Palm have finally announced the launch of their much anticipated Windows Mobile powered Treo 700w smartphone.
Initially available on the US Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO network, this is the first of the hugely successful range of Treo smartphones to run on the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system.
Looking similar to the widely-appreciated Palm OS Treo product range, the Treo 700w runs Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition on a 312 MHz Intel XScale PXA 27x processor, with 128 MB (60 MB user accessible) non-volatile storage memory.
The transition to Windows has, however, seen the TFT screen resolution shrink from Palm’s 320 x 320 pixels to a more miserly 240 x 240 pixels (the same as the Treo-alike HP iPAQ hw6500 series). Early reports suggest that the screen is somewhat washed out compared to the current Palm Treo 650.
The Treo 700w comes with its familiar QWERTY thumb keypad with backlighting, a SDIO expansion slot, built-in Bluetooth 1.2 and 1.3-megapixel camera with video capture.
Notably, the Windows Treo is compatible with SDIO Wi-Fi cards (although we would have preferred built in Wi-Fi), something that the Palm OS Treo failed to deliver on (despite emphatic promises to the contrary at their product launch).
The device is designed for 800/1900MHz CDMA EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) networks, and measures up a pocketable 58 x 113 x 23 mm, and weighs 180 grams.
The removable battery gives up to 4.7 hours of talk time or up to 15 days of standby.
“Customers have long been asking for a Palm Treo smartphone on the Windows platform, and we’re thrilled to say it’s here on the Verizon Wireless network,” said Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer of Palm, Inc.
“The Treo 700w smartphone is powerful, flexible and easy to use, while also being enterprise grade right out of the box,” he added.
If Palm have successfully managed the transition to the Windows platform, we can expect this new smartphone to be a winner, although we do wonder what long-term impact it may have on their Palm OS range.
There’s no news about a UK release yet, but details for US deals can be found at the Palm Website.
Happy New Year!!Since the New Year has just begun, a piece focusing on last year, the one that has just begun and the developments suspected to emerge during it seemed justified. 
You might wonder why I am so confident in this prediction: Afterall, Microsoft has been pushing out 
There were of course 
However, this has always been on quite specific Mac-related Websites, and not in main stream media. 
Fujifilm have rolled out their new 5.1 million pixel FinePix V10 Zoom, which they’re billing as a “next-generation digital compact camera with distinctive looks and an extra dose of fun.”
These include a shooting game, blockbuster and a maze puzzle, played via the camera’s controls which have been positioned like a console for extra playability.
Although we’ve never felt the urge to play a shoot ’em up on our digital cameras, the rest of the camera seems to shape up pretty well, with the FinePix V10 Zoom sporting a large three inch, 230,000 pixels LCD screen in a pocketable design.
The camera boasts Fujifilm’s excellent Super CCD HR sensor, with their Real Photo Technology offering a huge range of sensitivity from ISO64 to ISO1600, making the camera suitable for low light, ‘natural’ photography.
Sadly, Fujifilm are sticking with their rather obscure xD-Picture Card, which means that most photographers switching brands will have to invest in a new memory card format.
We’re not so convinced of the wisdom of bolting on arcade games on to a camera though – not only does it seem an unconvincing example of digital convergence, it’s also likely to result in a dead camera battery.
Sandisk have whipped out two iPod nano-style flash-based music players at CES 2006. 
Clearly suffering from an overdose on the hyperbole intake, Michael Dell has been getting all lyrical about Dell’s new ideas, unveiled at CES 2006.
First up is the new Dell XPS 600 Renegade, a powerful, high-end gaming PC described as a (here we go again) ‘manifestation of power so pure it can only be described as supernatural.’ 
The attractive monitor offers WQXGA resolution (that’s 2560×1600 pixels to normal people), fast 11ms grey-to-grey response time, 700:1 contrast ratio and an integrated 9-in-2 memory card reader.
We’re not sure what a ‘portfolio’ design is, but this thing’s sure got it, along with ‘anodized articulating hinges’ and a detachable wireless keyboard and mouse.
Factory sales of consumer electronics are set to soar to a record high of $135.4 billion (~£77bn ~Ä112) in 2006, according to the Consumer Electronics Association’s annual industry forecast.
Projections for 2006 and year-end figures for 2005 are included in CEA’s bi-annual US Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts report, released every year at the International CES and updated mid-year.
In 2005, DTV sales grew 60 percent to $17 billion, with the market fuelled by the growing popularity and competitive price declines of flat panel LCD and plasma displays, which accounted for 40 percent of all DTV sales. 
“MP3 technology helped boost the audio and accessories markets in 2005. With the introduction of video playback capability, MP3 player sales surged 200 percent in 2005 to $3 billion. Trends in 2006 should be no different,” he added.
Eastman Kodak and Skype have announced the “latest innovation in digital storytelling”, Kodak Photo Voice, a new free online service that combines live voice and online photo sharing.
“Today’s families and social networks are scattered around the globe. Staying connected through photo sharing remains an important element in maintaining closer personal relationships,” said Sandra Morris, general manager of Consumer Imaging Services at Kodak. 
Once a user has downloaded Kodak Photo Voice and Skype, they can select photos from a Kodak Easyshare Gallery album or from their computer, compile them into a Kodak Photo Voice presentation and “call” a friend over Skype to watch the slideshow live. 
Currently in live beta, the KODAK Photo Voice is the first Skype certified “online photo sharing experience” (we’re currently enjoying a “live coffee drinking experience”, btw) and is available as a free download at 
Web browser company Opera today announce they’re bring their Web browser with AJAX support to chips for use in Consumer Electronics (CE) applications.
They’ve been putting their browsers on different platforms for a while, like the 
Clearly looking to tread on Intel’s toes, Sigma say the SMP8630 family of chipsets can be used in digital media adapters, IPTV set-top boxes and networked DVD players that OEM’s may want to build.
We’re sure you, dear reader, know what AJAX is, but just incase – it stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This translates to being able to use a Web browser more like a computer-based application. 
The most often cited example is Google’s Gmail. 
With consumers being less enamoured with ever bigger megapixel ratings, some camera manufacturers are looking to ramp up the feature list, while getting all Lilliputian with the form factor.
Unlike some of the half-arsed hybrid MP3 cameras we’ve seen, the Samsung lets the user take pictures whilst listening to music. We can’t think why you’d actually want to do that, but I’m sure some will find it useful.
Samsung will also launching three new models in their budget, point’n’shoot ‘S’ series offering 5, 6 and 8 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, video (MPEG4, VGA, 30fps) and a large TFT LCD (2.4 inch).
Motorola says adieu to Apple and bonjour to Linux as it unveiled its shiny new ROKR E2 phone at the Consumer Electronics Show today.
Running on a new Linux-based operating system, the Motorola ROKR E2 also includes a high-res 320×240 screen, a 1.3 megapixel camera with video recording, a built-in FM radio, Opera Web browser Bluetooth (supporting wireless music streaming to stereo Bluetooth headphones), and joy-of-joys – a standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack and not one of those ruddy annoying mini sockets that are incompatible with normal headphones.
In the absence of iTunes, Motorola intends to push their iRadio Music Service, a subscription music service that uses mobile handsets as the base platform.