iPhone... bicara tentang keburukan

Kebetulan masa aku tgh merayap kat web, jumpa la artikel ni.... pasal iPhone idaman...


The announcement of Apple's new iPhone was heralded with the massive levels of hype that have often accompanied new product announcements from Apple. The iPhone extravaganza was bigger than most and quickly followed by countless articles in the press, most of them glowing over the “tiny wonder”. In fact, most of these articles were little more than a rehashing of Apple's own press releases.

Now that we've had bit of time to look behind the smoke and mirrors, we believe the iPhone will nether be as revolutionary nor as useful as Apple would want us to believe.




As a Symbian S60 3rd (aka: S60) edition user I started wondering how this thing really would stack up against the likes of the soon-to-be released Nokia N95 and N93i or even the currently available N91 8 GB or 4 GB and N93. I read an article over at www.symbian-freak.com comparing the iPhone to Nokia’s offerings that really got me thinking. I came to the conclusion that Apple’s iPhone is their attempt at putting together a phone, with some rather dated specs (and in many cases even missing a few key features) in what is little more than a nice and shiny package.

Coming from something like a Motorola RAZR it might look impressive, but owners of for example the now out-of-date N70 will not find much to talk, users of current handsets like the N73 and N93 will find this a joke. Most of these features have been standard for more than a year on the Nseries and since than they have moved on. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about, read on to find out why.


Design

First of all I must admit this thing does look good with that spare Apple design and that huge 3.5” screen, but it’s too big. As a Nokia N93 user I heard many people commenting on how big the N93 is, well, the iPhone is even bigger -- being almost the size of a PSP, though it’s considerably thinner. That wonderful screen might be big and have a nice resolution, but just imagine the fun of having to wipe that fingerprint and earwax magnet clean all day. Besides, Apple should know better having learned from the scratched iPod cases. Having a huge 3.5” screen exposed like that will surely increase the chances of ending up with a broken or scratched screen. They will probably sell matching cases or other accessories to protect the thing, but this will only add more to the size.


Specs

There are some interesting specs in the iPhone. It has a proximity sensor to turn off the screen when it's close to your face, a sensor to detect vertical or horizontal orientation, a 2 megapixel camera, 4GB or 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quad-band GSM with EDGE support. It runs “OS X” with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email. It also houses a 3.5-inch 480x320 touchscreen display with multi-touch support. Looking at these specs I honestly don’t see anything new or revolutionary enough to justify all the media attention!


Sensors

The use of a proximity sensor is also interesting and is not found on any of the Symbian phones. While the S60 phones don’t have this, they do have a light sensor that adjusts both the keypad and screen back light. Outside of a Wii Remote or a Sony SixAxis controller, there are no devices I’m aware of that use an orientation sensor. However these are minor features quite specific to the iPhone’s overall design.


Touchscreen

I suspect there are going to be those who love it and those who hate it. Many mobile phone users are very used to being able to dial on their phones using dedicated keys that contain tactile references making it possible to dial without looking at the keypad. A purely touchscreen approach, while popular on the Starship Enterprise’s consoles, lacks any tactile feedback. Even worse, Apple also seems to lack confidence in it’s own touchscreen and only designed for finger input. No stylus input is going to mean users are forced to use touchscreen keyboards, which are far slower. Why wouldn’t Apple include handwriting recognition from it’s own Newton platform?


Integration

Somewhat surprising is the lack of integration with Outlook, Exchange and other standard Microsoft products. Absolutely surprising is a lack of integration with the iTunes store. In spite of having iPod-like/iTunes music playing built into the iPhone, it can’t even download wirelessly from Apple’s own iTunes music store. Also astonishing is that it cannot wirelessly sync with your desktop, requiring a wired connection like any basic mobile phone.


Memory

The fact of having 4 or 8 GB of storage seems new to many when in fact smartphones like the Nokia N91 has been out for some time now sporting the same 4GB, while the newly released N91 8GB is now equal in storage to the higher-priced iPhone model. Both versions of the N91 are available now while the iPhone will bring this “new” feature in June. While the iPhone does come in 4 or 8 GB versions, there is no possibility to add more storage through the use of memory cards. This is a huge mistake in today’s smartphone market. Today’s 8 GB of storage will likely seem modest when 16 GB or 32 GB SD cards are commonly available by the time the iPhone is, itself, available.


Camera

Camera phones are all the rage right now, while the iPhone does come with a 2 megapixel camera, this is the same resolution of the good old N70 that has been out for more than a year now. Current S60 phones like the N93, N93i, and N73 all sport 3.3 megapixels while the N95 will have a 5-megapixel camera. Does the iPhone have optical zoom like the N93? Nope. What about Autofocus or Carl Zeiss optics? Try again. What about a second camera for video calling or making self-portraits like many Symbian S60 phones? Not going to find it on the iPhone. The N93/N93i and the N95 have good quality 640x480 video, does the iPhone have this? Of course not. By the time it gets out in June it will basically be dinosaur in the camera department. Some people might argue that they already have a digital camera, but the fact is that for the hefty $499 or $599 price you would expect decent specs, especially since the similarly priced Nseries do have more advanced cameras.


Connectivity

Far from being a groundbreaking device, the iPhone is actually not very forward looking and is lacking the latest HSDPA support. Not even current EVDO, 3G or WCDMA are supported. Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP and WiFi will all be standard fare on the N95, while also adding a built-in GPS. The iPhone does have Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, A2DP and WiFi, but it lacks a GPS and there is no possibility to add one. While other smartphones, aside from the N95, lack a built-in GPS, you do have the possibility of adding third-party solutions like TomTom or Route66. Less common connectivity options like TV-out and UPnP, all standard on the N93/N95 are also lacking on the iPhone.


Look Ma, no OS X!

One of the most talked about features was the fact that the iPhone supposedly was running OS X in one way or another. Articles from Slashdot and other publications show that the iPhone seems to be running on a Samsung provided ARM core processor, this means it's not running on an Intel (or PPC) core. This means the iPhone is not running OS X in any meaningful way. The article states: “Darwin, the BSD based operating system that underlies what Apple has previously been calling OS X, does not run on ARM processors. The Darwin / Apple Public Source licensing agreement says the source would have to be made available if it is modified and sold. A Cingular rep has said the iPhone version of the OS source will not be made available. It will be closed, like the iPod OS and not like Darwin. So if it ain't Darwin, it ain't OS X (in any meaningful way). An InfoWorld article on an FBR Research report breaks down iPhone component providers and lists Samsung as the chip maker for the main application / video CPU.”

Basically it has a proprietary OS, perhaps it’s based from OS X, but the only thing that is certain is that they made to look like OS X. The same thing can be done on Symbian S60 through the use of Themes that makes it look like Vista, XP or even OS X. Hopefully there are at least strong, underlying, programming similarities. Oh wait, that won’t matter since it’s not an open platform.


Smartphone or Not?

According to Steve Jobs, the iPhone will prohibit users from installing their own applications. Steve Jobs claims this prohibition has been put in place to keep errant applications from taking down the Cingular network. However the facts tend to dismiss Job's claimed concerns. This because Cingular has long sold Palm Treos and Windows Mobile handsets, all of which allow user installable applications. I'm not aware of a single instance of a user installed smartphone application having harmed a host network.

Since Cingular seems to have few issues with allowing users to run their own applications on their network, the only reasonable conclusion one can draw is Apple themselves are enforcing this probation on user installable applications.

Unfortunately for apple, the moniker of smartphone is inexorably tied to an ability to install third party applications. As with any phone that prevents third party applications, so goes the moniker of smartphone. The iPhone isn't a smartphone, and won't be until it is opened to developers.

It’s this huge library of third party apps that makes smartphones special and customizable. I’m sure Apple will add functionality through their own programs, but this isn’t the same level of customization, and you will have to rely on Apple. Totally.

All of these wonderful apps included with iPhone can be installed on my N93. The built-in Symbian S60 3rd edition browser is also based on the Safari browser, there is this wonderful app called Widsets that also gives you widget-like functionality. Google Maps can also be downloaded while the N93 can also double as a mp3/video-player.

Just the other day I was browsing a S60 freeware thread, where I found: a bible reader, calculator app, dictionary, weather app, a program called Microsky (which allows you to view the current sky with planets, stars and other points of interest in the night sky), and a Gnutella and Bittorrent client. This quick look shows the variety in apps available for S60, and most importantly, these are freeware. While the iPhone does have Google maps, there is no built-in GPS, so you will need a constant data connection to use this, the N95 will do this through the use of the built-in GPS. This excludes the growing market of social applications, which allow you to connect up with nearby friends and other features made possible by an integrated GPS.

What’s worse is that in the business world there are literally uncounted numbers (and I would guess hundreds at the least) of proprietary applications that businesses must install on their workers smartphones for uses specific to their company. Sales tools, job logging and more are very common. But these will be impossible on the iPhone because it’s a closed platform in a world that requires an open platform.


…and the rest

Other features inexplicably missing from the list are; stereo speakers, dedicated music keys, no hardware acceleration for 3D video games (like N95/N93), limited multitasking (sometimes I could be playing a 3D game, listening to a podcast, while downloading a program in the background, while Profimail is downloading my mail, all at once on my N93), PDF or Office support and no Flash Light for flash content.

Most importantly in my opinion is the lack of advanced voice dialing. Of course, this would probably require them to outsource this to a company like VoiceSignal whose vSuite product is the best voice dialing solution available today. Apple doesn’t often like to go outside of their company for anything. What a shame.

So if the iPhone is so great why isn’t it including features that are already standard on other mobile platforms?


Luxury? Texting? E-mailing?

For luxury phone users, the iPhone does at first seem a tantalizing purchase. But even in the luxury market, form takes a backseat to functionality. Many phones have positioned themselves at luxury buyers, yet few of these luxury devices have managed to sell in large numbers.

The standout of the luxury market is of course the Sidekick. The Sidekick succeeded not because of its luxury status, but because it made texting easy. It does this with well-designed software and a physical keyboard. One cannot understate the importance of a physical keyboard when a primary use of a device is the entry of text and e-mail messages.

The iPhone does not have a physical keyboard. Neither does it feature a stylus text recognition system like those on Palm and Windows PDA devices. Instead, the iPhone simply shows a keyboard on its flat glass touch-screen and invites users to peck away.

Consider that nearly every PDA on the market has the same sort of flat glass touch-screen as the iPhone. Yet when it comes to text entry, not a single leading touch-screen PDA uses the iPhone’s type of on-screen-keyboard as a primary text entry method. The iPhone’s sort of screen-keyboard text entry would have made the designs of leading PDA’s much easier, yet they all choose much more robust text entry systems.

The reasons behind this have long been proven with PDA designs going as far back as Apple’s Newton. History has show that a keyboard displayed on a flat glass touch-screen is neither a fast or efficient method for text entry. This is because typing on a flat glass screen gives no user feedback and requires complete concentration from the user. Given the iPhone’s design, the user will be forced look at the screen while entering each and every character of text. This is simply not the case with the Blackberries, Treos, and Sidekicks of the world.

How can we be so assured of these problems with the iPhone’s text entry system even though we’ve never tried the iPhone? We know this because we’ve used this same sort of text entry system many times before. Even today one can easily see examples of the problems with these flat glass touch-screen keyboards. The venerable Palm OS has always offered the iPhone’s sort of screen-keyboard text entry as a secondary, backup, method of text entry. Few people use this feature because it’s simply not as efficient as the stylus or keyboards featured on all Palm devices.

Because the iPhone’s flat glass touch-screen keyboard system has been proven to be a slow and cumbersome method for text entry, we could not recommend any device with the iPhone’s text entry for those who frequently send outgoing texts or e-mails.


Business and Corporate Uses?

Business users of late have required their devices have connectivity with Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail network. Exchange connectivity is feature that is striking in its absence from the iPhone. Perhaps this is a feature Apple is working on. If they hope to have any intrusion into the business market, it will be a requirement.

Over the past few years, corporate users have become quite enamored with the instant e-mail and the physical qwerty-ish keyboards of their Treo’s and BlackBerries. We believe that very few of these users are likely to abandon these physical keyboards for the iPhone’s featureless, flat screen. As detailed above, we find the system of glancing and pecking on flat-glass screens to be cumbersome and slow. Because this on-screen keyboard is the only method of text entry for the iPhone, we don’t anticipate many Blackberry or Treo users moving to the iPhone.

Also limiting the iPhone’s appeal to business users is Apple’s curious decision to lock down the system software of the iPhone, thus preventing development or installation of any 3rd party or custom software applications. This locking down of the device would seem to rule out the iPhone as an upgrade path for users who currently store medical reference texts, databases or custom applications on their existing PDA’s, Treos, Symbian, or Windows Mobile devices.

Seemingly driving a stake through any corporate adoption of the iPhone is its complete lack of a removable battery. A removable and replaceable battery is not a major problem for non-essential entertainment devices like iPods. But when a device is the primary communication system for a business user, replaceable batteries are a mandatory feature.

There are few business travelers who haven’t been stuck in an airport for hours on end. The iPhone’s inability to exchange for a fresh battery and limited 5-hour life would severely reduce the productivity of many business users.

Apple has a long history of designing products for business users. Their laptops have long featured user replaceable batteries. Business users demand replaceable batteries in their products. We see Apple’s decision to build in the iPhone’s battery as a firm indication that Apple had no plans or hopes of this initial iPhone having any significant intrusion into the business and corporate market. Quite simply, it’s not a business phone and Apple wants it that way.


Conclusion

Obviously Apple feel they have developed a phone with great sales potential. We’re not so sure. Of course, any Apple product with this much buzz is bound to sell well with the Apple faithful. Those Apple’s faithful aside, we are only aware of two significant demographics that purchase phones in the $600 price range. These markets are business users and luxury phone buyers. For reasons detailed above, we don’t find the iPhone particularly well suited to either of those groups.

We feel the iPhone’s high price and curious lack of features may well make Apple’s initial foray into the phone market a limited success.

E60, E61 dan E70 merupakan model telefon bimbit Nokia yang diberi nama Enterprise.Ia dibina khusus untuk memberikan pengalaman pejabat bergerak kepada pengguna.

Os XDA Mini

yes... dengan design yg memang cun habis....
kalau nak compare ngan dell tu, yg ni lg kecik la.

• Bluetooth 1.2 compliant class 2
• Infrared IrDA SIR (115 kbps)
• Mini-USB connector
• SIM card slot
• MMC / SDIO card slot
• Earphone / microphone Audio jack (2.5mm ø)
• Bluetooth and 1.3 mega-pixel VGA camera
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003

Applications

• Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 standard applications: Pocket Outlook, Pocket Excel, Pocket Word, Pocket Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, ActiveSync, Windows Media Player, Calculator, Terminal Services Clients, Games (Jawbreaker, Solitraire)
• Multimedia Album
• Picture Editor
• Camera (phone and video capture)
• ClearVue PDF and PPT
• Integrated MMS
• Java MIDlet Manager (J2ME)
• Photo Contacts
• SIM Manager
• Wireless Modem
• xBackup

Xda II mini awards

Australia CNET Editor's Top 10 Most Popular Phones - January Category : Top 10 Mobile Phones in January Date : Jan 2005

CNET Editor's Top 5 PDA-phones Category : Ranked 1st Date : Jan 2005

Singapore CNET Asia Editor's Top 5 PDA-phone Category : Ranked 1st Date : Jan 2005

iDigital iDigital Editor's Choice Category : PDA Phones, Smart Phones Date : Jan 2005

Hardware Magazine
Hardware Mag Singapore Gold
Category : PDA-phone Date : Jan 2005

PDA Terbaik 2005

In appearance, the silvery, lightweight Axim X30 is identical to its predecessor, the Axim X3. With its stubby antenna, it looks bulkier than HP's IPaq 4150 (though at 4.9 ounces it's not much heavier). The unit's 240 by 320 display remains one of the brightest, sharpest PDA screens available; and the silver recharging cradle's extra slot for accommodating a second removable, rechargeable battery is a smart and useful extra.

The $349 Axim X30 I examined had a 624-MHz PXA270 processor (code name, Bulverde), Intel's latest CPU for personal digital assistants. Bulverde processors have the PDA equivalent of Intel notebook CPUs' SpeedStep technology, which prolongs battery life by adjusting power requirements depending on the applications in use. Dell also markets a $279 version of the X30 that has the same trimmings but a slower (312-Mhz) Bulverde processor, and a $199 version with the 312-MHz chip, no integrated Wi-Fi, and 32MB each of flash ROM and SDRAM (compared with 64MB each in the more-expensive models). The two lower-cost X30 versions come with a syncing cable instead of a recharging cradle.

The X30 runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, which permits landscape-mode display orientation, allows Internet Explorer to force Web pages into a single column, and adds support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), the most recent Wi-Fi security scheme.

Upshot: The Axim X30 continues Dell's tradition of producing top-of-the-line PDAs at a good price.
-- Yardena Arar

Overall Rating 82%

Street price when ranked $349 (9/28/04)

Features Very Good

Ease of use Very Good

Input method Stylus

Resolution 240-by-320-pixel

Weight 4.9 ounces

Battery type Removable lithium ion

Internal memory 64MB RAM

Expansion slots SD/SDIO Card slot

Wireless communications Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Processor 624-MHz Intel PXA 270 processor

Dimensions and weight 4.8 inches (including antenna) by 3.0 inches by 0.6 inch, 4.9 ounces

Audio Built-in speaker and microphone, headphone port

Bundled software extras File Store, Backup, Funk Odyssey Client , Resco Photo Viewer, Dell
Diagnostic Utility

Bundled hardware extras Charging cradle, USB sync cable, carrying case

Support policy score Very Good

Support policy details One-year warranty; 24-hour daily toll-free support

Toshiba Readies Write-Once HD-DVDs

Discs, which will offer three times the storage of today's DVD-R discs, will be available next year.

Paul Kallender, IDG News Service
Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Volume production of a write-once HD-DVD-R disc that can store 15GB of data will begin in the first half of next year, about the same time that HD-DVD recorders and PC drives will become available, Toshiba and two optical disc makers said at a news conference this week.

The HD-HD-DVD-R discs, which have about three times the storage capacity of today's DVD-R discs, should give consumers who want to record and store content on the HD-DVD format an alternative to the 20GB HD-DVD-RW discs that will also be in shops about the same time, according to Toshiba.

HD-DVD's backers had already discussed the development of the HD-DVD-RW discs, which can be rewritten many times, but had not talked about a write-once technology until this week. The companies would not discuss pricing, but the write-once discs are expected to offer a cheaper alternative to rewritable discs for customers who buy HD-DVD equipment.

Rival Formats

HD-DVD is competing with the Blu-ray Disc format to become the next-generation DVD technology. While Blu-ray backers Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial promote Blu-ray's high storage capacity as its main advantage for consumers, HD-DVD's chief virtue is that it can be made on the same equipment used to manufacture DVDs, according Toshiba and NEC, the format's principal backers.

This reduces costs for manufacturers because they don't have to buy new manufacturing equipment, and means that HD-DVDs can be made for nearly the same price as DVDs, its backers claim.

However, that compatibility with DVD-making equipment hadn't extended to HD-DVD-R because of an issue with the layer of dye used to store data in write-once discs. The problem has now been overcome, Hideaki Ohsawa, a senior manager with Toshiba's Core Technology Center, said this week.

HD-DVDs have the same structure as DVDs, but in HD-DVDs, data is written with a blue laser that has a narrower wavelength than that of the red lasers used for DVDs. The narrower wavelength means more data can be stored, but the dye used in DVD-R discs isn't sensitive enough to work with blue lasers, Ohsawa says.

The trick has been to make dye that is more sensitive, can be spun onto discs with the same process used for DVD-R production, and is strong enough to withstand many replays. Other dyes developed to date have not met all those criteria, according to Toshifumi Kawano, a senior manager at disc maker Mitsubishi Kagaku Media.

But Mitsubishi Kagaku, working with disc maker Hitachi Maxell and dye maker Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories, have now achieved that goal, he says.

Mitsubishi Kagaku has so far produced about 1000 prototype discs, and Hitachi Maxell has also produced prototypes. Both companies are confident they can mass-produce HD-DVD-R discs with the same equipment they use to make DVD-R discs, he says.

Awaiting Approval

Before the disc makers companies can gear up for production, the HD-DVD-R specification needs to be finalized by the DVD Forum, the standards body for the DVD format. This should be done within the next two months, according to Junko Furuta, a spokesperson for Toshiba.

So far, only Mitsubishi Kagaku and Hitachi Maxell have said they'll make HD-DVD-R discs, but a number of disc makers who are members of the DVD-Forum are expected to announce production plans later, she says.

Toshiba plans to sell both HD-DVD recorders and PC drives compatible with the HD-DVD-R discs in Japan and the U.S. early next year, she says. Sanyo Electric plans to launch a recorder in 2006, it says.

The first HD-DVD-R discs are single-layer discs that will only record at 1x speed. Both Mitsubishi Kagaku and Hitachi Maxell are already looking to improve the discs' recording speed, and both want to develop a higher-capacity version, they say. Because of various technical limitations with the discs themselves, 8x is the maximum recording speed that can be developed for HD-DVD-R discs, Kawano says.

"Making the 2x type and the 4x type is not so difficult, but making the 8x type will need a more powerful laser and it will take more time," he says.

The 2x version could be ready in about a year from now, Ohsawa says.

A dual-layer, 30GB disc could take several years to develop, Kawano says.

TDK Develops 100GB Blu-ray Disc

Sony blu-ray player

TDK has developed a prototype Blu-ray Disc that can store twice as much data, and record it at twice the speed, as existing Blu-ray Discs.

The disc, unveiled at a TDK exhibition in Tokyo this week, can record data at 72 megabits per second, double the 36 mbps rate for current Blu-ray Discs. TDK increased the write speed by using a more powerful laser and making some changes to the material of the disc's recording layer, says Nobuyuki Koike, a spokesperson for TDK.

The first generation of Blu-ray discs can already record data faster than it is transmitted in high-definition TV broadcasts, so the faster recording speed isn't needed there. But it will be advantageous when content is copied from a hard drive to an optical disc for back-up or archiving, says Koike.

The Blu-ray Disc Association, which is responsible for the disc formats, standardized a 2X version of the read-only BD-R disc and rewritable BD-RE disc in the latter half of 2004, says Taro Takamine, a spokesperson for Sony in Tokyo. Sony is one of the major backers of the format.

Sony Blu-ray Disc

Four Layers

To achieve the higher capacity, TDK added two additional recording layers to the disc to take it up to four layers. Blu-ray Disc stores 25GB on each recording layer and the standard currently includes single layer and dual layer versions.

No standard exists for four-layer discs and Koike says TDK is proposing its prototype to the Blu-ray Disc Association. Sony's Takamine says the current format road map calls for four-layer discs to debut in the market during 2007.

TDK's development comes hot on the heels of an announcement by Toshiba that it has developed a three-layer HD-DVD disc capable of holding up to 45GB of information. HD-DVD is a competing format to Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD's maximum capacity of 30GB had been viewed unfavorably against Blu-ray Disc's maximum 50GB capacity.

According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, a single-layer 25GB disc can typically hold 135 minutes of high-definition video in MPEG-2 format, with room for a further two hours of standard-definition video.

The recent Toshiba announcement brought the formats much closer together and made capacity less of an issue for the Blu-ray Disc camp to trumpet when promoting their technology. The development of a 100GB disc by TDK will likely open up this avenue for the Blu-ray Disc supporters again.

Game boy baru

NINTENDO Co Ltd mengumumkan alat permainan Game Boy Micro yang hanya sebesar sebuah telefon bimbit dan boleh memainkan semua permainan lama dan terkini untuk model Game Boy.

Nintendo bagaimanapun tidak mengumumkan harga Game Boy Micro ini yang boleh disambungkan dengan pemain muzik digital.

Produk Baru: Motorola miliki pelbagai produk Bluetooth

RUMUSAN lengkap Bluetooth kereta terdiri daripada telefon
bimbit dan set alat dengar telinga, pembesar
suara dan kit kereta.

MOTOROLA meluaskan portfolio set produk Bluetoothnya ke pasaran Malaysia dengan reka bentuk khusus untuk kebebasan, mudah digunakan dan capaian tanpa sempadan.

Portfolio rumusan Bluetooth itu membuktikan penerajuan Motorola dalam pasaran Bluetooth (41 peratus pasaran dunia) menerusi penyediaan pelbagai teknologi bebas tangan dengan harga berpatutan dan mampu dimiliki.

Pengarah Kawasan, PCS Malaysia dan Brunei, Motorola, Eric Chong, berkata kajian oleh GFK pada Mac lepas menunjukkan bahawa 25 peratus daripada keseluruhan telefon bimbit yang dijual di Malaysia memiliki teknologi Bluetooth.



PENUNGGANG motosikal kini
boleh mendapatkan topi keledar
lengkap dengan set telinga
Bluetooth.









“Peratusan itu terus meningkat dengan pesat dan pastinya akan menjadi pemangkin kepada pertumbuhan pasaran produk Bluetooth Motorola di sini, terutamanya dengan rangkaian telekomunikasi 3G sudah mula menembusi pasaran Malaysia.”

“Dengan 3G, teknologi dan peranti Bluetooth akan menyokong keperluan menerima dan memindah maklumat pada kelajuan tinggi dalam suasana mobiliti sepenuhnya. Pelanggan sudah maklum faedah Bluetooth yang menjadikan komunikasi itu lebih mudah dan selesa tanpa gangguan wayar,” katanya.

Bagaimanapun, menurut Eric, kebanyakan pengguna hari ini hanya mengenali Bluetooth sebagai peranti set pembesar suara yang melekap di telinga, sedangkan ia sebenarnya lebih daripada itu dan Motorola memiliki semuanya.

Komitmen Motorola terhadap kualiti, berserta keutuhan bahagian penyelidikan dan pembangunannya, menjadikan ia satu-satunya syarikat yang mengkhususkan kepada sektor Bluetooth yang dikaitkan dengan industri automotif, telekomunikasi dan perkomputeran.

Bluetooth digunakan untuk menghubungkan pelbagai kelengkapan perkomputeran seperti komputer notebook, telefon bimbit, papan kekunci, pencetak, kamera digital, komputer telapak, kereta dan sebagainya.

Speakerphone Bluetooth membolehkan pengguna terus berbual di telefon sebaik mereka keluar dari kereta hingga ke dalam rumah tanpa gangguan. Manakala rumusan lengkap Bluetooth kereta terdiri dari telefon bimbit dan set alat dengar telinga, pembesar suara dan kit kereta.

Ahli sukan atau penggemar sukan lasak boleh menikmati inovasi cermin mata RazrWire, rekaan bersama Oakley untuk menyediakan hubungan bebas tangan ketika bersukan. Penunggang motosikal juga kini boleh mendapatkan topi keledar lengkap dengan set telinga Bluetooth.

Produk Baru: Internet Tablet Nokia mudahkan capaian

NOKIA Corp (Nokia) memperkenalkan tablet telapak, Internet Tablet, untuk melayari web melalui sambungan jalur lebar tanpa wayar yang menjadikannya produk bukan telefon pertama syarikat ini, selain merealisasikan usaha menghasilkan perkakasan internet bagi mengakses online di rumah.

Produk yang baru diperkenalkan Rabu lalu itu akan dipasarkan musim panas ini menggunakan sumber operasi sumber terbuka Linux berbanding platform Symbian yang Nokia gunakan untuk telefon pintar.

Dengan harga RM1,330 (AS$350), Internet Tablet menjadi alternatif kepada membeli sebuah komputer peribadi (PC) tambahan atau laptop bagi kegunaan dalam bilik selain menyediakan konsep mudah dan cepat untuk sambungan ke web.

Ia tidak dilengkapi pemacu keras, hanya flash memory terbina 128 Mb serta slot kad memori.

Nokia menegaskan produk itu bukan bertujuan untuk menyaingi iPod Apple Computer Inc (Apple) atau pemain muzik MP3.

Awal tahun depan beberapa ciri akan disediakan seperti suara melalui telefoni internet (VoIP) dan mesej pendek apabila usaha peningkatan perisian dilaksanakan.

Memandangkan ia dicipta untuk dibawa dari bilik ke bilik, skrin 4.1 inci itu dianggap kecil berbanding kebanyakan paparan perkakasan lain tetapi dilihat lebih besar dan tajam berbanding kebanyakan telefon bimbit dan komputer telapak.

Beratnya hanya setengah paun menggunakan browser Opera dan tidak disediakan papan kekunci untuk menaip sebagaimana pada Treo dan BlackBerry tetapi disediakan bersama papan kekunci maya pada skrin.

Internet Tablet ini dicipta khusus untuk penggunaan di rumah dan melalui pemancar WiFi, ia juga boleh dihubungkan dengan hotspot awam atau komersial.

Juga disediakan port USB untuk sambungan ke PC selain pemancar Bluetooth yang boleh digunakan untuk sambungan ke telefon bimbit yang mempunyai akses online selular.

Kad MoMo dompet maya guna telefon bimbit

KONSEP pembayaran menggunakan telefon bimbit di negara ini akan menjadi nyata apabila HarvestNet Sdn Bhd (HarvestNet) memperkenalkan secara komersial teknologi duit dalam telefon bimbit atau dikenali kad MoMo, pada suku ketiga tahun ini.

Kad MoMo akan bertindak sebagai dompet maya mudah alih yang membolehkan pengguna hanya mengimbas kad berkenaan pada pembaca untuk membeli sesuatu barang.

Pengarah Perniagaan HarvestNet, Nyou Wei Fung, berkata kad ini menggunakan teknologi cip IC tanpa sentuhan atau RFID yang dibangunkan oleh Sony bercirikan kad pintar yang bakal digunakan bagi pembayaran tanpa tunai.

Katanya, kad MoMo bersaiz hanya satu per enam daripada saiz kad kredit mungkin diperkenalkan tiga atau empat bulan lagi yang mana ia boleh digunakan pada kebanyakan alat komunikasi mudah alih antaranya seperti telefon bimbit, PDA dan pemain MP3.

“Teknologi cip IC tanpa sentuh ini kini digunakan dengan meluas dalam kad pengangkutan awam serta telefon bimbit di Jepun dan kad MoMo yang berasaskan penggunaan telefon bimbit ini adalah yang pertama pernah diperkenalkan di Malaysia,” katanya pada sidang akhbar sempena prapelancaran kad itu di Subang, Khamis lalu.

Kad MoMo ini boleh diperoleh melalui penjual yang bakal dilantik dan nilai tunai akan dimasukkan apabila pengguna membelinya dan tambah nilai tunai boleh dilakukan melalui penjual berkenaan.

Kad itu hanya perlu dilekatkan pada telefon bimbit pengguna dan ia hanya perlu diimbas pada terminal atau pembaca kad berkenaan yang disediakan di setiap kedai yang turut serta dalam projek itu.

Nyou berkata, sebagai permulaan, projek ini akan memanfaatkan kepakarannya sebagai integrasi sistem (SI) untuk mobile dan e-niaga dalam mewujudkan prasarana bagi dompet mudah alih maya membabitkan saiz pembelian kecil dan besar.

“Kami merancang memperkenalkan 100,000 kad MoMo dan melantik 300 peruncit dalam tempoh setahun dengan menjuruskan kepada pengguna di Lembah Klang,” katanya.

O2 Xda IIi lewati batas kelajuan

SELEPAS kejayaan cemerlang Xda IIs dan Xda II mini, O2 menambah satu lagi peranti ke dalam barisan telefon PDA-nya – O2 Xda IIi.

Masih mengekalkan rupa bentuk klasiknya, O2 Xda IIi diperhebat dengan lebih kefungsian dan kecekapan daripada sebuah peranti anggun berwarna hitam dan perak. Ia paling sesuai bagi profesional yang perlukan kelajuan dan sentiasa terhubung.

Antara ciri yang dipertingkatkan ialah pemproses XScale PXA 272 520MHz Intel, kamera 1.3 megapiksel, sistem rangkaian setempat tanpa wayar (WiLAN) terbina dalam dan paparan melintang untuk semua aplikasi.

Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif, O2 Asia, Mark Billington, berkata, “Pelanggan sentiasa dahagakan inovasi dan kami sentiasa cuba memenuhinya berasaskan teknologi terbaik di pasaran dan dipakej ke dalam sebuah peranti dengan reka bentuk paling anggun.

“Dalam persekitaran perniagaan yang mencabar sekarang, profesional semestinya ingin lebih anjal dan bebas ke sana sini dalam usaha bertindak pantas terhadap sebarang perubahan, di samping menerajui pertumbuhan trend ke arah peranti lengkap yang menggabungkan kefungsian terbaik dari sebuah PDA dengan ciri telefoni mudah alih termaju,” katanya.

O2 Xda IIi adalah hasil secara langsung dalam usaha memahami kehendak pelanggan. Dari kemasan perak dan reka bentuk cemerlangnya, diperkuat pemproses Intel XScale PXA 272 520 MHz dan sistem operasi Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition untuk memenuhi pelbagai keperluan eksekutif perniagaan.

Disebabkan kecekapan dan kelajuan menjadi antara faktor kejayaan, pengguna sibuk akan menghargai bagaimana ia menganjurkan maklumat penting secara pantas dan mudah menggunakan aplikasi ActiveSync: jadual temu janji, senarai hubungan, buku alamat dan e-mel juga boleh diselarikan antara O2 Xda IIi dengan komputer laptop dalam masa beberapa saat saja.

Selain WiLAN, ia dilengkap juga fungsi pejabat mudah alih terkini termasuk Bluetooth 1.2 dan suit penuh aplikasi produktiviti perniagaan seperti Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word dan Internet Explorer.

O2 Xda IIi sudah berada di pasaran dijual dengan harga RM3588 serta jaminan setahun.

Parallel ATA vs. SCSI:

PATA drive technology has improved over the years and has replaced SCSI in many applications due to their lower cost and improved performance. PATA technology is designed to be used with short cables (about 17 inches) inside the computer cabinet, while SCSI supports longer cables making it the choice for external storage and for high performance RAID systems. Serial ATA allows for one-meter cables and is
possible to create high-speed external disk arrays.

Parallel ATA (PATA) or what has been called ATA:
If you plan on editing using DV or DVCAM as your source, 7200-RPM PATA Ultra DMA drives offer plenty of bandwidth. There is no need to consider a RAID storage system. A single PATA-133 disk drive connected to an ATA-66 or ATA-100 port will sustain 35 MB/sec reads and high as 45 MB/sec on writes. DV and DVCAM use only 3.6 MB/sec and will run clean with a minimum sustain rate of 7 MB/sec.

Serial ATA (SATA):
What is Serial-ATA (SATA) and why was it developed? SATA is an evolutionary replacement for the existing Parallel-ATA (PATA) data storage interface. SATA is scalable and allows for future enhancements. SATA is a drop-in solution in that it is compatible with today’s software, which will run without modification. It provides cables that are simpler to route and install, smaller cable connectors, and lower voltages not possible with PATA.

Will there still be PATA when SATA is readily available?
There will be a window of time where both PATA and SATA will be available. Many expect that within a couple of years that SATA will dominate. Apple’s G5 computers come with 2 SATA ports. Some PC motherboards come with both PATA and SATA ports. SATA PCI cards are available now with more to come includes those with up to four ports.

What are the benefits of SATA?
End users will benefit with easy upgrades to their storage. Configuration of SATA devices will be much simpler, with no requirements of jumper and settings. Other considerations include:
A 150 MB/sec interface rate (not to be confused with the data rate of a single drive)
Enhanced data reliability
Longer and thinner cables – up to one meter or about 3 feet
Snap-in like connectors
No master/slave jumpers to set
Master only will improve performance of striped hard disk drive pairs
Latency more like that of SCSI thus RAID-0 to be much faster than PATA
What is the cost to implement SATA in a system?
The cost of SATA will start out somewhat more expensive than PATA but will rapidly drop to the same cost as PATA.

Beyond hard disks, will SATA be used on, optical drives, DVD, and ZIP drives?
SATA supports all ATA and ATAPI devices, including CDs, DVDs, tapes devices, high capacity removable devices, zip drives, and CDRWs.

What are some compelling reasons why SATA is viable?


Price: SATA was created, with desktop prices in mind, as a replacement for PATA. Initial hard disk drives are expected to be priced competitively for the desktop.
Cabling: SATA employs a thin, point-to-point connection, which allows for easy cable routing within a system. This avoids master/slave, "daisy-chaining", and termination issues. Also, better airflow can be realized compared to systems with wider ribbon cables.
Performance: The first SATA bus technology can deliver as much as 1.5 Gbps (150 MB/sec) of performance to each drive within a disk drive array and migrating to 3.0 gigabits per second (300 MB/s), then to 6.0 gigabits per second (600 MB/s).
This roadmap supports up to 10 years of storage evolution. The maximum rate of PATA drives today is about 72 MB/sec. But remember this is the bus rate and should not be confused with the data rate of a single PATA or SATA disk drive. The choke point remains the disk drive not the bus. A single PATA or SATA drive will remain about 35 to 45 MB/sec. With SATA multiple disk drives can be striped with performance near that of SCSI.

So you see, 35 to 45 MB/sec from current PATA or SATA technology is more than enough for DV and DVCAM. However, single PATA or SATA disk drives do not produce high enough sustained rates for uncompressed SD video. In the mirror faced G4 computers that have 3 ATA ports one can add 4 additional PATA drives that can be stripped as RAID-0 that will produce sustained data rates high enough for uncompressed SD video. In this case it is best to move the boot drive to the lower optical drive and connect it to a PCI ATA card. In the new G5’s there is only room for two SATA drives (one for boot and one for data) thus if more is need one must go externally.

The Highest Priced Phone May Not Be the Best

The goal of every company is to maximize shareholder value. During the Internet boom, many companies were only looking for the quick payoffs. This short-term thinking caused many companies to be overvalued and over levered. So when the internet bubble burst, companies were not structured to sustain the downturn. As the economy starts to recover, companies are getting back to business basics, by maximizing shareholder value over the long-term. Recently, MCI’s Board maintained this core value.

Since early February 2005, Verizon and Qwest have been in a bidding war for MCI, the nation’s second-largest long-distance telephone carrier, after AT&T Corp. Qwest and Verizon each view MCI’s business as a critical piece to compete against the expected merger of SBC and AT&T. The MCI bidding first started with Qwest attempting a takeover bid for MCI. By February 10th, Verizon had entered the market for MCI. Within a week MCI’s board approved Verizon’s $20.35 per share offer, shunning Qwest’s higher bid in favor of what it believes are better business prospects with Verizon. This did not stop Qwest from trying to win over MCI shareholders because of its higher bid. Over the next three months, at least three new bids from Verizon and Qwest were reviewed by MCI board members.

On May 2, 2005, MCI’s Board accepted an enhanced offer from Verizon Communications Inc. MCI’s board has agreed to Verizon’s lower priced-offer mainly based on the current capital structure of Qwest. Qwest, based in Denver, is the fourth-largest local telephone company in the U.S., with a stock-market value of about $7 billion. It also has roughly $17.3 billion in debt, and the deal for MCI, of Ashburn, VA, is viewed as crucial to Qwest’s prospects. Qwest has been suffering local access line losses at nearly four per cent per year for the past several years. Qwest’s debt rating is similar to MCI, B2, which generally reflects operating struggles due to the intense competitive nature of the telecommunications industry. Moody’s believed a merger of MCI and Qwest would only work if redundant network costs were eliminated while also stabilizing top line revenue declines in both companies’ core businesses. The potential deal of Qwest/MCI would also create a levered company that would not be able to handle a downturn in the economy. With too many what concerns, MCI Board decided the Verizon deal would maximize shareholder value over the long-term.

The merger with Verizon will capitalize on the complementary strengths of the two companies and will create one of the world’s leading provider’s of global communication services. With more than $71 billion in annual revenues and a market value of about $99BN, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon has a diverse work force of 214,000 in four business units: Domestic Telecom provides customers with wire line and other telecommunications services, including broadband. Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 45.5 million voice and data customers across the United States. Information Services operates directory publishing businesses and provides electronic commerce services. International includes wire line and wireless operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. MCI would be its fifth business unit focusing in the long distance market.

We believe that MCI’s Board made the right decision by accepting the Verizon deal. As companies determine who is a good partner, all aspects of the company and the business must be evaluated. Synergies are a major factor in determining if a company is a good fit. The nature of the telecommunications industry requires that effective competitors have financial strength and a full array of offerings. The financial strength was one of many factors in why MCI decided to choose Verizon. Another factor MCI was the reaction by current customers backing the deal with Verizon. The high leverage position of Qwest was a deterrent for MCI due to its uncertainty of sustainability in a downturn of the economy.

The one factor that is over looked in the deal is the consumer. As the telecommunications industry continues to consolidate, competition may lessen which could lead to price increases. The government could try to regulate this increased competition, but new government regulation started the furious rush of mergers. The government increased operating costs for long distance carriers, which is why many long distance companies are trying to merge to create synergies going forward.

Overall, MCI’s board has proven its worth by addressing all issues and deciding what they think is sustainable shareholder value and growth over the long-term. There are many issues that can affect the outcome, but at least the MCI’s board has started in the right direction, despite taking a discount now.

David Smith, Troy Stalter, Greg Watson