Author: Surur

Reuters report that HTC, which was initially enamoured with Palm and considered a union, recoiled in horror after seeing the veteran company without make-up.

After HTC did their due diligence and examined the companies internal books, Reuters’s sources report HTC is no longer interested in hooking up.

"There just weren’t enough synergies to take the deal forward," said the source with direct knowledge of the matter, who declined to be named because the deal had not yet been made public.

HTC Chief Financial Officer Cheng Hui-ming and Lenovo spokeswoman Angela Lee both declined comment. Palm has said they still believe they can go it alone, and has expressed further interest in licensing their OS.

"It’s a good thing that HTC is dropping it because Palm has been losing money for a while now, and when you look at the two companies, they share such a similar profile," said Lu Chialin, an analyst at Macquarie Securities.

"A more suitable candidate will be mainland China companies, because they’ve got a lot more free cash and don’t have the brand presence in the U.S. yet."

However both Huawei and ZTE, which have been rumoured to be interest, are out of the deal, leaving Lenovo the last one standing. Whether that interest can withstand the scrutiny that due diligence required of Palm, who has not made money in 13 quarters, remains to be seen.

We know we would certainly have preferred an HTC end to Palm’s story.  What do our readers think? let us know below.

Via Engadget.com

We now know nearly everything about the KIN One and Two devices, but a little bit more info was released recently, courtesy of John Starkweather’s GTGT profile, where both KIN One and KIN Two devices showed up.

The new info consists of the processor speed, which is listed at 600 Mhz.  Still not confirmed is whether the phones are powered by NVidia Tegra or not, but this is still believed to be the case.  The other is finally the depth of both devices, which is listed as 0.75 inches (19 mm) which would make them pretty chunky indeed.

See the full profiles here and here.

Via Engadget.com

The above video tells a rather harrowing story for HTC HD2 owners?  Does it have a happy ending? Watch the video to find out

Cypress demonstrating their large format multi-touch technology

Press Release: Cypress Semiconductor Corp. today announced that the TrueTouch™ touchscreen solution is natively supported in the soon to be released Windows^®Phone 7 Series mobile handset platform. This support allows handset manufacturers using the Windows Phone 7 Series to implement exciting capacitive touchscreen interfaces without the need for developing external drivers or custom software development.

“Cypress is proud to see the TrueTouch solution selected for native support within this exciting new platform,” said Dhwani Vyas, vice president of the User Interface Business Unit at Cypress. “Of the many touchscreen products available, none offers the advanced features and flexibility of TrueTouch. The interface within Windows Phone 7 Series enables manufacturers to take advantage of these attributes quickly and seamlessly. This software support, coupled with our broad family of devices, is going to significantly reduce time-to-market for the next generation of capacitive-touch-enabled Windows Phone 7 Series phones.”

Cypress recently announced its next-generation high performance TMA300 multi-touch all-point family. This controller provides best-in-class scan times for true multi-finger touch and superior signal-to-noise ratio for the most demanding touchscreen applications. Cypress has also recently demonstrated advanced functions such as 1 mm stylus and large touchscreen support. Additional information about the TrueTouch solution is available at www.cypress.com/go/TrueTouch.

The flexible TrueTouch solution allows customers to rapidly develop leading-edge solutions without having to buy turnkey modules. They have a choice of using touch sensors (glass or film) and LCDs from preferred partners, and can develop innovative mechanical designs ranging from flat to curved surfaces of varying thickness. In addition, TrueTouch devices offer Cypress’s legendary noise immunity with patented capacitive sensing technology that enables flawless operation in noisy RF and LCD environments.

About Cypress

Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the flagship PSoC® programmable system-on-chip families and derivatives such as PowerPSoC® solutions for high-voltage and LED lighting applications, CapSense® touch sensing and TrueTouch™ solutions for touchscreens. Cypress is the world leader in USB controllers, including the high-performance West Bridge® solution that enhances connectivity and performance in multimedia handsets. Cypress is also a leader in high-performance memories and programmable timing devices. Cypress serves numerous markets including consumer, mobile handsets, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial and military. Cypress trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at www.cypress.com.

EETimes has acquired a internal Samsung document which shows ARM’s roadmap for the next few years, which includes ARM chips not just for smartphones but also netbooks.

The full roadmap include:

2010

• Taurus, 1 GHz Cortex-A8 (single core)

2011

• Mercury, 600 MHz Cortex-A5 (single core)
• Orion, 800 MHz Cortex-A9 (dual core)
• Pegasus, 1 GHz Cortex-A9 (single core)
• Hercules, 1 Ghz Cortex-A9 (dual core)

2012/13

• Venus, 600 MHz Cortex-A5 (dual core)
• Draco, 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 (dual core)
• Aquila, 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 (quad core)

Its likely the Quad-core chips are destined more for netbooks and tablets running mobile OS’s than your next smartphone. Hopefully Apple will not steal the company away and keep all the good stuff for itself.

Read more at Slashgear and Neowin here.

Apple has never played well with others, and is well known for their use of proprietary technology to lock in customers and vendors.

Despite opening their own chip design company, it must have rankled to still have to rely on Cambridge-based ARM Holdings for the basic design of their chips.

Given their $40 billion cash hoard however Apple does not have to put up with the situation for long.

Rumours are currently going round in the markets that Apple is looking to buy the chip technology company for a cool $8 billion, seeing the ARM’s share price shoot up  8.1p to 251.1p, and more than five million shares changed hands by midday.

“A deal would make a lot of sense for Apple,” said one trader. “That way, they could stop ARM’s technology from ending up in everyone else’s computers and gadgets.”

ARM is somewhat of standard, with their chip design being widely licensed by many companies, including Qualcomm, Samsung, Texas Instruments and Marvell and all current generation smartphone operating systems being tied to the chip design. Around 10 years ago this was not the case, with the MIPS and SH3 architectures still in use by many companies. If Apple were to stop making available further design improvements to others it could leave other smartphone makers scrambling for an alternative which no longer exists.

Can anyone think of a more evil company than Apple to own such a technology lynchpin? Let us know your thoughts below.

Source: Evening Standard via Trusted Reviews.com

Engadget has managed a scoop of epic proportions with the first Windows Phone 7 device, not from HTC, but unusually from Dell.

The smartphone features the unusual portrait slider form factor, coupled with a 4.1 inch WVGA screen. Even more unusual is that the device only comes with 1 GB of internal storage and then an 8 GB microSD card, which will hopefully be user upgradable (although this is not specified).

This deviation from what we have come to expect may have been explained by the mock-ups being older, but the date on the slide is only 3 weeks ago, suggesting that the device is already in an advanced stage.

See more of the pictures after the break.

Does this smartphone tempt our readers? Let us know below.

Via Engadget.com

Thanks Rakesh for the tip.

Press Release: Today from its annual All Hands Meeting in Seattle, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) unveiled more information about its forthcoming Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0, with the hallmark feature of low energy technology. Bluetooth v4.0, expected to be brought to market by the end of Q2, will feature a powerful low energy mode designed to enable expansion of the technology in m-health, sports and fitness, security and home entertainment scenarios where button-cell battery devices proliferate.

"Bluetooth v4.0 throws open the doors to a host of new markets for Bluetooth manufacturers and products such as watches, remote controls, and a variety of medical and in-home sensors. Many of these products run on button-cell batteries that must last for years versus hours and will also benefit from the longer range enabled by this new version of the Bluetooth specification," said Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG.

Bluetooth v4.0 is like three specifications in one – Classic Bluetooth technology, Bluetooth low energy technology, and Bluetooth high speed technology– all which can be combined or used separately in different devices according to their functionality. For example, sensors like those in pedometers and glucose monitors will run only low energy technology, thus saving power, cost and space within the device. Watches will take advantage of both low energy technology while collecting data from fitness sensors on the body as well as Classic Bluetooth technology when sending that information to a PC, or separately displaying caller ID information when wirelessly connected to a mobile phone. Mobile phones and PCs, which support the widest range of uses, will utilize the full package with Classic, low energy and high speed technology running side by side.

As with previous versions of the specification, the range of the Bluetooth v4.0 radio may be optimized according to application. The majority of Bluetooth devices on the market today include the basic 30 foot, or 10 meter, range of the Classic Bluetooth radio, but there is no limit imposed by the Specification. With Bluetooth v4.0, manufacturers may choose to optimize range to 200 feet and beyond, particularly for in-home sensor applications where longer range is a necessity.

Bluetooth v4.0 was recently named one of the "10 Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2010 and 2011" by Gartner, Inc. Technologies chosen for the list were selected on their potential to evolve and impact short-term mobile strategies and policies. Specifically, Bluetooth v4.0 is cited to have significant impact on the fitness, healthcare and environmental control industries.

Availability

The specification for Bluetooth v4.0 with the hallmark feature of low energy technology was first introduced in December 2009. Samples of sensors utilizing this specification are available from some silicon manufacturers today. Integration of Bluetooth low energy wireless technology within the Bluetooth specification will be completed before June 30, 2010. Upon completion, mobile phone and PC manufacturers may enhance their Bluetooth product offerings with support for Bluetooth low energy wireless technology.

End-user devices with Bluetooth v4.0 are expected to reach the market in late 2010 or early 2011.

Comment

The question of what’s next for our smartphones come up occasionally.  At present it appears to be largely about integrating with online services, but the rise of location-based services start bringing the technology closer to home, and eventually technologies like Bluetooth 4.0 will allow us not just to interact effectively with services on the internet, but also with your DVR and running machine and fridge. In the coming future, it appears we will be welded even more to the phone we carry in our pocket.

Via Engadget.com

DavidK over at FuzeMobility seems to have retired his Fuze for a HTC HD2 and appears to be pretty impressed with one of its features, the dual LED flash.  He took some pictures in a completely dark room to see what the useful range of the flash is, and his results are pretty surprising.

Regarding the set up of his test he says:

Nighttime with all lights off and no substantial ambient light (just what makes it through the windows and into a kitchen). A regular camera (DSLR, pocket camera, etc) will not detect any light and the image is just black. So, how does the HD2 fare in this setting? Take a look for yourself.

FYI all the photos are treated the same way. The background is blurred except for a bag of Animal Crackers which I zoomed into and set in detail so you can see the actual photo size relative to the inset.

David has a whole collection of pictures, but I will only reproduce the ones at 5 feet and 20 feet.

See the pictures after the break.

5 feet 

20 feet

He concludes:

The light on the Fuze is good and it’s a great flashlight but it can’t hold a candle to the HD2’s dual LED flash. If you have any concerns about going out at night and missing the shot because of a poor cell phone camera (maybe you even have a phone without a flash at all) if you’re carrying the HD2 you won’t have anything to be nervous about…except blinding your friends:)

See the rest of the pictures at Fuzemobility here.

Neos has published this video showing off the compatibility of their Bluetooth keyboard with the HTC HD2, a process which fortunately does not appear to need any drivers loaded on the HTC HD2 except the standard Bluetooth ones.

The keyboard is available online for around $80 USD and beside being marketed at the HD2 appears to also work with a variety of PDAs and smartphones, including the iPad.

It is likely the coming availability of Bluetooth keyboard support on the iPhone will result in many more accessories becoming available featuring the technology, hopefully including a small book-type case with a landscape keyboard.

Do any of our readers have day to day experience with using a Bluetooth keyboard with their HD2? Let us known below.