Platforms

Toshiba unveils XDR ‘world’s fastest’ memory chip and ‘one-minute charge’ battery
Toshiba has developed a super-fast Lithium-Ion battery capable of being charged to 80 per cent of its full capacity in under 60 seconds. According to the company, a full charge takes just “a few more minutes”.
Toshiba prototype ‘one-minute charge’ Li-ion battery can be recharged about 60 times faster than conventional lithium ion batteries, with the company claiming that the technology could be commercialised for portable electronics products in about three years.
Toshiba has developed two prototype batteries, with the smaller prototype (measuring 3.8mm by 62mm by 35mm) retaining 99 percent of its capacity after being charged 1,000 times, and the company are claiming that their fast-charging batteries will have about the same life as conventional rivals.
The company has been shouting about the new battery’s eco-credentials, pointing out that the fast recharging time will consume less energy than today’s Li-ion cells, leading to reduced carbon-dioxide emissions.
And, as they say on shampoo adverts, here’s the science: Toshiba clever technology uses “nano-particles” to “prevent organic liquid electrolytes from reducing during battery recharging. The nano-particles quickly absorb and store vast amount of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in the electrode”.
So, err, now you know.
Toshiba’s ‘miracle’ battery will come to market next year, the company said, initially in automotive and industrial applications.
Toshiba announce Billy Whizz memory chip
Meanwhile, those crazy speed freaks at Toshiba have been busy making the earth go faster with an announcement that they have been sampling computer memory chips with the “world’s fastest data rate.”
The 512Mb XDR (extreme data rate) DRAM chips run at a turbo-charged speed of 4.8GHz, which is about 12 times faster than that of the memory typically found in today’s desktop PCs.
DRAM is the main type of memory used in PCs and servers. The faster the memory, the more smoothly computers tend to work with the increased speed offering better graphics and gaming performance.
Working at the 4.8GHz speed, the chips deliver a bandwidth of 12.8GBps, making them suitable for use in high-end digital TVs and PC graphics applications.
If more voltage is used, the chips can work at a peak operating speed of 6.4GHz, according to Toshiba.
XDR memory technology was developed by U.S.-based Rambus, with the chips incorporating Rambus’s ODR (octal data rate) signalling, which can transfer eight bits of data per clock cycle, according to Toshiba.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and Japan’s Elpida Memory have also licensed XDR technologies from Rambus, and both chip companies plan to go into mass production of 512Mb XDR chips in the second half of 2005.
Toshiba made it past the post first, with Kim Soo-Kyoum, program director for semiconductor research at market research company IDC commenting, “Yes, it looks like Toshiba’s is the first … and yes, it’s the fastest … but Samsung and Elpida have similar schedules.”
Adoption of XDR as a main memory in high-end computing will start during 2007, according to a December 2004 report by IDC.
Toshiba
31 March, 2005
E680i, E725: Motorola Previews New Music Phones
After the humiliating no-show of their much hyped (and currently in-limbo) iTunes phone at CeBIT earlier this month, Motorola have hit back with two new music phones.
The Motorola E680i is a stylised version of its first Linux-based music phone, retaining the integrated FM tuner and tri-band GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHz coverage with improved Bluetooth support capable of outputting stereo audio courtesy of the AD2P profile.
The handset boasts dual stereo speakers with virtual surround sound and can handle just about any music format you care to lob at it, including MP3 and WMA, AAC, MIDI and WAV.
The E680i comes with a large 65K colour touchscreen with QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) resolution and the same 0.3 MP integrated digital camera as found in the E680.
There’s also the usual basic suite of applications, support for J2ME, handwriting recognition, messaging support (including e-mail), and USB 1.1.
The handset is slated for release in the Asia Pacific in April 2005, but there’s been no pricing or worldwide availability announcements from Motorola yet
Motorola E725
Sporting a ‘slider’ form factor, the E725 is a music player-cum-smartphone featuring a 1.9″ display (176 x 220 pixels resolution) with dedicated music keys, 5-band graphic equaliser and dual stereo speakers with virtual surround sound.
The E725 offers support for CDMA2000 1xEV-DO which – in English – means that it can rapidly download full music tracks over the air directly to the handset. Naturally, users can also sync the handset with their PCs and make use of the memory expansion slot supporting miniSD cards up to 2 GB.
All the rest of the features of the E680i are present and correct: an FM radio, a 0.3 MP camera, a 3.5 mm earphone jack, USB, a memory expansion slot (supporting miniSD cards up to 1 GB) and the same dual stereo speakers with virtual surround sound.
The E725 also sports a set of daft ‘rhythm lights’ for funky disco people who think its waaaaay cool to have a series of LED lights pulsating to the beat of the music currently playing.
The E725 is expected to arrive in North America in the second half of 2005, but, once again, Motorola are being coy about pricing details.
Motorola
29 March, 2005
SPH-M4300 LAN: WiFi Music Phone From Samsung
Samsung’s R&D team’s crack-like addiction to creating new products continues apace with the announcement of a new Wireless LAN Music Phone.
Their all-singing, all-dancing SPH-M4300 LAN music phone allows users to watch a variety of television broadcast and Internet contents on the handset, and comes with a built-in ‘powerful sound system’, featuring dual speakers.
Now, when someone says ‘powerful sound system’, we think of an all-night squat party rave with bass bins the size of small continents, but Samsung are talking about how their adoption of SRS technology (a 3D sound technology usually used in MP3 players) will give the SPH-M4300 a sonic edge over their rivals.
Despite boasting more multimedia widgets than an interactive James Bond robot, the handset is a slim (114×59×25mm) slider-style phone, featuring a 2.8-inch LCD, a nippy 520MHz CPU and a 1.3 megapixel camera.
Running on Microsoft’s mobile operating system Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition, users will be able to run applications like Outlook, Word and Excel, with the latest Windows Media Player on hand for playback of multimedia content like movies and music.
Sadly, there’s no QWERTY keyboard on the handset.
There’s been no announcement about internal storage capacity or expansion card slots, or if the unit supports Bluetooth as yet.
We like the look of this one, and (if it ever makes it out of Korea) the inclusion of wi-fi streaming could give it an edge over the hugely-selling PalmOne Treo 600/650 range.
Samsung
22 March, 2005
Nokia 6680 Camera Smartphone Starts Shipping
Incorporating not one, but two digital cameras (VGA on the front 1.3 megapixels to the rear), the handset was showcased a month ago at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes.
The stylish new smartphone features two-way video-calling and sharing, push email, a crisp 262,144-color display (176 x 208 pixels), MMC card slot, plus a 1.3-megapixel snapper with flash and 2x digital zoom.
Whereas many 3G handsets prompt the question, “Is that a 3G phone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?”, the 6680 is a bit of a miniature marvel, measuring up at a Y-front unruffling 10.8 x 5.5 x 2.1cm – one of the smallest 3G handsets around (although not quite as teensy-tiny as Sony Ericsson’s upcoming K600i).
Running on the Symbian Series 60 OS, the smartphone comes with a personal organiser, video streaming and Internet browser, with a range of funky 3G-enabled features such as two-way video calls, video sharing and push email.
Using XpressPrint or PictBridge, Nokia phone snappers can print pictures, emails or contacts directly from the 6680 using a range of compatible printers or photo kiosks via USB and Bluetooth – or by simply whipping out the MMC card and slapping it in a card reader.
Joe Coles, director of imaging product marketing at Nokia, was at hand to get suitably enthused: “The Nokia 6680 enables the full benefit of high-speed 3G networks to be enjoyed with a wide range of multimedia services, including video, email, music downloads and internet browsing.”
“We are very pleased with the fantastic demand for the Nokia 6680, and expect it to be widely available in all the major 3G markets around the world.”
Mindful of the fact that trying to write long emails on a handset’s tiny buttons is as much fun as counting ants, Nokia have also announced their new SU-8W Wireless Keyboard.
This small, lightweight add-on folds out to provide a near full-size keyboard, which connects to the phone via Bluetooth.
It must be said that while these fold out keyboards are really handy things to have, they look about as cool as a comb-over in a gale. So use yours discretely!
Nokia
21 March, 2005
Apple iPod Under Pressure From East
Until now, Apple has been pretty safe in its position of master of all digital music players. That’s lead to speculation of their crown slipping. We’re fresh back from the European consumer show CeBIT and saw many, many good looking, highly functioned, portable music players there.
The Far Eastern companies that’ve been building digital music players for the Western companies have learned a few tricks. Not content to just been passivley manufacture, they have discovered design and embraced it. In our view they have what is needed to go toe-to-toe with Apple.
In addition to that, Korean electronics giant Samsung has launched a hefty push into the highly competitive MP3 player market with six brand-spanking-new players.
The half dozen new players should be available in the first half of the year, ranging from a 256 megabyte flash memory type to a 30 gigabyte hard disk drive model capable of holding about 7,500 songs.
The pocket-sized players will sport colour screens and radio tuners, while some will allow users to watch music videos or take digital photographs.
The company has vowed to grab a giant sized slice of the highly lucrative market within in the next two years.
Samsung sold 1.7 million MP3 players last year, and is the market frontrunner in China. Mindful of expanding its presence, the company said it will focus on products that go beyond the basic flash and hard-disk categories and include products that target the premium, fashion and video-enhanced market segments.
In other words, they’re going to try and outflank Apple by stuffing their players full of multifunctional and multimedia gizmos that allow users to play electronic games, watch music videos and movies, and view digital photographs.
We’ve no doubt that these players will be lovely little fellas, but whether they’ll be capable of overcoming the sheer market presence and all-round design quality of Apple – and more recently Sony – is open to question (Sony’s shift to open standards, switching from its proprietary ATRAC music format to MP3 is a highly significant development).
Both Apple and Sony have branched out into music delivery solutions and it remains to be seen whether a hardware-only product will have enough clout, ‘cool’ and interconnectivity to unseat the market leaders.
After all, with zillions of options available to consumers, it’s vital for music device makers to offer shedloads of connectivity with other hardware, along with easy access to the content.
Samsung
18 March, 2005
Ezmax EZMP4200P, VoIP-capable MP3 Player
MP3 playing device includes software for sending and receiving Internet-based phone calls.
Cackling wildly at iSuppli’s recent analysis that consumers don’t like MP3 players stuffed with extra gadgets, Ezmax of South Korea has announced a gizmo-tastic MP3 player that allows users to make and receive telephone calls using VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol).
The South Korean company says that their EZMP4200P player will contain software allowing users to make VoIP calls when the device is linked to a web-connected PC via a USB 2.0 port, using a microphone incorporated in the device’s earphone cord.
Ezmax’s director, Lee Sung Soo, explained that a player plugged into a desktop or notebook PC will appear onscreen as a removable disk icon. Double clicking on that puppy will launch the dialling software, enabling the user to make calls on the MP3 player-cum phone.
Users need to sign up with a VoIP provider before they can start getting chatty on their device. The company is currently talking to providers in South Korea, Germany, and other European countries to ensure compatibility with their networks.
Ezmax demonstrated the device at their stand at CeBIT, plugging the player into a notebook PC and successfully making a call via the VoIP dialling software.
We imagine the gasps from onlookers were either a sign of amazement or an expression of extreme bafflement as they – like us – pondered over the usefulness of an MP3 player that has to be plugged into a laptop to make a call.
Software for the EZMP4200P (doesn’t that just roll off the tongue?) is presently compatible with Windows 2000/XP, with Ezmax claiming that Mac OS X compatible software will be ready sometime in the ‘near future’ so don’t go throwing your iPods away quite yet Mac-fans!
The flash memory-based device is 2.8 inches long, 0.9 inches in diameter, and weighs 0.8 ounces without the AAA-size battery.
As well as MP3 music files, it can playback formats such as WMA (Windows Media Audio), ASF (Advanced Systems Format), and Ogg and comes with a built in FM radio.
In addition, the device is capable of voice recording and sports a two-colour (blue and yellow) 128 pixel by 64 pixel OLED screen.
The EZMP4200P should be launched in May and be available in three models, each with a different storage capacity: 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB.
The added VoIP software adds about US$8 (£4.25, €6) to the price of the company’s non-VoIP capable devices. Prices for the EZMP4200P will be about US$150 (£78, €112) for the 256MB model and about US$220 (£115, €165) for the 1GB model, the company says.
17 March, 2005
MP3 Player Sales Set To Nearly Quadruple By 2009
Shipments of MP3 players soared by an enormous 116% in 2004, as hundreds of wallet-tempting products arrived in response to the phenomenal success of Apple iPod player, according to a survey by Market Intelligence firm, iSuppli.
Propelled by the soaring growth in demand for hard disk drive (HDD)-based products, iSuppli predicts shipments of MP3 players will nearly quadruple from 2004 to 2009.
The company forecasts that total MP3 player shipments will expand to 132 million units in 2009, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.1% from 36.8 million in 2004.
Although growth in 2005 is expected to slow from the frenzied buying levels of 2004, the MP3 market will continue to expand at a rapid rate, with iSuppli predicting unit shipments of MP3s rising to 57.7 million in 2005, up 57% from 36.8 million in 2004.
The super, soaraway success of the iPod echoed the public’s love affair with HDD-based MP3 players, with competitors moving quickly to offer products that aped the iPod’s use of a 1.8-inch HDD.
The iSuppli report also predicts that HDD-based MP3 player shipments will grow by a CAGR of 41.8% from 2004 to 2009, as compared to 22.9% for flash-based players.
Shipments are expected to 56.2 million units in 2009, up from 9.8 million in 2004, with HDD-based products accounting for nearly half of all MP3 shipments, at 42.6% in 2009 (up from only 26.6% in 2004).
The overall small form-factor HDD market had revenues of US$2.2 billion in 2004 and likely will rise to US$5.7 billion in 2008, generating a CAGR of more than 27 % over this period, iSuppli predicts.
The first vendor to ship 1.8-inch HDDs was Toshiba. Hitachi Global Storage Technology also has started shipping these drives and Western Digital Corp. (WDC) is expected to begin shipping them later in the year.
The research group said electronics producers stood to benefit from consumers’ willingness to pay more for “waaaaaay cool” products, something that Apple traditionally excels at and something that Sony clearly has in mind with its funky new line-up of Walkmans.
“Initially, (Apple’s) iPod was quite expensive, but the company reduced prices when the competition arrived. It also has aggressively introduced many generations of products in quick succession over the past four years,” iSuppli said.
But iSuppli warned companies not to try to squeeze too many features into their products: “The so-called ‘Swiss Army Knife’ approach has not succeeded in the MP3 market. Simple, elegant products that perform a few functions with easy-to-use interfaces have sold well in the marketplace, while the do-everything approach has failed.”
So, there goes my idea for a MP3 playing toaster then.
iSuppli
17 March, 2005
TiVo Software For Comcast In Strategic Partnership
TiVo has signed a multiyear deal to make a version of its personal video recorder software available to customers of Comcast Cable, currently the King Kong of largest cable operators in the US.
The deal is the first of the partnerships the struggling pioneer hopes to forge with cable operators and will result in Comcast and TiVo working together in peace and harmony to develop a version of the TiVo service to be made available on Comcast’s current DVR platform.
The new service will be marketed with the TiVo brand, and is expected to be slipping out on Comcast’s DVR products in a majority of Comcast markets in mid-to-late 2006.
This long-term, non-exclusive partnership will provide Comcast customers with the opportunity to choose the TiVo service with features like Season Pass and WishList, available as an additional option.
If all goes to plan, the service will showcase TiVo’s home networking, multimedia, and broadband capabilities.
“We are focused on providing our customers with a 21st Century television experience,” said Brian Roberts, the chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation. “TiVo has revolutionized the way consumers watch and access home entertainment. By partnering with TiVo, we are continuing to deliver technology that enables our customers to watch what they want when they want on TV. This agreement also reflects our commitment to work with leading technology providers to offer customers more value and choice in their home entertainment experience. Customers love the ease and convenience of our current DVR service, and we look forward to working with TiVo to enhance that service and offer customers the best-in-class DVR experience.”
Steve Burke, the president of Comcast Cable and COO of Comcast, added, “The strong TiVo brand, the clear track record of customer loyalty it has and its cutting-edge features make this a terrific partnership and exciting new product for Comcast.”
Tom Rogers, the vice chairman of TiVo, noted, “It is very important that TiVo has found a way to work with the nation’s largest cable operator on a cooperative basis to develop a state-of-the-art TiVo service, fully integrated with a cable set-top box, that will make TiVo available to millions of cable viewers. … This is a real milestone for TiVo and for the cable industry, but most importantly it is a milestone for television viewers.”
Analysts are hailing the agreement as a lifeline for the Californian-based company, whose shares jumped 75 percent, or US$2.87 (e2.14/£1.50), to close at US$6.70 (e5/£3.50) in Tuesday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Although TiVo currently boasts more than 3 million subscribers it has struggled to find a business strategy that would increase its subscriber base and withstand gnawing competition from generic DVRs offered directly by big cable companies.
In the quarter that ended Jan. 31, TiVo lost a thumping great $33.7 million, substantially heftier than the $12.4 million loss in the same period a year earlier.
The Comcast deal means that TiVo will have to adapt its software to work on Comcast’s existing DVR platform. This will enable TiVo to blast out the advertising it sells as interactive video clips in their onscreen menu to Comcast subscribers.
Comcast will continue to market its own DVR, with new customers getting a dual-tuner DVR, letting viewers record two shows at once and high-definition television; TiVo offers such features only to DirecTV satellite customers.
Comcast subscribers who plump for the TiVo service will get funky features such as “Suggestions,” which recommends shows based on past viewing habits, and the ability to schedule recordings over the Internet.
The agreement gives TiVo access to Comcast’s 21.5 million cable customers, including 8.6 million digital cable customers who can take advantage of DVRs
TiVo
Comcast
16 March, 2005
A780/ MPx220, Motorola Phones Bundle GPS Navigation App
Motorola is to bundle GPS navigation software and hardware with the European versions of its A780 and MPx220 smart phones.
The handsets will include ALK Technologies’ CoPilot Live navigation software and Navteq ‘street and places-of-interest’ maps for European countries, installed on a memory card.
The Linux-based A780 has a built in GPS receiver hardware, while the Windows Mobile-based MPx220 will require a separate Bluetooth-enabled GPS receiver.
CoPilot Live uses maps and GPS location data to calculate multi-stage routes, displaying turn-by-turn directions on screen and speaking them out loud to avoid drivers crashing into hedges while looking at the groovy 3D map display.
The software also plugs into ALK’s GPRS-based tracking system, which allows third-parties to find out precisely where they are and how long it will take for them to arrive at their destination (we fancy there’s a few in this office who could benefit from such a feature after a night in the pub).
The product can also quickly plot alternative courses in response to updated traffic news and traffic jams.
GPS navigation has proved a bit of a hit in Europe, with sales bolstering up an otherwise declining PDA market.
A variety of vendors have busied themselves bundling together low-cost handhelds, GPS receivers and navigation software packages that together cost far less than a dedicated GPS systems.
David Quin, ALK’s UK marketing chief, said the Motorola deal was “an important step on the road to mass-market adoption of GPS navigation”.
The Motorola deal follows a similar agreement with T-Mobile, which recently announced that it will bundle CoPilot Live with its SDA and MDA Compact smart phones (and offer CoPilot Live separately to existing SDA and MDA users.)
Both handsets use Bluetooth to communicate with a separate GPS receiver.
Motorola’s handsets and GPS bundles will be available from “select” mobile operators throughout Europe, with pricing and availability determined by the carriers themselves.
Motorola
ALK Co Pilot
15 March, 2005
ATI IMAGEON: Full Multimedia Phone Chips
ATI Technologies have introduced two new media processors, IMAGEON 2282 and IMAGEON 2182, offering a shovel load of ‘groundbreaking’ multimedia capabilities for mobile phones.
The company boasts that their mighty new chip can turn the ‘umble mobile phone into a high-resolution megapixel digital camera, a high-fidelity digital audio player and a digital camcorder with streaming video and video conferencing capabilities (tea-making features extra).
The IMAGEON processors are fully compliant with the 3GPP mobile media standards and capable of delivering high-levels of performance and quality independent of the host processor.
Ravi Gananathan, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Handheld Products Group, ATI Technologies Inc invites us to stick on our “visioneer” glasses:
“Just imagine the freedom of taking the functionality of your camcorder, MP3 player and digital still camera with you in a package that only weighs a few ounces.”
“The new IMAGEON processors from ATI combine advanced audio and video processing capabilities to turn mobile phones into mobile entertainment centers.”
The audio engine in the chip is a flexible and programmable beast, enabling CD-quality, 3D ring-tones along with high-quality stereo recording and playback in industry standard formats, including AMR, AAC, MP3, Real Audio, WMA and MIDI.
Meanwhile, the video engine enables a mobile digital video recorder/player and a 3 mega-pixel digital still camera, with the IMAGEON 2282 providing video streaming and video conferencing functionality with picture-in-picture support.
“The best camera is the one you have on hand to capture a memorable moment. That applies to all media devices,” enthused Gananathan. “Digital camcorders are the next killer application that carriers and consumers are looking for on mobile phones. The next generation IMAGEON powered mobile phones will allow users to be ready when they need to be – to snap a picture, record a movie or listen to music with no compromise on quality.”
ATI is promising ‘unparalleled visual quality and display features’ for the new chips with its ‘ATI’s PowerPlay’ power management technology claimed to offer the lowest power consumption at all levels of functionality.
The higher performance IMAGEON 2282 is targeted at the high mid-tier mobile phone segment while the IMAGEON 2182 targets the mainstream, low mid-tier segment.
Phones powered by the new IMAGEON processors are expected to ship later this year from leading handset manufacturers.
ATI IMAGEON
15 March, 2005