Motorola’s Atrix 4G

Not to get all gushy or anything, but I think one of Harry’s best opinion columns was the one from March 2009 about how smartphones are destined to replace the PC, and how the comforts of full-sized computing — keyboard, mouse, monitor — will become dumb shells for our powerful handsets.

Motorola’s Atrix 4G is an indication that he’s right. The phone itself marks a technological leap, as one of several new Android handsets with dual-core processors, but the real revolution is an optional dock that acts like a laptop when the phone is plugged in. There’s also a separate HD dock for televisions and external monitors, with USB ports for full-sized keyboards and mouses. Ladies and gentlemen: your dumb shells.

When the smartphone is docked, it launches desktop software on the 11.6-inch laptop screen, with a full version of Mozilla’s Firefox browser and Adobe Flash 10.1. If you believe Google’s claim that we spend 90 percent of our computing time in the web browser, the Atrix dock is pretty close to being a complete laptop, and it can use Citrix’s virtualization services to access PC apps through the Internet. The dock software can also access the Android OS, so you can run apps in full screen.

The HD dock feeds 720p video to TVs or external monitors, and while it can access the laptop dock’s software and Web browser, it also has its own multimedia interface for quickly launching movies, music and photos.

Motorola’s Atrix is a potentially harmful development for wireless carriers, because while they’re trying to push more data plans on their users for laptops and tablets, the Atrix is the start of consolidation back to a single device. Why get a 3G netbook if your smartphone’s dumb shell performs almost all the same tasks?

And yet, AT&T will carry the Atrix when it launches this quarter. If AT&T doesn’t muck up the data pricing or charge a fortune for the docks, we might just get a little taste of the future in the next few months.

Micromax Andro A60

The new Micromax Andro A60 is the first Android mobile phone from Micromax . It is a full 2.8-inch touchscreen display mobile phone running the older version , Android v2.1 , of the Android OS . Android is one of the fastest growing mobile OS in the world , thanks to its open source nature and Google tag . The Android OS is made by Google and now distributed as an open source in which mobile vendors can customize it according to their needs . The new Micromax A60 supports high speed 3G connectivity and Wireless LAN WiFi support .The Android OS version is not upgradeable to the latest Android v2.2 for this mobile .

Micromax A60 price :

The new Micromax A60 price is Rs.6,600

Micromax A60 mobile phone key features :

    * Android 2.1 Eclair
    * Full Touch Screen
    * 3.2 mega-pixel Auto Focus Camera
    * Voice Assisted GPS Navigation
    * Android Market
    * Wi-Fi
    * Accelerator Sensor
    * High speed 3G connectivity

Micromax A60 mobile phone specifications :

    * Operating System : Android v2.1 OS
    * 600MHz CPU
    * Band : GSM 900&1800MHz – WCDMA 900/2100MHz
    * Weight : 105gms
    * Dimensions : 106.8×59.2x14mm
    * Large 2.8-inch touchscreen display , 320×240 pixel resolution
    * Gravity Sensors
    * Digital compass
    * 3G HSDPA/HSUPA
    * WiFi
    * Bluetooth
    * miniUSB
    * 150MB Internal memory
    * Expandable memory up to 32GB
    * FM Radio
    * Music Player
    * Video Player and recorder
    * Google services – GMail,Google Maps,Google Search
    * GPS
    * 3.5mm headphone jack
    * Battery Type : 1280 mAh Li-ion Battery
          o Talk Time : Up to 4 hours
          o Standby Time : Up to 10 days

Accessories :

    * Transreceiver
    * Standard Charger
    * Standard Battery
    * Handsfree Kit
    * Data Cable
    * User Guide
    * Service Guide
    * Warranty Card

Samsung's New Galaxy series

Here are two leaked pictures of the Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 and Galaxy Suit S5670.

Samsung Galaxy Ace

The Galaxy Ace features a HVGA (480 x 320 pixels) touchscreen display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 5MP camera

Samsung Galaxy Suit S5670

 While the Galaxy Suit S5670 is a mid-end Android handset. Both the Samsung Galaxy Ace and the Galaxy Suit should be officially unveiled by Samsung at MWC 2011 next month

Evolve

The Maestro is another upcoming triple-boot tablet from Evolve III. Due to be out in Q2, 2011, the device is packed with a 10.1-inch touchscreen display, an Intel Atom N475 processor, a 2GB RAM, a 32GB SSD, a microSD card slot, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 3G, WiFi, a G-Sensor, built-in speakers and can handle Windows 7, Google Android and MeeGo Linux operating systems.

Universal charger for Mobiles

Last week European Commission (EU) standardized the Mobile phone charger to be common from all the major brands. Down the line this is spreading to the mobile world. All Major brands  including Nokia, Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion (RIM), Samsung, SonyEricsson, TCT Mobile (ALCATEL mobile phones), Emblaze Mobile, Huawei, Texas Instruments and Atmel signed an MOU in June 2009. Now they would like to implement the same as initiated by EU.

EU says the common charger will make life easier for consumers, reduce waste and benefit businesses. It is a true win-win situation. The new chargers will use the micro-USB connector. However, many smartphones and mobile phones from Nokia, Samsung, and LG etc released in the recent times were capable of charging with their own charge pin and through the USB port as-well. Nokia clarified that "Nokia’s standard 2mm charger will continue to be supported, so standard Nokia chargers will still be useable as well." Anticipating the same with all the other major brands.

Motorola Xoom tablet

The legions of CES tablet wannabes can give up now: Motorola just killed it with their much-rumored Xoom tablet, an iPad-sized black slab whose beauty is within, in its Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS. Designed by Google from the ground-up with touchscreen tablets in mind, it's the first software experience that looks like it can go toe-to-toe with Apple's iOS.

There weren't any fully working models for us to play with here at Motorola's press event, but several hardware-final tablets were on hand playing demo videos of Honeycomb's interface and features

Specs wise, the Xoom sports a 10.1-inch 1280x800 screen, Verizon 3G onboard (which is actually upgradeable to 4G LTE later in the year), 1080p HD video playback and streaming, front and rear cameras for videochatting, and an SD card slot for additional storage.

Razer Switchblade Gaming Netbook

From the annals of goofy might-or-might-not-happen CES concepts comes the Razer Switchblade, a 7-inch gaming netbook from venerable gaming accessory maker Razer. A 7-inch screen is a distinctly small size for a Windows 7 computer, and for gaming it seems particularly problematic. Razer has an interesting way of dealing with the problem of an undersized keyboard: Pop OLED screens under every single one, so you can totally change the configuration of the keyboard at will.

The Switchblade is sort of a conceptual combination of the Toshiba Libretto (with its dual 7-inch screens) and the Optimus Prime keyboard (the first keyboard to push the individual-OLED idea). The Switchblade's keyboard is of standard size for 7-inch netbooks, which means fairly small keys (and not a whole lot of them). To compensate, Razer used keys that are actually tiny OLED screens, which means you can put any image you want on them.

The possibilities for gaming are pretty obvious: You can map any shortcut to any key, and give it a nice logo to keep track. You can cut the keys you don't use, or change the configuration so it's easier to use on such a small keyboard.

 It's such a cool idea that we hope it gets picked up like  say, an Alienware gaming laptop.