More Mobile Releases

The mobile world is buzzing with new sets and launches:

The Pulse Android ‘pay as you go’ handset by Huawei will hit the market in October and have a 3.5in touch-screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS and comes pre-installed with Google applications like Google Maps and Gmail. Users will also be able to download applications from the Android Marketplace. The price is £179.99 and for an extra £5 per month, or a £1 a day, you can have unlimited internet access with T-Mobile. The device will also be available to contract customers.

Interestingly, Nicola Shenton, T-Mobile's head of handset marketing states, “With Android, we don't need the iPhone.” A somewhat brave statement but in today’s iPhone exclusive world he has little choice.

LG BL40, or new LG Chocolate, will be available on Orange and the Carphone Warehouse from this month. The original Chocolate sold more than 21 million units worldwide.



The new Chocolate features; a 4-inch, 21:9, 345 x 800 WVGA capacitive touchscreen capable of displaying 16 million colours and even has a split screen dual functionality, which means you can have two applications running literally side by side. There is a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and Scheider-Kruznach glassware and a micro USB port plus a 3.5mm jack.

Then we have the latest revision of Microsoft's mobile operating system,Windows Mobile 6.5. which boasts a new user interface, the revamped OS, the Windows Marketplace for Mobile app store and offers users a hosted backup service called My Phone. The LG GM570, will go on sale on 6 October, the official release date for Windows Mobile 6.5. In the UK and will be exclusive to Vodafone.
LG have claimed its intention to launch 13 new Windows Mobile handsets worldwide by the end of 2010, which in any world is aggressive.

So in one month we must choose our new handset, or wait. This may mean changing carrier and may even mean giving up cherished features like free skype. We are undecided but eagerly waiting to be tempted.Which would you choose?

IPhone 'Stock Dumping' Fuels Runours

Play.com is selling unlocked iPhones in the UK. The unlocked device is sold SIM-free, enabling users to be able to run the handset on any mobile phone network of their choice. However the privilege comes at a price with the unlocked 8GB iPhone costing £549.99 and the 16GB £599.99 with stocks already sold ou of the 16GB.

Carphone Warehouse recently confirmed that it would start giving away the 16GB iPhone for free when customers sign up to a two-year O2 contract for £34.26 per month.It appears that old stock is certainly being cleared to make way for the model expected in June.

BoyGeniusReport claim that Apple is also set to a $99 3G Apple Netbook this summer. At this price Apple will have to make changes and it is rumoured that the Netbook will possibly ship with Apple's own iPhone OS 3.0. Apple may be going for a cut down Netbook that will not compete with its cheapest Macbook, at least not for now. Maybe a iPhone OS based netbook with a keyboard and that much rumoured 10.1-inch touchscreen giving us a large version of the iPod Touch and a compelling device that would live between the laptops and the mobiles and certainly a ebook competitor to rival any eink player with Apple apps to boot!

Laptops For Free With Wi Fi Broadband

Ok you want to be always online. You may buy into a mobile contract for a new 3G Smartphone, or subscribe a Wi-Fi broadband dongle for you laptop, or why not subscribe to a service that throws in a new laptop / notebook!

Today you can go into your local Mobile shop and walk out with brand new notebook, WiFi broadband connection. Orange, 3 Mobile and Vodaphone are all offering packages that could significantly change our habits and usage. Why buy a ebook reader when you could have a notebook and connection? Why buy an expensive laptop if you comes with your deal? There will be issues and it will not appeal to all but at around £30 a month (the same as or even less that many electronic and entertainment subscriptions it offers a lot.

Think about the student who struggles to buy the laptop or the school pupil whose parents have today to buy one, or the pensioners, low paid worker etc. who can’t afford the initial outlay but could afford the subscription. What would it mean to a small company?

Think about what it means to have any of the deals below plus Wi-Fi broadband from www.three.co.uk or more still at www.orange.co.uk

HP 550 Notebook
• 15.4" WXGA display
• Intel® Celeron® M Processor
• 1GB RAM
• 120GB hard drive
• WiFi
• Windows Vista® Home Basic
• Weight – 2.7kg
• Send 150 texts a month direct from laptop
• Worth £329 inc VAT*
• * HP suggested retail price as of 30th June 2008. Actual price may vary.

HP Mini Note PC 2133
• 8.9" WXGA display
• Via C7® -M ULV Processor
• 1GB RAM
• 120GB hard drive
• WiFi
• Windows Vista® Home Basic
• Starting weight of 1.27kg
• Send 200 texts a month direct from laptop
• Worth £399 inc VAT*
• * HP suggested retail price as of 30th June 2008. Actual price may vary.

HP 6910 Pavillion
• 15.4" WXGA display with NVIDA®
• Ge-Force™ Graphics card
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor
• 3GB RAM
• 250GB hard drive
• Super Multi DVD Reader/Writer (DVD+RW)
• WiFi
• Integrated webcam
• HP QuickPlay - launch films and music at the touch of a button
• Windows Vista® Home Premium
• Weight – 3.1kg
• Send 250 texts a month direct from laptop
• Worth £599 inc VAT*
• * HP suggested retail price as of 30th June 2008. Actual price may vary.

Or go to www.PCWorld.co.uk www.carphonewarehouse.co.uk to see the wide range of deal available from these retailers.

The business model is changing and although some aspects still fall short the concept is in play and presents an interesting proposition to consumers and also to content providers who now start to see a switched on consumer who doesn’t need to download stuff to access it.

Free to Talk Talk

The Financial section of the Guardian today reported on the latest twist in the battle of responsibility of piracy between the Internet Service Providers and the music and film industry.

TalkTalk, the internet service-provider owned by Carphone Warehouse, has openly rejected demands that it should "police" the internet and cut off some broadband customers who file share. The record industry, in the form of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), has requested that the service providers should warn persistent illegal file-sharers and then be cut off under a "three strikes and you're out" rule. The government has through lobbying been also drawn into the debate and has said that it would look to introduce legislation next year if service providers could not agree a voluntary framework to combat piracy.

Carphone Warehouse's chief executive, Charles Dunstone is reported as saying, ‘the music industry has consistently failed to adapt to changes in technology and now seeks to foist their problems on someone else. Rather than threatening us, the BPI's time would be better spent facing up to the reality of our times and adapting its business model accordingly.’

Whether we accept file sharing or not it is a fact of life that has always gone on but is now easier through technology. Spying on what is sent and how individuals use the Internet is as damaging and as morally questionable if not more than breaking copyright. It is ludicrous that what we do over our Internet services should be monitored and that one industry can expect to set a precedent that becomes difficult to stop once started. What next? We could be faced with every email attachment, every Skype call, every file transfer all being looked at in case it was believed to be illegal. We don’t condone piracy, but we also agree that adjusting business models to suit consumer trends makes far more sense than sticking your head in the sand and asking others police your mess.

Thank you Mr Dunstone.