Samsung has just officially announced its e-reader that was shown at CES 2010 exhibition. According to CNET this device will become available in April or May and will cost $299. Samsung E6 features 6 inch screen with 800×600 px resolution, 2 Gb memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, memory card slot, and 3.5 mm headphones jack. Samsung has already covenanted with Barnes & Noble publishing house, so future owner of this device will have an opportunity to buy ebooks in its online shop.
Apple iPad will be released next month. But many vendors have already released their tablet computers. Most of them exceed iPad on the technical characteristics. This device is not exclusion. Ezy Tablet PC runs on Windows 7 operating system and features 10.2 inch touchscreen display with multi-touch technology support, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom processor, 2 Gb of RAM. It also has 250 Gb hard disk, 1.3 Mp webcam, 4-in-1 cardrider, three USB 2.0 ports, Wi-Fi and 3G modules. Ezy Tablet PC has been already available and costs $680.
Chinese Hanvon company is known as e-readers’ producers. But at CeBIT 2010 exhibition it announced two new tablet computers running on Windows 7 operating system. Hanvon BC10C has 10.1 inch screen with multi-touch technology support, 1.3 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 2 Gb of RAM. There is also 250 Gb hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, two cameras both frontal and main ones, HDMI output. The dimensions are 253×168x18 mm, the weight is 900g. The price will be about $600. Hanvon BA10E is equipped with 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU, 10.1 inch touch screen, 120 Gb HDD, GMA 500 graphics system, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB port and HDMI output. BA10E measures 243×183x14 mm and weights 700g. The price will range from $500 to $600.
Opera Software has just released final version of Opera 10.50 web browser. In contrast to beta version this one has better performance but has the same set of features. This new web browser features minimalist interface, Vega graphical shell, new Carakan JavaScript engine, and private browsing function support. There is also HTML5 and CSS3 standards support. At present moment Opera 10.50 is available only for Windows series operating systems. It is also notable that this browser supports such Windows 7 effects as Aero Peek and Jump Lists.
As it was expected Archos announced its two tablet computers – 7 Home Tablet and 8 Home Tablet. But these devices are based on 1GHz ARM9 processor and run on Google Android operating system. It is know that these tablets will be showed at CeBIT 2010 exhibition that will take place in Hanover starting tomorrow.
Archos 7 Home Tablet has 7 inch touch screen, Wi-Fi, 2 or 8 Gb built in storage, microSD memory card slot, and 3.5 mm headphones jack. The battery provides 7 hours of video playback time or 44 hours of music playback one. The thickness of the case is 12 mm. the weight is 350g. The price ranges from EUR149 to EUR179. Archos 7 Home Tablet will be released in April.
Archos 8 Home Tablet is designed for web surfing and video playback. It is equipped with USB 2.0 port, 8 inch touchscreen display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD memory card slot, and 4 Gb built in memory module. This tablet will become available in May and will cost EUR149.
This device was designed by Haleron company. iLet Mini HAL is tablet computer running on Google Android operating system. It is not only very stylish but also features impressive set of characteristics including 600 MHz VIA processor, 7 inch touchscreen display with 480×800 px resolution and multi-touch technology support, 128 Mb of RAM, 2 Gb flash storage, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Ethernet 10/100, two USB 2.0 ports, and microSDHC memory card slot. It is also notable that the battery of this device provides about 16 hours of work time. Unfortunately we have no any information about release date and price.
It is very hard to create netbook different from other devices of such class. But it seems Fujitsu managed to do that. It looks very stylish and features not bad set of technical characteristics. Fujitsu MH380 has 10.1 inch screen with 1366×768 px resolution, Intel Atom N450 processor, 1 Gb of RAM, GMA 3150 graphics, 250 GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, three USB 2.0 ports, LAN, and VGA. The operating system is Windows 7 Starter. It is also notable that this device also has both trackball and touchpad. This netbook has been already available and costs $450.
It is known that Intel works at Moblin OS that is version of Linux for mobile devices based on Intel Atom processor. Nokia also develops its Maemo operating system. Yesterday these giants declared intention to join their efforts and unite these projects into one. New platform for mobile devices will be named MeeGo. There is no much information about this coming operating system but it is said that will support various types of devices including pocket computers, netbooks, tablets, TV sets, navigators and etc. It is expected that first devices running on MeeGo OS will become available by the end of this year.
As it was expected yesterday Microsoft officially announced its new mobile operating system. Steve Ballmer, chief of Microsoft said the company realized that most of users don’t need pocket computers but are interested in mobile devices with ’social’ functions. Windows Phone 7 Series is absolutely new operating system and has no anything in common with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and other previous versions of this popular OS. For example new mobile OS doesn’t have multitasking support in the usual sense of the word. Nevertheless user will be able to listen to music while working on the Internet via built-in browser. This new mobile platform is focused on work with various web services and owing to integration with Xbox LIVE and Zune boasts a good multi-media component.
One of the most remarkable features is Metro user interface. Start screen consist of small components called ‘live tiles’. They can be applications, widgets, contacts, or labels. All user activity is divided into five so-called hubs: one entirely devoted to the work with contacts (People), the second - office applications (Office), the third – photos (Pictures), fourth - music and video, the fifth - games. There is also special hub for Windows Marketplace.
As for system requirements it is know that all devices running on Windows Phone 7 Series will have capacitive touchscreen display, accelerometer and three hardware buttons – ‘Start’, ‘Search’, and ‘Back’. The first smartphone based on Windows Phone will appear in late 2010. According to Microsoft vendors including Samsung, LG, Sony-Ericsson and long-time partner HTC have committed to offering devices running Windows Phone 7 Series.
One of this most remarkable devices announced on Mobile World Congress 2010 is Android communicator by Samsung. Its main features are 3.7 inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display and built-in projector. Besides Samsung GT-i8520 Halo runs on Google Android 2.1 operating system with TouchWiz 3.0 user interface and is equipped with 8 Mp camera with HD video (720p) recording support, 0.3 Mp frontal camera for video calls, 3 Gb RAM, 4 Gb ROM, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, 16 built-in flash memory, microSD memory card slot, GPS, accelerometer, and 3.5 mm audio jack. The battery of this mobile phone has 1800 mAh capacity and provides 14 hours of talk time and 630 hours of idle time. The dimensions are 123×59.8×14.9 mm. Samsung GT-i8520 Halo will become available in the third quarter of this year.
Garmin-Asus has just announced its third communicator. Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 has monoblock shape and looks very stylish. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.5.3 operating system with unique user interface. According to the producers this device features impressive set of navigation functions based on Garmin software. Garmin Asus Nuvifone M10 supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 MHz, WCDMA/HSDPA 900/2100 MHz networks and is equipped with 600 MHz Qualcomm 7224 processor, 3.5 inch resistive touch screen with 480×800 px resolution, 5 Mp camera with autofocus, and GPS with A-GPS. There is also 512 Mb RAM, 512 Mb ROM, 4 Gb internal storage, microSD memory card slot (up to 32 Gb), Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, 3.5 mm headphones jack, and 1500 mAh battery. The dimensions are 116×58x14.3 mm, the weight is 138 g. Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 will become available in next few months. Unfortunately there is no word about pricing.
Today Opera Software released beta version of Opera 10.50 web browser. It features Carakan engine that makes this browser ‘the fastest browser on the planet’. Developers also mad over interface and now it is minimalistic and looks more stylish. New platform allows widgets to move beyond the browser into desktop and work as single system process, independent from the browser. Besides Opera 10.50 supports Jump List, Aero Glass and Aero Peek effects on Windows 7. To learn more visit official Opera’s website.
According to official sources Opera Software is going to unveil the first version of Opera Mini web browser for Apple iPhone at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. It is noted that new web browser features wide set of functions and fast performance. Opera Mini also supports Opera Turbo compression technology which results in significantly faster Web-page loading and reduces data surcharges. The version for iPhone will have the same functions that version for WinMo and Symbian has including tabs, speed dial and the password manager. During MWC 2010 Opera Software is also going to demonstrate some other products including Opera Mobile 10 beta 3 for Symbian and Windows Mobile, Opera Mobile 10 beta for Android, cross-platform version of Opera Mini 5 beta and beta version of Widgets Manager for WinMo and Symbian.
