Archive for January, 2007

Any interest in the i-Mate JAQ3?

I know that some of my peers have got themselves i-Mate JAQ3’s to play with and review but I wondered what level of interest there was in this device?

The JAQ3, manufactured by TechFaith Wireless, is fairly similar to the Samsung Blackjack and not a million miles away from the HTC Excalibur (HTC S620).

Several people I know that have an HTC S620 like the device but have commented that they wish the S620 was PocketPC OS rather than Smartphone. The i-Mate JAQ3 may well suit those people wanting the form factor of the S620/Blackjack but the added advantage of PocketPC OS.

I am hoping to get myself a JAQ3 as I am one of the people that likes the form factor of the Excalibur but I’m not a fan of the Smartphone OS. One thing that worries me is the apparent size of the JAQ3, it looks like a large device. If you take a look at the image below (borrowed from The Unwired) you can see how the JAQ3 compares to the HTC Universal and the HTC Hermes. The other thing that bothers me is the lack of 3G.

i-Mate JAQ3 Specification:

EDIT: You can now buy a JAQ3 from Clove Technology and with our voucher code you can save £20! See this post for more details.

I’d be very interested to hear you comments about the JAQ3, especially if you already have one!

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, i-mate, JAQ3, Tracy & Matt]

SanDisk announce sponsorship of Ducati

Great news for motor sports fans; Today SanDisk announced a two-year sponsorship of Ducati Corse’s MotoGP race team, a performance leader in the high-speed world of motorcycle racing.

SanDisk’s name and logo will appear on Ducati Corse MotoGP motorcycles, team clothing and riders’ leathers, the two companies said during the unveiling of Ducati’s Desmosedici GP7 racing motorcycle at the Wrooom MotoGP Event in Madonna di Campiglio.

“SanDisk and Ducati share a passion for excellence in engineering and performance,” said Wes Brewer, vice president for consumer products marketing at SanDisk. “Our SanDisk Extreme® III and IV digital film cards have a global reputation for cutting-edge speed and innovation, much as Ducati has a global reputation for motorcycles that regularly beat the competition.”

Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Corse, said, “We are extremely pleased to welcome SanDisk as a new partner in our MotoGP Project. Ducati and SanDisk are both dedicated to maximum performance, making the partnership a perfect fit.”

MotoGP is among the world’s most popular motor sports, drawing annual season attendance exceeding two million and a worldwide television audience of more than five billion. The 2007 season features 18 races in 15 nations around the globe.

“Photographers face almost as many challenges at the track as MotoGP riders. Having the fastest CompactFlash card in the market at 40MB per second* makes high-performance photography, especially in fast-action sports, much easier,” said Tanya Chuang, worldwide senior retail product marketing manager for digital imaging at SanDisk. “The fast read speed also reduces time away from the viewfinder, because images can be quickly offloaded through an Extreme FireWire Reader.”

SanDisk plans to work closely with the wider photographic MotoGP community. Gigi Soldano, a highly respected MotoGP photographer said, “Capturing the many exciting moments of MotoGP racing, where riders can reach 200 miles per hour and can be millimeters above the track on tight turns, requires cameras and memory cards that are the fastest and most reliable in the world. SanDisk Extreme III and IV memory cards make my job easier, because I know I can shoot as rapidly as possible without worrying about losing that once-in-a lifetime image.”

SanDisk and Ducati expect to announce more elements of their agreement in the months ahead.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): MP3 Player, SanDisk, MotoGP, Ducati, Tracy & Matt]

‘3’ confirms scrapping of roaming fees

Mobile company 3 has confirmed that they are scrapping their international roaming fees in seven countries including Australia and Italy.

When 3 customers travel to another country in which 3 also operates, customers will be able to make and receive calls using the visited 3 network and be charged as if they were still using their home network. The same principle will apply to SMS, MMS, video calling and data services. The visited 3 network can be considered a virtual extension of their home network and can therefore be used as if the customer were not roaming at all.

3 said there would be no one-off fees, and that its users would automatically gain the service.

The other places in which it has abolished the fees are Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark

This also covers data usage.

Now if they were to offer the same deal for the USA I would definitely move to 3!

[Technorati tag(s): cingular, smartphone, Tracy & Matt, Three, Roaming, mobile carrier]

O2 XDA Zinc delayed until March

I think this news item will disappoint some of you, but O2 have delayed the UK launch of the XDA Zinc. Now the Zinc will not be available until March at the earliest.

The March release date is evident on the O2 UK website where you can see the XDA Zinc listed in the coming soon section this is despite the fact that it’s already shipping via the Asia-Pacific website.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, Tracy & Matt, XDA Zinc, O2, ASUSTek, Mars 2, SPV]