Apple's iPhone is among onslaught of products with a sensitive component
By MAY WONGAssociated Press
Posted: June 24, 2007
Santa Clara, Calif. - Get your fingers ready.
Apple Inc.'s iPhone is leading a new wave of gadgets using touch-sensitive screens that react to taps, swishes or flicks of a finger. The improvements promise to be slicker and more intuitive than the rough stomp of finger presses and stylus-pointing required by many of today's devices.
Apple already has been showing off its finger ballet in video ads ahead of the smart phone's hotly anticipated launch Friday.
Glide a finger across the screen to activate the device and main menu.
Slide your digit up or down to scroll through your contacts. Flick to flip through photos. Tap to zoom in on a Web site.
With Apple's marketing machinery, the iPhone is poised to become the poster child for the new breed of touch-screen technology, which relies on changes in electrical currents instead of pressure points.
But the iPhone will have its fair share of rivals.
Shipments of this advanced strain of touch screens are projected to jump from fewer than 200,000 units in 2006 to more than 21 million units by 2012, with the bulk of the components going to mobile phones, according to a forecast by iSuppli Corp., a market research company.
"This new user interface will be like a tsunami, hitting an entire spectrum of devices," predicted Francis Lee, the chief executive of Synaptics Inc., a maker of touch sensors.
Synaptics' latest technology is in a growing number of cell phones, including LG Electronics Co.'s LG Prada touch-screen phone that launched this year in Europe and South Korea and handles gesture-recognition similarly to the iPhone.
Last fall, Nokia Corp.'s research and development unit unveiled online images of a prototype all-touch-screen cell phone called the Aeon, but the company hasn't disclosed any details of its features or market availability.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Gadgets of the Week: Products on the cutting edge
Apple rarely makes sweeping changes to its product line, which is why the new MacBook Pro laptops look identical to older models. Only the innards are different, offering improved wireless networking and processing speed in the same thin package.
The 17-inch model now includes a 2.4-gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo processor along with up to 4 gigabytes of RAM. The laptop comes with a single battery that lasts more than five hours on one charge, and includes high-speed 802.11n wireless support and Bluetooth.
The standard 17-inch model with 160- gigabyte hard drive and DVD burner costs $2,799 at Apple's online store for delivery in the United States. It has two Firewire ports, three USB ports and an ExpressCard slot for expansion. The 17- inch model is also available with a high- resolution 1,920-by-1,200-pixel screen and a 250-gigabyte hard drive.
The 15-inch model, which starts at $1,999, now has an energy-efficient LED backlit screen, an improvement over the fluorescent lighting used in most laptops. The 15-inch version tops out at 2.4 gigahertz with up to 160 gigabytes of hard drive space.
Both new MacBook Pros also have an Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor, which means that the main processor won't get bogged down while putting video and images on your screen. — John Biggs
The 17-inch model now includes a 2.4-gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo processor along with up to 4 gigabytes of RAM. The laptop comes with a single battery that lasts more than five hours on one charge, and includes high-speed 802.11n wireless support and Bluetooth.
The standard 17-inch model with 160- gigabyte hard drive and DVD burner costs $2,799 at Apple's online store for delivery in the United States. It has two Firewire ports, three USB ports and an ExpressCard slot for expansion. The 17- inch model is also available with a high- resolution 1,920-by-1,200-pixel screen and a 250-gigabyte hard drive.
The 15-inch model, which starts at $1,999, now has an energy-efficient LED backlit screen, an improvement over the fluorescent lighting used in most laptops. The 15-inch version tops out at 2.4 gigahertz with up to 160 gigabytes of hard drive space.
Both new MacBook Pros also have an Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor, which means that the main processor won't get bogged down while putting video and images on your screen. — John Biggs
Friday, June 1, 2007
Nokia N95
Use the Nokia N95 for connecting to mobile Broadband using WLAN or HSDPA (3.5G) with up to 10 times faster downloading than 3G. Find directions and locations with the integrated A-GPS and included maps for more than 100 countries.
The Nokia N95 is a GSM/WCDMA dual mode portable multimedia computer supporting EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100 HSDPA.
Use the Nokia N95 to take photos with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera and enjoy videos, music and graphics with crystal clarity on the 2.6” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels), 16M color display.
Listen to music with enhanced “3D stereo” using the built-in dual speakers or for a big screen experience, connect the Nokia N95 to a compatible TV using direct TV out connectivity or via Wireless LAN and UPnP technology.
Additional Nokia N95 features include USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR with A2DP stereo audio, and MicroSD memory card support.
The Nokia N95 is a GSM/WCDMA dual mode portable multimedia computer supporting EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100 HSDPA.
Use the Nokia N95 to take photos with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera and enjoy videos, music and graphics with crystal clarity on the 2.6” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels), 16M color display.
Listen to music with enhanced “3D stereo” using the built-in dual speakers or for a big screen experience, connect the Nokia N95 to a compatible TV using direct TV out connectivity or via Wireless LAN and UPnP technology.
Additional Nokia N95 features include USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR with A2DP stereo audio, and MicroSD memory card support.
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