Wireless

Wireless connections

BBC Offers Dr Who Video On Mobiles
The BBC has announced that it will be offering classic episodes of “Doctor Who” and “Red Dwarf” on digital video chips for viewing on mobile phones.
The company’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, has teamed up with mobile phone content firm ROK Player to flog special multimedia memory cards that let users watch feature-length films and programmes on their mobiles.
The films are pre-recorded on Sim card-sized DVC (digital video chips) chips which slot into the multi-media memory card of compatible mobile phones.
With no content to download via mobile networks, films will automatically load once the card is inserted – and with no requirement for network coverage, commuters will be able to watch Dalek battles while stuck in a train tunnel.
Films can be fast forwarded, rewound and paused, just like a conventional movie player.
The cards, capable of storing up to two hours of entertainment, will be sold for £17 (US$30, €25), twice the price of a downloaded iTunes album but roughly the same price as the latest DVD releases.
ROK Player said they have invested £10 million (US$18m, €14.7m) creating the software which they claim will allow viewers to see high-quality pictures despite the teensy weensy mobile screen size.
The first scheduled release is The Five Doctors, a 90-minute Dr Who special originally shown in 1983, followed by three episodes of cult sci-fi hit, Red Dwarf.
More programmes are expected to follow from the BBC archive, with the chips initially being sold through Nokia stores, ROK Player’s website and Choices video outlets.
ROK Player also offers music videos and films such as “Wallace and Gromit” and “The Shawshank Redemption.”
ROK Player
23 August, 2005
Sony Offers Manga Comics To 3G Subscribers
Sony Pictures Entertainment is set to triple the number of comic books it offers as mobile downloads in Japan, making the company the number one provider of “manga” downloads.
Sony has brokered deals with 10 popular Japanese comic artists, letting comic-mad 3G mobile users download about 300 manga books.
Manga comics are huge in Japan, with the name being coined in 1814 after the famous Japanese artist Hokusai created a book of black & white sketches that he called manga (involuntary sketches).
In Japan, manga comics are targeted at all age groups and cover a wide range of genres, covering a far wider range of topics than Western graphic novels – subjects can range from fantasy & adventure, to sports & cooking.
Sony is hoping to tap into this widespread appeal, offering five stories per month for 315 yen ($2.90), with additional charges for further downloads.
Downloadable manga comics are displayed on mobile phones using a technology called Comic Surfing.
This displays mobile-formatted artwork at a predefined speed and sequence, with pop-up frames and vibration during action scenes adding interest to the stories.
Sony intends to offer more comic books than competitors like NTT Solmare, (unit of telecom firm NTT) and Toppan Printing.
Surprisingly, a spokesman for Toppan Printing opined that Sony’s downloadable manga offerings would prove a good stimulus for growth of the market.
“The market for comics through 3G mobile phone handsets just began to emerge last year, when handsets equipped with clear colour and movies on the screen were put on the market. But we expect it to grow more,” he added.
Competitors NTT Solmare were equally magnanimous about their new competitors, commenting: “We hope that Sony’s entrance will be a path to our mutual prosperity, as it could promote the lifestyle of reading comics by mobile.”
NTT Solmare’s catalogue of 80 comic books have already earned the company more than one million downloads this month alone, so Sony looks to be on a right earner.
Manga [Wikipedia]
23 August, 2005
Freeplay DEVO Wind-Up DAB Radio Announced
The world’s first wind-up FM and DAB digital radio, the Freeplay Devo, will be on sale in the UK soon.
Built on the well-regarded Freeplay power platform, the Devo wind-up wotsit offers DAB and FM waveband powered by an internal battery, AC via mains adapter or – when the power fades – some manful wrist action.
Sporting an attractive rugged black and silver finish with a blue LCD screen, the radio offers 5 DAB station presets with old-school rotary analogue tuning for FM.
The unit measures 122h x 114d x 205w mm, with the fascia being dominated by a large loudspeaker.
There’s a set of handy stereo RCA (phono) sockets onboard, letting users plug the radio into their home entertainment system, with a built in headphone socket for late night listening.
The Devo comes with a built in rechargeable battery with a claimed life of 6 hours DAB listening time (or 36 hours FM) per full charge.
When the batteries run out, a 60-second burst of action on the wind-up lever should reward the user with 3-5 minutes DAB reception or one hour of FM pleasure at normal volume
The Freeplay Devo is being launched in October 2005 with a retail price of £100 (~$180, ~€146).
Freeplay Devo
17 August, 2005
MX 5000: Logitech Announces Cordless Desktop Laser Keyboard
It could be argued that a keyboard’s beauty lies in its simple elegance. No flashing lights, no blinking screens, no whirring eye candy, just several rows of dumb keys obediently awaiting your input.
Simple. Classic.
Boring.
Clear your desks for Logitech’s new Cordless Desktop MX 5000 Laser keyboard – a futuristic, gadget-tastic affair that will makes your current keyboard look more at home in a Stone Age cave.
The Bluetooth keyboard features a built-in LCD which can display a ton of useful (and not-so-useful) information including e-mail and instant message notifications, favourite playlists and Internet radio stations.
Ever found yourself typing an email to your Gran and wondering what the ambient temperature of the room was? No problem – the MX 5000’s got a built in room temperature readout.
For MP3 junkies, there’s one-touch access to music playlists from popular player like iTunes, Windows Media Player and Musicmatch, with keyboard bashers also able to access and launch categories and themes of music through Musicmatch’s Internet radio stations.
The keyboard LCD screen provides instant notification of new e-mail and instant messages and there’s also a humble calculator included, but this one’s got a clever twist, with calculation results automatically being saved to the computer’s clipboard. Neat.
Naturally, if you want indicators, the MX 5000’s got ’em, with the LCD screen keeping users informed about the vital status of the caps lock and F lock keys, volume levels and mute.
The MX5000 reflects the trend which sees dumb-as-a-rock keyboards slowly turning into smartypants devices, capable of both sending and receiving info from the computer and, in this case, even acting as a Bluetooth 2.0 Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) wireless hub.
“Logitech introduced the world’s first mouse-and-keyboard combination in 1998 with the goal of removing cord clutter from the desk,” gushed Denis Pavillard, Logitech vice president of product marketing for desktops.
“We succeeded in delivering on that vision, and we are now addressing a different kind of clutter – cleaning up the mess of notifications and information that are displayed on the computer monitor.”
“The Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5000 Laser desktop pushes that information to a peripheral screen so that people can choose when to glance at their notifications and status information, and can therefore clear their monitors — and their minds,” he added.
The Cordless Desktop MX 5000 package comes with Logitech’s MX1000 Cordless Laser Mouse, a laser powered chappie in a matching blue-slate/black finish.
Of course, the more functionality you squeeze into a keyboard, the greater the power needs, and Logitech have included a smart power-management solution which seems to comprise of a decidedly low tech on/off switch on the keyboard and an integrated battery indicator light.
We could have used one of them for our Logitech MX700 mouse which promptly ran out of juice half way through writing this review and is now pointlessly blinking away in its recharging dock.
The Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5000 Laser will be available in October in the U.S. and Europe with a suggested retail price of £119.99 (€176) in Europe ($149.99 US).
Logitech
16 August, 2005
CC75, C110 Handsets: Siemens Goes Simple
Following hot on the heels of Vodafone’s successful stripped-down phone ‘Vodafone Simply’, Siemens has introduced a similarly frill-bereft mobile, the CC75.
The no-nonsense blower is designed for easy going folks who don’t want to do battle with a crateful of technology every time they want to make a call.
Accordingly, the Siemens CC75 has no camera, no Java applications, no memory expansion, no Bluetooth, no email, no video and no inbuilt speaker phone, serving up its set of Ye Olde basic functions in a simple, stylish design.
Simple doesn’t have to mean crap though, and the thin and light phone offers a 65k colour display, SMS and MMS with an innovative button on the side of the phone allowing a MMS voice message to be recorded easily.
In line with its Stenna stairlift shuffling demographic, the CC75 provides a screen with 16-dot lettering making characters 33 percent larger than usual and visible from any angle – so granny will have no problem finding a nephew to nag from her address book.
The Siemens CC75 will be available in Q4 2005, retailing in the “medium price range”.
Siemens have also announced their new CF110 slim slider phone.
Aimed at those weird people who like to “use their phone as a fashion accessory” (rather than talking into them), the attractive tri-band GSM CF110 offers a 130×130 pixel trans-missive 65K TFT, served up in a “Moonlight Silver” and “Midnight Blue” finish.
The CF110 is also something of a frill-free affair, with no camera, Bluetooth or music playback functionality onboard.
It does, however, offer a pretty useful set of day-to-day functions: WAP 1.2 browser, polyphonic ringtones, Java support, MMS, GPRS, basic PIM functions and a rather anorexic 1.5Mb of memory
The Siemens CF110 will be available in Q4 2005 in the mid to low price range.
Siemens
15 August, 2005
AG-225H: ZyXEL’s Wi-Fi Finder Hunts Hotspots Hastily
ZyXEL’s new AG-225H Wi-Fi Finder is an ideal tool for hotspot-hunting consumers, hackers, freeloaders and bandwidth bandits.
The pocket-sized marvel serves up a feast of information for connection-hungry amblers, with a graphic LCD displaying Signal Strength, Security & Encryption, Operation Channel, Radio Band and SSID.
The AG-225H detects all 802.11a and 802.11b/g access points, including 802.11-compatible MIMO and Pre-N networks on both 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands, with the monochrome display giving detailed information about security, SSID and signal strength,
The AG-225H claims to be the first gizmo to combine an 802.11a and 802.11b/g USB 2.0 adapter with a fully functional stand-alone hotspot detector, allowing users to turn their laptops into an access point and share their wireless access with others.
The new device sports a dual-band USB wireless adaptor with advanced WPA2 security and 802.11a worldwide radio support, with intelligent software monitoring the wireless connection and switching bands to avoid interference and maintain high throughput levels.
“As wireless networking increasingly becomes ubiquitous, more and more people are looking to access the Internet on the go to check email, access corporate networks, share music and pictures, and send and receive documents,” said Munira Brooks, VP of sales, marketing and business development, at ZyXEL.
“The AG-225H is an ideal tool for the road warrior who can’t be without Internet access. It also makes a great holiday gift,” Brooks added, plugging frantically.
One of the real benefits of carrying around one of these puppies is that you don’t have to wander about with a booted-up laptop to see if there’s any Wi-Fi in the air, so the US$99 AG-225 could prove invaluable for security professionals looking for any unsecured access points.
And hackers, of course. They’ll love it.
ZyXEL AG-225H Wi-Fi Finder
15 August, 2005
iPaq 6710 and 6715 Handhelds ‘Leaked’ On HP UK Website
There were red faces at HP (or perhaps a wild cackle from a Machiavellian PR guru) after a video presentation on their website leaked details of their next smart-phone release, the iPaq hw6700 series.
The bean-spilling slideshow featuring the new handhelds was hastily withdrawn, but not before the eagle-eyed owner of Dave’s iPaq website downloaded the details for all to see.
The leaked pages offer details of the two new models in the hw6700 series, the 6710 and 6715.
Both run on Windows Mobile 2005 software and offer a full suite of connectivity options: 802.11g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and quad-band GSM/GPRS.
GPS Navigation is built in (courtesy of TomTom) with one free city map thrown in, and the units are powered by 312MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processors.
Both iPaqs come with a 3 inch, QVGA 240 x 320 pixel screen, with the handhelds measuring 7.1 x 2.1 x 11.8cm and weighing 165g. Power comes in the shape of a removable 1200mAh Lithium Ion battery
There’s 192MB of memory onboard – 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM – which is a fair bit more than the 128MB of HP’s previous 6500 series, and MiniSD slots provided for expansion (leaving previous iPaq owners with a pile of redundant SD cards.
The only thing that appears to distinguish the 6710 from the 6715 is the 1.3 megapixel camera fitted on the latter.
Of course, it’s always wise to be wary when information is leaked in this manner, and there is something that doesn’t quite sit right in the presentation.
The document makes reference to “Microsoft Windows Mobile 2005 Second Edition Software, Phone Edition” – and we definitely recall reading that the new OS was supposed to be a unified version marking the end of the Phone Edition/Smartphone Edition/PocketPC Edition editions.
On Dave’s iPaq website, there’s a full range of consumer emotions being expressed – from wild enthusiasm for the new products to deep annoyance from those who’ve only shelled out for the recently released 6515 (don’t you just hate it when that happens?!).
Dave’s iPaq
12 August, 2005
HTC To Build Windows-Based Palm Treo 670/700?
HTC are rumoured to have won the contract to manufacture the much-hyped Windows Mobile-based version of Palm’s Treo smart phone.
The combination of Windows OS and the Treo’s fabulous form factor could prove a real market winner, although the device’s release is believed to some way off.
An article in the DigiTimes Website reported that the Treo/HTC hybrid was announced in the Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial Times.
The Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC) firm already manufactures its own popular suite of Windows Mobile-based smart phones and PDA-style communicators, which go under a mass of different names worldwide, depending on the mobile networks operators and handset vendors.
Their big-selling models include the XDA Mini (MDA Compact/ HTC Magician/ i-mate JAM/Qtek s100), XDASII (Qtek 2020/i-mate/Orange SPV M1000/Movistar tsm 500) and XDAIIs (MdaIII/iMate PDA2k/Qtek 9090/HTC Blue Angel/Audiovox 6600/Siemens SX66/Orange SPV M2000).
HTC also undertakes contract manufacturing on behalf of a number of partners, and was said to be producing the Palm OS-based Treo 650 back in September 2004.
Rumours quickly spread that HTC would be creating a Windows Mobile-based Treo called the Treo 670, with a host of fuzzy images purporting to be the new device appearing on the Web.
Both Palm and HTC have staunchly refused to confirm their collaboration.
There’s no denying that HTC would be a logical choice to create a Windows Mobile-based Treo, with some pundits suggesting that the company may have lent some Windows Mobile development expertise to Palm’s design team.
The Commercial Times article suggests that HTC may well have designed the 670 itself, working to the parameters of the standard Treo feature-set and case design.
Just as we went to press, another rumour flashed across the Web, with Cool Tech Times showing a fairly convincing photograph of what it reckons is the new Treo 700.
Naturally, large opencast excavations of salt are needed when it comes to these things, but for the record the site claims that the Treo will feature a 1.3 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom and EVDO capability (EVDO stands for Evolution Data Only, and is the wireless broadband protocol of choice for CDMA networks).
Although the design could have come straight off the screen of some time-rich spoddy Photoshop kid (and we definitely have some doubts about its authenticity), it’s still a pretty looking affair, reflecting the strong points of the Treo’s long standing design ethos.
Whatever the final Treo looks like, it’s only Palm’s hopeless feet-dragging over implementing consumer-demanded features like proper Wi-Fi support that reluctantly sent us to the Windows dark side a few months ago, so whenever the next Treo 670/700/whatever-you-want-to call-it ever surfaces, we’ll take a boxful please!
DigiTimes.com
12 August, 2005
Star Trek Special Edition Phone Announced
Viacom have announced that they will be launching a special super-spoddy edition Star Trek Communicator Phone, in association with Sona Mobile.
Cool as a heatwave, only twice as hot, the special phone will serve up an intergalactic feast of Star Trek related guff so that Trekkers will feel that the Enterprise is never far away.
The phone will let Sci-Fi nutjobs enjoy a multi-player online Star Trek game or stream video clips while simultaneously text messaging a friend or accessing information on the Internet.
Naturally, Borg buffs, Ferengi fans, Cardassian connoisseurs and Delta Quadrant devotees will be able gorge themselves on a planet full of downloadable Star Trek ring tones, wallpapers as well as access news, information, and other fan activities.
As if all these Spock-tastic goodies weren’t enough, The Star Trek Communicator Phone will also come equipped with a custom Star Trek faceplate and other themed features.
Naturally, there are more tie-ins than a Houdini convention at work here as Viacom own Paramount Pictures who own the Star Trek brand.
Sandi Isaacs, VP of Interactive at Viacom Consumer Products set his phaser to ‘gush’ and enthused, “There is a tremendous opportunity to tap into Star Trek fans around the world and offer them a device to interact, connect and download Star Trek entertainment. This not only promotes the Star Trek spirit but creates a new paradigm for the wireless community.”
We couldn’t find a picture of the actual phone anywhere, although one poster on a Star Trek site claimed it was a re-branded Motorola V3 phone, while another frothed enthusiastically about a “multiplayer, persistent game universe, that uses location based / GPS information to alert you when an ‘enemy player’ is within range so you can do battle!”
Whatever it looks like, I’d imagine Trekkers would be most disappointed if it doesn’t make that funny noise when you flip it open.
A Star Trek themed phone isn’t the kind of thing that warms our warp drives, but if someone designed a phone based on Tribbles, we’d say, “bring it on!”
The phone will be available beginning 30, September, 2005.
Sona mobile
12 August, 2005
Opera Releases Opera Mini Browser For Phones
Norwegian browser brewers, Opera Software, have announced Opera Mini, a J2ME (Java 2 Mobile Edition) Web browser for “virtually all mobile phones”.
Their new Opera Mini enables Web access on more than 700 million low to mid-tier Java-capable phones around the world, with the company trumpeting that it will “finally bring mobile Internet into the mainstream”.
Opera Mini is being marketed as a fast and easy alternative to Opera’s Mobile browser, allowing users to access the Web on mobiles that would normally be unable to run a Web browser.
Weighing in at a slimline 60K the Mini is a mere slip of a thing compared to its big brother Mobile browser which hogs anything between 1MB and 4MB of precious phone memory.
The browser makes up for the feeble firepower of low end phones by using a remote server to pre-process Web pages before sending them to the phone, rather than trying to get the phone to process the pages.
The ‘mini-me’ pages will offer standard browsing capabilities like bookmarks and browsing history, but won’t provide full access to some complex Web pages with advanced security features and other such gizmos.
“Mobile Web surfing has until now been limited to more advanced phones that are capable of running a browser,” says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software.
“With Opera Mini, the phone only has to run a small Java-client and the rest is taken care of by the remotely located Opera Mini server. With Opera Mini you don’t have to have an advanced phone to surf the Web, which means that most people can use it with their existing phones.”
Installing Opera Mini seems simple enough, with users blasting off an SMS message or clicking on a link through their WAP browser to receive the application.
With the Opera Mini making the Web available to low to mid-tier phones, there’s huge potential for operators to scoop up revenue by offering compelling mobile Web services to entice subscribers.
With this in mind, the browser can be customised for operators, broadcasters, mobile content providers and the Internet industry.
Patriotically, Norway’s leading commercial television station, TV2, have already bundled Opera Mini with its mobile services in Norway to offer its viewers a complete mobile content package with a branded Web browser.
“Finally we see how we can generate revenue from real mobile browsing,” says Morten Holst, VP Strategy, TV2 Interactive. “By introducing TV2’s portal through Opera Mini (TM) we have combined the best of mobile services with mobile Web access.”
Opera Mini will be available to consumers through operators and companies who elect to include it in their offerings.
It’s currently part of a pilot project in Norway, with wider availability yet to be announced.
Opera Mini
11 August, 2005