Hip rivals
Motorola, the first to the market with a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) phone in the UK, is adding two new GPRS mobiles to its range. GPRS phones offer faster and cheaper downloads of Wap pages than the existing standard. Due in stores very soon is the Motorola V66, the latest in the company's series of tiny, flip-open V series models. With a hip Batman-style Motorola logo prominently featured on its silver facia, the V66 is designed to rival the upcoming Nokia 8310 in the fashion stakes. The triple band model has conference call facilities, predictive text (which helps speed up the tapping out of text messages), voice-dialling and a trio of games.
Heavy Wap users, however, might find its screen a little on the small side. Standby time is rated at 125 hours with talk time of 180 minutes. The phone is available now from most networks priced at around £150 plus contract. The company is targeting its Timeport T280 at business users. It borrows the silvery finish and upright styling of previous Timeport models yet adds a larger screen and a jog dial control. The user is also given the choice of how they display those Wap pages delivered by GPRS. They can opt for a large text four-line display or see more information by plumping for a six-line display. Other features include predictive text, compatibility with downloadable ringtones and logos and a voice recorder. Standby time is rated at 253 hours while talk time is up to 260 minutes. The phone is due in late November and is expected to retail for around £120 plus contract. See www.motorola.co.uk.
Tiny dream
The price and size of digital cameras continues to plummet thanks to a new low-resolution snapper that is not much larger than a matchbox. Digital Dream's tiny L'Espion costs just £39.99, yet it can function as a stills camera, a webcam and even a video camera of sorts. It can store up to 80 low-resolution (0.3 megapixel) images or 10 seconds of video on its built-in, but non-expandable, 2MB of storage. There is no flash, but the camera does have automatic exposure, fixed focus and a 10-second self-timer. It is powered by one AAA battery and is compatible with both PCs and Macs. More details from www.digitaldreamco.com . Rival budget digital cameras include the SiPix Style Cam at £60 and the Jenoptik JD160 at £49.95.
Burning news
If you want to burn CDs from a PC or notebook "no matter where you are", Memorex is now offering an external CD-RW drive for £129.99. The BBQ200 uses the USB serial port to connect to a PC or Apple Macintosh, and comes with Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5.0 software. Hewlett-Packard has decided to leave the external burner market because most PCs now have one built in, but portability and a low price could still bring in a few sales.
Smart cart
HP's latest toner cartridge is so smart it not only knows when it is about to run out, it can order a replacement over the internet. The cartridge also includes an embedded web server. Users click once to tell it to go ahead with the order, and can choose which reseller to buy from. The cartridge fits the HP LJ4100, 4550, 8150 and LJ9000 printers.
Wireless BT
While people with broadband internet connections are look ing at Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless networking, BT has gone wireless using a DECT phone. The £250 BT On-Air 1800 has a range of 50m indoors and 300m outdoors and works with PCs running Windows 98/Me or 2000. The drawback is the 56k (V.90) modem speed. Wi-Fi, by contrast, is an Ethernet network and runs at least 10x faster.
