Since, mid-2006 mobile phones with a built-in 3 MP camera and optical zoon are available on the market and already represent an alternative to low end digital camera. More than 70 models are available today with a 3 to 5 MP resolution. One of the first phone with a "real camera" was the famous one Nokia N93 and its Carl Zeiss Optics.

Samsung is now putting even more pressure on camera makers with the soon release (first on European market) of its G800. A 5 MP digital camera with 3x optical zoom into mobile phone… or is it the opposite? 

The specifications are rather attractive:

• Quad bands (900 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100  )
• Data network HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• 2.4 inches TFT display with 256K colors
• Size 101x52x19mm for 129 gr (25% lighter than the Nokia N93)
• Standby 220 hours, talk time 3.5 hours.
• Memory 160 MB + MicroSD slot
• Document views (Office, PPT, PDF,)
• Email (POP3, IMAP), SMS, MMS,
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0, PCSync, OutlookSync, etc..
• FM Receiver, Java embedded, MP3, etc..

and indeed the built-in camera:

• 5 Mio Pixel
• 2592х1944 pixels
• autofocus
• video recording mode: MPEG4, 3GPP, H.263, H.264
• xenon flash
• 3x optical zoom /4x digital
• 4 shot modes
• 4 quality settings
• brightness adjustment

 All other specs are here

The big plus is definitively the 3x optical zoom which makes the difference with other 5 MP phones.  The resolution race continues as Samsung (them again) Electro-Mechanics announced on November 15th that 8 MP camera phones may be available by next summer following the successful development of a 10.5 x 11.5 x 9.4mm 8 megapixel CMOS censor.

Will camera makers develop new "point and shoot" camera with built-in phones  and multimedia facilities such MP3 player and FM receiver ?

I'm impatient to have one "box" less to carry when traveling…

What will you drop first ? your camera or your phone ?

Tags: 2007, 5 MP, 8 MP, api, ATT, blog, camera, ces, connectivity, development, digital, europe, flash, fon, gap, ia, im, lan, light, map, megapixels, memory, mobile, mobile phone, models, network, nokia, nomadcom.net, PDF, phone, phones, photo, point and shoot, press, release, resolution, samsung, sms, sun, Travel, uk, usb, video, wp, www

The Gartner Group launched during the IT Security Summit, a book written by Richard Hunter (Gartner vice-president) entitled IT Risk: "Turning Business Threats into Competitive".

The Register published an article highlighting some of Hunter's statement. Extracts:

• IT systems have become so integral to businesses that their failure can have disastrous consequences for an organization.

• IT risk is too important to be left to IT departments
• IT risk is related to IT value. It would be short-sighted not to recognize either value or risk

The complete article in available on The Register site.

More interesting than the article itself are indeed the comments which clearly show how wide is the gap between the theory (or the analysis) and the reality.

Best of :

• So the Bean counters and all the people who have no clue about it should have control? BAD IDEA.
• …This is the reason why an I.T director needs to sit on the board. Not however just some one who did a MBA but barely knows how to turn on their PC.
• …much of the problem can be resolved with a bit of education and common sense – and some money of course
• Ignorance, from middle management to board level, of even simple issues relating to IT risks that can be seriously detrimental to the business as a whole.
• Management, up to board level, simply not listening to IT managers who DO know what they are talking about
• In my experience IT risk auditors are finance types who don't understand IT and thus cannot adequately assess the risk
• Yes, let's take away IT disaster management and network security from the people that have a clue.

All comments are here.

I recognize in most comments highly experienced, realistic and well grounded IT guys. About the, so called, IT Analysts… same consideration than for the Burton Group.

As expressed, common sense would be to have IT director on the board, and the management to wake up and become IT skilled.

What's your opinion ?

Tags: 2007, analysis, art, best of, blog, book, ces, ethernet, failure, fon, gap, gartner group, how to, im, IT risk, King, lan, launch, LED, light, list, Management, MIT, money, network, nomadcom.net, pet, press, risk, security, simple, the register, threat, uk, wp, www, XP

Hewlett-Packard has presented its new iPAQ handheld devices. Among them the 600 series a two-in-one 3G phone and navigation device and the 900 series which comes with a full QWERTY keyboard.

Both models share the following specifications: 

• O/S : Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• CPU : Marvell PXA270 520 MHz
• Memory : 128 MB SDRAM and 256 MB ROM
• aGPS (assisted navigation)
• Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri Band HSPDA
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0
• USB 2.0 connector, MicroSD card slot
• 3 Megapixel camera

900 series model only (within brackets, specs of HTC C730)

• Size: 113 x 64 x 16mm (112.5 x 62.5 x 13.5)
• Weight: 146 gr. (120 gr)
• Battery: 1850 mAh (1050 mAh)
• Display: 2.46 in TFT with 65000 colors (2.4 TFT 65000)
• Price Tag: ~800 USD (~520 USD)

Will this model becomes a serious competitor to HTC Cavalier (C730, replacement of S620 Excalibur) which is a 3.5G phone, smaller, lighter and cheaper but does not come with GPS navigation and tactile screen?   

All info about new iPAQ on HP Mobility 2007
Availability: October 2007

Sources : Mobilitysite, Blog de Pierre

Tags: 2007, 802.11, 900 Series, 914, api, asia, ATT, availability, blog, Business Messenger, C720, C720w, C730, camera, card, Cavalier, ces, dopod, excalibur, gap, gsm, handheld, Hewlett Packard, HP, htc, ia, im, iPAQ, keyboard, lan, light, memory, messenger, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobility, models, nomadcom.net, pda, pet, phone, press, public, S620, screen, share, space, Telecommunications, usb, windows, windows mobile 6, WM6, wp, www

The Sony A700 DSLR microsite was briefly available on Sony UK website earlier this week. Yesterday, Sony officially announced the A-700 in a press release.

New A-700 specs are the following :  

• 12.4 megapixel CMOS sensor
• BIONZ image processor
• 11 point autofocus system
• ISO 6400
• 5fps (for 17 shots in RAW mode)
• 1/8000th shutter speed
• 3 inch LCD screen (with 921,000 pixels)
• Optional battery grip
• Wireless Flash support
• Both MemoryStick and CompactFlash cards supported
• Size: 142 x 105 x 80 mm
• Weight: 690g
• Price Tag: : 1400€ body only, 1500€ with lens 18-70mm, 2120€ with lens Zeiss 18-80 mm

3 new DT lenses will be available:

• 16-105mm F3.5-5.6
• 18-250mm F3.5-6.3
• 55-200mm f4-5.6

Availabilty : 16th of November in Japan

Sources : Photography Blog, Virus Photo.
Check the A-700 Hands-on preview on DPreview  

Additional pictures on Engadget site.
More information later this week with the official Sony launch.

Tags: 2007, A700, api, ATT, blog, camera, card, ces, CTU, digital, DSLR, DSLR A700, flash, fon, gap, HP, ia, ict, im, iso, japan, lan, launch, memory, new release, nomadcom.net, pda, photo, Photography, picture, press, project, raw, release, review, screen, sony, space, uk, update, web, website, wireless, wp, www

After receiving an email from Kpjas, an Ipernity member, who informed me that he took a photo of mine to illustrate "50 Places To See Before You Die" selected by BBC viewers in 2003 in his blog, I reviewed the list and noticed that I have already visited more than 50% of these places that BBC viewers dream about (lucky me).

This list raised some interrogation to me about why these places have chosen instead of other famous ones ?  I could not find any relevant explanations except perhaps a majority of places where the spoken language is (was) English (but it makes sense as enquiry took place in UK). One thing is sure, after reading names of these great location, you just feel to escape from your office, pack you stuff and go travel.

Personally I would definitively add some places to this list (Okavango delta, Yunnan mountains, Kalahari desert, Japan, etc..) and perhaps drop some but for sure, I'll not be able to keep it to only 50 locations.

BBC 2008 Viewers "Must See list"

Africa
La Digue, Seychelles

(visited)
The Pyramids, Egypt (1993)
Luxor, Egypt  (1993)
Abu Simbel, Egypt (1993)
Masai Mara, Kenya (1993/2002)
Victoria Falls, Zambia / Zimbabwe (1994)
Cape Town, South Africa – (1994/1998)

Americas
The Grand Canyon, USA
Yosemite National Park, USA
Las Vegas, USA
Hawaii, USA
Alaska, USA
San Francisco, USA
Niagara Falls, Canada / USA
Canadian Rockies, Canada
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Angel Falls, Venezuela
Barbados, Barbados

(visited)
New York, USA (1996/2000)
Florida, USA (2000)
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador (1999)
Machu Picchu, Peru (2001/2004)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1989/2000)
Iguassu Falls, Argentina / Brazil (2001)

Asia
Singapore, Singapore
Golden Temple, India
Taj Mahal, India
Bali, Indonesia
Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
The Maldives, Maldives
Terracotta Army, China

(visited)
Bangkok, Thailand (1994/2002)
Great Wall, China (2005)
Angkor Wat, Cambodia (1995/2006)
Himalayas, Nepal (2006)
Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2006)

Europe
Rome, Italy

(visited)
Paris, France (1980/2007)
Venice, Italy (1977/1982)
Barcelona, Spain (2001/2007)
Iceland, Iceland (1992)
Zermatt, Switzerland (1992/2005)

Middle-East
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

(visited)
Petra, Jordan (2003)

Oceania
Bora Bora, French Polynesia
South Island, New Zealand
Auckland, New Zealand

(visited)
Sydney, Australia (1996/2005)
Uluru, Australia (1996)
Great Barrier Reef, Australia (1996)   

Some pics are really crap, so good excuse to visit some of these places again  

Tags: 1994, 2003, 2007, 2008, 24, 914, arc, asia, ATT, Bangkok, BBC, before you die, best of, blog, ces, emirates, europe, find, Flickr, gap, himalaya, HP, ia, ict, im, japan, lan, language, list, location, MIT, must see, Nepal, nomadcom.net, paris, pet, photo, review, sco, space, switzerland, Thailand, Travel, uk, USA, viewers, wp, www, XP

As frequent air traveler it is always very interesting to discover where your favorite airlines appears on the annual Skytrax World Airline Award.

The 2007 edition of the awards honors Singapore Airlines as the Airline of the Year. In few days the name of the best Airport of the year will also be published.

HEADLINE RESULTS
	AIRLINE OF THE YEAR	BEST CABIN  STAFF	BEST INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
	Singapore Airlines	Malaysia Airlines	Emirates
	BEST FIRST CLASS	BEST BUSINESS CLASS	BEST ECONOMY CLASS
	Qatar Airways	Singapore Airlines	Korean Air
	BEST LOW-COST AIRLINE	FIRST CLASS CATERING	BUSINESS CLASS CATERING
	Jetstar Airways	Gulf Air	Austrian
	FIRST CLASS LOUNGE	BUSINESS CLASS LOUNGE	ECONOMY CLASS CATERING
	Thai Airways	Virgin Atlantic	Etihad Airways
	BEST AIRLINE ALLIANCE	TRANSATLANTIC AIRLINE	TRANSPACIFIC AIRLINE
	Star Alliance	British Airways	Qantas

Additional awards and detailed results on Skytrax website

Tags: 2007, air, air travel, airlines, airport, Annual, award, awards, best of, blog, emirates, flight, gap, ia, im, lan, LED, light, nomadcom.net, release, sco, singapore airlines, skytrax, space, Travel, traveler, web, website, world, world airline award, wp, www

There were in May 2007 284 millions Internet users in Asia, according comScore study, who are online an average of 20.2 hours and view 2171 pages per month while the worldwide average is 25.2 hours and 2519 pages.

Asia region represents the third of the Worldwide Internet population. China leads with 91.5 millions users (they only represent 9% of the country's population), followed by Japan (53 million) and South Korea (26.3 million). Internet users of these 3 countries represent, all together, 60% of all Asia-Pacific Internet users.

In term of usage rate, South Korea in on the top with 65%, closely followed by Australia (62%), New Zeland (60%) and Hong Kong (59%), India is at the rear with only 3%.

If Google is the most popular web site worldwide, ComScore's study shows that in Asia Yahoo remains the prefered site in Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Meanwhile, Microsoft domains are the most visited in Australia, China, and New Zealand, with the Seoul-based NHN Corporation taking top honors in South Korea.

Source: The Register

Tags: 2007, asia, asia pacific, blog, gap, google, ia, im, internet, japan, King, lan, microsoft, nomadcom.net, online, population, sco, space, study, taiwan, term, the register, uk, USA, usage, user, web, world, worldwide, wp, www, yahoo

When I saw this list on Bruno Giussani's "Blog over IP" post about Internet prices in Europe I could not resist to add some prices for Internet broadband access in Asia.

I did not add prices paid in most countries of Pacific rim but what they pay in Sweden for a monthly  broadband connection is equivalent to what they pay per minute in Kiribati or Cook islands for a noisy dial-up 14.4 kbps.   

Price comparison for consumer broadband in Europe (average monthly price per 1Mbps, from The Telegraph/MoneySupermarket):

1. Sweden GBP 0.32 (EUR 0.48)
2. France GBP 0.83 (EUR 1.23)
3. Finland GBP 1.41
4. Italy GBP 1.71
5. Norway GBP 2.05
6. Holland GBP 2.19
7. Denmark GBP 2.50 (EUR 3.7)
8. Iceland GBP 2.54
9. Germany GBP 2.64 (EUR 3.9)
10. Austria GBP 3.04
11. Belgium GBP 3.40
12. UK GBP 5.60 (EUR 8.3)
13. Portugal GBP 5.84
14. Spain GBP 6.33
15. Poland GBP 6.60
16. Ireland GBP 7.02
17. Luxembourg GBP 9.39
18. Switzerland GBP 11.03 (EUR 16.8)
19. Czech Republic GBP 12.25
20. Greece GBP 16.86
21. Hungary GBP 24.48
22. Slovakia GBP 25.48 (EUR 37.8)
23. Turkey GBP 58.82 (EUR 87.3)

Spectacular differences. Some of the them can be explained by technical reasons (fiber optic vs copper wires etc), some by the overall living costs in a given country. Most of the high prices however are tied to lack of  competition and of innovation in a specific market.

On this part of the World, the gap is definitively lots wider:

1. South Korea KRW 300 (EUR 0.25)
2. Japan JPY 400 (EUR 0.51)
3. China CNY 175 (EUR 17)
4. Singapore SGD 43 (EUR 21)
5. Thailand (BKK) THB 952 (EUR 22.27)
6. Sri Lanka LKR 4500 (EUR 30)
7. Philippines PHP 1995 (EUR 32)
8. Australia AUD 53 (EUR 33.25)
9. Pakistan PKR  4800 (EUR  59)
10. Malaysia MYR 300 (EUR 65)
11. India INR 3600 (EUR 65)
12. Myanmar USD 260 (EUR 192)
13. Fiji FJD 560 (EUR 260)
14. Indonesia USD 2440 (EUR 1800)

nota: On prices above there is no details about the carrier (ADSL, Wireless Local Loop, Fiber, Wimax, etc..) nor specifications about monthly download limits which are usually ridiculous low for a xDSL subscriber (e.g 2 GB) and still applicable in most countries (particularly on the second part of the list).

Internet for everyone at an affordable price is still far from reality.

Tags: 2007, 24, access, art, asia, blog, cable, ces, connection, europe, explain, gap, HP, ia, im, internet, iso, japan, lan, LG, list, MIT, money, myanmar, nomadcom.net, paris, pet, Philippines, post, public, space, switzerland, Telecommunications, Thailand, uk, wireless, world, wp, www, XP

While HTC Europe concentrate all its marketing on HTC-Touch, in Asia, HTC under its Dopod brand name has released earlier last month the Dopod C730 also known as HTC Cavalier successor of Dopod 720w (HTC S620).

At first look there are not many differences between both models. the C730 is slightly thicker (0.7mm) but also lighter 120g (-10g) than its predecessor.

Price tag in Singapore : 790 SGD (513.- USD)

Main differences are the following :

• MicroSD slot is now accessible from outside. Easier to swap cards
• Operating System is Windows Mobile 6 which integrates more services (Office files edition, Live Search, MSN, etc..)
• Camera 2 mega pixels.
• Better battery capacity (1050 mAh)
• Samsung 400 MHz CPU, 64MB of RAM and 128MB of flash ROM
• Quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) + 3G and HSDPA connectivity

Some points are still missing or require improvements

• Touch-sensitive strip on the edge of the phone is still hard to tame (usually I just use it to adjust volume during calls).
• Only a 2 megapixel camera when Nokia proposes 5 mega ones.
• No LED flash and front-facing camera for 3G video calls.
• No standard audio jack but a multi-purpose mini-USB connector instead.

Full Specification available on Dopod Singapore site

Sources : CNet Asia, Dopod Singapore

Tags: 2007, access, api, arc, art, asia, ATT, blog, C720, C720w, C730, camera, capacity, card, Cavalier, ces, connectivity, dopod, europe, flash, gap, global, gsm, htc, ia, im, iphone, lan, LED, light, live, mobile, Mobile Communications, models, msn, nokia, nomadcom.net, phone, phones, release, review, S620, samsung, search, services, smartphone, space, sun, Telecommunications, touch, touchflo, usb, video, windows, windows mobile 6, wp, www

While "everybody" is expecting Apple and its future iPhone (expected in USA by the end of June 07), HTC announced on the 5th of June, after few teasing days, its own touch screen smartphone.

The HTC TouchFlo, a touch screen running on Windows Mobile 6 Professional which according HTC will revolutionize the way you use the touch screen by allowing finger scrolling and panning.

Unlike the Apple iPhone, HTC TouchFlo is already available in UK (Expansys at 520 €) and will be on asian and european shelves later this month. US market will be provided later this year. 

I wonder how the input method will work and how comfortable typing messages or entering information will be with a touch screen keyboard where a constant attention is needed to make sure that all letters have been correctly entered. 

Highlights

	TouchFLO™
	Large 2.8" touch screen display
	Tri-band GSM with GPRS/EDGE
	2 megapixel camera
	Internet browsing and Push E-mail
	Multimedia capabilities
	Stereo Bluetooth® 2.0 and Wi-Fi®

 

Technical Specification

Processor	TI's OMAP™ 850, 201 MHz
Operating System	Windows Mobile® 6 Professional
Memor	ROM: 128 MB SDRAM: 64 MB DDR
Dimension	99.9mm (L) X 58mm (W) X 13.9mm (T)
Weight	112g with battery
Display	2.8" LCD touch screen with backlight 240 X 320 dots resolution with 65,536 colors
Network	GSM/GPRS/EDGE Tri-band: 900, 1800, 1900 (The device will operate on frequencies available from the cellular network.)
Device Control	HTC TouchFLO™ 5-Way navigation control
Connectivity	Bluetooth® 2.0 Wi-Fi® IEEE 802.11 b/g HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one)
Camera	2.0 megapixel CMOS color camera
Audio	Built-in microphone and 3-in-1 speaker Windows Media Player supported formats: AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, WMA, WAV, QCELP, MPEG4, AMR-NB, AMR-WB
Battery	Rechargeable Li-lon battery Capacity: 1100 mAh Standby time: Up to 200 hours Talk time: Up to 5 hours
Expansion Slot	microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
AC Adapter	Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60Hz DC output: 5V and 1A

More information on HTC Touch site,
Source:  Presse-Citron,  Smartphonethoughts

Tags: 2007, 24, 802.11, api, apple, art, asia, ATT, blog, camera, capacity, card, cellphone, cellular, ces, connectivity, europe, expansys, gap, gsm, HP, htc, HTC TouchFlo, ia, im, internet, iphone, keyboard, lan, launch, light, map, memory, microsoft, mobile, Mobile Communications, network, Nomad Tools, nomadcom.net, pda, phone, plugin, press, rechargeable, resolution, screen, smartphone, telecom, Telecommunications, touch, touch screen, touchflo, uk, USA, usb, windows, windows mobile 6, WM6, wp, www, XP