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Terraplay Supplies Motorola With Real Time Multiplayer Mobile Games
Motorola handset owners will now be able to go multiplayer bonkers, courtesy of a new selection of real-time, multiplayer games from Motorola’s consumer portal, www.hellomoto.com.
The company claims that the addition of multiplayer gaming will make “full use of the multi-media capabilities” of their devices, with the games delivering “a compelling, interactive gaming experience for consumers, which keeps them returning, consequently driving ARPU for operators.”
Based on Terraplay’s fixed line multiplayer technology (as used for online Playstation2 gaming), Terraplay MOVE supports mobile multiplayer gaming and is being used by a growing number of mobile operators on both 2.5G and 3G networks.
The technology lets users take part in multiplayer mobile gaming, supporting everything from turn-based games, sports games, action games and racing to full multiplayer games with thousands of concurrent players.
As well as playing directly against other phone users, game-hungry portal visitors will also be able to compete in ladder tournaments, view global rankings and chat in-game.
The service means that if Blodwyn in Bargoed fancies a quick bit of mobile fragging with Fritz from Frankfurt, she’ll either be able to do battle through hellomoto.com or via a mobile operator service.
“Motorola believes immersive human-to human-applications will be key drivers for growth in the mobile industry and we are very pleased to be offering such exciting multiplayer games to our customers.
As part of our ‘Innovate’ programme we are always looking for the very best technologies, such as Terraplay, to support the considerable capabilities of our handsets, and in addition drive additional revenues for our operator customers.” Says Ronan Smyth, Applications Manager, Motorola.
As part of the service, Motorola will provide a suite of well known games (such as ‘No Refuge’ and ‘Mole War’) available for its many handsets, on both 2.5G and 3G.
“This represents another major step forward in the development of Terraplay given the stature of Motorola in the global wireless market. Motorola’s initiative is excellent news for the growth of the multiplayer sector,” purred Jeremy Lewis, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Terraplay Systems, “Multiplayer gaming, offered as premium services, is a real revenue generator and an ideal path to higher ARPU for all service providers”.
The multiplayer gaming service is available now through Motorola’s consumer portal, www.hellomoto.com.
Availability is initially UK only with a roll-out to all other regions soon thereafter.
Terraplay Systems Technology
hellomoto.com
Motorola.
21 April, 2005
Electoral Commission Supports o2 WAP Site To Boost “Da Yoof” Vote
The Electoral Commission is supporting efforts to get the UK’s young voters well up for the forthcoming election by encouraging them to get down wiv their mobiles.
With voting turnout fairly miserable among 18-25 year olds, mobile operator o2 has tried to get “Da Yoof” interested by adding an election section to its O2 Active WAP portal.
This will include information on postal voting, how to find the nearest polling station, how to vote, how to obtain a postal vote and answers to frequently asked questions about politics.
Voter turnout fell to an all time low of 59% in the 2001 General Election, and recent polls have suggested that turnout in the coming general election may slump as low as 55 – 56%.
Turnout was lowest in 2001 amongst the younger generation of voters and a recent poll of 3,000 O2 Active users around the 18-24 mark revealed that only 38% intended to vote.
Becky Lloyd, campaigns manager at the Electoral Commission rapped: “It’s important that we communicate with the younger electorate in particular through a medium with which they are comfortable and familiar and mobile phones are a good way of doing this.”
Russ Shaw, Marketing Director at o2 beat boxed, “The Electoral Commission is trying to increase participation in the General Election. O2 Active provides a perfect mechanism for doing so by putting a simple tool for learning more into the pockets of 3.8 million people. This is just one way that this new, instant, always with you communications medium can be utilized by organisations and businesses trying to reach more people, particularly amongst younger audiences.”
It’s not the first time o2 have promoted the use of their mobiles for political discourse – in November 2004, the company hosted a “live text chat” with Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Wicked!
The UK’s mobile users are among some of the earliest adopters worldwide. According to new research by MobileYouth, a British child will own its first mobile at age eight, compared to a US child, who will own theirs at 12.
o2 WAP portal
o2’s “live text chat” with Tony Blair.
20 April, 2005
Samsung P207 Phone Offers VoiceMode STT Control
Those busy bee boffins at Samsung have announced the Samsung p207, billed as “the world’s first EDGE phone with VoiceMode provided by VoiceSignal.”
Promising to liberate users from the tyranny of texting on tiddly keypads, the smarty pants p207 uses “revolutionary” Speech-To-Text (STT) input technology.
Like its PC desktop counterparts, the user first has to ‘train’ the p207 through a series of spoken prompts that captures voice tone and intonation.
Once the user has adapted the system to their own dulcet tones, they can start dictating away – and the more that the learning VoiceMode is used, the more it adapts to the user’s voice.
Cleverly, voice texters can also address their message by dictating the recipient by name or number.
Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president of wireless terminals at Samsung wasn’t one to underplay the product’s capabilities: “Samsung is dedicated to integrating first-to-market technologies into its wireless phones to empower users in their everyday lives.”
“It is a great accomplishment for Samsung and a monumental day in the industry, as the p207’s advanced voice technologies transform day-to-day communication.”
The phone – looking a bit Alvin Stardust-esque in its tight, all-black covering – also comes with EDGE high-speed network, an integrated VGA camera/camcorder, MP3 ringtones, wireless multimedia messaging and instant messaging.
If this voice-to-text technology actually works (and we have a few doubts), it could prove a real boon, especially to people with fingers the size of large Bavarian sausages.
But the name’s a bit silly though. Who’d want to call a phone ‘page 207’?
Samsung
19 April, 2005

Jabra BT 250 And Logitech Mobile Freedom: Review and Comparison

Jabra Freespeak 250 & Logitech Mobile Freedom Review and Comparison Introduction
I’m no stranger to Bluetooth headsets, and the way this review is written reflects that: I’m not going to go through the whole look-no-wires thing over and over again as they do in adverts and will instead go into a little more detail about the headsets in question.

This review serves to compare and contrast the Jabra Freespeak 250 and Logitech’s Mobile Freedom.

My initial impression of the two headsets was quite different: The Logitech comes with less extra bits and pieces, and as everyone knows, it’s the details that make the difference. The content of the box include the headset itself; a charger that plugs directly into the headset; the manual; and some extra foam ear-covers.

The Jabra however adds a mains desktop charging dock and some exchangeable ear pieces of different sizes to suit various sizes of ears.

The Jabra desktop charger really comes in handy as it means less messy cables that you always have to lurch for and dig out of the back of the desk. Just slotting the headset into the charger makes life a lot easier.

The two headsets themselves are of fairly different styles. The Jabra goes behind the ear, has an earpiece that actually goes into the ear, and has a small microphone that sticks out from the bottom of the ear, while the Logitech has a small clip that goes round the back of the ear and has the rest of the headset (the chip, electronics etc. in a small microphone boom.

Jabra Freespeak 250 & Logitech Mobile Freedom Review and Comparison
Headsets Compared Front. Jabra BT 250 on right. Matchbox for scale.

Jabra Freespeak 250 & Logitech Mobile Freedom Review and Comparison

Comfort
So, now to try each one on: The Logitech is a bit fiddly to get seated correctly, but once it’s fitted, it is very comfortable and even after extended use isn’t irritating. Sadly, the Jabra is quite another story: It goes on quite easily, but it feels quite heavy and the earpiece doesn’t actually insert into the ear properly as it was designed to. At least that was the case with my ear. So on comfort, the Logitech wins and rightly so; it’s almost undetectable if you fit it properly.

Score for Comfort:
Logitech:
Jabra:

Operation
Pairing the headsets to a phone is quite similar in each case: All you have to do is hold the power button down for 10 seconds, search for the headset from the phone and then select it, enter the code 0000 as the passkey and then you’re done!

The phone that I performed these tests with was a Sony Ericsson P910i, but the experience should be similar whichever handset is used.

What is meant by pairing?
Pairing refers to the process of connecting two bluetooth devices to each other. Because there are no wires, you can’t simply plug a bluetooth device in: Instead, you have to enter an identical PIN number into each device. If this security wasn’t there, then anyone could theoretically listen into your conversation while you talk over a bluetooth headset. This security feature also prevents Paris Hilton-style hacking, although it doesn’t eliminate it 100%.

After the headsets were paired, I initiated a voice call from the handset to see if the headsets worked. While both took over the microphone and speaker from the phone just fine, the quality varied widely. Both had a slight hiss, the Jabra was an order of magnitude worse than the Logitech. The Jabra also had other quality issues, the worst of which was that the sound both in the speaker and that going through the microphone to the other party was choppy, not dissimilar to the way a normal mobile phone call gets when reception is poor. This problem varied in it’s intensity, but often got so bad I had to get the phone out of my pocket and use that instead. I did experiment with the distance that the phone and the headset were from each other, and the problem with the Jabra did increase with the distance it had to transmit. When the phone was <5cm from the phone the problem became almost unnoticeable, but if you have to hold your phone next to your head to use the headset then you might as well not bother with the headset. This is a fundamental flaw: What good is a headset, if its main purpose doesn't work satisfactorily?When you receive a call, the phone rings and at the same time an alert is sounded through the headset. Answering calls with the headsets is simple enough, or at least it should be because you just have to press one button. In the case of the Jabra, this button was located at the back of the ear, near the top. Not only did answering calls mess up my hair, it also looked stupid because I had to go looking behind my ear for the button. This is quite similar to the fact that the earpiece doesn't fit in the ear properly: It's a good idea, but it's designed terribly and clearly hasn't been properly thought out. Jabra Freespeak 250 & Logitech Mobile Freedom Review and Comparison After some time, it is possible to become accustomed to the buttons, but nevertheless, technology should be intuitive, not require training. On the Logitech, this button is on the outside of the unit, and is easily accessible. Of course, pressing a button isn’t the only way to answer a call: It is also possible to simply say “answer”, if your phone supports this function, and this is one place where the Jabra is better than the Logitech: With the Logitech, the word answer has to be said quite loud, whereas with the Jabra, it can be muttered and the headset still recognises it. This is a big advantage as you, like me, will probably not want to stand there yelling “ANSWER!” at the top of your voice. It would just make you look stupid!

Both headsets have voice-dialing features, meaning that you press the afore-mentioned button, and then say the name of whomever it is you want to call. This feature works well on both headsets, but with the Jabra you have to find the button first, which as I mentioned earlier, is badly placed.

During a call, you can adjust the volume of the earpiece using buttons on the headset itself. The ones on the Jabra are, again, in an awkward place, although in this case it isn’t as bad as the answer button. The Logitech provides aural feedback to button-presses, which is a good thing, as sometimes it isn’t clear if you pressed a button or not and then you press it again in error. It also tells you when you have selected the maximum volume, meaning that you aren’t stuck hopelessly pressing a button to no avail. This feedback isn’t so loud that it is annoying though.

In terms of operation, the Logitech is a far better headset because of it not having any interference and because of the superior location of it’s buttons.

Score for Operation:
Logitech:
Jabra:

Battery Life
The battery lives below are according to the manufacturer. It is realistic to expect around half of the values below in a real-life situation.

Jabra 250: Standby: 240 Hours, Talk time: 8 Hours.
Logitech Mobile Freedom: Standby: 250 Hours, Talk time: 7 Hours.

This is one of the only areas where the Jabra beats the Logitech. In practice, you tend to be able to charge your headset at least once every 10 days or so unless you’re lost in a jungle or something though, so it’s not too much of an advantage. The extra hour of talk-time that the Jabra offers could definitely come in useful though.

Score for Battery Life:
Logitech:
Jabra:

Price
Both headsets can be had for about £35 (US$65/€50), which appear as pretty good value for something that only a year ago would have set you back around £100 (US$189/€145).

Score for Price:
Logitech:
Jabra:

Summary
Between the two, I far preferred the Logitech over the Jabra.

While the Jabra did look appealing, the sound quality and Bluetooth range were extremely poor, I found it difficult use and uncomfortable to wear.

The Logitech did have one problem and that was the need to yell voice-dial commands, but this flaw is small in comparison to the negative aspects of the Jabra Freespeak. The Logitech was very comfortable to wear, and the buttons were easy to access.

Score Total (Out of a possible maximum of 20):
Logitech: (14)
Jabra: (11)

18 April, 2005

Camera Phone Sales Soar Worldwide in 2004
New research from Strategy Analytics reveals that 257 million camera phones were shipped worldwide, representing 38 percent of total handset sales in 2004.
This figure was up sharply from the 84 million units sold last year (16 percent of total), in 2003.
The global research and consulting firm also reported that despite their generally shoddy quality, sales of camera phones are now outselling digital still cameras by almost 4 to 1.
Last year, 68 million digital still cameras were sold, with sales growing 40 percent annually (up from 49 million units in 2003).
“Global camera phone sales grew by an impressive 200 percent year-over-year in 2004,” commented the impressively monikered Neil Mawston, Associate Director of the Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service at Strategy Analytics.
“Nokia led the pack, with an 18 percent worldwide market share, followed closely by Motorola at 17 percent, and Samsung in third position at 13 percent,” he continued.
Chris Ambrosio, Director of Strategy Analytics’ Global Wireless Practice, also fancied a go on the mic: “The digital still camera market is running out of steam. Vendors such as Kodak, Canon and Fuji will find growth harder to achieve in 2006.
Camera phones will eventually capture 15 percent of the low-end digital still camera market by 2010, while attempts to sell households in developed markets a second or third device will be restricted by the ubiquity of multi-megapixel camera phones”
The Strategy Analytics’ 2004 Global Camera Phone report also noted that VGA sensors (640×480 pixel) will still be the “sweet spot” for camera phones in 2005, but vendors will soon be screaming, “look at the size of our megapixels!” as a means of getting one over their rivals in the high end market.
These ‘Pixel Wars’ are expected to drive higher megapixel handset demand to 3 in 10 sales worldwide in 2005.
Strategy Analytics concludes that removable memory media will be standard issue on camera phones by the end of 2007, but there’ll still be a mixed bag of wireless connectivity options on offer (e.g. USB, WLAN / WiFi, Infra-red, Bluetooth, etc.), forcing manufacturers of accessory products – like printers – to support a wide range of solutions.
Strategy Analytics
14 April, 2005
Mobile Games Industry Attracts £183m Of Venture Capital Funding In 2004
New figures by media researchers, Screen Digest, has shown that the mobile games market has scooped up £327m worth of funding since September 1999, 56% of which was raised during 2004.
A hefty chunk part of this investment has been driven by private equity houses as the mobile games market begins to realise its lucrative potential.
Between 2002 and 2004 mobile game company fund-raising soared from £23m (US$43.5m/€33.5m), with investors scrambling to secure an interest in the market.
UK companies attracting investment included Digital Bridges and Atatio, with Jamdat and MFORMA leading the way in the US.
The growth of multimedia/web-enabled phones has supercharged consumer spending on downloadable mobile games, with sales growing from £380m (US$719m/€554m)in 2003 to £778m (US$1.4bnm/€1,134m) in 2004.
What people in expensive suits call “merger and acquisition activity” has also shown a dramatic increase over the past 12 months, with Screen Digest’s research highlighting the exponential growth in game developer transactions – from just two transactions in 2002, to four in 2003, rising massively to 19 in 2004.
Screen Digest’s Chief Analyst, Ben Keen explains, “Once the top developers have been acquired, there is likely to be a trend towards consolidation at the publishing/aggregation level to achieve greater ‘scale’ in the marketplace. We believe that once again it will be the private equity houses that will emerge as the driving force behind any sector ‘roll-ups’.”
Evidence of the mobile games market’s strength is highlighted by growing activity in the financial community and the increased involvement of the traditional games publishers.
The recent creation of dedicated mobile publishing divisions by a number of computer and video games companies (most notably Electronic Arts) provides further evidence that the mobile games market has finally come of age.
Screen Digest
12 April, 2005
Sony W800 Walkman Phone First European Showing
I had a Sony W800 Walkman Phone in my hands for the first time today at the Sony Media Experience in Bordeaux. There’s already been a terrific buzz about this camera and it was great to get my hands on the thing during what Sony claims was its first European outing.
First impressions – good. Its weight is just right, light enough to make it carriable but sufficiently weighty to make it of substance.
The central music button is the focus of the handset and, not surprisingly, pressing it takes you straight to your music selection.
Once tracks have been selected, there are separate buttons on either side of the handset. The button on the left is play/pause and the right control volume. Again, without having to dive into the menus of the phone. A smart move.
The software comes with the handset will take music CDs straight from the player on your machine to handset, without intervention.
It follows on from other Sony camera phones, in that taking photos is easy. Simply sliding the switch at the rear of the machine, takes the horizontally-held phone straight to camera mode, again without having to devle into menus.
The W800 should retail for €500 (US$644/£341) pre-operator’s discounts.

Single button to access music

Volume controls

Headphones attach at the bottom
12 April, 2005
TComm Launches TELLYfone, A UK Mobile TV Service
TComm has launched a mobile TV service capable of delivering live, streamed and downloaded audio/video content to mobile phones.
Announced at the MIP TV/MILIA audiovisual and digital content trade show, the TELLYfoneSM mobile TV service is the UK’s first cross-platform, network independent mobile TV service.
The service comes with full digital rights management, capable of delivering live, streamed and downloaded audio/video content to suitably equipped mobile phones.
The TELLYfone network includes individual subscription channels and will serve up a “full library” of content including; Comedy, Soaps, Sitcoms, Films,Music, Animations, Horror, Xtreme, Horoscopes, Cooking and a Games show.
Subscribers currently have a choice of six premium channels with another eight channels rolling out over the next 60 days.
“TELLYfone expands on the existing ‘TComm TV’ service and offers a much better content package for subscribers,” enthused Managing Director, Stewart Mclean.
“We feel that it is important to allow users to choose what they want to see and to present them with a broad spectrum of content. With this new service we are confident that we will find European partners in both the mobile industry and retail sector to use the TELLYfone service on their network or make it available to their customers,” continued McLean.
The TELLYfone service is available on the majority of current mobile phones and works over GSM, GPRS and 3G mobile networks with Symbian, JAVA or 3G enabled mobile phones.
Further services will include the ability to deliver the inevitable ringtones, wallpapers and logos with the content.
Tony Johnson, the Content Manager of TComm (UK) Limited, was on hand to lavish praise on his own service: “With content from UK and US production companies such as 2 Minute TV, Fearless Music, Sandy Frank Entertainment and Hungry Biker, TELLYfone sets a new standard in content provision for the mobile phone market.”
“We have committed ourselves to provide more of the very best content to our subscribers,” continued Johnson.
I’m sure you’ll forgive us if we fail to get as excited as ol’Tony about TELLYfone’s current line up which includes “Genius on a Shoestring – a lively reality show set in the streets of New York” and “Krysta LeBall – Daily Horoscopes and Astrology.”
And try as we might, we couldn’t get even slightly moist about this forthcoming service: “SexyCam – The hilariously naughty candid camera format programme that features 260 cheeky situations… Imagine the shock of entering your local restaurant to find all the other diners are suddenly naked!”
A special promotion is offering free access to the service throughout April, after which access will be on a paid subscription basis.
Anyone desperate to discover Krysta LeBall’s latest astrological mumblings can access the service by texting TELLY to 81223.
Tellyfone.tv
12 April, 2005
MobiBlu DAH-1500 – The “World’s Smallest MP3 Player”
It must be tough trying to get noticed in the crowded MP3 player market.
Most small concerns haven’t got a hope in hell of competing with the grace or design finesse of Apple, neither have they the resources to dream up the compelling feature sets served up by the likes of Creative and iRiver.
So squeezed on both sides, smaller MP3 manufacturers often serve up designs “inspired” by their successful rivals, try to get noticed by playing the wacky design card or claim some kind of world record for their product.
So, no prizes for guessing what route MobiBlu have taken with their DAH-1500 player, billed as the “world’s smallest MP3 player”.
The new teensy-weensy MobiBlu DAH-1500 player apparently offers MP3 and WMA support, a FM tuner and a claimed 15- 20 hours battery life (we say ‘apparently’ because our Japanese translation skills aren’t too good).
But it certainly is a wee little fellow, measuring a Tom Thumb-esque 24x24x24mm and weighing in at just 18 grams.
The unit features an attractive OLED display taking up one side, adjacent to a iPod-style circular control wheel.
In an interesting twist, MobiBlu’s press agency seem to think that showing someone about to drop their sugarcube-shaped player into a cup of tea forms a winning marketing strategy.
If users manage to avoid dunking the player, their publicity photos also suggest they can wear the device as a head tilting earring or lug it around the neck as a clunky necklace. Cool, or err, what?
There’s some remote hope that the unit may see the light of day sometime this month – we spotted this rebranded JNC Digital version on the web.
imp3
Aving
11 April, 2005
3 UK Launch Two Tempting 3G Pricing Plans
We’ve never quite been persuaded to move to 3, but these two price plans they’ve just announced sure look tempting.
The first of its tariffs, Off-peak 3000, is 3’s first off-peak price plan and is aimed at hardcore evening and weekend chatters.
For £25 (US$46/€36)a month, Off-peak 3000 gives fat-chewing customers an enormous 3,000 off-peak, any network, voice minutes (that works out at 50 hours – over two days!). This looks like the perfect plan for mumbling teenagers keen to talk about ghastly boy bands and repeat “whatever” constantly to their friends.
These 3,000 minutes can be used between 7pm and 7am weekdays and anytime on a Saturday and Sunday.
The second plan, “Talk, Text & Video 600”, is an enhancement to 3’s best selling plan, “Talk & Text 600”.As you’ve probably worked out, clever reader, this new plan bundles in 3’s video mobile services to the £35 (US$65/€50) a month package.
And you’re sure get a lot for your money. The monthly fee gives you 500 any network, anytime voice minutes, 100 any network, anytime text messages, 20 video calling minutes from one 3 video mobile to another, 20 video messages to other 3 mobiles and a range of 3’s video mobile services, including highlights of the Barclays Premiership, full-length music videos, comedy and games.
While potentially good for the consumer, this type of deal won’t do anything to dampen the voice of unrest from some quarters. Their beef? 3 isn’t doing anyone in the 3G/UMTS field any favors by selling services at reduced prices. They think 3G should be all about premium prices for a premium offering.
Bob Fuller, 3 UK CEO swivelled on his heels and span out the corporate spin: “3 is the fastest growing network in the UK, we now have over 3 million 3G customers and we continue to lead the market for both value and video mobile services. With these new price plans 3 continues to set the pace for value in the UK mobile market. 3 was the first network to launch live, over-the-air, multi-player gaming, the first to stream concerts live over video mobile and first to launch quickplay video streaming of 3’s content.”
3 has also announced that all its pay monthly price plans are available on 18 month contracts from the start of April. These will offer the same price plans as 12 month plans, but will be include different customer-tempting promotions, like April’s 6 month half-price line rental offer.
7 April, 2005