Archive for June, 2009

The target set by the GSMA back in February for a universal phone charger was the 1st of January 2012. It estimated that most phones would use a standard Micro USB (not to be confused with the Mini USB) charger. It now looks like phones compatible with the new universal charger will be available in Europe as soon as next year.

The European Commission has said it is eager to do away with the amount of excessive charger models, which are thrown away when buying new phones as well as generating several thousand tons of waste each year. continue

RIM have released a new article advising how to upgrade BES 3.6 to BPS. BES 3.6 IT Admins and users are now able to enjoy the benefits of a 4.1 server upgrade free of charge.

Some of the useful key benefits would be:

• Wireless activations
• Wireless address book sync
• Wireless sync of Sent Items
• BlackBerry Browser (HTML browsing via the Mobile Data Service on the Server)
• Simple administration interface
• Home screen is a one-stop location for most management tasks
• Wizard and quick links are provided for common functions (e.g. add/delete a user)
• Simplified IT policy templates

For more info on how to upgrade, click here

O2 announced that its mobile broadband customers will now have access to thousands of BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspots. The partnership, which existing customers will see come into effect today, coincides with an upgrade to O2’s Mobile Broadband Connection Manager software, enabling users to manage their data consumption more effectively.

The deal with BT Openzone offers an additional 3,000 hotspots, and builds on the unlimited Wi-Fi all O2 mobile broadband customers benefit from. continue

Mozilla has released their second alpha milestone of the mobile version of Firefox, codenamed Fennec, on the Windows Mobile 6 platform. This release is provided for testing purposes only and is intended to:

• get wider feedback on Mozilla’s approach to the user experience;
• engage Mozilla community teams, including localizers, and testers;
• get feedback from Web developers;
• encourage add-on developers to port existing add-ons and invent new ones for mobile. continue

Following the announcement in March this year of the agreement between O2 and Vodafone UK to share network infrastructure in the UK, both companies confirmed this week that the first shared site has gone live.

Telefonica and Vodafone will use the agreement, which is expected to save ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’ over the next 10 years, to aid the roll-out of their networks. The two companies said the deal will pave the way for improved mobile broadband coverage across the UK. continue

Vodafone UK today announced a 1st July 2009 launch date for their Vodafone Access Gateway, and in doing so become the first European network operator to offer a femtocell service to its customers.

The announcement surprised most of those attending the Femtocells World Summit, but our status as Vodafone Premier Partner has given us the opportunity to learn more about the Vodafone Access Gateway during their most recent six months of trials.  Much information is still protected under our active NDA with Vodafone UK until we are authorised to release our full review nearer to the launch date, but in the meantime the following should be able to shed some light on today’s announcement.  continue

Its been reported that multiple users are experiencing sound issues with their new iPhone 3G S. Apparently right after a sound file is played (e.g. SMS received notification) the iPhone 3G S starts to play a continuous, high-frequency tone. This tone is at around 15 KHz, which means it is too high for some people to even hear. For those who can, it is quite annoying. If you would like to hear this sound, just go to a quiet room and turn the phone off, or unlock the iPhone. If you hear a 15kHz tone buzzing, then your iPhone 3G S is affected with the bug.

It’s probably a software issue, as setting your phone to vibrate will stop it. Hopefully Apple will be releasing a fix in the next couple of days.

The Huawei i-Mo HSPA Modem we featured back in February has been showcased as the Huawei E583X in CommuniaAsia 2009.

Expected to be out next month in Europe, this modem is more than just a typical 3G USB modem as it includes WiFi access. With an expected 5 hours use, it charges via USB and provides 3G HSDPA 7.2Mbps access for up to 5 WiFi enabled PCs or Laptops. The E583X can also be left plugged and used as a standard USB modem, though only with one computer. continue

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion have announced their quarterly results.  Unsurprisingly it has been another stellar quarter for RIM and the BlackBerry proposition, with 7.8 million devices having been shipped of which 3.8 million were new connections (although this is a slight drop of 100,000 on the previous quarter results).  These figures now put the current global BlackBerry user base at 28.5 million users.  The financial results have reported a total revenue increase of 3.4 billion, up 53% from last year, and much of this is attributed to the growth in new connections (of which 80% were consumer BlackBerry sales, primarily in North America and the Middle East).

The first transparent phone, the LG-GD900 Crystal, has been launched by LG Electronics. The handset features LG’s next generation touch technology, Gesture Command, which recognises handwriting and responds to multi-touch commands. The phone includes an 8 megapixel Auto Focus camera and MP3 player.

LG-GD900 Crystal’s slide-down Crystal Touchpad first appears to just be an alphanumeric keypad, but it actually doubles as a touchpad like the trackpad on a laptop computer. The most interesting thing is that the transparent slider is developed by glass and not plastic or fibre. continue