Technology

Another HTC Google Android smartphone? You don’t say!
The HTC Incredible — yes, it’s quite a name to live up to — has been caught in the wild courtesy of Pocketnow, which managed to snag a few photos and video of the device, two of which you can see above.

There are a few details about the device, according to a tipster to the site: A Snapdragon processor, Android 2.1 (with HTC’s Sense UI, of course), 256MB of memory, an optical mouse pointer and a camera with a dual-LED flash.
From the looks of that photo, the display is at least 3.5 inches, and the camera is as big on the back as the one on the Google Nexus One, I reckon. According to an old Engadget tip, it’s coming to Verizon, too.
So what — another Android phone. My question: will Google begin to woo business users away from BlackBerry so that Android can run free in the enterprise?

Price:$850.95
A colorful and fashionable 14” notebook expresses your personality and lets you enjoy multimedia entertainment, web surfing and meets all your computing needs in style.
# Make A Powerful Statement : Enjoy the powerful performance of an Intel® Core™ i3 - 330M processor (2.13GHz) and 4GB of system memory.
# The VAIO® CW notebook comes pre-installed with Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium.
# A perfect mix of power and style, the VAIO® CW notebook is a slim, lightweight PC weighing only 5.3lbs (with standard battery).
# Tackle virtually any graphics requirement with a NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M graphics card and 256MB of dedicated video RAM.

# Express Yourself With Color : The CW notebook’s eye-catching Icy White glossy color graces its exterior as well as a gradient color on the palmrest to ensure that this PC makes a head-to-toe color coordinated impression.
# Rich Multimedia : Fall in love with your favorite movies all over again with a 14”(1366x768) LED backlit display using energy-efficient technology.
# Enjoying your media has never been more fun with the uniquely smart and easy-to-use Sony® Creativity Suite. Get instantly organized with smart sorting features, create personal masterpieces with easy-to-use creative tools and rediscover forgotten music and memories with breakthrough technology that recommends content based on your unique listening and viewing habits.
# Take advantage of the convenience and utility of DVD and CD read/write functionalities.
# An HDMI™ output delivers video and audio to external sources via a single cable so you can enjoy HD entertainment on your compatible big screen TV without a myriad of extra cables (HDMI™ cable sold separately).
# Endless Features : A built-in Assist button launches VAIO Care™ software, a simple do-it yourself PC maintenance tool for tune-ups, troubleshooting and more.
# Stay connected to friends and family with real-time video conferencing using the integrated MOTION EYE® camera and microphone with face-tracking technology.
# Extend the reach of your notebook with A2DP Bluetooth® technology. It's ideal for advanced wireless communication and streaming uncompromised CD-quality stereo music to Bluetooth® technology enabled speakers or headphones.
Tech Specs
Audio
Sound System : Intel® High Definition Audio
Display
Back Light Technology : LED
Resolution : 1366x768
Screen Size : 14"
Environmental Information
ENERGY STAR® : 5.0
EPEAT™ : Gold
ROHS® : Compliant
Expansion Slots
Multimedia Card Reader : One Memory Stick PRO™ media slot (Standard/Duo) with MagicGate® functionality One ExpressCard® /34 media slot One Secure Digital (SD memory card) media slot
General
Action Buttons : VAIO, Assist, Wireless on / off, Display Off
Computer Type : Notebook
Pointing Device : Electro-static touchpad (Multi-Finger)
Type of Use : Portable
Graphics
Chipset : Mobile Intel® PM55 Express Chipset
Max. External Display Resolution via HDMI™ : 1920x1080
Max. External Resolution via VGA : 2048x1536
Processor : NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M GPU with Total Available Graphics Memory of 2007MB (max.)
Video RAM : 256MB dedicated video RAM
Hard Drive
Capacity : 500GB
Speed : 5400rpm
Type : Serial ATA
Hardware
Camera : Built-in MOTION EYE® camera and microphone with face-tracking technology
Keyboard : QWERTY, 82 keys with 2.0mm stroke and 19.05mm pitch
Inputs and Outputs
DC-In : 1
Ethernet Connection(s) : 1
HDMI™ Output : 1
Headphone Jack : 1
Internal Microphone : 1
Microphone Input : 1
USB Port(s) : 3 (2.0 compliant)
VGA Output(s) : 1
i.LINK® Connection : 1 (4pin) i.LINK® connector (IEEE 1394)
Memory
Installed : 4GB (2GBx2)
Type/Speed : DDR3/1066
Maximum : 8GB
Optical Drive
CD Support : Read / Write (CD/-R/-RW)
DVD Support : Read / Write (DVD±R/±RW/±R DL/-RAM)
Power
Battery Type : Standard Capacity Lithium-ion Battery
Estimated Battery Life : Up to 4 hours Standard Capacity Battery Up to 6 hours Large Capacity Battery
Power Requirements : 108W or less
Processor
Speed : 2.13GHz1
Technology : Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology
Type : Intel® Core™ i3 - 330M
Service and Warranty Information
Telephone Support : 1 year toll-free technical assistance available 24/7 at 888-476-6972
Online and Email Support : Available at http://www.esupport.sony.com/EN/VAIO
Onsite/In-Home Service : 1 year limited warranty with Onsite/In-Home Service. See actual warranty for details.
International Service : 1 year international service plan. Registration required. See www.sony.com/IRSP for details.
Limited Warranty Term : 1 year limited warranty. See actual warranty for details.
Software
Operating System : Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Anti-Virus Software : Norton Internet Security™ 2010 30-Day Trial Offer
Supplied Software : Microsoft® Works SE 9.0 w/ 60-Day Trial Version of Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007
System Maintenance and Support : VAIO Care™ - System diagnostics and maintenance
Sony® Creativity Suite : PMB – VAIO® Edition - Import, organize, edit and publish in one easy-to-use program VAIO® Media Gallery - Bring forgotten favorites to life VAIO® Media plus - Multimedia Streaming Software *Please access VAIO® Help and Support from your PC for a complete list of software applications and trials.
Start-up Times
Average Boot Time : 60 sec
Average Resume Time from Suspend : 2 sec
First Boot Time : 5 min
Weights and Measurements
Dimensions (Approx.) : 13.44"(W) x 1.09-1.52"(H) x 9.18"(D)
Weight (Approx.) : 5.3 lbs (with standard battery)
Wireless/Networking
Bluetooth® Technology : Integrated Stereo A2DP (2.1 + EDR)
Ethernet Protocol : 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T
Ethernet Speed : Fast Ethernet (RJ-45)
Wi-Fi : 802.11 b/g/n

We had high hopes for the Nokia N97 when we checked it out in June 2009. Armed with a touch screen and a long list of features, it looked like the flagship model of the Nokia N series would be a hit. Unfortunately, it turned out to be quite the opposite. Plagued with a poor user interface and lackluster performance, the N97 was forgettable, especially as the iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android devices hit the scene.

However, not one to give up, Nokia came back with the Nokia N97 Mini ($479 unlocked). Sporting a more compact and revamped design, the N97 Mini is most definitely an improvement over its bigger brother. Performance is better and it's still very much a feature-packed smartphone. That said, the N97 Mini's UI is still confusing and frustrating to use; given that there a number of other similarly featured and simpler touch-screen smartphones on the market today, we can't see the N97 Mini attracting too many users other than Symbian/Nokia fanboys and fangirls.
Design
The Nokia N97 Mini is appropriately named because it is essentially a mini version of the Nokia N97. The smartphone measures 4.45 inches tall by 2.07 inches wide by 0.56 inch deep and weighs 4.87 ounces, whereas the N97 came in at 4.61 inches tall by 2.18 inches wide by 0.63 inch thick and 5.29 ounces. Just by looking at the numbers, the difference in size doesn't seem all that great, but in hand, it's definitely noticeable and appreciated. The N97 Mini is a much more pocket-friendly device, not to mention a more solid one. Nokia replaced the plastic battery cover with a stainless steel one, giving the phone a more substantial feel and not one of a plastic toy.
Given the smaller size, it's no surprise that the screen size was also scaled back. The N97 Mini has a 3.2-inch QVGA (640x360) resistive touch screen that displays up to 16.7 million colors. The display is sharp and vibrant and features an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the screen's brightness. In addition, it has a proximity sensor and a built-in accelerometer that was quick to change the screen's orientation from portrait to landscape mode and vice versa. As we stated in our N97 review, we would have preferred a capacitive touch screen over a resistive one, but our issue wasn't so much with that as it was with the user interface.
The N97 was plagued with inconsistencies that negatively affected the user experience. For example, some menu items required one tap to open and others required two. In addition, sometimes multiple steps were involved just to complete a simple task, and scrolling through lists could be a laborious and jerky. It was a completely confusing and frustrating. A subsequent firmware 2.0 update was released and incorporated into the N97 Mini; that alleviates some but not all of the problems.
Improvements were made to the touch-screen algorithms for better performance, and we did feel like the display was more responsive. You also now get kinetic scrolling for pages and menu items, so when you reach the end or top of the list, it snaps back like elastic. Unfortunately, what we didn't get was a more uniform and simpler menu system that would have made an otherwise good smartphone excellent and would've given it a fighting chance against the other major touch-screen smartphones on the market today.
Switching gears to the N97 Mini's keyboard, Nokia has removed the D-pad that used to occupy the left side, making way for a more spacious and more ergonomic keyboard. There's an adequate amount of spacing between the buttons, so you shouldn't have too many mispresses. Overall, we found it pretty decent to use. The keys are slightly stiff to press, which slowed us down a bit, and the space key is still off-center. It's a bit better in that the space bar is longer and moved over slightly, but it's still a far stretch if you want to hit it with your left thumb.
On a side note, prepare to use some arm muscles to slide open the phone. The slider is really solid but incredibly stiff, so it requires a strong push to get it open. We had an unsuspecting friend try it out and the phone ended up flying out of her hands because she was pushing so hard on the bottom of the screen. It loosens up a bit after some use, but those initial tries might surprise you.
Rounding out the design are touch-sensitive Talk and End keys and a Main Menu button below the display and a power button and 3.5mm headphone jack on top of the device. On, the left side, there's a Micro-USB port and a lock switch; a volume rocker and camera button are on the right. The camera will activate as soon as you hit the latter, since there is no longer a protective cover over the camera lens on back.
The Nokia N97 comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired stereo headset, a cleaning cloth, a software CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.
Features
The Nokia N97 Mini retains a lot of the features offered by the N97, but there were a couple of cuts made to help keep the price and size of the phone down. The biggest difference is that you now get 8GB of internal memory instead of 32GB. However, there is a microSD expansion slot behind the battery cover than can accommodate up to 16GB cards. Another minor loss is the FM transmitter.
One feature you do gain is free voice-guided navigation. Nokia recently announced that it's scrapping the monthly and annual license fees for Ovi Maps navigation service, so not only do you get the maps, but you also get text-to-speech spoken directions and premium content, such as Lonely Planet city guides, weather forecasts, and event information. The app is available as a free download for 10 of Nokia's current handsets and will come preloaded on the company's future GPS-enabled smartphones.
Aside from these changes, the two devices are pretty much the same. We'll elaborate more on some of the N97 Mini's functions in the Performance section below, but for a detailed list of the phone's features, please read our full review of the Nokia N97.
Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) Nokia N97 Mini in New York using AT&T service and call quality gets two thumbs up. There was very little to no background noise to distract us from the conversation, and there wasn't any type of voice distortion of muffling. We also didn't experience any dropped calls and had no problem using an airline's voice automated response system. On the other side, friends had mostly good things to say about the audio quality, though one did say he could hear a bit of an echo at times. As expected, the call quality degraded a bit when we activated the speakerphone. Though there was plenty of volume, even in louder environments, calls sounded a bit hollow.
Then N97 Mini supports AT&T's 3G bands, which provided good speeds and reliable coverage during our testing period. It took 27 seconds for CNET's full site to load; CNN and ESPN's mobile sites loaded in 8 seconds and 6 seconds, respectively. The N97 Mini's browser did a good job of displaying pages and it supports multiple windows and Flash Lite. However, navigation is a bit clunky. For example, you can't simply start entering a URL to go to a new site. You have to first press the arrow button on the bottom right-hand corner and then press the globe icon and then enter the Web address. To zoom, you can simply double-tap on the screen, which is often necessary to click on any links since it's difficult to precisely touch the small text with just your fingertip.
The smartphone's media player is decent. It supports a number of music formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ files, and you can create playlists on the fly and also adjust sound with the built-in equalizer. We listened to various genres of music and were happy with the sound quality, but like the speakerphone calls, tracks sounded a bit sunken through the phone's speakers. The N97 Mini is capable of playing video as well, but unfortunately, it only supports a limited number of video codecs. We watched several MP4 clips and for the most part, playback was smooth, but image quality could sometimes get a little fuzzy.
On the other hand, the smartphone's 5-megapixel camera certainly delivered on picture quality. Equipped with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens and a dual-LED flash, auto focus, 14x digital zoom, and various editing options, we got great shots indoors and outdoors. Objects were clearly defined and colors were vibrant. The camera can also capture VGA video at up to 30 frames per second, and the video quality was quite decent, especially for a camera phone.
Overall, the N97 Mini felt like a faster and more stable machine than the N97. There was still some lag and delays when working in multiple apps, but we certainly noticed the difference in responsiveness between the two devices. The Nokia N97 Mini features a 1,200mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 7.17 hours (GSM)/4 hours (3G) and up to 13.3 days (GSM)/12.9 (3G) days of standby time. We are still conducting our battery drain tests but will update this section as soon as we have final results. According to FCC radiation tests, the N97 Mini has a digital SAR rating of 0.91 watt per kilogram.

If analyst predictions are any indication of what the iPad will see in actual sales, it's going to be a good run for Apple.
In a research note to clients on Wednesday, Needham & Company's Charlie Wolf predicted Apple would sell two million iPads in fiscal 2010 and an additional six million devices in 2011, according to a report on AppleInsider.
What's interesting is that Wolf says more than half of the iPad sales would be drawn from the iPod Touch. Many have said that the iPad looks like a larger version of Apple's iPod Touch.
Wolf's predictions certainly aren't at the high end of what analysts are predicting for iPad sales. IDC analyst Richard Shim told CNET last week that he estimates the company will sell 4 million to 5 million iPads this year, doubling Wolf's prediction.


Wolf said he is waiting to see what the iPad's catalyst will be to help Apple boost sales. As examples, he pointed to the iTunes Store for the iPod and the App Store for the iPhone.
It could be that Apple will rely on the infrastructure it built for both of those devices, and iBooks to propel sales of the iPad in the next two years.

Google is looking for customer support professionals to handle its Nexus One phone, a clear sign it has recognized that its self-service support model has limits.
Digital Inspiration noticed a posting on Google's job boards looking for a "Phone Support Program Manager, Android/Nexus One," to be based at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. "As Phone Support Program Manager for Android and the Nexus One, you are responsible for ramping up and managing operations of Google's telephone support for our direct-to-consumer Android/Nexus One customers," Google wrote in the ad.
Google has gotten by with a pretty bare-bones customer support operation to this point in its history. Forums, FAQs, and e-mail support are pretty much the extent of what Google offers to everyone other than paid customers of Google Apps.
But following the launch of the Nexus One, Google's support forums were flooded with questions from customers who were having shipping and technical issues. Google attempted to direct questions to HTC and T-Mobile, its hardware and carrier partners on the Nexus One, but the Nexus One is being sold exclusively through Google at the moment, and it's the company that customers look to when they have a complaint.

Google declined to share specific plans for Nexus One customer support provided by live human beings, but confirmed the job posting was legitimate.
"We're working quickly to solve any customer support issues as they come up, and we are trying to be as open and transparent as possible through our online customer help forums. We continue to address all issues in as timely of a manner as possible, and we're flexible and prepared to make changes to our processes and tools, as necessary, for an optimal customer support experience," the company said in a statement.
It seems no matter how Google builds out its customer support team, it will likely do so in its own way. One of the job's responsibilities will be to "define and implement scalable business practices that leverage our internal best practices in one-to-many support to create efficiencies in high-touch support activities through channels such as phone and chat," according to the post. The person will also be responsible for coordinating support efforts with partners, such as HTC, T-Mobile, and other carriers that will eventually support the Nexus One.