Man, Samsung really needs to take a leaf out of Korean competitor LG’s book when it comes to press photos. Still, while the picture may be dull, we’re pretty excited about the news that Samsung is to start manufacturing 4GB memory chips to be built into (not for memory cards but actually built-in) next-generation phones. 4GB as standard in your phone — the same as a base-level iPod nano — would be very nice, thank you.
The moviMCP chip is already in the hands of handset manufacturers around the world, with Samsung aiming see its new chip in some of the 392 million 3G handsets iSuppli says will ship in 2007.
Oh Palm, Palm, Palm… After all the hype and the hope that you were about to dazzle us with something spectacular, instead you give us the Foleo. Billed as a ’smartphone companion’, the 1.15Kg Foleo is basically a $500 (£250) keyboard and 10″ screen that automatically synchs with your Palm Treo over Bluetooth. You can read and edit emails and attachments on the Foleo with changes simultaneously made on the Palm, and also browse the web either via the phone’s data connection or wi-fi. The Foleo also has ‘instant on/ off’, which triggers the moment you open or shut the lid.
We’ve seen this kind of thing before in the shape of Psion’s cult Series 7 and great machine though that was… You were left wishing you had a laptop instead. When you think that a base MacBook (2Ghz Core2Duo, 13″ screen, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD and able to run both XP and Mac OS) is $1099 (£550) in the States, the Foleo’s pointlessness is thrown into really sharp relief.
For more on the Foleo head over to Palm’s site by clicking here.
The Regal Entertainment Group, a company that owns several cinemas in Chicago, has developed a system to help rule abiding silver screen hounds to tattle on those who spoil it for everyone. The device which is called the ‘guest response system’ has four buttons corresponding to specific complaints.
Predictably there are complaint buttons assigned to reporting piracy and those using their phones. Given the burgeoning film piracy trade that the arrival of decent phone cameras has helped to grow, this system is bound to find its way out of Chicago and into theatres around the world before long.
Mobile lovers that we are, we still absolutely loath when a fellow cinema goer decides that a hushed room full of people listening to the next major plot development is the ideal place to call a friend and speak in a rasping whisper about as quietly as a force ten gale. Shut UP!
(CBS via textually)
Figures released yesterday by m-spatial seem to suggest that consumers are becoming more technologically clued up when it comes to mobile internet.
With wi-fi hotspots creeping ivy-like into every nook and cranny of the country, the Index shows ever greater numbers of mobile users are relying on their handsets to navigate their daily lives.
Continue reading ‘Latest mobile local search index proves public is wi-fi hungry’
The mobile music world is a bit of a strange one: on the one hand, operators are trying to sell us full-track downloads on their portals, while on the other, handset manufacturers like Nokia and Sony Ericsson are touting the ease with which you can sideload tunes onto your phone from your computer.
Industry analyst iSuppli says consumers prefer the latter model, and reckons operators should find ways to support it, rather than trying to push people to buy from their portals. By 2010, the firm says 764 million phones will ship with USB connectivity, making sideloading a cinch.
It cites the example of US operator Alltel, which recently launched an application for people to buy music from online retailer eMusic and then sideload it onto their handsets. Will the larger operators – who’ve been pushing their own services – follow suit? It seems doubtful for the moment.
(via Tekrati)
That’s the rumour, anyway, as iTunes owners can now upgrade to version 7.2, which promises the ability to “preview and purchase iTunes Plus music – new higher-quality DRM-free music downloads from participating labels”. This’ll mean songs being sold on the iTunes Store that can be played on any device, not just iPods.
It’s good and bad news for mobile phone users, though. The good: well, you’ll be able to buy albums off iTunes and transfer them to your phone at last. The bad: the ‘higher-quality’ means a higher compression rate, which means those tunes will take up more space on your limited phone memory.
So far, most operators’ mobile music services have been aimed at 3G phones, to ensure that full tracks download speedily over the air. However, mobile music firm Beatnik says its new technology will bring full-track downloads to the huge base of older 2.5G phones too.
How? Its Mobile Music Player includes technology that compresses songs up to ten times smaller than the popular MP3 format. The result: songs download fast even over GPRS, and you can fit more of them on your phone’s internal memory. Beatnik is in talks with operators and handset manufacturers to launch the Player, so watch this space.
(Beatnik website)
This is what happens when you buy into a two-year contract with Softbank, as your reporter did six months ago: you’re left coveting the newly-announced sequel to your phone. Damn. The 805SC (pictured here) makes our old 705SC look a bit passé, really. Both phones are Samsung productions, and the 805SC is released in Japan next month.
We’re not going to stand in the way of progress, but we will point out — primarily to talk ourselves out of an expensive phone swap — that the 805SC offers little in the way of advantages over the 7-series, aside from its good looks. Okay, it has One-Seg and runs at the 3.6Mbps high(er)-speed version of 3G, but for all that it actually has greater mass (101g) than our trusty old 705. So there. Not bitter, just… hmph.
(Softbank English website)
Microsoft today revealed its new coffee table-like ‘Surface’ computer which is aimed at revolutionising the way we interact with computers — and technology in general. Using a large-scale version of the multi-touch tech that’s in the iPhone interface, the $5,000 to $10,000 (£2,500 to £5,000) Surface will initially be aimed at business… But dammit we want one in our lounge, right now!
The relevance to the mobile world is the amazing way that the Surface can be used to transfer photos, music and other data in and out of our mobile devices. Want to copy some digital photos to your mobile? Just place the phone on the Surface’s screen, put a finger on the pictures you want, and drag them over to the handset. Compatible cameras and phones will allow you to ‘pour’ your pics out onto the table to drag, zoom, sort and view.
Popular Mechanics has a great video of the Surface in action, which you can view by clicking here.
mocoNews notes that Vivendi (owner of Universal Music Group and World of Warcraft publisher Vivendi Games), is planning to launch a new ‘multimedia website’ with downloadable (paid-for) content for your mobile. Apparently the site may incorporate a social aspect, as it is intended to in some way rival MySpace and YouTube (uh huh). Selling movies, TV shows, games and music, it would launch first in France before hitting the rest of Europe.
Vivendi certainly has the content-muscle to do something like this, with UMG controlling 26% of the world’s physical music market (let’s get physical, physical), its large back-catalogue of gaming franchises, and a recently launched mobile gaming division. It also has the Canal+ TV group which includes the StudioCanal movie studio that’s been involved with several hits, including Basic Instinct and The Pianist.
So pulling together all that content into a single portal would certainly make for a powerful proposition… But actually getting it off the ground will be something else all together.
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