Saitek - X-52 flight control system review

Hardware reviews
> Peripheral reviews
> Saitek X-52 flight control system
throttle and joystick for flight sims (31/01/2005)
Flight simulation games have always had a firm following amongst wannabe pilots who want to relive WWII dogfights or experience more modern jet warfare. Essential to this air combat are a decent joystick and throttle control and while there have been many recent advances in design and functionality, none has totally managed that bridge between authenticity and gameplay compatibility. Until now.

Logitech - Precision USB Gamepad review

Hardware reviews
> Peripheral reviews
> Logitech Precision USB Gamepad
simple game controller (20/12/2004)
That said, the Logitech Precision USB Pad is perhaps not your best choice of the three devices on show here if you're looking for a controller capable of matching what the PlayStation 2 item has to offer.

Microsoft - Wireless Optical Executive Edition

Here's a question for you. How much would you pay for a keyboard and mouse set? In days gone by, you might be tempted to stretch to £50 or £60, perhaps, assuming the right combination of features and comfort. Yet to have the pleasure of a Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Executive Edition in front of you, Mr Gates' empire will be looking to relieve you of a cool £119.99.

Microsoft - Entertainment Desktop 8000

Make no mistake about it: manufacturers are increasingly keen to move your computing away from a standard desk and into the domain of media and lounge-based computing. Microsoft's latest keyboard and mouse set, the Entertainment Desktop 8000, attempts to straddle both environments, but ultimately struggles to satisfy either.
The package itself, on top of the stylish keyboard and mouse themselves - both wireless, thanks to Bluetooth technology - features a recharging station, and it's this box of tricks that Microsoft is pinning a good deal of its hopes on.
The station connects both to the mains and a spare USB port, and by resting the keyboard on it, the unit charges up. Likewise, there's a pad built onto the station that the mouse can sit on to charge up, and a couple of USB ports are mounted onto it for good measure. The station also comes with a USB port into which you need to fit the supplied USB Bluetooth adapter. It's a box of talents, albeit one that would be an odd fit for the average living room.

Genius - Ergo 555 Laser review

The gaming mouse has been around for a while but is constantly being tweaked and refined to offer that extra competitive edge. Genius has been pretty active in this market. Its latest offering is the Ergo 555 Laser, capable of a handling a range of dpi settings from 400 up to an impressive 3,200. It's a wired USB mouse featuring a cloth cabling that's supposed to be more flexible and less likely to restrict your movement at that critical juncture.
The rest of the admittedly stylish design includes a smooth rubber grip, a total of 10 control buttons with scroll wheel and an innovative OLED display that reports the current profile settings. Our first impressions were that the mouse was extremely light, and there's no provision here for adding weight as seen in some rival products in this range. This is something you get used to, though, and few but the most finicky of gamers would find it has much of an impact on performance.

Microsoft - Sidewinder Mouse review

The first rule of Sidewinder Mouse? Download software from the Web. With no disc included in the otherwise comprehensive packaging, the bright startup guide is insistent that that's where you start. It's a 14MB download you need, and cleverly it's grouped with standard mice rather than the gaming menu under Microsoft's tree structure.
This, then, is Microsoft's long-promised re-entry into the PC gaming hardware sector, to which it made a token gesture with the release of an Xbox 360 gamepad for PC, but otherwise left alone since abandoning the original Sidewinder gaming line many years ago. The new Sidewinder Mouse is promised to be the first in a line-up of accessories aimed very much at the serious gamer

Saitek - P3200 Rumble review

With the rise and rise of console gaming, there isn't an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 player who doesn't feel at home punching the buttons and triggers on their controller. So when the same gamers wanted to try out the joys of PC gaming, the manufacturers obliged by producing gamepads designed along the same lines, so they wouldn't feel lost figuring out combinations of keypads and mice.
Saitek has been at the forefront of PC gaming peripherals for some time and its latest forays into this area have produced the P3200 Rumble and the Cyborg Rumble. Both are designed to support both classic PC gamepad configurations and Microsoft's new Xbox 360 controller standard (although it's virtually identical to the PS3 controller) but the Cyborg contains extra features like an FPS button for shooter lovers and Precision Mode to decrease sensitivity.

Gembird - EL720 Slim Illuminated Aluminium Keyboard review

In contrast to the majority of computer components and peripherals, the humble keyboard has quietly undergone a revolution over the past half-decade or so. Previously the last thing you cared about, and more often than not stuffed in the sub-£5 box at the local computer fair, the keyboard has been a major beneficiary of several shifts in computing.
For one, it's benefited from the media revolution, giving keyboard makers the world over a simple excuse to smack an array of media-related keys and extra buttons onto their boards. Secondly, people have become more health-aware, and thus the keyboard is rarely treated - except by the laptop market - as an afterthought any more.
And finally there's been the aesthetic overhaul of the PC, with eroding price margins forcing manufacturers to big-up the looks of their equipment to help snag a sale. End result? A good quality keyboard now at least demands £20-30, and it's not unreasonable to spend more.

ASUS Santa Rosa F3Sc-T7250 Notebook

Asus has been launch their new notebook series with Santa Rosa based notebook PC. The multimedia notebook called Asus F3Sc-T7250 which adopting 15.4 inch LCD display with 1280×800 maximum resolution which featuring up to 4GB DDII 667 MHz.
The video memory can be expand up to 384MB which is use ASUS Splendid Video Enhancement Technology. The graphic card powered by NVidia GeForce 8400M G and support DirectX 10. The power management inside Asus F3Sc-T7250 featuring with Power4 Gear Extreme. The price is not known yet and will be available next month.

Toshiba DynaBook SS RX1/TAE Wide Notebook PC

TOSHIBA will release their new wide notebook pc DynaBook SS RX1/TAE with 12 inch wide screen display like previous DynaBook RX1 at the market in Japan, which is equipped with 128GB DSS.
Running on Core 2 Duo U7600 (1.20GHz) CPU more powerful rather than DynaBook AX/57A with Operating System included Windows Vista Business, the DynaBook SS RX1/TAE supports 1280 x 800 (WXGA) resolution and up to 12.5 hours of battery life. Toshiba Dynabook should be available in the middle of April 2008 with the price about 400,000 Yen Japan.

Acer Aspire 9800 Review

Acer Aspire 9800 has huge size is the fact that it has a 20-inch screen. Yes, that’s twenty inches. Measuring 490 x 380 x 60mm (W x D x H) and weighing in at a hefty 8.5kg (including the huge power brick), there’s no way you’ll be lugging this monster of a laptop around.
Despite the size of the screen, its resolution is a disappointing 1,680 by 1,050 pixels, which is low when you consider that you can get 1,920 by 1,200 on some 17-inch displays. The graphics adapter is an Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 using 256MB of memory, and there is also a 1.3-megapixel camera mounted in the top of the screen.
As standard the Aspire 9802WKMi comes with one of Intel’s T2300 Core Duo processors, clocked at 1.66GHz, and a 5,400rpm, 100GB hard drive. Our system had the storage option offered with the more powerful 9804WKMi with its T2500 (2.0GHz Core Duo), namely a RAID array of two disks.
The Aspire 9800 series uses Intel’s i945PM Express chipset with its DDR2 memory support. In the case of the review system this meant 1GB of 667MHz memory, but if that isn’t enough the motherboard can support up to 4GB via two SODIMM slots

Panasonic ToughBook W7 Convertible Tablet PC

Panasonic has been launch their new convertibel tablet PC Panasonic ToughBook 19 - next generation afer Panasonic ToughBook W7 with 10.4 inch screen display which empowered by Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 (1.06GHz).
Some feature also included at ToughBook 19 like 80 HDD storage with sextensible memory which is up to 4GB DDR3. The ToughBook 10 also support 1024×768 (XGA) pixel resolution with 2 megapixel camera on the top of screen with LED flash. The price on the market will be around 3,199 USD

Averatec 8400 Notebook Using AMD Turion Dual Core

TG Sambo from Trigem Korea has been launch their new notebook which is named Averatec 8400 with 15.4 inch display on Korea market. Featuring high glossy blue-black color with pearl like Lenovo Thinkpad R61, they use AMD Turion™64×2 TL-64(2.2GHz) as the processor.
The Averatec 8400 also called N8475KFHK featuring with WXGA AveraBrite TFT LCD (1280×800 pixel) with width 39.1 cm. The memory capacity 2048 MB DDR II 667 MHz can run all of your business application like Microsoft Office and Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks. The disk storage have 160 GB SATA can use to store all of your files which can split into some partition. If you a gamer, I guess you will disappointed because Averatec only used ATi Mobility Radeon HD2400.
For internet connection Averatec 8400 completely with wireless network 802.11 b/g (54 Mbps), LAN 10/100 Base-TX/Modem and other feature like express card slot, USB 2.0 (4 port), IEEE 1394 and Mic. The weight just 2.8 kg with measurement 365×264.5×35.8 millimeter. Also you can get Windows Vista Home Premium bundled. There’s no price available yet.

Flybook V5 New Tablet PC With Vista Business Edition

Flybook as one of the electronic company showcase their new tablet PC which is called Flybook V5 with swivel magic during CeBIT 2008. It’s support Core Duo U2500 with CPU speed 1060 MHz.
For business oriented, this tablet PC is a good choice come with Windows Vista Business Edition, graphic card integrated using Intel GMA 950. The display size only 8.9 inch with 1024×600 pixel CCFl b/l. The memory using 2 GB with storage device only 80 GB.
The measurement size is 235×163x30 millimeter with weight just 1200 gram, it’s pretty light tablet PC. Flybook V5 already feature with 802.11 a/b/g but not using the latest 802.11 n technology but it’s support HSDPA.
The other specification is built-in camera, AC adapto, mic array, stereo speakers, fingerprint reader, scroll/thumb wheel. The other interface features of Flybook V5 are gigabit ethernet, video-out, RJ-11 for modem, USB 2.0 and express card 54/1. The price is $3100 and it’s already available on the US market.

Sony Ericsson T303 Compact Slider Phone

Published April 2, 2008 in Sony Ericsson, Cellular Phone 0 Comment
The Sony Ericsson T303 is a basic 128 x 160 pixels, the TFT screen 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth technology and an FM radio. Overall, the size is 83 x 47 x 15mm and weighs 93 grams T303.

The Sony Ericsson T303 comes with a media player, but only 8 megabytes of memory non-extensible. Yes, we did not say megabytes and gigabytes. Enough for about a single song, and no longer, so really the Media Player will be useful in the management of MP3 ringtones. More sense, the FM radio with TrackID has determined that the song is played.

Nokia N81

Nokia did not give up on the idea of the avançé mobile play, and now it is behind with a revenge on Nokia N81 plus some other devices on smartphone in the chain of Nokia.
This is a slide block 3G with a display of 2.4 ” 240 X 320 pixel which functions in orientations (large) of landscape (to far) and portrait. On the back of 2 megapixel is a camera, and N81 also has the connectivity of WiFi and Bluetooth which can also be employed for the play. There is a FM radio also, and N81 exploits the operating software of Symbian S60, making him a smartphone capable.
It has a web browser there and the customer and Nokia N81 of email can also place calls of VOIP (if your carrier did not neutralize the functionality). There is a wheel of navigation, and of N81 had a revision to return it more dynamique.
Nokia said N81 should be available during the October 2007 at an estimated cost before tax and the subsidy around €360/de £250.

Sony Ericsson W610i Review

Sony Ericsson W610i is a very slim monoblock phone with a thickness of just 14mm, it comes with a 1.9″ 176×220 pixel display, 2 megapixel digital camera, an FM radio and expandable memory using Memory Stick Micro cards. Sony Ericsson include a 512Mb card in the box which is enough for about 8 albums worth of high-quality MP3s.
Only Ericsson W610i has gone a bit glossy, but it’s not just a slimmed-down version of the old W800i - the software has been upgraded since the original incarnation of the Walkman phone, making this a more polished device underneath too.
In much the same way that the original Sony Ericsson W800i “Walkman” phone was a version of the K750i camera phone, the Sony Ericsson W610i is a “Walkmanised” version of the K550i Cyber-shot phone. Do we really need another Walkman phone? We’ve begun to lose count of exactly how many W-series devices that Sony Ericsson have come up with, but if you regard the W610i as a more interesting replacement for the less-than-successful W700i then it makes a certain amount of sense.
Sony Ericsson W610i Specification:Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900Data: GPRS + EDGEScreen: 176×220 pixels, 262k coloursCamera: 2 megapixelsSize: Medium monoblock, 102 x 46 x 14mm / weight tbcBluetooth: YesMemory card: Memory Stick MicroInfra-red: YesPolyphonic: YesJava: YesBattery life: 7 hours talk / 14 days standby
One final oddity - Sony Ericsson are making the W610i available in “Plush Orange” and “Satin Black”, these colours are on the back of the phones. The Plush Orange is the black phone in the picture, the Satin Black one is the white one

Sony Ericsson W550i MP3 Player

A very narrow relative of W600, Sony Ericsson W550 is almost identical in terms of specifications. W550 comes the same digital camera from 1.3 megapixel, display of playback of multi-media, Pixel 176×220 more 265Mb of storage internal (more or less like a compact player MP3), web browser, customer of email, Bluetooth and a radio of FM.
W550 does not have any support of EDGE, unlike W600, but it comes with a service pair to pair game faciity (similar to Nokia N-Gage the series). Another minor difference between the handset is color, W550 comes in blue, white or orange (W600 is Orange-only).
Moreover, W600i is band of quadruple, W550 is only tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900. Still, the 256Mb of the memory means that it is not a killer of iPod, but the packed up applications make it rather easy to transfer the music starting from CD to the player from music. He looks at completely fresh however, which always will be important for a marked device of “walkman”.
Sony Ericsson W550 will be available in two configurations, W550c for China and W550i for the rest of the world. At the same time, W600a is retitré W600i and will be released in the whole world.

Sony Ericsson W380 in 3 Different Version

Sony Ericsson W380 looks a bit dull. It is a “Walkman” brand clamshell GSM phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera and a 176×220 pixel screen. The model number relatively low (for example, 380) says that it is a low-end phone. It come with series W380i, W380a and W380c.
Sony Ericsson W380 has a few features that actually make it a surprising phone very cool. First, it is a Walkman phone, you know that it will have good multimedia capabilities but there is more. Maybe the smart thing in the W380 is a motion detector that allows you to wave your hand over the phone to alarm or an alarm to silence an incoming call.
Stereo Bluetooth, an FM radio and Memory Stick Micro expandable memory (512 MB in-box) are the main features like S500i, Z558i or P990. There is a mail client, browser, RSS reader and all the usual things one expects to find in a Sony Ericsson.

Nokia 6300i Support Wifi and VoIP Calls

Nokia 6300i on the market with the same specification as the original but now is include WiFi support and VoIP calls (internet phone).
The original Nokia 6300 was a very good portable, the 6300i and reserves the 2 inch with 240 x 320 pixel display and 2-megapixel camera. Although these are 2008, 2 million pixels, the cameras are a bit basic and video capture resolution is only 176 x 144 pixels at 15 frames per second. There is no 3G, but the 6300i comes with a FM radio.

Fujitsu FMV-U8240 Ultra Mobile PC

The smaller, faster and better performance is usually the main think for Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) products for this day. Fujitsu already launch their new UMPC which is called Fujitsu FMV-U8240 on the market with only 580 gram weight.

The processor is not base from Centrion or Celeron but an Intel A110 which I never hear about it. With RAM used form 512MB until 1GB available and it’s much better if you use Windows XP and not Vista edition. The disk storage varies from 20 GB until 40 GB. The graphic card using Intel 945GU with shared memory 128MB and also it’s not recommended to use Vista.

Nokia 6267 Mid Range 3G Phone

Nokia 6267 hits the middle range market with feature 240×320 pixel display, main panel has 16 million colors and a 2 mega pixel camera with secondary camera video calling. Also equipped with stereo bluetooh, microSD expanded up to 4GB and externl media player control.
Wih price only US$ 290 really hits the middle range market who looking 3G clam shell phone but don’t want a high-end Nokia N-series device like E90 Communicator. Nokia 6267 will be available around August or September 2007.

Nokia 6124 Classic Edition Phone

Nokia 6124 Classic actually a device that is exclusive to the Vodafone network. But one that is almost exactly identical to last year’s Nokia 6120 Classic. Nokia and Vodafone say that the 6124 Classic should be available during the second quarter of 2008.

Nokia N95

Throw out all of your devices…this is it …the Nokia N95. This cell phone goes beyond any other multimedia mobile phone. It has a 5 megapixel camera, gps mapping, shoots video at 30 frames per second and blows away the competition to take our “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award.”
Not only does this cell phone have great calling features but it is highly connectable; it can even connect to your TV and stream music to a compatible stereo. It can also easily connect to your PC via USB 2.0, Bluetooth or WLAN. In fact, Nokia refers to this phone as a multimedia computer.
This phone can even display street maps from over 100 countries or you could log on to the Internet through Wi-Fi or EDGE to access any kind of information you want in full web page gorgeousness.Nokia N95 Screenshots. Click to Enlarge Mulitmedia Features:
The Nokia N95 has the best camera available in a cell phone − it has a five megapixel camera with 2592 x 1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar lens and the ability to capture MPEG-4 VGA video (640x480) at up to 30 frames per second, wow. This little multimedia wonder even includes photo and video editors.
Unlike other cell phones, the N95 can be connected to your television with the included Nokia video connectivity cable, wireless LAN or UPnP. It has video call and video sharing abilities and supports MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, H.263/3GPP and RealVideo 8/9/10 video formats that can be viewed full screen through RealPlayer media player.
It can play MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA and M4A music file formats and stereo FM radio and is compatible with Visual Radio. It has a digital stereo microphone and is compatible with standard 3.5 mm headphone jack.
This phone not only supports standard media, but also games. It has better gaming ability than most phones; it can even display 3D animation.
Basically, this phone has everything you need to capture images, video, music or audio and the ability to edit, view and share them— it is the perfect multimedia mobile phone.Voice/ Text Features:
The N95 includes all standard phone features like conference calling and voice dialing as well as some extra features like push-to-talk ability, automatic answer with compatible car or headset kit, video call support and talking ringtones. Call sound quality is reported to be above average.
In terms of text, the N95 offers advance SMS and MMS text message features. For SMS it supports concatenated SMS, picture messaging and SMS distribution lists. MMS features include the ability to send images, video, text, and audio clips as well as slide shows. The phone automatically resizes images for MMS.
Its predictive text input supports all major languages in Europe and Asia-Pacific. It utilizes WCDMA2100 (HSDPA), EGSM900 and GSM850/1800/1900 MHz (EGPRS) technology and automatically switches between bands.Internet Features:
This mobile phone has full Internet support by EDGE, Wi-Fi, WLAN and Bluetooth. It can display full Web pages and has an easy to use Nokia browser that makes it easy to look over a page and zoom in on areas of interest. It is a bit different than the iPhone in this respect, with the iPhone you tap on the screen to zoom in. With the N95, you move around a box to the area you want to zoom in on and the phone will zoom to what ever is included in the box. Though the technology is different it is still quite easy to use. It does not support advanced AJAX pages, but all other web pages are reported to display quite well.
This phone supports all types of email included POP3 and IMAP and it has the ability to sync with Outlook and it has push email support. It provides IM support through popular instant message services like Yahoo and MSN.Productivity/ Lifestyle Tools:
We tried to figure out how to program this phone to scratch our backs and it likely can, because it does everything. And if you find something it does not do, it supports third party software so maybe the feature could be added.
It has everything to keep your dates and times organized as well as gps functionality, maps and a flight mode. It has QuickOffice for viewing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. If you need to edit these types of documents you can upgrade the QuickOffice application to get this functionality.
Of course it also has PIM tools, an Adobe reader, a Zip manager, a measurement converter, a voice recorder, really this cell phone does everything.Technical Specifications:
This feature-rich multimedia cell phone has a 2.6-inch QVGA TFT screen with a 16 million color output, ambient light detector and 320x240 pixel resolution. Despite all of its amazing features, it manages to weigh just a bit over four ounces. It has a memory slot for 2 GB microSD memory cards and a familiar Symbian operating system.
However, since it has so many high end features, it is a battery hog. Depending on the technology used, it only has up to four hours of talk time and eight hours on standby.Wow Score:
The phone is incredible − it does everything and manages to look good doing it. It actually looks like a camera, likely to show off its remarkable camera and it plays beautiful video. There is not another cell phone that can even compare to the N95.Summary:
This is a luxury phone that really does everything, if you want the best of the best the Nokia N95 is it.

HP Mobility 2007: iPAQ 300 series travel companion

HP keeps it going with the new iPAQ 300 series travel companion. This puppy sports a 4.3-inch transmissive WVGA 800 x 480 pixel touch screen display, antiglare, with landscape orientation. Turn by turn directions both spoken and on screen including street names.
The unit is powered by a dual-core 600Mhz Titan processor and 2GB of flash ROM storage for maps. The iPAQ 300 Series works as a hands-free answering system for your Bluetoothenabled phone. the 300 sports a High-capacity SD card slot letting you load it up with your digital media library, business multimedia content, or games.
The back end is powered by Windows CE 5.0 with custom HP user interface and has a 1700 mAh Lithium Ion rechargeable, user changeable battery.
The whole kit includes the iPAQ Travel Companion 310 Series, windshield mount with device holder, dashboard mount disc, car charger, standard battery, AC adapter, mini-USB cable, carrying case, documentation, HP iPAQ Companion CD.

HP Mobility 2007: iPAQ 600 Series Business Navigator

The HP iPAQ 600 series business navigator:
Two-in-one mobile phone with GPS navigation and personal organizer. On the phone side: Make voice calls and access the Internet globally via 3G and Quad-band wireless technology. IM and email your associates. Use HP iPAQ Device Connect to take your notebook or PC online over the high-speed HSDPA data network. On the GPSside : Let Assisted GPS guide you to your business destinations. On the organizer side: Use familiar applications to manage your day. Mobile Office Outlook includes Calendar, Contacts, Email, and Tasks. On the camera side: Capture high-quality photos and video with the integrated 3 Megapixel camera. Finally on the Media Player side: Watch videos and read ebooks with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, and listen to your favorite music through the speaker or or with an optional Bluetooth stereo headset.
Here are some specs:
Wireless: Integrated Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Tri Band HSPDA, Integrated WiFi 802.11 b/g with WPA2, Integrated Bluetooth v2.0 with EDR 1 and Integrated GPS navigation (Assisted GPS).
OS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Professional Mobile Microsoft programs included: Office Mobile, Office Outlook Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile.
Marvell PXA270 Processor 520 MHz, 2.8-inch 240 x 320 pixel touch panel display with LED backlight, 128 MB SDRAM main memory for running applications 256 MB flash ROM. The battery is a heafty 1590 mAh Lithium Polymer rechargeable, user changeable battery and the phone is a svelte 4.6 x 2.37 x 0.69 in and 5.1 oz.
Camera features: 3 Megapixel, autofocus, 4X digital zoom. Image file formats: GIF, JPEG, BMP, PNG; image resolutions: QCIF (176x144), CIF (352x288), QVGA (320x240), VGA (640x480), and SXGA (1280x1024) Video file format: WMV; video resolution: 176x144 (QCIF).
Rounded out with USB 2.0 client for sync/data/charge and 64-bit Micro SD card slot, Integrated microphone, receiver, speaker and stereo headphone jack.

GSmart t600 Takes Its Mark to Launch in France

GSmart t600, the world’s 1st DVB-T Roaming Digital TV PDA phone is ready to launch in France in on 20th March 2008 GIGA-BYTE Communications (GBC) is one of the pioneer in the Smartphone & PDA phone market, and known as a harvester of niche market and innovative PDA phone supplier. GBC has introduced its GSmart PDA phones to several international markets, and is finally ready to launch in France in Mid-March 2008, along with its announcement of the partnership with the French MVNO - Neuf Cegetel. When GIGA-BYTE Communications (GBC) unveiled GSmart t600, the World’s first DVB-T roaming Digital TV PDA phone last year, it has marked its strong position in this niche market, and with its success in the markets that it has entered, GSmart is now ready to catch the attention of the French market. Along with its partnership with Neuf Cegetel, GSmart t600 will not only benefits the end users with its ability to watch TNT for free, but also providing wide ranges of services such as VoIP and IPTV with the device.

Google releases Google Search Windows Mobile plug-in

A few weeks ago, Google launched a mobile plug-in for Symbian devices that put a Google search shortcut onto the phone’s home screen. This shortcut reduces the time it takes for you to get answers from Google by eliminating the initial search steps like finding and starting the web browser and navigating to Google.com before entering your query. The same plug-in
imagehas been available for BlackBerry devices since last December and today Google made it available for Windows Mobile devices too. Basically it’s quite similar to Microsoft’s original Windows Live search plug-in as available for Windows Mobile.To get the 300 KB Home and Today screen plug-in - which is available for Windows Mobile Classic, Professional and Standard - simply browse to mobile.google.com on your device and download and install it to use Google Search straight from your Home screen.
Source theunwired

GIGA-BYTE and Neuf Cegetel launches GSmart t600 in France

As expected, GIGA-BYTE Communications is expanding its business to Europe and has officially announced the launch of its GSmart t600 Windows Mobile Professional smartphone in France from mid-March 2008, along with its announcement of the partnership with the French MVNO - Neuf Cegetel. When GIGA-BYTE Communications unveiled the GSmart t600, the World’s first DVB-T roaming Digital TV PDA phone on last year’s Mobile World Congress, it has marked its strong position in this niche market, and with its success in the markets that it has entered, GSmart is now ready to catch the attention of the French market.
GSmart t600 is the world’s first digital TV PDA phone that supports DVB-T roaming; it displays digital TV programs and images of the finest quality through its 2.6", 260k-pixel VGA screen - a standard unseen in PDA phones. From Internet browsing to photo slideshow, making the TV watching experience on GSmart t600 a pleasure to the mind and eye. Reflecting the distinctive look of porcelain with its semi-opaque front piece, GSmart t600 introduces a never-to-be-seen lightness and pureness to the PDA phone world, displaying confidence and freedom in the essence of minimalism.
More info at theunwired

T-Mobile Launches GPS and WiFi-Equipped BlackBerry 8820

T-Mobile launched the Research In Motion BlackBerry 8820, a QWERTY smartphone. Unlike the 8820 that has been available from AT&T for some time, the T-Mobile variant sports both a built-in GPS receiver and WiFi connectivity. The BlackBerry 8820’s WiFi allows it to be used with T-Mobile’s UMA-based HotSpot@Home service, which allows calls to be seamlessly transferred between a cellular network and a WiFi hotspot.
The BlackBerry 8820 also supports T-Mobile’s MyFaves service, which allows users to select 5 phone numbers which they can call with unlimited minutes. The BlackBerry 8820 uses trackball for navigation and has a microSD card slot for memory expansion. As a device clearly focused on business users, The 8820 does not have a camera.
The T-Mobile BlackBerry 8820 is available today with pricing set at $349.99 with a 2-year commitment.
Source mobileburn

WinMobile Download Accelerator

While in mobile, being able to stay in touch through the Internet, and downloading information when needed, are becoming a necessity. The wide accessibility of 3G technology such as HSPA of UMTS and widely available wireless-broadband hot spots along with many mobile conveniences make it even more viable. WinMobile Download Accelerator is the tool that make every part of the technologies fit together while boosting and easing your mobile downloading experience. It manages, controls and speeds up your downloading by splitting files into segments and downloads them simultaneously.
WinMobile Download Accelerator is an optimized download manager for Windows Mobile Classic/Professional. Its multi-threaded asynchronous technology accelerates the speed with which you can download files from HTTPS/HTTP/FTP servers. It is fully integrated into the Pocket Internet Explorer by intercepting PIE’s navigation events and redirect any download. WinMobile Download Accelerator will let you take advantage of a faster and more reliable download; optimize your download performance, and help you in recovering interrupted downloads. WinMobile Download Accelerator brings you to the next level of mobile Internet downloading.
More info at adisasta.com

Microsoft promises full Web Browser for Mobile

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday it would offer full Web browsing for cell phones this year, following the footsteps of Apple Inc’s iPhone, which has won praise for the way it displays Web sites as they would appear on a computer.
Microsoft said at CTIA, the annual U.S. mobile show, that it will make Internet Explorer Mobile available to phone makers in the third quarter with the first phones to go on sale by year end.
Microsoft has been gaining ground with its operating system for smartphones with computer-like features such as e-mail, but it faces stiff competition from the likes of Apple, Blackberry maker Research In Motion and Palm Inc .
Before the iPhone was launched last June with a combined phone, browser and music player, cell phones mostly showed stripped-down versions of Internet sites as they were easier to view on tiny screens. Full graphic-heavy Web sites often take a long time to download and are hard to read.
Now other developers are following suit.
Microsoft also announced a new version of its mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 6.1, that would make it easier for users to navigate the feature menus in their phones.
The company has said it expects license sales of its mobile operating system to outpace smartphone market growth in the next few years. It expects the market to quadruple in size in 3 to 4 years to around 400 million handsets.

Sprint gets RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330

At the CTIA 2008 Sprint announced that the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 was coming aboard their team. The popular CDMA smartphone is also available with Verizon Wireless and like their version; this one too features integrated GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP and DUN support), a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, and a microSD/SDHC expansion slot. It’s compatible with Sprint’s various add-on services, including Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV, and the Sprint Music Store.
Sprint’s BlackBerry Curve 8330 comes in a charcoal gray and is priced at $179.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts.

Source newlaunches

HP iPAQ hx4700 PDA Review

Introduction and design Functionality and software Test Results Impressions and Conclusions Single-page article version
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At last we have seen the top model in the new PDA series from HP to appear in stores and thus in our test lab. We can positively say that it's one of the two most anticipated Pocket PC models of the last year together with the equally anticipated HP smartphone of the 6300 series.
According to the tradition of top iPAQ models, designers were not anxious to make hx4700 too small but they rigged it with rich configuration. It's a first PDA from HP with a VGA display, new 624 MHz PXA270 processor, and touchpad.
The most interesting question in the analysis of hx4700 is whether 624 MHz CPU is enough to provide normal performance in VGA mode. As is generally known, both 520 MHz ASUS MyPal A730 and especially 400 MHz Toshiba e800 demonstrated that their CPU performance was not enough to provide the interface response speed comparable with that provided by 400 MHz XScale in 320x240 resolution. But let's not put the cart before the horse.
Design
HP iPAQ hx4700 is a large and hefty device, though you cannot call its dimensions and weight excessive. The design differs much from previous iPAQ models but it's consistent with the common design of the new series. But unlike the slightly softened design of the 3000 series, hx4700 looks strict and high-tech.

The main material of the case is metal, there are plastic accents at the top and bottom sides and partially on the front panel – they are necessary for the operation of radio interfaces. Remarkably, there are also glossy plastic inserts at the sides, where user's fingers usually are, and thus rough rubber nonslip inserts would have done better than smooth panels. However, those accents have little effect on the ergonomics, the surface texture is not too slippery, and the small area accents do not have the key role.
As we have already noted, hx4700 is equipped with a touchpad, which replaces a traditional joystick and application buttons. The touchpad consists of the corresponding number of sensor pads. The one in the center serves as the OK button (which is usually located in the center of the joystick). There are four dots located crosslike around it designating up, down, left and right directions. And finally, there are four sensors at the sides of the panel with standard functions to launch calendar, address book, email box, and the iTask utility (instead of the Home button, which is usual for Pocket PC). Virtual positions of the joystick and quick launch buttons are marked with raised dots on the panel to find them quickly by touch.
The touchpad obviously provides completely different tactile sensations than mechanical buttons, the general impression is very pleasing – it takes zero efforts to control scrolling and to run operations mapped to program buttons in a nice and easy manner. But zero efforts mean zero information, there is no feedback, you cannot use your tactile sensations to determine whether the button is pressed or not. With multiple single-type operations (for example, manual scrolling of the text when reading an ebook) touch control is much better than mechanical control, because it requires less effort and results in much lesser fatigability. But still, the touchpad in hx4700 has a drawback – the central and extreme sensor positions (especially vertical directions) do not differ sufficiently. Very often a careless touch hits the OK area instead of a scrolling direction, and vice versa. If you put your finger on one direction and constantly press it (for example, when you read a text), there will be no problems. But if you use all directions in random order, you will not avoid false touches. It's practically impossible to solve this problem radically within the limits of the existing design: when operating blindfolded, users find necessary buttons by touch and only then press them. In this case, any attempt to grope for a button results in a press.
Another interesting detail – a removable semitransparent plastic screen cover. It's spindled to the left side of the casing (like a wristlet) and it has a rubber "spine" to bend it around so it is behind the device to hold the PDA with one hand. Free edge of the plastic screen cover has a magnet to hold it closed. Another use for this accessory – as a light filter, which additionally reduces the brightness of the display to make reading more comfortable in the dark (that is, any function, which does not require using the sensor display). The only serious drawback – the cover tends to show fingerprints and smears on both sides, so you have to constantly wipe it.
The remaining external rigging of hx4700 is typical of a High End Pocket PC. The left side hosts a voice recorder button, there is no scroller (which is quite traditional for iPAQ). The top houses the SD/MMC and Compact Flash slots, as well as a stylus bay and a headphone jack. The last two elements are located close to each other, so you may have some problems taking out the stylus, when your headphones are connected to the device.
Package contents include the device itself, battery, AC adapter, plastic flip cover, cradle, and CD with software (standard for all Pocket PC models).
Stylus in hx4700 is of an average size, solid, circular, made of plastic. It's quite a usual small stylus appealing to common users. Those who prefer larger styli had better buy a special accessory.
Cradle is of an average size, it consists of a base and a tightly fixed durable frame, which supports the device on the rear. The frame also serves as a guide to plug the device to the data connector. In this respect the frame is very good, because there are no problems with connecting the device to the cradle. The cradle is equipped with a stationary USB data-cable – standard for up-to-date Pocket PC. So, if you need to synchronize with your PC when you travel, you will have to take the cradle with you or to buy an additional data-cable. The cradle is equipped with a round jack to connect the charger.
Display in hx4700 is a transflective 640x480 TFT matrix supporting 65 536 colors. It's subjectively the highest quality display among all VGA PDAs, it stands out by better contrast and absolutely imperceptible grain. This display unveils its potential to the full extent when viewing photos, which look bright and live. Due to the transflective design, the display reads well even under direct sunlight, but in this case the number of distinguishable colors heavily drops. Monochrome text can be read without any difficulties, but if you try to play Jawbreaker, in the heaviest cases you may fail to distinguish some ball colors at all.
hx4700 has a 1800 mAh Lithium-Ion battery. Its retention is somewhat special – the battery must be inserted into a battery holder. Then you slide it into the device and fix with a couple of latches – a latch spring and a slide lock. The retention mechanism is somewhat excessive, a latch spring would do well alone. But it causes no problems, so it can be considered a success. No flexing, creaking is out of the question, because the battery and the flip cover are mounted with metal parts.

Verizon XV6800 Review

Specifications

Processor: 400 MHz Qualcomm MSM7500
Operating System: Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional (Pocket PC)
Display: 240 x 320 transmissive/reflective LCD
Memory: 64 MB RAM; 256 MB flash memory (164 MB available)
Size and Weight 4.33" long x 2.32" wide x 0.73" thick; 5.8 ounces
Expansion Single MicroSDHC slot
Docking: HTC ExtUSB plug
Communication: Dual band CDMA/EVDO (Rev. A upgradable); 802.11b/g; Bluetooth 2.0
Audio: ExtUSB headphone/headset jack
Battery: 1500 mAh replacable Lithium Ion cell
Input: QWERTY thumb keyboard; 5-way directional pad; application buttons; 3-way jog wheel; touchscreen
Other: 2 megapixel camera; Inactive internal GPS receiver

New Dopod CHT 9110

Coming soon HTc will release ne Pocket pc phone, and now the name is Dopod CHT 9110 that looks strangely like the HTC Touch. This collaborative effort with Chinese Telecommunication and Microsoft means the CHT 9110 will offers Windows Mobile 6.0 while offering support for the mPro 3.5G service also you can find a generous 2.8" touchscreen display, WiFi connectivity, integrated GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, media playback capability, and a miniSD memory card slot. In addition you have 64MB RAM and 256MB ROM