Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte Handset Launched

Nokia today announced the launch of its premium handset Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte. The Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte is inspired from nature and holds a single Sapphire (world’s most durable material) as the center-key.

The handset features 3G capabilities along with 3.2 megapixel auto focus camera with 8x digital zoom and 1GB built-in memory space. The handset has a 2.0″ QVGA 240×320 pixels OLED display with up to 16 million colors. An ambient light sensor to adjust the handset’s screen brightness automatically, is also provided.

The handset has a high-end metal and glass composition. It has a smooth slide mechanism — comprised of ball bearings and a spring mechanism. The handset’s polished steel case is decorated with a genuine sapphire gem stone and soft brown napa leather.

The handset comes with unique tap-for-time and turn-to-mute features and living wallpapers that move organically throughout the day. By double-tapping the steel surface below the display, an analogue clock appears. Incoming calls can be silenced on the phone inconspicuously by simply turning over the phone, screen-side down.

Nokia has created a soundtrack for the new device composed by producers Kruder & Dorfmeister with visuals by Fritz Fitzke.

Nokia’s new anti-fingerprint coating reduces smudges on metal and glass, and unsightly outer seams are hidden with an all-in-one microUSB connector.

Intel Classmate PC Now Available To Consumers

Intel’s Classmate PC isn’t just for students in emerging markets anymore. The low-cost laptop will be made available to companies that want to sell it to consumers in developed countries, an Intel executive said Wednesday.

“During the last quarter, we have seen tremendous interest in the Classmate PC from customers outside education,” said Tom Rampone, an Intel vice president and general manager of the company’s Channel Platforms Group, adding that Asustek Computer’s Eee PC helped stoke wider interest in low-cost laptops.

Originally designed for schools in emerging markets where computer access is rare, the Classmate PC uses a low-power version of the Celeron M processor and a 7-inch screen. Intel is working on a second version of the Classmate PC, earlier revealing plans to use its upcoming Atom processor in the new laptop. Detailed specifications of the device have yet to be revealed.

Intel sees the Classmate PC as just one of a range of low-cost laptops now being developed that the chip maker and others call “netbooks.” These laptops are generally expected to cost between $250 and $300, depending on how they are configured, when they hit the market later this year.

The move to expand the availability of Classmate PC to PC vendors in developed markets follows a push to make the Classmate PC more widely available to consumers in emerging markets. For example, HCL Infosystems of India announced a laptop, called MiLeap X, earlier this year that is based on the Classmate PC design but marketed as a low-cost computer for consumers and businessmen instead of students.

The second version of the Classmate PC will be available to PC vendors in a range of configurations, but will retain the same basic design when sold by different vendors, Rampone said. In addition to versions for consumers, running either Linux or Windows, the laptop will be available in configurations, complete with educational software, aimed at schools in developed countries, he said.

HTC, Reliance to Sell CDMA Smartphones in India

High Tech Computer (HTC) has teamed up with Reliance Communications to tackle the market for high-end CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile phones in India, the companies said Thursday.

Reliance, one of India’s largest mobile telecommunications service providers, will market the handsets.

The companies will launch two smartphones that run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, the HTC P3000 and the HTC S720 across India by the end of March. The handsets will cost Rs. 16,500 and 19,500, respectively.

The devices are both aimed at users requiring data downloading and high speed mobile Internet access via Reliance’s wireless network.

The number of mobile phone subscribers in India stood at 242.4 million as of the end of January, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The nation added 8.77 million new subscribers in January.

HTC is the world’s largest maker of handsets for the Windows Mobile OS

Sony Unveils Wall-Mountable VAIO Notebook

Sony has added to another notebook in their VIAO lineup with the release of the VAIO LM notebook.

The VAIO LM features PC design reminiscent of Sony’s BRAVIA LCD TV’s with its 19-inch screen framed by a transparent bezel. The new laptop can be wall-mounted and features wireless keyboard, mouse and remote control.

Aimed at those who want the functionality of a PC in their living area, the VAIO LM is designed as an entertainment hub that doubles as a TV, with in-built TV tuner, built-in 1.3MP camera with face-tracking software, 2.1-channel speaker system and sub-woofers.

The VAIO LM features an Intel Core2 Duo Processor T7250 (2.00GHz), 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 250GB HDD, Windows Vista Home Premium, and nVidia graphics card. The laptop comes with the latest VAIO Music Box software, it lets users define default channel capacity for music in advance, so that the system is able to automatically select signal descriptors for sound classification into 24 channels. Besides, VAIO LM new Movie Story software allows users to create and edit their own video easily.

The VAIO VGC-LM18 is available across Sony stores for Rs.1,09,900.

Lenovo Unveils Y510 Notebook in India

Lenovo unveiled its Y510 series multimedia notebooks in India.

The Lenovo Y510 features a 15-inch screen and face recognition for locked-down security. The notebook introduces a Dolby 4.1 Home Theater speaker system along with four speakers and a subwoofer. The Y510’s multimedia features can be accessed through a touch-sensitive pad. The notebook also features an in-built TV tuner card.

The notebook also has One Key Recovery to restore factory preload settings. The Y510’s keyboard has been inspired by the ThinkPad keyboard, and its extended battery management feature can be to customized user-specific battery usage patterns.

The Y510 also incorporates a 6-in-1 multi-card, slot-in optical drive and a 1.3MP integrated camera. The Y510 comes with 160GB SATA hard disk, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, 802.11 Wi-Fi and Vista Home Basic/Premium version. It weighs 2.77 kg and supports battery life of up to 4 hours.

The Lenovo Y510 notebook prices start at Rs. 45,990 and is available at all Lenovo authorized stores.

Acer Unveils Multimedia-Optimized Notebooks

Acer unveiled a line of multimedia-optimized laptops in New York at its first-ever U.S. press conference, where it also announced the close of its acquisition of Dutch computer-maker Packard Bell.

Acer unveiled the Aspire 8920 and 6920 series of notebooks with a new design, the company is calling Aspire Gemstone “blue.” The laptops, which come in both 18.4-inch and 16-inch versions, include a Blu-Ray disc drive, full high-definition (HD) LCD screens and support for the Dolby Pro Logic 2.0 surround-sound audio system.

Speaking at a press event, Senior Corporate Vice President Jim Wong said the new design is aimed at bringing a “true multimedia innovation” to the notebook form factor. The new notebooks are based on Intel Core 2 Duo processors and run either Windows Vista Ultimate or the Windows Vista Home Premium OS because of the multimedia functionality those OSes can deliver. However, Wong said, Acer would consider running a different OS — presumably Linux — on machines that don’t require rich multimedia capability.

The New York event, was a U.S. coming-out party of sorts for the Taiwanese computer-maker. Acer is eager to woo U.S. consumers now that it is offering not only its own notebooks here, but also eMachine computers from Packard Bell and PCs from U.S. computer-maker Gateway, the acquisition of which Acer revealed last August.

In his first official press appearance in the U.S., Acer’s President Gianfranco Lanci clarified company’s branding strategy going forward, saying products from all three companies will remain in the market under their own names. “We didn’t buy a company to kill the brand,” he said.

Lanci said Acer plans to keep all three brands in the U.S. and Europe, although Gateway computers — including the eMachines brand — will be sold in “some countries only.” In Asia and the U.S., the Acer and Gateway brands will be most prominent, including the Gateway eMachines brand in the U.S. Lanci said Acer is basing its brand distribution on how well the different products sell in each geographic area.

Having all three brands also will diversify Acer’s market penetration across its three main geographical regions, broadening its reach in the U.S. while reducing the amount of business that comes from Europe, he added.

For the most part, Acer will keep the design of each of the three brands consistent with their current design. The new Aspire Gemstone “blue” design, for instance, will only be used for Acer notebooks.

Kingston Introduces DataTraveler 110

Kingston is expanding its line of USB flash drives with the introduction of the DataTraveler 110 (DT110) model. The drives are designed for ultra-fast read/write speeds on lower price points, the DT110 drive is available in capacities up to 8GB.

The DT110 features a capless, retractable USB connector for ease-of-use and safe housing. It is available in different colors according to its capacity: purple (1GB), blue (2GB), red (4GB) and green (8GB) and these are priced at Rs. 625, Rs. 925, Rs. 1595 and Rs. 3425, respectively.

The drives are designed to be compliant to hi-speed USB 2.0 specifications. These are compatible to various operating systems including Windows Vista, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP (SP1 and SP2), Mac OS 10.2x and higher and Linux (2.6 and higher).

The DT110 drives can operate at the temperature of 32º F to 140 º F and can be stored at -4º F to 185º F. These support plug and play technology and are backed by a five-year warranty and free technical support. Windows Vista ReadyBoost is not supported on these drives.

The Kingston DT110 drives are distributed in India by Avnet India, HCL, Ingram Micro, Kobian Electronics and Transtek Infoways.

MSI Unviels MSI N9800GX2 Series Graphics Card

MSI unveiled its latest MSI N9800GX2 Series graphics card. The card is engineered for extreme graphics performance. The MSI N9800GX2 Series is a dual GPU-based graphics card that provides a complete, high definition entertainment and gaming solution for the PC. The MSI N9800GX2 Series comes with total 256 units stream processors and a combined 512-bit memory interface.

With nVidia HybridPower technology, two on-board GPUs and total 1GB graphics memory built-in, MSI N9800GX2 is claimed to be the fastest graphics card available.

The nVidia HybridPower technology delivers graphics performance when the user needs it and low-power operation when the user doesn’t. The technology lets the user switch from GeForce 9800 GX2-based graphics card to the motherboard GeForce GPU when running less graphically-intensive applications for a silent, low power PC experience.

The MSI N9800GX2 Series supports Quad nVidia SLI technology. A 4-way AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) is also provided, for the world’s fastest gaming solution under Windows Vista with state-of-the-art drivers.

Panasonic Unviels Touchscreen Camera

Panasonic will soon begin selling a compact digital still camera that makes easy work of sometimes complicated features thanks to a touchscreen display.

The Lumix DMC-FX500, which was unveiled Wednesday at the Photo Imaging Expo in Tokyo, allows users to keep a focus lock on objects in the shot by just selecting the object with a finger on the 3-inch screen. As the object moves about inside the frame the camera keeps track of it and keeps it in focus.

The feature is especially useful when taking shots of subjects that are moving or won’t keep still, like kids or pets, and the use of the touchscreen makes it simple for users with even a low level of photographic skill to master.

In a demo here at the show the camera managed to track successfully several objects although was sometimes confused when an object moved in front of a background that was the same color or when two similar objects came close together in the shot.

A second function tied into the touch panel will put the camera into the most appropriate mode depending on the subject selected. For example, if the user selects a face on the screen the camera recognizes it’s a person and switches to portrait mode while if a nearby object is selected it automatically jumps to macro mode if needed.

In manual mode adjustments to the aperture and shutter settings by moving sliders on the screen and in playback mode a finger is all that’s needed to zoom in or out on an image.

The camera, which becomes the flagship model in Panasonic’s Lumix FX range, has a 25mm wide-angle lens, 5X optical zoom and resolution of 10 megapixels. Other features include a 1280 x 720p video mode and a 16:9 still image mode that’s intended for pictures viewed on a widescreen TV.

It will go on sale first in Japan, where it will debut on April 12. It will hit the U.S. market in May and cost about $400.

Apple Designs Clam-Shell iPhone

Apple has filed a document with the US Patents Office that highlights its plans for a clamshell Apple iPhone.

Unwired View uncovered the clamshell patent, which was filed in September 2006, and depicts a device around half the size of the current iPhone.

The clamshell iPod design features a transparent “dual-sided trackpad” cover, which is touch sensitive on the top and bottom. The patent says both sides of the cover/trackpad can be controlled at the same time while the angle of the two screens can be an influence too.

While the designs don’t depict a keyboard, the patent implies the sensitive controls would be used to create a virtual keyboard. The patent also highlights the technology could be applied to “other handhelds and computers”.