Sony Ericsson today announced a low cost, CDMA telematics module to support the pervasive growth of automotive and industrial applications like driver navigation, security, cargo tracking, mobility services and infotainment. The CM52 not only cuts costs for integrators of telematics solutions, but it is tri-mode to support multiple cellular technologies and boasts the widest network coverage in North America.
Last fall, Sharp released the SL-C3000, a Zaurus model with a built-in hard drive. Now they have announced a version of that device without the microdrive. It will not include Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, but the SL-C1000 will have an SD card slot and a CompactFlash Type II slot, allowing the use of wireless networking cards. Running Linux on a 416-MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor with 64 MB of RAM, the SL-C1000 will go on sale in Japan on March 18.
Vodafone K.K. today announces that, as part of its new 3G lineup, it plans to offer the Vodafone 902T handset by Toshiba in late April. The Vodafone 902T features an Active Turn Style design, which allows the display to swivel 180 degrees clockwise while the handset is open, so customers can enjoy the most suitable style when taking pictures or making video calls. Using a concept called Switch to Fun!, the Vodafone 902T’s design was conceived to enable customers to fully enjoy 3G services. The Vodafone 902T is a high-end model in the Vodafone 902/802/702 series that takes full advantage of Vodafone 3G services, with features that include an auto focus 1.92 megapixel camera, a 2.4-inch QVGA screen, twin stereo speakers and Bluetooth support.
Japan’s KDDI/au introduced two different prototype smart-tag mobile phones to the media. One handset is equipped for close-up scanning from just a few centimeters and another reads data as far away as 10 meters. Combined with GPS global positioning networks these handsets could download coupons and ads from nearby stores, receive and store data for distribution companies or scan merchandise right over the phone to link up with detailed shopping info on the Internet. Of course QR codes are already doing some of these things but smart tags bypass a lot of intermediate steps to cut to the encrypted chase.
Toshiba Corporation, the world leader in fuel-cell technology for handheld electronic devices, today announced that Guinness World Records has officially certified its highly compact direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) as the world’s smallest DMFC. The fuel cell will feature in the 2006 edition of Guinness World Records, the perennially popular compendium of record-breaking feats and achievements. Designed for integration into devices as small as digital music players, Toshiba’s DMFC is as long and wide as a thumb, only 22 x 56 x 4.5mm ( maximum of 9.1mm with fuel tank ). This size advantage offers greater design freedom to developers of handheld electronic devices, without any compromises in performance. Although small enough for integration into a wireless headset for mobile phones, the prototype is efficient enough to power an MP3 music player for as long as 20 hours on a single 2cc charge of highly concentrated methanol.
Ten of Japan’s telecom hardware and communication LSI makers recently announced plans to establish the ZigBee SIG Japan (ZigBee SIG-J) in the summer of 2005. ZigBee SIG-J will be a non-profit organization aimed at promoting the use of the ZigBee short-distance wireless standard. Given Japan’s traditional strength in the design and manufacture of control systems, this could be a hint of big things to come.
