Samsung unveils new Ultra Smart F700

With the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona happening in less than a week, Samsung is clearly looking to get an early start on things with the recent announcement of its Ultra Smart F700 mobile phone.

The F700 is the first Ultra phone to feature a full touchscreen display with slide-out keypad that's very much similar to QWERTY-enabled PDA-phones such as the Dopod 838 Pro and O2 Xda Zinc. It is also equipped with an integrated music and video player, High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Bluetooth and VibeTonz technology. Its onboard 5-megapixel sensor makes it the highest-resolution camera-phone we've seen so far from the Samsung Ultra series.

Handsets in the Ultra series have traditionally been known for their superslim form factors. The F700 is no exception with its 16.4mm girth which makes it one of the slimmest touchscreen phones with slide-out QWERTY keypads.

We'll be keeping a close watch on the F700, which is expected to be showcased at 3GSM.

Windows Mobile 6 versus RIM and Nokia E-series

To better illustrate some of the enhanced features of its latest Windows Mobile OS, Microsoft has released several screenshots comparing the new platform to RIM's BlackBerry and Nokia's Symbian Series 60.

From the pictures, one of the most noticeable improvements on the Windows Mobile 6 OS is the full HTML email support, which now allows images to be viewed in the email. Users will also find that the company has enhanced its Mobile Office applications for viewing and editing documents, bringing the user experience closer to that of the desktop version.

Like its Windows Mobile 5.0 predecessor, the new mobile operating system will be available in three platforms: Windows Mobile Professional (for PDA-phones), Windows Mobile Standard (for smart phones) and Windows Mobile Classic (for non-cellular PDAs).

Handheld devices based on the new Windows Mobile 6 operating system are expected only in the middle of the year, though the bulk of them are slated for the second half of 2007. We are expecting some of the first products to be announced at 3GSM next week.

Read our news coverage of Windows Mobile 6 here.

Editors' note: As discrepancies in the comparison table have been highlighted, we have removed the link to the table until the data can be verified.

See the screenshots and comparison table:

7-inch Sun Visor TV/DVD Player w/FM Transmitter

Not for the nervous. This stylishly cool sun visor, which packs a TV/DVD player with FM transmitter, certainly isn't good for your road health. In fact, when one of CNET Asia's bravehearts caught a glimpse of this, he instantly broke into a twitter of alarm (or was it an alarming twitter?). "This is dangerous! Not good, not good!" And he drives a motorbike. Still, unless you're plenty good at multitasking, this one should be restricted to when you're warming the seat waiting for your late again passenger. Or if you're, ahem, planning some drive-in action just for two.

See bigger image

Via New Launches

Price: US$299.95 (one-year warranty costs US$45)
Availability: At Gadget Universe
Device: Sun visor TV
Specs: SD slot, USB connectivity port, wireless remote, in-built speaker, 17.25 x 11 x 2 inches, 3.6lbs

Listening to music at 20,000 leagues under the sea?

Or maybe not. According to Aquapac, its latest waterproof earphones are only tested to a depth of 10m. But if Captain Nemo was around, he would definitely have insisted on a version to suit his listening pleasures onboard the Nautilus. Comes with spare ear buds and a headphone buoy for storage. Read more here

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Dopod D810 gets GPS and BlackBerry upgrade

The Taiwan handheld maker has just announced that its upcoming ROM update for its HSDPA-enabled D810 PDA-phone will add GPS (Global Positioning System) as well as BlackBerry Connect functionalities to the device.

According to Dopod's product manager, the D810 was already shipping with an onboard GPS receiver during its launch in November last year. However, due to software complications, the GPS application was not ready for commercial use then. Thus the company decided to go ahead with the product launch without announcing the GPS functionality.

The D810 joins the 838 Pro and C720W as the third cellular handheld to offer the popular push-email client, in addition to the Microsoft Direct Push solution. Current owners of the D810 can download the new firmware from February 10, while new users can expect March shipments of the handheld to come with the updated GPS ROM. The ROM update will, however, only activate the GPS receiver. Users will have to purchase the GPS software and map content separately in order to utilize the GPS features.

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