In Tech news:
Move over i-Phone, Readius comes out..
move
over i-Pohone here comes the
Dutch version of the i_phone called the Readius Mobile Phone. It is a
pocket type of phone that folds out to read its big screen. Its 5'
display is great for reading email, read news, & blogs. It fits firmly
in your hand, better for reading since the display is bigger. It uses 3rd
generation mobile networks to connect to the internet. It uses high
speed to connect and download from the net. It will compete with Apples i-Phone
and Amazons e-book reader Candel when it hits stores mid 2008. It is made by
Polymer Vision, Readius Mobile Phone is making strides and mobile phone
buyers very happy. One thing that does make
phone buyers salivate, it has a 10-day battery life. So businessmen,
this is your baby, you can go for days without charge. Based around a
rollable display, the Readius comes with a 5" screen in a device not much
bigger than a standard mobile phone when the display is retracted (the
Readius measures 100 x 56 x 21mm and weighs 150 grams). The Polymer Vision
Readius uses a TFT controlled Electronic Ink technology on a flexible
substrate to create a monochrome display that is quite flexible. We've seen
Electronic Ink before (on the Motorola FONE F3), but there has been nothing
similar to the Readius before. This type of display has very low power
requirements and can be used easily in direct sunlight (because it relies
purely on reflected light). The low power consumption on the Readius means
that it can last for up to 10 days of usage between charges. The Readius
isn't a phone yet, although it does comes with EDGE and UMTS data support.
The display is a large 5" 320x240 pixel display capable of displaying 16
greyscales. The inbuilt software includes
an
email client, RSS newsreader, document viewer and audio playback
capabilities. The Readius is actually controlled by something Polymer Vision
describe as a "touch sensitive LED user interface" which consists of a
number of soft keys along the side of the keyboard. Powered by an ARM 400MHz
chipset the internal battery of the Readius is good for up to 30 hours of
reading use, while memory can be extended up to 8GB via MicroSD card.
Although the display is presently limited to 16 grayscales, Polymer Vision
hopes to bring out a full color version within five years. The Readius is a
product of Dutch electronics firm Polymer Vision, which is part-owned by
Philips Electronics. The first units will go on sale in Italy in the summer,
with the device expected to reach the UK later in the year. The main problem
is right now is inherent in the design of the display itself. Currently the
Electronic Ink technology used in the Readius gives a very slow update speed
that effectively limits the device to displaying a page of text at a
time,
without any moving images or scrolling. It's not a particularly high
resolution display either, when you consider that the Nokia N800 squeezes in
800x480 pixels in a 4.1" display, but then the Nokia is much heavier and
does not have the battery life of the Readius. What is crazy is that there
does not appear to be a web browser on the Readius, and it cannot make voice
calls. Again, these are due to limitations in display technology and weight.
On the other hand, the Readius should ship with at least 4GB of internal
memory, which allows plenty of space for downloaded documents, email and
audio files. One other novel feature is the use of DVB-H IP datacasting
which potentially allows free-to-air data transmissions to be picked up from
the same transmitters used for DVB-H broadcasts (for example, with the long
awaited Nokia N92). The display on the Readius simply won't handle TV
pictures though. This is very much a first generation device, future
versions of the display technology should allow moving video and color
image. With a couple more years development, this type of flexible display
could make the like of the Apple iPhone appear obsolete. What it will be
soon is: In addition to being an ultra portable e-Book reader, the Readius
also doubles up as a 3G tri-band mobile phone with full HSDPA and Bluetooth
connectivity. It's capable of reading RSS feeds, browsing mobile internet
sites, and can also send and receive POP3 and IMAP email. And
hopefully by release, it will be capable of this. The Italian TIM network
has signed up for the Readius, for release sometime during 2007. Take up by
other carriers is not known, nor is there any firm indication about a
release date.