Navigation PDAs and communicators workshop Navteq
One of the most remarkable events of this week became the workshop, which was carried out by Navteq - the well-known developer of digital maps, navigation software and similar products. During the event showed a lot of development companies engaged in navigation devices. Among them were not only dedicated navigation devices, but also PDAs with GPS-capabilities. For example, the company ASUSTeK showed a new GPS-communicator P535. More precisely, even to say that this is the first PDA from ASUS, capable of performing the functions of the phone and GPS-navigator at the same time, since individually both functions have been implemented in devices of this company. As a communicator, P535 is the successor to not-equipped GPS-receiver model, MyPal P525, which recently went on sale. In contrast, P535 does not have a keypad and has a slightly smaller size.
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| ASUS MyPal P535 |
According to their tactical and technical characteristics P535 may well compete with the various incarnations of the platform HTC Artemis. In developing ASUS faster processor, larger amount of ROM, slot for memory cards miniSD, and not microSD. However, it only supports three frequency bands Networks GSM (Artemis supports four). Likewise, the P535 is no standard EDGE and a FM-tuner. Here is a brief description of P535. It is designed for networks of GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), supports GPRS Class 10, is equipped with integrated GPS-receiver based on chip SiRF Star III. The new device runs Windows Mobile 5.0, based on Intel XScale PXA272 processor clocked at 520 MHz. Amounts of RAM and ROM respectively, $ 64, and 256 MB, there is an expansion slot for cards miniSD. Screen is similar to that of P525 (2,8-inch, 240x320 pixels, 65K colors). In addition, the mention of the presence of Bluetooth 2.0 (with support for EDR), Wi-Fi (802.11b / g), as well as built-in 2-megapixel camera with macro and auto focus. It is expected that European sales of ASUS P535 will begin in December 2006 and the indicative price of 599 euros, that is about 760 dollars (abroad). Acer is also not left out and introduced two new handheld computer - c510 and 530. They are fairly standard for today's PDA with GPS-capabilities. On the main technical characteristics of the model are identical and differ only in the presence of integrated Wi-Fi module for high-end model.
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| Acer c510 |
Brief characteristics. Displays c510 and c530, Diagonal 2.8 inch, have a resolution of QVGA (240x320 pixels). Both are equipped with handheld GPS-module SiRF III, Samsung S3C2442XL processor with 300 MHz processor, 64 MB RAM and 128 MB ROM. Work is performed under the operating system Windows Mobile 5.0. Supported flash card format MMC, SD and SDIO, and an interface Bluetooth. The dimensions of the device is 108h58h17 mm, weight - 120 grams. It is expected that the release of c510 and c530 in November. Approximate price of c510 is 350 euros, about $ 445, and the c530 - 400 euros, that is about $ 510. They will come with navigation software ALK CoPilot 6 and maps from Navteq.
O2 launches version HTC Artemis and HTC Excalibur
HTC is the recent announcement of No wonder they say that the leading European operators are "lined up" for new products. At the time of the announcement it was known that T-Mobile will release the HTC Artemis (HTC P3300) as the MDA Compact III.Now is not the less well-known operator O2 announced in Germany just two units of a new line of HTC - GPS-communicator O2 Xda orbit (on the platform HTC Artemis) and rumors are already emerging in the smartphone with a QWERTY-keyboard O2 Xda cosmo (platform HTC Excalibur). O2 Xda orbit differs from the HTC Artemis more rounded and soft design, the rest repeat his performance. You can learn the details in the description of the platform, stopping once to them we will not.
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| O2 XDA Orbit |
New device based on Palm OS
The next event is this week showed that the operating system Palm OS is still respected the producers. Company GSPDA (Group Sense PDA), known for its communicators Xplore, stated that he was preparing to release a new model - Xplore M70. New running the operating system Palm OS 5.4 Garnet. Xplore M70 is a fairly simple and inexpensive model. In contrast, the same PDA Treo, the novelty is no QWERTY-keyboard, but only digital. It is assumed that the Xplore M70 may be in some way an alternative budget model Treo 680, soon to be announced by Palm.
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| GSPDA Xplore M70 |
Xplore M70 is designed for networks of GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz) and supports GPRS. 2.2-inch touch screen TFT-LCD has not impressive resolution of 176x220 pixels, but it supports 262K colors. The camera is not bad - 1.3 megapixel resolution. The device is based on the ARM 9, supported interfaces, Bluetooth, IrDA and USB, and also has a slot for memory cards format SD. Dimensions of the device are 109h50h23 7 mm, and weighs 131 grams.
The next creature creator of the Black Diamond
The designer Jaren Goh (Jaren Goh) is already well lit up this year with one of its development - an elite communicator Black Diamond. Now he has created a new concept mobile device - PDA, called Opus Opteris. As stated on the website Goh, development created for a certain company Zenum. In other matters, it's not about what not to say: Black Diamond was originally graced the site designer with the logo of Sony Ericsson, but later it decided to release the company VIPN, with a limited edition at a price of 300 thousand dollars per copy. At Black Diamond uses such materials as titanium, as well as diamonds. In appearance Opus Opteris has a more conventional design for communicators than Black Diamond, with its smooth surfaces and touch panels. Although it should be noted that the QWERTY-keyboard with Opus Opteris done in a fairly unique style. If it gets to market, enter into symmetrical rows of communicators with horizontally oriented display and a QWERTY-keyboard under it, which lately there are more. Communicator is not too distinguished by technical characteristics, with its pluses and minuses. On the concept, he comes closest to the models of HTC Excalibur and Samsung SGH-i320, but it is not a smartphone, a communicator.
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| Opus Opteris |
Opus Opteris described as a communicator, working on the basis of the operating system Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition. It can work in networks GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), supports GPRS, wireless Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g) and Bluetooth 1.2 interface with the profile A2DP. However, are not supported EDGE, or third-generation networks.It is equipped with medium-sized device for this form factor 2.5-inch TFT-LCD with QVGA (240x320 pixels), 2-megapixel camera, TI OMAP 750, 64 MB RAM and 128 MB ROM, as well as a slot for cards miniSD. In general, nothing really spectacular, just "one".
S-XGen: not just PDAs, but not yet UMPC
Shared the details of his development company Seamless Wi-Fi. She is preparing to release an interesting device called the S-XGen. He is on his performance somewhere between modern communicators and UMPC UMPC, and is characterized by an unusual design with folding QWERTY-keyboard. Although the company and classifies it to the category of UMPC, but such positioning is not entirely correct, because the work is carried out based on the operating system and processor for PDA - Windows CE 5.0 and Intel PXA 270 processor with Xscale 520 MHz.
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| S-XGen |
The rest of its characteristics are very different from the standard Pocket PC. The most highly impressive 20 GB hard drive. Also worth noting is 4.25-inch touchscreen display with a resolution 470h270 pixels and communication capabilities - to support the GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz), Wi-Fi and Ethernet 100/10, interfaces to Bluetooth, IrDA and USB (OTG). Provides 128 MB of SDRAM and a slot for SD memory MMC / SD. Dimensions, of course, not too tiny - 165.1 h96, 5h28, 6 mm and weighs 397 grams. While it is difficult to say with certainty whether such a device in demand. It is unlikely that it will cost less fundamentally UMPC, which, at least, superior to it in computing power. Of course, they are larger.
Palm confirmed the imminent release of the budget Treo
At the quarterly conference, held last week, Palm reported on its achievements during the first quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended for her on September 1, In addition to financial details, Ed Colligan (Chapter Palm), reported some details about the updates. In particular, he said that the recently announced Treo 750v smartphone will be available in Europe in 9 countries in early October. But the greatest excitement in the news for mobile themes to his announcement that the release of a new Treo, the last scheduled for this year will happen in the near future. According to him, it will be a model with a small price, she will appear in 20 operator networks around the world before the end of the year. According to preliminary information, has not yet confirmed that Palm, the budget Treo, conventionally called the Treo 680, can cost even less than $ 300. It is expected that it supports EDGE, will receive a modest camera with VGA resolution and work-based operating system Palm OS Garnet. In addition to the more modest the camera, it will be different from its predecessor, Treo 650, not only in the direction of cheaper but also get some indisputable advantages. For example, it has no external antenna, making it look more modern and most importantly - he tipped 64 MB of RAM, a weighty argument in favor of the Treo 680. Those who do not need the support of third-generation networks and Wi-Fi, and do not need an operating system Windows Mobile, and want something simple but modern, the model may well like.
Rumours of the week: the younger brother of HTC Universal and mysterious i-mate JAQ3
Could not have done this week in the world of PDAs and smartphones, and without some degree of speculation and preliminary reports, not confirmed by the manufacturers. For example, there is information about the model UBiQUiO 601 from the company TFW (Tech Faith Wireless). By their appearance and characteristics of vernal he seems younger, brother of late appeared HTC Universal. In UBiQUiO 601 is not one of the main advantages of HTC Universal - a large display with a resolution of VGA. Instead suggested a gain in compactness and a small external display, which strongly suggested itself to the HTC Universal.
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| UBiQUiO 601 |
Full description not yet known, but here's what has been revealed. TI OMAP 750 processor against Intel XScale PXA270 processor with a clock frequency of 520 MHz Universal. Memory, 128 MB ROM, 64 MB RAM, as much as a Universal. Support for UMTS networks not available in principle, there is a GSM / GPRS (only three frequency bands instead of four). Touchscreen 2.8-inch display with QVGA (320x240 pixels) instead of 3,6 - inch VGA-screen. It also provides an interface Bluetooth 1.2 (with A2DP) and support for wireless networking Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g). Work is performed under the operating system Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Edition 128 MB ROM, 64 MB RAM. 2-megapixel camera instead of the 1.3-megapixel with Universal. Also supported by the Universal Card SDIO, whereas in the future novelty - only miniSD. In general, a solution is sufficiently curious, but not producing the impression that the HTC Universal, is most interesting here is not the mere existence of such a development in TFW, and the suggestion that this model will be released by i-mate, called i-mate K-JAR. By the way, the communicator on the basis of HTC Universal has released i-mate as i-mate JasJar. Another rumor about the company's products TFW As a model called the UBiQUiO 501 is supposedly still a novelty and the future i-mate JAQ3. Sources of this hearing are located in China, which made some confusion in the foreign language resource is not well understand Chinese. Judging from the original Chinese article, UBiQUiO 501 and i-mate JAQ3 is slightly different - the latter a bit thicker and has a microSD slot instead of microSD. Full clarity is not here, but the additional suspicion inspired the name - i-mate JAQ3, since the model i-mate JAQ2 was not. Recall that the UBiQUiO 501 is a communicator with a horizontally oriented display and a QWERTY-keyboard underneath.
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| i-mate JAQ3 |
It is also worth noting that i-mate already has one product TFW - recently introduced a smartphone i-mate SPL. So what if the rumors are correct, it is possible i-mate will be on a permanent basis to produce a device designed specifically TFW, as previously released design HTC.
ActiveSync 4.5 Beta 2: Again without the support sync via Wi-Fi
In the software world, one of the most notable event was the release of the next beta version of an application for synchronizing mobile devices with your PC - ActiveSync from Microsoft. Each of the next version of the program is expected to look forward, especially since in the next ActiveSync has been removed the ability to sync to Wi-Fi. Microsoft explains how this is done at the request of corporate clients in connection with security issues. In ActiveSync 4.5 Beta 2 change is not so much, and sync support for Wi-Fi among them does not appear. According to Microsoft, they help to solve the problems associated with installation, interaction and connection to a PC and Microsoft Exchange, also added a tool designed to diagnose and fix problems on your PDA. ActiveSync 4.5 Beta 2 supports synchronization over USB, Bluetooth and IrDA.
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| ActiveSync 4.5 Beta 2 |
Briefly about other events of the week:
The company Raon Digital will soon release a device on the market, according to the form factor coincides with ultramoblnymi UMPC computers and able to make them real competition.In contrast to the UMPC, Vega Ultra Portable, namely the so-called device is more compact, built on AMD Geode LX800 processor and has a good time on a single charge. Another noticeable difference - work under the control of the operating system Windows XP Home Edition, not Windows XP Tablet PC Edition as a UMPC. Vega Ultra Portable is equipped with a 4.3-inch display with WVGA (800x480 pixels), 256 or 512 MB RAM, 30 GB hard drive and wireless networks Wi-Fi. Dimensions are 160h80h27, 5 mm. Approximate price of the device is about $ 978 for the version with 256 MB of RAM and $ 1016 for a version with 512 MB. European deliveries should start in late October - early November.
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| Vega Ultra Portable |
Company Rand McNally, known for its maps and atlases, has released its own GPS-navigator. The unit is equipped with a sufficient standard of this class of devices touch screen diagonal of 3.5-inch 320x240 pixels, GPS-module SiRF StarIII. At the same time he is able to play music in MP3 format and open for viewing digital photos. But the main highlight of the Rand McNally is the large number of the supplied maps and detailed atlas of highways. The set comes with the navigator cradle to install in the car, and car charger. Retail sales Rand McNally will begin in late September, the recommended price is $ 500. ASUSTeK company announced sales of UMPC R2H. The main difference R2H from competing models is the availability of integrated GPS-module, a sensor for user identification by fingerprints and 1.3-megapixel camera. The approximate price for the ASUS R2H is slightly more than $ 1000, far exceeding the declared Microsoft's average price for UMPC-devices, but fits into the framework of already issued proposals MacCentre Company began selling the new device HTC TyTN. Remember, this is the first device in the Russian market, which was published under its own brand manufacturer - HTC. Previous models were sold under the brand name Qtek, i-Mate and T-Mobile. In fact, it is a modern smartphone with a slide out side keyboard, the precursor of which is Qtek 9100. Communication capabilities HTC TyTN slightly higher than the capacity of Russian communications operators, because it supports the UMTS network, and even standard HSDPA, which provides high speed data transfer. Miniature Player iRiver S10 will be available soon in Russia. Company Reigncom, the owner of the trademark iRiver, did not shelve the release of this model outside of Korea. Recall, iRiver S10, only a little more than a redesigned iPod shuffle, but is equipped with the color display. Dimensions are 42x30x10, 8 mm, and weight - 17.5 grams. The main disadvantage of speaking against the new items is not too long a time on a single charge - 8 hours of music playback. Delivery player on the Russian market will begin in November. Company Moixa Energy presented immediately two unusual USB-devices - USBCELL rechargeable batteries and USB-rechargeable batteries for mobile phones. The first development is actually a normal AA batteries with built in its USB-connector. The upper part of the battery is removed, it is a standard USB-connector, which can be inserted into any USB-port and thus put on the battery charge is stranded. USB-rechargeable batteries for mobile phones operate on the same principle - in case batteries hidden USB-connector. At the moment there are already prototypes of batteries for mobile phones Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola RAZR V3. Company SBSH Mobile Software released version 3 of its application-launcher iLauncher. The program is primarily used to quickly launch programs right from the Today.In iLauncher 3 has an integrated menu of task manager that allows you to close, minimize and activate the application, the X button actually closes the application, the safe mode option, which protects the device from malicious programs when you restart, you can create tabs piktogrammok for special actions, such as speed dialing , the creation of SMS and off and screen rotation, as well as language support. Renowned developer tools to work with RSS - company NewsGator Technologies has released the NewsGator Go! for devices based on Windows Mobile. This RSS-aggregator that allows you to get information and manage the RSS-channels. The main feature of NewsGator Go! is the ability to synchronize subscriptions between articles and other products NewsGator, including NewsGator Online, Inbox, NetNewsWire, FeedDemon and NewsGator Enterprise. In addition, content adapted for mobile devices, and have the opportunity to view off-line - NewsGator Go! for Windows Mobile downloads and caches articles. It works with operating systems Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0. PROMT announced the commencement of sales of the new version of the translator - Pocket PROMT 5.0 for handheld computers and communicators. This product is a Russian version of the product, which was released for the international market on Aug. 16, 2006 Pocket PROMT 5.0 translates from English or German into Russian and back. The main difference from the previous version - operating system support Microsoft Windows 5.0. Nokia has signed an agreement with Microsoft, under which in Nokia Mobile Search will be integrated into service opportunities Live Search. This will enable smart phones based on S60 platform to search online in 14 languages, as well as quick access to information such as stock quotes, movie schedules and the known facts via Encarta Instant Answers. Mobile Search application is a standard delivery of some smartphones Nokia, including the Nokia N80 Internet Edition, Nokia N73, Nokia N93, Nokia N70 and Nokia N71, and is available for download from the company.
Next week:
Next week promises to be extremely interesting. At least in the early weeks of the event will be held Nokia Open Studio 2006, which Nokia introduced new models of smartphones his famous N-series. Follow our news. The authors, translation: