Posts tagged CeBit

CeBit bits [technology/non SE]

Mar 24th

Posted by Bograma in Everything Else Tech

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As I wrote sometime ago, his year I was
fortunate enough to go to CeBit. I covered it as good as I could and
along with that, some things I saw went uncovered cause there was so
much to see and so little time.

So here they are:

  • Samsung Soul-the new Ultra Editions
    Samsung slim trendy phone was launched at CeBit. Slide design, shiny
    metallic body, 12.9 mm slim, 2.2 inches, 16 million colors bright
    screen, HSDPA, e-mail client, Bluetooth, and a Magic Touch
    interface. Other than that, it is also a multimedia phone, with FM
    radio and a 5 MP camera with face detection and image stabilization.
    SD card is supported.What it does, it has a touchable square
    underneath the screen as a menu. It will vibrate as son as it
    executes the command you issued. Nothing new from this point of view
    if you used a touch screen phone before. The menu was fast enough
    but not very logical.

 

 
 
 

  • Samsung Q1 Ultra-I’ve read various
    reports about this gadget. It’s Samsung’s second attempt to
    establish a line of mobile/ tablet pc and be successful. The first
    time they’ve failed. But this time around they seem confident
    enough. A lot of people were curious at Samsung’s stand to try the
    Q1. I looked around and all seats were taken, all Q 1s were put to
    work on various sites.

  • The apparatus itself moves very
    quickly. It should if you look at the specs:

  • -Processor Intel® Ultra Mobile
    Processor A110 800MHz Clock 512Kb L2 Cache/400MHz FSB

  • System Memory 1GB DDR2 400MHz
    Memory / Slot 2-in-1 Memory Slot (SD/MMC

  • It runs Vista Home and I thought
    this will slow it down but it didn’t. It responded quickly to any
    command, it ran instantly all the programs installed and having a
    broadband at my disposal moved around Internet very quick also. My
    test unit had a keyboard attached, so I had no trouble with handling
    the unit.

 

 

The story changed when I tried to use
he unit without the attached keyboard. I’ve been using pcs, laptops
and various smart phones for more than 10 years now but I gotta admit
this one put me off. It was IMPOSSIBLE to use it, to write sitting
down without putting the Q1 in my lap or on he table. It’s not a
gadget to use on the move. The keypad layout looks smart, it has a
“thumb-mouse” if can call it like this but I couldn’t hold the
tablet and write at the same time. Then why would use this on the
move if I can’t handle it easily?
Of course, from what I’ve heard there
were a lot of improvements if you compare it with the first model:
the battery runs for almost 9 hours, the keyboard control is improved
(the first model only had a virtual keyboard on the screen) and the
screen has a new resolution of 1024×800. Another strong point is
connectivity: HSDPA, Wibro, WiFi, Bluetooth. Not always free but a
lot of ways to achieve Internet connection.This is a very good review, it was
taken from Samsung’s site – I read it and it seems to me a bit like
propaganda. But still, a full review.

 

  • The Pocket Surfer-a very nice
    gadget launched at CeBit and aimed at using Internet wherever you
    are. The gadget itself is made by Hagenuk www.hagenuk.de which was a leader on the mobile market more than 10 years ago.
    Now all it produces is cordless phones, answering machines and
    occasionally, it does OEM products for others, like this Wind
    company. It comes bundled with a year of “free” Internet. Of
    course, “free” came along with some conditions: 30 hours of
    Internet/monthly for 12 months. If you need more, you can get
    another 30 or 50 hours for as “low” as 20 Euro. Of course, you
    have to take into account that you have Internet on the move and
    that’ still expensive. It’s country/network dependant. The price for
    the device starts at 250 Dollars, while in Germany it was 250 Euro.
    The keyboard felt like Motorola
    Razr and without a doubt, it shares the same technology.The screen, TFT, while very large
    looked extremely washed. The colors were dull, whitish and the
    browser couldn’t arrange the whole page – you had to pull the bars
    from left to right to read the whole page. It’s because the screen
    was only VGA while the site was 1024×768.Quite light and very well made.Only GPRS and EDGE, so big chunks
    of data will probably take longer to load.
    I couldn’t notice how focused was
    the salesman on closing the sale and that’s all. As soon as he
    realized I wasn’t gonna buy one (probably it took him a whole 2
    minutes!) he moved away from offering information. He then excused
    himself and left me a leaflet with the product. While I can admire
    the sales skill, I don’t agree with this heartless approach: a sales
    person is also a counseling party. It’s not all about money, money,
    money.
    All in all, I can have better
    Internet, faster internet on a better device ( laptop/tablet pc with
    WiFi) at cheaper prices. Also, my P1i does the job better ( 3G
    speeds) and much cheaper – no phone function on the Hagenuk, only
    data.
    http://www.datawind.com/html/specification.html

 

 
 

 
 
* Samsung LCDs
 
 
 
* Video demo with a GPS device cu 3D maps
 


 

* Philips with Ambilight

 

 

* Surveillance cameras get smarter and
smarter. You have VGA quality, hundreds of hours of recording very
well compressed and face recognition.

 

 
 

Among all kinds of gadgets, I’ve seen
a lot of people doing big business on CeBit. This shows that people are
interested in gadgets, in new and cheaper services.

Nearticulat

Mar 13th

Posted by Bograma in Personal

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          HOPE
De cand m-am intors din “vacanta mini-technicus” n-am mai scris nimic. Geanta plina sta acolo unde am lasat-o duminica la pranz cand m-am
intors. Nu am nevoie de nimic de-acolo, cu exceptia cablurilor si a
incarcatoarelor pe care mi le-am luat luni sau marti cand am avut nevoie.
Delasare? Lene? Durere-n cot? Nu stiu. Si nici nu-mi bat capul sa aflu. Nu ma
intreb de ce n-o fac. Am observat ca daca nu ma intereseaza si nu ma intreb, se
va rezolva pana la urma.Eu am o vorba: “ Universul are propriile lui moduri de a
rezolva situatii ce par fara iesire”. Nu Dumnezeu. Nu altcineva. Ci tot “norul”
asta din care facem parte. Eu asa il vad.Clientul iti cere nu stiu ce discount si nu ii dai? Nici o
problema. Intr-un fel sau altul, va ajunge tot la tine. De obicei ajung prin
interpusi. Nu ii dai discount dar ii vinzi. Intr-un fel, nici nu este corect.
Tu nu esti flexibil, el este flexibil, este gata sa discute anumite aspecte ale
vanzarii si cu toate astea, ajunge sa cumpere de la tine fara ca tu sa-ti
schimbi atitudinea cumva. Nu este corect. Cel putin mie asa mi se pare. Ca nu
merit vanzarea. Si pentru ca totusi se intampla, stau si ma intreb: oare DE CE
merit ceea ce mi se intampla? Pentru ca altceva nu cred ca este. Nu fac nimic
pentru asta. Nu muncesc deloc pentru a ajunge la un rezultat. Sau nu in campul
muncii. Oare de ce?

Nu stiu; de fapt stiu, insa nu vreau sa-mi bat capul cu
explicatii si rezolutii.

, ,

[en] Things worth mentioned at CeBit (mixed/technology/auto/CeBit/htc s730/motorola/samsung/ tech-head/UIQ/video)

Mar 8th

Posted by Bograma in Everything Else Tech

7 comments

Things worth mentioned at CeBit
(mixed/technology)

* The new HTC S730 which features a
full qwerty keyboard eve if it’s a smart-phone and those traditionally
didn’t have a second keyboard like this one. They usually had a
normal keyboard and by 3rd party software an on screen
QWERTY was available. Runs the new WM 06 and runs it pretty fast. I
have really big doubts about it functionality. Usually, who buys this
kind of “phone” looks for at least 2-3 inches screen. But notable
advancement has been made and that’s the most important fact.

 
*All major companies producing video
games set up all kinds of tents, booths , lorry trucks or even
half-hall stands filled with 22-30 inch monitors and powerful
pcs/consoles to let everyone have a “test-drive”. Kids were
filling the halls today just in order to get to play at those things.
Kids? Not only them, but full-grown men too. Samsung has it’s own WCG
2008 (World Cyber Games) European Tournament where they were playing
EA games. Also a full Hall just for them.
 
 
 
 
 

*A self-driven car: VW Passat
Variant , nicknamed Caroline
 
      
    There’s also this video (54 MB, attention!)


    http://www.peteava.ro/video/material/20059

     
     * At Vodafone I got to try a Z8 much
    more than yesterday (branded, of course) and I had a positive
    experience except for the keyboard which is very hard to operate (
    you have to push firmly) and it’s not a qwerty… Other than that,
    like I said, very good materials and manufacture. UIQ (and probably
    a small processor) makes it a bit slugish at times. Or it’s the Voda
    crap?:) Then I had a play with their new Samsung communicator (didn’t
    bother to get the name and number) which boasts a big screen and
    full qwerty. I managed to crash it in minutes by just surfing the
    net a little bit, trying a bit of Voda Live and trying to make a
    phone call. Is that so much to ask from a ….
    “C.O.M.M.U.N.I.C.A.T.O.R”?
    * BTW, I had a big laugh at the motto below. They weren’t able to tell me how much would cost me every MB of data used thru Vodafone DE, me being in roaming (their customers roam all the same in foreign countries, aren’t they? PLUS the fact that the price for the use of internet in roaming is the same all over Vodafone network thru a program called Vodafone Passport. Hello, Vodafone employees, can you hear me? I had to find out myself. An whooping 6 Euros/ MB!!! And at home is 0.17 Euro cents.
     

  • Already looking forward to CeBit
    2009 -them, not me! I have to (financially) recover! Oh, I’m just
    kidding:)

  • A poster on the wall – why would
    you need that at 45?!!!

  • * The Space Up VW concept , some
    kind of revolutionary city car. No data available yet. Probably with
    Blue Motion technology.

         

  • The T-Mobile stand is huge,with at
    least 150 consultants – they sell both services and phones.
    Nothing new except for Blackberry and Iphone.

  • I haven’t seen Orange at all. I know
    they’re not operating in Germany (are they?) but still. This expo is
    not only for the german market, it’s for Europe markets.

 

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[en] CeBit – The most important reason of me being here [CeBit/UIQ/cebit covarage/esato/gsm/sony ericsson/ tech-head]

Mar 7th

Posted by Bograma in Everything Else Tech

2 comments

Above – Motorola Z8 Home Screen 
 
Sony Ericsson
 
I have always thought that by keeping an eye on certain things, I’ll
learn more and be one step ahead. Yesterday Sony Ericsson, and today,
Motorola, proved me wrong: whatever they say, whatever they
advertise, don’t believe them! Just wait to be proven. On paper and
on the technical sheet, the phones look astounding: HSDPA, HSUPA, 3
inch screen, etc. In reality, by going to Sony Ericsson stand you
find out that the products are available, but….because there is
always a but: Xperia X1 is so unstable that it can’t be used. I mean,
not at all. They took out the batteries because it was embarrassing.
This and the fact that the only function working normal was the
welcome screen with those 6 squares moving around. Some people said
it’s a secret new UI and that’s the reason SE tries to keep Xperia X1
under wraps. It might also be so. But talking to a consultant almost
an hour convinced me that it’s the same old problem: they are not
ready to launch this program. Not now, not next month, not th 3rd
Quarter of this year. This little guy told me that even at their
training when they were hired, the Xperia X1 wasn’t functional. It
crashed immediately when you entered the menu. I’ll post a little
demo done on a regular monitor touchscreen just to show us how
versatile the new Windows Mobile 6.1 will be. But other than that,
see for yourself: just a dummy. Not to mention that in picture looks
better than in reality. The plastic seems and feels cheap. The
aluminum face looks like a thin plastic film, not like the aluminum
polished face or the rubberized back of a P1. The buttons were ok and
it’s smaller than you might think. Also quite light.
 
Xperia X1 
 
 
 
 

There were also the W980i, W 350i, Z 770i, etc. Most of them had bugs and
couldn’t be operated normal. It took as 5 minutes to be able to
listen to a song on a   Z 770i and the consultant had to restart it 3
times to make it work.

 
Z 770i (prototype – note the black finish and the sign "123" at the bottom)
 
 
 
W980i 
 
 
 
 
There is also the low/medium Walkman line: W350i but it was poorly
manufactured and very, very simple. It has a small flip with
play/pause/next button on top of it and it’s very slim.
W 350i 
 
 
 
 
SE accessories

 

 
 

 
 
 
Other than that, a huge interest from the public. Everyone was trying
all the phones, curious like babies. The Walkman brand attracted huge
crowds when presented and everyone was happy to give it a try. The
W980i in particular was like a magnet and it seems to me like SE is
creating the trend in mobile phones design right now. All I could
hear around me was : “wow, look at that lines!”, or “look, the
orange light is pulsing on the beat!”. Little gimmicks that will
make the world go round.

 
 
  

Motorola

 
Motorola is represented by Motorola Germany which is a shame. I can’t
understand the lack of interest in CeBit. They have a small place
when you can try out 6 or 7 phones like U 9, Razr 2 V8, Razr 2 V8
Luxury Edition, Z8 and Z 10. And that’s all. Some of them weren’t even
powered, I had to ask the only consultant (!!!!) to plug a charger
into one, so I can try it for 5 minutes. While the first ones were
usual Motorolas with an awful menu and smallish screens, the Z8 and
the Z 10 represent a step ahead. But a small one. After years of
making flip phones (remember Kramer and the others ahead of it?) they
still haven’t learned that even if it’s a good solution implemented
right, the moving parts always break down! Easily! Quickly! I
understand it’s a gimmick, a fashion design but still. The upper part
of the Z series bend a little when you open it, so the phone bends on
your face when you’re talking to someone. Slide it back up and it’ll
straighten again. Looks nice, feels nice. The plastic on Z 10 is
silver/black. The silver looks cheap, the black is getting prints all
the time. But the menu (UIQ operating system) looks nice and I had no
trouble operating it. It’s small and light. The screen is bright
enough and on Z8 that green/yellow colour attracts attention. Both of
them have a “Today” screen like SE. It shows you the meetings you
have, the tasks, the date/hour, the profile you’re on, the song
you’re listening to and also provides a shortcut in case you wanna
cal someone from your agenda.
Important tech data: Z 10, dubbed “The Mobile Film Studio” –
HSDPA, 2,2” QVGA display ,320×240 and 16 million colours,3.2 MP
camera, Bluetooth, 119 grams, UIQ powered supporting up to 32 GB
Micro SD card.
Interesting tech data: Z 10, dubbed “The Mobile Film Studio” –
HSDPA, 2,2” QVGA display ,320×240 and 16 million colours,3.2 MP
camera, Bluetooth, 119 grams, UIQ powered supporting up to 32 GB
Micro SD card.
 
 
 
 

Z8: HSDPA, 2,2” QVGA display ,320×240 and 16,7 million colours,
BT, 117 grams, also UIQ powered supporting up to 4 GB Micro SD card.

   

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I also wanna mention the ROKR E8, the second try-out for Motorola in
the mobile music industry. The first one, if you remember , ROKR, was
a total failure. This one is “fashion conscious”. It has a
pollished finish – all around! Looks like a Star Trek comunicator.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take pictures when it was on. I
managed to squize 2 minutes of battery time and then it died on me.
The screen was small but nicely organized.
Tech data: 107 grams, FM radio, WM Player compatible, USB 2.0, 2GB
internal memory, Micro SD up to 4 GB, email client. The finishing and
the materials used are both superb. That’s one thing one can expect
and appreciate at Motorola.
 
 

 

 
 
There is also a middle bracket music phone, the ROKR Z6. The only thing I
noticed was the Orange color which I didn’t like and the bad
finishing and poor plastic used.
 
 
 
Samsung Soul is next! Also the Flickr badge was updated with new pictures.
, , ,

[en] CeBit 1 – non SE [technology/CeBit/hsdpa/gsm/Germany]

Mar 7th

Posted by Bograma in Everything Else Tech

No comments

Being such a vast Expo, one can only
start by searching what’s important for him and if the time frame
left allows you, you can look around for other interesting booths.
But what ca you do when you are interested in everything around you?
Well, you can start by getting a map and visit at least 7-8 halls
every day, thus covering the whole area in just 3 days.
I’m taking it one at the time and I get
all the exotic stuff first: don’t know why, but that’s what I get.

*LG HB 620 T: small and stylish with
ground breaking DVB-T TV (digital TV) , first of its kind in Europe.
Launching around June 2008. Well built, quality materials, GPRS and HSDPA but focused on digital TV. Almost 2 inch crisp screen (320×240)  and an ugly extendable antenna. There is no image available yet but you can’t miss it on the right side
of the magazine, the Grey clamshell type and the butt-ugly antenna.
 
 
*Big Easy 2 – a huge phone for
old people. Big buttons, well lit, agenda, sms and settings only,
with 3 speed-dials which can be pushed a bit longer to automatically
send an predefined sms to that contact in the shortcut. Then the
called party can call back and the phone will pick-up automatically
allowing you to respond in case of emergency. Very well built,
quality materials and good manufacturing. Has a (claimed) stand-by
period of almost a week. Was using a Voda prepaid.
 
 
 

  • Idapt – Universal and
    simultaneous charger. Made by a small company, they’ve put all the
    charger models in one. You can charge your GPS, your mobile, your
    PSP and camera in the same time. Good idea but I can’t part with my
    original charger…

 
 

  • A full booth of windshield
    adapters for all kinds of gadgets. Cheap prices, average quality.
    This is only one side of the booth.

 

  • Garmin Nuvifone – quote from the
    press release: “Nuvifone is a breakthrough product that cell phone
    and PS users around the world have been longing for – a single
    device that combines communication, mobile web and navigation.”
    Linux based running own Garmin’s operating system, it’s a Quad band
    GSM/GPRS/Edge and HSDPA, has a WiFi chip, Bluetooth, 3 MP camera
    without auto focus (at least for the moment), e-mail client, IM, sms
    and a 3.5 inch full touchscreen. Resolution or number of colours
    were unavailable. Also, no working version was provided – as a
    consultant put it, “it crashes every 2 minutes”. It says nothing
    about memory, or if it’s gonna be expandable. It will come loaded
    wit Europe and North America maps and a full GPS Navigator. Another
    important feature will be the Online Content on which this phone is
    based. This will be the biggest income maker, as Garmin wishes to
    develop “integrated location-based services”. An address is
    available for further info: www.garmin.co.uk

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

The first day at CeBit or almost there, around there somewhere, still trying to get there..(technology)

Mar 6th

Posted by Bograma in Everything Else Tech

No comments

My morning started at 4.30 AM when I
had to wake up to prepare myself for the first big day in technology.
No problem there, with plane and accommodation tickets in my pocket,
I jumped into a cab and off at the airport. The check-in went
smoothly (the Lufthansa people know their business, I gotta admit)
and the flight to Munchen went without incident. At Munchen, I had to
switch planes in order to get to Hanover-there is no direct flight
from Bucharest, I knew that.

That was around 10 A.M. And of course,
my connection flight was canceled! Not delayed, not “we’ll see what
we can do about this” but simply canceled along with other 4
internal flights.

Now, I could’ve (not would’ve) listened
to the “microphone lady” that kept on rambling in 4 languages
that we should wait for further instructions and then, in a much
lower voice, to contact our flight company. I didn’t know why until I
saw the trails of people waiting to talk to someone about their
situation.

Dashing thru the lines, I’ve seen a lot
of “Business Class” people sittin’ nice and neat (calm, too!)
talking to people on their phones, emailing from their Blackberries
but overall, just minding their own business while waiting in a line.
I come from a society where the calm ones have no place to be. Like
many others, I am trying to solve things quickly, moving and talking
fast, in general creating a bit of a rumor around me. The same
principle applied to the 3 guys standing right in front of me and
talking to some Lufthansa employees about the current state of
events. One of them knew what was going on and was kind enough to
share it with me after I kindly asked him to do so: it was a strike.
People working for the Munchen Airport decided yesterday that
Wednesday was a good day to start a strike, maybe to soften some
people and touch their hearts with warmth. Which I guess it didn’t
happen, as it costs Lufthansa some hundred thousand of Euro in
collateral damages. And delayed baggages from my side. But I am not
at the end, nor am I jumping to conclusions.

Along with some other 3 guys also from
Romania, I went to a line that was forming with Deutsche Bahn, where
you can get a ride to Hanover, which we did! At first, I was a little
reluctant to go but because it was no possible flight soon, I went
along. And I did good because the train usually goes between 150 km/h
and 250 km/h. If you have a laptop with you, a charger and a mobile
phone, you can’t go wrong – we played a little bit, watched some
movies, talked a lot esp. because the beer bottles kept popping out
on our table. At the end there where more than a dozen and the
janitor was not very happy. Nor the other passengers as our loud
voices and laughter were the only ones to be heard. But we didn’t
care – that’s a “quality” beer can give you, even if you don’t
need it! :) So I had no baggage, only a laptop and a phone and the
money, of course, but that all I need! They said we should inquire at
the “Lost and Found Luggage” at Hanover Airport that night
because the strike would end around 12 P.M and there was a good
chance they’d send it right away.

Four hours later we made it to
Hauptbahnhof , the Central Station in Hanover (the bliss was not out
yet!) where you can see a thousand people running wild all around.
Lots of Japanese with little baggages, youngsters with 7 bags from
CeBit, visitors from around the world, all in a big rush! I guess
you can make your way without asking around but I had to do it
because it was busy, cold and I knew had to switch at least 2
trams to get to my room. I am only seven minutes from CeBit but
half an hour away from Center which is not good – I have to eat,
you know!

Knowing that the U-Bahn (subway)is very
complicated in Hanover ( they have around 16 different lines, grouped
in co lours) , as I said, I called the landlord (lady) and she was
very nice and gave me directions. I arrived there only to leave as
soon as possible to buy some clothes – thank you Lufthansa and
Munchen airport for giving me the chance to update my wardrobe even
if I didn’t need it! Of course, at the end of the day, around 11 P.M,
I went to the airport with my new acquired friends and met a nice man
who let me watch thru a big window, in case I find my bag among other
200 that just arrived. Which I did because mine I a normal
duffel-bag, with silver and Frey and has Volkswagen Golf enscribed
on it – thank you Roxy for getting that bag for me, you saved me :)

I was so happy that I forgot all about
the lost day of CeBit (which it was and I am mad for it!) and about
the long way home at midnight. But everything is alright when you get
home, start this article, do it only half, go to sleep, only to wake
up the next morning ready to go to CeBit and see, touch, feel, smell
and experience all this wonderful world of gadgets!

The 2nd day at CeBit is not
over yet but my camera card is full and my mind has a thousand
thoughts which will be written here soon tonight:)

 

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