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.