Mobile Stew

It's almost here.  The Nokia N80 will be available from Vodafone UK on April 20th.  I can't wait to get this phone as I'm certain I will be able to find a way to make VoIP calls using the Wi-Fi.  I also think it will be my last phone upgrade for a while as the phone's form factor is just right to fit in my pocket, without it being so small that I keep dropping the phone or sacrifice screen size for browsing.

One of my mate's is going for the N91 instead which previously was the phone I was waiting for, so I'll be able to do a comparison of the two when they come out.

Skype and 3 launched 3G data card, which enables subscribers to make cheaper VoIP calls.

Currently the card is priced at £ 39.99 and is bundled with the special
starter pack provided by skype which includes Skype software, a Skype
headset and a Skype starter voucher.

Users hoping to get the card at the cheapest price - £ 39.99 will have to opt
for the Web and Office 512 package priced at £45 per month. However users will
get half a Gb of data bundled in each month.



READ MORE HERE

Vodafone plan to extend it's HSDPA trial in April beyond it's home town to 100 business users who will be testing Vodafone UK'sHSDPA-enabled Mobile ConnectCards for PCs across central and greater London.

Voda’s version of HSDPA can run at up to 1.8Mbps standard – almostfour times faster than base level home broadband speeds, with 384kbps upstream.

It's a pity that they are only trialling this service with business users and not consumers as I would have liked to see what high-speed services they had to offer.  Years ago, when I was at Voda I worked on the 'Next Generation Consumer Proposition' project which created Voda's Content Roadmap for 3G and beyond.  It would have been interesting to see which if more of the services we predicted would ...

I guess it had to happen sometime - I'm kind of surprised it's taken so long, given that it is estimated that up to 40% of premium mobile content is for adult services 'to go'.

3OOOH in Spain have just launched the first adult video chat service where customers can dial a premium number for a chat with 'Sexy Susie'.  Within the call both participants can see each other, although I'm sure there an option will soon be added for the caller to withhold their image.

More:  Moobile





The 3G Portal - 3G News, 3G Opinion and 3G Analysis

I passed by a Vodafone store today which had a poster advertising Sky TV packages for mobile phones from £5pm, which struck me as a very good deal if you wanted to watch Sky on the cheap.

Well, this may prove to a be a false economy as apparently you will need a TV licence to watch TV on your mobile in the UK or risk getting a £1000 fine and potentially imprisonment.

Most people already have a TV licence in the UK so this isn't a problem, but every year apparently 200,000 people are caught watching TV without a licence.

The much awaited and biggest of its kind,  3GSM World Congress 2006 has kicked off today. 3GSM 2006 is being held in Barcelona this year and is being attended by every major wireless, mobile, telecom related companies.

So, what to expect from this big event? There are plenty of new and interesting technologies, exciting services and hottest gadgets to make their debut.
Some of the themes talked about last year will surface as products this year, including HSDPA  mobile phones, dual-mode handsets supporting both GSM and Wi-Fi technologies, handsets capable of receiving broadcast TV signals. Mobile TV, MVNOs, mobile search and discovery and the road map to 4G will be some of the hottest themes at this event in Spanish metropolis, according to many industry experts.

READ MORE HERE

I've been doing a review of my finances over the last month or so.  No item has been spared, no matter how small, and I noticed that I was hardly making any calls with my Vonage home phone.

I had a quick look around to see if there was a way to connect my DECT home phone to Skype and I found the uConnect VoIP Converter. This great little device will plugs into a USB port and can connect to any home phone, allowing me to make calls both to Skype users and SkypeOut calls using my handsets.  So, I've made the switch to Skype as there's no monthly service charge, and the international rates, which I need to call my folks in Jamaica, are just as cheap....

Fantastic.  I've been hanging onto my Nokia 6680 for quite a long time, firstly waiting for the Nokia N91 to upgrade to and then the Nokia N80.  Well Vodafone have just emailed me to say that the N80 will be available in the UK in April.

Did anyone ever pick up a N90 or a N91?  I think there must have been problems with these phones, or the networks showed little interest as these never phones never made it to the UK, with the second generation of N-Series phones launching before the first.

The Guardian Technology Blog poses an interesting question today:  'Is Mobile TV the new MMS?'

Do you remember how exactly a year ago the mobile networks were touting Video Calling as the killer app for 3G, and exactly a year before that they were singing the praises of MMS?  It's amazing how these new killer apps that require handset upgrades seem to occur at the end of the year when the majority of handsets get sold....

I've never been a big user of MMS as I find the interface too fiddly, although I'm a big texter - I probably send around 400 a month.  As for vid

Nokia have stated that they plan to launch phones with built-in SIP clients in the first half of 2006.  This would allow mobile users to make VoIP calls, potentially for free, depending on which VoIP service is used.  Unfortunately for all of you Skype users, Skype uses a proprietary protocol, so you won't be able to access your account.

In a move I think to appease the mobile networks, Nokia also said that users won't be able to roam between a mobile network and a WLAN/VoIP network i.e. you won't be able to switch between both types of networks and charging models whilst in-call.