Mobile

Things that aren’t static

Japan’s Ceatec Show Opens Today
Japan’s largest annual IT show, Ceatec (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies), opens today and will feature around 700 companies, according to the organisers.
Last year, the show – the largest international exhibition in Asia for the technology and electronics sectors – attracted 182,000 people with greater numbers anticipated this year.
Naturally, Simon Perry – the Digi-Lifestyles big cheese – is at the show, so you can expect hot news and updates from the floor over the next couple of days.
Running from Tuesday until Saturday at the Makuhari Messe convention centre, Chiba, just outside Tokyo, the show is designed to provide a platform for Japan’s technology vendors to display their latest gear and showcase prototype products.
The anticipated unveiling of rival HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc players could prove to be a show highlight, and there’s great interest in the eagerly awaited new high-definition TVs.
Sharp is expected to show off a hard-disk drive-based digital recorder that is capable of recording two HDTV programs at once, with the machine ready to roll just one second after being switched on.
Toshiba has promised to display a super-slim 12.7 millimetre high drive designed for laptops which can read HD-DVD discs and read and write DVDs and CDs.
Naturally, there’s loads of activity on the mobile phone front, with new products and technology on offer, including portable fuel cells from network operator KDDI.
The company has been working with Hitachi and Toshiba to develop fuel cell-based chargers for cell phones, with the first commercial products expected on sale before the end of March 2006.
As well as shiny new consumer boxes, Ceatec also showcases the products of component makers, with Matsushita showing off a flexible optical circuit board and Seiko Epson displaying a flexible memory chip for use in flat-panel displays.
Born out of a merger between Japan Electronics Show and Com Japan, Ceatec attracted 172,053 visitors in its debut year in 2000, rising to 182,490 visitors last year.
Ceatec
4 October, 2005
Beware the “Next Big Thing”: Mobile TV
We saw it with the Internet in the late 90s and iTV in the early noughties, now mobile TV is the disruptive technology du jour.
All this year’s major TV industry gatherings – MipTV in Cannes, August’s Edinburgh International TV Festival and the RTS in Cambridge – have showcased mobile.
And in recent weeks, Sky, ITV and Channel 4 have all announced plans for mobile video content.
It’s easy to be swept up in the hype, and persuasive arguments abound.
At last week’s inaugural mobile TV Forum, the atmosphere was upbeat. BT, Arquiva, Fremantlemedia and Universal all gave impassioned presentations suggesting mobile TV is just around the corner.
BT’s Emma Lloyd (left) said the mobile video “Livetime” service would be UK-wide on Digital One’s DAB network by June 2006.
Claire Tavernier from Fremantlemedia (right), owner of Neighbours and Baywatch, said “Fremantle TV” would launch on US mobile networks before the end of the year.
And Cedric Ponsot from Universal (below left) reported on “Label Studio TV” – a mix of ten different mobile music channels – which launched on France’s SFR 3G network in July.
“We’re combining two of the most consumer products of all time” said Arqiva’s Hyacinth Nwana (below right) in his keynote – the underlying subtext was: how can we go wrong?
But is the industry is in danger of death by over-sell before it’s even arrived?
Forecasters are predicting untold riches. A recent report from Informa estimates the global mobile entertainment market to be worth £24bn by 2010. Venture capitalists are already expressing an interest in mobile TV projects. (At the forum, Justin Judd of i-rights was one such example, saying he had “unlimited funds” available for the right idea.)
This is all sounding very familiar – we’ve been here before. As with the early days of the Internet and iTV, business models are unclear. Hurdles include lack of appropriate content – including rights clearance on existing properties, lack of spectrum and unproven consumer demand.
At the forum, BT’s Lloyd revealed she’d had to fully-fund the content channel, Blaze TV, to complete the offng for current trials. “We need to kickstart content development” she admitted.
While advertisers were mooted as one possible source of funding, Fremantlemedia’s Tavernier thought they were “scared to invest” in mobile TV, “because of lack of consumer research and lack of structures in place”.
Tavernier also talked about rights, revealing that although Fremantlemedia owned worldwide TV rights to Mr Bean and The Benny Hill Show, both Rowan Atkinson and Benny Hill’s widow had said no to mobile distribution.
Eirik Solheim from NRK (left), the Finnish public service broadcaster, admitted that every so often their mobile TV broadcasts had cut to video of fish swimming in a tank – as not all programme rights had been cleared.
The most telling figures came in the final session of the conference: “Viewers don’t see their mobile as an entertainment device” said Enpocket’s Jeremy Wright (right). “They see it first and foremost as a communicator.”
Wright pointed to figures from a recent Enpocket survey showing that sharing photos of family and friends was the number one multimedia option; videocalls with family and friends were number two. Mobile TV came bottom.
As traditional broadcast models deteriorate, and the rise of the semantic web places social software at the centre of everything, the service I would back would be completely user-generated.
But the smart money will be watching from the sidelines.
3 October, 2005
V3x: Motorola’s 3G RAZR: More Details
Motorola have offered more details about their forthcoming 3G RAZR V3x slim flip phone.
Surprisingly not as slender as the hugely popular original RAZR, the new V3x packs in dual cameras, a hefty two megapixel camera with an 8x zoom and macro mode for photography, and a VGA camera for 2-way video calling.
The sleek housing has fattened up a bit to accommodate the 3G gubbins, and comes with two vivid colour displays.
The onboard Bluetooth chip supports wireless stereo sound through Motorola’s Bluetooth Stereo headphones and other compatible hands free wotsits, with up to 512 MB of removable optional TransFlash memory.
There’s support for playback of AAC+, MPEG4, WMV, WMA, MP3 and Real Video/Audio media files, with progressive downloading to view media files on demand.
The handset will include a new service called SCREEN3 giving users “zero-click access” to news, sports, entertainment, and other premium content on the go, providing a handy source of revenue for mobile operators.
Motorola have also included an advanced speaker-independent voice recognition which lets users state a number/name and be connected without all that pre-recording palaver.
The Motorola RAZR V3x is expected to be available in Q4 2005 with pricing to be announced around that time.
Meanwhile, as Motorola’s phones scoff the pies, rival NEC has launched the World’s Thinnest Folding Camera Phone, a feather-untoubling slip of a thing.
Motorola
28 September, 2005
Blackberry 8700 Details Emerge As RIM Announce Intel Deal
We’re still waiting for the official announcement, but Blackberry enthusiast site Pimstack has managed to unearth some photos and specs of the forthcoming Blackberry 8700.
Expected to be released around December/January, the matt-black and silver smartphone looks sure to appeal to blokes who like their technology beefy, manly and without a girly curve in sight.
Thinner and narrower than the 7200 series, the Darth Vader-esque case sports “high-end ornamental accents” (huh?) with a large 320 x 240 (1/4 VGA) colour LCD screen and a light sensor to automatically adjust brightness.
Below the screen is a full QWERTY keypad with dedicated Send & End Keys, a mute key and two User-Definable Keys.
Connectivity is taken care of via quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity with onboard support for Bluetooth 2.0. There’s also a hands-free speaker phone built in.
Powering up the Blackberry is a 312 MHz processor, with 16MB RAM and 64MB ROM built in.
Research in Motion (RIM) are claiming that their updated OS will offer an improved user interface and better performance across the board, so users can look forward to nippier navigation, faster web browsing and speedier programs.
The new phone (codenamed Electron) will also provide contact-specific ring tones, better support for viewing attachments and Enhanced Power Point slide viewing.
RIM Announce Intel Partnership
Elsewhere, RIM have announced that they will be using Intel’s XScale PXA9xx mobile phone processors in upcoming BlackBerry devices.
The Intel processor, with the strange codename of “Hermon”, will run on Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution networks (EDGE).
This technology lets users connect to the Internet and send and receive data at broadband comparable speeds.
The chip is also expected to support video conferencing, which suggests that there’s 3G support going on.
RIM’s co-chief executive, Mike Lazaridis, commented that the next-generation BlackBerries would boast increased browser speeds and help the company push into new markets, while predicting that the new platform would also appeal to third-party application developers.
Research In Motion (RIM)
Pinstack
28 September, 2005
32 Billion (est.) SMS Messages For 2005 (News Release)
Continuing last month’s groundbreaking trend, a total of 87 million textmessages were sent on average per day throughout August. The handsetclearly proved to be a must have during the holiday season as figures onceagain topped 2.7 billion messages according to figures released today by theMobile Data Association (MDA). The continued increase in text messaging hasallowed the MDA to revise the annual forecast to 32 billion for 2005.
August saw two bumper days for text messaging as youngsters shared GCSE andA-level results, success and commiserations with friends and family. Atotal of 99 million text messages were sent on August 18th, the day thatGCSE results were issued. This figure is 25% higher than the 79 million textmessages recorded on the same day last year and continues the upward trendof communicating by text at this nail biting time. The figure for August25th, the day A-level results were released, was even higher with a total of99.5 million messages sent across the UK networks.
Mobile Data Association
27 September, 2005
BLINK: Bluetooth Simplicity From Broadcom?
If you’ve ever spent hours shouting at the little blinking blue light on your laptop screaming, “what do you mean you can’t find my phone? IT’S THERE!!”, then you may find Broadcom’s new BLINK Bluetooth software (Bluetooth-Link = BLINK, getit?) bringing your blood pressure down.
Claiming to “radically simplify Bluetooth connectivity between cell phones and PCs”, the software is the result of a collaboration between Broadcom and BVRP Software International (now Avanquest Software), and has already adopted by networking retailers such as Anycom and IO GEAR, as well as a ton of Bluetooth dongle manufacturers.
Although Bluetooth-enabled phones continue to grow in popularity, many people are put off using the functionality because of problems getting some devices to talk to each other.
BLINK software claims to soothe the troubled brows of baffled Bluetooth uses with an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that makes complex Bluetooth-related tasks “as simple as browsing the Internet.”
“This software simplifies the use of Bluetooth technology to such an extent that we anticipate ‘BLINK’ to become synonymous with Bluetooth when connecting phones and PCs using products based on our technology,” said Scott Bibaud, Senior Director of Marketing for Broadcom’s Bluetooth products.
Beaming with confidence, Scott continued, “Once users discover the convenience of ‘BLINKing’ files and data between their phones and PCs, the true power of Bluetooth will become clearer to the millions of consumers that already have the technology built into their phones.”
Once fired up, the BLINK software serves up a graphical representation of the user’s mobile phone on their desktop or notebook PC screens.
Once connected, users can operate all the main phone functions directly from the computer, and drag and drop items from their PCs directly to their cell phones.
Via the BLINK interface, users can update and synchronise phone numbers, contact information and calendars as well as transfer pictures, music and data.
The Internet can also be accessed on the desktop via any GPRS/EDGE/CDMA cellular data links and SMS messages can be sent and received.
“Digital photos, phone numbers and calendar appointments are literally trapped inside users’ cell phones because of the complexity involved in transferring this information to PCs and other devices,” said Brian O’Rourke, Senior Analyst at In-Stat.
“Broadcom’s leading work in Bluetooth software will not only lead to greater penetration of Bluetooth hardware in a number of applications, it will also make it easier to use for these advanced tasks,” he added.
Broadcom will be shoving a copy of the software into our grubby hands shortly so check back soon.
Broadcom
27 September, 2005
Music Video Album Released On Mobile Memory Card By V2
Virgin’s ‘independent-style’ record label, V2 Music has teamed up with mobile video solutions developer Rok Player to announce the release of an ‘indie music video album’ for playing on mobile phones.
The videos are stored on a memory card which simply plugs into compatible mobile handsets for full-screen play, so there’s no need to download or stream the content.
Using Rok Player technology, indie kids can play back audio-visual content preloaded on memory cards at an impressive 24 frames a second (full screen) on compatible mobile handsets.
Rok Player-compatible mobile phones include the latest Nokia handsets such as the 6630 and the 6680 and the N-Gage series.
“This is such an exciting development in the distribution of music videos” enthused Beth Appleton of V2 Music “as nearly everyone has, or will have, a compatible mobile phone and ROK Player turns those into portable DVD players. So now, for the first time, people can watch as well as listen to their favourite artists perform”.
The video album includes music videos from Brendon Benson, Ron Sexsmith, Bloc Party, Stereophonics, At the Drive In, Charlie Mars, Cut Copy, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, Mercury Rev, Paul Weller, The Cribs, The Rakes and The Datsuns.
Bruce Renny of ROK , commented, “We’re already seeing tremendous interest in our music video albums for mobile phones, and to be able to include this new title in our portfolio is tremendous. We’re expecting the V2 album to prove very popular indeed because of the high quality of the artists it features”.
Although we’re equally impressed with the line up, £16 ($28.5, €23.5) for 13 tracks sure seems a lot of dosh to shell out to squint at a compilation album on a tiny screen. Is this the price teenage cool these days?
ROK Player
27 September, 2005
Nokia and CHT Organize 1st Mobile Film Festival in Asia Pacific (News Release)
Nokia is working hand in hand with Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), the leading operator in Taiwan to organize the first Mobile Film Festival in Asia Pacific from September 27th to November 9th. During the festival, Taiwan’s first-ever contest for creative self-directed mobisodes will be held. Mobisodes are brief videos specifically designed to be watched on a mobile phone.
The Mobile Film Festival will feature ten newly directed films, including Confession at the Front Line by Chun-Chien Lien, BOY-9-7-6-5-2-0-GIRL by Hung-I Chen, A Traveler’s Odyssey by Po-Liang Lin, Sleepwalking by Mo!relax Team, Ji-shiang Chen, Hong-Bin Chen’s G man, and another five remarkable films by talented college students like De Flower by Chia-Jen Chen. The concept for the mobisodes is based on how a ‘phone’ is interpreted by the individual directors, inspiring new thinking and novelty. During the festival, 3G subscribers in Taiwan can view the mobisodes at a promotional rate.
Mobile communications is being transformed from voice to multimedia comprising messaging, Internet access, video and film. These changes are redefining people’s lifestyle and are opening up new frontiers also in film making.
The ten directors featured at the festival will discuss how the mobile phone, acting as the next-generation media, will impact the creative sector, general audiences, and movie industry. Directors may leverage the varying screen size and viewing direction to create mobisodes, photography, and visual arts. A new set of rules can apply to the acting, subtitles, soundtrack and dialog, expanding the creativity space. Some directors suggest short mobile films will become the trend, which will attract more creative talents to mobile cinematography.
Best of all, the public is free to choose when and where to view mobisodes. Mobisodes will revolutionize creativity and viewing habits to let mobile subscribers truly experience how “Life Goes Mobile”.
Taiwan entered the 3G multimedia era earlier this year, giving the region’s telecom industry the opportunity to offer rich and diversified services such as mobisodes. The local mobile market is eager to experience the many facets of 3G contents and applications.
“Nokia is promoting the ‘Life Goes Mobile’ concept with our state-of-the-art technology and products,” says Mike Wang, Regional General Manger, Networks, Nokia. “With the inauguration of our 3G based Mobile Services Development Center last week in Taiwan, Nokia has the platform to turn mobility life into a reality. We will team up with operators and partners to create innovative, value-added mobile content that dovetail with Taiwan’s consumers’ needs.”
27 September, 2005
Windows Based Palm Treo On The Way
To the sound of a thousand wailing Palm Pilots, Palm has unveiled a version of the classic Treo smartphone running on Windows Mobile 5.0.
Possibly called the Treo 700w (or maybe the Treo 670 – details are scarce!), the new phone will initially only be available from Verizon Wireless, running on the carrier’s EV-DO broadband network.
A series of ‘first look’ photos on Engadget shows the new Treo to be slightly narrower than the Treo 650, but at the cost of what looks like a smaller 240×240 pixel display, instead of the usual 320×320.
Confirmed specs include Windows Mobile 5.0, a one megapixel camera, EV-DO, Bluetooth and 64MB of memory.
Palm users still waiting for the Wi-Fi card categorically promised at the Treo 650 UK launch in April will be mightily miffed to learn that a SD Wi-Fi card worked straight out of the box with the Windows Treo – a classic example perhaps of why people are leaving the Palm OS.
Formerly bitter rivals, Palm and Microsoft’s collaboration looks to add the security and functionality of Microsoft’s new Window Mobile 5.0 OS to the solid and well-respected Palm Treo 600/650 range.
Palm president and CEO Ed Colligan called the Windows Treo an “historic” product, adding, “We’ve long believed that the future of personal computing is mobile computing, and our collaboration with Microsoft is an historic step in delivering that vision to a larger market.”
Already, pundits are suggesting that the introduction of the Windows Treo marks the end of the Palm OS Platform, still reeling from the withdrawal of the technically groundbreaking Sony Clie range.
Carmi Levy, Senior Research Analyst at Info-Tech Research Group commented that the new Treo signals a massive shift in the handheld/smartphone market, adding that “when viewed in conjunction with the sale of PalmSource earlier this month, it’s an acceleration in the demise of the Palm OS platform and final confirmation that its once-dominant position in the broader handheld market is gone for good.
“As popular as Palm has traditionally been with end-users, it has always been a marginal corporate player,” continued Levy.
The Palm OS has traditionally lacked robust corporate security features, making the Windows Mobile platform more attractive to corporate IT departments.
What Microsoft has lacked, however, is a killer piece of hardware, something they’re likely to now have with a Windows Mobile-based Treo.
There’s been no release date set for the Windows-based Treo yet, but it is expected to be available “very early” in 2006.
Palm plans to bring the Windows Treo to other wireless carriers in the second half of 2006, including GSM/GPRS carriers in Europe and Asia.
Treo
Engadget Treo pics
27 September, 2005
i-mate K-JAM Smartphone/PDA Announced
Building on the success of their hugely popular JAM phone, i-mate have announced the new K-JAM smartphone/PDA.
Powered by a TI OMAP 850 200MHz processor, the quad-band smartphone features a nifty slide out keyboard, with a form factor of 108mm x 58mm x 23.7mm (roughly the same size as an i-mate JAM, but with a deeper case).
The keyboard slides out from the left side of the phone, with the screen rotating into landscape mode for typing.
Built-in storage capacity has been increased to 64MB SDRAM RAM and 128MB ROM (for programs and user’s storage), supported by a miniSD memory expansion slot.
The display comes in the form of a 2.8″ QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) 64k Transflective screen, and the device runs on the latest Windows Mobile 5.0 OS.
Wireless connectivity is taken care of via integrated Bluetooth 1.1, InfraRed and – delightfully – built-in WiFi
Like its predecessor, the phone sports a 1.3 megapixel camera with a new video/flash light. We hope it’s the not the same one that shipped with the i-mate JAM because that one was spectacularly rubbish.
Equally rubbish was the low-volume distorto-matic speakerphone, but i-mate seems to have addressed this issue by adding new dual speakers with 3D surround sound.
The phone offers support for a wide range of music formats, and claims 10 hours running time in PDA mode and 4-5 hours talk time.
As with other HTC-manufactured phones, consumers can expect the K-JAM to emerge under a panoply of different names over the coming months, depending on the service provider.
i-mate
26 September, 2005