A few weeks back, I wrote a post, asking which the laggiest handset you have used is – this was following a try-out of the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, and my own suggestion that the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N96 I used a good while back didn’t seem to be too fast at the time either!

Well, it generated some responses, and I thought I’d just take a quick look over what the responses were – here they are, in all their glory:

• Nokia N95-3
• HTC Fuze (HTC Touch Pro)
• HTC Imagio
• Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) P990i
• HTC Mini S

Wowzer! Did anyone see three HTC devices in there? Ponderously, there’s a mixture of new AND old handsets, from Mini S, right through to the Imagio of today. But what’s more interesting is that they are all packing Windows Mobile – hmm, could that be the cause of the lagging?

Well, from my own personal experience of running an HTC TyTn, I can definitely say that it wasn’t the fastest thing ever, that’s for sure – and reviewing the Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) TG01 recently (with a  1GHz CPU in it!), I was still seeing bad lagging issues in the WinMo camp. But all the fault can’t rest at the hands of the O/S (probably) – often if there’s a poor implementation on the hardware, that can create real issues too.

Fascinatingly though, HTC have been getting great reviews recently for their devices – and those have been packing both Android and WinMo – so apart from the Imagio, which is perhaps an anomaly (can anyone else confirm?), then maybe they have sorted the issues out…

Certainly I don’t think HTC are the only vendor out there with handset lag issues, there are some worse offenders for sure – so if you’ve got an opinion, hit us up for a comment and let us which device’s UI felt like swimming the wrong way in a river of treacle when you were using it!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Did Toshiba leak upcoming Windows Mobile flip-phone to the FCC?
• Verizon confirms HTC Imagio launch on October 6
• Samsung C6625v: hardware good; software bad!
• Dusan: Nokia strikes back with a classic phone, and some gold. Plus, the Symbian widgets are coming!
• WinMo: bring the excitement please…

Just the other day, I was in the local O2 (NYSE: TEF) shop, playing with the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre – having heard so much about it, but no opportunity to get hands-on, I was keen to see what the device could do.

Initially, I was really pleased to see an excellent implementation of both the capacitance screen sensitivity, but also of the UI – it really does look that nice, and in my mind at least, is a competitor for the iPhone UI for sure. A couple of swipes across the screen later, and I’d found the right way to control the UI for flipping between,  and closing Apps.

Of course the next logical test was to see what the keyboard was like, and so I decided to add a new contact, called “bob”. Leaving aside what I thought of the keyboard for a minute (hint: not great), my main surprise came when I went to store the handset – there was an appreciable lag, as compared with the rest of my usage of the handset to that point.

To test what I immediately surmised could be the problem, I then opened a video, and also made a calendar entry – this confirmed my initial thinking that substantial read/writes to the memory, via the O/S, were being hit with a  bit of a lag. Usage of the UI in general was super-smooth, but as soon as you called down to the OS (particularly if writing to memory), then there was definitely some slowdown.

Now I should put this in perspective: I’m used to being spoilt by the iPhone, which is incredibly fluid in it’s use, and rarely lags – only occasionally have I tripped it up. The Palm Pre was 90% good in this respect, and maybe just that 10% bad (slow) across certain invoked operations.

But that got me thinking – I have used some devices previously that were really not great in terms of the lag when you selected certain apps, or wanted to do certain things. And I bet the IntoMobile readership have had the same experience – therefore, can you remember the worst handset you ever had for lagging? And can you remember why the lag occurred (opening app, re-skinning etc)?

I’ll put forward the N96 as pretty laggy during general use…. I’m not sure  it is the worst handset that I’ve ever used for lag (that title surely belongs to one of the WinMo devices I had in early y2k!), but I’m open to suggestion from our readers! So it’s:

• What was the handset – make, model, if you can remember
• What were you doing with the handset that made it lag – keep it clean!

Answers on a postcard … (or at least in the comments on this post!)

Related News from IntoMobile:

• StyleTap’s Palm OS emulator goes beyond experimental prototype; Officially coming to iPhone, iPod Touch
• Users find typing on the iPhone slow?
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• Survey: 99% of iPhone 3GS owners happy, despite AT&T’s network

This isn’t the first time I’m writing in praise of Sony’s small and stylish Vaio P notebook/netbook. And I’m not doing so only to get the attention of Sony’s PR folks who by now should send me a single unit free of charge for all the publicity they got at IntoMobile.

I really, really like its form factor. The Vaio P is a super small laptop, yet it’s perfectly sized. The problem is in the software – Vista runs slowly on it and I also want the instant-on option on such a small computer. On that note, I’m hoping that Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) could launch a similar product which would have pretty much everything the original Vaio P has, plus it would be capable for instant-on. In that sense, instead of using the Intel Atom CPU, that kind of a device should rely on some ARM-based processor like Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)’s Snapdragon. Just imagine – you press a button and you can instantly start writing, browsing the web, playing music, video and so on. Instead of the Sony logo, the new device would wear Sony Ericsson’s colors, and that’s about it. Nothing too complicated – just use the winning form factor and if possible, make the device more affordable!

To be fair, there is some kind of instant-on function on the Sony Vaio P, but you can run only the limited number of applications. What I want to use the device is for writing and I can’t do that.

We’ve seen that Wistron’s smartbook prototype which is powered by Snapdragon and I like it. The problem, however, is that it’s not as portable as Sony Vaio P, and I’m not sure it has the so-much-needed (and so much repeated in the text above) instant-on capability.

I don’t care about the operating system. It could be Windows Mobile or something Linux-based (Android, Moblin, etc), whatever. I do care about the screen size – it should be able to display at least 1024 pixels in width (current Vaio P goes even further), and it should allow for WiFi connectivity. 3G is a plus, but not a must…

Am I asking for too much? It should be my portable writing device, which could also be used for Skype calls, web browsing, email, etc. Any thoughts?

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Idea: It’s time for Palm to return to its Foleo idea
• Rant: Nokia’s netbook dissapoints
• Sony Ericsson quietly unveils Portable Handsfree MH700
• Rant: Palm – now’s your chance to revive the Foleo netbook
• Sony VAIO P netbook coming to Verizon?

A really great post has found its way to reddit from Jamie Zawinski, who’s a big name in developer circles (known as jwz), about his rough ride in trying to get a free tip calculator into the webOS App Catalog. Since I’ve been playing with Bell’s Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre for the last week and trying out homebrew applications, it really caught my eye. Here’s The Short Version of this particular programmer’s complaints, but I encourage you to read the whole thing if you’re packing a Palm Pre or developing on webOS.

• Inability to natively install applications from outside the market
• Requirement of a verified PayPal account and potential fees, even for free apps
• Forfeiting rights to post submitted applications anywhere other than the App Catalog

Let me preface my reply by saying that I’m not a developer, and don’t pretend to fully empathize with their wide-ranging plights and challenges when dealing with manufacturers, carriers, and end-users. However, a lot of this post raised some flags.

If you don’t want to play by Palm’s rules to get into the App Catalog (however reasonable/unreasonable they may be), don’t whine when your only option left is homebrew; making apps “off the grid” is not a bad starting spot for someone learning the webOS platform. Palm is in dire financial traits, and they need to harness their app market in order to stay in business – that entails some level of quality control, dealing with PayPal, code tweaks, and all that jazz that might come off as personal affronts to the more quixotic developers out there. How do you think Elevation Partners would feel if, when asking about third-party software strategy, Palm said “Developers can do whatever the hell they want! Woo, open source!” and cracked open a Bud? Instead, Palm saw what a financially successful player, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), was doing right (taking control of the application stream) and doing wrong (making draconian app submission decisions) and built their strategy around that. Sure, it might not be the supposed open-source programming Nirvana found in Maemo 5 or even Android, but it’s a balanced approach that helps everyone win at least a little. If you’re writing free apps and you don’t want to jump through the hoops, homebrew is not that complicated for end users.

1. Enter dev mode
2. Get Quick Install and your recovery ROM (Sprint, Bell)
3. Install fileCoaster

There, you’re set. You have a second on-device app store that Palm doesn’t control. Go nuts. Is that really an insurmountable barrier for entry? Will an app really have that many fewer eyeballs on it than if it were in the App Catalog? And if the software is free anyway, why would the creator care?

If developers want to support the webOS ecosystem with a free app, or make a buck with a premium one, they should be ready to make some compromises, including small code changes for the sake of QA. It’s not like Palm is turning into a bunch of Nazis; they aren’t taking shots at the homebrew scene, like Apple does with jailbreakers – in fact, Palm encourages the homebrew scene. The exclusive rights to the code is simply Palm’s way of ensuring the official market remains valuable. Why would anyone use the App Catalog if the homebrew scene had all of the same apps plus others that didn’t make it though the hoops? Sure, end users would get their apps, and devs could do whatever they wanted, but Palm wouldn’t get their cut, which ultimately is bad news for the whole platform and anyone developing on it.

As for the $99 annual developer fee, someone has to handle the submissions; even if your app is free, that someone answering the e-mails has to get paid. If you can’t be bothered to manage a ubiquitous and widely-accepted payment method like PayPal to handle that tiny bit of bureaucracy, then why should they be bothered to look at your submission? The thing that probably set me off most on jwz’s post was the insinuation that Palm was dead because they’re abusing webOS developers like a bunch of naughty puppies. First off, the phone has been out three months, and as I’m sure you can imagine, it takes a lot of manpower to make an app store ready for primetime – calling the time of death at this point is ridiculous. Secondly, this is the harshest amount of discontent I’ve heard from a webOS developer so far, and I’m tempted to think the majority are still willing to stick with Palm through the official App Catalog launch. Let’s hear from other developers who have tried their hand at the submission process, and see who has been satisfied (or at least understanding), and who has been pushed to another mobile platform. Feel free to comment with your own personal experiences.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Palm Attempts to Douse Burning Bridge with Developers
• Palm pushes WebOS Mojo SDK to all devs!
• Palm starts accepting premium WebOS apps
• Palm issues WebOS 1.0.4 update, closes homebrew app exploit
• Palm Pre leads the WebOS homebrew revolution

Too often when I am driving between IntoMobile Towers and other destinations, do I still find people in the UK holding phones to their ears (for those of you that don’t know, that’s illegal over here!). It is absolutely infuriating, because it is so dangerous, and yet people flaunt it on a regular basis. I’m not sure who is more dangerous, the school mom with kids in the back (!), doing her make-up and talking on the motorway, or the businessman in his ‘pimped’ 4×4, not paying any attention to what’s going on in front of him, but shouting furiously in to his work phone….

At any rate, TAKING ONE HAND OFF THE WHEEL, AND DISTRACTING YOUR BRAIN AT THE SAME TIME, AT 80 MPH ON THE MOTORWAY, TURNS YOU IN TO A VERY POORLY GUIDED (BUT VERY HEAVY) MISSILE.

I can’t even reason the logic out as to how people end up still doing this – do they think they need to be caught once to make them aware, is it because they think they are a good enough driver to compensate, or do they just not give a S**T?

Not very often to I get to the point where my blood boils over something, but this is one of those rare occasions – particularly now since I have two kids, transporting them around should be a relatively safe process – except now I get to play Russian Roulette on the roads, and hoping I don’t come across that one runaway vehicle – chances are, if I do, the driver won’t even have time to brake before they hit me as they’ll be too distracted – and that IS going to hurt – maybe even kill.

PLEASE PEOPLE – GET A HEADSET, A CAR KIT, OR DON’T TAKE THE CALL – IT’S NOT WORTH IT.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Red Cross uses SMS to spur blood donations
• Workers poisoned in Nokia and Motorola factories
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• Texting and driving in Utah could land you in prison

I’ve written before on Dr. Jim’s blog posts, because they always provide lively and stimulating commentary on various tech-related areas – recently culminating in a great piece he wrote on social networking (see my post on his post here).

Now Dr. Jim has turned his attention to Web Ads. Quite apart from listing an impressive array, he also delves in to the area of intrusion that some of these Ads crossover over in to.

Of course from a Mobile perspective, Advertising has been touted as the next big thing for a very long time – whereas the reality is that massive volumes of lo-value transactions are needed in order to generate any significant Ad revenue – but with Mobile becoming so capable that they can display even fairly complex Webpages, more and more of the Web Ads we know and love on the PC, might be coming to a Mobile device near you soon!

Find Dr. Jim’s original article here – well worth a read.

[Via: Fuzemobility.com]

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• Nokia N97 verdict: Too much money for what it offers!

Can I have a portable one of these please? Oh, and can you put the screen and remote inside the box please?

Okay, so Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s Rock ‘n’ Roll announcement was very nice, and had some good updates and new products. Particularly the new little Nano with video capture – very cheeky, and perfect for the ‘gimme now’ generation…!

But Apple’s announcement disappointed a lot of people on many levels – that in itself doesn’t matter so much you can bet one or another announcement over the next six months will hoover up all the requests that people are making  – but in the meanwhile people will continue to ask for stuff – inlcuding me!

I’m not Kerr-azy with the scope of my requirements – in fact, I have only one requirement – I want a portable Apple TV please.

Now this portable device should surpass the features found in the current Apple TV, but also be thin/light enough to be portable (and useful) – and don’t tell me it ain’t possible, people thought the iPhone couldn’t be done until Apple rolled it out!

The Apple TV has (oddly) turned out to be the device that Apple hasn’t focused on – for reasons unknown to many. But it has the potential to be something great, if it were re-packaged as a Mobile device. That Mobile device could even take the form factor of the Apple Tablet that many are talking about, but it would need to have some key features:

• HD Video playback – 1080p please
• Nice big screen
• HDMI out
• Video Capture – perhpaps not 1080p, but passable
• Multiple Connectivity options – so that streaming is an option
• Nice big rack of solid-state storage – 32GB+ please
• Other secondary features – touch keypad anyone?

I suppose in some respects I might be making a case for an Apple Tablet, but then again I wouldn’t want the Tablet primarily as a device that you could email/browse on. Instead I primarily want a multimedia hub that I can take with me, and plug in to a TV anywhere.

So will Apple give me one? Well I’d bet on an HD iPhone within the next year, so maybe that will do most of what Apple TV does – only time, as they say, will tell!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Does the NYT know something about the rumored Apple Tablet?
• Apple iPhone HD spotted online?
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• Is the iPhone 3GS enough to make me converge again?

Okay, now before anyone launches in to a tirade in the comments, this was an unscientific test. Very unscientific. But the results were rather interesting, so I think.

As I mentioned, I’m travelling this weekend, and have had the great pleasure of air travel within that. Waiting to get off the plane, during what seemed to be longest disembarkation ever, I was fascinated to listen to the variety (read: cacophony) of mobile ringtones/message alerts/start-up tones that formed some kind of freakish orchestra, as people turned their devices back on, in the plane (isn’t there some kinda rule on that….).

As I heard the tones, I realised I recognised them – and that oddly, they fell into three categories, at least in from the multiple tones that I could hear in the surrounding 40 or so seats.  So what were they?

• RIM BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Message Alert & Ringtone
• Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone Message Alert
• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Start-up Tone

Bizarrely, all the tones I heard fell in these three categories. Now admittedly, this is totally unscientific, but could we make some guesstimations about the kind of users?

• Well it was mostly business travellers on the flight – so could we say Businesspeople use mostly Nokia and RIM, apart from the tech-rebels who use iPhone?
• Could we say perhaps that Apple, Nokia, and RIM are the brands of the moment for Mobile devices?
• Or could we perhaps say Apple, RIM, and Nokia devices users are the most keen to get their messages?

Probably none of the above – but perhaps we can say that users of these brands have their devices turned up the loudest- any maybe ought to think about a bit of silent/flight-mode/power-down modes for their devices

Ben

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Turning Mobiles ON before getting off the Plane…
• UK: BMI trials SMS on flights
• The iPhone 3G S high-frequency hearing test
• FEMA developing national SMS text message alert system for US
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I’m travelling this weekend, at an Exhibition somewhere in Europe (where and what ain’t that important) – and I’m getting killed for sound on Mobile calls to/from people by the background noise!

I’m sure many of you have experienced this incredibly frustrating trend, whereby either you are trying to talk to someone (in which case the person you are speaking to can’t hear you), or you are taking a call from someone in a relatively noisy environment, and in fact all you get is warped background noise invading over the audio that should be the person’s voice!

I find it’s particularly band when you have:

• train station or airport announcements
• constant background noise e.g. the hubbub of people talking
• traffic passing nearby e.g. street full of cars

The culprit in the main is the condenser mic, that works on the principle of gathering sound from the surrounding environment, of which in theory, your voice should be the loudest.

However, due to the frequencies captured, the technology used, and also the limitations of GSM/UMTS voice carriage across networks, what you can often get is capture of the situational audio around you, leading to some nice audio FX in your/your recipient’s call!

It’s an incredibly frustrating, and one that hasn’t been too well addressed by Mobile device makers. Ironically, some Bluetooth headset vendors have had a go at solving it, but the leaders here appear to be Digital Video Camera makers, who have found a way to isolate the noise of the wind for example, if you’ve strapped your camcorder to a bike, and are riding along! Okay, that’s an extreme use-case, but you get the general idea of removing the extraneous audio…

The thing I am wondering is why no-one has made a better stab at this on Mobile devices to-date. At some point we’ll move to networks that include “HD Voice”, and when that happens, having background noise washing over the foreground voice in a call won’t be acceptable. Time to start on a better solution methinks, and what better place to start than that wretched condenser mic!

Ben

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Jabra BT530 Bluetooth headset first to use GN Netcom’s Noise Blackout technology
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• NTT DoCoMo Sound Leaf + Bluetooth headset with bone conduction speaker

I’ve already ranted about Palm and why they should revive the Foleo concept. I felt like I need to do it again – because I want one. But I don’t want the original Foleo, it was too bulky and way underpowered. What I want is something lighter and smaller, something that resembles the Sony Vaio P, yet it’s cheaper — just like I mentioned in my rant against the Nokia Booklet 3G.

In a nutshell, here’s what I want from my next netbook/smartbook:

• OS *must* be Linux-based to run/load faster. The OS used in the Foleo I’ve seen seems quite decent.
• CPU could be either Intel Atom or some ARM-based. Snapdragon is a good idea for the latter.
• Sufficient amount of RAM is required in order to multi-task.
• Palm (NSDQ: PALM) needs to get developers on board. Skype is a must-have, Evernote would also be nice, though I could access it via web browser. Some WordPress and Twitter client would also come as a plus.
• Speaking of web browser, make it Webkit-based (Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Chrome?) – it will be faster, or at least me thinks so.
• WiFi is a must, GPS not that much.
• 3G should be optional, not a must-have feature that would drive the price through the roof.
• Battery – 4 hours of autonomy is enough, meaning 3-4 cells is all I need.
• Size – please, please make it not larger than the Sony Vaio P. I can’t emphasize this enough!
• Instant on is also a plus. Scrap that – it’s a must!
• Forget the touchscreen, it will drive the cost up.
• And make all this available for $500, maybe $600.

Have I missed something? Any thoughts?

Related News from IntoMobile:

• LogMeIn adds remote PC access, file sharing to Palm Foleo
• Idea: It’s time for Palm to return to its Foleo idea
• Google’s Chrome browser coming to Google Android
• All WebKit based browsers should be the same, right? Wrong; they’re all unique, and Nokia’s suck.
• Idea: Palm should push Foleo as a blogging tool!

Have you ever had one (or more) of those occasions where someone else has been thinking exactly the same thing as you, and then written/said it at the same time? Well I can’t say it’s me in this instance, but instead our very our Stefan, and Dr. Jim Taylor (who I’ve mentioned before – see here) – in this case, they are both talking about how technology has somehow cheapened or distilled real relationships in to nearly worthless ones and zeros.

We cover a lot of news at IntoMobile, but my suggestion is that you take the time out to read both articles, since they are well-written by intelligent people (Stefan, you can give me that $10 later )

I’ve included a paragraph from each below, so you can get a feel for things:

Stefan says:

Before social networks, and trust me, there was a time before social networks, building arelationship with someone actually required some investment of your time. I remember, as a kid, calling my friends after school on a land line phone and seeing who was free to play basketball. I remember having to make a choice about who to tell about my date last night with the girl in our chemistry class. I remember that my best friend, by process of elimination, was the guy who I spent the most time with and revealed all my deepest secrets, fears, and desires to, and he would do the same. Back then my relationships with people involved contacting them to arrange a lunch or handball game at the local park, and then catching up. Today, thanks to technology and our need as a species to be as efficient as possible, we all tell Facebook, Twitter, and our blogs what’s new with our lives, and expect the people we care about to read/watch/listen to the media we produce.

Dr. Jim says:

I see life as connecting with the world directly rather than through a conduit of computer and communication technology. Life is moving something other than my fingers, and experiencing the world with all of my senses, not just with my eyes and ears. It is about connecting with others in a substantial way. Life is about caring deeply about things that directly impact my world. What makes life life for me is its inherent imperfection and untidiness, its intermittent chaos and uncertainty, its occasional blood, sweat, and tears. Can we find that with this kind of technology? I’m not so sure.

Link to Stefan’s article here. Link to Dr. Jim’s article here. Read ‘em both, they’re very good.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Push versus Pull relationships and why I left Facebook
• Hey Nokia: don’t label me
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I had few days to think it through about Nokia’s recently unveiled netbook and unfortunately I’m sad to report I’m disappointed. Here are few thoughts I had about it.

In bed with WinTel

Basically what Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has unveiled is yet another notebook. Sure, there’s the built-in GPS receiver and a great battery, but I’m sure other computer makers will follow the suit pretty quickly. After all MSIs, Acers, Dells and HPs of the world have more experience in notebook/netbook computers than the Finnish giant.

The way I see it is that the Nokia Booklet 3G is yet another WinTel netbook. If it’s affordable, that would be something, but judging from the press release, Nokia hopes to get a premium for that aluminum frame and exceptional battery life — we’ve heard rumors Nokia will ask $799 for its computer, which is way out of line. Sony has its premium offering in Vaio P series that is really different from the rest of the pack, and which Sony refuses to call a netbook. Netbooks sell like crazy because they are cheap, and to make something that’s effectively a premium cheap laptop doesn’t sound like a winning strategy. It sounds like nonsense.

Why not Linux?

That brings me to my second point. Nokia has its own flavor of Linux – Maemo, which is based on Debian, just like Ubuntu. In that sense, they could’ve unveiled a Linux-powered netbook that would certainly be faster than any similar Windows based product. You may argue Maemo is created for ARM-based CPUs to which I say – fine, make a Snapdragon-powered computer. It runs on 1 GHz, after all, but then again – this would go against Nokia’s alliance with Intel.

I love netbooks, but I doubt I’ll buy the Nokia Booklet 3G

I’m writing this on my Dell Mini 9, which runs Ubuntu and works great! I thought Nokia had a chance (and still does, BTW) to bring Linux to the masses. Just imagine a Sony Vaio P kind of device which is more affordable and because it runs Linux – faster. Moreover, it could sport a touchscreen! Now, that would be something I would instantly buy, even without a touchscreen. This way, when I already have a netbook, I don’t see a reason to get one made by Nokia, especially if it’s going to be more expensive.

Anyway, the main point I wanted to make is that I don’t see the unique selling proposition of the Nokia Booklet 3G. GPS and great battery life are not something I’m willing to pay a premium for, and I doubt many users are — except hard core Nokia fanboys. I want my next ultra-portable computer to be lighter than my existing one (Mini 9 weighs 1kg with 4-cell battery), smaller and that it doesn’t cost a fortune. If there were not for the last reason, I would’ve bought the Sony Vaio P long time ago.

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Rant: Palm – now’s your chance to revive the Foleo netbook
• Idea: Sony Ericsson should make a Sony Vaio P smartbook
• Sony VAIO P netbook coming to Verizon?
• Nokia joins the netbook race with the Booklet 3G: 10 inches, 1.25 kg, 12 hour battery life, HDMI out
• Idea: It’s time for Palm to return to its Foleo idea

What we have here is a short video demoing how can Wiimote and iPhone sing along. As you’re about to see, the application, made by some really smart programmer, showcases Wiimote and how it’s used for controlling a virtual representation of itself on the iPhone. The question that pops in everyone’s head is why would someone want to do this? Maybe for gaming? Just for fun, or to prove that can be done? We’re not sure, but we always enjoy when someone hacks an iPhone… or any other device, for that matter. Anyway, the mentioned clip follows after the jump. Enjoy!

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

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Obviously the wireless industry is taking a hit based on the current economic environment. And apparently, consumers are now saying that data plans may be one of the things they’re most likely to cut/reduce as times get harder.

So, Bytemobile thought it would be interesting to offer carriers some ways to stay relevant, maintain competitive advantage and weather the economic storm. Bytemobile, works with more than 100 carriers around the world to help make their networks more efficient and offer their users customized mobile internet services.

Let’s check out the suggestions then:

1. Reduce network data volume to increase capacity for growth in internet traffic and users within their existing architecture.

2. Launch customized data services that differentiate between premium plan and standard plan subscribers in order to up-sell more expensive rate plans and better overall mobile experience.

3. Pinpoint content that an individual is most likely to seek and deliver directly to the user’s device. The result is a productive and satisfying mobile internet experience without extensive search and navigation and will result in increased data consumption.

4. Influence user behavior, both adding value to and extracting value from off-portal content that passes through the network, resulting in the monetization of subscribers’ mobile web browsing.

5. Increase compensation from mobile content providers by enabling the development and delivery of highly-personalized third-party applications.

What do we think about these? Obviously on their own they don’t form the detail of an in-depth recovering plan, but there’s some reasonable thoughts in there I think. If you’ve got comments on the suggestions, we’d love to here them – drop us a line in the comments form at the end of this post!

You can find out more about Bytemobile and what they do, here.

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• Bytemobile launches next-gen optimization client for Windows Mobile
• Bytemobile to allow carriers to serve ads in off-portal web pages
• Alltel rolls-out $40 3G data card plans
• ABI Research: Personalized services to make $2.9 billion for carriers in 2011
• Mobile users in the U.S. use mobile Internet services more than UK users

The other day I had a bunch of devices on my desk, and in between posts and the like, I glanced across at them – at which point I realised that almost all of them have the same exterior treatment in terms of colour, highlights, and styling.

What do I mean? Well if I told you that there was a BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold, iPhone 3G, and Panasonic landline DECT phone (check out the pic) together, maybe you’ll spot the similarities? No? How about this then:

- Piano Black Fascia

- Chromed bezel/outer detailing

In fact when I thought about it, there are an increasing number of devices that seem to come from the same finishing school – not necessarily for their exact looks, but for the treatment applied to appeal to the target market. Thinking a bit further, there are obviously a lot of other brands in other industries that try for the same effect – immediately I thought of the Mont Blanc Pen range – which feature the same black/chromed effort.

Of course some of the slight details do vary – looking across the Blackberry range (which seems to extensively feature this black/chrome treatment), it would appear the exact shade of chrome varies a little.

But the point I am slowly getting to is: could this treatment get to a point where it’s so pervasive on handsets, we are going to lose a lot of the individuality? I would guess the initial goal of a black/chromed finish is an understated look for the business/professional market, but it’s very easy for handset manufacturers to carry this across on to multiple other handsets – even for example the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95-8GB had hints of this look.

What do the readers think? Do you care so much what colour your devices are, what the finish is around the outside of them, what colour/shade the buttons are? Right now all my devices are beginning to look the same at home……!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• What’s your favourite colour – on a Mobile device?
• Unboxing the BlackBerry Tour 9630 for Verizon Wireless
• HTC Hero is Pretty in Pink
• Should Apple’s new “in-the-ear” headphones be in black too?
• 24-carat Gold iPhone Black Beauty edition by Goldstriker

It’s fair to guess Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will launch a new Internet tablet device later this year. We’ve already posted an article with the rumored specs, but we haven’t said — cause we don’t know — whether the touchscreen used will be capacitive or resistive. The point of this article is to make the case for the use of capacitive touchscreen as well as a chance to add my 2 cents to the table.

First of all, I must say that I’m a big fan of the Maemo platform. Though I haven’t used the original Nokia 770, I relied on the N800 a lot. Coupled with a Bluetooth keyboard, it was my mobile office, and I wrote hundreds (yes hundreds) of articles for IntoMobile on it. Later on, I ordered the N810 from the U.S. — because it was significantly cheaper due to a weak dollar — but it got lost in the transport to Europe. Boy was I pissed…

Anyway, I continued using my N800 until I bought the Dell Mini 9, which is the cornerstone of my current mobile office. This is not to say I’m not using the N800 any more, it’s just that I’m not using it as often as I used to.

As a matter of fact, I brought the Nokia tablet with me to Barcelona. And there’s the part where my plead for the capacitive touchscreen comes in. It was very hard, almost impossible to see anything on the N800’s screen under the Sun in Spain. At the same time I had my iPhone with me, which touchscreen hasn’t bothered me at all. Now you could argue the capacitive touchscreen is no good for some markets in Asia where handwriting recognition is a must have feature, to which I say – fine, make two versions of the device, one with capacitive and the other one with resistive touchscreen. I’m sure, actually quite confident, the capacitive version will outsell the resistive one even if it ends up costing $50 more. And having a choice could prove beneficial to the platform, or at least me thinks so.

To summarize – capacitive touchscreen is a must. Otherwise I don’t see a reason why would someone (mainstream user, not a Linux fan) would go for Maemo rather than Windows Mobile. The rumored specs we’ve seen go in line some of the existing WinMo smartphones such as some HTC and Acer models, which rely on the “classic” resistive touchscreen technology. This is not to say this is the only reason for selecting one platform over another, it’s just something pretty visible/tangible to the end user.

You could argue an AMOLED screen could do the trick, but i don’t buy it.

As for the rest of my wishes, I hope Nokia will use the same or at least very similar keyboard as the one the N810 has. I like the D-pad on the left, but I don’t like the new-look keyboard of the N97. To be fair, the N810’s keyboard could slide a bit more down to leave little more space for the first row of the keys.

Moreover I’m looking forward to see a decent CPU running the show, and from what we’ve heard, that will be the case. Will Intel jump in as a supplier? I think that may happen, though Nokia could opt for some other chip maker for the first Maemo 5 device — some of their existing semiconductor suppliers.

Finally, to further spur the adoption of the Maemo platform, Nokia should offer the new Maemo device(s) to developers either for free or with a significant discount. The same should go for journalists and bloggers. Speaking of latter, have I mentioned I’m a big fan of Maemo?

Related News from IntoMobile:

• ABI Research: Capacitive touchscreens not the wave of the future for most mobile phones
• Is this the Nokia N920?
• Capacitance touchscreens for Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphones?
• Another photo of the Nokia RX-51 aka Rover aka Internet Tablet w/ 3G appears
• Nokia to add capacitive touchscreen to the 5800 XpressMusic?

Hi y’all – I’ve been offline for a few days, dealing with the very recent arrival of our (and by that I mean my wife and I, not the IntoMobile team!) second baby  - a bonnie little boy! Suffice to the say these last days have been quite interesting from an emotional, sleep, and general energy level perspective!

Any of you that were reading my posts shortly after joining IntoMobile will know that I have written some posts on Babies and Mobiles – specifically, the benefits (or not) that having a Mobile device can lend to one of the most important events of your life, should you choose that path! The first post I wrote on this was about the image quality on cameraphones being CACK – it was a smartphone toting a 5MP camera that was the culprit of producing some poor shots of my (then) little ‘un.

18 months on, and with the arrival of our second, things have changed radically – not just in terms of image quality, but general mobile usage. In fact, knowing image quality often isn’t great on Mobiles, I brought with me a 7.2MP dedicated digi-camera, plus an HD video camcorder – oh yes, I was prepared this time. And before I continue, I should caveat the Mobile I had with me – an iPhone 3G, running OS 3.0….

So was it better this time with the arrival of our second? Well yes, I was calmer, plus my tech was chomping at the bit ready to record his first movements! The fact I had image and video on dedicated devices left me some confidence that I could record his first moment in genuinely better quality that for our first. In the event though, I decided to give the 2MP iPhone camera a go too, purely out of interest – and I surprised myself because it did a good job!

Let’s just recap – no flash, no focus as such, and only 2MP – yet perfectly serviceable quality – certainly good enough to email and MMS to people (yes, using the new MMS feature on the iPhone, working nicely!). In fact, in terms of general perceptible quality, I’d say certainly as good as the (unnamed) 5MP smartphone…. hmm….the MP count ain’t always the deciding factor with digital imaging!

The dedicated devices took the heavy lifting duties – HD video and HQ pix are now stored and ready to be added to a growing mountain as time goes on. The little chap is more animated by the day, and I’m sure pix opportunities will abound over the next few months! But what did I think were the key differences now compared to 18 months ago for MY mobile usage:

• the iPhone 3G dropped (and I got one) – made a huge difference to my ease of mobile use – I actually enjoy it’s UI!
• Email-handling better than on previous devices (again the iPhone)
• all devices retaining battery charge well (evidence of high capacity LI-Ion batteries….)
• video capture of ‘mobile’ (portable) devices incrementally better
• device media sync is better – can you say ‘YouTube upload’ – I can, in one click!!!

Anyone that has a baby on the way, and loves their tech – have a real think about capturing your loved one’s first moments – you don’t want a grainy image or stuttery video as the first recorded memories you have – get that device strategy in place!

Ben

Related News from IntoMobile:

• HD video recording coming in cameraphones this year?
• The BBC is pushing Mobile TV & video with iPlayer
• Will 5MP on the C902 be good enough?
• Do you fancy some ‘Mobile HD’?
• Qik available on Nokia Tube

Interestingly, looking across both tariff prices or one-off device purchase costs, the difference between iPhone 3GS 16GB and 32GB versions appears to be pretty much fixed at £90 (ish).

Now, I was pondering whether there was anything else I was missing, in terms of differences between the two variants of the 3GS, but it appears not – it’s just the extra memory you are getting – and so here’s my question: is the extra 16GB worth £90?

The reason I ask this is (a) because I noticed there is literally no variance in that £90 price differential, no matter if you buy the device outright or in contract; but also (b) because I noticed the 16GB models were selling more/faster than the 32GB models. If £90 is just too much extra (as an amount) on top of what is already an expensive device, and it’s just for extra memory, it’s no great surprise that people are going for the 16GB model.

I suspect, for people that have had 8GB devices before now, 16GB seems like quite a step up – but oddly, on updating my current iPhone 3G device the other day, I found I had less than 0.5GB remaining on the device – and I’m not a super-heavy user on the music/video front!

So on the one hand we have the thought that 16GB maybe isn’t all that big, but then on the other hand that people are actively discouraged from going for the larger capacity 32GB model, because that extra memory is a big chunk of money, on top of an existing larger amount of money! Or I suppose another way to say it is: is the iPhone 3GS 32GB just a bit too dear?

Your thoughts, are most certainly welcome, IntoMobile-readership!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Fond Memories – pt. 2
• Exactly what “bugs” did the iPhone v1.1.4 firmware fix?
• UK: want an iPhone3G on 25.7.08? O2 stores have some…
• OQO Model 02 HSDPA mod
• iPhone 3G S unlocked prices in Italy: 16 GB for $860, 32 GB for $998

I’ve been reading the InterWebs of within the last week or so, and there’s been ‘quite a bit’ (wow, that’s the understatement of the year) of negative feedback on the costs of both the tethering (using the iPhone 3GS as a wireless modem), and also the cost of the new iPhone 3GS itself.

I can definitely see the arguments from the consumer side – Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) announces a desired new feature and just says “tethering” – great, everyone thinks, now I have a wireless modem too – but they don’t give any detail on the service cost. Likewise, they announce the device, but focus on features. Of course, when reality strikes, suddenly the costs of ownership/usage hit home!

But lets look at this reasonably – that is one fairly expensive device, so was it ever going to be (close to) free to upgrade? No. Does the tethering feature cannibalise the Operators’ USB modem strategy, removing what would have been potential customers? Yes. So you can see from the Operator side of things, they need to cover both the cost of the device, and the fact they now have extra traffic (generated by tethered iPhones) using the data access on their networks heavily.

The sting in the tail for the tethering issue is that most iPhone owners have some form of unlimited web access added to their contracts, so in theory you would think that it might include the tethering too – wrong. Unfortunately Laptop browsing (via the tethered iPhone) would occur at an entirely different usage rate that people just browsing on-device – and hence the Operators need to charge for this in order to cover costs.

But the biggest issues that I can see are really those of consistency and context – last time, with the 2G to 3G device, there was an upgrade path, and it was offered to customers – this time round, people have to bite the bullet. That’s just not consistent. Likewise, with the tethering, no real context was given when it was announced – and people get the wrong idea (about it being effectively free).

Ultimately it’s all about how the powers that be communicate their product and service offerings – if you aren’t clear or you don’t offer explanations, then you end up with a whole series of issues, and potentially LOTS of disgruntled customers. I can’t help think that with consistency and context on-point, a lot of this could have been avoided.

Having said that, it doesn’t matter does it – Apple will still sell loads of iPhone 3GSs!

Related News from IntoMobile:

• UK: O2: upgrading to the iPhone3GS – costs….
• UK: iPhone 3G pricing on O2 – part 2
• UK: iPhone 3G pricing on O2 – part 1
• Use your T-Mobile G1 as a wireless modem – T-Mobile G1 tethering solution is live
• Official AT&T iPhone tethering solution coming soon, says AT&T CEO

Walls, bricks, mobile devices, and WiFi networks – a good mixture of stuff, not all of which plays nice together….

I’ve recently been re-architecting my home network, so that all of my mobile devices (and in those include laptop and netbook, since they are portable) can access a network easily, no matter where I am in the house. Now, I don’t have the largest of house by any means, but the surprising effects of a few decent walls are that a WiFi signal for example becomes extremely erratic.

To counter this problem, I have encrypted powerline networking running, allowing the re-hubbing of the wireless signal – since mobile device don’t have the greatest WiFi aerials, it is a case of needing to put a wireless signal in proximity of them.

Then the other day a though occurred to me – how many lots of wireless overlap do I have running? Well I reckon it’s at least 4 lots:

• Wireless network 1 
• Wireless network 2 (created because the first doesn’t reach to certain areas of the house)
• Baby Monitor type 1 
• Baby (Video) Monitor type 2

All of these operate in the 2.4GHz band, right in that sweetspot of WiFi – and then on top of that you can add another 6 networks (at least) from neighbours in the near vicinity. That’s a LOT of crossover, yet everything seems to work – for now.

So I think that’s a decent amount of overlap wirelessly, going on at home – question is, can you beat it? C’mon, post up a comment and let us know – including whether you get any interference issues….

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Babies and Mobiles: video monitor!
• T-Mobile brings HotSpot @Home service to business BlackBerry users
• Landline phones: why are they so far behind??!
• Baby Monitors: rant-o-matic!
• Verizon jumping on femtocell bandwagon with Network Extender femtocell