Author: pdasnews

We’ve reported numerous times on speculation about Microsoft creating their own portable media device, and now it’s looking less like speculation, and more like the real deal. It’s called: Microsoft Origami. The Origami seems to be going for a sort of mini Laptop/Tablet PC thing (coined a “Lifestyle PC” by some analysts). Bigger than a PMP, smaller than a laptop; I’m not sure what other portable is comparable in size. It’s also clearly running some version of Windows.Otherwise, from the video it features WiFi, touchscreen with stylus, GPS navigation, motion-sensor gaming, various Windows programs, etc. From some of the pics it appears there is a “Windows button” in the bottom right corner of the device, not unlike the one found on the PMC players. Also of note, there are two different devices shown in the video. Maybe a “consumer” model with the basics, and a “prosumer” option with the real extras (GPS, etc). via dapreview.net

Rumours have been floating around for some time now about Apple creating a successor to the current iPod Video, and this new rendition would feature a touch-screen click wheel integrated into the display. It seems that Acer has beaten Steve Jobs to the punch, in a sense, because the company’s entry into the PMP market – the Acer MP-500 – features a 3.5-inch touchscreen display complete with stylus.Although the supported video formats haven’t been confirmed as of yet, we do know that this Acer PMP will take all your MP3, WMA, and AAC audio, as well as give you picture viewing capabilities (JPG, GIF and BMP). It can probably do voice recording as well, because it comes with a microphone, and if the 3.5 inches (320 x 240) isn’t enough, you can always make use of the TV-out.Battery life is adequate at 4 hours of video or 8 hours of audio. Coming in 20GB and 40GB varieties, the Acer MP-500 has yet to be designated an official launch date or price. via mobilemag.com

At the German forum Telefon-Treff you can come across the photos and specs of the upcoming Sony Ericsson phone – a supposedly K800 under the code name Wilma, the heir of the popular K750. The phone has been much rumored about, so sometimes we are suspicious to the info about it. Nevertheless the photo and specs seem to be true, and we’ll find out it on February 28, when the company is rumored to introduce some new mobile phones, including Wilma, at its press conference. The specs:
Standards – GSM and UMTS
2” LCD, QVGA (240×320 pixels), 262K colors
3.2-megapixel camera
Supported audio formats – MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+
Supported video formats – 3GPP, MPEG4 and Real
72-tones polyphony
64 MB internal memory
Slot for Memory Stick Micro cards
Bluetooth, IrDA and USB
Dimensions – 106x47x18 mm
Weight – 115 g

“The white letters contrast well with their dark silver background so they’re easy to see. Both the letters and symbols illuminate: white for letters and red for symbols (the Verizon XV6700 illuminates only the letters). Two soft keys sit just above the keyboard so you need not tap the screen or use the front face buttons to activate soft key functions. We like the dedicated Windows Start Menu and OK keys on the bottom row, again reducing the need to whip out the stylus and tap on screen. Should you need to turn on caps lock, press the shift key twice in quick succession. To turn on Fn lock, press the red dot key located in the lower left hand corner twice quickly. When you’re in the phone dialer screen, the 8125 automatically switches the top row to numbers rather than letters so you need not press the Fn key before punching in a number.” Read ths review here:

It seems like a new Portable Media Player is released daily, which is great for consumers and not so great for companies looking to make a dent in the market. Well, JNC is looking to make a mark with the SSF-M810 (and SSF-M805 with 512MB) PMP (via PVP For You). This particular player stands out because of it’s small size, support for downloadable games, console styling, and built-in speaker. With a 2 inch (220×176) TFT LCD Screen, USB 2.0 and an integrated FM Tuner, the JNC unit packs a lot into a small 65g package. It supports WMV, DivX, AVI and MP4 on the video side, while you audio files will enjoy it’s support for MP3, WMA and Ogg. Decent battery life rounds out this unit by sporting 5 hours of video playback and up to 20 hours of audio. via ehomeupgrade.com

A Swiss company has published a datasheet for a dual-mode Linux smartphone that also integrates a GPS (global positioning system) receiver, WiFi, and Bluetooth. ImCoSys says its smartphone, a quad-band GSM design with a PDA-like form-factor, will be showcased next month at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany.The ImCoSys phone is based on a Texas Instruments OMAP 730 processor, the datasheet says. The same chip was used in another dual-mode Linux phone announced by E28 at 3GSM last month.The ImCoSys phone has 64MB each of RAM and Flash. It also has an SD Card slot, which can be used to load maps or expand storage, the company says. The ImCoSys phone sprouts a plethora of radios, including: * Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900) with GPRS Class 10 and CSD modems * 802.11b WiFi, with WPA support * Bluetooth 1.2 * GPS receiverThe phone has a PDA-like “transflective” LCD-TFT touchscreen display supporting 262K colors and QVGA (240×320) resolutions. Listed connectivity options include a USB port, and, interestingly, an RS232 serial port. The device also supports external GPS and GSM antennas, the datasheet says.The ImCoSys phone measures 4.9 x 2.5 x 0.7 inches (125 x 64 x 18mm), and uses a lithium-ion battery of unspecified size.On the software side, the ImCoSys phone runs a Linux 2.4.20 kernel, along with user-interface software supporting German, English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Touted software features include a Web/WAP 2.0 browser, Java runtime (MIDP 2.0), push/pop/smtp email client, SMS/MMS message client, calendar, calculator, world clock, and memo applications. via linuxdevices.com

Mio technology has unveiled its plans for the upcoming CeBIT show, which will take place from 9 to 15 of March. The company plans to introduce a series of GPS-devices. The Mio C710 and Mio C510E are specialized GPS-navigators. They are similar in design and main specs. Both of them are powered by Windows CE .Net 4.2, equipped with microphones and support Bluetooth interface. The Mio C710 has more digital maps of Europe TeleAtlas onboard, it supports TMC function to track traffic conditions.

The Mio C210 is positioned as a simple navigator. It doesn’t support either Bluetooth or TMC. It is also powered by Windows CE .Net 4.2. A map of just one European region in installed.

The Mio H610 features extended multimedia functionality. Besides its battery ensures 17 hours of MP3 music playback. There are plenty of of TeleAtlas maps onboard.

The Mio P550 is not just a navigator, but a handheld PC. It is powered by a 400 MHz processor and Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. It has Bluetooth interface and supports Wi-Fi wireless networks, so you can use it for Internet-telephony. There is an expansion slot for SD and MMC cards. Unlike the P550 the P350 handheld doesn’t support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Besides there will be introduced a long-awaited GPS-smartphone Mio A701. It works on Intel 520 MHz processor and Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. It is equipped with an expansion slot for SD and MMC cards, a 1.3-megapixel camera and Bluetooth interface.

There’s a nice review of Civilization over at AllAboutSymbian- “I’m not Douglas Adams, but I’m more than happy to paraphrase a really good line from the late, great man… “Civilization is big. Really big. I mean, you may think that Pathway to Glory was involved, but that’s nothing compared to Civilization.” To sum up Civ (to give it its weekday name), you’ve in control of the Earth, rather like a god. You start with massive empty rolling fields, and by building infrastructure, managing resources, and exploring other areas of the world, you can eventually achieve your aim of either landing the first settler on Alpha Centauri, or achieve complete domination in the world by conquering all the other civilizations on Earth.” via clieuk.co.uk.0>

We are pleased to announce the new release “VoiceDialIt” for Palm Treo 600/650 smartphones. This new release includes all dialing features from the older Voice Dialer Std and Voice Dialer Pro versions. In addition, we have added improvements to the Voice Recognition Engine and User Interface. To learn more about “VoiceDialIt 1.1.0” and see a Quick Start Video please click HERE.Benefits :* Allows you to dial with just your voice.* Saves monthly fees for telephony voice dialing services.* Helps prevent accidents while driving.* Keeps you focused on who you are dialing, not how you are dialing.

LG KC8100 will run the Windows Mobile V5.0 Pocket PC Premium O/S on its 520MHz Xscale processor. Bundled software include standard MS Word, Powerpoint, and Outlook. With its wireless LAN support, access Wi-Fi hotspots anywhere. The two cameras on the phone are a main 2-megapixel camera with auto-focus and a secondary VGA Camera. Embedded with 100MB internal memory add more with a mini SD card. Also inclusive is Molans’ language learning assistant program. via ubergizmo.com