Technofile: You can tell when a company is starting to get desperate for new ideas when they start to introduce "fancy" new features on a product that previously just worked. I found this when looking in more detail at Samsung's new E900 mobile phone. On the face of it, this is a luxuriously styled mobile, with a sensuous sliding action and a satisfyingly bright, glass-like TFT screen.
The user interface is helpful, easy to use and the phone itself has a number of features, the best being its 2 megapixel camera for stills and video, with digital zoom and flash.
Wireless printing using Bluetooth is supported with a PictBridge-compatible printer - you can view your recorded photos and videos directly on a TV. The MP3 player works well and it has a fulsome 80 megabytes of memory plus a memory card. Frustratingly, the E900 may be Samsung's (which could rival Nokia if it put its mind to it) best phone to date.
I say frustratingly because - like the new LG "Chocolate" phone - the E900 also has touch-sensitive keys.
And both phones suffer from this retrograde step in mobile phone design that is gripping the industry at present. The simple fact is that a mobile cannot be treated with kids' gloves - which is what you find when trying to operate something that responds to the slightest waft of your hand. Handing it to my wife, she cooed over the E900 form, but quickly started cursing it when it repeatedly deleted one of her famously long texts to her friends, due simply to brushing the touch-sensitive keys. (On second thoughts, I quite like this feature.)
• Gaming fans may be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Sony's PlayStation 3 - not due out until next year - will also play PS1 and PS2 titles. Possibly even more reason to wait for its launch.
• I am not one of those who is want to proclaim: "He who is tired of Internet Explorer is tired of life," especially as I wouldn't want to be accused of precipitating mass suicide.
So Internet Explorer refugees may be interested in the new version of the excellent Firefox web browser, now in version 2.0 as of this week. An integrated spell checker and an anti-"phishing" tool (which checks if the site is genuine) should sway any waverers.
• Want to turn your Sony phone into an iPod Nano? Well, you'll get part of the way there now that Sony has announced a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, assuming it's compatible with your phone. Prices around €166.
•According to Apple rumour web sites, the next generation of iPod Nano could have an aluminium case like its predecessor, the iPod mini.
• Meanwhile, pictures are emerging of Microsoft's Xbox-branded wireless portable media player - designed to take on the iPod. Google search Project Argo and marvel at the resemblance to the popular MP3 player.
