Touch Screen Gadget

HTC HSDPA Diamond checked!!

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Trend Watch & News, Windows Mobile

Next Tuesday HTC is holding a London press conference where attendees can ‘witness the next wave of HTC innovation’.

HTC is already down in the books as being a member of the Open Handset Alliance scheme with Google, and will be releasing an Android handset later this year apparently, however it’s looking likely next Tuesday will usher in the Diamond model, a 2.8″ touchscreen HSDPA mobile, the first of the HTC clan to run on Windows Mobile 6.1.

How do we know all of this? Thanks to HTC’s Financial Executive Cheng Hui-ming, who spoke to the Taipei Times and actually named the handset as being “the most important product for HTC this year”. Whether that’s a slip of the tongue, or HTC won’t be releasing their Android offering this year after all, remains to be seen.

Also confirmed are some of the internal specs, including WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, 4GB of internal memory plus an impressive (for a smartphone) 3.2-megapixel camera. As you can see from the blurry pixellated image above that was leaked to Engadget, gone are the curves of the Touch mobile, in place is a seriously impressive screen, and omitted QWERTY keyboard.

(Engadget)

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LG Secret Series KF750

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone

Following the popular LG Chocolate and LG Shine cell phones, LG today introduced the LG Secret series. The LG KF750 for Europe is the first one to go.

LG launched the third LG Black Label Series handset, the LG Secret KF750 touchscreen slider phone, in London today. Following the popular LG Chocolate and LG shine, also the third model from the LG Black Label Series focuses on a stylish design.
LG Secret is supposed to always look new thanks to the materials incorporated into the phone. Carbon fiber should add to the handset’s durability, and tempered glass shields the front LCD. Further adding to its design concept, Neon Touch Navigation buttons respond to commands with illustrious effects in lavish blue.
Sporting a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus (in an ultra-slim profile at 11.8mm), the LG Secret KF750 can take pictures with sensitivity up to ISO800 and shoot QVGA videos at 120 fps. Included camera features are Morphing (facial editing) and SmartLight, that automatically adjusts a picture’s light settings. Users can also take advantage of the Movie Maker Software in the handset to create their own music videos.

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LG-KS20 a Fashion Pocket PC

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Smartphone, Windows Mobile

Following the success of its Chocolate and Prada series, now the Korean phone maker is offering another smart phone, called the LG KS-20.

LG KS20 is an iPhone-like phone that is operated on a big 2.8-inch Touchscreen. Runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional, the tri-band GSM LG KS20 offers more office functionalities that LG Prada phone (a phone that looks very alike to LG KS20). The KS20 phone has built-in email client that allows users to access both corporate and personal email accounts.

Besides that, this LG phone also has nice multimedia features such as MP3 player (Windows Media Plaer), video recorder, and 2.0-MP digital camera with AutoFocus and Flash). Its built-in 128MB memory might sounds too low to carry a lot of music and pictures, however, you could always expand its memory storage by getting microSD cards.

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In-Car Bluetooth DVD Player

Posted by admin | Category: Car & Bike

Another amazing In Car Entertainment solution , this Bluetooth capable car DVD player truly astounds with a large 7 inch display and an incredible array of features.

The touch screen gives you ultimate control and the Built in TV tuner will ensure you never miss that favorite show. The display is clear and special attention has been made to create a screen that has high luminance but low reflectivity. Ensure you’re on the cutting edge of car entertainment with one of these inexpensive head units available direct to you at wholesale prices from Wholesale-Star.

My take would be better of with a branded stuff to pimp your ride.

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Surface made headline table page

Posted by admin | Category: Multi Touch, Table and Floor

“Better late than never”, that could be the ad slogan for Microsoft’s Surface computer.

The table top, multi-touch, screen-based device that the company demonstrated last May has been wildly popular as “demo-ware” – garnering lots of attention in its public outings.

However, so far there have been none of the deployments initially planned by Microsoft’s commercial launch customers by the end of last year.

Microsoft announced this week that AT&T will begin using the Surface computer in its phone stores, starting with “select retail locations” in New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Francisco on April 17. The intent is for consumers to use the computer to help them compare mobile phones and service plans for sale in the stores.

“By harnessing the power of Surface in our retail stores, we’re giving shoppers the opportunity to learn about the growing universe of mobile applications and devices in a very personal and unique way,” AT&T said in a statement.

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Basic Instinct for a sexy touch

Posted by admin | Category: GPS Navigation & Guidance System, Mobile Phone

Samsung has launched its new completely touchsceen phone called Instinct, exclusively with Sprint. The new iPhone competitor boasts a high-tech look and design. Further it features a large, vibrant touch screen featuring localized tactile feedback, called haptics, allowing the virtual QWERTY keypad and other operations to become a sensory experience.

Moreover, the Instinct is also equipped with a Voice to Action button that offers many functions to be undertaken using voice activation including call, text, picture messaging, traffic, movie, sports, news and search.

Some of the other key feature of the Samsung Instinct is Visual Voicemail that allows users to listen to messages in their order of preference and manage them with a simple tap of the screen. Also the new phone features corporate and consumer (POP3) email, multitasking capabilities that allow the user to play music in background mode while surfing the Internet, texting or playing games, a 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder expandable microSD memory of up to 8GB, Bluetooth integrated world clock, SMS voice and text messaging with threaded text and picture caller ID.

The latest phone measures 2.17 x 4.57 x 0.49 inches and weighs less than 4.5 ounces.

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Digital Photo Frames craze

Posted by admin | Category: Home Appliance, MP3 Player, Table and Floor, Video Player

PanTouch line of digital photo frames feature a touch-operation interface.

For a while, every consumer electronics product began with an "i". Then everything was made of white plastic. What next? Touch, of course. We foresee a day when even the toilet bowl is touch-sensitive, but for now, we will accept this picture frame.

The PanTouch from Pantech is actually a pretty neat, if limited, home media player. Alongside the photo frame function, it’ll play MP3s and video, and all of this is controlled by touch. There are navigation buttons on screen, and you can flip between pictures with a swipe motion, just like the iPhone. It looks like the actual touch sensitivity is limited to a strip at the top of the picture, but at least it keeps your fingers off the screen itself.

All three models feature 6-in-1 memory card readers, standard and mini USB 2.0 ports, programmable on/off times, clock, calendar, alarm clock functions, and a unique "convenient page turn" effect that lets users view their photos by making a forward or backward swipe motion on the touch matte.

Specs for the lower models are pretty pedestrian, but the top-of-the-line model has a 10.4" Hi-Def LCD screen, (1024×768), WiFi and Bluetooth. The pathetic 512MB memory is the only letdown, especially with the low prices of NAND Flash RAM these days, but you do get a card reader slot, a couple of USB ports and clock/alarm. And at $250, it’s not a bad little toy.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Korea phone maker aiming stronger market

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone, Trend Watch & News

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics plan to use the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunication Industry Association) wireless industry trade show as a springboard to boost their mobile sales in the United States, where saturation and competition have been the norm.
The show, North America’s largest wireless event, will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, April 1-3.
Samsung Electronics said Monday that it will unveil this year’s strategic “Soul’’ phone in the world’s largest consumer electronics market. The slider-type handset with a touch panel will feature Bluetooth 2.0 and 5-megapixel camera functions.
The phone is being marketed to European customers and will be available in mid-April.
Samsung electronics, the world’s No. 2 handset manufacturer after Finland-based Nokia, also plans to introduce customized products aiming for larger U.S. wireless operators such as “Flipshot’’ (Verizon), “Blackjack2’’ (AT& T), “Katalyst’’ (T-Mobile) and “m520’’ (Sprint).

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New XV6900 enhanced capabilities

Posted by admin | Category: Mobile Phone

The Verizon Wireless XV6900 leverages the functionality and capabilities of Windows Mobile 6 Professional with access to Outlook Mobile for email integration, Office Mobile and the ability to run third-party applications. Verizon Wireless users will also have the ability to surf the Web through Internet Explorer Mobile, send and receive emails or chat on popular Messenger services including AIM, MSN and Yahoo!.
The XV6900 allows customers to view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files, as well as view Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Reader LE PDF Viewer and view, extract and create new ZIP files and attachments. The home screen provides one-touch access to email, text messages, calendar appointments and contacts, as well as current weather conditions and forecasts for hundreds of cities around the world.
Whether customers are accessing local weather reports, navigating to the Internet, flipping through photos, or one-touch dialing of loved ones, users can interact the XV6900’s features with just a flick of their fingers.

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Latitute XT Tablet user opinion

Posted by admin | Category: Tablet PC & UMPC

The Latitude XT is a pretty good convertible tablet, with a good blend of features and a couple of outstanding options. It’s also expensive, but some of that expense can be justified by the build quality, which is sturdy, and by those options, namely the DLV screen and the 64 GB SSD (solid state disk). In addition, the N-trig DuoSense pen and touch digitizer works exactly as advertised and with a very pleasant, light touch. Is the XT right for you? Read on and make your own decision…

What was bought, and why: The configuration of my XT is as follows:

• Core 2 Duo ULV U7600 1.20 GHz, 533MHz FSB
• DLV (400 nit) Screen
• Vista Ultimate with Media
• 2 GB RAM - (See text)
• Full set of Recovery Discs and Documentation - (No charge)
• 64 GB SSD
• 8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
• 6 Cell Primary Battery – (See text)
• 45W Mini-Charger
• Draft 802.11n Mini-Card
• 360 BlueTooth Card for Vista
• OneNote (Who can’t use another copy of OneNote…???)
• 3 Year ProSupport Service

Total retail cost was $3987.

What’s In The Box: Despite a delivery prediction of two weeks, Dell  took only about a week to be delivered, so kudos to Dell on that. The box contained the XT, the charger and 3-foot AC cord, the DVD drive module and the empty D-Bay enclosure to put it in, the pen with lanyard, nib puller and two types of nibs and the recovery media and documentation.

Interestingly, the XT User’s Guide was not a hard document. You have to look for it under System and Maintenance > Welcome Center > Product Support and Documentation!

And despite Dell’s vow to cut down on “bloatware,” the XT basic load is lousy with Google add-ins… IE toolbars, system tray icons… and stuff I probably haven’t found yet. Since most of it isn’t too irritating, I’ve left it in place… at least for now… Other than this, the software load is relatively clean. Dell includes their usual assortment of service and information-related apps, and I don’t have much objection to that.

Features:

However, it is worth a moment to comment a couple of specific features.

• Overall dimensions are 11.72” wide x 8.62” deep x 1.18” high (DLV screen, remember). Across the hinge, the XT is 9.19” deep, so a hard case needs to be at least 12” x 9.2” to fit. Including the short rubber feet, the maximum height is 1.30”. Weight, according to Dell, is 4.19 pounds for this model.
• The protrusion that houses the hinge is rubberized so that it can be used as a hand grip. Nice touch!
• The 64 GB SSD is a Samsung PZA064 SSD ATA device. I believe it has a ZIF connector (per e-mail from SanDisk).
• The XT has a full complement of ports, including three USB ports (one with extra power port for the D-Bay optical drive) a mini FireWire port (1394) and a 54mm (full width) ExpressCard slot. ExpressCards are the next-generation of PCMCIA; the 54mm slot will also accommodate the half-width 34mm ExpressCards.
• The XT sports a nifty “WiFi Finder.” Push a button on the right side edge and a window opens showing all the WiFi nodes that are broadcasting in your vicinity.
• There is an SD card slot immediately above the ExpressCard slot. According to Dell Tech Support, the slot will only support regular SD cards (up to 2 GB). SD-HC cards are not supported.
• When the screen is turned and folded over into slate mode, two stubby rubber cleats just outside the corners of the keyboard engage two slots on the back of the screen to hold it in alignment. The screen does not “bounce” under your hand despite not having a latch (very nice!).
• In slate mode, a rocker switch for scrolling and a “Back” button are exposed on the screen edge. The TC 1100 has a similar scroll rocker, and I have come to really like that approach. Compliments to Dell for recognizing a good thing!
• The screen rotates through all four orientations; however, I see no evidence of an accelerometer or of an auto-rotation function.
• Finally, the 45 W “mini-charger” is extremely compact and works very well. It charges the 6-cell battery in a very reasonable time. Order the large (and bulky!) 60W charger if you like, but the 45 W charger is a real performer!

User Impressions: So, with all the preliminaries out of the way, we can finally get down to how the XT works and feels.

The first thing that warrants discussion is the SSD. If you are inclined to go this route, regardless of what brand of computer you intend to buy, take a tip from me and don’t buy anything smaller than a 64 GB drive. Trust me, in the big picture, the expense turns out to be secondary!

The bottom line here is that your SSD is a bit like TV screen size; decide on what you want, and then bump it up to the next size… and be sure to get a minimum of 64 GB!

While we’re on the SSD, I spent some time researching whether they need to be defragmented, or not. There is a discussion thread in the GBM forums that mentions this issue, but I decided to touch base with some OEMs, just to see if there were any nuances that might need to be considered. So in response to the question: “Do SSD’s need to be defragmented?” …

SanDisk’s response was:

“…Thanks again for calling SanDisk Technical Support…Since every spot on the SSD accesses at exactly the same speed defrag would not do much for you. Doing a defrag will use up read/write cycles and reduce the lifetime of the SSD. It is not recommended to defrag your SSD…. SanDisk Technical Support”

BitMICRO’s response was:

“Thank you for your interest in our E-Disk products…Our E-Disk drive does not need to be defragmented unlike a rotary drive and no actual benefit will be derived from it…E-Disk solid state drive doesn’t have disk heads and disk platters which slows down the capability of the drive to read and write data on a heavily fragmented file system. Although most Operating System recommends periodic defragmentation, it is not applicable to E-Disk SSD…In any case, since our E-Disk serves as drop-in replacement for rotary drives, running defragmentation utility on the E-Disk drive should pose no concern other than accumulating unnecessary write cycles…BiTMICRO Networks, Inc.”

And Imation’s (makers of Mtron) response was:

“There is no need for you to defragment your SSD, the defragmentation process was made for large storing devices, so this doesnt apply…Technical Support”

So the good news here is that everyone seems to be in accord. I turned Vista’s background defragmentation process off by unchecking the “Run on a schedule” box in the Defragmenter window.

XT transitions into Sleep in about 2-3 seconds and warm starts back up in about the same time. That’s very impressive! I don’t normally do Hibernation, so I can’t really comment on that; hibernation and restart take longer than sleep but less time than a complete shutdown or cold start.

When it comes to opening and closing applications, however, the XT really screams. It seems to take only 2 or 3 seconds, max, to open Outlook or IE7, and lesser-used apps are noticeably faster than the TC1100. Overall, I’m very pleased with my SSD…!

Another really significant feature of the XT is the DLV screen. Colors are rich and saturated and with a maximum luminance of about 400 nit (nit: possibly from the Latin nitere, “to shine.”), this screen really blazes! Twice as bright as Dell’s LED-illuminated screen (220 nit), and about 25% brighter than typical modern laptop screens (~300 nit), the DLV screen is very usable in indirect outdoor daylight and parts of the screen are even visible in moderate direct sunlight (of course, any part of the screen that suffers direct sun reflections is completely obscured). This is the first screen I’ve ever turned down when I’m indoors.

The higher screen luminance has some subtle implications. Interestingly, it makes the optical performance of a screen protector somewhat less important. If you’re getting a bit of glare, you can turn up the brightness slightly or make a slight change in screen angle to recapture acceptable screen contrast. And you can turn it up so high that it’s too bright for comfortable indoor viewing. I made that mistake one afternoon and ended up having to rest my eyes for a while!

But nothing comes for free. The dual lamps in the DLV are undoubtedly a significant factor in the relatively short operating life of the 6-cell battery. Some report battery operating times of only about 1.5 hours between charges. I’ve been doing a bit better (~2+ hours) but I haven’t yet run any definitive battery life tests.

A third major highlight of the XT is the N-trig DuoSense digitizer. The XT comes with an N-trig stick pen that features two buttons. The larger oblong button is for “right click” while the slightly smaller round button is for erase. Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of stick pens as I find them too small in diameter for comfortable writing. One of the things that I’m going to miss with this new digitizer is the rich variety of pens that work interchangeably with the Wacom digitizer.

N-trig nibs are fundamentally different from Wacom nibs, and I don’t think that it would be easy to modify a Wacom nib to fit the N-trig pen because the N-trig nibs use a thin metal pin to anchor them into the pen. It will be interesting to see if anyone tries. The XT comes with two types of nibs. The black nib is your standard, hard plastic nib that feels and writes exactly like the Wacom standard nib, giving a “slick” feel to the writing experience. The blue nib appears to be a softer material that gives something more like a fiber-tipped pen feel to the writing. Since I tend to like Wacom’s felt nibs, it will come as no surprise that I like the blue nibs a bit better.

In summary, I have to say that I like the XT a lot more than I expected that I would. It’s compact, it’s well designed and it performs well. It’s also expensive, it’s heavy and its battery operating life won’t be winning any awards in the foreseeable future. Needless to say, the XT has really challenged my thoughts about what a tablet is or should be. One fallout of this is that I’ve been thinking about is what I would do if Fujitsu or TabletKiosk or Motion were to market a slate with the features of an XT… my tentative conclusion is that I would keep the XT! Of course, easy to say that now… perhaps it’s just buyer’s infatuation!

Is the XT right for you? I’ve tried to fold a lot of raw information into this review so that you can think about it. I certainly don’t regret buying my XT, but the price of admission is high and that’s probably the biggest hurdle that you’ll need to get over.

[gottamobile]

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