Next week, Orange France will launch an iPhone mobile TV application offering 60 live channels, including all the big French stations. Pocket Picks got hands on with the app yesterday during a visit to the operator’s La Collection new tech showcase in Paris.
Check the video above for our walkthrough of how it works. The app is a version of Orange’s existing live TV application for mobile handsets, reworked to take advantage of the iPhone’s multi-touch interface.
The application includes a full Electronic Programme Guide to find shows to watch, with handy progress bars showing how far they are through (e.g. whether they’re just starting, halfway through or nearly over). There’s also a VERY nifty CoverFlow-style interface where you flick between channel logos, which you can see in the video.
The app is launching next week in France. Pricing is interesting too - it’s not a one-off payment through the App Store, like other iPhone apps. Subscribers have to sign up for it with Orange - for example as part of their monthly tariff.
We assume this means the app is free to download from the App Store, but authenticates that you’re a paying subscriber before letting you watch anything. It’s interesting, because it’s the first time - as far as we’re aware - that one of Apple’s partner operators has launched its own app with a monthly subscription model.
The key, of course, is that relationship between Orange and Apple. It’s very doubtful we’ll see a version of this app in the UK unless Orange starts selling iPhones here. Still, as an example of how a live TV app for iPhone that offers many channels can work, it’s very impressive indeed.
Been waiting breathlessly for Research In Motion to launch its BlackBerry App World application store? Exhale. Then point your device’s browser to mobile.blackberry.com to download the client. Yep, RIM has put the App World live today, tying in with its keynote address at the CTIA mobile industry trade show.
A reminder: you’ll need a BlackBerry running Device Software 4.2 or above, with a trackball or touchscreen. App World is only launching in the UK, US and Canada today, and RIM warns that it may not be available on some networks - the download site is currently telling us our 4.5-running Curve 8310 doesn’t meet the system requirements, so we’re trying to find out if there’s an issue with Vodafone UK.
RIM has chosen 20 apps as Featured Apps for the launch. They are: AOL Instant Messenger, Bloomberg, Brain Challenge 2: Stress Management, Facebook, HRS Hotel Organizer, ICQ, iheartradio, Livestrong, Lonely Planet French Phrasebook, MySpace, The New York Times Web Shortcut, Pandora, Salesforce, Shazam, Slacker Radio, VH1 Watch and Discuss, Viigo, WIndows Live Messenger, WorldMate Live and Yahoo Messenger.
You’ll need a working PayPal account to buy apps on the store, but a number should be free too. Let us know how you get on!
The Facebook application for Blackberrys has been hugely popular, so it’s no surprise to see anticipation building around the upcoming v1.5 update.
It appears to have leaked early, with CrackBerry reporting that a version has popped up on the internetweb. However, don’t get too excited - it’s only for devices running the 4.6 BlackBerry OS. Still, that’s good news if you’re a BlackBerry Bold owner, for example.
We’re preferring to wait for the official release, but we can understand people wishing to jump the gun. The app integrates more closely with your BlackBerry messaging, calendar and contacts, while also (finally!) letting you make comments on friends’ status messages. Watch this space, as we’ll have a review for you when it goes live.
U2 have signed a megabucks sponsorship deal with Research In Motion that means BlackBerry will be all over their upcoming 360 Tour world tour. What’s more, they’ll be releasing some kind of content for BlackBerry owners as part of the deal:
“This tour announcement marks the first stage of a relationship and shared vision between RIM and U2 that we expect will lead to new and innovative ways to enhance the mobile music experience on the BlackBerry platform for U2 fans,” says the band’s manager Paul McGuinness.”
It’s just the latest example of RIM’s determination to make it in the music business. Co-CEO Jim Balsillie gave a keynote interview at music biz conference MidemNet in January, and the company is working with Black Eyed Peas leader Will.I.Am on his Band To Hand app.
The deal is being perceived as a snub to Apple, with whom U2 have been pally in the past, and also to Palm - Bono is on the board of its lead investor Elevation Partners.
Mobile Voice-over-IP (VoIP) is a confusing area for casual mobile users, seduced by the promise of ultra-cheap calls, but baffled by the masses of companies all touting similar-sounding services. Meanwhile, those of us who are less casual can’t shake the nagging question of how the hell are these companies going to make any money?
Vopium is the latest mobile VoIP startup to try and answer those questions and make a name for itself. It’s got the cheap angle covered, promising free calls to other Vopium users, and rates of £0.24 plus your standard local rate for calls to mobiles, and an array of cheap rates to call internationally (£0.13 to a mobile in Kyrgyzstan? Bargain!).
There’s also a £12.72 a month option that gives you 1,000 minutes and 100 texts to the most popular countries. However, Vopium seems keen to stress the quality of its calls too, which could become a way to stand out from the crowd. As ever though, it’s hard to tell if this really is the next Skype, or if it’s destined to be just another mobile VoIP startup that’s big on talk but light on actual users.
With the recent release of Samsung’s Pixon and LG’s Renoir the battle of the 8 megapixel touch-screen camera phones is well and truly underway.
Both devices boast openly of their photographic prowess and multimedia capabilities, so we were understandably intrigued when we managed to get our grubby mitts on one of these high-profile competitors: LG’s Renoir.
While the concept of naming a phone after a famous artist might seem unusual, it makes a little more sense when you start to play around with the Renoir’s Schneider Kreuznach-certified 8 megapixel camera…
Sporting excellent photo quality and a raft of neat features such as face detection (also seen on the Pixon) and smile recognition (which ensures you only take a shot when your subject is displaying a beaming grin), this is a phone that might just convince you to leave your traditional digital camera at home.
With 100 megabytes of internal memory and a bundled 8GB microSD card (at least that is the case with the model we played around with), there’s also plenty of room to store your photographic exploits (as well as numerous other media items, obviously).
Sling Media has confirmed that the BlackBerry version of its SlingPlayer Mobile place-shifting application will be available on 30th December, as a public beta.
You’ll need a Slingbox to use it, and you’ll have to be in the UK, US or Canada. The app will be free during the beta period, after which it’ll presumably cost around the same £19.99 price as the existing Windows Mobile and Symbian versions.
At launch, it’ll work with the BlackBerry Bold, the Curve 8320 and 8900, the 8820, the Pearl 8120 and the Pearl Flip 8220. There’s a mobile site - http://mobile.slingmedia.com/go/bbcheck - that you can access from your handset to check if it’s got the right software version too (4.5 or greater, apparently).
Local search and recommendations service Qype has launched a location-based iPhone app - Qype Radar - letting you browse 500,000 reviews of restaurants, bars, shops, hotels and more.
The free app covers 15,000 cities and towns, and offers directions (via Google Maps), photos, phone numbers and the ability to bookmark your favourite places.
The one thing it seemingly doesn’t offer - at least not yet - is the ability to write reviews from your iPhone if you’re a registered Qyper. We’d think that’d be a logical upgrade at some point, though, especially if you can upload photos taken with the iPhone camera.
Still, to give the current app a go, click here to open its App Store page.
Sony Ericsson is the latest handset maker to join the Open Handset Alliance and announce plans to release a phone using Google’s Android OS.
“Sony Ericsson is excited to announce its membership of the Open Handset Alliance and confirm its intention to develop a handset based on the Android platform,” says CVP and head of creation and development Rikko Sakaguchi.
“We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance drawing on the successes of the Walkman and Cyber-shot sub-brands.”
The company stresses that it’s not ditching any of its existing smartphone platforms, Symbian and Windows Mobile. It’ll be interesting to see if Sony Ericsson is planning an Android-based Walkman or Cyber-shot handset though, as those brands have so far not been smartphones.
There’s a new way for mobile users to get their DRM-free music downloads. Amazon launched its MP3 Store in the UK this morning quietly, meaning us Brits can now buy MP3s on the popular etailer.
They’ve got some marvellous deals too. Fancy buying the new Take That album for £3? You got it. Other albums being sold for three quid include the latest efforts by Girls Aloud, Coldplay and Kings of Leon. Elsewhere, prices vary - 59p per track and £6.49 per album are popular though.
Some big British bands are missing, like Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand, but the store itself is very slick and easy to use. The launch presumably means that UK owners of the T-Mobile G1 handset will now (or soon) be able to use the Amazon MP3 Store Android application - although we’re waiting for confirmation on that.
Needless to say, with the store selling DRM-free MP3 files, even iPhone users can buy them and transfer them to their handsets.
