Mobile World: September 2010

Thursday, 30 September 2010

Windows phone 7

So today I was lucky enough to attend a training event for the forthcoming Windows phone 7. I got to play with a pre-production prototype handset and had a very in depth look at what this exciting new OS has to offer.

I think this will be a total game changer, it takes some of the best of what is already available and takes it further, simplifies use and give you really intuative access to all the things you need and use in fewer steps.

All in all I was very impressed with how it works and I can see myself using this OS and enjoying the experience.

One of the key parts of this launch will be demonstrating the OS and it new features to customers, At the event and also on the training website, there is lots of emphasis on the out of the box experience and a few key steps that we need to take to get customers up and running. This is a brand new operating system and radically different to the previous version, and if we can get customers set-up and running before they leave the shop, then we will limit possible returns and give our customers a better experience.

We are one of only 2 launch partners to sign up to the training, this can give us a real edge in terms of launch, and give o2's customers a far better experience.

There is a new training website, www.windowsphoneexpert.com, here you can learn about the new OS and also earn points to redeem against Microsoft products. This is a really informative site, and almost all of the content that was on the course, is on the site, and it goes over lots of useful information, from set-up, to the key differences between windows phone 7 and other operating systems. You will also see the demo and set-up that will be required to get customers enjoying windows phone 7 before they leave the store.

This will be a major launch so try to get up to speed. In-store set-up and demo will be key. Please visit the site and if you need any further information let me know.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday, 25 September 2010

Launching on the 4th October, the Nokia N8 will be the flagship for Nokia, and has been hotly anticipated.

Nokia introduces the Nokia N8, our latest smartphone that intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most. The Nokia N8 enables people to create compelling content, connect to their favourite social networks and enjoy the latest on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. People can also make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite.

The Nokia N8 offers a true home theater experience with HD quality film and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. You can plug the device to your home theatre system with an HDMI cable.

The Nokia N8 enables access to local and global Web TV services that deliver TV programs, news and entertainment from channels such as CNN, National Geographic, E! Entertainment and Paramount directly on the homescreen.

People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, taking you where you want to be and showing you what want to see in over 70 countries worldwide.

The Nokia N8 has 16GB of in-built storage space, expandable up to 48GB with a Micro SD card. Large files can be easily transferred to a memory stick with the USB On-the-Go. USB on the go, allows the user to transfer the N8 into a portable storage drive,e and easily swap files between PC or laptop and the device.

With this announcement, Nokia is offering developers a new platform to innovate on. The Nokia N8 comes integrated with Qt, a software development environment that simplifies the development and makes it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms. Nokia has also made the simple to use Nokia Qt SDK available, in its initial beta, to enable developers to start realizing the potential of Qt.

The Nokia N8 marks the global device debut of the new Symbian^3 software, featuring several major advancements:

Usability enhancements across the user interface, including single tap, multi-touch and support for gestures such as “pinch-to-zoom.”
Three personalizable homescreens on the Nokia N8, easily maneuvered through by a simple flick.
Faster and more responsive user interface with new 2D and 3D graphics architecture that takes full advantage of hardware acceleration
More efficient memory management allows more applications to run in parallel for a faster, more complete and efficient multi-tasking experience.

Specifications.

Available colors
Dark Grey, Silver White, Green, Blue, Orange
Operating times
Talk time (GSM/WCDMA) – 12/5 h 50 min

Standby (GSM/WCDMA) – 390/400 h

Video record – 3 h 20 min

Music playback – 50 h

Video playback – 7 h

Video playback with HDMI – 6 h

Web TV – 3 h 20 min

Nokia Original Accessories:
Nokia Wired Headset WH-701 (in box)

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905

Nokia Bluetooth Headset BH-608

Nokia Extra Battery DC-11

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-214

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-505

Nokia Mini Speaker MD-9

Technical Profile:
System: WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 and GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

OS: Symbian^3

Form Factor: Touch screen monoblock

Dimensions: 113.5 x 59.12 x 12.9 mm (L x W x H)

Weight: 135g

Display: 3.5 inch widescreen (640 x 360 pixels) capacitive touch

Battery: 1200mAh BL-4D

Media Storage/Memory: 16GB mass memory + micro SD card slot, 135MB internal memory, support up to 32GB memory cards. RAM256 ROM512

Video Playback: Video recording, Performance: encoding 25fps, decoding 30fps, File Formats: H.264, MPEG-4, VC-1, H.263, Real Video 10, ON2 VP6, Flash video

Music Playback: FM radio, FM transmitter, MP3 player, Supported codecs: MP3,AAC,eAAC, eAAC+,WMA,AMR-WB, DRM support, DRM: OMA DRM 2.0

Main Camera:

Lens: Carl Zeiss optics

Image capture: 12 megapixels

Video capture: HD 720p

Aperture: F2.8

Focal length: 5.4

Flash: Xenon flash

Connectivity:

HDMI adapter CA-157

WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g/n

BT2.1 with support for stereo headsets

Positioning with GPS, A-GPS, WLAN and Cell-ID

Micro-USB 2.0 high speed for file transfers and charging

USB On-the-Go

Nokia AV connector 3.5 mm for audio input/output and TV out

Related articles by Zemanta
Nokia N8 Hands-on from Nokia World 2010 (thenokiablog.com)

Introducing Nokia N8 (thearrowpoint.blogspot.com)

Amazing Facts About the Nokia N8 Camera from Carl Zeiss (thenokiablog.com)

Nokia N8: In the details (conversations.nokia.com)

Nokia N8 Demo of Pixelpipe Send & Share and Pixelpipe Quickpost (thenokiablog.com)

Nokia N8 Demo of Check-in from Nokia World 2010 (thenokiablog.com)

Nokia To Release N8, E7 Smartphones (informationweek.com)

Nokia N8 Home Cinema Video Demo (trustedreviews.com)

Nokia N8 Demo of Foursquare for Symbian (thenokiablog.com)

Nokia N8 User Guide (brighthub.com)

Thursday, 23 September 2010

Blackberry torch

The blackbery torch launches on o2 on the 4th October. This is a significant handset for blackberry and blackberry fans.

This torch features a 3.2" hvga capacative touch screen display and full portrait sliding keyboard.

512mb on board memory and a 4gb micro sd card included.

5mp camera, 2x digital zoom, continuous auto focus , image stabilization and camera flash.

Wifi(802.11n) and Bluetooth (v2.1)

The capacative screen features pinch and zoom, and there is social intergration built in with facebook and Twitter apps included.

The torch launched with blackberry6 and one of the main improvements is in the web browser.

Tabbed browsing, multiple pages open, bookmark your favourite pages and acess them from the homescreen.

Blackberry 6 is overall a cleaner experience and attempts to bring the os more in line with it competitors while remaining true to the blackberry way of doing things. Main features include:

Intergrated social feeds
Faster web browsing
Enhanced multi media

The torch claims 5.8 hours of talk time and 30 hours of music playback.

For more information go to:

uk.blackberry.com/devices/blackberrytorch

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, 17 September 2010

Nokia handsets!

At the recent Nokia world, Nokia unveiled some beautiful new handsets,

C6-01

This is probably the budget phone of new models, but don't let that fool you into thinking the phone feels cheap. Featuring mainly recycled metal the C6 feels solid and well made. Hopefully the prices will keep it honest, featuring an AMOLED display the C6 looks and feels great.

E7

This handset looks similar to the N8, however it is larger and more imposing, features include a full hinges slide keyboard similar to N97 mini, and beautiful "clear black display" this is a very compelling device.

4" tilting touchscreen, 8mp camera, symbian^3, 720p HD video,

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

HTC Desire Z & HD

HTC Recently announced two new top of the line additions to the Desire family, the Z and HD.

Desire HD

This is basically a European version of the Evo 4g. Unlike the evo the HD doesn't have a kick stand, it does however boast the same 4.3 inch screen, 1ghz snapdragon processor, 8mp camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video. HSPA support and 802.11n WiFi, this handset will also come with enhanced HTC sense.

Desire Z

The Desire Z if the euro version of the G2, and features a "pop" out hardware keyboard. 5 mp camera with flash that's HD capable, 800mhz processor, HSPA, and 802.11n WiFi. The Desire Z will also feature enhanced HTC Sense,

Enhanced HTC Sense,

To compliment the 2 handsets HTC also introduced an enhanced version of sense. At the centre of the enhancement is HTCsense.com, that will control backup and security features among others.

There is a new locate feature that will trigger the handset to ring loudly even if it's set to silent, also flagging the handsets location on a map. Additionally remote lock and wipe, as well as auto backups for contacts and text etc. There will also be a host of multimedia capabilities to play with too!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Android updates not going so well :(

So o2 uk have just rolled out the 2.2 (froyo) update for the HTC Desire and the 2.1 (eclair) update for the dell streak and both updates have issues!

Reports of multiple issues with the streak including touchscreen, web borwsing, text messages and photos to name a few, and similar goings on with the desire too !

How ironic, most of us have been waiting for these updates with great anticipation and now there finally here they are more of a frustration.

Hopefully they will be sorted very soon so we can enjoy them as they are meant to be.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iOS 4.1 available now

So the latest version of iOS, 4.1 is available to download right now via iTunes. New features include game centre and HDR photos, (see my post on 4.1 & 4.2)

IF YOUR INTERESTED IN JAILBREAKING OR IF YOU PLAN TO JAILBREAK DO NOT UPGRADE!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday, 6 September 2010

iOS 4.1 & 4.2

At their September the 1st iPod event, apple announced that 2 new version of the iOS software would be released soon, iOS 4.1 & 4.2.

iOS 4.1

First off iOS 4.1 will contain some bug fixes, most importantly will be the proximity sensor issue. There are also fixes for bluetooth and for performance issues relating to iPhone 3G.

HDR photography (High Dynamic Range)

HDR photography is introduced to iOS. In the camera app there is a HDR button, when HDR is on the camera will take 3 quick shots of your chosen subject, one at normal exposure, one under-exposed and one over-exposed, it will then combine these images to give a clearer image without the colour washing that is present in some images. For some situations this will greatly improve the image, the iPhone will save the HDR version aswell as the normal exposure version for viewing in photos.

Game centre.

The highly anticipated game centre will make it's debut in iOS 4.1. The gamecentre will improve the already excellent gaming experience on iOS devices. It will focus around multi-player games and will allow players to challenge friends, invites will appear like notifications to different games and they can be accepted or declined.

Achievments can be unlocked and recorded on gamecentre, you can compare these achievments to those of your friends and share scores and rewards earned, aswell as view leaderboards.

There will be auto matching, so you will be paired to players of similar ability to yours when playing online.

Epic games, creators of the gears of war series for xbox showed a demo of a new game called project sword, a fantasy style RPG (role playing game).

Stunning 3D graphics and lots of unlockable achievments, the ability to invite your friends to play too. Intuative controls for fighting and general gameplay that can be adapted to your level of skill.

Game centre will add another huge dimension to the already killer gaming experience on iOS devices.

4.1 is available now for free download via iTunes.

iOS 4.2

This version is iPad focused and will bring multi-tasking and folders to the iPad, all working beautifully like on iPhone4, also wireless printing will be made available too.

This update will be available in November for free via iTunes.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone