Author: pdasnews

“Nokia today introduced Nokia Lifeblog 2.0, a unique collection and storage solution for personal multimedia content that enables you to maintain a photo album with a minimum of effort. Designed exclusively for Nokia Nseries multimedia computers, this PC and mobile device software combination makes collecting, storing and sharing multimedia content easier than ever.As with previous versions of Nokia Lifeblog, you can create a rich personal multimedia diary, with photos, video clips, messages and text notes all stored in one place. With content organized in a chronological manner, it is easy to browse, search, view and share the content both on your mobile device as well as on a compatible PC. The new version of Nokia Lifeblog builds on the previous versions by adding audio notes as well as other valuable context information, such as calendar entries and location information, to the diary. This means that images and video clips are surrounded with the context in which they were taken, rendering them as part of the rich tapestry of items that make up your personal Nokia Lifeblog timeline. With the new Nokia Lifeblog, your Nokia Nseries device can be set to immediately link your photos to information about your location, your calendar entries, and even what time it was. For example, if you used the calendar on your Nokia Nseries device to input an entry for CeBIT, photos taken during that time will be tagged with this information from your calendar, making them easier to find in the future.” Read more here:

“At the CeBIT, details about Origami/UMPC are finally revealed. Asus shows an Ultra Mobile PC (still nameless), Samsung presents the Q1 and a product from Founder also can be seen. The UMPC is mini Tablet PC with Touch screen. As operation system, the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 with additional software is used (e.g. a virtual thumb keyboard). The display is about 7” (or smaller) and shows a minimum of 800×480 points. The UMPC weighs approximately 2 pounds and is WiFI- and Bluetooth-enabled. According to Samsung, the Q1 has 512MB Ram, weighs 780 gram (1.7 pound) and measures 9 x 5.5 x 1-inch. With a battery-life of 3.5 hours, you can play music and videos without booting Windows. As processor, the Celeron M ULC is used plus 40GB harddrive. No details about the Asus PC are known yet, however, it’s supposed to have a Webcam and one of the demo products has a GPS receiver. THE UMPCs are supposed to come to the market within the next few months for the price of about $800. Altogether the UMPCs appear to be an interesting concept. Whether it is enough for on-the-road Notebook replacement, will still turn out. Considering the price, it could be an alternative for those of who the PSP screen is too small for surfing. Two years ago, Sony had already pursued a similar approach with the Vaio U. But Sony never sold the devices in Europe and the series was stopped in the meantime…” via i4u.com

Windows Mobile users can now access a wide variety of live radio content through the newly launched SelectRadio streaming technology.SelectRadio includes pre-defined screens of channels from top broadcasters, including XM Radio Online, Shoutcast, and Internet radio pioneer radioio. It also lets users search from more than 4,000 channels, using an advanced genre matching hierarchy or by matching terms to the station descriptions. The users can combine favorite channels into their own personal channel groups for easy access and a “virtual dashboard” showing what’s playing across multiple channels with one-touch access.With its patent-pending HyperScan technology, SelectRadio software automatically seeks favorite artists and can be set to skip specified artists. “The SelectRadio solution allows listeners to more fully experience the incredible variety we offer as a cutting edge, top 10 Internet radio broadcasting group. With SelectRadio software, users have one-touch preset access to any of our radioio channels, including our CD-quality streams and unique new History, 90s and Eclectic channels,” noted Michael Roe, founder of radioio. SelectRadio software is compatible with Intel XScale 270-powered handhelds, including the latest family of Dell Axim devices, the HP iPAQ hx series and others. For live listening, a network connection via either the handheld WiFi connection or through the USB ActiveSync connection to the desktop is required. SelectRadio software is priced at $25 for a device-specific license. A free 10-day fully functional trial is available at www.selectradio.com.” via pdalive.com

Treo USB Modem allows to use Treo 650 smartphones as a USB GPRS modem for a desktop computer. To surf the Internet from your desktop PC you will need only a USB cable and a Treo 650 with GPRS/EDGE service or CDMA data plan. USB modem has been tested using GPRS and Windows XP operating system as a desktop OS. Although USB Modem is expected to work in the CDMA network, it has not been tested with this service. See your cellular operator instructions on setting up a connection for your desktop PC equipped with a GPRS/CDMA modem. Please try the demo before purchasing the software to see if it is compatible with your cellular operator environment and with the operating system on your desktop computer. Features: turns your Treo 650 into a USB modem (connected with a HotSync USB cable to your desktop computer)

“Garmin is showing off the Garmin Mobile 20 platform, essentially a car mount with built-in GPS receiver that works with software available for most Nokia and Windows Mobile phones, as well as the Treo 650, to turn them into full-blown GPS navigation systems. The Garmin Mobile 20 also has built-in Bluetooth speaker and microphones, which support hands-free dialing (although we aren’t quite sure why one couldn’t just use the speakerphone functions of their phone, should they exist).The Mobile 20 also supports ‘Garmin Online,’ a free (and subscription!) wireless service that includes real-time traffic information, as well as handy stuff like gas prices, safety camera locations, and weather. We’d much rather use the online-capability of our smartphones to grab that data than pay for extra TMC hardware like we do for other Garmin GPS models.Expect the Mobile 20 in June, in both European and United States(ean) versions. (No price set yet.)” via gizmodo.com

“SanDisk is at CeBIT, too, showing off its new Ultra II Mobile memory cards. The result will be faster downloads and larger storage for multimedia-enabled mobile phones.The minimum capacity of these memory cards is a stunning 1GB. They come in 2GB and 4GB varieties as well. The formats will include microSD, miniSD, and Memory Stick PRO Duo.The numbers that you really need to know, however, are the minimum write speed of 9Mpbs and a read speed of 10Mbps. The result is a reduction in energy consumption.All the products will be available in the next few weeks”. via mobilemag.com

“This Portable PC from DualCor packs a pair of processors, but it’s not exactly Core Duo technology, and neither is its price. You’ll get a 1.5 GHz laptop chip to run Windows, in addition to a 400 MHz mobile processor. To conserve battery life, the Portable PC only makes use of one processor at a time.Despite its small stature, this device comes feature packed. The touchscreen display is an adequate 800 x 480 pixels, but if you want to make use of a bigger screen, the VGA port makes it easy. Other notable highlights include a pointer stick and 3 USB ports.Not a heck of a lot else is known about the DualCor Portable PC, but it seems to want to fit into a niche market right in between the ultra-portable Blackberry and the more powerful notebook computers. And with a price of a mere $1500 for this DualCor unit, that Origami project we’ve been hearing about might have to rework a few kinks.” via mobilemag.com

“If you’re an E-TEN M600 user, an English version of ROM 0175 is now available for download. An official history has not yet been made available, but some notable additions include the bundling of Skype 2.0, and some minor tweaks to Bluetooth headset performance. The Adaptation Kit Update 2.0 (AKU 2.0) is not included in this ROM, but like ROM 0170/0171, it includes A2DP and AVRCP for all you Bluetooth stereo headphone users.You can download the ROM update from Eten.ch. Your local reseller’s site may also have it available for download. via pocketpcthoughts.com

Recently, I moved from my Sony Ericsson’s P910i phone to the Xplore PDA Phone, I took a second look at Laridian’s Mybible 4 for Palm OS, a program which i did a review ages ago. How surprised I was that Mybible 4 is miles ahead of the older version. As I scanned through Laridian’s offerings, I decided to go for AT Roberston’s NT Word Pictures, New Bible Commentary and Tyndale’s Bible Dictionary as these modules will give me a good ‘study bible’ on the go. I must add that Mybible runs fast on the card; so do their add-on modules. For the christian, a good bible that you use all the time is so important. Not only to your IT lifestyle but to your faith as well. Use the one that is suits you best. I am looking at the Mybible 4 not just a tool to use, not even just a study bible but one that grows with me like a journal – making notes, highlighting stuff, linking it with my daily reading, Prayer Partner… a great investment of time and faith. It’s like the PC bible. First it was a novelty, then a tool; but now I cannot prepare a lesson or sermon without using it. I started with the Navigator’s Wordsearch program (in diskettes then) and later enjoyed the full Logos CD bible library a lot. I am still using the Navigator’s Lessonmaker with lots of add-ons (including Life Application bible) and currently using Swordsearcher for fast and easy search, cut and paste to my Power Point slides. Read more here:

“Tomorrow at the CeBIT 2006 show BenQ Mobile will introduce BenQ-Siemens P51. This is a communicator powered by Windows Mobile 5.0, it has an integrated GPS-module and the support of Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) wireless networks.Its touchscreen features a 2.83” diagonal and QVGA (240×320 pixels) resolution. The P51 is equipped with a QWERTY-keyboard located right under the LCD, a 1.3-megapixel camera with flash and video capture function. With its SDIO slot it’s possible to plug a TV-tuner, for example. There are also Bluetooth and USB interfaces. The sales of BenQ-Siemens P51 are set for July 2006″The specs of BenQ-Siemens P51: Standards – GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and GPRS 2.83” TFT LCD, QVGA (240×320 pixels), 65K colors 1.3-megapixel camera with flash 128 MB RAM and 128 MB flash memory GPS-module SiRF Star III Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), Bluetooth and USB SDIO slot SMS, MMS and e-mail Li-Ion 1370 mAh battery Talk time – up to 240 minutes Standby time – up to 150 hours Dimensions – 122x60x20 mm Weight – 170 g via mobile-review.com