mobile things
opinion and news on mobile gadgets and development
May
24
Google Mobile UK confimed by blogger!
Posted by grouchal in Business, Gadgets, google
Just read this I’m not sure of the source but I’d still like to believe that it is true.
Popularity: 30% [?]
May
24
mobile brain scanners!?
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, Technology, off-topic
Walkman-style brain scanner ::: Pink Tentacle
Came across this article about brain scans that I’m not completely convinced isn’t some sort of April’s fool (for one the picture looks to be about 20 years old).
It is an interesting idea though - but I’m not sure what for! I can see for research into how brains work this might be a brilliant tool - I an see as a medical device for monitoring a patients brain it could be interesting. However - what can it realistically determine and how much of what it can determine can be correctly understood?
The idea seems to be just that an idea an concept more than something close to useful or real - but who knows what the next step will be - perhaps integration with iTunes?
Popularity: 41% [?]
May
22
Another iPhone article: the time after iPhone
Posted by grouchal in Business, Development, Gadgets, iPhone
This article is very provocative : Communities Dominate Brands: Entering iPhone Era: Marking Time in Mobile
My reaction :
“I like the dream you have - it is a pity reality will soon be faced by both you and Apple.
The biggest problem they have is to get the consumer to use it - and love it so much that it creates a buzz similar to the iPod. Outside of America they are using the same tactic of selling with one operator - this will be a big barrier.
Next is the price - it will cost even when the operator subsidies the cost over 12 months.
Then there is the size - too large for most consumers - no matter how friendly it is.
Then there is the greasy screen which time and time again has been shown to be a complaint of people.
They may get around the screen grease and in 2 years time they may get around the operator lock-in, hopefully they will do as with the iPod and create a iPhone micro and nano to get around the size issues. Then the cost must be dealt with - phones are commodity now - not high price, if you want volume you need to drop the price - or offer something unique for the price - there is nothing that unique apart from the logo. Unfortunately a consumer in a shop will not understand how friendly it is to use - and most of them have now been trained to cope with the unfriendliness of Nokia and Motorola - so they will not “get” it straight away. By the time it picks up a consumer conciousness for friendly it will be copied and no longer unique.
It should try and go for the business market - compete with RIM and microsoft - there is money there - but also a need for email integration. They are going to be a consumer device in a market that is saturated and not valued.
All of these hurdles must be jumped before they can even expect it to become the remarkable achievement the iPod was.
There maybe a BI and AI but no more than there is a BB and AB (blackberry), BN and AN (Nokia) and BM and AM (Microsoft).”
Popularity: 33% [?]
May
21
A Google phone - maybe in the UK
Posted by grouchal in Business, Development, google
Techcrunch has a rumour that Google are in talks with O2 about creating a UK based mobile operator with a Google brand. It probably will come to nothing but there have been quite a few rumours around about Google and mobile phones and they do have a large development centre focused on mobile in the UK so it would make sense to experiment and try things out here.
The truth is that I really want it to be true - I think that they will bring innovation to internet access and provide leadership for other mobile operators to follow. We already have flat rate plans from Orange and T-mobile, but based on previous comments by Eric Schmidt about free mobile access it could be a sea change in mobile internet access that they bring.
Luckily I’m soon out of contract with Orange - so let’s hope they make an announcement soon before I have to sign up again so I can get another phone for testing - and at last lose the horrible Nokia N70.
Let’s see.
Popularity: 31% [?]
May
18
Use power wirelessly - try not to fazzle the dog
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets
Saw these Wireless Extension Cords today and think they are a great idea for large gardens and things - until you start wondering about safety.
I am sure that the product has been tested but the long and short of it is - that there will be microwaves of a strong enough power being sent and received between two plates - upto 100m apart!
I remember at university we had two microwave dishes providing a fast data link to a remote part of the campus - this was happily up in the air and only of danger to the odd passing pigeon - not too much of a problem there. The kinds of places that people might need power transmitting to I would think would be at the end of a garden from a house - much easier than laying a water tight cable, perhaps on a camping trip across a field from a vehicle or similar - I don’t know!
The point for me is that to install this system properly at a suitable height probably would be more effort and possibly expense than laying that cable etc
My final concern would be that in a world (at least the non-Amrican parts) where we are worrying about climate change and reducing emissions - this seems to be something that would be quite inefficient at transmitting power.
Let’s wait for the first frazzled pet story - and hope that the damage is not worse than that!
Popularity: 18% [?]
May
17
different form factors for different needs
Posted by grouchal in Development, Technology, Uncategorized
Found an interesting article today from Russell Beattie on form factors of mobile devices. It was published in 2005 but makes some great points about what he would like in a perfect phone.
By the end of the article you can see what his perfect phone would be and I’m sure that it will be created soon.
I liked the graphic for the article - it simply gets the point across - I would say that it is next to impossible to meet the needs of all of those audiences - but it might be possible to me the overlapping needs of two or three with one device.
My feeling is that most people want a phone that mostly makes phones calls and is small - it certainly seems to be the case when you look at the standard phone on the street.
Popularity: 27% [?]
May
16
starting a blog
Posted by grouchal in off-topic
Well this is quite a bit more work than I thought it was going to be - I thought it’d be easy to find a few stories put them on-line and provide a bit of commentary and opinion.
I tend to find opinion quite easy normally - but this written word is much harder to deal with. Anyway we are one week in now lets see how things go.
I know that there are a lot of mobile gadget and development blogs out there - some seem to write every hour - I’m hoping to just provide daily posts on items I think are interesting and relevant.
I should confess I tried this before on another subject - m-learning and it didn’t go well - in fact I only recently posted on there after a 8 month absence - let’s see how this one goes!
Popularity: 38% [?]
May
15
U.K. Mobile Web Audience now 20%
Posted by grouchal in Business, Technology
MobileCrunch reports on this data from Comcast showing that mobile web users in the UK are about 20% of the Desktop base.
Already this is quite an audience - I’m sure that some of them didn’t like it - and won’t go back - others may have done it accidentally but this is how it starts.
As flat rate plans become more standard and we start to see web bundled with texts and calls it shows how mobile will take it place alongside desktop and other ways of accessing web content.
Popularity: 18% [?]
May
15
LG Philipps develops colour e-paper
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, Technology
Interesting times indeed! The closer we get to colour e-paper the more excited I get.
I love this vision that e-paper creates of a roll out screen from a mobile phone (or iPod or other device) to really allow mobile viewing of content.
When we get there - suddenly there will be a revolution in information access similar to that brought on by the launch of Pengiun paperback books in the 1920s.
It is only another small step and we are still years away from the access I mentioned but each step is so exicting!
More here: SKorea’s LG Philipps develops first A4 colour e-paper
Popularity: 19% [?]
May
15
The Keyless Cell phone - star trek idea? - or just a dumb idea?
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets
Came across this post about a phone with out keys - completely voice activated and I can’t decide how much I believe this is a dumb idea.
Then again I can see that if it was put together in a nice way it might just work - but I guess it is so much of the opposite of what I think we will use these devices for that I go back to thinking it is jsut a dumb idea.
Will this become the star trek communicator to the mobile phone as the tri-corder (what a GEEK am I?)
The Keyless Cell phone | StayGoLinks
All thoughts welcome!
Popularity: 18% [?]