Mobile Phone
Avatar technology comes to mobile phones
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December 12, 2006 8, 2006: The news of the coming of the first avatar-based mobile game from CBS Interactive and Hong Kong-based Artificial Life (a regular subject of our stories such as the Virtual Girlfriend V1.0 and V2.0, and the development of the first Massive Multi Player 3G Game) is exciting indeed. CBS Interactive will launch the first avatar-based mobile game tied to a major TV show for The CW's America's Next Top Model. The mobile game which enables avatars (virtual characters ) to live on user's cell phones is the first of many mainstream uses for Avatars which many futurists feel will ultimately represent the real time embodiment of people in cyberspace and lead to meaningful on-line community – for people of any common pursuit, regardless of whether it’s business or personal. These are the first fledgling steps of a future three dimensional superstar – YOU in zeroes and ones, and the first inhabitants of cyberspace. Avatars are already widely used in Internet chat rooms, allowing people to be represented by an image, that masks their actual character, behaviour and even gender. Read More
Breakthrough Linux-based MOTOFONE with electronic paper display
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November 29, 2006 Motorola has finally rolled out the highly anticipated MOTOFONE at an event held in New Delhi, India. The MOTOFONE looks set to strengthen Motorola's drive to connect the next billion mobile phone users, with the Indian launch to be followed by a rapid international rollout. Is the first model of the company’s SCPL design platform Linux-based phones designed to replace the Razr and is aimed at low-end users with its very easy-to-read electronic paper display and outstanding battery life. It is the first of a new breed of handsets designed to disrupt today's communications landscape by cutting across price tiers, product segments and international markets. We’ve written lots previously ( Sony Reader, READIUS Rollable Display, Iliad electronic reader, Plastic flexible e-paper Display, clocks, watches) about E Ink’s electronic paper displays, which are the basis of the MOTOFONE's ClearVision display. The changeable electronic ink display is easy to read in bright sunlight or dimly lit environments from virtually any angle -- just like paper. Additionally, the display is plastic, lightweight and ultra-low power, making it ideal for mobile and power sensitive applications by eliminating the weight and breakability of glass used in LCD displays. Read More
Another elite mobile phone contender – the Gresso
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November 28, 2006 As we head towards the tipping point – the point where half of all the people in the world has a mobile phone – it’s becoming quite an entertainment to watch the development of the world’s expensive mobile apparatus for the very elite. We’ve previously written about the Vertu Collection, and JSC Ancort’s solid platinum Brilliant Crypto smart phone, and now there’s another contender at the very expensive end of proceedings. It is the Gresso phone. The case of the phone is made from Gold and 200-year-old African Blackwood, with every Gresso phone handcrafted and unique. Whatsmore, the phone is just 10mm thick. Sapphire anti-glare crystal glass frames the surface of the screen. We’re assured that the phone is well equipped technically, but we don’t have the specs other than it allows travel worldwide. Designed by an un-named Italian designer, the phones will be on sale only in Russia. The company has not yet unveiled its web site.
Sony Ericsson ranks highest in mobile phone customer satisfaction
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November 20, 2006 Sony Ericsson ranks highest in satisfying customers who have owned their current mobile phone for less than two years, according to a J.D. Power and Associates 2006 U.S. Wireless Mobile Phone Evaluation Study released this week. The study measures customers' satisfaction with their wireless handsets based on five key performance factors. In order of importance, these are: physical design (24%); operation (22%); features (20%); handset durability (19%); and battery function (15%). Sony Ericsson received the highest ratings from customers in handset durability, and also performs particularly well in features and battery functionality. LG and Sanyo took out second and third place in the overall rankings, with global market leader Nokia, Samsung and Kyocera performing below the industry average. Read More
LG FUSIC – why isn’t this phone more popular?
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October 24, 2006 The LG FUSIC mobile phone has a distinctly musical bent – it delivers entertainment services at broadband-like speeds and looks, feels, and plays like a portable music player with the added ability of downloading full songs over-the-air, an FM transmitter for playing music through a radio or car stereo, Bluetooth Stereo support, and changeable faceplates for personalization of the phone. The bit that we can’t understand is why this phone isn’t more popular. The inbuilt Customers FM Transmitter offers stereo sound from MP3s stored on a microSD card through a radio or car stereo – the only mobile phone we’re aware of that does this without an accessory. Brilliant stuff! Read More
MOTOKRZR takes a good thing and runs with it
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October 21, 2006 We're seeing more and more phones using the clamshell form factor, and considering the success of Motorola's most recent offering, the MOTORAZR, it's no surprise to see them release the MOTOKRZR - an update with plenty of functionality and the classic format crammed into a sleek 16mm x 42mm x 103mm shell that weighs 3.6 ounces. Read More
Cell Phones to monitor the air and alert users to harmful chemicals and gases
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October 2, 2006 One wonders what super powers our mobile phones might have a decade from now given the plethora of sensing technologies, miniaturisation and functionality being planned by various companies. Cell-phone-sensor technologies specialist Gentag’s latest patent (7,109,859) for a "Method and Apparatus for Wide Area Surveillance of a Terrorist or Personal Threat" certainly indicates that it won’t be long before our cell phones will be monitoring the air we breathe and alerting us if there’s something we should know regarding allergens, contaminants or harmful bacteria. Gentag also holds patents for the use of RFID readers incorporated into cell phones, which will provide consumers with innovations like smart skin patches to detect health conditions and smart food labels to help consumers to determine the freshness of produce and meat. Gentag also a cell phone with a UV sensor built-in (pictured). Read More
Sony Ericsson's Z610 shimmering mirror clamshell
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August 24, 2006 - Sony Ericsson has announced the Z610, a 3G phone with gorgeous looks and a sleek mirror finish on the front cover that gives it a jewel-like quality that is complemented by a hidden ‘magic mirror’ display which can only be seen when in use. This striking phone delivers an advanced feature set including a 2.0 Megapixel camera and broadband-speed 3G connectivity. With such a distinctive design and a choice of three eye-catching colours – Luster Black, Rose Pink & Airy Blue – the Z610 looks a winner to us. Read More
Next Generation Mobile Phone Concept
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August 22, 2006 Answer your phone with the touch of a cheek! Synaptics and Pilotfish have utilised Synaptics' ClearPad touch screen to enable a new mobile user interface in its Onyx next-generation mobile phone concept. The new concept phone uses ClearPad, an optically clear, capacitive touch screen solution, to create a fully adaptive user interface (UI). The ClearPad input system eliminates the traditional mechanical keys found on phones today and dramatically adapts to present the information and controls a user needs at any given moment. Claimed to be more intelligent than conventional touch screens, the ClearPad accurately recognizes not only points and taps, but also shapes, complex gestures, and proximity to the user's finger or cheek. This creates new possibilities such as assigning functions to two-finger taps, closing tasks by swiping an "X" over them, sending messages by swiping them off the screen, or answering a phone by holding it up to your cheek. The prototype phone uses a dynamic UI, where applications are layered and opened simultaneously, allowing a seamless flow of information between applications. Read More
The world's most expensive mobile phone
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July 16, 2006 Russian company JSC Ancort has teamed with celebrity jeweller Peter Aloisson to create a very upmarket version of Swiss Crypto Telecommunication Security’s Crypto Smart telephone which will sell for US$1.3 million and in so doing, become the world’s most expensive mobile telephone. Designed to attract attention to the issues of mobile phone privacy, the solid platinum Brilliant Crypto Smartphone uses a symmetric 256 bit cryptographic algorithm and Windows CE operating system. In addition to the platinum body, the Ancort logo and the navigation key are made of 18 carat rose gold, as is the navigation key which also carries 28 round cut diamonds. Aloissen is well known for his personalisation and bejewelling of popular mobile phones such as the Nokia 8210 and Sony Ericsson T68, increasing their sale price to more than EU32,000. The phone can also be ordered with the platinum treated with a black rhodium process to give it a black, shiny look. Read More
Interactive outdoor advertising employs mobile phone
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July 10, 2006 With more than 2.5 billion mobile phones in use and saturation reached in most industrialised countries, there are myriad opportunities opening up for additional usage of existing mobile phone functionality, including the ability for advertising sites such as bus shelters, and poster panels interact directly with customers in their vicinity. One such technology platform is the UK-based Hypertag which works by allowing infra-red or Bluetooth mobile phones and PDAs (such as Palm Pilots or Pocket Pcs) to interact with a small electronic tag embedded in the billboard. When the consumer holds their mobile phone up to the Hypertag, they can download assets related to the promotional opportunity such as ringtones, audio and video clips, wallpapers, Java games, vouchers, tickets, instant win prizes, games, animations and … the possibilities are endless. One area that holds enormous promise is that of events and attractions, where for example, a museum could use the technology to offer additional text, audio or video information about each exhibit. Our favourite application so far was hatched in Australia when United International Pictures (UIP) and media agency Mediaedge:cia, partnered with AURA Interactive, The Global Game, and Adshel to launch an original new interactive game inspired by the highly anticipated film, Mission Impossible III. All players who registered on a dedicated website were required to race about their capital city, searching around various city locations for hidden answers to a series of Mission: Impossible themed clues. The clues were delivered using a combination of SMS messaging and Hypertag technology embedded into Adshel bus shelters and street signage, positioned at various sites across each capital city. Consumers accessing the Hypertags could download ringtones, wallpapers or a business card providing a phone number to SMS for the clue. Read More
The LG Breathalyzer Phone
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July 8, 2006 There’s been a lot of talk on the tech blogs about LG’s Korean-only LP-4100 Sobriety phone and the possibility it will roll out in the United States. The phone has a built-in breathalyzer and is selling very well in Korea. Indeed, given that between 15 and 30% of all road deaths (depending on your country) involve drivers over the legal blood alcohol limits, and there’s been so much kerfuffle since it was shown at CES in January, you’d think it’d be a certainty to debut shortly. But apparently not. LG emphasised when we asked that “this phone will not be launching in the US this year, and at this time there are no plans to bring it over to the US at all. The original article announcing this phone was incorrect.” We have previously tested a personal breathalyser and thoroughly recommend them as essential kit for anyone who consumes alcohol and then drives/rides, so obviously we’re very keen on this idea, particularly for young people who are, according to the statistics, particularly at risk. Read More
New ruggedized walkie-talkie phone
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July 8, 2006 Mobile phones have always been more resistant to abuse than they look, but a phone can never be too rugged for our liking and if you work in construction or a host of other industries where phone abuse is inevitable, then the ruggedized and fully equipped Motorola i580 handset is worth a look. It’s the only iDEN rugged phone in the industry to feature an embedded camera and the first with a clam form factor to include Bluetooth wireless technology. The i580 is also the first rugged iDEN clam phone designed to meet military specification 810 F for rain resistance, as well as for dust, shock and vibration. Read More
Women dominate mobile phone gaming
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June 30, 2006 As personal computer and mobile telephones have become ubiquitous, there have been few surprises in the way the cookies have crumbled, but one that seems to fly completely in the face of logic is the attraction that the female gender has for computer games. Women represent 59% of all U.S. consumers who play games on a mobile phone and these findings concur with the overall demographic makeup of Internet gamers, where women are the majority due to their penchant for online trivia and card games. Men, on the other hand, hold the majority among gamers who play intense action and role-playing games, and there is not a comparable group of male users in the mobile gaming space. A new research study entitled "Electronic Gaming in the Digital Home" concludes that women are the foundation of the gaming market, and the industry needs to cater to their preferences. John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates believes, "Women generally spend little on gaming even though they like to play games … the industry just needs to find a game they are will to pay for." Read More
Samsung pushes the limits of slim mobile design
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June 23, 2006 Samsung has unveiled a brand new line-up of slim mobiles at CommunicAsia 2006 that push the limits of slim mobile design. The Ultra Edition 6.9 (X820) leads the handset pack, boasting the world’s thinnest profile of only 6.9 mm. Also on display was the Ultra Edition 12.9 (D900), the world’s slimmest slider with a depth of only 12.9mm and a three megapixel camera. Finally, to round out the range, the Ultra Edition 9.9 (D830) is a new clamshell handset that is 9.9 mm thick.
World’s Smallest Camera Flip Phone
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June 2, 2006 Pantech Wireless, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Pantech Group, the number two mobile phone company in South Korea , and Cingular Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., today announced the introduction in North America of the Pantech C300, the world’s smallest camera flip phone in the GSM arena. Offered in the U.S. by Cingular Wireless, the new phone is likely to strongly appeal to trend conscious U.S. consumers because of its groundbreaking compact yet stylish design. The Pantech C300 will be a cornerstone of Pantech’s strategy to increase sales and market share in North America over the coming year and is the first branded GSM handset to be launched by Pantech in the U.S.
New Gold and Silver MOTORAZR V3i by Dolce and Gabbana
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June 2, 2006 UPDATED IMAGES Following the huge success of the limited edition MOTORAZR V3i by Dolce & Gabbana, the Italian designers have again teamed with Motorola to create a new version of the device in luxurious gold and silver, with an engraved Dolce & Gabbana logo. Further glamour is added with an exclusive pendent featuring the gold DG initials. Inside the new phone offers further customised features, such as special backgrounds, screensavers, MP3 ring tones and unique animations. Read More
The mobile-phone-controlled interactive mannequin
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May 18, 2006 The opening of the Digital Retailing Expo in Chicago today will see the launch of the World's first mobile-enabled digital interactive mannequin. The digital mannequin allows consumers to customize the model's clothes displayed on the screen using their cell phones as a remote control. The technology enables consumers to use their mobile phone like a remote control to surf or communicate with large screens in storefront windows, cafes, bars or city streets and converts passive out-of-home networks into interactive marketing networks, creating a closed loop between the web, mobile phones and retail spaces. Read More
Pantech introduces Touch Wheel Music Phone
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May 15, 2006 Korean mobile phone company Pantech is about to launch a "Touch Wheel Music Phone." The trendy new PG-3600V slider phone has a touch wheel sensor, that enables easy navigation by allowing users to sweep the wheel key with their fingers. Targeted at the younger, ‘digital generation’, the touch wheel offers an easy-to-use function for tracking songs, a zoom function for capturing images or tracking recorded movies, and moving menu bars. The phone also has a video editing application, the first time such functionality has been installed on a GSM handset. The phone also features a 1.3 mega pixel camera. Read More
Nokia shows the next generation digital camcorder phone
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April 26, 2006 As we head for the eye of the convergence storm, the number of compelling digital devices offering remarkable capability is increasing, and the current pick of the litter is Nokia’s newly announced N93 mobile phone – surely the ultimate mobile device for spontaneous video recording, at least for now. Unfold and twist the main 262,144 color 2.4" QVGA display (240 x 320 pixels), and the Nokia N93 is ready to shoot video and photos using the display as a full screen viewfinder. The 3.2 megapixel camera with 3x optical Carl Zeiss zoom is impressive, but it’s the camcorder with DVD-like MPEG-4 VGA video capture at 30 frames per second and video stabilization and 20x digital zoom that’s the interesting bit. With an internal memory of 50 MB, which can be expanded with a hot swap miniSD card to 2 GB, and you can capture up to 90 minutes of DVD quality video. You can even share your captured memories with family and friends on a large compatible TV screen, using either the included TV cable or wirelessly over integrated WLAN and UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) technology. Furthermore, from browsing the web to reading your emails and office documents, you can even play games on the Nokia N93 using the screen of your compatible TV. Read More
Dmobo launches Limited Edition "Mickey Magic Leather" Mobile Phone Using EXO Technology
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April 15, 2006 Dmobo, a licensing partner for Disney recently launched the M900, a premium mobile phone featuring a host of Mickey Mouse features, including a leather enclosure with embossed Mickey Mouse motifs that helps give the phone its premium appearance. Enabling the inclusion of the luxurious and soft feeling of "Mickey Magic Leather" on the M900 was made possible through a technology known as the EXO Overmolding System from Inclosia Solutions. EXO is a patented mass manufacturing process which enables designer fabrics, leathers, real woods, and real metals to be combined with plastics in an injection molding operation. The process has already been used extensivelt by Dutch innovators Tulip (makers of the E-Go) in diversifying the ubiquitous gray and silver laptop computer into an elegant object mass-produced in leather and fabric finishes. Read More
Nokia 8800 Aston Martin Edition
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April 11, 2006 Marketing partnerships make sense, particularly if the brands complement each other. Which is why two of the world's most aspirational brands in Aston Martin and Nokia have collaborated to create the Nokia 8800. This exclusive iteration of the Nokia's flagship 8800 will be manufactured in strictly limited numbers, and features a discrete laser-etched 'Aston Martin' logo on the stainless steel casing. This is complemented by the words so synonymous with Aston Martin, 'Power, Beauty & Soul’, etched into the Nokia 8800's unique stand-alone charging station, plus elegantly-designed packaging bearing the Aston Martin wings. Read More
LG’s reasonablypriced 550 music phone
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April 10, 2006 Dave Weinstein reports from CTIA that LG showed off a new music phone called the LG 550 - an EV-DO capable 3G device that supports music and video on demand. LG wouldn't confirm which carrier the phone would ship with, but a bit of experimentation revealed that it was Sprint. This looks like it's going to be a very solid music phone, with a few unique features - Bluetooth stereo support, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and user changeable face plates. There’s also a FM transmitter for listening on a nearby (e.g. car) radio which is a feature that is a must for all MP3s to eventually incorporate – let’s face it, everyone has an FM radio in the car and in the vast majority of cases it’s a quality unit, and you can’t drive a car with earphones on and … about time! The "humm a toon" method of creating ringtones is interesting too. Read More
Disney Mobile’s Launch Handset
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April 7, 2006 Pantech Wireless, the U.S. based subsidiary of South Korea’s Pantech Group and Disney Mobile today jointly announced plans for the DM-P100, the first wireless handset in the Disney Mobile portfolio. At the CTIA Wireless 2006 trade show in Las Vegas, the two companies said the new mobile phone was scheduled to hit the U.S. market with the launch of Disney Mobile this summer. Disney Mobile is the first comprehensive mobile service built specifically for families. It will include custom handsets, extensive entertainment content, and an innovative package of features and applications that meet the unique communication needs of families. Read More
MapQuest launches turn-by-turn navigation on mobile phones
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April 4, 2006 MapQuest has announced MapQuest Navigator, a service that will enable consumers to access Global Positioning Service (GPS), turn-by-turn, voice-guided directions on mobile phones. Based on Telmap’s Mobile Optimized Navigation Data (MOND) technology, MapQuest Navigator displays dynamic, full-color maps and provides accurate turn-by-turn navigation instructions by voice, graphics and text. The system includes a database of millions of restaurants, hotels, theaters and other points of interest which consumers can navigate to, direct dial to make reservations or send any location to a friend via text message. Read More
The mobile phone quickly becoming the MP3 player
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March 10, 2006 Desire for mobile music is growing at a considerable rate with new products such as mobile music phones, iPod and other music players driving consumer demand. One third of the 945 million phones expected to be sold worldwide in 2006 will have digital music playback functionality. By 2008, it is estimated this will rise to almost 70% of the billion phones sold globally. With this in mind, Jabra used the CeBIT opening to announce the launch six new products for music lovers, giving consumers a comprehensive range of products for use with the mobile phone, MP3 players and the PC. The products launched at CeBIT include the Jabra BT325s Bluetooth headset with stereo headphones, Jabra C820s high-performance noise cancelling stereo headphones and two music adaptors including the Jabra A125s iPod Bluetooth adaptor and the Jabra A120s Bluetooth adaptor for standard music players. In addition, the recently announced Jabra BT620s Bluetooth stereo headset and the Jabra A320s Bluetooth stereo USB adaptor are also part of the new Jabra music line up. Read More
The 10mpx camera phone
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April 7, 2006 Samsung Electronics continues to push the boundaries of the convergent device at CEBIT earlier this year, first announcing an 8GB hard disk smart phone, and then trumping the camera phone market with the announcement of the SCH-B600 - a 10 mpx camera phone with 3X optical zoom and 5x digital zoom. The “firsts” for the camera also include auto-focus, a fill-light function and a 1/2,000th of a second shutter speed. We’ve previously reported on the company’s string of world-firsts such as the first 5 MPX phone, 7 MPX phone and 8 MPX phone but the trend is not slowing by any measure – the SCH-B600 will be on the Korean market by mid-year and also includes a 2-inch, 16-million-pixel color TFT LCD screen, supports satellite digital multimedia broadcasting services and comes with a dual-face, dual-speaker system, TV-out and MP3 player. Not surprisingly, everyone queued up at CTIA to see the phone. Read More
Samsung unveils the world's first 8GB hard disk embedded phone - the i310
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March 7, 2006 Continuing to push the leading edge of mobile phone capability, Samsung will show an 8GB hard disk drive model dubbed the SGH-i310 at CeBIT later this week. Samsung is the first to adopt a hard disk drive into mobile phones and has launched three models equipped with a hard disk drive; the world's first 1.5GB HDD embedded phone (SPH-V5400), the world's first 3GB HDD embedded phone (SCH-V7900) and the world's first 3GB HDD Music smartphone (SGH-i300). The i310 which combines a phone, a digital camera and an MP3 player with its immense storage capacity will be introduced in the European market during the second half of this year and will catalyse change in the way people manage and use mobile phones. Read More
Sony Ericsson introduces first Cyber-shot camera phones
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March 1, 2006 Sony Ericsson takes digital imaging in camera phones to new heights today with the launch of the K800 and K790 phones, the first handsets to carry the Cyber-shot name known throughout the world as Sony’s digital still camera brand. Both are highly capable mobile phones with integrated 3.2 mpx digital cameras with autofocus, Xenon flash and BestPic, a completely new feature developed by Sony Ericsson which ensures that you never ‘miss’ an important picture. Press the shutter button once and the camera takes nine full quality 3.2 megapixel pictures in a time sequence – four pictures before and four pictures after the actual image you captured. Read More
Buying, paying bills and transfering money with your mobile phone
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February 9, 2006 Motorola has announced M-Wallet, a new solution for mobile phones that will enable paying bills, transferring money or making a purchase at retail. M-Wallet features an easy-to-use mobile interface that gives the consumer wireless secure access to financial services -- eliminating the need to carry a credit or debit card in your wallet. Motorola's M-Wallet also addresses the needs of companies that wish to innovatively market their goods and services. For example, merchants can issue virtual loyalty or gift cards directly to their customer's mobile phone. These cards can be redeemed via a mobile phone or can allow customers to conduct secure point-of-sale transactions, collect loyalty points, and obtain store receipts at existing retail merchant locations. M-Wallet users must opt-in to receive coupons or other promotional services, allowing them to choose preferred merchants who participate in the program and thereby reducing spam. Read More
Samsung’s 8 mpx camera phone – the hamburger with the LOT!
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January 30, 2006 We’ve talked about the highly competitive nature of Korean giant Samsung previously. If they ever introduce that well known game, “mine’s bigger than yours” at the Olympics, Samsung would be a Gold medal contender, capable of playing in almost any consumer electronics arena and winning the game. Last March at CEBIT, Samsung announced the world’s first 7 megapixel camera phone, the SCH-V770 and for the last few months has been showing the first eight megapixel camera phone, the V8200, to potential distribution partners at various trade shows, culminating in disclosure to select media at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. The V8200 will be on shelves in Seoul within six weeks but will only be available in Korea. Both models (770 and 8200) will be available side-by-side as the specifications are slightly different - the 770 has a x3 optical zoom whereas the V8200 has just digital zoom. But the V8200 has just about every other feature you can think of – such as VGA (640x480) video recording, a TV-out function, Video on Demand, Music on Demand, an MP3 Player, a Microsoft Office file viewer, a 16M-color TFD Display, TransFlash external memory, dual speakers for excellent sound quality and a melody composer so you can develop your own ringtones … and digital images 3296 x 2472 pixels in size. Detailed images inside. Read More
Samsung’s credit card phone – distilled technology
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January 30, 2006 If you’re beginning to wonder just how far the technology miniaturisation trend will take us, the following will hopefully confirm that the form factor of the mobile phone still has a long way to go. Samsung will soon release a phone dubbed the SGH-P300 in Europe. With such clinical model designations, it's not suprising it has already attracted the nickname, “the card” because it’s very similar in size to a credit card, though in our opinion, it looks for all the world like a calculator. Within its dimensions of 87mm x 54mm x 8.9mm it accomodates all standard phone functionality, has a 262K-colour, 220 x176 pixel TFT display, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and direct printing via PictBridge, 88 MB of internal memory, an MP3 player, speakerphone, Bluetooth wireless technology support and quite incredibly, an 800 mAh Li-Ion battery. Somehow, it still weighs in at just 65 grams and if we didn’t know better we’d suspect that Samsung has found a way of distilling technology. Two of the better European-based mobile phone resources on the web have already had their hands on the P300 and managed quite extensive reviews so follow the links for much more detail and extensive images. Read More
Popular Bratz Dolls brand extended to mobile phones
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January 28, 2006 As the penetration of mobile phones in society heads towards ubiquity, it was only a matter of time before the targeting and styling of mobile phones would focus on children and this week consumer entertainment products company MGA Entertainment, the manufacturer of the wildly popular Bratz brand of fashion dolls and accessories, joined forces with Ztar Mobile to bring to market the first Bratz mobile phone. Read More
Cell phone traffic yielding real-time road traffic info
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January 12, 2006 The overnight news that TomTom NV is to acquire Applied Generics Limited has some interesting ramifications for the way in which we navigate on the roads. TomTom offers quality, innovative, easy-to-use personal navigation products and services to the consumer market. Applied Generics has developed technology that makes it possible to generate real time road traffic information based on analysis of mobile telephone network usage and cell-switching. The technology is commercially deployed and has the potential to deliver high quality traffic information at a fraction of the investment normally required to generate traffic information. Which means that TomTom may soon be in the position to offer additional income streams to network operators and invaluable real time nationwide information on traffic conditions overlayed on top of directional and road network information. If you'd like to see Applied Generics' real time road traffic technology working, click this text and follow the instructions in the second paragraph. Very cool! Read More
Nokia's Latest Fashion Phone Collection
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Take a look back at any new technology in its infancy and its styling starts off rather conservatively. Telephones, television and cars are obvious examples, but the more you think about the initial form factor and its evolution, the more you’ll see how likely it is that the mobile phone has a long way yet to go, even if it weren’t for all the convergence. SContinuing to push the boundaries of mobile phone design, Nokia has introduced a collection of three trend-inspired mobile phones, the Nokia 7360, Nokia 7370 and Nokia 7380. Each model in the L'Amour Collection offers a beautiful mix of contrasts - infusing cultural and ethnic influences with luxurious touches of the unexpected. Hints of vintage and craftsmanship, are fused with natural materials, colors and patterns, all carefully crafted and layered with a passion for detail.
