Sony Computer Entertainment co-chief operating officer Jim Ryan apparently, told the India Times that the “PlayStation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson,” and that “convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible.” Granted, he did note that it could be quite some time before such a device would see the market, and that if indeed it did, it would likely resemble a handheld gaming system with a phone blended in and not vice-versa. So yeah, we’re not really any closer to knowing whether this thing truly is somewhere in the pipeline, but here’s to hoping that we don’t have to wait another year or so to find out more.

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Though better known for making mainboards than consumer electronics, Gigabyte’s first foray into the UMPC market–the U60–was surprisingly competent and incorporated a few innovative features such as split keyboard and GPS/TV tuner expansion slots.

Engadget spotted the next revision in the form of the Gigabyte M704. Though the link they provided was supposed to point to the M704 product specification on Gigabyte’s Web site, the last time we checked the Web page was not available. Fortunately, we have captured a screen shot of the product page.
This time, the changes are mostly cosmetic, though the VIA processor is bumped up to 1.2GHz and the screen is given a 7-inch 1,024 x 600-pixel treatment. The latter upgrade is particularly interesting, as it means that the user would no longer have to scroll sideways on some Web sites designed for viewing in 1,024-pixel resolution. Despite the larger display and faster processor, the battery life remains similar to the U60 at around 3 hours. However, that is rather mediocre considering models like the Everun and Kohjinsha SA1 can go on for a couple more hours. Other features include:

• 1.2GHz VIA processor
• 768MB RAM
• 40GB or 60GB HDD
• 7-inch LED-backlit screen
• 2 x USB 2.0; VGA output; SD/MMC card reader
• Built-in Webcam
• 780g weight

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Designed for deep geeks who don’t value style so much, the Tilt slides open to reveal a spacious QWERTY keyboard, earning its name by letting you tilt the screen to a comfortable incline. There’s a lot to like here:

Full-on Office Mobile, push e-mail, push-to-talk, a pretty good 3-megapixel camera, and a sturdy, rugged design. On the downside, the Tilt is hampered by a laggy OS and a perhaps a too-slow 400 MHz CPU. However, it’s the poor battery life (under four hours talk time) that may be the real deal breaker for some users.

Pro’s : You’ll never be offline (at least while the battery has juice): It contains just about every radio known to man. Very good call quality. Big, bright display. Tilt screen feature is much more useful than it sounds. Intuitive controls. Wide variety of push formats supported: can even connect to BlackBerry e-mail.

Cons : Pitiful, nearly useless speakerphone. Pocket-challenging in size and hefty at 6.6 ounces. Windows Mobile lags and hampers productivity, particularly with web browsing. GPS service plan costs extra.

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Following Dopod and ETEN’s foot steps, Asus announced their first GPS-enabled Pocket PC, the Asus P535 on Wednesday. This new model is powered by Intel Xscale 520MHz processor, 64 MB SDRAM, 256 MB NAND flash memories, and Microsoft Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC Phone Edition (AKU3.2).

The P535 is equipped with SiRF Star III GPS chip and TomTom Navigator 6 GPS navigator system. It supports Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and USB connectivity, Push Mail function, MP3 ringtones, Java, miniSD memory card (up to 2GB), and MPEG4 camera recording (15 fps QVGA) with its 2-megapixel camera. Preinstalled softwares include Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint, MSN messenger, Skype, business card recognition software, dictionary with real voice text to speech, and so on. The large 2.8-inch TFT LCD screen is a plus, but if you are used to the QWERTY keyboard on any other PDA/Smartphone, you might feel inconvenient while inputting data on the P535.

The Asus P535 is available in two colors: silver and white. It measures 109×59 x 19 mm and weighs 145 g. It offers up to 300 minutes talk time and 200 hours standby time. Asus is targeting the P535 at the Asian Pacific market, with retail price of around US$740 (23,900 TWD in Taiwan).

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