Asus announce/launch three new products

I subscribe to a total of roughly 1000 RSS feeds spanning many categories, including about 200 gadget feeds. Sadly, most of the incoming messages are not worthwhile reading and I run a filter once every hour or so to find interesting information without having to read on average roughly 5,000 articles a day. One key search term today that brought up some articles was: Asus. Now that may not seem interesting, but it is as they announced or launched three interesting gadgets today.



One product that was launched today is a sleek looking PDA, the A686/696 GPS PDA. As from the model name we can already guess that it features GPS for navigation, but instead of needing an additional antenna as most PDAs have, this ASUS comes with an in-built antenna which makes for a nice optical bonus. This PDA is defiantly designed for business people who need a robust, powerful and good looking PDA, as it sports not a plastic but stainless steal case, a 3.5-inch 240 x 320 anti-glare display and a 1200mAH battery which should last for a couple of hours and can be removed. Apart from that WiFi (802.11 b+g) and Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR) offer the needed connectivity for working from the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. What I always need in a good PDA is a good microphone, which both versions have as well as integrated speakers for playing back most major audio formats.Both versions have 128MB Flash ROM and 64MB SDRAM, the A686 has an Intel XScale 312Mhz processor and the A696 an Intel XScale 416Mhz processor.


If you just need a navigation system without the PDA, ASUS are now also entering the satnav market with the ASUS S102 PND. Personally I have only used the TomTom One and Volkswagen systems before, but both did not have the feature I find quite interesting in the S102 PND: handwriting and voice recognition. This could save many frequent traveler’s thumbs a lot of painful and annoying work in deed. The screen is fairly sized at 3.5″ with a resolution of 240×320. ASUS use the SiRF III GPS chipset with an built-in antenna, but also offers an external connector. And if all these features are not enough: the S102 PND also doubles up as a personal entertainment system, playing mp3s and displaying pictures from the SD card inserted. When it will be available or what it will cost is not stated in the press release, but my guess - depending on the maps included - will be around the same as a TomTom One.

And if all that weren’t enough ASUS products for one day they also throw in a mobile phone. I am not quite sure who the announced Z801 is targeted at, but it seems to sport some fairly common features, a QVGA display, voice dialing and 64 MB internal memory (expandable with microSD) for example for storage of mp3s, AAC and MPEG4 which can be played back on the phone. ASUS are marketing this a stylish phone, but it does not look too impressive. I will have to wait and see this in action to see if it convince me that it is as cool as the other two product announced today.

SonyEricsson’s Bravia phone announced for Japan

I still own a SonyEricsson mobile phone (the old T610), but the newer models including the smartphones have not been impressing me much lately and it seemed to me as if they were doing what most mobile phone companies and telcoms are doing: targeting the teenager group.At first this seemed to have changed: SonyEriccson’s SO903iTV is going to be the first to include a 3″ Bravia display and offer some nice features, such as built in TV receiver with time-shifted recording options, a microSD for memory and a 2 megapixel camera. So this seems like a rich feature handset with a nice design by a decent company. But once again: the phone is to be released in Japan.
I have to wonder why it is that the Japanese market, a quite small one in fact, is so much more technologically advanced than for example our quite large European and American markets.

Sharp Introduces Dual-Screen Electronic Dictionaries

Sharp is not only a renowned electronics company, but also are one of the top leaders in the electronic dictionary industry. Year after year, Sharp have released new electronic dictionaries with not only new information, but also with new features suc

Recently with the model Papyrus PW-GT550, Sharp must have taken Nintendo’s DS in to consideration. The PW-GT550, as seen in the picture, adds a small second LCD touchscreen below the keypad. Sharp has noted that this addition of a writeable touchpad will allow a user to write a Chinese character that the user is unfamiliar with. Then, the system itself will comprehend what’s written and display an instant translation along with a pronunciation of the character.
Apart from the unique dual-screen feature, the PW-GT550 will also allow a user to load up the dictionary with MP3s for learning and for entertainment purposes, despite the fact that a separate SD card for file storage will be separately required.
The unit will be released in Japan later this month in pink and white versions for approximately $467 USD or 56,700 Yen. If you’re not a big fan of the touchscreen, a lite version will be available at $364 or 44,100 Yen.

Skype to Launch Domestic Call Pricings

Skype, a famous Internet phone service, have stated that it will be introducing new plans for domestic calls in 24 countries, including France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. What is exciting about the new plan, Skype Pro, will be that the users will be paying a monthly subscription along with a connection fee, but will not be charged at a per-minute basis. An executive of Skype have stated that the monthly pricing will be less than $6.50 USD, but that this is a mere estimate and nothing has yet been finalized. Stefan Oberg, a GM for Skype Telecoms added that the connection fee will be 5 cents in a case where a user calls a domestic numbered mobile phone.
Skype Pro is also said to offer free voice mail which costs $19.40 per year as of. Not only that, but it is said that subscribers will also be given a discount on a “SkypeIn” number, which currently costs $38.80.
With the launch of Skype Pro, Skype have also said that it will be reducing the current per-minute international rates to 2.2 cents for calls to so far, eight countries, which include the United States along with Malaysia and Czech Republic.