Digital-Lifestyles

Cellular

Cellular related stories

  • Children’s Cellular phone withdrawn following UK health report

    Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), today published a report of the emissions of mobile phones. He said he believed that mobiles may pose a health risk, although this was not yet proven. He said “If there are risks – and we think there may be risks – then the people who are going to be most affected are children, and the younger the child, the greater the danger.”

    Following this, Communic8 the company who sells MyMo, a mobile phone specifically for use of children between 4 and 8, announced that they were to stop selling it immediately.

    We spoke to Adam Stephenson of MyMo and he said “After listening to the the tone and content of Sir William Stewart on the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning, we have decided to stop selling MyMo.” He went on explain that they had read between the lines to see a considerable risk. “The idea behind MyMo was to protect children. We have no intention of exposing children to any danger.” While pointing out that no one in his company were medical experts, he went on to say “We feel it would be foolish to challenge their findings.”

    The MyMo offered a simple ‘cut down’ mobile phone with three buttons on it that enable pre-set phone number to be called easily. It was licensed from a company in Germany and is still for sale in Italy and in the Netherlands, through KPN.

    This is the second piece of research within a month, flagging the possible dangers of mobile phone emissions. The last study, majority-funded by the European Union, has found in December that in laboratory conditions, radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA.

    MyMo
    Sir William Stewart on BBC Radio 4 (Real player req.)
    Health warning on children with mobile phones – The Scotsman
    Cellular Phone Emissions Damage DNA, Study Finds – Digital-Lifestyles.info

  • Gizmondo beef up with Disney and Sega

    Since we first brought news of the Gizmondo gaming console to you in June 2004 it has been coming on leaps and bounds.

    Not only is the Gizmondo a handheld games platform, but it’s also able to play music and video; has GPRS, Bluetooth and GPS built-in to it; works as a wireless email and SMS client; and has a digital camera built in. All for an expected $399 in the US or £229 in the UK.

    While this is all very lovely, it’s common knowledge that what keeps a gaming machine alive beyond the spec sheet is the games it runs. Tiger Telematics, who have developed and sell the Gizmondo, are developing their own original software, having bought two software developers Indie Studios and latterly Warthog Games in October 2004, but they are also wisely doing deals with other companies.

    The fruit of these now-combined studios, renamed Gizmondo Studios, will be nine titles; City; Colors; Johnny Whatever; Sticky Balls; Fallen Kingdoms; Momma, can I mow the lawn?; Milo and the Rainbow Nasties; Furious Phil; and Future Tactics.

    A three year deal with Disney should bring their games to the Gizmondo platform. The initial fruits of the deal will be Tron 2.0. Developed in-house by Gizmondo, the contract also “envisions for four additional titles to be determined by mutual agreement”. The agreement has the Gizmondo paying a minimum guarantee totalling $100,000 for the Tron 2.0 property over three years. Four other titles could also be developed under the deal.

    Tiger Telematics have also signed a letter of intent with Taiwan-base Digital Media Cartridge Ltd, hoping to bring many of the classic Sega video games to the platform. Currently this deal looks a little less certain that the Disney deal, but the games being discussed include Sonic the Hedgehog, Outrun, Golden Axe, Altered Beast and Shinobi.

    As an icing on the cake, our friends at CNET declared the Gizmondo a finalist in the Next Big Thing awards.

    The Gizmondo soft launched by taking pre-orders in the UK in October 2004, and should be in UK shops in February 2005 priced at £229. The online capabilities will be provided using a Gizmondo-branded Pay As You Go (PAYG) service.

    Gizmondo

  • Cellular Phone Emissions Damage DNA, Study Finds

    A new study, majority-funded by the European Union, has found that in laboratory conditions, radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA, reports Reuters.

    When tested in a laboratory, the cells showed a significant increase in single and double-strand DNA breaks after being exposed to electromagnetic fields that mobile phones emit. Some of the damage couldn’t be repaired and “there was remaining damage for future generation of cells,” said project leader Franz Adlkofer.

    Despite what appears to us as being quite worrying information, the researchers said the study did not prove any health risks and suggested it “require further studies.” He recommended using a landline if available and an earpiece if using a mobile.

    The cellular phone companies have always asserted that there is “no conclusive evidence of harmful effects as a result of electromagnetic radiation.”

    Perhaps there’s nothing to worry about. The stock market certainly doesn’t appear to be concerned by the news, if Nokia’s stock is anything to go by.

    I wonder if the mobile phone companies have taken out insurance in the case that mobile phones are proven harmful to human health? If so, wouldn’t it be interesting to find out what the value of coverage was? [email protected]
    Mobile Phone Radiation Harms DNA, New Study Finds – Reuters

  • BlackBerry Patent Case Swings Away from RIM to NTP

    There will be furrowed brows over at Research in Motion Ltd (RIM), the Canadian company behind the ever-popular wireless email device, BlackBerry.

    The US Court of Appeals has just ruled against them in a case brought by intellectual property holding company NTP Inc, that alleged RIM have violated patents owned by NTP that cover the transmission of email over a radio network.

    The only slight cause for relief for RIM will come from the court ruling that they will be able to continue selling their products until final judgement is reached.

    The history of the case goes back to 2000 when NTP first notified RIM of the alleged infringement. In a series of cases since then, the case has been batted between the two of them and over the period, the courts have ordered RIM to pay over $70m to NTP.

    Back in November 2002, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ordered re-examinations of all NTP patents litigated in this matter.

    Although this ruling only has jurisdiction in the USA, it is unclear if there will be any impact on RIM’s deals with non-US mobile operators. RIM has done deals with a number of operators around the world, the product of which have now made it to market. One example, being two months ago Vodafone UK launched the 7100v that has BlackBerry functionality built into a more compressed form.

    Research In Motion

  • LG opens European RandD Centre in Paris

    The march of LG continues West with them setting up an R&D office in Paris (Reg.Req.), France. The advantages to them are plentiful; a stronger understanding of the needs of the European market; the forging of closer relationships with European network operators; having the cellular standards bodies on their door steps – ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) are both based in Paris.

    This will be their fifth R&D centre, following San Diego, Beijing, Bangalore, and Moscow.

    LG profile has grown tremendously in recent years, and their handsets have been doing well. They hope the opening of this R&D centre takes them one step closer to being a ‘global top 3’ in handsets by 2006. On past performance it looks highly achievable – rival companies must be getting worried.

    LG

  • i-mode UK Bound Via mmO2?

    There has been some press speculation over the last day or so about mmO2 partnering with DoCoMo to bring their phone and content platform, i-mode, to the UK. Reuters reported that mmO2’s Chief Executive, Peter Erskine, had said last week that the company would decide by year-end on whether to introduce i-mode.

    Things appear to have moved on, and this morning the Financial Times is more firm on the story, reporting that O2 will announce the deal next week. They say the service would start next year.

    We spoke to mmO2 and their official comment was “the process is ongoing and we are still on schedule to announce before the end of the year”, so no big scoop for us there then. In conversation they did mentioned that the i-mode service has become more attractive over the years, since they last looked at it. Over that time the available range of handsets has increased significantly, it has driven up usage in the markets it has been deployed and the range of content available now for the platform has increased substantially.

    [A brief interlude. Why is the company sometimes called mmO2 and other times O2? Let us clear up the confusion. mmO2 is the parent company that operates in a number of countries (UK, Ireland, etc). Its operating units in these countries are called O2. So, parent co=mmO2, local instance=O2.]

    i-mode is a huge in Japan, where it has 42m users. Some even credit it with bringing the Internet to the youth of Japan. As home computer ownership previously wasn’t that large, the youth used their phone to get online.

    It is already running in four European countries; Germany, France, Italy and Spain, although the take up figures haven’t been what you would call stunning, running at around 4m over the continent. The UK is a big gap in DoCoMo’s European coverage.

    For content producers, the most interesting thing about i-mode is its content publishing model. Compared with other mobile platforms in the UK who can take as much as 50-60% of payments made by consumers, i-mode takes significantly less – in the low double digits.

    It’s deals like this that are highly likely to draw content to mmO2 – it’s not wholly surprising that content producers will be inclined to get the most income from their wares as possible.

    Given the current fashion among 3G watchers is to think that the winners in 3G will be those with the strongest content, a generous share of the income to draw in content owners could be a very smart move by mmO2.

    DoCoMo
    mm02

  • CNN News Free to Mobiles, Xerox Sponsored

    CNN News to mobiles, Xerox SponsorCNN has launched a news service over Europe that delivers the top ten CNN headlines to mobile phones without a subscription charge.

    The phone owner will receive the 10 top stories of the day as chosen by the CNN.com site editorial team. If the application is kept ‘live’, ie. running on the handset, it will continue to receive news updates. When the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is turned off, either by the user or because they drop out of range, the news items remain accessible, as they are stored on the handset.

    The process of signing up for the service sounds simple. The phone user sends an SMS requesting the service and a returned WAP link takes the phone to a Java application that is automatically downloaded to the handset. The news is then delivered to it using the data-only GPRS otherwise know as 2.5G.

    Consumers will not have to pay a subscription charge for this service, as Xerox will be sponsoring it. In return Xerox will have their logo displayed as the service starts, on the home page and on the individual news pages. Xerox is paying a fixed price for the deal, which doesn’t vary on the number of people who sign up for it. Although users of the service can click through to a page of information about Xerox, which they have editorial control over, the real driver for their involvement is the association with the CNN brand and a leading-edge application of technology.

    CNN have been pretty adventurous in distributing their news product to many platforms. CNN mobile currently offers a breaking news service to mobiles via SMS, which it charges Euro 4.75/month. In Austrian, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands, mobile owners are able to watch CNN on their handsets via their GPRS video streaming service.

    There will be those in the mobile content world who will find this type of deal a little disturbing. They are currently very pleased that consumers appear to associate mobile content with paying – in stark contrast to Internet based content. If the consumer starts being offered quality content for no money, they might get used to it.

    Expect more deals like this from media owners, as Kevin Razvi, head of CNN International ad sales says, “Our expanding portfolio of wireless businesses exposes advertisers directly to a broad consumer base through a highly relevant service for an increasingly mobile and technically-savvy target audience.”

    CNN
    Xerox

  • Philips’ Tiny Chip Provides FM Radio In Mobile Devices

    Royal Philips Electronics has showcased a series of chips that will add FM and AM tuner functionality to mobile phones, CD/MP3 players, PDAs, and other handset devices. The chips are not only the world’s smallest, but will also allow handset manufacturers to create ‘true’ multimedia devices that are capable of playing audio, video, games, and radio.

    According to Philips, FM radio is one of the key features users are looking for as mobile phones are evolving into connected consumer devices. With listening figures as high as 20 hours per week, according to the company, Philips is hoping that consumers will appreciate the addition of easy-to-use FM radio on their mobile phones. This, of course, is very likely, as for most people it will probably mean one less item to carry in their pockets. Today, only some 15 per cent of mobile phones sold worldwide have FM radio, although the market is set to continue to grow towards 50 per cent, asserts Philips.

    Each new chip has its own peculiarities. For example, the TEA5767 requires low power whilst the TEA5777 supports the AM range. The smallest in the series, the TEA5761, is made using WL-CSP (Wafer Level – Chip Scale Packaging) and is a wafer of silicon crystal plates. As the I/O connections were redesigned and some of them removed, TEA5761-based solutions require considerably less PCB space. Some of TEA5764 are also shipped in WL-CSP package, but they primarily stand out with RDS (Radio Data System) support (provides various information like station name, current track, news, ads, and so on). RDS also helps to simplify tuning by ensuring that the radio always tunes to the strongest signal available. The technology also offers benefits for telecom operators by increasing average revenue per user (APRU).

    ‘Mobile phones are becoming the ultimate portable device and consumers are placing great value on the multimedia features that differentiate their phone from others in the market. Already established as a proven technology with a large user base all over the world, FM radio is a valuable addition to any handset,’ said Peter Baumgartner, senior vice president of Philips Semiconductors’ Communications business. ‘As the leader in this market for FM radio on mobile devices, Philips enables everyone to enjoy radio entertainment, everywhere and anytime they want.’

    Philips’ FM TEA5761 is available now, while the FM+RDS TEA5764 and the AM/FM TEA5777 will be available in January 2005.

    Royal Philips Electronics

  • Vodafone 3G Services Go Live!

    Following on from Monday’s story, Vodafone’s betting heavily on 3G this Christmas, read on for further details of Vodafone’s new offering.

    Timed to attract consumers in the lucrative pre-Christmas market, Vodafone’s third-generation (3G) service offers quicker music, video and e-mail downloads compared to GPRS. With 3G you can access all of Vodafone’s current services, as well as new video calling, video messaging and video clips specifically for the 3G network. Vodafone is supporting the new service with an enhanced Web portal designed to offer easier access to the 3G services.

    The mobile operator is aiming at the youth market, which has been influential in the growth of services such as text messaging. It hopes the key attraction will be music downloads, as mobile operators look to compete with Internet music download services such as Napster and Apple’s iTunes.

    The roll-out will be concentrated in densely populated urban areas, covering about 30 per cent of the population, according to Vodafone. Although the new 3G technology promises to provide data transfers at near-broadband speeds, it has taken ages for firms to launch their 3G services due to technical glitches. Although streaming audio and video will the prime marketing driver, it’s likely that data on the move, not video calls, will drive the market.

    Vodafone’s ‘enhanced’ 3G content includes a downloadable music catalogue, a made-for-mobile drama inspired by the TV series 24, together with exclusive videos, pictures, animated greetings and wallpaper including the launch of Movie of the Month, starting with Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Sports fans are promised access to UEFA Champions League and Barclays Premiership video clips, together with exclusive Manchester United and Ferrari mobile video content.

    “Vodafone live! with 3G will dramatically change the way our customers experience their Vodafone services and we are confident that Vodafone live! with 3G will be a success”, said Arun Sarin, chief executive at Vodafone. “Customers want communication, organisation, entertainment and information on the move and they will increasingly turn to one device to deliver these needs: their mobile phone. Vodafone live! with 3G will become increasingly mass market next year and we expect over 10 million customers to be using Vodafone live! with 3G by March 2006 in our subsidiaries.”

    As reported in September, Vodafone has ordered 10 varieties of 3G handset from Sharp, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung, with built-in features including MP3 music players and 2-Megapixel camera phones. They will be subsidised as aggressively as its existing 2G handset range, so high-end users who agree to a contract will be entitled to a free phone. The launch is also international, extending to Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

    www.vodafone-i.co.uk/live/

  • Nokia Pleases Operators with Midrange Handsets

    According to a story published today on tech Web site The Register, Nokia is in the middle of an 18-24 month transition to offer customised mobile phone designs and software that will make it easier for network operators to differentiate their offerings. In a move that looks like submission for the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, almost 90 per cent of the company’s 2005 phone line-up will support software customisation and 25 per cent will have exclusive operator designs.

    Nokia has also indicated that handset margins would stay under pressure, forecasting a 17-18 per cent operating margin in two to three years’ time – well down from 25 per cent in its heyday a few years ago and reflecting tougher competition from the likes of Samsung Electronics. Whilst going through a turbulent year, plugging gaping holes in its product portfolio and fighting off competition by cutting prices, Nokia’s turnaround has already helped it to deliver results, driving forth its goal of eventually grabbing 40 per cent market share – up from a current share of around 30 per cent (Source: IDC).

    Since April, Nokia has launched a number of new phones, including clamshells, and said half of its handset sales would come from new and foldaway designs by the fourth quarter of next year, up from some 19 per cent expected late this year and virtually zero at the beginning of 2004 when all designs had the shape of a candybar, according to Yahoo! India. Of the 40 new handsets Nokia plans to launch in 2005, more than half will be clamshell, slider or other factors, compared to just three at the start of this year.

    We can expect to see more high-end multimedia devices and enterprise solutions, as well as Nokia driving the software standards agenda with platforms such as Series 60 and the new content framework, Preminet. High-end phones will offer full Internet browsers, integrated stereo music players, video playback and recording features, FM radio, and megapixel digital cameras. In 2006, the company will announce its first mobile phone with a built-in television receiver, which is being tested in the UK and Finland now.