GPS enabled PDA Mio P360 and P560 officially introduced


“As it was expected Mio Technology introduced today navigation PDA P360 and P560, heirs of P350 and P550 at IFA show in Berlin. They are powered by Windows Mobile 6 running on 400 MHz processors. In addition both models carry SiRF III GPS-receivers onboard and support SD/SDHC cards capacious of up to 4GB. The senior PDA (P560) is equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless modules.Both handhelds will be supplied with MioMap 3 navigation software. Mio P360 has a price tag of €249 without the program and €299 with MioMap 3. Mio P560 will be offered for €349 or €399 on the same conditions. The exact release date hasn’t been unveiled yet.” via mobile-review.com

Opera Mini 4 for BlackBerry users

opera-mini-4-blackberry1.JPGOpera mini has a new version which includes special features made for BlackBerrys. The version 4 was released today and makes the whole browsing-on-BlackBerry experience more enthusiastic.Two of the new features for the BlackBerry owners include:- Landscape mode so you can view more content when browsing. Much like what happens with the iPhone.- New multi-search Start Page in which you can add the personal favorite search engines to the Start Page. We want to make Opera Mini available to even more users, so we’ve improved our support for BlackBerry. Now the world’s most popular mobile web browser and most popular handhelds can work together. The Opera Mini 4.0 version can be downloaded for free at the Opera website.”via mobilewhack.com

Sandisk to Offer 8 Gigabyte Memory Stick Micro (M2) Cards For Mobile Phones

SanDisk-8GB-M2-card
“SanDisk is shipping 8-gigabyte (GB) Memory Stick Micro (M2) flash memory cards to phone manufacturers and mobile network operators (MNOs) for testing and evaluation purposes. At 8GB, SanDisk offers the largest capacity M2 card in the world. The new card will allow consumers to listen to more than 2,000 digital songs, or store more than 5,000 high-resolution pictures, or up to 5 hours of high-quality MPEG 4 videos . Retail release of the cards and availability to phone manufacturers and network operators is planned for Q4 2007. Pricing has not yet been determined. ” via slashphone.com

Sonys portable media players Walkman NWZ A810 and NWZ S610


“Sony has announced new media player series Walkman NWZ-A810 and NWZ-S610. They can play video (30 fps) in addition to radio, have QVGA LCD, support WMA, AAC and MP3 audio, JPEG images, MPEG-4 and H.264/AVC. The NWZ-A810 ensures 8 hours of video playback, and the NWZ-S610 – 9.5 hours, both of them can play audio 33 hours long. They have 2” and 1.8” diagonals respectively. Besides the NWZ-S610 is equipped with an FM-tuner.The sales of Sony media players start in the US in September. The Walkman NWZ-A810 will be available in White, Rose, Black, Blue and Silver colors and with 2, 4 and 8 GB of memory onboard. The modifications will cost $140, $180 and $230 respectively. In its turn the Walkman NWZ-S610 will come in Black, Rose, Red and Silver shell colors. The versions with 2, 4, 8 GB will be offered for $120, $160 and $210.” via mobile-review.com

Linux to Become the Fastest Growing Smartphone OS


“ABI Research has released a new report that claims over the next 5 years, Linux is expected to be the fastest growing Smartphone OS with a compound annual growth rate in excess of 75%. By 2012, a recent study from ABI Research forecasts the Linux-based OS to account for nearly 31% of all smart devices in the market — representing more than 331 million cumulative shipments over the same period.Research director Stuart Carlaw states, “Serious initiatives from the likes of Intel and Access are gathering pace and momentum, whilst the carrier community continues to identify Linux as one of the few operating systems that it intends to support in its long-term plans.” Carlaw adds, “Linux is benefiting from growing support in the handset OEM community, most notably Motorola, but also Nokia with less traditional types of devices aimed at mobile broadband applications.” The rise of mobile broadband and the impact that this has upon device convergence and format plays into the hands of Linux.The vertical and horizontal fragmentation that has plagued this market continues to be a concern; however, the recent patent infringement assertions from Microsoft — that Linux, in its generic form, infringes upon 235 of its patents — is an ongoing concern. Many Linux pundits point to this as being old hat, while others indicate that there is no smoke without fire.The ABI Research study entitled, “Mobile Linux” found that there are several challenges still facing the proliferation of Linux in this environment. This study explores these barriers, provides a frank SWOT analysis of the mobile Linux offering, and supplies forecasts for Linux uptake in mobile devices for commercial OS implementations and RTOS replacement.” via mobilelinuxinfo.com