LG’s Migo Review
Mobile Burn takes a look at LG’s Migo, a kid specific cell phone that looks more like what you’d expect one of those Pokemon characters to look like than a typical cell phone.
While by no means the first kid-specific mobile phone on the market, LG’s Migo does mark the first time that a major manufacturer has developed one and put some actual marketing muscle behind it. The idea behind the Migo, and similar devices like the Firefly, is to develop a handset for younger kids in their pre-teen years. Make it simple to use, limit the phone’s ability to make outbound calls, and make it “cool” enough that your youngster is going to want to carry it around with him or her.
In the end they give it a highly recommended rating, but they also point out two big flaws in the system, as the Migo does not have GPS capabilities, which would help police track down children, nor does it have inbound call restrictions, which would stop children from being interrupted from homework or school work by friends who just want to chat.
O2 now has UK’s largest Subscriber Base
Over the last year, O2 has grown to become the UK’s largest network service provider by customer count.
Around 895,000 new subscriber’s were enticed by O2’s “double minutes and texts” promotion, and their popular Genie pre-pay system. O2’s customer base has been calculated at being 16 million within the UK alone and 27.4 million worldwide.
Not only has O2 seen an increase in people, but also its annual loss rate, in which it loses customers to other networks has fallen to 27% down from 30%.
O2 said they were “particularly pleased” with its latest results. I would have to say so, not a bad year for them.
Source: Mobile Burn
InfoSpace and Fuse Launch Consumer Mobile Entertainment Initiative
If you like adding various things to your cell phone to personalize and emphasize what you like then this will be good news for you, as InfoSpace will provide fuse with some great new content, all the way from ring tones to graphics and games.
NATPE, Las Vegas - January 24, 2006 – InfoSpace Inc. (NASDAQ: INSP), a leader in mobile media, and fuse, the nation’s only viewer-influenced, music television network, announced today from NATPE in Las Vegas a substantial mobile entertainment initiative whereby InfoSpace will provide fuse with mobile content including ring tones, graphics and games. This content will be available to consumers on the fuse mobile storefront in the second quarter of 2006.
“fuse is a recognized and leading channel for tech-savvy music enthusiasts, so we’re excited to work with them for a simple, on-the-go solution for easy access to mobile entertainment,” said Kieve Huffman, vice president of media content for InfoSpace.
“Working with InfoSpace allows us to once again deepen the fuse experience across multiple platforms with our key demographic of young adults,” said Lisa Choi Owens, vice president of business development for fuse. “We will continue to identify technology trends which allow us to deliver the best mobile content to our viewers.”
Under the new arrangement, fuse viewers will be able to order mobile content via a single shortcode (fuseM) promoted on select fuse TV programs as well as one code ordering from the fuse mobile storefront. The Web-based mobile storefront will be developed and managed by InfoSpace. InfoSpace will provide fuse with music tones from major record labels and hundreds of independent labels in addition to thousands of graphics and InfoSpace’s library of mobile games.
Opera Mini brings the Web to Virtually Any Phone
With Opera trying to grow its market, it is expected that eventually they would try to bring out a web browser for a growing market, and that is exactly what Opera Mini is trying to be. It should have the compression and small screen rendering that people need to reduce bandwidth costs on phones by a fair bit, and the start page for Opera Mini uses a Google search box, which is nice of them. It should be interesting to see how widely this is adopted, as most mobile phone users will just use whatever software is on their phone without ever thinking to change it.
Press Release:
Oslo, Norway - January 24, 2006 - Opera Software today announced the worldwide release of Opera Mini, the full Web browser that runs on almost every mobile phone, including low- and mid-end handsets. Today’s global launch follows the trials of Opera Mini in the Nordics and in Germany during the fall of 2005, which resulted in a user base of over one million people. Opera Mini is available free of charge via WAP download, or for a small fee via SMS.
Go to http://mini.opera.com for more information and download instructions.
“With Opera Mini most people can start surfing the Web with the mobile phone they have today,” says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “We are proud to be the first to offer full, mobile Web browsing to the majority of the world’s mobile phone users.”
(more…)
VibeTonz: A Feature, or a Flop?
Pocket-Lint has an article up about VibeTonz, an idea that Samsung is going to be launching that they want to use as another type of specialty feature.
Samsung is set to launch a new phone that vibrates to music and games to immerse you into the action.
Jointly developed with Immersion, the people responsible for the vibration technology in gaming controllers, the phone will feature technology that embeds a huge range of “vibro-tactile” sensations into the mobile handset.
The company suggests the technology can be used for mobile gamers to accurately feel the recoil of gunshots, the jolt of punches and the acceleration of cars or mobile messaging to be personalised with vibration-based heartbeats, growls and hugs.
An odd idea, but if done right, I suppose it could be useful, though I think it is just another sales gimmick as they start reaching the limit of new sales of mobiles in the UK, and are trying to draw customers away from other companies.
O2 Says Customers Want Mobile TV on the Go
Pocket-Lint has a report up stating that 83% of the users that tested out a TV technology on their cell phones were satisfied with the service provided and on average watched TV on their mobiles for 3 hours a week.
BT believes it has demonstrated clear consumer demand for broadcast digital TV and radio with 38% of users in the trail saying they would switch networks to use it.
O2 said the trials had clearly shown that demand existed for mobile TV, and now want UK regulator Ofcom to release the UHF spectrum required for the service early.
I have watched some television on an iPod, and sometimes I need to squint for that. I would hate to see what television would be like on a smaller screen. I do think though that a radio service for cell phones, and data services are much more important, as they could provide much of the same content information and entertainment that users are looking for without having to put the screen three inches from your face to understand what you are watching.
V CAST Music From Verizon Wireless:
Mobile music is going to become mainstream thanks to V CAST Music, from Verizon Wireless.
V CAST Music lets music lovers download music over the air directly to their wireless phones, straight to their Windows(R) XP PCs, and transfer new and existing digital music from the PC to their wireless phone and to compatible portable music players.
Highlights of V CAST Music from Verizon Wireless include:
- One million songs will be available on V CAST Music by spring; songs are from artists at major music labels (Warner Music Group, EMI Music, Universal and Sony/BMG), as well as independent providers (including The Orchard).
- Purchases from the phone include two copies of every song — one for the phone and one for the Windows XP PC.
- Purchases from the PC cost $0.99 and include a single download to the PC that may be transferred via USB cable to the phone; purchases from the handset cost $1.99 and include two copies of every song, one for the phone and one for a Windows XP PC.
- The first two V CAST Music phones to choose from: the Samsung a950 for $99.99 or the LG VX8100 for $149.99, with more phones to come soon.
- Free sideloading — the ability to take digital music on the PC, including MP3 formatted music, and sync it with the mobile phone through a USB cable.
- The use of the widely respected and comprehensive Microsoft Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) standard.
- Search, browse, preview, download and play high-quality digital music directly from wireless phones or online in the Verizon Wireless V CAST Music Store. Visit http://www.verizonwireless.com/music for more information.
Pricing
Verizon Wireless offers two pricing options that give customers flexibility, depending on how they want to get their music.
The V CAST Music Store already boasts a collection of more than a half- million songs and will contain a million songs by spring. Songs purchased from V CAST Music from the PC cost $0.99 for a single download to the PC that may be transferred to the phone via USB cable. For music lovers who want immediate gratification, song purchases made from the handset cost $1.99 for a copy sent immediately to the phone and a second sent to the PC for download.
Customers need a subscription to the V CAST VPak, which is $15.00 monthly access, added to their Verizon Wireless calling plan to access V CAST Music on their phones. For a limited time, customers who sign up for V CAST receive one month of V CAST service free. Customers interested in managing their music from their PCs in the V CAST Music Online Store can do so without a V CAST VPak.
Five Free Songs Offer
For a limited time, Verizon Wireless is also offering V CAST Music customers the option of downloading five songs for free from a variety of artists. The tracks include:
- The Fugees, “Take It Easy” from their upcoming album
- Shakira, “Animal City” from the album “Oral Fixation Vol. 2″
- Shakira, “Las de la Intuicion” from the album “Fijacion Oral Vol. 1″
- Yellowcard, “Lights and Sounds (Live)” from the V CAST Music exclusive EP “What Happens in Vegas … “
- OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), “If You Leave” from the album “The OMD Singles”
Nokia 6125
Phonescoop lead me to the news about a new phone from Nokia: the 6125. They found the specifications from a press release, and have summarized them up nicely:
The 6125 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS (EDGE) clamshell with sleek, simple styling. Considering it’s not a 3G phone or smartphone, the phone packs a large number of media features. In addition to a 1.3 MP camera, the 6125 has an FM Radio, a media player that supports MP3, AAC, WMA and MP4, and will be one of the first feature phones to ship with Macromedia Flash player. The phone also features Bluetooth, Infrared, USB and a MicroSD slot to move media on and off the phone. It is due out in the second quarter.
For the most part it seems pretty standard. I like the look of the phone, and made note of the FM Radio tuner built in. I don’t know how much I would use it, but that is something that the dedicated music player from Apple does not come with built in. Another feature of note is that this phone will come with Macromedia Flash player, which allows the ability to play both movies and games that are in Macromedia’s popular format.
Samsung SGH-i300x 4GB Musicphone
Over on SamsungHQ they are taking a look at the announcement Samsung has made for its SGH-i300x, a move which increases the storage from 3GB to 4GB in comparison to the SGH-i300.
The SGH-i300x shares the same design and features as its predecessor - tri-band GSM, 1.3MP camera w/flash, QVGA TFT LCD display, MPEG-4 / H.263 / H.264 / WMV video recording and playback, MP3 / AAC / AAC+ / WMA / ASF / WAV / WMA audio playback, 3.5mm earphone jack, stereo Bluetooth, MS Office / PDF Picsel viewer, Bluetooth / USB / IrDA connectivity, flight mode, microSD storage, and running Windows Mobile for Smartphones.
Unless they have added something more than another gigabyte of storage, I don’t see it as an important step, and they must not have either if all they did was add an “x” at the end of the previous model number. I think the change was more to play up the 4 gigabyte number more than anything else, as phones try to do more, and be more to get users to buy their product over another.
BenQ-Siemens Launch Three New Handsets
Pocket-Lint is covering BenQ’s new entries into the cell phone world with their launch of three new handsets undere the BenQ-Siemens brand name.
The company, which officially launched in October last year, launched three new handsets; the EF81, the S68 and S88.
Clemens Joos, CEO BenQ, outlined the company’s aggressive plan to break into the competitive mobile market promising 23-30 new phones this year alone.
A third of all phones launched in 2006 would include 3G connectivity. He also announced that three out of four would include a music player or FM radio and every second phone would offer a 1.3 megapixel camera, signaling a strong focus in multimedia performance.
The CEO when questioned by Pocket-lint.co.uk at the conference said the dramatic change of design over previous Siemens models was because “the design was not working”.
The phones look like they are trying to capitalize on the brand recognition of other cell phones; infact, one of the designs looks almost exactly like the Motorola Razr V3 line of phones, and while sticking the BenQ name on the phone might help or hinder the brand, it should be interesting to see what saturating the market with almost thirty new phones will do for the company.
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