GPS obsessed

I’ve been holding off on posting this one to see if the kinks would work themselves out.  But it seems that hasn’t happened yet, so here it is.  North America’s Nokia 5800 may be good looking, but it doesn’t seem to be working too well this side of the globe.  The biggest problem seems to be that the XpressMusic won’t connect to 3G networks-not good for Nokia in a part of the world where the handset maker is already struggling.  You’ll have to do with GSM until the problem is fixed.  You may have also noticed by now that your handset may have a speaker failure.  Your best bet with that one is to contact Nokia and have it replaced.

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Remember that iPhone app we discussed way back at the beginning of December, dubbed Underworld.  You know, the geo-aware drug dealing application that struck a nerve with parents and addiction groups the world over.  Well, the application has been available for unlocked iPhone’s via Cydia as it’s gone through its evolution, but it still hasn’t been accepted into the App Store for obvious reasons.

Development company a-steroids has decided to make one small, but hilarious, modification to Underworld to ensure all iPhone users will have access.  What was previously drugs is now candy.  Yep, the idea behind the game is the same, but now it is a GPS-enabled candy trading game.  Funny stuff.

Expect it to hid the App Store sometime in March.

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Alpine PND-K3 GPS Alpine Electronics, likely facing slow sales, has decided to cut the price of its PND-K3 GPS navigator.  Previously priced at $349.99, the Alpine PND-K3 now costs $199.99, probably still a little too expensive, but a far cry from its starting price of $550 when it launched in August 2008.  The PND-K3 features Bluetooth, advanced lane guidance, text-to-speech and an attractive interface, but its disappointing 2 hour battery life is a big downside to the Alpine device.

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ASUS is working on an ultra-thin netbook to succeed the Eee PC S101 according to a report in the Chinese language Commercial Times.  The 10.1-inch netbook is said to be named the ASUS Eee PC Shell and will sport specifications beyond those of the top-of-the-line S101 including a longer battery life.  Expected to launch in April, the Eee PC Shell is rumored to cost the equivalent of US$486 to US$571.

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Nokia has pinned Taiwan’s Foxxcon Electronics and Compal Electronics as likely manufacturing partners in its bid to enter the netbook market, reports Digitimes.  While the world’s number one cellphone maker typically outsources OEM orders for handsets, the company is reportedly considering a joint design manufacture strategy for netbooks.

Also interesting is news that Nokia is considering both Intel’s Atom and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon as potential processors for its netbooks.  While the Atom CPU dominates in the netbook space, the Snapdragon integrates GPS functionality which would mesh nicely with Nokia Maps and its Ovi services.

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Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) recently spun off its manufacturing operation to Abu Dhabi’s The Foundry Company leading the folks from CNET to speak with AMD chief executive Dirk Meyer and find out what comes next for the chip maker.

What I found interesting about the interview was the revelation of a new line of AMD chips codenamed Ontario.  While AMD swore off netbooks last year, Meyer said that the company has re-evaluated the market and is currently working on a low-power chip for devices with screen sizes 10-inches and above-though he won’t call them netbooks.  At first I figured AMD would just used its newly announced Yukon platform for smaller devices, but apparently not.  Yukon looks like it’ll only be used for larger form factors like HP’s upcoming dv2 Pavilion notebook which has a display size of 13-inches.

The followup Congo platform will also be targeted at larger display sizes.  Ontario will be used in devices priced down to a $399 price tag.

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ASUS has announced its flagship P835 touchscreen smartphone today.  The purported iPhone challenger sports a large 3.5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel display augmented by a trackball located at the bottom of the handset for one-handed navigation.  The 7.2 Mbps HSPA compatible handset runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 but uses the proprietary and more attractive ASUS Glide interface and opts for Opera Mobile for HTML browsing.

The 3G phone also includes GPS and Wi-Fi which can be shared with a 3G connection without the use of Bluetooth or physically tethering to another device.  Other features include a 5 megapixel camera, 4 GB of internal memory and a microSDHC slot.

It’s up in the air regarding a North American launch for the ASUS P835-the company hasn’t announced any prices or availability dates-but it’s likely it’ll be available unlocked if not with a carrier.  While it does support GSM and EDGE for North American voice and data, it doesn’t support the 850 MHz spectrum used by AT&T and Rogers.

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Gigabyte had a trio of netbooks on display recently at the Mobile World Congress that are worth highlighting.  Dubbed the Thin Note, Booktop and Touch Note, the Gigabyte netbooks vary in form factors and specifications, but all impress equally.

The Touch Note T1028 has a 10-inch touchscreen, with resolution options of 1024 x 600 or 1366 x 768 pixels, that can be folded down for use in tablet mode.  It will also use Intel’s new 1.66 GHz Z280 Atom processor, sport a 160 GB hard drive, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3.5G modem and 4G WiMAX compatibility.  Powered by either a 4-cell 4500 mAh or 6-cell 7650 mAh battery, the Touch Note integrates 3 USB ports and an ExpressCard slot into its chassis.

The Thin Note S1024 is the lightest of the trio, weighing in at slightly under 2 pounds with the inclusion of its 6-cell 3400 mAh battery.  Inside is a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU with 1 GB of RAM and up to 80 GB of storage space.  The Thin Note has a 10.1-inch display with 1024 x 576 pixels, support for 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3.5G connectivity.  Unfortunately, being thin also means the Thin Note will only have a pair of USB ports.

Finally, the Booktop M1022 not only functions as a netbook, but comes with a dock that you can vertically place the netbook in to use in a desktop PC form factor.  Using the trio of USB ports, you can even add a keyboard, mouse and other accessories.  The M1022 will run on the Atom Z270 CPU with 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive.  It will also have a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, and support for 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3.5G and 4G WiMAX.  It will also include an ExpressCard slot and a 6-cell 7800 mAh battery bringing its total weight to 2.9 pounds.

While I’m not sure if the Gigabyte trio will eventually be released in the United States, the equivalent pricing for the Touch Note, Thin Note and Booktop will be $610, $615 and $580, respectively.

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MSI will follow up its Intel Atom Z530-based X320 notebook with the X340, according to Laptopmag.  While the X340 will feature the same chassis as the X320, it is expected to be the first portable device on the market to utilize Intel’s Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors.

MSI’s Director of US Sales Andy Tung told Laptopmag that the X340 will come with two ULV CPU options at launch.  The Intel Celeron M725 will have a clock speed of 1.2 GHz and 1 MB L2 Cache, while the Core 2 Solo SU3500 will run at 1.4 GHz with a 3 MB L2 Cache.

Roughly one month after launch, the MSI X340 will acquire another pair of CULV options.  The 1.3 GHz Core 2 Solo SU2700 with 2 MB L2 Cache and the Core 2 Solo SU9600 with an unknown clock speed will round out the foursome.  All of the CULV processors will be paired with the GE40 or GE45 chipset.  While the low voltage processors will outperform the Intel Atom, they’ll also consume more power resulting in a shorter battery life.

The MSI X340 notebook will be priced between $750 and $999 depending on the processor and is expected to launch in late April in tandem with the X320.

The company says it is planning larger X Series form factors beginning with the 15.6-inch X600.

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From Blackberry Niagara silence to all kinds of noise, more information about the CDMA Blackberry Bold has leaked.  Oh, and the so-called Niagara now has a model number: 9630.  Headed for Verizon, the Niagara will run on both EV-DO Rev. A and UMTS networks, run on Blackberry OS 4.7.1, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a Javascript-supporting web browser.  The Niagara is also sure to have built-in GPS, but sadly, no Wi-Fi.  Continue to expect a May or June release date.

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