Archive for February, 2009

Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has confirmed in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE that the firm is looking at making laptops.

When asked whether Nokia plans to make laptops, Kallasvuo said “We are looking very actively also at this opportunity. We don’t have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging”. continue

Passengers can now make and receive roaming voice calls at between £1.50-£3 per minute on 20 of Euro­pean’s low-cost airline, Ryanair. The service is initially available to O2 customers along with 50 other operators across Europe. This is the first step in fitting Ryanair’s entire fleet of over 170 aircraft to allow all passengers to use their phones on all Ryanair flights. continue

Vodafone has conducted tests of the super-fast 3G broadband service HSPA+ MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) delivering maximum download speeds in excess of 20 Mbps in southern Spain.  The trials were carried out using technology supplied by Ericsson, Huawei and Qualcomm. continue

The GSMA and 17 leading mobile operators and manufacturers today announced that they are committed to implementing a cross-industry standard for a universal charger for new mobile phones. The aim of the initiative, led by the GSMA, is to ensure that the mobile industry adopts a common format for mobile phone charger connections and energy-efficient chargers resulting in an estimated 50 per cent reduction in standby energy consumption, the potential elimination of up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers and the enhancement of the customer experience by simplifying the charging of mobile phones. continue

Today the next Google Android device was announced at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona.  This new model (called the ‘Magic’) will be manufactured by HTC, who also made the first Android G1 device.

Like the G1 was exclusive to T-Mobile, the Magic will only be available to Vodafone customers.  The Magic will feature a touch screen with trackball navigation (similar to the one used on BlackBerrys), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, HSPA connection speeds and a 3.2 mega pixel camera.  It will also be the first Google device to run a new version of the Android code called “Cupcake”.

No release date has been confirmed yet.

The Huawei i-Mo combines a 3G HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) modem with a WiFi router that gives your laptop mobile broadband access without having a dongle or additional cables attached.  The Huawei i-Mo HSPA modem is a very small design – the company says about the size of a key chain – plus it has a MicroSD slot for storage. continue

A week after their 10th birthday, mobile and wireless device maker Research In Motion introduces a new version of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server that it says improves functionality for both IT administrators and BlackBerry users. RIM’s BES 5.0, code name Argon, will be released in the second quarter of this year. continue

For iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, Google Sync allows you to get your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar events to your phone. Google Sync for the iPhone and Windows Mobile (also available as a contacts-only version for phones that support SyncML) is now available in a beta format. If you’re a BlackBerry user, a version of Google Sync is already available. continue

Mozilla’s Firefox Mobile browser dubbed Fennec has been finally released. As we announced last year, the new browser is currently available for owners of the Windows Mobile powered HTC Touch Pro handset, and it is only a “Milestone Release” and not a finished product. continue

City of London Police has launched an SMS service. Aimed mainly at people that have hearing or speech impediments, it will allow people in the City to use their mobile phones to contact the police in non-emergency situations. continue