New battlefront for portable devices

Not too long ago at WinHEC Bill Gates demoed a new, "ultraportable" device with a seven inch screen. Engadget has posted further comments on the device with a 7" display. At the same time, yesterday saw a flurry of discussion on a number of blogs regarding Apple's tablet patent as originally reported by The Register in August 2004.

It looks like a new category of portable devices will be coming into existence, namelly a tween device, smaller than a laptop, larger than a PDA, aimed at 'medium intensity data input' and information consumption. Basically, these will be devices a bit more suited for writing than existing PDA's which you'll be more likely to carry with you than a laptop.

While the Apple and Microsoft devices are currently still germinating towards a product stage, Sony already has a serious contender. As reviewed here by mobilemag, the Sony Librie strikes me as a great device. The big problem with the beasty is that it's locked into Sony proprietary standards (it uses Memory Stick for storage and a proprietary E-book format) and it's only being sold in Japan.

Take: The development's interesting but I don't see it becoming a mass market device.

Beautifully useless

Vertu, nokia's high-end subsidiary is releasing a new phone model, the Ascent.

The phone sports an exclusive design (ie. expensive with high grade metal alloys accompanied by leather and crystal screens) but offers little more than your standrd phone functionality.

Tak: the only reason why this is worth mentioning is that Vertu is one of the few companies casing technology in high end consumer packaging. The technology and features are no longer selling points: they add funciotnality to a status object. The fact that Vertu has actually produced a second model means that there is demand for this stuff and that technology is slowly yet surely becoming subsumed in normal life.

Could Skype replace (S/M)MS

Stuart Henshall's wondering whether voicemessaging with Skype could replace SMS or MMS messages. The idea's that you would record a voice message and transmit it over skype instead of sending an SMS/MMS message.

Take: I personally do not see this happening. Messaging with voice is nowhere near as neutral or as hassle-free as sending a text message is. Even skype users choose to use text instead of voice depending on the situation. I don't think that the general public would find the cost benefit a sufficient enticement to switch to lobbing voice messages over.

Can't ignore them

I personally don't think it's big news but I guess I can't leave it unmentioned now that I've blogged the Qualcomm Linux announcement.

Microsoft's come out with 'Magneto' (aka Windows Mobile 2005). See the Microsoft marketing blurb or take a look at DavesPDA for a general overview of the system features.

Take: I'm not impressed. The bottom line is that Microsoft now has a platform for handheld devices with better integration with 3G. They kinda took their time with it. I guess that this will be the OS the put on the 'Comunicatorkiller' - the MDA device.

(The MDA is now entering the fourth iteration of the PocketPC PDA & phone graft which I have been suitably unimpressed with. Gen IV is a foldable device with a keyboard and swiveling VGA res. screen which is being branded by the various network operators.

Linux underneath the hood

Phonescoop's reporting Qualcomm's announcement that they will be integrating support for Linux on a new range of chips for mobile phones.

If I'm reading the Qualcomm press release correctly, it looks like the Qualcomm chipset will enable phone makers to run Linux as an alternative to Symbian or the new Microsoft OS on phones. I guess that the bottom line here is that phone makers are getting an opportunity to build multimedia phones for price conscious markets.

Take: could be a good thing. This means that phone makers will either be able to make phones cheaper or they will be able to deliver more hardware for the same price. The paradox is that one of the most vociferous proponents of closed source telephony systems is using open source to conquer new markets.