So it’s time for my O2 (NYSE: TEF) Joggler to go back to the mothership, and I have to say I’m sad - because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having it around!

As I mentioned previously, it’s quite ironic that in such an advanced device, the feature I love most is the clock - but that’s just because it’s a joy to look at for it’s clarity. Quite apart from that though, it is extremely competent at handling pics, audio, and video - so there’s nothing stopping you using it as a mini-media-hub of sorts…

I also liked the news feature, where general news, sports news (and also weather actually) all come from Sky - with the quality of coverage you’d expect from them. Other niceties include the super-clear screen, and ease of setup and use. One minor downside is the seeming lack of backup battery, which would of been handy when I was moving it between rooms at one point - instead I had to boot from cold again, which was a mild irritation.

Other than that though, and in summary, a really nice device - now if I can only convince the wonderful guys (James and Sam, you know who you are!) to let me give one away……!

Verdict: very buy-able. you can do that here.

Shellshocked. That was how my little brain was after watching the UK TV Advert for the Samsung Jet, which debuted on Friday night, 3rd July….

It was directed by the guy who did the popular UK teen series Skins, and I have to say I think it shows - the strapline for the Ad is ‘impatience is a virtue’, and whereas the first half of the Ad is very relaxed, the second half is rather full-on!

Check it out here, and then check out the standard Ad here - let us know in the comments if one or the other left your head a bit jumbled!

Yep, still waiting over here - plenty of rumours, but nothing concrete for what is promising to be a more than adequate contender for the iPhone!

Interestingly, TechRadar picked up a story that Palm (NSDQ: PALM) will make a special announcement next week - quite what the scope of that will be is unknown, but you’ve got to wonder - and of course, ponder along with that which network operator is going to get the deal to have it first - my money currently is on O2 (NYSE: TEF)…

Now with all that gadget loveliness in evidence, customers do have a real choice about what they get - is it going to be an iPhone 3GS, HTC Hero, Palm Pre, or maybe even a Samsung Jet?

[Original story via: TechRadar]

TerreStar has announced the successful launch of TerreStar-1 - the world’s largest, most advanced commercial communications satellite. Today’s launch is a major achievement in TerreStar’s strategic vision of delivering voice, data and video services on an all IP next-generation mobile broadband network that combines the power of TerreStar-1, an all-IP  core network, and the latest in smartphone technology.

Launched by Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana, TerreStar-1 is the foundation for TerreStar’s satellite communications network; ensuring network resiliency and availability during times of critical communications need.

“With the successful launch of TerreStar-1, we are redefining the mobile communications landscape,” said Dennis Matheson, CTO of TerreStar. “We are creating a new paradigm in mobile broadband network services and devices that will leverage our integrated satellite and terrestrial communications components to enable true ubiquity and reliability – anywhere in the United States and Canada.”

“Today’s launch is just the beginning of the TerreStar story,” said TerreStar President, Jeff Epstein. “We believe there are tremendous opportunities ahead – in both the commercial and government sectors – and we remain focused on our promise to help solve the critical communications and business continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprises and rural communities.”

Prior to the launch of TerreStar-1, the Company, with its partner EB (Elektrobit), introduced the world’s first quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA/HSPA smartphone with integrated all-IP satellite-terrestrial voice and data capabilities. Similar in size to today’s mainstream mobile devices, TerreStar’s dual-mode smartphone will allow users to seamlessly and securely stay connected to TerreStar’s satellite and terrestrial network.

TerreStar’s network will operate in two 10-Mhz blocks of contiguous MSS spectrum in the 2 GHz band throughout the United States and Canada – with a spectrum footprint that covers a population of nearly 330 million.

To watch or download video coverage or images of the TerreStar-1 launch, or for more information about TerreStar, click here.

Kiboo, who are the creators of the Buddymob Application, have announced a cooperation with Facebook, the world’s largest and best-known social network.

Buddymob is a social network for mobile users and a revolutionary application. Buddymob offers users the possibility of chatting, locating contacts anywhere in the world in real-time on Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps (even if the mobile device does not have a GPS function), subscribing to feeds (photos, videos and messages) and of course, sending feeds, with one click of a button. Buddymob integrates effortlessly with the most popular social networks Facebook, Twitter, MSN, GoogleTalk and Jabber.

Christophe Chatillon, co-founder of Kiboo, says: “We all have a lot of friends who post messages daily on Facebook. So it was essential for us to integrate Facebook messages into our mobile application Buddymob, as we did previously with Twitter, MSN and GoogleTalk. In the same way, users can send and receive at the same time as sharing their posts - whether they are text messages, pictures or video messages - with other Buddies (Buddymob users), as well as with MSN, Twitter and Facebook users.”

In response to demand from a large number of Buddies, Kiboo has also introduced a number of new features for setting up new contacts or staying in touch with other users: you can locate Buddymob users on the map (Google Maps), even if they don’t yet belong to your group of friends. Another new feature is the public timeline on which, just like on Twitter and Facebook - you can share public posts with everyone.

Since the launch of Buddymob for the Android phone, over 100,000 people have downloaded Buddymob and the app has received an extremely positive user rating of 4 out of 5 on Android Market.  Buddymob is already all the rage in the United States and the United Kingdom. Over 10,000 Buddies in Manhattan are frequent users of the Belgian application.

To find out more about Buddymob, go here.

Just a quick one, to update you on iPhone 3GS - something I thought I’d do as I’ve been hearing various conflicting reports about availability…

Right now, apparently, there is ‘limited availability’ of some 3GS variants - here’s the official blurb from O2 (NYSE: TEF):

iPhone 3GS limited availability:

Due to the phenomenal demand for the new iPhone 3GS, we currently have limited stock available. If you plan to purchase in store we advise you check availability before traveling

Retail Stores and over the phone - Limited availability of iPhone 3GS 16GB Black and White and iPhone 3GS 32GB Black. Due to demand the iPhone 3GS 32GB White is currently out of stock.

Online - We currently have limited available of the iPhone 3GS 32GB Black. The iPhone 3GS 32GB White and iPhone 3GS 16GB are currently out of stock.

We expect additional stock of the iPhone 3GS to be available in all channels next week. Please continue to check o2.co.uk/iphone for updates.

The staff that I have spoken to are saying Wednesday 8th July for the next delivery, so if you want to avoid scrabbling around for a unit, then I’d wait till Wednesday morning!

You can check the O2 website for stock info here.

Flirtomatic has announced the launch of its Flirt-word service. The new service gives users the opportunity to buy the rights to a certain word for a 24-hour period, giving them the chance to be ‘hot’, ‘cool’, ‘London’ or anything else for the day.

For the last six weeks, Flirtomatic has given users the ability to profile search, generating over a million Flirt-word searches. Now it’s expanding the search by giving users to chance to buy targeted exposure and attach themselves to a word in order to be found quicker by other users.

Purchasing a word makes users appear at the top of every search of that specific word, much in the same way as a sponsored link appears at the top of results in any of the major search engines on the web. For example John might buy the exclusivity to the word ‘London’ and if anyone performed a search on Flirtomatic for the word ‘London’ John would appear at the top of the search results for 24 hours.

Obviously some words are going to be more popular than others and to account for this, Flirtomatic has built an automated pricing adjustment system. The price of words will be calculated on a day-to-day basis in relation to customer demand. So the most sought after words should naturally move to a higher price point. In addition, the Flirt-words service will provide users with extra value by automatically producing banners promoting users and their exclusive word across the network. For example one could read – “Look who’s ‘hot’ today”.

Mark Curtis, CEO of Flirtomatic commented: “We know that users love to advertise themselves on the site and the Flirt-words service gives them a new and targeted way to get instant exposure. Think of it as Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Adwords for the flirtatious. I’m planning on buying Chelsea.” Mark added: “It’s an extremely interesting experiment for us and as the majority of our users seem to realise the value of screen real-estate on mobile it seemed like a natural progression in profile search capability. It’s a simple concept over perhaps a bidding system, but let’s see what our users think of it!”

You can check out more about Flirtomatic here.

According to metrics released by Admob, WhosHere is in the top 5% of all free apps that run across the Admob network.  A little over 100 applications have more than 100,000 users a month in a review of over 2,300 free iPhone apps that run on the Admob network.

The Admob report states “5 percent of applications had more than 100,000 active users in May 2009.”[1]  WhosHere uses Admob, among others, to provide ads to WhosHere users.  Just under 90 percent of WhosHere users were presented Admob ads in May.

WhosHere has substantially more than 100,000 users per month.  The extremely popular iPhone application is also in the top-20 of all Social Networking apps on Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iTunes App Store.  And, last Thursday, WhosHere users sent a record 1.6 million text and image messages in a 24 hour period.  WhosHere is used by people in over 150 countries.

WhosHere is a social proximity application that enables users to meet friends, potential dates or network through an exceptionally simple interface. WhosHere will show you matches that are near you or anywhere in the world based on your answers to a few questions about yourself and who you are interested in meeting. It takes the chance out of the chance encounter. When you find someone you want to talk with, you can send unlimited, free text and image messages to them; all within the WhosHere application.

WhosHere runs on Apple’s iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S and iPod touch and is available for free download on the iTunes App Store and can easily be found at myRete.com/download. Users of WhosHere can find online help at myRete.com/support and on the WhosHere page on YouTube (http://YouTube.com/WhosHerebyMyRete).

Electricpig.co.uk is reporting that there are strong rumours regarding the NVIDIA Tegra chip (used in the Zune HD), being used in Mobile devices - with Samsung and Moto as prime candidates!

The original info apparently came from DigiTimes, and apparently a number of the Top 5 handset vendors have ordered the chip - amongst the reasons being that it can eke out high performance HD video and 3D GFX, without shredding the battery!

Of course it may be that a Tegra-powered, dare I say Android-based, handset might pull Moto out of the quagmire they are in currently with Mobile devices - there are plenty of people out there that would be ready to buy Moto again if they can deliver something on this level!

So let’s wear the rumour cap well, and hope this turns in to something more concrete soon!

[Via: Electricpig.co.uk via: DigiTimes]