Guar cebit stuff

It might not be as glamorous as CES in

Las Vegas

or as entertaining as Ceatec in

Tokyo

, but the CeBIT exhibition which kicked off earlier this week in

Hanover

,

Germany

is quite possibly the most influential electronics trade show on the planet.

And while all kinds of technologies are represented in the exhibition’s gargantuan halls, this year the focus has been on telecommunications.

In particular the race to replace the traditional home phone landline has taken some dramatic twists with solutions unveiled by both mobile and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) companies. Promising to take VoIP to the masses is Inventel which paraded a DECT gateway that will enable users to make cheap or free phone calls away from their PC on a traditional wireless style phone. The company has apparently teamed up in the

UK

with BT. Meanwhile Siemens is also eyeing up the VoIP market with the Gigaset S35 WLAN mobile which can latch on to a wireless network, both at home and at a Wi-Fi hot spot, to make and receive VoIP telephone calls.

Almost all the major players have been showcasing their most recent mobile phones. Among them is the S200 from Hagenuk, a Palm OS based smartphone with a touch screen, SD card slot and 1.2 mega pixel camera. It goes on sale in

Germany

soon with a

UK

launch expected for later in the year.

CeBIT's other major story is the explosion of GPS systems for both PDAs and mobile phones. In among a range of solutions for both Windows and Symbian smartphones is the Falk Activepilot service, a GPS system from Map&Guide and Falk Marco Polo Interactive that will work with Java based handsets – the majority of mobile phones sold. Meanwhile rival GPS company TomTom is supplementing its range of satellite navigation systems with a new service, TomTom Plus, that enables real-time traffic and weather information to be delivered to any new TomTom product via a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone. 

Navman, one of an interesting contingent of exhibitors from

New Zealand

, also has new GPS product in the guise of the PIN 57, a Windows based PDA. It is also displaying the X300, the latest in its series of sports devices, which uses GPS satellites to tell joggers, skiers or cyclists how far and fast they are going.

Other highlights include the MP-010, a 40 Gigabyte hard disk based portable media player from Sitecom which is set to retail for an ultra competitive £174.99, the Planon DocuPen R700, apparently the word’s smallest A4 scanner and the mm22, a portable speaker solution for the iPod from Logitech.

 

 

Gizmondo

 

The mobile phone/PDA handheld games console hybrid Gizmondo will finally arrive in the

UK

on March 19^th. The device will be available from several retailers including the dedicated Gizmondo store which will open that day on

London

’s

Regent Street

. Accompanied by a pay-as–you go SIM and an SD card containing movies and samples of games the Gizmondo will sell for £229. Cards featuring full games including Richard Burns Rally and Conflict:

Vietnam

will retail for between £10-30. It will face tough competition from Nintendo’s DS which reaches

UK

stores on Friday the 11^th, and Sony’s PSP (PlayStation Portable) which is now tipped to debut in the

UK

at the end of April.

 

www.gizmondo.com

 

 

iRiver

 

Korean music player manufacturer iRiver has taken the wraps off a pair of new players in its H10 series. Set to debut in the UK in April is a 20 Gigabyte hard disk player (£229), which is slightly larger than the five Gigabyte module in the series, and a one Gigabyte flash memory based model (£139). Both sport 260k colour LCD screens, feature an FM radio, are controlled via a touchpad and offer voice recording facilities.

Battery

life is rated at 16 hours for the 20 Gigabyte player and 60 hours for the one Gigabyte model. Both will play back both MP3 tracks and are compatible with downloaded Windows Media Audio files from sites like Napster.

 

www.iriver.com

 

Pentax

 

Pentax has refreshed its range of digital cameras adding a pair of budget models and an updated version of its entry level digital SLR. Aimed at first time digital camera buyers the £150 Option 50 takes five mega pixel images, sports a 3xoptical zoom and features a ‘simple’ mode that optimises the camera’s settings to deliver the best possible results. Available in March for £249 the Optio S5n is an ultra compact camera that takes five mega pixel images includes 3xoptical zoom and features a 2.0inch LCD screen. Finally Pentax is to offer its entry level *istDS digital SLR in silver. Set to go on sale next month for the £699.99 *istDS takes six mega pixel images and is compatible with Pentax's interchangeable lenses.

 

www.pentax.co.uk

 

Siemens

 

Siemens is aiming for high end 3G mobile phone buyers with the feature-packed SXG75. Unveiled this week at CeBIT the white and silver chocolate bar style handset features a two mega pixel camera, an MP3 player and includes a full GPS navigation system that delivers voice or text instructions to guide the user to their destination. The phone also offers video calling facilities and sports a 256k colour LCD screen. Other features include a built-in translator for English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, Bluetooth, Instant Messaging, email and push to talk. There’s no definite launch date yet.

 

www.siemens.co.uk

 

Kiss

 

Danish based Kiss Technology has unveiled what it is billing as the world’s first hard disk video recorder that can be programmed remotely over the internet or via a mobile phone. The DP-558, which also features an integrated DVD recorder, uses an internet-controlled Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) that can be accessed via a specially set up web page. The recorder also boasts an integrated TV tuner, is available with either an 80 or 200 Gigabyte hard disk and features a Timeshift function that enables users to pause live and rewind live television. There’s no word yet on prices or launch dates.

 

www.kiss-technology.com

 

Review

 

Yamaha YSP-1

 

£800

 

For several decades now audio manufacturers have been trying to develop products that recreate the full cinematic surround sound experience from just one speaker, thereby consigning rear speakers, and their annoying trailing wires, to history. Although it can in no way compete with a fully wired home cinema speaker system the Yamaha YSP-1 Digital Surround Projector certainly gets closer to wireless surround sound than sub-£1000 system has before. Designed to fit unobtrusively under flat screen TVs, the rather sombre-looking YSP-1 boasts 42 amps and 40 speakers which combine to deliver a powerful room-filling performance. It achieves this by using digital sound projection technology to place the surround sound signals into various beams, which are distributed to various parts of the room, interacting with walls and furniture along the way. It works best in smaller rooms as the sound was clearly less focused in our large thin lounge. The YSP-1 is also very simple to set up, it connects directly to a TV/digital decoder and doesn’t require an amplifier. So while the YSP-1 won’t quite cut it with serious home cinephiles, for those who enjoy noisy movies and want a big sounding one box system it is real winner.

 

www.yamaha-audio.co.uk