Next generation Intel XScale Processors

Intel announced a new family of processors based on Intel XScale® technology that can handle multiple forms of wireless broadband access with enough computing power to provide cell phones with full motion video conferencing capabilities and PDAs with DVD-quality video playback.

The Intel® PXA27x family of processors, formerly code-named “Bulverde,” adds a number of new technologies to address the needs of cell phone and PDA users. It is the first product to integrate the Intel Wireless MMX™ technology, providing additional performance for 3-D games and advanced video while improving battery-life. The new chip also utilizes Wireless Intel SpeedStep® technology, enabling significant power savings by intelligently managing voltage and frequency changes similar to the technology used in the company’s notebook processors.

Intel has also integrated security features to provide services such as trusted boot, secure storage of private information and cryptographic keys, and support for common security protocols. To help increase camera phone capabilities and quality, Intel has also incorporated Quick Capture technology to support cameras with resolution up to 4 megapixels.

The Intel PXA27x processor family will be offered in multiple configurations of clock speeds running from 312 up to 624 MHz, and with as much as 64 megabytes of stacked Intel StrataFlash® memory.

Picsel Browser for mobile devices

Picsel Technologies Ltd. announced Picsel Browser running on the Brew Plattform, the smartphone operating system from Qualcomm. It supports BREW V2.1 and beyond and allows users to display Flash, video, Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat files. This unique user interface enables even the smallest screen to show a full PC display, changing the way users interact with their mobile devices.

Losing the detail is the usual consequence with squeezing high-resolution sources into a few pixels. By giving the user a “zoom” control system, Picsel solves this problem. Users will be able to see any part of the big picture in close by simply drawing a diagonal stroke with the stylus. They just pick a spot on the screen, focus, and zoom; then zoom out and pick another spot to take a closer look.

The application can be used to create a Word document, play a game of Doom, show a live video or edit a .PDF Acrobat file. It is possible not just to view different files, but also to cut and paste one to the other.

Already available and shipping on Linux, Symbian (UIQ and Series 60), Palm, MicroITRON and the Microsoft platforms – Picsel software will now be available for the BREW platform. Picsel Browser on will be available in Q2 of this year.

Picsel is also introducing Link Navigator. “Allowing the user to quickly identify key areas of interest, Picsel’s Link Navigator is adaptable to multiple device form factors and various content formats.” It enables users to quickly scan through the content page, using intelligent sequential stepping of hyperlinks.

Intel outlines wireless strategy

Intel will this week announce designs for future mobile phones and key deals with big network operators and manufacturers in Europe and Taiwan, as it aims to unite the mobile industry with computer economics. “To think that phones are not subject to the laws of silicon is naive. They are just small computers,” Otellini told Reuters in an interview ahead of his speech at the 3GSM World Congress.

Otellini said Intel was in talks with all of the world’s top ten mobile phone makers on using its chips in future handsets. Motorola and Samsung are the only ones selling a small number of phones using Intel chips. In private meetings in Cannes, Intel is showing off designs for two generations of phones, one aimed to go on sale this year, and a second one that will go on the market in 2005, Otellini said. Intel officials said the company plans to differentiate its phones by embedding technology that has shipped in its computer chips for much of the last decade, which will make it far simpler to move computer data back and forth to mobile phones.

Fingerprint touchpad

Atrua Technologies, a start-up backed by some of the top names in technology and telecommunications has presented its first product – a mobile phone touchpad with built-in fingerprint recognition as a security feature. Formerly known as I-Control Security Inc., Atrua is headquartered in Silicon Valley and funded in 2000 by Nokia Venture Partners, Ericsson Venture Partners, Acer Technology Ventures, Intel Capital, Osprey Ventures and mc3 Ventures.

Atrua product is called “Atrua Wings” and works like the touchpad on laptops, allowing users to scroll through menus and choose items with the touch of a finger. Only, the same sensor acts as a fingerprint reader, increasing the security of wireless transactions and simplifying the sign-in process on secure Web sites. Atrua’s unique software algorithms and a small, low power, cost-effective finger imaging sensor simplifies device interaction and enhances functionality of mobile devices such as cellular phones, PDAs and mobile PCs.

The company said manufacturing of its product would begin in the second quarter and phones with the Wings technology built in will be on the market by the end of the year.

Recharge with solar energy

The Japan telecommunication company Nippon Telegraph Telephone /NTT/ will release a new product the world’s first portable solar-cell system – Pocket Energy for recharging mobile devices, where power supply is missing, announced Space Daily. It is called system because it consists of a solar panel, an electricity-storing tablet and connecting cables. How it works – you must expose the solar panel to direct sunshine for four hours and then you can charge your cell phone /according NTT it will be enough for four hours uninterrupted call/, MP3 player, mobile game, but Pocket Energy is still not capable of recharging notebooks.

NTT will let for sale the system in May this year first only in Japan for approximately 190 USD, and in near future in the rest of the world.

Vodafone starts 3G service in Europe

Vodafone announced the commercial launch of its 3G services in Europe. The first service from Vodafone will be the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard, Europe’s first high speed lap top datacard. With data rates of up to 384kbps, the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard will enable Vodafone customers to access all their usual office applications like e-mail, calendar and internet at up to ten times the speed of GPRS. This will enable customers with a lap top to work anywhere just as if they are in the office. The commercial launch of the 3G datacard follows successful customer trials conducted across Europe with thousands of business customers. Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard will be available in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK over the next four weeks. 3G coverage is currently offered in most Vodafone markets in major cities and an increasing number of transport routes. When outside of 3G network coverage, the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard automatically switches to Vodafone’s GPRS network, which offers full coverage, meaning Vodafone customers will have continuous access to their normal office applications. 3G coverage will be expanded continually by Vodafone over the next few years. Customer trials of Vodafone’s consumer 3G service, which will enhance the Vodafone live! Offering, are currently being conducted with selected Vodafone customers across Europe. Initial customer feedback is positive and Vodafone will introduce a consumer service in the next few months, with an enhanced range of 3G devices and services becoming available later in the year.

Nokia BH-905 Bluetooth Stereo Headset

When going for mobile, wireless music, there are the little in-ear Bluetooth headsets – the ones that make you look like a Secret Service agent, and then there are the monster headphones, which seem more like an accessory for whoever is the currently cool hipster/rap star than for a humble Bluetooth headset toting writer. But with music and multimedia consumption playing an ever increasing part in the life of a smartphone, it makes sense for the hands free kits to accommodate the rockers as well as the white collar office managers.

It’s in this space that Nokia announced the BH-905 at Nokia World. They certainly look like the sort of headphones you’d have hooked into a record player in the 1970’s to listen to the wonder of Rick Wakeman’s “The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table“ (seriously though, kids, check it out), with a massive headband, lots of silver and black cushioning, and a bundle of switches on the casing of the right ear.

Because, as well as the speakers which sit comfortably over your ear (and the aforementioned cushioning means they can sit here a long time without being uncomfortable), the headset also packs ten microphones around the construction. Some of them are for your voice when you use it as a hands-free headset, but the rest tie in with the rest of the electronics to provide a ‘soundscape’ of everything around you. Throw that input into the active noise cancelling circuitry with a flick of a switch under your ear, and the BH-905 throws a cacophony of white noise into the mix, cancelling out a large portion of any external ambient noise. Ambient noise such as a Boeing 777’s engines on a transatlantic flight, which is where I’ve been testing them (now this is what I call a challenge, Rafe – can I claim this on expenses? Rafe? …)

Now this means that these are up against a tough challenge – my headphones of choice are a set of custom in-ear monitors constructed from a perfect mould of my ears. They may only be passive, but they block a huge amount of noise. Can the active noise cancelling competition prove as effective?

Mostly. For all the electronics and signal processing that could be done, it’s not the same as a perfect seal in your outer ear. While listening to music it makes a lot of difference. My guess is that it covers 75-80% of the external noise, and then the brain mentally covers up the rest of noise while you focus on “The Ying Tong Song”. Go for something more delicate, such as “Dear John” by Kirsty MacColl, and the tinny rhythmic rumble in the background is more distinct. It’s not enough to put you off your music, mind you, and flipping the noise cancelling off to hear what you’re missing and you won’t wait to put it back on. The BH-905s are not a magically perfect solution, but they do perform as well as similar noise cancelling headphones on the market. If I was offered these to help on a long flight (or in any constantly noisy situation) then I would seriously consider them. They dull enough of the noise to make the environment habitable, and once you put some music on, you’ll find that you’re safely wrapped up in your own world, with only a handful of external cues for your brain to audibly latch onto.

I’ve no complaints about the audio quality, either over Bluetooth or the (optional, see below) corded connection. As has been the case for some years now the quality of the audio files plays a much bigger part in the experience thanks to the quality of the playback hardware, but even to my ears the BH-905 is replicating the audio to a high degree of quality over the wire, and the Bluetooth transmission had no drop-outs or compression artefacts.

These are high end accessories, coming with a smart and sturdy case, but also a bundle of connecting cables as well – these can be used to bypass the Bluetooth connection and provide a cable connection either to your smartphone or any other music device you might have to hand. While flying this is my only choice to listen to music on the X6 or Zune, but it also saves on battery power. The headphones have their own internal battery which is used both for Bluetooth connectivity and also to run the active noise cancelling. There will be times when all you need are the speakers and nothing fancy, in which case go with everything off and a cable plugged in. And here’s one of the tiny complaints I have on the unit – once you add in the connectors to get a standard 3.5mm jack wired in, you’ve got a couple of inches of plastic hanging out the headphone socket. It’s not that pretty or practical. Perhaps this is a design cue to push you towards Bluetooth?

Bring all the tricks online (and frankly if you’re not going to be using all these, why are you buying something of this spec?) and you will be reliant on the battery to give you around a full day of use as a Bluetooth headset, and dropping to about ten hours with noise cancellation on. The good news for travellers is that it uses the standard Nokia charger, so you don’t need to carry more than one charger if you’re smart and organised.

Source : http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/reviews/item/12193_Nokia_BH-905_Bluetooth_Stereo_.php

Nokia MD-6 Mini Speakers

Picking up the MD-6 and you think you’ve got some retro-styled 70’s lighter. In fact, flipping the top open reveals two small speakers atop a battery compartment. This is the sort of Transformer effect I like in a travel unit, especially one that’s not much bigger than a big chunky marker pen.

At the opposite side is a red plastic section that slides out, with around two and a half feet of cable ending in a jack plug. Coil out just as much as you need, guide it through the gap, and slot the plastic back in. Voila, a nice tidy cable tidy as well. Smart thinking, Nokia. Perhaps I’ll overlook the need for four (four!) AAA batteries to power the unit with no option for recharging in situ, or even a non-amplified pass through option for the audio signal.

The good news is that the speakers are louder than the phone with full volume, but given the design there’s almost no stereo separation. More worryingly, there’s a break up at higher volumes so yes, it is loud, but don’t expect any fidelity when listening to the more delicate movements in Swan Lake (AC/DC is fine though).

One thing to point out is that, while carrying a 3.5mm jack plug, it is the jack with an extra contact ring – fine on Nokia devices when this is used for the hands free microphone, but try to put this into a SanDisk Clip MP3 player and you’re not going to hear much thanks to the wiring. The flexibility that I like when travelling (multiple uses over multiple devices) is lost in the MD-6.

Source : http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/reviews/item/Nokia_MD-6_Mini_Speakers.php 

Nokia MD-7W Bluetooth Speakers

It’s What Hifi Has Become!

Being both a gadget freak and music lover and having recently purchased a set of Nokia Stereo Bluetooth Headphones BH-503 and being suitably impressed, I was keen to try Nokia’s compact stereo Bluetooth speakers (MD-7W) to see what they would offer.

The Nokia MD-7W Bluetooth speakers come with a compact carry sleeve, Nokia charger, 3.5mm connection lead and a set of batteries, giving the
user options with respect to connection type and power source. I opted for the wire-free option of good old fashioned AA batteries and connection via Stereo Bluetooth A2DP to my new Nokia N96.

I paired the speakers to my Nokia N96, thereafter connections take place automatically, and I fired them up half expecting them to emit a harsh,
tinny noise as a poor excuse for music. I was astonished and pleasantly surprised at the rich, clear room filling sound that they produced. OK,
they don’t have earth shattering bass and are not the last word in detailed music retrieval but they make for a very pleasant listen, even next to a
high end Hifi system. There is another button for stereo widening but I preferred this switched off.

 

 

 

 

 

The MD-7W were also particularly good with voices, listening to Steve’s and Rafe’s dulcet tones on the latest AAS podcast, from the comfort on my
sofa, while the speakers were on the mantlepiece across the other side of the room was a weird experience, the same was also true for Reuters
Video news downloads.

When not in use, one speaker has a concave grille and the other a convex grille so that they snap together magnetically and pop into the carry
case.

All in all, a superb hassle-free accessory from Nokia and definitely a worthwhile puchase.

Source : https://gsm2indonesia.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=496&action=edit

Nokia CK-300 Car Kit

Some of us are lucky enough to be able to splash out £40k on a BMW X5 or new Audi, complete with full screen OEM navigation, Bluetooth phone prep, and so on. But for the rest of us impoverished gadget heads, we’ve mainly resorted to the PARROT bluetooth car kits or occasionally the little Nokia CK7W – a tiny buttoned, no-frills device for making and accepting calls whilst on the move. Even more of us don’t install car kits but instead use awkward fitting Bluetooth headsets that we forget to charge, fall out of the ears and are sometimes even ripped out the ear in frustration because yet again a call is dropped or audio quality just isn’t good enough.

Ok, I’m generalising a lot here but these are all familiar situations. In recent times, due mainly to legal crackdowns on mobile use whilst driving, we’ve all been pushed into some form of Bluetooth hands free solution. Many of the Parrot kits have been sold on the strength of their external displays – offering caller ID, a jog dial to select contacts from your paired mobile phone and in some cases the displays are in colour, can display wallpaper or even the photo associated with a contact when they call.

Both Parrot and Nokia, as well as newcomer THB Bury, all offer Bluetooth kits with fancy external screens. The THB Bury CC9060 even provides a touch screen. But these manufacturers are in some ways missing a point – not everyone wants to simply hide their mobile in their pocket and use an external screen. Where to fit the thing? Why do I want to drill holes or ruin the dashboard of my lovely new (secondhand) motor? Or add yet another item to an ever growing list of items I have to remove from the car when I park it as I’m worried about theft?

In my case, I’ve always wanted to see my mobile whilst driving – I want to not only know who’s calling but check my emails, messages and, if you’re like me and use your Nokia N95 8GB as a navigation unit, why on earth would you leave it in your pocket?

In the past the simple Nokia CK7W would have done the trick – allowing simple but great quality audio and phone functions whilst being able to route calls through the car’s own speaker system, mute the radio and hang up/accept calls as well as offering voice dialing by holding down the centre button, waiting for the ‘beep’ and speaking the name of the caller. Any phone centric functions would have been performed by actually using the phone’s own buttons and hardware.

But Nokia released (although to no fanfare whatsoever!) the ingenious CK 300 car kit in April and I’ve only just been able to source one. I’ve found it hard to believe there’s not been more hype for the CK 300, especially for Nokia Nseries users.

So what’s the big deal?

The CK 300 looks simple enough and resembles the CK7W in that the ‘kit’ consists simply of a jog dial and button-based unit that is subtle enough not to be really noticed in the vehicle whilst the brains of the car kit remain hidden under your dash trim somewhere. The remote control differs from the 7W in that there are five buttons as well as a push/rotating NaviWheel. The buttons are all backlit and the NaviWheel is surrounded by a smart looking white LED circle of light. Just from looking at the control unit you can see that there’s a voice dialing button, a mute button, mode button and green and red answer and hangup buttons. It looks and feels very well made.

So what’s the point of all these buttons if there’s no display?

This is where Nokia has really taken a leap forward and implemented a fantastic piece of software in the CK 300 solution. Called ‘Car Menu’, it’s a piece of software that links directly to the CK 300 control unit and provides handsfree call handling, music features and navigation via Bluetooth – all using the screen of your mobile device! The software runs on S60 3rd Edition or later devices with a QVGA display (two versions are available, for landscape/portrait devices).

In practice, the combination of hardware and software works brilliantly. Crank your car’s ignition and the Car Menu software appears on the mobile phone screen – big fonts and a completely customised look and feel are the order of the day here. Upon starting up, the network screen is displayed but press the NaviWheel and a clear and easy to read menu appears with items being easily selected by simply rotating the wheel and clicking. It goes without saying that the most important use of the software will be to make and receive phone calls. This works like a dream – a call can be automatically answered or the NaviWheel can be clicked to answer the call. The menu allows for the usual call register functions so you can easily, with one click, bring up a list of dialled numbers, missed calls and received calls.

Selecting a contact to call is again a piece of cake. If you don’t want to use voice tags to dial a number with one push and hold of the respective button, you can scroll through your contacts in a large font list using one letter or a series of letters. The system is fast and intuitive.

Call functions are all present, from call waiting right through to muting the call or even transferring it from the car kit to the mobile phone itself if you wish to have a more intimate conversation or if one of your passengers wants to make a private call.

The CK 300 also effortlessly streams your music selection from the phone via Bluetooth through to the car stereo speakers. There’s a special Music Player menu that’s accessed with one click of the central MODE button. From there you can search for albums, artists, and tracks, with anything being paused when a call comes through or is initiated.

The NaviWheel and Car Menu software also allow you to scroll through emails or text messages, and to control Nokia Maps – and all of this without actually touching the phone at all. The buttons double up as left and right soft keys for the respective applications on the phone and there’s no lag between pressing keys and function execution.

Included in the kit is a 3.5mm jack, allowing you to connect additional audio devices to the car kit and, wait for it, the icing on the cake – Nokia have even provided their 2mm car charging cable so you’ll not be without power! And I am not talking about a car cigarette lighter charger but a hard-wired power cable to your vehicle’s battery.

After a week of using the CK 300, I have been more than impressed. Nokia seem to have covered everything here – the telephony and hardware is excellent. The NaviWheel is solid and chunky and a joy to use and the software seems remarkably bug-free, fast and responsive. Being able to use Nokia Maps and having the car radio muted when it’s reciting directions is a really neat idea.

The CK 300 is a great example of thinking outside the box. Not having to worry about yet another screen or item to remove in your car will be a big bonus to many concerned drivers out there. It also shows how powerful the new Nokia mobile phones are in (literally) being good at ‘everything’. With my Nokia N95 8GB and the CK 300, I can scroll through my emails, messages, call lists, voice dial any of my contacts or spin through them with the NaviWheel; I can load up and control Nokia Maps to find my way all over Europe and beyond; I can stream over 7GB of music from the phone through to my car’s speakers… and more. All for less than £100! (Not including the phone or fitting, of course).

A remarkable package and something I would certainly recommend, especially for N95 users.

Justin Berkovi, http://www.predicaments.com

Source : http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/reviews/item/Nokia_CK-300_Car_Kit.php