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?

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.

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.

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!

Read the full article »

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.

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……!

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?

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

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!

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!