With the release of the Samsung M100S, Samsung and Android fans around the world have their eyes on South Korea these days. Not only does it have the trappings of a powerful, functional smartphone, but it also runs on Android 2.1 something many Samsung fans have been waiting for. Also, at this time it is the only phone announced which is running Android 2.1, besides the Nexus One of course.

It is alleged that M100S is actually the Galaxy 2, rumored to be in development for a while. However the M100S sports a 3.7? AMOLED display, GPS, Wi-Fi, a Camera packing 5 megapixels, and Mobile digital TV reception, integrated with 800MHz processor and Samsung fans will like the fact that it still comes with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. A definite strong point for the M100S would be its central button. It very cleanly avoided being a trackball, a mistake that BlackBerry and the Google Nexus One made, well atleast some of them believe so!

Samsung’s first Android phone offers a 3.5mm jack something which we have never seen in the past! And it also features a T-DMB tuner. The device is equipped with a unique DTV chip with a large antenna for watching TV on the go. Android market and social networking service (SNS) features preloaded with this device.

At this point, it’s not completely clear whether or not the M100S will make its way to other parts of the world. Well, it all depends on how the phone does in the country of origin. But it’s still good to know that Samsung is moving forward to newer, better versions of the Android mobile OS. Whatsoever, I have a good feeling that in future, we could be seeing many other phone makers releasing phones based on the Android Platform.

Detailed Specifications:

• 800MHz processor
• 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen (WVGA)
• 5MP camera with 720p video recording
• Wi-Fi (802.11n)
• GPS
• T-DMB
• DivX support
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• TouchWiz UI
• Social Networking Service (SNS)
• Android market
• SK Telecom’s T store.

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. OLED screens are thinner, promise better colors, and consumes less power. OLEDs are common in high-end phones today thanks to their power sipping designs that allow for prolonged battery life.

A while back last month at CES, Samsung showed off a 14-inch notebook that used a see-through OLED screen. The Korean Electronics giant now says that, testing suggests the PC could be in shops within the next 12 months. It is also said that “all” Samsung’s AV hardware could use the technology soon!

AMOLEDs (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) by themselves are considered an advantage over LCDs, thanks to the thinness, their color accuracy and the absence of an energy-hungry back light. Transparency is likely to be just a cosmetic feature at first, but it allows for notebooks, players and phones that lift the isolation of the user and helps hand held users see what’s in view.

The company has already tested out transparent AMOLEDs on a small scale with the IceTouch, a media player with a 2-inch touchscreen. Until now, such displays have often been cost-prohibitive due to the price of an AMOLED, but economies of scale have grown to make at least smaller screens reasonable. The IceTouch should sell in the US for about $378 within the first half of this year. However a Notebook with a transparent AMOLED screen could be expensive.

Samsung is also said to be looking to corner the transparent screen market with several new products coming with see-through displays in the next year. Allegedly, the firm is even considering breaking into new product categories with the clear screen tech. including a rumor of a transparent screen navigation device for cars that can be mounted on to the windshield.

However I’m not sure I would like a screen I could see through! At times clear screens could be hard to look at in a bright room, I wonder how this will feature any better. But, wait a second! The transparency could actually help kill the glaring, since the light entering the screen is not reflected. Voila~ !

After several weeks of Apple iPad fever, now its Google’s turn. Apparently, Google has been working on a Tablet Concept, featuring Chrome OS. Chrome OS’ lead designer Glen Murphy, posted the concept video below to the official Chromium OS site, just two days before Apple unveiled the iPad.

As of now, this is just a concept of Chrome OS’ touch interface, but Telegraph claims that Google is already in talks with Taiwanese Consumer Electronics giant HTC, the handset manufacturer behind Google branded Nexus One and several other Android powered handsets. So don’t get surprised, if one fine morning you visit ‘Techno Herald’ and see that Google has released a Chrome Tablet!

Google didn’t share any specifics about its plans for the Tablet, as Chrome OS is still under development, and is experimenting with various user interfaces to determine what designs would produce the best user experience.

Even though the primary focus behind Chrome OS’ development is Netbooks, Chrome OS could eventually scale to a wide variety of devices. Each would have vastly different input methods, available screen space, and processing power as according to the requirements of the device. And today’s tablets, in contrast, tend to focus more on a collection of specialized uses such as reading books, surfing the Net, and chores that only require light typing.

A Chrome OS Tablet is a good idea since Google has been developing Chrome OS specifically as a tool to improve the Web experience. However hardware manufacturers like Dell and HP would very soon be rolling out their very own iPad killers, so it pretty much makes sense for Google to support touch input devices for Chrome OS, but one has to wait and watch if Google would be able to bring up one of its own!

The Dell Mini 5, Dell’s Android-powered Snapdragon slate, popped up at CES this year but we never got a clear look at it. However, Dell showed off the Mini 5 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this month.

The Mini 5 is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon powered tablet, besides its 5″ multi-touch display and Dell-skinned Android 1.6 operating system, it packs a 5-megapixel camera on the back, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and a SIM-card slot for 3G.

Dell hasn’t announced in which countries the Mini 5 will be making an appearance, although Dell CEO, Michael Dell at Davos said, India is likely to be one of the countries, owing to its growing market for Electronics. The likely price is also a mystery at present, with the rumors that it will be priced anywhere around $1,000 without a contract, making it a pricey alternative to the iPhone, Nexus One, Droid, and even the iPad if you want to make that comparison. This needs to be priced at the same level as the Nexus One and iPhone to have a chance of competing. If Apple can do a 10″ device for $500, why can’t Dell do the same with a 5″ device? Dell could surprise everyone and come out much cheaper, and I hope they do. That screen looks very nice, it’s certainly thin enough, and it looks easy to hold and use, unlike iPad which is 9.7″ screen, n does not feature a cam, or the 3G capabilities which it is planning to introduce in the next version of the Tablet.

A big question remains as to whether the Mini 5 is too big to be a daily carry-around gadget? Definitely not when compared to the iPad and it certainly doesn’t look that way in the hand, but it could be just a little wide to sit comfortably in the pocket, but anyhow, its a much more compact device than the iPad which sports less features and also priced reasonably less of course!

EVGA was revealed to have been working on a dual-socked motherboard at the start of January, but other than a few pictures nothing more could be heard from EVGA. The W555 was also Unveiled at CES a few weeks back at Las Vegas, and now finally some specifications coming in with a lot of probabilities of course!

Looking at these first images one can say for sure that the board is not very small, also EVGA has confirmed that it is larger than the E-ATX or SSI standards. And any motherboard with two LGA1366 processor sockets, 12 DDR3 DIMM slots and seven expansion card slots isn’t ever going to be small!

The W555 has two LGA1366 processor sockets, however the bad news is that Core i7 chips will be unusable, as they each have a single QPI link, whereas the EVGA W555 architecture depends on these processors’ respective pairs of QPI links. One link will communicate with the chipset, while the other will enable the communication between the two processors. So people out there, stop dreaming about overclocking with a pair of Core i7’s! The good news is that there is a whole range of Xeon W5000-series CPUs to choose from, but the bad news is that they’re all considerably more expensive than the equivalent-frequency Core i7.

Each CPU socket is provided with its own bank of 6 DIMM sockets, just crying out for some high-speed triple channel DDR3’s. Generally speaking, Xeon 5500-systems are equipped with ECC registered DDR3, which although far less prone to errors than standard unbuffered DDR3, is a lot more expensive and is only available up to PC3-10600, i.e. 1,333MHz. However, the memory controller in the CPUs can support standard unbuffered DDR3 i.e something you’ll most certainly need for the use of big overclocks. We can also see that EVGA W555 dual-Xeon motherboard is equiped with eight SATA ports, allegedly six running at 3Gb/sec and the two red ports at 6GB/sec. Unfortunately, at this stage we don’t which SATA controllers EVGA is planning on using on the final production model. And, what may seem rather awkward to regular consumers but perhaps convenient to overclockers is the existence of an IDE connector. While rather outdated, overclockers sometimes prefer IDE drives over SATA because most benchmarks are not affected by drive speed and SATA controllers are generally more sensitive to big overclocks.

VVEVYCTV65PW

Apple on Wednesday finally unveiled its tablet computer, called the iPad, in downtown San Francisco. The device, looks like a larger version of Apple’s iPod Touch. The iPad featuring Wi-Fi will be shipping in the next 60 days, and the one with 3G in the next 90 days, with the range starting at $499.

Apple has once again proved the rumors right and has built a product that looks good and feels great in the hand, and the familiar user interface, borrowed from the iPhone and iPod touch, is perfectly suited for the bigger screen. If at all there is a new category of devices between a Smartphone and a Laptop which could be better than either for certain tasks, then the iPad rightly fits into this ‘Third Category’ of devices. Web browsing, e-book reader, Video Player, Image Library, Music altogether clubbed into a single cool device which is easier to carry and use.

It sports a 9.7-inch LCD touch-screen display, which makes use of the same multitouch technology found on the iPhone, Apple’s Magic Mouse, notebook trackpads are seen as well. It also has the same in-plane switching display technology that made its debut in the latest crop of iMacs.

Like the iPhone and iPod, it sports a finger-friendly OS with an on-screen QWERTY keyboard, and an accelerometer that can detect whether the device is in portrait or landscape mode. It has a 30-pin dock connector, built-in Wi-Fi, and a home button that jumps users back to the main screen of the OS. It also has a volume rocker and a mute button just like the iPhone.

Along with a big screen, it sports a 1Ghz custom Apple chip. Apple says it can get 10 hours of video, which is about four more than the iPod Touch and the same as the latest generation iPhone and “a month” long standby time. The iPad will come in 16, 32, and 64GB capacities for $499, $599, and $699, respectively. That’s just the Wi-Fi version though. Apple will also be selling a version of the iPad that includes both Wi-Fi and a 3G wireless modem built in. iPad users who want to make use of the 3G service, which is being offered by AT&T (only in the U.S offcourse), can pick up one of two plans for that: $15 a month for 250MB of data, or unlimited for $29.99 a month. The 3G version of the iPad is priced at $629 (16GB), $729 (32GB), and $829 (64GB).

Other noteworthy specs:

• The Wi-Fi antenna supports 802.11 a/b/g/n

• The iPad weighs just 1.5 pounds i.e 0.7 kilos. The version with 3G is 0.1 pounds heavier.

• The screen resolution is 1024×768

• It can playback 720p HD video, though video output to external sources is limited to 480p. • It has the same oleophobic coating that made its debut on the iPhone 3GS.

So, if you are looking for something you can carry effortlessly for reading e-books, Music, Video, Image handling, then the iPad is definitely the Gadget you are looking for!

Working with its “hardware partners,” Google has identified problems where a software fix should improve 3G connectivity for some users, and Google says it is testing the fix and if everything goes right, it is hoping to provide an over-the-air software update in the “next week or so” to address the issue. However, some users who are experiencing the problem may simply be on the edge of 3G coverage so the fix won’t help them.

Some Nexus One users have complained that their phones do not connect to the 3G network even when another phone in the same location does. After more than 1,200 comments stacked up on the subject in the support forum, Google started a second discussion that now has nearly 390 comments. Just days after the phone landed in customer hands, hundreds of complaints about trouble with 3G connectivity appeared in the forum. Some customers called T-Mobile and were directed to HTC, which in many cases pointed people back to the operator. Google has no phone support, so people who e-mailed the search giant for help were told they’d receive a response in a day or two.

The $529 Google Nexus One, manufactured by HTC, is the first smartphone to come with the 2.1 version of the Android mobile operating system and also the first phone that Google is selling directly to customers. It’s unlocked so it can be used on many GSM networks, but it’s also available at a discounted price of $179 for those in the United States who sign up for a service contract with T-Mobile. That contract lowers the phone price through a subsidy T-Mobile pays Google that effectively shifts some of the customer costs from up-front payments to monthly fees.

Amidst all speculations, T-Mobile’s relatively limited 3G coverage could be part of the problem. The wireless carrier, so far the only available partner for the Nexus One, has the smallest 3G footprint in the U.S., after Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. The above-mentioned software fix from Google won’t be able to improve T-Mobile’s 3G coverage. Google has also forged deals with Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and Vodafone in the U.K., where the Nexus One will be available this spring, so then we’ll know if the real issue is the phone or the service provider.

Last year in January, Sony had announced “TransferJet”, a new Close Proximity Wireless Transfer Technology enabling the high speed transfer of large data files (photos, HD images, etc.) between electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, digital video cameras, computers and TVs. Using this technology, data can be sent at speeds of 560Mbps. Its speed is supposed to rival USB2.0 and because of its short range its developers have opted not to implement the device pairing and security set-up functions of other wireless systems such as Bluetooth. Sony had also presented reference exhibits of the newly developed technology at CES International, in Las Vegas last year.

TransferJet is an extremely simple wireless technology which eliminates the need for complex setup and operation. Place your Transfer Jet enabled media device within 3cm of the TransferJet pad and it will see the device and you can move media, no cables needed. For instance, just touching a TV with a digital camera enables photos to be instantaneously displayed on the TV screen. Alternatively, downloaded music content can be easily enjoyed by touching a mobile phone to a portable audio player. TransferJet can be used as a Universal Interface among a wide variety of consumer electronics devices. Sony has been actively promoting the use of TransferJet across the consumer electronics industry and seeks to enhance the enjoyment of mobile device-based content through the introduction of various products and services based on this technology.

A consortium formed to support and develop TransferJet counts many of the biggest names in consumer electronics as members, including Samsung, Toshiba, Kodak, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Olympus, Pioneer and Sony Ericsson. The list of companies leans towards camera and cell phone makers, hinting that these sectors could be the first to see greater adoption, if manufacturers decide it’s worth the additional cost.

The first products to support it are, Sony’s Vaio F laptop and TX7 and HX5V digital cameras which will be launched in Japan on January 23 and February 5 respectively and will hit international markets from February. They were demonstrated at a news conference in Tokyo. Sony will also launch a TransferJet USB adapter. It demonstrated this on Monday, connected to a Bravia TV and digital photo frame receiving images from a camera. The TJS-1 adapter will cost US$150.

However when it announced TransferJet in January 2008, Sony said it would run at 560Mbps and users would see actual transfer rates of up to 375Mbps after networking overheads. But, the first-generation products will be much slower, with transfers from a Cybershot TX7 camera to a Vaio F laptop running at about 40Mbps. The slower speed i.e. about one-tenth of the maximum possible is due to software overhead in the PC and data processing, the company said.

Main Features of TransferJet:

1) Simple interface and intuitive operation: “Touch & Get”
Just touch two electronic products together and files are transferred automatically. TransferJet eliminates the complex setup procedures required by existing wireless systems, and no access point is necessary. Furthermore, users are also able to register their electronic products to enable TransferJet to recognize specific products. For example, by registering only the devices within their household, users can prevent external data leakage. Operation is also very intuitive, and as there is no host/target relationship, data transfer can take place between mobile phones and PCs for example, as well as between mobile devices.

2) Realizing Stable High Speed Data Transmission
TransferJet’s physical layer transmission rate is 560Mbps, and even allowing for error corrections and protocol overheads, the effective physical layer transmission rate is 375Mbps. TransferJet is also capable of selecting the appropriate data transmission rate according to the wireless environment. Even if the conditions for transmission deteriorate, it will maintain the highest possible wireless connectivity by automatically lowering the data transmission rate.

As TransferJet is a close proximity wireless system which radiates very low-intensity radio waves, it causes almost no interference to other wireless systems, and there is no impact to performance even if multiple users simultaneously use multiple TransferJet system. Moreover, users of electronic products incorporating TransferJet technology are able to transfer data among each others products regardless of whether they are indoors or outdoors and irrespective of their geographic location.

3) Development of New “TransferJet Coupler”
Sony’s newly developed “TransferJet Coupler” is based on electric induction field coupling to deliver superior propagation performance compared to conventional radiation field based antennas. It maintains high transmission gain and efficient coupling in near-field proximity, while providing sharp attenuation over longer distances to avoid interference with other wireless systems.
Furthermore, as there is no antenna polarization it is possible to transmit data without any performance loss, regardless of the contact angle of the electronic devices.

TransferJet Specifications:

Central Frequency:          4.48GHz.
Transmission Power :     -70dBm/MHz or less (average power).
Communication Distance:      Within 3cm.
Corresponds with low intensity radio wave regulations in Japan, and with local regulations in respective overseas regions.
Transmission Rate     560Mbps (Max.) / effective 375Mbps.
It is capable of selecting the appropriate transmission rate depending on the wireless environment.

Sony hopes TransferJet will replace cables for shifting data between gadgets, but the technology’s success will depend on its use in products from the big-name consumer electronics companies that have pledged to support it.

Nokia is just about to release on a still unknown date it’s latest mobile phone OS – Symbian 3, but it has already started working on the next version – Symbian 4. Nokia first revealed details of its upcoming mobile OS Symbian 4, during the last year summer. The company showed off a brief video demo back in early December 2009, and now they’re opening up the floodgates with some more technical information; a concept proposal and a call for feedback from users and developers. However the communications company submitted a proposal last week with a visual guide as to how the new mobile OS may look, and will now undergo open evaluation.

Nokia has been very vocal about the proposed features of the S^4 that seem to overlap with other mobile platform. For instance in its User Interface Concept Proposal (v.2), Nokia compared the S^4 to the Android. Specifically, the two mobile OS’ movable homescreen. The difference between these two is that Symbian has “independent unique pages” rather than a multi-touch panel screen of most Android phones. Palm webOS’ exit commands are also mentioned, and so is the iPhone’s application library. Symbian^4 will have an option to view applications in “multiple filtered views”, unlike the iPhone’s “manually organized grid”. Nokia however claims that the primary objective behind developing S^4 is to simplify the S60 user experience. Notable features include top and bottom menu bars that can slide completely offscreen, streamlining menus down to just four – contacts, music, photos and applications – along with support for irregularly shaped homescreen widgets that can be freely placed. There’ll also be a central power/notification menu and more consistency throughout the UI, together with support for transparency in application chrome. The new UI will be built in Qt, and replace the existing S60 Avkon UI framework with direct support for ‘touch’ and ‘hybrid’ devices. So clearly Nokia has turned in its proposal for the user interface in Symbian^4, with the goal of developing an interface that can compete with the iPhone and Google’s Android OS.

Of course all of the information in offer is just a proposal, so things are due to change before Symbian 4 arrives. However with Nokia currently having no OS which is specifically developed for touch-screen devices, with current touch phones using a modded version of Symbian S60, it will be no bad thing when Symbian 4 arrives later this year, although the first Nokia phones based on it will only be launched in 2011.

One thing is for sure, Nokia wants to improve its mobile phone offerings by coming out with a new and improved mobile OS that could bring a new experience for its loyal users.

Dell, the famous computer manufacturer announced its plan to join the Smartphone race officially by unveiling the ‘Dell Mini 3′  an Android phone at the Consumer Electronics Show this month.

The specifications of the device include, 3.15 megapixel camera, 3.5″ 640 x 280 touchscreen display, accelerometer sensor and virtual onscreen keypad, 3G, Wi-fi, Assisted GPS, Expandable memory, GPRS, Bluetooth, EDGE , USB , Full web browser ,Google mobile applications and an Android OS 1.6, based on Dell’s UI. Unlike the Google ‘Nexus One’ nothing about this phone grabs immediate attention. But Dell Mini 3 packs everything found in an entry level Android Smartphone. And also everyone seems to be surprised as to how Dell started naming its Smartphones with ‘3′! It may be because of the phones 3G capabilities or just fun numbering.

Dell Mini 3 initially targets the customers of three of the world’s largest mobile operators, China Mobile in China and AT&T in the US and the third being Claro in Brasil. With AT&T’s largest Wi-Fi hotspot network, and fastest 3G network, Dell and AT&T will be able to provide today’s social media mavens with the ability to simultaneously Tweet friends, post Facebook updates, share pictures and browse the Web. Surprised why Dell chose Claro and China Mobile? Well, simply because Dell aims to target 542 million subscribers of China Mobile and Claro put together, which is a pretty good number for a company which is basically a computer manufacturer.

With the new players entering the ‘Android Smartphone’ segment every now and then, it will be interesting in the coming days to see how the competition heats up.