mobile things
opinion and news on mobile gadgets and development
Jun
12
Anthropologists and mobile telephone usage
Posted by grouchal in Business, Uncategorized
A great Economist piece titled Home truths about telecoms explains how anthropologists are now being used by companies such as Nokia and Swisscom to understand their users.
It seems that after the surprise that people did not want to make video calls even though the operators paid so much money to allow them to do so has meant that telcos are now more cautious about predicting the next big thing.
I am not sure that an anthropologist could have predicted the rise of twitter - but I think they could have clearly said that texting is the most popular type of mobile based interaction and a bet on applications that use it - should have good odds.
Interesting stats : 60% of men carry their phone in their trouser pockets, but 61% carry them in handbags (and subsequently miss more calls).
Belt pouches are used more in different regions of the world - but are least popular in fashion conscious Milan.
Voice communications are flattening and written communications are increasing - that is one very interesting conclusion, but I’m not sure how interesting if that means more people are writing stilted abbreviated sms messages to each other rather than talking.
Good read any how - I recommend it.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Jun
8
AMD going mobile?
Posted by grouchal in Uncategorized
According to an article at HotHardware.com
AMD are about to launch new mobile chips - nice to have some competition for the others - but not sure this news is going to rock my world yet.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Jun
8
HTC try to beat Apple with a pre-emptive strike
Posted by grouchal in Development, Gadgets, Technology, Uncategorized, iPhone
HTC have shown some new technology that will allow Windows Mobile users to use their fingers in touch interface on their phones in the same way that iPhone users will get on June 29th.
They will launch in the UK with Orange - who will now drop the SPV moniker for the handsets and use the HTC brand.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Phone responds to the human touch
So the day the world changed has come a little earlier - the history books will probably still record June 29th.
Popularity: 16% [?]
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
7
learning a language using your phone
Posted by grouchal in Business, Development, Technology, Uncategorized
One of the main products we have been developing is getawayphrases a tool to help people memorise words in a second language.
We have developed it for four languages at the moment but are already getting requests to have it working in more.
We currently support learning French, German, Spanish and Italian on your mobile phone.
I’m just using it to learn Croatian - prior to a flight at the end of next week - and it is great to use the software again and remember that there is a point to doing this hard work and that it does work!
Popularity: 14% [?]