| SonyEricsson to develop rugged telematics module - 8:27pm | 30-Apr-2003 |
Sony Ericsson says that it has commenced the development of a new Rugged Cellular Communication Module, the GM46, intended for embedded applications where operation in harsh environments is a requirement, such as Automotive and Industrial applications. The GM46 will be a tri-mode module capable of operating in GSM, AMPS, and TDMA. It will also support class 8 GPRS packet data communications, which along with its tri-mode and ruggedness features, will make it unique in the industry.
Read the complete story here.
| Airlines to allow cell phone use during flight - 8:25pm | 30-Apr-2003 |
Scandinavian Airlines says that it will be the first airline
to allow the use of some mobile phone functions during flight. In the
so-called flight-safe mode, the mobile phone is switched on without
sending or receiving signals and won't therefore affect flight
security.
It is mobile phones such as the Sony Ericsson P800 and the Nokia
Communicators which have this flight-safe mode. With this, the
traveler on board a SAS flight can use a mobile phone to update his or
her diary, write e-mail and take notes, edit documents, play games,
listen to music and even take photos with a built-in camera -
everything except make a phone call.
Read the complete story here.
| Symbian announces Symbian OS v7.0s - 5:00pm | 30-Apr-2003 |
The development of this latest Symbian OS release, Symbian OS v.7.0s, demonstrates that Symbian continues to deliver Symbian OS in step with the needs of Symbian OS licensees and the broader mobile industry. Symbian has delivered Symbian OS 7.0s to its licensees earlier this year. Symbian OS licensees will make announcements regarding products based on Symbian OS 7.0s in due course.
Read the complete press release here.
| Updated the Mac and Linux pages - 12:15pm | 28-Apr-2003 |
Updated the Mac and Linux pages with additional resource information.
| The guys in ESATO met up again on saturday - 11:52am | 28-Apr-2003 |
The guys met up again and we also met with Vivien (and Allen) at EricServe who just bought a P800 herself. Had so much fun that I forgot to take any pictures. Sorry guys.
| 3G billing causing data management headache - 5:57pm | 25-Apr-2003 |
Surging data processing demands caused by the complexities and volume of billing for 3G and GPRS mobile services will increase three-fold as they become mainstream across. That is the warning from ORSYP, an IT operations management company that works with several leading telcos.
Read the complete story here.
| Sony Ericsson Q1 pre-tax loss 113 mln euro - 5:54pm | 25-Apr-2003 |
Swedish-Japanese mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson made a 113 million euro pre-tax loss in the January-March period, Sony Corp. said in its fiscal year-end report on Thursday.
Read the complete story here.
| AOL Gets Smart with Symbian OS - 5:35pm | 25-Apr-2003 |
America Online has tapped into the future of mobile phones by
agreeing to develop its instant messaging services and text-input
software for the Symbian OS, a handset operating system that is dominant
in other parts of the world but has yet to take off in the United States.
AOL will develop a client for wireless instant messaging services -- AOL
Instant Messenger (AIM) and ICQ -- as well as its leading predictive
text-input software, T9 Text Input, for Symbian OS smartphones.
Read the complete story here.
| Updated the Tips & Tricks section - 5:04pm | 25-Apr-2003 |
Tip 18 (Chinese input on the P800) has been updated with supporting files for both Simplified and Traditional input systems.
| Updated the Links page - 12:39pm | 25-Apr-2003 |
Updated the Links page. New sites to visit.
| Sony Ericsson claiming GSM royalties - 3:10pm | 23-Apr-2003 |
The paper, citing un-named sources said that LG Electronics, Pantech and Sewon Telecom had all been approached recently by Sony Ericsson regarding the unpaid license fees. According to local government figures, the Sounth Korean manufacturers shipped handsets worth US$7.14 billion in 2002.
Read the complete story here.
| GSM coverage to include Mount Everest summit - 3:07pm | 23-Apr-2003 |
China Mobile is putting a GSM base station on Mount
Everest. The move is to support a team sponsored by the Chinese
internet portal, Sohu which will send daily reports of their
assent via SMS and MMS to subscribers.
<SNIP>
China Mobile will set up a mobile telephone system at the Base
Station to provide the wireless signal, while Motorola will contribute
388C multimedia messaging enabled phones. Meanwhile, SOHU will provide
the value-added content services for live SMS and MMS broadcasting
throughout the expedition and bring exclusive online reporting on the
SOHU website.
Read the complete story here.
| Report: Billing problems will compound 3G debt - 3:05pm | 23-Apr-2003 |
SECOR Consulting has released the results of its survey, Global Communications Industry Credit and Debt Management Survey, which it says there are likely to be significant debt problems as a result of 3G. A resounding 100% of the respondents from wireless operators believe that debt is likely to rise with the introduction of 3G.
Read the complete story here.
| Updated the Tip & Tricks page - 2:40pm | 23-Apr-2003 |
I've updated the Tips & Tricks page with a Tip on how to install the Chinese language and input system into the P800.
| The SMan v1.0 is now available - 6:00pm | 22-Apr-2003 |
Droll has finally completed the System Manager (aka "SMan"). You can download the .SIS installer by going into the "Droll Software" page.
| Bored and confused by the PC Internet - world turns to phones - 12:01pm | 21-Apr-2003 |
A Pew Research report published yesterday makes sober reading for techno-utopians. It reveals that Internet usage in the US has stalled. Half of the population doesn't want the Internet and doesn't care less about what it might be missing.
Read the complete story here.
| Droll Software - 1:42am | 21-Apr-2003 |
Droll (aka Yip Je Sum) is currently developing a system utility for the P800 called the System Manager (aka SMan). He has his own section called "Droll Software." You can see it here.
| New PCSuite v1.4.2 now available for P800 - 3:31pm | 19-Apr-2003 |
Visit the Sony Ericsson support site here and get the latest PC Suite.
| Firmwave list updated - 1:51pm | 18-Apr-2003 |
Updated the firmware list which has a new and updated P800 firmware. It's not the UIQ 2.1 yet, but has improved Bluetooth connectivity and better overall functions mainly in the Media bits (better camera, easier to manage media files, etc).
| The guys at GSMBOX does the T100 - 1:46pm | 18-Apr-2003 |
What struck us, looking at the telephone, was the intriguing and elegant minimalist design. It has netted lines, is clean and slightly rounded off at the edges. The keys as well are square, regular and perfectly symmetrical. Breaking what seems to be too square a look, there is lateral moulding between the telephone and the battery.
Read the complete story here.
| Report: Location based services to grow sharply by 2006 - 12:03am | 17-Apr-2003 |
Struggling to remain profitable amid price competition and falling average revenue per user (ARPU), mobile operators are gearing up for the roll-out of 'Next Generation' commercial Location-based Services (LBS) to create new revenue streams, build subscriber bases and reduce customer churn. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, North American Location-based Services Markets, reveals that this market generated US$13 million in revenues in 2002 and is likely to climb to more than US$850 million in 2006.
Read the complete story here.
| Text messaging more addictive than cigarettes - 12:00am | 17-Apr-2003 |
A father of one 16 year told Childalert, a children's charity "We give Emma, our daughter, œ20 pocket money with extra for her school dinners. We learnt recently that all this money is being spent on text messaging her friends. She hasn't had a meal in school for the past 3 months and worst of all considers no other activity or hobby worthy of her pocket money."
Read the complete story here.
| 3G plans in Malaysia - 3:26pm | 14-Apr-2003 |
MAXIS Communications Bhd will spend about RM800mil to RM1.2bil
over the next 2-3 years on third-generation (3G) mobile telecoms services
in the Klang Valley, said chief executive officer Jamaludin Ibrahim.
"(Maxis will launch 3G) at the end of next year. So I have to spend 9-12
months before that launch date to build up the network," he said in an
interview in Kuala Lumpur.
Maxis plans to offer pilot coverage by end-2003 or early next year, and
commercially launch the service by end-2004.
Read the complete story here.
| Apple boosts Bluetooth - Bluetooth boosts Apple - 8:21pm | 11-Apr-2003 |
Apple has updated its operating system to include support for
Bluetooth-enabled smartphones and peripherals.
It's a huge win for Apple users, who can now sync their Macintosh
computers with the coolest new phones. The release notes for the newest
revision of the OS, version 10.2.5, here, promise support for the P800
and Nokia's Series 60 phone, the 7650.
Read the complete story here.
| Fight back on SMS Spam - 4:04pm | 10-Apr-2003 |
The code of practice bans the use of spam however by insisting that any SMS's are only sent to persons who have opted in to receive messages, either from the company directly, or via a mailing list that permits SMS marketing messages to be sent.
Read the complete story here.
| Symbian neglected at quiet mobile gaming show - 3:59pm | 10-Apr-2003 |
The Symbian version was significantly better - especially in terms of graphics - than the J2ME version. Stranger still is the fact that margins in mobile gaming are much higher than other forms of mobile content provision with a software distributor like Handango returning 70 per cent of the retail price for a game back to its owner.
Read the complete story here.
| Unholy row breaks out in US over CDMA, GSM phones - 3:57pm | 10-Apr-2003 |
But there's an even more unholy war broken out on the normally sedate Silicon Investor, which labels the INQUIRER, the BBC and even American journalists like the the Los Angeles Times, and Theresa Orlowski, as being very very biased against Congressman Issa, Qualcomm and CDMA - which some geezer called Jim Mullens describes as a "home grown technology".
Read the complete story here
| Symbian to unveil open source dev language (OPL) at Expo - 10:13am | 8-Apr-2003 |
Psion used to have a thriving developer community using OPL, but it didn't come with Symbian OS 6.0 and beyond, so it has become largely something for die-hard developers still catering for EPOC 5 devices. Last year Symbian did ship an OPL development kit for the OS 6.0-based Nokia 9210 (itself no spring chicken), but for OPL to survive it has to be made to address a broader range of newer Symbian devices. This would now seem to be happening, and far from being dead, OPL may turn out to be a development 'secret weapon' for Symbian.
Read the complete story here.
| Teen cellphone radiation risk - 11:28am | 7-Apr-2003 |
Mobile phone manufacturers should take seriously a Swedish finding that their products are dangerous for teenagers and work on developing safer phones, says scientist Dr Neil Cherry.
Read the complete story here.
| Updated the firmware revision list - 11:13am | 7-Apr-2003 |
Updated the firmware revision list
| The cellphone is now thirty (30) years old - 5:34pm | 4-Apr-2003 |
Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the first public telephone call placed on a portable cellular phone. Martin Cooper, ArrayComm's chairman, CEO and co-founder, placed that call on April 3, 1973, while general manager of Motorola's Communications Systems Division. It was the incarnation of his vision for personal wireless communications, distinct from cellular car phones. That first call, placed to Cooper's rival at AT&T's Bell Labs from the streets of New York City, caused a fundamental technology and communications market shift toward the person and away from the place.
Read the complete story here.
| T610/618 whitepaper released - 2:43pm | 4-Apr-2003 |
For those of you interested in knowing more about the T610/T618 (aka "The T68i successor"). You can download the whitepaper about this product from the Ericsson Mobility World site or download it directly from here.
| Malaysia formally awards 3G spectrum - 11:05am | 4-Apr-2003 |
Malaysia's Telekom Malaysia is expected to roll out a 3G network pilot service in July 2003, according to Tan Sri Nuraizah Abdul Hamid, Chairman of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission. He added that the commercial deployment of the network is expected in 2004, at which time the second 3G license holder, UMTS Sdn Bhd is expecting to roll out its own pilot network.
Read the complete story here.
| Report: 3G launches to peak in 2004, ubiquity waits to 2007 - 11:03am | 4-Apr-2003 |
Three years ago, the euphoria surrounding 3G resulted in operators spending billions of dollars in licensing fees, solely based on exponential calculations of growth in subscribers and average revenues per user (ARPUs). But to their disappointment, some operators now find it nearly impossible to recover their investments and most have delayed their plans to deploy 3G, according to a new study by research firm Allied Business Intelligence (ABI).
Read the complete story here
| Image enhancement for Personal Java on P800 - 10:27am | 4-Apr-2003 |
A software improvement is available that corrects the picture quality obtained for PersonalJava applications on P800/P802. End-users can download and install the 'ImageFix' update which will improve the picture quality in PersonalJava applications run on this device. This enhancement has effect for PersonalJava applications that load JPG or GIF images and display these in applications, such as photo and map applications.
Below is the two comparison snapshots from the P800 screen.
You can read the enhancement announcement in Ericsson Mobility World here.
You can also download the file directly from here.
| Surver: Costs turns UK punters off 3G - 11:47am | 2-Apr-2003 |
If this is the sign of things to come, the 3G uptake is going to be very, very, very, very slow.
Researchers are warning the mobile phone industry that the
high cost of phone calls and handsets could dent the uptake of 3G
mobile technology.
<SNIP>
"Our research suggests that the mobile industry must remember
how important cost is to most people who buy and use mobile phones.
The industry is aware of this but it doesn't change the fact that
until 3G becomes better value most consumers will find it an
expensive worry too far."
Read the complete story here.
| Content is king for 3G. But what content? - 11:45am | 2-Apr-2003 |
According to the report the high cost of phone calls and
handsets could dent the uptake of 3G mobile technology. This prompted
the debate Do we really need 3G? (a question we've sometimes pondered
also).
The short answer is: yes, but maybe not yet and not necessarily in
the way 3G services are first entering the market.
Read the complete story here.