Products

• Technology news: Nokia N97 takes on rivals with touch-screen, social location features

  
  03 December 2008
  
  

  Intelligent design ... the N97 is a smart phone, but some analysts wonder if it's the smartest move for Nokia
  NOKIA has unveiled the N97, a high-end iPhone competitor, although analysts say the device alone is not enough to help recover lost market share.

  The new Nokia N97 handset comes with a large touch screen, will retail for 550 euros ($1089) before taxes and subsidies and is due to reach the international market by the end of June next year.

  It has promised to introduce touch-screen models across its portfolio. Nokia was the last major handset maker to introduce touch-screen phones after the runaway success of Apple's iPhone, and last month started to sell its first such model.

  Nokia's announcement claimed the N97 "carves a new space in the otherwise blurred realm between smartphone and laptop", but its features are quite similar to other leading smartphones — handsets with computer-like features such as email.

  The new N97 features a touchscreen, slide-out keyboard, up to 45GB storage, 5MP camera, location-based services that feed into social networks, software running on Nokia's S60 platform and live updates to widgets on the home screen.

  It is also a direct rival to Sony Ericsson's X1 and HTC's Touch Pro — both of which use Microsoft's Windows software and are in shops already — and analysts said by the time it goes on sale more direct rivals will likely have appeared.

  "It might give Nokia a little edge, but it's six months until this reaches the market," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

  CCS Insight's Research Director, Ben Wood, said Nokia had faced difficult choices with the N97.

  "It tried to cram in lots of different technologies such as a touch screen, full qwerty keyboard and plenty of memory, but it had to make trade-offs in its size and features," he said.

  "It has ended up with a relatively thick device that lacks some of the benchmark features expected in flagship products in mid-2009," he said.

  Nokia continues to lead the global market for smartphones but it has lost significant share to Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry, worrying investors and analysts as this is expected to weigh on the Finnish group's profit margins.

  All vendors are after a bigger slice of the smartphone market, which is set to continue growing next year despite gloom in the wider handset market.

  "Without a doubt Nokia needed a high-end touch-screen phone," said Martti Larjo, analyst at Nordea.

   

  (news.com.au)

• Technology news: Apple suggests Mac users install antivirus software

  
  01 December 2008
  

  In what appears to be a first, Apple is recommending that Mac users install antivirus software.
  
  But don't read this as an admission that the Mac operating system is suddenly insecure. It's more a recognition that Mac users are vulnerable to Web application exploits, which have replaced operating system vulnerabilities as the bigger threat to computer users.
  
  Apple quietly signaled its shift with an item titled "Mac OS: Antivirus utilities" posted on its Support Web site November 21: "Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent, thus making the whole virus writing process more difficult."
  
  The item offers three software suggestions: Intego VirusBarrier X5 and Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 11 for Macintosh, both available from the Apple Online Store, and McAfee VirusScan for Mac.
  
  Brian Krebs, who first reported on the Apple antivirus recommendation Monday in his Security Fix blog at The Washington Post, said an Apple store employee told him he didn't need antivirus software when he purchased a MacBook three months ago.

   

  (Cnet news)

• Technology news: AMD Phenom II chips echo Intel's i7

  
  01 December 2008
  

  940 versus 940. That may be the confusing Intel-AMD processor model-number juxtaposing that consumers can look forward to next year.

  A Chinese Web site has posted details of Advanced Micro Devices' upcoming Phenom II desktop processors, of which at least two are due to be launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

  The post on HKEPC lists more than a dozen new models due to be launched during the next eight months. AMD is now moving its chips to 45-nanometer process technology from an older 65-nanometer process. Generally, smaller geometries result in faster and more power-efficient processors.
  
  Processors listed include the quad-core Phenom II X4 920 and Phenom II X4 940 due in January, rated at 2.8GHz and 3.0GHz, respectively.
  
  Interestingly (and maybe not coincidentally), AMD's high-end Phenom II X4 920 and 940 model numbers match the branding of Intel's Core i7-920 (2.66GHz) and i7-940 (2.93GHz).
  
  Both the AMD and Intel models are 45nm quad-core desktop processors with large caches. High-end Phenom II processors come with 8MB of cache memory. Typically, the more cache memory, the better the performance.
  
  Other processors listed include the Phenom II X4 810 and 805, both due in February, rated at 2.6GHz and 2.5GHz, respectively, according to HKEPC. These have 6MB of cache memory.
  
  HKEPC also lists triple-core Phenom II X3 processors and Athlon X4 processors.
  
  The site also posted a table showing new naming scheme for the processors.
  
  AMD will bring out its first generation of 45nm processors just as Intel is beginning commercial shipments of its second-generation 45nm product, the Core i7, which Intel officially introduced on November 17.

   

  (Cnet news)