February 2010

4G wireless may need extensive infrastructure changes
ADC, a global network infrastructure provider, says traditional methods to provide mobile coverage cannot scale to offer the coverage, capacity and return on invested capital necessary to deliver 4G services. That's because 4G service modulation efficiency varies widely depending on signal strength, so a user less than a kilometer from the nearest base station may get the multi-megabit data service that's advertised, but those farther away won’t see better service than they have today. [Read release] -- Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Mobile telecomm services now close to a trillion US$
Remember when former Apple CEO John Sculley was ridiculed for predicting that handheld technology would trigger a trillion dollar market? Well, PDAs alone didn't, but according to IDATE, mobile telecomm services are well on their way to that goal. In 2008 they amounted to US$755 billion, and in 2010 it will be US$824 billion. Add to that revenues generated by telecomm data and internet, and we're already well over a trillion US dollars [see source] -- Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Lenovo introduces 17-inch ThinkPads with Wacom digitizer
Lenovo also introduced the new W701 and W701ds mobile workstations that are Lenovo's most powerful ThinkPads yet. They pair Intel Core i7 Series processors with NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800 and 3800 Series GPUs, offering the responsiveness of a workstation in a 17 inch mobile design. The W701 and W701ds are the only mobile workstations to feature an optional built-in WACOM digitizer and pen to manipulate fine details. -- Posted Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Lenovo updates its ThinkPad tablet
Lenovo announced the ThinkPad X201, a slightly updated version of its X200 Tablet PC convertible. The X201 comes in different versions, including one that weighs under 2.5 pounds, and comes with an Intel Core i7 processor. Units equipped with a 9-cell power pack can get up to 11 hours of battery life. -- Posted Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Toshiba updates its convertible Tablet PC to Intel i3/i5/i7
With the availability of Intel's new Core i3/i5/i7 processors, Toshiba has upgraded its venerable M750 Tablet PC convertible (which remains available for now) to the new Portege M780, which is available in several versions with the new Intel chips. The 4.65-lbs machine has a 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel WXGA display with both digitizer and touch. Other tech specs have been upgraded as well and while the M780 is a durable rather than rugged computer, at least the European specs suggest the ability to survive a respectable 3.3-foot drop. Prices start at US$1,279. [See description and specs of the Toshiba Portege M780] -- Posted Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sybase Mobile University event March 4, 2010
If your company is considering iPhone as an enterprise device, Sybase offers free "Sybase Mobile University" virtual online classes where iPhone experts bring you up to speed on how to overcome challenges when adopting iPhone in the enterprise. By participating in this event, you will also be eligible to win 1 of 5 prizes, consisting of 2 Mini Flip Video Cameras and 3 iPhone Speakers. [Sign up] -- Posted Friday, February 19, 2010

Fujitsu selects Cypress TrueTouch solution
Cypress Semiconductor announced that Fujitsu has selected the TrueTouch solution from Cypress to implement the water-resistant touchscreen in some of Fujitsu's Japanese market phones. Cypress’s TrueTouch family, which seems applicable for a wide range of commercial applications, includes single-touch, multitouch and "multitouch all-point" offerings and the company was first to introduce multitouch with an unlimited number of touches. Cypress recently announced its next-gen TMA300 multi-touch all-point family for the most demanding touchscreen applications. [Check out Cypress TrueTouch] -- Posted Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Intel and Nokia merge their mobile Linux platforms
In what might be a significant development in the convergence of communications and computing, Intel and Nokia are merging their Moblin and Maemo software platforms. This will create a unified Linux-based platform that will run on multiple hardware platforms across a wide range of computing devices. Called MeeGo, the open software platform could accelerate industry innovation and time-to-market for a wealth of new Internet-based applications and services and exciting user experiences. MeeGo-based devices from Nokia and other manufacturers are expected to be launched later this year.
-- Posted Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Review: Fujitsu Lifebook T4410 with multi-touch
Fujitsu was one of the early pioneers in pen computing and has been making tablet computers and pen-enable convertible notebooks ever since. Their experience shows in the latest convertible notebook, the Lifebook T4410. This is a versatile 4.5-pound notebook that offers excellent performance without compromising battery life. The outdoor-viewable 12.1-inch display offers both pen and touch input, and under Windows 7, the multi-touch capabilities are very good. [See full review of the Fujitsu Lifebook T4410] -- Posted Monday, February 15, 2010

Microsoft announces Windows 7 Phone Series
At the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona, Microsoft unveiled the consumer-oriented Windows Phone 7 Series. It uses a tiles-based interface and includes Xbox LIVE games, Zune music and video, Bing Search and automatically synchronizes photos to PCs and photo sites on the Internet. There's Microsoft Office software and a variety of other personal productivity features. Microsoft claims it went back to the drawing board with a complete redesign of Windows Mobile and that it is more than a new user interface, allowing users to take advantage of converging technologies and online services from their mobile phone. The "live" tiles act as doorways to more detailed "hub" pages that connect to Web services, applications, contacts and other items. There will be some more standardization in hardware: all Windows 7 Phone Series devices will share the same three hardware buttons and use capacitive mulit-touch screens However, the first Windows Phone 7 Series devices will not be available until the 2010 holidays. [See Windows Phone 7 Series at Microsoft, and the Microsoft press release] -- Posted Monday, February 15, 2010

Garmin-Asus releases new smartphones
Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin and ASUSTeK announced the Garmin-Asus nüvifone A50, a touchscreen Android-powered smartphone with location technologies and apps. The A50 has a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, 4GB internal storage, a microSD card slot, an accelerometer, and a three mega-pixel camera that automatically geotags pics with an exact latitude and longitude reference of where the photo was taken. They also announced the Garmin-Asus M10, a full-touch, all-in-one smartphone powered running Windows Mobile 6.5.3. It has a 3.5-inch WVGA display, 512 RAM and 512 ROM, 4GB of Flash, HSDPA wireless, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) and preloaded mobile navigation from Garmin. -- Posted Friday, February 12, 2010

Panasonic introduces the rugged Toughbook H1 Field
Panasonic introduced a new version of its Toughbook H1 tablet computer, the Toughbook H1 Field. Specially configured for use by field personnel and equipped with a 64GB solid state disk, the H1 Field offers impressive ruggedness specs (6-foot drop, -4 to 140 F temperature range, IP65 sealing), an excellent 10.4-inch sunlight-viewable dual-touch display, and 6-hour battery life thanks to a power-efficient Intel Atom Z540 processor. For data capture there's, depending on the version, a 1D/2D barcode reader, RFID, and a camera as well as smart card and fingerprint readers. Also available: Gobi2000 mobile broadband. [See detailed description and specs of the Panasonic Toughbook H1 Field] -- Posted Thursday, February 11, 2010

Nvidia fights back against Intel's integrated graphics with Optimus technology
If you haven't noticed, there's a war going on between Intel and third parties who make separate GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). Most of the new Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors have integrated graphics, eliminating the need for a separate graphics module for most applications. Most, but not all, as complex graphics still greatly benefit from dedicated graphics modules/cards, but at the cost of higher power consumption. Nvidia is now fighting back with its Optimus Graphics Technology for mobile systems, which automatically determines whether to use the integrated graphics (and extend battery life) or an external NVIDIA GPU (to boost graphics). [See Nvidia Optimus release] -- Posted Wednesday, February 10, 2010

174 million smartphones shipped in 2009
According to IDC, global 2009 smartphone shipments amounted to 174 million, which is 15% of the total of 1.16 billion mobile phones shipped. In 2008, smartphones accounted for 12.7% of all phones. Of smartphones shipped in 2009, 68 million came from Nokia, 35 million from RIM, and 25 million from Apple. HTC and Samsung each shipped under 8 million. -- Posted Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Handheld introduces rugged, ultra-mobile Algiz 7
Handheld announced the Algiz 7, a rugged, ultra-mobile Intel Atom-based tablet computer designed for use in homeland security, public safety, field service, GIS/mapping, logistics, railways, telecommunications, energy, law enforcement, military, warehousing, etc. The Algiz 7 has a 7-inch MaxView WSVGA sunlight-viewable touch screen, excellent connectivity, onboard camera and Mediatek GPS, and it is available with Gobi 2000 WWAN technology that provides access to any wireless WWAN frequency used around the globe. [See description and specs of the Handheld Algiz 7] -- Posted Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Amidst fights over 3G coverage, Novatel tests LTE 4G
While AT&T and Verizon spend millions on TV commercials claiming to have more or better or faster 3G wireless, Novatel Wireless announced it has successfully completed the first data transmission call using Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G technology. LTE provides data rates of up to 100Mbps on the uplink and 50 Mbps on the downlink. Novatel Wireless says it is working with operators and plans to launch commercial data devices in late 2010. -- Posted Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Dick Brass: Microsoft has become a clumsy, uncompetitive innovator
In an article published in the New York Times, former Microsoft VP Dick Brass, the driving force behind Microsoft's 2001 re-invention of the Tablet PC, describes why "Microsoft has become a clumsy, uncompetitive innovator," lamenting the lack of systems for innovation, internal competition and sabotage, and a steady exit of the company's best and brightest. [See article on Microsoft's decline] -- Posted Tuesday, February 9, 2010