instead of previously assumed 32 MB and with NormSoft’s Pocket Tunes instead of Real Networks’ RealPlayer. Tungsten X should hit the market in mid-May with a price tag of about $500.
Everyone knows the iPod is not just for listening to music - listening to podcasts has become very popular among fans of Apple’s music player. But there are other applications as well: iPod Arcade offers some classic video games for a variety of iPod models.
April 13, 2005
Pocketfactory has a review of the PDA everyone is talking about right now: The Tungsten E2. Technical specs are as follows:
- Size and weight: 4.5” x 3.1” x.6”, 4.7 oz.
- Memory: 32MB
- OS: PalmOS Garnet (5.4.7)
- Display: 320×320 Transflective TFT
- Expansion: SD/SDIO slot
- Processor: Intel 200mhz
- Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion
The design is quite similar to the Tungsten E, although the display is said to be a lot brighter thant that of previous PalmOne products. The other main improvements are the addition of BlueTooth and the Non-volatile memory. The $249 price tag seems quite reasonable for the device in my eyes.
April 11, 2005
At the BASELWORLD 2005 watch and jewelry show Seiko Watch Corp and Seiko Epson Corp presented their new wristwatch which uses electronic paper inside the display. The 3 x 9 cm electronic paper that is bent inside the bracelet displays a changing mosaic pattern along with the current time. It provides a monochrome display with a contrast ratio of 10:1.
IBM and Sanyo are working on a micro direct methanol fuel cell system for IBM ThinkPad notebooks. A first prototype fuel cell system is capable of providing 8 hours of power to the notebook. While previous fuel cell prototypes needed modified hardware, the new Sanyo system is said to be compatible with most current ThinkPad notebooks without altering the hardware.
More at PhysOrg
April 7, 2005
Nokia just announced their new 8800 mobile, setting a new standard in cellphone design. The device feateres a beautiful stainless steel cover, sliding open to reveal the keypad and a camera. The ringtones have been composed by the award-winning composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.
The phone is to be released in the second quarter of 2005 for 750 Euro. For the American market there will be the 8801 with similar features, to be released in Q3.
