Gaggle of Consumer Gadgets Unveiled

The division between computing and consumer electronics products continues to narrow, a point driven home by the wide range of gadgets unveiled at the recent CeBIT trade show. These devices prove that technology once related only to the PC is now moving into the mainstream, even among non-PC users.

Shining Bright

A few years ago displays based on Organic Light Emitting Diode technology existed only as prototypes, but a handful of products with OLED displays were shown at CeBIT this year.

Perhaps the most impressive was a new digital still camera from Eastman Kodak. The EasyShare LS633 camera has a 2.2-inch active matrix OLED display on its back that is capable of showing fast-moving images in full color. Compared to the TFT LCD panels usually found on such cameras, the OLED is brighter and uses less power. Features include a 3.1-megapixel image sensor and a 3X optical zoom. It will be available in Europe, Asia, and Australia in April for around $400.

A number of other products with monochrome OLED displays were also shown.

Samsung Electronics' new SGH-i500 smart phone has a clamshell design with an OLED display on the outside and a TFT LCD on the inside. The handset is a new version of the company's SPH-i500 phone, which was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The SGH-i500 uses the Palm 5.2 operating system--it's the first cell phone to include the latest version of PalmSource's OS--which means it doesn't need a dedicated graffiti handwriting area because everything can be done in a software pad on-screen.

The company was also showing a prototype Dick Tracy-style watch phone with a 256-color OLED display. The phone, scheduled to be available later this year, weighs less than 3 ounces and includes a built-in WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) browser--though the watch's 96-by-64-pixel screen, which has a diagonal width of slightly over an inch, could be a little small for serious mobile Web browsing.

Other cellular telephone makers are also looking at OLED technology. Sanyo showed a prototype sliding-display cell phone with a full-color OLED that it hopes to put on sale in Japan later this year. And Motorola showed its new V600 phone, which includes an OLED display as well.

Hard Drives Ditch the Desktop

What started with Apple Computer's IPod portable music player is now becoming mainstream. Several hard drive-based digital music players were on display at CeBIT, including two new models from IRiver, a leading South Korean maker of MP3 players.

The IHP-100 is a rectangular model with a 1.8-inch internal hard drive that has 10GB of storage space. The IGP-100 is a smaller, round player with a 1-inch hard drive that has a capacity of 1.5GB. Both players connect to personal computers via USB 2.0 and have a battery life of between 14 and 16 hours.

Handful of Phones

Because it was packed with so many prototypes, Samsung's stand was one of the most interesting in the cellular telephone hall.

In addition to the new SGH-i500 Palm phone and the watch phone, Samsung had two other smart phones on display. One is the company's first handset based on the Symbian operating system. The telephone, which was first unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress Conference in February, is a clamshell design with a rotating display that can be turned to face outward or inward when the handset is closed.

Samsung's other smart phone is the SGH-i700, a portable digital assistant handset based on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 platform. The phone/PDA hybrid device is designed to be used by people who want full PDA functionality on their cell phones. It was also launched at 3GSM.

All three smart phone handsets are triband GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) models; the SGH-i500 and SGH-i700 also support GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). Samsung plans to launch the telephones in the European market in the third quarter of this year. Pricing and launch details for other markets were not available.

Truly Compact PC

After generating some interest a couple of years ago for its compact Pentium III-based personal computer, Taiwan's Saintsong was back at CeBIT this year showing what it says is the smallest Pentium 4 desktop yet developed. It measures 8.1 inches by 6.1 inches by 2.4 inches, and weighs 4.2 pounds.

The machine will support a Pentium 4 up to 2.8 GHz, up to 1GB of memory, an optical disc drive, and up to a 60GB hard drive, and it comes with built-in USB 2.0, ethernet, a modem, and a TV-signal output. Saintsong says a bare-bones system will cost around $478 and should be available in April.

Thin Is In

Power Quotient International displayed what it said is the smallest USB flash disk memory card available. The company has stripped away the metal casing that usually surrounds the outside of a USB plug, and designed a thin plastic connector that slots straight into a USB socket. That enables the entire flash disk to be thin, so the whole device looks something like a conventional memory card with a plastic connector added on the side.

The Taiwanese company calls it an "intelligent stick" and has already created USB 1.1 versions with up to 128MB capacity ($53); the company expects to have a 256MB version within two months. A USB 2.0 version is also available at capacities up to 64MB ($64).

Betting on Blue

NEC and Toshiba showed a pair of blue-laser optical disc drives for personal computers. They are based on AOD (Advanced Optical Disc), a next-generation blue-laser format that supports storage of 20GB of data on a 4.7-inch disc.

A working prototype was on display on the NEC booth; Toshiba had a nonworking prototype. The format is battling Blu-ray, which comes from a group headed by Sony, and is targeted at storage of high-definition video.

Wi-Fi Wows

At first glance, BenQ's WM1000 Wireless Media Adapter looks like a typical Wi-Fi access point. But looks can be deceiving. The device is designed to stream DVD-quality MPEG-4 video and MP3 music over an 802.11b wireless LAN connection. The WM1000 can stream video from a PC, a DVD player, or a cable source to a television.

The WM1000 will begin shipping next quarter, the company said; pricing was not immediately available. The company, based in Taipei, will initially release the product in Asia before rolling it out to other regions. The company did not give a time frame for worldwide rollout.

Honey, I Shrunk the SD

Memory cards keep getting smaller, which is good news for consumers because it helps device makers design more-compact portable electronics devices. The SD Card Association announced the smallest memory card yet at CeBIT. The Mini SD card is less than half the size of a conventional SD card and just 20 percent of the size of a Memory Stick.

The Mini SD cards will be available in 16MB, 32MB, and 64MB capacities shortly, SanDisk said. A version with 128MB capacity is expected to be launched worldwide in the second quarter, and a 256MB version will arrive in the second half of this year. SanDisk declined to comment on pricing plans, but the company said the cards should cost about the same as current SD cards.

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