The coolest things for the coolest phones
With the iPhone 3G’s launch just over week away, the heavyweight indoctrination marketing has begun. Apple has launched a ‘guided tur’ video that shows off the new iPhone’s features in a full walkthough presented by a man with a Very Calm Voice.
It’s pretty basic stuff, especially if you are familiar with the original, but it is nice to see that the new one actually exists and looks just that little bit sleeker..
The Met Office supplies meteorological data for news agencies and other content providers to repackage and pass on to consumers. Later this week Met Office Media will announce a new studio in Millbank that will enable it to publish its own tailored weather content directly to mobile phones and portable video devices, reports the Financial Times.
Through a deal with MobiTV, the Met Office has been producing static 2D-weather charts for use on mobile phones, but the new studio - plus some innovative 3G video technology - will allow 3D ‘fly through’ weather graphics similar to those seen on TV weather forecasts to be sent directly to handsets.
Although there is no shortage of mobile weather services, Met Office spokesman Phil Johnson stressed that the Met Office had an edge, “customers want much more clarity and information around weather, and they want an authoritative voice.”
The Met Office earns around £6- 7 million from broadcasters every year.
For some reason, Nokia have added some footage to their S60 Touch UI demo video.
The clip is very ‘lifestyle photography’, with lots of doing aspirational things in parks and tilting your head all the way back to laugh at your glamorous friend’s jokes. It does show off some nice-looking UI code, however. It’s all very iPhone, obviously, but still has that Nokia feel.
The web browser looks great, and the way apps launch with a little zoom animation looks very slick indeed.
The official mobile DivX player, DivX Mobile, has received a major update which adds support for DivX’s video on demand service.
DivX Inc. (the company) makes DivX (the video codec) which allows for high-quality video compression with relatively low file sizes. DivX Inc. have launched a VOD service that allows participants to download movies in DivX format from several partner content suppliers.
The mobile version of the client software - which until now only offered playback of locally-stored content - runs on Symbian S60 and UIQ devices. Version v.90 also includes numerous bug fixes.
The app is available free (alongside a windows program that will let you convert other formats to DivX) although you will need to register with the company to be able to download it.
Anthony, over at the FRESH PLASTIC blog, has spotted that 3 are selling Vuzix Video Glasses on their accessories site.
Vuzix glasses are the kind of gadget that lets you walk the fine line between cool and ridiculous - you might even say they are ‘polarising opinion’. Ho ho. Thank you, I’m here all week. Tip your waitress.
A thin pair of sunglasses with integrated LCD display and headphones, they will let you watch video from any compatible device with only a slight risk that someone will see you and mutter something derisive about Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I tried a pair of these a few months ago on a video iPod and the picture quality is great - the ’screen’ appears to float in front of you and you can just about see around/through it to avoid walking in to things.
What is interesting about this from a Pocket Picks point of view is that, although they will work with any AV-out capable device, 3 are pushing them for use with mobile phones like the N95.
While these definitely make watching films easier, I’m not sure if they will take off in a big way due to the embarrassment factor. Who knows, though? A common complaint about mobile video is the titchy screen, so perhaps train carriages will soon be stuffed with silent, shade-wearing movie fans.
In an attempt to bridge the gap between the corporate and the consumer, Nokia has launched a YouTube channel devoted to ‘personal’ communications with its users.
To date this has taken the form of two hands-on video clips explaining the finer points of the Nokia 6210 Navigator and 6220 Classic, with more to follow.
Heres a look at how to get the most from the 6220.
Mobile video continues to be big news. With the Viewty’s support for DivX movies, the Nokia N96’s TV streaming and multi-format playback and the ubiquitous multimedia behemoth that is the iPhone, the only thing missing is something to watch.
No less a being than Robert Redford descended on the Mobile World Congress to talk about his solution - short films in bite-sized mobile chunks.
Redford’s nonprofit Sundance Institute is working with mobile operators to bring video ‘content’ to the small(est) screen in a bid to create new outlets for filmaking talent. “There are new forms of storytelling coming,” said Redford “I don’t think we’ve explored all the possibilities yet. The only thing you know will keep going is change. If you can’t ride with it as a wave, you’re out.”
Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini was also on hand to promote a series of mobile-targeted short films about ‘insect sex’ entitled Green Porno.
As Nelson from The Simpsons put it after seeing Naked Lunch - “I can find at least two things wrong with that title.”
The spate of YouTube players for Symbian and Windows Mobile as well as the new official Java client may leave owners of older, less capable mobiles feeling a bit left out.
ByWiFi.com is a mobile web service that will convert YouTube and MetaCafe videos into the widely-used 3GP format. 3GP is playable by most 3G phones, and is optimised for download size and speed.
You can either browse to the site directly using your phone’s browser (it’s text-only, so it shouldn’t tax even the stingiest data tariffs) and download directly to your phone, or use a desktop PC or Mac and copy the files manually.
There may be some teething troubles - I wasn’t able to get any converted files to retain their soundtrack - but this is still a useful trick to get bigger video clips onto your handset. Even smartphone owners can take advantage of the faster download speed, providing they don’t mind the drop in picture quality.
Perhaps with an eye on the people who were too bad to get an iPhone from Santa and received a new S60 phone instead, the good folk of S60.com have released some new videos via their YouTube channel that show S60 noobs how to use their new toys.
The videos cover basics like how to browse the web from your phone as well as more advanced topics such as installing new apps, how to copy and paste and how to configure soft keys and active standby.
Each video is only a few minutes long and everything is explained with reference to an actual phone, so you can see exactly how to perform the task. The only slight oddity is the voice-over, which a sounds a bit like a text-to-speech program, but probably isn’t.
Here is how to use your S60 to multi-task several apps at once:
Why doesn’t the iPhone record video using its camera? It’s one of those unanswerable questions, since there’s surely no technical reason why the iPhone cam can’t also shoot moving images. And if you need proof of that, check out Drunknbass, a beta application which is capable of recording five seconds of video at 10 frames-per-second (fps) using the iPhone’s camera.
Yes, that’s rubbish. But it’s just the start: the final app will apparently record at up to 45fps, and in unlimited lengths (well, as much as your iPhone can hold anyway). As you’ll have guessed, this isn’t an officially-sanctioned application, so to download it onto your iPhone you’ll need to have unlocked it.
For those of us chickening out and playing by Apple’s rules, Drunknbass is still good news. Why? It raises the possibility of an official iPhone firmware update from Apple adding video-recording capabilities. There’s rumours of a new firmware update this side of Christmas, so fingers crossed. In the meantime, watch the demo above.
Drunknbass website (via Gizmodo)
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