Nokia has recently announced three new models: Nokia 6500 Classic, Nokia 6500 Slide and Nokia 8600 Luna. The first model is a 3G mobile that is suitable for worldwide use because it is a quad-band phone. Nokia 6500 Classic will retail for 320 euros ($430) excluding the taxes and is expected in stores this summer.

The 6500 Slide is a sliding variant of the first model. It also works on 3G networks and features a 2 megapixel camera. Probably the Classic has a camera too, even it wasn’t announced in the Reuters news. Nokia 6500 Slide has a stainless steel body and will be priced at 370 euros (around $500).

About the Nokia 8600 Luna we have written about in a previous article. The price mentioned there wasn’t the official one, so you’ll find out right here – 700 euros ($940) without taxes.

[via Yahoo]

Palm’s Foleo was presented by Jeff Hawkins at the D5 Conference. It was described as “first smartphone companion product”. When you edit a document on the Foleo, for instance, the changes appear on the accompanying smartphone, and vice versa. Foleo was designed to work in a tandem with a smartphone.

The device sports a 10″ wide screen, full QWERTY keyboard and Bluetooth connectivity. It can be paired with Palm Treo devices that use the Palm OS or Windows Mobile. Other devices could work with Foleo by modifying their software.

Foleo impresses with the built-in office software: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the Opera browser for Web surfing and a Palm-developed PDF viewer. It features Wi-Fi connectivity. The mini-laptop runs the Linux OS. However it received some critics referring to the underpowered processor. Palm Foleo is priced at $500, but many voices questioned its capabilities. Overall, I find it very attractive. Probably an improved model would rock the market. We shall see…

Raon Digital has created a new UMPC called Everun. The device has been equipped very well. Everun sports a large touchscreen (4.8″) with 800×480 resolution, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0. Besides, it supports the new WiMAX technology and HDSPA data transfer technology. They promise a battery life around 7 hours, so it won’t trouble you during a journey.

The storage possibilities are the 30 or 60GB hard drives or 6GB SSD. The UMPC is powered by a 600Mhz AMD Geode processor and 512MB DDR2 memory. The input options include a full QWERTY keyboard and a Touch Pen. Everun has a 2 megapixel camera for chat mode and for taking photos. The stereo speakers, the microphone and the tone controls complete the entertainment features.

With Everun everything is easier! You can listen your favorite tracks, watch some cool movies, chat with your friends, check your email or taking photos. The device was announced to be available in late July. We don’t know anything about the price, but you can make a pre-order at Pocket PC Solutions.

Apple announced yesterday in a press release that the 160GB Apple TV model will be available today. The recommended price for the 160GB model is $399. Apple told that storage would be sufficient for 200 hours of video, 36,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each.

Besides, announcing the larger capacity Apple TV, Steve Jobs talked about YouTube videos: “This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun.” Starting from mid-June, Apple TV will stream videos directly from YouTube. The free software upgrade for YouTube will be available in June too.

What the hell is that?! Easy my friend, I will present you the future successor of HDTV. A Japanese company, called NHK, has demonstrate at the Science and Technical Research Laboratories, in Tokyo, that the Super Hi-Vision television is the future of today’s HDTV systems.

NHK’s engineers have presented a prototype image sensor that can offer a Super Hi-Vision resolution of 7680 by 4320. This progress on Super Hi-Vision will produce the replacement of today’s HDTV devices. Also, NHK has presented a Super Hi-Vision camera that can capture a live monochrome video image at 7680×4320 resolution. A prototype Super Hi-Vision encoder can encode a 24-gbps video signal to a 128-mbps MPEG4 AVC stream in real time using 16 encoders in parallel.

All in all, I would say the progress is outstanding. We’ve just entered the HDTV era and NHK has developed the next generation television. But, hey, the science don’t stop!

[Credits: PC World]

It’s happening in Japan. After NTT DoCoMo developed the doctor’s phones, now the company looks forward to create a system to notify customers of an imminent earthquake. To develop the matter of speaking system, NTT DoCoMo joins its forces with the other big operator KDDI.

How it works? The Japanese meteorological agency will transmit the information when any earthquake is detected. The meteorological agency managed a system that detects the tremors several seconds before the big seismic waves hit the surface. That “several seconds” could make the difference between life and death.

The type of message has not been announced yet. However the big amount of simultaneous data could overwhelm the networks. Another issue would be that the message could create panic even the earthquake won’t be a big one. The system will be available within a few months. Japan is located in a seismic area and the Japanese are very exposed at big quakes that could create chaos and tragedies.

It’s been a while since we got the new Bluetooth Stereo Headset from Philips. It took us time to stress-test it because they are new in the Bluetooth world and they deserve our comments for each and every inch of their new headsets.

Inside the box

We got our hands on the Bluetooth Stereo Headset SHB6102 and from the start I should tell you what I found inside: the headset, a 3.5mm Bluetooth audio adapter, one wrap-around adapter pouch and the charger (5V,500mA). I like the design so far.

What can you do with Philips SHB6102

If you will only use the headset (not with the Bluetooth adapter) you will be able to pair it with your mobile phone (A2DP compatible) to take/decline phone calls or listen to music from it. You can easily switch between music and phone calls by the touch of a button. However if you need A2DP compatibility use the Bluetooth adapter. Plug it into your laptop or into your mp3 player.

What I did with it

Here is the real review of the Philips Bluetooth Stereo Headset SHB6102. First you need to charge them. They come empty.
First of all I used it on my laptop. Plugged the Bluetooth adapter in the audio jack and started Winamp. It was really nice to go to the kitchen and make dinner while listening to music or having a call on Skype. I need to tell you the sound quality was the same even if I were near the laptop or 8-9 meters away from it (that’s the maximum distance I got for them, not 33ft which is 10m).

After that I used the headsets to pair with my Nokia N65. Worked smoothly. I even tested a phone call with a friend in a very noisy local pub. Not sure if they have noise reduction, but the sound was great. Both on the headphones and for the phone that made the call. I even listened to music an switched the file with the two small buttons on the headset.

Yesterday morning I went for jogging. I connected the bluetooth adapter to my iRiver X20. I enjoyed music for about 25 minutes. No disruptions, no lack of sound quality, or anything bad.

Though what you’ve read above sounds like the perfect headset I need to tell you the one thing that I consider a disadvantage. I couldn’t pair it with my other phone, Nokia 6230i. I even tried with a few phones of my friends: Nokia 6233, Sony Ericsson w801i and Samsung SGH d600 and 6280 Nokia. I cannot explain why it only worked on the N65. It could be a fabrication problem for this specific package I got or maybe I didn’t pair them well?

One last thing that could be changed: the neck strap. I does have L, M and S but they are not enough. The difference is not big. I needed them much smaller than the minimum.

All in all, the new Philips Bluetooth Stereo Headset SHB6102 is working great and I am sure Philips will start making a name in the wireless headsets.

LG LN740 was reviewed by the team from GPSMagazine. The conclusion was that LG LN740 handled very well the challenges. The routing engine has been the most praised part. Its reviewers said that the LG LN740 successfully surpasses the competitors from Garmin, Magellan and TomTom.

The LG LN740 is an excellent GPS system. Probably its software engineers have made a top product. The Navteq maps on board include US and Canada. In addition a 2GB flash memory card includes Porto Rico’s map. The interface is simple, the maps provide a multitude of POIs. Also the device can receive real-time traffic data. That would help you to avoid the crowded areas or the traffic jams. The 4″ display doesn’t provide such quality like the competitors devices, but overall LG LN740 GPS system is a good product. You can buy this GPS for $450 from Amazon.

[via Navigadget]

We’ve had products here that made me say WOW but this is the biggest WOW I have come up until now. It’s the Microsoft Surface is the product they had in the making for the last 5 years and it’s a 30-inch touch sensitive table. This is the so called Project Milan and is what Microsoft thinks of the surface computers that only needs touch for input.
This kind of computing interface works perfectly for maps, photosharing or menus that you browse on the table. It’s like playing with real things but they are digital. Imagine that you can resize the images on the table or even move them. How real is this? Another thing to make it real is that it’s a multi-touch display so it’s not like a normal mouse that manipulate only 1-2 things at a time. Many users can “play” with the Microsoft Surface at the same time.

The biggest WOW comes at the technology because Microsoft Surface, Project Milan, is so smart that interacts with other devices. It’s smart enough to recognize what you place on it. Take a photo with your digital camera, put it on the table and the picture will appear. Then put your phone and move the picture into it. There you go. You have it on your mobile.

The price is going to be huge for the home user, but it’s not intended for us at the moment. It costs $10,000 and Microsoft targets casinos, hotels and such. It will be available in T-mobile stores, Harrah’s and Sheraton hotels. See the video below and say WOW!

[via Gizmodo]

It’s true. Tax investigators from Japan announced that the financial schemes are true. A few NEC employees managed to fake orders for 2.2 billion yen ($18 million) that brought them kickbacks in the amount of 500 million yen ($4.1 million). It’s very bad news for the Japanese company because they already had to re-structure their financial reporting for 2006, three times now and could get delisted from Nasdaq because of that.
The company said that what happened is regrettable and they promised criminal proceeding against the employees found with fake kickbacks. Of course they will also seek compensation. How good is another scandal at NEC these days? Pretty good, I could say because the company’s domestic shares rose slightly when NEC came out with the regrets.

[Source via Engadget]