Dell's all new Latitude ST tablet

I was delighted to be asked to participate in Dell’s Evolving Workforce research project. The future of ‘work’ is something that’s interested me since before I entered the work force.

I always found getting on a train and going to a place of work rather 18th Century. Like being back in the industrial age. Fair enough if you’re a doctor, nurse or working in a profession that specifically requires you to be located in a particular building. But for everything else, especially knowledge workers, sticking them in the 21st Century equivalent of a factory struck me as fundamentally stupid.

When I began doing work experience and consultancy age 15, I remember being shocked at the amount of messing about that I witnessed. Most of the team at one company spent hours each day just messing around. It wasn’t referred to as such, though. ‘Meetings’ took flipping ages because folk liked to talk. Internal emails and phone calls went unanswered because people were too busy talking — about rubbish. And goodness me, the amount of time that was wasted making coffees was ridiculous. I remember confidently asserting to the CEO of the company that his team was running at about 30% efficiency at a maximum, because of all the built-in messing about taking place.

I remember one lady who arrived into work promptly at 855am every morning but didn’t actually *do* any work until about 1045am. Instead she used up the time productively having coffee, eating a bagel, connecting with team members, being briefed on stuff that she didn’t need to be brief upon, answering phone calls that weren’t for her, and so on and so on.

I remember thinking there had to be a better way.

There is. Work from home. Or, well, work from anywhere. But not a flipping office. Unless you’re a nurse, doctor or Prime Minister. If you reduce everyone’s key contributions down to what is business critical, the vast majority of those contributions (in the knowledge economy, anyway) can be delivered virtually. Indeed, one *real* internal study I saw recently highlighted that one particular Customer Services Manager only delivered value to one firm for 40 minutes maximum each month — when the lady answered the phone from a key customer. That’s it. The rest of her time was used up (by her, and by her business) doing all manner of ridiculous activities like participating in team meetings. The implications of these kinds of research programmes are likely to be staggering — especially when the next generation ascends to senior management. Wherever possible I buy output, not bum-on-seat time and most corporations will eventually align to that viewpoint.

I explored these kinds of issues with Dell when I met with their research experts. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity. It was also rather inspiring to see senior management at Dell actively considering the future of the workplace rather than sitting, staring at the wall, working out how to sell more desktops. Indeed, if we’re going to see more and more people become ‘sovereign individuals’ in control of their own destinies, the way in which corporations and individuals buy and use information technology is set to change dramatically.

Me? I don’t want to buy a desktop. I want to rent the facility. Just like I do with my electricity, insurance or anything else. I don’t want to own it. I don’t want to maintain it. I want to change it according to my changing business requirements. In January I might need 3x 28″ monitors and a desktop for my operations here in the UK (fulfilled from Dell’s Reading office). In February I might be in San Francisco for the month and therefore need a super-high-spec ultra-light laptop with one 28″ monitor (fulfilled from Dell’s San Francisco office). That’s a rather advanced case. If you think about the evolving workforce now becoming responsible for the provision of it’s own IT hardware, their first stop is likely to be PC World rather than Dell’s Enterprise Sales team. Equally, the rush toward consumerisation in the tech world is changing the nature of the corporate procurement function.

It’s a fascinating area that is only getting more interesting, especially with the introduction of mobile into the mix.

You can read all about Dell’s Evolving Workforce predictions in their report — you can find it here or I’ve embedded it below.

Nokia's Ilari Nurmi giving his E-Series presentation

I’ve got five lines on the account, all at crazy price plan levels. I don’t know which-is-which, apart from my main number. And Vodafone UK’s online account management is so dire that I decided I’d go into a shop and sort it out.

I liked the idea of perusing my account screen with the helpful Vodafone sales chaps. I didn’t like the idea of phoning up customer service because I couldn’t easily visualise the accounts. I figured it would take 3 times as long to go through the changes I needed to make via voice. I didn’t want to wind up the customer services agent and I reckoned, if I picked a Vodafone shop in London when they were reasonably empty, I could spend 10 minutes sorting things out in person.

That’s the beauty of Vodafone. It’s all connected. Setting aside the fact you can’t really *do* much with your online account management (i.e. change price plans — I always get errors), I liked the fact I could walk into any Vodafone shop, the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, and be able to discuss my account within seconds. It’s all so smart. All so connected.

Phone up and they can help you. Walk into any store and they can call up your account there and then and woosh, you can walk out with a new handset if you like. All you need to do is confirm your primary phone number, name/address or show some ID and bish, bash, bosh, you’re done.

It may not sound *that* amazing, but remember o2 stores can’t help you unless you can remember your account number. You literally have to stand in the shop phoning o2 customer service to retrieve your account number, THEN the chaps can help you.

And 3… don’t get me started on 3. They’re better now, but they used to be completely 100% unable to service existing customers. It was a dire experience if you were already a customer. You’d walk in, hoping to upgrade, then be told to phone customer service and do the deal via phone because their systems weren’t setup. Thankfully they’ve rectified that.

But something strange has happened to Vodafone recently, if today’s experience is accurate across the whole store network.

I walked into the Oxford Street (near Soho) branch this evening. They weren’t too busy and I was approached by a helpful chap within seconds.

“I’d like to make some changes to my price plans,” I said, “And possibly upgrade one of the lines — I’ve got five on my account.”

The chap did a ‘let me stop you there look’ before telling me, “Sorry sir, I’m afraid you have to call up for that.”

I looked at him.

In fact my look said: “YOU WHAT?”

“Yes,” he continued, “If we do it in-store, you’ll have to add an extra 6 months to your contract if you change price plans?”

I looked at him again.

You what?

“Er, well, can you tell me if any of my accounts are free of contract yet?” I asked, crestfallen.

“Sure!” he snapped with efficient politeness.

We headed to the back of the shop. I gave him my details. Within seconds he was telling me that one of my 12-month lines was out of contract.

“You can get a G2 for £90 on an 18-month contract,” he said.

Riight, I said, considering the 600 a month I’m spending. That’s a whopping 7,200 pounds a year. If you assume a G2 costs an arbitrary £400, I could buy 18 of them a year for what I’m blowing with Vodafone.

He came up with another option, “Or, if you’d like a 24-month contract on that line, the G2 would be just £5?”

Right.

I saw the manager — or a ’suit’ was standing nearby so I thought I’d try out the entrepreneurialism.

“So I’m spending at least 600 a month with you,” I prompted.

My sales guy looked at my recent bills.

“Er, yeah,” he said.

I glanced in the direction of the manager, standing next to him not paying any attention.

“So, you can’t change my price plans here…”

- “No sir,” he interrupted again, “You have to phone 191 [Customer Services]. Unless you’re upgrading, we can’t help [smile].”

“And despite the fact I’m paying 600 a month, you can’t just give me a G2, you need to charge me five pounds?”

“As I said,” he replied patiently, “You do need to talk to customer services.”

Right.

So it’s cookie-cutter time.

I’m exactly the same as someone paying Vodafone £15 per month. In fact given the amount of attention my brother gets on a month-to-month £25 contract (he’s getting how-are-you-doing-sir calls each month urging him to upgrade to a contract with special terms), I think he’s getting a better service level.

What’s the point of a branch network if you can’t service me and my £7,200 expenditure.

And at what point do I sit back and think seven grand is just a stupid, stupid amount to be paying.

That amount is a reflection of my relationship with Vodafone. I was hugely delighted. I didn’t mind the expenditure. It is certainly a business expense for the company — indeed, the Bold, the Dell Mini laptop, those weren’t entirely necessary for me personally but they were super-necessary for the business, to make sure I could deliver decent reviews and competent reporting.

But now, well, I think I could get by on £20-30 per month. Give me 600 minutes, unlimited texts and ‘unlimited’ data and you know what, that’ll work.

And it just takes one experience to really change your perspective.

What the hell am I doing paying them that amount of cash?

Well, obviously, I was going into their shop to reduce that down — to remove and reduce the unnecessary 65, 80, 90 and 45 (or whatever) price plans that I’ve got running. Throw in some unnecessary (but previously useful) Blackberry service plans on a few of the lines. It all adds up. Plus VAT. Add in a bit of international roaming and before you know it, you’re at 600 quid.

Deary me.

It used to be blowing this kind of money on an operator, you’d be sent phones, devices, whatever in order to keep your head in the sand so that you didn’t actually do anything. Indeed if Vodafone had called me last week and offered me a G2 for free, along with something else, and something else… you know, ‘goodies’, I’d have reacted emotionally: Yes please and er, don’t worry about those price plan changes. That’d have been worth the cash to me. I understand the commercial realities that the operator has to face. But I also recognise that I’ve been giving them a heckuvalot of business and… well… it’s the age old customer issue isn’t it? I now think I’m paying a lot, lot more than I need to be and can’t see a reason to continue.

Tomorrow, Vodafone Customer Services and I have a date. A rather boring and extensive date where we go through each account in sequence and reduce them down to their (roughly) 15 quid/month minimums. And I need to cancel that 12-month one that’s already expired.

Like many of the UK’s contracted mobile customers, I’ll take note of the contract expiry dates on each line and start clock-watching.

Sources at various titles have picked up news that DELL is on the brink of announcing a Smartphone, most likely at Mobile World Congress.

The Wall Street Journal has it the PC maker has been designing a prototype of an iPhone and BlackBerry ilk, for over a year now. They even have news that it could be of a touch screen variety too, with Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS being both likely contenders for the platform of choice.

They quoted an analyst over at Kaufman Bros., who in turn is quoting from an internal source at DELL on all the information.

Apparently, according to the title, 258 million Smartphone devices were sold last year with that figure expected to rise to 725 million this year. It wasn’t said in so many words, but we’re expecting these stats came from the analyst firm IDC.

Another analyst at that very same firm added further speculation by throwing in his two pennies worth. He mentioned it’s been a few years since DELL hired in a guy from Motorola, who was chiefly responsible for the RAZR and it was about time his recruitment showed some fruits.

Read more on the piece here, it makes for an interesting read and with Reuters running an article too endorsing the WSJ copy, it just further confirms the rumours.

With the likes of Palm showing up in Barcelona with their pre it’ll soon be a crowded place for Smartphones. We’re wondering what DELL will have to do to make the phone standout, if anything at all. We’ll all just have to wait and see, but it’s looking like interesting times are ahead.

In nearly a month from now, Mobile World Congress will be over, done and dusted, put to bed, an ex-event, acabado – finished.

What are we expecting to see, what are we likely to experience, what will astound us and what will we all be talking about five weeks from now?

From what we’ve already seen aired at CES and the meeting requests with various companies – the following is what we believe will be the main themes from the event. Along with the topics that could be addressed, and the avenues of discussion that we suspect will be throughout the event.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, the very large grey beast that is the OS. We doubt the whole event will be taken up by talk of platforms, but they will have a significant presence at this year’s MWC.

With the inclusion of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer as a keynote speaker, the attention will turn to the next generation of Windows Mobile on phones. At least we’re assuming he’ll be there to announce a product, as we doubt he’s just going along to increase his air miles.

Rumours have been around for a while now as to what Windows Mobile 6.5 will most likely contain, from the likes of multi-touch to the known IE version 6 being included. All that anyone can really wish for is that the new OS will fix the issues that plagued 6.1. Saving us all the bother of downloading cooked ROMs from the xda-developers website to resolve them.

Motorola has already spoken publically about their new handsets running this OS, due in the second half of this year which realistically means Q4. We’re wishing good things for that company too, as they need all the luck they can get right now.

We’re assuming, as most will be, 6.5 will be more of a service pack than a long term OS that will be with us for many years to come. As we’re hoping the attention will be on Windows Mobile 7 at MWC. If we’re all led to believe the hype, this will include the likes of Zune-esque features and an integrated live mesh mobile version.

With the world’s economy being what it is right now, the cost of Windows Mobile will be undoubtedly drawn in to the argument this year. As the alternatives around will be surely weighed up as a comparison, now they’re all here and phones around running them all. At the end of last year, a slide was shown at Orange Partner Camp just highlighting the cost associated with WM as compared to the others. To quote a tweet from Rafe Bladford “in open platform session – cost of platform – Symbian, Limo, Android = $0; Windows Mobile $14 (est). not often you see that slide comparison”. Seeing this in black and white just hammers home what Windows Mobile will have to achieve, if it wants to survive in these times.

There’s bound to be a heated, intense discussion of this nature, which we’ll enjoy and throw some spanners in to the works in order to get some decent feedback. Arguments will be made from all corners, which will be interesting to say the least on what everyone will say. Some will be diplomatic on the costs, although we’re hoping to hear from the European against the North American perspective. As it’s no secret the Americans love their Windows Mobile handsets, so we’re unsure if they can give a balanced opinion.

It’s been a year since Android was first shown off on a few phones at last year’s MWC, and only a few months since the HTC manufactured G1 came out. Since then there’s been a lot of rumours as to who will have the next Google OS powered device, who will be the first to market, who will be known as leader with these handsets in the future and not tied solely to a network.

CES saw a few models of not all that well known companies doing the rounds, with a few whispers of who really will be next. With leaks of late coming from HTC, Asus and others all showing they supposedly have Android phones in the mix. Perhaps one of those will show up with a ready-to-market model. Let’s not forget that only two months ago 48 of the biggest players in the mobile world all signed up to the Open Handset Alliance, so we’re all expecting good things from everyone soon.

We have it on good authority, the next one will be around very soon so keep your eyes peeled and stay reading MIR. We are expecting everyone and their dog, to be making some noise over their Android handsets either publically, or behind closed doors. Our money goes with HTC and we’re taking good odds on that spread right now.

They’ll also be talk of the next Android version or the updates, in the form of ‘cup cake’ and possibly how this will be rolled out. If not that, then at the very least what it will possibly contain, if not how the development is going. Although most of what’s what is already known, there’s bound to be some news to be aired as they’ve been rather quiet of late.

Not to be out done, and in the realm of keeping up with the Joneses, there’s bound to be news from Nokia’s Symbian platform. This time last year the world was completely unaware of the grand scheming going on. As far as we all knew Symbian was just a good OS running phones, which included Nokia and that was that. A few months later, the landscape of the platform world would change forever, with Nokia announcing its intentions.

We doubt we’ll hear anything great from Symbian at the event, perhaps some minor announcements but nothing too much. We do however expect to hear rumblings from Nokia, perhaps leading with an update on the N97 and when it’s actually due. Perhaps more on location based services, along with how well Ovi mail is doing on the Series 40 handsets, plus how that service will be expanded.

Some other rumours we’re hearing are that nVidia possibly, maybe, could be, might have something to say at MWC this year. This is all to do with them entering the mobile graphics world on phones, with a possible association with HTC being in the pipeline or so we hear. Whether or not this holds any water is yet to be seen, but it sounds like an interesting concept and partnership.

There’s bound to be noise over LTE, WiMAX and HSPA+ with some networks, carriers and handsets being spoken about. Don’t hold your breath in seeing any of this on the horizon anytime soon, just watch and read with glee and think of flying cars.

We’re even hearing completely unsubstantiated mutterings that even DELL will be making an appearance. This is with a view to be showing up with a Smartphone in tow, of all things. This rumour is picking up even more and more worth in the last week, as more and more sites have begun reporting on it. Why not have a phone; DELL seems to have everything else. They’re turning out to be like a large Sainsbury’s, a one stop shop for everything you need.

Other keynotes that have been booked in already come from large companies such as Vodafone, to even MySpace’s CEO and its co-founder. With the latter obviously appearing to let everyone know MySpace is still around, despite the fact Facebook jas stolen all its limelight and people have completely forgotten about them.

Many CES delights will surely make an appearance, there’s no getting away from that. The LG watch phone and the palm pre will be shown off to the coos and the wonderment of the Europeans. It’ll be interesting to see if the Palm phone and webOS will have the same reception as it did in Las Vegas, also if they’ll be tougher questions to answer now the dust has settled on the announcement.

It’s bound to be a veritable smorgasbord of mobile delights and treats, we’ll undoubtedly bring you as much information as your eyes can handle.

Dell Video Chat offers free video calling to other Video Chat and SightSpeed users, plus regular phone calls to anyone and instant messaging to other Video Chat users. I’m using Video Chat with a Logitech QuickCam S5500 and the video quality is fantastic – much better than I expected from my past experience of using video calling. Multi-party chats are also available for $9.95 per month.

A neat feature is the ability to record a video message and send it to someone who isn’t online or doesn’t have Dell Video Chat installed. The recipient receives an email with a link where they can watch the video and also sign up for Video Chat. This is a nice feature for families who want to send impromptu video messages to each other.

As you’d expect, Video Chat offers the usual functionality to tune your video and sound settings plus the option to select different transmission speeds based on your Internet connection. There’s also a test call function to check you can communicate okay with the far end. Invoking ‘Control-S’ during a call brings up a statistics windows so you can compare your transmission speeds with the other party and monitor CPU usage and latency.

Whilst video calling to another Dell Video Chat user is free, making regular phone calls is chargeable and you need to top up your account with a minimum of $10.

The decision to use Dell Video Chat instead of other video calling products probably comes down to one of quality against ubiquity. If quality is important then Video Chat is well worth installing but you need to persuade your contacts to do the same. In the past I’ve not been a big fan of video calling because it’s always seemed a bit flaky but using Dell Video Chat a few times has inspired me to think again about when it would be useful. Now I need to persuade a few people to think likewise and download it!

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

A word of caution however — the Vodafone site reckons that the Netbook launches ‘online’ from the 13th of October (in 10 days time). You can pre-order now.

So perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, you might be able to pick one up, in person, tomorrow.

And I tell you I am sorely tempted.

600 pounds though. That’s what you’re committing to pay out, minimum — 25 pounds x 24 months. And that’ll give you 1GB of data per month. Stump up an extra fiver a month and you can have 3GB a month.

I’m going to go and look at one and see how I feel about it then.

If it’s SMALL and LIGHT, then I think I might do it.

I really like the fact my Apple Air fits into almost any folder or small bag. So the Netbook would need to do the same.

Windows XP though. At least it’s not as bloated and annoying as Vista. In fact let’s have a look at the specs:

8.9inch LCD screen
1.6GHZ Intel® Atom Processor
Microsoft® Windows® XP Operating System with Microsoft® Works
1GB Ram
8GB SSD hard drive (+ built-in card reader allowing memory expansion)
Weighs less than 1KG
Integrated Bluetoothâ„¢
Just 9.1inches X 6.7 inches
Wi-Fi enabled
Integrated Webcam

8GB solid state?

Hmm.

Only 1 gig of ram?

Hmm.

But it’s small. Can I type on it? Will it annoy me within 10 seconds of walking out the store?

Oh I don’t know…

Hands up who’s considering getting a Dell Inspiron Mini 9?

Your for 299 pounds. Including a 16GB solid state drive, Windows XP, 1.3 megapixel integrated camera, Wireless, Bluetooth, 1GB RAM.

I’m seriously considering it…

Woosh.

It’s arriving across Vodafone Europe in late September. I just got the release from them.

It’s obviously got built-in HSDPA broadband. You’ll be able to get it directly from Dell or from a Vodafone store (or Vodafone Online).

Weighing in at only 1.035 kg, the Inspiron Mini 9 is the perfect Internet companion, delivering maximum connectivity in a slim, sleek, piano black design. Its features, including sealed keyboard and reliable solid state disc (SSD) memory storage, bright 8.9-inch glossy LED display (1024×600), and built-in webcam, are designed to offer the customer easy, convenient Internet browsing, instant messaging, and rapid music and video downloads.

Let’s hear from Andrew at Vodafone:

Andrew Sangster, Director of PC Connectivity, Vodafone commented “The recent acceleration in the take up of mobile broadband has demonstrated just how hungry consumers are for Internet access. Building on our long relationship with Dell, the availability of the Inspiron Mini 9 will further enhance what a customer can achieve with mobile broadband whilst on the move. Today’s announcement marks the next step in the evolution of mobile broadband services bringing mobile broadband into the hands of many more customers.”

And from Michael at Dell:

Michael Lombardo, VP & General Manager, Consumer, Dell Europe said “Technology has become an essential part of how people connect with one another – whether it’s surfing the Web, chatting with friends, keeping updated on the latest news, sharing photos or social networking. Dell is committed to providing consumers with technology that allows them to connect any place, any time with mobile broadband.”

Country availability and pricing is coming soon. If Vodafone subsidise it and make it 20 or 30 quid a month on, say, a 24-month contract, I’ll have one. Definitely.

And so will you, right?

Almost every operator has got in on the laptops-for-30-quid-a-month thing — and they’ll thrown in a USB data dongle.

Well.

If my reader is right — and he’s highly placed within the mobile operator circles so I do credit his tip — a UK operator is preparing the launch of the Mini Inspiron.

It’s not just a gorgeous ultra-light notebook. Oh no. It’ll have HSDPA built-in.

Built right in. I’ll take two please. If this tip is half-way accurate, these things will be flying off the shelves. FLYING.

And what network?

Well it’d be rather convenient if I could simply add one of these to my Vodafone account.

Cover me in marmalade and call me Susannah!

I was sat in the Dhoni (the boat) the other night with Marcus, the Director of Operations for The Conrad Rangali Island.

“It was you I saw in the bar this morning wasn’t it?” He asked.

“Errr,” was my initial response.

“With the M1330 and the Air?”

Wow. I didn’t think to expect to encounter any geeks in the Maldives.

Turns out Marcus is a big fan of Dell and Apple. In particular Dell. I was privately hugely impressed that he didn’t even bother naming the brand of Dell. He simply called it the M1330 — their ultralight range.

He asked me how I found it.

“Well,” I told him as we bounced up and down in the inter-island Dhoni heading from one island of the resort to the other, “It’s shit hot.” Or words to that effect.

The Dell M1330 is the workhorse of a global nomad. Your Apple Air is fancy. It’s really slim. It gets looks of admiration … but when it comes to processing power, it does its best.

But sometimes you just need a Windows machine, as I do, often. And the Dell XPS M1330 is a piece of genius.

Here are some pictures:

I won’t bore you with exact specifications — they’re entirely configurable on the Dell site — other than this overview: For 589 UK pounds you can have an ultra light M1330 with a gig of RAM, 120 gig hard disk, T5750 Dual Core Intel Processor, gorgeous 13.3″ screen (1280×800) and more. Just amazing. And it’s got an SD slot, 2 USBs, an HDMI port and a proper monitor-out port. If you need a bit more oomph, you can top up the processor to a 2.6Ghz 8,000 series Dual Core, knock up the hard disk to 320 gig, boost ram to 3 gig (an extra 35 quid, would you believe?), add an nVidia 128mb graphics card and a few other enhancements and you’re still only talking 1,170 UK pounds. Right on. That’s including VAT!

The Apple Air is wider — and a bit slimmer. But not by much. You’d struggle getting the M1130 in a fancy Steve-Jobs-style-envelope but it’s a workhorse. A real beast.

I’ve been putting the M1330 through a heck of a lot of use whilst here on the island. I’ve been using it for a lot of blogging — perhaps one of the most demanding uses of a machine in my care. That is OODLES of web browsing and image processing along with video and audio encoding. I used the machine to comfortably process and record my podcast submission for Podcast 10. I’ve filled up a substantial amount of the hard disk with bucketloads of videos and photos that I won’t use — I’ve been deliberately annoying it. And it’s still standing. Battery life is excellent — 3 to 4 hours depending on how horrid you are to the machine and the screen brightness.

And one more thing.

You know, I was about to write that it doesn’t have a CD drive. It does. I just looked. Seriously, I spent a few minutes the other day looking to see and couldn’t find it. It’s on the right. An 8x DVD writer. Genius. I never knew!

I’d seen the M1330 before. I’ve seen a few folk using it and my dad had one of the first but I’d never been hands on with it before.

It’s precisely the kind of machine you want when you’ve got work to do and you’re on a desert island. Or on the train, the bus, or you’re moving often and you don’t want to be messing around with large ‘desktop replacements’.

Thank you to Dell for loaning us the M1330 for the Desert Island Challenge. And thank you to Marcus, Director of Operations for the Conrad here, for validating my geek existence with his question.

If you’ve got any questions about the Dell, let me know – ewan@smstextnews.com.

I tuned into the SMS Text News podcast (number 9) this morning from the Desert Island. Instead of using the Dell Ultralight M1330′s (rather nifty) speakers, I plugged in the Polycom Communicator C100 (it’s USB). It’s a bit of genius. Of course it does voice really well.. I’ve got a post on that coming, but I wanted to check out it’s speaker capabilities.

You’ll be familiar with Polycom from the conference room and the Communicator C100 is a chip off the same block. It’s got HD voice technology — whatever that is, it makes any audio and particularly voice sound full, whole and brilliant. I’m going to do another post on the Communicator — but that’ll be in a few days — so I want to point out that it’s just magic, absolutely magic, for Skype. I used it to speak with Mr Operator yesterday and the Communicator’s full duplex technology handled everything beautifully.

Here’s a vid of the Polycom unit in use with Ben-from-the-podcast’s dulcet tones mixed into a bit of jazz drifting across the waves…

(Filmed, of course, on a Flip!)

Here’s a quick look at the Dell:

Meanwhile, Barrons reports Nomura analyst Richard Windsor believes Dell is coming out with a 10 digit Qwerty keypad device next year.

Dell has already got out of the PDA business once – is it really going to re-enter the market again? It would certainly be very well positioned to do so and it’s brand would probably open a lot of doors with business users. Dell has still remained very reserved on the subject though: it’s not looking like a dead cert, but the evidence looks to be building.