2007: A year in review, November

The gPhone and iPhone dominated this month but Asus and Panasonic also won some column inches with new launches

31 December 2007 9:00 GMT / By Katie Scott

November started with the expected rush of products for Christmas.

Panasonic launched the DMP-BD30, its "next generation" High Definition 1080p Blu-ray Disc player - the first with "Bonus View" features (advanced features to rival HD DVD).

The new Panasonic device was also unique in including an SD Memory Card slot for playback of High Definition content recorded in the AVCHD format.

Next up, Asus confirmed the UK launch of its Eee PC.

Two choices are still available - the Eee PC 4G for £219 and the Eee PC 2G Surf for £199.

Meanwhile, details were revealed about what of the most anticipated products of the year - the Google gPhone.

Google and the CEOs of its partner companies in the Open Handset Alliance including Deutsch Telecom (parent company of T-Mobile), HTC, Qualcomm and Motorola told Pocket-lint about the new "Android" mobile platform.

T-Mobile confirmed it would be bringing Android handsets to market in 2008.

The promise is for devices that will work across multiple networks and that the "future of wireless not a single radio technology".

But what got most tongues waggling was the suggestion that there will be not one but a thousand gPhones. More news is expected next year.

It was the arrival of the Apple iPhone in the UK which was, however, the biggest news of the month.

Punters queued ready to hand over £269 to get their shiny new Apple toy with an O2 18-month contract(and we went and joined the fun). And on 09 November, the hype, the rumours and the excitement hit crescendo then subsided. Sigh.

The month ended with a bonus for bookworms - an alternative to lugging lengthy tomes around them.

Amazon announced the Kindle, its first eBook reader, offering a 6-inch screen, and running on the EV-DO network in the US via Sprint's ("always on") cellular network so will be an "always-on" connection.

Users can hook up to the Amazon eBook store to buy books as well as subscribe to digital versions of the New York Times and other newspapers as well as magazines and RSS feeds.

Amazon explained that text and audiobooks are stored on built-in flash memory that holds about 200 titles and is expandable with an (unspecified) memory card.

The Kindle is available in the States now for $399, with around 90,000 books and titles ready to go costing from between $2 and $10.

There is still no word on a launch outside the States.