Mobile

Reviews and Rants

by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mobile, Random, Software, Tech

Mobile Web is Finally Mobile Web

There have been many attempts at enabling us to truly access the Web from our mobile devices like we do at home. I think it is safe to say that most of them have failed. There have been many surveys conducted about how many cellphone users use the Mobile Web, none of them displaying very impressive numbers. The reason the technology has not developed, is not due to the lack of speed. With HSDPA or WIFI, you can access the Web at speeds that are similar, if not higher than your home connection.

The reason Mobile Web is not a huge success is because Mobile Web does not live up to its name, it is not the real Web on your mobile. It is hard to use, not user friendly, and generally does not provide users with what they get on their home PCs. I think this is one of the primary reasons for the IPhone’s incredible success.

Well, all this is about to change. A new startup has just introduced a revolutionary product that will transform Mobile Web into what it was intended to be. Just imagine viewing your email inbox or your Facebook in real time, without the headache of accessing that annoying mobile browser on your phone. You know that sleep screen that shows you the time, when you are not using your phone? Wouldn’t you want to have your email update itself there in real time? Wouldn’t you want to be able to add any widget there, that can update regularly displaying you information on sports, social networks, stocks, or anything else you choose?

Studies have shown that most users access the Web on their phone for the same things over and over again to see any new updates. Things just got a whole lot easier with Flyscreen, take all those things you like to surf to on your handset, and add them to your phone’s sleep screen. No more mobile surfing needed.

Cellogic can really shake things up in the mobile world with their new product, Flyscreen, and it seems that someone over at Techcrunch agrees, Cellogic was just launched in the Demo pit.

Anything that enables me to stop using my annoying mobile browser is a huge plus for me. I for one, am very excited to see how this product does in the real world.

– Hillel

Jonathan Strauss, VP Business Development for Cellogic

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by hilzfuld on iPhone, Mobile, Tech

Nokia’s Back in the Game

Nokia recently released a new handset as an upgrade to the previous E61i. I had a chance to play with the new E71 today and I must say, Nokia seems to have outdone themselves. With amazing specs like 10mm thickness, 2.36 inch, 16 million color display, and a whopping 10.5 hour talk time, I was sure there was a catch, and I thought it would come in the form of a sluggish OS. I was very wrong. The E71 seemed extremely responsive and contrary to some previous Nokia handsets, it actually moved very fast. Another thing about the E71 that is very different than other Nokia handsets, is that it is a very nice looking phone. It shares that Iphone-ish (I am sure that is a word by now, no?) chrome look around the edges (seems to be the new trend, with phones like the new Blackberry Bold  and the IPhone).

The E71 feels great in your hands, a very solid build, and its keyboard is amongst the most comfortable QWERTYS I have ever used. The only thing I could think of, that would prevent someone from getting this phone, is a lack of built-in memory, but in today’s day and age with 8 and 16 GB Micro SD cards, does it really matter?

The E71 offers you pretty much anything you would need in a phone (OK it does not have a 5 or 8 megapixel camera). It has blazing fast HSDPA (fast internet access when not in a hot spot), 802.11b/g (the fastest wifi around), A2DP (stereo bluetooth, something the IPhone lacks), built-in GPS, and a nice 3 megapixel camera (do you really need more than that?). 

Seems like Nokia took my advice!

– Hillel

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by hilzfuld on Mobile, Software, Tech

National Pride and Android

Just thought I would make mention of the two Israeli start-ups that came in the top 50 applications designed and written for the soon-to-be released Android OS.

TuneWiki is an application that enables you to listen to music and watch video on your Android handset, while viewing different information on the screen, such as lyrics or geographical information about the singer or band. They came in the top 10.

BreadCrumbz is a pretty cool app that enables you to navigate to places that a regular GPS is unfamiliar with (dirt roads or small unknown streets). The app makes use of pictures taken by other people. For example, if you are throwing a party in a place that will not show up on GPS, you can take pictures of the landmarks nearby, and using this app, your guests will easily be able to find your location. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

Well, I for one am pretty impressed with these companies.  Let’s wait and see how they do. The fact that they won $275k and $100k respectively, is just the icing on the cake.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on Mobile, Random, Software, Tech

Second Thoughts- Hardware vs Software

I know I wrote before that the cellular industry is becoming a software-dominated market, but there are still some signs out there, that I might be wrong about that. Take HTC for example. I remember when, not so long ago, HTC was a no-name generic type of company. They were the type of company that made handsets somewhere in the Far East but pretty much no one heard of.

A lot has changed since those days. HTC started making such good hardware that they have become one of the, if not THE, most dominant players in the cellular world today. They are now making phones for giant corporations like Palm, Google, and Microsoft. So maybe hardware does still appeal to some, and the software trend we seem to be entering, will take some time to really take over the market.

Alternatively, maybe what people are really looking for, is a combination of the two. They want a beautiful piece of hardware that’s form factor makes it easy to operate, alongside a user friendly, easy-to-use interface, and a fast and responsive operating system. Oh yea, and let’s not forget this week’s buzz word, an app store.

-Hillel

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by Aryeh on iPhone, Mac, Mobile, Software, Tech

Android App Store

Hey,
Things have been a bit crazy around here, so this is going to be short. Following our recent discussions on cellphone software, I just read on TechCrunch that Android is coming out with their own app store.

My thoughts:

1. I think competition is very important because it will increase the quality of the apps.

2. I am pro the open sourced software, and I can’t wait to see what they have to offer.

3. It will be very interesting to see if they charge for the apps.

What do you think? Are you going to use Android?

Have a good one

Aryeh

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by hilzfuld on Mobile, Software, Tech

Looks Can be Deceiving: Software vs Hardware

First of all,  I would just like to introduce myself briefly, as I will probably be writing on this blog from time to time. My name is Hillel, and I work as a Technical Writer for a large telecommunications company in Israel. On the side, I am a gadget freak and a tech enthusiast. I am on Twitter under the name hilzfuld. OK now down to business.

I just wanted to throw a little theory out there. This is something that has been going through my head a lot recently, figured I would put it down on “paper”. In the rapidly changing cellular industry, I am noticing a theme that, in my opinion, reached its climax this week. I am referring to the fact that hardware is really becoming less and less important, whereas the operating system on which the phone runs, is becoming a crucial factor. Let me explain. For months, people were talking about the Gphone. This mysterious phone that Google was going to release. Google, however, as usual, was one step ahead of the game, and was not interested in designing the hardware, but rather the operating system, ie. Android. The big competition in the cellular world is no longer who can make the slimmest handset, it has become an ongoing war between huge corporations like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Symbian (to just name a few in no specific order), who can make the best and smoothest platform or operating system.

This is also very apparent when talking about the IPhone 3G. There were many enhancements included in the second version of the IPhone, but none more talked about then the SDK, or the app store. The enhanced headphone jack or the new slightly rounded sides are not what excited people, or at least not as much as the ability to add applications to the IPhone.

What did I mean about it reaching its climax this week? Well, Palm recently announced the release of their Palm Treo Pro and guess who is not making the hardware for this phone? Palm! They are having HTC design the hardware and they are going to worry strictly about what lies beneath. I don’t know about you, but to me, that seems like a clear indication that this industry is becoming a software-dominated one.

-Hillel

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by hilzfuld on Mobile, Tech

Missed the Boat

As the industry leader (is that even true anymore?), Nokia seems to have missed the boat with their flagship handset being released in Q4 of 2008. The N96 is not a bad phone, there’s no question that it packs in a hell of a lot of features, and you gotta love that dual slide action, but in the world with the IPhone 3G dominating the market, is it really that impressive? Granted, it comes with 16 GB of built in memory, and an additional expansion slot, which is not so common. Besides that, it offers the pretty much standard (a slight exaggeration) 5 megapixel camera, the same old assisted GPS,  and HSDPA. I am pretty sure if the N96 would have been released during the pre-IPhone 3G era, it might have been a big hit, but with phones like the HTC Diamond Pro, and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA, I personally am not very excited about the N96 release. Besides, Nokia has got to learn how to slim down their phones a little. It is true that Nokia was ONCE so good that looks really did not matter, but with Apple around and Sony and HTC designing phones, Nokia has to get with the times. Having said that, you can be sure that Nokia will sell more than a few N96s.

-Hillel

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by Aryeh on Mobile, Tech

The First Android Phone

Hi,

There are tons of rumors going around the net about the 1st Android phone but this one looks like it might have something to it.  TechCrunch posted that the new phone is going to be called the G1 and is due to hit the market next month. The phone is based on or is the HTC Dream that comes with a full slide qwerty keyboard, touchscreen, 528MHz Qualcomm 7201 CPU, 64MB RAM, 1GB microSD card, 3.1-megapixel camera with no flash, decent audio and video codec support, 3G, Quad-Band GSM, 802.11b/g, a 3.17-inch screen with 480×320 resolution and AIM/MSN/Yahoo/GTalk. Now to see if they are going to sell it unlocked. If they don’t, it will be a total embarrassment for Android and the whole concept of the open sourced community.

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