06:58 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Palm has released the long-awaited software update 2.0 for its LifeDrive mobile manager, providing a variety of enhancements regarding:

• Wi-Fi coverage in low signal areas
• Roaming performance
• File system stability
• Sound quality when listening to MP3 files
• More flexible multimedia functionality, including file transmission over wireless connections, file saving, and faster recording and playback
• Browser performance, including more efficient, faster page rendering
• The VersaMail application to version 3.1C for large document attachments
• The Docs To Go application version 7.006
• New hard reset option to erase Program Memory but not Internal Drive contents

05:08 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Someone from HowardForums sighted the HTC Prophet at a HK-based webstore. The dopod 818 Pro GSM/GPRS is available for HK$5,280 (~US$680) and includes the following features:

• Windows Mobile 2005 Pocket PC Phone Edition
• WLAN 802.11g/b
• EDGE, EGPRS Class B
• GSM/GPRS, Quad-Band
• Bluetooth V2.0
• 2.0m pixel Camera
• external SDIO / MMC
• 128MB ROM / 64 RAM

04:55 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Kingston announced the release of their new "Ultimate" line of CompactFlash cards, promising a sustained write speed rating of 100x. While 100x doesn't tell us much, Kingston claims it's something around a read rate of up to 18 MB/s and a write rate of up to 15 MB/s.

Available from $89 (1GB) to $289 (4GB) backed by a lifetime warranty.

[via Gizmodo]

08:56 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

As always, Palm Addicts is on top of all the Palm news that matters. Today they bring us the following free software tip...

"Want something for free? Yes, me too well on the Palm Software Store they are giving the Astraware game Bzzz away for free. Yes for free. 'Frantic game of fly catching! Keep the frog happy, by guiding him to catch the flies...' Was $9.95 now FREE!! Valid until the 6th December and as always it will be moved into our Special Offer pane in the right hand column. [Palm Software Store]"

Update:Seems they require both registration on the store site and credit card information even for a $0 purchase. That's enough for me to pass on this one, but I suppose it's still a good offer as it does beat purchasing it for the regular price!

06:17 PM by MishaS in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

A new version of FBReader is available. Changes:

• Added package for Nokia 770.
• Fixed bug with file opening on reiserfs.
• Added support for iconv (this makes it possible to use system encodings and in general speeds up the conversion).

So finally a package for Nokia 770 is available. And if you are lucky owner, I'd appreciate if you tried the package and share your experience

I'd like to thank Nikolay Pultsin who created FBReader for his Zaurus (a Linux based computer as well) and then helped me with porting to Maemo.

09:39 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | News

Cambridge (UK)-based Plastic Logic raised another round worth USD $24m which will be used to commercialize the company's flexible 100ppi 800x600 active-matrix displays. Among the new investors are: BASF Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Morningside Technology Ventures and Quest for Growth.

Stuart Evans, CEO, said "We are excited to have reached this milestone as a company and receive this investment from both new and existing shareholders. These funds will accelerate Plastic Logic's move to commercial testing of prototype products and to finalise our manufacturing process for transfer to mass production. We are pleased that Morningside group, with its deep and broad experience in China's technology and media sectors, will help Plastic Logic develop its China business." "Materials will play a major role in the further development of the printable electronics market, and BASF is pleased to be associated with a leading edge company in this field like Plastic Logic," said Darren Budd, BASF Venture Capital's investment manager.

Related: Next generation E-Ink displays in the works!, Signs of the first e-newspaper device

05:55 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

According to a report by Telecoms Korea, Samsung has developed a technology aimed at improving the quality of LCD displays on mobile devices.

Samsung's MIE technology has a built-in algorithm for smooth video image conversion. By greatly improving the image quality in small size screens, this technology is expected to raise the quality of video content as well as digital multimedia broadcasts received via handheld terminals.

Furthermore, the technology is said to reduce power consumption of the screen by 30 percent. Samples of the display driver IC ship this month.

05:46 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Palm has partnered with CEC Telecom (a subsidiary of Qiao Xing Universal Telephone) to launch Palm Treo 650 smartphones in China, accompanied with a large-scale marketing campaign. The Treo 650 will sell for 5,500 Yuan.

More over at PalmAddicts.