HANDY: The N97 comes with a slide out Qwerty keyboard.N97
(Nokia)
3G smartphone
Camera: 5-megapixels
Display: 3.5in (640 x 360-pixels)
Messaging: SMS, MMS, e-mail
Connectivity: WLAN, HSDPA, USB, Bluetooth
Memory: 32GB internal memory, MicroSD slot
Standby/talk time: 400 hours/360 minutes
Dimensions: 55.3 x 15.9 x 117.2mm (w x d x h)
Other features: Widgets, A-GPS
Price: RM2,480
SILVER BACK: The E75's got a nice metallic back plate to complete its high-end business phone look.
FREEDOM TO TYPE: The E75 has a full Qwerty keyboard you can use both for text messaging and surfing the web.E75
(Nokia)
Business phone
Camera: 3.2megapixels
Display: 2.4in QVGA LCD (320 x 240pixels)
Messaging: SMS, MMS, e-mail
Connectivity: GSM 900/1800/1900, GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, WiFi 802.11b/g
Internal memory: 50MB
Expansion slot: microSD (up to 16GB)
Standby/ talk time: 280 hours/ 5 hours 20 minutes
Operating system: Symbian OS 9.3
Other features: Music player, organiser, stopwatch, calendar, voice recorder, Adobe PDF reader, Quickoffice, two customisable home screens, integrated A-GPS
Weight: 139g
Dimensions (w x d x h): 111.8 x 50 x 14.4mm
Price: RM1,850
TURN IT AROUND: At the back is where the VGA camera and the excellent built-in speakers are located.
SPEED TEXTER: The built-in Qwerty keyboard is easy to operate even with one hand.BLUEBERRY-i
(CSL)
Dual-band phone Camera: 0.3-megapixels (VGA)
Display: 2.2in QVGA 262,000 colours ( 220 x 176-pixels)
Messaging: MMS, SMS, e-mail
Connectivity: Bluetooth, GPRS
Phone memory: 1MB
Expansion slot: MicroSD
Battery type: 700mAh lithium-ion
Standby/talk time: 180/3 hours
Other features: Dual SIM card slots, Qwerty mini keyboard, FM radio, MP3 player, MPEG4 playback, video and sound recorder, e-book reader, Java applications
Weight: 103g
Dimensions (w x d x h): 110 x 50 x 16mm Price: RM438
HARDLY MINIMALIST: The Magic has quite a few buttons on the front, with a trackball for navigation.
COOL: The W995 comes with a kickstand and stereo speakers on the top and bottom so you can watch videos comfortably. W995
(Sony Ericsson)
3G phone
Camera: 8.1 megapixels with autofocus and LED flash
Display: 2.6in screen (240 x 320 pixels), 256,000 colours
Messaging: SMS, MMS, e-mail
Connectivity: GSM 850/ 900/1800/1900, HSDPA 900 / 2100, Bluetooth, USB, WiFi
Expansion slot: M2 (up to 8 GB)
Phone memory: 118MB internal memory, bundled with 8GB M2 card
Battery Type: 930mAh lithium polymer
Standby/talk time: 360 hours/4 hours
Other features: aGPS, kickstand
Weight: 113g
Dimensions (W x D x H): 49 x 15 x 97mm
Price: RM1,800
KUALA LUMPUR: Asian markets were mostly up at midday Tuesday on improved consumer sentiments on the back of expectations of better than estimated third quarter earnings across the board.
Bloomberg also said in a report on Tuesday that Asian stocks rose lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index from a two-week low as the dollar advanced against the yen and Taiwan said it may allow Chinese investors to buy stakes in its flat-panel and computer-chip industries.
At home, the benchmark KLCI was 0.09% higher at 1,207.03 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 1.58% to 2,670.70. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.71% to 10,080.20, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 2.25% to 21,051.87, Shanghai’s A share index dropped 0.88% to 2,739.22 and Seoul’s Kospi Index was 0.86% higher at 1,690.02. At Bursa Malaysia, 309 counters were up, 198 were down while 230 others were traded unchanged. There were 306.92 million shares done with a total value of RM317.68 million.
Gainers included BAT, which rose 38 sen to RM44.98, HaiO climbed 20 sen to RM5.62, PetDag advanced 12 sen to RM8.55, Tanjong added 10 sen to RM15 and Pos Malaysia was 10 sen higher at RM2.21. Among plantation stocks, KL Kepong was up 4 sen to RM13.82 while BKawan added 2 sen to RM9.22. Crude palm oil was up RM12 to RM2,115 per tonne.
Nymex crude oil in electronic trade added 1 cents to US$66.85 per barrel. The ringgit was quoted at 3.487 to the US dollar.
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Malaysia Airlines (MAS) (3786) may be considering replacing its order for six Airbus A380 superjumbos with smaller wide-body aircraft such as the A330 or A350, according to a Standard & Poor's (S&P) report.
"We understand that MAS has broached the idea of swapping the A380 for smaller wide-body aircraft such as the A330 and Airbus' upcoming A350 to avoid a massive penalty of up to US$300 million (RM1 billion) if it were to cancel the A380 orders," S&P Asia Equity Research analyst Shukor Yusof said in a report.
According to a source familiar with the situation, MAS is looking to buy as many as 18 A330s, with the option to buy another seven. "MAS recently sent its technical staff to Toulouse (France), where Airbus is headquartered, to evaluate the smaller wide-body aircraft," the source told Business Times. When contacted yesterday, MAS chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Tengku Azmil Zahruddin dismissed the S&P report as unfounded.
"The fact is, we have said that we are planning to replace our wide-body aircraft. Currently, we are evaluating various options to ensure that the aircraft complement our fleet replacement strategy. "At the same time, we need to match the new aircraft to our network growth plans, especially for key markets such as South Asia, China, Australia and the Middle East. For these key areas, we want to offer our customers increased frequencies for added convenience and better connectivity," Tengku Azmil said through e-mail.
"In the meantime, we continue to evaluate our options on the wide-body aircraft," he said. In his report, Shukor said that MAS was having second thoughts on the operational viability of the A380, the first of which is scheduled for delivery in 2011, due to the current economic recession and a decline in air traffic.
Recent reports on launch customer Singapore Airlines' inability to fully maximise the yields on its A380 were also said to have given MAS cold feet in proceeding with the purchase. MAS ordered the A380s in late 2003 through Penerbangan Malaysia Bhd, a leasing company owned by the Ministry of Finance.
MAS currently operates 14 A330-200/300s with an average age of 13 years."If the swap were to take place, MAS would likely phase out its entire fleet of Boeing wide-body aircraft comprising seventeen 777-200s and thirteen 747-400s," said Shukor. MAS already has an order for 35 narrow-body 737-800s, with another 20 on option, delivery of which will start in the fourth quarter of next year. However, these planes are more for regional flights.
"A re-fleeting of its aircraft would be a major step for MAS considering that the 777s and 747s have been the workhorses for MAS and many other successful airlines. MAS will have to carefully consider whether the A330s or A350s can serve the airline as well as the Boeings did," Shukor told Business Times over the telephone from Singapore. He said that while cancelling the A380 orders was an option, it appeared to be the best in the long run, even if costly for MAS.
