HTC are rumoured to have won the contract to manufacture the much-hyped Windows Mobile-based version of Palm’s Treo smart phone.
The combination of Windows OS and the Treo’s fabulous form factor could prove a real market winner, although the device’s release is believed to some way off.
An article in the DigiTimes Website reported that the Treo/HTC hybrid was announced in the Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial Times.
The Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC) firm already manufactures its own popular suite of Windows Mobile-based smart phones and PDA-style communicators, which go under a mass of different names worldwide, depending on the mobile networks operators and handset vendors.
Their big-selling models include the XDA Mini (MDA Compact/ HTC Magician/ i-mate JAM/Qtek s100), XDASII (Qtek 2020/i-mate/Orange SPV M1000/Movistar tsm 500) and XDAIIs (MdaIII/iMate PDA2k/Qtek 9090/HTC Blue Angel/Audiovox 6600/Siemens SX66/Orange SPV M2000).
HTC also undertakes contract manufacturing on behalf of a number of partners, and was said to be producing the Palm OS-based Treo 650 back in September 2004.
Rumours quickly spread that HTC would be creating a Windows Mobile-based Treo called the Treo 670, with a host of fuzzy images purporting to be the new device appearing on the Web.
Both Palm and HTC have staunchly refused to confirm their collaboration.
There’s no denying that HTC would be a logical choice to create a Windows Mobile-based Treo, with some pundits suggesting that the company may have lent some Windows Mobile development expertise to Palm’s design team.
The Commercial Times article suggests that HTC may well have designed the 670 itself, working to the parameters of the standard Treo feature-set and case design.
Just as we went to press, another rumour flashed across the Web, with Cool Tech Times showing a fairly convincing photograph of what it reckons is the new Treo 700.
Naturally, large opencast excavations of salt are needed when it comes to these things, but for the record the site claims that the Treo will feature a 1.3 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and EVDO capability (EVDO stands for Evolution Data Only, and is the wireless broadband protocol of choice for CDMA networks).
Although the design could have come straight off the screen of some time-rich spoddy Photoshop kid (and we definitely have some doubts about its authenticity), it’s still a pretty looking affair, reflecting the strong points of the Treo’s long standing design ethos.
Whatever the final Treo looks like, it’s only Palm’s hopeless feet-dragging over implementing consumer-demanded features like proper Wi-Fi support that reluctantly sent us to the Windows dark side a few months ago, so whenever the next Treo 670/700/whatever-you-want-to call-it ever surfaces, we’ll take a boxful please!
Yahoo is testing a new Audio search facility to let users find audio files on the Web.
Although the service is still in beta we were impressed with its speedy and simple interface: typing in the name of one of my (sadly) obscure old punk songs immediately brought up the album details, a list of download locations and links to reviews and other released albums.
Technorati has launched Technorati Mobile, a stripped-down version of the popular blog search facility designed to be viewed on mobile phones and handheld computers/smartphones.
Three stories are displayed from each category, with links underneath leading to pages containing aggregated blog comment on the stories.
As part of Motorola’s strategy to tempt home and business with new services, the company has announced that it will add Yahoo! Web services to their Linux-based mobile devices.
Ron Garriques, president of Motorola’s mobile device business, said: “By optimising these products for our leading Linux and Java software platform, we’re making it just that much easier for operators to maximize revenue while delivering the most innovative consumer experiences.”
Elsewhere, the company have also announced that Vonage will offer the new Motorola VT2442 voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway to its Internet telephony customers.
Microsoft Wants To Own Emoticons
Sony Whips Out A White PSP
Google Grabs 47% Of All Searches Online
The North American voice over IP (VoIP) market is about to go completely bananas, with phenomenal growth predicted for the next six years, according to a report by Frost & Sulllivan.
The VoIP’s operator’s joy could be the incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) misery, as Internet telephony represents a direct threat their market share and revenue.
The report concludes that it’s the quality of service and the VoIP feature set that’s attracting punters to the service rather than a desire to get in with the hi-tech crowd.
Skype has teamed up with The Cloud – Europe’s leading Wi-Fi network provider – to offer low cost Wi-Fi access and Internet voice calls at 6,000 of The Cloud’s hotspots in the UK and Sweden.
Skype users ambling into a Cloud hotspot will be connected to the service as soon as they flip out their Wi-Fi enabled device.
“Skype is bringing affordable Wi-Fi and voice calls to millions of users, enabling them to talk, IM and surf conveniently and cost-effectively from thousands of great locations. Our users in the UK and Sweden will benefit from The Cloud’s extensive network coverage in places where people really want to use it.”
Developed by Nick Bradbury, the smart fella responsible for creating the fabulous Homesite (still our fave HTML editor) and the superb Top Style CSS Editor, FeedDemon 1.5 is a powerful RSS aggregation tool.
We found this approach intuitive and fast, although users with small monitors may have to indulge in an orgy of scrolling to view all the content in its default layout.
FeedDemon’s new podcasting tools let news-hungry junkies download audio files and automatically copy them to their iPod (and, notably, other media players) with the bundled FeedStation utility allowing the scheduling of downloads – letting users charge up their iPod with new content while they’re snoozing.
We had a report from a reader today that he’d been … ehm, carrying out tests on his content filtering service. This entailed going to sites with photos of naked bodies – purely to test that the content filter blocked his access to them you understand. One of first sites he went to was the well known UK tabloid, The Sun.
The piece in the Gizmo section of the site and paper features BT’s new model to promote BT Communicator, Michelle Marsh.
Boingo Wireless and Skype have fluttered eyelids at each other, gone for a quiet snog and, ruddy faced, jointly announced Skype Zones, a partnership that offers global Wi-Fi access to Skype customers at (ahem) “revolutionary” prices.
Fluffing up the big pink cushions of corporate love, Niklas Zennstrom, Skype CEO purred passionately about his new partner: “Boingo is a world-class company that offers Skype users unprecedented global communications mobility and accessibility, at an aggressive, market disrupting price.”
Monthly access to Skype Zones is $7.95 per month for unlimited Skype access or $2.95 (~€2.42~£1.66) for a 2-hour connection.