mobile things
opinion and news on mobile gadgets and development
Oct
13
Using the back of a mobile device to navigate
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, iPhone, research
New Scientist Article on a new technology that really could be interesting :
‘Transparent’ gadget could trump iPhone interface - tech - 11 October 2007 - New Scientist Tech
Although this is a very early stage prototype at the moment there is a nice video of the device too:
I guess this technology is 4-5 years away and they have a lot of things to get through I think that idea of navigation on the back of devices is going to become an active area of research because it means the front of the device can have a large screen.
Popularity: 73% [?]
Oct
10
Skype and 3 partnership
Posted by grouchal in Business, Gadgets, mobile software
News that Skype and the 3 network are working together is very interesting see:
Cheap handset ‘will bring free mobile internet calls to mass market’ | | Guardian Unlimited Business
It is hard to imagine how the device will work - but ‘free’ in this case means that you pay for the phone and an unlimited data tarrif.
I like the idea of a phone that is geared towards this - but why only one phone? What will be special about the phone - I would guess nothing physical - but maybe Skype puts special demands on memory and processing power. I would imagine that this is going to be software that can be used on lots of 3 phones - but on one it will come pre-installed.
Popularity: 78% [?]
Sep
18
Driving Theory Test Service Launches - uHavePassed.com
Posted by grouchal in Business, Development, Gadgets, Technology, mobile software
Luzia Research have today taken their driving theory test service out of beta and into production.
The service allows you to take practice tests for the UK Driving Theory Test using the official question bank from the Driving Standards Agency.
We have had great challenges developing the synchronisation software that sits under this service as we have found limits in the amount of data different phones will allow to be uploaded and also had issues with different hosting companies and their support for Transfer-Encoding:Chunked.
We are there now and would like to invite people to try the software out for free on their phone before purchasing a subscription.
Even though we are out of our beta testing - all feedback is well received as we would like to make the service as friendly and easy to use as possible.
Popularity: 93% [?]
Jul
17
Google Reader - Wii support
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, off-topic
I have recently been given a Wii as a birthday present - which I am really enjoying.
One thing that I like is being able to browse the internet in front of the TV - which makes catching up on stuff much easier.
I found out yesterday that Google Reader has built in support for the Wii / Opera browser - you get a streamlined view of the page and if you press the 1 or 2 buttons on your remote you can get special menus for use in navigating!
This makes using Google Reader via the Wii much easier.
Well done Google - hopefully they will roll out this support to gmail also and all their other apps - that would be fantastic.
I hope that other sites start doing this - I wonder if there is a directory of Wii optimised sites anywhere?
Popularity: 68% [?]
Jun
26
LG KU580
Posted by grouchal in Business, Gadgets, iPhone
The company who will probably make most money out of the iPhone may well be LG, as they ride on the tails of the iPhone hype with their cheaper and more mature touch phones.
I think they will be quick to match the successful parts of Apple’s iPhone over the next 18 months.
They have just released the LG KU580 and this review makes an interesting read - what will Apple do? My advice is invest in LG not Apple!
Popularity: 82% [?]
Jun
26
Haptic Clock?
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, mobile software, review
Nice idea at cwwang.com for an application that is a “Haptic Clock“.
The plan is I guess that when you are stood talking to someone and you want to glance the time, but not upset them you reach into your pocket and press a key and then feel the time. I like it - also for meetings without clocks in the room.
The porlbem as I see it is that it won’t work in my pockets, I can’t leave it running as it will get stopped by random key presses - and if I lock the phone (my N70) the application won’t be in the foreground.
If there was someway to make it into a screen saver - this is a great idea otherwise I think it is just an idea.
Popularity: 80% [?]
Jun
26
Mobilephones as payment cards in London?
Posted by grouchal in Business, Gadgets
An article over at the Mobile Report claims that UK operators are ready to start shipping smartcard compatible phones that can be used in London instead of the Oyster card.
I’ve heard rumours about this for a while, and I really like the idea - especially as it is extended. I don’t live in London but travel in often and have an Oyster in my wallet, the pain is when it runs out of money. Attaching the oyster to the phone, and therefore payments systems and the internet would be fantastic, no more queues! There are also plans to extend the Oyster cards use into micro payments and the Oyster would make the first stage of a transformation of London into a cashless city possible.
Let’s hope this has legs and Oyster or similar also start being deployed outside of London.
Popularity: 70% [?]
Jun
20
Quick review Opera Dimensions - iPhone news
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, iPhone, mobile software
OK I’ve used the Opera mobile Dimensions beta for a day now and it is certainly a very different way of viewing the web via phone. I still found the screen too small - but I did like the fact I could see the whole page and the mouse pointer worked well.
It is certainly worth checking out for anyone who does browse the web with a phone - and I think I will use it once I’m on a flat rate plan.
The navigation is great and the feel of the application is great and it shows how well companies are now understanding usability on the phone - there are certainly a few tricks in there that I will try to emulate in my software.
One thing I would change is that the default view of the page is the entire page - but it makes a guess as to which part of the page you should start on. The guesswork seems to be good so far and I would have preferred if it had just zoomed me into that area and then I could zoom out if it was wrong. This will be different for different users - so this behaviour should be given as an option.
All in all - it was a great piece of software and it is a pity it has such competition in 9 days to distract from the great software they have made. I think that when they take this out of beta I would suggest 3 months after the iPhone they should make the real launch of Dimension a well publicised affair.
iPhone Hype
Helping the iPhone hype today I came across two articles on the negative side of the phone.
True cost of the iPhone at CenterNetworks predicts that the true annual cost of the iPhone is about $2000 which seems incredibly high to me, even cutting it in half seems incredibly high to me. I am not sure how good the maths here are - but they seem reasonable to me - it certainly isn’t going to go mainstream on this basis.
Why You May Not Want An iPhone at Forbes - examines all the barriers that are likely to stop consumers from making the iPhone mainstream and points out how voracious the competition are in this market compared to the MP3 player market.
Popularity: 65% [?]
Jun
19
Opera Mini™ vs iPhone
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, iPhone
Well it is released - and yes you have guessed it - is has very similarzoom technology to the iPhone.
10 days before, and it’s free and it will work on your existing phone - they make the most of all of these messages in this video: Opera Mini™ vs iPhone. The advert also rips off the PC guy and Mac format that Apple have been using, but the whole thing is done in a friendly way.
Not sure if this will affect many consumers as it seems to be more focused as an in joke for geeks - but it works.
Downloading now - to see what the experience is like!
Popularity: 37% [?]
Jun
19
iPhone battery now upto 8 hours of talk time
Posted by grouchal in Gadgets, iPhone
10 days of standay and 8 ours of talk time or 7 ours of video are now promised for the iPhone - wow!
Also the screen will be made of glass not plastic!
Apple Press Release: iPhone Delivers Up to Eight Hours of Talk Time
Popularity: 37% [?]