“According to a message board thread on the Mapaland.org Palm forums, a special limited-edition batch of “Black Tie” Treo 650s have been produced for select markets in the Asia/Pacific region.According to the poster and a e-mail announcement from Palm, the specs are identical to a standard Treo 650 save for a a special black styling and silicone coating on the unit’s housing. In addition to the cosmetic changes, a multifunction pen stylus and the new Palm Treo hard case are also included in the bundle.While the original Palm Zire 72 was infamous for its notoriously fragile, chip prone rubberized blue paint, subsequent releases from Palm such as the Zire 72 and LifeDrive aluminum cases have had a much more durable black version of this coating. It’s quite possible that this is what Palm is using for these limited and very stylish Treo 650s.Palm Treo 650 Black Tie EditionAlso of note is that the new “Palm” branding is present on these limited edition Treos; to date they are the only Treo 650s without the original “PalmOne” logo.Apparently the Philippines and Singapore are two of the regions receiving limited edition Treos. Palm’s Singapore web site also lists a limited edition teal blue Treo 650. It looks suspiciously like the Cingular and (Sprint-powered) Earthlink Treo 650 that Office Max carries.” via palminfocenter.com
SEVEN to ship push email for new Symbian OS v9 smartphones
“SEVEN announced the immediate commercial release of push email on the latest mobile devices powered by Symbian OS v9. SEVEN’s push email solutions will be immediately available on eagerly-anticipated devices such as the Nokia Eseries, ranging from the Nokia E61, a device built for mobile email, to mass market business handset Nokia the E50, the smallest of the Eseries, as the devices become available through SEVEN’s extensive network of over 90 mobile operators and numerous resellers worldwide.Forum Nokia honoured SEVEN with Best S60 Enterprise Application Award in December 2005 and recently SEVEN push email was highly commended in the 2006 GSMA Award for the Best Mobile Enterprise Application.As one of the few vendors accredited for Symbian Self Certification, acknowledging the quality and competence of SEVEN’s development processes, SEVEN works in close cooperation with device manufacturers and Symbian to develop its push email solution, putting it through rigorous testing to ensure compatibility across a range of advanced 2G, 2.5G and 3G phones, smartphones and PDAs.”Most people want to use just one device for both voice and data, and this next generation of Symbian devices offers a number of exciting options by integrating an applications environment with advanced voice services. The result is a range of new devices which, combined with our software, make it easier than ever to access corporate email and information while out of the office,” said Paul Hedman, Chief Operating Officer, SEVEN. “Our developers have worked extremely hard to ensure that mobile professionals benefit from a seamless remote office experience, and quickly enjoy the productivity gains mobile email creates.” via slashphone.com
Samsung SDI introduces AMOLED LCD for mobile phones
“Samsung SDI has developed an LCD for mobile devices, which can display a 3D image. According to the company, it is the first one to create an LCD under AMOLED technology (active-matrix OLED). (LG, Philips and Kodak also work on AMOLED LCD). You can see the display at the current SID 2006 exhibition (Society for Information Display International Symposium and Exhibition) in San Francisco.The LCD features a 4.3” diagonal and WQVGA (480×272) resolution. It works with 3D images much quicker than the existing LCD, besides it has better resolution. Samsung believes, such LCD will be widely applied in mobile phones. Besides the company works on such LCDs for TV sets and notebooks. The commercial stage is expected to begin in 2007.” via mobile-review.com
Vaio UX50 vs UX90 at akihabaranews
“After the huge success of our first HD video of the UX and various messages in our forum and in our mailbox, we have decided to shoot some other videos and reply to your questions and requests.Today’s video is about 9 minutes long, and we’ll do some comparison tests between an UX50 (1GHhz, 512MB of RAM and a 30GB HDD with an OS installed by GeekStuff4U.com) and an UX90 (1.2GHz, 512MB of RAM and a 30GB HDD with an OS installed by Sony). As you can see, it’s quite an amusing comparison, and the most powerful device is not necessarily the fastest booting device! Just look at the video and you’ll understand!When it comes to the keyboard, don’t expect a keyboard like on a regular laptop. The keys are fine… for an email, an URL and Messenger for example, but don’t expect to write a novel on it. When it comes to performance, you should really opt for the 1.2Ghz version, and it’s available here on GeekStuff4U.com, it’s really worth the few bucks more than the 1.0Ghz.” Check out this new video here:
ETEN unveils upgraded M600 PDA phone
“While E-TEN may not be as big a name in the market of Windows Mobile-powered smartphones as say HTC, I have to tip my hat off to the Taiwanese company for their latest handset. Designed to be an update to the “popular” M600 handheld, the M600+ (yes, the plus means more, except the minus of an integrated GPS) offers a few upgrades over its predecessor, while maintaining most of the things that made the original what it was: a simple design with a whole lot of connectivity.In addition to standard quad-band GSM/GPRS, the E-TEN M600+ features built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth 2.0 (the M600 only had v1.2). They’ve doubled up the included memory to 256MB, and the camera is now a 2.0 megapixel shooter. As far as the OS, the E-TEN M600+ comes preloaded with the latest version of Windows Mobile 5.0. What this means is that you’ll be able to take advantage of Push Email, an area that has traditionally been dominated by Research in Motion and their BlackBerry line.The E-TEN M600+ is expected to “be available soon in all regions,” with a price tag just a smidget above the now-dated M600.” via mobilemag.com