Portable

Apple’s Colour Screen iPod by Christmas
Rumours of a new iPod are appearing – fuelled by a report on macintosh rumour site Think Secret. The new iPod is said to be built around a 60Gb drive and have a 2.2” high resolution colour screen. Users will also be able to view album artwork on the screen whilst listening to their music libraries, so let’s hope Apple have done something about the battery capacity then, because that sounds like about two hours of play time right there.
Better still, the screen is intended to display colour pictures from digital cameras copied to the the iPod – an extension of the photo storage facility introduced in a recent software update. Additional rumours state that the new player will be able to display pictures on a TV, perhaps even set to music.
As far as looks go, the casing for the new iPod will follow the design of its predecessors, although 2mm thicker… possibly to accomodate a new, higher-capacity battery.
There is no official confirmation about the new iPod from Apple, and nor will there be – the company never make statements about forthcoming products. Though some claim they do have a tendency to drop rumours here and there to stoke interest.
Several factors have combined to add a note of authenticity to the latest rumours: the new PP5020 processor from iPod chipmaker PortalPlayer features support for a colour display and TV output – whilst playing music. Toshiba, disk supplier for Apple’s iPod, has also just announced a new 1.8” 60Gb drive – and let slip that Apple had ordered a large quantity of them.
If a new colour screen iPod is on its way, then the timing is sure to lead to shortages as fans try to ensure they get on in time for Christmas, particularly at the rumoured price of US$499 (€402).
Think Secret
11 October, 2004
UK GBA SP price will drop to £69
Nintendo have just announced they will be dropping the UK price of the Gameboy Advanced SP (GBA) by £20 to £69. There will be a price drop in Europe, which is expected to be 99 Euros, this follows the US drop to $79 that happened at the start of the month.
Clearly designed to make the most of gamers friends and relatives who are stuck for Christmas present ideas, they will be boosting its uptake with two special edition versions. Zelda Limited Edition Pak which will include Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and launches on 12th November 2004; Mario Limited Edition Pak containing Mario vs. Donkey Kong along with a unique Mario themed GBA SP will launch a week later on 19th November 2004. Both promotional packs are expected to sell for £89.
To date over 4 million GBA SP have sold Worldwide.
17 September, 2004
Vodafone Launch BlackBerry 7100v – With New Form
Vodafone have today announced a new form of BlackBerry, the 7100v. It has been designed with the BlackBerries creator, RIM (Research In Motion) and will be the first release of a new form factor.
I’d seen BlackBerries around but had dismissed them as a suits tool, and frankly had looked down on them a little. I saw them as used by people who didn’t know better, just getting them out to show off.
While I was in Amsterdam for IBC, there were a couple of occasions where a BlackBerry saved the day. In one, a speaker arrived in Amsterdam without knowing where his hotel was, fortunately I had sent him an email as he landed at the airport – he picked it up on his BlackBerry and we were able to sort things out quickly.
Now having studied them in detail, I can see they are about the most efficient use of space a text input device could have – a thumb-able keyboard and compact screen.
The new model from Vodafone differs from the ‘normal’ BlackBerry approach of full QWERTY keyboard and large screen. Vodafone’s new 7100v takes its design cue from a mobile phone handset. It has a slightly expanded numeric keyboard, taking it from three keys across to five.
To maintain the ease of input of text, the 7100v uses the RIM-developed SureType. It appears to be very similar in function to T9, but it has only two possible characters on each key, rather than up to four with T9. Paul Stonadge, Data Solutions Executive at Vodafone UK, told us the best way to get acclimatised to it is to “get into the mind set that it is a QWERTY keyboard”
It has a built in library of 35,000 words that can be user-expanded. Another smart feature is the automatic reading in of the contact address book, leading to all your contact names being included in the typing dictionary – very smart.
Vodafone have also taken the opportunity of heavily branding both the handset and the interface – it will be clear to the user that they’re using a Vodafone.
Vodafone previously released BlackBerries, the 7230 and slightly larger screened 7730 were aimed at medium to large enterprises. They are aiming this at the SME and SoHo market – a smart move considering how often small business people are away from their desk and how vital it is form them to stay in touch.
One of the winning features of the BlackBerries has been that email was pushed to the handset rather than the normal method of repeatedly asking the mail server if it had anything new. To use the push feature, the BlackBerries originally needed to run in conjunction with MS Exchange and Lotus Domino servers – the Enterprise solution, as they labelled it. This changed a while back to allow mail to be picked up for the widely spread POP servers.
It is due for release on 1 Oct in the UK and will vary in cost depending on the call plan, ranging from free on the higher call plans to £82 (~$146.56, ~€120.60) on the Anytime 100. The email charge will be on top, varying from £8.51 (~$15.21, ~€12.51) for a heavy voice plan to £15.74 (~$28.13, ~€23.15) if it is only used for email.
We’ll be testing in October, so stand by for a review.
BlackBerry 7100
16 September, 2004
CLIE PEG-VZ90 marks Sony’s start of Mass Production of Full Colour Organic LED’s
Sony has announced that they will start the mass production of full-colour Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays. They see the OLED displays as a possible replacement for LCD screens, but with the added advantages of not needing a back-light, giving quicker screen response times and providing wider viewing angles. Response times will drop from 16mil sec on current Sony LED’s to a stunning 0.01mil sec and viewing angles will improve from around 130 degrees on LCD to 180 degrees in both horizontal and vertical planes.
By adding their own magic ingredient to OLED’s, called Super Top Emission technology, Sony claims they will get significant improved brightness (1000:1 vs 100:1 LCD) and a great range of colours (gamut) (~100% vs ~40% LCD). They claim it will rival the performance of Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT).
Since their introduction, one of the big problems for LCD-equipped portable media players has been the impossibility of seeing their displays outdoors when the sun is strong. It sounds like Sony’s approach could not only save the batteries of portable devices, but also fix the sunlight problem.
The CLIE ‘PEG-VZ90’ will be the first Sony device to benefit from the production run.
Sony
15 September, 2004
Amino shows tiny IPtv PVR STB
Amino, the broadcast electronics company based in Cambridge, UK, have unveiled the AmiNET500, a tiny, low-cost, Internet Protocol Television (IPtv) set top box with built in PVR. The diminutive 184mm x 240 x 56 box can hold up to 40 hours of programming on its 80Gb drive. It runs on a Linux platform and uses a Java-based PVR application
Amino have taken a flexible approach to delivering content to the box. The AmiNET500 will monitor the speed of the broadband connection and will enable the uploading of content for later replay if, bandwidth is insufficient for live delivery.
Amino plan to support leading DRM and conditional access systems and, if protection is used, the programming will be stored encrypted on the hard drive. Delivery of content around the home, to different STB’s is also possible with this machine. Presumably the disparate STB’s will need to be able to decode the encrypted material.
The first vision of the box, destined for US release is available form October and the European version in early 2005.
Amino Communications
13 September, 2004
Pace launch PVR2GO – 1st Mobile PVR for payTV
Pace, UK-based supplier for TV-focused technology, announced what they claim is the world’s first mobile personal video recorder of payTV.
The 40Gb device, which enables the downloading of protected TV content, has an interesting and innovative approach to the display. The device will feature two screens, a large high quality and resolution screen to display the content, with a secondary, smaller strip of screen underneath it that is used for navigating the content. The normal approach to this would be to use a large high quality screen, but in discussion with their Director of Technology, David Gillies explained that Pace would get significant financial saving using this approach.
The upper high-resolution screen will be a new range, supplied by Samsung, using one quarter of the power a currently available equivalent. Using ‘clever new battery’ technology and other power saving features, the battery life of the device will be at least 3 hours – more than long enough to watch a feature film.
Unsurprisingly it will also have the ability to play audio files and view photos. One unexpected feature is the ability to play games, the make up of which we assume will be dependant on which OS is installed.
On the OS question, we were told it would be soft, depending on who the operator customer is. If some purchasing operator has a Set Top Box (STB) with a defined look and feel or EPG, this can also be ported, extending the payTV operators brand to their viewers hand.
Although a fully working demonstrator was not available, they were showing a version, using the older screen, displaying video content. Given an order, Neil Gaydon, Worldwide Sales and Marketing Director told Digital Lifestyles that they could have it in the market “within six months”.
Pace Micro
13 September, 2004
IBC News: O2 to Trial DVB-H Video to Mobile Phones
O2 and NTL have announced that they will be trialling a DVB-H mobile video service in Oxford, England next spring. That they have chosen DVB-H over the competing standards is good news for the platform’s supporters.
Nine transmitters will send sixteen channels of video to 500 O2 customers, with proposed content covering sport, music, news and ahem, soap operas. Those involved in the trial will be given phones from Sony and Nokia.
The trial is concerned with measuring consumer demand for video services, rather than being a purely technical pilot. Usage will be extensively tracked to see just what sort of service people might actually be interested in using.
The head of media business development at NTL’s Broadcast Division, Terry Howard, said: “This is a commercial trial to test the business case for a mobile TV service in the UK. We’ve performed extensive market research about consumer demand and viewing habits and it looks very positive, but these results need to be validated in a trial environment in conjunction with key players in the industry.”
O2 on the news
10 September, 2004
Audiofeast Internet Radio Service
Audiofeast have a new service, designed to help listeners get the most out of internet radio – using their Virtual Broadcast Network, subscribers can rip internet radio stations for time shifting, or listening on their MP3 player.
The service features more than 400 channels of news, sports, business and entertainment radio programming in an “all you can listen to” format for PCs, MP3 players and other mobile devices.
“Our goal is to reignite the passion consumers once felt for radio programming, and deliver that experience on a portable player in high fidelity,” said Tom Carhart, AudioFeast’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “Although the market for MP3 players and online music services has undergone explosive growth in recent years, the task of searching for compelling content and loading it on a portable player is still a difficult, time-consuming and expensive process for consumers. Unlike track-at-a-time downloads, AudioFeast delivers a vast library of radio programming that is constantly refreshed, affordable and ready to listen to whenever you are.”
The company have licensed media from more than 70 partners, including Bloomberg Radio, BBC Radio, Discovery Channel, History Channel, NPR, SportsNews Radio and The Wall Street Journal Radio Network.
The service uses Audiofeast’s Virtual Broadcast Network, a secure distribution system which is actually based on P2P technology to keep distribution costs down. Like a TiVo, Audiofeast allows users to skip, pause or rewind radio broadcasts, and transfer them to their portable devices for later listening. The client is compatible with players Creative Labs, Dell, iRiver, iRock, RCA and Rio, with more being anounced. iPods aren’t directly supported, but since MP3s aren’t protected, you can transfer your files manually to your player.
The company intend to launch a music service in October top complement their existing product. A one year subscription costs US$49.95 (€51).
Audiofeast
9 September, 2004
French Consumer Group Takes Action Against Copy-protected CDs
Consumers in France have taken legal action against EMI and retailer Fnac, accusing them of deception, because of copy-protection techniques used on CDs. They are unhappy because the copy protection scheme employed by EMI prevents the discs being played on some car stereos, home CD players and PCs – and also stops owners from making personal copies. This contravenes legislation passed in France 1985, stating that consumers can make copies of CDs for personal use.
UFC-Que Choisir is seeking damages for consumers through the legal action, and consequently Fnac and EMI face a fine of up to €188,000 (UK£126,350), if the group is successful. They may also have to remove all copy-protected CDs from sale.
Fnac say that they are confident that they will not be fined, as they claim to have taken adequate steps to inform customers of the potential problems with copy-protected CDs.
UFC-Que Choisir have another copy-protection case going through the courts at the moment, this time concerned with consumers prevented from transferring tracks from CD to portable players.
Que Choisir
26 August, 2004
Gizmondo News
Tiger Telematics, the manufacturers of the Gizmondo, a handheld games console not unlike a super-powerful N-Gage with GPS, has announced that the unit will feature a new type of Flash chip.
The new chip, the snappy mDiskOnChip G3 from M-Systems is the smallest Flash memory chip on the market – it must be very small indeed as neither M-Systems or Tiger Telematics seem to have published the physical dimensions of it anywhere.
The Gizmondo is shaping up to be a potentially exciting console – it will feature a 400MHz ARM9 processor, 2.8 inch colour screen and a 64 bit graphics accelerator, a camera, MP3 player and GPRS phone. Location-based gaming will be enabled through the device’s GPS unit, and Bluetooth will let you fight with your friends. Oh, and in there somewhere is the new 64mb Flash memory chip.
“I am sure that customers will appreciate the overall user experience achieved through the impressive combination of the latest technologies that is found within Gizmondo,” said Francois Kaplan, general manager of M-Systems Europe. “I am pleased to see our new mDiskOnChip G3 product contribute to the high-performance, small size and long battery life of this exciting multi-entertainer.”
The Gizmondo will be based on Windows CE.NET and cost between US$300 and US$400 (UK£166 to UK£222) when it launches later this year – and it will appear in the UK first, no less.
Can the PSP, Nintendo DS, Gizmondo, Series 60 games phones and the N-Gage QD all survive in this market? We’ll have to wait until Christmas 2005 to find out.
Gizmondo
26 August, 2004