Planet Lowyat

Subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

New Sony Ericsson Z750a is available in the U.S. exclusively at AT&T, it is an affordable and stylish handset with a mirrored clamshell design and a hidden exterior display that illuminates when the phone is in use. As Sony Ericsson’s first 3G/HSDPA handset for the U.S. market, the Z750a features mobile broadband for a high-speed Internet connection and access to multimedia content that complements its multimedia player, 2.0 megapixel camera, Internet1 browser and e-mail2 capability using AT&T’s Mobile Email application.”Sony Ericsson continues to expand its North American portfolio with a distinctive and signature design that combines entertainment, style and speed in a sleek device,” said Karen Morris, vice president of marketing for Sony Ericsson North America. “Representing one of our most distinctive and colorful 3G clamshells, the Z750a will appeal to those who want to do more with their phone - share music, high-quality pictures, browse the Internet - and project a sophisticated image all their own. We are delighted that AT&T will offer this device in the U.S. along with the hugely successful W580 Walkman Phone.”

The Z750a works hard, offering features such as data download transfer speeds from 600 to 1400 kbps from AT&T’s High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 3G network, support for AT&T’s Mobile Email, a 2.0 megapixel camera, full HTML web browsing1 capabilities and stereo Bluetooth 3 support (A2DP). The Z750a also plays hard with 3D gaming capabilities, a media player that supports numerous media file types for listening to your favorite music tracks and video. The phone has up to 26MB4 of internal memory and is Memory Stick Micro (M2) compatible — currently upgradeable to 8GB5 — providing ample storage space for photos, videos, music, games and more.

No matter how smart and powerful the Z750a may be on the inside, it still dares to be sleek and sophisticated on the outside. The Z750a has a reflective mirror clamshell casing and hidden organic light-emitting diode (OLED) reflective display screen on the front of the phone that discretely illuminates when receiving a call, displaying caller identification. When active, it also displays battery life, text message alerts and other useful information. To match anyone’s personal style, the Z750a launches in three tantalizing color choices: Mysterious Purple, Phantom Grey and Rose Pink.

The Sony Ericsson Z750a will be available at AT&T stores and authorized dealers in early April for $49.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate and new two-year service contract.

Z750a Phone At-A-Glance

Read more »

The Windows Serviceability team is pleased to make available Windows XP Service Pack 3, Release Candidate 2 Refresh (XP SP3 RC2 Refresh).

The purpose of RC2 Refresh is to validate improvements to the Windows Update experience with Service Pack 3. Therefore, this beta release will be available only on Windows Update, in English, German and Japanese. Beyond fixes for common Windows Update issues and the inclusion of support for HD Audio, there are no substantial differences between this beta release (build 5508) and XP SP3 RC2 (build 3311).

Read more »

Microsoft Corp. is offering free support to any Windows Vista user experiencing problems with installing Service Pack 1 (SP1), according to a company spokesman.

“[Anyone] needing technical support regarding your installation of Windows Vista SP1, please go to the following URL and choose the bottom option that says, ‘Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (All Languages),’” said Brandon LeBlanc, a Microsoft employee who posted several comments to the company’s Vista blog. The link LeBlanc pointed users to led to a Vista SP1-specific support site.

“You have a variety of options you can choose for support, all of which will not cost you any support fee,” said LeBlanc. “I repeat: Support for SP1 will not cost you anything.”

“That’s a good move on their part,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.

The SP1 site offers support via e-mail, online chat and telephone, and it lists hours of operation for the last two options. Free phone support, for instance, is available from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific time on weekends. The free support will be available for one year, and it covers installation and compatibility issues.

Normally, Microsoft offers no-cost support only to users who bought Windows at retail. Users who obtained the operating system already installed on a PC are referred to the computer manufacturer or reseller; the company’s for-fee support runs $59 per request unless the user or business has a prepaid support plan with Microsoft.

Read more »

Windows XP Service Pack 3 is coming soon!

Windows XP Service Pack 3 includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system.

Date Published: March 21 2008

Download Size: 428 KB - 1.0 MB*

*Download size depends on selected download components.

System Requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP; Windows XP Home Edition ; Windows XP Home Edition N; Windows XP Media Center Edition; Windows XP Professional Edition ; Windows XP Professional N; Windows XP Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Starter Edition; Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Read more »

OpenSUSE 11.0 Alpha 3 is out for testing!

Here are some changes to this release.

• Linux 2.6.25-rc5
• gcc 4.3 final
• updated binutils 2.18.50 SVN
• updated gdb 6.7.50 SVN
• continued work on the installation work flow
• libzypp uses a new much faster solver
• CUPS 1.3.6
• D-Bus 1.1.20
• updated NetworkManager 0.7 SVN
• PackageKit 0.1.9.1
• PolicyKit 0.7
• PulseAudio 0.9.9
• Zypper 0.10.2
• KDE 4.0.2/3.5.9
• GNOME 2.22 final
• Compiz 0.7.2

Read more »