Sony Ericsson’s gone new-handset-crazy at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
First up is the W760 Walkman phone with features coming out of its ears, starting with a 3.2-megapixel camera. Music features include stereo speakers, TrackID and SensMe technology to match your music with your mood, and the Active Speaker MAS-100.
It’s not the most exciting the name but the MAS-100 is one of the most intriguing accessories we’ve seen in a long time. It is a protective case for your phone which also includes handy speakers and a FM radio antenna.
It sounds like a cool device, and we haven’t even mentioned the GPS features. With built-in Wayfinder Navigation (lets you search over 20 million points of interest around the Globe) and Google Maps built-in.
And that’s not all… Continue reading ‘Sony Ericsson crams everything into new W760 Walkman phone’
Having stuffed yourself silly on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, what better way to pass the time until drinking yourself silly on New Year’s Eve than downloading a new application for your mobile phone? Answers on a postcard please, but in the meantime, check out our pick of five top Java apps…
1. Gmail (pictured)
Google’s mobile Gmail app truly is a thing of beauty. Well, simplicity and efficiency anyway. It provides an excellent stripped-down interface to your Gmail webmail account, with all manner of keypad shortcuts to make it quick to archive and delete messages from your phone. It also has nifty features like allowing you to search your most-used contacts first when composing emails. Read more
Continue reading ‘Pocket Picks Xmas Special: Top 5 Java mobile apps’
Nokia Beta labs have officially released MUPE - Multi User Publishing Environment - a sort of applications framework-cum-social network thing that makes it easier to create multi-user games and apps.
To use it, you just need to install the (Java) client on your phone and you can then download any of the apps that have been created with the MUPE developer tools. So far, most of these seem to be games, but there are a growing number of social apps like Books and Gathering.
MUPE apps can be location-aware (on supported handsets) and this opens up a lot of interesting possibilities, both for local social-networking and location-based games (Nokia laser tag, anyone?)
MUPE has been available as an open-source project for a few months, but now it has been adopted as a Beta Labs product you can expect more developers to join in the fun.
Nokia’s released an exclusive ‘adventure pack’ for its brand spanking new N82, just in time for Christmas.
Available only from Nokia’s online store, the ‘adventure pack’ includes a Sim-free N82 (naturally), but also a pre-installed copy of Nokia’s Sports Tracker app and a Salomon backpack, as well as the 2GB microSD card and music headset which come as standard. And all this for only £399.
The phone itself is quite a nifty piece of kit with a five-megapixel camera, built-in GPS and Nokia Maps (in case you get lost while jogging), mobile internet (on 3G and Wi-Fi), plus a music player and FM radio.
The handset, currently available on O2 with a range of mobile retailers is already a pretty hot device, and presumably the ‘adventure pack’ is going to prove pretty attractive for sports enthusiasts.
ExtGPS is a free app that lets you use your GPS-equipped phone as an external GPS device.
Why would you want to do that, you ask? Well, although there are a lot of new apps for Symbian mobiles that let you take advantage of GPS, these are quite limited in functionality compared to the heavy-duty Geographical Information Systems available for the PC and Mac.
The trouble is - PCs and Macs tend not to come with GPS as standard. If you already have GPS on your expensive new smartphone, having to buy another little black box so you can use it with your laptop is a real kick in the teeth.
Enter ExtGPS . Run it on your Nokia N95, N81, E90 or 6110 phone and your PC or Mac can use your phone’s GPS functions via a Bluetooth connection - leaving you with the cash to actually buy one of those expensive GIS systems.
One of Sony Ericsson’s beta testers has leaked a picture of the delayed Sony Ericsson P5i smartphone. Admittedly it’s not a great shot but these days we have to take what we can get until Sony Ericsson officially unveils it.
The picture was leaked onto an Esato forum and shows a phone looking very heavily influenced by Apple’s iPhone.
According to the posting, the P5i is a slider handset running Symbian 9.1 on a UIQ 3.2 or UIQ 4 platform. The hi-res screen’s 2.8-inches, there’s GPS and of course, Wi-Fi built-in.
The phone also has a quite powerful 360Mhz processor and 160MB of internal memory, which can be expanded with both Memory Stick Micro (M2) and MicroSD cards.
It sounds and (we think) looks better and better every time details are leaked about this device, but we’ll have to wait until mid-2008 to see it.
[Via Symbian Freak]
I’m not sure why a GPS module for iPhone is seen as a surprise - it’s as nailed-on a no brainer as you can find, if you’re a GPS mapping type company. So, Engadget has an alleged spy shot of a new TomTom GPS plug-in for the iPhone, offering full satnav features for Apple’s handset.
It’s sure to find an audience, but I think it’s more interesting to speculate on Apple’s plans for putting GPS in the iPhone. When the next major revision of the handset happens next year, GPS is one of the technologies jostling for inclusion, albeit against a backdrop of Apple’s desire not to reduce the iPhone’s battery life to the levels of, say, a Nokia N95.
With that in mind, Apple will have several options: open up the iPhone to any satnav firm that wants to make an application and/or module; partner with a specific company in the same way it’s done for YouTube and Google Maps already; or go it alone by developing its own application (or more likely buying someone with the technology/skillsets).
(via Engadget)
Google has quietly released a new version of Google Maps Mobile with a nifty new feature that lets you pinpoint your location without a GPS device.
My Location uses the relative position of your phone to the nearest cell transmitters to triangulate your position and display it on a Google Map view.
Granted, when I tried it it could only ‘pinpoint’ my location to within 1700 metres (about a mile) so it is perhaps most useful to people who have blacked out and woken up in a strange landscape with absolutely no clue where they are.
Actually, given that this is the Christmas party season, perhaps Google are on to something after all?
Google Maps with My Location will run on Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 devices.
Nokia’s Sports Tracker software has been available from its Beta Labs for some time but has now been officially launched, together with a shiny new web app to let you share and publish your boasts training progress reports.
Sports Tracker requires a Nokia S60 3rd Edition phone with either an external or internal GPS receiver which it uses to automatically keep a log of your speed, distance run, and location when out training. This data can be uploaded to the site and presented in a variety of ways including a map view, progress graph and workout summary.
Another nice feature is the ability to upload geo-tagged photos that you take while out and about. The software will pop them up onto the appropriate point on your route map or let you manually place them.
Nokia Sports Tracker is completely free and Nokia say they are working on an API that will let you access your data from other websites and apps, which should let you publish your progress on your blog or (potentially) into social networking sites like Facebook.
GeoSentric, the new incarnation of the old GPS phone manufacturer Benefon, has claimed that Nokia’s adopted its social networking application.
Benefon was one renowned for making GPS-enabled handsets long before GPS started taking off. Unfortunately it was too early to market and eventually dropped handsets to move into mobile applications.
GeoSentric’s GyPSii platform lets users upload pictures, videos and sound clips, each encoded with the location of where the picture or recording was made. Friends can then see where the user is or was, and search each other’s saved places.
GyPSii is already available on Windows Mobile and now also Symbian handsets making it available on most smartphones.
Nokia’s support should boost its user base, now the manufacturer will carry GyPSii on its GPS-enabled handsets including the Nokia N95 and 6110.
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