LG Electronics, on September 20, launched its first smartphone, the KS10, in the Taiwan market and plans to introduce another smartphone the KS20 in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Finsen Chen, vice president of telecom business unit at LGE Taiwan.The KS10, which runs on Symbian 9.2 OS, has a number of built-in Google functions, including Google Maps and Gmail, and supports HSDPA and GPS, according to the company.The KS20, however, will run on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 OS, enabling LG to market both Symbian- and Windows Mobile-based smartphones simultaneously, Chen noted.By the end of October, LG will also introduce its new Prada phone, the KU990 Viewty, into Taiwan, Chen indicated. The KU990 has a 3-inch touch screen display, a 5-megapixel camera and supports HSDPA.For the first eight months of this year, LG sold 270,000 handsets in the Taiwan market, including 150,000 Chocolate handsets and 50,000 Shine-series models, Chen stated.The company aims to ship 400,000 handsets and account for a 7% share of the Taiwan market in 2007, Chen projected.LG's KS10 smartphonePhoto: Daniel Shen, Digitimes, September 2007

BenQ has introduced the C840 digital camera, successor to the C740i, featuring an 8-megapixel CCD sensor, smc Pentax lens, Face Tracking function, Shake-Free mode, high ISO options, optical zoom in video recording and 3:2 and 16:9 special output sizes.The C840 is equipped with an array of functions including Shake-Free mode, which prevents image blur caused by shaky hands. It also supports continuous movie recording with optical zoom at widescreen format (720×400) at 30 fps. The Face Tracking function detects and tracks human faces and then focus to ensure the faces are perfectly presented in terms of color and clearness in the photos.With ISO support up to 1600, the new BenQ C840 is one of the most light-sensitive models in its class, claimed BenQ. The 3:2 output size supports easy printing without trimming edges while the 16:9 mode supports direct display on 16:9 TVs.The camera boasts 15 different shooting modes, including manual mode, Shake-Free mode, portrait mode and night scene mode, providing users with quick setting adjustments for a variety of shooting options. The C840 comes bundled with PictBridge functionality for direct photo printing via a compatible printer and supports SD memory cards up to 4G. BenQ C840 digital camera specification Item Detail Sensor CCD Image 8-megapixels Picture Resolution 640×480 (VGA) to 3264×2448 (8M) Zoom Optical: 3x Digital: 4x Display Size 2.5-inch LTPS LCD Display Resolution 150,000 pixels ISO Equivalent Auto / 50 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1000 Movie Mode 720×400 (16:9) / 640×480 / 320×240; M_JPEG movie format; Continuous recording with sound Storage Built-in 6MB (Usable) / SD card compatible up to 4GB SDHC Interface Digital out: USB 2.0 Audio / Video output (NTSC/PAL) Accessories USB cable / Software CD ROM / User's manual / Hand strap / Pouch / AV cable / AA battery x 2 - battery charger set Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, September 2007BenQ C840 digital cameraPhoto: Company

BenQ has introduced four new additions to its MP series projector lineup, the BenQ MP612, MP612c, MP622 and MP622c.The MP612 and MP612c offer a smart solution to small and medium-size meeting rooms and home offices. The projectors deliver bright, vivid images with easy-to-use functions and feature a 2,500 (MP612) and 2,200 ANSI (MP612c) Lumens brightness, an 800×600 SVGA native resolution, quiet fan noise design and a 2,000:1 high contrast ratio, highlighted BenQ. Furthermore, the projectors feature a long lamp life of up to 4,000 hours.The MP622 and 622c feature a brightness of 2700 and 2200 ANSI Lumens, respectively, a 1024×768 XGA resolution, a noise level at 26 dB in economy mode and a stylish midnight black high gloss exterior. Both projectors are ideal for projection for a broad range of venues, ranging from small to large conference rooms, classrooms and exhibition space.All models feature BrilliantColor technology, which brings a 50% increase in brightness of colors, and 3D color management allowing adjustments to red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow independently for hue, saturation, and value, highlighted BenQ. The Golden Ratio Wheel incorporated inside the projectors further balances true color saturation and maximizes color accuracy for a crystal-clear, vivid image reproduction.The projectors also feature a Wall Color Correction function, to correct the output colors in accordance with the color of the wall on which the image is projected. The projectors come bundled with four application modes for PC input and three application modes for AV input as well as two personalized modes, providing optimal settings under any scenario.BenQ MP series projectorsPhoto: Company

Axiomtek has introduced a new 5.7-inch TFT fanless touch panel computer, the GOT-3570T, which features a compact appearance and rugged design for limited space and outdoor use. It is human machine interface (HMI) ideal and can be applied to the factory automation, machinery maker, building automation and semi-conductor sectors, according to the company. The GOT-3570T has a built-in ultra-low power consumption AMD LX800 processor and features a 5.7-inch QVGA 320× 240 color resolution TFT LCD display with a high brightness of 450 nits for outdoor environments. With a CompactFlash (CF) card and optional HDD kit with steel enclosure, it offers flexible data storage.A PC/104 slot is reserved for communication expansion in addition to a Mini PCI slot and WLAN antenna.Regarding the embedded OS support, the GOT-3570T supports Windows CE .Net. This RoHS compliant product will be available around the middle of October this year, said Axiomtek. Axiomtek GOT-3570T touch panel computer specification Item Detail Display 5.7-inch QVGA (320×240) TFT LCD with brightness of 450 nits CPU AMD LX800 processor Expansion PC/104 and Mini PCI slot Storage External HDD or CF card LAN Optional WLAN antenna Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, September 2007Axiomtek GOT-3570T touch panel computerPhoto: Company

Flash memory product provider Transcend Information announced its entry into the digital photo frame market with the new T.photo 710 digital photo frame.The T.photo 710 has 1GB of internal memory and features a 7-inch TFT flat-panel display that can display at a 480×234 resolution. With a thickness of 28mm, the digital photo frame has a rotation function, which allows the display of either landscape photos or vertical portraits.The T.photo 710 supports digital camera JPG, BMP and motion JPG formats, and allows photos to be viewed one at a time, in slideshow view, or tiled thumbnail view – all with background audio from its built-in speakers. The digital photo frame has a headphone jack allowing it to be used as an MP3 player, according to Transcend.The T.photo features a multi-card reader that can read SD cards (SDHC/SD), MMC cards, MS cards, and CF cards. A USB host connector on the digital photo frame allows USB flash drives to be plugged and once connected, the T.photo will automatically find and display all pictures and music available on the flash drive, according to the company.The digital photo frame's clock and calendar modes display a photo or slideshow of the user's choice on one half of the screen, while showing digital clock and monthly calendar on the other half.The functions of the T.photo 710 can be controlled with a remote control.The T.photo 710 will have a suggested pre-tax retail price of US$119, according to the company.Transcend's T.photo 710 digital photo framePhoto: Company

Arbor Technology has released EmETXe-i9455, a COM Express CPU module supporting Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the Intel 945GME/ICH7M chipset. With dual-core processor technology, EmETXe-i9455 can easily handle multitasking situations and provide the most powerful computing capability and reliability for customers who are seeking increased computing, lower power consumption and a longer product lifespan, claimed Arbor. Designed specifically for high performance and graphic intensive applications, EmETXe-i9455 is ideal for any application in the automation control, DVR, medical equipment, industrial imaging, gaming and digital signage markets.EmETXe-i9455 delivers outstanding graphics performance with the Graphics Media Accelerator 950 integrated in the 945GME chipset. It features the support of dual display, CRT and LVDS and onboard DDR2 memory up 1GB. In addition, EmETXe-i9455 equips various interfaces including a PCI Express x16 port, three PCI Express x1 port, PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet, ATA, two SATA 3Gb/s ports, two serial ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, KB/MS and AC97 audio.EmETXe-i9455 is RoHS compliant and supports APM 1.2 (Advance Power Management) and ACPI 2.0 (Advanced Configuration and Power Interfaces) for optimized power management and system reliability. Arbor EmETXe-i9455 COM Express CPU module specification Item Detail CPU Support Intel Core Duo/Core 2 Duo processor with 667MHz FSB Memory Support DDR2 400/533MHz SO-DIMM up to 1GB Output Support 18/36 bit LVDS LAN Realtek 8111B PCI Express 10/100/1000 base-T Ethernet Interface Two SATA 3Gb/s, Eight USB 2.0 Two serial ports Three PCI Express x1 One PCI Express x16 Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, September 2007Arbor EmETXe-i9455 COM Express CPU module Photo: Company

Toshiba has announced development of the SpursEngine, a high-performance stream processor integrating Synergistic Processing Element (SPE) cores derived from the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/BE). The SpursEngine is expressly designed to bring the powerful capabilities of Cell/BE technology to consumer electronics, and to take video processing in digital consumer products to new levels of realism and image quality, said Toshiba. The prototype of SpursEngine will be unveiled at Ceatec Japan 2007, at Makuhari Messe, Japan, from October 2. Notebook PCs integrating SpursEngine will be used in the world's first public demonstration of the processor's capabilities in 3D image processing and manipulation: real-time transformations of hair styles and makeup that instantaneously recognize and process changes in position, angle, and facial expression, and render them as computer graphics. Toshiba also plans to demonstrate concept notebook PCs integrating the SpursEngine.The new co-processor integrates four of Cell/BE's high-performance RISC core SPEs, half the number of the full configuration, plus hardware dedicated to decoding and encoding MPEG2 and H.264 video. By combining the high level, real-time processing software of the SPEs with the hardware video codecs, the SpursEngine realizes an optimized balance of processing flexibility and low power consumption. The prototype of SpursEngine operates at a clock frequency of 1.5GHz and consumes power at 10-20W.SpursEngine also adopts XDRTM DRAM memory as working memory, achieving support of high data transfer rates, for large volumes of media data.Toshiba SpursEngine CPU with SPE corePhoto: Business Wire

Kontron introduced its new PCI-760 PICMG 1.3 system host board (SHB) featuring the latest Intel Q35 GMCH chipset and LGA-775 socket-based Intel processors.The PCI-760 supports Intel Core 2 Duo processors up to 3.0GHz and provides advanced remote management features based on Intel's AMT 3.0 technology, according to the company.The PCI-760 is suited for industrial test and measurement applications, parallel processing of several video and/or audio streams, control and visualization or imaging technologies in medical and industrial applications as well as simulation applications, according to Kontron.With up to a 1333MHz FSB (front side bus), the PCI-760 supports up to 8GB of DDR2 SDRAM and features a full range of interfaces. The board's integrated Intel GMA 3100 supports DirectX 9.0c for full Windows Vista Aero compliance and resolutions of up to QXGA (2048×1536) at 75 Hz via a VGA connector on the bracket. The PCI-760 is available for purchase beginning in October.Kontron PCI-760 PICMG 1.3 system host board (SHB)Photo: Company

Lenovo introduced its latest desktop PCs, the ThinkCentre M57 and M57p and a 22-inch monitor.The ThinkCentre M57p features the latest Intel vPro processor technology while the ThinkCentre M57 comes with a quad core Intel Core 2 Quad processor.Lenovo also introduced a 22-inch widescreen WUXGA resolution monitor, the Lenovo ThinkVision L220x Wide, which features support for full high definition 1080p video.The ThinkCentre M57 and M57p will start at US$821 and US$1,021, respectively, and will both come out in tower, small form factor and ultra small form factor versions, while the ThinkVision L220x Wide monitor will start at US$550. The PCs will be available at the beginning of October, while the monitor will be available at the beginning of November.Lenovo ThinkCentre M series desktop PC (Tower version)Photo: Company

Toshiba's Digital Products Division, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems recently announced the availability of a DLP (digital light processing) front projector (TDP-PX10U) for mobile presenters, business users and consumers.The projector weighs in at 2.9-pounds, fits easily into a briefcase or carry-on luggage and is available at a estimated unit price (ESUP) of US$999.Features of the new model include a 2,200 ANSI lumens XGA 1024×768 native resolution, contrast ratio of 2,000:1 and USB port for "PC-free" presentations. The projector uses BrilliantColor technology, which enables up to a 50% increase in the brightness of colors, said the company. Toshiba TDP-PX10U mobile projector specification Item Details Display technology 0.55DMD DLP chip Light sources 180W (160W in low mode) Brightness 2,220 ANSI lumens Resolution 1024×768 Color reproduction Full 16.7 million colors Contrast ratio 2,000:1 Projection screen size 40-300-inches Source: Toshiba, compiled by Digitimes, September 2007Toshiba new 2.9-pound DLP projector Photo: Company