Toluu : All News Feeds

There some of the other Netbooks feature a tiny toy-like design, the Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Mini UI 3520 (£280 inc. VAT) looks like a scaled-down laptop.

Interchangeable coloured lids set it apart from the other Netbooks. You can even buy a clear one – letting you insert your favourite photographs or stickers for a truly distinctive look.

It's a shame the lid simply clips over the existing cover, however, as it feels slightly cheap.

Smaller screen

With an 8.9-inch display, it's one of the smaller Netbooks, but it doesn't feel it. The chassis is bulky in the hand, in stark contrast to the 10.2-inch Eee PC S101, and the 1.2kg weight is more than some of its rivals.

We found the display itself bright in everyday use, with an average 1024 x 600-pixel resolution. It's powered by Intel's GMA 950 chipset – so you'll ﬁnd adequate performance for playing back ﬁlms.

The Amilo Mini's design falls apart slightly when it comes to the keyboard. It's not a bad board – proving responsive and ﬁrmly attached – but it does take some getting used to. The keys don't stretch to the very edge of the chassis, so are not as large as they could have been.

Standard spec

Unfortunately, we were unable to test battery life on our review machine, as we had a pre-production sample. However,

There some of the other Netbooks feature a tiny toy-like design, the Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Mini UI 3520 (£280 inc. VAT) looks like a scaled-down laptop.

Interchangeable coloured lids set it apart from the other Netbooks. You can even buy a clear one – letting you insert your favourite photographs or stickers for a truly distinctive look.

It's a shame the lid simply clips over the existing cover, however, as it feels slightly cheap.

Smaller screen

With an 8.9-inch display, it's one of the smaller Netbooks, but it doesn't feel it. The chassis is bulky in the hand, in stark contrast to the 10.2-inch Eee PC S101, and the 1.2kg weight is more than some of its rivals.

We found the display itself bright in everyday use, with an average 1024 x 600-pixel resolution. It's powered by Intel's GMA 950 chipset – so you'll ﬁnd adequate performance for playing back ﬁlms.

The Amilo Mini's design falls apart slightly when it comes to the keyboard. It's not a bad board – proving responsive and ﬁrmly attached – but it does take some getting used to. The keys don't stretch to the very edge of the chassis, so are not as large as they could have been.

Standard spec

Unfortunately, we were unable to test battery life on our review machine, as we had a pre-production sample. However,

Reports from Japan this weekend suggest that Nokia is about to take a leap into the unknown by starting its own mobile phone service there, offering both handsets and the monthly plans behind them.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the Finnish company will commence a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service using infrastructure leased from market-leader NTT DoCoMo in February next year.

High rollers only

However, the MVNO will not compete directly with Japan's existing operators, as it will leverage Nokia's Vertu brand and aim at the extreme high end of the market.

The Vertu handsets will likely sell for up to ¥5 million (£35,000) each, meaning the venture will most probably be irrelevant to ordinary Japanese phone users.

Nevertheless, Nokia hopes the move will increase its brand awareness in Japan, where it is an insignificant phone manufacturer. By contrast, it sold 437 million phones in the rest of the world last year.

We've known about it for months and, at last, it's finally available to buy – the Eee Top touchscreen PC is on sale in Taiwan now and we'll be getting ours before long too.

It's no surprise that Asus has gone for its domestic customers first, but it is unusual that the UK will be the next market to have a stab at the newest Eee model.

Atom inside

We don't have precise details yet, but the first Top is selling for NT$18,900 (New Taiwan dollars), which is the equivalent of about £380.

The 15.6-inch model is the first to arrive and is powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU. As expected, that comes along with Windows XP, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and a 1.3-megapixel webcam.

Standard specs

Although those are distinctly entry-level specs, the main draw to the Top will be its touch-sensitive screen, making it something of a cross between a Tablet PC and an information terminal similar to those found in airports and other public places.

Asus clearly hopes the simple approach to the touch interface will prove popular, as it plans to sell five million Tops over the next two years. Larger 20- and 22-inch models are expected in the first half of next year.

As expected, one-time smartphone leader Palm Inc has bowed to the inevitable and announced it will be shedding jobs as demand for its products slows.

The maker of the Treo and Centro devices said it would be losing an undisclosed number of jobs from its 1,050-strong workforce starting next week.

Business plans

Although it has a not-quite-secret new OS and phone due for release next year, Palm has suffered in the marketplace as both the BlackBerry range and the iPhone have grown in popularity.

While more than three quarters of businesses plan to equip their staff with RIM Blackberries and almost one quarter plan on using Apple's iPhone, Palm's equivalent number is around five per cent at the time of writing.

Toluu

All News Feeds

TechRadar UK Latest feeds