Archive for the ‘mid’ Category

MWg (Mobile and Wireless group,) a Singapore-based company formed from the old O2 Asia company is coming to Europe with a new ‘connected’ Vista-based mobile device to be released in Q4 2008.

MWg’s entrance into the European market is backed by Expansys and was launched [PDF] last week in London where Modaco was present to capture the roadmap on video. They picked up on a Windows Mobile 7 device which could be interesting but the one that caught my eye was the MWg Walk which is supposed to be a ‘Shift-esque UMPC.’

Shift-esque + a mention of the word ‘MID’ + late 2008 launch smacks of a new HTC device running on Menlow which would be awesome (apart from the Vista part of course!) Check out the video below for images of the roadmap. The UMPC is mentioned in the last 10 seconds of the video.

Source: MoDaCo.

Via Solsie

Just announced in London, the HTC Diamond looks like an interesting alternative to a MID if you’re a one-man-one-device type of person. With an HSUPA modem, a touch-sensitive 2.8" VGA screen, GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, Windows 6.1, the Qualcomm 528Mhz platform (as seen in the Xperia) and HTC’s new touch-flow 3D it gets interesting but add Opera 9.5 into the mix (O2 are apparently shipping it with 9.5) along with a YouTube application and you’ve got something that, to my ears, is more thrilling than the iPhone.

The Windows Mobile 6.1 professional software apparently includes the remote desktop app so connecting into your home XP or Vista box is a serious possibility if you need to access full desktop applications.

No keyboard though…..Mmmm. If the Xperia includes all this, plus the keyboard, it’s going to be a very interesting device. Even so, I’m very interested in the Diamond and would seriously consider trading in the N82 for it where it not for the class-leading cam and flash on the N82.

"Available in June in Europe via Orange and the "rest of the world" sometime later" although O2 in Germany seem to have already announced it.

Via Engadget.

Two things happened today to make me want to write something about mobile TV. Firstly, I was testing the WiBrain with a Terratec DVB USB stick in the car this morning. It was a an interesting and largely successful test of a digital TV standard that wasn’t designed to be mobile. I’ll write more about my 130km/h testing later but for now, lets take a look at a New York Times article that highlights the growing trend of mobile TV in Europe.

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Apple may not refer to the iPod Touch as a MID, but it surely fits the definition, and is one of the best currently on the market. Today only, through the famous deal-a-day site Woot.com , you can pick up a refurbished 16GB iPod Touch for $289 (sorry, they only ship to the US). For the sake of price comparison, a new 16GB iPod Touch will run you $399, while a refurbished 16GB will cost you $329 direct from Apple. I’m not quite sure if the iPod being sold on Woot includes the January update, so be aware, Apple may charge you an optional $20 for the January iPod/iPhone software update. I would check the comments on today’s Woot to find out for sure.

Yesterday was quite a busy day for me and what made it worse was a new device. I got a rare opportunity to test the new Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 for one night. Naturally I took it and decided to share my experience. Note that I only got the phone itself, no box, no accessories, not even a charger so I apologize in advance for not covering that.

The phone is from the new Xperia line of Sony Ericsson devices. What makes the Xperia phones special is that they run Windows Mobile, as opposed to Symbian UIQ which is usually present on the company’s smartphones. Let’s start with the hardware.

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Although I like the N810 design, I’ve never been a personal fan of the whole product and, objectively speaking, I think it under-performs for the average consumer. The keyboard is poor, the processing power is limited and the application suite doesn’t flow in terms of design and UI. Its not ready for consumer prime time yet although to be honest, I don’t think Nokia are too worried about that. It’s more of an early adopters product and it seems that many of them are extremely happy with it. The WiMax version has an even tighter niche market by nature of the delayed $5bn Sprint/Xohm network rollout that only seems to be hitting a handful of cities in 2008 now but it’s interesting to see how much the device will cost. How much of a premium is the average punter going to have to pay for the WiMax hardware?

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Archos are moving, very quickly this week it seems, to combine the three major, non-smartphone, consumer mobile activities onto a single device. Thats the high-end PMP function (that requires a 4-6″ screen size,) the mobile Internet (that requires a 4-6″ screen size) and Navigation (that requires a 4-6″ screen size.)

Now i’m not saying that you can’t do those functions on a smaller, or even bigger, device but these are the three areas I see that are absolutely ripe for dropping into a hand-held device where the quality of presentation and capability could be far greater than a smartphone could provide. It’s MID territory…

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Unlike the Sharp Em-One that I always craved, the Sharp Willcom D4 will be available through a grey importer. Albeit for a price! Pocketables reports that GeekStuff4U.com will have the device in stock from the end of June.

Willcom D4 preorders priced above $1500

$1500 is, of course, a crazy price for most of us but I’m sure it will be ‘in scope’ for some.

Willcom D4 specs and links

Another Snapdragon-related report from Stacey at GigaOM who quotes Qualcomm as saying they have 15 device manufacturers lined up for Snapdragon-based devices that should be available in 2008.

That’s a lot. But not if Qualcomms or Stacey’s definition of a UMPC is different from mine. If we re-name the devices, mobile Internet smartphones and consider the prototypes shown at CES then I can believe it because in the smartphone world, every manufacturer has to play the Internet game in the top quartile of their product ranges. Anything less than a Cortex-based device is risking being under-powered for the heavyweight world of ‘real’ Internet.

I’m excited that the ARM-based devices are moving into the mobile Internet market. It means competition and learning. Take the best of everything in 2008/9 and 2010 is going to bring some absolute gems based on Cortex 9, Mobile-ITX and Moorestown.

Worth highlighting  from the PMP perspective is the news that  Intel Atom along with the Poulsbo will enable a full HD playback experience. While reviewers have yet to see this in action, Intel are talking about 1080p playback performance [PDF] and have also announced that Real Networks will produce an optimised (chipset and finger friendly) player and codec-set for the platform. [News]

I’m an Archos 605Wifi owner and it handles most content well but I certainly cant feed high bitrate or high resolution H.264 into it. As for the Internet aspect, it’s what I’d call ‘entry-level.’

Add the following features to the video playback capabilities and I think you’ll have something that raises the bar for high-end PMP’s so high that Archos and Cowon will have to introduce new models based on new hardware platforms  in order to benefit from this growing portable Internet and media player (PIMP?) market. My prediction is that we’ll see Archos release an Intel-based MID within the next year. Anyway, here’s the list of features that needs to be considered.

• Unified codec pack
• Open software stack
• 3G modem
• Cameras
• 5", 800×480 screen
• Keyboard
• Firefox 3 browser
• GPS
• Navigation capabilities
• DX9 and Open-GL performance (enabling gaming and compelling UI’s)
• Full IM, email and productivity software suite
• Big developer network
• Massive PR and marketing weight.

Take the Gigabyte M528 for example. When (not if) I buy one I’m going to be getting a device that is essentially a Nokia N810 and Archos 605 Wifi on steroids. Both of those devices have value on their own but if you add the two together and throw in a 3G modem, you get far more than the sum of the parts. It moves the PMP into the realms of social media networking, one of the fastest growing segments in the Internet today. Yes, the price will be high on day one but the features, as far as I’m concerned are worth shelling out some beans for. HD playback, 3mbp auto focus camera, GPS, 3 hours battery life, 3G, keyboard, hi-res touchscreen and a Firefox 3 browser. Oh come on, this is just portable gadget heaven isn’t it?

If you’re a PMP fan, maybe an Archos or Cowon owner, I’d love to hear your opinion. What aspects of the current PMPs will MIDs have a problem with. Community? Price? Battery life? UI?