Russell has done an excellent job of documenting the apps he's using on his Nokia 7650. I've seen him blogging about these apps before, individually as he discovered them but it wasn't until he tied the whole lot together that I realised just how damn powerful these mobile computers really are! Russell's crying out for more memory though, which is exactly why I've held off purchasing a 7650 and will get a 3650 instead. Yes, that proprietary 3GP video format Russell mentions is a bit annoying but it's a minor nuisance really.
And another insteresting story from 160Characters Association News"Using premium SMS for the billing, Mobileway and Rivals Digital Media claim to be the first to provide billable consumer MMS services, with the launch of ‘Football Look-a-Likes’ across both the O2 and Vodafone UK networks."
I must admit, I wasn't aware that premium MMS services weren't yet available! Isn't it about bloody time?
According to 160Characters Association News Netsize and Jabber are to launch the first cross network mobile IM solution. "This brand new offering focuses on interconnectivity and allows any user, regardless of network, to continue their IM conversations whilst on the move with their existing handset. The two companies are hoping to bridge the gap between the popularity of SMS and the success of wired IM, bringing the benefits of real-time communications to mobile subscribers."
And I'm betting that they will. Maybe it's not THE killer app but I certainly see it as one potential killer app. The ability to establish 'presence' in a mobile setting has huge potential.
JustYak joins the growing list of IM apps for mobile devices. When I finally buy my 3650 I hope to try them all out and review them here. If you're already been there done that please use the comment link below.
What is it with the Americans that they just can't get mobile messaging? This Forbes article is stunningly negative, "The idea of a cell phone with a built-in camera has a charming … well, ring to it. ....... But, after playing with four pricey camera phones, I have one word for all that: unlikely."
Ah, maybe it's something to do with this - "Thanks to the fragmentation of the American cell phone industry, the chances of transmitting a photo from one phone to another are stunningly small.".
Or maybe it's just that the article writer, Stephen Manes, appears to be a greying midde aged guy who should be put out to grass and replaced with a txtophile tennageer!
The BBC reports on CeBIT and mentions the Nokia SU-2 which I think is the neatest use yet I've seen of Bluetooth.
"In April Finnish phone giant Nokia is due to unveil the SU-2 Image Viewer that can be used to show phone images on a TV set or computer monitor. The viewer works with Nokia's 7650 and 3650 camera phones and images are passed to it via Bluetooth short-range radio technology. If more than one image is sent to the viewer they are displayed as a slideshow. Multiple phones can send images to the viewer at the same time."
Now that's one gizmo I've definitely getting to complement my Nokia 3650!
Techdirt Wireless is beginning to 'get' the idea of a wireless hub. That is, making a stand alone 'black box' out of the communciations circuitry in a mobile phone and allowing all other 'end devices' to route through it. For example, you could use your bluetooth enabled watch to check a WAP site.
I must say I've 'got' this for a few years myself :p
What's that I was just saying about Samsung? Well this news just in from CeBIT just serves to deepen my bewilderment -
"Samsung has been showing off a smartphone running on Palm's latest OS Equipped with a colour screen, camera and MMS client, the Samsung SGH-i500 is the first phone (for the European market) to use the latest version of PalmSource's OS, which runs on ARM-based chips such as Intel's Xscale. While Palm OS smartphones have been available for some time, they've virtually all been for the US CDMA network standard, the only exception being Handspring's Treo series of phones. "
As Russell says, 'this is very very cool'. But it leaves me completely confused as to what Motorola is up to. This phone will be Symbian based using the same UIQ interface as the SE P800. But they're also pursuing Linux based handsets. Do they have a coherent strategy at all I ask myself. Why so many eggs in so many different baskets? They're getting more and more like Samsung every day!
Telcos in advertising spat (March 13, 2003). This is funny. Hutchinson is getting pissed off with Optus for running adverts which promise customers they can create, send, received and view short videos, as well as downloading news items and movie trialers. The thing is they're using using the SonyEricsson and the Nokia 3650 in the ads, one of which doesn't record video at all (the former) and the other which cannot (yet) record sound with it's images.
Of course this come ahead of the launch of Hutchison's third generation mobile service "3" and thus the ire. Why would people have any interest in 3G if they can do all this fancy video stuff on good old 2.5G. Good question....
It's early days yet - O2 is at test stage only, but it works like this: you choose your music from the latest chart hits - the service is aimed mostly at 16-24 year-olds - decide if you want to a free 30-second blast, or to purchase the song.
Either way, the music is retrieved by way of the GPRS-enabled handset and downloaded onto a 'specially designed digital music player', capable of storing up to 100 tracks on a memory card."
HP, Nokia to develop cell-to-printer app: "They confirmed today that they're working to develop a printing application for Nokia's "Series 60" cellphones (such as the Nokia 7650 or 3650 models) based on the Bluetooth wireless communication standard. The end result should enable consumer and business users to print content from their phones on HP Bluetooth-enabled printers."
Cell phone market surprises even itself, according to CNET News.com "T-Mobile USA on Monday provided the latest evidence that 2002 was a better than expected year for the U.S. cell phone industry. The nation's sixth largest carrier said it added 2.9 million new subscribers in 2002, a 40 percent increase from 2001."
Beeweeb Mapper Mobile "is the thin client application of Beeweeb technology for accessing and sharing images, sounds and .txt files anywhere you are, using your Nokia 7650 mobile phone."
infoSync World: "See yourself as a music fan? If so, you're just the person Siemens is aiming its new M55 model at. The latest mobile phone from the German industry giant lets owners mix their own tunes, for then to use them as ringtones and share them with others. Also in the feature mix is a 12-bit color display, support for polyphonic ringtones and tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz support for world use."
Siemens are really getting their act together lately; I never really liked their styling before but their new generation are much more pleasing to the eye and even kinda sexy.
News: Cell phone may click with 20GB hard drive:'A Taiwanese electronics maker plans this year to begin selling a portable device that's half digital audio-video player and half cell phone. "Movie playback is one of our major targets with this device," said Rick Lei, general manager of sales at Benq, which spun off from computer giant Acer a year ago to concentrate on high-tech consumer products.
The device will sport Microsoft's as-yet-unreleased Media To Go operating system. The OS is designed for multimedia on mobile devices, said Lei, and is a good fit for Benq's upcoming product.'
Brighthand: (via Mobitopica)"Invair Technologies, a German handheld maker, plans to launch the Filewalker Messenger at this week's CeBIT tradeshow. This runs a version of the Linux operating system, includes a GSM/GPRS mobile phone, and an impressive list of other features.
It has an integrated GPS module, Bluetooth wireless networking, an SD/MMC slot, an infrared port, and a Lithium-polymer rechargeable battery. In length and width, it's approximately the size of a credit card. At this point, it doesn't appear that its backlit, grayscale display is also a touchscreen."
Can you believe that?? No, not the lack of a touchscreen but the lack of a color display!! My gosh, what are these people thinking about. It's such a shame that what appears like an innovative new product should be handicapped, right out of the starting blocks, by a 'last century' display technology :(
According to msmobiles.com the Orange SPV cell phone beats the Nokia 7650 and Sony Ericsson P800!
But do note that the 'ms' in 'msmobiles.com' does stand for Microsoft and the tagline for the site is "All about cell phones powered by Microsoft Software". Sheesh, talk about predictable......
ZDNet News: "Japan's cellphone makers, pioneers of the camera-equipped handset, look set to intrude into digital camera makers' turf as a fierce battle for market share draws them toward photo-phones with million-pixel resolution."
I really don't see the the need for this. The images I've seen from the Nokia 3650 are plenty adequate for sharing quick snapshots. Camera phone photos don't need to be high definition. When we send an MMS we don't intend for it to be printed out and framed, we just want to convey a quick visual impression of a moment in time.
ElectricNews.net:News: "Nokia (Ireland) Limited, Mobile Phone Division has released information about the up-coming Nokia 2nd Developer Conference taking place on the 27th of March."
