Posts filed under 'Mobile'
Sony Ericsson today adds its first UMTS handset to the Walkman range of music phones bringing the total number of phones in the range to four.
The W900 is a high quality fully specified music player, phone and imaging device capable of super-fast downloads of all types of multimedia – music, video and graphics. It follows the highly successful global market launch of the W800. Two previously announced Walkman phones are also about to launch, the W600 in the Americas and W550 in the rest of the world, meaning there are now Walkman phones meeting a broad spectrum of mobile music needs and price segments.
As a music player, the W900 makes it easy to import, transfer, manage and play music from operators’ over-the-air (OTA) music download services, allowing tracks to be downloaded directly to the phone while on the move and, from a PC when tracks have been copied from the owner’s CD collection.
“The W900, along with the rest of the Walkman phone family, will establish a new life-style habit of enjoying superb quality music and video and a full internet web experience on the move from a single mobile device,” says Rikko Sakaguchi, Senior Vice President, Product and Application Planning of Sony Ericsson. “In our first UMTS Walkman phone we have combined fast download speeds with superb sound quality and crystal clear 30 frames a second video recording and play-back in a really simple and easy to use device. The W900 will not only appeal as a music phone. The superb communications, multimedia and imaging functionality will appeal to all those wanting a true multi-media capable device.”
One of the most appealing features of the W900 is how easy it is to import, transfer, play and manage music files. Tracks can be imported from a variety of sources, either over-the-air direct to the phone if it supports an available operator music download service, or via a PC.
Transferring digital music files from a PC to the phone is a simple ‘drag and drop’ and the W900 is also fully compatible with user-copied content from all leading music management software packages. This is particularly useful for consumers already owning another type of digital music player who want to transfer tracks that originate from their CD collection on to the W900.
The supplied Disc2Phone PC software allows the user to easily transfer music to the phone from audio CDs and a PC music collection. Disc2Phone can transfer music based on playlists and has a fun and easy-to-use shuffle functionality. The W900’s large internal 470MB user free memory provides space for between 120 and 240 songs. The storage capacity is easily increased however by inserting a Memory Stick PRO Duo, currently available in retail outlets at up to 2GB, giving space for up to 1,000 tracks. Music files can be stored in all the key formats: MP3, AAC or AAC+, MIDI, WAV and XMF.
The versatile swivel design makes it easy to multitask between the W900’s many functions, a feature which gives the phone an advantage over dedicated music players. The direct music buttons get the user swiftly into the Walkman player where it is possible to scroll through play lists, artists or individual songs. Users fed up with missing calls because they are listening to music will love the fact that the phone’s ringtone cuts into the audio and pauses the track while the user takes the call.
The phone swivels open automatically with the lightest of touches, revealing a large keypad. Virtually all functions can be performed with the phone closed, and users can read messages or search through their music library without opening the phone.
More than a fully featured music player, the W900 is a highly advanced imaging and multimedia device with broadband-fast download speeds, smooth, responsive browse capabilities and a large, 2.2 inch QVGA 262K TFT screen, one of the brightest ever seen on a mobile phone.
The 2 Megapixel, autofocus camera with LED flash- or picture-light is perfect for capturing priceless moments and, thanks to the Sony Ericsson dual fronted design, is operated with both hands in a horizontal position for maximum stability. The camera also shoots video at up to 30fps (frames per second), double the speed of most conventional imaging phones and the playback quality threshold for television.
With the supplied Adobe PC software, pictures and videos can be easily imported to a PC as soon as the phone is connected using the fast USB connection. They can then be edited, printed and shared using the easy-to-use and powerful Adobe software, and videos can be played back using Apple QuickTime Player.
As an entertainment device the W900 exploits the UMTS-delivered capabilities to the full, delivering fast and smooth download and browsing of video, games, sound and graphics. The high performance 3D Java gaming engine is put to the test with the embedded Asphalt Urban GT 3D from Gameloft, where users can experience the thrills of extreme racing at the wheel of the ultimate sports cars.
The W900 is the first Sony Ericsson phone to be supplied with a Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-80 with remote control, that allows the user to operate the Walkman player without removing it from their pocket. A USB cable and Disc2Phone PC software for transfer and management of music files are also included in the box.
W900 Availability
The W900 UMTS Walkman phone is available in black or white and will be commercially available end Q4 2005. The variants will be:
* W900i - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
* W900c - Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China. Launch for mainland China dependant on availability of 3G services.
October 18th, 2005
Samsung today introduced a 3GB HDD embedded phone, model SPH-V7900. This is Samsung’s latest model equipped with a hard disc drive following the world’s first mobile phone equipped with 1.5GB hard disc drive, model SPH-V5400, which Samsung introduced in September of last year.
The V7900 allows users to store two or three full-length movies (at 1.1-5GB each) or more than 700 music files (at 4MB each).
The V7900 also supports the latest multimedia compression technologies -MPEG-4/H.264 (for video) and MPEG-4 AAC/AAC+ (for audio). High-performance dual speakers are mounted on the exterior folder to provide 64-polyphonic stereo sound.
This model comes with harmonic color, a new feature that converts all musical elements such as scale, octave, tone and volume into visual images in a variety of colors and patterns.
It also comes with a 2 megapixel camera that includes 2x optical zoom, MP3 player, and document viewer functions.
“The major increase in memory will position the mobile phone as a key multimedia product that enables users to watch movies and listen to music. We will continue to apply the latest technologies and innovative designs to remain at the forefront of the global market for premium mobile phones,” said Kitae Lee, President of the Samsung Electronics Telecommunication Network Business.
The phone is available in Korea at around $700 USD.
October 17th, 2005
It sounds like a weird idea, but the scientists behind the latest security device for mobile phone claim it is effective and cheap. Finland’s Technical Research Centre has unveiled a gait sensor that checks the peculiarities of motion as the mobile phone is carried and only allows you to call if you match a preset type of walk.
The researchers behind the device claim 90% effectiveness, putting it on a par with voice-regnition, but behind fingerprint technology. However, at only 1 Euro per unit it is much cheaper.
If the user’s gait fails to match the prerecorded settings then the phone will lock and only allow calls after a passcode is entered.
Now the only problem is what if you developed a limp?
October 15th, 2005
Nokia has launched a broadside at Blackberry by announcing what it calls the Eseries of devices, combining voice and mobile email function into a single package.
Aimed squarely at the business user, there are currently three models in the Eseries, all with IP-based telephony and connecting to the major mobile email solutions such as BlackBerry Connect, GoodLink from Good Technology, Nokia Business Center, Seven Mobile Mail, Seven Always-On Mail and Visto Mobile. A variety of GSM frequencies are supported as well as 3G support for seamless roaming across different countries, as well as a range of local connectivity options such as WLAN, Bluetooth, Infrared and USB 2.0.
The E60 is the most basic model and the only one that resembles a traditional mobile phone. Although optimized for one-handed use, its large colour screen makes email and calendar entries easy.
The E61 is the most Blackberry-esque in the range with a four-way joystick and full keyboard combined with a wide 16 million colour screen.
At first glance, the Nokia E70 looks like a modern smartphone. Open it up and find a full messaging keyboard for fast and easy thumb typing, a generous color screen for viewing emails, plus attachments (document, spreadsheet, presentation, PDF viewer and ZIP manager) and an editing function (document, spreadsheet, presentation) for staying up-to-date with the inbox.
October 13th, 2005
Sony Ericsson emphasised its continued commitment to Symbian OS with the announcement of its next generation smartphone to the global development community. The P990 will be the first commercially available smartphone to adopt the enhanced Symbian OS version 9.1 and UIQ 3 software platform.
This flagship UMTS smartphone is Wi-Fi enabled, has a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus and features a new hardware keyboard beneath the flip-down keypad. The phone will start shipping during Q1 of 2006.
The P990 is the next in a line of successful Sony Ericsson smartphones - the P800, P900 and P910 – and is based on the same proven concept and recognisable form factor. All have been popular with users,
operators and software developers, thanks to their powerful productivity features.
As with its predecessors, the P990 is designed to be first and foremost a great mobile phone. It also offers all the benefits of UMTS including video calling, high-bandwidth multi-media downloads and the ability to browse the Internet with full HTML pages. These are viewed in landscape on the new Opera 8 browser. In addition, the P990 is prepared for all major push e-mail clients enabling full e-mail access with attachments, anywhere, anytime.
The P990 has multiple text input methods enabling it to support all users’ needs and preferences. Writing e-mails is made easier by the new hardware keyboard positioned beneath the flip-down keypad on the main body of the phone. Reading them is made simpler on the large 2.8 inch QVGA touch screen. Multi tasking – being able to browse the Internet, send and receive files at the same time as talking – is now possible due to the enhanced capabilities of the new software platform.
Memory has been extended in order to handle all multi-media downloads and e-mail attachments. Memory Stick PRO Duo up to 4GB will be available in the market at launch and the P990 now has up to 80 MB user free memory. A 64 MB Memory Stick PRO Duo is included in the box, preloaded with a VPN client and trial version of a virus scan package.
The combination of UMTS and WLAN features will also significantly improve the efficiency and flexibility of applications such as e-mail, browsing the Internet/Intranet and video telephony. WLAN, available in hot spots all over the world, acts as a complement to high speed 3G services, enabling widespread access to corporate network services.
Other new features include automatic time zone change to the Calendar diary and updated PC sync software with extended synchronization possibilities. Additionally the 2 Megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom, photo light plus the bright TFT screen and video recording provide a high quality imaging experience.
The P990 will be commercially available in Q1 2006. The variants will be:
P990i Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa
P990c Dual mode UMTS (2100MHz) - GPRS 900/1800/1900 for Mainland China. Launch for mainland China dependant on availability of 3G services.
The P990 will be available in 4 hardware keyboard variants: QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY and Russian.
October 10th, 2005
NEC today announced that it has launched the world’s thinnest fold-Type mobile phone with mega-pixel camera into the Hong Kong market. Following this, the ultra-thin model will also be introduced in Italy, Russia, Australia and China, among others (TechSmec.com isn’t sure why these fine countries have been singled out).
NEC’s proprietary, cutting-edge technology has realized the creation of a modern, smart, compact and attractively packaged clam-shell type mobile phone. It boasts slim measurements of 47.9mm (width) X 101.5mm (height) X 11.9mm (depth; when folded) and a weight of 96g. Supporting mobile-internet and GSM/GPRS, it is equipped with a 1.9 inch (176 x 220 dot) 65,000 color display in addition to a digital camera (1.3 mega pixels). The sub-screen with an organic light emitting display is convenient for scrolling text messages. The phone is also loaded with a wide variety of features including PictBridge, MP3, Java and Bluetooth. Up to 64-polyphonic ring tones and two minutes of movie shooting can be enjoyed by the user.
This highly innovative model was enabled through a combination of NEC’s unbeatable technological competence in the areas of R&D and mobile. Ultra-slim mounting technology continues to be an important and constant R&D theme for NEC.
“This ultra-slim, clam-shell type mobile phone is a symbol of NEC’s leading position in the area of mobile technology,” said Susumu Otani, Associate Senior Vice President and head of Mobile Terminals Operations Unit at NEC Corporation. “We will continue to strive to offer the latest, most innovative and most attractive mobile terminal solutions on the market. Boasting compact shape and the latest technologies, our phones allow our customers to choose the right phone for their individual needs in all of our target markets across the globe.”
In March 2004, NEC introduced the world’s smallest, slimmest, card-shaped, camera-equipped mobile phone to the Chinese market. After its launch, NEC’s mobile competence continued to draw attention worldwide due to the launch of its handwriting-enabled phone, as well as its TV tuner-embedded and whole touch panel display card-shaped models, flagging it as a pioneer in not only ultra-compact design, but also user interface and mobile internet technologies.
September 22nd, 2005
Sprint, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, and RealNetworks today announced the launch of Rhapsody Radio on the Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Service.
Available nationwide, Rhapsody Radio provides Sprint customers high-quality streaming radio stations from Real’s award-winning Rhapsody online music service, streaming podcasts, “Beats N Breaks” (a new freestyle rap service), and music news and videos.
“Sprint customers now have more choices for all their entertainment and music needs,” said Jeff Hallock, vice president of consumer product marketing and strategy for Sprint. “The addition of Rhapsody Radio gives customers a popular catalog of commercial-free streaming music, music news and independent music videos which will allow Sprint customers a new way to discover artists.”
“We are delighted to make some of the popular stations in Rhapsody Radio available to Sprint PCS customers,” said Dan Sheeran, Senior Vice President of Premium Consumer Services, RealNetworks. “This is an important step in our plan to make Rhapsody available to consumers any time from any device.”
Rhapsody Radio includes “Urban Hitz Radio,” “Alternative Radio,” “Country,” “70s Station” and “Pop Hits,” as well as “Beats N Breaks,” which features the beats from many of today’s most popular songs and allows subscribers to “freestyle” rap to the instrumental tracks. Customers can also enjoy streaming podcasts from KCRW - Santa Monica 89.9 FM (KCRW.com), National Public Radio’s Southern California flagship station, including “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” which showcases live recordings of in-studio performances by independent and unsigned artists and the popular “Le Show” with satirist Harry Shearer. Customers will also receive music news and reviews and music videos from IMNTV(TM) (OTCBB:GMUS), part of the Global Music International Company and leading international aggregator of R&B, Hip Hop, International, Rock and Pop videos.
Rhapsody Radio is the latest joint offering from Sprint and Real. The two companies currently offer a variety of steaming video content via Real - rTV.
Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services is available nationwide to customers with a Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Phone, and channels, like Rhapsody Radio, can be purchased a la carte through the phone by going to Menu/ Media Player and then selecting from a category of choices, including Music & Radio, Entertainment, News & Weather, and many more. Rhapsody Radio is the latest of four streaming music channels available to Sprint customers.
Customers can purchase Rhapsody Radio by typing in channel 39 in the Sprint Media Player or by going to the Music & Radio folder and selecting the new channel; the cost is $6.95 per month for unlimited access.
September 19th, 2005
The speculation is over - the big Apple announcement that is going to change the world is the iTunes phone by Motorola - the Motorola ROKR.
Internet scuttlebuts have been going mad in the past week ever since Apple enigmatically invited a select group of hacks to a press conference that was obviously iPod related. The smart money was on an iTunes phone. TechSmec.com thought that this was far too boring and we gambled on a movie iPod. Alas we were totally wrong and the big announcement was just the much leaked Motorola ROKR phone. “You’ve probably heard about this,” Steve Jobs said in an admission that perhaps his thunder had been stolen.
So what of the Motorola ROKR? “The way we think of this phone is, it’s really an iPod shuffle on your phone,” explained Jobs. It will apparently hold about 100 tracks and features a colour display for viewing album art, dual built-in stereo speakers and stereo headphones that also serve as a mobile headset with microphone.
Expect the usual Apple hype on this one and queues around the block from the Carphone Warehouse when it’s released later this month for around £250.
At least we can carry on speculating about that iPod nirvana - the movie iPod.
September 7th, 2005
TechSmec.com towers gets its satellite TV from a 50 cm dish stuck on the side of the building. Viewers in Korea can now watch satellite ( DMB ) TV on a mobile phone which is only a fraction of that size, which has left us somewhat blown away.
Samsung’s new B250 boasts a ridiculously compact design while supporting horizontal viewing. The B250 is, without doubt, the smallest Samsung DMB handset ever.
The B250 is a folder type with pivotal LCD screen which rotates 90 degrees into landscape mode. The B250 follows the same basic design as the hugely popular SCH-V500 camera phone that went on the market in August of last year.
Samsung introduced its innovative horizontal LCD design last year with the V500 and is expanding this design trend for mobile phones, especially DMB phones.
With the B250, users can make phone calls or send and receive text messages even while watching TV. The DMB broadcast received by the phone can also be relayed to a regular TV.
The B250 has external buttons that allow users to play MP3 files without opening the phone. The 128-polyphonic sound chip has been built in to provide exquisite ring tones.
The B250 is also equipped with a 2 megapixel camera and the photo editing function has been upgraded. This allows the user to change facial expressions on photos such as turning a smiling face into one showing anger. Various other effects are also possible such as changing the picture frame design.
The File Viewer function provides access to Microsoft Office or PDF files, and a 330,000-word dictionary is included in the software.
The B250 also supports external memory of 256MB, IrDA, and mobile banking capabilities for user convenience.
The phone is, alas, only available in Korea at around US$700.
August 28th, 2005
Motorola and Apple are silent on the news, but the US Federal Communications Commission has posted documents on its website granting regulatory approval to start selling a phone that runs a mobile version iTunes.
The Motorola E790 has stereo speakers, removable flash memory and Bluetooth support.
Motorola haven’t commented and Apple are only slightly less tight-lipped, confirming that an iTunes / Motorola partnership is in the works, but with an unspecified end result.
FCC approval is not an indication that the E790 will launch soon. Regulatory approval is merely one step that a company must go through to market a wireless device in the USA and it could happen at the end or the beginning of a product’s development.
The manual posted on the FCC website has quite a few typos, but it’s fairly clear about the iTunes support, with a section entitled ‘Use iTunes’.
“iTunes is a software application you use to manage the music on your computer and transfer music to your phone,” the manual states. “You can use iTunes to purchase and download music for your phone, listen to CDs and digital music, and create playlists of your favorite songs on your phone.”
Copying music to the phone seems pretty simple. “On your computer, open iTunes, connect your phone to your computer, and when the phone appears as a source, drag and drop music files to your phone.”
US government websites are often great sources of information. Notably, the manual for the Sony PSP was posted on the US Patent Office website, months in advance of the console going on sale.
August 23rd, 2005
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