Wireless

Wireless connections

LG-SH110 LG phone From Korea
With Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Slip Sliding Away’ surely on perpetual loop in the factory, LG have released yet another natty phone that’s big on that super-slidey thang, the 3G LG-SH110.
Clad in a fashionable all-black stealth finish, the phone boasts a colour QVGA display which – if you’re not down with acronyms – stands for ‘Quarter Video Graphics Array’ and translates into a 320 × 240 resolution display.
And that’s quite a big screen for such a wee phone.
Rustling though the minimal specs offered thus far, we can tell you that Messrs LG have wedged in a 2.0-megapixel camera coupled with a secondary VGA camera for video calling, with the screen able to show your own face and the caller recoiling in horror at your gurning mug.
Judging by the grinning, preening ladies clutching the phone with such ecstatic delight, LG are keen to big up the SH110’s multimedia abilities, with the phone offering an MP3 player, Music Sharing and Bluetooth support, with a pair of wired headphones bundled in the package.
HSDPA connectivity offers super nippy 1.8Mbps connectivity with visio-conference functionality hoping to tempt business bods.
If all this has tempted you to whip out your wallet with gusto, put your money away, squire – as with most of LG’s goodies there’s no confirmed UK release date and there quite probably never will be. Boo!
[From Akihabaranews]
22 January, 2007
Singapore WiFi ‘Thief’ Gets Probation
A 17-year old Singaporian male has just escaped a jail sentence, for piggy-backing on someone else’s WiFi connection without their permission, AFP have reported. In place of ‘time in the can’, he ended up with 18 months probation, including a period in a boys home and 80 hours of community service.
Pretty severe for securing “access at about 02:00 on May 13 last year to a wireless router belonging to a person identified as Amos Leong “for the purpose of obtaining computer service” and specifically for Internet access.”
The poor fellow, Garyl Tan Jia Luo, was apparently addicted to online gambling the court was told. This lead him to jump on to someoneles connection, after his Mum took away his modem. He was sitting outside using his computer when someone became suspicious and called the boys in blue to get him arrested.
Back in December he pleaded guilty and had a possible maximum three years prison sentence hanging over him over the whole Xmas period.
There’s another case coming to the Singapore courts soon, with the bod facing some 60 charges of the same.
We could sort of understand it if someone was having to pay for the access, like the 20c/min service that SingTel WiFi service started back in 2002, but what makes this whole thing even stranger is that the Singapore government are planning to give the population free WiFi access soon.
While this is the first case of this sort in Singapore, there have been other examples around the world, including the UK and US. As you can see, it was particuarly popular to run these bods through the courts in 2005.
What’s up with these people?
Whenever we hear about these cases, we’re frankly amazed that these people get done at all. Who is it hurting when a little bandwidth is borrowed?
We’ve had first-hand experience with this at our previous office in Hanson Street, London. We had naturally left our WiFi connection open, just incase someone wanted to check mails as they were passing by. Sadly someone nearby decided that they were going to abuse it and cane the heck out of it to download huge amounts of content on P2P networks.
Once we found out about it, it wasn’t a call to the law, but a tightening of the setting on the router to make sure the uninvited guest wasn’t able to abuse our generosity anymore.
[via]
17 January, 2007
Asus Lamborghini-Branded Laptop Announced
Asus has announced some of technical details of its second generation luxury laptop, the Lamborghini branded VX2, which comes compete with a leather-bound palm rest.
We’re not quite sure what kind of market that Asus is hoping to attract with this heady mix of Lamborghini and black leather (a fast driving heavy metal fan, perhaps?), but the laptop sure looks mighty purdy, encased in an aluminium-magnesium alloy or carbon fibre surround with a super shiny lid..
Lurking inside the upmarket casing is 13.3-inch 1,280×800 pixel WXGA display, a large keyboard, 120GB hard drive, integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, DVD super multi drive and an equally shiny copy of Windows Vista (Home Premium edition installed by default).
Despite the Lamborghini badge on the lid, you won’t find a v8 engine inside but a rather sprightly 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo T5600 processor with Intel 945GM Express integrated graphics and 1GB of memory (with an option to install an extra half a gig).
There’s bluetooth and WiFi onboard, naturellement, with the standard battery keeping the laptop revved up for around 2.7 hours of juice on a single charge.
An optional extended battery nearly doubles the uptime at the expense of a distinctly Morris Minor-esque lardy bulk sticking out of the back of the machine.
Wrapping up the specs is three USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire/IEEE 1394 interface, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN and a V.92 modem for traditionalists looking for that authentic 1997 surfing experience.
The lappie weighs in at 1.86kg (2kg with extended battery) and measures up at 317×228.6×32.15~37.5mm.
The leather clad beast is expected to slither out of Japanese shops at the end of the month for about 249,800 Yen, which is something like $2,000, or just over a grand in good ol British spondulas.
[Via Reg Hardware]
16 January, 2007
Luxeed Keyboard Adds Colour Galore
We’re always suckers for gadgets that come with pointless eye candy and needless distractions to help the day go quicker so we’ve quite warmed to this new keyboard from South Korea’s, Luxiium Lighting and Technology company.
It may be nowhere as much fun as the near-vapourware Optimus Keyboard that we looked at last year, but the Luxiium ‘Luxeed’ keyboard shares their love of illuminated keys, with the thing lighting up like a Christmas tree on acid.
You can get the mood just so on your keyboard by personalising each individual key with one of 512 colours, “be it a single hue, a spectrum rainbow or your very own creation,” as they put it on the website.
Colour ‘skins’ can be downloaded from the company’s site, or users can make the keyboard their virtual canvas, assigning colours around like a space-age Rolf Harris.
If the mood takers you, you can also turn your workspace into a mini disco, with music skins that “dance” to the music, as keys are triggered by whatever music you’re playing on your PC (we could imagine it proving a little difficult to operate if you’re playing thrash metal. The lights! The lights!)
Different skins can be assigned to each skin, and the brightness of each skin can also be adjusted, if so desired.
It’s quite a nice looking keyboard too, with a swish looking, slim-line form factor and a full set of hardware controls for controlling Da TuneZ.
In the company’s marketing guff, Luxiium bang on about the keyboard be using to “relieve stress via colour therapy”, but we reckon most people will like it because it’s a bit of a laugh. After all, who wants to be stuck with a boring pile of keys when you can have a mini Pink Flowd lighting rig on your desktop?
Neither pricing nor availability has been announced yet, although you can see some illuminated keys in action on their website:
Luxeed
15 January, 2007
Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 Beta Released
Yahoo! has launched a beta version of Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0, a customisable mobile search application designed to help users find stuff fast.
Employing a carousel-style interface, the application comes with Yahoo! Go ‘widgets’ offering e-mail, local information and maps, news, sports, finance, entertainment, weather, photo sharing and search functionality.
New for version two is Yahoo! oneSearch, a new mobile search service designed to give fast answers to perambulating punters.
Yahoo claims that oneSearch can recognise the ‘intent’ of a search term and present relevant content on the results page and not just a stream of links.
Yahoo! Go also makes it easy to get to other websites, without the need to faff about with al that fiddly http://www stuff – just type in the name of a website and you’ll be taken to the site.
The included Local & Maps widget looks to take on Google’s marvellous mobile mapping application and offers speedy access to interactive maps, driving directions and real time traffic updates, backed by local business directory information across the US, with ratings and reviews from the Yahoo! community.
Users can input their location and get relevant info, with local guides offering updated ‘what’s on’ listings with details of popular places to nosh, shop and visit.
News, Sports, Entertainment, Weather and Finance info can accessed via various widgets, with the ability to add new content via customised RSS feeds.
There’s also a Flickr widget to let users upload and manage snaps from their camera phone.
The Yahoo! Go 2.0 beta can be downloaded from their site, with support for over 70 other mobile devices, but not Palm (*shakes fist).
Yahoo! To Go
10 January, 2007
Apple Fans Are Nuts. The iPhone Launch Proves It
OK, we all know the details now. Apple are releasing a phone – and it’s a looker. Hurrah.
For anyone who has the slightest interest in technology, this isn’t shocking given their track record.
What we found strange watching the video of the iPhone event, even disturbing, was the reaction of the audience.
For an English, or perhaps more widely, a non-American audience, the reaction of the crowd at the MacWorld event is odd – religious even.
As Ryan Block of Engadget said when covering the event live
10:29 – People are rapt, everyone is actually literally leaning forward and on the edge of their seat. We’ve never seen a presentation like this before.
There’s a huge imbalance here.
Let’s try and get some perspective on this – these are just products. Objects that you buy and use.
Yes the phone looks great; Yes rumours of it have been circulating for years and the anticipation was high; Yes the usage of the phone looks well thought out – but it it just a phone.
The reaction of the crowd is as if The Steve was announcing a significant medical break through, or the end of a war.
Strangely, the most enthusiastic reaction from the crowd was before any of the details of this were known, it was just after the mention that they would be releasing a phone.
Apple is a master at PR, so a lot of this excitement has been managed … and it’s been built up for a long time – all designed for a reaction like this. And judging by the recording of the event, it’s worked well.
10 January, 2007
SCH-V960: Samsung ‘Optical Joystick’ Phone Launched
Samsung has launched what it claims is the first mobile phone in the known universe to come with an optical joystick.
You may be wondering why you’d want one of those in the first place, but Samsung clearly thinks it’s on to a winner with its new SCH-V960 ‘Optical Joystick’ Phone.
As ever, Samsung have thoughtfully included a photo of some hotty demonstrating the joys of the optical interface, showing her little digit poised over the handset’s control.
Moving your digit over this control moves a cursor around the screen, just like a mouse about on a grown up PC.
The boffins at Samsung reckon that this will give users nippier access to frequently used menus and make it easy to skip through music track listings.
Weighing a pocket-pleasing 102g, the V960 is a fully fledged phone too, coming with a 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, GPS, microSD memory slot and a sizeable 2.12-inch 240×320 262K colour TFT screen.
The slide-open phone also comes with an illumination sensor which automatically controls the brightness of the LCD screen and keypad, so you won’t be dazzled if the phone goes off in the middle of the night.
Kitae Lee, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication and Network Business was well chuffed with the new interface, “As the importance of user-friendly interface increases, Samsung is researching and developing methods that enhances intuitive use of mobile phones. Samsung will continue to combine innovative ideas and the latest technology that will benefit our end users.”
Coming in black and white versions, the V960 will be launched in the Korean market at the end of this year but – as ever- there’s ne’er a hint from Messrs and Missuses Samsung as to whether us Limeys will be getting a slice of the optical action.
Samsung SCH V960 Optical Joystick phone. How does it work? [unwired]
21 December, 2006
Sidekick 3: UK T-Mobile Launch
T-Mobile UK has announced the launch of the T-Mobile Sidekick 3, the number one accessory for users who can’t get enough of email and instant messaging on the move.
Already a huge hit in the States, the pocket-filling 131mm x 59mm x 23mm (5.2″ x 2.3″ x .9″) Sidekick comes with a flip out display which displays a full QWERTY keyboard and a large 65k colour, transflective TFT display supporting a 240×160 pixel resolution.
Sporting a trackball that lights up like a Christmas tree, the phone also packs a 1.3 Megapixel digital camera with LED flash and a media player for MP3 playback, supported by a mini-SD card slot for storing up to 2GB of music and party photo files.
Jet-setting socialites will appreciate its tri-band support (850/900/1800MHz), enabling them to keep up their vital text messaging on both sides of the pond, with EDGE offering extra nippy Web surfing.
The phone offers MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger connectivity, with support for up to 10 simultaneous active IM conversations. Perfect for teenagers!
The GSM Sidekick also comes with Bluetooth connectivity 1.2 for wireless headsets and vCard transfer and 64MB of SDRAM/64MB Flash memory.
The Sidekick is being offered with T-Mobile’s excellent web’n’walk unlimited data tariff for £7.50 per month in addition to a voice plan.
T-Mobile
Sidekick 3 (hugely over the top Flash promo site)
20 December, 2006
MySpace Mobile Announced For Cingular
MySpace and Cingular Wireless have pressed the flesh and announced an exclusive partnership to offer enhanced MySpace functionality to all Cingular mobile users.
The deal, MySpace’s biggest-ever mobile partnership, gives users on Cingular’s network the ability to post photos and blogs, access and edit MySpace profiles, view and add friends and send and receive MySpace messages.
The functionality is provided through a downloadable MySpace Mobile application for Cingular handsets, which lets users select photos taken or stored on their mobile devices and then upload them to their MySpace profile.
Fearful of yet more law suits from The Man, MySpace has already pointed out that the same terms of service apply to the mobile service, with inappropriate content and copyrighted material strictly verboten.
Cingular users will be able to read and reply to their MySpace messages as well as view and manage friend requests (let’s hope the interface is an improvement on the hideous full web version).
MySpace Mobile also lets users post to their MySpace blogs when they’re on the move, as well as add friends to a contact list for quick bookmarking.
All this fun won’t come for free though, with the service charging a $2.99 per month premium (plus standard data usage charges, which could turn out to be considerable if the user isn’t on an unlimited data deal).
Back in March, Cingular and MySpace first teamed up to create the MySpace Mobile Alerts service, which sends out text alerts to mobiles when the user receives a MySpace message or update.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the service has already notched up 75 million alerts which suggests the new service should be a veritable cash-spinner.
Cingular
19 December, 2006
gPhone: Google/Orange Phone Set To Take On Apple iPhone?
According to a report in yesterday’s Observer, Google has been cosying up to mobile giants Orange with a multi-billion-dollar plan to knock out a ‘Google phone,’ offering easy Web searches on the move.
The branded Google phone is expected to be manufactured by the Taiwanese smartphone/PDA makers, HTC, and come with a screen similar in size to a video iPod.
The phone will come with optimized Google software designed to speed up the notoriously cumbersome task of surfing and searching the Web on a handheld device, and offer mobile versions of Google applications such as Google Earth, Gmail and Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
Palm Treo users will already be familiar with some of these programs with the superb Google Maps for Treo application scoring full marks in our recent review.
The Observer reported that the phone could access Google’s databases to offer a wealth of location-based searches, including personalised listings of local cinemas, restaurants and other amenities, and maps and images from Google Earth.
Rumours of the Google/Orange partnership come as expectations of an Apple iPhone announcement are reaching fever pitch, with one Website suggesting that the leaking of the story could just be a cunning ruse to steal the thunder of an imminent Apple announcement.
The future for Orange could soon be Google in your pocket (Observer)
18 December, 2006