pda | ipod | mobile phone | GPS Info

Clarion Japan ’s newest in-car satellite navigation system may just be the most advanced driver aid seen since the last episode of 24 and its host of improbable technologies. The MAX9700DT is both a full entertainment system and a GPS unit, but costs more than many second-hand cars.

The ¥341,250 (£1,435) 9700 unit will be available in Japan from the end of June as part of a new Clarion line-up that puts the focus on large 7-inch widescreen LCDs and digital television.
Freeview in the box

All models include a 1-seg TV tuner for broadcasts tailored for mobile devices, but the top of the range also includes a standard terrestrial digital tuner for picking up all free-to-air stations.

It’s easy to ignore the navigation element of a machine like the 9700, but Clarion’s usual 3D street display is present and the software can search for and navigate to particular shops or stores based on data broadcast on the digital TV channels.
Loves iPods
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First came the Clapper, which allowed a generation of the lazy to turn on lights and radios all over the house from the comfort of their easy chairs. Then there was the Flowbee, which vacuums up your hair while giving you “professional hairstyling results.” And let’s not forget the self-twirling spaghetti fork.

But now, there’s an invention that may trump all of the above in sheer pointlessness. German lingerie producer Triumph has come up with, of all things, a solar-powered bathing suit. The rather awkward-looking one-piece garment comes complete with photovoltaic cells to capture energy from the sun. What to do with that energy, you might ask? It’s perfect, the company assures its potential customers, for recharging your phone or iPod while lying on the beach.

The unflattering get-up was produced in conjunction with the Hamburg-based renewable energy company Conergy and, perhaps appropriately, presented by Spanish synchronized swimming star Gemma Mengual in Valencia earlier this week. The Solar Swimsuit, on a nice sunny day, has an output of four watts, and the plug-in is integrated into the suit.
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Phone carrier O2 Germany has begun selling the Xda terra, the first shipping phone to be loaded with Windows Mobile 6 Professional.

The Xda terra is based on HTC’s Herald reference design and feature-wise absolute identically. It’s featuring quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE as well as W-LAN and Bluetooth 2.0. Since the Xda terra will replace its forerunner, the Xda Mini S, for sure it’s also sporting a slide-out keyboard. Last but not least it has a 2 megapixel camera on board now. However, as said before, the Xda terra is running Windows Mobile 6 Professional which adds some real improvements to Windows Mobile 5 and the upgrade is definitely worth!

The Xda terra is now orderable from O2 Germany’s online shop. With a two-year contract from O2 the phone costs €80 ($109); in O2 retail stores, it can be bought without contract for €520 ($707). [via]

Recently, Global Mobile Technologies has announced filing for patents regarding the real-time delivery of user-requested content with interactive advertising to mobile phones.

Consumers will now be able to receive and enjoy superior multimedia content, which will include relevant advertising, on any IP-enabled mobile phone. The Push-It offering enables Internet advertising to be translated into a mobile ready format with ‘click through’ and ‘call through’ capabilities and is compatible with over 1,000 mobile devices currently available on the market, having been specifically optimized for each model.

Designed to automatically arrive on mobile phone screens with a ring alert voice call, Push-It will eliminate the need of using the mobile browser. It will deliver rich web content directly to the phone, according to the user’s preferences.
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After many leaked photos of Sony Ericsson’s future P700i handset, the first leaked video has finally shown up on the Internet.

While the exact details regarding the phone’s capabilities remain unknown, rumor has it that it will include an nVidia GoForce 5500 GPU (used in Sony’s PSP), a 3.6 inch screen, 3.2 megapixel camera (with no flash), 15fps video recording and 30fps playback, possibly HSDPA and almost surely WiFi.

The keyboard it comes equipped with will also be appealing to a lot of users, who will be able to compose text messages and emails much faster and more conveniently than a regular numeric keypad would allow.
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It’s official, Verizon Wireless will roll out RIM’s Global CDMA/GSM “World Edition” BlackBerry 8830 on May 14 through its business units and online retailing outfit, with product to hit the brick-and-mortar VZW stores on May 28. The 8830 will cost $299.99 after a $100 rebate with a “new two-year customer agreement”. You can get an additional $100 credit if you sign up for “qualifying” plans when you buy it.

Verizon’s take on the BlackBerry 8830 is much the same as Sprint’s with the microSD slot, media player, QVGA display, and lack of camera, but it seems that Verizon is going with silver rather than the black. The Verizon Wireless BlackBerry 8830 World Edition will sell for $299.99 after a $100 rebate a new two-year contract. You can knock an extra $100 off of the price if you sign up for a “qualifying” plan.

it’s a sweet phone but still mainly an enterprise play. For those of you waiting for a more slender BlackBerry, like the Pearl that T-Mobile made famous, you can keep waiting. Also, if you’re waiting for a T-Mobile-like consumer-friendly price plan for this baby, it ain’t gonna happen. Not as long as they can lure in well-heeled international bankers who spend too much time in the Northeast US to pick any domestic carrier other than Verizon Wireless but really need some kind of mobile multinational e-mailing companion. Don’t get me wrong, I want one bad. I just can’t rationalize a device of such global reach. [via]