Category: Technology

Looks like from today onwards, Ireland’s ever-increasing (in terms of subscribers) mobile operator Meteor will be offering their website through Irish – something that none of O2, Vodafone or Three currently do.

Andrew Kelly, speaking for Meteor, said

At Meteor we listen to our customers, and there was the demand for our website to be translated into Irish, so we simply made it happen. We are committed to providing all of our customers with a simple, easy to understand website, and we’re delighted to offer this service to our Irish speaking customers

I think its a shame the other operators don’t do it. When I was in Canada it was hard to find something on a shelf, in a store, or on a sign that wasn’t also written in French as well as English. Why can’t we just do the same over here? At least encourage the language or help people see what some of the most basic words and instructions are?

The site is also available in Polish, Latvian, Mandarin and Lithuanian.

Post also on kenmc.com.

Being the thinnest phone isn’t a title you get to hold onto in the current mobile market for too long, but Samsung can say they’ve got the world’s thinnest 3G qwerty phone now thanks to the release of the i600, the first 3G smartphone with HSDPA and its running Windows Mobile 5.0.

It also comes with built-in Wi-Fi, bluetooth (2.0) and support for podcasting and RSS feeds. Tasty stuff.

From the press release…

Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 users can listen to stereo-quality music and view high quality video clips with Windows Media Player 10 Mobile and a Bluetooth stereo headset. Internet browsing rivals the PC experience due to the device’s large 2.3” high-quality color screen and wireless broadband capabilities. The Samsung Ultra Messaging i600 also includes a speakerphone, built-in voice recognition and support for a 1.3 megapixel digital camera that can record video.

Built-in Pocket MSN offers consumers the consistent and familiar user experience that they currently enjoy with MSN Messenger on their desktops. With this offering, users will automatically have a separate Inbox for Hotmail messages on their device. They will also be able to view their buddy list and chat instantly with their contacts, whenever and wherever they want. All of these features are packed into a slim design, which makes the Ultra Messaging i600 the ideal balance of work and play. The Ultra Messaging i600 is comfortable to hold with a slim body and has a soft finishing which gives it a good grip.

I would have expected their camera (at 1.3mp) to be a little stronger for 3G use (though you also have the now-standard camera at front AND back on the phone). Interesting to see how it fares in the UK market or if we see it hit the Irish one.

Technology is a world dominated by men, and we’ve seen of late (not bringing up old discussion) that blogging in Ireland is an area that is predominantly male. Then of course, the female bloggers list came out If thats the case, wouldn’t it be great if men and women were all bloggers and iPod users and heavy IMers, RSS junkies and all the rest? Would it make meeting people in your line of business that bit easier?

Maybe, maybe not.

For your morning coffee break (right about now…. good latté on the way) Eric Jordan plays the techno sexual dating game…

Rumours are a great thing. When people started over a year ago to mention the possibility of Apple releasing a mobile handset, some laughed, some raised eyebrows and some kept their mouths shut in a hope that that they wouldn’t spoil anything for the future by raising speculation.

Now though it seems that we’re closer and closer to the release of an Apple handset and a few more facts are starting to leak out, including one on the batteries – two batteries in the handset, not just one. The reason being that one battery will power the phone and the majority of its functions while the other one is there to provide juice for MP3 playing so as not to drop your standby/talk rates for battery life.

Cellphones etc (Canada) has a bit more…

Hospitals ban them, airlines ban them (though this is gradually being reduced through improvements in the security of flight navigation equipment) and now it looks like the new celebrity thing to do is ban everyone on a movie set from using mobile phones – this time its Reese Witherspoon, outlawing mobile phone usage to prevent pictures of her being taken with co-star Jake Gyllenhaal in an attempt stop tabloid rumours about her relationship with her co-star following her divorce from Ryan Philliope last month.

No mention of course of what happens if they’re seen using a mobile. Whatever will they think of next….

I was a lover of my iPAQ HW6515 (pic featured) until I ended up having it repaired, the main board swapped out, and then returned with a bunch of sticky keys (which is likely the main reason that stopped me using it). Of course, when I was in Toronto over the last 9 days or so I dropped into a mobile store offering the same model (the 6515) to see if they had any customer complaints – their simple response being that they had more upset customers than happy ones, each experiencing the same problems I had (having to reboot the phone as the keyboard or joystick might stop working, occasional hangs, sticky keys).

Not to let that disappoint you (or me much further), hopefully HP will have learned from any mistakes around that model as they’ve just launched three new GPS iPAQs out in Japan, all offering integrated bluetooth, wifi and Windows Mobile 5 as standard (something the 6515 couldn’t do due to issues with the hardware).

Maybe some day again, if I find myself somewhere warranting a good GPS setup.

If you’re thinking on getting a mobile upgrade around Christmas look no further than the K800i (if it is a camera-based phone you’re after). To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of them – five or so mobiles I’ve used in the past few years (from the Motorola v300/600, Sony Ericsson P900, HP iPAQ 6515w etc) and I’ve never bothered with them to take pictures.

Until now.

While the phone worked a charm in all other aspects (picking up RSS updates while strolling around down town Toronto – I’ve been away there since November 24th, just back today – , no problems with the roaming for calls and texts), it was the camera that impressed most. Not just the fact that you’re getting fine quality images at 3.2mp but the absolute ease of use – slide down the lens cover and the phone jumps to camera mode, snap, close it over and you’re back to your main phone display.

I had even brought along a pocket camera (5mp Konika Minolta dImage X60) but where I took 3-4 shots on the Minolta, I wound up with around 100 on the K800i, just strolling, randomly snapping away. I can’t, honestly can’t, compliment it enough. Now, to try get them on flickr… 🙂

VoIP technology just got better with Nokia, the Finnish mobile manufacturer announcing an expansion to their VoIP range of services. Such a serviceis Nokia’s provision of software to allow users of the N80 handset to make VoIP calls over wi-fi networks using Gizmo by SIPphone. Also included will be Skype support for the N73 model.

More here…

IrishDev.com takes a look at whats going on between Nokia and Yahoo! with word out that Yahoo! are extending their operating services into the new range of Nokia mobiles (6300, 5300) which will include in-built Yahoo! Mail access. You will also be able to synchronise Yahoo! contacts, tasks and calendars through the PC with your Series 40 mobile.

In addition to the millions of users who can add Yahoo services to their S60 smartphone, today’s announcement empowers tens of millions of people (in relation to S40 users – Ken) with the ability to enjoy their favourite Yahoo services on an even broader ranges of Nokia devices

Via slashphone comes this video (below)

There might not be wireless access as a standard, and there might not be GPS built in (which was a plus in me choosing the iPaq 6515 at the time) but there’s still enough to cause a fuss about with Nokia releasing their sexy N95 model in the new year.

Check the review here on Nokialist.

I’m off to Canada until next weekend where hopefully I’ll be able to blog from. Surely they’ll have internet cafés over there!

Here’s to Toronto…

Om Malik has a nice post on how things are shaping up globally for 3G use and support (via Giga Om). Personally, I’m still waiting for full on 3G from O2 and I’m hoping it will be soon as I’ve already considered moving networks twice within the last year to avail of 3G services elsewhere.

Judging by the maps on Om’s post, I shouldn’t have any trouble accessing content or making use of the facility in Canada barring the fact that I know (and now Bernie knows) that O2’s roaming charges are ridiculous.

No no, its not a picture of the best camera phone, but Flickr have put together a little utility and published some results on the top camera phones being used by Flickr site members.

Interestingly enough, there’s a massive increase in the use of the Sony Ericsson K800i (which I’ve mentioned before that I’m now using myself) since the launch of the phone. Gotta hand to SE though, I’m not surprised in the sharp rise in figures as the quality of the 3.2mp cybershot camera in the phone is fantastic.

Via.

Computerworld reports a New Zealand Vodafone mobile customer was issued a bill last week for “two days occasional usage” of the Vodafone Vodem service for the princely sum of around NZ$5,000 – $2,000 of which was on a 69mb mobile download. The customer had been alerted to the fact that it could cost in the region of NZ$10 per megabyte downloaded for the use of the service but rather than connecting straight to Vodafone she instead hopped onto a roaming parter, instantly incurring Vodafone‘s costs and the roaming costs, shooting her NZ$10 per m/b up to NZ$30.

Vodafone failed to issue the customer, Stephanie Guigou, with a written breakdown of her charges and instead phoned her back, a week after alerting her to the high fees due on her contract, to announce they were disconnecting here – without issuing a phone bill.

I know roaming charges are pretty extreme, particularly when you incur charges from your domestic network and whatever foreign network you connect to byut five grand? Not nice for anyone!

Keith is putting some big wheels in motion in terms of Bar Camp Ireland South East and has launched a WordPress blog for the event. There’s no set date yet but its likely it will be held in Carriganore (WIT’s new campus, Waterford) and it should be early next year. Keep your eyes posted to the blog.

Nice and convenient that John lives in Waterford (helping to put the ‘bar’ into Bar Camp), might just have to put my name down for this given the feedback from Cork. Not necessarily as a speaker, but I certainly wouldn’t mind getting in to a few talks.

Saturday sounds good to me as well…. Nice and relaxed.

Symbian are celebrating – they’ve just revealed that there has been 100 million smartphones shipped worldwide and to mark the occasion, Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford appears on an official webcast (available in Real and WM formats). Check it out here.

Each of the smartphones in question are powered by the Symbian OS.

The Nokia N97 – a fantasy or actually a reality? Rumour has it that this is the N97, packing a serious punch with a 5mp camera and 20GB internal memory! 20gb!

More here via MobileWhack.