StarHub and iNO Mobile Introduces Singapore’s First Solar-Charging Mobile Phone, SOLO

Singapore, 8 July 2011 – StarHub and Foresight Technologies today announced the launch of the innovative ‘SOLO’, an entry-level, affordable feature mobile phone, ruggedly designed for military personnel and outdoor adventurers.

SOLO’s most unique feature is its solar charging battery that backs up its lithium battery to further extend the usefulness of the phone in outdoor locations where users have no easy access to power points. Simply place the rugged phone in a sunny spot and it will recharge automatically. It takes accummulated 24 hours of sunlight to fully charge the solar battery. Standby time of the SOLO is up to 200 hours, and a talk-time of up to 200 minutes.

In addition, the SOLO is built in an Army-Green rubberise casing which protects the phone from accidental drops and shocks. It is also splash-proof and dust-proof, meeting the industry-certified standards of Ingress Protection 65 (IP65) which measures the degree of protection the device has against dirt, dust and water. Other features of the iNO SOLO comes includes a 1.8″ LED screen with 65K colours, a mini-torchlight for night activities and an FM radio.

Mr Ng Long Shyang, Head of Sales and Marketing, StarHub said, “We are always looking to address the needs of our customers, one of which is the ability for military personnel and National Servicemen to stay in touch with their friends and family while in the field. The SOLO is an ideal feature phone to meet this demand, as it is designed for rugged use in any outdoor environment. Due to its solar-charging feature, the phone is also able to operate far longer than current traditional phones. More importantly, the SOLO has no built-in camera which means it is also suitable in areas where the use of camera phones are restricted, such as in camps.”

The SOLO retails for $99 with any one-year StarHub Mobile post-paid plan (except PowerValue 80). It is exclusively available at all StarHub Shops and selected Exclusive Partners’ outlets islandwide from 9 July 2011.

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Intel Corp.’s (INTC) chief executive said the chip giant remains committed to its MeeGo operating system and doesn’t believe ARM Holdings PLC (ARMH) will be competing in servers anytime soon.

Intel partner Nokia Corp. (NOK) said last week that it was shifting strategy to adopt Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform rather than MeeGo–something Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini characterized as a financial decision on the part of Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop.

“Between Microsoft and Google [Inc. (GOOG)], he was getting incredible offers [of] money,” Otellini said at an investor conference in London.

But Otellini said he wouldn’t have made the same decision to sell himself to the highest bidder and if not staying with MeeGo, would have gone with Google’s operating system.

“I probably would have gone to Android if I were him,” he said. “MeeGo would have been the best strategy for him, but he concluded he couldn’t afford it.”

He added the problem for phone makers is finding a way to differentiate themselves.

“It’s going to be hard to do that on Windows,” Otellini said. “It’s less hard to do on Android. On MeeGo, he could have done it. We’ll find other partners.”

MeeGo was formed last year as a combination of Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platforms, and was expected to be used in Nokia’s high-end smartphones and other devices such as tablets and TV sets. At times, MeeGo appeared as a contender as companies jostle to create the third major marketplace for smartphone applications after those created by Apple Inc. (AAPL) for the iPhone and Google for its Android operating system.

Last week, however, Nokia said it believes Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will become the primary alternative to those market leaders. The cellphone giant also indicated Windows 7 would be a greater focus of technology development than its venerable Symbian operating system.

Intel has struggled in the mobile arena, with its chips viewed as too power hungry. While it has garnered some tablet design wins, the company has yet to have a chip designed into a smartphone on the market.

Otellini said that while Intel doesn’t have a smartphone announcement yet, there will be a device “from a premier vendor in the marketplace this year.” He expects Intel chips to “ramp up significantly on all the major phone” operating systems over the next several years and take share from rivals.

And one advantage Intel has over the ARM companies, he said, is the consistency of its architecture. Each ARM licensee uses the cores differently, and the instruction sets are different, he said.

“This is a big, expensive, hard job to create consistency in your architectures over multiple generations,” Otellini said. “That’s what we do exceptionally well.”

Meanwhile, Otellini said the PC market will continue growing, even with the rising popularity of tablets.

And he isn’t worried about competition in the server market from ARM-based chips despite plans from companies like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) to expand into traditional computing and servers using ARM processors.

“I don’t see [ARM chips] being a factor in servers anytime soon, if ever,” Otellini said.

He said ARM developers don’t have the software capability, compute architecture and transistor performance to compete.

“It’s not going to happen,” Otellini said. “[Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)] is much more potent as a server competitor than the ARM guys ever will be.”

Intel shares ended regular trading up 1% to $21.97. They are up 6.3% over the past 12 months.

-By Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2189; shara.tibken@dowjones.com

ng in servers anytime soon. Intel partner Nokia Corp. (NOK) said last week that it was shifting strategy to adopt Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform rather than MeeGo–something Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini characterized as a financial decision on the part of Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop. “Between Microsoft and Google [Inc. (GOOG)], he was getting incredible offers [of] money,” Otellini said at an investor conference in London. But Otellini said he wouldn’t have made the same decision to sell himself to the highest bidder and if not staying with MeeGo, would have gone with Google’s operating system. “I probably would have gone to Android if I were him,” he said. “MeeGo would have been the best strategy for him, but he concluded he couldn’t afford it.” He added the problem for phone makers is finding a way to differentiate themselves. “It’s going to be hard to do that on Windows,” Otellini said. “It’s less hard to do on Android. On MeeGo, he could have done it. We’ll find other partners.” MeeGo was formed last year as a combination of Nokia’s Maemo and Intel’s Moblin platforms, and was expected to be used in Nokia’s high-end smartphones and other devices such as tablets and TV sets. At times, MeeGo appeared as a contender as companies jostle to create the third major marketplace for smartphone applications after those created by Apple Inc. (AAPL) for the iPhone and Google for its Android operating system. Last week, however, Nokia said it believes Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will become the primary alternative to those market leaders. The cellphone giant also indicated Windows 7 would be a greater focus of technology development than its venerable Symbian operating system. Intel has struggled in the mobile arena, with its chips viewed as too power hungry. While it has garnered some tablet design wins, the company has yet to have a chip designed into a smartphone on the market. Otellini said that while Intel doesn’t have a smartphone announcement yet, there will be a device “from a premier vendor in the marketplace this year.” He expects Intel chips to “ramp up significantly on all the major phone” operating systems over the next several years and take share from rivals. And one advantage Intel has over the ARM companies, he said, is the consistency of its architecture. Each ARM licensee uses the cores differently, and the instruction sets are different, he said. “This is a big, expensive, hard job to create consistency in your architectures over multiple generations,” Otellini said. “That’s what we do exceptionally well.” Meanwhile, Otellini said the PC market will continue growing, even with the rising popularity of tablets. And he isn’t worried about competition in the server market from ARM-based chips despite plans from companies like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) to expand into traditional computing and servers using ARM processors. “I don’t see [ARM chips] being a factor in servers anytime soon, if ever,” Otellini said. He said ARM developers don’t have the software capability, compute architecture and transistor performance to compete. “It’s not going to happen,” Otellini said. “[Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)] is much more potent as a server competitor than the ARM guys ever will be.” Intel shares ended regular trading up 1% to $21.97. They are up 6.3% over the past 12 months. -By Shara Tibken, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2189; shara.tibken@dowjones.com

Video Review of the LG GD880 Mini Feature Phone
Bluetooth  11 Jul 2010

Looking for a small size feature phone? THe LG GD880 will fit the bill. The first sight of it reminds me of the minis from various manufacturers, all trying to outbid one another to make it more compact and handy.

Finished in polished black with silver lining, this phone looks very unique just like the LG BL40 which is longer in size. It has icons and widgets similar to those you commonly see on Android phones.

The GD880 uses a 3.2″ TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M Colors of Size 480 x 854 pixels and is powered by the ARM11 processor which is used in the original iPhone 3G.

Although the GD880 Mini is not a smartphone, it has some neat features that address the social media users.  You have  3 page customisable desktop (with widgets, shortucts, icons). They are widgets available for download for real time Facebook and Twitter updates on the 3 page desktop. When the desktop gets too messy, you can just shake the phone and it will help you arrange them in an orderly fashion.

The phone has a 10.6mm Slim 3.2″ Multi-touch LCD. It has  built-in Phantom Browser (Support Flash-lite v3.1). It supports Wi-Fi, HSDPA 7.2Mbps & GPS and comes with a 5MP Camera with Auto Focus & Face Detection (no flash). The GD880 also supports 2 finger pinch and zoom for pictures and in the browser to manify the text. There is a FM Radio built in.

LG GD880 is the first to implement the LG Air Sync. LG Air Sync allows you to synchronize your mobile with the computer without USB. A simple right click can select, resize, and crop from a PC or a website, and send directly to your LG Mini. You could also retrieve important information, like contact list, schedule and memo from your LG Air Sync account.

Below is a video showing the contents of the package.

Display

Main Display Type

TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M Colors

Main Display Size

480 x 854 pixels, 3.2 inches

Sensor

S-Class Touch UI, Multi-touch input method, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off

Screen

Scratch-resistant surface

Sound

Alert types

Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones

Speakerphone

Yes, 3.5 mm audio jack, Dolby Mobile sound enhancement

Memory

Phonebook

1000 entries, Photocall

Call records

Yes

Internal

60MB

Card slot

microSD (TransFlash), up to 32GB

Data

GPRS

Class 10

HSCSD

Yes

EDGE

Class 10

3G

HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2.0 Mbps

WLAN

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Bluetooth

V2.1 with A2DP

USB

Yes

Camera

Primary

5 MP, 2576×1928 pixels, autofocus

Features

Geo-Tagging , face detection, Manual Focus, Smile Shot, Beauty Shot, Art Shot, Frame Shot, Panorama, Stitch Shot, Animation Shot

Video

Yes, WVGA@30fps

Secondary

Videocall camera

Features

Messaging

SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email

Browser

LG Phantom Browser, WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML

Radio

FM radio

GPS

Yes, with A-GPS support; Google maps

Java

Yes, MIDP 2.0

Software

MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA player, DivX/XviD/MP4 player, Organizer, Document viewer (DOC, XLS, PPT, PDF), Voice memo

Next Page

Today, Sony Ericsson hold a Global Press event at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. The launch is held in conjunction with CommunicAsia 2010.

Rumours started to fly last week and most of our predictions were spot on. Sony Ericsson today announce three new phones. THey are they Xperia X8, a slightly bigger brother of the Xperia X10 Mini based on Android (but still runs ANdroid 1.6 right now).

Update : Sony Ericsson just confirmed that the Xperia X8 is ready to launch on Android 2.1 in selected markets. Due to operator testing in various markets where they may not be ready to go ahead with 2.1, the X8 will be launched on Android 1.6. But in these cases, an upgrade to 2.1 will be made available shortly after purchase.

The 2nd phone is the Sony Ericsson Yendo, a touch screen walkman phone. Although it spots the 4 corner UI just like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini, it is based on ODM design and it is not not powered by Android.

The 3rd phone featured today is the GreenHeart phone, the Cedar. It is an affordable phone with 3G HSDPA. In the next few pages, we will take a look at the phones in more details starting with the Xperia X8.

At the event, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, X10 mini and X10mini pro will receive software upgrades from Q3 in selected markets. The software will be upgrade to Android 2.1.

In addition, HD video recording will be added to the upgrade of Xperia X10 in Q3. A further uprade to the Xperia X10 in Q4 will make it possible to connect wirelessly to and display content on your TV and enhance. Timescape and mediascape applications will also be enhanced.

Sony Ericsson launches 3 new phones in Singapore just a while ago

The three new phones are xperia x8 and android phone, Walkman phone Yendo and cedar
XperiaTM X8 – Extending Communication and Entertainment in the XperiaTM collection

· Four corners for easy one hand use and one touch access to applications
· Customise the four corners with your favourite apps and add widgets to your homescreens
· Enjoy games, video, internet and more on the 3-inch screen
· Timescape™ shows all your communication in one place for ultimate simplicity
· Android Market™ – thousands of applications to keep you entertained
· 3.2 MP camera – snap away and upload instantly to Facebook™
powered by Android 1.6

Sony Ericsson YendoTM – Full touch Walkman phone

· Touch Walkman™ player – music at your fingertips
· Touch TrackID™ – find out the name of that song with just one touch
· PlayNow™ – access favourite and new songs quickly and easily
· MediaGo – transfer your music from a PC to the mobile phone
· Four corner UI – access Walkman™ player, contacts, keypad and more with just one touch
· Easy navigation – easy access to your favourite web pages
· Express yourself with one of the ten colours
· Social networking – Facebook™ or Twitter™ away
· 3.5mm stereo jack – play your favourite tracks

Sony Ericsson CedarTM – Perfect balance between a business and social device

· Widget Manager 2.0 allows easy access to your favourite social network and applications
· Social network applications – Facebook™, Twitter and MySpace
· Keep contacts close – hassle-free phone book transfer and web backup
· Stay organised with calendar, phone book, email
· Fast browsing with 3G and direct access to the web browser
· EAS push email and modem connectivity
· Connect your headphones on the 3.5mm jack and enjoy music, video on the go
· Capture the moment with the 2MP camera and send it by MMS
· Human curvature design – fits into the palm of the hand
· GreenHeart™ – for a greener choice

The annaul CommunicAsia 2010 trade show is about to begin in 2 days time in Singapore. This annual event has attracted trade visitors and media from around the globe to check out the latest wireless technology and most importantly mobile phones.

As usual, the major brands will be missing from the show. Sony Ericsson and Nokia will be holding their own private events at hotel ballrooms on two seperate days.  Koeran companies LG will have no presense at the exhibition as well.  Japanese giant NTT Docomo will have a more significant presense this year, showcasing it’s LTE technology and Xperia series of Sony Ericsson phones at the show.

In conjunction with the event, the local telcos won’t be sitting back. It is said that one of them will be announcing more exclusive phones to their stable of Android phones. Perhaps, one of the three might just announce the availability of iPhone 4 and iPad for the local market during this period of time.

So, stay tuned while we bring you more this coming week.

Sony Ericsson mobile roadmap for 2010

Mr Vautier of Sony Ericsson revealed more about Sony Ericsson’s mobile plans for year 2010 after the hiccups of Aino and Satio in 2009 in an interview with mobiletoday uk.

In the interview, Mr Vautier will focus on a very narrow, focused portfolio for the higher value segment.

Two of such products are the Xperia X10 and Vivaz. It fuses communication and entertainment with Timescape and Mediascape. It differentiates and help Sony Ericsson provide a better user experience for their products.

There are 5 key products to be launched by Q2. There will be a number of Walkman phones. There will be a total of 14 to 16 key devices in 2010.

On what platform will Sony Ericsson focus on, Mr Vautier said that they will Android, Symbian and Microsoft, underneath they will have their own OSE platform.

It remains to be seen how Sony Ericsson will use Mediasape and Timescape on Windows Mobile 7 as Microsoft wanted a unified interface across all brands running its OS.

Wanted a fashionable phone with texting features or something that works at an affordable pricing as the first phone for your school kids ? The Samsung Corby TxT could be the answer for this group of users.

Designed with an interchangeable fashion jacket or faceplate, the EDGE/GPRS Samsung Corby TXT is a definitely a very stylish QWERTY texting phone that works great for those who loves to SMS and Email on the go.

The Corby TXT comes with 3 different schemes to choose from. Be funky and try out the cartoon UI which will surprise many.

Fun apart, the phone has a very nicely laid out qwerty keyboard which is good for texting and smsing. You can also set up multiple accounts for google, hotmail, pop3 mail to send/receive mails on the go. SMS are also organised in conversational SMS which makes it easy for you to read the correspondences between you and your friend….

Read Review
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2010/SAMSUNG/Samsung-Corby-Txt-GT-B3210-Review/p1.htm

QWERTY keypad phones are usually targetted at the adults. With the more tech savvy younger generation, more tends to do more texting on their mobile handsets. This is all thanks to the popularity of SNS like Facebook and Twitter.

Below is our video, unboxing the Samsung Corby TXT, a simple practical phone for the youth. It has all the necessary features of a phone and enhance with Social networking tools. The only disappointment would be the lack of Bluetooth, 3G and WIFI connectivity.

Stay tuned to OCWORKBENCH as we will bring you a full review of this mobile phone soon.

LG BL40 is the latest phone in the chocolate series. Finished in black piano and with a large long candy bar form factor. It is definitely one of the phones that will capture the eyes of on lookers.

With the S-class interface, it easily deceives the user thinking that it is a windows mobile or android phone. In fact, it is powered by it’s own OS. Measuring 128 x 51 x 10.9 mm, it is a bit tall and slim but it offers a 4″ 16:9 widescreen screen. For a feature phone, the BL40 seems to be heavy at 129g.

The phone comes with a 5 mega pixel camera and comes with microSD slot. For high speed data access, the phone supports HSDPA and wireless LAN for connections ….

Read Review

This phone can operate through touch screen with it’s 2.8″ TFT display. It also supports TouchWiz and One touch zoom just like Samsung Jet. With it’s high speed connectivity of HSDPA 7,2mbps, this phone is definitely higher in specifications compared to the Corby TXT. It has a 3 megapixel CMOS Camera, FM radio (RDS), WIFI, BT, USB 2.0, etc.

For those who prefer to use the keyboard, the QWERTY provides easy email and SMSing. With it, updating MySpace or Facebook is easier as these applications are already pre built into the phone. The phone also support push mail services and threaded SMS.

For more details, please visit link below
http://www.ocworkbench.com/2009/samsung/Samsung-Corby-Txt-B3210-Corby-Pro-Review/p2.htm