Nokia X3: Where Touchscreen and Keypad Meet

Nokia has a new feature phone out, Nokia X3, and its claim to fame is something Nokia calls Touch and Type: a rarely seen combination between a touchscreen and a fairly standard 16-button keypad. Nokia calls the phone X3, but to differ from the earlier Nokia phones by the same name, it also goes by the name Nokia X3-02.

Feature-wise, it’s a fairly standard mid-range phone, with a 5-megapixel camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, music player and FM radio. It sports a 9.6mm thick, brushed aluminum casing, available in five colors.

The operating system that powers the phone is S40, so don’t expect magic when it comes to the touchscreen UI, but it’s hard to compain when you’re getting both options – keypad and touchscreen – in one phone.

Suggested retail price for Nokia X3 is approximately $161 (125 euro), and it’s expected to hit the market sometime this quarter.

-source

HP Wants Touchscreen Notebook

HP has plans to roll out a notebook with touchscreen capability within the next 18 months that will further improve upon the current tx series, aiming for a more natural interface that does not require on a stylus to work within a conventional model. According to HP, the sense of touch is almost the preferred method for non-technical savvy users - just how intuitive this will be remains to be seen. Will it go one up on the iPhone's multitouch interface? I don't know, but this custom interface won't wait for Microsoft Windows 7. What do you think?