Mobility Watch

Starting with the YP-Q2 PMP, you’ll find both 8GB and 16GB variants with 50 hours of battery life, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, black and white color options, DNSe 3.0 sound enhancement technology, FM radio / recorder, a text viewer and a Smart Button that allows the user to designate a specific function for quick access. The YP-U5, on the other hand, was tailor made for gym rats; said audio stick sports a touchpad, 1-inch OLED display, USB connectivity, up to 20 hours of playback, an FM radio module and 2GB of internal storage. Check ‘em this April for $99.99 (8GB Q2), $129.99 (16GB Q2) and $39.99 (U5).

After a few days (or weeks?) of buzzing around, finally Samsung’s YP-Q2 PMP and YP-U5 are finally revealed. The portable media players are touching US soil by today. The Q2 is supposed to be bigger in everything than the U5. The earlier has bigger look (2.4 inch QVGA), a battery that can last up to 50 hours and also comes in two options of storage capacity; 8GB and 16GB. You can have it in 2 colors options; white and black and sports other goodies such as FM radio and recorder, quick access buttons called Smart Buttons and a sound enhancement technology called DNS3 3.0.

The smaller one, the YP-U5, is smaller in size, looks and also memory capacity. It only has an internal memory of 2GB, a touch pad audio stick, USB ports for connection and also FM radio. The battery can last to 20 hours.

So, enjoy the new toys, until the next round of players come out after you’ve shelled out your heard earned greenbacks.

Motorola’s QA4 has now finally gotten fully official and, well, there it is. Now formally dubbed the Motorola Evoke QA4, this one packs a decently-sized 2.8-inch WQVGA touchscreen, along with quad-band CDMA connectivity (plus EVDO Rev A), a 2 megapixel camera, 256MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot for expansion, aGPS, stereo Bluetooth, and, of course, that stylish sliding keypad.

From Mobile WhackLooks like the Motorola A455 is just another middle order CDMA handset with a QWERTY keypad added in, making it more of a mid-range messaging device more than anything else. The previously used moniker of RUSH2 is dropped in favor of “Rival,” which sounds pretty absurd when it looks it won’t be competing with any other handset in particular. Other tidbits leaked include dual-band CDMA support with EV-DO Rev A., stereo Bluetooth, a paltry 2-megapixel camera, microSD/SDHC support, an mp3 player with a a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and USB 2.0 connectivity.

The Evoke QA4, in spite of having a somewhat spacious touchscreen display, is a sleek slider falls into the same category as the Rival, and fails to evoke much enthusiasm in us. Features are somewhat analogous to the A455 and include a 2mpx camera, microSD/SDHC support, mp3 player, Bluetooth with A2DP, and voice recognition capability.

No info on a release date or pricing could be found, but as always, we will keep you posted when that happens.

The Evoke, which will ride on CDMA networks when it becomes available in the second quarter on low-cost carrier Cricket, certainly has a lot going on in the features department. It includes a an HTML browser, threaded-style text messaging, and support for integrated widgets for real-time access to social networking sites, RSS feeds, and more. The quick-launch YouTube shortcut is another nice touch, as is the ability to upload pics taken with the Ev0ke’s 2-MP camera directly to Picasa.

From engadget: The past few days have seen the alleged leaks of a couple batches of Windows Mobile 7 screenshots, suggesting Microsoft’s already hard at work on the successor to 6.5 — something we’ve heard in the past, and given the state of 6.x, a rumor that isn’t difficult to believe. To say the leaks look sketchy, though, would be an understatement; most prominently, none of them match, with different styling elements applied to every capture. Best case, we figure these are mockups — not functional shots from an actual device or an emulator, but early, off-the-cuff stabs at a design language from a usability expert’s late-night Illustrator session somewhere deep within Redmond. We like some of what we’re seeing — there are definitely at least a few elements here that look thoroughly modern — but if there’s any basis in reality to these, we’re worried about the ill-conceived idea of putting battery strength and volume (or signal strength, depending on the shot) at the bottom of the display. Needless to say, there are very good reasons that kind of information gets consolidated to the top, not the least of which is that your thumbs aren’t transparent. At least ours aren’t, and if yours are, you should probably get that looked at.

Microsoft never cared about transitions before, but it looks like Windows Mobile 7 will be different.

There’s also a part talking about allowing the user to “doodle” on the screen (their word, not mine), letting users draw doodles on the device lock screen, as well as shake the screen to affect the wallpaper (like making water run, or blurring an image). The iPhone’s lock screen is an iconic part of the device, and Microsoft wants to have a cool lock screen without copying Apple, so the plan is to give you fun things to do on the lock screen.

WaySight is relatively small (under three pounds), and can be used to sight the robot either by selecting GPS waypoints via laser range finder in real time, or — if the GPS is unavailable — by sighting the robot and then the waypoint in relation to it. If the operator doesn’t find any of that appealing, the unit can be used to steer the robot using the unit’s built in accelerometer. The unit has a range of up to 400 meters. The AutoNav-Mini, which is installed on the robot, features a GPS unit, low level obstacle avoidance and detection sensors, laser range finder, radar, and more.

The WaySight is a handheld monocular device with built-in sensors and wireless communications that is used for localizing and commanding a target waypoint to an Unmanned System. The operator sights a target, such as a suspected IED, by placing the WaySight crosshairs on a nearby navigation target. Once sighted, the operator depresses a button on the WaySight and the target waypoints are wirelessly transmitted to a JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) mission planner such as the TORC AutonoNav. Also watch this episode: AutonoNav-Mini. For more information, go to: TORC Technologies.

Andrew Culhane from TORC technologies demonstrates their AutonoNav-Mini, a pared down version of their AutonoNav autonomous navigation system for unmanned vehicles. Key features of the AutonoNav include optimized route planning, motion planning parameters entered via web-based interface, interfaces with common sensors such as LiDAR and GPS systems, and fully JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) interoperability with other JAUS compliant products.

Rejoice Apple Fanboys (and girls)

Gizmodo has the inside scoop! iPhone is now available without the soul-crushing contracts!

8GB models for $599 and 16GB ones for $699 are now available from AT&T and Apple stores, with AT&T requiring buyers to be existing AT&T customers, limited at one per, while Apple stores will sell the handsets.

Of the 15 Apple retail stores we surveyed today, each one reported no knowledge of their store handling proof of wireless service, contract establishment, or contract extensions with AT&T. More to the point, 6 of the stores specifically stated that no contract would be required to buy the phone, and that the customer would be responsible for establishing service with AT&T after purchasing the iPhone from an Apple retail store.

No only does this likely squelch rumors about through-the-roof non-contract prices for the iPhone (previously rumored to be as high as $899 and $999), but it introduces a new segment of demand to the iPhone launch: opportunistic buyers that have no plans for personal use of the iPhone, only resale at a higher price. As we’ve seen in recent months with the launch of the Playstation 3 and the Ninetendo Wii, large volumes of iPhones could be bought up by “entrepreneurs” looking to make a fast buck on the upcoming iPhone frenzy.

Clearly the possibility exists that Apple has continued to withhold details about contract requirements from employees at it’s own retail outlets as part of an effort to contain as much information about the iPhone prior to launch. Should that be the case, information provided to iPhoneFAQ may be a result of assumptions on the part of these employees due to lack of information, rather than clear indication from Apple that no contract would be required. However, that said, most of the salespeople and managers we spoke with indicated clear knowledge of the no-contract policy. As with everything iPhone, only time will tell.

According to AT&T, purchasing the Apple iPhone at AT&T retail outlets will require a contract with AT&T.

Attention CrackBerry Addicts: BusinessWeek says RIM’s going to launch the BlackBerry App World April 1 at CTIA.

The iPhone guys have access to the App Store. The T-Mobile G1 crew can get their fix through the Android Market. What about all the RIM enthusiasts of the world? We’ve been told that BlackBerry App World is right around the corner and now that statement may finally be coming to fruition.

This could be falsified rumor, a sick April Fool’s Day joke, or a certified leak, but BusinessWeek is reporting that the BlackBerry App World will be ready for primetime on April 1st. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s next Wednesday. It also happens to be April Fool’s Day.

Despite that strange coincidence, the timing may be just right. BlackBerry App World’s launch will then come ahead of the official release of iPhone 3.0, being able to ride that positive press for at least a couple of months before its thunder is stolen again. Further still, that’s the same day that CTIA Wireless opens its doors.

Could this be one of the major announcements from Research in Motion at CTIA? It very well could be, even if the pricing structure has received some negative attention. This is a good step forward for RIM and it’ll make it easier for all the BlackBerry enthusiasts of the world to expand on what their Berries can do.

According to the BlackBerry App World developer FAQ, RIM will institute significantly tighter pricing restrictions than rival app portals–while the service will offer both free and premium applications, developers must charge a minimum of $2.99 for paid apps. While Apple’s App Store enables contributors to price their iPhone and iPod touch apps for as little as 99 cents, the policy has come under fire from some programmers for effectively discouraging development of more sophisticated and higher-priced downloads. Of course, the new BlackBerry App World pricing restriction potentially discourages the creation of some cheaper, simpler applications and utilities.

In addition, Research In Motion will expressly forbid downloading or running apps from the BlackBerry device’s microSD card slot. Electronista notes that such a restriction ostensibly cripples piracy but also limits the quantity and size of apps–no BlackBerry device offers more internal storage than the Bold, which boasts 1GB of flash memory. The rule also restricts the ability to transfer apps to multiple devices.

Motorola’s long lived A1200 MING gets a successor: A1210

In a time when most of the mobile phone makers are rather focused on coming to the market with handsets based on some of the most popular operating systems available on the market, Motorola is now reported to plan on launching a new device that would be powered by a custom Linux platform, though the company also announced plans to release mobile phones based on Windows Mobile or the Android platform in the near future.

The new handset, Motorola A1210, is targeted at the mobile phone users in China, and will be added to other Linux-based devices that the American maker has released in the country. Yet the new A1210 model is reported to be the successor of Motorola A1200 Ming, a cell phone that saw the light of day about three weeks ago.

The new handset has been slightly modified, and now it comes with a 2.8-inch display that is able to provide users with a 240×400 pixel resolution while also featuring touchscreen capabilities. Motorola A1210 also sports a 3.1-megapixel photo snapper, and includes tri-band 2.5G GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz)/EDGE connectivity, although no 3G capabilities can be seen.

The handset is powered by a TI OMAP850 processor and includes 64MB of internal memory space, coupled with a microSD memory card slot for additional storage capacity. The new flip Motorola A1210 also features FM Radio, Bluetooth connectivity and USB slot. The device measures 102 x 53.8 x 20.5mm and weighs 125g.

For the time being, it seems that China is the only market that the new Motorola A1210 will be available in, yet we might be able to see it come to other areas as well at some point, taking into consideration the fact that its predecessor was available in Europe too, with the mobile phone carrier TIM. No word on the pricing of the device is available for now.

Used mainly by tactical assault groups and SWAT teams, throat microphones are something you rarely see on the street. This will change now with Sanwa’s latest hands free system, a Japanese phone design based on a military throat microphone.

It might not be used all the time, but if you work in a noisy environment it could greatly improve a phone conversation.

From Engadget:

Throat mics have been around for decades. However, unless you’re manning a tank or involved in black ops, you’ve likely never seen such a set beyond the reach of a typical paintball turret. Sanwa’s throat mic (pictured) is an urban take to the otherwise, combat-inspired gear design you’ll find at retail. Unfortunately, we can’t find any additional detail beyond the images. We can, however, drop in a hardcore video of the $50-ish US Special Forces Throat Mic (as it’s called) from Real Action Paintball. This rugged mic with voice-box positioned transducer is compatible with VOX-capable radios and features four styles of discrete listening devices (special forces, secret service, SWAT, and Socom) and a remote push-to-talk (PTT) switch that can be strapped to the index finger supporting your sniper rifle.

Gizmodo states Sanwa’s hands-free throat mic looks like a military headset, but it’s made for use with your cellphone.

This is a great take off of mic’s for cell phones. I wonder what the quality is, if the volume is adjustable, does it take out surrounding noise? Could not find technical specifications for Sanwa’s Throat Mic, so if anyone has them, feel free to share.

Cell Carriers are roundly unenthusiastic about Dell Smartphones.

From Gizmodo: According to analyst Shaw Wu, Dell submitted two prototype smartphones for feedback from the carriers, and both were roundly rejected. Why? Well, turns out “Dell-like” is a legitimate adjective, and not necessarily a nice one.

The phones, apparently identical besides OS (one runs Windows Mobile, one Android) were accused of lacking differentiation from competing offerings from HTC, LG, Samsung, Nokia, and others. It takes a lot to get a carrier excited about a phone; Palm had to pretty much make their entire existing line obsolete to get some buzz, and the market is flooded with ho-hum WinMo devices. Dell remains undeterred, however, and is still plugging away, trying to break into the lucrative market. Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Brothers, asserts that Dell is going back to the drawing board to come up with something a little sharper.

From Macworld:

Dell last year tapped former Motorola executive Ron Garriques to be the new president of Dell’s global consumer division, which could suggest that Dell is working on some form of a smartphone, Mawston said. Last year, Dell CEO Michael Dell said Garriques was chosen for the job partly because he had led Motorola’s PCS (personal communications services) division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as Motorola’s US$28 billion handset division.

The smartphone will be an effective replacement for Dell’s previous Axim personal digital assistants that it killed last year, citing a declining market for pen-based PDAs. Dell’s Axim product portfolio was weak with not many devices on offer, Mawston said. The company needs a replacement for Axim, and the new smartphone could fill that void.

A new smartphone will also create a new revenue stream for Dell, and the company’s move away from a direct sales model could help in sales, Mawston said.

Dude, would YOU get a Dell?

Palm is promising more web phones based on their WebOS software.

want your people, calendars and information to move with you, wherever you are, wirelessly, as opposed to being bound to a personal computer. Palm webOS is the first mobile platform to automatically bring your information from the many places it resides - on your phone, at your work or on the web - into one simple, integrated view.(1) The new Palm Pre and webOS are designed to be so in sync with your needs that it feels like Pre is thinking ahead for you.

“Palm products have always been about simplifying lives and delivering great user experiences,” said Ed Colligan, Palm president and chief executive officer. “webOS and Pre bring game-changing simplicity to an increasingly mobile world by dissolving the barriers that surround your information. It’s technology that seems like it’s thinking ahead to bring you what you care about most - your people, your time, and your information - in the easiest and most seamless way.”

“Pre continues Sprint’s leadership in open access to the content customers want for a great web-connected experience,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint chief executive officer. “We look forward to bringing this remarkably innovative device to our customers on America’s most dependable 3G network.(2)

Palm’s new OS is the first mobile platform to be built from the ground up to combine standard technology, innovation and integration. At its core, webOS leverages several industry-standard technologies, including web technologies such as CSS, XHTML and JavaScript. On top of that, Palm has included creative and innovative advancements to enhance the overall user experience and provided a deep integration of all elements within the platform.

The new platform was designed to allow a vast ecosystem of partners, including developers, hardware suppliers, and accessories manufacturers, to develop core solutions to complement the platform and product line. For developers, webOS shatters traditional barriers to mobile-application development by offering a rich open development environment that’s familiar to tens of millions of web developers. More people can develop for the platform and can do it faster than ever before. The platform’s flexible environment will also allow developers to distribute their applications over-the-air via an on-device Palm application store.

If you have a sony reader, then this is for you.

Sony is partnering with Google to offer a half-million public domain titles—already available to PC users on Google Book—to their library, making their collection the largest available for any eBook format, including the Kindle’s. Google’s contribution here, beyond scanning the books in the first place, was to convert the text to the open ePub eBook format, which allows for proper lineation and formatting—something that PDFs can’t always offer.

This doesn’t drastically change the Sony PRS v. Kindle dynamic, it could help Sony’s readers appeal to a certain special kind of luddite: the one who is somehow fine with eBooks, but for whom contemporary fiction and fancy “Whispernet” technologies, “nice screens” and “magazine subscriptions” are just a little too modern.

The Reader Digital Book holds about 160 eBooks or hundreds more with optional removable memory cards. Its portable size makes it the perfect travel companion, allowing you to read a variety of books whenever and wherever you want. With thousands of eBook titles available at the eBook Store from Sony, you can choose to download new releases, classics and popular book titles as well as view other document formats such as Adobe® PDF10, RTF, TXT, BBeB® and Microsoft® Word. Its long battery life lasts up to 7,500 continuous page turns, and the amazing paper-like screen technology is easy on the eyes. The Reader Digital Book is available in Silver, Dark Blue and Sangria Red.

Note: Use of companion eBook Store limited to U.S. and Canadian residents. Certain titles may not be available for download based on place of residence.

Ultra portable
The Reader Digital Book offers a unique, on-the-go reading experience and is the perfect travel companion. With a compact and lightweight design, you can take it almost anywhere and read your books whenever and wherever you want. More compact than many paperbacks, it weighs about 9 ounces6 (without cover), is 1/3” thin8, and holds up to 160 eBooks4. You can easily hold it in one hand, and with its rechargeable battery, you can turn up to 7,500 continuous pages on a single charge2.

Impressive, paper-like display
The Reader Digital Book provides a new way to experience reading. It boasts an impressive 6-inch display1, utilizing breakthrough E Ink® technology that’s almost paper-like, making it easy to read, even in bright sunshine. In addition, the screen allows for high contrast and high resolution, with a near 180º viewing angle. The text can also be magnified for sight-impaired readers.

Content Storage Capability
With a compact and lightweight design you can take the Reader Digital Book almost anywhere. And with plenty of internal memory, and a slot for optional removable memory cards, you can take hundreds of titles, user-selected Web content, or other supported documents for reading on the go. It will hold approximately 160 averaged sized eBooks in internal memory4 and hundreds more with optional removable memory cards.

After the RAmos T8 and T9 comes the T10 dubbed iKiss. The T10 iKiss is another HD PMP supporting 1080i mode. It looks like this PMP will do everything you need a video player to do with playback for MPGDAT, TS, VOB, AVI, RMVB, MKV, ASF, FLV, MPEG2, RealMedia Xvid, Divx, H264. RAmos is developing encoding software that will play all of these formats automatically. It will be equipped with a USB 2.0.

The T10 uses the Texas Instruments Davinchi processor, a first for any Chinese MP4 player. The T10 will be able to play very high resolution videos, including MKV and H.264 format videos. Sadly the above image shows that although the chip maybe powerful, the GUI maybe lacking, lets hope this changes before its released.

The RAmos T10 is expected to be released in China in April 2009 for around $117 for the 8GB version, no word on pricing or when (and if) we’ll see it in the US.

themp3players have this to say:

China-based tech portal recently received an engineering sample of RAmos MUMU T10 to be reviewed. The new T10 is powered by Texas Instruments DaVinci ARM processor. It features a 4.3″ 800 x 480 LCD display. Unlike previous T8 and T9, this is not a multi touch screen.

With the powerful TI DaVinci, T10 is capable to playback various video format, including MKV, WMV @ 720p, XVID, DIVX, VC-1, AVC, Mpeg2, Mpeg4, VOB, Mov and also RMVB. Besides, it also supports H.264 encoded movie, just like Apple iPod and Sony PSP do.

It is expected to add in remote control and TV-out when it is official. The price tag for 8GB version is speculated to be RMB799 or approx. US$117.

To mark St Patrick’s Day, Faith Central has compiled 10 celebratory tidbits, some myth, some fact, on the Patron Saint of the Irish.

1. The potato crop was traditionally planted in Ireland after March 17

2. Blue not green is the color originally associated with St Patrick. “St Patrick’s Blue” is used on Ireland’s Presidential Standard or flag, while the Irish Guards sport a plume of St Patrick’s blue in their bearskins. The emphasis on green is thought to be linked to “wearing the Green”, a symbol from the 18th century on, of sympathy with Irish independence.

3. St Patrick is patron of fishermen in the Loire, where a legend associates him with a blackthorn bush. The saint is said to have slept beneath it, and when he awoke the next day, Christmas, the bush flowered, and was said to have continued to do so every Christmas until its destruction during the First World War.

4. A regiment of the Mexican army in the 1846 -8 War between Mexico and America was named after St Patrick. Members of the Batellón de San Patricio included Afro-Americans freshly liberated from the slave plantations of the South, and the soldiers were granted Mexican citizenship afterwards.

5. The first St Patrick’s Day parade took place in 1737 in Boston, followed in 1762 by New York. George Washington allowed his soldiers a holiday on March 17, 1780 as “an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence.”

6. Until the 1970’s, all pubs were shut in Ireland on St Patrick’s Day, and the sole venue selling drink the annual dog show. Lenten fasting – and the obligation to abstain from meat – were lifted on the day, which most families would begin with Mass.

7. St Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in Ireland and also in Monserrat “the Emerald Isle of the Carribean,” so called because it was settled in 1633 by Irish migrants from St Kitts.

8. According to legend, on the day of Judgement, while Christ judges all other nations, St Patrick will be the judge of the Irish.

9. Since 1962, tons of green dye are tipped on St Patrick’s Day into the Chicago river, although the quantity has reduced, for environmental reasons, from 100 to 40.

10. Should you wish to carry on celebrating St Patrick after March 17, in the United States, you might visit the four Shamrocks in the USA including Mount Gay-Shamrock, W.Va or the nine cities named Dublin, including Dublin, Ohio (the largest Dublin in the U.S.) and Dublin, Georgia.

Engadget says it boasting what appears to be the same 2.8-inch touchscreen, along with a tri-band CDMA / EVDO radio, aGPS, Bluetooth 2.0, a camera (we’re assuming the same 2-megapixels), and a microSD card slot for expansion. Somewhat interestingly, there’s no indication of that rumored accelerometer in the user manual, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not still tucked in there somewhere.

Intuitive User Interface: No hidden menus, speed scrolling, tactile
feedback on the touch screen, and a soft QWERTY
Immersive Experience: Customized Content at your fingertips with
intelligent, built-in accelerometer which displays your content how you
want see it
All Access: Always stay connected at blazing DOrA speeds with
access to Email, IM, Blogging, Email, and your social network. Full
HTML supports makes internet access a breeze.
Music: Powerful Music Experience with up to 8GB microSD support
and USB2.0 HS
Ultra Sleek Design: Optimized Slim and Powerful Touch Slider
Device Specifications

Main Display: 2.8” 240×400 65K TFT
Camera: 2.0MP
Bluetooth: Stereo, BT 2.0
Music: 8GB microSD, USB 2.0 High Speed
Modes:CDMA1x-EVDO Rev A
Customizable WidgetsInstantly access live weather,
stock market, news, pictures
and social networking sites
You decide what widgets sit
on your home
Main Menu
One Touch Access to all Applications and Settings
Social Networking:
Alerts you to updates
Capture and upload photos and
videos in seconds
Text, IM or Email your friends easily
with the soft QWERTY keypad
Device Specifications
Main Display: 2.8” 240×400 65K TFT
Camera: 2.0MP
Bluetooth: Stereo, BT 2.0
Music: 8GB microSD, USB 2.0 High Speed
Modes: CDMA1x-EVDO Rev A
Bands: 800, 1900MHz and 1700/2100MHz

From Yahoo Tech:

Batteries are both the unheralded worker bees and the fatal flaw in every mobile technology product produced today. We can’t do anything without them, but batteries are almost always the reason we can’t do more than plugged-in technology would otherwise allow.

While research has yielded few new advances in squeezing higher capacity into existing battery form factors, there’s one spot of good news on the horizon: Technology that would dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to recharge a battery.

The technology is an update to traditional lithium-ion energy storage and involves using a special iron and phosphorus mix within the battery cell structure which allows the lithium ions to move in and out of storage within the lithium compound much faster than normal.

It’s been part of battery theory for many years, but only recently does it seem that anyone is actually thinking of putting the technology to practical use. But the results, wow, they speak for themselves: With this design in place, you could charge a 1Wh cell phone battery in just 10 seconds — or an entire electric car in about five minutes.

And that, it turns out, creates a whole new problem: Charging your cell phone that fast would draw 360 watts of power. Fine if it’s just one, but not so great for the power grid if everyone on the block plugs in simultaneously. The real problem comes with larger devices: That electric car would pull 180,000 watts, which would pretty much send your electric meter into immediate and complete meltdown.