Portable

LG Lets Rip With LW20 EXPRESS Laptop
LG has announced their new multimedia-tastic 12-inch notebook PC, the LW25 EXPRESS DUAL, which is, apparently, “a portable multimedia powerhouse.”
Building on the success of last year’s LW20 EXPRESS, LG’s sleek new lappie serves up a beefed up performance courtesy of a dual-core processor.
The attractive laptop also comes with the latest BlueCore4 technology, which allows for snappier wireless connections between other devices as well as support for the extra-nippy Gigabit Ethernet.
The 12.1″ WXGA (that’s 1280×800 in English) display comes with LG’s Fine Bright Technology, and is supported by an Intel GMA950 graphics card (up to 256MB).
The built in optical drive (or Super Multi ODD as LG likes to call it) supports playback and recording of all existing optical media formats inluding dual-layer DVD burning, allowing you to cram up to 8.5GB data on a single DVD.
LG are also claiming full support for Microsoft’s soon-come-but-don’t-hold-your-breath Vista operating system, so it looks reasonably ‘future proofed.’
The LW25 looks to be a good choice for road warriors too, weighing a shoulder-pleasing 1.89 kg (including batteries and an ODD) with the six-cell, 5,400-mAh battery providing a claimed battery life of up to six hours.
Photos are still thin on the ground, but we like the look of what we’ve seen so far, with the LW25 available in natty red or blue finishes.
The warranty is more impressive than most as well, with 3-year cover and a first year international warranty.
As for pricing and availability, your guess is as good as ours at the moment as LG seem to be keeping mum.
Specifications:
Processor Intel Core Duo Processor T2400(1.86GHz) ~, 667MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache
Chipset Mobile Intel 945GM Express
Display 12.1″ WXGA(1280×800), Fine Bright Technology
Graphics Intel GMA950 (up to 256MB)
HDD 60GB
Wireless Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG(802.11a/b/g)
Bluetooth Yes (BlueCore4)
Multimedia Card
Slot 5-in-1 (XD/SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro)
Audio SRS TruSurround XT, SRS WOW XT, 5.1CH Dolby Digital, XTS Pro, 24bit High Definition
Warranty 3yrs Parts & Labour, 1st yr international
Casing Red or Blue
LG
13 June, 2006
N-Gage Online Game Purchase Launched
Nokia took a step into the world of online content delivery today with the launch of a new Website specialising in downloadable games for its N-Gage device. Gamers can download time-limited demos of games such as One and Pathway to Glory before purchasing at between 19.99 and 29.99 euros.
The shop, is a significant step for the company allowing them to deliver games directly to customers, an achievement not always matched in stores. It could also pave the way for online games downloading services, perhaps the gaming equivalent of Apple’s iTunes?
The process? All that is needed is to identify the game that you’re interested in, pay for it, download it to your computer, then load it on to a spare memory card to your N-Gage.
The N-Gage has not had an easy time. The first version was launched to widespread derision due to its ‘unique’ side-talking feature, which forced users to speak into the side of the device, instantaneously transforming them into raging doofuses. A succession of model changes followed, culminating in the more sensibly configured, 7710, or N-Gage QD as it’s more often known as..
While the concept of side-talking may fuel nerd in-jokes for some time to come (see sidetalkin) Nokia are determined to develop the N-Gage platform to create a multi-player, mobile gaming community which can connect via a variety of devices. The N-Gage platform for multiple devices was announced at the E3 trade show in Washington last month and will roll-out in early 2007.
“As we move forward with our next generation of mobile gaming, we continue to offer N-Gage owners easy ways to get games,” said Jukka Hosio, Director, Global Sales, Multimedia, Nokia. “The N-Gage platform is recognized worldwide for its high-quality mobile gaming content. By making these games available for download over the internet, we’re making it easier for N-Gage owners to find and purchase new games.”
Gameshop
6 June, 2006
Samsung Announces World’s First Solid State Laptops
Samsung has announced the imminent release of the world’s first solid state laptops, in the shape of the Q1,an Ultra Mobile PC and the Q30-SSD, a 12.1-inch screen notebook PC
Instead of the rattling old hard disk drives we’ve grown to love, Samsung’s new models will come with a 32-gigabyte flash memory as their main storage device.
Known as a solid-state drive (SSD), Samsung’s flash memory drive can read data three times faster than conventional hard disks (53MB/s) and write data 150 percent quicker (28MB/s). Scorchio!
Best of all, with no disks to spin up, there’s better protection against shock, 25-50% faster boot-up/sleep recovery times, longer battery life and no noise from whirring fans.
Sounds good? Well, check out the price before reaching for your plastic.
The Q30-SSD looks set to come with a mighty sting of around $3,700 US-equiv when it hits the shelves in Korea (only) from early June onward, and the Ultra Mobile PC will come with the same trouser tightening sting.
“The SSD laptops are targeting a different consumer group from conventional laptop users,” explained Samsung spokesperson Lee Seung-han. “And the price will go down gradually.”
The company also said that it was only selling the SSD laptops in South Korea to reduce the risks from teething problems.
Hybrid Hard Drive (HHD)
With the high price of flash memory proving unattractive to PC manufacturers, Samsung are looking to sweeten the pill by developing a Hybrid Hard Drive (HHD), which is being debuted at a Microsoft conference in Seattle this week.
Samsung’s Lee was enthusiastic about the new technlogy, claiming that early tests show the hybrid hard drive outperforming the flash memory-only drive in terms of processing speed.
“The Windows boot-up time is significantly faster in the Hybrid Disk than in the Solid-State Disk, maybe because the SSD is still in its early development state,” he said.
Specs: NT-Q30-SSD/NT-Q1-SSD
Processor Intel Celero M 753 (1.2GHz)/Intel Celero M 353(900 MHz)
Memory 1 SODIMM Socket, DDR2 400 MHz, 512 MB (both)
LCD 12.1″ WXGA (1280 x 768) TFT-LCD/ 7″ WVGA (800 x 480) TFT-LCD
Graphic Intel GMA 900/Intel GMA 900
Video Memory DVMT (both)
Storage 32GB SSD (both)
External ODD Ultra-slim (9.5mmH) Super-multi Drive (Red)/ –
Communications Modem/Lan Combo, WLAN (802.11 b/g)/10/100 Ethernet, Mini card WLAN (802.11 b/g), Bluetooth v2.0
TV / DMB Embedded DMB/Embedded DMB
Keyboard 83-key Korean Keyboard/Keyboard and Organizer Package included
AudioSRS 3D Sound Support, 16-bit Stereo, SB Pro compatible, Internal Stereo Speaker (2W x 2) (both)
Power 60W AC adapter (110-240 free volt) (both)
Battery Li-ion Battery, Standard 3-Cell, Extended 6-Cell (both)
Dimension (without battery) 287.7 x 197.5 x 18.0 ~ 23.8 mm/ 227.5 x 139.5 x 24.5~26.5 mm
Weight1.14 kg (HDD onboard notebook: 1.16kg)/ 751 g (HDD onboard notebook: 777g)
Samsung
24 May, 2006
LG MFJM53 Nano-Like MP3 Player Launches
It may not have the swish designer lines of the iPod and the name may roll off the tongue as smoothly as a mouth full of dry nuts, but LG Electronics new MFJM53 MP3 player looks more than a bit useful.
Boasting a huge 30-hour battery life that smacks the botty of the iPod and sends it home to bed, the 8GB MFJM53 is compatible with the PlaysForSure digital rights management (DRM) technology, offering integration with subscription services such as Napster and Rhapsody, which use Microsoft’s DRM.
The player also supports MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg, MPEG4, and ASF music files, as well as MPEG4 video encoded in AVI files with support for JPEG pictures and text files.
Bringing up the impressive multimedia feature set is an on board microphone, a line-in port for recording, an FM radio and a mysterious new feature described on their website as ‘Music Theraphy’ (sic).
Touchy touchy
The MFJM53 sports a large-ish 1.77-inch, 262K, 60 X 128 pixels OLED screen which gets one over its rivals by being touch-sensitive, boasting ‘Index Finger Navigation’ (great for developing that ‘smudgy screen’ look).
The LG is a pocketable number too, weighing 88g and measuring 10.1 x 4.8 x 1.4cm.
Although we like the look of this fella – the feature set particularly impresses – the lack of a scroll/clickwheel is going to seriously hamper its ability to challenge the dominance of the uber-iPod.
Moreover, the marketing geniuses who dreamt up a name so instantly unmemorable as ‘MFJM53’ needs a thwack in the Oggs for their stupidity.
Why dream up a name that’s near impossible to remember when one of the strengths of your greatest rival is its easy-to-remember product name? The fools!
Anyhow, crap name aside, LGs new – what was it called again? – ah, yes, MFJM53 player will be available in just black and white, with pricing and availability to be announced.
LG product specs
24 May, 2006
Tesco Stocks Up On MP3 Players
Sitting right next to the baked beans and cornflakes at a Tescos near you soon should be Tesco’s new range of cheapo MP3 players.
Built and branded by bulk electronics firm Technika, the seven new players are aimed at the cheapskate end of the market, with prices starting at a mere £18.
Although the design is unlikely to get iPod whizzkid Jonathan Ive waking up in a lather of midnight sweat, the players seem attractive enough, offering a simple, solid construction.
The range starts with the 18 quid MP-806 player – which only manages just 128MB of flash memory – with the top end MP-806 player cranking the memory all the way up to, err, 1GB for £50.
The interface is bog standard but straightforward – there’s not much to get confused about here – and the player connects to desktops via a USB interface.
What little specs we could find say the players support MP3s and WMA files bought from download shops, although we couldn’t find any of the models listed on Microsoft’s ‘play for sure’ Website.
Tesco are no stranger to this MP3 thing, launching an online music store back in November 2004, offering 500,000 tracks which can be downloaded for 79p, with albums costing £7.99.
The company also offers a sizeable range of MP3 players, including Toshiba, Sony, Archos and Philips, with models available by mail order or from their 200 Tesco ‘Extra’ stores.
22 May, 2006
The Wireless Event Recapped
The Wireless Event took place on Wednesday and Thursday at Olympia in London, it’s an industry show that stands out for exhibitors trying to sell to other exhibitors – who probably outnumber visitors (well maybe a slight exaggeration).
The theme of the exhibition is WiFi, WiMAX, 3G and VoIP and it comes with all the hype that surrounds them. There was little of anything new at the show, and wandering around upstairs, showed half the floorspace hadn’t been sold.
Unfortunately for a wireless show, getting a working connection to a WiFi network was almost impossible, mainly due to the number of networks available all interfering with each other. Maybe it should have been called the Wire Event or the Wireless Less Event. If metro WiFi is going to succeed then all the access points better be smart enough to not ‘tread on each others toes’ or it just isn’t going to work.
There were a lot of infrastructure companies trying to sell WiFi or WiMAX systems, some in the consumer space, but mainly for service providers. Of the mobile networks, only T-Mobile had a big stand, Orange had a small “business” services stand and O2 had a section of the Cloud’s stand.
There were some interesting products, but only a few. Here’s the cream of the crop.
Our pick of the show
Ruckus sell a WiFi access point, however the guts of the Ruckus system is what Netgear use for their RangeMAX range, which uses multiple antennae to steer the radio signals. Ruckus’s own version is more advanced and they are supporting things like streaming video. As an example of use, you can connect a media converter to a Sky TV box and then get decent quality through the WiFi connection to a TV several hundred feet away. Here the stream is converted back to a TV signal with another media converter. The access point looks quite pretty too – good for home use.
USR aka (US Robotics) have announced a USB handset that works with Skype. It’s really just a USB sound-device, but looks like a phone and has Skype integration (i.e. you can pull your contacts etc from Skype and they show in the phone’s display). They’ve also got a USB Skype conferencing device so several people sitting around a table can listen and speak on the call. Their ADSL/ADSL2+/Wireless routers are all now very simple to configure with wireless security turned on by default and basic ISP settings pre-configured.
Nokia had their new E series phone, with the E61 standing out from the pack. It runs Symbian and has support for several push Email systems included (Nokia Business Centre, Blackberry, Visto, Seven, and others). It’s about the same size as the Blackberry, but thinner with a metal casing and very bright colour display. It’s also a nice 3G phone.
The Cloud were there with a HUGE O2 Exec (aka i-mate JASJAR), anyone using the Exec can log-in to the Cloud’s homepage through WiFi, hit the O2 logo, enter their mobile number and the user will be phoned back. If they enter the digit 1 they’ll be granted access (and billed to that number).
BT Openzone had just announced their Wireless Cities initiative whereby Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Westminster are being made into hotzones. BT Openzone have a roaming agreement with the Cloud, but this puts them in direct competition (The Cloud are also offering wireless zones in various cities). Let’s hope the zones don’t overlap or connectivity issues will be as big a mess as the exhibition coverage was.
Zyxel had a their normal range of wired/wireless and security products. The star of their stand was their keyfob wireless hotspot locator. It works with all modes of WiFi (i.e. 802.11a/b/g) and supports unsecured and secure networks (WEP, WPA etc) showing what networks are available (at least 9 were available around the Zyxel stand).
The best bit of the show by far was the massages provided by Urban Chill. After a day wandering around Olympia it was just what was needed (thanks Lucy). To be honest had the massage come first, the rest of the show would have been a write-off.
19 May, 2006
Scope Watch – Possibly the Daftest Yet
Without doubt quite the silliest timepiece we’ve seen for a long time, this new watch by Japanese manufacturers Scompe manages to turn the mundane task of checking the time into some sort of sci-fi adventure.
Offering no hands, dials or any kind of alpha-numeric LCD/LED readout, the makers clearly thought that such tried and trusted (and efficient) methods of displaying the time were simply too uncool for cutting edge hipsters.
Instead, the Scope watch employs a bonkers ‘scanning’ system, activated by pressing a button on the fascia which animates two onscreen green lines – one vertical, the other horizontal.
Managing to complicate the simple task of reading the time, users must read off the vertical line for the hour and the horizontal line for the minutes, checking their values against the tiny onscreen numbers.
Minutes inbetween are displayed in a circular display to the right, which is made up of four LEDs (so 20mins + 2 LEDs = 22 minutes.)
Powered by 2 lithium cells, the SCOPE watch is quite a chunky beast, measuring 45mm x 33mm x 11mm.
The watch – available in Brushed Silver or Gun Metal – comes with a one year warranty and a stainless steel strap and sells for around 14900 Yen ($130, £75).
Tokyo Flash
18 May, 2006
MTV and Microsoft Take On iTunes With ‘Urge’
Apple’s hugely popular iTunes music download service looks set to face some mighty competition in the coming months.
Although many contenders have tried to take on Apple’s market leading music download business, all of have left with a bloody nose – but the arrival of a new service by a powerful pair of rivals could be Apple’s biggest battle yet.
The new ‘Urge’ service sees industry titans Microsoft and music video monsters MTV Networks teaming up to offer a heavyweight contender to iTunes.
Unlimited downloads
Like Apple’s service, buyers will be charged 99-cents per song download, but there’s an added twist: users subscribing $9.95 a month will be able to download unlimited songs from Urge’s 2-million-song catalogue to their personal PCs.
Users wanting to transfer songs onto portable music players can subscribe to the $14.95 service, with tunes protected by anticopying software from Microsoft.
Hoping to succeed where Napster, Yahoo, RealNetworks’s Rhapsody and even Microsoft’s own MSN service have failed, the partnership of the world’s biggest software company and the marketing might and ‘cool’ of MTV could prove a formidable challenge to iTunes.
“They are probably the strongest contender to come into the market for some time,” commented Phil Leigh, a senior analyst for Inside Digital Media, in Florida.
Geoff Harris, product unit manager for Windows Media Player at Microsoft, pointed out that although that other music subscription services have millions of songs on tap, that didn’t help listeners discover new tunes that they might like.
Noting that consumers have embraced satellite radio because it features dozens of channels with music chosen by experts, Harris reckoned that this could prove a real advantage to the Urge service.”You’ve got the experts in music here from MTV doing programming across a whole bunch of genres,” he commented.
As well as music files, subscribers to Urge will be able to download video streams of MTV Network programs, including shows from MTV, VH1, and CMT, a country music video channel. Yee-hi!
Sod the iPod
But there is a serious fly in the MP3 ointment for the new Urge service: crazily, its music downloads won’t be playable on the Apple iPod, despite the player hogging around 70 percent of the market for portable music players. Instead, users will have to invest in rival players like those from Creative Technology.
Although Harris admitted that the iPod incompatibility issue was “a hurdle that we have to get over” (an understatement, we reckon!), he added that, “there’s a long way to go in this market,” pointing out that the zillions of iPods sold still represent a fraction of the potential audience for music downloads.
Jason Hirschhorn, MTV Networks’ chief digital officer, insisted that Urge wasn’t interested in taking on Apple.’It’s not about beating Apple, it’s not about beating Rhapsody,” he said, pointing out that MTV has already teamed up with Apple elsewhere to flog some of its TV shows as downloads on the iTunes site.
We believe you, Jason.
Windows Media Player 11 beta
Although Urge is wholly owned by MTV Networks, Microsoft has committed ample resources to the service, embedding the software in its new Windows Media Player 11 beta, a spruced up upgrade to its media software offering iTunes-like integration.
The new player adds browsing by album cover and a search box to find media as well as offering improved content management, with less clicks needed to burn a CD, for example.
Urge will only be available initially in the United States, with the beta player linked to US-only music stores until the final version of Windows Media Player 11 is released.
Jonathan Arber, a research analyst with Ovum in London has high hopes for the service, “I think there’s a real chance we will see them become the top of the second tier below Apple.”
Assuming the thing is stable and doesn’t come with a zoo-full of bugs, of course.
Urge
Windows Media Player 11
17 May, 2006
Sony Launch AR-Series Blu-ray Laptops And VGN-UX50 Ultra Mobile PC
Sony has whipped out its first laptop equipped with a next-generation Blu-ray optical disk drive, saying that it will be available in Japan next month.
The electronics and entertainment giant also said that it would be unveiling a handheld PC that uses NAND flash memory instead of a hard disk drive during the same month.
VAIO AR-Series
The Blu-ray equipped Vaio notebook is expected to retail for about 400,000 yen ($3,600) – matching the price tag for Toshiba’s new notebooks equipped with the rival HD DVD drive.
Flagship of the new VAIO AR-Series is the AR11S laptop which will feature a hefty 17-inch WideUltraXGA2 screen with a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 for watching full HD resolution video.
The AR-Series will also come with a HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) output for hooking up the lappie to a HD-ready TV or Full HD desktop display.
Lurking inside the shiny beast is an Intel Core Duo processor (up to and including the 2GHz T2500) and a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics card with 256MB of dedicated video memory.
There’s also a built in digital camera and microphone onboard, a hybrid Digital TV-Ready (DVB-T) Tuner and a veritable ton of storage space available, up to 200GB.
Full pricing details for the UK are yet to be announced, but the words ‘Sony’ and ‘Blu-ray’ invariably mean, “wallet draining,” with the AR Premium Blu-ray enabled model looking set to be banged out around the $3,500 mark, while the AR Standard model be around $1,800,
Sony’s VGN-UX50 takes on Origami
Sony has also announced a palm-top computer set to compete with Microsoft’s much trumpeted Origami project.
Smaller than a paperback book, Sony’s new handheld computer runs on Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system and comes with a touch screen and small built-in keyboard.
Powered by Intel Core Solo U1400 (1.2 Ghz)/U1300 (1.06 Ghz) the pint-sized PC will sport an Intel 945GMS Express chipset, 512MB RAM, 20/30 GB hard drive and 69 key QWERTY keyboard.
Sony’s engineers have managed to wedge in a slide-out 4.5 inch WSVGA (1024×600) touchscreen display which can be used in portrait and landscape modes.
Other features include a 1.3 Megapixel Motion eye camera, Wi-Fi a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, Fingerprint sensor, Memory stick / Compact Flash card slot and a dock offering 3 x USB ports, 1 x Firewire port, Ethernet jack, 1 x VGA out and Felica reader (wireless payment service in Japan).
Sony will also be releasing a NAND Flash memory version of the Ultra Mobile PC, providing ‘instant on’ capability.
Sony plans to start selling the handheld PC in Japan from the end of May (for around 170,000 yen ~£820), with US deliveries following some time after.
Sony
17 May, 2006
Sky High Vlog: The Army On Everest!
Sky News are very proud of what they’re billing as the Highest Ever Video News Podcast (or HEVNP to all of you acronym manufacturers out there).
We genuinely do admire reporter Gerard Tubb and producer Jon Gripton who are doing the video pieces from the slopes of Everest. They’re joining the 21 UK Army mountaineers from the regular UK and territorial armies (Special forces of some sort, we’d wager) who are aiming to get to the top via one of the toughest routes, The West Ridge – also worthy of huge admiration.
Tubb and Gripton have been in training for three months and have been using oxygen-reducing respirators to alter their blood so it can cope with life at high altitude. Tubb has also been to the Alps to be taught ice-climbing and crevasse rescue techniques by legendary mountaineer and mountain guide, Twid Turner (great name), who trained the expedition team.
From the report we’ve already seen, it’s rather cold there, especially at night where temperatures are dropping to -1c. Even if you don’t happen to freeze to death, we don’t envy finding yourself waking up every 10 mins during the night with the feeling that you’re drowning. As Tubb’s says on the blog “the depressed CO2 levels can make you stop breathing until it builds up and triggers a fit of hyperventilation.” Nice.
We’re not ones to pick nit (well, OK we are), and we’re certainly not deriding the amazing accomplishment of what they’re doing, but as to whether they’re the highest? Rumours are abound that people have seen higher vodcasts shot on location in Amsterdam, and others insist that they’ve seen other shot in planes (but that’s not on the Earth is it).
What kit to take to Everest?
OK … We’d imagine that after reading this, you all planning your own assent of Everest, right?
Question number one, before you get to pick a splendid new jacket, is what tech kit you need to take with you? Clearly it’s pretty specialist.
You’d imagine that it would be something with a huge keyboard, so you can type while wearing huge mittens. Well you’d be wrong clever sticks.
The laptop of choice is the Panasonic Toughbook. We’d been really impressed when we’d had this at Digital-Lifestyles towers. It’s got great features like the hard drives sit in a bath of oil that gets pre-heated to a temperature it can work at. In this case they’re not using those drives. They also chose them as reliability is top priority, as there aren’t too many laptop repair shops on the Everest slopes.
The video is being shot on two cameras, both Sony’s, the HVR-Z1, or Z1 as it’s know in the trade and the HVR-A1 (A1), having the advantage that it’s really small – pretty useful when you’re having to lug it up Everest.
Once shot, the video has some light editing done on the Toughbooks using Avid Express. The video is then fired back via a satellite dish at Base Camp to Sky HQ.
Cool bits from the Army
The army’s really gone to tech town on this one, with great stuff like providing Google Earth place holders showing things like the teams routes and amazingly cool, dynamically updated team positions.
The army aren’t just leaving the videocasts to Sky, they’ve got a lot of their own sitting on the podcast section of their site. Some of them are pretty interesting.
Good to see that even the army uses the tried and tested ‘hold your comms device in the air to get reception’ trick that we’ve all used at one time or another.
Also pleasing to see that the Junior team contains a fair number of women in it.
To top it off, they’re also doing exclusive videos to your mobile for free.
12 May, 2006