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O2 announces O2 Wallet with Transport for London, Transys, Barclaycard, Visa Europe, Nokia and AEG
Posted by VlAD @ 10:34 pmO2 today announced the launch of the UK’s first large scale pilot of NFC (Near Field Communications) technology on mobile phones. The trial of the O2 Wallet® paves the way for the mass market use of mobile phones to pay for purchases, access events or even be used as Oyster cards for travel around London, simply by touching the phone to a reader.
“Research shows that people are more likely to return home if they leave their phone behind than their wallet or keys,” said Cath Keers, Customer Director, O2 UK. “So why not have your wallet on your phone? We believe that NFC technology is going to fundamentally change the way people use their mobile phones.”
Comment (1) »There’s no doubt that mobile phones have a continuously increasing role in people’s everyday life, providing from various multimedia features or business functionalities to payment options. Leveraging on the fact that almost everyone has a mobile phone, Transport For London (TFL) wants to create a handset to be used for Tube payments.
According to The Guardian, the famous English tabloid, officials from Transport For London have confirmed a partnership with Nokia and O2 to create a mobile phone that will come with a built-in Oyster card and will enable users to pay with it for the Tube journeys. All a traveler has to do is to approach the mobile phone to the ticket-reading machine, just like it would do with a simple Oyster card.
It’s time for our next Market Update edition. You can expect our market reports every Friday. Those will inform you on the latest (and greatest) mobile phones that hit the stores on a weekly basis. As previously noted, unfortunately, we won’t be able to comment local availability in stores near you, as well as on carrier-subsidized prices.
The BenQ S7 mobile phone won a place in the Entertainment and Communication category of the iF Design Award China. The iF Design Award China is sponsored by International Forum Design Hanover of Germany. This award is deemed as one of the most significant design competitions in the Asia-Pacific region. The jury is comprised of top international designers that examine and pick the award-winning entries and guarantee iF’s special status and the high reputation of the iF label.
The International Forum Design has often been a place where new models have leaked before they’ve been announced by the manufacturer. The same goes for the BenQ S7, a fashionable GPS-equipped bar-shaped handset. No detailed specs are known for BenQ S7 yet and the integrated GPS receiver, the slim body and the metallic finish are all that can be concluded for now. But knowing how things work, we can probably expect an official press release by BenQ really soon.
Who would have thought?! The Skypephone sold out in just a few days since its release out on the UK market. 3 was caught off guard and had to admit the fact that they never expected the device to reach such high sale rates and empty their shelves.
Many stores ran out of Skypephones within just a few days since the handset’s release, more than two weeks ago. 3 operator’s staff from a central London store said their initial allocation sold out a few days after the handset was launched. They added that their next delivery of 25 had already been pre-sold.
Philips isn’t the first brand that you think of when your are talking about mobile phones. Actually, except for some Asian countries and Russia, you’ll be hard pressed to find any Philips handsets on sale.
Too bad. Especially if you are looking for a simple, elegant phone without tons of bells and whistles, but which you don’t have to plug-in for charging every day. Because in Philips Xenium 9@9 line you might find just the phone for you.
We already told you about Philips Xeniums that can last a month on stand-by. And the new Philips Xenium 9@9k can stay on for two.
That’s right. Official Philips Xenium 9@9k mobile phone stand-by time is up-to 1440 hrs - that’s 60 days- and you can talk on it for 17 hrs non-stop too.
Otherwise Philips Xenium 9@9k is a basic and well designed 108?48×14 mm, tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900)/GPRS phone with 65K color TFT display, VGA camera, microSD memory card slot and Bluetooth.
Asus is about to bring out a new smartphone that should make direct challenge to Nokia’s Communicator line of handsets. Asus M930 Communicator is highly similar to the device brought out by the Finnish producer but might come with more power and higher potential for success.
Asus M930 Communicator runs on a Marvel PXA27x 520 MHz chip, one of the highest ones found among mobile phones. There will also be packed 256MB of Flash ROM and 180MB of RAM, which sounds like just about all the needed resources to run any applications and use the handset both for work and personal needs just as good.
It’s been a while since we last heard about HTC Omni communicator, the info about which leaked last July together with HTC roadmap for 2007.
Now we may know why it was never mentioned again. Looks like HTC was persuaded to drop Windows mobile OS and made Omni into Google’s Android demo phone.
Don’t believe me? How about this Forbes description of HTC “Dream” handset used in Google’s Android demonstrations:
The phone, code-named “Dream” inside Google, looks somewhat like Apple’s iPhone: It is thin, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, and features a touch-sensitive, rectangular screen… The bottom end of the handset, near the navigational controls, is slightly beveled so it nestles in the palm. The screen also swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. (The screen display changes from a vertical portrait mode to a horizontal display when someone uses the keyboard.)
Let’s take a closer look:
HTC Dream looks very similar to HTC Omni for me. So what else is new about it?
GSMArena to continue Market Update series that will inform you on the latest (and greatest) mobile phones that hit the stores on a weekly basis. From now on you can expect their market reports every week. As previously noted, unfortunately, we won’t be able to comment local availability in stores near you, as well as on carrier-subsidized prices.
Samsung F210
The Samsung F210 is the first to go public this week. It builds on the already announced at CeBIT 2007 Samsung F200 by adding a 2 megapixel camera, a smoother design and 1GB of integrated memory. The memory is expandable through the microSD memory card slot (unlike Samsung X830) and is more than enough to get you started (unlike Samsung F200 with its meager 5 (read five) MB). The display of this baby is 1.46″ 262K color TFT one with a resolution of 128 x 220 pixels. Currently, it can be found online for around EUR 280 (USD 400).
Eten glofiish X800
The Eten glofiish X800 is a Windows Mobile 6.0 Pro based PocketPC which impresses with 2.8″ VGA display, integrated GPS receiver and Wi-Fi support. It also has quad-band GSM networks support and HSDPA for fast data transfers. The FM radio and the 2 megapixel camera are the other highlights of the device. The device is somewhat compact in size and weight and runs on a powerful 500 MHz Samsung processor, but the camera has no auto focus capability, there is no USB host feature and hardware QWERTY keyboard. Currently, it can be found online for around EUR 450 (USD 660).
Samsung M610
The Samsung M610 is another product of the South Korean company. It’s a budget-oriented GSM handset but as usual for Samsung it comes with stereo Bluetooth support and a microSD memory card slot. It also has a 65K color CSTN display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. It’s equipped with a VGA camera and FM radio. It has tri-band GSM support, but GSM 900 is not among them. Currently, it can be found online for around EUR 140 (USD 200).
Sony Ericsson Z320
The Sony Ericsson Z320 is a stylish clamshell with tri-band GSM/GPRS network support. It comes with a 1.3 megapixel camera, 12 MB internal memory, but unfortunately there’s no memory card slot. Other than that, it has a 1.8 inch main 65K color TFT display with 128 x 160 pixels resolution. The external display is capable of displaying only system icons. Currently, it can be found online for around EUR 100 (USD 150).
E-Ten shipping the Glofiish X800 3.5G Windows Mobile Smartphone
Posted by VlAD @ 11:57 pmE-TEN Information Systems is proud to announce that the award-winning Glofiish X800 Pocket PC Phone has begun shipping worldwide. Highlights of the X800 include 3.5G high-speed connectivity, a pixel-sharp high-resolution VGA display and a new powerful mobile shell that make this the most advanced Glofiish device to date.
E-TEN’s next-generation Glofiish X800 Pocket PC Phone has begun shipping to channel partners around the globe. The X800 is E-TEN’s first handset to support 3.5G HSDPA connectivity for high-speed downloads delivering new and improved online services including faster more enjoyable surfing and email, streaming audio and video downloads, VoIP and instant messaging, and video calling.
The X800 was first previewed earlier in the year at CeBIT where it drew considerable interest from show-goers and the media. The handset was next seen at Computex where it was again warmly received and earned a Best of Computex Award. Since that time E-TEN has continued to refine the X800 package and the device now includes E-TEN’s new mobile shell, an easy-to-customize interface that lets users display all of their most important information on a single screen.
The new mobile shell enables features including, photo speed dial, application launcher, and weather forecasts and world time to be displayed and accessed from the Windows MobileR Today Screen offering powerful new opportunities for users to streamline their mobile experience.
Measuring just 113.5 x 60 x 15.8mm the Glofiish X800 includes a high-resolution 2.8-inch VGA (640×480) display and GPS connectivity.
The Glofiish X800 is based on the Window MobileR 6 platform and is available in several languages. Pricing and availability is subject to regional variation but the X800 can be expected to available in key markets within a few weeks.