Author: pdasnews

“The new model follows in the footsteps of the predecessor in almost every single way, including positioning. They present it as a pocket-friendly smartphone with a handy thumbboard to enterprise users in the first place. In practice, however, the HTC S710 attracted an audience wider than that, although everyone is already sick and tired of the terms “business user” and “enterprise segment”, especially as far as the Windows Mobile market goes. And while the company has been breaking away from this cliche with its touch-phone series, they are still employing it for select models, making up new niches that are in fact non-existent on the market or very, very thin.” Read more here:

ArcSoft, CleNET Technologies, fring, Google, i-skoot and Mobica are new partners in the UIQ Alliance Partner Program. The agreements basically mean that UIQ Technology will support the partner companies in their development of mobile applications and services on UIQ and Symbian OS for future product releases. The new partners are given access to UIQ roadmap updates, joint marketing, technical support and also have the option to receive early access to UIQ releases.UIQ, an open user interface and application development software platform, makes it possible for mobile phone manufacturers to create different kinds of phones, all based on the same open software platform. Main customers are Sony Ericsson and Motorola.”The UIQ Alliance Partner Program expands the options for our customers to choose applications and services that work well with UIQ. This accelerates time to market when creating new mobile phones”, says Elisabet Melin, VP Marketing at UIQ Technology. “We are very pleased to welcome our new partners into the UIQ Alliance Partner Program and look forward to a good cooperation.” New partners: ArcSoft Inc. is a software developer of multimedia technologies and applications across desktop and embedded platforms. Working closely with major OEM manufacturers, ArcSoft offers a full line of imaging and video solutions that enhance the features, performance, and user experience of mobile phones, digital cameras, optical drives, personal computers, and consumer electronics devices. www.arcsoft.com CIeNET Technologies is an outsourcing service company based in China. They are telecommunication and embedded system experts in mobile devices, value-added services, base stations, billing and customer care, and network management. CIeNET is one of the fastest growing outsourcing service companies in China. www.cienet.com.cn fring™ is a mobile internet community giving service that enables users to make free mobile calls, live chat and interact with other fringsters™ and their favorite online communities & services, all while on the go. www.fring.com Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. One of Google’s aims is to develop products and services that are specifically designed for mobile devices and for local markets. www.google.com iSkoot is dedicated to enabling mobile Internet voice and chat services. iSkoot software enables users to load their buddy lists, view presence information, make and receive push-of-a-button Internet calls, and enjoy live chat all on their mobile handsets. www.iskoot.com Mobica specializes in providing consultancy, project and engineering services on Symbian and UIQ platforms, from base porting and core platform development, through to innovative applications, UI design and connectivity solutions. www.mobica.com

“HTC has reported the Touch sales figures, which reached 2 million units. The first model in the line, HTC Touch candy bar, was released last June. All the communicators from the series are powered by Widows Mobile 6 Professional and support TouchFLO interface (finger-oriented control). The Touch family consists of 3 models – HTC Touch, HTC Touch Dual and HTC Touch Cruise. Total mobile device sales by HTC in 2007 amounted to 11.8 million, a 12% ride against 2006.The iPhone, being HTC Touch rival, enjoys better performance: Apple’s chief Steve Jobs reported 4 million of sold handsets at Macworld Expo. The iPhone sales started last June, i.e. after HTC Touch.” via mobile-review.com

“A Dutch company has squeezed a display the size of two business cards into a gadget no bigger than other mobile phones — by making a screen that folds up when not in use.The 5-inch (13-cm) display of Polymer Vision’s “Readius” is the world’s first that folds out when the user wants to read news, blogs or email and folds back together so that the device can fit into a pocket.Polymer Vision, spun out of Philips, whetted the appetite of gadget fans more than two years ago when it showed off a prototype. Now the gadget is in production and will go head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone and Amazon’s ebook reader Kindle when it hits stores mid-2008. “You get the large display of e-reading, the super battery life of e-reading, and the high-end connectivity … and the form factor and weight of a mobile phone,” said Karl McGoldrick, chief executive of the venture capital-funded firm, in which Philips still has a 25 percent stake.”We are taking e-reading and bringing it to the mobile phone.”He would not say how much the Readius would cost, but said it would be comparable to a high-end mobile phone.McGoldrick said his “dream device”, which the company planned to build within 5 years, was a mobile phone with an 8-inch color display that could show video.” Read more here:

Research In Motion (RIM) today announced a series of updates for its market-leading BlackBerry platform that include enhanced messaging and collaboration, simpler management, enhanced security and expanded application development support. These updates will benefit users, IT groups and developers and will enable organizations to increase mobility, productivity and return on investment. “RIM continues to expand the capabilities of the multifaceted BlackBerry platform to allow an increasingly rich and productive mobile experience for our customers,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM. “The software enhancements demonstrated today will make BlackBerry smartphones more powerful than ever and even easier to manage.” Enhanced Messaging and Collaboration The BlackBerry Enterprise Solution is a complete, end-to-end wireless platform that extends the benefits of an organization’s messaging and collaboration environment to mobile users. Updates to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry device software1 will enable customers to further enhance usability and increase end-user productivity. Document Downloading and Editing – As a result of the integration of the ‘Documents To Go® by DataViz®’ software with the BlackBerry platform, users will be able to edit Microsoft® Office Word, PowerPoint® and Excel® files2 directly on their BlackBerry smartphone.Remote Search for Messages – Users will be able to search for and retrieve email messages from their email server even if the message is no longer stored on their BlackBerry smartphone.Free-Busy Calendar Lookup – Users on the go will be able to check the availability of colleagues before sending a meeting request.HTML and Rich Text Email Rendering – BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to view HTML and rich text email messages with original formatting preserved including font colors and styles, embedded images, hyperlinks, tables, bullets and other formatting.Advanced Enterprise Instant Messaging and Presence – New features for users running IBM Lotus Sametime® and Microsoft Live Communications Server will include improved address book integration, IM contact “click to call”, IM session “convert to call” and advanced emoticon support, allowing co-workers to collaborate and communicate more effectively using their BlackBerry smartphones.Simpler Management and Support BlackBerry Enterprise Server provides IT groups with industry-leading management and support capabilities. New features will further improve and simplify the administration of BlackBerry deployments. BlackBerry Monitoring Service – A new software component of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server will help organizations maintain high availability and high performance of their BlackBerry infrastructure by providing administrators with enhanced monitoring, alerting, troubleshooting and reporting capabilities. BlackBerry Monitoring Service will be included in the next release of BlackBerry Enterprise Server3.BlackBerry Web Desktop Manager – A web-based device management console has been designed to increase deployment flexibility and simplify software upgrades by reducing the number of BlackBerry software components installed on end-user workstations. BlackBerry Web Desktop Manager enables users to install software and manage their BlackBerry smartphone from any browser-enabled computer. The software is available now as a free download from: www.blackberry.com/go/webdesktop.Over-the-Air Device Software Upgrades4– Organizations will be able to update a user’s BlackBerry device software wirelessly, delivering a fast, cost-effective method for remotely supporting users and managing BlackBerry device software lifecycles.Expanded Systems Compatibility – BlackBerry Enterprise Server v4.1.5 is certified with Microsoft® Exchange 2007 SP1 and supports IBM® Lotus® Domino® versions 7.03 and 8.0.Enhanced Security Security is a cornerstone of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution and today there are over 400 IT policy settings and controls that an administrator can set to centrally manage and enforce security policies. Newly introduced IT policies further enhance the security and control of a BlackBerry deployment5. Encrypted Attachment Viewing – Users will be able view attachments within encrypted PGP and S/MIME messages.Increased Control over GPS – Administrators will have the ability to control which applications access GPS functionality on BlackBerry smartphones.Increased Bluetooth® Controls – Administrators will have the ability to enable or disable certain Bluetooth profiles as well as set the allowable ‘discoverable time’.Expanded Application Development Support RIM continues to expand the opportunities for software developers to create innovative and powerful wireless applications that leverage the inherent security, network efficiency, reliability and push capabilities of the BlackBerry platform and take advantage of new BlackBerry smartphone features. With the recent release of the BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE) v4.3.0, new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have been added to the thousands previously available, enabling developers to offer even more robust and exciting business and lifestyle applications to the more than 12 million BlackBerry subscribers around the world. In addition, support for the following Java Micro Edition APIs is also now available: JSR 205: Wireless Messaging 2.0 (MMS Support) – provides the ability to send and receive messages that include images, sound and video via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).JSR 211: Content Handler API (CHAPI) – allows applications to invoke other applications, including native BlackBerry applications, to handle specific content types.JSR 238: Internationalization – allows developers to easily create a single application for multiple languages and regions across the globe with proper location-specific language, time conventions, currencies, and number formats.JSR 172: Web Services – enables developers to quickly develop and deploy applications that act as web services clients.

“Haier is about to release its HG-N99 communicator, which supports two SIM cards. That is the user gets the opportunity to receiver calls on both numbers. The device is made as a candy bar with a touchscreen and no keyboard powered by Windows Mobile 6. It supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks, Bluetooth interface, WAP and Java. In addition the HG-N99 is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, a microSD-slot and a miniUSB port. The company hasn’t unveiled the release date so far.” via mobile-review.com

“Smartphone handset vendors, including Mobile and Wireless Group (MWG) (ex-O2 Asia Pacific), i-mate and Palm, have recently switched their smartphone orders back to High Tech Computer (HTC), with the shifting of orders to push the ratio of ODM revenues at HTC to over 10% in the first quarter of this year, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.ODM revenues contributed less than 10% to HTC’s total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2007, the paper quoted HTC CFO Hui-ming Cheng as indicating. Cheng said that ODM revenues will increase slightly in the first quarter 2008 and that the company plans to launch 10-12 new handsets this year, according to the paper.” via digitimes.com

“Motorola has announced a personal media player (PMP) and related broadcast transmission equipment based on the emerging wireless TV broadcast standard, DVB-H (digital video broadcast, handhelds). The Linux-based Mobile TV DH01 handheld will enable the viewing of live, on-demand, and recorded programs, says Motorola.Along with rivals such as Nokia, Samsung, and LG, Motorola already sells phones that offer live TV playback. However, because they are not optimized with a technology such as DVB-H, the quality is lower and the phones quickly use up battery life as they struggle to process video. Motorola joins Nokia as a major backer of the IP-based DVB-H, which is optimized for 3G-enabled handheld displays, and which broadcasts data in bursts to accommodate battery-dependent devices.Motorola’s Mobile TV DH01 is smaller than a paperback novel, says Motorola, and will enable live or recorded DVB-H playback at 25fps (frames per second), indoors or outdoors. It boasts a 4.3-inch screen with 16 million colors, an SD slot, USB, DVR capability, and support for numerous video and audio codecs. Based on “non-proprietary” Linux, the device is said to support open standard interfaces across devices, networks, and application service platforms.Details were sketchy, but Motorola lists the following features on the DH01, which is being demonstrated at this week’s CES show:
Display — 4.3-inch Wide Quarter Video Graphics Array Screen, supporting up to 16 million colors
Video frame rate 25fps
Flash — SD/MMC card slot
DVR — via supported Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard card; 90 minutes of TV video storage on 256MB card
I/O — Mini A/B USB connector; USIM/UICC card reader; earphone and power jacks
Video formats — H.264 AVC QVGA, MPEG-4 SP level 3 QVGA
Audio formats — AAC, MP3
Image formats — JPEG, GIF, PNG
Battery — rechargeable battery with up to four hours per charge
Other features — Five-minute memory buffer for live-TV pause; automatic channel scan; channel listings” via linuxdevices.com

“HP has begun shipping the iPAQ 210 Enterprise Handheld to retailers, which means this traditional handheld should go on sale any day now.This news — which comes from Mike Hockey, Hewlett-Packard’s Worldwide Public Relations Manager — apparently means the end a long delay in the release of this model, which was originally scheduled to launch last fall.The suggested price for this Windows Mobile device is $450; whether any retailers will offer discounts is not yet known.HP is taking orders for the iPAQ 210 now on its web site, but the shipping date isn’t for another two days. Product OverviewThose looking for a replacement for the iPAQ hx4700 or Dell Axim X51v should be interested the iPAQ 210 Enterprise Handheld. The centerpiece of this model will be a 4-inch, VGA (640 by 480 pixel) touchscreen. It will run Windows Mobile 6 Classic on a 624 MHz processor. This operating system is essentially the same as Windows Mobile 6 Professional but without the phone features that are unnecessary in this device.This iPAQ will have 128 MB of RAM and 256 MB of ROM, as well as SD and CompactFlash card slots. These will be for additional storage as well as plug-in accessories. The 210 will also sport Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth, as well as a 2200 mAh battery.Overall, this model will be 3.0 inches tall, 5.0 inches wide, and 0.63 inches thick. It will weigh 6.8 oz.” via brighthand.com

“Nokia announced that the Nokia N95 8GB had the distinction of being the first ever mobile phone to receive Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) certification. The DLNA is a body advocating the interoperability of wired and wireless consumer devices. For the consumer, this accolade translates into convenient and intuitive connectivity between your DLNA Certified home electronics devices, personal computers, and your Nokia N95 8GB.DLNA technology enables multi-vendor home ecosystems of consumer devices by building a common connectivity platform for a variety of multimedia experiences. This vision is fully in line with the Nokia’s aspiration for openness and seamless interoperability between devices and services from different brands. DLNA has certified the Nokia N95 8GB as a Mobile Digital Media Server, an acknowledgment that taps into the genius of this multimedia computer. The extensive connectivity and cutting-edge media capabilities of the Nokia N95 8GB are ideal for enjoying content, such as music, photos or videos, wirelessly on other devices in the home environment. “We are thrilled to receive this tribute from the DLNA. The Nokia N95 8GB is truly a masterpiece of a multimedia computer, and a prime example of the direction mobility is taking – it’s personal, powerful and fits seamlessly into your life inside and outside the home,” said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president, Markets, Nokia. DLNA has already certified over 1800 products in the personal computer and consumer electronic categories, but this is the first time the stringent guidelines for interoperability set by the DLNA have been met by a mobile phone. Mobile devices were included in the DLNA Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines that were published in early 2006, and are now part of the recently launched DLNA certification program. The Nokia N95 8GB passed DLNA’s rigorous testing process to receive the green DLNA Certified logo, a marker of its leading position in the mobile domain of the digital home. With up to eight gigabytes of built-in memory, the Nokia N95 8GB can hold a vast selection of your favorite media content, like those ski vacation photos and your music collection. You can share these with your friends and family on a DLNA Certified home entertainment system and enjoy your photos on a full-sized TV screen or jam to those tunes on your home stereo system. All you need to do is share the content wirelessly from your Nokia N95 8GB. Nokia is an active member of the DLNA and has been driving interoperability of mobile, PC, and consumer electronics devices at and beyond home. As mobile phones have converted into diverse multimedia computers, they serve as the primary gateway to the Internet, services and content for millions of people around the world. Nokia is mobilizing home multimedia content and enabling remote access to home content using your Nokia mobile devices.