“Measuring up at 109x55x16 mm and weighing in at 119 grams, it is almost no different from the P1i, meaning that you can carry it as you please. It would seem that the same controls layout is a pretty much consistent solution for the W960i, but not this time – the maker has turned the things upside down on this front. The left-hand side no longer houses the Return button, since it has moved to the front plate. In fact, this new layout will prove convenient only if you don’t really need the JogDial, since when separated, these two control elements are pretty much useless. Basically, this JogDial+Return couple is designed to let you manage the device with only one hand. But in the case of the W960i, this is no longer possible. In other words, everyone who has been using Sony Ericsson’s solutions for years (the P-series, or the M600i and the W950i) can well kiss their previous experience goodbye – it doesn’t make any sense in the new model. Being a seasoned user of Sony Ericsson-branded phones, I can say that not only is it fiddly and awkward to use, such layout delivers a knock-out blow to the handset’s ergonomics. Obviously, my reflexes tell me that I shall find this key somewhere around the JogDial, but it is not there anymore. We could easily overlook this letdown, if only new users were able to handle the W960i single-handedly. However, even they have to use both hands to move about the device.” Read more here:
Text input software showcased on Access Linux Platform
“Zi Corporation continues to sow its multimodal text input software throughout the Linux mobile phone community. At Access Day 2007 in Tokyo today it showed off the technology pre-integrated into the Access Linux Platform (ALP) mobile phone stack.Sponsored by Access Co., Ltd., a Japanese firm known for its mobile phone browser and other software, the event unveiled applications developed for ALP 1.0, which was acquired when Access bought out PalmSource, the software-only offspring of Palm. The Linux phone stack was released in February, but has not yet arrived in production devices.At the show, Calgary-based Zi Corporation demonstrated its eZiText and Decuma text-input software for mobile phones. According to Zi, eZiText and Decuma help users draft and send text messages quickly. eZiText offers word completion and text prediction — along with automatic correction — for devices with keypad text input. Decuma combines handwriting recognition software with word completion / text prediction (for alphabetic languages).Customized for the Japanese market, Zi’s software reportedly was demonstrated running on a variety of ALP-based mobile devices, PDAs, and games consoles. Together, the technologies greatly speed messaging on mobile devices, the company claims.Milos Djokovic, Zi’s President and CEO, noted the year-old partnership has proved strategic for his company. “Access Linux Platform has opened up new business channels and expanded our reach in the smartphone and wireless device markets,” he stated.In December of last year, Zi announced availability of a similar pre-integration with mobile phone stacks from Trolltech, including Qtopia 2.x, 4.x, and “Jupiter.” Zi is competing in the mobile multimodal input market with vendors such as VisionObjects and Tegic, which recently was acquired by Nuance and is marketed under the name T9 Solutions.” via linuxdevices.com