Scheduled for release at the beginning of July is Samsung’s “Web friendly” SGH-Z130 3G handset.
The all-swivelling beastie features a rotating, high-resolution LCD screen (176×220 pixels), with full Web browsing support offered by the well regarded NetFront Browser by Access (as previously seen on Sony Clie PDAs).
As is the norm these days, a 1.3-Megapixel (1152 x 864 pixels) digital camera has been poured inside the SGH-Z130’s slim-ish dimensions (112x46x20mm, 120g), with all the multimedia tick boxes neatly crossed off:
Video recorder? Oh yes!
Music player with MP3/AAC/AAC+ support? Of course!
All jingling, jangling and beeping 64 polyphonic & MP3 ring tones installed? Absolutely!
Embedded wallpapers and Macromedia Flash? C’est naturellement!
There’s a fair bit of memory on board to handle all the multimedia fluff, with a total of 88.5 MB storage offering 80 MB for Image/Sound/Video, 4 MB for Java, 3 MB for Email and 1.5 MB for MMS with just enough room left over for 200 SMS messages.
The handset comes with built-in Bluetooth support (v1.1) and works with 2100MHz UMTS 3G as well as the 900/1800MHz GSM bands.
Sadly, despite the phone’s strong Web-focus, there’s no Wi-Fi on board and USB connectivity is stuck at Ye Olde v1.0.
The built in NetFront browser supports OMA Browsing 2.2, WML, HTML 4.01 and cHTML, and its “Rapid-Render” incremental rendering technology is claimed to accelerate the presentation of Web pages.
As with earlier versions of Netfront, there is a handy option to render Web pages to fit smaller screen widths, saving a ton of pesky horizontal scrolling.
NetFront is being touted as the only mobile browser to provide integrated support for Adobe Reader LE and the popular portable document format, PDF.
‘The SGH-Z130 is one of the most innovative 3G handsets on the market today, and ACCESS’ advanced NetFront browser technology extends this innovation by providing a comprehensive mobile Internet browsing experience,’ insisted Chulhwan Lee, of Samsung. ‘ACCESS and Samsung will continue to collaborate to bring advanced mobile Internet browsing solutions to mobile end-users throughout the world.’
Rather immodestly self-declared as ‘beautifully designed’, Sony Ericsson and Vodafone have announced their new V600i 3G phone. 
Subscribers can also take advantage of the content streamed from the Vodafone live! site, including live sports and music videos. 
Cutting edge office hipsters keen to perfect that 
Sales of laptops outstripped the number of desktop PCs for the first time ever, according to Current Analysis. 
Once back-breaking beasts with a battery life measured in nano-seconds – and a price tag to make grown men weep – modern laptops are now faster, slimmer, more capable and, crucially, cheaper (laptop prices have fallen 17 per cent against a smaller 4 per cent fall for desktops). 
His barely-revelatory statement was backed up an announcement from Mike George, VP of consumer business for Dell US, who today revelaed that Dell will be launching a “luxury” range of computers, with their hoity-toity desktop and notebooks selling for between $1,200 (~£660, €979) and $3,500 (~£1,925, €2,855). 
The Lenovo Group has officially announced the first ever ThinkPad tablet, the ThinkPad X41. 
The growth of Tablet PCs – once described as the future of mobile computing by Microsoft – has so far been slow, with total sales only representing a tiny fraction of the PC market. 
The anti-reflective and anti-glare screen claims to provide 170-degree viewing, and an optional integrated fingerprint reader offers extra security for the terminally paranoid and distrustful. 
First shown off at the CEATEC show in Japan last year, Sharp has announced that it will be launching its gargantuan 65inch LCD set in August this year – the biggest in the world. 
Monster LCD screens are prone to suffer from ‘smearing’, which results in onscreen artifacts being displayed by fast moving objects, but Sharp claims that its QS (Quick Shoot) Technology improves moving video responsiveness, making it perfect for watching high-speed full-motion video and fast moving footage (like a Cardiff City strike. Sort of). 
As is often the case lust-spawning objects, there’s a double whammy of a sting for anyone fancying installing one of these monolithic beasts in their Hackney bedsit. 
Dubai-based Microsoft Windows mobile specialists i-mate have added the HTC-manufactured i-mate PDA2 to their popular range of Pocket PC phones. 
Memory can be expanded through a SD/MMC slot, also compatible with SDIO peripherals. 
The mobile Internet handset – developed by Danger and manufactured by Sharp Corporation – will be made available on service contract for £68.70 (~€100, ~US$125). 
The feature-stuffed handset includes a mobile phone, push email, instant messaging, HTML Web browser, text-messaging, calendar, address book, an integrated digital camera and the option to download applications and content. 
Beating at the heart of the T-Mobile Sidekick II is Danger’s “hiptop” software and services infrastructure. 
Also known as the Hiptop 2, the 130 x 66 x 22 mm (5.1″ x 2.6″ x 0.9″) handset features a flip Transflective TFT 240×160 pixel screen and an integrated VGA (640 x 480 pixel) camera. 
T-Mobile are also releasing a “trendy” version of the Sidekick, resplendent in distinctly un-macho pink sparkly bits. 
The JVC Mini Note (MP-XV841GB) is what’s known as a sub-notebook, but for such a small system it’s packed with features. What is immediately noticeable is the fantastic screen which is extremely bright and sharp and in a widescreen format (about 9 inches across diagonally) perfect for playing DVD’s on the move. The screen resolution is 1024 x 600. 
The internal drive plays DVD’s (and comes with WinDVD so you can watch them) and also writes CD’s (both CD-R and R/W). There’s 2 USB ports, an i.link (or IEEE-1394/Firewire) port, 10/100 Ethernet, a V.90 modem, microphone and line out jacks. The in-built microphone is OK for Internet chat type applications and the stereo speakers have a virtual surround sound. You can plug in an external monitor with a supplied adapter, there’s a PC Card slot and a slot for an SD memory card. Not forgetting the built-in WiFi for connecting to wireless networks or hotspots. The disk drive is 40GB split into a drive C: and D: 
The docking station/port replicator which comes with is plugs into the same connector as the external monitor, giving you 4 USB ports, an Ethernet socket (LAN), standard VGA connector and an optical digital out so you can listen to your DVD’s through an external surround sound decoder. 
JVC include some reasonable software. Pinnacle Studio v9 which is a simple video editing package (supporting capturing video from your DV camera through the firewire port), Real Networks RealOne player, Norton Antivirus (with a 3 month subscription), WinDVD for DVD playback and CC converter a sound enhancing utility. 
Summary
About a month ago I had the chance to spend two days with a pre-release version of the Sony K750i handset and as it’s now closer to the release of the handset, I thought an overview of the product might be timely.
You morph it in to a camera by sliding the lens cover at the back of the device. Using the 2mpx camera you can easily captures clear pictures with vivid colours during light days. 
Video recording is OK, given the devices restrictions.
I’d just assumed the K750i would have a ‘normal’ headphone jack, letting me choose the headphones that excited me, but the provided headphones had to be connected via a Sony-interface at the bottom of the phone. This brings obvious advantages, like them having a mic, letting to let you use them as a hands-free set.