Blimey, that Nokia 6212 classic phone has only just been announced and already someone has come up with a device that will work with its Near Field Communication features - the Parrot PARTY.
This Bluetooth speaker looks a bit like an old fashioned telephone handset (I can’t believe I just called a normal handset old-fashioned. Good grief) and should work with any Bluetooth Stereo compatible phone, PC or Mac.
Tap it against an NFC-capable device like the Nokia 6212 and it will pair up automatically and just start pumping out whatever ‘choons’ you believe will best entertain the other passengers on your bus.
The Parrot PARTY “Black Edition” retails at around £89.99 and should be available from the 31st of May.
BTProx is a simple app for Windows PCs that lets you take advantage of the most basic function in any Bluetooth session - the ability to detect a device.
Load it up under Windows 2000, XP and Vista with a suitable Bluetooth device - either built in or a USB dongle - and pair your PC with your phone.
BTProx will check to make sure your phone is within range. if it isn’t, it will activate your screensaver to lock your screen or optionally run the program of your choice.
Maybe a bit on the paranoid side if you are sitting at home, but if you work in an open plan office you might wish to conceal the open Pocket Picks RSS feed on your screen when you nip to the loo.
BtProx is free and open source.
Touchscreen phones are very much the design of choice just now and with the tech becoming ever more ubiquitous it is unsurprising to see that handset manufactures are dreaming up kerrazy new ways to out-do one another.
One of the latest comes straight from the workbench of a very crafty designer named Sunman Kwon. Dubbed the Mooon+, the recently unveiled concept device is a very sleek looking touchscreen effort with the additon of an in-built detachable Bluetooth headset.
Design wise the Mooon+ is a triumph with its sleek lines and raised metallic accents about the screen but what’s really clever is how the Bluetooth headset has been seamlessly incorporated into the base of the device without making it look bulky. Indeed, when the Bluetooth headset is detached the Mooon+ looks a little bit lopsided and incomplete. In order to recharge the headset all you need to do is re-attach it to the bottom of your phone.
There are no other specs to speak of and seeing as this is just a concept there is no way of knowing whether the device will make it to market. Hopefully some design savvy manufacturer will snap up Kwon before long whose other designs include a wearable wrist phone that projects a keypad onto your hand. Hit the jump for more pictures.
Continue reading ‘Mooon+ touchscreen phone concept is sooo coool’
Bluetooth 3.0 is currently in the works but it looks like a new kind of short range wireless technology may be set to replace it before it is even out of the lab. Developed by researchers at Melbourne University in Australia, GiFi is a new short-range wireless data transfer technology that could make its way into mobiles as soon as next year.
Here comes the science bit. GiFi utilizes a 5mm square chip and a 1mm wide antenna burning less than 2 watts of power to transmit data wirelessly over short distances, much like Bluetooth. Unlike Bluetooth however, GiFi can hurl data through the air at speeds of up to 5 Gbps. Better still, GiFi operates on the 60 GHz frequency band that is largely traffic free. All this for a miserly $10; we think someone at Melbourne University is probably hearing the sound ‘kerching’ right about now.
Considering Bluetooth 3.0 will be limited to 480 Mbps when it is launched, we reckon it will have a hard time fighting off GiFi when trying to secure buyers in the mobile manufacturing world. Certainly one to look out for.
(theage via The Boy Genius Report)
The great thing about the mobile gadget market is that it is still all up for grabs. If 2007 was (eventually) the year of the iPhone, Apple’s finest has given the industry a vigorous-enough shaking that the only certainty for 2008 is that Nokia, Motorola & co will be falling over themselves trying to compete with it.
Here is my 2008 wish list.
1. A better iPhone.
Yes, well. It’s ok ,isn’t it? Impressive to look at, innovative, blah blah, etc. But we know that Apple can do better. iPhone 2.0 needs a better camera, some kind of text-entry system that doesn’t require the use of bizarre finger-condoms for high-speed texting and, above all, for Apple to unclench their buttocks and open the phone up to 3rd-party developers.
There is a wealth of programming talent out there that is already producing some amazing apps for hacked iPhones - it would be great if users could try them out without having to void their warranty and risk turning their phone into a plastic brick the next time Apple releases a firmware update.
Continue reading ‘Stuart Houghton’s 2008 wishlist’
BuZZone is either a great new way to chat on your Windows Mobile or a complete waste of time - it’s really too early to say.
A Bluetooth Instant Messaging app, BuZZone is simple to use and a free download, but you have to wonder - who is this aimed at?
The developers reckon it will see heavy use in ‘trade shows’ (chatting to other attendees about ‘business information’) or in nightclubs (chatting to other drunkards, presumably) . The app lets you publish a personal profile and periodically search for nearby contacts with similar interests.
The only fly in the ointment is the microscopic odds of there being anyone else in the vicinity with a copy of BuZZone, much less one who shares your interests.
The best use case I can come up with for this is in a classroom as an alternative to passing notes under the desk. Not that many schoolkids are rocking Windows Mobiles, but you never know - BuZZone might be the killer app that WinMo needs & this time next year we will all be chatting away via Bluetooth… but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
LG recently signed ‘living legend’ audio engineer Mark Levinson as audio consultant (no, we hadn’t heard of him either but apparently he’s very good), and his first creation is the ‘Rhapsody in Music’ phone.
Apparently he set up Mark Levinson Audio Systems over 30 years ago to produce high-end audio products. Since LG took him on, he’s produced its first ‘handheld audio system’ – the ‘Rhapsody In Music phone’ (LG-LB3300 to its friends).
Levinson’s brief was to ensure the best possible sound quality on a music phone and earphones but without having tested the phone we can’t tell whether he’s done that.
What we do know is that the phone looks cool - the LED-lit touch-wheel on the front controls song browsing and volume control. It’s also got 1GB of memory (expandable up to 4GB), a two-inch screen and two-megapixel camera. There’s also A2DP Bluetooth stereo audio that can be streamed to two listeners in parallel.
It sounds promising and certainly looks good, but how much difference Levinson’s made to the sound quality remains to be, well, heard.
[Via Digital Chosunilbo]
How cool is this? Most manufacturers would claim their Bluetooth headsets are ‘fashionable’ and will make you stand out from the crowd. But none would do so as much as Jabra’s latest.
The only word to describe the Jabra BT3030 is “cool”. The dog tag design is definitely a little different from the norm and looks much better than your normal headsets.
Better yet, it’s Stereo Bluetooth (Bluetooth 2.0), has a changeable/universal connection for headphones, a personalised equalizer and six buttons for controlling your phone’s media play and making calls. It’s also got a blue backlight and Jabra also reckons it offers 200 hours of standby time.
Fancy one for Christmas? Well, you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s also dead cheap – under £35 at Amazon. Bargain.
Now what a great idea this is - no more frantic scrabbling around for your Bluetooth headset when your phone rings.
The Star NX788 is a Chinese-made device but it has a feature that might just catch on - a small compartment on the back that stores your Bluetooth headset.
The Star NX788 itself has is pretty basic with dual-band GSM, stereo Bluetooth (A2DP), a 2.6-inch touch screen, 1.3-megapixel camera and microSD card slot. But then you wouldn’t buy this phone for the latest mobile technology - you’d buy it so you’d always have your Bluetooth headset to hand.
There is one problem with this though. As anyone using a stylus-based handset will know, you’re bound to lose it at some point. A replacement stylus costs nothing, but a Bluetooth headset? It could get expensive if you’re a forgetful person.
[Via Intomobile.com]
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