Pocket Picks‘ multi-talented editor Stuart Dredge might be able to navigate three handsets simultaneously whilst playing Tower Bloxx with his feet, but that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten what it was like to be starting out with mobile content.
Accordingly, he’s just written an excellent How To guide for Vodafone subscribers over on our sister site Pocket Gamer, which should demistify getting games on that network for even the most, erm, mystified. It’s just the first of five guides planned to cover all the major UK operators, so if you’re not with Vodafone, bookmark that space!
Update: Erm, links work now! Thanks to our reader Jez for the tip off!
The news that the US’ second biggest online music site eMusic is setting up shop in Europe is a couple of weeks old now, but I’ve just had a chance to have a look at what’s on offer and how it all works. And it’s good news for mobile users, as long as your tastes aren’t too mainstream.
It’s like iTunes, except it uses a subscription-based service, where you pay a flat fee for a certain number of downloads every month. £8.99 gets you 40 songs a month, £11.99 gets you 65, and £14.99 gets you 90. The company’s launch offer in the UK gives you 25 free songs if you sign up for a free trial.
But the reason it’s interesting for mobile users is that the songs are all MP3 files, rather than the proprietary format Apple uses on iTunes (which won’t play on phones). So anything you buy from eMusic is guaranteed to work on your mobile.
The downside for some (but an upside for others) is that the site’s focused on independent labels. That means over 3,800 record labels, but not the majors. So as long as your tastes are diverse and you’re open to new music, it’s fine, but you won’t find the likes of Coldplay, Madonna or James Blunt there. Actually, that is an upside…
It’s time to switch into grumpy pensioner mode. Music nowadays, eh? It’s all just noise silence. In my day, at least songs had tunes bits you could hear.
Confused? The company behind the infamous MozzyTone – the ringtone that only teenagers can hear – is now launching a song using the same technology. Ringtonia reports it has “secret parts that only kids are meant to hear”.
It’s called Buzzin’, and you can hear (and buy) it by clicking here. To my ears, it sounds like a rubbish slice of Eurotechno, but I’m presumably missing the secret bits. “SKIVE OFF SCHOOL! DRINK CIDER! KILL YOUR PARENTS!” Something like that, anyway.
Right, I’ve had a chance to think more about Nokia’s new Music Recommender service, which I was a bit snippy about here yesterday. To recap, it’s a service where independent record shop owners from around the world recommend their favourite new tunes, and you can sample them on your mobile and then pay to download the full tracks.
I’m still a bit concerned that it might all be minimalist Japanese techno and Alaskan nose-flute music, but someone at the Nokia launch event last night made the fair point that if you’re intimidated about actually going into these kinds of shops, having access to their picks on your phone is actually quite a good idea.
Meanwhile, having seen the launch clip of a crazy Japanese punk-pop band whose singer’s alternated between helium-high and Exorcist-growly, I can see the appeal of hearing new random stuff from different parts of the globe. I’m still not sure about David Bowie podcasting every month though – as legendary a musician as he is (for all the music he did before 1984), wouldn’t it be more interesting to have a different person every month giving their choice of hot new tunes?
It turns out Nokia’s announcement yesterday of four music accessories was just a warm-up for the really cool stuff. The handset-maker has come out with a barrage of announcements today that will have music fans dribbling with delight.
They include music-themed editions of existing phones the N70 and N73. The main new features appear to be dedicated music keys, revamped software making it easier to get your songs onto them, and they’re a suitably Satanic black colour. They’re expected to go on sale in October.
But the big news is an all-new version of the N91, a couple of brand new N-Series handsets, and an exciting-sounding global music community starring David Bowie himself.
Continue reading ‘Nokia launches 8GB music phone, signs David Bowie up for mobile music community’
A little off-topic for Pocket Picks perhaps, but we thought you might like to know that sister site Pocket Gamer has just kicked off a new section dedicated to iPod games. (Well, it’s mobile content of a sort!)
There’ll soon be reviews of all nine iPod launch games in the section – already evaluated are Zuma, Mini Golf, Pac-Man and Texas Hold’em. (Pocket Gamer loves Zuma, Mini-Golf and Texas Hold’em, but thinks Pac-Man is “disappointing” as it doesn’t work well with the iPod’s scroll-wheel.)
If you’re confused about how to get iPod games onto your player, you might want to check out this walkthrough too.
But only in Spain, sadly. eBay Spain has signed a deal with mobile firms mBlox and Dynetic to launch a new SMS rebidding service. The way it’ll work is that users will be able to sign up for ‘outbid’ alerts – text messages telling you when you’ve been outbid on a particular item. And you’ll then be able to reply to the message to trump your rival with a higher bid.
The service will cost 20 Euro cents per message plus VAT, and will be offered as an option when you place a bid online. This sounds marvellous, so when will the rest of us get a go? Well, mBlox says the technology is scalable, “so that the re-bidding service can be easily replicated in additional markets.” Ole!
Like your music and own a Nokia handset? The company has just announced four new accessories to give your mobile music more oomph. The HS-81 stereo headset has been developed with headphone specialists Sennheiser, and has a neckband to support it, and comfortable earpads.
Meanwhile, the HS-62 music headphones are a foldaway pair that have been designed to be as comfy as possible to wear. The MD-4 mini speakers are external speakers that plug into your phone, and weigh just 130g for easy portability. They can also be folded away into your pocket, and have a radio antenna for FM tunage on the go.
Finally, the MD-3 music speakers are also portable, with good bass and a classical design. They come with Nokia’s audio adapter, universal headphone adapter and a travel charger, ensuring they can plug into any musical device besides your handset.
A bit of background if you’re not familiar with Digg. It’s a marvellous website where members submit interesting stories from around the Web, and then vote on which are the best. The result is a handy guide to everything that’s interesting, as chosen by the community, rather than a single editor.
Anyway, B1TE Entertainment has launched a mobile Java application that lets you browse the latest stories, then read or bookmark them. It works on over 790 phones, and the stories are compressed by more than 80% before being sent to your phone, so you won’t face a whopping data charge from your operator at the end of the month.
I just downloaded it for my Nokia N70, and it worked first time. Stay tuned for a Hands On report, but in the meantime you can download it yourself – instructions are on the company’s website.
(via Textually)
Please someone bring this game to London. It involves 250 people legging it round Manhattan taking cameraphone photos of objects which match a target, set by a website. The targets are words from stories, which are then shown (with the pics) on a huge screen in Times Square.
It all kicks off tomorrow, and was designed by some very clever chaps from Finland, like much mobile goodness. I repeat: please can someone launch this in London too? It sounds ace.
(via Darla Mack)
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