Crave

Samsung Code for MetroPCS

(Credit: Samsung)

On Monday, MetroPCS introduced its first Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone, the Samsung Code. Though it's not running the latest , the Code does give MetroPCS customers another smartphone choice, which is a bit lacking to say the least (the carrier's only other smartphone is the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330).

The Code offers the standard WinMo features, including Outlook synchronization and the Microsoft Office Mobile Suite, as well as 3G support, stereo Bluetooth, and a 2-megapixel camera. It also has a full QWERTY keyboard, up to 32GB expandable memory, and an optional WizPro interface, which lets you customize the home screen with various shorcuts.

The Samsung Code (SCH-i220) is available now for $299.99 with a $50 prepaid monthly plan, which includes unlimited voice, text, and data.

Netbooks continue to soar in sales at the expense of the venerable notebook, according to a new report from DisplaySearch.

Revenues for Netbooks, or mini-notebooks, rose to $3 billion in the second quarter of the year, a leap of 264 percent over the second quarter of 2008, according to the new "Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report" released Thursday. With those gains, Netbooks now enjoy an 11.7 percent share of the portable PC market.

(Credit: DisplaySearch)

Though traditional notebooks still command an 89 percent slice of the market, their second quarter sales fell to $23.2 billion, a 14 percent decline from the second quarter of 2008.

Measuring 2009's second quarter against the prior year's quarter, sales fell in all subcategories of the portable PC market, including ultraportables and desktop replacements, the report noted. PCs in the 13-inch to 16-inch range managed to eke out a gain, but only measured against the first quarter of 2009.

The low prices of Netbooks appeal to consumers looking for a second PC and to those in emerging markets who don't need the rich and costly features of a large laptop. The market has also been buoyed by cable and telecommunications providers who have doled out Netbooks to customers who sign up for lengthy contracts.

Motorola VE440

(Credit: Motorola)

Motorola is no stranger to MetroPCS and Monday the manufacturer tightened the relationship even further with the new VE440. Positioned as a low-end music phone, the VE440's candy bar design and functional feature set won't amaze you, but it offers a few welcome goodies like stereo Bluetooth and a 3.5mm headset jack.

Besides the music player and the aforementioned features, the VE440 also has a micsoSD card slot (for cards up to 8GB), a 1.3-megapixel camera, a speakerphone, a personal organizer, messaging, a WAP browser, and support for GPS. The CDMA phone is priced at $129, which may seem expensive until you remember that MetroPCS doesn't require contracts.

A new touch-screen tablet PC with Windows 7 from Archos, a newcomer to the category.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET)

A lot of people are betting that 2010 will be the year of the tablet computer.

Of course, we've heard such predictions about tablets before. This time, the reasoning goes, is different, because the devices will have more sophisticated touch screens and consumers are more used to virtual keyboards. Most importantly, Apple just might be jumping into the fray.

Tablets, you may recall, are either laptops with a screen that twists and folds flat and uses a stylus or fingertip for input, or something more like an oversize iPod Touch that's used for tasks like checking e-mail, getting on the Web, and watching videos.

True, market researchers at DisplaySearch predict sales for all touch-screen devices will be growing from $3.5 billion this year to more than $6 billion by 2012. But if 2010 is going be the year of the tablet--meaning regular folks start buying these en masse--someone has to get it right.

So far, we're still waiting.

Toshiba, Archos, Fujitsu, and Lenovo have touch-screen tablets coming our way in the next few months, none of which should revolutionize our already established expectations of tablet PCs.... Read more

The Messager II offers a full keybaord.

(Credit: Samsung)

Update: On Wednesday, August 26, Cricket also announced that it would offer the Messager II for $199.

A product with one of the most head-scratching names in cell phone history got a boost this week when Samsung announced an update to one of its messaging phones. The Samsung Messager II (that's right, it's not a typo for messenger) is an update to the original Samsung Messager that we reviewed earlier this year. Also called the SCH-R560, it's now on sale at MetroPCS for $149 (MetroPCS doesn't require contracts).

Like its predecessor, the Messager II offers a full QWERTY keybaord in a slider, though slightly tweaked, design. Features are also upgraded. You'll get a 2-megapixel camera with video recording, organizer features, a speakerphone, messaging, stereo Bluetooth, and support for EV-DO networks.

(Source: MetroPCS via Phonescoop)

More good news for Apple this week: if consumers are going to buy an expensive computer, they're choosing the Mac maker.

That's according to the June tally of the PC market from The NPD Group. According to NPD, 91 percent of all computers sold at retail for more than $1,000 were Macs. That marked a slight increase from the 88 percent in May. But Apple officially owns that market, and it appears the price cuts across its MacBook Pro lineup introduced in early June helped. On Tuesday, Apple announced that it sold 13 percent more Macs during April, May, and June of this year than the same period a year ago, despite the recession and price-conscious consumers.

Is it sustainable for Apple to sell almost all their computers for more than $1,000?

(Credit: Apple)

Of course, all the computers Apple sells--with the exception of the $999 white plastic MacBook and the Mac Mini desktop--are more than $1,000, so they should own that market. NPD's numbers do not include specialty gaming PCs that enthusiasts usually customize and buy online, which can be well over $1,000. But, as NPD analyst Stephen Baker points out, two-thirds of all computers are sold at retail, so the numbers paint a comfortably accurate picture of what's going on in the PC market.

Windows PCs on average sell for much cheaper now because of the increased focus on price point aided by the Netbook phenomenon. The average selling price for a Windows PC at retail in the U.S. was $515, and for Macs it was $1,400.

That would seem to justify Apple COO Tim Cook's comments on his company's earnings call earlier this week, where he pretty much said Apple would never make a Netbook because the company doesn't think it can make a quality notebook for $400 or $500. ("We're going to focus on what we've always done. The Mac has outgrown market in 18 of the last 19 quarters. I think that says that we do have the right approach.")

Or do they?

Cheaper or faster?

That's going to be the burning question for computer shoppers perusing the aisles of electronics retail stores this fall. That's when the new line of notebooks powered by consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) chips will start appearing in force. They'll be sitting right next to the trendiest offering in portable computing, Netbooks. Netbooks have come to be viewed as the best way to get cheap, portable computing, but CULV notebooks could change that.

CULV-based notebooks are poised to give Netbooks a run for their money.

(Credit: Macles)

Netbooks are mini-notebooks with screens between 9 and 11 inches, that have lower-power processors, and fewer features, but very attractive price points. CULV-based notebooks are ultrathin notebooks. They come with a more traditional 12- or 13-inch screen, but are also very low-power, so they have great battery life. Starting at $600 to $1,000, they'll occupy the price range just a step above Netbooks, which run between $200 and $500.

That's where the choice comes in. Will consumers go for a Netbook, which is less expensive, sometimes harder to use, but very portable? Or a sleek-looking notebook with great battery life and a slightly higher price? Just a bit more money could mean a far more fully featured computer. Who would still go for a Netbook?

Some analysts suggest many won't.

For its part, the provider of these ultra-low voltage chips, Intel, would prefer to steer people toward CULVs. Sure, Intel is also responsible for the Netbook phenomenon, but those devices carry much lower profit margins. Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Tuesday talked up CULV notebooks and their advantages over Netbooks, saying, "Now, if you want a thin and light notebook, you don't have to just pick a Netbook. You can pick an affordable notebook that has more functionality."

... Read more

Google is gearing up for an assault next year on Microsoft's dominance in PC operating systems, yet the companies that would have to be complicit in the battle have little to say about it.

Judging by their public reactions to Google's news, much of the top tier of consumer PC makers appear caught off guard by Google's announcement Tuesday of Chrome OS, an open-source operating system the company is preparing for launch in 2010. Google specifically noted in its announcement that its operating system would be lightweight enough to work on Netbooks, low-cost mini laptops that almost all PC makers have flocked to in the past year. According to a person familiar with the operating system, Google is talking to Asus, Lenovo, as well as other original equipment manufacturers, and chipset makers about using Chrome OS.

Neither Asus nor Lenovo responded to requests for comment.

It makes sense that Google would target Asus. It's the pioneer of the Netbook movement and dominates the market. But there are other potential partners too, whose names have not come up yet: Acer and MSI. Along with Asus, they've been happy to cut Microsoft at least partly out of the equation of building a computer. The three have led the charge in Netbooks, and while they have offered versions with Windows XP, they also were early to make Linux versions available. Adding Chrome OS as an option would make sense.

But both Hewlett-Packard and Dell, who account for 35 percent of computers sold worldwide, had mostly nothing to say about Chrome OS.

Will Netbook makers flock to Chrome OS?

(Credit: Acer)

HP said that while it is "studying Chrome," it had no comment on whether it would incorporate it into forthcoming Netbook models, or any other HP computers.

"HP wants to understand all the OS choices in the marketplace that may be used by its competitors, and remains open to considering various approaches to meet its own customer needs," company spokeswoman Marlene Somsak said in a statement Wednesday.

Dell was equally noncommittal. "Dell constantly assesses new technologies as part of managing our product development process and for consideration in future products," said spokeswoman Anne Camden.

Of course they do. But a Google OS could completely change the long-established process of putting together a consumer PC and would totally change how it is priced. Yet neither of the two giants of the industry have a comment. Acer, which is the fastest-growing PC maker right now, said it "had no answer" yet.

Reading between the lines, it appears the top three hardware vendors have little or no relationship with the search and online advertising giant. But if Google plans to make inroads into Netbooks and eventually notebooks, that will have to change very soon. Every consumer desktop and notebook, and most Netbooks today (excluding computers from Apple) are designed to run Windows. Microsoft has deep hooks in the manufacturers' design and engineering processes, and the hardware companies' marketing and product launch cycles always take Microsoft's plans into account.

It's the time of year when PC makers start announcing their new lineups for the summer and fall. One thing is very clear: Lenovo is stepping up its game.

The Chinese PC maker that has enjoyed much success from the iconic ThinkPad business notebook has faltered when it has come to consumer PCs in the U.S. But the new Netbook, notebooks, and all-in-one desktop that the company plans to announce Tuesday show it has had a reality check on pricing and the kind of features consumers are looking for.

Probably the product most indicative of Lenovo's shifted approach to consumer computing is a 13-inch notebook called the IdeaPad U350. As is the trend with notebooks now, it measures just an inch thick, weighs 3.5 pounds, and sports an attractive metallic finish. But the inside is more interesting: The U350 will come loaded with an Intel CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) chip.

Lenovo's new IdeaPad U350

(Credit: Lenovo)

The CULV is Intel's newest chip, a low-voltage dual core chip for mobile PCs. It promises better battery life (the U350 says it will get four hours). But Lenovo is one of the first to use it. So far the only other company to announce using it is Acer, in its TimeLine notebook series.

And while getting one of these out ahead of Hewlett-Packard or Dell is aggressive, so is the price: the U350 starts at $649. For a full-featured notebook PC, that's a huge departure for Lenovo, noted Bob O'Donnell, PC analyst at IDC.

"$649 is good. Acer is at $599 (with its 13-inch TimeLine notebook), but Lenovo is in the ballpark and that is critical for them," he said.

While Lenovo certainly knows how to make a thin and light notebook--see the ThinkPad--it hasn't quite translated its expertise to pricing of consumer-oriented notebooks. But now Lenovo is clearly getting real: Without stating it directly, Lenovo has basically said that the U350 is going to take the place place of the IdeaPad U110 in terms of its importance to Lenovo's overall lineup. ... Read more