“Once you select an icon, the application turns into a giant pick list. Unfortunately, I found this not only extremely jarring to be thrown into a list after such a wonderful opening screen, but also nearly unusable. To select an item (for example, to add a song to a play list), you click on it, and it turns a much darker color. In my mind, when an item “blacks out,” it is being unselected. This caused me to create a number of empty play lists before I realized exactly what was going on. The pick-list menu system also has a lot of wait time on devices with slower processors. If we’re going to spent this much time waiting for a list to appear, Nero should have maintained the 3D interface with icons to display if the file is music, video or other. (Note: Although Windows Mobile does not display file extensions and instead uses icons to identify each file’s format, Nero Mobile reveals each item’s file extension and does not use icons at all.) Even better, it would have been nice to see album art or a snippet of the video. Scrolling through a 3D list of my music and videos would have been a far more welcome experience than the text list Nero Mobile provides. Finally, I was surprised to find that the application could not automatically scan my device for files that will play in Nero Mobile.” Read more here:
Marvell Introduces Next Generation Processors for Smartphones and Handhelds
“Marvell PXA3xx (Monahans) Family of Application Processors Delivers Industry Leading Power/Performance; Enabling Scalable Low-Power 806 MHz, Ultra Low-Power Video and H.264 up to D1Marvell, (NASDAQ: MRVL), the leader in storage, communications, and consumer silicon solutions, today introduced a new generation of application processors designed for feature handsets, smartphones, GPS navigation systems, wireless handhelds and other consumer electronic devices. The Marvell PXA3xx family of application processors (internally named Monahans) based on third generation of Intel® XScale technology was designed for cost efficiency by offering a broad roadmap that is architecturally consistent for maximum software reuse. Marvell silicon provides the headroom for advanced applications with intelligent power management allowing manufacturers to differentiate current and future offerings.“Today’s consumers require that their personal wireless converged devices support a broad range of mobile multimedia applications including Bluetooth support, web browsing and camera support – all with extended talk time and a seamless mobile internet experience,” said Sam Arditi Senior Vice President of the Cellular and Handheld Group at Marvell. “Ramping three products in the Marvell PXA3xx family virtually at the same time gives our customers the flexibility to address different markets with an optimized product either for MIPS, video or cost – all with extremely low power consumption. All Marvell PXA3xx products feature frequency scalability to allow the best power and performance.” The first processor in the family to ship in volume is the Marvell PXA320 (Monahans P), delivering the right mix of performance, power and integration levels to meet the needs of feature handsets, advanced smart phones, and a wide array of portable consumer web browsing devices. Demonstrated earlier this year running at 1.2GHz, the Marvell PXA320 is currently shipping in high volume at low-power and is scalable to 806MHz. Customers will be introducing devices based on the Marvell PXA320 in the first quarter of 2007.The Marvell PXA3xx product family is completely software compatible and includes two pin-compatible components specifically tailored to high volume consumer products such as mobile phones, digital media players, GPS navigation systems, and embedded devices. The Marvell PXA300 (Monahans-L) offers performance and cost optimization for high volume handheld devices while the Marvell PXA310 (Monahan-LV) provides high-resolution VGA multimedia performance with extended battery life for demanding 3G video and audio use. The PXA310 delivers unprecedented 30fps H.264 playback performance at VGA resolutions along with leading edge general purpose processing. Both products deliver “Scalable to 624MHz” performance and are software compatible with Marvell PXA320 processors so that a single software development effort scales across a wide range of devices segments. All products in the family are either shipping in volume or available in samples now, and will be shipping in volume in the first half of 2007. “The PXA3xx series coupled with our UMTS and 802.11 communications technologies places Marvell at the heart of the mobile market,” said Weili Dai, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President and General Manager, Communications and Consumer Business Group at Marvell. “By combining proven Marvell technology with our new applications processors we have the flexibility to address the stringent feature requirements and meet the needs of our target market. This versatile platform strategy combined with unparalleled customer support enables us to address multiple device segments across the mobile phone and consumer handheld market.” “Microsoft is committed to working with partners to provide access to a wide range of innovative and compelling applications, helping Windows Mobile users stay on top of their jobs, stay informed and entertained while on the go,” said Scott Phillips, senior product manager, Microsoft Corp. “We’re excited to see Marvell bring the PXA3xx family of application processors to the market place and look forward to our continued collaboration.” Marvell PXA3XX Family FeaturesThe PXA3xx family of processors delivers improved performance and extended battery life, enabling advanced video and audio capabilities. Wireless Intel SpeedStep® with MusicMax technology provides intelligent power management, enabling varying power states so users can listen up to 30 hours of MP3s on their handsets without sacrificing battery life. Intel VideoMax technology in the PXA3xx family of application processors supports high-performance video capabilities, and will continue delivering improved resolution with future versions of the PXA3xx family of processors. Power efficient video playback and capture enables high resolution content and supports advanced codecs such as H.264 for rich video quality, up to D1 resolution at 30fps. The PXA3xx family also supports digital cameras, and advanced camera effects such as image stabilization and up to 5 Megapixel camera sensors. As has come to be expected from Intel XScale processor technology, the Marvell PXA3xx processor family continues to lead the industry in frequency scaling and general purpose computing capability. After experiencing Marvell PXA3xx processor based cellular phone and consumer handheld devices, users will quickly understand that “scalable to 624 or 806Mhz” not only means instant response (no waiting) but also longer battery life. Marvell’s unique architectural enhancements allow operating environments and general purpose applications to process tasks quickly at high frequency and efficiently scale back to a low-power state. This enables Marvell PXA 3xx processors to provide better over-all power efficiency than their slower rivals. From a consumer perspective, seeing great performance without compromising battery life will make “Scalable to 624 or 806MHz” a great attribute of 2007 handheld devices.The PXA3xx family gives users the ability to browse the Web, enjoy premium music and watch the latest videos on the go, without sacrificing performance or battery life within an optional secure framework. Wireless customers can listen to music over a stereo Bluetooth* headset while reading email, open active content over WIFI, and take cellular phone calls with personalized MIDI ring tones and caller ID. With platform enabling solutions available for Microsoft*, Linux, Palm*, and a spectrum of RTOS offerings, device developers can choose the experience, applications and services that meet consumers’ needs. Development of multiple operating environments conserves development work, accelerates time to market and reduces risk for manufacturers serving diverse wireless operator requirements. Compliance with the ARM* architecture, allows existing ARM-based applications to be ported quickly to the PXA3xx family.Marvell is currently also shipping in volume the PXA800 (internally codenamed Hermon) series of Cellular baseband processors. The combination of Marvell application and cellular baseband processors with Marvell’s industry leading storage, WLAN, power management, VOIP and Bluetooth solutions offers developers a comprehensive platform for building a broad range of wireless handheld devices meeting the needs of different market segments and price points.About MarvellMarvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is the leader in storage, communications and consumer silicon solutions. The Company’s diverse product portfolio includes switching, transceiver, communications controller, wireless, and storage solutions that power the entire communications infrastructure, including enterprise, metro, home, and storage networking. As used in this release, the terms “Company” and “Marvell” refer to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries, including Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. (MSI), Marvell Asia Pte Ltd (MAPL), Marvell Japan K.K., Marvell Taiwan Ltd., Marvell International Ltd. (MIL), Marvell U.K. Limited, Marvell Semiconductor Israel Ltd. (MSIL), RADLAN Computer Communications Ltd., and SysKonnect GmbH. MSI is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and designs, develops and markets products on behalf of MIL and MAPL. MSI may be contacted at (408) 222-2500 or at www.marvell.com
Cingular 8525 review at mobilitysite.com!
“The Cingular 8525 is more rounded than it’s little brother the 8125 with 6 buttons encircling the 5 way D-pad. The face of the 8525 also has two buttons located on the top like the 8125 to easily access your email and internet. Although a tad bit heavy at 6.21 ounces, the 8525 fits very well in the palm of your hand and is very comfortable to talk on. slightly thinner than the 8125 (0.93 inches) the 8525 measures .086 inches. Comparing the 8525 to another hot device, the HP 6925, measures 4.65″ x 2.8″ x 0.71″ (H x W x D) and weighs slightly more than the 8525 at 6.33 ounces. Again the 8525 will probably be a little hard to hold for extended periods of time, so I would definitely recommend a BT Earbud. Another change is the color. The 8525 moved away from the 8125 silver color scheme to a very pleasant charcoal color. I did not think I would like the change as silver has always been my favorite device color, but the 8525 is a very attractive device to be sure.” Read this review here:
Motorola ROKR E6 for China
“Motorola ROKR E6 is said to be available in China. Moreover the new product has passed through FCC approval and soon will appear in the US, supposedly at T-Mobile. As for the technical specs, they produce favorable impression.Motorola ROKR E6 features a 2.4” 260K color QVGA display, a 2-megapixel camera, a barcode scanner, Linux OS, the support of push-to-talk, handwritten text input, PDF and MS Office documents. It doesn’t support iTunes service, however there is RealPlayer supporting MP3, MPEG4, AAC+, WAV and RealAudio.In addition there is an SD slot (up to 2 GB cards), Bluetooth A2DP profile, a 3.5” headphones jack, an FM-tuner, player buttons, USB 2.0 port. It works for 235 hours standby and 7 hours in the talk mode. The price tag is $545.” via mobile-review.com