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Motorola to introduce two new Smartphones

Motorola showed off two new Windows Mobile Smartphones at the 3GSM World Congress in Paris in February. The new MPx100 is a one-piece “candy bar” device with built-in Bluetooth capability that incorporates Microsoft’s Windows Mobile for Smartphone 2003 software. This includes a phone dialer and a variety of PIM and productivity applications.

Motorola’s new Windows Mobile Smartphones: The MPx100 (top) and the MPx (bottom)

The MPx100 also includes an SD card slot, allowing you to add up to 512 MB of data storage (soon 1 GB with SanDisk’s new SD card), and a built-in 1.3 megapixel color digital camera with 3X zoom and a flash. Images and applications are displayed on a 320x240 pixel, 2.8-inch-diagonal color screen. The device is a “tri-mode” (900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM/GPRS phone. As options, Motorola will offer a Bluetooth headset, a Bluetooth GPS receiver, an SD card Wi-Fi adapter, and a car adapter kit..

The second new Smartphone is the Motorola MPx. It has a similar feature set but incorporates a folding clamshell design. Pricing and wireless carriers have not been announced, but both phones are expected to be available in the second half of 2004.

http://www.ppcmag.com/46/?z=47

New version of Microsoft Reader for Pocket PC

A new version of Microsoft Reader (version 2.2.3) is available for download from the Microsoft Reader Web site. This version solves the problem that prevented users from reading MS Reader e-books from some Web sites (including the e-books on Pocket PC magazine’s Best of Everything CD, which is given as a free compliment with a two-year subscription to the magazine). For more information and to download the new version of Microsoft Reader, go tohttp://www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/ppc.asp

Microsoft Portable Media Center

Microsoft has begun promoting its “Portable Media Center” concept on its Windows Mobile Web site. These devices are Windows Mobile-based handhelds that “…let you take all the digital video, music and photos from your PC with you wherever you go.” The devices will be similar to Pocket PCs, but will display their visual content in landscape mode and include a 20-40 GB hard drive to store the media content. For example, a 40 GB drive could store 175 hours of video, 600 hours of music, or 100,000 digital photos.

Portable Media Centers can download their content from a Windows XP PC or Windows XP Media Center Edition computer. The media you select will automatically be transferred to your Portable Media Center using technology to be incorporated into a future release of Windows Media Player. This technology will enable automatic, intelligent synchronization of music with next-generation portable music players as well as synchronization of music, photo, TV content, and movies with Portable Media Centers.

http://www.ppcmag.com/46/?z=49

Microsoft hosts $25,000 competition for Windows Mobile applications

Microsoft recently kicked off its first Mobile2Market Application Contest for Windows Mobile applications. Developers are invited to submit their best applications for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs and Smartphones for a chance to win one of four grand prizes. Grand prize winners will receive $25,000 and application distribution. In addition, 20 finalists will receive featured promotions. To find out more, visit the Mobile2Market Web site.

http://www.mobile2market.com/contest