Todays & Tomorrows Technology

We’re still waiting for an official release for ASUS’ Eee Keyboard – the latest we hear is that it should drop sometime in August – but that hasn’t stopped French site Blogeee from getting their hands on one. Rather than cherish it for the rarity it is, they’ve decided to open the Keyboard up and find out what’s making it tick inside.

As you might expect, it’s basically a long, flat netbook, with a custom circuit-board to which ASUS have frustratingly soldered the 1GB of RAM. Cooling is via heat-pipes to the Atom N280 1.66GHz processor and accompanying chipset, leading back to a 40mm exhaust fan which, Blogeee report, makes little noise. Other components are more modular, such as the Bluetooth and WiFi adapters and the 16GB SSD.

The battery is a 1,880mAh pack that Blogeee estimate will be good for up to 1hr 40 minutes wireless runtime. The unit they’ve acquired also has a Silicon Image wireless HDMI transmitter which also takes care of up to 1080p graphics and HDCP certification, though we’ve previously heard that not all models will include it.

Blogeee end up a little confused about the point of the ASUS Eee Keyboard, suggesting that the storage is too little for a true HTPC while a regular netbook or nettop will provide just as good an internet machine. We’re still keen to try it out ourselves, but for now we’ll have to wait for the official release.

Over at our sibling site PhoneMag they’ve posted the full Nokia N97 review, and if you’ve been as eagerly-anticipating this smartphone as we have then you really need to read it. On paper, the N97 ticks just about every box you could hope for, but when it comes to usability and overall polish it seems that Nokia may have dropped the ball.

The QWERTY keyboard earns much of the N97 dismay, with poor tactile feedback, shallow travel and a frustrating layout, but S60 5th Edition, despite Nokia’s work to integrate touch-control, must share the blame. Compared to rival devices, it seems a lazy implementation, while the resistive touchscreen feels like old technology compared to the iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre or BlackBerry Storm.

There are positive points, including strong multimedia performance (though ugly, basic apps), the homescreen widgets and plenty of onboard storage, but the overall feeling is that the N97 simply arrived too late to capitalize on its potential.

After telling us – and then telling us again – that the Eee Keyboard would arrive this month, ASUS are now promising their nettop-in-a-keyboard will actually drop in August 2009. Rather than blaming manufacturing delays or last-minute firmware tweaks, ASUS claim the Eee Keyboard – which squeezes in an HD capable nettop and 5-inch touchscreen – was in fact held back while they attempted to define a niche for it to sit in.

That’s surprising, given that back at CES in January the company seemed to have a pretty good idea of what the point of the Eee Keyboard was. Fitted with Wireless HDMI, it can stream HD content either stored on its 32GB SSD or from the internet to a nearby display, with controls and other apps shown on the compact touchscreen.

Still no final word on pricing, but the last we heard ASUS were planning for a $400 starting price – though that doesn’t get you Wireless HDMI, only wired – and two different models. Each will have a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and both WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0. Earlier this month ASUS demonstrated the Eee Keyboard running Moblin, rather than Windows XP as it has been seen using in the past.

Verizon Wireless have announced the HTC Ozone, their counterpart to Sprint’s Snap. The QWERTY-blessed Windows Mobile 6.1 phone has EVDO Rev.A support, VZ Navigator for audible turn-by-turn directions and a 1,500mAh battery. It’s also a global-roaming phone, and comes complete with international power adapters.
To enable that there’s a pre-fitted GSM SIM card, and in a pleasant change for Verizon devices the Ozone offers WiFi b/g too. Visual Voicemail is an option – for $2.99 per month – and the Ozone supports Exchange and webmail email, preloaded IM clients for AIM, Windows and Yahoo! Messengers, and a one-touch messaging shortcut key.

It’s also surprisingly affordable. Verizon are asking $49.99 (after a wretched $70 mail-in rebate) assuming you’re willing to sign up to a two-year agreement, while VZ Navigator is the usual $9.99 per month add-on. The Verizon HTC Ozone will be available from June 29th online, and in stores from July 13th.

AT&T have announced the Motorola Karma QA1, an entry-level slider with full QWERTY keyboard and homescreen access to Facebook and MySpace. Aimed, unsurprisingly, at teenagers and young adults, the Karma has a 2.5-inch 240 x 320 display, 3.6Mbps HSDPA, a microSD card slot and 2-megapixel camera with video recording functionality.

There’s also A-GPS, and AT&T load their Navigator PND app onto the handset. The media player supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, RealAudio, XMF and MIDI files, together with H.263 and MPEG4 video, and the Karma has both a 3.5mm headphone jack and A2DP stereo Bluetooth 2.0 support. You can also access AT&T CV video.

Video hands-on after the cut

The Karma has a full HTML browser, with a dedicated shortcut key, together with threaded messaging, mobile email support including Yahoo!, AOL and Windows Live Mail, and can send and receive SMS and MMS messages. There’s also a speakerphone, speech recognition, CrystalTalk active background noise filter and voice-memo recording.

AT&T will be selling the Motorola Karma QA1 from June 28th, priced at $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. You’ll also need to budget for a minimum of a $39.99 voice plan and $20 data or messaging plan.

Kohjinsha’s SK3 UMPC, which we saw yesterday, has been officially launched in Japan. The 7-inch touchscreen SK3 gets an Intel Atom 1.33GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM and a 60GB 1.8-inch 4,200rpm hard-drive; there’s also WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 and GPS.

As expected there are also dual cameras, a low-resolution webcam by the screen for video calls, and a 3-megapixel version presumably for still shots. Ports include ethernet 10/100, VGA, audio in/out, a microSD slot, two USB 2.0 ports, multiformat card reader and an ExpressCard 34 slot.

It’s also impressively smaller than its SC3 predecessor, at 193 x 132 x 30 mm, and weighing just 720g. Kohjinsha are suggesting 3.2hrs runtime from the 17Wh battery in the Jeita test, a test known to produce over-ambitious results. Steve from UMPC Portal (who, frankly, we trust about battery runtime estimates more than we ever did Jeita) is guesstimating at between 2 and 2.5hrs of real-world use, which is a real disappointment.

Still, we won’t argue with more options in the ultramobile touchscreen category, and we’ve a feeling Japanese customers won’t either when the Kohjinsha SK3 goes on sale there. It’s expected to be priced at the equivalent of around $733, including local taxes.

Details of Verizon’s upcoming Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, the HTC Ozone, have leaked, detailing not only the handset’s full specifications but pricing and other tidbits. The Verizon Ozone XV6800 will have a 2.4-inch QVGA non-touchscreen display and full QWERTY keyboard, and not only access the carrier’s EVDO Rev.A network but have globalphone quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity for roaming use.

Verizon will supply the Ozone with a pre-fitted SIM, and in some regions users will be able to choose between local networks. Other specs include a 2-megapixel autofocus camera with video recording, WiFi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP wireless stereo support. There’s also a microSD card slot, 256MB ROM and 128MB RAM, GPS – that can use, but isn’t limited to, Verizon VZ Navigator – voice command and visual voicemail support.

The whole thing measures 4.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches and weighs 3.7oz with its 1,500mAh battery; talktime is rated at 290 minutes, or 324hrs standby. According to the leaked information, the Verizon Wireless HTC Ozone will go on sale online on June 29th, followed by in-store on July 13th, priced at $119.99 with a two-year agreement. Alternatively it’s $189.99 with a one-year contract or $429.99 contract-free.

T-Mobile have officially announced the Dash 3G, the HTC-made Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, with a full QWERTY keyboard and WiFi b/g. The Dash – which is also known as the HTC Snap - has a 2.4-inch 320 x 240 non-touchscreen display and trackball for navigation.

There’s also Bluetooth and WiFi b/g, together with GPS and support for T-Mobile USA’s MyFaves service. Around the back there’s a 2-megapixel camera that supports video recording, and assuming T-Mobile have requested no changes, inside 256MB ROM and 192MB RAM plus a microSDHC card slot.

The standard battery is a 1,500mAh pack, which HTC have previously rated for up to 8.5hrs GSM talktime (5hrs WCDMA) or up to 15.8 days GSM standby (20 days WCDMA). No word on pricing, but the T-Mobile Dash 3G will arrive sometime in June.

LG have announced a new QWERTY smartphone, and it looks as though they’ve been cribbing some design ideas from Nokia. The LG GW550 runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and has a 2.4-inch QVGA display, 3-megapixel camera and 7.2Mbps HSDPA / 2Mbps HSUPA with support for the 850/1900/2100MHz bands.

Otherwise there’s quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, stereo speakers and a 1,300mAh battery. Up front there’s a VGA-quality camera for video calls, and the whole thing measures 116.3 x 61.5 x 12 mm.

No word on when we could see the LG GW550, nor for how much, and nor indeed where – LG are keeping such details to themselves. However given the OS we’d presume it’ll be launching sometime soon, over the summer, before Microsoft release Windows Mobile 6.5.

Sprint and Verizon may be keeping relatively quiet about the BlackBerry Tour 9630’s functionality, but unsurprisingly RIM themselves are pretty keen to get the news out there about exactly what their new “world phone” can do. The smartphone is primarily intended to use CDMA EVDO Rev.A connectivity, but it also packs UMTS/HSPA 2100MHz support and quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE for use when abroad.

Elsewhere there’s a 480 x 340 resolution display, 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and image stabilization, and 256MB of onboard storage with a microSD card to augment that. The Tour 9630 also has GPS with support for photo geotagging.

BlackBerry Maps is pre-installed, and there’s a mediaplayer with support for non-DRM iTunes synchronization. Bluetooth 2.0 including support for the A2DP stereo profile is there, plus a 3.5mm headphone socket, and there’s obviously the full QWERTY keyboard and trackball. RIM rate the battery life as good for up to 5hrs talktime or 14 days standby.

No specific release dates for the smartphone, but Sprint have suggested it will come “later this summer” priced at $199.99.

Nokia have announced two new devices, the Nokia E72 messaging smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard, and the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, a touchscreen media-centric handset. The E72 succeeds the E71, and throws a 5-megapixel camera, 10.2Mbps HSDPA support, optical joystick and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack into the smartphone.
The E72 also gets the desktop-style email app from the E75 and homescreen IM access. There’s also a digital compass, A-GPS and integrated Nokia Maps, and if you find you’ve navigated yourself into a dark cupboard then there’s also a handy torch function. The E72 supports Exchange and various email and webmail providers, comes with Quickoffice (for Office 2007 support) and active noise cancellation.

As for the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, that’s a smaller derivative of the 5800 XpressMusic, with a 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash, WiFi, but no 3G support. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, supplied 4GB memory card and new homescreen system that you can see demonstrated in the video below.

The Nokia E72 is expected to begin shipping late in Q3 2009, priced at €350 ($489); meanwhile the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic will also ship in Q3, priced at €199 ($278).

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 leaking continues, and after the black handsets we’ve seen it’s a nice change to spot not only a silver version but one switched on. Running Windows Mobile 6.5 as tipped in the earlier spec sheet, there’s no telling whether the X2 actually has an OLED display or plain old LCD, but the D-pad does look to be an optical mouse.


The original X1 had an optical mouse, where an on-screen cursor is controlled by rubbing a thumb across the D-pad. Now, no optical mouse was mentioned in the last batch of specifications for the X2, but it seems strange that Sony Ericsson would change the whole color-scheme for the silver model and yet leave the select-button for the D-pad black.

Otherwise there’s nothing so much new here as just pleasant to look at. The XPERIA X2 is believed to have an 8.1-megapixel autofocus camera capable of 30fps video recording, A-GPS and of course that slide-out hardware keyboard.

Photos of LonMID’s M100 engineering prototype showed up before Computex, but now the convertible MID phone has made its official appearance on the company’s site. The obvious change is the color-scheme (the prototype was black and gold) but there are other differences too, not least the fact that the external phone keypad has been omitted.


Still, it’s a 6.2 x 3.5 x 1.1 inch chunk with a 4.8-inch WVGA touchscreen inside and a smaller, 2.4-inch QVGA display inside. Underneath there’s a flat panel which could use backlit, touch-sensitive buttons; LonMID haven’t released close-up images of the M100 turned on yet.

Other specs confirm the same 800MHz Intel Atom Z500 processor, paired with up to 1GB of RAM, a 4GB SSD and the Midinux Linux OS. Wireless connectivity includes WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and some sort of 3G modem, judging by the SIM slot, while there’s also a microSD card slot, USB 2.0 port, miniUSB port and a headphone jack, plus a microphone. No word on when we expect to see it go on sale, nor where.

It feels like we’ve been waiting a long time for the HTC Touch Pro2 to arrive, though really it was only announced back in February at Mobile World Congress. The flagship smartphone - which packs a 3.6-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen, 3G HSPA, WiFi b/g and a full QWERTY keyboard - is the second half of HTC’s two-part Touch refresh, along with the Diamond2, and you can see our video unboxing after the cut.

First impressions of the HTC Touch Pro2 are good; it’s a solid, weighty phone (the full specifications say 178.5g) and not exactly small at 116 x 59.2 x 16.65mm, but it feels well made and sturdy. The metal screen bezel is a nice design element, though we’re glad to see the rear panel is matte rather than the fingerprint-grabbing gloss of the Diamond2.

Software is the usual Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro - with a 6.5 upgrade catered for with the requisite buttons - together with HTC’s TouchFLO 3D UI. That’s had a neat upgrade to deal with the Pro2’s horizontal orientation when the keyboard is out, and of course includes the People-Centric tweaks we appreciated on the Diamond2. The keyboard itself is tactile and has an impressive amount of button-travel considering the size; we’ll be battering away at it some more before giving our final opinion. Until then, enjoy the unboxing video and short demo below!