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If you are one of those diehard fans of pen-based PDAs, specifically from HP, you best be runnin out to buy a new one right away before they disappear. Chin-Teik See, a VP for Consumer Products and Mobile Devices at HP said recently at a show in Hong Kong that the company will be focusing more on converged devices because the sale of pen-based devices are low and falling fast. That means we will see more smartphones from HP with thumboards and fewer old-style stylus-sporting iPAQs. The market for pen-based devices is reportedly shrinking for the company by 30 percent each year. That isn’t to say that the company will desert the pen-based market entirely. There is still a small market, especially for entry-level buyers. The last device in this segment that they released was the rx1950 which was unveiled last September. It didn’t make much of a splash, though, since the cutting edge has moved so far beyond it. via mobilemag.com

Gameparks XGP console hasnt been heard of for a while but heres the latest screenshot and specs and a surprise mini version too, the XGP is aimed at the commercial market.XGP- 4″ TFT LCD- 1,5 million Polygons.- DDR 64MB- NAND 64MB- SD Card- DMB- wifiEstmated Price 300USD (168 POUND) XGP Mini – 2.2″ TFT LCD- DDR 32MB- NAND 64MB- SD cardEstimated Price 150USD (80 POUND)

Willcom announced the arrival of the silver W-ZERO3 on 8th March. The silver is a “refined tint, to be used by a wider user base including women” There’s a marketing gimmick for you. Still, the “refined tint” is looking good, no complaints here. Price and specs are the same at the black version: a pretty large unit at 70x130x26mm running on Windows Mobile 5.0. Full specs after the jump.Phone specifications:
Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC,
3.7-inch VGA touchscreen
416MHz Xscale processor
128MB of flash,
64MB of RAM
MiniSD slot
mini-USB, 802.11b, W-SIM,
1.33 megapixel camera
70 x 130 x 26mm
220g via uberphones.com

E-TEN Information Systems has announced that its tiny PDA-enabled phone released last year (E-TEN M600) will be shipped with preinstalled Skype 2.0 for Pocket PC. Besides with a special utility developed by E-TEN it will be possible to make VoIP calls not in loud communication mode, but as during an ordinary call, so nobody will hear youк talk. The owners of E-TEN M600 can download the program here. The company also confirmed it will release an updated software version for this device with Skype 2.0 already in it.The device features wide wireless communication opportunities – it supports quad-band GSM, GPRS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The company positions it as the world smallest PDA-enabled phone with integrated Wi-Fi. E-TEN M600 is powered by Samsung 400 MHz processor and Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. It has 128 MB flash memory onboard, a 2.8” LCD, a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash and 4x zoom. via mobile-review.com

“Chrilith has created a new version of ScummVM for PalmOS that now finally runs directly on ARM processors (which are used by all PalmOS 5 devices) instead of running in 68k (PalmOS 4 and before) emulation mode with just a few ARM enhancements. The benefits are (among others): *Major speed increase *Now uses the standard ScummVM interface and launcher*Now uses the standard Adlib emulation (which sounds MUCH nicer) *Fast enough for full speech support *Can use compressed speech files (although this has been reported to cause stuttering on non-Zodiac devices). This brings down Sam n Max and Day of the Tenatacle down to about 60MB instead of 300MB for uncompressed speech *Rock-stable for compatible games (Not a single crash so far, except for the “incompatible” games listed below)Drawbacks*Not all ScummVM supported titles are yet compatible with ScummVM for PalmOS (Seems like the Smush video decompressor doesn’t work). Here are the ones I’ve tested so far:Compatible*Sam n Max *Day of the Tentacle *Maniac Mansion *Zak McKracken/TownsFM *Simon 1 *Simon 2 Incompatible *The Dig (crashes on startup) *Full Throttle (crashes on startup)You can download ScummVM for PalmOS at http://capers.free.fr/ScummVM/ The tools to compress the speech files are available at http://scummvm.org/” via pda247.com

Few countries including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan have reports on seeing the upcoming RW6800 pocket pc phone on a HP “Embark on a Magical Adventure” new product announcement event. Some of the confirmed specification includes a 2 megapixel camera, SDIO slot, GPS, bluetooth and built in WiFi. The SDIO slot can be useful to addon another attachment for extra functionality.The RW6800 pocket pc phone got a different colors of cover on it to protect the LCD screen. The cover should be detachable if you want. GPS, bluetooth and WiFi give you a complete choices of connection, not forgetting that the pocket pc phone also support EDGE/GPRS service.There will be 2 version of model, most likely RW6800 and RW6828. One of it will have a extra GPS module. The RW6800 / RW6828 also support Microsoft Direct Push Email technology, support Blackberry like service. HP RW6800 will be available in April. Click here for more:

W00t! Nokia’s full-QWERTY keyboard business phone, the Nokia E61 (also called Blackberry-killer), has just been granted approval from the almighty FCC paving its entry into the US market. Apart from the joystick for navigation (like the Nokia 6600), one of the things I like about the E61 is the quick-access e-mail button, which makes sense for a business phone.Sure, on my dusty old 3650, I have set up the right key for opening the default messaging application; but a dedicated button is much better if you ask me. Of course, the E61 also leverages the tons of Symbian S60 applications out there. You also get viewers and editors for the most common features of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.To top it all, it’s not only a quad-band GSM world phone but also supports WCDMA. While the device is heavy (144 grams with battery), its features are not to be missed. The display is a bright 320×240 pixel resolution LCD capable of 16 million colors.The Nokia E61 should be on its way to the US and other markets soon. No pricing or availability is available at this point, but stay tuned. More info from Nokia’s website. Check out the full specs here:

Microsoft today announced its participation as a founding member of the Mobile DTV Alliance, a new organization created to promote the growth and evolution of the open standard for broadcast digital TV on mobile devices, Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H). Microsoft will help promote DVB-H best practices for delivery of premium-quality broadcast media to mobile devices for the North American market.”Demand for over-the-air delivery of digital entertainment to mobile devices is driving the need for broadly supported mobile broadcast technologies like DVB-H,” said Pat Griffis, senior director of Windows Digital Media at Microsoft and Microsoft’s board member in the alliance. “By combining our respective industry expertise, Microsoft and fellow founding members of the Mobile DTV Alliance will help make DVB-H-powered mobile TV a reality for consumers.”DVB-H technologies enable consumers to receive live TV-like experiences directly on their mobile handset and other DVB-H-based devices. In addition, operators will benefit from increased revenue opportunities while preserving cellular network bandwidth for voice and other data services.By participating in the Mobile DTV Alliance, Microsoft will collaborate with industry leaders on best practices both with handsets and services, further advancing Windows Media-enabled solutions for DVB-H and helping deliver comprehensive video broadcast offerings for mobile operators. via slashphone.com

The new AVN 6600 from Eclipse Fujitsu Ten is a DVD entertainment deck that can provide the owner with access to, well, automotive entertainment nirvana. Twin DVD drives allow for more mobile entertainment and info on the go. For instance, you could have the top drive spinning an mp3 disk with Scorpion’s Greatest Hits while the parallel sister drive spins the NAVI DVD with 1.2 gabillion points of interest, simultaneously. The unit is HD ready, Sat ready, iPod ready and of course comes with Eclipse’s ESN Security built in.There are numerous A/V ins and outs for multi screen operation in your pimped out 94 Camry, allowing you to follow the navigation up front, and have the rear passengers catch up on season 3 of WKRP in Cincinnati. Eclipse is generally the leader of Car Audio Entertainment; the AVN 6600 is one of the reasons why. via ohgizmo.com

TomTom to Launch State of the Art Range of New Portable In-Car NavigationProducts and Series of New and Updated Content & Services LONDON, March 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — TomTom (Euronext: TOM2 ; OTC:TMOAF), the leading navigation solution provider, today unveiled the futureof portable car navigation with the announcement of the new, smart and easyto use TomTom GO range and a collection of new and updated TomTom PLUScontent & services. “With the launch of TomTom GO in 2004, we created a new category ofpersonal car navigation solutions. It was an immediate hit and we have sinceshaped and led the industry almost single handedly, outselling any other carnavigation device on the market,” said Harold Goddijn, TomTom’s chiefexecutive officer. “As one of the best selling consumer electronic brands, wesee a fast growing category that requires products to be robust andsophisticated in order to meet drivers’ needs. The product range we unveiltoday is the next generation TomTom GO, featuring significant improvements indesign and usability, including hardware, software, connectivity and newcontent & services.” New TomTom GO range The new product line totally reinvents last year’s award-winning rangeand includes three models, the TomTom GO 910, TomTom GO 710 and TomTom GO510. Building on the features that have made TomTom devices so popular, thenew TomTom GO range offers: – New cutting-edge design – High quality, extra wide, 4 inch LCD touch screen – a world’s first inportable navigation, making the new TomTom GO range even easier in use – Greatly improved GPS performance – Hundreds of features and software improvements – The new GO range comes with the free software application TomTom HOME.Serving as a portal it enables users to easily manage, download and storecontent from their computer – Every new TomTom GO comes with the HOME dock, enabling users to connectto TomTom HOME through their computer – The renowned hands-free calling functionality has improved further andthe pre-installed Safety Camera database is now available across the range,making it even easier and safer to navigate to your destination – The TomTom GO 910 is the first ever portable navigation devicefeaturing multi-continental map coverage including the whole of Europe, theUSA and Canada. It also has a range of smart extras such as a fullyintegrated MP3 player for playing audiobooks, music and podcasts as well astext-to-speech functionality New and updated TomTom PLUS content & services TomTom PLUS is TomTom’s complete offering of content and services toenhance users’ navigation experience and make journeys as stress free,personal, safe and fun as possible. To TomTom’s already substantial TomTomPLUS offering (Voices, Traffic, Weather and Safety Cameras), TomTom has addedAudiobooks and Buddies. In addition, TomTom has improved and expanded theTomTom Traffic service to include Road Conditions. Other updated servicesinclude TomTom Weather and TomTom Safety Cameras. TomTom PLUS is nowavailable in the majority of Europe and the USA. TomTom RDS/TMC Traffic Receiver TomTom has added a TomTom RDS/TMC Traffic Receiver to the list ofavailable accessories, to enable users to receive free ongoing trafficinformation via radio signals. The RDS/TMC Traffic Receiver connects easilyto the new TomTom GO device and will automatically start receiving trafficinformation via the TMC connection. The new product range will be available from the 1st April and the pricewill be announced soon. About TomTom TomTom NV is a leading provider of personal navigation products andservices. TomTom’s products are developed with an emphasis on innovation,quality, ease of use and value. TomTom’s products include all-in-onenavigation devices which enable customers to navigate right out of the box;these are the award-winning TomTom GO family, the TomTom ONE and the TomTomRIDER. TomTom also provides navigation software products which integrate withthird party devices; the TomTom Navigator software for PDA’s and TomTomMOBILE navigation software for smart phones. TomTom PLUS, is thelocation-based content and services offering for TomTom’s navigationproducts. TomTom WORK combines industry leading communication and smartnavigation technology with leading edge tracking and tracing expertise.TomTom was founded in 1991 in Amsterdam and has offices in the Netherlands,the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the United States of America,Australia, China and Taiwan. TomTom’s products are sold through a network ofleading retailers in 20 countries and online.