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Your advert here!!! Our Guides Technical Editors:
Last modified: | Mobile Insight Vol: 8 Issue 311 April 3rd 2006Sprint Nextel goes LBS with Find It
Sprint Nextel will introduce a local
directory service for its mobile
subscribers which utilises a location based service (LBS), according to Reuters.
To be known as 'Find It', the
service will cost a mere $2.99 a
month service, and should be
available from April 3rd [2006].
It will offer all the usual
yellow pages style information,
supplied by Infospace, but users
won't have to key in their post code
or a special code – because the
handset already knows where it is. Curiously the service is reported
as working with only 70 per cent of
Sprint Nextel's subscribers. So that
implies that the service uses
triangulation techniques rather than
satellite location. Although support for A-GPS
(assisted GPS) is supported as
standard in Qualcomm's 3G chipsets,
it's unlikely that 70 per cent of
Sprint Nextel customers have such a
handset. It does illustrate, however, just
how difficult it is to integrate two
networks when one was using iDEN and
the other is using cdmaOne.The full Inquirer story ... Find It knows where you are www.infospace.com China Mobile looks overseasThe world's largest mobile network operator, China Mobile, has announced its
intention to seek overseas acquisitions. That should worry Vodafone which is
probably still the world's largest operator by revenues. According to
Marketwatch.com, China Mobile's chairman, Wang Jianzhou, says his parent
company is still seeking to acquire mobile operators in emerging markets. That's
exactly the markets where the major players - including Nokia - see revenues
expanding.
Jianzhou was speaking as his company announced the final acquisition of Hong
Kong's Peoples Telephone. Technically speaking, Hong Kong isn't an overseas
territory any more. China Mobile's revenues are circa $30.1 billion. WAP
Insight isn't sure of the equivalent figure for Vodafone since it just sold
its Japanese operation. Anyway, China Mobile has around 240 million subscribers
- making it the largest single GSM network by far.
Nokia recently announced its 'Market Expansion Toolkit' which will let operators
allocate a half-rate voice channel to low paying customers. The voice quality is
poor but affordable by those in emerging markets. Nokia also forecast that 80
per cent of the next 1 billion subscribers will come from emerging markets,
including half a billion from China and Asia-Pacific. Vodafone just sold its
Asia-Pacific springboard - Vodafone Japan. EU to abolish roaming chargesThe proposals will open up a whole can of worms. Chiefly because of the way in which the mobile market is structured in each individual EU nation. The operators are also claiming that they have too little time to respond properly. They've only been given from April 3rd to 28th – which works out at 18 working days. By contrast, Ms Reding hopes to have the legislation in place by the Summer of 2007. The GSM Association (GSMA), which represents mobile operators, say that prices for roaming have actually been coming down. "Data from a sample of key operators with customers in 12 European countries indicates that roaming tariffs fell by an average of 8 per cent across Europe last year," it claimed. The mobile operators best defence, of course, will be one of victimisation. How come their networks are being so heavily regulated when the fixed line operators still charge higher rates for consumers to call other countries in the EU? The full Inquirer story ... Operators slam Eurocrats' plans to slash pricing iPhone may launch with HelioVisiongain, has stepped up with the suggestion that Apple might link with US MVNO, Helio, to launch its rumored iPhone. Think Secret, countered with the speculation that Apple has run into problems with its cellular chips. That makes sense since Helio is a joint venture between Korean operator, SK telecom, and the US ISP – Earthlink. It's plain that Helio will be piggy-backing on a CDMA2000 based network. The most likely network to rent itself out to Helio, therefore, is Sprint since it already has a long history of supporting MVNOs with the likes of Virgin Mobile. Plus Helio is using two Korean handset manufacturers to produce its first two handsets – the Kickflip from VK Mobile and the Hero from Pantech. The catch is that Korea uses 1800 MHz for its 2G network while the USA uses 1900 MHz. Anyway, whatever the cause for the delay, Helio should get going in Q2 2006 while the iPhone looks delayed until 2007. The full Inquirer story ... Apple struggles with iPhone chip Zafari links to any wireless networkA new package called Zafari Mobile, created by the team that produced the Connect software for Vodafone, claims to solve remote access problems for corporate users. It talks directly to Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G PC cards and chipsets. Written in Microsoft .Net, this package is much better than rivals at identifying all available wireless networks – not just the ones which your access aggregator wants you to see. According to Andre Axford, CEO with Zafari's creator – Cutting The Wires (CTW) – his company's software can be embarrassingly efficient. Sitting in a cafeteria associated with a company that shall remain nameless, Axford says Zafari detected a Wi-Fi network using non-broadcast APs [Access Points]. Similarly while pitching to the CTO with a major corporation, Zafari found an AP which an employee had hidden under his desk – confident that it would remain undetected. With their background at Vodafone, the CTW team are also familiar with utilising 3G – and even HSDPA – as a route to the corporate VPN. The company even supports EAP – SIM, a means of user verification based on details stored on a SIM card (as phone in cellular phones).
www. Biodegradeable handset partsA free exhibition‚ opening last week at
the Science Museum, London showcases a whole host of biodegradeable phone
components. These include a biodegradeable battery design from Nokia which may
reduce the need for toxic flame retardants‚ thereby aiding the recycling of
mobile phone plastic components. An NEC handset with a biodegradeable cover will
be on show‚ although it is currently only available in Japan. Also on show is
the only lasagne-based circuit board in the world – although sadly it's still a
prototype. Researchers from Warwick University and
materials company, PVAXX, will be displaying a prototype phone cover with an
implanted sunflower seed. As the sunflower grows‚ it gets additional nutrients
from the biodegrading phone cover. Samsung's Z320i 3G i-mode handsetThe motivation for reviewing the Z320i from Samsung was to check out O2's current adverts for its i-mode service. These boldly proclaim that you can keep in touch with eBay from your handset. A status check, however, is all you get.The Z320i is a 3G phone, so in theory it should access i-mode a great deal faster. This shows up in the speed of downloads but not much else. Its main advantages are that it's small and being a slider, doesn't give you any problems with accidentally dialling numbers. There's no point in beating about the bush – Mobile Insight simply didn't get on with the Z320i. This started when this particular handset failed to make a video call to an ancient NEC phone as expected. See Video phone incompatibility exposed. The Z320i tries to be a high end
handset. It's got a pretty decent
1.3 megapixel camera and Flash
facility. Plus there's 120 MB of
user memory built-in. But there's no
removable memory card option. The
biggest surprise was that it
supported Polyphonic ringtones
rather than Truetones – which
frankly made the handset sound very
dated.
Manufacturer: Samsung Snippets
A package called FlexiSpy, made by Vervata, is being sold as a methodfor parents to protect their children by knowing everything they do. It captures call logs, text messages and mobile Internet activity on a mobile phone. However, securityspecialist, F-Secure, says that the software is effectively a Trojan. www.f-secure.com In Site of the Week (by Tony Dennis)This week
Mobsvideo |
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The
biggest surprises came when trying
out the handset's i-mode capability.
Why has O2 allowed this handset to
lose out on single button access to
the mobile Internet – in favour of a
common menu system? So you now have
to click twice. That's madness. Another disappoint was the
browser (from Access). Why on Earth
is it not possible to set up a
bookmark when the handset has no
access to the cellular network?
That's exactly when you need
a bookmark facility, to save
yourself time when you're online.
And eBay access? Well, it
basically lets you view the progress
of any bids or sales you have
active. You can't initiate a sale
from the handset. Worse still,
Mobile Insight found that the 'forgotten your
eBay password' option generated a
continuous loop. It sends you back
to a help file and never connects
with eBay to generate a help
request. The greatest sin the Z320i
committed was to download a video
file from O2's i-mode portal. The
file was in a 3GPP format and
consequently wouldn't play on this
particular handset. That's
disappointing since the whole point
of i-mode (as a superior technology
to WAP) is to prevent consumers
wasting time, effort and money
downloading something that won't run
on their particular make and model
of handset. In summary this handset falls
between a rock and a hard place. It
also doesn't do i-mode any favours.
Avoid it.