Posts in Handhelds
O2's Atom Life and Flame official pictures released 
Reuben Lee | Jan 24, 2007
At a press briefing held in Singapore on Tuesday, O2 showcased two new PDA-phones, the Xda Flame and Xda Atom Life. Both handhelds are expected to be launched in the region within the next two months.
According to O2's country manager Low Han Thong, the Atom Life will come with support for 3G and HSDPA, and will feature a large onboard memory. CNET Asia had a look at the prototype display unit and found it came with 1GB storage memory, a miniSD card slot, QVGA display and 2-megapixel camera. A white version, targeted mainly at the female crowd, is expected to be launched at a later date. (Click here for larger images of the Xda Atom Life)
The Xda Flame, which has been circulating on the Web for a while now, is also confirmed for an Asian launch. It is expected to come with a large 3.6-inch display (VGA?), microSD slot, 2-megapixel camera (with flash) and Nvidia GPU (similar to the one deployed in Sony's PSP). Rumor is that Flame will also be equipped with 2GB of memory. (Click here for larger images of the Xda Flame)
We are expecting more incoming information from O2, so do check back for updates here. In the meantime, you can read more about O2's Xda Zinc and Graphite here.
BlackBerry Pearl, now in white
Reuben Lee | Jan 18, 2007
Research in Motion and mobile operator T-Mobile have recently released a pearl-white version of the BlackBerry Pearl handheld in the US. This latest move, according to our sister site CNET.com, is a strategy by both companies to make the handset more appealing to general consumers and younger audience.
Aside from the color change, the new Pearl's feature set remains the same. It includes Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, an onboard music and video player and a microSD expansion slot, on top of its heralded push-email capabilities. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a confirmation from RIM on whether the white Pearl will be debuting in Asia.
Click here for a larger image of the new BlackBerry Pearl White.
iPaq rw6828, now in Titanium Black
Reuben Lee | Jan 11, 2007
With so many products going "Titanium", it was only a matter of time before another one hopped on the bandwagon. To wit, one HP Titanium Black iPaq rw6828 PDA-phone. Now here in Singapore, the new iPaq offers an upgraded firmware and exclusive bundle comprising a 1GB miniSD card, additional stylus and extra battery. Interestingly, it carries a S$200 (US$147.06) premium over the current silver model (S$799 (US$587.50) promotion price), retailing for about S$1,199 (US$881.62) (S$999 (US$734.56) promotion price).
For the price, you get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, triband capability, push-email support, a 2-megapixel camera, dual stereo speakers, an Intel 416MHz processor and a QVGA display.
Xscale processor going places
Darius Chang | Dec 01, 2006
Since acquiring Intel's communications and application chip business for about US$600 million in June this year, semiconductor manufacturer Marvell Technology Group's latest PXA 3xx processor series may go beyond it's traditional place in handhelds and PDA phones.
The next generation of mobile chips, codenamed Monahans, is said to be significantly more power-friendly than their predecessor, the PXA27x series. Starting with the high-end PXA3xx Monahans processor, which is the first in the family to ship to manufacturers, Marvell also offers the value PXA 300 for budget handhelds, while the PXA310 chip provides superior multimedia performance with extended battery life. According to the chipmaker, the PXA310 is the first to offer 30fps H.264 playback performance at VGA resolution.
The new series of processors utilize Intel SpeedStep technology and the latest MMX2 instruction set for increased multimedia performance. Marvell's benchmarks claim that audio playback time is doubled to 14.61 hours, while the 7.17 hours of video rendering is 30 percent longer compared with the previous generation of handheld processors.
Though Intel has sold the technology, the new chips will still be called Intel Xscale chips. In a conference call with Marvell Technology, the semiconductor manufacturer told CNET Asia it envisions these chips to leap beyond just handheld PDA and smart phone devices. With their low power consumption and multimedia performance, Marvell sees them going into Ultra Mobile PCs (which are currently based on Intel mobile processors), gaming devices, multimedia playback devices and even handheld gaming consoles. For now, we can look forward to devices based on the new processors appearing in the first quarter of 2007.
SingTel first out the door with BlackBerry Pearl
Juniper Foo | Nov 30, 2006
Singapore mobile operator SingTel is jamming with this particular Pearl, rolling it out ahead of the other operators this Saturday on December 2.
This is one launch that should be much anticipated by the BlackBerry-toting crowd. Unlike other Research In Motion (RIM) handhelds, the Pearl gives the nod to having onboard cameras on mobile devices. So for the first time, a BlackBerry will tout an integrated camera with flash even if this is just a 1.3-megapixel sensor. Also onboard will be music and video playback as well as a microSD expansion slot, on top of its heralded push-email capabilities.
The Pearl, which launched in the US in September, also claims to be one of the world's smallest and lightest smart phones at 107 x 50 x 14.5mm and 89g.
At press time, pricing details were still awaiting confirmation. Meanwhile, see if the Pearl is for you by checking out our full review here.
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