Smartphones
Quirky move
Almost a year after it was unveiled, Siemens top-end smartphone, the SX1, is finally heading for the stores. Due in the UK next month, the handset uses the Symbian operating system also found on the Nokia 600 and Sony Ericsson P900.Siemens has crammed in still and video cameras, MP3 playback, an HTML web browser, POP3 email client and Bluetooth. There is also an MCC card slot for storing content. One design quirk is that the SX1 number keypads are on either side of the screen. www.my-siemens.com
Secure profession
Sierra Wireless has confirmed that its innovative Voq Professional smartphone will debut in the UK in the spring. The device, which runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, features a full Qwerty keyboard. The handset, largely aimed at the business market, also features a 200MHz processor, 32MB of Ram, a 200x176 pixel colour screen and an SD expansion card slot. While "pocket" versions of Microsoft applications such as Internet Explorer and Outlook are included, there is no integrated digital camera or Bluetooth. The phone also supports secure versions of standard corporate email systems such as Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes.
www.voq.com
Hardware
Into rival territory
Philips' second foray into the hard disk personal audio jukebox market, the HD060 is scheduled to reach the stores early next month. The model, which plays MP3 and WMA files, features a 1in 1.5GB hard disk capable of storing around 30 hours of MP3 tunes. Pitched against the iPod Mini, the HD060 sports an Apple-esque white casing with a small LCD screen. It will retail for around £200. Philips is also promising a 20GB version of its personal audio jukebox, the HDD100. Also due next month, the HDD120 is expected to retail for £300.
www.philips.co.uk
Xtreme move
Apex Digital, known as purveyors of inexpensive DVD players, has turned its attention to the games market. Due in the spring in the US is the ApeXtreme, a games console that allows users to play PC games on their television via its DVD-Rom drive. The console features a VIA C3 1.4GHz processor, 300MHz S3 DeltaChrome graphics chip with 64MB Ram, 256MB system Ram, a 20GB hard drive, six channel surround sound, a modem port and an Ethernet connector. It also has limited PC functionality: users can tune into internet radio stations or listen to MP3s stored on its hard disk. The ApeXtreme is expected to retail for around $400. There's no word on a UK launch.
www.apexdigitalinc.com
Drinkers fingered
A Chelmsford nightclub owner fears his fingerprint scanner, installed on police advice, is putting off customers. Two hundred patrons of the Cave have volunteered their fingerprints for the £3,200 system from InTouch, along with a passport or photo driving licence. Their fingerprint serves as proof of age. But, "a lot of people around town are saying you're getting finger printed by the police," says owner Joe Ferrari, who would not recommend the system ."It definitely puts people off." InTouch says the database is not connected to the police, and scans cannot be compared with scene-of-crime fingerprints.
Software
All your media
US company BravoBrava claims to have developed a suite of software and services that will enable users to stream video from their PC or hard disk video recorder to their mobile phone or web-connected PDA. The company hopes to license the software, called AllMiMedia, to consumer electronics manufacturers and digital service providers. It is also offering a free three-month trial of its AllMiMedia software, which lets Microsoft Windows Media Center PC owners remotely program their PC's video recorder, view photos and listen to music stored on their computer from a phone or PDA.
www.allmimedia.com
Broadband
Billing support
The Community Broadband Network (CBN) opens next week, to promote broadband through advice, support and services for community campaigns. Communities wanting to establish their own broadband systems will be able to use CBN for billing, customer and technical services, through a deal with Phone Co-op.
www.broadband-uk.coop
Cooperative
A technical survey of 30 bank and building society websites says the Co-operative Bank has the best site, followed by the Bank of England and Barclays. Site-testing firm Business2www found that Lloyds TSB and Bradford and Bingley were the only sites with no errors, Birmingham Midshires had the fastest page download times, and Royal Bank of Scotland's was the most accessible. The survey said that AIB had the worst site - with more than 62,500 page warnings caused by poor HTML.
Digital cameras
Up very close
Olympus has unveiled a digital camera with a 10x optical zoom, one of the most powerful on the market. The C-760 Ultra Zoom, below, available exclusively through Jessops, also boasts a Super Macro mode that Olympus claims can take images just 3cm away from the subject. The camera features a 1.8in LCD screen with 110,000 pixels, snaps 3.2 megapixel images and connects to a PC via a USB 2.0 connector. Other features include movie recording, automatic and manual exposure options and rechargeable batteries. It goes on sale next month for £350.
www.olympus.co.uk
Stat of the week: Valentine's day beats the rugby
What a nation of romantics. The busiest day for UK text messages last year was Valentine's Day, according to the Mobile Data Association. But it didn't come close to this year's top day, so far. January 1 2004 saw 100m messages sent between UK phone users.
