Device Arena
Archive for September, 2007
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In a blatant, if rather clever PR stunt, the US based mobile phone retailer, YouNeverCall has offered a prize for the first mobile phone call to be made from the moon. Their announcement follows the decision by Google to support the X-Prize foundation’s US$30 million in prizes for the first private vehicle to be landed on the Moon by 2015.
In order to claim the US$10,000 prize a cell phone call must be placed by a device or person present on the Moon’s surface. This call must pass through a commercially available cellular phone to YouNeverCall’s corporate headquarters in Los Angeles. The call may travel via any protocol or compression before reaching their offices, and it must be possible to for the caller to answer a few yes/no questions correctly.
That should allow for conventional radio broadcasts from the lunar surface back to earth, then for the signal to be passed over a conventional terrestial cellphone network - so it doesn’t technically have to be a “cellphone call from the moon”.
Like Google, YouNeverCall is offering a lesser prize for companies who achieve a related but lesser goal. YouNeverCall is offering a $500 prize to the first SMS message that travels via the moon and lands on one of our corporate cell phones.
YouNeverCall reminded readers that use of cell phones outside of one’s calling area may incur steep roaming charges.
The Google Lunar X PRIZE was introduced on 13 September 2007. The goal of the prize is similar to that of the Ansari X PRIZE, to inspire a new generation of private investment in space exploration and technology. The challenge calls for teams to compete in successfully launching, landing, and operating a rover on the lunar surface. The prize awards US$20 million to the first team to land a rover on the moon that successfully roves more than 500 meters and transmits back high definition images and video. There is a US$5 million second prize, as well as $5 million in potential bonuses prizes for extra features such as roving long distances (greater than 5,000 meters) capturing images of man made objects on the moon, or surviving a lunar night.
This is not officially the W880 successor, but we are just guessing. It has a very similar design and looks to be as thin as the W880.
It has a 3.2 mega pixel camera on the back (it is unclear if it has AF), front cam for video calls and a lovely big screen (which was missing in the W880).
We never knew there was a pink version of the Samsung J600. Everyone is going pink these days and this phone looks nice in pink.
All the coloured stones make it look even better and also special.
Following news that Orange has been chosen as Apple’s carrier for the iPhone in France, Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research, said that Apple’s ability to find carrier partners has been “very impressive.” Orange’s ability to accommodate Wi-Fi for the iPhone was clearly one of the selection factors for Apple.
Apple is partnering with Orange. That exclusive, and potentially flavorful, partnership for the iPhone launch in France was announced Thursday by Orange Chief Executive Didier Lombard, according to a Reuters news report.
A spokesperson for the company has confirmed to the news service that Lombard announced the deal-signing at an industry event in Hanoi. No formal announcement has yet been posted on the Web sites of Apple, Orange, or Orange’s parent company, France Telecom. A formal announcement is expected at the Apple Expo in Paris on Monday.
Orange Joins T-Mobile, O2
Earlier this week, Apple announced deals for carrier partnerships in the United Kingdom with O2 and in Germany with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile. Both of those launches are scheduled for November 9, but the launch date in France has not yet been released. According to some reports on the Web, the French launch will be November 29. Pricing has not yet been released.
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with industry research firm Jupiter Research, said that Apple’s ability to find carrier partners to “do what it takes to be part of this ecosystem” has been “very impressive.”
But he cautioned that European users, in France and elsewhere, have some different expectations of mobile phone usage. Subsidies of phone purchases by carriers are common, for instance, although Orange has told news outlets that it won’t subsidize the iPhone.
Text messaging is also more widespread there. “Users will have to adjust to the lack of a physical keyboard” on the iPhone, he noted.
3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi
Another difference in Europe is a wider use of 3G. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has said that 3G impacts the device’s battery life, and won’t be available on the iPhone until at least next year. Wi-Fi networks can be used by the iPhone when available. Otherwise, the device relies on the slower EDGE for data transfers.
The selected carrier’s ability to accommodate Wi-Fi was clearly one of the selection factors. France Telecom reportedly has about 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspots. In Germany, T-Mobile has about 8,600, and, with a worldwide total of about 20,000, was described by Apple as “the biggest Wi-Fi provider in the world.”
In the UK, carrier O2 will need to spend millions of pounds to upgrade its network so that 30 percent of it can handle EDGE, according the Times Online, and a deal was struck with the Cloud for access to 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots there.
But there are also other challenges for Apple in Europe. For instance, this launch is taking place after hackers have come up with ways to unlock the iPhone and make it usable on other networks. Some observers have suggested that the door could now be open to widespread illegal use, but others note that Apple has at least one ace up its sleeve - iTunes.
The online music service is becoming a central portal for iPhone activation and other communications with the customer, as well as providing one of the major values of the combined media player/phone/Internet viewer. The hacks are not expected to outlive firmware iPhone updates delivered through iTunes.
BenQ today announces the launch of its BenQ C30 mobile phone, a stylish phone that features a unique top key design that lets consumers enjoy multimedia entertainment with more ease and fun. The dedicated access keys allow consumers to easily access FM radio, MP3 player and camera functions.
The BenQ C30 is designed with a stylish color combination to meet the vigorous lifestyles of consumers today. Weighing only 77g, its compact size creates a comfortable feel when gripped, and the unique designed access keys on top of the mobile phone meets consumers’ entertainment needs for a smart interface that integrates FM radio, MP3 player and camera. This design allows one click access to a built-in FM radio with dual loud speakers, a MP3 player that supports MP3, WAV, MIDI, AMR, and AAC formats, and a VGA camera that supports AVI video recording and playback.
Equipped with a microSD™ card slot for storing more files, the BenQ C30 is the ultimate accessory for young consumers, and allows easy access when transferring files from PC to phone using USB.
Vodafone Brand Enters India - A move to shake the telecom world
Posted by Newsman @ 03:19 pmVodafone will be using its own name across India and continue its expansion in the country. This comes as a follow-up to the company’s interest in the area and its purchase of an Indian cellular firm, Hutchison Essar from Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications International.
The leading global mobile provider, Vodafone, has showed a great amount of interest in India for some time now. That’s a good choice, if considering the fast development that this country is facing when it comes to mobile communication. The number of telecom subscribers in this country increases by 6 million every month, which sounds like the dream of any operator.
Vodafone has spent more than USD 11 million on purchasing Hutchison and making a start for its presence in the country. The company has worked under the former company’s name up to this point, when it decided to use its own and gain some notoriety here too. At the time of the purchase, Vodafone said it wants to make Hutch the first mobile provider in India by 2010. The operator has already advanced to third from fourth place since the take over.
It looks like Vodafone has done the math and gotten its plan together. The company will focus on rural markets, as these areas feature the greatest evolution. Moreover, they ask for low-end technology and less evolved devices. For this reason, the operator partnered with Chinese handset maker ZTE for providing low-cost mobile phones to carry in these areas.
Another step made by the company for making its name known here was an agreement with Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV network. This should bring Vodafone a 24-hour nationwide brand-awareness campaign and the new market’s sympathy as well. There are high chances for the operator to pull off this market entrance perfectly, leading to a great boost in profits.
BenQ plans to outsource part of its handset production to Taiwan handset OEMs with the first outsourced model to hit the market by the end of this year, according to Hank Hung, general manager of BenQ Taiwan.
The outsourcing will begin with entry-level models initially and will expand to include other ranges later, said Hung, noting that the company will consolidate its handset lineup into five series designated by the prefixes of T (elegant style), E (metallic), M (sports), S (fashion) and C (mass-market).
Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) and Quanta Computer have a good chance of landing the handset orders from BenQ, according to market sources.
BenQ on September 19 launched three own-brand models, the T33, T51 and E72, in Taiwan, with all of them being manufactured by parent company Qisda. BenQ was officially spun-off from Qisda at the beginning of September.
Hung estimated that BenQ’s handset sales in Taiwan will exceed 30,000 units in September, accounting for a 4% share in the local market.
BenQ aims to boost its monthly sales in Taiwan to 50,000 units in 2008, bringing its total shipments for the year to 600,000 units, or about an 8-9% share of the Taiwan handset market, Hung projected.