XPERIA X1 launch to delay till 2009?

It looks like fans eager to get their hands on the much-anticipated Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 handheld may have to wait a while longer, if the release date published on the company's own corporate site is to be believed.

According to the table of release dates, the X1 is expected to roll out only on February 10, 2009. That's exactly one year from the day it was first announced at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and a couple of months off its earlier estimate of a second-half 2008 release.

While we are not sure if the release date is meant for the US/Europe market only, or if this is simply a typo error, a one-year gap between announcement and shipping really doesn't bode well for the PDA-phone. Hopefully, it doesn't end up like its Symbian predecessor, the P990i, which was delayed so many months, it lost its wow factor by the time it finally launched. More importantly, the launch delay may give its competitors enough time to come up with a respective response to the X1.

Sony Ericsson has yet to get back to us on an official word.

The XPERIA X1 is the company's first PDA-phone running on Windows Mobile OS. It features a 3-inch WVGA touchscreen display, slide-out QWERTY keypad, HSDPA/HSUPA, wireless LAN and GPS. You can get our early impressions here.

Update: Sony Ericsson has clarified that the XPERIA X1 is slated for a second-half 2008 launch, not the Feburary 10, 2009 release date as rumored earlier.

Off to a flying start on the Singapore Flyer

Since the dawn of time, harking back to the Tower of Babel, man has felt the need to mark his technological prowess through taller and taller structures, each more gravity-defying than the last. Consider the ones in Asia, which include Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan, Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and now the Singapore Flyer in Singapore. Lucky for this CNETer, yours truly had a good headstart on the Flyer the night prior to its public launch on March 1, thanks to Volkswagen which was celebrating its first anniversary with a press party.

Out at Raffles Avenue, the wheel sits on top of a three-storey building which houses restaurants and a recreated rainforest in the atrium. At 165m high, it's taller than The London Eye (a.k.a. Millennium Wheel) by, well, a mere 30m. Upclose, the observation wheel isnt' as overwhelming as one would expect from all the hype. In fact, come 2009, the Great Beijing Wheel will shadow the Singapore Flyer at 208m tall, carrying up to 1,920 passengers and making it the largest Ferris wheel in the world.
Read more »

Intel Atom for UMPC

It was once thought to be the smallest indivisible particle in the universe, and also a cool name for a super hero. So maybe that's why Intel has decided to officially name the Silverthorne and Diamondville processors as the Intel Atom. This processor, based on the latest 45nm technology, is designed for Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC) and mobile Internet devices (MID). They will also carry the label Intel Centrino Atom to prove their inner beauty is, indeed, from Intel.

Small in physical size, the Atom chip draws at least 92 percent less power than laptop Core 2 Duo processors and runs at up to 1.8GHz clockspeeds. This will not only allow future laptop companions to have longer battery life, but may even finally let Windows Vista to be actually usable in UMPCs and MIDs.

However, there are legitimate concerns that the Intel Centrino Atom label will do to the UMPCs what Intel Centrino did to laptops. Currently, there are three main players in this niche arena--AMD, VIA and Intel. Should history repeat itself--and there is no reason it wouldn't--we might again see one player dominate the market through clever marketing rather than technological and pricing superiority.

So will this move create an unfair advantage based on the ignorance of consumers? Or do we really need a label and standardized platform to turn this niche market into mainstream fare?

Mobile number portability still on track for Q2 launch

Over dinner recently, my friend was ranting about her angst with a local mobile telco provider and, in the end, she decided to jump ship to its competitor. After the new contract was signed, she sent a text message to her all friends so they would be aware of the change in number. A scenario like this where users flock to cheaper price plans or better service from competitors is common fare on our island-state. There's just a tiny drawback: The change in number.

That's probably one of the main reasons many are looking forward to the number portability database in the second quarter this year. According to Frost and Sullivan research analyst Siu Keat Chak, number portability will benefit both existing operators and eventual entrants. Siu added in the January 2007 research paper that the barrier for subscribers to switch carriers will be lowered and may lead to further price-based competition with a potential increase in new customers for the operators.

Unlike the current number retention system which is more like a forwarding service, "true" number portability will allow users to switch carriers without changing their current line or signing up for a new one. Besides getting to keep their own numbers, subscribers can also look forward to more market competition among the operators, which end consumers could benefit from eventually.

Singapore's not the only country looking at a centralized database for mobile subscribers. Malaysia expects its number portability plan to be completed by end this year. South Korea and Taiwan also announced similar plans back in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

So are you just holding out until the system is in place? Or will you stay loyal to your telco operator till the end?

Picture credit: M1

Sega raises your heart rate, without games

The Wii Fit may have grabbed all the headlines for combining games and exercise, but it should be noted in fairness that other companies have been working on that mashup as well. Lately their efforts have focused on physical activities for kids, whether on stationary
The latest evidence of the trend comes from Sega Toys, though it hardly looks like something aimed at your average adolescent. The Body Trainer sounds a lot like Yamaha's BodiBeat, which chooses songs that supposedly match your heart rate, though we do like the fact that Sega's versions contains all the electronics in its headset. (We could never figure out how people keep their earbuds from falling out during a workout.)

Just enter your vitals and choose a level of exercise, according to Dvice, and the Body Trainer will "adjust the pace of the music to optimize your routine". No matter how it works, we hope game companies will continue down the fitness path. After all, they certainly couldn't do any worse than the hula chair.

Via Crave CNET

Filed under:  Music & Play
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