Day: February 13, 2008

“Record numbers of consumers are abandoning their basic cell phones for more-advanced models, according to the latest ChangeWave consumer cell phone survey. The January survey of 4,182 consumers tracked key market share changes affecting cell phone manufacturers and service providers alike. Research In Motion and Apple appear to be the primary beneficiaries of the seismic shift toward more-advanced cell phones. Looking ahead, the Apple iPhone is now the top choice among respondents planning to buy a new cell phone in the next six months (up one point to 17%), but second-place RIM has the most momentum (up three points to 15%).” Read more here:

“Below the break, there’s an interesting video demo of some of the features in the upcoming S60 Touch UI, showing standby screen shortcuts, list scrolling and explaining touch interaction in Web. Good to see so much emphasis is being placed on consistency with existing the S60 3rd Edition platform, too…” via allaboutsymbian.com

“You may not have heard of E28, but they have something particularly rare on show at the Mobile World Congress: a current, off-the-shelf handset that’s running Google’s Android cellphone platform. I stopped by to shoot some video and find out exactly how well the Android OS works, away from reference designs and hardware test-beds; remember, this is basically E28’s E2831 quadband GSM smartphone, with WiFi, a 2.2-inch QVGA touchscreen and 1.3-megapixel camera, entirely stock aside from the OS. The good news? Android works pretty damn well indeed. What makes this particularly interesting is the specs of the E2831: it uses a relatively old OMAP TI 730 chipset, running at just 200MHz, and has a mere 64MB RAM and 64MB ROM. Android runs with no modifications, and the E28 team were even able to download applications coded for the platform from the internet and install them directly to the handset. This, then, is some of that unlocked, open-source simplicity we were promised when the platform was first announced.” via phonemag.com

i-mate, the specialist in Windows Mobile powered devices, today unveils the latest devices in its Ultimate range, the Ultimate 9502 and the Ultimate 8502 at Mobile Congress World.The Ultimate 9502 and 8502 are the latest devices from the Ultimate range, a collection of four devices in various forms to suit individual preferences, from classic PDA to a notebook replacement and were designed to provide the latest and best in phone and PDA technology. With a wide variety of features ranging from to HSDPA and HUSDPA connectivity to the 262k colour TFT screen , every component of the device is specified at a very high level.The Ultimate 9502 represents the flagship of the Ultimate range and delivers an all in one Windows Mobile® device. Powered by 3.5G (HSDPA & HSUPA), and WiFI and Bluetooth connectivity, the Ultimate 9502’s VGA display is perfect for multimedia viewing, or checking through maps using the its integrated GPS functionality for navigation. There are dedicated shortcut keys all around the 9502, allowing easy and fast access to often used applications.. The 9502 includes integrated support for Direct Video Out capabilities, providing you with the option to connect it to monitors or projectors and watch videos off it or even use Windows Mobile on a larger screen. This feature was especially included in a business sense so users can perform video conferencing or project slideshows and presentations from the phone itself, making it a viable alternative to a notebook.The Ultimate 8502 delivers a customised out of the box experience in a slim line QWERTY keyboard form factor. With a 2.6 inch touchscreen with 65k colour TFT backlight, it is fully loaded with Microsoft Office Mobile giving users access to popular applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the go. This device also comes with built-in GPS navigation functionality offering users satellite navigation. The 8502 can play video clips directly and a variety of music file formats on the inbuilt Windows Media Player 10 Mobile media player.”2008 sees i-mate continue to deliver on its iconic devices and sophisticated services,” said Jim Morrison, CEO, i-mate. “The Ultimate range has already won plaudits on its design and strong specifications. The Ultimate 9502 and 8502 will continue to build on i-mate’s, the best of breed combination of innovation, design and technology. Each of our devices is designed with different users in mind giving our customers real choice.”As part of i-mate’s service proposition, Mobile World Congress will also mark the launch of i-mate’s I-Q Services, a portfolio of services that ensure the best wireless experience out of the box. With I-Q, i-mate can immediately customise user devices, fully support devices on a 24/7 basis and fully protect and if necessary, remotely wipe devices that are lost of stolen. little as 48 hours. Mobile Operators can use i-Q to improve their services to the enterprise segment and to accelerate their time-to-market with new mobile devices to address the rapidly expanding mobile workforce. IDC estimates that the worldwide mobile worker population will grow to 878.2 million in 2009 to account for 21.3 percent of the global work force.Morrison concludes, “The mobile industry is starting to develop an approach where a customer can select a device based on what they want and need, not because they are restricted by available options. With the latest Ultimate devices powered by Windows Mobile and customised for the enterprise, we believe we are delivering what our customers are asking for.”

Today, Symbian released the financial statement and operational figures for the fourth quarter, and the full year, which ended on 30th December 2007. Symbian announced that 77.3 million smartphones shipped in the year of 2007 – this number was a significant (50%) increase on the number of Symbian smartphones shipped in the year of 2006. Also of note, is that 8,736 third-party Symbian applications are now commercially available, this is a 27% increase on the end of December 2006, 6,896 applications were available at that time. A total of 68 mobile phones, which are based on the Symbian OS commenced shipment in the year of 2007, through 250 major network operators, by a number of 8 licensees, which include Fujitsu, LG, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony Ericsson. This is a 4.6% increase on 2006 (65 models).