Msmobiles have uncovered some interesting information on the upcoming marketplace for mobile. First off this is definitely an application and not a link to a website. Also included are automatic updates of purchased applications, search of applications suitable by device type, payment by credit card or through carrier, access to user ratings and reviews and transfer of applications to a new phone. For the full story visit msmobiles and also take a look at the video from mix09
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been talking with Stephen Adler from BusinessWeek, and All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka was a fly on the wall for the event. He paraphrased the chat, which we have below and has answered the big capacitive screen question and a few others. What he has to say is rather surprising and not the answer I wanted to hear, quality and usability should be the driving force not cheap products.
Stephen Adler: Do you care about “touch” on phones? The blogs say you are.
Steve Balmer: Windows Mobile 6.5 has touch on it. The way Apple does touch drives cost. The way they do it on the iPhone is not an inexpensive component. We’ll do it in a way that you can afford to do it on most phones.
If you are a regular reader you’ll know that we’ve looked at several video cameras in Sanyo’s Xacti range and most recently we reviewed the Xacti HD1010. I have to say that I really like the Xacti cameras, they are really well specified, are small, light and easy to use. Most importantly the quality of the recorded video is really good. I’ve been using the HD1000 to record unboxing videos for about 6 months and really like it. It’s convenient to be able to take the SD card from the camera and pop it in a card reader to copy the video to the PC for editing.
The Sanyo Xacti HD2000
Despite have the same external look the new Xacti HD2000 has a number of improvements over the HD1000 and HD1010. First of all the optical zoom has been up rated from 10x to 16x (it remains 10x for stills) the CMOS sensor is now 8.1 megapixels which allows you to take 8 megapixel stills without interpolation. Face chaser has been updated and can now track and focus on 12 faces in a shot.
Perhaps the most important change, though, is that full HD 1080p recording has been upped to 60 frames per second from 30 fps. It’s pretty unusual to have 60fps on a consumer grade camcorder and even more unusual on a camera this small. If you want to shoot Full HD at 60FPS though make sure you’ve got a high capacity SDHC card and make sure it’s a good quality fast one as that’s a lot of data to be recording!
As with the HD1010 I’ll be spending some time with the HD2000 and will be using it for some of our unboxing videos. I’ll also record some other sample footage to share with you.
I’ll leave you with the HD2000 unboxing video below. As you can see, you get quite a lot in the box!
Sanyo Xacti HD2000 specification:
Video
- Zoom: 16x optical
- Resolution: 5.31Mp (HD)
- Definition: High
- Scan method: interlaced & progressive
- File type: MPEG-4
- Image size: 1920×1080
- Focus types: Continuous area AF, manual
- Minimum illumination: 2lux
- Monitor: 2.7in TFT LCD screen
- Interface: HDMI, component, S-video, composite
- Formats: NTSC, PAL
- Power: Li-Ion battery
Still
- Zoom: 10x optical
- Resolution: 8Mp
- Sensor size: 1/2.5in
- Sensor type: CMOS
- Image size: 3264×2448
- File type: JPEG
- Sensitivity: ISO50-3200
- Storage: SD/SDHC
- Focus types: 9 point AF, spot
- Normal focusing: 50cm-infinity
- Close focusing: 1cm-1m
- Metering types: Multi, centre-weighted, spot
- Exposure compensation: /- 1.8EV in 1/3 step increments
- Shutter speed: 1/2-1/1000sec
- Flash: In-built
- Monitor: 2.7in TFT colour screen
- Interface: USB 2.0 via docking station (included)
- Power: Li-Ion battery
- Size: 112.6x90x54.5mm
- Weight: 311g (inc. battery and card)
Full specification can be found on the Sanyo Website.
Posted by: Matt
[ Post Tags: Sanyo Xacti HD2000, camcorder, video cameras, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]
A new blog post over at the Windows Mobile Team Blog has given us a little more information on the Widget Platform for Windows Mobile 6.5. From the post they tell us:-
For the first time since windows mobile 6 shipped we are expanding our development story to make easier and more accessible writing applications that not only look great but also consume cloud services to bring a portable chunk of the web to our mobile devices.
A good way to think of a Windows Mobile Widget is as a “Portable chunk of the web” or just basically a rich internet application. Widgets are written using all the web technologies we know and love (HTML, CSS, AJAX, JavaScript) and, since they are powered under the covers by our new internet browser, they have full access to flash and other ActiveX controls available on the device (Like MediaPlayer).
The interesting thing about our Widget Platform is that it allows them to look and feel, to the end user, as a normal standalone application does; they have their own start menu icon, they show up as an individual apps in task manager and, most importantly, they have full control of the SK menu bar as any other application would.
You can read the full post over at the Windows Mobile Team Blog
According to Digitimes, the Palm Pre will be manufactured by Chi Mei Communication Systems. Taiwan-based Chi Mei Communication Systems will undertake OEM production of the Palm Pre, Palm’s next-generation smartphone that will be launched soon. Chi Mei is likely to source handset FPCBs from fellow suppliers, including Career Technology, Ichia Technologies and Flexium Interconnect, with shipments expected to begin in March at the earliest, indicated the sources.
On another note, the recent Palm and Sprint Webinar is now available for your viewing pleasure although it doesn’t reveal anything that we didn’t already know. The video is after the break.
After all the excitement of yesterdays iPhone 3.0 announcements, Engadget have got a copy of the Beta software which was released for developers and put together a walkthrough of some of the new features. Check out the video after the break and see what will be coming in the summer. Lets be honest, its an interesting video but just makes you wish it was summer already.
HTC has announced plans to roll out three new handsets this year using Google’s Android operating system.
Peter Chou, chief executive and co-founder of HTC, told delegates at the Merrill Lynch Technology Conference in Taipei that his company is planning to release at least three Android handsets, one of which he described as a " second-generation smartphone".
The Android-powered HTC Magic was launched at Mobile World Congress in February, and the new handsets are widely expected to become available towards the end of this year in time for the lucrative last quarter.
Chou also said that the company will produce 10 new smartphones before the year’s end.
I recently changed my mobile contract and was amazed at just how many different packages and tariffs each provider had to offer. After a while it gets pretty confusing!
So how do you find a good deal?
Well, online mobile retailer Mobiles Please are so confident of their deals they have added a comparison deal engine which allows users to compare deals from competitors such as dialaphone, phones4u and Beepy amongst others.
The first ever online retailer to allow you to compare mobile phone deals with competitors, which, in some cases, are cheaper. Is this a crazy idea?
Mobiles please believe that by providing their customers with their own deals as well as their competitors the customer will get the best deal possible. This new service which was launched last week will also save users the time and effort of trawling through all these different sites…instead they can compare deals instantly.
The service works by pulling deals from various affiliate networks and the deals are shown below Mobiles please prices. Deals can be customised by various preferences including networks, contract length & free gifts to provide the best deals possible.
The economic downfall has forced people to be more careful when looking for a new mobile phone to ensure they get the right phone and deal for them. For example if you compared deals for the Google Android , Mobiles please offer the deal for £24.47 including 1000 Minutes and Unlimited Texts for £31.93 per-month through Mobiles Please and you can get the same deals with Buymobiles for £34.25.It really does save you time and money.
Mobiles please are confident this will be a successful addition to the website and believe with their easy cash back offers, simple site and confidence in their deals will win every time…maybe it’s not so crazy after all and could be a stroke of genius?
Bobbie Bhogal, Director of Mobilesplease
"We acknowledge that today’s Internet buyer wants to ensure that they are getting great value and it is normal to check and compare offers online. So….we’ve made it easy for our customers to compare our offers online. We are confident that we offer great value deals and that our gift and cash back offers are straight forward with one easy claim compared to many of our competitors that will make the customer claim 4-6 times. It’s too early to say whether this initiative is successful, however it will make it easier for our customers to compare our offers to those of our competitors in one place. Roll on the sales…"
Posted by: Matt
So the highly anticipated Pocket Informant application is now available in the App Store, we have just had emailed confirmation. Full product description after the break with screenshots. From the Press Release:-
With over eight years of mobile calendaring experience, we have built simply the best personal information manager available on the iPhone. We are excited to bring Pocket Informant to the iPhone and version 1.0 is just the beginning of a much larger vision we have for this product. Take a moment to look over what we have delivered in this release and we’re just getting started.
Our latest podcast is now available to download, in episode 29 we discuss the just announced iPhone 3.0 software preview, Windows Mobile Marketplace, iPaq Voice Messenger review, farewell to Palm OS and a few bits of software and much more.You can subscribe via iTunes, RSS or download the mp3 file here. Full show notes after the break.
Connect
Connect with us on the following social media platforms.