News bubbling out of Motorola Korea is that the company’s classic StarTac phone brand is making a comeback with this, the new StarTac III MS900.
The slim 89 × 49 × 20mm handset weighs in at just 92g - but while it sports a nice QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) screen and 128MB of on-board memory (and support for MP3 playback), it lacks an external screen and a camera. We can live without the former (especially as there’s an LED indicator to show what type of call you’re getting), but the latter seems essential for a handset to survive these days.
Still, it’s a nice looking phone, and call us old-school but we think there’s always something kind of cool about a flip-screen handset.
(Via Unwired View)
With the month drawing to a close, we thought it a good time to round-up a few of the iPhone stories that have been floating around.
Quantum Research’s rumblings that it might sue Apple over iPhone tech infringing its patents have settled down to a quiet grumble, with the company now being reported as saying, ‘Until the iPhone product is made available for public sale, we have to make the operating assumption that no Quantum patents have been violated.’
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs has been falling over itself to say nice things about the new Apple handset. The bank believes the iPhone will be a hit, based on recent surveys indicating the potential market for iPhone is approximately 75% the size of the iPod’s user base. GS has recommended to investors that they buy Apple stock ASAP. (Now, where did we put our cheque books…?)
Lastly, the exact details of the Cisco/ Apple deal over the iPhone name remain the subject of much speculation, with some sources claiming Apple quietly handed-over up to $50m (£25m) for the iPhone brand.
Sometimes things get lost in translation. Whether or not that’s the case here (we’re guessing there was an amusing board meeting at some point in the run-up to this TV ad’s production), Japan’s KDDI provider has decided to use a cover of The Rolling Stones’ classic ‘Satisfaction’ as the theme tune for its latest campaign. The intended message: KDDI believes that customer satisfaction is paramount. The messages we’re getting: KDDI’s poster girl “can’t get no satisfaction”, and some phone users are having bad sex.
Osaifu keitai, which is Japan’s system for charging compatible 3G phones with Yen currency that can be used in shops across the country, has been around for a while. And so has Lawson, which is one of Japan’s most successful convenience stores. (There are three Lawson conbinis within walking distance of this Pocket Picker’s Kyoto home; it’s the McDonald’s of Japanese corner shops.)
Put the two phenomena together, introduce them to NTT’s new iD service (a variation of osaifu keitai that can turn your phone into a credit card), and you get the Lawson Pass. It’s a system designed specifically for regular Lawson customers (although eccentric Lawson customers can also sign up for it) and it enables shoppers to pay for items via their NTT phones with a phone-embedded VISA. The Japanese revolution in sarnie and newspaper buying is set for March 9th.
(Lawson website)
There’s a huge market for phone straps in Japan, and some of the most elaborate loops we’ve seen in Kyoto are attached to any manner of bizarro paraphernalia: Pikachu figurines, glo sticks, miniature Hanshin Tigers baseball bats, and lots of fluffy little animals. Even Japanese businessmen are often seen with cute junk attached to their 3G phones. This is Japan.
Anyway, since most 3G phones here have large memory capacities for MP3 junkies — and yet, unhelpfully, most earphones provided with new phones are resolutely crap — FSC has stepped in to kill two problems with one strap. These new straps, you see, plug into the earphone jacks of 3G handsets and provide a standard headphone jack, which enables you to use your Shure equipment for listening to Cornelius’ latest on your Softbank 705SC. And more great news: the straps are available in six colours, at just Y580 (£2.50) a loop. Nifty!
(FSC website)
It seems that as consumers are becoming increasingly tech-savvy, having the latest in technology just for the sake of that technology is becoming less and less popular. A report from Instat, investigated by IT News, suggests that content has now become the main driving force, and that a devices ability to play content has become a major part of the decision making process when it comes to buying a new phone. The ability to play video, access the internet, play the latest games and have an MP3 player on your phone are all major factors people consider, according to the report.
(Via MocoNews)
Bollywood may be on its way to a mobile near you a lot sooner than you think. That’s because Hungama Mobile, who own the rights to digitally distribution of over 70 per cent of the Bollywood films produced yearly, has announced the licensing of MobiClip, a codec developed by Actimagine. Hungama believe that the codec will enable distribution of Bollywood movies over networks to a large selection of phones, without overloading the processor chip or driving data costs through the roof.
(Via Pocket Lint)
We weren’t going to cover this story because it seems to kind of stretch credibility a tad, but the internet massive has just picked up on iPhone World’s February 9th piece claiming that World of Warcraft is coming to the iPhone.
The site’s anonymous source reportedly said, ‘Imagine playing WOW using the touch screen interface… Steve [Jobs] goes big and WOW is as big as they come when it comes to online games.’ And imagine if you could catch the train to the moon! It would be, like, so AMAZING!
Mind you, we shouldn’t mock too much… It’ll probably be announced next week… Probably…
Actioncorp TV has cut together the below video that looks more closely at some of the iPhone features which Steve Job revealed at the handset’s January unveiling. There’s some nice details about how you navigate the phone’s menus, and also strong evidence that Apple is planning to sell iPhone ringtones via the iTunes music store.
(Via iPhoneworld)
The eagle-eyed chaps over at Mac News Network have spotted that the ‘wireless’ section of Apple’s iPhone pages has been updated to mention, ‘Apple’s new, remarkably compact Bluetooth headset’. Although no further details are given, we expect there to be some kind of neat integration with various iPhone’s features - and that the headset will be compatible with Bluetooth-equipped Macs.
(Via MacNN)
Updated: Apple has now confirmed the US iPhone launch date as 29th June — to read more click here. To read all our iPhone coverage, click here.
Updated 19th June: We have more on the Apple headset and dock in this post.
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