Marginalia

I recently finished writing my review of the Panasonic Toughbook Executive CF-T8.

While running through the notebook specifications I, of course, noted the weight. 1385g. That’s pretty precise.

I’m used to seeing width, height and depth measurements reported to the tenth of a millimetre when it comes to mobile phones. Though who really cares whether a mobile phone is 49.6mm wide or 49.7mm wide I have no idea.

Well, OK, I’ll revise that statement. The marketing people care.

They care when they want to boast that they have the shortest, thinnest, or whatever phone currently on the market.

But such claims can be short-lived. Today’s thinnest handset might not be tomorrow’s. Measurements like that are a target to be jumped at and can be bettered in a nanosecond. Or maybe a picosecond.

Still, I do get the point.

But I’m completely flummoxed as to why anyone would care that a notebook weighs 1385g. That’s 1.385Kg. Is Panasonic making the point that it can engineer every notebook so precisely that they all weigh exactly 1385g?

Surely simply rounding up to 1.4Kg is enough.

Anybody care to enlighten me?

So, David Meyer, currently covering the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona for ZDNet.co.uk, has reported that a number of players in the mobile phone industry have agreed to standardise on micro-USB as a single charging standard for mobile phones. His story is here.

The change won’t be seen today or tomorrow. The plan is that by 2012 ‘the majority’ of new mobile phones will have micro-USB chargers. On board are 3 Group, AT&T, KTF, LG, mobilkom austria, Motorola, Nokia, Orange, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone. It is an impressive list, but there are some absences. David notes that HTC has said it will participate. Will Apple join the fray at some point, too?

It is worth noting that the announcement is only about mobile phones. Your MP3 player and other gadgets aren’t included. So the question of how useful the initiative will really be for consumers is moot. After all, how many phones do you carry at the same time? It is more likely to benefit the manufacturers, who won’t have to ship a charger with every handset if they can be confident you already have one.

I’m inclined to think the GSMA has missed a trick. It is looking to the future, sure, but perhaps it is not quite using enough lateral thinking.

The other day I reported on Samsung’s solar powered mobile phone. LG is also working on a phone with a solar component, and expects to release the phone to market later this year.

I know the Samsung and LG initiatives are only two handsets among a sea of others on show in Barcelona this week, but I do wonder why the industry body did not see fit to encourage handset manufacturers to work on solar as an energy source.

After all, development costs may be relatively high at the outset, but down the line phone manufacturers are likely to save money on the non production of chargers, end users on the purchase costs of same, and if your phone charges by solar you can reduce your own use of energy into the bargain. And even if that doesn’t happen, the GSMA could have positioned itself as an eco friendly body.

A trick missed indeed.

Acer has chosen this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to officially re-enter the smartphone world with no less than four models in a range it is calling its Tempo Smartphone series.

The four are the direct result of last year’s buy-out of smartphone specialist E-TEN.

You can find news and pictures here.

The four models are:

ACER M900
With a fingerprint reader for advanced data security the M900 runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and supports HSDPA. It has a sliding keyboard and a 3.8-inch, WVGA touchscreen.

ACER F900
Also sporting a 3.8-inch WVGA touch screen the F900 has built in GPS and again supports HSDPA.

ACER X960
This time with a 2.8 inch 640 x 480 pixel screen the X960 again includes a GPS antenna and supports HSDPA.

ACER DX900
Perhaps the cream of the crop for business users the DX900 supports two SIMs. With a 2.8 inch 640 x 480 it isn’t quite as multimedia friendly as the M900 and F900, though.



All four devices have a widget based interface sitting on top of Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. There is no word on whether they will be user upgradeable to the newly announced Windows Mobile 6.5.

Samsung has just announced a solar powered mobile phone.

I am picturing the scene. No more charging means no more need to carry cables on my travels. The only time I'll need a cable is for data synching, which means one cable, permanently tethered to my computer.

It also means I can have a smug look on my face as I use the power of the sun rather than earth-destroying mains to fuel daily requirements for chat and whatever else the phone has on offer.

On that front, detailed specs are sketchy at the moment though the press release does say the phone will feature a pedometer which calculates how much CO2 you've not produced by walking instead of using motorised transport. Hmm, do I hear a gimmick alert? Yes I think I do, as the press release goes on to say "This unique function allows user to calculate the value of this footprint through the number of trees that have been saved." (The errors in that quote are all Samsung’s).



In terms of other features at the very least I'd expect web browsing, a camera, mobile music, mobile email and a bit of gaming. And as this is going to be a touch-screened mobile, maybe there will be a bit more multimedia goodness here too.

Time will tell whether the solar panel can produce enough energy to keep the phone going satisfactorily. Clearly it can't charge overnight via solar, so does that mean taking it out of your pocket at every opportunity so it can catch some rays? Samsung will provide a mains charger so perhaps the company isn’t fully confident solar can do the job unaided.

There's more eco-friendly goodness on offer in the fact that the phone is made from PCM - a plastic made from recycled bottles. And apparently the phone will feature an 'eco mode' switch to help you lower power consumption.

The phone is called Blue Earth. It is due to be available in the second half of 2009. My name is down to see one already.

Where do you use your notebook? Sitting at your desk or a surrogate such as on a train or in a coffee shop? Lounging in an easy chair or even on the floor, notebook propped on your knees? Slouching or laying back on a sofa or even in bed?

In all cases you can run the risk of poor posture causing backache in the short term and more serious problems in the longer term. And you can get warm legs too.

Out of this pair of concerns comes a class of peripheral designed to sit between laptop and legs and provide stability, comfort and ergonomics.

One such is Logitech’s Comfort Lapdesk for Notebooks. I’ve never used a notebook stand for a prolonged period, and it was with a half raised eyebrow that I took delivery of Logitech’s.

Visually the white glossy tray-top and mesh underside design is rather ‘of the moment’. The Lapdesk is light enough not to cause bother to the knees on which it needs to rest, and its thick padded base meant it sat on my lap comfortably. A hollow on the underside helps dissipate heat and keep the overall weight down.

The ‘tray’ part sits up at a 12 degree angle, which might seem a little unnecessary given that you can tilt a notebook’s screen, but actually I found it rather ergonomic as it lifted the keyboard to a comfortable typing angle.

An ultraportable might look a little lost sitting on the Comfort Lapdesk for Notebooks whose tray measures 44cm wide and 38cm deep. On the other hand you’ll have room for a mouse. The Lapdesk will accommodate notebooks with screens up to 17-inches in size.

At £30 the Comfort Lapdesk for Notebooks is not a steal, but nor is it overly expensive. Despite its 12 degree angle you could probably eat TV dinners off of it (I didn’t try). I can confirm that it doubles up as a writing tray. It is definitely too large to pack in your laptop bag when you travel.