Lenovo’s L2461x Wide is a 23.6-inch capacitive multitouch LCD monitor. Specs include: 300 cd/m2 brightness, 120Hz MEMC (Motion Estimation Motion Compensation) technology, four USB ports, 2.0MP webcam, built-in speakers and a mic. Pricing is around US$550.
Windows 7. Multitouch. LCD monitor. I don’t think for one second that combining these three components will yield anything more than frustration resulting from using fingers to navigate dialog boxes, menus, icons that are build for a fine point of a mouse cursor. A complete revamped GUI focused on finger-based navigation working on top of Windows 7 would be necessary to prevent a call to Lenovo for a full refund. Source: ThinkPads via TSoNeV
In South Korea there are separate trademarks for hardware and software. Samsung has just acquired the hardware trademark for Android. Using just four characters of the name will be in violation of trademark laws in South Korea. My gut reaction pooh-poohs Samsung. The company seems be doing evil. What a terrible move to limit competition in South Korea. All phone manufacturers in South Korea, sans Samsung, will be forced to look elsewhere. I foresee a fury of development for Windows Phone 7 Series smartphones especially by LG. In the near future my bet is on South Korea’s smartphone market being dominated by excellent WP7S phones, which will be superior to phones manufactured by an unfocused Samsung (Bada, Android, WP7S, etc.). Source: Digital Times, ZDNet Korea
The unlocked Nexus One able to take full advantage of AT&T and Rogers Wireless’ 3G is now available on Google’s store for US$529.00.
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The first three Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7S) phones are out of the gate: Asus, LG, and Samsung. All of these WP7S phones sport these common specifications, lifted from a slide titled “Standardized Hardware Foundation” and presented by Joe Belfiore:
- Capacitive touch: 4 or more contact points
- Sensors: A-GPS, Accelerometer, Compass, Light, Proximity
- Camera: 5MP or more, flash required, camera button required
- Multimedia: Common detailed specs. Codec acceleration
- Memory: 256MB RAM or more, 8GB Flash or more
- GPU: DirectX 9 acceleration
- CPU: ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion or better
- Hardware buttons (on the bottom of the front face): Start, Search, Back
The LG sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and looks quite solid. The Samsung is a slate-type that seemed to have veered too much toward glossy cheap-looking plastic but sports a camera that at least looks capable with its huge bezel. The one from Asus is unbranded and made just as a demo unit for Mobile World Congress. You can find pictures of these WP7S phones at Engadget.
At least Microsoft is trying to establish a minimum user experience via hardware requirements. Maybe Google should take some notes. Source: Slashgear
Microsoft’s Charlie Kindel: for now, Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7S) will only sport a pixel format of 800×480 (landscape). And for some odd reason we can expect a lower-end 480×320 to join some time in the future. Keep it simple guys: stick to just 800×480 and forget about 480×320. Source: Engadget
Apple:
If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee.
The service fee including shipping is US$105.95. Nice.
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Sony is unto something exciting: mating a APS-sized image sensor and a compact digital body. Currently compact digital cameras sporting the Micro-Four Thirds system have significantly increased the capabilities of compact digitals but still fall short of DSLR quality. Although the Micro-Four Thirds image sensors are quite a bit larger than those used in typical compact digital cameras, they are still small compared to those used in DSLRs, namely APS-sized image sensors. By combining a much larger APS image sensor into a compact digital body Sony is changing the game. Sony claims DSLR quality but I think this new prototype will fall short, mainly because of smaller optics in the lens compared to the larger full-bodied cousins. Still, I am quite excited about what Sony is doing. If priced right, I think we’ve got a revolution at hand.
Wired’s Priya Ganapati in E-Readers Will Survive the Onslaught of Tablets:
If you think the coming wave of tablets is about to make e-book readers obsolete, guess again.
Yes, I think e-readers will survive, barely, and for a very short time.
