A new less-than-N8 seems to be lurking around Nokia. C7-00, part of Nokia’s C-series, slots beneath the N series and sports what the company calls a nHD pixel display. Another day, another display-related jargon: nHD. What does nHD stand for? In landscape it refers to a pixel format of 640×360. Not quite the highest resolution around since most smartphones seem to come with 800×480. According to Engadget the parsed XML code has the C7 sporting 3G UMTS, HSDPA, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.
HP’s ENVY 14 is a great-looking notebook PC sporting a 14.5-inch HD+ Radiance Infinity LED display. Great looking because it looks extremely similar to the unibody MacBooks. What HP means by HD+ is a pixel format of 1600×900, which is really good for nothing. It can’t play 720p HD video without scaling up. It can’t play 1080p HD video without scaling down. You can’t put up dual-windows for productivity. The only thing great about it is that you can easily figure out that the aspect ratio is 16:9. Graphics is powered by ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 5650 with 1GB VRAM. The news is that the HP ENVY 14 is now available for sale starting from US$1099.99.
Motorola’s Charm is an unusually wide candybar smartphone. The built-in QWERTY hardware-based keyboard looks to be be quite type-able thanks to its size. Charm runs Android 2.1 and Motorola’s UI skin MOTOBLUR with improved Facebook and Twitter integration. I’m not sure what to think about the overall hardware dimensions but it is definitely something refreshing. Ah, yes, now I know: it looks like a Peek. You can find pictures at Engadget and according to the site the Charm from Motorola is headed to T-Mobile.
Yet another Galaxy S variant. T-Mobile is getting in on Samsung’s Galaxy S action with its version the Vibrant. Available July 21st for US$199.99 with a qualifying voice and data plan with a new two-year agreement, the Vibrant is Samsung’s Galaxy S sporting a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 1GHz Hummingbird CPU, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, 720p video capture, running Android 2.1. For those of you not able to wait until the 21st you can start pre-ordering the Vibrant at Radio Shack locations starting July 1st for just $50. As a bonus you get The Sims 3 Collector’s Edition and Avatar pre-installed on a 2GB microSD. Yowzer. If you’re on Verizon don’t worry, the Fascinate version of Samsung’s Super AMOLED-toting Galaxy S is available (read Samsung “Fascinate” Galaxy S on Verizon for more info). Oh, and Captivate on AT&T (read Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S: US$900 on Amazon).
Genius Electronics Optical, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of optical lens kits, has started shipping its 5 megapixel lens module for Apple’s iPhone 4 according to DIGITIMES. Initial shipments are small due to low yield rates. Genius Electronics, what a name, is busy manufacturing and shipping 3 megapixel camera modules, which account for 40% of the company’s total camera lens module shipments.
Earlier, DIGITIMES reported that Asia Optical commenced shipment of its 640×480 (VGA) lens kit for the iPhone 4′s front camera in May 2010. In the beginning of June the company’s shipment volume was around three million units.
Although I have never heard of these two companies it seems Apple has done a solid job of putting together its camera system on the iPhone 4. The quality of photographs and videos on the iPhone 4 is nothing short of spectacular, for smartphones (read Video Quality Comparison: iPhone 4 vs. Flip Ultra HD and MacWorld: iPhone 4 Sports Best Smartphone Camera).