Mobile

Things that aren’t static

Nokia 6630 Music Edition Announced
Acting like they’re fearful of not appearing hip to the mobile music revolution, Nokia have added their own rival to the Apple/Motorola ROKR and Sony Walkman phones, a special edition of the highly rated Nokia 6630 – despite having had music-playing on their phones for yonks.
Shipping later this month, the Nokia 6630 Music Edition offers a new music player and a bundled memory card to offer “enhanced music functionality.”
The updated music player bundles in a 256mb RS-MMC (with memory card support up to 1 gig), which Nokia claims will hold up to 15CDs of music, giving it an edge over the 100 iTunes song limit on the Motorola ROKR.
Music can be transferred to the phone using the included Nokia PC Suite software or with the bundled Nokia USB MMC/SD reader, with the Nokia Audio Adapter letting users plug in their favourite headphones (or “cans” if you’re a DJ) into the standard 3.5 mm stereo jack.
“The Nokia 6630 Music Edition is a fantastic combination of music, smartphone and 3G,” frothed Tuula Rytilä-Uotila, Director, Imaging EMEA, Nokia.”
“You can carry a good portion of your music collection with you wherever you go and with the Nokia Audio Adapter, you can quickly connect your favourite set of music headphones,” Tuula added.
The phone comes in two colours – Aluminum Grey for hip, fast living, city slickers and Rustic Red for cow-bothering, straw chewing, country types.
Being based on the well-rated Nokia 6630, the phone also includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, mobile broadband access with WCDMA networks, mobile email and streaming video.
Nokia have also launched the Nokia Music Pack, a bundled package of enhancements for mobile music, which includes the Nokia Audio Adapter, the Nokia 256 MB MMC Card, the Nokia USB MMC/SD reader and Nokia Stereo Audio Cable.
The only question we’ve got – is where’s the Nokia N91 we got excited about last month?
Nokia
19 September, 2005
Vodafone Targets Mass Market With New 3G Phones
Vodafone plans to unleash a swarm of new 3G mobile handsets in the run-up to Christmas as the company tries to turbo charge mass market adoption of its third-generation (3G) mobile service.
The world’s biggest mobile operator will adding a total of 15 phones to their portfolio.
Ten of the new phones will be exclusive to Vodafone, with six targeted at entry-level customers in an attempt to encourage the mass market take-up of its 3G services.
“We are confident that this is going to be a 3G Christmas,” ho-ho’d Chief Marketing Officer Peter Bamford.
This rings (festive?) bells with us, giving us a very strong feeling of Deja Vu as we heard ‘Vodafone’s betting heavily on 3G this Christmas‘ in November 2004. Perhaps Vodafone thing that saying it two months earlier this year (Sept vs Nov) will ‘make it happen’.
The period before Christmas is traditionally a bumper trading period for mobile phone operators, and Vodafone is confident that its festive offering of MP3 playin’, video and audio streamin’, video call-makin’ 3G phones will send sales soaring.
The new phones
The entry-level phones will include two handsets each from Sharp and Samsung and one each from Motorola and Sony Ericsson – all exclusive to Motorola.
The non-exclusive handsets will include the hugely popular Motorola RAZR V3x phone, the Nokia N70 and 6280, and Samsung’s SGH-Z500V and SGH-Z140V phones.
Four of the new handsets – two each by Sharp and Toshiba – will be targeted at the well heeled, with the Limited edition Sharp 902 Ferrari serving up exclusive Ferrari content for those folks impressed with that kind of thing.
All of Vodafone new 3G phones will offer new services, with the company hoping to tempt users to regularly dip into their catalogue of 500,000 full-track music downloads and mobile TV services and content.
Vodafone launched their 3G service in November 2004, and was reporting 3.3 million 3G customers by June this year.
The company expects big things from their 3G service, forecasting 10 million customers across its businesses to be using 3G mobile video and picture phones and high-speed laptop cards by the end of this financial year in March 2006.
Vodafone
16 September, 2005
‘Lost’ clips to debut over mobile on 3 – News Release
3 is to bring the smash TV hit Lost to the small screen. Following a deal between the UK’s largest video mobile network, Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) and Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), divisions of The Walt Disney Company Ltd, a mobile audience of over 3.2 million will be able to watch show recaps and previews of the action from Channel 4’s top-rated series. This is The Walt Disney Company’s first mobile video content agreement in Europe.
Lost is a gripping series which follows the survivors of a plane crash, stranded together on a remote, hostile island. As the group of strangers work together to create order in their makeshift community, and to stay alive, there appear to be darker forces at work around them. The show makes its debut over mobile this week.
3’s service includes 2-3 minute recaps of every episode, available for the length of the series, so fans can catch up on the plot at any stage, plus behind the scenes interview and previews of the next episode. Each clip will cost 50p.
Lost is the latest prime time series to be made available on 3, following Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother, I’m a Celebrity and the X factor.
Already, millions of viewers hooked on Lost are debating conspiracy theories, scrutinising the characters and speculating on the plot’s twists and turns.
Graeme Oxby. 3’s Marketing Director, said: It’s compulsive, addictive television that gets people talking – it’s exactly the sort of TV our customers will watch.
“Every one of our 3.2million customers has a TV in their pocket. This new service means our customers will never be behind the plot and can keep on top of the action, wherever they are.”
Tom Toumazis, executive vice president & managing director, BVITV EMEA said: “Lost is BVITV’s fastest-ever selling, most successful TV series, having been licensed by us to 183 territories worldwide on TV – now being licensed for the first time on to mobile.
“We are sure that its ever-growing UK fanbase will ensure its success on mobile – the addictive, action-packed nature of the show lends itself particularly well to this format, as fans need to watch carefully to unravel the many mysteries within the show.”
“Mobile is rapidly emerging as a new entertainment platform and already has tremendous reach,” said Attila Gazdag, vice president and managing director of Walt Disney Internet Group, Europe. “Our strong brands have translated extremely well to this new platform and we’re pleased to be offering video, especially of such a great show, to broaden our mobile offerings.”
3 UK
16 September, 2005
Barmy Ballmer; Cracking Mobile Theft; Flogging A Dead Horse On eBay – Teenage Tech News Review
It’s funny, laugh!
Couldn’t believe this one when I read it. Well, almost couldn’t believe it. Following on from the earlier story, Steve Ballmer is now apparently denying ever having thrown a chair across a room in anger and claiming he would “f—ing bury” the executive, Mark Lukovsky, who told Ballmer he was leaving Microsoft for greener pastures offered to him by Google.
Ballmer told the Telegraph: “I’ve never thrown a chair in my life,” which The Register says might raise the idea that he got someone else to do it for him. I probably would if I was as rich as he is!
Lastly, am I the only one who thinks that Steve Ballmer has a certain resemblance with Shrek?
Ew… That’s not nice!
According to The Register, a Romanian woman has tried to evade being caught thieving a mobile phone by sticking it where, well, the sun doesn’t shine.
Police when they caught her were puzzled by their inability to find the phone, but quickly solved this problem by ringing the phone, which, well, pin-pointed the phone’s position and the woman was escorted to the police station to have the device removed. The phone was then given back to its rightful owner after being sprayed down with detergent.
Flogging a dead horse… Literally
Apparently, there was someone selling a dead horse on eBay not so long ago. I do have my suspicions about the sincerety of the auction, seeing as the only details present in the auction were:
Dead horse for sale
Please email me with any questions.
Sadly, the original listing has now been removed from the site
These ridiculous auctions remind me of a lovely list of auctionable tid-bits including:
- 24 Children
- A Linux Geek
- And last but not least Nine used toothbrushes
16 September, 2005
Reuters launches 3G Video News Service On Vodafone
News agency Reuters has teamed up with Vodafone Live to offer a 3G streaming news video service for Vodafone customers in the UK.
The subscription service will be Reuters’ first direct-to-consumer mobile video news service and will be available to Joe Public for £3 ($5.45, €4.50) a month.
For their hard earned cash, mobile subscribers will be treated to regular updates from key financial markets around the world, as well as clips from the big news stories of the day.
The service, accessible by selecting “Business News” from the “News & Weather” menu on the handset, will become Vodafone’s first business and financial video to be made available over their network.
Suitably equipped 3G subscribers can choose from more than 20 different videos a day including market reports from London, New York, Singapore, Tokyo and Frankfurt.
Those lucky people can also watch riveting interviews with CEOs and industry leaders, and view stories on people and companies making headlines.
Vodafone subscribers will also get technology, world, sports and entertainment news and be able to set up SMS breaking news alerts.
Alisa Bowen, head of Reuters.co.uk, said: “The growth in downloads of video from our Websites, where over one million clips are viewed each month, made it clear just how popular video news has become.
It was an obvious next step to make this available on mobile devices, combining it with the existing financial data and text services to offer a truly multimedia experience.”
The 3G service is one a series of new mobile video services that Reuters will be rolling out as part of its meisterplan to make more of its news and information directly available to consumers.
Vodafone
Reuters
15 September, 2005
Bang and Olufsen Join Samsung To Make Posh Phone
Hoity toity makers of expensive electronics for the well-heeled, Bang & Olufsen, have invited Samsung to the table in a joint project to design a new mobile phone.
In a triumph of style over substance, the phones will only offer “basic communications” features and “little in the way of high-tech extras” according to Bang & Olufsen’s Chief Executive Torben Ballegaard Sorensen, speaking to Reuters.
The posh blower of “typical B&O design” will be targeted at the high end of the market (i.e. rich types over 25 years old) in terms of price and quality.
Denmark’s Bang & Olufsen are well known for their eye-wateringly expensive TVs and hi-fis, all of which bear the company’s well-regarded attention to detail and luxurious finish.
According to Sorensen, there will be just one phone at first with more models to follow.
While most mobile phone makers are ramping up the feature list and bolting on whiz-bang extras like video calling and music downloads, Sorensen feels that the moneyed mob will enjoy the simplicity of their wallet-draining upmarket phone
“This will be super simple. We believe that many people feel overwhelmed by the options phones contain. We will attempt to produce something that…will suit our core clients. They don’t use phones as a game station. We are emphasizing what the phone is meant for, which is talking,” Sorensen added.
“We have positive expectations about this, but I know it is a niche product. The phone won’t appeal to all, but if only two percent of the market likes it, that’s good enough,” he added while tucking into a bowl of best Russian caviar.
If this is a move upmarket for Samsung (which it undoubtedly is) we think it’s a far better move than Nokia’s invention of Vertu, which sells ridiculously overpriced handsets (think $15k) that ironically looks like B&O TV remote controls from the 1970s.
The handsets are expected to be seen at expensive parties and around the yachts of St Tropez from the fourth quarter this year.
Samsung
Vertu
Bang & Olufsen
14 September, 2005
3 UK Announces Mobile Internet Packages
Mobile network 3 has announced two new content packages aimed at getting more customers logging on to its mobile Internet services.
From mid-September, subscribers to 3’s network will be able to sign up to ‘Mobile Web’ and ‘Wireless Web’ content options.
The new Mobile service works out at £2.50 ($4.50, €3.70) a month and lets punters download up to 5MB of content from the Mobile Web.3
Although the deal lets users break out from 3’s previous “walled garden” of accessible sites, the service will still not permit unrestricted access to the Web.
Instead, 3 is limiting the available sites to ones that they feel have been “optimised for viewing on compatible video mobiles” – this means that sites like BBC, eBay and Amazon will be viewable, but perhaps not ‘Bumper Big Boobies Online’.
The network asserts that this limitation is to ensure that customers “can be sure that both front pages and sub-pages are viewable, that the speed of download is high and that all the site’s key activities are available”.
Gareth Jones, 3 COO claimed that “only a fraction of the internet works well on mobile” but insisted that the mobile operator is “committed to extending the choice of high-quality video mobile services”.
Jonesy boy expects the number of sites available through 3’s Mobile Web to grow quickly, with customers invited to nominate sites they’d like to access from their mobiles (so maybe they will get ‘Bumper Big Boobies Online’ after all).
Elsewhere, 3 will continue to serve up content and services through its ‘Today on 3’ entertainment channel and via its partner sites like lastminute.com and FHM.
The second new service, ‘Wireless Web’ will provide full Internet access for customers connecting to the Internet via a laptop and using their 3 handset as a modem.
Punters will be charged a flat rate of £45 per month ($82, €67), with a download limit of 512MB of data.
3 UK
13 September, 2005
O2 Xda Exec Mobile PDA With 3G Launched
O2 has announced the launch of the o2 Xda Exec, the first PDA and mobile phone combo device to feature 3G.
Touted as a laptop replacement with a built-in 62-key QWERTY thumb keyboard, the handheld is also the first to incorporate the brand spanking new Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system.
Manufactured by the Taiwan based HTC, the phone is also sold as the HTC Universal, T-Mobile MDA IV, Vodafone VPA IV, Orange SPV M5000 and Q-Tek 4040.
Bedecked in a custom smart black finish, the o2 Xda Exec sports a large 3.6″ 640×480 65k transflective colour backlit LCD which can be swiveled around to let the device be used as tablet or as a mini laptop.
Reflecting its business focus, the phone comes with Pocket Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF viewers pre-installed and offers Bluetooth, Wireless LAN, 3G and tri-band GPRS connectivity.
There’s a 1.3 megapixel camera (1280 x 960) with built in flash onboard and a second CIF camera for videocalls.
Russ Shaw, Marketing Director at O2 was ready to froth up the product: “The O2 Xda Exec takes the Xda range to the next level, giving busy professionals the ultimate mobile experience.
The laptop style keyboard combined with the responsive and intuitive operating environment make this device easy to use and an effective laptop replacement for when people are out and about.
Combined with our service bundle, we believe that the O2 Xda Exec will build on the success of the Xda range, extending our market share still further into 2006.”
Much as we’d love to enjoy the “ultimate mobile experience”, the o2 Xda Exec doesn’t quite do it for us.
Sure, it sports a mouth-watering feature list and looks way cool in its super-sleek black finish, but that trouser-bulging bulk means we’ll be sticking with our less capable iMate JAM for now (but, there again, we’re not the swivel-action execs that the phone is aimed at.)
The o2 Xda Exec is available from £399.99 (~$730, ~€593) for pay monthly contract customers and will be available in UK O2 stores and other leading distributors.
Technical stuff:
- OS: Windows Mobile 5.0
- Intel XScale PXA272 520MHz
- 128MB Flash ROM, 64MB RAM
- 3.6″ 640×480 65k transflective colour backlit LCD
- up t8/4/15/250 GSM Talk/3G Talk/PDA/Standby time
- GSM Tri-band (900/1800/1900), UMTS Single-band (2100)
- GPRS class 10, UMTS 64/384
- Bluetooth 1.2, Infrared and mini-USB connector
- Wireless LAN 802.11b
- SDIslot
- 3.5mm AudiConnector
- StereSpeakers
- Integrated camera (resolution 1280 x 960) with LED flash, 2nd CIF camera for videcalls
- Integrated antenna
- 15 buttons (Answer, Hangup, Backlight on/off, OK, Start, Camera, Power, VoiceRecord, 5-way navigation pad
- 62-key QWERTY keyboard with light sensor tauto-adjust the screen and keyboard backlight
- Removable battery (1620mah)
- Weight: 285 grams
o2
13 September, 2005
iPod Nano; Mot ROKR; iTunes 5 – Apple kills the competition (again)
iTunes 5.0
The iTunes software for PC and Mac has now reached v5, it’s available for immediate download from Apple’s site (and via software update for Mac users).
It features a “refined” interface with a new “search bar” making it easier for users to find what they’re looking for, playlists can be organised into folders, Smart Shuffle allows users change the randomness of their shuffled songs.
Windows users also get the added benefit of being able to sync contacts and calendars from Outlook (Mac users have had this ability through iLife for a long time).
iTunes software unsuprisingly integrates seemlessly with the iTunes music store which (in the UK) accounts for at least 80% of all downloaded music. There’s now over 1.7 million songs available, 15,000 podcasts and 10,000 audio books.
Motorola ROKR
The Motorola ROKR (pronouced rocker) is a quad band GSM phone with iTunes built-in. It can hold 100 songs and connects to a PC (or Mac) via a USB connection. Apart from the iTunes software (which can bedirectly accessed from a button on the front of the phone) it’s a normal Motorola phone. You either like them, or you don’t. It’s still encumbered with Motorola’s quirky menu system.
If you’re listening to iTunes and the phone rings etc, it will pause the song playing and you can return to it when you’ve finished the call.
The phone does have some good features with passable stereo speakers and pretty good playback through headphones. Battery life is meant to be good too, though exact figures were not quoted.
It’s available in the US now exclusively through Cingular.
iPod nano
The nano is the new iPod killer. It’s tiny, but holds up to 4GB (1000 songs, though there’s a 500 song/2GB version available too). It’s got a colour screen and a click-wheel. It comes with a USB 2.0 cable, earbud phones and a CD with iTunes, etc.
The colour screen gives it away, it’s an iPod Photo shrunk to miniscule dimensions, bigger than a Shuffle, but smaller than a mini – and thin (it hides behind a number 2 pencil). It features a standard 30pin dockconnector port, so can be used with most (if not all) mini or standard accessories. Apple have put in a couple extra bits of software like world clocks (you set your normal country, but can select as many otherclocks relating to a country as you wish, each clock shows whether it’s day or night), there’s also a screen lock – to stop others messing with your nano. It can also hold 25,000 photos (when synced through iTunes).
Apple have also released some specific nano accessories like tubes (sleeves in various colour, 5 in a pack), lanyard headphones, armbands and a dock. These should be available within 30 days.
Apple may have been losing to the competition in the lower end of the market especially in the solid state arena, however the nano changes all that (it’s got 4GB of solid-state memory in it, not a hard disc like the iPod Mini) and it’s going to knock the competion for six, it’s got all the “Designed in California” (of course by a Brit, but they keep quite about that) sex appeal and the packaging is superb. It’s smaller than almost everything out there. You’re going to want one for Xmas … actually, on reflection, you’re going to want one of these straight away.
Pricing for the nano is $249 for the 4GB (+ local taxes) or in the UK, £179 inc VAT, in Europe Eu 239. The 2GB model is $199, or GBP 139 inc VAT in the UK and is available now.
The best thing about it though, you can get it in white or black.
Apple iPod Nano
Motorola ROKR
Apple iTunes 5
8 September, 2005
4G Prototypes Phones Record Scorchio Speeds
Prototype cellphones capable of transmitting data faster than a startled squirrel on speed have been demonstrated by NTT DoCoMo in Japan, according to the New Scientist.
To test the speed and reliability of the new phones, the prototype handsets were used to view 32 high definition video streams from a car rolling along at 20 kilometres per hour.
NTT DoCoMo officials claimed that the 4G phones manage to receive data at the incredible rate of 100 megabits per second while on the move, and an astonishing gigabit per second while static.
At these kind of white-knuckle speeds, the contents of an entire DVD could be downloaded within a minute.
Compare those breakneck speeds with the stately download speed of 384 kilobits per second (129 kilobits per second upload) offered by DoCoMo’s current 3G (third generation) phone network.
Naturally, the boffins behind NTT DoCoMo’s experiment high-speed phone network have come up with a suitably techie description of the technology, describing it as Variable-Spreading-Factor Spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (VSF-Spread OFDM).
This _apparently_ increases downlink speeds by using multiple radio frequencies to send the same data stream.
During the tests, another smartypants wireless networking trick was employed to send data via various routes across a network to further increase data capacity.
Going under the snappy acronym of MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) multiplexing, the technology could, for example, enable a cellphone to receive data from more than one base station in range.
Lajos Hanzo, a communications expert at Southampton University in the UK found the prototypes “technically impressive,” but warned that NTT DoCoMo will need assistance from other phone companies for 4G take-up.
“In today’s world nobody can go it alone,” he told the New Scientist.
“And hence any standard proposal must be internationally ratified, which has not as yet take place,” he added.
There’s already been some international activity to cooperate on standards, with Japan and China signing a memorandum on 24 August to work together on 4G.
But don’t start throwing out your 3G phones quite yet though: NTT DoCoMo doesn’t expect to launch a commercial 4G network until 2010.
NTT DoCoMo
5 September, 2005