Vista SP1, and then Windows 7, Windows 8 and Non-Windows Midori
2008 saw the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008, but Microsoft's journey on the Windows path is far from over.
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5.8.2008 Windows 7 RC Brings Windows XP Mode Beta and Windows Virtual PC Beta
The Release Candidate of Windows 7 will bring with it the first Beta development milestones for Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC.
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29.4.2009 Windows Reactivator 2.0 - Backup & Restore Activation Status of Windows XP with Windows Reactivator
Every time you reinstall your windows XP you need to reactivate it online using your product key & worst if you lost your Windows XP product key.
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3.6.2009 Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Feb 26th, 2008. Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks.
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28.2.2008 Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9 1 Billion and Counting
Is Windows dead? Or, at least, is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft's proprietary operating system?
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15.9.2008 Week in Microsoft: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 9
This week in Microsoft, we covered 128-bit support possibly coming to Windows 8 and Windows 9, Windows 7, Windows Mobile 6.5, Bill Gates, Office 2010 Starter, Microsoft MVP status, Windows Live Hotmail, the EU, and Microsoft Security Essentials.
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10.10.2009 Windows Vista Build 5231 and Windows Media Player 11 Leaks!
Windows Vista Build 5231 has leaked to the web. The new build is said to include Windows Media Player 11 included. View the screenshots below! This is a Main branch build that was released on September 12th, 2005 at 8:20PM.
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Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3: Official Release Dates
A French website, PC Inpact, has posted the official Microsoft product change request forms for Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3.
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6.2.2008 Download Free Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 Straight from Microsoft
Via the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image. That's right! Microsoft is offering access to free downloads of Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2.
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6.3.2008 Windows Vista SP1 outperforms Windows XP SP2 in file copy
"Its interesting that people seem to think that Vista under performs in every area of the system which is quite an incorrect perception.
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27.5.2008 Windows Fiji Has RTMd as Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008
Microsoft officially confirmed that Windows Fiji has been released to manufacturing.
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18.7.2008 Windows 7 Beta Doesn't Play Nice with Windows Azure Cloud OS Tools
The promise for Windows 7 is that it will deliver an evolution when it will come down to stretching into the Cloud compared to its precursor, Windows Vista.
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16.1.2009 Internet Explorer 8 MUI packs for Windows XP, Windows Server 03
As detailed in our previous blog post, the following Internet Explorer MUI packs shipped today.
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17.5.2009 Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta adds Windows 7 support
Microsoft announced the release of Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 Beta, along with news that it will feature Windows 7 support.
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20.7.2009 Check for RAM Error or Defect in Windows 7 and Vista with Windows Memory Diagnostic
Memory or RAM is one of the most important electronic hardware component on a computer systems, not only in term of speed or clock frequency and size, but also the reliability of hardware ecosystem of the RAM sticks or memory modules and its subsystem.
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1.10.2009 The Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98 Threat Mitigation Guide
Well, Microsoft still puts effort in old Windows versions...
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31.3.2006 Windows Vista comes with 19,500 drivers on DVD more on Windows Update
Ever needed to find a driver for a product and wished Windows would either just have the driver in it, or that their Windows Update service could provide it? With Vista, it can and new features and updates will be forthcoming too. Its about time!
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20.11.2006 Windows XP Home No Longer Qualifies for Windows Vista Upgrades
Windows XP Home Edition no longer qualifies for Windows Vista Business Upgrade or Upgrade + SA through Volume Licensing.
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17.10.2007 Microsoft Offers a Complex Windows Vista vs. Windows XP Perspective
A new standard of security is an integer aspect of the evolution puzzle represented by the move from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
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3.11.2007 Windows XP SP3 to Drop Concomitantly with Windows Vista SP1?
Yes, it's time for every Windows user's favorite obsession: Windows XP Service Pack 3. The third and final service pack for Windows XP has been quite elusive for the past three years.
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25.11.2007 Windows Vista vs. Windows 9x/Me, NT Server, 2000 and XP
If at just a couple of weeks short of the first anniversary since Windows Vista hit the shelves you are still looking for reasons to upgrade to the latest Windows client, then Biplab Paul, Partner Technical Consultant with Microsoft India, has an impressive, and exhaustive list of features that are bound to tilt the balance in Vista's favor.
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14.1.2008 Free Windows Vista Business and Windows XP SP2 on Parade
Free Windows... Not a concept you would expect from Microsoft. With a business strategy focused on proprietary software, the Redmond company is by all means at the opposite technology spectrum from open source and free software.
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9.3.2008 Microsoft Presents the Lost Comparison: Windows Vista vs. Windows XP
With both Windows XP and Windows Vista being available concomitantly on the market, Microsoft is doing nothing more than inviting the consumers to compare the two operating systems.
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20.4.2008 Windows Server 2008 = Windows Vista SP1 Minus the Pain
Windows Server 2008, formerly codenamed Longhorn, is essentially intimately connected with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, to the level in which the RTM version of Microsoft's latest server operating system features the
SP1 label
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6.5.2008 Windows Embedded NavReady 2009 - Latest Windows Platform from Microsoft
The latest Windows operating system is available for download as of June 16, 2008. And no, it's not a new release of Windows 7, nor the first taste of Windows 7 Server.
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16.6.2008 Free Windows for Supercomputers Available for Download - Windows HPC Server 2008
Microsoft made the latest iteration of its Windows operating system for supercomputers available as a free download.
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23.9.2008 How to Install Windows 7 or Windows Vista on Physical Machine Without DVD Media
A lot of Windows Vista and Windows 7 license has been sold media-less nowadays, where buyers only receive a piece of authenticated certificate with a genuine and legitimate product key printed on it.
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23.12.2008 Windows 7 beta testers find critical Windows Installer Bug
Mary Jo reports that a number of Windows 7 Beta testers have come across a bug that crashes the system randomly whenever they try to start a Windows Update or install anything using Microsoft's MSI installer.
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19.1.2009 AeroBar: Show Titlebar Text in Explorer Windows Under Windows Vista
Have you ever wondered why Explorer Windows don't show titles in Windows Vista?
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13.2.2009 Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 reaches RTM
Microsoft has finally finished and compiled the RTM version of Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008. The full version string being 6.0.6006.18005, which company officials have confirmed is the final RTM version of SP2.
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28.4.2009Principled Technologies Tests Windows Vista SP1
Nick White: When Windows Vista was originally released just over a year ago Microsoft commissioned Principled Technologies to compare the overall
responsiveness of Windows Vista to Windows XP SP 2 for some common business and home tasks. With the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Principled has updated their results.
Principled Technologies concluded the following when comparing business scenarios:
- Overall, Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP
performed comparably on most test operations. Performance differences between the two operating systems were typically less than a half second.
Significant differences of over a second occurred on only nine of 128 measures; Windows Vista SP1 led on eight of those.
- Windows Vista
SP1 was noticeably more responsive after rebooting than Windows XP on several common business operations.
- Overall, Windows Vista SP1 was
more responsive than Windows Vista on most comparisons. Performance differences between the two operating systems were typically less than a quarter
second.
Principled Technologies also concluded the following when comparing home scenarios...
winbeta.org -
27.02.2008Behind the Scenes of Windows 7 Enterprise
Gavriella Schuster: Theres been a lot of talk in the community about what Windows 7 offers consumers. Today, Id like to highlight the enterprise value
of the product and how it reflects what customers and partners told us enterprises need most.
With Windows Vista, we learned a
lot about how involved our customers and partners like to be in the development of an OS in a nutshell, early and often. With Windows 7, we changed
the way we developed the Windows OS in order to be more responsive to that feedback. As such, early on we identified three main principles to our new
process...
winbeta.org -
04.03.2009Microsoft: UAC security setting not changing (for now)
Via a hefty (but uncharacteristically responsive and timely) post to the Engineering Windows 7 blog, Microsoft officials said that they believe
the default User Account Control (UAC) security setting in Windows 7 is fine
as it is.
winbeta.org -
05.02.2009Windows 7: RDP changes improve virtual desktop performance
The Remote Desktop Client in Windows 7 is equipped with new features and enhancements via Remote Desktop Protocol 7 (RDP). The most interesting
enhancement is the support for Desktop Composition, full Aero glass effect. Below are the features introduced in Windows 7 Remote Desktop Client
Windows 7 Aero supportDirect 2D & Direct 3D 10.1 application supportTrue multi-monitor supportRDP Core Performance ImprovementsMultimedia
enhancementsMedia Foundation supportDirectShow supportLow Latency audio playback supportBi-directional audio support I fired up the Remote Desktop
Client in the latest Windows 7 build 7057 and tested few things. Remote desktop connection experience is very much improved compared to its previous
versions and I also found the session to be incredibly responsive even while playing HD videos.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
16.03.2009Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2
Principled Technologies has released two Microsoft commissioned reports on Windows Vista SP1 performance. In these tests, Principled Technologies
measured responsiveness of Windows Vista SP1 vs. Windows Vista RTM vs. Windows XP SP2 when performing a set of common business and home tasks. The
results show that SP1 performs on par with Vista RTM and Windows XP.
The test show that as with Windows Vista RTM, overall performance is
on par with Windows XP. It’s important to remember that Windows Vista is a more advanced operating system, which includes many more capabilities
than Windows XP. By default, Windows Vista includes antispyware, a search indexer, and the shadow copy service. All these work in the background,
providing important services to customers, but they of course take up a portion of the PCs memory and processor resource.
On several common
business and home operations Windows Vista SP1 was noticeably more responsive after rebooting than Windows XP.
neowin.net -
28.02.2008Aston 1.9.3 Xmas edition
Aston Shell is a Desktop
replacement software, which
saves your time and computer
resources while giving your
Desktop a unique look. Most
Desktop enhancers just waste
your resources. Unlike them
Aston replaces your old
Windows Desktop with a new
one, which is faster, more
beautiful and can be tuned to
look and behave the way you
like.
Key
features:
* Fast,
stable and highly responsive
even on slow computers
*
Easy customization of any
Desktop parameter
*
Hundreds of free Themes
*
Lots of advanced features
(hotkeys, Toolbars, freeform
animated icons)
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
25.12.2006Overview Series: Windows Vista Performance and Tuning
Windows Vista and SP1 focus on delivering greater performance and overall system responsiveness. By striking a balance between speed and
responsiveness, Windows Vista and SP1 deliver a level of performance that has the greatest positive impact on the systems usability. This guide looks
at the following areas of performance improvement:
- Making configuration changes that help a computer feel more responsive when you
use it.
- Using hardware to boost the actual physical speed of a computer.
- Making configuration changes that help a computer to start
faster.
- Making the computer more reliable may help increase performance.
- Monitoring performance occasionally so that you can stop
problems before they get too big.
winbeta.org -
29.07.2008Free utility condenses Windows Vista from 13GB to 1.4GB
A Croatian college student has created a utility that installs a seriously stripped-down Windows Vista, saying the heft of Microsoft's biggest
desktop OS was just too big to believe. "Who can justify a 15GB operating system?" asked Dino Nuhagic, a fifth-year student from Split, a Croatian
city on the Adriatic. Not Nuhagic, or the uncounted users who have turned to his creation, vLite.
vLite, a free program that lets users
pick and choose which Vista components, hotfixes, drivers and even language packs are installed, then builds a disk image that can be burned to a DVD
for unattended installation of the operating system.
"Why did I do it? Well, it's performance and work environment," said Nuhagic
when asked why he came up with vLite. "Performance, that's easy to explain. The less things running, the more responsive the OS. But the
environment part is where it gets down to personal preference."
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
31.01.2008New Vista Build to be Released
this Week
Only days after the release of
build 5456 of Windows Vista,
Microsoft already plans to
release another interim build,
no later than this week.
The build supposedly
consumes fewer system
resources and the long-awaited
new Aero Basic theme.
The build number is
currently unknown and the
build will likely be released
to usual technical beta
testers as well as TechNet
subscribers.
"Vista in its beta form
is pretty taxing on the
system. It's slow and a
little non-responsive," said
Mike Sievert, corporate vice
president of Windows client
marketing at Microsoft.
"That piece of
software is now about nine
weeks old and that may not
sound like a lot but at this
stage, that's an old version
in software terms."
"You'll see a huge
difference ,"
Sievert said of the interim
release, noting Microsoft is
recommending 512 Megabytes of
memory when testing the new
code.
jcxp.net -
14.07.2006First Hand Reports on WWDC's Leopard 9A466
With WWDC in full swing, few
first hand reports of Apple's
Mac OS X Developer Build of
Leopard have been leaked. The
reason for this is that beyond
the keynote, the remainder of
Apple's conference is under a
strict non disclosure
agreement. A few tidbits,
however, have been posted
publicly online:
One
blogger posted these positive
impressions:
’ Mail is
really great, seems super fast
’ Spotlight much more
responsive, no pauses as you
type
’ Safari seems faster
and now has that styled text
editor as in FireFox (used in
blogger for example)
’ New
Finder, not as new as I had
expected, seems solid and
sensible.
’ Coverflow
everywhere, yeah, whatever..
’ Quickview is useful I
think, certainly seems fast.
’ Time Machine looks like
it works really, really well.
The blog post,
however, has since been
removed. ..
winbeta.org -
14.06.2007Tool simplifies Windows Mobile forms
Resco has announced a new tool intended to help developers add forms to their Windows Mobile applications.
Resco MobileForms Toolkit 2008 is a suite of controls
optimized for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Compact Framework 3.5, according to the company.
Resco says its product helps
developers create fast, responsive forms and other user interface elements that conform to Windows Mobile standards. All controls support the small
displays, low CPU performance, and limited methods for user input available on mobile devices, the company adds. The suite is deisgned for use with
Visual Studio 2008, which includes
.NET Compact Framework 3.5, released at the end of November.
winbeta.org -
13.12.2007Internet Explorer 8 has reached RTM
According to Russian publication Wzor, Microsoft finalised Internet Explorer 8 on February 21st. The final build that was prepared and passed to
internal staff and partners is 8.0.6001.18691. Microsoft is reportedly readying this build for distribution via TechNet/MSDN and Connect before a
general release to web. The software giant released a final test build (RC1) last month before readying the RTM last week. According to Microsoft
Internet Explorer 8 includes the following enhancements:Faster Internet Explorer 8 is more responsive with new pages and tabs, opening up fast and
reliably.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
23.02.2009Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 8 RC1
As we reported last week, Microsoft has just launched Internet Explorer 8 RC 1 with build number 8.0.06001.18372. Microsoft has not yet released a
changelog, so if you spot any new features or major changes let us know. Overview Internet Explorer 8 is the latest version of the familiar web
browser you are most comfortable using, helping you get everything you want from the web faster, easier, more privately and securely than ever before.
Faster Internet Explorer 8 is more responsive with new pages and tabs, opening up fast and reliably. You can now get to the information you care about
most, in fewer steps; one click access to your webmail, favorite news sites or other online services.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
26.01.2009Apple releases iTunes 8.1
Last night, after releasing the new iPod Shuffle, Apple released iTunes 8.1. In addition to the changes listed below, it is said to be much, much
faster and responsive along with being able to better handle larger libraries. Since those were the two main areas of concern in most users, I am sure
this update will be a great one.
-Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation).
-Allows friends to request songs for iTunes
DJ.
-Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.
-Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs.
-Provides AutoFill
for manually managed iPods.
-Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus.
-Includes many accessibility
improvements.
-Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.
jcxp.net -
13.03.2009Windows Vista available on Volume Licensing
Thanks Tom Warren and
Bink for
this information that was
relayed to me yesterday
(shortly before my power
outage), but better late than
never! We can reveal that
Windows Vista is available for
Volume License users, shortly
ahead of the scheduled Nov.
17th release to MSDN
subscribers.
The
following flavours were
released:
- Windows Vista
Business 32-bit English Disk
Kit MVL DVD
English
- Windows Vista
Business 32-bit English Disk
Kit MVL DVD
UPG
- Windows Vista
Business 64-bit English Disk
Kit MVL DVD English
- SA Win Vista
Enterprise 32-bit English Disk
Kit MVL DVD English
- SA Win Vista
Enterprise 32-bit English Disk
Kit MVL DVD UPG
English
- SA Win Vista
Enterprise 32-bit English Disk
Kit MVL MVLS Only DVD Language
Packs
- SA Win Vista
Enterprise 64-bit English Disk
Kit MVL DVD English
- SA Win Vista
Enterprise 64-bit English Disk
Kit MVL MVLS Only DVD Language
Packs
The site
appears to be non-responsive,
it's probably being
hammered!
neowin.net -
16.11.2006Vista SP1 vs. XP SP2 - Part Deux
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Following the
benchmarks I carried out last week, I
decided that the PC Doc HQ lab rats needed to pull a few all-nighters and carry out some more benchmarking tests on Vista SP1 and XP SP2. Is it
possible to determine conclusively which is the faster, more responsive OS?
One of the main criticisms of my initial benchmark
tests was that I overlooked the fact that, under the hood, Windows Vista SP1 works differently to XP SP2 in the file copy department. The difference
is down to caching and how Vista carried out uncached I/O while XP caches the files. On top of that is the further complication that the file
transfer progress bars are coded to work differently. Vistas file copy dialog box goes away when the cache is committed, while under XP the copy
dialog goes away while the committal is still pending. In other words XP is coded to appear fast...
winbeta.org -
18.02.2008Neowin at Digital Life 2007: Toshiba Gigabeat T400 and U202
One of Toshiba's main attractions, at Digital Life, was their latest models in the Gigabeat line of portable media players, the 2GB U202 and the 4GB
T400. Both units were prominently displayed throughout the Toshiba booth, though I'm not sure the devices actually warrant that much attention.
I spent most of my time with the T400, though the U202 operated very similarly. To be honest, I have nothing nice to say about either device
besides that each device is very responsive. Other than that, I was taken back by how many points Toshiba managed to screw up on. Let's start with
the display. At no point in my testing of the device did any of the screens or menus actually use the entire area of the screen. The image that did
appear in the middle of the black was also lack luster, at best. Colors were faded and the screen wasn't as bright as most other main stream
competitors on the market.
Read full story.....
neowin.net -
01.10.2007Dell, Intel, and Microsoft to push 'ReadyBoost,' Hybrid Drives
Companies including Dell,
Microsoft, and Intel announced
on Wednesday the formation of
a new group to promote the
adoption of nonvolatile
memory, or NAND flash, in PC
storage applications.
The Non-Volatile Memory
Host Controller Interface
(NVMHCI) Working Group, as
it's being called, will be
chaired by Intel and will
provide a standard software
programming interface for
nonvolatile memory subsystems.
The group says the
interface will be used by
operating system drivers to
access NAND flash memory
storage in the applications
such as hard drive caching and
solid-state drives. Today, PCs
already use this technology;
"ReadyBoost" is what
Microsoft calls its Vista disk
caching technology that makes
computers running the OS more
responsive by using flash
memory on a USB 2.0 drive, SD
card, or other forms of flash
memory. ..
winbeta.org -
31.05.2007Vista SP1 Analysed in Depth
It's no secret that there's
a leaked beta of Vista SP1
floating around, but no-one
yet has really taken the time
to analyse it in detail to
find out what it really does.
I made it my mission this
weekend to trawl through the
registry and file changes in
SP1 to find out exactly what
SP1 does.
First up,
I can say that there is a very
noticeable performance
increase. It is obvious that
since Microsoft released Vista
to manufacturing, it has been
optimising the code ever
since. There's far less hard
drive thrashing and in general
the system seems much smoother
and more responsive.
Amusingly, the build of SP1 we
saw (which in this beta comes
fully integrated into a 3.2GB
Vista install DVD, rather than
as a standalone update) still
has Microsoft's internal
network shares embedded as the
source of the updates...
neowin.net -
11.08.2007HP Brings PDAs Back
The PDA isn't dead. This evening, HP announced five new iPAQ handhelds, including two straight-no-chaser PDAs, two smartphones, and one GPS
navigation device. HP's aiming to retake the lead in providing handhelds to business customers.
Yes, that's business customers,
not individuals. Like the 510 smartphone released earlier this year, HP's handheld line is all about managed solutions. The company is looking to
seduce IT departments into buying handhelds in bulk along with HP desktops, laptops, and other HP services. As a result, the new products don't
necessarily have the look or pricing that would attract individual consumers who don't care about long-term support contracts or remote-deployment
capabilities.
HP's new line starts with the iPAQ 110 Classic, a straight-up Windows Mobile 6 PDA in the historic iPAQ mold. It
looks nondescript, but it's fast: a combination of a powerful 624 Mhz Marvell processor, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and a relatively
undemanding 320-by-240 TFT LCD screen will make it feel responsive. The 110 comes with 64MB of RAMwe wish it had a bit morebut you can drop in a
full-sized SD card for additional storage. It has all of the usual Windows Mobile apps including music, video, and Office-editing suites, but HP also
suggests using the 110 as a VoIP device thanks to its built-in receiver and speaker with echo cancellation. The 110 is .54 inches thick and weighs
3.68 ounces.
winbeta.org -
06.09.2007
