Mobile panorama of the week, issue April 9

What happens to the i-mate - the problem, restructuring or an abundance of new products?

Last week news came out a whole group of related companies i-mate. On the one hand it was reported that the company is experiencing some problems. About 10 employees of the company filed for i-mate to court for wrongful dismissal. According to an Internet resource Msmobiles, they were given 15 minutes to collect belongings and exit from the corporate head office in Dubai. Perhaps all happened less tragic, but it seems that they really were not warned of the impending dismissal and did not provide compensation or severance pay. According to the same Msmobiles, some of them have been promised a transfer to the U.S. office in Seattle, as part of the reorganization. " Layoffs attributed to the hard times that are going through the company, after the Taiwanese manufacturer High Tech Computer has ceased to cooperate with the i-mate, and she had to quickly move to other device manufacturers to produce under its own brand. The number of new partners, i-mate includes companies such as Taiwan's Inventec, and China Tech Faith Wireless. Shortly after the publication followed by a comment from a representative of i-mate. In brief comments boiled down to the meaning of thought "no problem, just restructured, allegedly modified the structure of the company requires some redundancies. According to the same employee i-mate, currently restructuring the company in the Middle East has been completed, more than that in the next six months will be offered 97 new jobs worldwide. Nevertheless, this news about the i-mate exhausted. Around the same time extremely well for the company in the network issued a "spy roadmap" for 2007, which almost immediately captured the attention of news resources. Coincidence is a coincidence or not, but the theme is about the difficulties i-mate and illegal dismissal was forgotten and left alone. Nevertheless, the information published online resource PocketPT.net really interesting. It contains some of the inconsistencies inherent in the documents of this kind, but it costs that have to be reconciled. The document submitted in addition to already known and announced devices, which include a series of powerful communicators and Ultimate i-mate JAQ4, you can see a description and timing of the issuance of several models is not familiar to users according to official materials of the company. Thus came to be known prior information about the two communicators who allegedly were to be released, or at least presented in January and February of this year. This model appearing in the material called i-mate P30 and i-mate Odyssey. Naturally now it is unclear whether they rejected the company in general or to submit later. It should be noted that information about the device i-mate P30 already appeared in earlier rumors. Only there, he figured, codenamed i-mate JAMA, the same characteristics reported the same. According to these data, the model explicitly budget. Communicator is equipped with a small display diagonal of 2.4 inch, 2-megapixel camera, good for a budget solution Samsung processor clocked at 300 MHz, 64 MB RAM and 128 MB ROM. However, because communication can mark only two-band cellular networks GSM / GPRS, yes Interface Bluetooth 2.0. Working device based on operating system Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC. Communicator i-mate Odyssey is made entirely from another test. This model is quite productive and powerful. It can not be compared with a series of Ultimate, but it looks good on the background of the "middle class". Relatively Odyssey reported the following.He is able to work in networks GSM / GPRS / EDGE (900/1800/1900 MHz) and UMTS (1900/2100 MHz). The communicator is equipped with 2.7-inch display with QVGA (240x320 pixels), there are also stereo speakers and a 2-megapixel camera. Work is performed based on Intel processors with a clock frequency of 416 MHz, 64 MB RAM and 192 MB ROM. Plus, the phone supports wireless Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g) interface and Bluetooth. A careful observer can find just three inconsistencies in information about this device. Firstly, the image with a description of a couple of typos - the frequency range of 1899 MHz and 74 MB of RAM. Secondly, in spite of these Windows Mobile Pocket PC Edition 5.0, the picture with the device clearly shows a screenshot of Windows Mobile 2003. Such negligence is, of course suspicious, but it is quite common in the documentation with the preliminary information obtained from unofficial sources. Perhaps the most interesting series with the enigmatic title "X Series". Name definitely owes its appearance to popular television series "The X Files" (English «The X-Files»), all models, code names, one way or another connected with it. The series consists of two communicators, and the two smartphones. All models are running on Windows Mobile 6, can operate in a third-generation networks while supporting high-speed standard HSDPA. Also among the common characteristics for the entire series - Samsung processor clocked at 400 MHz, support for wireless networking Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g) interface and Bluetooth 2.0. If the information turns out to be true, it is not too clear exactly how they will relate to the series Communicator Ultimate. Most likely - as a more affordable solution, but still higher class than the average model of the i-mate. As in the series Ultimate, there is traced a single style for all models. Communicators i-mate Scully and i-mate Fox is scheduled for release in May. i-mate Fox made a candybar with a numeric keypad. In this case, unlike the i-mate 8150 Ultimate, performed in a similar form factor, future-oriented novelty has a horizontal display. i-mate Scully made, most likely in the form of a slider with a numeric keypad, a kind of analogue of the i-mate 5150 Ultimate. Judging by the images, the display of Scully more than Fox. Smartphone i-mate Informer and i-mate Navajo are expected to be released from June. i-mate Navajo is designed as a traditional clamshell with a numeric keypad and two displays. i-mate Informer is an obvious successor Smartphone HTC S710 (Vox), submitted in February. It is also equipped with the usual numeric keypad and sliding side QWERTY-keyboard. On this model the source provided the most detailed information - reported 2.2-inch display with QVGA (less than 2.4-inch display with HTC S710), as well as a 2-megapixel camera. The document also can see a couple of unknown devices not mentioned names that were due in March. As can be seen on the details of which are specified in the document, it's pretty old stuff, created even before the February announcement of the new operating system Windows Mobile. As far as he is out of date and how much will be true in general, will become clear later, reportedly from the company i-mate.

Samsung comes with six Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone

Information regarding the future of smart innovations from Samsung to a more routine and less dramatic way than the roadmap of i-mate. At the regular press conference launch of the Smartphone Samsung SGH-i600, which held the German division of Samsung, Striksner Norbert (Norbert Strixner), a fairly high-ranking representative of the company, told the interesting details about plans for the near future. According to him, the German market, the classical mobile phones finally entered a phase of saturation, and bet on it accordingly does not make much sense. The company said rising demand for the smartphone consumer and semi-professional market segments. Since the summer of this year, Samsung plans to introduce as much as 6 new models of smartphones. All of them will be running on Windows Mobile 6. Purely professional models without built-in cameras are planned, all the new items will be equipped with cameras with higher than the Samsung SGH-i600 resolution. We recall that the Samsung SGH-i600 has a 1.3-megapixel camera. Since did not specify the operating system version - Standard (for smart phones without touch screen) or Professional (for PDA with touch screen), it is possible that among these six will be presented not only smartphones, but communicators. According to the company's plans, they will be released for sale until the end of 2007. Models designed for the German region, probably will appear in other European markets.

Started selling budget-Voxtel W520 with support for Wi-Fi

Has not been without news from our native Russian market - Voxtel company announced sales of the new communicator Voxtel W520. This is a budget communicator, who, despite a reasonable price supports wireless networking Wi-Fi, in addition to cellular networks. The model is a pleasant exception among competing solutions, most of whom do not have the support networks of Wi-Fi. In the meantime, this feature is very useful and can be useful not only in your home or office wireless network. Began to appear more and more public access points, Wi-Fi, wireless networks have already been reached and the Moscow metro. A detailed review of the new items can already be found in the "Library" on HPC.ru.

Preparing the next Treo for Palm

Despite the disappointing no predictions about the future of Palm, it seems, is not going to surrender and continued to operate to get her "inherited" and eventually an aging Palm OS.The network published photos of the new model device Treo, running OS Garnet OS. Remember, this is not a radically new OSes, and renamed the Palm OS. The new device is made of the same is still unusual for the production of Palm form factor as the latest innovations - the budget Treo 680 smartphone and the 3G-Treo 750 smartphone based on Windows Mobile 5.0. As well as these two models Treo 755p, namely the so-called novelty presumably, has no external antenna. This is the first model of the Treo, is designed for networks of CDMA, equipped with an internal rather than external antenna. Apparently, Treo 755p is the successor was released last year communicator Treo 700p, capable of operating in high-speed data transfer standard EV-DO. It is not entirely clear what besides the form factor will be different from the Treo 755p Treo 700p. Significant changes in the operating system should not happen, because work on the development of the heir to the latest version of the traditional Palm OS is not made. Changes might be expected purely on the hardware level, which then may find expression in future models of the Treo based on Windows Mobile. In fact, strangely enough, that we still have not heard about the development of a new Treo smartphone based on Windows Mobile 6, because in this operating system, even laid the initial support for displays with a resolution of 320x320, so beloved by Palm, is a clear nod in her direction from the company Microsoft. On the other hand, the possible sources prochaschie expedite the sale of Palm, not too far from the truth, and then the situation is quite understandable.

Organiser Agendus for Windows Mobile smartphones

Good news for owners of smartphones running the Windows operating system Windows Mobile. Known multi-organizer Agendus, originally produced for the devices based on Palm OS, now adapted for Windows Mobile smartphones. The release version of Pocket PC software was held in February this year. As well as in other versions of Agendus, supported by work with notes, appointments, contacts, check email, and also provides access to the services provided by OTA (Over-the-Air) basis. They can be used, for example, time to find out the weather forecast and check for new updates, as well as getting the map to the address given in contact. This increasing attention from developers in relation to the smartphone with Windows Mobile shows their growing popularity.

Office 2007 on Palm devices

Office suite Documents To Go from a software developer DataViz is one of the most popular devices on the basis of the operating system Palm OS. It allows you to work with Microsoft Office documents without conversion. Last week came another update of this package - Documents To Go Premium Edition 10. The main change in this version - includes support for opening and viewing of documents from the new office suite from Microsoft - Word and Excel Office 2007. More extensive work with Office 2007 will be implemented later in the next version provides the ability to create and edit files in Word, Excel and PowerPoint Office 2007 as well as full support for the operating system Microsoft Windows Vista. The authors, translation:

HP iPAQ H1910: her among strangers, a stranger among his own

We already told you about the top-end of the camp iPAQ handheld series H54xx, but certainly more interesting inexpensive model from HP - the first budget iPAQ H1910. This handheld combines a good name leader in Pocket PC-PDA and inherent quality and price of a new wave of low cost machines. Novelty is also interesting that before HP did not release low-cost models, content with the tip of the iceberg. Prior to our editorial CPC has not yet arrived, but Western observers have already prepared several materials, and forums are full of reviews of the first owners. Based on data collected, specifically the various user ratings and construct our review. We promise to immediately on arrival news to share with you impressions. We hope that this correspondence dating from the iPAQ H1910 help both you and us to understand whether it is worth waiting for this machine.

At first glance,

The first thing that catches your eye, it's dimensions of the device and its weight. Both figures are very small for this class as a whole and for the series iPAQ in particular. Thus, the dimensions are H1910 115x71.5x13.0 mm and its weight is 131 g. To the way, the size and weight of the previous leader of compactness in the ranks of the Pocket PC, Toshiba e310, are, respectively, 125x80x12, 4 mm and 140 g. It can be seen , HP in this regard so far out of competition, and even a brand new ViewSonic v35 behind on this indicator from the H1910. So that the novelty of Law takes first place on the podium for the compactness and came close to the smallest Palm. It is clear that in view of reducing the size of the compatibility with the old jackets you can forget.

H1910 - in the middle ...

In this unit you see in the picture below, is not included cradle. Latest developers decided to replace the USB-cable. But there are cimpatichnye headphones. Headphones are included in the package, apparently because that HP wanted to deliver customers a headache when searching for this necessary accessory. The fact that a standard connector to 3.5 mm in this model is replaced by a phone the size of 2.5 mm, so pick conditioning "ears" would not be easy. Another unpleasant aspect as the structural feature is the lack of scroll wheel. This is a very tangible impact on the ergonomics H1910. The battery is removable and the novelty has very small dimensions, and therefore nothing prevents buy himself a couple of extra copies and take them on the road. We think that is the case with this model it is not so much to the whim of the traveler as a necessity, since the battery capacity of H1910 is only 900 mAh. Although it's quite possible that this will not affect battery operation. After processing, the new product is not the fastest, so let's see what the budget firstborn HP "in action".

iPAQ new, old fillings

Probably the most stand out part of the hardware filling the new PDA can be considered a processor. And indeed, something did not recall that anyone else of the manufacturers decided to use Intel XScale 200 MHz in their products.All cars manufactured today do not fall below 300 MHz, and therefore on the speed to H1910 in overseas forums there are big claims. But the whole truth about the inferiority or lack thereof, as a low-power "stones", we seem to be able to learn only when handhelds will arrive to us. As for memory, then the total of its volume (in the technical data RAM is 64 MB) available to the user only 46.75 MB. This meager wealth can be repeatedly multiply by the expansion slot for memory card standard SD / MMC. The latter, as is the case with Dell Axim X5, does not support SDIO (Secured Digital Input / Output). But if the novelty of the Dell to connect peripheral cards can use the CF slot, the H1910 is deprived of this opportunity. At the same time there is a hope that HP has yet to release a software patch that will correct such a significant disadvantage. So, for example, came in due time Handspring, equipping SDIO support your Pocket PC, Treo 90, which was originally not having this opportunity. But these are just guesses - HP yet promised nothing. Display this model on the glorious tradition established in the camp iPAQ, has a very high quality. It is built on trancflektivnoy technology, and therefore superbly looked in poorly lit rooms and is worthy of feeling in the sun. Speaker at the H1910 is under way navigation joystick, but despite its small size, fully perform all functions assigned to it. The speaker sound can be played through headphones, which, as mentioned above, the manufacturing company is carefully placed in a box with the device. Of course, to the expensive high-quality copies of past fall short, but also Chinese handicrafts, which vendors are so fond of to equip their devices, complete "ears" obviously "doing." In view of all this, and very small size of the unit from it should go a good player, of course, provided if you buy his memory. The only thing that confused in this high-tech player, so it's a little battery life. Thus, the result of using the device compact, low-capacity batteries are approximately 4 hours of work, which will agree, by today's standards quite a bit. Well, if the PDA to run DivX, the batteries and did just enough for 2-3 hours. Well, the compact calls for the victims ...

Steeplechase

Due to the use of the new iPAQ is extremely slow processor much interested to know the true performance of this device. Alas, to verify the speed of a novelty in practice we do not, but some on this subject have already appeared on the web. By tradition, for the tests used benchmark VOBenchmark.That's what a H1910 versus some other handhelds, serving in the same price range:

Test / Model	Toshiba e310 (Strong ARM 206MGts)	ViewSonic V35 (XScale 300 MHz)	Dell Axim X5 (XScale 300 MHz)	HP iPAQ H1910 (XScale 200 MHz)
CPU Floating Point	8.02	6.34	9.48	6.32
CPU Integer	15.50	13.30	20.08	13.52
Graphics Bitmap BitBlt	56.86	16.66	56.78	40.94
Graphics Bitmap StretchBlt	0.35	0.50	0.30	0.60
Graphics Filled Ellipse	2.24	0.85	2.07	2.15
Graphics Filled Rectangle	7.76	1.02	6.56	3.78
Graphics Filled Round Rectangle	1.72	0.66	1.39	1.66
Memory Allocation	8.69	6.42	9.34	6.41
Memory Fill	0.39	0.85	0.94	0.60
Memory Move	0.74	0.30	0.38	0.32
Text	3.77	2.20	3.92	3.88

As can be seen from the table, HP iPAQ H1910 does not suffer from an excess of speed, that in general it is not surprising. His results are close to the ViewSonic V35, the slowest PDA Intel XScale 300MHz. In this case, it is worth considering that the machine from HP has a fairly good performance in graphics tests and work with text. On other indicators of a new Dell Axim X5, a direct competitor H1910, ahead of a product from HP. Last hit, Toshiba e310, which has now a similar price and size also leaves no novelty no chance. It is understandable - there are no miracles, and a weak processor makes itself felt, so that the low cost of having to pay again. In addition to theoretical tests, H1910 was tested also on a realistic toy Pocket quake. The result of dismal news - only 5.8 frames per second. This is despite the fact that the average in the benchmark for modern devices is approximately 7 frames per second, and Pocket PC Razor Zayo processor, clocked at 400MHz, provides all the 10 frames per second. In general, many compare the new iPAQ to speed with the 3600-th series. PDA users in this series will understand what is at stake. H1910 sin pauses when playing mp3-nis and dropped frames when watching movies DivX.

Buy?

So, to sum up. iPAQ H1910, primarily attracted by its compact form factor and low weight. In addition, the pluses models include the traditionally very high-quality transflective screen, nice design, removable battery, finally, the headphones that come as a bonus. As to the cons, they are also missing. Here without a doubt be credited a small battery life (save the battery, made possible due to the use of a weak processor), the lack of support for SDIO expansion slot, a small amount of available memory, low speed, no scroll wheel, and a protective case. Yes, and the price could be lower. Summing up, we can say that about the chances of new items on the success so far is rather difficult, because the "pros" H1910 did not compensate for all these cons. The authors, translation:

Workshop: The weather delivered to your PDA, part 1

Almost every morning, going to work on the radio or on TV, we try not to miss the weather forecast for the day. Alternatively, you can just look out the window, but the cloudless sky - not the best reason to leave home an umbrella. There is another, more reliable way to stay abreast of weather vagaries. Simply install the communicator or smartphone program, which to load with a special website the current forecast and displays it on screen. Programs of this type very much, but the entire array can be divided into two classes. Program of the first class loaded weather forecast from one of the hydrometeorological sites. Programme of the second class are guided by the data of weather stations, linked, usually to large airports. By and large, the predictions of both types are mostly the same, but all the same data from weather stations can be more accurate, unless of course, your town is not located within a hundred or more miles from the nearest airport. This review will include both kinds of programs. One should also note that even in a directory on our site can be found at least 20 utilities of this kind. Therefore, the author of the review decided to take the liberty of pre-selection of the 3 most typical products. All of them one time or another "live" on your device, and each program was compiled private opinion. By tradition, each of the programs described will be assessed by parameters of simplicity and ease of use, overall functionality, speed of development. An important aspect in evaluation is also free. However, as demonstrated by our study, the weather forecast - this is the case when it makes sense to pay a certain amount of comfort. Because we use them every day. However, the choice is yours.

Weather Watcher

The program of the first type. To start, you must have a PDA Net Compact Framework 2.0. Weather Watcher allows you to download the weather forecast for more than 77,000 villages. In addition to the current state of the weather, you can view the forecast for the next twelve hours, and next week. State of cloud is characterized by a specific icon. The parameters are displayed as temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, maximum visibility and status of the lunar phase. Adding cities to the list is by name or by ZIP code (U.S. only). To download the weather forecast uses data from the site www.weather.com. Since the program has an English interface, adding new cities can cause some confusion. The procedure itself is adding cities to the list is an invalid name into the search box and then update the data. At the bottom of the screen, the program displays all the found rows, then simply right locality selected by the cursor.

Weather Watcher: current conditions

Weather Watcher: the forecast for 12 hours

Weather Watcher: the forecast for the week

Weather Watcher: addition of

As to the pluses and minuses of the program include the lack of a plugin to display Today. This solution will satisfy those who are not accustomed to clutter up the main window of the communicator, and, accordingly, would not like users who are accustomed to seeing the weather forecast when you turn on the device. The advantages of the program is a free way to spread, current and detailed hourly forecast, clear icons that characterize the state of cloudiness. Lack of utilities - English interface, no choice of the city from the list and the remoteness of the source providing the information. It is a remote source weather reports may be due to differences in predicted and actual performance. Not very comfortable and the lack of customization options update the forecast on a schedule - it should be done manually. As a result, in the form of Weather Watcher, we obtain a minimum of features and free distribution.

Strengths:
• Free way to spread
• Detailed current hourly forecast
• Clear icons that characterize the state of cloud

Disadvantages:
• English interface
• Not choose a city from the list
• Only one source of forecast
• Lack of scheduled update

Ratings:
• Interface: 3
• Functionality: 4
• Forecast accuracy: 4
• Overall score: 4

Spb Weather

Spb Weather - One of the most renowned programs in its class. Software developer is a Russian company Spb Software House, familiar to our readers. The program is designed as a plugin for Today and can not be run as a standalone application. When you activate the plugin displays a detailed forecast for the day of the selected city. This plugin is integrated into other programs of the same developer. It is present in Spb Diary, Spb Pocket Plus and the latest software product - Spb Mobile Shell. The program has many settings that allow you to write on the screen in several ways.Add cities to the list in two ways. The first - direct, via the menu item "Add" with the choice of country and city. The second way - to add a city by name and code.

Spb Weather: Select City

Information about weather forecast can be displayed on the screen in four different ways. This could be the weather forecast for 4, 5 or 7 days. In multiline mode displays a list of all cities with a forecast for five days. Icons to display weather conditions depend on the type of the chosen topic. The package includes five types of icons. Taken together, this approach provides ten types of output. Other settings allow you to set the type of data synchronization (available in manual and automatic synchronization update the forecast on a schedule), as well as select units. Additionally conducted traffic statistics for each server. By default the server to update the weather is www.gismeteo.ru, but the user has the ability to specify other servers to download data. To retrieve data from other servers need to file as a *. tpl, which must be placed in a folder Spb Weather / templates on the device. Then a new source must be added via the menu Tools / Weather Sources. Adding a new server forecast is made through a window adding cities in the mode «Custom». You will need the introduction of a city name, specify the server to load the data and the introduction of a city code on the server. The necessary data can be found on the Internet. A list of available servers to download the forecast can be found at the developer at www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/weather/templates.html?ru. Ability to add additional servers allows you to customize getting the weather forecast for one city from different sources. The screenshots below, shows the weather forecast for St. Petersburg, obtained from sites Gismeteo.ru and Weather.com.

Spb Weather: Weather.com forecast

Spb Weather: Forecast Gismeteo.ru

As you can see, weather forecasts are fairly close, although different in detail. As a result, Spb Weather - this is one of the most professional program to demonstrate the weather forecast, dignity is the highest-designed interface, the subtlety of settings and ease of use. The absence of additional functions can be equally attributed to both deficiencies and the merits of the program. Narrow specialization causes an affordable price of the product, so to get the weather forecast, this program is one of the best.

Strengths:
• The presence of the plug on the Today screen
• Several types of data
• Selecting skins
• Customizable update interval
• Support for multiple servers to update the forecast
• Integration into other products - in particular, Spb Pocket Plus

Disadvantages:
• Complex mechanism of adding servers to download data

Ratings:
• Interface: 5
• Features: 5
• Forecast accuracy: 5
• Overall score: 5

Fizz Weather

Program Fizz Weather Fizz Software from the company is a lightweight version of the Traveller. The main purpose of the utility - get the weather forecast at 2 and 7 days. In the cities there are more than 58,000 villages. If necessary, the city can be entered manually. To search for cities and add them to the list at the bottom there are softkeys. To found the city to display information about the geographical coordinates, time zone, international country code and city code. The data can be edited, then you want to update the database through the server. To switch between the windows is the button «View». In a separate window is displayed: 1. Weather forecast for seven, two days and the current state Meteorological data include air temperature, humidity, UV active, the state of cloudiness and precipitation probability. In the current state of the weather they are complemented by data on the limits of visibility. At the bottom of the window indicates the position of the city on the map. 2.Map In the map window you can see the weather for the whole region or downloaded form the earth's surface by satellite. In this case shows the state of cloud. 3. Airports Demonstrates the state of cloud for the airport, bound to the city. Theoretically, information can be used to predict the likelihood of relegation, that in practical life maloprimenimo. 4. Weather conditions in mountain resorts There is also a special option to download the weather and snow to mountain resorts. The description includes the number of available lifts, snow depth, etc. This option is valid only for the settlements located in mountainous terrain, and related international resort. 5. Settings Change language interface - Supports English (default), French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. You can change the current icon, font color, the initial window. Screen «Today» can be represented as a set of icons. Tab «Home screen» You can customize the program for display on a common screen communicator «Today». The screen downloads set update schedule, and selected reports will be loaded automatically when you update the data. The program allows you to keep statistics data. To summarize. The disadvantages of Fizz Weather is rigid adherence to the server. Can not add to the list of additional airports, Russian interface. At the same time the program runs fast enough and not much load memory device.

Strengths:
• Small memory footprint
• Ability to view the status of cloud cover on satellite images
• The presence of data on mountain resorts

Disadvantages:
• Lack of Russian-language interface
• Remote server to download the forecast
• The inability to change the server's projections
• Lack of settings Airports

Ratings:
• Interface: 3
• Features: 5
• Forecast accuracy: 4
• Overall score: 4

To be continued ... The authors, translation:

CeBIT 2003: Garmin iQue 3600

Garmin iQue 3600 - long awaited in the market of PDA based on Palm OS 5 with an integrated GPS-receiver and preloaded navigation software. As a manufacturer of GPS-receivers, Garmin is well proven in the market by releasing a full line of GPS-products of different price levels. With such a vast baggage of technology behind, Garmin has decided to go a little further and create a complete solution for those who are trying to turn a bunch of cheap GPS-receiver + PDA into a fully functional navigation system. The first experience of Garmin in the union of the original proven technologies with new features Palm OS 5, it seems, was a success. Designers and programmers Garmin obviously spent a lot of effort to work through constructive and applications of the new iQue 3600. Judging by the concept model shown at CeBIT 2003, we can say that the device is almost ready for production. From working with the iQue 3600 is a very good impression. Fine screen (320 by 480 pixels) with program area graffiti, side scroll wheel, light weight (160 grams) and quality performance. From the GPS: 12-channel receiver, positioning accuracy to 15 meters, folding built-in antenna. PDAs running on ARM-processor. Despite the proximity to the antenna GPS, designers managed to place the SD slot on the top panel. It also houses the infrared port and a connector for external GPS-antenna. And rightly so - for an external antenna can actually be needed, for example, in the car. And connect it conveniently just above, not on the side or bottom. Of greatest interest is the so-called technology Que - Development Garmin. Que allows you to combine the benefits of Palm OS and GPS-receiver. And it's not only about the trivial inclusion of a number of GPS-applications into the operating system. For example, using standard search Palm OS in the iQue 3600 can search and GPS-points, waypoints (waypoints) and so on. QueTrip - application for calculation and display of data on travel: distance, time, stopped time, average and maximum speeds, etc. QueGPS - utility for working with GPS-premnikom. Can display the found satellites and display service information GPS. Well, finally, a host Map for use with maps MapSource, set to be delivered together with the CCP (North America, the city). Of course, you can not buy the necessary parts of the world in the format of MapSource. Map voice can direct the user along the route, has several modes, including full screen. It is not necessary to use only Que GPS-programs. Integrated GPS-receiver is able to operate in NMEA, which means that most third-party navigation software must operate on the iQue. Site Garmin Developer's toolkit is available to adapt applications for the iQue 3600. Recommended final price in the U.S. is $ 589. According to recent data obtained on the bench Garmin, beginning of sales is scheduled for September 2003. Hopefully, the price of the new Garmin iQue 3600 in Russia will not greatly exceed the price of bundles of Palm + GPS. Also, it is hoped that the device will receive a certificate and clarify the regulations on the use of GPS-receivers in Russia. The authors, translation:

HTC TouchFLO

TouchFLO interface

As we have said, the communicator HTC Touch, a special shell TouchFLO, which should provide a convenient control device without a stylus. In fact, the shell consists of three pages: 1. Multimedia. You can run standard applications, Audio Manager, and the program Photo-Video, which, depending on the selected item, opens the folder with pictures or videos.

TouchFLO: Multimedia

2. Photo contacts. On this page you can configure 9 contacts to speed dial. If the contact is assigned to an image or picture, it is displayed on the screen.

TouchFLO: Speed ​​Dial

Also on this page, you can run standard applications: Phone, Call List and Contacts. 3. Application. On this page are commonly used (according to developers) program. The list of programs is not configurable.

TouchFLO: Applications

Another possibility is the possibility of the TouchFLO scrolling through pages in Internet Explorer and Word Mobile, as well as scroll through lists, such as contacts, SMS-messages and so on. All this is pretty seasoned Today-plugin, which consists, again, of three pages.

Clocks, indicators of missed calls and unread e-mail and SMS / MMS. When you click on the appropriate icon, open standard applications Windows Mobile.

Weather forecast for the selected city, with the ability to view forecasts for four days. Unfortunately, no detail of the forecast not only displayed the temperature and precipitation.

Launcher. You can configure the nine frequently used applications or functions, such as screen rotation, adjustable lighting and so on.

User experience

In general, TouchFLO - interesting and nice toy, nothing more. Yes, first impressions of a shell very nice: are leading a finger, everything revolves, is launched. Moreover, no significant "brake" almost no, TouchFLO is very thoughtful only when you run a large number of background applications, it is obvious that the processor has nothing to do with it, affects memory shortage. Convenience TouchFLO - a moot point, enough played enough, a couple of days of work with the Communicator of the shell to forget.By and large it is convenient to use it only for the speed dial, the other features are used quite rarely. The main reason - the inability to customize the program listings. You can certainly use the launcher from the Today-plugin, even though the plugin is also not without drawbacks. It occupies about half of the working area of ​​the screen, while other elements available Today the remaining lower part of the display. If Today-ins do not fit on the remaining half of the page, next to a scroll bar appears. Probably not the best solution. The screenshots below you can see what we mean. Another strange feature TouchFLO - only support the standard, portrait display, it is necessary to rotate the image, like all the charm of the shell becomes inaccessible. Again, small glitch, but the general impression spoils.

Demonstration of TouchFLO (avi, 320 x 240, 7.65 MB)

Below you can download a video demonstrating the work of the shell TouchFLO.

Total

Summarizing, we can assume that the control technology TouchFLO attract primarily users who use the work of mostly standard software Windows Mobile. The new shell quickly, and most importantly did not like the others, "WM to run embedded software. More advanced users TouchFLO, probably quite quickly get tired of all the same realization of the idea, at this stage is not the best. However, let's not forget that this is the first version of this interface, and if you remember, for example, the history of the application Task Manager (X-Button), then we can assume that after a certain time span TouchFLO become really comfortable and sophisticated. Part I: Overview of the communicator HTC Touch. The authors, translation: