Seasoned tech blogger. Host of the Tech Addicts podcast.
Here is another rip roaring podcast from the boys at Mobile Tech Addicts. Gareth and Andy discuss many recent revelations relating the the UK mobile phone industry. This week Apple’s iPad, Microsoft’s presence at Mobile World Congress and Vectone Mobile are on the Menu.
In an earnings call last week Samsung co-CEO and handset chief Sanjay Jha said the 20-strong line-up of a Samsung’s range of new smartphones this year would include "one direct-to-consumer device with Google".
The move will boost the troubled manufacturer’s fortunes. Motorola is looking to recover from poor performance in the final quarter of 2009 in the face of concerted competition from Nokia and Apple.
Motorola did, however, perform slightly better than analysts had predicted, with share prices looking stronger in late-2009 than they had during the same period in the previous year.
Motorola believes that in the first half of 2010 it will make a loss, although analysts are more upbeat and expect to see a return to profitability.
Jha commented: "We are just at the beginning stage of our transition to a smartphone company."
Dubbed Nexus Two the smartphone is expected to be distributed in a similar manner to Nexus One, made by HTC, which is sold via the Google online phone store, either unlocked or with a network contract and subsidy.
Customers can call Virgin Mobiles at no extra cost Virgin Media has announced that it will allow its landline customers to make free calls to Virgin mobiles from 1 April The move is part of an initiative from the company to provide a variety of unlimited calls packages The telecoms provider claims that the move is continued part of its’quad-play’ strategy. Nearly 10% of Virgin’s customer base subscribes to all four services provided by the company.
As a result of the move, nearly half a million customers will be able to make free calls from their Virgin Phones to their Virgin Mobiles in addition to the free Virgin Mobile to Virgin Mobile calls they already benefit from.
Virgin Media executive director of mobile and telephony, Graeme Oxby said: ‘At a time when other providers seem keen on giving their customers less from their phone service, we are extremely their customers less from their phone service, we are extremely proud to be leading the way in this field, being the first to offer free home phone to mobile calls. proud to be leading the way in this field, being the first to offer free home phone to mobile calls. Our successful quadplay strategy has demonstrated customers are ooking for exceptional value by bundling more services together, and this move to include free calls to mobiles with our home phone service underlines our commitment to ensure Virgin Media customers get the best deals possible.’
According to Gizmodo and MuyComputer, the will they, won’t they shenanigans of Microsoft releasing a Zune Phone will come to end in Barcelona MWC 2010 next month when they will announce a Zune Phone running Windows Mobile 7.
According to them, it’s 100% confirmed. The Zune Phone will use Tegra, and Nvidia will team with Microsoft for the presentation.
MuyComputer says that the Zune Phone will have a 480 x 272 screen, HDMI out, weigh around 70 grams, and use Windows Mobile 7. This strong rumour seems to be inline with the mention of three phones in the Zune software last week
So what do you think, are Microsoft about to do the unthinkable and release a device ??
Via Gizmodo and MuyComputer
Weather forecasts from the Met Office are now available on the iPhone and iPod Touch with the launch of the Met Office weather app. Users will be able to access up-to-date weather forecasts quickly from the UK’s national weather service while on the move.
The Met Office weather app will provide easy access to the latest weather information and warnings wherever you are. The app will allow users to save favourite locations so local weather information is available at their fingertips 24 hours a day. This new app is now available from the Apple App Store.
Gorillabox provided the Met Office with a full service, planning, managing and tracking for the iPhone weather application.
Mark Wakefield, founder and Chief Operations Officer of Gorillabox, said: “Gorillabox has worked closely with the Met Office to develop an application utilising a range of iPhone features and incorporating the Met Office weather alerts that will provide users with the latest and most accurate weather information wherever they are.”
You can download it here.
Here’s another new phone from Sony Ericsson. hopefully this one will last more than a week in the stores. The Vivaz. Having more of a budget feel than their flagship Satio the Vivaz’s focus seems to be mainly on media and net connectivity. Hitting the market at a modest £380 you can check out the video on play.com. It’s pretty darn cheesy and hardly shows off the potential of being a phone. Specs after the break:
It seems China Mobile is going start releasing a new SIM card that allows for multi-numbers. A service I know a few folks would be most happy at. From the sounds of things user will be able to bind three numbers to their SIM card, at present the easiest way to have more than one number is to use a dual SIM card splitter or one of the few phones out there that accept dual SIM cards.
This sort of service will be a welcome release however I’m sure our networks will find a way to charge you for the privilege of having two numbers other than your normal bill.
Just to keep you from reusing something that you have already bought it seems that the MicroSIM that will be used in the iPad is physically different to the SIM card you have in your phone. Just in case you had any ideas of buying the 3G version with the intent of putting in a pre-existing SIM card you might have already been using. Whilst it seems a little home operating by snipping the top off your SIM card with some scissors to make it fit, it does render the SIM card harder to use with other devices again. There is still no guarantee that the SIM card will work post operation at the moment.
The developer claims in description of this app, that it is an official app of Mobile World Congress 2010 but we have trouble believing him, because it is not mentioned on the official website of this magnificent event.
Furthermore this app sucks: when we have found particular company, then it shows a map:
A chance for Microsoft to steal a little lime light has been rumoured and now confirmed. Windows Mobile 7 will make an appearance in a couple of weeks according to CFO Peter Klein. Conveniently this time scale falls over the period of Mobile World Congress this year.
There has been growing speculation that there will be Zune integration or possibly two different operating systems altogether over the last few weeks however, its safe to say the our wait is almost over and we will be able to put to bed all the rumours by the middle of February.
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