Asian Tiger

The RAZR range of mobile phones has been such a success, selling more than 50 million units since it was launched in November 2004. It was so successful that Motorola has now added 2 new RAZR phones to the family. They are known as the KRZR (pronounced Crazer) and RIZR.

The MotoKRZR is designed as a flip phone which is slightly narrower than the RAZR, sports a 2 megapixel camera with video function and a built in music player. The Motorola KRZR has a screen dimension of 176 x 220 internally and 96 x 80 externally; with both screens at 65,000 colours. Connectivity-wise, Bluetooth and EDGE high speed data is available on the phone. The phone comes with a 20MB internal memory, extendable to 1GB of external memory.

The MotoRIZR on the other hand is a thin and narrow slider phone. The specifications for RIZR is very similar to the KRZR except for the slider design.

The KRZR is expected to be available in a couple of months time while the RIZR in the 4th quarter. A good time to save some money for those of you who desire these latest wonders and a nice gift for the loved ones for the upcoming festive seasons. Unfortunately, the prices are not available as yet.

Click here for more information on MOTOKRZR and MOTORIZR.

Tags: RAZR, KRZR, RIZR, MotoRazr, MotoKrzr, MotoRizr, Motorola

I had the opportunity to attend Microsoft’s MEDC 2006 recently where developers gather and drool over smartphones and software that reside in them. During this conference, we were exposed to the Windows Mobile 5 technology. I thought I’ll just share with you about the new Windows Mobile 5 (codename “Magneto” during development).

Here’s what’s new in Windows Mobile 5:

PowerPoint Inclusion
I am so glad that this missing piece of jigsaw puzzle is included together with Windows Mobile 5. Previously, only Word and Excel were included, making it difficult for users to view PowerPoint files without a third-party software.

Word and Excel Enhancements
Unlike in the previous version (Pocket PC 2003), Word now comes with the capability to add tables and graphics. Excel on the other hand has charting capabilities. For those who have used Pocket PC 2003, we all know how important these new functionalities are (great justification to upgrade your unit ).

Media Player
Windows Mobile 5 comes preinstalled with Windows Media Player 10. With this version, your smartphone can now play WMA, WMV, MP3 and AVI files.

Caller Identification
A great improvement over Windows Mobile 2003 is the ability of Windows Mobile 5 to have photo caller identification. Now, you don’t have to read the names of those calling you but rather look at the person’s photo. A quick glance will tell you if it is your wife calling or your mother-in-law.

Even though Windows Mobile 5 is recently made available to the market, Microsoft is already working on the next version (Windows Mobile 6) which they have codenamed “Crossbow”. Crossbow is rumoured to have improved battery life and greater processing powers.

Tags: MEDC 2006, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile 5, Magneto

March of this year, I got myself a Samsung X200 mobile phone. I liked the phone for its simplicity and design aesthetics. However, there are 2 shortcomings that I observed.

Firstly, this nifty little mobile does not word wrap when composing or receiving SMS. That makes reading SMS difficult and troublesome. It is really a hassle to read SMSe if you are behind the wheel.

The second shortcoming is that of their preloaded ringtones. There are only limited selections of polyphonic tones available and mostly suited for the much younger generation’s taste. I hear that T-mobile ringtones which is available in the United States are awesome and there is a large collection of tones for download. I’ve not checked it out but I sure will immediately after this post. For me personally, I prefer those monotones that goes ring-ring…. ring-ring; a simple tone to tell me that there is an incoming call.

If you own the same mobile as mine, do yourself a favour and download free ringtones for your own mobile.

Tags: Samsung, X200, ringtones, shortcomings