| Launched in London this week is the new Emblaze | | | | market today. It sports a unique menu set arranged in |
| Mobile First Else smartphone. It doesn't ring as loud a | | | | a dial-up-like fashion and is designed to be operated |
| bell as an HTC or Blackberry smartphone, but you | | | | with just one hand courtesy of its gesture-sensitive |
| have the promise of a very capable and remarkably | | | | multi-touch capacitive touchscreen and a persistent |
| unique handset that, if the Israel-based Emblaze Mobile | | | | control points on the right side of its large 3.5-inch |
| company plays its cards well, could give the major | | | | WVGA display. |
| players a run for their money. | | | | The new handset is not wanting of upscale features |
| The Smartphone Challenge | | | | found only in expensive smartphones. You get a 3 |
| Emblaze is not new to the business as it's been there | | | | 3.5G data connectivity on a quad band GLSM handset |
| over the last decade, providing its markets with low | | | | powered by the same Texas Instrument OMAP 3430 |
| cost featured phones and providing mobile telephone | | | | engine that is found in the iPhone 3Gs, Nokia N900 and |
| technologies to other companies as an OEM. Recently, | | | | the Motorola Droid. |
| it embarked on an ambitious project called "Monolith" | | | | It has WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, mini USB 2.0, GPS, |
| teaming up with Japanese Access, known for its | | | | accelerometer and primary sensors 3.5mm headphone |
| NetFront browser and co-developer for the Palm OS. | | | | jack, and a high end 5-megapixel autofocus camera |
| The result of this 2-year joint technical collaboration is | | | | with image stabilization. There's an internal Flash |
| another new Access-flavored Linux-based operating | | | | memory of either 16 GB or 32 GB but without |
| system called Else Intuition to run the new First Else | | | | expandability options. It has a generous 1450 mAh LI |
| smartphone sporting a slab design inspired by the | | | | battery but the talk times remain unreleased |
| monolith slab in Stanley Kubrick's movie 2001:A Space | | | | Lastly, Emblaze Mobile knows the value of having an |
| Odyssey. | | | | online apps store like what iPhone has. It knows too |
| The challenge for the Emblaze Mobile First Else is | | | | well that iPhone's success has been largely due to its |
| convincing the tech savvy smartphone market that it is | | | | hundreds of thousands of apps and games |
| as good, if not better, than the emerging Android | | | | downloadable to make the handset as exciting to use |
| smartphones sweeping the market. The world of | | | | as it was when taken out of the box the first time. It |
| smartphone may still have room for the new Else | | | | has readied its apps store with an API it is releasing |
| Intuition side by side with the Android and other | | | | with the handset for developers to start developing |
| platforms that are slowly losing favour in the market. | | | | mobile application software on its new platform. |
| For sure, the First Else's UI is nothing like any UI in the | | | | |