Potpourri of the latest, irresistible products

Potpourri of the latest, irresistible products

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

The war was waged. It was won -- and lost. But the competition in
the IT industry kept everyone busy. That was why this month we
were again treated with a slew of new IT products and services.

To begin with, we may think that printers are already so smart
there is not much we can do to make them smarter. Yet, printer
makers like HP and Canon keep introducing new models with better
performance. At least, inkjet printers now churn out color pages
at speeds achievable previously only by laser printers. And,
getting a photo-quality printout from an inkjet printer is not a
surprise anymore.

Digital camera makers have also been busy increasing the
megapixel capability of their products. Furthermore, cell phones
with a built-in camera are no longer the monopoly of Nokia and
Sony-Ericsson, as Samsung has just introduced its own version to
the Indonesian market.

In the meantime, wireless hotspots are beginning to emerge in
Jakarta. Let us just hope that our government has sufficient
wisdom to hold back from regulating the 2.4 GHz frequency used by
wi-fi devices.

* From Canon

Canon's latest lineup of bubblejet printers, for example,
boasts high printing speeds and resolutions of up to 4,800 x
1,200 dots per inch (DPI). Four new printers were introduced
earlier this month -- the i550, i850, i950 and i70. The i70 is a
portable printer that can also print photos without white
borders. I really look forward to the opportunity to test-drive
this one.

And just as I was still weighing which of the very popular
Powershot digital cameras would meet my requirements -- and
budget, Canon came up with four new products. In a way, I was
lucky I remained undecided -- although basically I kept putting
off buying a new digital camera for fear that my wife would get
really mad, should she find out about the purchase. At least now
I have more alternatives with higher resolutions and more
features.

The first of the latest digital cameras from Canon is the
entry-level, US$298 Powershot A60. It may be the entry level by
today's standard, but at 2.0 effective megapixels it is a better
camera than my 1.3-megapixel Powershot A50. Incidentally, digital
camera makers now differentiate between the number of pixels
(picture elements) that the charge-coupled device (CCD) is
theoretically capable of capturing and the actual number of
pixels that the camera can record. Hence the term "effective
megapixel".

Unlike my PowerShot A50, the newer Powershot A60 uses two AA-
size alkaline or rechargeable NiMH batteries.

Higher up is the $365 Powershot A70, which is a 3.2-megapixel
camera. This is the level of resolution that I should use when
shooting the photos that I would like to include in my articles,
for example. This camera also uses the same type of batteries as
its little brother.

Those who are Digital Ixus fans can now start looking for the
right person to whom they can hand over their current credit
card-sized camera. The latest Ixus, the $400 Digital Ixus400, is
now a four-megapixel camera. My likely choice would be the brick-
looking, five-megapixel Powershot S50. Unfortunately, it seems
that I will still have to work hard and save hard, as its price
is $615. At any rate, Datascrip has promised to let me test-drive
this one as well.

Professional photographers are also beginning to embrace
digital cameras, too. If you are one of them, your choice will be
the new EOS10D. It is not a pocket camera; it is an SLR digital
camera with improved onboard amplifier and image processing. All
these new cameras use the DIGIC processor, which enables better
focus, image analysis, faster reloading and other capabilities.

* From Samsung

Cell phones are also some of the products that get updated
more quickly than you can save the money to buy them. Samsung has
just introduced three new cute cell phones, including the first
rotating camera cell phone.

The new SGH S200 and SGH S300 are basically the same cell
phone in slightly different shapes. Ade Kurniawan from Samsung
said that one was actually intended for ladies and the other for
men, but it turned out that the distinction was not that
important to consumers.

Both of these cell phones have dual screens. The inside screen
boasts 65,000 colors while the outside 256 colors. They are also
tri-band cell phones, which makes it possible to use them in
Asia, the U.S. and Europe.

More notable is the Samsung SGH V200C, which is the first
camera cell phone from this company for the Indonesian market. It
has several interesting features, including a camera that can
rotate 180 degrees to enable you to take your own picture without
turning the unit in your hand. So, now we have at least four
camera cell phones on the local market now. When CDMA2000 becomes
available, we can expect to have more.

* Hotspots

If you already have a wi-fi-enabled tablet PC or a Centrino
notebook, you can start enjoying wireless connection to the
Internet. CBN, for example, recently sent out an e-mail to their
subscribers that they already had a hotspot at Coffee Club, Plaza
Senayan, South Jakarta. The service is free during the promotion
period, so hurry.

The service is available only to CBN subscribers,
unfortunately, as you need to activate your account in order to
access it. However, as major IT vendors, including Acer, Cisco,
Intel, Polaris.NET and TELKOM are working together with the other
ISPs, you can expect soon to find more and more places in Jakarta
where you can surf the Internet at high speed without having to
plug in any cables.