Mobile Phones
Tunnel vision
Vodafone says it is at the earliest stage of considering how to wire train tunnels for reception, despite reports of discussions with Network Rail. The firm says these appear to have been triggered when a Financial Times reporter was cut off during a conversation with Vodafone chief executive Sir Christopher Gent, when he went into a tunnel. On reconnecting, Sir Christopher remarked on this - giving the FT the story idea. "It is very early days," said Vodafone this week. "A solution could be a way off." Bob McDowall, a director at analyst firm Bloor Research, says Vodafone is probably the only network with the financial strength to consider such a long-term investment.
Nokia to clamshell
Could Nokia be about to launch its first clamshell phone? While such companies as Samsung, Sharp and Motorola have been successful with their flip-open handsets, Nokia has stuck with conventional flat-faced designs. Now, rumours are sweeping the industry that Nokia has been talking to four Taiwanese manufacturers about a clamshell mobile and that it intends to launch models at the beginning of 2004. Clamshell phones have proved especially popular with camera phone buyers. Sharp's GX-10, exclusive to Vodafone Live, is the UK's bestseller. www.nokia.co.uk
Gadgets
Trust times three
Trust is upping the ante in the budget digital camera market by introducing a model that takes 3.3 mega pixel images yet retails for less than £150. The Trust 770Z also features 3x optical and 3x digital zooms, a 4cm TFT LCD display, and five preset shooting modes including portrait, macro and landscape. www.trust.com
Nokia is watching
Coming in June from Nokia is a £350 Observation Camera that snaps images and sends them directly to MMS-(multimedia messaging) equipped phones or email addresses. To see the images, users send a text message to the camera, which then replies with an image of whatever is in front of it. The Nokia Observation camera is one of the first devices to uses Machine to Machine (M2M), a technology that enables phone networks to communicate with computers. www.nokia.co.uk
Covert snapper
With celebrity hangouts banning camera phones, taking covert pictures of the stars requires ever more disguised snappers. Budget digital camera maker L'Espion could provide the answer, as its new £80 model, the XS, is housed in a pull-open metal case that's a deadringer for a cigarette lighter.
The camera takes 0.5 mega pixel still images, up to 13 seconds of video and 12 minute of audio, which it stores on its 8MB internal memory. Lite Sync technology enhances images shot indoors, while an infrared mode enables the camera to take pictures based on body heat.
www.digitaldreamco.com
Sony's pocket cams
Sony is targeting moviemakers on the move with a pair of lightweight compact digital camcorders. The £1000 DCR-PC105 and £800 DCR-PC103 have a vertical design, are finished in blue-grey and record on to DV cassettes. The pair also feature a one click transfer of video to CD-R or DVD and, using the accompanying software, users can also record on to Video CD format discs that are compatible with most DVD players. Both models feature a 1.1 mega pixel CCD, 10x optical and 120x digital zooms, Carl Zeiss lens and Super NightShot for capturing images under dark conditions. The 105 can also take still images, which it archives on a Memory Stick storage card.
www.sony.co.uk
Samsung record TV
Samsung looks set to win the race to become the first to the UK market with a widescreen TV that features an integrated hard disk video recorder. Due next month, the £1700 WS32Z108R pairs a 32in widescreen set with a 40GB hard disk recorder. Also coming are a DVD-Ram video recorder, the DVD-R4000 (£450, June), a 40in LCD TV the LW40A13WX (out now, £6000) and a pair of camcorders, one of which, the VP-D33 (£450, May) records on to MPeg4 as well as digital video.
www.samsungelectronics.co.uk
· What's new is edited by Neil McIntosh, with contributions from Ashley Norris and SA Mathieson
