Casio have added the new Exilim Zoom EX-Z70 digital camera to their EXILIM range, ramping up the pixel count to a hefty 7.2 megapixels.
Designed to slip in and out of pockets like the butter-coated hand of the Artful Dodger, the slimline EX-Z70 is basically a pixel-boosted version of their 6 megapixel EX-Z60.
As with its predecessor, the Exilim boasts a large 2.5-inch TFT 115k pixels display, 38-114mm equiv, 3x optical zoom and a cuddle of hand-holding modes to guide the nervous, faltering hands of newbies into the world of Casio photography.
Living up to its name, the camera’s Easy Mode is a punter-cosseting mode for beginners which simplifies all the camera settings down to three easy-peasy menus (image size, flash, and self-timer).
Exposure-tweaking enthusiasts won’t find a lot to play with here as this camera is rooted firmly in point’n’shoot territory with only Auto, Best Shot, Continuous shutter (normal speed, high speed, flash continuous), Movie and Macro modes onboard.
In an attempt to stave off the wobbles, Casio’s Anti Shake DSP is built in, although the anti-shake stuff is achieved through ramping up the ISO and dropping the image size, so it’s nowhere as good as proper optical image stabilisation.
Interestingly, Casio haven’t hopped onboard the current trend for shunting the ISO limit skywards, with the camera only reaching ISO 400.
Despite the technical limitations, there’s no denying that the EX-Z70 is a purdy little thing, with its sleek, rounded edges sure to get consumer wallets twitching.
Available in “luxurious” black or high quality silver, the black EX-Z70 will be on the shelves from the beginning of July (you’ll have to wait a month for the silver version) for around £230 ($422, €335).
Casio Exilim EX-Z70 specifications
Sensor
1/2.5 ” Type CCD, 7.2 million effective pixels
Image sizes 3072 x 2304, 3072 x 2048 (3:2), 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 640 x 480
Movie clips • 640 x 480 @ 30fps, 512 x 384 @ 30fps, 320 x 240 @ 15fps
• WAV audio
File formats JPEG (Exif v2.2), DCF 1.0 Standard, DPOF
Lens 38-114mm equiv, 3x optical zoom
Image stabilization Anti-Shake DSP
Conversion lenses No
Digital zoom up to 4x
Focus
Contrast type AF (selectable between spot, multi)
Focus distance Normal: 40cm – infinity
Macro: 10 – 50cm
Manual: 10cm – infinity
Metering Multi-pattern, Center- weighted, Spot
ISO sensitivity Auto, ISO 50, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400
Exposure compensation -/+ 2EV, in 1/3 EV steps
Shutter speed 1/2 – 1/2000 sec
Aperture F3.1/4.4, auto switching
Modes Still image
Still with audio
Continuous shutter (normal speed, high speed, flash continuous)
BEST SHOT
Macro
Movie
Voice recording
Scene modes BEST SHOT modes
White balance Auto, Fixed (6 modes), Manual switching
Self timer 10 or 2 secs, Triple self-timer
Flash Auto, On, Off, Red eye reduction, Soft Flash
Range: 0.1 – 3.7m (wide) 0.6 – 1.9m (tele)
Viewfinder No
LCD monitor 2.5-inch TFT, 115,200 pixels
Connectivity
USB 2.0 Full Speed AV
Microphone
Storage SD / MMC compatible, 8.3MB internal memory
Power NP-20 lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Weight (no batt) 118g
Dimensions 95.2 x 60.6 x 19.8 mm
Symbian, the smartphone OS company, are pulling a smart move (pun intended) by offering free assistance to Universities and their lecturers to have Symbian programming skills built into courses. Very clever.
As a sweetener to the lecturers to get involved, Symbian will provide “exposure to Symbian’s industry partners.” Pretty healthy if you fancy running a software development company and want to get exposure for your potential products, or you’re getting a little bored of Uni life and fancy impressing those in industry that you’re a bit of visionary. 
T-Mobile has announced that it is to extend its web’n’walk unlimited mobile Internet access service to include pay-as-you-go customers. 
All the web’n’walk handsets come pre-configured to connect immediately to the Internet, with customers able browse any web pages they chuffing well like rather than the ‘cut-down’ mobile-optimised web pages available through some services. 
We love it
As you may recall, we first reported the 
The transfer and negotiations around the unit are likely to have given BT some food for thought as to how they can manage the disposal of business units they do not see as key, or that are giving rates of return below the main business’s targets. 
It might look like a weird mutation between Dr Who’s K9 and and the wobbly robot from Lost In Space, but we like the fact that PURE Digital’s new Bug TOO DAB radio is brave enough to stand out from the current crowd of wood’n’plastic identikit DAB radios. 
This usefully displays artists names, song titles, news, sports results and other information, with the EPG feature offering programme information and schedules. 
There’s also alarm, sleep and timer record functions – including an MP3 alarm – so the Bug TOO could be a handy bedside radio. We’re not quite sure why anyone would want 20 configurable alarms though, but if that’s what you’re after, the Bug’s got ’em. 
Some commentators expect ITV’s share price to renew vigour over the coming weeks, as rumours of a fresh takeover are fanned by its institutional shareholders. This is despite poor audience performance and strong competition from a publicly owned, but very commercially managed, C4. There are those who are keen to take over the ITV helm where Greg Dyke so publicly failed. 
Some wonder why the continued interest in ITV as the deregulated non-linear future hurtles closer, but in truth, ITV has a value in both its content and brand that may be undervalued. The channel when compared against the triple and ‘four-play’ options that are so exciting the Telco executives, still has programmes that viewers will seek out. The next 12 months are critical to the brands long term success, as it’s multi channel strategy is tested by the Freeview expansion of C5 with two more channels. Not forgetting the move of Channel 4’s film channel to an advertising supported free to air proposition, a strong assertive strategy could turn the corner for the dominant UK commercial player but more On Digital type disasters could spell a long and unpleasant demise. 
The other left field possibility is that US media titan Time Warner in selling off its UK AOL business has an eye on acquiring a much bigger UK fish that looks astonishingly like the UK’s main commercial TV network- eyes should be glued to the unfolding drama.
T-Mobile has finally officially announced the T-Mobile Sidekick 3, adding a new trackball controller, Bluetooth and EDGE data to the popular Sidekick 2. 
The Sidekick boasts a new 1.3 megapixel camera and assist light, with a large 65k colour, transflective TFT display supporting a rather underwhelming 240×160 pixel resolution. 
New for version three is a Bluetooth system supporting both the OBEX Push and Headset/Hands Free profiles and a mini-USB port for transferring files from a PC. 
Hot on the heels of Windows Messenger Live comes Yahoo’s new upgrade to their own Instant Messaging service, offering plug-ins to let users share more information. 
Widgets and Plug Ins
Of course, there’s nothing new to all this embedding malarkey, with the industry boys – Microsoft, Google, AOL and Skype – all falling over themselves to make desktop-based applications shareable over IM services, but Yahoo are hoping that by opening up Messenger to become more of a distribution platform they’ll be able to attract punter-luring new services. 
With a full blown parp on their PR trumpets, Sony Ericsson has announced its new Sony Ericsson K610im, their first GSM/UMTS handset to offer full support for i-mode. 
Although the download speed isn’t exactly impressive right now, the next-gen i-mode looks to be a much sleeker beast, supporting white-knuckle speeds up to 384 kbps. 
Other features include a speakerphone, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, USB charging and a flight mode. 
Imaging and messaging