Category: General

As more users continue to abandon Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s popular Firefox gains traction in the browser space. Version 1.5 of Firefox offers a few notable features, foremost of which is the ability to reorder tabs by dragging and dropping them. You’ll also find a tool that lets you quickly clean up your surfing history with two clicks of the mouse or a hot-key combo. The latest iteration of the browser seems more responsive than it has in the past and also is more efficient; with 10 windows open, Firefox consumed slightly less RAM than either IE or Opera.

The good: The Motorola Slvr L7 has an appealing design with improved controls, and it offers a generous feature set, including Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and world phone support. Business users should appreciate the lack of a camera as well.

The bad: The Motorola Slvr L7 has a washed-out display, small keypad buttons, unintuitive volume controls, and no EDGE support. Also, calls placed over a Bluetooth headset were uneven.

The bottom line: Some design quirks aside, the Motorola Slvr L7 is an appealing low-end addition to the Slvr family.

Motorola SLVR L7

Description :
Fine tune your mobile phone experience with the Motorola SLVR – the ultimate in sleek, super slim mobile craftsmanship. Bluetooth® wireless technology provides hands-free connections and Push-to-Talk (PTT)** connects you to work groups and friends with supreme ease. For fun, capture and view still and moving images, which come to life on the mobile’s spacious color screen. With up to 512 megabytes (MB) of TransFlash™ expandable memory, it’s easy to store favorite multimedia files – the possibilities are endless. But, your mobile phone choice is clear.

Key Features :
Sleek, super-thin design without sacrificing advanced functionality
PTT with icon presence indicators for one-touch connections**
Integrated VGA camera with 4x zoom and video capture and playback
Bluetooth Class 2 for hands-free connectivity
MP3 player to store, repeat, shuffle and play favorite tunes; 22Khz polyphonic speaker
Up to 512 MB or removable TransFlash memory
WAP 2.0
Downloadable wallpaper, screensaver and MP3 ringtones*
J2ME™ MIDP 2.0
Integrated hands-free speakerphone
Messaging via MMS*, IM Wireless Village* and email (POP3, SMTP)*
Motorola s SCREEN3 technology solution featuring zero-click access to news, sports, entertainment, and other premium content.*

Features :
Biz WhizWhen it’s time to work, utilize the mobile’s speakerphone for conference calls on the go. The Motorola SLVR features SCREEN3, an innovative technology solution from Motorola that gives you zero-click access to news, sports, entertainment, and other premium content directly from your mobile device home screen – no buttons to push, no browsers to launch. Motorola s SCREEN3 puts fresh content at your fingertips. And, be sure to stay in sync – Bluetooth technology provides wire-free connections to compatible Bluetooth-enabled PCs and PDAs for simple sharing of calendars, contacts and more.

Save It & Play ItCapture events in real time with video and audio and then share with friends and family via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)*. This savvy mobile is more than just a productivity tool – use it as your vehicle for self-expression. Ultra thin is in.

* Certain mobile phone features are dependent on the capabilities and settings of your service provider’s network. Additionally, certain features may not be activated by your service provider, and/or their network settings may limit the feature’s functionality. Always contact your service provider about feature availability and functionality. All features, functionality and other product specifications are based upon the latest available information and are believed to be accurate; however such product specifications are subject to change without notice or obligation.

**Push to Talk (“PTT”) and the other features indicated are network and subscription dependent features, and are not available in all areas. PTT connectivity requires PTT compatible phones.

Programmable graphics processor technologies firm NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it will demonstrate Alienware notebooks based on NVIDIA SLI technology at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) here.

Delivering new levels of visual realism at extreme high-definition resolutions of 1680×1050 and higher, NVIDIA SLI technology enables dual NVIDIA GPUs to be used in notebooks based on the NVIDIA nForce4 SLI core-logic solution,” a company statement said.

These notebooks, targeted at one of the fastest growing segments of the consumer notebook market, are among the fastest available dual GPU gaming notebooks in the world.

The Alienware Aurora mALX notebook with a 19” display will be powered by two top-of-the-line NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX GPUs. Dual high-performance GeForce Go 7900 GS GPUs will power the 17” Alienware Aurora m9700.

“With NVIDIA GPUs and SLI technology, Alienware has closed the performance gap between mobile and desktop systems with the introduction of our latest mobile systems,” said Mark Vena, vice president of Marketing for Alienware. “The Aurora m9700 and Aurora mALX give customers two incredibly powerful and exciting new mobile options and these new systems underscore Alienware’s ongoing commitment to uncompromised performance at home, the office or on the road.”

Japanese Web and telecom conglomerate Softbank Corp. is working with Apple Computer Inc. to develop mobile telephones with built-in iPod music players, Nikkei reported on Friday.

The music-playing phones can download songs from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said in an article posted on its Web site.

A spokesman for Apple in Cupertino, California, was not immediately available for comment.

The report said Apple and Softbank have agreed to co-develop the phone for sale as early as this year. The device is expected to carry both the Softbank and Apple brands, the report said, without citing the source of the information.

Softbank, which said last month it would buy Vodafone’s Japanese mobile phone business, appears to be looking to use the power of Apple’s brand to compete against mobile market leaders NTT DoCoMo and KDDI Corp.

Last year, Apple and handset maker Motorola Inc. introduced a music-playing cellphone known as the Rokr that has received disappointing reviews for its design and the limited number of songs that can be stored on the device.

Speculation has mounted that Apple is developing its own mobile phone — popularly labeled the iPhone — that will combine the stylish design of its iPod music and video player with mobile phone features.

Pundits from blog rumor sites to Wall Street analysts have speculated on the meaning of a string of patent applications filed by Apple Computer that stretch back several years and could indicate its ambition to build its own mobile phones.

TOUCHSCREEN PATENT

Also fueling speculation about Apple’s next potential moves is a newly disclosed Apple patent application for a display screen that detects multiple, simultaneous touches or “near touches” to produce separate signals to a device.

Touch-screen technology is widely used in so-called smartphones that have a variety of functions such as phones, e-mail, contact lists, Internet access and cameras.

Apple’s technology would allow users to perform several touch-activated tasks at once, unlike other devices that process only one screen-activated function at a time, according to the application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which was filed on May 6, 2004 and published on Thursday.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment

“Apple is very secretive,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Inc., a consulting firm in Campbell, California, who cautioned not to read too much into the move. “Apple is very innovative, and if you’re a company that’s innovative, you may file a patent that you may never use.”
But John Ward, a patent attorney and strategist with Greenberg Traurig in Palo Alto, California, said Apple is more selective in its patent filings than other large technology companies.
“They are not a massive application filer,” Ward said. “They certainly are more strategic in what they file on.”

You have a great collection of DVDs and music CDs, but what if you manage to scratch some of them and they refuse to work properly?

There are some handy alternatives at home. Some things like furniture wax, brass polish and toothpaste work fine. Just take any soft cloth, add some of the wax or brass polish to the affected area, and then wipe. Squeeze a small amount of toothpaste on the surface and leave it for five minutes, before wiping it clean with a soft cloth. Wipe from the centre hub to the outer edge.

Remember, the worst CD scratches are the ones that go circularly around the disc. A scratch from the centre to the rim isn’t as bad. A CD player can miss a beat and you won’t notice it, but if the scratch follows the track pattern of a CD you’ll notice a lot more skipping.

The best thing is to never use solvents to clean your CD, as they may cause permanent damage to the disc. But, while solvents are not a good idea, but if you still want to use one, then use a Kodak Lens cleaner and a lens tissue or soft cloth, to clean your discs. Also, make sure the CD is dry before putting it in the player.

But ideally, it’s better to be safe rather than sorry, so here are a few handy tips on how ‘not’ to mess with your precious collection.

1. Always handle your CDs by the edges. Do not touch the shiny side of the disc, as this is the side that the laser reads the information.

2. Cheap plastic sleeves may seem like a good idea at the time, but if exposed to extremes of temperature, the disc and sleeve may stick to one other.

3. Don’t eat, drink, or smoke around your CDs.

4. Never use a ballpoint pen to write on your CDs.

5. Do not try to remove labels from your CD. The adhesive may pull off the foil on which the data is encoded.

6. Acrylic jewel cases provide good protection against dust, scratches, light, and rapid changes in humidity.

General
Network
UMTS / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced
2005, 4Q
Status
Available
Size
Dimensions
95 x 50 x 26 mm, 97 cc
Weight
134 g
Display
Type
TFT, 256K colors
Size
352 x 416 pixels, 35 x 41 mm
Ringtones
Type
Polyphonic (64 channels), Monophonic, True Tones, MP3
Customization
Download
Vibration
Yes
Memory
Phonebook
Yes
Call records
Yes
Card slot
miniSD (up to 2GB), hot swap, 128 MB card included

– 40 MB internal memory
Data
GPRS
Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
HSCSD
No
EDGE
Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G
Yes, 384 kbps
WLAN
Wi-Fi 802.11g, UMA
Bluetooth
Yes, v2.0
Infrared port
Yes
USB
Yes, v2.0, Pop-Port
Features
OS
S60 3rd edition (Symbian OS , Series 60 UI)
Messaging
SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Games
Java downloadable
Colors
Silver
Camera
3.2 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, video(CIF), flash; secondary VGA videocall camera

– UPnP technology- Push to talk – Java MIDP 2.0- MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player- Stereo FM Radio- T9- Voice dial/memo- PIM including calendar, to-do list- Built-in handsfree
Battery

Standard battery, Li-Ion 820 mAh (BL-5B)
Stand-by
Up to 192 h
Talk time
Up to 3 h

Key features:

Brilliant display
Symbian OS
Incredible web browser
miniSD card slot (128MB miniSD card included in the package)
Very good 3 megapixel camera with flash
Excellent audio quality
FM radio
40 MB internal memory
All connectivity options – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IR, USB
UMTS and EDGE support

Main disadvantages:

Rather big dimensions
Top row of the numeric keypad is hardly reachable
No compatibility between Symbian 3rd Generation and lower versions
FM radio lacks RDS
No automatic keypad lock when slid in
Camera lens is not protected