Thread: Mobile News

Using a mobile phone signal to track your whereabouts, isn't the only way of finding out where you are. GPS (Global Positioning System) uses satellite signals to pinpoint your exact position on Earth. While that's old news to motorists and outdoor adventurer, in the very near future GPS is likely to work itself into all of our lives.

GPS or Global Positioning System uses satellite signals to pinpoint your exact position on earth.

carFor some people, especially those with high end cars, GPS is already a way of life. In the consumer world navigation has usually consisted of a stand-alone product. Not anymore.

"Convergence certainly is becoming more and more important", says Velle Kolde, product manager from Microsoft Automotive Group. "Customers are looking for more convenience and more usefulness out of their devices. By integrating navigation with music and information services just makes it more convenient, more powerful, richer solutions for consumers."

So why would GPS be more attractive to the average person now? The answer is that newer models of cell phones, PDAs and MP3 players have the necessary processing power for navigation along with wireless capabilities.

Andrew Gage, vice-president of product management for Destinator Technologies, says: "Our first product offering in North America comes with personal navigation on a smart phone. But it also brings with it location-based services, like traffic, where you can get real-time updates through the connectivity of the phone.

We understand your routes, and we can detect if there's an accident out there that's going to cause you a delay and we can notify you of that and allow you to navigate around that. It's very powerful."

Location-based services is one reason why big and small companies are suddenly very interested in real-time mapping. Increased competition means information supplied to devices has become more accurate and timely.

These companies know there is money to be made, if you can find your nearest bank branch in a hurry or visit all the tourist sites in an unfamiliar city without wasting time.

Philip Magney, principal analyst at Telematics Research Group, says: "One thing we're seeing is more advanced what we call POI - Points Of Interest - databases. Not only will the navigation system allow you to find your way, it will also allow you to obtain a great deal of information on potential places of interest that you may want to visit - restaurants, shopping, what have you."

satelliteSo you don't hike and you don't drive? It doesn't matter - 2006 might be the first time you use GPS without even realising it. Take star gazing for example. That just got a lot easier for amateurs thanks to a new device called a Skyscout, a suped-up telescope.

"It's a GPS device that does what no other GPS device has done before", says Jennifer Adams, marketing manager at Skyscout. "It locates and identifies stars, planets, constellations, nebular galaxies - over 6,000 objects."

And GPS is being combined with two-way speech and video monitoring. The Cyber Tracker, produced by Homeland Integrated Security Systems, can be used in any vehicle, personal or business.

The company's Adam Clough says: "Say you have a delivery company, and you have someone who is delivering something and you look at them on the GPS map and you notice that they have gone astray, you can then contact the person with the Cyber Tracker and let them know that they have gone off-route and communicate to them and give them directions to get back on track."

Since 1978 The Global Positioning System has been the only satellite network offering navigation services to the world. But at the end of 2005 a European equivalent, The Galileo Project, was launched. So consumers can expect more innovation and more gadgets that take advantage of both systems.

A new feature is making its way into a number of recently launched cell phones in Japan and South Korea: motion sensing. The capabilities of the handsets vary a little but the basic idea is that moving the phone through the air translates into actions and inputs on the screen.

The latest handset to offer such a function is the V603SH, produced by Sharp Corp. for Japan's Vodafone KK. Three similar handsets have already been announced in South Korea: Pantech Co. Ltd.'s PH-S6500, LG Electronics Inc.'s SV360 and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s SCH-S310.

Looking at the four phones, gaming appears to be the main beneficiary of the motion technology. There are a couple of games for the Vodafone handset that rely on the system.

The first, 'House of The Dead Mobile,' is a zombie shoot-em-up game from Sega Corp. The screen shows the game scenario from the character's point of view, and as the player turns around with the phone, so does the character in the game. In 'Full Swing Golf,' from Taito Corp., the player holds the phone as if it were the golf club and swings it to hit the ball on the screen. A warning before each shot reminds the user to avoid hitting people when swinging the phone.

Similarly, the Pantech handset comes with a fishing game that requires the user to swing the handset like a fishing rod, and a racing game in which the handset becomes the steering wheel. LG's phone, which actually looks as much like a portable gaming device, includes a skiing game that uses the motion technology.

Not only games use the movement technology. Users can dial with the Samsung phone by drawing the numbers in the air with the handset, for example, or end a call by shaking the phone twice. Other functions include a sharp move to the right or left to tell the built-in MP3 player to skip forward or back a track. Vodafone's handset can be programmed to perform similar functions when it is moved in different ways.

The Pantech phone is already on sale in South Korea for 451,000 won (US$440). Vodafone will begin selling the V603SH from mid-February, while the LG and Samsung phones are due on the local market in March or April. Prices for those have not yet been announced.

None of the handsets are based on the widely used GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard and they won't be available outside their home countries immediately. However, Samsung will consider adding the function to international models if it is well received in South Korea. Aichi Steel Corp., which is making the motion sensor for the Sharp phone, has already begun offering it to other companies for use in their products, increasing the chance that it will make its way overseas.

Sharp VGA cell phone
While the resolution in cell phone digital cameras continues to improve (see Samsung's new handset in this same column) the resolution of the screen has been stuck at QVGA (240 pixels by 320 pixels) for the last couple of years. Now this is changing: Sharp Corp. has developed for Vodafone the first handset with a VGA (480 pixels by 640 pixels) resolution screen. It comes with one other cool feature: facial recognition. This replaces the pin-code or fingerprint authentication sometimes found in other phones and will unlock the phone when it successfully matches the user's face to that registered in the memory. Should light be low and such identification not possible, the phone defaults to a pin-code system. Nice to know they thought of that, otherwise using it at nighttime could get very frustrating. It's due on sale in Japan in April, but no price has been set yet.

Panasonic 5MP digital still camera

Thinking ahead to this year's vacation season, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) has a new digital still camera that is both compact and can help you keep your holiday snaps in order. The DMC-TZ1 will group images into sets for each day of the vacation so a trip can more easily be followed day-by-day. The camera is the smallest available to offer a 10X optical zoom, according to Panasonic. It produces 5-megapixel resolution images and will go on sale in Japan from March 24 costing ¥45,000 (US$382). It will be available in Asia, Europe and the U.S. in April, the company said. Pricing for overseas markets wasn't available. ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ])

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]



Ever wanted to use MSN Messenger to chat to mates from your mobile? Or quickly access your Hotmail account? Well, users of 3’s 3G service will soon be able to do just that, thanks to an agreement signed by the company and software giants Microsoft.

Hotmail and Messenger will be accessed “seamlessly” through the 3 portal. Using Messenger, 3 users will be able to see when their friends are connected (either online at home or on the move with another 3 handset) and send them free instant messages, while Hotmail needs little introduction – it’s the most popular web-based email service on the planet.

The service will be initially available to five million 3 subscribers in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Australia, and 3 promises that it will be expanded over the next few months to incorporate next gen applications Windows Live Messenger and Live Mail.

DON’T ask me why this LG handset is called the CHOCOLATE PHONE.

I guess it’s down to the candy bar styling and those smooth lines.

But behind the rather pretentious name lies a stunning mobile that is sure to become a must-have among those who like to look good.

Out at the beginning of May, it has a touch keypad that is hidden behind the display when not in use and then glows red when you need to push the buttons.

Spec-wise it's a bit sketchy but the Korean version had 512MB of internal memory and an MP3 player so expect something similar when it hits these shores.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

A new, ultra-high speed form of the networking technology will enable media streaming.

The world’s big electronic players have just finished discussing the future of digital media streaming – and they’ve apparently earmarked Bluetooth as the answer.

We might be used to using the wireless networking technology to exchange amusing pictures on our mobile phones, but by 2008 we should be seeing devices loaded with an ultra-fast version of Bluetooth capable of streaming high quality audio and video.

Using Ultra Wideband radio technology, this new fangled version will be able to transfer data at speeds of 100 megabits per second – around 100 times faster than the current incarnation used on phones and laptops. It will also have a range of around 50 feet, as opposed to the 30 foot range it has now.

High quality video requires speeds of something like 10 megabits per second, so we could well have Bluetooth-enabled central hubs pinging Hi-Def TV shows and movies to different screens around the home. Quite a departure from using it to send your mate the latest Crazy Frog ringtone.

Cheers

The Reuters website has published the info that Nokia suspends the release of its 6 new smartphones scheduled for 1Q 2006 as it works to sort out their software. Company spokesmen said the models – 3 of its multimedia N-series handsets and 3 E-series smartphones aimed at business class – would start shipping to the customers in the near future. The shipments of the N91 will start this week and that of N71 and N80 in the next two weeks. The release of the N91 smartphone was originally set for the end of 2005, however it was suspended till 1Q 2006 while the company worked on some software problems. The shipments of the business smartphones the E60, E61 and the E71 set for end of March will start in the upcoming weeks

Currently only the Taiwanese company HTC (High Tech Computer) is releasing the most of new smartphones and communicators based on Windows Mobile. The devices on HTC platforms appear under various brands. However the situation might be changed in a while, as ever more companies voice themselves in this sphere. For example, in the Internet appeared some info that the Chinese company TFW (Tech Faith Wireless) developed several interesting models powered by Windows Mobile 5.0. These are several PDA with 2-megapixel cameras, one in the slider form and a pair of smartphones, one of them resembling Motorola SLVR L6 and L7 handsets. TFW is an OEM and ODM maker, so these models will be released under quite different brands.

At the British website of Samsung you can see a page devoted to an ultra mobile PC (UMPC) Samsung Q1 with official photos, description, specifications and the preorder sign.

Despite of Microsoft assurance the price of UMPC will vary from $600 to $1000, Samsung Q1 will evidently be more expensive. the price tag is 799.95 pounds, i.e. about $1390.