THE MOBILE HORNET … for those who get turned on by mobile devices

Over 100+ millions smartphones are sold every year and according to UMPCPortal, 95% of the market share goes to Nokia Symbian (65%), Windows Mobile (13%), Blackberry (10%), and Apple (7%).  LiMo, Android and others (mostly Linux offsprings) formed the balance 5%.

If you look at the above statistics, and if you are a developer (hardware or software), it will be wise for you to focus on the top 4.   You cannot be wrong there.  Open source OSs like Linux and Android will take sometime to create any impact. 

Linux is making a mistake by creating so many versions (LiMo, Moblin, Meamo, Mobilinux, OpenMoko etc) of their mobile OS.  Now that Nokia has taken over 100% control of Symbian, you can expect to see further increase from their present 65% share. And if Nokia Symbian become an Open Source OS, the rest can kiss goodbye.  Microsoft cannot sit down and watch.  Their focus on their Windows Enterprise OS will definitely slow down their Windows Mobile growth further.

I am for mobility and that’s why I started The Mobile Hornet.  I love pocketable mobile devices.  It makes me more productive.  And I always prefer my device not to have any moving part like the traditional magnetic hard disk.  Though I still love my Dopod U1000 (until I change to the HTC Advantage X7510) I was disappointed that it came with a spinning micro drive.  Nonetheless, the U1000 is excellent and can do all the things I need to do in my personal and business life.  It has done well this past one year that it is with me.  Now that the HTC Advantage x7510 comes with a Flash Drive and with a bigger 16GB capacity I am elated.  Guess it’s time for me to change!

Talking about drives, I have been keeping watch on the SSD or Solid State Disk developments for the past few years. But the capacity then is low and the price is pretty high.  Well, the price today is still high if you compare it with traditional magnetic storage.

Samsung has just announced a 256 GB SSD drive that uses multi-level cell (MLC) technology, which is less expensive than single-level cell options currently available. Though MLC has not been reliable, Samsung has rectified that, claiming a mean time of a million hours before failure. The new drive uses a 2.5-inch form factor but expect a 1.8-inch version by the year’s end as well. Sequential reads (not random, mind you) are in the lightning-fast neighborhood of 200 MBps with sequential writes around 160 MBps though the SATA II interface.

The price is not going to be cheaper than a magnetic drive but the Samsung 256GB SSD drive is expected to be priced around US$800 to US$999 when it is launched.

In due course the future generation of HTC Advantage will have capacity at least 10 times its present generation.  That will be the day when you amassed so much power in your hand.

Instead of carrying 2 phones, why not opt for the DUOSIM, the dual sim card adapter?  Very good for roaming and will save you on roaming charges.

• Keep 2 SIM cards in one phone and switch them online any time you want!
• Ultra slim design to keep original shape, no need to cut the SIM cards. 
• One model suitable for almost all GSM/3G mobile phones
• Easy installation with great convenience
• Quality ultra slim IC and FPC board for stable operation
• Does not require power off to switch number, auto switching online
• Great savings on roaming charges -take advantages of cheaper rates from different phone companies
• Keep your saves like previous calls, received call, time and date settings.
• Onscreen Sim1, Sim2 display

Check out the video clip below and see how easy it is to fix it:

Check out the list of DuoSIM D2 Compatible Handphones here.

HOW BIG CAN YOU GO?

“Fujitsu to offer standard height half-terabyte notebook drive.

The capacity war in the hard drive industry is in full force and desktop drives are not the only ones benefiting. Current notebook hard drives are at the 500GB mark with recent launches from Hitachi and Samsung when only about 6 months ago the highest capacity notebook drives weighed in at 250GB.

Today, Fujitsu announced its MHZ2 BT line of notebook drives which includes 400GB and 500GB capacities to compete with the capacity of the front-runners in the notebook drive market.

The MHZ2 BT line features a SATA 3.0 Gb/sec interface and an 8MB buffer. The rotational speed clocks in at 4200RPM which may prove to be a bit slow compared to the 5400RPM, 500GB drives from Hitachi and Samsung. Despite the rotational speed, the average seek time while writing is 14ms while average read seek times clock in at 12ms which is comparable to the competition.

The MHZ2 BT drive dimensions conform to the standard 9.5mm drive height which fits all notebook computers as opposed to the 12.5mm drive height of Hitachi’s 5K500 and E5K500 series drives. The reason for the 3mm of extra height on the Hitachi drives are mainly due to the extra platters required to reach the 500GB capacity, whereas Fujitsu fits three 166GB platters in its drives.

Fujitsu’s MHZ2 BT line of notebook drives shines in the power consumption area as it consumes only 1.8W of power during read/write operations in a SATA 3.0Gb/sec setup, and 0.5W and 0.13W in idle and standby modes respectively.

Fujitsu is aiming for a late May 2008 launch, around the same time-frames as Samsung’s planned launch of its SpinPoint M6 series and pricing has not yet been released. Fujitsu also projects sales of the MXZ2 BT line to hit 20 million units within the 2008 fiscal year.”

I love high capacity drives but at the same time I have a phobia when something goes wrong and I am faced with the huge among of data lost.  But if the data are videos, music, or encyclopedia materials then the loss is not so painful. 

HTC will continue to maintain its pole position as the LEADING Pocket PC device manufacturer by also being the manufacturer for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. 

DIGITIMES REPORTED:

“High Tech Computer (HTC) has landed an ODM order from Sony Ericsson to manufacture the company’s Windows Mobile-based Xperia X1 handset, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report. This is the first ODM order from a top-tier handset vendor for HTC, the paper claimed.

Sony Ericsson is currently showcasing the Xperia X1 at the 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress being held in Barcelona, Spain from February 11-14, with the handset to be available in the second half of 2008, the EDN said.”

Elliptic Labs is paving the way for use of computers and screens without touching, simply with the finger or hand in the air. Manipulate images, play computer games, control robotics or use touch screens without touching or without holding a hardware control unit.

WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS AND BE AMAZE :

We have Nike Air, now get ready for Apple MACBOOK AIR:

• It’s ultrathin with .76″ at it’s widest and tapers to a meager .16″ at it’s base.  
• It weights a mere 3 pounds
• It has a backlit screen
• It has a very unique multi-touch trackpad that sports the ability to rotate photos
• 1.6 or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,
• 2 GB ram
• 80 GB hard drive (or 64 GB SSD). 
• It only has one USB port
• It is priced at a reasonable US$1,799 (RM6,116.00). 
• Ready to ship in 2 weeks.

When it comes to aesthetics we have to give credit to Apple.  They have the knack for matching form and function.  Remember those original ugly looking IBM PCs that we have to swallow until the Mac came along.

If Apple can make the Macbook Air so thin, nothing can stop them from coming out with a better UMPC to fight those Windows versions.

HOW SMALL CAN A SVGA SCREEN GETS?
 

Digitimes reported:
Kopin, a US manufacturer of microdisplays for mobile consumer and military applications, recently announced what it claims is the smallest color SVGA display (800×600 resolution) in the LCD industry. The CyberDisplay SVGA LVS microdisplay has the same size (0.44-inch diagonal) as Kopin’s current CyberDisplay VGA display (640×480 resolution), allowing it to utilize the same optics and housing developed for the VGA display.This display is targeted for PC and HD-related video eyewear applications. Kopin is demonstrating the new display in a private showing at CES 2008 in Las Vegas this week. CyberDisplay SVGA LVS samples are now available to select customers for evaluation and design-in.

This new display shrinks the full-color pixel size to 11.25-microns square, with Kopin president and CEO Dr. John CC Fan noting that compared with the company’s commercially available SVGA display with 0.59-inch diagonal and consuming ~100 mW, the new shrink SVGA display has a 45% smaller area and consumes 30% less power.

Kopin combined smaller pixel transistors and the planar multi-metal layer process offered by 8-inch Si IC processing with an nanotechnology process for its liquid crystal alignment and a cell-gap liquid crystal assembly process.
 
 

Belkin announced their BLUETOOTH USB ADAPTER  with KODAK Picture Upload Technology Software which allows you to wirelessly transfer photos from your Bluetooth-enabled camera phone directly to your PC.

Just connect the adapter to an open USB port, be in Bluetooth range of your PC, and your photos will automatically be transferred.

You can also share photos on MySpace and Facebook. For users with a Premier membership at Kodak Gallery the Bluetooth USB Adapter can be used for automatic picture uploads and full-resolution online backup from their camera phone.

Chris McGugan, Vice President of Product Management for Belkin International, Inc.: “Currently, people taking pictures with their camera phones have to pay to send those images, and they are also compressed, making it inconvenient for them to print and share at full resolution.

With our new Bluetooth USB Adapter with KODAK Picture Upload Technology Software, you can now wirelessly transfer full-resolution photos from your camera phone.”

Belkin saw the huge camera phones market as an expected 93 million camera phones will be sold by 2011.

The Bluetooth USB Adapter with KODAK Picture Upload Technology Software is priced at US$49.99 ( RM170.00) and can work with many models from Nokia, Motorola, Sanyo, LG, and Samsung. I do not undestand why there is no mention of any model from HTC.

A new technology from Japan

Look closely and guess what they could be…

Are they pens with cameras?
Here’s the most believable…

I have tried this type of keyboard before but a screen and keyboard inside a pen. That’s new to me. In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with blue tooth technology…This is the forthcoming computers you can carry within your pockets. This “pen sort of instrument” produces both the monitor as well as the keyboard on any flat surfaces from where you can carry out functions you would normally do on your desktop computer.Can anyone say, “Goodbye laptops!”