Saturday, March 31, 2007

Sony Ericsson W580 Walkman® phone announced


Sony Ericsson’s new W580 WALKMAN® phone announced today is the music phone that’s pure street style. This slim slider phone speaks volumes in urban cool while delivering the full-on Walkman® phone music experience. It will store up to 470 full-length tracks, has a 2.0 megapixel camera tucked discretely within the slider itself, plus stacks of gaming, fun sports and entertainment features.

“The W580 Walkman® phone is designed to match your lifestyle, whether you are in the car, at a party or busy at the gym,” explains Steve Walker, Head of Product Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “As well as letting you have your latest music with you at all times, the W580 steps in as your portable photo album and pocket gaming device. It will even serve as your training partner thanks to built-in sports applications that track running speed and distance.”


This latest Walkman® phone pushes the boundaries of urban style. When the slider is closed the design, either in Style White or Urban Grey, is ice-cool, understated. Flick open the slider and the phone becomes a real attention grabber, revealing hot orange colour accents and stunning light effects along the sides.

At only 14mm thin, you wonder where the W580 finds room for all of that music, the camera and the fun applications. But it does, effortlessly, and there is no compromise on the full Walkman® phone experience. As well as storing up to 470 full-length music tracks *, it is incredibly easy to get music from your computer into the phone, since the Disc2Phone music management software and USB cable all come in the box. You can even use TrackID™ to identify music tracks you don’t recognise, regardless of whether they are playing out loud or via the phone’s RDS FM Radio. With all this going on, make sure you take time to notice the light effects on the W580. Navigate to the Walkman® player and they automatically change to a glowing orange colour.

With the W580 Walkman® phone you can even take your favourite tracks to the track. It will count your steps, your calories and monitor your running speed/distance/time. Add to that your best tunes for motivation and whether you’re on a run, in the gym or just out for a stroll, the W580 is the perfect fitness partner.

Urban cool really does meet mobile entertainment with the W580. The 2.0 megapixel camera and fast connectivity make picture blogging and instant messaging second nature. 3D Gaming is fast action too with hit titles preloaded. The slider action also allows for a large 2.0” colour screen, ideal not just for gaming but also web browsing and viewing your camera photos.

As if the W580 did not already scream of street style, you can also add music accessories to your Walkman® phone to make even more of an impression. Two sets of cool, optional speakers – the Portable Speakers MPS-70 and Snap-on Speakers MPS-75 – instantly transform the W580 into the heart and soul of any party. If you want to turn up the volume still further, then the Bluetooth™ Music Receiver MBR-100 lets you play your phone music directly through a home stereo, using your W580 as the remote control to skip through tracks and adjust the volume. So the W580 Walkman® phone looks and sounds stylish, whether you are at a party or just hitting the street.

The W580 Walkman® phone is a 2.5G, Quad Band EDGE device (850/900/1800/1900) and will be available in selected markets from Q3 2007.

* W580 Walkman® phone capable of storing up to 470 tracks
in eAAC+ codec.

Samsung Intros 1.8-inch Flash SSD

Samsung has announced that it has developed a 1.8-inch type 64 Gigabyte (GB) flash-solid state drive (SSD).
The company says that the 1.8-inch flash-SSD is based on an 8 gigabit (Gb) single-level-cell (SLC) Nand, which provides significantly higher peIt is learnt that the flash-SSD is a secure and reliable means of storing personal or work-related data.
It uses instantly-accessible, non-moving Nand flash memory instead of the noisier, power-hungry, jarring-sensitive rotating disc found in conventional hard drives, thus allowing uploading and downloading of data quickly and quietly using minimum power. Samsung also claims that the read and write performance of the new SLC flash-SSD have been increased by 20 percent and 60 percent respectively over the 32GB flash-SSD, which was introduced last year.
Therefore, its ability to outperform conventional rotating-media hard drives is even greater than had been anticipated. The company believes that it's continued nano-technology migration is a key-enabling factor in the continued market segmentation for storage media.
Besides the use of 64 GB flash-SSD for notebook PCs, 8 to 16GB flash-SSDs will become viable solutions for use in personal navigation systems and digital camcorders, as will hundred GB-level flash-SSDs for use in the server market. Samsung plans to start the mass production of the 1.8-inch type 64GB flash-SSD in the second quarter of this year. rformance over conventional SSDs.

Nokia Announces Two New Phones: The Nokia 5070 and the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic

Nokia announced two new phones for music playback. Here are the announcements on these phones:

The Nokia 5070:
Designed with the needs of young consumers in mind, the newly announced Nokia 5070 features a compelling blend of fun and function for today's socially networked mobile customer. With strong messaging, leisure and personalization features, the Nokia 5070 has everything that the mobile social set needs. The Nokia 5070 will be available in the second quarter of 2007 with an estimated retail price of EUR 100 excluding taxes and subsidies.

A full set of messaging features is sure to satisfy the need to connect via text, voice and images. With just a few keystrokes, friends' contact information can be accessed and messages quickly composed and delivered. When a quick voice messaqe is more convenient, the Nokia 5070 offers the option to send off quick voice messages via Nokia Xpress Audio Messaging. And of course, since a picture is worth a thousand words, the built-in camera can snap pictures of friends, weekend trips or any of life's amusing moments and then share via MMS.

When not busy staying in touch, owners can enjoy the fun that the Nokia 5070 is built to deliver.

With an integrated FM radio, tuning into the hottest radio channels in town is quick and easy, especially since a stereo headset comes included in the sales package. If a quick game is more appropriate, pre-installed java games such as the widely popular Sudoku can be found on the Nokia 5070. With a built in web browser, surfing the web and checking sports results or movie timetables is also possible with the multi-talented Nokia 5070.

As unique as the Nokia 5070 is, owners are sure to want to make theirs just as individual as themselves. MP3 ringtones are at hand to ensure that each time it rings, the Nokia 5070 can reflect its owner's style, mood or music taste. Additionally, a variety of wallpapers and themes can also be downloaded to give the Nokia 5070 even more of a personalized touch. The Nokia 5070 has talk time up to 3.5 hours and the standby time is up to 12 days and is available in two fresh colors, red or blue.

-----

The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic:

Nokia revealed the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, an accessible 3G smartphone augmented by a dedicated audio chip for enhanced music performance. The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic features an iconic twist design that easily switches between four modes at the flick of the wrist - music player, 2 Megapixel camera, video call and smartphone. Combining the benefits of a music-oriented, multipurpose device featuring 3G dataspeeds, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is expected to retail for an estimated EUR 350 before taxes and subsidies during the second quarter of 2007.


"The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic adds a new twist to the mobile music experience with compatibility for tracks purchased from many Internet music stores," says Heikki Norta, Senior Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia. "In addition the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic features a dedicated audio chip for improved music performance which consumers can further enhance by selecting from an ever increasing line of compatible audio enhancements."

Using an optional 2GB MicroSD card, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic supports up to 1500 tracks that can be enjoyed using Bluetooth stereo headphones, with their own favorite 3.5mm plug-equipped headphones and the included headset adaptor or through built-in stereo loudspeakers.

Loading songs onto the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is fast and easy as consumers can choose from a broad range of supported digital formats, including WMA, MP3, AAC, as well as eAAC+ and MP4. When purchasing music online, shoppers again have the luxury of choice as they can select from a range of Internet music stores, also those utilizing Windows Media Player Digital Rights management (WMDRM). The optimized music player in the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic supports album art, playlists, plus a 5-band equalizer and audio visualizations.

3G and video are part of the package More than a music-only device, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic brings videos to life on a vibrant color screen supporting up to 16 million colors for exceptional video playback. With 3G high-speed data connectivity, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic makes browsing, downloading and streaming multimedia content much more convenient and faster than before. A video call feature and the built-in 2 Megapixel camera make it easy to share moments with friends and family.

The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is based on the world's leading S60 software running on Symbian OS. S60 enables consumers to personalize their device with a wide choice of compatible applications that can be downloaded to the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, including games, navigation, entertainment, productivity and creativity.

Hutch and Microsoft to offer Live Search for mobile

Hutch and Microsoft to offer Indian mobile customers a search engine
Indian mobile service provider Hutch which is undergoing acquisition by UK based Vodafone has said that they are collaborating with software giant Microsoft to offer Live Search for mobile to its customers.
As a result, Indian mobile internet users for the first time have optimized access to mobile search engine that returns relevant results quickly.
Microsoft said that their Live search engine would offer mobile users ability to search for content like Tones, Images, Videos and Games. This search would offer optimized searching on PlanetHutch as well.
Harit Nagpal, Marketing Director, Hutch spoke on this new development: “We have always believed in giving our customers services that help simplify their life. We have collaborated with various global service providers like Microsoft on an open access principle to help us achieve this objective. Starting with this initiative, Hutch will provide the entire Windows Live suite of services to its customers over a period of time.”
Jaspreet Bindra, Country Manager Microsoft Online Services Group added: “This service is the first of its kind for mobile users in India, one that allows you to discover information or content at the press of a single button on your mobile phone. Discoverability will now become the ‘killer’ application on the mobile phone. With Live Search for mobile on your Hutch phone, the consumer is just one click away from his or her favorite content. This initiative with Hutch builds on our great existing relationship and commitment to helping consumers find the information they are looking when they’re on the go.”

Sony PSP Upgrade 3.30 W/ Free Access to T-Mobile HotSpot


The Sony Play Station Portable’s firmware update 3.30 allows users to play compatible games online, surf the web and enjoy podcasts from T-Mobile WiFi HotSpots, which inludes some Starbucks coffee shops, Hyatt Hotels, Border bookstores and 70 major aiports.
There’s also a promotional offer will give PSP users who have downloaded the latest firmware access to a T-Mobile HotSpot wherever it is available for six months beginning on your first log-in. After the six-month period, PSP owners with the 3.30 firmware upgrade will have with the T-Mobile service at a special rate.
The 3.30 firmware includes improvements on video resolution (now (720 x 480) and thumbnail file support for video and RSS feeds.
[download
PSP FirmWare 3.30]

Deepfish mobile web browser from Microsoft


Microsoft has recently announced the release of Deepfish, a web browser for mobile devices that’s still in its early stages. The new browser for smart devices promises to make the experience of browsing web pages closer to that of viewing the pages on a standard desktop browser.
For the most part, browsing the internet on a “smartphone” is cumbersome at best. There are a number of sites that have been developed with scaled down pages targeting mobile devices, but for the vast majority of web sites (including SlipperyBrick) you will need to view it in the full-size which can make it hard to view and navigate.
Toward the end of last year we had news of an
Opera web browser that has “Small Screen Rendering” that would “shrink” standard size pages down to be viewed in full on Samsung mobile phones. The Deepfish browser from Microsoft can be used owners of any smart phones or Pocket PC’s that are running Windows Mobile 5.0 or greater.
The Microsoft Live Labs site featuring Deepfish information has a
download page where you can register to be informed if you can test the new Deepfish browser yourself as a technology preview, although the page states that they are nearing capacity for their trial users. The site has many feedback comments from people already trying out the Deepfish browser, but Microsoft says that they are still a couple versions away from a real beta release.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Nokia to set up a new mobile device factory in Romania

Today announced that it will set up a manufacturing facility for mobile devices in the county of Cluj in Romania. Nokia anticipates investing an estimated EUR 60 million in the Cluj plant, which will be the company's 11th mobile device production facility globally.

The decision to establish a new factory in Romania is a reflection of Nokia's strong volume growth globally, as well as the increasing demand for mobile devices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Nokia selected Cluj as the location for the plant because of the county's availability of skilled labour, its good inbound and outbound logistics connections, its overall efficiency, and the long industrial tradition in the area.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed today in Romania's capital, Bucharest. At the signing, Raimo Puntala, Senior Vice President for Nokia's Operations and Logistics, said: 'As the global market leader for mobile devices, Nokia is committed to ensuring good product availability and smooth deliveries to important markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
'
Nokia's new facility in Cluj is located about 400 kilometers north-west of Bucharest. The construction work at Cluj will start in spring 2007 and production is expected to begin in the first half of 2008. Nokia foresees ramping up the factory gradually and will recruit approximately 500 employees there by the end of 2007. As part of the plans, Nokia is looking to establish an industrial village in the area, enabling a number of key suppliers and partners to locate their operations there.


Nokia continuously develops its global manufacturing network to increase competitiveness and provide excellent logistics services for its customers. In 2006, the company completed expansions at its Reynosa plant in Mexico and its Dongguan plant in China, and ramped up production at the Chennai plant in India. In Europe, Nokia already has production facilities in Bochum in Germany, Komárom in Hungary and Salo in Finland - Nokia.