Category
Mobile Tech
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01.06.07Samsung at CESLooks like Samsung will be unveiling two new handsets for the US market at CES next week - on the 8th at 10:30am, to be exact. Both devices will feature stereo Bluetooth, a microSD memory card slot, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and will be slim devices (as is a regular occurrence with Samsung), though one will be tooled for video and one for music. I have a feeling that they will be a version of the SGH-F500 and SGH-F300 announced back at ITU Telecom World for the US market, but I'm not willing to place money on that. I also know ...
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11.10.06New Zealand to Allow ‘TXT TLK’ in School ExamsIn one of the most ridiculous news items I have read in a long time, Stuff is reporting that the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), which oversees secondary and tertiary qualifications in the country, will be allowing SMS-style 'TXT TLK' in exams this year. I have written about my concerns over school age children using mobile phones here previously, and this just seems ludicrous to me. While the NZQA is stating that it is strongly discouraging students to use the shorthand, and that in exams where requirements specifically state that candidates should demonstrate good language use, such as English, abbreviations would ...
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10.13.06Motorola KRZR K1 VideoWhile I had the equipment out, I decided to film a quick video of the MOTOKRZR to give people an idea of the size of the device and speed of the user interface. Click below to watch the video. Continue Reading...
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09.25.06Nokia N73 ReviewThe Nokia N73 has been a bit of a roller coaster for me. When it was originally announced and I wrote the story for MobileBurn, I didn't like it. It just looked funny to me, and I wasn't really interested. Here we are though, five months later, the N73 has been released and I have one in my hand - and I love it. Read on for my initial impressions/mini review of this powerful multimedia handset. Continue Reading...
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09.17.06Handsets for Users with Special NeedsAn issue was raised with me the other day about mobile phones for users with special needs, such as people with vision problems, hearing problems, and other such challenges. James Kendrick touches on the subject a little, but the solutions that he found are a little, well, poor. What I want to see is better integration into the phone's firmware of tools to help disabled people. While this may not necessarily be practical for regular 'dumb' phones, I imagine it wouldn't prove to be such a problem with smartphones. Not knowing people that face these kind of challenges personally, I can only ...
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09.08.06Marketing Mobile HandsetsOne of the hardest parts of my job is remembering model numbers of handsets. For a long time, confusing numbering has been the norm, but finally some of the marketing folk that work with handset manufacturers are waking up to the fact that model names, rather than numbers, are the way to go. Samsung are by far the worst when it comes to naming schemes, followed by Nokia, but the later has recently announced (in a very informal way) that it will be moving to a meaningful naming scheme. Unlike Barry Allwood at MobileScraper (like the name), I think this is ...
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08.24.06Could a Mobile Phone Be Good for a Child’s Spelling?The Be a Good Dad blog has made a very thoughtful response to my Cellphones and Children post, and in fact disagrees with me on one of the points I made. Be a Good Dad contends that SMS text messaging won't ruin a child's spelling and grammar skills, and will in actuality help them know when to write with slang and when to write formally. This is an interesting argument, and if a careful eye is placed on children, could indeed work. As a side note, Be a Good Dad seems like a very good blog for fathers to read, so ...
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08.23.06Tattooed RAZRsI know I am known for a little Motorola bashing in my time, but what do you expect when you are presented with a company whose business plan is to continually rehash an old handset? After the announcements of the MOTOKRZR K1 and MOTORIZR Z3, I really thought that Motorola was going to give me something new. But with no shipping date for these handsets in sight, what has the company given us? That's right - RAZRs in new colors… again… Though this time it comes in the form of 'Tattoos' for the aging handset. One day, Motorola is going to really ...
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08.20.06Phones and Children - When is it too Early?James Kendrick points me to an interesting article on CNET UK about the average age of children when they get a mobile phone. The article states that a recent study shows that the average age of a child is expected to drop to five years old this year - while five years old does surprise me, I thought I would weigh in with my opinion, and it is generally a positive one. I would like to say first, however, that I am not going to address the issue of phone radiation, as we could argue back and forth about that ...
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08.19.06Click Wheel - Not the Solution for PhonesTo begin, I'm not one to bad mouth convergence. While I have no real use for a music phone, I certainly don't have a problem with manufacturers combining an audio player and a phone - it does seem like a good match. What I do have a problem with, is the fact that many are trying to take the interface of one very popular music player and make it work on a mobile handset. Of course, the device I'm referring to is the iPod, and the interface is the click (or scroll) wheel. This input device is great in the ...