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M.A.G.I.C Windows Smartphone Has Everything!
Currently hovering betwixt prototype and retail status, Advance Tech Communications new Windows Mobile smartphone market looks hot! hot! hot!
The MAGIC (Mobile Advanced Global Integrated Communicator) comes stuffed to the gills with connectivity and multimedia options, and is powered by a beefy Intel Xscale 624 MHz CPU with graphic accelerator 2700G3 and Video RaM – fast enough to leave all current Windows Mobile phones coughing in the dust.
The 10.5 ounce (300 g) Windows Mobile 5.0 device comes with more connections than a street spiv, offering GSM quad band, GPRS, Wi-Fi 802.11b, EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, IrDA FIR 4 and, of course, USB.
There’s also a built-in Global Positioning System( GPS) and, apparently, a Biometric Sensor.
On board storage is taken care of courtesy of a generous 8GB hard disk, backed up by 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM, with a micro-SD expansion card slot.
There’s two 2.8″ QVGA (320×240 pixels) displays onboard and – you’ve guessed it – there’s also two cameras, both offering a healthy 2 megapixel resolution.
Wrapping up the extensive feature set is a very useful VGA Out port and a small QWERTY keyboard for the tippity-tap action.
With all this functionality crammed in to the phone, it seems that Advance Tech felt that describing the ultra-premium device as a ‘smartphone’ would be like calling a Leica camera a point’n’shooter.
Instead, the company are proclaiming their new device to be a “laptop computer miniaturised to the size of a handheld device,” which perhaps isn’t the snappiest description they could have come up with.
With its ten-mile long spec sheet, it’s not surprising to find both price and physical size are going to be on the b-i-g side, with the MAGIC measuring up at 125 x 70 x 32 mm and the price hovering around the high end $1,000 mark (£575, €838) .
The MAGIC is expected to roll out next quarter.
www.advancetc.com/
9 March, 2006
Vodafone To Trial High Speed 3G Broadband, All Major UK Cities – News Release
- Customer trials starting in early April ahead of mid 2006launch
- Vodafone UK HSDPA network roll out on track
- All major UK towns and cities to have high speed Vodafone 3Gbroadband by end 2006
Following successful testing in Newbury, Vodafone UK will start customertrials on its live HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) network fromApril.
With 100 business users testing Vodafone UK’s HSDPA-enabled Mobile ConnectCards across central and greater London, the trials represent an importantmilestone in the evolution of the company’s 3G network.
Tim Miles, CEO Vodafone UK said: “The start of our high speed 3G broadbandtrial marks our relentless commitment to offering the best possibleexperience to our customers. We have seen high demand for 3G since itslaunch two years ago and our customers are hungry for the improvements thatHSDPA will deliver. These important trials are part of a continuing driveto lead the UK through superior network performance and a customerexperience that is second to none.”
HSDPA will deliver a faster mobile broadband experience to Vodafonecustomers in the UK from mid-2006, initially offering the mobile transfer ofdata from the internet and intranet at roughly four times faster thancurrent 3G speeds. It will also deliver greater capacity (three times thatof current 3G levels) meaning that more people in the same location at thesame time can benefit from a superior experience. In addition, HSDPA offersimproved latency, giving faster access to web-based content. As a result,customers will be able to work faster and download larger documents, such asPowerPoint presentations and email attachments, more quickly.
“HSDPA offers a win-win opportunity for both customers and Vodafone – itdelivers on the promise of 3G to provide broadband-like services whilst onthe move,” comments Michael Ransom, Research Director for Wireless atCurrent Analysis.
He continues: “With higher HSDPA-driven wireless performance, Vodafone willenable business customers to move beyond mobile email and become mobileenterprises.”From mid-2006, Vodafone will phase in the introduction of a high-speedmobile broadband service. Customers within the M25 will be the first tobenefit with coverage rolling out across all major UK towns and cities bythe end of 2006.
9 March, 2006
Nokia Launches Lifeblog 2.0
Nokia has launched Nokia Lifeblog 2.0, an updated version of their photo-blogging offering.
Designed for Nokia’s Nseries handsets, Lifeblog lets users create a multimedia diary, with photos, video clips, messages and text notes and store them on their phone and/or PCs.
The material is presented in a chronological manner, with the new version of Lifeblog offering the ability to add audio notes, calendar entries and location information, so that users can add some context to their pictures and video clips.
Well, that’s how we’d describe the process, but Nokia has a more flowery interpretation, insisting that adding the extra information is “rendering them as part of the rich tapestry of items that make up your personal Nokia Lifeblog timeline.”
The new Nokia Lifeblog can be set up to link photos to information about a user’s location, the time or calendar entries, so that any photos taken at, say, a wedding, would automatically be tagged with this information from the user’s calendar.
“With imaging becoming an integral part of mobile devices, the way people approach photography is changing. You are able to capture events and create memories in a spontaneous way as your device is always with you,” gushed Mikko Pilkama, whose job title is surely unpronounceable after five beers: Director, Nokia Nseries See New, Multimedia, Nokia.
Content from the NSeries phones can be transferred to a compatible PC, and photos and video clips can also be shared directly from PCs via email or by blogging to a compatible service.
The PC version of the software lets users import existing digital photo collection from their hard drive to their phone – this software can be downloaded for free from www.nokia.com/lifeblog.
8 March, 2006
Bypass Automated Phone Operators With Gethuman!
“Press one if you’re a customer, press two if there’s an ‘R’ in the month, press three if you want , press four …”
Are you fed up having to press endless key combinations at the behest of a recorded voice every time you ring your bank?
Have you had enough of dealing with automated responses when all you want to do is talk to a phreaking human about your problem?
Then help is at hand, thanks to the wonderful folks at gethuman.com.
Started by Paul English to “change the face of customer service in the US”, the site offers wealth of keyboard combinations to bypass squawking, beeping auto-bot operators and get straight to a living, breathing human being.
The non-profit site features long lists of cunning keypad combinations that let users get off the automated phone merry-go-round and straight to the ear of a human operator.
Happily, as well as a large US database, there’s a growing list of UK companies, including banks, building societies, finance companies, mobile companies and more.
Here’s some example entries from the ‘gethuman’ UK database – obviously, we haven’t tested them all, but initial reports have been encouraging, but tell us how you got on.
American Express 01273 576576
Press # at each prompt.
Barclaycard 0870 1540154
Keep pressing 0 when asked for your 16 digit number.
NatWest Gold Card 0870 3331993
Don’t press anything. (Ignore 4 prompts.)After two failures, press 2 for an account manager.
Orange 07973 100450
Press 0# each time you are prompted for a number (3 times)
T mobile UK 0845 4125000
Press 0 at each of the first 3 prompts.
The gethuman.com database being constantly updated, revised and expanded and also features some helpful tips and tricks, with a blog offering insights and info, so it’s worth keeping an eye on it to see if your bank turns up on their list.
Bookmarked!
Gethuman US Gethuman UK
8 March, 2006
Orange Announce Daft Animal Pricing Tariffs
With a bonkers new naming strategy that suggests the creatives may have been on something stronger than caffeine, Orange have launched a new tariff that links customer behaviour with animal characteristics.
Backed by a whopping great £10 million advertising campaign running to the end of the year, Orange’s new pricing scheme comes in four, err, animal type packages.
The ‘Dolphin’ package is aimed at those who “like to text a lot,” The ‘Panther’ package is “for people who like all the extras” and offers inclusive 3G minutes, while the ‘Canary’ deal is for “people who love to chat,” and comes with Orange to Orange off-peak minutes.
Finally, the ‘Raccoon’ package is for grumpy hairshirt types who “want no nonsense basics” and demand a “tool, not a toy.”
Possibly recovering from a hurricane of flip-chart activity, Orange’s Neil Macgeorge, reflected on the lengthy brainstorming sessions which saw finger-clicking creatives initially mull over food types and fabrics as possible tariff names.
As the double skinny cappuccinos flowed, it was eventually decided to run with the animals idea as it – apparently – “really resonated with consumers across the board.”
We’re not entirely convinced that customers will appreciate being labelled a Racoon, but Macgeorge was on-message as he explained their philosophy;
“Over the past year we’ve been looking at the whole market and evaluating exactly how, when and why people use their phones. From that data, we then identified four clear behavioural patterns around which we’ve built our new packages.”
“Consequently, we’re shifting the way we sell services to customers and changing the headlines on the high street from complicated tariff tables to simple messages. We’re focused on offering packages which are designed to meet the different needs consumers have,” he added.
Initially launching to Pay Monthly customers, the animal packages will be made available to Pay as you go customers later in the year.
Here’s some examples of how the pricing tariffs pan out:
For thirty quid (£30), a chattering Canary gets 200 any network minutes, plus 75 texts and 50 Orange off-peak minutes, while a cheapskate Racoon would get 200 minutes plus 50 extra fixed line minutes.
For the same price, Dolphins get 100 minutes and 200 texts, while Panthers can only prowl on to the network for £45/month, which buys them 400 minutes, plus 100 texts and 25% extra anynet minutes if they buy a 3G handset.
To keep the, err, animals grazing on Orange’s pastures, customers choosing to fork out for an 18 month contract will gain access to Orange’s newly introduced “Magic Numbers” deal.
Nothing to do with the indie-pop band of the same name, a ‘Magic Number’ is simply a customer’s most frequently called Orange number and under the scheme they’ll be allowed to make calls of up to an hour to that number and only pay for a minute.
To keep the herd from straying, Pay Monthly customers will be able to choose an additional Magic Number every six months.
Sony Ericsson at CeBIT
7 March, 2006
Seiko’s BT Bluetooth Watch
Seiko Instruments has announced their first Bluetooth watch, known as either the BT Watch or the rather less snappy, CPC TR-006 ver.1.0.
Although the thing appears to be in its early stages, there’s some interesting technology on show here which we may find filtering into our everyday lives in a year or two.
Designed to be an extension of your phone, the hi-tech watch promises to integrate fully with your phone’s functionality.
If you get an SMS or email on your phone the watch can alert you, and if your phone’s ringing, you won’t have to rummage about in your bag or pockets to see who is calling – the number will appear on the watch.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be the ability to talk into the watch, Dick Tracy-style, but the display will warn you if you lose the Bluetooth connection.
Now, much as we like the idea of cool high tech toys buzzing away on our wrists, we have to say that this watch looks more than a bit silly – it’s so big you may as well strap your mobile onto your wrist and be done with it!
But unlike those rubbish pens that light up when you get a call on your mobile, we can actually imagine this gadget being quite a handy thing to have – if it was shrunk down to about a tenth of the size, of course.
We reckon it would be cool to have text messages, news headlines, RSS feeds, football scores and other short bursts of info appear on your watch – particularly when you’re stuck in a dull meeting.
But no matter how cutting edge the technology, no one in their right mind is going to strut about with this ten-ton brick on their arm, so we’ll wait for a bijou version before we can take it seriously.
You can see a Real Video demo of the brick in action on WBS TV Tokyo’s Website
6 March, 2006
Samsung SGH-i310 – World’s First 8GB Hard Disk Smartphone
Samsung has announced the world’s first 8GB Hard Disk embedded smartphone, the SGH-i310, which is expected to start shipping in Europe during the second half of this year.
With a hefty 8 gig of onboard storage you can leave your iPod at home, with the Samsung offering capacity for around 2,000 songs.
The phone comes in a familiar ‘candy bar’ form (we’re still looking for a UK equivalent of this American phrase – ‘Mars Bar shaped’ doesn’t sound quite right!) and is compatible with the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution).
The i310 is powered by the latest version of Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone which makes it easy for users to transfer their music libraries from their desktop machines via USB 2.0 connectivity and a Plug & Play feature allows the phone to be used as a removable hard disk.
A fully featured smartphone, the i310 comes with a 2 inch, 240 x 320, 65,536-colour display, onboard 2 megapixel camera with flash, microSD memory expansion slot, document viewer and TV output.
The camera can also record video (MPEG4/H.263), and there’s enhanced music functionality, with Bluetooth stereo (A2DP), high quality digital power amp, dual speakers and support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV and Ogg music file formats.
The smartphone seems pretty pocketable too, measuring 111.9 x 48.5 x 19.8 mm and weighing 120g.
Will HD-smartphones kill off dedicated music players?
Pundits are expecting an onslaught of mobile phones using hard-disk drives as manufacturers continue to pack in memory-hungry functions and features into handsets.
Cornice, a US-based maker of mini-hard drives used in portable music players and mobiles reckons that the mobile phone disk drive market will explode at a compound annual growth rate of 325 per cent between 2004 and 2009.
The company expects to see around 72 million mobile phones with embedded drives shipped in 2009 out of a global total of around 1 billion handsets – making it bigger than the personal storage and portable audio player markets (Cornice predicts these to stand at 10 million and 43 million shipments, respectively, in 2009.)
The i310 will be shown to public at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany from March 9th to March 16th. No pricing for the handset has been announced yet.
6 March, 2006
Global Mobile Phone Sales Soar 21% In 2005
The Big Six handset suppliers increased their rottweiler-like grip on the global mobile phone market, accounting for 84 per cent of all sales in Q4 2005.
The figures were revealed in a report by market research company Gartner who estimated that worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 816.6 million units in 2005 – up 21 percent from 2004 (and slightly up from Gartner’s Nov 2005 prediction)
Finnish fiends Nokia now hog a hefty 32.5 per cent of the world market in Q4, twice that of its nearest rival, Motorola (17.7%).
Samsung sit in third place with 12.7 percent of the global market, followed by LG on 6.7 percent, Sony Ericsson on 6.3 percent and Siemens on 3.5 percent.
Breaking the figures down, Western Europe saw 49.1 million units sold in the fourth quarter of 2005, compared to 164 million units in 2005.
In Central Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA), annual mobile phone sales reached 153.5 million units, while in North America, fourth quarter mobile phone sales reached 41.3 million units with a 2005 total of 148.4 million units.
There was a veritable tango of phone flogging going down Latin America way, with sales reaching nearly 102 million units in 2005, a maraca-shaking 40 percent increase from 2004.
In Asia/Pacific 56.4 million mobiles were shifted in the fourth quarter of 2005 and 204 million units in 2005, with sales fuelled by lucrative markets like China and India.
Carolina Milanesi, principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, commented: “As competition continues to drive price pressure in the low-end, and a design and technology ‘arms race’ in the high-end, the survival of the fittest depends more and more on economies of scale, or very carefully cut out niche markets.”
“The industry experienced record sales due to continued strong growth in emerging markets, where falling prices for cellular connectivity – phones and subscriptions – resulted in higher-than-expected sales. In more mature markets, such as Western Europe and North America, replacement sales were driven by users that gave into the charm of highly fashionable devices,” she added.
Such was the rabid enthusiasm for trendy feckers to get their grubby mitts on the latest ‘must have’ phone, some were happy to shell out for new contracts before their previous one had expired, with the Motorola pink Razr and Siemens CL75 Poppy being particularly sought after.
Gartner
1 March, 2006
K800 and K790 Camera Phones From Sony Ericsson Earn Cybershot Status
In a reflection of the growing convergence between phones and digital cameras, Sony Ericsson have declared their new K800 and K790 phones to be worthy of the Cybershot brand.
In line with their photographic aspirations, the two handsets come with integrated 3.2 Megapixel digital cameras offering autofocus, Xenon flash and Sony Ericsson’s BestPic imaging technology.
Taking pictures on the phone is easy. Once you’ve finished yakking, turn the handset on its side, slide the active lens cover downwards and you’ll be presented with a ‘proper’ camera interface, similar to that found in Sony’s Cybershot models.
Using the 2.0″ QVGA 262K TFT display as a viewfinder, users can take advantage of the new BestPic technology, a fancy-pants burst mode which blasts out 9 full-resolution pictures in rapid succession.
Once the shutter is pressed, the camera presents the user with four pictures before and four pictures after the actual image was captured, with the option to scroll through the selection and save the ones that look best.
There’s also an auto red-eye reduction and PictBridge support for shunting your pics direct to a printer.
To help share your photographic masterpieces, Sony Ericsson have struck a deal with Google to enable easy photo blogging with the search engine’s Blogger service.
Photo storage is taken care of with onboard capacity for 100 pictures and a Memory Stick Micro expansion slot.
Both Cybershot phones come stuffed with useful mobile features, with the dual-mode UMTS/GPRS K800i boasting 3G connectivity with video calling, a stereo FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth 2.0 with stereo audio streaming and USB 2.0 for uploading pics to PCs.
The near-identical K790i knocks a few quid off the price by eschewing the 3G and video, offering tri-band GSM with EDGE connectivity instead.
Other gizmos to be found on both phones include video recording/output, HTML browser, an e-mail client with P-IMAP support; an RSS reader, 3D gaming and a music player with MP3 and AAC support.
Both products will be commercially available in (ahem) ‘Velvet Black’ and start shipping globally during Q2 2006.
Sony Ericsson have also announced two additions to the K series along with a new phone in the Z range.
The K510i comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera phone, Bluetooth, push email and fun imaging effects (whatever they are), while the entry level K310i offers a VGA camera with practical tools for viewing, storing and sharing images.
Finally, the Z530i clamshell camera phone offers a basic feature set including an 0.3 Megapixel camera, music player with MP3/AAC support, Bluetooth, 28 MB of onboard memory, RSS reader and WAP 2.0 browser.
K800 and K790 – Features and specifications
Imaging & Messaging3.2 Mega pixel with Auto Focus Camera
Xenon Flash
BestPic™
Video and image stabilizer function
2.0″ QVGA 262K TFT display
Active lens cover
Photo keys
Cyber-shot™ user interface
Memory for 100 pictures (at 3.2MP), 64 MB internal user memory
Video recording/playback
Adobe picture/video PC SW
16x Digital zoom
Auto red eye reduction
DPOF & PictBridge
Time line view of pictures
Picture Blogging (powered by Blogger)
PictureDJ ™ and VideoDJ
Standard push e-mail (P-IMAP) support
VGA camera for Video Telephony (no VGA camera in K790)
EntertainmentMusic Player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ support)
Video Player
Music DJ™
OMA DRM phase 1.x
Streaming Audio/Video
3D games
A/B buttons for horizontal games support
RDS FM radio
ConnectivityBluetooth® 2.0
IrDA
HTML Full Browser with RSS readers
USB 2.0 Mass storage
External antenna connector
Memory Stick Micro (M2) slot
Flight mode
Multitasking
USB cable, stereo portable handsfree and PC software in the box
Talk time: up to 7 hours GSM/2.5 hours UMTS
Standby time: up to 350 hours
Size: 106 x 47 x 18 (22) mm
Weight: 115 grams
Sony Ericsson
28 February, 2006
SPH-B1300 DMB Phone From Samsung, Flipping ‘eck
More flexible than a Russian athlete in a vat of oil, Samsung’s double-flipping DMB phone offers a novel twist on the clamshell format.
Naturally, we’re talking about a Korea-only release at the moment, but Samsung’s SPH-B1300 looks an interesting number serving up a DMB handset that flips two ways. A bi-flip-sexual, if you will.
The Samsung can function like a regular clamshell phone, with the colour display viewed in portrait orientation, or, with a clever bit of flipology, the screen can shuffle around into a landscape format – ideal for watching TV and videos.
As well as the DMB functionality, the Samsung SPH-B1300 serves up the usual advanced mobile feature set, complete with a two megapixel digital camera and built-in MP3 player.
It looks like the handset will be taken up by KTF in Korea (DMB is huge in Samsung’s home country), although those waiting for a UK release may be in for a very, very, very long wait (think, “eternity”).
We can expect more details about the Samsung SPH-B1300 to be revealed at the CeBit 2006 show in Hannover next month.
Glossary:
DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) is a digital transmission system for sending data, radio and TV to mobile devices such as mobile phones.
Operating via satellite (S-DMB) or terrestrial (T-DMB) transmission, DMB is based on the Eureka 147 DAB standard and shares similarities with the competing mobile TV standard DVB-H.
Samsung
CeBit 2006
28 February, 2006