Gadgets – Page 43 – Digital-Lifestyles

iPaq 6710 and 6715 Handhelds ‘Leaked’ On HP UK Website

iPaq 6710 and 6715 Handhelds 'Leaked' On HP UK Website There were red faces at HP (or perhaps a wild cackle from a Machiavellian PR guru) after a video presentation on their website leaked details of their next smart-phone release, the iPaq hw6700 series.

The bean-spilling slideshow featuring the new handhelds was hastily withdrawn, but not before the eagle-eyed owner of Dave’s iPaq website downloaded the details for all to see.

The leaked pages offer details of the two new models in the hw6700 series, the 6710 and 6715.

Both run on Windows Mobile 2005 software and offer a full suite of connectivity options: 802.11g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and quad-band GSM/GPRS.

GPS Navigation is built in (courtesy of TomTom) with one free city map thrown in, and the units are powered by 312MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processors.

iPaq 6710 and 6715 Handhelds 'Leaked' On HP UK Website Both iPaqs come with a 3 inch, QVGA 240 x 320 pixel screen, with the handhelds measuring 7.1 x 2.1 x 11.8cm and weighing 165g. Power comes in the shape of a removable 1200mAh Lithium Ion battery

There’s 192MB of memory onboard – 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM – which is a fair bit more than the 128MB of HP’s previous 6500 series, and MiniSD slots provided for expansion (leaving previous iPaq owners with a pile of redundant SD cards.

The only thing that appears to distinguish the 6710 from the 6715 is the 1.3 megapixel camera fitted on the latter.

iPaq 6710 and 6715 Handhelds 'Leaked' On HP UK Website Of course, it’s always wise to be wary when information is leaked in this manner, and there is something that doesn’t quite sit right in the presentation.

The document makes reference to “Microsoft Windows Mobile 2005 Second Edition Software, Phone Edition” – and we definitely recall reading that the new OS was supposed to be a unified version marking the end of the Phone Edition/Smartphone Edition/PocketPC Edition editions.

On Dave’s iPaq website, there’s a full range of consumer emotions being expressed – from wild enthusiasm for the new products to deep annoyance from those who’ve only shelled out for the recently released 6515 (don’t you just hate it when that happens?!).

Dave’s iPaq

X-Fi Sound Blaster Series Launched

X-Fi Sound Blaster Series Launched So what’s the deal here?

Creative Technology Ltd, the people with over 250 million Sound Blaster sound cards sold to date, have just announced, what they claim, is a major step upwards in audio fidelity.

They have introduced the Sound Blaster X-Fi line of sound cards. Powered by the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audioprocessor, the Sound Blaster X-Fi cards introduce Xtreme Fidelity, an entirely new audio standard for music, movies and games.

As I am currently encoding a radio library (old tapes), I was intrigued by the press-release claim “With Sound Blaster X-Fi’s 24-bit Crystalizer and CMSS-3D technologies, all your MP3 music and CD music can sound even better than the original studio recording”

It goes on: “Sound Blaster X-Fi heralds the beginning of a new epoch in audio, where X-Fi enabled audio products will eventually and completely replace the old hi-fi equipment in the home,

Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro features professional-quality digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with 116dB SNR, plus an I/O module with a comprehensive selection of connectivity for audio creation with easy-to-use control knobs for the X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer, X-Fi CMSS- 3D (Creative Multi-Speaker Surround), 3DMIDI, and EAX.

The Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro also features 64MB of on-board X-RAM — audio memory dedicated to higher gaming audio quality and performance, in addition to a built-in pre-amp for direct recording, and high-impedance inputs for electric guitars. The “top of the line” Sound Blaster X-Fi solution, the Elite Pro includes all of the standard features, application software, power and performance capabilities of the entire family of Sound Blaster X-Fi cards (described below in product launch-ese), in one solution.

Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS : Yes that is a “1” not an “i”. Designed to meet the performance demands of the world’s best-known professional gamer, Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS sound card provides stunning 109dB SNR audio quality, accelerates gaming performance and includes 64MB of on-board X-RAM for high performance gaming. With support for EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0, the latest version of the EAX Environmental Audio standard, the Sound Blaster X-FiFatal1ty FPS card utilizes X-Fi CMSS 3D technology for stunning audio realismover headphones in LAN gaming. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS features a convenient front-facing internal drive bay for easy connectivity, plus the X-Fi IR remote to easily access and control all digital entertainment, and to control the X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer, X-Fi CMSS 3D, 3DMIDI and EAX.

Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum : The ideally versatile sound card to suit all digital entertainment experiences, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum sound card includes an internal drive bay with additional, convenient front-facing input/output connectivityfor headphone listening, PC gaming and audio creation. Delivering 109dB SNR audio quality, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum includes the X-Fi IR remote, for easy access to the Entertainment Center software console, which enables access to music, movies and picture slide shows through a slick, streamlined interface. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum also includes all of the standard features, application software, power and performance capabilities of the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music.

Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic. The Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card harnesses the full power of the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor to upgrade any existing library of MP3 or any music files to the Xtreme Fidelity audio standard. With the X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity 24-bit Crystalizer, MP3 music and movies are converted to Xtreme Fidelity, which deliver an experience beyond the original CD or DVD recordings. With the included Creative MediaSource 3 software suite, users can easily SuperRip all their digital music permanently toXtreme Fidelity. In addition, MediaSource 3 also allows users to further enhance their music content with single-click access to rich features like X-Fi CMSS-3D, Smart Cross-Fade and Smart Volume Management. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card plays back audio with rich 109dB SNR quality. Optimized Modes for Peak X-Fi Performance

Pricing and Availability: The Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro, priced at US$399.99, the Sound BlasterX-Fi Fatal1ty FPS, priced at US$279.99, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum, priced at US$199.99 and the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic, priced atUS$129.99, will be available this month in the US (August 22nd shipping), probably in September in Europe.

I hope to test the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic by the end of the month. Watch this space! Wonder if the card gets hot with all those components on it?

Jonathon Marks is a highly-experienced radio reporter, expert on the next stages of the media, an all-round good egg and friend of Digital-Lifestyles. One of his publications is What Caught My Eye – Broadcast & Podcast Gadgets

Sound Blaster X-Fi

O2 Readies XDA Exec 3G/WI-FI Windows Mobile device

O2 Readies XDA Exec 3G WI-FI Windows Mobile device O2 is set to introduce the new Windows Xda Exec, touted as the most feature-packed smartphone ever released.

The pocket-bulging device offers a feast of connectivity options, with support for tri-band GSM/GPRS, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.2, all running on Microsoft’s spanking new Windows Mobile 5.0 mobile operating system.

The Sidekick-inspired smartphone comes in a bloke-satisfying matt black finish dominated by a large 640 x 480 pixel 3.6inch touchscreen.

What really catches the eye however is the nifty 180 degree swivelling design that lets user flip up the screen to reveal a 62-key QWERTY thumb keyboard underneath.

The clever-clogs hinge design also allows the screen to be twisted around on itself and folded down to face the keyboard for protection.

Manufactured by the Taiwan based HTC, the XDA Exec regales under more names than a devious triple-agent, being known elsewhere as the HTC Universal, T-Mobile MDA IV, Vodafone VPA IV, Orange SPV M5000 and Q-Tek 4040.

O2 Readies XDA Exec 3G WI-FI Windows Mobile device Powering the smartphone is an Intel PXA270 520MHz processor supported by 128MB ROM and 64MB RAM onboard, with expansion taken care of via a MMC/SD Card slot (supporting SDIO).

Video calling is made possible thanks to the two built in cameras, with a teensy-weensy VGA lens on the front of the device and a 1.3 megapixel camera (with flash) on the back of the phone.

With Windows Media Player 10 installed, users can take advantage of multimedia downloading, streaming and digital audio playback, with high-speed access to the internet available through the trusty Internet Explorer software.

Other bundled software includes email and organiser apps, ActiveSync 4.0, Pocket MSN, Pocket Word and Excel.

Wrapping up the package is a pair of stereo headphones, a 3.5mm jack connector, USB charging cable and case.

The whole caboodle weighs in at 285g including the removable battery. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

Zen Vision From Creative Squares Up To Apple’s iPod

Zen Vision From Creative Squares Up To Apple's iPod With the slap of a leather gauntlet against iPod’s shiny white face, Creative has unveiled its new Zen Vision a portable media player.

Yep, it’s yet another contender for the title of ‘iPod Killer’, but this one’s got a killer punch: video playback, a feature that isn’t expected to be seen on iPods until 2006.

As well as supporting music playback, users can view movies and digital pictures on the unit’s impressively girthed 3.7″ (diagonal) 262k colour TFT LCD screen at a resolution of 640×480.

Zen Vision From Creative Squares Up To Apple's iPod The Zen Vision supports a slew of video codecs, including AVI, DivX, XviD, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG4-SP and Microsoft’s WMV9.

Audio support is similarly comprehensive, with the unit playing MP3 (Up to 320 kbps), WMA (Up to 320 kbps), WMA with Digital Rights Management (DRM) 9 or later and Linear PCM WAV.

Although the Zen Vision can’t play tunes downloaded from Apple’s iPod music store, it does support other popular music stores including Napster, MSN Music and Yahoo! Music Unlimited, so there’ll be shortage of tunes available for the device.

There’s also an integrated FM radio on board, offering 32 station presets with the ability to record shows or your own voice.

Zen Vision From Creative Squares Up To Apple's iPod Resplendent in its white or black finishes, the Zen is quite a looker, and is only slightly larger than the rival iPod.

There’s 30GB of storage on board, which Creative claims will support up to 120 hours of movies (based on 500Kbps MPEG4-SP), or 15,000 songs encoded at 64k WMA – this is something of a meaningless figure because it’s doubtful people will want to listen to their tunes at such a low quality setting..

We very much like the provision of a CompactFlash card slot, with a range of adaptors for popular memory card formats (SD, MMC, Memory Stick etc making it easy for photographers to transfer photos to the device for storage and viewing.

There’s also a personal organiser provided, capable of syncing daily tasks, contact lists and calendar data.

Zen Vision From Creative Squares Up To Apple's iPod The pocket sized powerhouse comes with a rechargeable Li-ion battery offering up to 4.5 hours of video playback and 13 hours of audio, depending on the file’s format and energy settings.

Consumers in the US can pre-order the Zen Vision on Creative’s website for US$399 (~€323, £225~). Europeans will have to twiddle their thumbs and wait for now.

Creative Zen Vision

PDA Sales Set For Record Year

PDA Sales Set For Record Year In spite of pundits’ predictions of a swift demise, the PDA refuses to die with 2005 looking set to be a record year for handheld sales.

A combination of falling prices and extra features like wireless connectivity have invigorated the PDA market, with Gartner reporting 3.6 million units shipped worldwide in the last three months, a 32 percent leap from the same period last year.

This puts the market on track to hit 15 million units shipped by the end of year – a figure that would surpass the previous record of 13.2 million PDAs shipped in 2001.

The study ignored smartphones, such as the Treo 650 and BlackBerry 7100, but included wireless PDAs like the iPAQ 6315 and Nokia 9300.

Research In Motion’s BlackBerry was, not surprisingly, the most popular device, with shipments reaching 840,000 in the second quarter – a hefty growth of 64.7 percent, achieving a sector-leading market share of 23.2 percent.

Palm came in at second place with 17.8 percent, while Dell slipped out of the top five ranking, elbowed out by T-Mobile’s Sidekick II and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices.

HP also suffered falling sales, although both Dell and HP are scheduled to upgrade their product lines in the second half of this year.

The study by analysts Gartner revealed that Windows CE is the favoured operating system for business-minded PDA users, with the underlying software making up 46 percent of worldwide shipments in the second quarter of 2005.

In second place was RIM with 23.2 percent of PDA software shipped, followed by PalmSource’s at 18.8 percent.

“Wireless PDAs are increasingly seen as an adjunct or alternative to notebook computers, while favourable exchange rates have enabled more Europeans to purchase PDAs at an attractive price,” said Gartner analyst Todd Kort.

PDA Sales Set For Record Year Like Billy Bunter at a speed eating competition, the Western European PDA market inflated by a massive 94 percent to reach 1.3 million units in the second quarter of 2005.

PDAs are proving a big hit with Europeans, with regional sales accounting for 37 percent of worldwide shipments, up from 25 percent a year ago.

In the States, growth is slower, with shipments totalling 1.4 million units, a mere 1.3 percent increase.

Garner reports that the disappointing US figures are a result of a stagnant market and the continuing decline in Palm PDA sales and aging product lines among Microsoft licensees.

Elsewhere, PDA shipments in Asia/Pacific looked sprightly with a growth of 24.7 percent, totalling around 402,000 units.

These figures chime with a similar handheld report from research firm IDC, although their findings painted a little less rosy future.

Gartner
IDC report

Oakley and Motorola launch RAZRWIRE Bluetooth Sunglasses

Oakley and Motorola launch RAZRWIRE Bluetooth Sunglasses Put two cool branded products together – Motorola mobiles and Oakley sunglasses – and what do you get?

A pair of daft glasses more likely to bring forth guffaws of laughter rather then the intended gasps of admiration, that’s what.

Oakley’s new RAZRWIRE sunspecs feature a bolted on Bluetooth module which converges the sun-filtering UV-free lifestyle experience with, err, a phone.

Cos Lykos, vice president of business development at Oakley, set off several Hyperbole Alerts as he gushed wildly about the product: “RAZRWIRE’s fully integrated design takes advantage of the world’s best eyewear and wireless technologies to give freedom of life, movement and communication anywhere and everywhere you want to be, so now seeing and hearing is believing.”

If you’re excited by the prospect of wandering about talking into your sunglasses looking like an arse, we can report that RAZRWIRE specs includes a Motorola Bluetooth module, supporting Bluetooth 1.1 and 1.2, with a range or 30 feet (10 metres).

Oakley and Motorola launch RAZRWIRE Bluetooth Sunglasses The Bluetooth box clamps on to one of the arms of the sunglasses and sports volume controls and an answer button on its lower edge.

You’ll also be able to impress people by saying that you have to go off and charge your sunglasses, via the included wall charger or a USB port, with the device offering five hours talk time and 100 hours standby time.

The sunglasses are fashioned from Oakley’s super light O-Luminum and XYZ Optics, and will be available in early August in Cingular Wireless stores, and online at Oakley, Motorola, and Cingular’s websites for US$294.99 (~£170, ~€246).

Users in the habit of regularly sitting on their sunglasses in the pub are advised to avoid this product.

Our verdict: As cool as a heatwave!

Motorola and Oakley Announce Launch of RAZRWIRE With Cingular Wireless

PC Sales Soars, Apple Hits 4.7% US Market Share

PC Sales Soars, Apple Hits 4.7% US Market Share The doomsayers were predicting a slow year for PC shipments, but a continuing shift to notebooks and falling PC prices have made it a bumper second quarter for the worldwide PC market, according to research companies IDC and Gartner.

IDC’s figures reveal that PC vendors have shifted 46.6 million units in the second quarter, up from 39.9 million units last year, while Gartner claims that 48.9 million PCs were shipped during the quarter, up from 42.6 million units last year.

The disparity in the figures is due to the different ways in which the companies record “white-box” shipments (lesser brand PCs sold by local distributors or resellers).

Both analysts have confirmed Apple’s zippy growth in the US market, where it has risen to become the fourth biggest PC manufacturer in the land of Budweiser.

Dell still sits proud as King Of The PC Hill in the US, with shipments growing 23.7 per cent from last year, while the company now holds 19.3 per cent of the worldwide market according to IDC.

Gartner’s figures differ again, showing Dell with 17.9 per cent of the global market.

HP remained in second place with 15.6 per cent of the market (IDC) – 14.6 per cent according to Gartner.

PC Sales Soars, Apple Hits 4.7% US Market Share The company enjoyed big sales outside the US and remains the market share leader in many countries throughout Europe.

The new Lenovo-owned IBM business ranked third in worldwide shipments with 7.6 per cent of the market, while Acer impressed with a shipment growth of 62 per cent compared to last year.

Gateway and Apple grew much faster than Dell or HP in the States, coming in at third and fourth place respectively in the US market.

Boosted by their success with iPod and iTunes, Apple’s US market share reached 4.5 per cent, up from 3.7 per cent at the same time last year.

Overall, Apple’s shipments grew 37 per cent year-on-year quarter, against a worldwide industry growth of 16.6 per cent, according to IDC (14.8 per cent by Gartner’s figures).

Laptops Out Sell Desktops In US
MacWorld

SPB Weather Review, For Pocket PCs (It’s Great)

SPB Weather plug in for Pocket PCs For travelling PocketPC users unsure whether to pack away a brolly or load up with the sunscreen lotion, Spb Weather could prove to be an essential tool.

The weather forecast plug-in for the ‘Today’ screen on PocketPC serves up a veritable storm of weather-related information in a neat, concise interface.

Spb Weather is designed to display the latest worldwide weather reports from a variety of weather sources including GisMeteo, Intellicast, and Weather.com, with the option for users to specify their own data source.

Installation on to a Pocket PC was straightforward enough using Microsoft Activesync, with no faffing about with firewalls needed for the app to automatically update the forecasts from the web (you can specify when and how often you want updates to occur).

I decided to install it on to the storage card of my XDA Compact (iMate JAM) and it ran with no problems.

SPB Weather plug in for Pocket PCs Once installed, it’s simply a case of choosing the cities you want displayed (you can manually add unlisted locations), and then having a fiddle about with all the fun display options lurking in the options dialog.

You can rummage through a wide variety of nicely-designed skins, icons and layouts, and decide how you want the information to be presented on your ‘Today’ screen, with options to select a 4 day, 5 day, 7 day or multiline view.

Clicking on a specific day brings up a detailed forecast for the day, with a mass of facts about temperature, humidity, pressure and wind information.

I’ve set the program to show me the weather in various cities around the world – including my home town and locations I’ll be travelling to shortly – and, of course, my lovely Cardiff, where the ‘rain’ icon seems to appear with alarming regularity.

SPB Weather plug in for Pocket PCs For travellers, tourists and stay-at-homers with a passing interest in the weather, this is a handy, fun application that adds real value to a Pocket PC. Recommended.

Star rating: 5/5

Cost: US$14.95 (~£8.50~€12.30)
Tech requirements: 2.0 MB space on handheld, Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003 device

Spb Weather

EU Raids Intel Offices

EC investigators Raid Intel European Commission heavies made an unscheduled visit to Intel offices in Europe today as the chip maker’s offices were raided in connection with suspected anti-trust violations.

The European antitrust regulators started booting in doors two weeks after rival U.S. chip-maker Advanced Micro Devices filed a lawsuit claiming Intel used its market dominance to coerce computer makers away from using their AMD chips.

European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd explained, ‘Directorate General Competition officials, accompanied by officials from national competition authorities, are conducting inspections of several premises of Intel in Europe as well as a number of IT firms manufacturing or selling computers.”

A statement from the European Union head office added, “Investigations are being carried out in the framework of an ongoing competition case.”

Intel spokesman Chuck Malloy confirmed that the raids took place, adding that his company was cooperating fully while insisting that it was “all a stitch up and society’s to blame” (or words to that effect).

The EU has been investigating claims about Intel using unfair business practices to persuade clients to buy its chips to the exclusion of rivals’ chips for some time.

An initial investigation was demanded by Advanced Micro Devices several years ago, but in 2002 EU antitrust regulators reached a preliminary conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to bring any charges.

AMD kept up the pressure, nagging regulators into looking into Intel’s business practices again, with the commission sending out formal notices to France, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Italy and Germany last year.

EC investigators Raid Intel These requested information on government procurement tenders for computers containing requirements that they specify Intel chips or request a chip speed exclusive to Intel.

Late last month, AMD sued Intel for billions of dollars in a Delaware federal court, insisting that Intel bullied 38 computer companies into buying Intel chips.

Intel told them to stick their allegations when their chips don’t shine, suggesting that they were just whining away like a big girl because of their secondary market position (we’re paraphrasing slightly here).

Much as we enjoy corporate fisticuffs, we reckon that the issue would be best resolved without assisting zillions of smarmy lawyers to get even richer.

We reckon a playground fight would be far more fun.

Fight Fight!

Intel
AMD

PocketParty Review: Clip-on iPod speakers

PodGear PockParty
The PocketParty is a speaker unit that plugs onto your iPod (1st generation iPods aren’t supported). It’s a white lump about 3 inches long and 1 inch square with 2 speaker grills at either end. It holds an AA battery and claims to have about 10 hours life per battery (it’s rated at 1W).

Having its own battery should mean (as claimed) it doesn’t use the battery of the iPod, but since it’s driven through the headphone output means there must be some drain on the iPod itself.

There’s a little switch on the side that allows the unit to be turned off which should conserve power when not in use.

PocketParty – a party in your pocket!
The PocketParty is reasonably loud, however it’s not a replacement for a set of external speakers. Using it in your car is going to be a disappointment, engine noise will drown it out.

You’re not going to be able to hold an open-air rave in the middle of a field with it, unless it’s just for a small collection of friends.

Where it can sound fine is in a tent or some other quiet environment not distracted by other noise.

Settings the EQ makes a huge difference, the PocketParty can sound quite flat (the speakers are only an inch square), using in dance mode made it sound fuller.

PodGear PockParty Is this something to buy? It’s VERY convenient as it’s so small and does easily fit in your pocket (as the name suggests) and it can be heard by a a group of people in the right surroundings.

It’s not going to burst your eardrums, but then that’s probably a good thing.

Star rating: 3/5

PodGear

NOTE: To hear anything the iPod volume had to be set at least half way, to get reasonable volume at least 3/4’s. This was on a European iPod which have their max volume scuppered due to EU regulations. There are “hacks” that can be found to remove the EU limitations and allow the volume to be cranked up to the same levels as the people with bleading ears in the US.