Send it on
The Sendo S200, right, is a lively, quirkily designed phone aimed at the fashion hungry youth market. There are no Wap or infrared links but a treasure trove of ring tones, smilies, games and cartoon characters that can be exchanged with friends. You can even compose your own ring tones or put a different cover (back and front) on the phone to suit the mood of the day.
It is marketed by Virgin but made by Sendo, Britain's only mobile phone manufacturer. Sendo is based in Birmingham, but has plans to expand in Asia. It hopes to boost its design team in the UK from the current 200 to 500. Assembly is sub-contracted abroad.
Weighing 98g, the S200 has good, clear reception and a claimed talk-time of up to 150 minutes. It ought to have plenty of appeal for the young market at which it is aimed. The screen supports five lines of text messaging. It retails for £79.99 on a Virgin contract. www.virgin.com/mobile
Most mobile
Ericsson has wasted no time extending its range of GPRS (general packet radio service) mobile phones. Following the launch last month of the R520 comes the triple-band T39, which is being billed as the most advanced mobile yet. Expected to retail for £100 when it goes on sale next week, the T39 combines GPRS (which means it is always connected to the net and downloads Wap pages faster than standard GSM phones) with a range of high-end facilities. The T39, right, is the first Ericsson phone to include EMS (Enhanced Messaging System), which allows users to create and exchange messages that combine text, pictures and melodies. According to Ericsson, the phone is also the first GPRS model to feature SyncML, which is over the air synchronisation. Using this format, a change made to an appointment entry on a desktop computer at the office can be reflected instantly in the calendar of the T39. Its Bluetooth feature enables the phone to wirelessly exchange information with other Bluetooth-endowed products such as PCs and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Email facilities include the option of connection to the user's internet service provider's POP3 email server. The phone has a standby time of up to 300 hours and talk time of up to 11 hours. Due next month from Ericsson is a digital camera attachment for its phones - the CommuniCam. The unit enables the user to shoot and email low resolution (352 x 288 pixel) colour images direct from the phone to a PC. It also has enough memory to store up to five images. Its price is expected to be between £120 and £150. More details from www.ericsson.com
Pocket rock
Intel's campaign to establish itself as a gadget manufacturer moves up a gear this month with the launch of its personal MP3 player, the Pocket Concert. A high-end model with a £300 price tag, the Concert combines integrated storage of 128MB (double most of its rivals' capacity) with MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) compatibility. This translates to between two and four hours of near CD-quality music, depending on the format chosen. The unit also features an FM radio and hooks up to a PC via a supplied USB connector. Bundled software includes Windows versions of MusicMatch Jukebox (for ripping CDs) and Intel's Audio Manager. Intel stresses that the player can be upgraded to play back future audio formats. However, its 128MB storage is fixed, as there are no flash memory card slots. The unit will play for 10 hours from two AAA batteries. More details from www.intel.co.uk
Wearable PCs
Construction workers, telecoms engineers and field-based professionals could soon be wearing PCs. Panasonic is introducing a portable, ultra-tough touch-screen display unit that connects wirelessly to a PC. The Data Wireless Display is compatible with all wireless LAN-equipped PCs, although Panasonic hopes to see it paired with its new rugged Toughbook CF-07 miniature PC. The connection range is estimated at around 50 metres. The Data Wireless Display is designed to be worn on the arm or carried in a pocket. It features an 8.4 inch TFT SVGA screen that has been optimised to make it visible in very bright conditions. It is expected to retail for around£1,000. Its accompanying£1,700 Toughbook CF-07 PC features a 300MHz Intel Pentium III processor, 64 megabytes of memory of SDRAM and a 5 gigabyte hard drive. Details from www.panasonic.co.uk
