Mobile Insight Vol: 8 Issue 332 September 11th 2006
Mobile music arena stumbles
A new survey
carried out by Entertainment Media Research – in association with the law firm Olswang
- makes pretty dire reading for the mobile phone industry. By contrast, it gives
a whacking great boost to the social networking sites. When asked what do they
do when they hear a track which they'd like to download to their mobile, only
six per cent said they'd buy it from their network operator's portal. A massive
44 per cent said they simply weren't interested in downloading music to their
mobile phones. There's also bad news for technologies like Nokia's Visual Radio.
When asked whether they'd purchase a track they'd just heard on the radio and
download it to their handset, only 36 per cent found the concept appealing. The
only good news is that 52 per cent of those who said last year [2005] that they
probably would download music to their mobile phones have done so. That equates
to around 11 per cent of respondents actually downloading some music to their
phones. One of the main competitors could well be the DAB radio since 19 per
cent of respondents might purchase a track if their radio had a 'buy now' option
on it. Separately Keith Jopling, a director with researcher, IFPI, said that growth in mobile music wouldn't really start to take off until 2008 when, among other factors , use of 3G became more widespread.
IFPI has found that only one in five consumers had used their 3G phone to download a music track or video.
A British
firm, Sarian, is claiming to have launched the first router designed for enterprise usage that harnesses the power of HSDPA – otherwise known as Superfast
3G. It believes it's finally
discovered a good use for 3G –
emergency backup for corporate
LANs. Sarian's idea is simple – if your broadband/DSL link goes down, you just switch to using HSDPA. With download speeds of 1.8 Mbit/s from HSDPA, in theory, network users shouldn't notice the difference when the switch is made.
The good news is that HSDPA is rapidly becoming widely available with over 100 3G networks already saying they plan to offer the facility.
The key to the Sarian HR4110's viability is its ability to detect that the LAN's existing router – such as a Cisco box – has actually lost its connexion. For this detection, Sarian uses VRRP + - an Open standard protocol modified by the company and equivalent to Cisco's HSRP.
Sarian is insistent that it has direct control over the unit's HSDPA functionality via technology made available from Novatel. It argues that the opposition is reliant on PC Card devices which use Qualcomm's core technology. And therefore have far less flexibility.
This particular router serves another niche besides network backup – it can provide high speed Internet access in situations where broadband simply isn't available. Such as at music festival, for example.
The company even claims it makes client/server applications – such as Citrix powered installations – viable in a true wireless situation.
Sarian claims the HR4110 is packed with lots of useful features, of course. One of these is its support for dual SIM cards. So if one cellular network disappears, the box can switch to a second cellular supplier for its HSDPA
connexion. The maker also has developed its own OS, which is so obscure that no-one has bothered to create any attacks for it. Sarian may just have found that Holy Grail – an application for which 3G becomes indispensable
Sony Ericsson is heavily marketing the K800i
for the capabilities of its camera, so let's
start there. It has 3.2 mega pixels, with flash
and red eye reduction, auto focus, plus zoom
that includes 16x digital zoom. And, of course,
the 'cyber shot' mode, in which it automatically
takes 9 shots in rapid succession and lets you
choose the best. Matched with a 240x320 pixel
TFT screen, this undoubtedly makes for a fine
digital still camera. The camera is activated by
sliding the slightly strangely protruding lens
cover on the rear of the phone. Other innovations with the K800i are two
custom keys: one for a personalised home screen
and another for mobile Internet access. Useful,
but increases the need to operate the phone with
finger nails rather than tips.
The network home page and downloads can also be
reached from top-level menus options. This
squeezes rather a lot of the options into a
Settings menu, but the clever use of tabs to
sub-divide options keeps everything accessible.
In keeping with other Sony Ericsson models
such as the Walkman phones (W700/800 series)
there's an MP3 player and FM radio, plus
extendable lists for games and downloads. Video calls make use of a separate camera on
the front of the phone by default, along with
alternative view layouts including split screen.
The camera choice can be flipped to use the main
camera but means you lose sight either of what
you're shooting or the caller face. Compared to
connecting a data call via GPRS though, the
video connection is made automatically and
rapidly, as with mobile Internet access. The web browser uses a very small default
font size for these old eyes. Zoom to around 140
per cent though and you get fonts comparable
with earlier models, with this size
automatically retained thereafter, although with
the obvious reduction in visible content. This phone comes without removable Sony
memory card as standard - surely a money spinner
for someone, as an entry level card seems to be
a 1GB card for around £50? And the format,
Sony's Memory Stick Micro (M2), is so small
you'd need tweezers to handle it if it got any
smaller. The Sony Ericsson Cybershot is currently
available in the UK on most networks priced from
free depending on contract.
BenQ Siemens has introduced a whole line of the phones including EF81,
In Site of the Week (by Tony Dennis)
This week Daily Telegraph
- Alex
Media companies are finally getting the hang of the mobile Internet. British
national newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, is offering its humorous carton, Alex,
to all those with a WAP phone. More to the point, the site even has an advert.
The site's creator is Graphico. You can get the cartoons by texting Alex
to 82088. Luckily the Telegraph Web site has a page which explains how you can
pay for things on the WAP site. It includes instructions for how to pay via
Paypal and Bango. Apparently this works for subscribers on international GSM
networks who can't pay via reverse premium rate SMS.
