Cellular – Page 66 – Digital-Lifestyles

Half UK Mobile Customers can Access the Web via their Mobile

The MDA was established in 1994 to increase awareness of mobile data amongst users and their advisers. The MDA acts as a focal point for its members, (vendors and users) and outside parties interested in knowing more about the industry.

MDA findings show that half of UK mobile customers can access the Web via their mobile. With a total active, mobile touting customer base of over 52 million, that means about 26 million are surfing the Web on the tiny screen, with GPRS active devices topping 24 million – a 46% penetration rate for GPRS devices for the total UK market. MMS active capable devices, on the other hand, reached 15 million as at 30th June 2004, with a penetration rate of 29% for the total UK market, showing an increase on the previous quarter of 36%.

Announced today, the figures as of 30th June 2004 from UK GSM network operators O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone show a rapid increase for both GPRS and MMS devices on the previous quarter.

GPRS technology provides “always on” capabilities and faster speeds for e-mail and Web browsing on the move, while MMS capable devices are defined as those with integrated camera phone, attached camera or “MMS capable” of sending / receiving without camera option.

The GPRS/MMS trend is expected to continue, while GPRS services have illustrated an increase in popularity in the last 12 months in both the consumer and corporate markets.

Popular applications predictably include, access to rail/air timetables, mobile chat, location services, mobile images and innovative music services as GPRS and MMS providers strive to suit every customer need.

The MDA announces the total number of chargeable person-to-person text messages and WAP page impression figures sent on behalf of the UK GSM Network operators on a monthly basis and figures are announced in the third week of the following month. You can keep yourself informed by accessing their Web site.

www.mda-mobiledata.org
www.text.it

Preminet: Nokia’s Mobile Content Move

Courtesy of Nokia, mobile content distribution and transaction will reside in a one-stop-shop, making life easier for mobile networks and perhaps more interesting for the owners of some 350 million Java-enabled handsets (at last count.)

Preminet is a hosted open service model that streamlines all the steps involved in delivering content for smart phones through a single channel.

As a result of an agreement announced yesterday between Nokia and Starcut, a Finland-based mobile media publisher, content from Universal Studios and Warner Music Group Content will be made available to operators and consumers through the one-stop content shop. Preminet and Starcut will provide operators with pre-certified content such as life-style and sports, ringtones, graphics, games and video that they can brand and offer over the Web, or via Java or Symbian OS enabled mobile phones.

Here’s how it works. Preminet sources premium Java and Symbian OS software from leading developers and content aggregators worldwide to give operators a master catalogue of certified applications, games and other mobile content. A chain supply experts dream system – the sequence includes the Preminet Master Catalogue, Preminet Service Delivery Platform and Preminet Purchasing Client, an innovative software application that make it easy for end-users to trial run mobile applications, content and services before buying. Operators can integrate Preminet content into their own download delivery systems or have Nokia provide a complete hosted solution.

Until now, each operator was responsible for maintaining hundreds of relationships with individual Java and Symbian OS developers as well as sourcing and testing each application before bringing them to the end-user. Now they have a single channel – the Preminet Master Catalogue containing a whole range of Java and Symbian OS software as well as a framework for delivering billing and distributing revenues.

In February, Nokia took one of its first steps towards Preminet when it joined with Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Siemens and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications to create the Java Verified Process for testing and certifying Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) applications for wireless handheld devices.

Preminet is not a new concept though, coming after the Brew development platform for mobile devices from Qualcomm. Preminet has been launched worldwide and Nokia expects a complete commercial deployment by the end of November.

Time will tell as to how the mobile and content industries will react to Nokia taking this role on, and taking a percentage for each transaction in the process.

Preminet
Starcut

Treo 650 Launched by PalmOne

PalmOne Treo 650 A finer, mellow blend of phone and PDA, PalmOne launched the Treo 650 in the US yesterday. There are changes on the outside and changes on the inside – some cosmetic, some ergonomic, and some fundamentally technical. I’d be happy to ditch my current phone if I won this in a raffle!

PalmOne plans to make two versions of the Treo 650. A dual-band version will support CDMA/1XRTT cellular networks, used by Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. A quad-band version will run on GSM networks, used by T-Mobile, Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless. The GSM model will also support AT&T’s EDGE, a higher-speed data network. But built in Wi-Fi support is still missing as is, we understand, support for PalmOne’s own add on WiFi cards. We expect this is bowing to pressure from cellular providers who are terrified of Voice over WiFi eating their high-charging services for breakfast.

The Treo 650 has a higher-resolution screen – 320 by 320 pixels compared with the Treo 600’s 160 by 160 pixels. It’s faster with a 312MHz Intel processor compared with the Treo 600’s 144MHz Texas Instruments chip, while memory capacity remains the same at 32MB. An improved VGA camera can record video as well as still images and should work better in low-light situations. Storage is provided by Flash memory enabling expansion. The Treo 650 has a removable battery, which gives up to five hours of continuous digital talk time and over two weeks of standby time

A new e-mail application, VersaMail supports Exchange Server 2003, POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP, so 650 users can now connect remotely to corporate networks to get e-mail. Furthermore, built-in Bluetooth Wireless Technology allows you to wirelessly synchronise with Bluetooth-enabled desktop or laptop computers.

Software applications include Documents To Go 7 with native MS Office support allowing you to View and edit Word and Excel documents, an audio player for MP3s, and the new palmOne Media suite from Zire 72.

With all that improved technology on the inside, simple ergonomics have not been forgotten. The 650 has an improved backlit QWERTY keyboard with larger, flatter keys, and strategic button placement for easier one-handed access.

A touch too far might be the vanity mirror for self-portraits, while a community service to movie and theatre buffs might be the hardware silent switch. Sprint will be the first carrier to offer the smart phone from mid-November, and pricing is expected to be in the $400 (~£217, €312) to $500 (~£271, €390) range.

PalmOne Treo 650

QUICPay Using RFID in Tokyo Taxi Payment Trial

News reaches us that a Japanese credit card company, JCB International, is starting a two-month trial in November of a contactless payment system using mobile phones. It’s called QUICPay and the guinea pigs will be taxi drivers in one of the world’s busiest cities, Tokyo. The exercise makes sense in Japan where it has been found that people use cell phones more than they use credit cards, and the Kanachu Hire taxi company will make contactless payment history.

QUICPay will be tested with NTT DoCoMo mobile wallet service handsets that are embedded with Sony’s FeliCa IC chip. When the phone is presented within ten centimetres of the QUICPAY RFID (Radio Frequency ID) reader, it will determine the balance stored on the customer’s chip, automatically deduct the fare and reset the chip’s balance. The QUICPay (“Quick and Useful IC Payment”) amount will then be billed to their existing credit card just like any other card purchase.

QUICPay can skip the authorisation process because it can instantly determine the balance that is available on the chip. The great thing about this system is its immediacy. How often have the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes multiplied while you waited for the shop assistant to move heaven and earth to finalise your card transaction? In contrast to this a QUICPay offline payment transaction can be done in seconds and what’s more, no signature is required.

While this trial is using only phones, it will be possible to embed the chip in a credit or other plastic cards in the future. If the experiment is successful JCB hopes to introduce the technology to convenience stores by 2006.

As far as we’re aware, there is no ‘keep the change’ option on QUICPay, so if the system becomes universal and moves us ever closer to a cashless society we’d better find another way of tipping.

Other mobile phone-based payment systems such as SimPay are being actively pursued. What isn’t clear is what transaction fees the handler will remove. Given it is all electronic, one would hope they would be negligible.

JCB International

Diagnosis of Patients in Transit via Video Link Trailed in Japan.

Imagine the advantages of being able to send high-definition video of a patient from an ambulance to a hospital via cell phone. It will happen nation-wide in Japan from next April.

A collaborative project by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the Tsukuba Medical Centre Hospital, and the Tsukuba Fire Headquarters has developed such a system that can do just this. Simply at the flick of a switch, paramedics will activate the system to enable a hospital doctor to examine a patient via remote control video camera using the new technology that has made it possible to compress high-definition image data sufficiently to allow its transmission via cell phone.

According to national statistics in Japan, it takes an average of 21 minutes to transport an emergency patient to hospital. These high-definition images though, will make it possible for doctors at the receiving hospital to give critical, timesaving and appropriate advice to paramedics, with obvious positive implications for the survival prospects of the patient.

To implement the system, ambulances will need to be modified to carry a video camera, laptop computer and special antenna, and AIST say the system will be tested in the city by the end of the year and will go on sale nation-wide in April.

This is the first time we have heard of video from a moving vehicle being used for medical diagnosis and treatment. Fixed-location use of video is now becoming common place, in deed a story in News.com this summer highlighted the importance of being able to avail of expert instructions remotely, when cardiac surgery on a patient in Guam was led by physician, Dr. Benjamin Berg in front of a computer screen 3,500 miles away at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. He dictated the procedure to a less experienced colleague, monitoring every move with a high-resolution video camera.

AIST already has a track record in using technology to advance medical practice, having developed a therapeutic robot seal called PARO in collaboration with Microjenics. In February 2002, the Guinness Book of Records acknowledged the PARO robot as the most therapeutic robot in the world. AIST has licensed all PARO’s intellectual property rights to its affiliated venture company Intelligent System (ISC), who plan to introduce the robot to nursing homes for the elderly.

News.com – Digital Agenda Broadband (24 page PDF)
JCN – AIST Develops Therapeutic Robot Seal

Pocket Streets 2005 Now for Smartphones and Pocket PC’s

Microsoft Pocket Streets 2005 Microsoft recently announced Pocket Streets 2005 as a stand-alone product, although it still remains a component of their Streets and Trips 2005 package. There are two separate stand-alone versions ¯ Pocket Streets 2005 for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs, and Pocket Streets 2005 for Windows Mobile-based Smartphones.

If you own a Smartphone, you can toss away the compass since the Smartphone version now has GPS support. Previous versions of Pocket Streets only had GPS functionality in the Pocket PC version. If you are looking for routing and driving directions though you will still need to consult Microsoft Streets & Trips or Microsoft MapPoint.

You can generate directions and maps for Pocket Streets using the 2004 or later versions of MapPoint, Microsoft Streets & Trips, and AutoRoute, or you can download Microsoft’s maps of major cities. Pocket Streets 2005 includes more than 300 maps of North America and more than 275 maps of Western Europe, as well as Microsoft ActiveSync 3.7. New maps are available for Australia, Brazil, and Greece, but these will only be compatible with Pocket Streets 2005.

This is an ideal companion for any tourist visiting a city for the first time. You can locate the nearest ATM or service garage, in fact Pocket Streets has an extensive in-built list of bank ATMs and public transportation sites. You can customize maps with personal points of interest, and a new measurement scale feature is expected to determine the distance between locations more accurately.

Two useful features will help the more absent-minded traveller. Pocket Streets 2005 opens with the most recently used map already loaded, and you can search for destinations and addresses by using only partial names.

Pocket Streets is currently only available in English, but you can download maps that are in any language. It will sell for an estimated retail price of $24.95 (~€19.63).

Pocket Streets 2005

Mobile vs Web gaming

Games on mobiles are not new, neither are multiplayer games, but Macrospace have teamed up with Certus to go a step further, by allowing players to compete in real-time using their mobile phones with not only other mobile users, but also PC users via their web browser.

Global mobile to mobile, Web to mobile gaming creates a whole new multiplayer dynamic. Designed for the more casual gamers, Macrospace hopes to attract a broad range of people who are already familiar with web-based games, but who may not yet appreciate the gaming potential of their mobile phone. The new games, developed in partnership with Denmark’s Certus, use powerful server-side technologies to create a robust multiplayer platform that is simple for even novice users, and three have been launched for openers.

Multiplayer Four-in-a-row challenges you to get four counters in a row before your opponent, while the multiplayer version of the timeless game of strategy, Multiplayer Reversi, allows you to challenge your friends anytime, anywhere in real-time. Finally, Multiplayer Battle Ocean encourages you to sink your opponents’ fleet of ships before he sinks yours. Players can also chat to each other seamlessly between mobile and Web.

The games can be played across any Java-enabled mobile or Web platform, and they have been specifically designed to work across 2G, 2.5G and 3G technology, using turn-based gameplay that suits the technical limitations of existing handsets and networks.

Most importantly, for player kudos, Macrospace multiplayer games utilise global ranking and high scores, allowing users to view other players’ scores and select opponents of a similar skill level. They can also create a permanent username, circumventing the need to create a new one for every game they purchase. It’s a real virtual community affair as Certus’ technology allows operators and portals to run tournaments and create competition leagues.

People used to miss bus and train stops because they fell asleep or were engrossed in a good book, now it will be because they are preoccupied with multiplayer global intrigue on the tiny screen.

Macrospace
Certus

TI to put DVB-H in Single Chip

Texas Instruments have just announced they will be building a single chip that will that will allow cell phones to receive digital television broadcasts over a wireless network.

Currently if a mobile phone manufacturer wanted to do this they would have to include three separate chips – a TV tuner, a signal demodulator and a channel decoder, but the TI chip, codenamed “Hollywood”, includes all this functionality already. “Hollywood” will support two emerging digital and open TV standards for the wireless industry – the European, DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld); and the Japanese Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting – Terrestrial (ISDB-T).

Texas Instruments say that the chip will be able to receive a live TV broadcast at up to 30 frames per second, twice the rate that some of today’s top notch phones display video clips.

While the chip is already being trialled, manufacturers probably won’t receive samples until 2006, pushing commercial deployment to 2007.

It’s unclear if users will watch TV on a tiny mobile screen. Furthermore, it is not yet known which mobile phone manufacturers will provide the phones, although Nokia, who announced last year that they are going to put television tuners into all their cellphones, (having already done so with the 7700) could be a contender.

A time might come when we forget what the mobile phone is really for. We’ll be so busy playing music and video games, taking photographs, or watching TV that receiving a call will become an irritating nuisance.

Texas Instruments

SCH-250 5Mpx Phone from Samsung Released

Samsung, the world’s third-largest handset maker has today released the world’s first camera phone with 5-megapixel resolution in Korea. In conjunction with Japan-based camera specialist Asahi Pentax, Samsung have devised a camera module specifically for the mobile phone. Poor quality mobile pictures will soon be a thing of the past – a mere grainy memory. Besides the incredible resolution, the SCH-S250 also includes the first QVGA display (240×320)) in a mobile phone that supports 16.7 million colours.

Your average mobile-wielding sulky teenager considers built-in cameras with picture resolutions of less than one megapixel passé, but the SCH-S250 will raise their little technical antennae. The 5-megapixel camera features a high-quality CCD sensor, 1/1000-second shutter speed, and QVGA (Quarter VGA)video recording. The unique “stretch” design protects the display and camera lens when not in use. 92 MB of built-in memory can store up to 100 minutes of high-quality video, but less than 18 still photos at full resolution. Additional storage can be added and a 32MB auxiliary memory is included as standard. And the people at Samsung and Asahi Pentax didn’t stop here – an MP3 player and TV output round out the features.

This little phone could be used as your portable office as it also includes a text-to-speech function allowing the phone to “speak” to-do lists and incoming text messages.

Furthermore, South Korea’s top mobile carrier, SK Telecom, has said it will introduce 10-megapixel camera phones produced by Samsung by the end of this year. The SCH-S250 price will be announced next week, so it is hard to predict yet how soon the kids will be fighting over it in the schoolyard.

Mobile operators love high resolution photos, as transferring them takes lots of bandwidth and there for cost the user considerably more than low res pictures.

Samsung

Collapse-to-Zoom Could Aid Mobile Browsing

It’s the same old problem – a Web page is simply shrunk to fit a handheld screen and you waste time playing ‘blind man’s buff’ with the screen contents because you can’t tell the relevant from the irrelevant tiles.

Browsing large pictures, or simply navigating the Web on a mobile device is as unsatisfactory as trying to watch “The Return of the King” on a portable TV.

Opera have what they call Small-Screen Rendering technology to counter this but Patrick Baudisch and Xing Xie from Microsoft Research, Wei-Ying Ma from Microsoft Research Asia, and Chong Wang of Tsinghua University have provided a workaround to this limitation that will automate the scrolling and navigation of a large picture with a single pen stroke.

It’s called Collapse-to-zoom and offers an alternative exploration strategy. In addition to enabling users to zoom into relevant areas, Collapse-to-zoom allows users to collapse areas deemed irrelevant, such as archive material, or advertising. When you collapse the irrelevant content all remaining material expands to display more detail, thus increasing your chance of finding what you want. Collapse-to-zoom navigation, explain the researchers, is based on a hybrid between a marquee selection tool and a marking menu, that they’re naming “marquee menu”. There are four commands for collapsing content areas at different granularities and switching to a full-size view of what’s left on screen.

The system is controlled with pen gestures and are fully detailed in the Technology Review (linked below). Dragging the pen diagonally downwards from right to left collapses all page content in the rectangular area covered by the pen, and replaces it with a thin placeholder that can be restored by clicking if required. Dragging the pen diagonally upwards from left to right zooms that area into a 100-percent-scale reading mode and collapses everything around the area.

Baudisch, Xie, Ma and Wang will present their work at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2004) next week.

Microsoft Collapse To Zoom paper (PDF)

Technology Review article

Opera for Mobiles