Mobile Choice Blog

Phones to record HD video in "a few years" says Nokia

According to Nokia, mobile phones will be able to record HD-quality video soon, meaning that your camphone vids will be a good enough resolution to look great on a large plasma or LCD screen.

At least, that's what the company's chief technology officer Tero Ojanpera says, and since he's got the inside skinny on Nokia's future handset developments, you can assume he's not making it up, even if he does admit that it's technically "a couple of years away".

However, there are some barriers to HD mobile video. Storage is one: you'll need lots more memory on your phone (or a huge memory card) to store HD-quality video in a decent quantity. It may also sap battery life. Still, that's not stopping Nokia - or chip manufacturers Broadcom and Texas Instruments, for that matter, who've both shown off HD video tech for phones.

(via Yahoo News)

Akon in trouble after police investigate cameraphone video

If you're a top pop star planning to throw a fan into the crowd, for heaven's sake make sure nobody's filming the incident on their cameraphone. R&B singer Akon didn't heed those sensible words, and is facing a police investigation as a result.

What happened was this: someone lobbed an object at Akon from the crowd during a gig. He got them brought up on stage, then threw the offender back into the crowd. Quite violently. Yet when footage of the incident appeared on YouTube, the police took an interest, and now Akon is facing charges of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree harassment.

Akon says it was a staged publicity incident (if that's true, he probably hired the people toting cameraphones). But it's the latest example of incidents happening at gigs making their way straight onto YouTube thanks to people's mobiles. Usually, of course, it's stars falling over, rather than fans being 'falled over' by stars...

(via Reiter's Camera Phone Report)

O2 says three quarters of iPhone buyers are new customers

Ever since O2 signed an exclusive deal to sell the iPhone in the UK, the web has buzzed with speculation that it's giving up a hefty chunk of the revenues from users to maker Apple. Why would an operator sign up to such a scheme?

Well, it seems nabbing customers from other operators is the key. According to new O2 boss Matthew Key, three quarters of iPhone buyers will be new to O2, tempted to switch networks by the iPhone's slinky charms.

However, what O2 isn't saying is how many iPhones it's sold so far, other than that sales are "in line with expectations". Cynics will say that's code for 'if they were selling like hot cakes, we'd be saying they're beating expectations...' though.

(via Reuters)

The Sun launches QR mobile barcodes on adverts

For most UK newspapers, the limit of their mobile ambitions is selling ad space to ringtone companies, and maybe launching their own WAP sites. The Sun has done both of those, but now it's going further with an innovative new plan to put Quick Response (QR) mobile barcodes on adverts within the newspaper.

What are they? Well, they're little symbols placed on adverts, which you can point your cameraphone at, take a photo, and then it's converted into a WAP link, taking you to the site of whichever company placed the advert.

Companies using the barcodes already include Ladbrokes, Sky and Twentieth Century Fox (the last two aren't surprising, as they're part of the same megacorporation as The Sun). To get them, you'll need to download a QR reader application though, created by a firm called i-nigma. QR codes have been popular in Japan for several years, but this is the first truly mainstream attempt to use them in the UK.

(via MocoNews)

Blind mobile calls could lead to a charity bonus

If you're anything like us, chances are you've occasionally called someone by mistake from your pocket, after forgetting to lock your phone. If you've got any friends called Amy or Anna, they'll probably have borne the brunt of it, being at the top of your address book.

A Dutch charity has an idea to at least make these 'blind calls' worthwhile. They've suggested that users have the top entry in their address book as 'A blind call', which means if their phone makes a phantom call, it'll go to that, which is a number for a charity for the blind - which will automatically cut the call off after 30 seconds, and take a share of the cost.

It's a good idea: and far better than angering one of your friends by calling them at 2am, as has happened to us on more than one occasion...

(via MobHappy)

It ain't over till the Samsung G800 sings

The opera isn't just about fat ladies and glass-shatteringly high notes. Samsung's G800 is playing a starring role in the Vienna State Opera's new performance of Wagner's Nibelungenring for Children, and even gets a mention in the official cast list.

Specifically, the phone is used to take a picture of the sleeping Bruennhilde, and then that photo is shown to Siegfried (apologies to anyone who's not up on their Wagner characters - suffice to say, it's a pretty important part of the plot.

As far as we're aware, there aren't any specially written arias about going into a tunnel, losing reception, or reaching the 17th level of Tower Bloxx. But perhaps they'll come in future operas.

(via Picturephoning)

Cliq mobile radio service to launch this week

There are already several ways to get music on your phone, from operators' mobile stores through to Vodafone's MusicStation subscription service, and the basic ability to sideload your own tunes onto your mobile. Now there's another, called Cliq, which lets digital radio listeners buy the songs they hear from their phones.

It involves installing an application on your handset, which will serve up a list of the five most recently played tracks on participating radio stations. So, when you hear something you like, you fire up the application, and then click to buy the song - which will cost £1.25, and be downloaded to your PC.

We wonder if it's worth paying such a premium on the price of each download, considering songs cost 79p on iTunes and other digital music services. Still, the Cliq application will be available from this week to download.

(via MocoNews)

Speak Japanese like a native, with the help of your mobile

This only works if your mobile is an NEC, however, which doesn't apply to many of us Brits. Still, NEC's new application is still interesting, being a text-to-voice translation system with a vocabulary of more than 50,000 Japanese words.

Users speak them into their phone, and then see them converted to English text in a couple of seconds. The idea is to focus on the most commonly used travel phrases, such as 'Where is the nearest station?', 'How do I get to Buckingham Palace?' and 'Why is everyone on the tube so grumpy?'

Japanese tourists love visiting London, so there's a decent-sized market for NEC's application when it is officially released. We'd love to see one go the other way, to help us go to Tokyo and not look like idiots, but maybe that's next on NEC's 'To Do' list.

(via Engadget Mobile)

Forget Crazy Frog: Your mum may be the best ringtone in the world!

No, we're not suggesting that your mum has signed a contract with Jamster and is planning to release a dreadful Hi-NRG dance album in time for Christmas. Although you might want to ring her to make sure. Instead, the Loose Wire blog has suggested that the best ringtone for any mobile user might be their mother's voice.

It's all based on US Air Force research in the 1950s, that found pilots responded to automatic cockpit warnings much better if the orders were recorded by their mothers. For example: "Do wrap up a bit warmer dear, have you had your sandwiches yet, oh, and TAKE EVASIVE ACTION!"

Anyway, Loose Wire suggests that on phones that allow it, you should get your mums to record herself calling your name, then use it as your ringtone. It's certainly a thought, although possibly not appealing for those of us who disloyally spend our days avoiding mobile calls from our mothers.

Loose Ends blog (via Ringtonia)

The mobile phone with secret Bluetooth headset inside

Carrying a Bluetooth headset around can be a bit annoying. Well, it can if you lose it. Chinese firm NaXing has one answer: a Bluetooth headset that's stored inside the phone itself, popping out when you need it. The picture shows how it works.

It's a neat idea, although we're not sure we'd fancy the phone itself, which is shamelessly inspired by classic Nokia candybars. Still, when you charge the phone, the headset charges at the same time, which (may) save energy, and thus the planet.

(via SlashPhone)

Nokia updates firmware for N95

Nokia has released new firmware for its flagship N95 handset, which includes a host of improvements. For example, the way it runs applications has been tweaked, to provide more than 30MB of free RAM after booting (translation for untecchy types: it'll run faster).

The camera has been updated so it's faster to use too, with less of a gap between shots. The search function has been built into the standby screen to help you find stuff on the phone more quickly, and excitingly, it gets some N-Gage game previews and the Nokia Music Store application.

A lot of mobile users don't know what a firmware update is, let alone how to get one. But the list of features here shows why it's worth learning. Nokia's Phone Software Updater site will get you started.

(via All About Symbian)

You ARE allowed to sag off work by SMS

So, you wake up one morning only to discover that you fancy a day on your PlayStation 3 have a dreadful sore throat. You don't feel up to making a phone call, but since you have your boss' mobile number, you send them a text instead. Can you get sacked for doing that?

According to an employment tribunal here in the UK, no - as long as that method's been accepted in the past, and you haven't been issued with regulations forbidding it. The ruling came in a case involving sales adviser Mark Morrison (no, not that one), who used texts to tell his boss he'd be off sick on two separate occasions.

He sued for unfair dismissal, and won, with the tribunal saying because his employer had accepted him notifying them by text one week, they couldn't sack him the next for the same method. Morrison got £6,977 in damages, but the rest of us get more days off without having to fake a sore throat on the phone. Er.. not that we'd ever do such a thing, obviously.

(via Cellular News)