A UK teaching union is pushing for mobile phone to be classified as “offensive weapons.” The move to ban mobile phones from schools was prompted by more than 100 cases of teachers being abused and bullied through the mobile pones. Teachers now have the power to confiscate the mobile phones on grounds of “cyberbullying.” Mobile phones have been used to secretly record teachers with malicious intent.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates is especially concerned about websites such as Ratemyteacher and Bebo, which are breeding grounds for false allegations and slander that can hurt teachers’ emotionally as well as professionally. Keates says that, “These sites are fed by pupils’ misuse of mobile phones. The time has come for mobiles in schools to be placed in the category of a potentially offensive weapon and action taken to prevent their use by pupils while on school premises. Regrettably, our evidence shows that some schools are still not taking these issues seriously.”
Is this problem isolated to the UK? If anything like this happened in US schools, I would hope that mobile phones would be banned immediately by a school’s administration - without the need to classify mobile phones as “offensive weapons.”
The 8600 Luna, 6500 Classic and 6500 Slide were announced today. The marketing department probably didn’t think this one thru since consumers now have to remember a 4 digit string and a suffix. The Enterprise and Multimedia Division (E and N Series) have better naming conventions, but enough bad mouthing for now. Let us dive right into these beauties.
320 x 240 resolution screen with 16 million colors
Series 40
2Q 2007 release date
Microusb port that handles charging, data transfer and audio
700 euros
I was not expecting that price tag, at all:
The 6500 Classic:
Quad band + 3G on the 850 and 2100 MHz bands
109.8 x 45 x 9.5 mm
94 grams
320 x 240 resolution screen with 16 million colors
Series 40
2 megapixel camera
1 GB internal memory
Microusb port that handles charging, data and audio connectivity
Q3 2007 release date with a price of 320 euros
This is now the S40 phone to lust after:
Lastly we have the 6500 Slide:
Quad Band + 3G on the 850 and 2100 MHz bands
Series 40
96.5 x 46.5 x 16.4 mm
125 grams
320 x 240 resolution screen with 16 million colors
3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and autofocus
TV Out
Microusb port that handles charging, data and audio connectivity
3Q 2007 release date at a cost of 370 euros
Fully stainless steel body
The spec sheet is beautiful, but I’m not really digging the two tone color scheme:
The 8600 just went from the top of my shopping list to being completely taken off, 700 euros is insanity. The 6500 Classic on the other hand, I predict will be the most popular selling Nokia device this holiday season. I’m not so sure about the slide, I was never a big fan of sliders and I know the majority of Europeans have the same attitude. We will have to wait and see.
By the way, if the picture of the 6500 looks familar it is because I posted it a little over a month ago. Back then I mislabeled it as the 6110 Slide.
Update: Does the 8600 have internal memory or not? It isn’t listed in the fact sheet. Ricky says that the 6500 Slide supports microSDHC, can someone at Nokia confirm that?
This T3 video confirms the 1GB internal memory rumour. I’ve never been this excited over a mobile phone before. I always wanted a 8800, but hated the poor screen resolution. I came incredibly close to purchasing a 6300 with its magnificent QVGA display, but when the 8600 images leaked I immediately fell in love.
This device has yet to be announced by Nokia (NYSE: NOK), what is the hold up?
A UK teaching union is pushing for mobile phone to be classified as “offensive weapons.” The move to ban mobile phones from schools was prompted by more than 100 cases of teachers being abused and bullied through the mobile pones. Teachers now have the power to confiscate the mobile phones on grounds of “cyberbullying.” Mobile phones have been used to secretly record teachers with malicious intent.
