VGAPocketPC.com - September 2004 Archives

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September 2004

Thursday 30 September

Loox 720 Review (13:54) - ZDNet UK has reviewed the Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket LOOX 720. They gave it their highest rating for a current Pocket PC: 8.3/10. Aspects of the Loox 720 they liked were the bluetooth and Wi-Fi, dual (CompactFlash and SD) memory card slots, fast (520Mhz processor), 128mb RAM, and built-in camera. Their only major complain was poor battery life. ZDNet UK review (via firstloox)...
Casio Cassiopeia DT-10 VGA Pocket PC (10:53) - Casio has surprised everyone by coming out with a new VGA Pocket PC. The Casio Cassiopeia DT-10 VGA Pocket PC seems to be designed mostly for business use and is touted as shock resistant (1m drop) drip proof and dust proof. The Casio DT-10 features a 3.7" VGA LCD screen, 27hr claimed battery life, 416MHz processor, SDIO and CF card slots, 128MB RAM, 64MB ROM, Bluetooth, and 802.11b Wi-Fi. The Casio DT-10 Pocket PC is 5.5" x 3.2" x 1.0" and weighs 10.6oz. The DT-10 will be available in Japan in November. (akihabara news via engadget)...
0.85" Hard Drives (09:55) - Toshiba have announced they will be volume producing 0.85" hard drives by the end of the year. These drives are likely to have a capacity of 2 or 3 GB. Samsung are also in the R&D stage of producing a 0.85" hard drive. Once these drives are being produced we will probably start seeing them appear in cell phones and future Pocket PC models. (samsung story : hitachi story : via engadget)...
Asus A730 Review (09:45) - CNet have posted their review of the Asus Mypal A730 VGA Pocket PC. In their review of the Asus Mypal A730 VGA Pocket PC they liked the screen resolution and quality, the operating system, the camera, the dual expansion slots, and the fact that the battery is replaceable. They didn't like the battery performance, the weight, price, and lack of Wi-Fi. Overall they only gave the A730 7/10 which seemed a little stingy to me. CNet review...
Dell Axim X50 Price and Release Date (09:41) - Quote from Aximsite forums: Ok, so I just talked to Dell Customer Chat, and I got an official launch date, preorder date, and pricing. If you don't believe me talk to Dell Chat yourself. Anyways on to what we've all been waiting for... 416 x50 $299 520 x50 $399 624 x50v $499 They all feature CF and SDIO card slots. Launch Date: October 10 Order Date: October 12 End Quote. Those prices don't look too bad to me. $499 for a VGA Pocket PC with Wi-Fi and bluetooth, 128mb ram, dual storage slots, 624 MHz processor etc. (aximsite via pocketpcthoughts)...
The Man Bag (09:37) - jkOnTheRun took a look at the Axible gadget storage bag, also known as "The Man Bag". The Man Bag tries to fill a tricky product niche: a small bag for the guy who has too many things to fit in his pockets (Pocket PC, phone, book, keys, etc etc). Why is that a tricky niche to fill? simple: it must absolutely definately positively be impossible for the bag to be mistaken for a purse. Did jk's Man Bag pass the "man purse" test?, check out his review and see. Man Bag review at jkOnTheRun...
Sandisk 8gb Compact Flash (09:36) - Sandisk have announced the availability of an 8gb Ultra II (60x speed) CompactFlash card. The 8gb Ultra II CompactFlash card will be available in November and will retail for $959.99. As camera megapixel resolutions keep going up, with typical consumer cameras needing 1 or 2 MB per shot, basic SLR digital cameras needing 3 to 8 MB per shot, and professional digital cameras needing 9+ MB per shot, it is good to see storage card technology keeping up so we can still have 200+ highest quality photos on one card. For Pocket PCs 8gb is a lot more storage than most people currently need, although if you store movies at VGA resolution on it, along with a lot of music and photos you could do a pretty good job of filling it. (press release)...

Wednesday 29 September

Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard Review (13:01) - PocketPcThoughts has reviewed the Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard. The Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard is a very small (5.5" x 3.9" x 0.5") box that folds out for form a good sized (9.9" x 5.8" x 0.5") 4 row QWERTY keyboard. The Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard should work with any bluetooth equipped pocket pc (or a pocket pc wit a socket bluetooth SD or CF card) as well as many bluetooth equipped smart phones. The list of compatible devices on the Think Outside site is a little out of date and doesn't specifically mention any of the new VGA Pocket PCs although they should work with the keyboard without problems. (pocketpcthoughts full review)...

Tuesday 28 September

Asus MyPal A730 Review (15:38) - Mobile-review have put together a review of the Asus MyPal A730 VGA Pocket PC, including some great detailed photos. The Asus A730 features bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi, 64 or 128mb RAM, SDIO and Compact Flash expansion slots, Intel 520MHz processor, 3.7" VGA (640x480) screen, and a 1.3 megapixel digital camera. (review from mobile-review) Mobile-review include some detailed benchmarks comparing the Asus A730 to other Pocket PCs and they have screenshots the clearly show the benefits of VGA resolution over the older Pocket PCs....
iPAQ hx4700 Review (15:26) - Pocketnow has reviewed the HP iPAQ hx4700 VGA Pocket PC. The iPAQ hx4700 features a 4" VGA (640x480 pixel) screen, 128mb ROM and 64mb RAM (with 135mb of that available for user storage), 624mhz processor (same as my favorite Dell X30), wireless 802.11b and bluetooth 1.2, and both SDIO and compactflash expansion slots. The iPAQ hx4700 is big: 5.2 x 3.0 x0.6 inches and 6.6 ounces but that is to be expected considering the large screen. What did they think of the iPAQ hx4700? they loved the screen and speed but didn't like the design and price so much. Read their review for the details. (pocketnow review)...
High Resolution Screen (15:25) - Samsung have released a picture of their new 2.6 inch, 300 dot per inch, 640 by 480 pixel VGA screen (by comparison a PC screen usually has 72 dots per inch, which means this screen can display a lot more in a small space, or make the same amount of information a lot clearer/smoother). The screen also has a 200:1 contrast ratio and 150cd/m2 brightness which means it should look better than current small screens in direct sunlight. This will be going into full production in December of this year and should show up next year in smaller Pocket PCs (current VGA Pocket PCs have a much larger and poorer quality 4 inch screen), smart phones, and high end mobile phones. Also interesting but not built yet is that the same 300 dots per inch would allow a 4.2 inch 1024x768 screen on a larger pocket pc or a...
Axim X50 Photos (15:24) - Photos of the Dell Axim X50 Pocket PC have been posted on russian forums handy.ru. These look a lot more realistic than the fakes from a couple of weeks ago and match the internal photos of the Axim X50 posted on the FCC site. If these Axim X50 photos are accurate then it confirms the rumors of the X50 having both a SD and a Compact Flash card slot. Also showing up on the FCC site is a letter extending the confidentiality request for the Axim X50 until November 8th (it used to be September 24th) so it looks like there are some production delays. Photos below, other features of the Axim X50 include VGA (640 x 480) screen, 128mb memory, and support for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.2....
Asus A730 Available Now - in Taiwan (15:23) - Someone in Taiwan found the Asus A730 VGA Pocket PC in a store so they took it out of the box and took a ton of great photos. Asus A730 Photos The Asus A730 also features bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi, 64 or 128mb RAM, SDIO and Compact Flash expansion slots, Intel 520MHz processor, 3.7" VGA (640x480) screen, and a 1.3 megapixel digital camera. Should be available in the US soon for $500 for 64mb with bluetooth or $600 for 128mb RAM with bluetooth and Wi-Fi. (thanks pocketpcthoughts)...
iPAQ hx4700 FCC Docs (15:21) - The FCC has released certification documents for the HP iPAQ hx4700 Pocket PC, including internal pictures etc if you're into that sort of thing. The iPAQ hx4700 should be released in the next few months and will set the new standard for a high-end Pocket PC. The hx4700 features a 4" VGA (640x480 pixel) screen, 128mb ROM and 64mb RAM (with 135mb of that available for user storage), 624mhz processor (same as my favorite Dell X30), wireless 802.11b and bluetooth 1.2, and both SDIO and compactflash expansion slots. The iPAQ hx4700 is big: 5.2 x 3.0 x0.6 inches and 6.6 ounces but that is to be expected considering the large screen. Price of the iPAQ hx4700 is expected to be $649.00. (thanks PocketPCThoughts)...
No Toshiba e830 in the US (15:21) - Toshiba has confirmed to BargainPDA that they will definately not be releasing the e830 VGA Pocket PC in the US. This is a shame as the e830 seems to be a great Pocket PC: 4" VGA 640x480 screen, Bluetooth and 802.11b, 520mhz processor, 128mb RAM 32mb ROM, SDIO and CompactFlash expansion slots, 5.3 x 3.0 x 0.6 inches. If that isn't bad enough, Toshiba announced that they are pulling out of the US PDA market completely, which seems like a silly decision considering how poor HPs recent Pocket PC releases have been. (more at BargainPDA)...
Panasonic Pro SD (15:19) - Panasonic has announced 2 new SecureDigital (SD) memory cards that use a fancy new LSI architecture to achieve read/write speeds of 20MB per second (or 133x speed for comparison to CD writers and CompactFlash cards). The Panasonic Pro High Speed series of cards comes in 1GB and 512MB versions, and the cards will be available in October. Price is not yet known. full press release. (via dpreview)...
Dell Axim X50 Rear View (15:18) - A photo of the rear of the Dell Axim X50 Pocket PC has shown up on FCC docs. Most of the details on the Axim X50 are being held under a confidentiality request until 11/8 but there is some info in the FCC docs: 1100mAh removable battery with 2200mAh battery available (expect our friends at Mugen to have an even more powerful battery out soon for these). At least 2 versions (we expect 3): One Axim X50 with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a 3.7" 640 x 480 screen, 624MHz processor, and 128mb or 64mb RAM. Another Axim X50 with Bluetooth only, a 3.5" 240 x 320 screen, 520MHz processor, and 64mb RAM. We expect the third Axim X50 (not mentioned in the FCC docs as it doesn't have wireless) to have a 3.5" 240 x 320 screen, 520MHz processor (or slower processor), and 64mb RAM. All 3 versions are expected...
Dell Axim X50 Pocket PC Rumors (15:17) - No photos yet but info is starting to leak about the next Dell Axim Pocket PC: the X50. Like the X30 there will be 3 models, presumably called High, Mid, and Low with different processors and/or memory to differentiate them. The X50 high will have a 3.7" VGA (640x480 pixel) screen, and all versions of the Dell Axim X50 Pocket PC will feature both a compactflash and a SD memory card slot. Dimensions are said to be similar to the Dell X3 and X30 but the design will be different. Expect other features of the Dell X50 Pocket PC to be similar to the X30: wireless and bluetooth in the high, lots of memory, removable battery etc. This has the potential to be a killer Pocket PC, correcting the only big drawback of my X30 with the new VGA resolution screen. (via bargainpda)...
Toshiba e800 Review (15:10) - Mobile-review have an older review of the first VGA Pocket PC: the Toshiba e800. As always with mobile-review they have a lot of highly detailed photos. They also go into a lot of detail on the software included with the Toshiba e800. Features of the Toshiba e800 include 400MHz processor, 128mb memory, SD/MMC and CF expansion card slots, bluetooth wireless, 4" VGA display, and 1320mAh removable battery. (review from mobile-review)...
Sandisk Extreme III Cards (15:06) - Rob Galbraith got the scoop from Sandisk on their new line of CompactFlash and Secure Digital cards. The Extreme III series, like the Panasonic cards announced today, are capable of 20MB per second data transfer speeds. The official announcement of the Extreme III series will come tomorrow, with 1GB and 2GB Extreme III CompactFlash cards shipping in October, and 1GB Extreme III SD cards shipping in November. There will also be new card readers shipping on December, as well as 4GB CF and 2GB SD Extreme III cards announced but with no ship date. The scoop from Rob Galbraith...
Loox 720 Review (15:00) - FirstLoox.org is the main Loox fan site and they have a good review of the Loox 720 VGA Pocket PC. They were very impressed by the small size of the Loox 720, especially considering Fujitsu-Siemens managed to sneak in dual wireless (802.11b and bluetooth), duel storage (CompactFlash and Secure Digital), 3.6" VGA screen, and a digital camera. FirstLoox also has lots of other useful information on the Fujitsu-Siemens Loox 720 as well as other (non-VGA) loox models. (full review from FirstLoox)...
Welcome to VGA Pocket PC .com (13:13) - Welcome to the new sister site to ShinyPlastic.com: VGAPocketPC.com Our goal here is to cover in detail the new VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixel) Pocket PCs: Dell Axim X50 HP iPaq hx4700 Toshiba e800 and e830 Asus a730 Fujitsu-Siemens Loox 720 We also plan on covering software and accessories for VGA Pocket PCs. The next few posts will just be catching up on earlier news from shinyplastic.com relating to VGA Pocket PCs. We will then start posting new news as it happens as well as detailed reviews, specs and comparisons for all the VGA Pocket PCs. If you have any relevent news feel free to email it to tips@vgapocketpc.com...