Category: Bluetooth

Bluetooth

Samsung G600: First Look

We went to the Global launch of the Samsung G600 in London last night – the first time Samsung has carried out such a launch in the UK.

The phone is quite a looker and the first for Samsung with a 5 Mpx camera built in. To match this, is a great display capable of displaying 16M colours, which should flatter the films you can play on it at 30fps, in MPEG4, WMV and H.264 formats.

The black two-tone sliding handset feels great in the hand, with the sort of heft that conveys quality.
Continue reading Samsung G600: First Look

Nokia HF-300 Speakerphone Announced

Nokia Speakerphone HF-300 AnnouncedNokia, king of mobile phones, has announced a Speakerphone, the HF-300.

It’s a functional-looking device that isn’t going to set the catwalk-goers alight with whoops of joy.

They’ve done well in reducing the number of buttons to three on the battery-powered device, with two of those being volume controls. They’ve even missed off a power button, as it switches itself off when it’s not being used.
Continue reading Nokia HF-300 Speakerphone Announced

HTC Smartphone Launch, London

HTC Smartphone Launch, LondonThere was a large assemblage of HTC bigwigs in town for the global launch of their new Touch smartphone.

A sleek little fella sporting GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Tri-band radio (900, 1800 & &900), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0, the Touch launches in two flavours: “elegant soft black” and the truly daft sounding, “alluring wasabi green.”

The big news about the phone – hyperbolically described as, “a watershed as important as the introduction of the mouse” – is HTC’s new TouchFLO system, which lets users navigate screens by sweeping their finger across the phone.
Continue reading HTC Smartphone Launch, London

Palm 680 Goes On Sale In UK

Palm 680 Goes On Sale In UKPalm’s update to its well-received and long running Treo 650 smartphone goes on sale in the UK.

The new Treo phone sees Palm targeting the consumer market, with the 680 coming in a range of attractive colours (US store only) and a lower price.

The distinctive chunky aerial has gone (us Europeans apparently aren’t down with that antennae thang), and the new Palm is lighter and slightly smaller than the 650, measuring 0.1 inches slimmer at 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.8 inches (113mm W x 59mm H x 21mm) and weighing 0.8 ounces less at 5.5 ounces (157 grams).

As with the 650, the new Treo offers the same fantastic one-handed usability and ergonomics, with an improved backlit QWERTY keyboard and the same bright 320 x 320 pixel touchscreen display.

Palm 680 Goes On Sale In UKThe Treo 680 also comes with beefed up Radio Frequency (RF) sensitivity for improved phone performance, a SD/MMC/SDIO-compatible expansion card interface and upgraded Bluetooth 1.2 connectivity.

Sadly, there’s still no Wi-Fi onboard (although new unlimited data deals like T-Mobile’s Web’n’Walk can now provide alternative, albeit slower, means to keep connected on the move) and the onboard camera can also only muster up a rather disappointing 640 x 480 pixels resolution. We have to say that this still outperforms some megapixel cameras we’ve seen on other phones.

Despite its age, we still view the Palm OS as the best choice for smartphones, with the platform offering an immense range of third-party programs and some lovely user-friendly touches (the threaded SMS interface is still a treat to use).

Palm 680 Goes On Sale In UKAs with the Treo 650, the new phone offers the usual cornucopia of functionality and features including email, web browsing (via Blazer 4.5), the excellent Pocket Tunes music player, calendar, video, photo album and Documents To Go letting users view, edit and share Word and Excel documents on the move.

The interface on the 680 has also seen a few usability-boosting tweaks, with faster navigation and an ability to fire off a discreet “can’t talk now” text message when you’re too busy to answer a call.

Inside, the phone’s internal memory has been beefed up to 64MB, while the battery life has been slimmed down from the 650, with the smaller 1200mAh rechargeable Lithium Ion cell rated for four hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby time.

Palm 680 Goes On Sale In UKThe product is available from today at the Palm e-store (US only) in red, orange, white and silver for £299 (contract free), although we’ve already seen discounted prices popping up elsewhere.

Treo 680

Smartphone Sales Soar

Smartphone Sales SoarSmartphone unit sales are soaring, with sales almost tripling between 2004 and 2005, and increasing a further 50% in the first half of 2006 compared to the previous year.

Figures revealed by the high-tech market research firm In-Stat reveal that the Windows Mobile operating system has now managed to grab an equal slice of the US market share with smartphone big boys, BlackBerry and Palm.

Bill Hughes, an analyst at the research firm says that much of 2005’s soaring smartphone shipment growth was down to a run on Linux-based handset shipments in Asia at the end of the year.

However, he’s a bit sniffy about calling these phones – mainly from Motorola, NEC, and Panasonic – proper smartphones because they don’t possess the same high end functionality seen in Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Palm OS devices.

Although the Linux-based handsets are capable of running Java-powered applications added by users, Hughes reckons they should really be called ‘feature phones’ rather than smartphones.

Smartphone Sales SoarDespite the spectacular sales, Hughes advised caution, pointing out that many smartphone users continue to lug around the very devices that smartphones are supposed to replace.

“Also, users have been slow to add new applications to their devices. Most users have only downloaded a few applications,” he added.

Other research by In-Stat found that business users given work phones were three times more likely to carry a second phone for their personal calls than other users.

In-Stat

Palm Treo 680 Affordable Smartphones Announced

Palm Treo 680 Affordable Smartphones AnnouncedPalm has introduced a new range of quad-band Palm Treo 680 smartphones, running the tried and trusted Palm OS.

Backed by a $25 million marketing campaign – their biggest marketing campaign in half a decade – Palm is hoping that the lower priced Treos will attract customers beyond their traditional business base.

The GSM/GPRS/EDGE phones will be offered in a range of attractive colours (Graphite, Copper, Crimson and Arctic), weighing 23g lighter than the last PalmOS Treo, the 700p, and measuring up at 6mm longer and 3mm thinner.

Like the Windows-powered Treo 750w released earlier this year, the Treo 680 comes without the pocket-bulging, iconic chunky antennae, something which Palm thinks will have a positive impact on the European market.

Palm Treo 680 Affordable Smartphones AnnouncedThe Treo comes with a large and bright 320×320 screen and the well regarded full QWERTY keyboard, with a raft of multimedia functions including an integrated digital camera, Bluetooth 1.2 , MP3 player, video recorder and player.

Onboard, there’s 64MB of user-available storage – nearly three times the capacity of the original Treo 650 smartphone – with expansion card support up to 2GB.

Although the Treo 680 is still lagging behind with the latest technology – there’s still no W-CDMA or Wi-Fi support – its superb user-friendly interface still puts it streets ahead of some higher spec’d phones.

Software
Like its Palm OS predecessors, the 680 displays text-messaging conversations as IM-like “threaded chats,” a fabulous feature that should be introduced by law on all phones.

The phone also lets users respond to calls by firing off a preset text message (“bog off weird stalker person”), and there’s support for three-way calling.

Palm Treo 680 Affordable Smartphones AnnouncedAlong with the usual bundled applications for e-mail, Web browsing, messaging, multimedia, calendar and contacts, there’s a special version of Google Map for the Treo.

Billed by Google as,”the fastest, slickest version yet,” the application offers real-time traffic reports, detailed directions, integrated search results (search for cafes/bars etc, get addresses and call them with one click), satellite imagery and fast-downloading detailed, draggable maps with translucent pop-up balloons.

Sadly, us in Britland will have to wait for a while as the program currently only offers maps for Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the US.

Palm Treo 680 Affordable Smartphones AnnouncedPalm has also announced that it will be partnering with several media companies, including Yahoo, Google and blogging firm Six Apart, to make their products available on the new device – these will join the enormous back catalogue of commercial and free software that’s already available for the OS.

Availability
Palm head honcho Ed Colligan said he expects the new smartphone to be available around the world by the end of June, 2007, “competitively priced with comparable smartphones in the marketplace,” with the price rumoured to be around the $200 mark.

Palm 680

Airis Releases Bargain Basement PDAs With GPS

Airis Releases Bargain Basement PDAs With GPSAlthough PDAs may be a dying breed, they clearly ain’t dead yet, with the lesser known Spanish electrics company releasing no less than two spanking new GPS-enabled PDAs.

Running on Windows Mobile 2005, it has to be said that the Airis units aren’t exactly lookers, but at a retail price of €220 (£148) and €289 (£195) respectively, they look like chuffing great value.

The new T610 and T620 models both include the well respected SiRFStar III GPS chipset.

Lurking inside is a nippy Samsung 2440 400MHz processor, backed up by a healthy 64MB RAM and 128MB ROM.

The T610 and T620 are cosmetically identical, with both being enclosed in a bland, grey plastic case offering the usual four navigation buttons supplemented by a mini joystick.

Both PDAs come with a 3.5 inch TFT 320 x 240 pixels/65k colours touch screen with anti-reflective coating, with the units offering WAV, WMA, MP3, WMV, MPEG4, DivX4 and DivX5 support.

Airis Releases Bargain Basement PDAs With GPSA SD/MMC card slot takes care of expansion options, with connectivity coming in the form of a MiniUSB socket , Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g (T620 only)

A Lithium-Ion 200 mAh battery should keep the thing purring along for hours, with the T610/T620 weighing in at 170g and measuring 15.6 x 72 x 17.8 mm.

A mounting kit, car charger, and a smart leather case round off the feature set, with the units being available from this French site.

We couldn’t find any UK distributors.

[From Navigadget]

SMS m300 “World’s First Truly Mobile GSM Watch Phone”

SMS m300 Dick Tracy had one and when I was a kid I would have swapped my entire collection of 2000AD comics for one, but users down under in Oz will soon be able to start talking into their wrist watches and not face arrest on psychiatric charges.

Designed by SMS Developments Ltd in Australia, the m300 is claimed to be the world’s first “truly mobile GSM watch phone” with their Flash-tastic website confirming a release date of Dec 1st 2006 (excuse us while we decline to hold our breath on that one).

Just like a R’n’B star talking about his music, the makers are promising to take mobile communications “to a whole new level,” with the watch offering 70 hours standby time, full SMS functionality, Bluetooth compatibility and USB connectivity for software/ringtone uploads.

There’s also a 99 number memory storage, 40 embedded real tones and what they’re describing as a “sleek sophisticated design” (we beg to differ here – it looks more like the kind of cheapo watch you might win from those annoying funfair ‘grab’ machines – you know, the ones that always drop your prize in the last bleedin’ second).

SMS m300 Anyway, back to the M300, the specs say that it offers GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHZ connectivity, Bluetooth (with bluetooth headset for voice call only), a teensy-weensy 65K OLED (0.9″) display and “Speaker Phone Text base UI,” whatever that is.

In fairness, compared to some of the arm-dragging slabs of metal that have been served up as ‘watch-sized’ in the past, this actually is more or less the right size, albeit a slightly chunky affair at 43 x 56 x 14.8 mm.

The phone should work in the USA, Europe and Asia although whether it actually makes it out of Australia is anyone’s guess.

SMS m300 I guess the bit that the designers forgot about is that talking into a watch is going to make you look distinctly odd and that watch sales have been steadily declining as users are preferring to use the time displays on their phones, PDAs and MP3 players…

Oh, and as for the ‘world’s first’ claim, The Inquirer has already pointed out that Samsung announced such a phone at the CeBIT show, Hanover, some years ago.

SMS Developments

Enfora 802.11 Wi-Fi Sled For Palm Treo 650s Review (75%)

Enfora 802.11 Wi-Fi Sled For Palm Treo 650s ReviewAlthough we’re not alone in thinking that the Palm Treo is the best smartphone around, the device suffers from one tragic omission; Wi-Fi.

For reasons best known to Palm, the promised drivers for their 802.11 Wi-Fi SD card never materialised, leaving Treo 650 users looking like chumps when the Wi-Fi gang were in town.

Enfora to the rescue
Seeing a sizeable hole in the market, Texas tech company Enfora released a WiFi Adapter for the Treo, unusually shaped in a ‘sled’ design, bolting on to the back of the Treo rather than using the SD card slot.

Enfora 802.11 Wi-Fi Sled For Palm Treo 650s ReviewThis design has obvious advantages and disadvantages; the advantage is that the sled offers its own power supply, giving users a considerably enhanced battery life compared to handheld-powered Wi-Fi cards; the disadvantage is that the thing adds bulk to the phone.

Getting started
Tearing open the box with gay abandon, we found the adapter (smaller than we imagined), an AC adapter that conveniently offers four different international plugs, an installation CD and the flimsiest instructions we’ve seen for some time – just a tiny scrap of paper.

There’s also a custom battery cover for the Treo which has two slotted holes for attaching the phone to the sled. Aesthetes may be offended to note that it’s a different shade of silver to the Treo.

Enfora 802.11 Wi-Fi Sled For Palm Treo 650s ReviewThe unit must be charged for two hours before use, with a small amber LED blinking while charging. This turns to solid green when the Treo is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Installing the drivers
Installing the drivers via Windows XP was easy enough, with an automated setup program on the CD transferring the required WiFiMgr.prc driver file to the Palm.

Mac users will have to manually install the driver which is simple enough.

Getting connected
It has to be said that getting the WiFi Sled on to your Treo is a bit of a palaver, needing a dexterity akin to the Vulcan death grip.

Once you’ve changed the battery cover you have to pull the button on the sled, give the Treo an almighty shove downwards and then click the phone back into place.

Enfora 802.11 Wi-Fi Sled For Palm Treo 650s ReviewThe first few times we tried this, it took so much effort to pull the phone in and out of the sled we began to fear we’d end up breaking the thing.

In the end, we just took the cover off and fitted the Treo bareback, if you, err, get our drift.

Once wedged into the sled, we turned on the unit, clicked on the Wi-Fi icon on the Treo and ran the Enfora application to look for available wireless base stations (WBS).

As soon as you locate your network, you have to select ‘add’ to create a network profile and then input IP information and WEP passwords (if needed) and then hit ‘connect’ and you’re online.

Although this is fine if you know what network you’re looking for, the software for ‘sniffing’ connections is rather woefully Spartan, with no indications whether located networks are open or encrypted.

We did write to Enfora (who have excellent customer support by the way) and they said that they couldn’t justify writing a brand new Wi-Fi sniffer application for what is basically a niche product.

Using the Enfora Wi-Fi Sled
Although the Wi-Fi Sled is nowhere near as big as we thought, you’d still feel a right berk making calls with it attached, so a headset is a must (see our BoxWave Dual Handsfree Stereo Adapter review).

Happily, the Enfora has been designed so that you can still use the audio port on the Treo and there’s a microphone on the front of the unit so you can receive calls while surfing the web too.

Conveniently, the Wi-Fi Sled’s AC adapter will also charge the Treo when it’s in situ, so you won’t need to drag around two adapters on your travels.

Conclusion
It has to be said that although it feels a bit of a bodge, it actually works very well and for users who need to combine the slick functionality of a Treo 650 with the speed of a broadband Wi-Fi connection, the Enfora WiFi Sled is well worth the money (approx £106/$170).

Once connected, we had no problems hurtling through our email and whizzing around Websites and although the pocket-filling girth didn’t thrill, the additional battery life meant that it may prove far more practical for road warriors away from base for lengthy periods.

One thing: it looks like Enfora may be cancelling UK shipments in the near future, so get your order in quick!

Features: 70% Build: 70% Value For Money: 75% Overall: 75%

Enfora
Enfora Online ordering (UK)