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

I went yesterday to the "Thailand Mobile Expo 07" with hope to discover some "real" new products. Instead I found the Expo 07 to be more a fair than an exhibition where you can find at least 2-3 salespersons per visitor, but no real new innovations.

• Samsung was presenting their Ultra Edition II series (U600, U300 and U100)
• LG came with the Prada
• Motorola was around with the Razr2 V8
• Sony Ericsson shown the new P1i & T650i
• HTC publicized the Touch and P3600i
• and Nokia with lots of different models with the N95 among them

Aside of mobile phones, they was a huge sale of different accessories such bluetooth headsets, car accessories, and all type of memory stuff such memory sticks, SD cards, MicroSD etc..

In resume, nothing different that you can already find in Bangkok IT shops and not a single word about incoming products such Apple iPhone, HTC Cavalier or Shift as per examples which is a bit pity in country where carrying the last mobile phone is still very trendy.

Let's see what next week 2nd Annual Asia IT will come with.

Tags: 2007, access, air, Annual, apple, asia, Bangkok, blog, card, Cavalier, ces, ericsson, example, exhibition, find, HP, htc, ia, im, iphone, lan, LG, memory, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobile phone, models, nokia, nomadcom.net, phone, phones, public, resume, samsung, sco, shift, sony, space, sun, Thailand, touch, trend, wp, www, XP

Nokia has identified that in very rare cases, Nokia branded batteries BL-5C manufactured by Matsushita (Panasonic) between December 2005 and November 2006, could potentially experience over heating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge.

This advisory applies only to the 46 million batteries manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006 and not BL-5C produced by other contractors (300 millions unit produced)

According Nokia press statement, there have been approximately 100 incidents of over heating reported globally and to date no serious injuries or property damage have been reported (serious incidents already occurred in 2005). Nevertheless, Nokia and Matsushita offer to replace any BL-5C battery subject to this product advisory.

Mobile phone concerned are the following ones:

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

but it also applies on batteries sold separately.  

Complete public advisory and battery identification number check are available on Nokia site.

Tags: 2007, arc, ATT, batteries, BL 5C, blog, CTU, explosion, global, ia, im, iso, lan, Matsushita, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobile phone, nokia, nomadcom.net, overheat, phone, phones, press, public, recall, space, wp, www, XP

Agilemobile.com, a Bangkok based company, has released the final version of Agile Messenger 3 which is a "all-in-one" Instant Messaging client for mobile terminal.

Agile supports MSN, Yahoo, AIM, ICQ Jabber & GoogleTalk can carry all type of messages (IM, Voice, Video, Photo) and is available for Nokia, Sony Ericsson (Symbian) as well as for Windows Mobile devices (Pocket PC and Smartphone running on WM2002, WM2003 or WM5).

Price is 50 USD per licence.

For corporate users 2 options are available.

1. a version of Agile Messenger that can be customized to reflect corporate identity
2. a LCS client version for that connect directly to Microsoft Live Communication Server without additional gateway.

Installation is straight forward with an *.exe package, or *cab files can be downloaded directly to the mobile terminal. 

I have made few test, and found the interface very pleasant & easy to use. File and photo transfer works fine, specially if you're connected through a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Cons:

• Could not update Twitter using GTalk IM protocol. Twitter user is seen online, but sent messages are not published on Twitter page.
• Skype support would certainly turn this application to a "must have" specially if the possibility of using SkypeOut gateway is given to contact people by phone.

While reaching the end of 7 days trial period given by Agile, I just found another multi-protocol IM tool for PDA and Smartphone which is free: Fring

A quick review of Fring will follow shortly is now published.

Tags: 2003, 2007, agile, aim, art, Bangkok, blog, ces, communication, ericsson, free, fring, google, GTalk, ia, icq, im, install, instant messenger, lan, live, messenger, microsoft, mobile, Mobile Communications, msn, nokia, nomadcom.net, online, pda, phone, photo, release, review, skype, smartphone, sony, space, symbian, term, twit, Twitter, update, user, video, web, windows, WM5, WM6, wp, www, XP, yahoo

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

That's it, holidays are over and everyone is back to work… today oh surprise, lots of sites announce the soon release of lots of new ultra-mobile computers. 

Interesting enough is the wide selection of operating system proposed (Vista, Windows Mobile, Linux). I wonder which solution will emerge and if the most chosen one will be the most convenient one for frequent travelers.

What are your prognostics ? 

 

Sony Vaio UX

• CPU 1.3 GHz Intel Solo Core U1500
• 4.5 inch 1024×600 display
• 1 GB Ram
• 32 GB solid state disk
• Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, Firewire, CompactFlash & Memory Stick Duo slots
• Integrated 802.11 b/g
• WAN specifications unknown
• OS : Windows Vista
• Price :  3860 USD !

Source : jkOntheRun

OQO Model 02

• 1.5GHz VIA C7M ULV processor (also available with 1.2GHz)
• 60GB hard drive, shock-mounted with active drop detection (also available with 30GB)
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM (also available with 512MB)
• Dimensions: 5.6" x 3.3" x 1.0"
• Weight: 1.0 lb
• 5 inch, 800 X 480 displayscrolling
• Embedded EV-DO WWAN (optional) for Sprint
• Integrated WiFi 802.11a/b/g
• Bluetooth® 2.0, USB 2.0
• OS : Windows Vista
• Price : from 1500 USD

Source : OQO

HTC X-7500 Athena

• CPU: Intel XScale, 624 МHz
• 5 inches, 640×480 TFT display
• 128 MB RAM 256 MB ROM
• Hard Disk: 8 GB
• Bluetooth 2.0, MiniSD slot,GPS-receiver
• Integrated cameras: main 2 Mp or 3 Mp
• WAN : GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA
• Dimensions: 133,1x97x20 mm (plus 4 mm keyboard)
• Weight: 350 g.
• O/S Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition
• Price : about 1700 USD

Source : HTC.ru 

 and there are more to follow such Nokia N800, which is apparently only equipped with 802.11 b/g 

Tags: 2007, 24, 802.11, blog, camera, ces, computer, computers, flash, Gadgets, gsm, hard disk, HP, htc, ia, im, keyboard, lan, memory, mobile, Mobile Communications, model 02, n800, nokia, nomadcom.net, oqo, phone, release, sony, space, Travel, traveler, ultra-mobile, usb, ux1xn, VGN UX1XN, vista, wifi, windows, windows vista, wp, www