Willcom and Sharp Corporation managed to come up with one of the sleekest UMPCs created in the market. They just unveiled Willcom D4, also known as WSO16H.

Having physical stats of 470g and sizing up with 84x188x25.9mm, this little gadget pack quite a punch. Find out more on this baby in the full article.

If you're looking for new gadgets that are so new, they aren't even made yet, there's no place to turn to but the trusty US Patent and Trade Office website, right? The latest cool find this time is from Research in Motion: a new BlackBerry device with a sliding keyboard. The gadget looks so sweet, we wish that there will be no patent infringement lawsuits would spring up to mar the possibility of this device getting launched for public consumption. Check out the illustration in the full article.

It's been a while since we've heard any news about the new Linux-based Palm OS. Those who are waiting for Palm Inc.'s new devices can rest easy (or wait impatiently) as they are scheduled to be released early next year. Details in the full article.

Here's some news from Finland, home of mobile phone giant Nokia. The company has announced that its N81 and N81 GB smartphones have shipped and are now available globally. The N81 carries an estimated retail price of €360 (US$ 509). The N81 8GB is expected to retail for €430 (US$ 608).

"Today people want to be more in control of how and where they consume their digital entertainment," said Jonas Geust, Nokia's vice president of multimedia. "They want to discover new favorites and share them without being confined to one location - and it's devices like the Nokia N81 that facilitate this."

Both N81 and N81 8GB come equipped with dedicated music and game keys for those who like to play and listen to music on the go. Users can either upload their own digital content or check out tracks from the Nokia Music Store. Both the N81 and the N81 8GB also come with a preview of the new N-Gage game service as well as playable demos of some N-Gage titles.

Samsung SDI (Samsung Display Interface) is looking to spearhead the manufacturing of wide VGA (or wVGA, 480 x 800) OLEDs for handhelds. In English, that means the company, together with Clairvoyante, Inc. is looking to make high-res displays for our compact gizmos.

According to a press release, Samsung and Clairvoyante has teamed up to make the wVGA active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) dream come true. The joint venture will be making use of the Clairvoyante's PenTile subpixel rendering technology and will be resulting (hopefully) in a 3.08-inch diagonal screen perfect for upcoming handheld applications.

Right now, we only have displays of up to quarter VGA (qVGA or 240 x 320) because of the challenges in manufacturing, among other things. According to the release, it will be made possible since "PenTile technology makes it possible to attain this improved performance by eliminating one-third of the subpixels while maintaining the same display resolution."

Sung-Chul Kim, Samsung SDI vice president had this to say:

Our partnership with Clairvoyante will create a new PenTile OLED panel that will lead the handheld market with a power-efficient, high-resolution OLED panel that supports continued innovation in emerging handheld applications.

And Samsung seems very confident about the project (just like Sony and its XEL-1 OLED TV), indicating an ETA of Q1 2008 for samples and Q3 for the mass production. For tech heads out there, here are the specs:

• Specifications: 3.08 inch PenTile RGB OLED from Samsung SDI
• Diagonal 3.08 inches
• Luminance 200 cd/m2
• Contrast 1000:1
• Power consumption 400 mW
• Color Gamut (NTSC) 100%
• Format Wide VGA 480 x 800

Businessmen who are always on the lookout for the latest gadgets to show off at work should take heed: Prices and launch dates for HP's new iPaq 120 and 210 handhelds are finally announced. iPaq 110 will have a pricetag worth US$ 299, while 210 will be priced a hundred dollars more at US$ 399. Both devices will be out tomorrow, October 8.

Both iPaq 110 and 210 will use Windows Mobile 6, and have colored TFT screens, WiFi, Marvell PXA310 processors as well as Bluetooth. One of the things that sets apart the iPaq 210 from the 110 is its ability to use a biometric fingerprint reader, adding more security to their sensitive files. Necessary software will be sold separately, however.

The folks from Redmond are going to hold an event on Tuesday, October 2, 2007, to announce the next iteration of the Zune. Insider sources say that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and design chief J Allard will be attending the said event to commemorate the announcement.

The new Zune would include the first flash memory-based gadget of the initial 2.4 million-unit product line, a strategy that Microsoft eyed significantly for the company. Microsoft currently holds a 10% share of the HDD player market and hopes to turn a profit from its share with the release of the flash-based Zune. 

The "Zune 2," as it's unofficially coined, is claimed to be similar in design, only thinner in profile. BetaNews reports that the new Zune will come in dimensions of 3 inches by 1.25 inches, and will look similar to the iPod nano. Video playback capability seems to be a feature confirmed for the next-generation Zune, though the claims of Wi-Fi inter-connectivity and larger in-house storage still remain unconfirmed.

While over two million units of new Zunes will be in production by the holiday season of 2007, about a third will take the form of the flash-memory based player. The first batch should be available by November, coupled with a Beta launch of a new Zune community site. There are also reports of first-party accessories for the product, though full details

Blizzard Entertainment, as we previously reported, is planning to wreck havoc in the mobile arena. With a news like that, one's thoughts can't help but wonder if World of Warcraft (WoW) will ever appear on a handheld device. It sounds impossible at first but YouTube user viaarena123 has shown that it is actually very plausible.

The videos below show how the user was able to install WoW on OQO Model 2. The device was first shown during this year's Consumer Electronics Show back in January. Model 2 is actually a six-inch PC with a five-inch screen that runs either Windows XP or Vista.

Some of its technical features include 1.2 GHz or a 1.5 GHz processor, up to 1GB of RAM, up to a 60 GB hard drive, has Bluetooth 2.0, and tri-mode WiFi (802.11a/b/g).

WoW on OQO Model 2 Part 1

See the other video after the jump!

With the rapid upsurge in the usage of Internet-capable handhelds, the guys behind the Ubuntu project has announced the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Edition. This new project was conceived in response to the technical challenges that "small, handheld, graphical tablets which are Internet-enabled" pose.

Canonical will be working with Intel on this new project. The latter has also recently announced a "new low-power processor and chipset architecture which will be designed to allow full internet use on these mobile Internet devices."

"We are delighted to be working with Intel on this version of Ubuntu," said Ubuntu project technical leader Matt Zimmerman. "Intel are making significant contributions of technology, people and expertise to the project. We hope that others who are interested in producing an easy-to-use and open source environment for this class of device will join us in making this a success."

Detailed planning for the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Edition will commence at the Ubuntu Developer Summit next week in Seville. The first release of this edition is currently planned for October along with Ubuntu 7.10.

A patent given to Intel revealed in the US Patents and Trademarks Office suggests that the giant company best known for its work with microprocessors has invented a method to revolutionize electronics displays as we know them.

Near as we can figure, the product hinges on technology which makes use of two flexible sheets. These sheets have magnetically charged particles which control reflectivity.  The onscreen pixels are generated via a flexible ring between the two magnetic flexible sheets.

The techno;ogy, the patent says, is intended for use in mobile devices. Mobile phones, laptops and PDAs could all benefit directly from the new methods, but at this earl stage we can never be sure. Some concepts make it to paper and prototypes are never constructed. Still, it's a nice idea and it's good to know that our currently good displays can only get better.