PMP Today

The iPhone “keyboard only appears when you need it.” Hm, if this doesn’t sound Jesus-like then I don’t know Jesus. Some pundits, especially Dvorak have pointed out the iPhone’s keyboard as the one feature that can make or break the iPhone. Texting has become an acquired skill to most people, especially the younger generation and most people have learned to punch numeric keys in the dark or without looking at the keypad. The iPhone will change all that. But is it for the better. Will young kids improve their spling skls if der M&D buy dem an ifon? I’ll leave the iPhone instructor guy to give you the answer: The iPhone has the most advanced keyboard in any mobile phone today, and all of this advanced technology makes typing faster and easier than ever before. The trick is to type away and trust the intelligence of the keyboard.” [Italics mine]

What the video really wants to say is that there’s a force around us and only the Jedi who trusts the force can be a real Jedi Knight.

The Apple iPhone keyboard video after the break.

[photo: generationmp3] Read the rest »

Korea’s iNavi G1 has the kind of specs that would make you shake your head thinking you can never afford this device for your car, and you might be right. The iNavi G1 has a GPS with 3D rendering, which is cool enough if you’ve seen one, but when you find out that this one renders landscapes with stars in the background you might just be forgiven for saying you Give up. Navigation on the G1 gets some help from a geometric sensor (g-sensor) in places where GPS is weak as in big cities with dense buildings. For TV, you use Korean DMB. As a PMP, the G1 is compatible with AVI, ASF, WMV, MPG, MPEG,MP3, AC3, WMA, and OGG. It’s equipped with an SD slot for memory extension and USB. The G1 also has an image viewer with a photo album function and game emulator. The karaoke feature is the one feature that a minivan full of family members will truly enjoy. There’s no price yet announced, but it’s sure to beyond the means of practical individuals. But, hey, for quality time with the family on the road, nothing beats it.

[via navigadget]

The judgment has been nearly universal: the iPhone is a breakthrough device, matches all the hype, it’s a flawed but an exceedingly beautiful machine. Yes, it’s the supermodel of gadgets. But a world entirely made up of iPhone is not exactly something everyone is looking forward to. The other guys, I mean the Nokias, the Motorolas, the Sony Ericssons and even the HTC’s would have to eventually come up with a proper rival for the iPhone.

So what can we expect from such a rival, an iPhone beater, iPhone killer, if you will? If this device or group of devices are going to be mass produced soon, it/they have to forget about one thing: iPhone’s multi-touch Mac Os X Leopard user interface. Fughetaboudit. No one’s ever going to come up with a phone or a PMP or anything portable that can compete with iPhone’s user interface. It will take years. What I’m talking about should only take months.

1. The ultimate QWERTY business phone with touchscreen and loooong battery life: CrackBerries shouldn’t fret. If RIM is going to survive the iPhone onslought, it will have to come up with the ultimate business phone. Not only should it have a QWERTY kewyboard, which should beat iPhone users in any speed email contest, RIM should offer an alternative touchscreen interface for a more leisurely approach to business emails. I’m not entirely serious about this, but I feel if there’s a touchscreen on their BlackBerry, BlackBerry users are less likely to switch. Two weeks standby time will also help a great deal. Of course, we expect full document support (with editing) and MMS; 3G, HSDPA, video conferencing are basic requirements.

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This new UMPC from Kojinsha benefits faster performances from its new A100 Intel CPU> The basic componenets of this UMPC are as follows: WSVGA touch screen, 512/1GB RAM, 40/100GB HDD and VISTA. Onboard is a 1 SEG TV tuner and a 1.3 mepagipexl camera. Quite a fine machine for a UMPC, especially if you get the high end 1GB with VISTA operating system. Intel’s A100 has not been tested much by the industry but its brother the A110 has had good results on a Fujitsu FMV-U8240.

Read on for more pics.

[via generationmp3] Read the rest »

Gizmodo has confirmed it, the iPhone won’t support flash player, instant messaging, voice dialing, heck it won’t even have stereo Bluetooth. We already know it doesn’t have 3G, a removable battery and extendable storage. But the lack of MMS? You can’t buy song direct from iTunes and the headset jack is proprietary. So why are all those people lining up for iPhone (see pic below) and why all those craiglists ads?

Here’s a comprehensive review from Walter Mossberg and Katherine Boehret after a two-week-long hands-on with the iphone: “… despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well… ” Read it here.

NYTimes David Pogue has a great photo of the iPhone (above): “The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed. It’s substance; it’s style. It does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones.” Read it here.

Update: Watch David Pogue’s short film about iPhone after the break (hint: Pogue really likes Google Maps and the “fake GPS” on iPhone).

Update: Even if you’re a new AT&T subscriber using a subsidized phone of another brand, you can upgrade to the iPhone by adding $20. Go to AT&T iPhone FAQ page.

via gizmodo, photo: nytimes] Read the rest »

If you can’t match the form factor, maybe you can beat ‘em with storage capacity. According to Zune Scene, a bigger-capacity Zune will follow the flash-based Zune. Codenamed Scorpio, mass production begins next month and will be ready for the Christmas season, along with the flash Zune. There’s a lot to this rumor, especially when you consider that the first Zune prototype was codenamed “Argo.” Scorpio and Draco, the flash Zune, are all from Greek Mythology.

[via crunchgear, zunescene]

The Venus JXD951, which we noticed being displayed on a Chinese website a month ago and we just couldn’t resist the choice of promotional materiel (with amo included). The JXD951 boasts a 4-inch 720 × 480-pixel TFT screen with 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. It is equipped with a 2 megapixel camera, microSD extension and an FM tuner. It plays video at 30fps and compatible with with DivX, XviD AVI, ASF video, MPEG-4 and Flash Player. It has audio compatibility with MP3, WMA and WAV. Form factor is 118 × 73 × 13.3mm, weighing 95 g. Price is 859 yuan ($113) for the 1GB player and 899 yuan ($118) for the 2GB.

[via zol] Read the rest »

Remember the Onda iPhone/LG Prada clone we showed to you last month? Well, it was the VX858 and it’s now got some specs to go with its widescreen looks. The VX858 has a 2.8-inch 320 x 240 TFT touchscreen. This PMP has an FM tuner, a mic, 8 equalizer settings, microSD slot, USB 2.0/UMS and 3.5mm jack. Memory comes from the removable 4GB to 8GB microSD. It’s compatible with MPEG-4 (AVI), Xvid (320×240 at 24fps), MP3, WMA, JPG, TXT and LRC. You can get 15 hours of music playing. Price is a not bad $115.

[via generationmp3]

The iPhone will come with surprisingly affordable service plans. Each of the three packages come with “unlimited data, Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll-over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling.” The plans:

• $59.99 for 450 minutes
• $79.99 for 900 minutes
• $99.99 for 1,350 minutes
• $199.99 for 2000 minutes
• $169.99 for 4000 minutes
• $299.99 for 6000 minutes

Family plans are also available. On top of the plan is a $36 activation fee. It’s just like a regular phone folks. The only difference is the iTunes activation. You can download the same iTunes software that you use in a PC or a Mac but be sure to download the latest one. iTunes itself will walk you through the iPhone AT&T plans and show you how to use your credit card, etc.

[via tuaw, apple]

There will always be music players, but standalone music devices may soon be coming to an end, as consumers will likely be going for video and multi-media functionality. According to Forbes magazine, sales of MP3 players have reached saturation point and has recently suffered a slowdown in growth. Although 20% growth in 2007 doesn’t sound too bad for most industries, in an industry that has been spoiled by the phenomenal success of Apple’s iPod digital music player its bad news. Best Buy and Circuit city both reported slower than usual MP3 player sales. Analysts point out this slowdown includes even iPod (Apple expects a drop in iPod sales this year).

According to Ross Rubin, director of consumer technology industry analysis at the NPD Group cellphones with built-in music players is partly to blame for this decline with the situation going from bad to worst as soon as Apple’s iPod arrives in June 29. Other analysts, however, pointed out that new iPod generation coming this year may boost sales. Other brands will also chip in, like SanDisk which recently announced the Sansa Connect with WiFi.

[via 7days]