Online latest technology news

Becker have unveiled their latest personal navigation device, the Z205, and while it may not look all that impressive it does have some nifty functionality. Packed inside the 125 x 82.5 x 12.7 mm case there’s a 4.3-inch touchscreen along with a TMC Pro traffic data receiver module, Bluetooth and 4GB of storage.

As well as standard 2D and 3D mapping, the Becker Z205 is capable of displaying 3D views of cities and buildings, together with 3D landscapes. There’s also text-to-speech, voice control complete with voice-entered destinations, traffic analysis based on historical trends, road signs and lane guidance.

Preloaded is mapping data – courtesy of Navteq – for 42 European countries, and there’s also a media player with image/audio/video playback and a microSD card slot for adding memory. The Becker Z205 PND is likely to see a launch across Europe, though release date and pricing is unknown.

Specifications for Motorola’s upcoming entry-level Android handset, the Morrison, have leaked, and anybody hoping the company might have injected a little interest along with what’s presumably going to be a low purchase price will have to go home disappointed. The parts list sounds mighty reminiscent of HTC’s existing Android devices, with a 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A processor, 256MB of RAM, a 512MB ROM and 320 x 480 HVGA touchscreen display.
There’s also WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, quadband GSM and triband WCDMA (900/1700 or 1900/2100), together with a 3-axis accelerometer, class 6 MicroSD slot supporting 32GB cards, USB 2.0 with a microUSB connector and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The camera is a 5-megapixel unit with autofocus, geotagging and 25fps 320 x 240 video recoridng, and there’s both standalone GPS and A-GPS. The Morrison will support Exchange ActiveSync push email, has a digital compass, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor.

As for a release date, the Motorola Morrison is tipped to arrive on October 21st on T-Mobile USA. No word of pricing as yet, but this is definitely being positioned as an entry-level, budget device.

Stealth Computer have unveiled their latest notebook, the NW-2000, a ruggedized hybrid laptop/tablet based around Intel’s 1.06GHz Core 2 Duo, a 13.3-inch sunlight viewable resistive touchscreen and MIL-STD-810F, shock & vibration compliance. The sturdy convertible has 2GB of RAM (4GB maximum), a 160GB shock-mounted hard-drive (or optional SSD) and spill-resistant keyboard, and can cope with being dropped 91cm onto a wood-covered concrete surface 26 times in succession without impairing functionality.
There’s also standard WiFi a/g/n, Bluetooth, gigabit ethernet and GPS, together with optional HSDPA. A standard DVD burner, PC card slot, fingerprint scanner and TPM security module round out the main specifications, and Stealth suggest you’ll see up to 6hrs runtime from the standard 7,800mAh battery.

The whole thing weighs a not-inconsiderable 9.04lbs and measures a chunky 9.96 x 13.54 x 2.31 inches. The Stealth NW-2000 is available to order now, priced from $4,895.

MIDs a failure? No no no, how could that be when this little beauty is headed to the market? Known here as the Compal KAX15 MID, but likely to find itself a variety of alternative brands including Gigabyte and Aigo, it’s based on Intel’s existing Menlow platform and packs an 800MHz Atom Z515 processor, a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard.



That processor is actually quite clever, because despite the relatively low billed clock speed it also supports 1.2GHz bursting. While running at 1.2GHz would generally produce too much heat and have too great an impact on battery life, bursting-compatible applications will be able to poke the Z515 into running at the faster speed until the CPU’s controller decides things are getting too hot.

There are also dual cameras, front and back. Squinting at the product spec in the video below (courtesy jkkmobile), it looks like the KAX15 has 512MB of RAM, runs Windows XP (though the press shots have an Android-esque status bar across the top) and have WiFi and Bluetooth. No word on specific launch dates or pricing, but at least the Compal KAX15 will land before Moorestown.

LG have announced that their GD910 watch phone will begin shipping in Europe come July, initially on carrier Orange, before spreading to unnamed carriers in Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Latin America. The LG GD910 has a 1.43-inch touchscreen LCD and supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA, video calls and media playback.

At 13.9mm thick it’s perhaps straining how chunky you might want a watch to be, but it’s good for a cellphone. Since there’s Bluetooth inside you could also tether the GD910 to your MID, netbook or laptop for wireless data access; not quite as usable as a MiFi but a whole lot cooler.

Pricing will vary by region, but is likely to be on the high side. Still, we reckon there’ll be a core group of Dick Tracy fans who won’t be able to resist.

Fujitsu have announced their M2010 netbook, a 10.1-inch Intel Atom N270-based ultraportable with up to 2GB of RAM, standard Bluetooth and a claimed 50-second start-up into Windows XP Home. The company is aiming the M2010 at the educational market, with what’s said to be a more durable build to cope with kids.
According to Fujitsu, the M2010 has “three USB ports rather than the standard two ports”, which seems a bit inaccurate to us as most netbooks we’ve ever written about also have three. Still, it’s obviously getting tough differentiating your netbook from the rest of the crowd, so we’ll give the M2010 a little kudos for its digital microphone.

Otherwise it’s business as usual, and the $449 price-tag for a 1GB machine with 3-cell battery (good for 2.5hrs runtime) looks more than we’d want to spend. You can pick up a 6-cell battery for a whopping $129, and it and the M2010 are available to order now.

In an attempt to put an end to tangled headphone wires, designer Ji Woong has cooked up these headphones which are part and parcel of a zipper mechanism. Buying a coat with this built right into the hood, say, would be a surefire seller. The coolest part of all is probably the control mechanism built into the zipper tag - twist the outer-rim for volume adjustment and press on the button at the bottom to lock the control. It would be nice to have some more controls built in there, maybe use the main button for pause/play, throw some track skipping functions in with the volume dial, and a separate lock switch on the back.

The only problem when it comes to mobile is which plug to use… 3.5mm would offer the most versatility, but would leave a lot of Sony Ericsson users screwed, along with anyone stuck with 2.5mm. Stereo Bluetooth could solve all of that, but would require a few more controls on the zipper tag.Regardless, cool idea, and it would make sure you never forget your headphones at home again.