By Stevie Smith Apr 12, 2007, 14:35 GMT
Following on from recent news supporting the imminent rise of WiMAX as a vastly superior replacement for the existing Wi-Fi wireless format, Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has this week launched three brand new WiMAX devices alongside two brand new SpinPoint drives.
Known in South Korea as WiBro, the three newly introduced WiMAX products from Samsung (which will initially arrive in Seoul) include a PDA Smart Phone, a top-tier multimedia convergence device, and also a USB Dongle and PCMCIA card.
The SPH-M8100 is a PDA Smart Phone that delivers wireless Internet access and voice and video telephony to its users via WiMAX and a CDMA 1x EV-DO. Arriving as a trendy slider phone, the M8100 is also equipped with an impressive 2.8” full colour touchscreen, TV-out, an MMC card slot, and not one but two onboard cameras: one a 2.0 megapixel camera and the other a VGA device suited for video calls. The phone also features T-DMB, Bluetooth with A2DP functionality, 128ROM/64MBs of RAM and Microsoft Corp.’s most recent ‘view and edit’ feature.
Samsung’s SPH-P9000 will be introduced as a media convergence unit that provides voice and multimedia data communication via WiMAX. Featuring a complete QWERTY English keyboard for improved ease of surfing when on the Net, the P9000 also offers an MP3 player, VOD, and camera functions to connect swiftly with a host of differing multimedia entertainment. What’s more, the P9000 can also be used as a portable PC system due to its operating system being based on Microsoft’s existing Windows XP.
The SPH-H1200 USB Dongle grants users with secure authorised-only access to both WiMAX (WiBro) and HSDPA services through a USB-connected external source. Users located in urban city areas will be able to reap the benefits of a 13Mbps Internet service at the more pocket-friendly price attached to WiMAX, while users located outside of inner city areas will still be able to access Wireless Internet through HSDPA. And, to extend a week of new releases, Samsung has also rolled out its 7200rpm premium 2.5” hard drive series, the SpinPoint MP1. Samsung claims the MP1 will provide the industry with its biggest density of storage in this classification, coming in at 200GB on a 2.5” disk base with SATA interface.
The SpinPoint MP1 utilises PMR (perpendicular magnetic recording), a serial ATA 3.0 Gbps interface, NCQ (native command queuing), and is designed for use in “enterprise applications such as workstations, RAID (redundant array of independent drives) servers, and also blade servers.”
The SpinPoint MP1 will also see the inclusion of RVC (rotary vibration controller) technology, which prevents the head from separating from the track under the stresses and strains of vibration and shock, and duly enhances the protection and reliability of the user’s data.
The SpinPoint MP1 will be available in May of 2007 in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, and 200GB versions along with 8/16MB cache memory support.
Not to be outdone, consumer devices crying out for a hefty single-disk hard drive are also being accommodated by Samsung this week with the unveiling of the 5,400rpm SpinPoint M5 series, which is a 2.5” HDD range available in storage sizes ranging from 60GB-160GB, while also offering a 1.5Gbps SATA interface and 8MB of cache memory. PATA models are scheduled for addition in the month of May.
As with the aforementioned MP1, the SpinPoint M5 uses PMR technology while the drive design has been optimally enhanced to deliver precision adjustments to the head parking ramp position in order to create accurate high-density recordings.
Mass production of the single-disk SpinPoint M5 series is expected to begin in just a few weeks, while a dual-disk edition is already in development offering a ceiling of 250GB of storage. “The 2.5” hard drive market is registering double-digit annual growth, and we expect at least a twenty-percent growth increase in 2007,” said Hyung Keun Park, executive VP and GM of Samsung Electronics’ Storage System Division. “With hard disk drives rapidly moving beyond PCs to include consumer electronics, we will provide customers with a new lineup of products with the highest available capacity and the best performance to enable new applications.”
The SpinPoint M5 has been positioned by Samsung for inclusion in portable consumer electronic devices (notebook and tablet PCs) and the Korean company hopes the drives will shine through reduced operating noise and vibration as well as improved power efficiency. Samsung claims the M5 range is 15 percent quieter than other drives offering the same storage capacity, while also requiring 5 percent less power usage.
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