Section: Communications, Cellphones, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile
Once upon a time, Microsoft battled Blackberry for dominance in the smartphone market. Back then, there phones were inexpensive, received email (most of the time) and if you were patient enough, surfed the mobile web. Today, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile is on the skids and has been for a few years, making only incremental changes. Microsoft is now engaged in a reset of sorts, a replacement for Windows Mobile has already been announced and next week, we’ll see a grand experiment in the Pink (presumed codename) devices.
Microsoft’s strategy has been build the OS and hand it off to phone makers. Apple stomped on that model by controlling the OS as well as the hardware, down to minutiae. Microsoft beat it’s chest saying MS respects phone makers and by each doing what they do best, they’ll have the better product. But that is the old way.
And when the old way seems to fall flat, you do something different. Something different is exactly what Microsoft’s Pink project is all about. The devices announced tomorrow are built by another company, but consumers likely won’t know much about them. Instead, they’ll know it’s a Microsoft device under a new brand name (I suspect).
These new Pink devices build on the Sidekick thanks to the 2008 Danger acquisition. The new Pink devices will be hip quick-messaging devices aimed at teens and young adults. Their texting,IM’ing and social networking chops should be more than sufficient and we expect some twists that will set the MS devices apart from say, Pantech.
The Pink devices won’t rival the smartphones of the day, and they are not meant to. Instead, they are cheap, simpler phones designed for those not intent on surfing the web, downloading thousands of apps or paying hefty data connection fees. There is not a lot of branding in messaging phones and no one makes a big deal about the OS those devices run. I suspect that is going to change.
Read: [New York Times]
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Audio, Portable Audio
Creative has just announced a few new flavors to the portable media player industry: the Zen X-Fi Style, and the Zen Style 100 and 300. All of which carry Creative’s signature style with multiple colors and interesting designs.
The Zen X-Fi Style (image above) resembles the original Zen with a 2.4” display. List of specs:
- Capacity: 4, 8, and 16GB
- Display: 1.8” TFT (128 x 160 resolution, 65K colors)
- Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, and Audible
- Video: Proprietary format requiring transcoding
- FM tuner and Built speaker (Style 300 model only)
- Voice recorder
- Battery life: 32 hours of Audio, 4 hours of Video
- Dimensions: 79.5mm x 40mm x13.6 mm
- Pricing: S$89 - 159.00 Singapore dollars, or roughly $64 - 114US
On the flip side the Zen Style 100 and 300 is a compact player that has a pretty slick design.
List of specs:
- Capacity: 4, 8, and 16GB
- Display: 1.8” TFT (128 x 160 resolution, 65K colors)
- Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, and Audible
- Video: Proprietary format requiring transcoding
- FM tuner and Built speaker (Style 300 model only)
- Voice recorder
- Battery life: 32 hours of Audio, 4 hours of Video
- Dimensions: 79.5mm x 40mm x13.6 mm
- Pricing: S$89 - 159.00 Singapore dollars, or roughly $64 - 114US
I can see that both of these products are attempting to make a splash, but in a world dominated with phones capable of doing all of what these devices can do and more, its a losing battle. However, if you are looking for a cheap alternative that doesn’t rely on Apple or Microsoft, these might be a viable option for you.
Read [Epizenter]
Full Story » | Written by Hunter Clarke for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
No comments:
Post a Comment